STARS DON'T SHINE (original) Vintage 1970 recordings by Stuart Fretwell & MAX_PLANK (Re: Fred 2)

This is the 6th of the T.K. tapes, which I recorded on a 1963-model, valve-powered, Grundig TK18 reel-to-reel tape recorder - way back in 1970 !

The guitar I used was a 1959 HOFNER COLORAMA II electric - played acoustically for the first cut & plugged-in for the second. This second version of the Colorama had a "semi-hollow" plywood body, of the same general shape as the Gibson Les Paul, with a 'set' neck. It had a deep red finish, with twin gold-stripes on the body-edge, twin black-plastic cased 'noiseless' pick-ups, and it shared controls with the 'Paul McCartney' violin bass. I wish I still had it !!

At the time, I played 'lead' in a 3-piece band called 'Max Plank'. We only ever rehearsed in my house or in the hay-loft of a barn on a friend's pig farm. Although the pigs apparently appreciated our music the neighbours didn't and we enjoyed a relativey short tenure there, one idyllic summer. At the time, none of us could drive and we had to transport all of our equipment on cycles!!!

The fact that the drummer (Bill) is using only his snare suggests that the second cut was recorded in my parent's bedroom when they were away on holiday. The bassist (Phil) was using a de-tuned ordinary six-string 'Zenta' guitar. Although both he and I sounded fine in isolation, when we both plugged into the the same, puny 20w p.a. amp our signals didn't get-on together and the resulting sound was pretty horrible :(

We owned neither cymbals, a hi-hat, nor vocal microphones . . so (by necessity) we specialised in instrumentals. lol

In the early 70s there were a number of U.K. groups who dressed in black and sang supposedly occultist lyrics - 'Black Sabbath' was perhaps the best-known. It could have been a reaction to the dire state of the U.K. economy at the time (3-day weeks, power outages, shortages) but B.S.'s vocalist, Ozzy Osbourne, always maintained that it was because they came from 'The Black Country', in Britains' industrial heartlands.

Feeling the need to come up with some original material for our band, I was just following the fashion with this silly lyric. It never became a part of our repertoire. We thought it too slow and dirge-like to ever really catch on.

Stars Don't Shine (1970) © Stuart Fretwell

The night is cold
The stars are hidden
Church bells strike the thirteenth hour

The Lord of Darkness
Calls us to him
Who dares defy the devil's power ?

Satan calls us to his Sabbath
We will sing his song


For more details of the 'Death-Defier', use the following link:
http://wanderling.tripod.com/death_defier.html

DISCLAIMER : No satans were worshipped, nor virgins harmed, during the recording of this song. The virgins were saved for other occasions =p

Guitarra acústica música
Guitare acoustique musique
Akoestische gitaar muziek
Akustische Gitarrenmusik
Akustisk guitarmusik
ακουστικη κιθαρα μουσικη
Chitarra acustica musica
Violão música
акустической гитаре
アコースティックギターの音楽
어쿠스틱 기타 음악
原聲吉他音樂

Technical:
Input to computer via Tapco link usb a/d converter with Mackie pre-amps. Mixed with Audacity. Echo & reverb added in Garageband. Apple G4 'Pro' with dual 1.25ghz powerPC processors. imovie 06.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Halloween
• Fred
• 2:
• Night
• of
• the
• living
• fred
• satanism
• Brit-Rock
• churchyard
• Black
• Sabbath
• gris-gris
• Baron
• Samedi
• 'The
• Death-Defier'
• Shine
• Halloween (1978 Film)
• Dr
• John
• Short Film
• Guitar
• Live
• Hofner
• Colorama
• Grundig TK18
• vintage
• reel-to-reel
• valve
• equipment
• garage band
• Grunge
• Thrash-metal
• The Mothers Of Invention
• Pink Floyd
• Carlos Castaneda
• Don Juan Matus
• Yaqui
• Indians
• British
• singer-songwriter
• Punk
• Rock Music
• Alternative
• Indie
• Punk Rock
• Bands
• Metal
• Heavy Metal Music
• planking

[stufish4040]

Bah! I just noticed that some sH*t has given me a thumbs-down on this one! I know it's a horrible noise . . but it takes a lot of effort to sound this bad ;/

[stewze]

You have a very "Beetley" voice. I guess I'm just saying that because your british :P Nevertheless, lovely tune. Love the 60's/70's sound, brings back memories from a time I never lived.

[stufish4040]

@stewze " Or, m-a-y-b-e you d-i-d " - Homer Simpson -

Thx for the kind words, mate. My mum was born 40 miles from Liverpool & I deffo inherited those northern vowel sounds. Also, I think I had a cold/hayfever at the time. :0)

[CurtisMateer]

See her rising up in the sky/sleeping village/copper's dry/soft wind blowing in the sea/piece of mind/ feel so free - sound familiar but the wrong words? 'Cause I never bothered to learn them any other way. What a mood piece though! This one is pretty heavy on mood too. Oh- my wife just came in around 2:40 and asked "What's that noise?" sorry but you've got to laugh! I feel like I've just discovered an old treasure trove...no, don't block me yet, the first piece was actually pretty interesting!

[stufish4040]

@CurtisMateer Hiya, mate :] My dad described our sound as: " Like a truck, jacked-up on its rear axle, with the engine running. " lol. The drummer now claims he has no recollection of ever playing on this! I have 3 or 4 more to post. Reminds me of when Apple Records was asked if there would be a second Beatles 'Anthology' ? " Well . . if there is," came the reply, " it'll have to be called 'Scraping The Barrel' "

Btw . .i don't recognise the quote. Where's that from? Apologies to the missus :/

[CurtisMateer]

@stufish4040 Hi Stu. Thought you might know it as it's a Sabbath song off their first album - Sleeping Village i think it's called. I used to listen to them before discovering the BeaTles (Mum got me onto them - couldn't stand metal - had better taste than me back then) - It still sounds to me like a pretty decent song in the 'haunting minor key picked on a guitar' style - search for it maybe - could be here on YT - I reckon those endless Let It Be session outtakes are no match for your old band

[stufish4040]

@CurtisMateer Wow! Great lyrics for Black Sabbath - I'll seek it out :]

[FrankRMusic]

Hi, thank you;-))

Nice upload...it´s not about sound, it´s just the idea, the song, the memories...;-)

I like this old recordings, I also have some of them...tape, and cassette, one mic in the room, and, yes, I love that stuff. Good one.

Cheers, Frank

[stufish4040]

@rhopen Naww, thanks, Ron. I seriously thought it would hurt your ears, which is why I didn't 'share'. Yeah, I can see what you mean about the other two bands. I'm a fan of both, so that's very cool. I was just closing down, so thanks for making my day :]

[rhopen]

This is really a great track Stu. It sounds more like The Mothers Of Invention to me than Black Sabbath, or even more Pink Floyd-ish. Great stuff. -Ron