Ginger Baker at the Band on the Run sessions
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I've just been reading the book of the Deluxe Band on the Run edition. Ginger Baker was at some of the sessions,yet only shook a bucket of gravel! I can't quite understand why seeing Paul had just lost a drummer,why he didn't ask Ginger to play.Paul did a good enough job,but it almost seems criminal to under use a talented drummer who was actually AT the sessions. Anybody Know more about this or care to speculate?
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good question.
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There's a bit of a back story here. Officially, the original plan was for Wings to record the whole of Band On The Run at Ginger's newly opended ARC recording studio. When Wings flew in, their equipment was taken directly to Ginger's studio by the roadies,Ian Horn & Trevor Jones. It was Ginger and his associates through their connections with the local government who had secured the visas required for Wings to enter the country to work. Having entered the country though, EMI then made it clear that Wings had to record at their studio since Wings were EMI's artists. So the equipment was then transported to the EMI studio Paul had gone along with this plan and then told Denny Laine once in Africa that he was the one who had to inform Ginger of the 'change of plan'. (Denny knew Ginger from their Airforce days so was used to soften the blow of the bad news) Its thought that drummer Denny Seiwell had got wind of what was going on and was the main reason why he bailed out on the eve of Wings trip to Africa. As can be imagined, Ginger wasn't happy at having been used in such an underhand way (having an ex-Beatle at his new studio would have been great publicity) and some of Ginger's associates started to get heavy with the band whilst they were working at EMI studios. One of them,Fela Ransome-Kuti, went on local radio accusing Paul of coming to Lagos to use and exploit African musicians for his financial gain and popularity. In actual fact, Wings were intending to use local musicians but scrapped the idea after the accusation had been made. In the end a Lagos musician was used, but only when the band were back in London. As a peace offering to Ginger and Fela, Wings did record at ARC studios for a day, to record the backing track of Picasso's Last Words.
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good answer
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Wow - how the hell did you know all that
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i think some of it is in mentioned in the dvd that came with the BOTR reissue last year... i think...
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Get On The Right Thing:
i think some of it is in mentioned in the dvd that came with the BOTR reissue last year... i think...
Not exactly, old interviews, books and things generally have this information, and once they get on the internet...
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stuartjb:
Wow - how the hell did you know all that
: Sorry Stuart, i wasn't ignoring your question, i'd just forgotten about the thread.
ops: A lot of that info came from last years Ginger Baker's autobiography, coupled with my own notes made at the time from general media coverage. -
Paul always describes the sequence of events as: We wanted to record somewhere exotic, so where does EMI have studios elsewhere in the world? Ah, here's one in Lagos, let's try that! Then, the EMI studio turns out to be unfinished, so they do their best there to get it equipped and get the basic tracks before finishing up in London. I imagine the truth lies somewhere in between Paul's desire for good publicity and Ginger's possibly drug-addled recollections. But that's a pretty stark difference in accounts!
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The only album I've ever heard where I've immediately thought "Wow!, what a great drummer!" Is Levitation by Hawkwind, and the drummer was Ginger Baker. His part on that masterpiece was no small thing.
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favoritething:
Paul always describes the sequence of events as: We wanted to record somewhere exotic, so where does EMI have studios elsewhere in the world? Ah, here's one in Lagos, let's try that! Then, the EMI studio turns out to be unfinished, so they do their best there to get it equipped and get the basic tracks before finishing up in London. I imagine the truth lies somewhere in between Paul's desire for good publicity and Ginger's possibly drug-addled recollections. But that's a pretty stark difference in accounts!
I imagine everyone in that story had been drug addled.
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Ginger Baker is an odd duck...I watched a program on his life and he would yell at the person asking him questions when felt like not talking...he's an AWESOME Drummer , plus it didn't help with all the drugs and drink and being beaten ALL the time as a child..he never said anything about The Band on the Run sessions..it was cool to watch..I think it was on Showtime..here is the name..The documentary Beware of Mr Baker tells the story of Ginger Baker, the legendary drummer in 1960s band Cream. Tom Brook meets writer and director Jay Bulger.
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Macca's drumming on BOTR is top notch. Apparently, Keith Moon asked Paul who drummed on the album, unaware it was Paul.
