of epic groups (all first released in 1973) and a few branches leading off from the main trunk:


SEBASTIAN (Harley), Cockney Rebel

FOR YOUR PLEASURE (Ferry), Roxy Music

DEATH TRIP (Harley), Cockney Rebel


SEBASTIAN A young man, struggling to survive against the odds, to pursue his vocation and music, FOR YOUR PLEASURE "...old man, through every step a change..." DEATH TRIP the inevitability. That young man became an older man, but did not waver, from his vocation. In so doing, he gave hundreds of thousands of other people, a great deal of pleasure and the recordings and images, still or moving, continue to do so...

Two branches from SEBASTIAN and DEATH TRIP might be 'Big Big Deal' and 'Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me). They grew in late 1974 and early 1975. Did Harley write Big Big Deal, about getting there or knowing he was about to get there? Big Big Deal was the proto, between rebels, Make Me Smile was the honed product. Natural though, purely instinctive...My favourite track of 1975.

My favourite track of 1974 was 'All I Want Is You' (Ferry). I didn't know about 'Big Big Deal' then (each track must have been out about the same time), otherwise I might have considered them joint favourites. There was an obvious parallel between the Roxy and Harley (with Stuart Elliott...who were the other players - do any of you know?) tracks, the blonde with her long hair and pure speculation on my part, that Ferry's track might have been about Jerry Hall?

Another track on the same album (Country Life), 'Prairie Rose' makes reference to Texas...They were definitely an item by 1975, whatever (Ferry, Hall), if not before.

I felt like putting this thread in because, it's kind of linked to the adjacent more recent threads from me, and this is likely to be my penultimate thread. I'll be a true fan forever, and I'm not sure what Bryan has left, and it's coming up to the second anniversary of the death of Steve.

Their recordings are immortalised, for the remaining duration of homo sapiens and Earth. We have an inherent need for music in our lives. Who we 'go for', is a matter of individual difference and taste and some of this must be affected by variables beyond just a good exciting tune...

X

P.S. After lunch, I've just watched and listened to Harley (4mins 41secs), on a YouTube clip entitled, 'Steve Harley - Sebastian - Busking - 2008, ssikuk. 16,000 people have done the same. I've either done the same, some years ago, or I have memory of the original documentary. Steve was charming and relaxed doing it, his comments about Sebastian, convince me that he'd be OK with what I've said above. In that short clip, there's also some great footage and sound from Sebastian live (including a young Stuart Elliott). Great stuff...

I wrote this thread as something of an experiment - I believe I was only semi-conscious, after a period of REM (rapid eye movement). I was barely awake. I've written this footnote in a similar state - I've just dreamt like a trouper...