For a few years near the end of the 70s I headed up a Christian
rock band and did some solo work on the London gospel circuit. Not a lot of
gigs, but a lot of fun.
About half the material consisted of covers of the Christian
artist of the day (think Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Nutshell, Barry McGuire…)
and about half was self-penned.
Aside from the obvious Christian influences, I took some song
writing inspiration from folk-rock troubadours of the day, two of whom died recently
– Julie Felix and Jonathan Kelly.
I first got hold of a Julie Felix album in 1973. Those of us
at Walsall Technical College were well aware of the fact that the manager of
the Record Department at Boots the Chemist didn’t know his Abba’s from his
Zappa’s and would often sell stuff off at ridiculously low prices. The first
Parchment album on Pye (a collector’s piece today) for 10p with a small scratch
on the first track. A first issue single of Free’s ‘All Right Now’ for 5p.
And there was Julie Felix. At 20p I took a risk, having
never heard her. I loved her stuff. I loved her obvious left-wing politics, and
the choice of the cover songs she selected. In fact she was already well known
in the UK having been championed by David Frost and had two long running shows
of her own on TV. But that had passed me by somehow.
My favourite album is the 1972 ‘Clotho’s Web’ which includes
the single ‘Fire, Water, Earth and Air’. It’s worth a listen.
I must have first heard Jonathan Kelly at around the same
time. A few of us would gather in each other’s houses to listen to records at
the weekend. (Does that still happen or is it all social media nowadays?) And
it was then that my friend Godfrey played ‘Twice Around the Houses’, Kelly’s
second album. I loved it. The upbeat love song ‘Madelaine’ the protest song ‘We
are the People’ and the haunting ‘Ballad of Cursed Anna’. But the one I loved
the most – and the one my family had to put up with me singing – was ‘Rock You
to Sleep’, the final track. I sang it to all our children at bedtime throughout
their early years.
Well there you are. Two folk-rock legends have
passed. RIP Julie and Jonathan. And thank you.
