Sunday 6 July 2014

Gonks Go Beat



I was introduced to this track - Harmonica by the Graham Bond Organisation - via the medium of Johnny Alpha's Killer Diller Radio show, but I had no idea it was featured in the film Gonks Go Beat. In fact, I'd never heard of the film - one of the many given the dubious title of 'The worst movie ever'. It looks brilliant.

I saw this clip in the documentary, Beware of Mr Baker, about the English drummer Ginger Baker. I didn't know a lot about Baker, but I've heard plenty of songs he's played on. He features in this clip. He comes across as an arsehole in the documentary, but as I had no previous fondness for him, it made no difference to my enjoyment of it. Not the best rockumentary I've seen (and I love them), but worth it for introducing me to this clip.
The Graham Bond Organisation. Graham Bond, the keyboard player, was at the forefront of the British jazz scene, before moving into rhythm and blues. He was a heavy drug user (as was Baker), later an occultist - who, it's reported, believed he was the son of Aleister Crowley. Bond died in 1974, at the age of 36, under the wheels of a London Underground train. G

Other 'rockumentaries' I love (please recommend ones I've might have missed)

Dig! (Brian Jonestown Massacre/Dandy Warhols)
Some Kind of Monster (Metallica and their shrink)
Anvil

6 comments:

Hot Shoe said...

Gonks Go Beat is cringeworthy to say the least but worth seeing for the footage of the groups in it. The clip of the Graham Bond Organisation is legendary as it includes the great guitarist John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis etc) and the ever wonderful Dick Heckstall-Smith on Saxophone.

Kirk said...

I'll send a few with the next batch of CDs GI, there's some good ones out there....

Austin said...

Greatest rockumentary ever is the MC5 'A True Testimonial'. Never got an official release but worth hunting out a bootleg if you can. The Dr Feelgood one (Oil City Confidential) is really good too

Sideburn Magazine said...

Oh yes, Oil City Confidential is great. G

Hot Shoe said...

Motor City's Burning - Detroit from Motown to the Stooges is one of the best.

Harley said...

Weird thing about Ginger Baker (if the documentary is to be believed) is that, despite clearly being an Olympic standard bastard, no-one had a bad thing to say about him. Friends, family, band mates and so on all seem to just accept him for what he is.
It's worth watching the documentary to hear Eric Clapton recalling an on-stage fight between Baker and Jack Bruce because Baker didn't think Bruce was playing well enough. When Eric asked why Baker hadn't thumped him as well (because apparently it wasn't Eric's finest performance either), Baker just snarled "You're not as good as us" and stomped off behind his drums.