I wanted to leave an update re: Dave Ball - however life kept getting in the way and I forgot. I also forgot about this wee blog.  

I was saddened to read that Dave Ball had died, I heard the news via the Procol Harum webpage run by Roland  and Jens, Beyond the Pale, see the link on this blog. 

Amazingly, before Dave Ball died he'd written 3 eBooks about his life. Musician, soldier and IT specialist probably  in that order. Was there any more to him? Yes, he became Australian, swapping his 'strong' Brummie accent for an Aussie one, and had become a father to 3 children. 

I realise that I sounded a little  sour in my last post but his 1st autobiography was  put together in a hurry.  I assume he hastily put his ebooks together for good reason. Though he seemed to have convinced himself that he'd noticed and reported the symptoms of bowel cancer with some alacrity and reported it to his doctor.  What he did by taking charge and going for tests early, gave him the time to write about his life. It was interesting in part to me, as he had known my sister and vice versa. But I didn't expect him to mention his crush on my sisters best friends sister, Candy and that was the connection, all 3 worked for a short time in the same firm.

But in his books Dave manages to bad mouth the 2 musicians that (when I was as a teenager ) I was a little in awe and in love with, BJ because they disliked each other. And Robin Trower - apparently Dave doesn't rate him highly, says he's an average guitarist. I have to disagree with that idiotic damning remark,  the evidence being on the very 1st Procol Harum (1967) album. Just compare the Robin Trower version of Repent Walpugis recorded in 1967 (there are a few versions on bootlegs too) - to the 1973 Repent Walpurgis found on YouTube - it's been there at least 6 years and has around 675,000 views. It's moving - especially watching BJ put 100% of himself to it. It's great but Dave Ball cannot begin to compare with Trower. The Trower in '67 especially, 

And he clearly doesn't like B.J. Wilson - perhaps he would have forgiven him the fight, but Barrie died long before.

I believe it's worth reading Dave's autobiography and musings. It's interesting that Dave has written from inside the beast itself (the beast being all things Procol Harum) and a very interesting beast that band was and partly still is. 

And I will tell Melody the story of Dave fancying her sister Candy - who if she looked anything like Melody, Dave would have been in awe of her and realised he didn't stand a chance. I still remember the name of one of Candys Beatnik friends - Smoky Joe. 

Candy was apparently the queen of cool, as was her younger sister Melody. My sister Sue was pretty cool herself in my eyes, so it was good to know they both worked (first jobs) in Munns Birmingham - a film processing factory. 
RIP to my sis, and also to Dave Ball.

So to end ... This is a comment I found on You tube by non other than Dave Ball to give his great opinion about the man and musician that clearly did not appreciate Dave. I'm glad Dave could say this.. There WAS no one quite like BJ.

Dave Ball

My opinion - for what it's worth - BJ Wilson was not just a timekeeper when he played. He played an "Instrument" with all that implies, so the colours are completely integral to the end result. He was quite unique I think in how he played. Of course, there have been, and are thousands of drummers who play instrumentally so please don't bother listing them out here - but no one was quite like BJ. 

Just thought I would say that. Dave Ball (the tall Superman)

B.J. Wilson listed in NME's 31 of the best drummers list

B.J Wilson: Having played with 70s prog types Procul Harum and not-very-proggy former Clash singer Joe Strummer, B.J.Wilson's drumming was put to some diverse use. Light of touch and a whizz with a drum fill, however, he adapted to the challenge.

Read more at 

http://www.nme.com/photos/31-of-the-best-drummers-to-grace-rock-n-roll/382661/#/photo/3#uryuGRYTT8XOxZXH.99

Photo: Getty

Added: 07 Jul 2015

Whilst in a longish spell of illness downtime I managed to find and read Dave Balls "Half Hippie - Half Man" c2012.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-Hippie-Man-Dave-Ball-ebook/


This is his autobiography which appears to me to have cobbled together from diary notes in some urgency, perhaps while very ill from bowel cancer treatment. I'm glad to hear he survived the diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy and recover from enough to write another volume of his autobiography, basically updates of what he had forgotten to add to the first. Additionally a third volume has appeared also.
I can't recommend as a good read though it raised my eyebrows a couple of times.

Dave Ball is a guitarist, a musician from Birmingham, England. He has worked with Brum band The Applejacks, drummer Cosy Powell, Bedlam, Long John Baldry and Procol Harum and probably a few others. Although after a brief spell with Long John Baldry he decided to join the army in a move of desperation due to lack of cash it would appear. Jobbing for Procol would however prove fruitful in that he was guitarist on the live orchestral album and whilst in the army received a cheque for a large amount of money.

I remember Dave Ball replaced the absolute chasmic void that appeared when Robin Trower left Procol Harum circa June 1971, in what I would describe as his legendery ascendancy to the very heights of Procol Harum. That then struggling but very wonderful as well as successful band with 5 albums under his belt, songs written by him and the focus very much placed on him. He was the most popular member of the band it seems to me, from witnessing 3 gigs with Procol's Robin Trower period. There were a lot of Trower fans in that audience.

I was personally devastated back then (at age of 16) to hear Trower had left and scoured the music press to discover more. Very little information about the whys and wherefore, but I discovered he'd joined a band very much led by him. Along with Glaswegian Frankie Miller on vocals, fellow Scot James Dewar on bass (Stone the Crows) and drummer Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull) they formed the rather short-lived combo Jude. I was lucky enough to see them when they played the tiny Henry's Blueshouse club in Birmingham. I count myself lucky but can't remember too much about it. A photo exists at least which I sourced from the web, photographer unknown. I will take it down if that person objects.

So Dave Ball stepped in after being recruited from 80 other guitarists and it was a shock. Then I discovered he was from Birmingham and 5 years older than me, the same age as my sister who i asked if she knew a Dave Ball. A tall order (sic) but she said yes I know him, he's a musician who my friend Candy McCready knows well. Or similar. It was Candy's beautiful sister Melody who was my sister's lifelong friend but she also knew and worked with Candy. Apparently Dave Ball worked with Candy also at the same workplace, happily admitting in his book that he had a massive crush on her that was unrequited.
I skimread through his badly written book, I say badly written but perhaps I mean poorly proof read looking for anything interesting! It's basically his diary but without dates attached.

The reason I've added a mention in BJ Wilson's blog is that Ball mentions that his ousting from the band was at the hands of Barrie, who it appears did not like him and found working with him difficult.
Reading between the lines I would say that Ball might have been unreliable, due to a large appetite for drugs and alcohol. Not unusual in any 70's band but it was something that Ball blames on his fight with Barrie Wilson.

I hope he comments more about this swift ending in his third time. Perhaps more later then.

Drunk Again 1974

Procol Harum on Beat club circa 1974.

How good were this band, without this really strong gifted line-up I think the band would have folded. Post Robin Trower who won many Procoholic hearts and minds. But then so did BJ Wilson.


http://youtu.be/877s7_5ML4w

Bringing home the bacon Rockpalast 1976

Sadly this is out of sync, which is annoying but still it is always great to see clear shots of Barrie and the band.

Another rare gig of procol Harum live and the last great line-up imho anyway. ( I missed the return of Matthew Fisher to the past decades later).

The line-up here is Gary Brooker, piano; Barrie J Wilson, drums; Mick Grabham, guitar; Alan Cartwright, bass; Chris Copping, organ. KeithReid, possibly lurking in the background, words.

http://youtu.be/PW6ZfF6swJc

For Liquorice John 1973

Our hero at work on one of their (Procol Harum) best songs .

An ode to a true friend from the older days, who lost his life by his own actions. A magically beautifully well crafted song written by Brooker and Reid but one wonders what it'd sound like without this most gifted and sensitive drummer.

Barrie J Wilson the expression on his face is a a sign he's giving his all to this song.


For Liquorice John.

http://youtu.be/S3HY9G77Y5A

A fine tribute to BJ Wilson

Just found this great review of Procol Harum's remastered A Salty Dog (Salvo) CD
By Stephen Reid (probably not a relative tho' you never know). Copy and Paste of write up,

By Mr. Stephen Reid - 30 Dec 2011

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great album, made better by the bonus tracks. The production (and orchestration) by Matthew Fisher is flawless. The title track is a haunting and atmospheric song of the sea. The keyboards (both Brooker's piano & Fisher's Hammond) are sublime, Keith Reid's lyrics are simultaneously witty, scholary and raunchy. Robin Trower shows why he was regarded by many as a natural heir to Jimi, and Gary Brooker's vocals make you wonder how the hell he was overlooked while the likes of Rod Stewart were held in such critical awe for so long. The album cover (a brilliant spoof of the old Player's Navy Cut cigarette pack) is one of the most iconic of the sixties. But thats not what this review is about. No, this review is about Barrie Wilson's drumming. 

The late Barrie (BJ) Wilson was in my opinion the best of the five best drummers of the rock era - you don't want to know the other four (oh okay then, its John Bonham, John Densmore, Topper Headon and Dave Mattacks). Good drummers keep the beat almsost unobtrusively - they drive the rhythm, and that's it, but when BJ plays you find yourself listening to the drums like they were a lead instrument, with no detriment to the rest of the track. His drumming quite literally punctuates Procol's melodic and lyrical masterpieces. Listen for example to "The Milk Of Human Kindness" (and the bonus "raw" track) - I defy you not to anticipate every across the beat hit he makes. Apparently he used to sit side on to the drum-kit, leading one reviewer of a Procol gig to comment that BJ looked like an "octopus in the bath" while drumming - what a great image!
Hail to the drummer; Barrie Wilson - powerhouse behind the kit.