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.