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.
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)
