Web Page 2060

8th June 2014

Top Picture:  Brian Auger Trinity

Bottom Picture: Julie Driscoll today.

Brian Auger

Brian Auger and The Trinity with Julie Driscoll was a band that regularly appeared in many of the Portsmouth music venues but today seems to have faded into obscurity.

There music was an led by an accomplished jazz-rock organist and under his leadership the group had several different manifestations over the years. They had several hits over the years including Fool Killer and Green Onions. But their biggest success came in 1965 when the group teamed-up with Julie Driscoll to record Bob Dylan's ‘This Wheels On Fire’. As we all know this tune used as the theme tune to BBC TV's Absolutely Fabulous so prolonging its popularity. Venturing into more and more ambitious musical projects, Brian Auger never maintained the prominence he once had.

He began his music career as a jazz pianist in the early 1960s, playing in clubs in and around London. However by 1964 he had purchased himself a Hammond organ, and formed a new group called The Trinity with bassist Rick Brown and drummer Micky Waller, both previously of Cyril Davies' R&B All-Stars. This group hit the right combination and saw far greater success when they played the harder R&B styled music. In 1965 they became part of a concert programme called The Steampacket and it was here that they met up with and played with singers such as Rod Stewart and Long John Baldrey and Julie Driscoll, plus guitarist Vic Briggs.

The Steampacket were an early form of  'supergroup', but unfortunately they never recorded a complete album and soon broke up. After the break up Brian Auger retained Rick Brown, Julie Driscoll and Vic Briggs, and formed a new version of The Trinity with a new drummer Clive Thacker. Rick Brown and Vic Briggs left before very long, and so when they came to record in 1967 the band consisted of Brian Auger (organ/vocals), Julie Driscoll (vocals), Gary Boyle (guitar), Roger Sutton (bass) and Clive Thacker (drums).

The record Open was released in 1967 and was credited to Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity. It turned out to be an interesting, experimental record, mixing jazz, R&B and rock, the band being augmented with a horn section. The first side (labelled 'Auge') featured the band without Julie Driscoll, and was mostly instrumental except for one track on which Brian Auger sang (one of the tracks was also a solo piano performance by him). On the second side  (labelled 'Jools'), Brian Auger took a backseat and Julie Driscoll sang. Despite being such an interesting release, Open did not sell well initially, probably because most people couldn't quite work out what to make of it. However in 1968 the band had a no. 5 hit with a cover version of the Bob Dylan / Rick Danko classic "This Wheel's On Fire", which became the best-known version of the song in Britain, although this version was re-recorded in 1992. Subsequently the album sold much better and went on to reach No. 12 in the LP charts.

In 1970 he formed Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, after abandoning a " jazz-fusion commune in a small suburb of The Hague. The Oblivion Express proved the starting ground for several musicians, including two  future Average White Band drummers and one guitarist. In 1989, Brian Auger was musical director for the thirteen-part film retrospective series Villa Fantastica, made for German TV . He then toured with Eric Burdon in the early 1990s, and recorded the live album with him in 1993. After several projects, including albums with family members, he reformed the Oblivion Express in the late 1990s, with a line-up that eventually featured both his son and daughter.

The Oblivion Express was revived with a 2005 recording and subsequent touring. The group featured Brian Auger, his son Karma Auger on drums, his daughter Savannah Auger on vocals, and Derek Frank on bass.

He has just completed a new album that was released in April this year.

What of Julie Driscoll? She was born on 8th June 1947 in London. Since the 1970s, she has concentrated on experimental vocal music, married jazz musician Keith. She participated in his big band ‘Centipede’ and in 1974, took part in Robert Wyatt’s's Theatre Royal Drury Lane concert; released a solo album, Sunset Glow in 1975. Later in the 1970s, she toured with her own band. In the early 1980s, Her last recorded work was ‘Serpentine’ released in 2012.

Stay in touch

Peter

DUSTYKEAT@aol.com

You Write:

Jonathon Writes:


Hi Peter, your description of eating sweets from yesteryear prompted a memory from my Carol (Winter). She remembers Frys Chocolate Cream, the ones with all white fillings not the various colours that were also sold. She would suck just one segment at a time and try and see how long she could make it last until it was just a tiny tiny sliver that finally went. She used to time it to try and break the previous record. She is certain that she managed an hour and a half. Do you remember those pink prawns sort of firm mousse consistency, four a penny. Lemon sherbert drops that when sucked carefully would suddenly become a fizzy end. Then there were those penny chews that to our memory were enormous in fact the four a penny smaller ones were more manageable. What about that rough honeycomb ....chocolate covered and on a stick for a penny. Walnut whips were another favourite but to our memory rather more expensive and only occasionally bought. Liquorice shoelaces, spanners, tapes around a liquorice allsort and the plain liquorice twist. Oh the list is endless.........no wonder our teeth had to be drilled to extinction in the butcher dentists of the period!!!!!!!

News and Views:

On this Day 8^th June 1960-1965

On 08/06/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/06/1961 the number one single was Surrender - Elvis Presley and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was No Hiding Place (AR) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/06/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/06/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/06/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 08/06/1965 the number one single was Long Live Love - Sandie Shaw and the number one album was Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.