Pete Brown - 1973 - The Not Forgotten Association

Pete Brown 

1973 

The Not Forgotten Association

01. Few

02. Dreamin' The Hours Away (For Clarence Williams)

03. Reckless

04. Job

05. Television

06. Africa

07. Small Poem

08. Commemoration

09. Till Dawn

10. Poems

11. Poverty / Sweet Substitute

12. Love Poem / Stomp ***************** (Oops)

13. Night Lament (After Lorca)

14. Slam

15. Interview

16. Vision

17. Scenes From War I-VII

18. There Will Probably Be A Nuclear War In The Next 10 Years

19. Two Rooms

20. Advertisement

21. Way Out West I-VI

22. Ballad For The Queen Of Outer Space

23. The Scottish Sound Poems (The Blue Moor And McBnuigrr's Speech)

24. Blues For Slim Gaillard

25. Look Man We Are Going To Make Our Pit Ponies Smile....

26. Poem For Bill Evans

27. My Friend Made Love To Her Before Me...

28. Sad Is The Man

29. Long Live

Banjo, Acoustic Guitar – Tony Hudd (tracks: 2, 13)

Double Bass [String Bass] – Jeff Clyne (tracks: 22, 24, 26)

Drums, Percussion – Ed Spevock (tracks: 2, 13, 21, 24)

Guitar – Raymond Williams (tracks: 13, 22, 24, 28)

Piano – Max Middleton (tracks: 2, 22, 24, 26, 28)

Reeds – Jack Lancaster (tracks: 2)

Slide Guitar, Lead Guitar – Derek Foley (tracks: 22, 24)

Trombone – George Howden (tracks: 2)

Trumpet – Henry Lowther (tracks: 2)

Tuba – Vivian Stanshall (tracks: 2)

Vocals – Vivienne McAuliffe (tracks: 22)

Vocals, Voice, Talking Drum – Pete Brown 

This album is dedicated to the memory of Lord Buckley, and to Slim Gaillard; also to Mike Horovitz who found me in a tent (anyone would think I'd never been found in a tent before, he said).

When given a setting that befits his particular gifts, beyond-beat poet (and, lest we forget, Cream lyricist) Pete Brown can always be relied upon to provoke thought, skewer the unjust, tickle a rib and prickle tear ducts in equal measure. Originally issued in 1973 on Deram, The “Not Forgotten” Association – its title derived from a charity advert spotted on a Crouch End bus – is a beautifully realised amalgam of poetry and musical vignettes: not songs so much as poems with appropriately weighted musical settings. Dreaming The Hours Away (For Clarence Williams) is a barked recitation over a surprisingly authentic second-line trad jazz backing, featuring Vivian Stanshall on tuba, while Blues For Slim Gaillard, led by Max Middleton’s roadhouse piano, is a swinging, Dadaist rant delivered in what can only be described as Scottish vout. In a parallel universe, this is the sound of Spike Milligan on a Kurt Schwitters tribute album.

Brown recites his poems in a voice that’s endearingly downbeat and free of pretension, but nevertheless emphatic and engaging. The imagery is consistently direct and incisive: “‘Get a job’, shouts my father – a huge tank crawls from his mouth”; “I discovered poems written all over your face and body, then discovered it wasn’t me who’d written them.”

Famed for his lyrical contributions to the music of JACK BRUCE, both for CREAM and for Bruce’s solo work, and also as a Poet and performer in his own right, Pete Brown rightly stands as one of the legendary figures of the Beat and Rock Generation of the 1960s and 70s.

Following his work with the band PIBLOKTO! and with musician GRAHAM BOND, he recorded “THE NOT FORGOTTEN ASSOCIATION”, a highly sought after album of Poetry, Prose and Music. The album featured contributions from legendary musicians such as Max Middleton, Vivian Stanshall, Henry Lowther, Jack Lancaster and more and is a fine and eccentric record of the era.