The first one was called ‘Graham Parker: Don’t Ask Me Questions’ and looked at the career of singer-songwriter Graham Parker and his band The Rumour. Wasn’t really familiar with him before, ignorant of me I know, but I was mightily impressed. I had heard Hank once speak highly of Brinsley Schwarz, who turned out to have been one of the guitarists in the band. I was pleased to hear both Mr Schwarz and his fellow axe-man Martin Belmont (both of whom were great players, by the way!) cite The Shadows as having been their prime influences. I was particularly amused to hear Belmont speak of how he used to insert a pen between the strings of a tennis racquet, as a kid, to act as a ‘tremolo arm’ whilst miming to Shadows tunes in front of the mirror!!
Even better, if possible, was the documentary that followed – ‘Oil City Confidential: The Dr. Feelgood Story’. It began with some fascinating stories and archive footage of life on Canvey Island in the 1950s and, I’ll admit that I was quite surprised when guitarist Wilko Johnson again referred to The Shadows as a prime influence. This was accompanied by a clip of the Shads from about 1963 live on stage. Wilko then played a little bit of, I think, Apache, in his own inimitable style. Dr. Feelgood were a fantastic band, but never in a million years had I suspected a Shads influence. But given the ages of the band members, I guess it should not have been surprising. Tragic that lead singer Lee Brilleaux is dead and that Wilko is suffering from terminal cancer. He came across as a very nice, extremely eloquent and well-educated man.
Both documentaries are feature length and I can recommend them both. I suspect that they will be available on the BBC iPlayer for the remainder of the week. As I say, I sat totally engrossed without moving from my chair for the entire duration of both. Something that very rarely if ever has happened before! Amazing stuff.
