{"id":193516,"date":"2018-01-05T08:57:51","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T08:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/http\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles"},"modified":"2020-05-21T10:29:17","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T10:29:17","slug":"man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles","title":{"rendered":"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles)"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/span><\/strong>hen you\u2019ve been a Womble yet were, possibly, offered the chance to, maybe, join The Rolling Stones, you\u2019ve got a certain something. When your near-50-year solo career is critically feted yet still overshadowed by your work with others, from the rockabilly mayhem of Robert Gordon to the louche sounds of Bryan Ferry or the nascent Sex Pistols, it\u2019s to be remarked upon.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chris Spedding isn\u2019t your normal guitarist, nor singer-songwriter, nor session player. And the fevered pace of his lifestyle isn\u2019t slowing down. Not content with the big-time gig with Ferry, which includes a string of dates across Russia, his band Sharks, who break the surface every decade or two, have a new album, Killers Of The Deep<\/i>, out. Yet refer to it as new and confusion sets in, as there\u2019s a new, new album already underway. And as for his solo work, he hasn\u2019t had fronted an album since 2015\u2019s Joyland <\/i>but he says: \u201cI should be thinking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spedding has played on records by everyone from Shirley Bassey to Joan Armatrading, Gilbert O\u2019Sullivan to Nick Mason, and was even a pop star himself, briefly. If not for his other works, the public knows him for the 1975 hit Motor Bikin\u2019, the perfect slice of 50s-influenced pop.<\/p>\n

The self-titled album that was featured on has just been reissued as part of a celebration by Cherry Red records, a set of four albums in a neat box, The RAK Years<\/i>.<\/p>\n

For most, Motor Bikin\u2019 was the debut of a new star yet in reality Spedding had been an admired guitarist \u2013 a jazz musician even \u2013 back in the 60s.<\/p>\n

Spedding formed a band, The Vulcans, at school at the tail end of the 50s. By 1960, aged 16, he was working in a West End music shop, playing US Air Force bases with a country band \u2013 Bill Jordan & The Country Boys \u2013 and helping run a jazz club in Islington where he got to play with the likes of Dick Heckstall-Smith and Ian Carr, both influential in the later jazz-rock scene.<\/p>\n

Come 1964 he was playing his first professional gig on the P&O liner Himalaya<\/i>, cruising the Orient. He returned to a life playing in society dance bands at posh venues. \u201cI never regret going through that scene,\u201d he says. \u201cThose guys could play any song in any key, really good musicians \u2013 it was very good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to back both Alan Price, post-Animals, and Paul Jones, post-Manfred Mann. Not a fan of the blues scene in the late 60s, he avoided trying to compete with the likes of Eric Clapton by sticking to rhythm guitar \u2013 something that made him in demand for sessions.<\/p>\n

In 1968 there was a brief spell in the short-lived bluesy band Denis Couldry & Smile, Spedding playing both guitar and violin on their Decca single Penny For The Wind.<\/p>\n

But his story starts in earnest when he joined Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments, the arty, progressive ensemble revolving around the poet\/singer who was making a name for himself as a lyricist for Cream. The album A Meal You Can Shake Hands With In The Dark <\/i>emerged in June 1969, Spedding on guitar alongside Dick Heckstall-Smith on sax, and the band played the following month\u2019s Hyde Park concert with The Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n

Only thing was, Brown couldn\u2019t sing and was ousted. A second album, Mantle-Piece<\/i>, had Brown\u2019s vocals removed with Spedding stepping into the breech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe unceremoniously got rid of Pete then realised that we didn\u2019t have a singer, because none of us could sing any better than him \u2013 even though we didn\u2019t like his singing which was why we asked him to leave!\u201d says Spedding. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much thought that had gone in to this. But we did have an agreement with Harvest\/EMI to come up with more product. They heard we were breaking up and said they wanted an album but none of the others were interested. So I became a singer-songwriter by default. I thought, well, we\u2019ve got the opportunity to record at Abbey Road, do our own stuff and it\u2019s not going to cost us anything. These guys were totally bonkers to not want to do a record but I thought, well, I\u2019m going to do mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s how Spedding\u2019s first solo album, Backwood Progression<\/i>, arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge Harrison had block-booked studio 3 for All Things Must Pass <\/i>and he took a couple of days off. We were offered the time but told \u2018don\u2019t touch anything\u2019 because it was all set up. There was a harmonium, which we got to use even though we shouldn\u2019t have done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Backwood Progression <\/i>was a warm, meandering collection of music and songs that even with the delectable She\u2019s My Friend, foreshadowed his three-minute pop success that would follow five years later.<\/p>\n

The record startled many people who had known Spedding as a jazzer. \u201cI\u2019d had a fling with jazz in the 60s and by this time I\u2019d played with Nucleus and all those jazz fusion people who were around, like Mike Gibbs and his orchestra and Mike Westbrook and his band.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\u201cYet by 1969-70, I was totally out of the jazz scene and into my rock\u2019n\u2019roll phase again, which was how I started out in 1959-60.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose my jazz phase made me a good person to get into a jazz-fusion band because I played both jazz and rock\u2019n\u2019roll. At that time most jazz players had only been into jazz and they needed someone like me to say, no, it needs to be more rock, we need to put a few licks in. And they\u2019d never heard these licks before and they thought it was totally wonderful.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I was the rock element in it. I was not really interested in jazz anymore, but I knew how to relate to them and they called it jazz-rock.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy this time I was interested in writing pop songs, that was my focus. I was very much into The Band, Bob Dylan, The Basement Tapes<\/i>, hence the line-up that included piano and organ.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t, however, a great time for crossovers. \u201cIt didn\u2019t attract the ear of the pop world at all,\u201d he admits. \u201cPeople were scratching their heads because I was known as a jazz player and they thought I must be selling out, getting lots of money, but I was probably earning more money playing jazz. But I loved the idea of the Phil Spector three-minute pop single, the sociological aspects of what makes somebody use their pocket money to buy your music. Could I do something like that? That was my motivation for the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Spector front, Spedding may (or may not) have ended up on All Things Must Pass <\/i>after a booking around that time turned out to be from the master of the Wall Of Sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an Easter Sunday, which I remember because the Musicians\u2019 Union allowed you to charge double scale,\u201d he says. \u201cI turned up at Trident Studios and there was Phil Spector and there were about four or five us playing acoustic guitars, some 12-string, and of course it became the signature sound for All Things Must Pass<\/i>. I can\u2019t remember what the song was, George wasn\u2019t there, the rhythm section wasn\u2019t there so I\u2019ve no idea whether it ended up on the album.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he says, session players turn up and play, often with no idea what they\u2019re creating, it\u2019s only if \u201csomeone famous \u2013 like Petula Clark or Acker Bilk, and I\u2019ve played with both \u2013 turns up you keep it in the back of your mind\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spedding\u2019s recording credits at this time were relentless and varied, everything from the Pete Atkin\/Clive James album Driving Through Mythical America <\/i>(he later toured with them) to Harry Nilsson\u2019s breakthrough Nilsson Schmilsson <\/i>to Jack Bruce\u2019s Harmony Row <\/i>(he had earlier played on Bruce\u2019s debut, Songs For A Tailor<\/i>) to Elton John\u2019s Madman Across The Water<\/i>.<\/p>\n

His second Harvest solo album, The Only Lick I Know<\/i>, came out in 1972 by which time solo aspirations were being put on hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the call from Andy Fraser,\u201d he says. Fraser, fresh from conquering the world with Free, and having briefly led the band Toby (for which he\u2019d previously sounded out Spedding) wanted a new start. \u201cThe idea that he was from a big [famous] band and wanted to form a group appealed to me,\u201d muses Spedding. \u201cUnfortunately he was only in the band for six months but we did get an album out of him, did some of his songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band, Sharks, with young, unknown singer Steve \u2018Snips\u2019 Parsons, was tipped for the big time. They recorded their debut album, First Water<\/i>, flamboyant rock with perhaps a hint of glam, and supported Roxy Music on tour but a car crash on the road left Fraser with an injured hand and he departed before the album was released.<\/p>\n

The group continued under the guidance of Spedding and Snips, a friendship that lasts to this day with irregular musical get-togethers. The band settled on Busta Jones from Memphis (later part of the expanded Talking Heads), adding keyboard player Nick Judd, still part of the Sharks team. \u201cWe did a very successful tour supporting Mountain in the US, reflects Spedding. \u201cThat was probably the peak but after the second album, Jab It In Yore Eye<\/i>, we started to fizzle out. Me and Steve agreed that we\u2019d given it a good couple of years and it wasn\u2019t going to happen. Island dropped us while we were recording our third album, which was being produced by John Entwistle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tracks appeared on CD as Car Crash Tapes <\/i>\u2013 bluntly named after the Sharkmobile, the Pontiac Le Mans with roof fin and radiator teeth that the original band were in when they crashed.<\/p>\n

And then, of course, there were The Wombles, Spedding famously a part of the hit-making team alongside producer Mike Batt. \u201cI did the first Wombles\u2019 single even before I left the session world. Then Mike called me and said \u2018We\u2019ve got a hit, you\u2019ve got to come and do the follow-up!\u2019 and I said I\u2019m not doing sessions now. I didn\u2019t want to do anything like that as I was in Sharks, because you know what everyone would have said!<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just the one Wombles track I\u2019m not on, because shortly after that Sharks did break up and I did the rest of the Wombles\u2019 records. I lived in Wimbledon at the time \u2013 the only Womble who did.\u201d<\/p>\n

And did you dress up in a Womble suit? \u201cJust once, for Top Of The Pops<\/i>\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The two years concentrating solely on Sharks only enhanced his reputation and he found himself more in demand than ever, working on everything from Cass Elliott\u2019s The Road Is No Place For A Lady <\/i>to John Cale\u2019s Slow Dazzle<\/i>. But Spedding by the end of 1974 had decided on a post-Shark attack on the charts, and achieved it with chart supremo Mickie Most.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven that I\u2019d written some decent pop songs even on the Harvest albums, I thought, \u2018I need a producer who knows how to do this.\u2019 Top of the list was Mickie, who\u2019d had all those hits with Suzi Quatro, Mud\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d worked with him on Donovan\u2019s Cosmic Wheels<\/i>, so I went to him when I had the idea for Motor Bikin\u2019. It was like a classic movie situation, when an artist goes into a producer\u2019s office and he\u2019s sitting there smoking a cigar with his feet on the desk and I\u2019m singing him a song on acoustic guitar and he says, \u2018That\u2019s gonna be a hit son,\u2019 \u2013 it was literally like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got on the phone to Chris Blackwell to get me out of Island, put me on his own RAK label and by the end of the week we\u2019d cut the track. There was no album at that time \u2013 that was the way he worked \u2013 and when we knew there was an audience there we did the album.<\/p>\n

\u201cI calculatedly tried to write a hit song. Session musicians are often asked to recreate the feel of something in the charts \u2013 you\u2019d go into the studio with Radio 1 on so you knew what was being played. In 1975 there wasn\u2019t that much exciting stuff so I thought why don\u2019t I write what I think is missing from the charts and that\u2019s how I came up with the retro rock\u2019n\u2019roll biker thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motor Bikin\u2019 was a classic of its time, somewhere between the legit rock roar of Mott The Hoople and the glam hits of the day, with an entrenched appreciation of 50s rock\u2019n\u2019roll. It reached the Top 20 and looked set to make a solo star of Spedding who was still darting between musical camps.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was still doing sessions and was touring with John Cale \u2013 I was playing with him the week I did Top Of The Pops<\/i>,\u201d he says. \u201cThe sort of people who would go and see him wouldn\u2019t have been conscious that his guitar player was on Top Of The Pops<\/i>. I\u2019d leave a gig and no one would be interested and yet I\u2019d leave the TV studio and people would be clamouring for autographs.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite a classy album full of pop-rock gems (including his Guitar Jamboree run-through of licks from guitar greats) and a cool, elegantly raffish image, Spedding never troubled the charts again \u2013 the gap between the June single release and the album following the next April couldn\u2019t possibly have helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the timing was wrong,\u201d he says. \u201cI was too early for the Stray Cats\u2019 rockabilly revival, a year early for the punk thing. Top Of The Pops <\/i>had people like Roy Wood with his beard and platform shoes, the de rigueur uniform, and there was me with my straight-leg jeans, leather jacket and greasy hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came off for me, but only once \u2013 and a year later all the punks started looking like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And around this time the Stones came calling. \u201cAt the time Sharks broke up and I was looking for a gig Mick Taylor left the Stones. But I didn\u2019t get the call until six months later so I knew I wasn\u2019t top of the list, so I wasn\u2019t that flattered!\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt was Mick Jagger that called and it was a week before Ronnie Wood was announced so I think it might have been a last-gasp attempt to get his own guy in rather than Keith\u2019s guy. And Motorbikin\u2019 was just about to enter the charts, I had tours with John Cale and Roy Harper, I couldn\u2019t just up sticks. And since he didn\u2019t give me a solid offer, just asked what my availability was, I said I was not really available.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like, \u2018Are you free?\u2019 and I said I\u2019m not and he said, \u2018That\u2019s a pity because the Stones are doing a tour of America in August,\u2019 and I said that is a pity, maybe another time!\u201d<\/p>\n

But Spedding was definitely cool. Even before the album came out he\u2019d been voted as the best-dressed musician of 1975 in NME <\/i>\u2013 and shortly after its release he played on Bryan Ferry\u2019s Let\u2019s Stick Together <\/i>album and found himself producing the Sex Pistols\u2019 demos. He knew Pistols\u2019 guru Malcolm McLaren (those cool threads had to come from somewhere) and he took up the invite to help the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were putting the Sex Pistols down and I\u2019d heard them and they were good. I thought if I produced a demo people\u00a0<\/b>would be able to hear them. People warned me not to be associated with them \u2013 so I thought I must.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to rehearsals, they played me all their songs, I chose three and we booked a day in the studio. So it was maybe two days out of my life. They were as good as gold, showed up, played very efficiently \u2013 I just switched the machines on and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He sent the tapes to up-and-coming producer Chris Thomas (who had played keyboards with him in Cale\u2019s band) and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

Spedding\u2019s punk links continued at the 100 Club punk festival, where he joined the Vibrators on stage and struck up a rapport that led to the joint single Pogo Dancing, and occasional guest spots at other gigs. He swipes away any criticism, saying: \u201cI wasn\u2019t in any way jumping on the bandwagon \u2013 the bandwagon had rather jumped on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switching styles again, he was on Ferry\u2019s In My Mind <\/i>album and spent most of the first half of 1977 on the road with him in the UK, Europe, Australia, US and Japan. Returning, it was straight to work on the next Spedding album, Hurt<\/i>, produced by Chris Thomas, which was darker and louder than its predecessor. \u201cIt was a conscious effort to make an album I could recreate live,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd having worked with Chris with John Cale\u2019s band I knew he could make it sound good. He was having a very good year \u2013 Sex Pistols, The Pretenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite great tracks such as the single Get Outta My Pagoda that married pop tunes with punk-like intensity, the hits wouldn\u2019t come. He did play his first solo tour, almost two months \u2013 put together by Roxy\u2019s EG management in return for Spedding spending so long on the road with Ferry.<\/p>\n

Come 1978, a frustrated Spedding was planning to depart to the US to start over when a phone from producer Richard Gottehrer (who taken Blondie into the charts) call led him into a new phase.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobert Gordon and Link Wray were playing a song of mine from the Hurt <\/i>album, Wild Wild Women. I got a call from Richard asking if I would like to play rhythm guitar on the session. I said sure, and I\u2019m thinking of going to New York. Two days later he called back and said I think they\u2019re breaking up and there\u2019s a gig waiting for you as a guitar player with Robert. I thought fantastic, I get to live in a New York and I have a gig where people can see me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spedding\u2019s imaginative, off-kilter guitar blasts and English style proved the perfect foil for Gordon\u2019s post-punk rockabilly, on albums such as Rock Billy Boogie <\/i>and Bad Boy<\/i>. The relationship has lasted 40 years, with Gordon appearing on Spedding\u2019s 2015 album Joyland<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an on-off thing, I didn\u2019t want to just be a sideman,\u201d he says. \u201cI left after the first tour but kept getting invited back. It was always a sideline playing with other people \u2013 at least I thought that back then, I\u2019m not so bothered now, just to play with good people is my focus now.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a slight frustration that only on 2007\u2019s It\u2019s Now Or Never <\/i>(recorded in Nashville with the Jordanaires on backing vocals) was an album credited to both rather than simply Robert Gordon.<\/p>\n

Spedding continued his solo path with two further albums for Mickie Most\u2019s RAK label. Guitar Graffiti<\/i>, from 1978, which was more sharp pop, and 1980\u2019s I\u2019m Not Like Everybody Else<\/i>, which saw him reunited with Mickie Most for a mix of self-penned material and covers such as The Crying Game and The Kinks\u2019 title track.<\/p>\n

In 1980 Spedding reunited with Snips to produce his solo album, La Rocca<\/i>, a classy record of its era that had 80s pop glitz along with a deft, rocking touch. The hits didn\u2019t come though. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to understand why there are certain things in which you invest a lot of time and love that are totally ignored, yet things I do in my spare time without any real commitment are the ones I get remembered for,\u201d says Spedding. \u201cI\u2019ve never been able to figure out how that works!\u201d<\/p>\n

The solo output \u2013 1986\u2019s roots-rocking Enemy Within <\/i>\u2013 continued to avoid success. He played on Paul McCartney\u2019s Give My Regards To Broad Street <\/i>and his own 1991 Just Plug Him In! <\/i>is a live compendium from 1977-\u201989.<\/p>\n

He played on Tom Waits\u2019 Rain Dogs; <\/i>the John Cale connection continued through the 80s, and he toured with former Modern Lover\/Talking Head Jerry Harrison and even worked with original French rock\u2019n\u2019roller Johnny Hallyday. He contributed to French label New Rose\u2019s 1989 Every Day\u2019s A Holly Day <\/i>tribute to Buddy Holly with a low-key yet sublime It\u2019s So Easy). Two other tributes both deserved to be hits: Hey Little Boy (Little Girl) a growling duet with Chrissie Hynde for an Otis Blackwell set and Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots, a Lieber & Stoller number that was actually an Edith Piaf tribute (she\u2019d managed to score an unlikely hit with it).<\/p>\n

Both appear on Caf\u00e9 Days Revisited<\/i>, an expanded version of 1990\u2019s impressive Caf\u00e9 Days<\/i>, recorded in LA by Los Lobos\u2019 Steve Berlin.<\/p>\n

In 1993 Snips and Spedding reconvened for a new Sharks album, Like A Black Van Parked On A Dark Curve<\/i>. \u201cSteve [Snips] would come to Los Angeles to work on his music as a TV soundtrack composer. He\u2019d occasionally get me to play and we just said, \u2018Hey, why don\u2019t we do another Sharks album \u2013 might as well.\u2019 It was mainly us and we got Pete Thomas from The Attractions on drums, and played our one gig of the 90s at the Orange in Kensington in 1993.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spedding contributed to Willy DeVille sessions and played with French veteran rocker Dick Rivers (at one show forming a twin-guitar attack with former Stone Mick Taylor), and releasing the live album Gesundheit! <\/i>in 1995.<\/p>\n

Studio work swung from Mike Batt\u2019s Watership Down <\/i>(no furry costume this time) to producing and playing on Dee Dee Ramone\u2019s solo set Hop Around<\/i>, while he was reunited with Mike Batt for Katie Melua\u2019s Piece By Piece <\/i>and its hit Nine Million Bicycles.<\/p>\n

By 2001, the working relationship with Ferry had resumed with his album Frantic <\/i>and then being asked to contribute to Roxy Music. \u201cI\u2019d been in the US 28 years but came back in 2006, prompted by all the work with Bryan,\u201d he says. \u201cI was doing an 11-hour commute from Los Angeles and it didn\u2019t seem to make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solo albums, increasingly rootsy, included: 2002\u2019s One Step Ahead Of The Blues<\/i>, 2005\u2019s Click Clack <\/i>(an eclectic, bluesy set with a Captain Beefheart title track, Danny Thompson on bass and Ferry contributing harmonica), and Pearls <\/i>from 20ll. \u201cIt\u2019s not really intentionally rootsy but I guess if you stick at what you\u2019re doing for 50 years, what you\u2019re doing sounds rootsy!\u201d grins Spedding.<\/p>\n

There was also King Mob, uniting Spedding and Snips with ex-Pistol Glen Matlock and Pretender Martin Chambers. They made the album Force 9 <\/i>before fragmenting.<\/p>\n

His own Joyland <\/i>in 2015 was his most impressive solo work in a while, his vocals sitting alongside those of both Ferry and Arthur Brown with contributions by everyone from Glen Matlock to Johnny Marr. Solo dates continue to come \u2013 he\u2019s fronted a power trio with Jack Bruce\u2019s son Malcolm on bass \u2013 when they can be fitted in. And he popped over to Spain to play with Scandinavian country chums the Piggyback Riders. And next year is fast booking out with a Bryan Ferry tour in spring and War Of The Worlds <\/i>later in the year. Spring should also see the release of the next Sharks album, Dark Beatles\/White Temptations, their fifth across 45 years, almost certainly with some live dates. One track, Kink Mess, can be heard at 3msmusic.com. Paul Cook is now Sharks\u2019 full-time drummer, reconfirming the Pistols connection.<\/p>\n

So how does Spedding see himself? A session player who puts out solo albums or as a solo performer who also plays with other people?<\/p>\n

He thinks and then says: \u201cA session musician to me is someone who shows up at the studio but that doesn\u2019t happen much these days. I go over to Mike Batt\u2019s place for a Katie Melua recording and we play like we would have done in the 70s, which is unusual. I can\u2019t really call myself a session guy. I just do what I\u2019ve always done. When I started there wasn\u2019t a name for it. I wasn\u2019t a session guy all the time, I wasn\u2019t a side man all the time, I wasn\u2019t even jazz or rock all the time, so I don\u2019t know what you\u2019d call it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just keep doing whatever it is \u2013 someone must come up with a name for it. Just playing music I guess.\u201d Chris Spedding \u2013 The RAK Years is out now on 7-Ts\/Cherry <\/i>Red<\/p>\n

\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019ve been a Womble yet were, possibly, offered the chance to, maybe, join The Rolling Stones, you\u2019ve got a certain something. When your near-50-year solo career is critically feted yet still overshadowed by your work with others, from the rockabilly mayhem of Robert Gordon to the louche sounds of Bryan Ferry or the nascent Sex Pistols, i\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":193517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"issue":[10093],"class_list":["post-193516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","issue-january-2018"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nTHE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles) - Record Collector Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When you\u2019ve been a Womble yet were, possibly, offered the chance to, maybe, join The Rolling Stones, you\u2019ve got a certain something. When your\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sue Matiz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"21 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sue Matiz\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/988db10ab37234551492d43e5936245e\"},\"headline\":\"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles)\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-05T08:57:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-21T10:29:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles\"},\"wordCount\":4209,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles\",\"name\":\"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles) - Record Collector Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-05T08:57:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-21T10:29:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"When you\u2019ve been a Womble yet were, possibly, offered the chance to, maybe, join The Rolling Stones, you\u2019ve got a certain something. When your\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png\",\"width\":237,\"height\":237},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Record Collector Magazine\",\"description\":\"Serious About Music\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Record Collector\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/logo1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/logo1.png\",\"width\":285,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Record Collector\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.facebook.com\/Record-Collector-Magazine-308921382567867\",\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/x.com\/RecCollMag\",\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.instagram.com\/recordcollectormag\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/988db10ab37234551492d43e5936245e\",\"name\":\"Sue Matiz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56bce6fe29ebc78e35335d256a67158cf800507599cf4c9f95078eb84548ab42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56bce6fe29ebc78e35335d256a67158cf800507599cf4c9f95078eb84548ab42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sue Matiz\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles) - Record Collector Magazine","description":"When you\u2019ve been a Womble yet were, possibly, offered the chance to, maybe, join The Rolling Stones, you\u2019ve got a certain something. When your","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sue Matiz","Est. reading time":"21 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles"},"author":{"name":"Sue Matiz","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/988db10ab37234551492d43e5936245e"},"headline":"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles)","datePublished":"2018-01-05T08:57:51+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-21T10:29:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles"},"wordCount":4209,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png","articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles","url":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles","name":"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles) - Record Collector Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png","datePublished":"2018-01-05T08:57:51+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-21T10:29:17+00:00","description":"When you\u2019ve been a Womble yet were, possibly, offered the chance to, maybe, join The Rolling Stones, you\u2019ve got a certain something. When your","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-05-at-08.57.25.png","width":237,"height":237},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/articles\/man-turned-stones-said-yes-wombles#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"THE MAN WHO TURNED DOWN THE STONES (but said yes to The Wombles)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/","name":"Record Collector Magazine","description":"Serious About Music","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#organization","name":"Record Collector","url":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/logo1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/cdn.recordcollectormag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/logo1.png","width":285,"height":100,"caption":"Record Collector"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.facebook.com\/Record-Collector-Magazine-308921382567867","https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/x.com\/RecCollMag","https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.instagram.com\/recordcollectormag\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/988db10ab37234551492d43e5936245e","name":"Sue Matiz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56bce6fe29ebc78e35335d256a67158cf800507599cf4c9f95078eb84548ab42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/56bce6fe29ebc78e35335d256a67158cf800507599cf4c9f95078eb84548ab42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sue Matiz"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8023"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193516"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/recordcollectormag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=193516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/siteproxy.ruqli.workers.dev:443\/https\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}