Friday 27 January 2023

John Otway & Wild Willy Barrett – "Live At The Roundhouse" (Official Bootleg) 1977


Another who extolled the virtues of wood and its role in popular music,was one Wild Willy Barrett; whose work with the bard of Aylesbury ,John Otway,took unprofessionalism to new heights.
Wild Willy made his own guitars,and even made wooden sleeves for some of his solo releases.
Otway,as Willy called his rather eccentric partner,was one of those very British characters  on the peripheries of the pre-punk rock scene who seemed to exist as Stars in their own lunchtimes and in their own minds.Such as Johnny Moped,John The Postman,Chris Seivey,Wreckless Eric,and Sting,the Geordie Bono.
Like Sting, Otway,would literally do anything to achieve his dream of being a Star,but, unlike Sting,did it with an blatant sense of humour that suggested he also knew he would never make it.....surely not? But, briefly, he did. Mainly thanks to his more Punk than Punk performances on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Top Of The Pops with Wild Willy,which included Otway leaping on to Willy's amp, precariously perched on a chair,and subsequently falling off astride the amp crushing his family jewels,and disconnecting Barrett's guitar in the process,all on live national TV.
Catapulting "Really Free" to the lofty position of number 27 on the UK charts,and Polydor releasing their previously self-released eponymous LP,as financed by John's long suffering parents who re-mortgaged their home(?)in a desperate attempt to help their son to have a career....ANY career.
Of course the follow up singles flopped.Incredibly even the classic hymn to mindless violence "Headbutts", never broke the top 75!?
John then made sort of a career,post Wild Willy as a professional 'Failure',and his fans co-ordinated themselves to buy his "Bunsen Burner" single to get it into the top ten in 2002.
This pair were very representative of the generation of long hairs caught between Punk and Prog. Too young for Prog and too old for Punk,which really most of the Clash were too;but Otway and Barrett didn't have to pretend to be anything but themselves.Punk before Punk,and DIY before DIY.
This recording,headlining at the Roundhouse,was made at the height of Otway's micro stardom.Where our hero is supported by the marvelous  Fruit Eating Bears, Clayson and the Argonauts,and future hit makers,Squeeze...featuring the king of bland coffee table dad rock and boogie woogie criminal, Jools Holland...who,bizarrely, is the only one out of this lot who can still get on TV.

Tracklist:

1.Slewfoot
2.Only A Hobo
3.Really Free
4.Fire On A Mountain
5.Geneve
6.Beware Of The Flowers ('Cause I'm Sure They're Going To Get You Yeh)
7.Running From The Law
8.Cheryl's Going Home
9.Down The Road
10.Racing Cars (Jet Spotter Of The Track)


8 comments:

jimicito said...

Saw then together once at Glastonbury and John several times solo after Willie passed. Always great entertainment.

Jonny Zchivago said...

Wild Willie is still alive,active and wood working. Last year he was also seen on stage with otway...as he will be in the up and coming 50 years of Otway and barrett tour starting in April 2023.
https://www.wildwillybarrett.com/

Anonymous said...

For some odd reason i can't comment under my username today (Richie Muster), but that won't stop me saying, "holy crap! Otway and Barrett live! I saw them several times back in the 70s - they had scaffolding up on the stage for Otway to climb on - one gig he performed nearly all the set upside down while Barrett looked on, nonplussed. I (sadly) sold the albums years ago - i'd love to get them again - but i had the foresight to keep the free 7" that came with one of them. It has a raw, turbo-charged version of Racing Cars on it, which pisses all over the studio version. I'm really looking forward to playing this. Ta muchly!"

Jonny Zchivago said...

Indeed Richie...you can see the scaffold in full use on you tube at an Aylesbury Otway Outdoors gig. Am considering posting the debut,as i bought that from one of those buy 4 lp's for 49 pence music club adverts in the papers....then you'd get a steely dan lp sent to you without asking, then you owed the fuckers £3.99 plus p&p.
It was one of those opt-out scams.So everytime i failed to opt out i'd get some shite, Dr Hook posted to me.....in fact secretly liked Dr Hook,but you get the gist.

Richie Muster said...

I truly do. And hey, i like early Dr. Hook, unironically. I still have a few Shel Silverstein albums (and a couple of early live Dr. Hook shows from guitars101). As for more O&B, hell yeah!

Lee said...

A workmate was a big fan of them, and his prized bit of memorabilia is a fire damaged guitar given to him after a gig by Willy

Wollmar said...

Totally kool! Hanx.

Stu said...

To put it bluntly.....Fucking Brilliant !.....many thanks Jonny Zchivago for sharing this great album and very much appreciate all the time and effort that goes into your wonderful blog.....Love & Peace Stu