Any thoughts on Joe Brown?

My pleasure - it was very unlike a lot of shows I'd been to... I could have passed four hours in there, without a problem. The time just flew and he and it was 100% entertaining without even wondering what was coming next. Hard to describe but it was marvelous.

 

OF COURSE!! I've seen the film a dozen times... and the rest! How many times has it been on tv, for a start? I forgot that he did that until you mentioned it.

 

I remember seeing Joe's edition of 'This is Your Life' years ago

to begin with young Joe was a likeable villain ! - a bit of a naughty lad who might have gone wrong but then I think it was an uncle or family friend gave him a battered old guitar as a present....

Joe became completely transfixed with this guitar and repaired it, learned how to play it ....and it transformed his life

- and probably 'pop' music re Joe's massive s influence on others !

 

Anyone who likes a bit of pre-Fabs* (see what I did there... pop/rock) then I can heartily recommend this:

Joe Brown - The Joe Brown Story: The Picadilly/Pye Anthology

Should be easy and cheap to obtain this side of the world at least - at 50 tracks it covers a fair bit of ground and it's fair to say that it's quite an eclectic mix. Features both his electric and acoustic guitar work, playing lead on both. Quite a versatile singing voice too. A bit of music-hall, country, rock and roll - does a tidy version of Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen - and tears it up on a few live tracks including one of the things he is still best known for, Hava Nagila:



He did do it on the mandolin last week but thankfully nobody called out for him to play it behind his head as he does in the video above. I heard that he used to do that, years and years ago but took it with a pinch of salt... until I looked on You Tube!

The CD might have a bit of noise reduction on some of the tracks - I can't be certain because it might just be the ages of the tapes, possibly. All I have is another compilation which are needledrops and original singles and an LP that have been played and clearly enjoyed many times by previous owners, yet they still are very listenable.


*It does reach 1967 because it features a faithful cover of With A Little Help From My Friends. I heard that on BBC Radio 2's Sounds Of The Sixties about 20 years ago and was rather impressed by it.

 

I HAD to see if his This Is Your Life was on You Tube - surprisingly not because I've found dozens of others in the past. BUT I found there is an episode of The Sooty Show from 1977 where he plays two songs. I don't even remember them having musical guests! And there is a 'mock' This Is Your Life sketch involving Matthew Corbett and Sooty, Sweep and Sue.



Hopefully it will play from the first song - nice to know the kids of then were aware of who he was... or so it appears from their rapturous applause.

I started to put two and two together and made 5 because IMDB tells me Joe's episode was in December 1970 (there are or were episodes on You Tube going back to when they started broadcasting it in colour - the year before... going by the date) But I'd have not yet been a year old. However, some people were made a 'subject' of the show more than once although I see no mention of a subsequent appearance.


Found a picture though! As they were mostly live shows, I'm sure this would be been made and broadcast in b/w as there was a strike at the time, where engineers refused to use colour equipment unless they had a pay rise. It affected all ITV programmes for the next six months.