Back in the early 80s, in San Francisco, I met an older guy (in his 60s, perhaps) who was selling a bunch of stuff on the sidewalk one day -- I don't really remember what else he was selling, but he was definitely selling some rock photos, mainly of British musicians (my favorite kind!). I got into a conversation with him, and immediately found out the reason why he had so many photos of British musicians -- he was English himself (had an unmistakable accent). I bought a few photos of The Who from him, and don't remember what else he had, but he probably had some photos of Jimmy McCulloch, because we wound up talking about him. The photographer had known him, and known him around the time Jimmy died (so the guy couldn't have been in San Francisco more than a few years at that point). He seemed to know more about Jimmy's death than he was willing to say, but he definitely gave the impression that there was more to the story than was public knowledge. He liked Jimmy, and thought it was very sad. He said the people Jimmy was hanging around with were NOT good folks. He definitely said that Jimmy's death was more than "accidental". Unfortunately, I don't know the photographer's name -- he would have mentioned it that day, but I likely forgot it within a day or two. Never saw him again. If he was in his 60s then (that's just a guess), he would almost certainly be dead by now.
That is a very interesting story especially the photos if they were of JM around 1979 or so. Jimmy's passing was just that, an accident. Some of the folks he was hanging around with weren't that good of an influence but nothing sinister happened. It was a tragic accident. Jimmy should still be here, playing his guitar because he never lost his love of music.
To be clear, not having read your book, I wasn't saying you did. But it's not uncommon for authorized bios to leave out a lot of the naughty bits. As a genre, I tend to be suspicious of them, but that's no reflection on you.
I definitely focused more on the positives because that is the real Jimmy that I wanted people to learn about but there is some discussion of times where he didn't act like a choir boy.
Just to be clear, I am not claiming that Jimmy's death was in mysterious circumstances, or that there was anything sinister involved. I wasn't there, I didn't know Jimmy. I'm just relaying what I was told nearly 40 years ago by someone who did know him, as much as I remember. I didn't stand on the sidewalk talking to the guy for very long. I don't remember talking to him about other musicians, although I'm sure he knew many more. Other than talking about Jimmy McCulloch, the only other topic of discussion was when I mentioned that I would like to visit England, specifically London someday (to this day, have never done that, and it doesn't really look like I ever will, unfortunately). I remember asking the guy (I said he might have been in his 60s, but he could have been in his 50s -- I was 17, 18, 19, somewhere in there, so even if he'd been in his late 40s, he would have seemed like an old man to me), "Won't they worry about an American taking a job away from a Englishman if I try to get a job while I'm there?" He said, "Nah, they'd be more worried that you'd try to get on the dole." Which I don't even think is even possible for a foreigner. Oh, and back to Jimmy for a second, the photographer did tell me that Jimmy's death was a cautionary tale to stay away from drugs, which he didn't need to tell me. I told him I'd much rather have a drink, and the photographer said, "NO! That's even worse!" He said I should stick to smoking weed. I've never really liked that stuff all that much, so his advice wasn't all that helpful. But he seemed like a nice guy. Wish I'd been able to talk to him again. I think The Who photos I bought from him are probably long gone -- I don't remember the last time I saw them. I've moved several times in the last 40 years.
I always thought of Jimmy in the same way as Paul Kossoff...brilliant and gone way too soon....Paul said it best.. Don't get caught with your hand in the medicine jar.
Jimmy really slayed in the Rock Show concert movie …I watch it fairly regularly…also it contains some of Macca’s finest bass playing and vocals.
Injecting liquid morphine isn't an accident. He O.D.'d like Parsons did. Rock Show movie had loads of punched in rerecorded leads and vocals....not as bad as The Song Remains The Same which had Led Zeppelin perform on a soundstage in '74 the entire show with John Paul Jones wearing a wig for insert shots to be added to the '73 footage.. Tons of Page rerecorded leads.
I think there’s maybe an old thread here on the “ sweetening” of Rock Show but not sure and there’s definitely specific stuff online about it and exactly what was sweetened and how and how much was sweetened. Considering how common the practice was in the seventies, Rock show had much less of it overall but did have some sweetening it’s called. It actually didn’t have loads of punched in leads and vocals but certainly did have some. As someone who saw wings live then, I’ll just say it was a damed good concert in every way and probably the best I ever saw in fifty years of concerts and many acts seen. I had read McCartney/wings was good in early European tours but was still blown away at how good wings in 76 was live.
A PS to your post, yes, sadly Jimmy died like Graham Parsons did morphine injection OD, both very talented and a serious waste. There’s a Graham Parsons exhibit in a museum in Nashville, the city near me. I always liked Graham Parsons music and he was a very talented and good looking guy. The folks trying to steal his body is a strange story.
The Song Remains The Same doesn't have any rerecorded lead. It's only an edit of 3 concerts (as most official live albums are). True about the fake reenacted '74 footage though. On Rockshow, the most obvious overdubs are the backing vocals (which were mostly muted in the latest remix). It doesn't seem like there are many lead vocals or instrumental overdubs though.
It seems like a great book on an immensely talented guy. I'm sad that my local currency (Brazilian Real) is five times lower than a Dollar, so with shipping and customs included, it costs the equivalent of a brand new Android smartphone and things are hard around here. I truly hope for an e-book edition, far cheaper and actually, nicer to read since my vision is not that great and it's possible to adjust the font to my needs. In any case, Paul, I wish you the best of luck in sales, since you did a marvelous job just by choosing Jimmy as a subject and took a tremendous effort to research and write the book, a labor of love.
I actually saw The Jimmy McCulloch Band support Mountain at Newcastle City Hall on a freezing February night in 1972. In my notes of the gig (I still have my ticket but sadly Jimmy is not mentioned on it) I commented that “the support was Jimmy McCulloch.. his band played a fabulous blues set with some terrific guitar playing” for some reason I had written that he was “17?” So maybe it was mentioned by an announcer or band member. I then saw Stone The Crows at the same venue in the September of that year...I honestly can’t remember if I was aware that this was the same guitar player I’d seen earlier in the year. But I read the NME avidly in those days - so I probably did. Even now I regale my musical friends that “never mind Wings..I saw Jimmy support Mountain”. Apologies for coming to this thread late. Good luck with your book. Such a great musician deserves his story told.
