I have never been a fan of British R 'n' B al a Feelgood, Nine Below Zero, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, etc. In all these years I've never given it more than a cursory glance. However I have been approached to play for a local R 'n' B outfit that perform this kind of material.
So I have been listening to a CD of material they provided me with of Dr Feelgood stuff they want to do. The harp parts present no problem at all for me.
Musically however it has me perplexed as to why people always refer to Dr Feelgood as British R 'n' B when they clearly have more in common with early Punk Rock.
If you listen to them and then listen to The Clash or The Stranglers, it becomes pretty evident (to me at least). I'd go so far as to say that Dr Feelgood were really a pre-Punk, Punk band. Sure it has some elements in common with Blues/ R 'n' B in that it follows a 12 bar format most of the time, but that's about it to my ear.
kingley there is a documentary film you must see now on BBC i player on sat 24th April a film called 'Oil City Confidential' the story of Dr Feelgood in full.
Nick - I'm going for the job. That was never an issue.
My question was about why people refer to Dr Feelgood as R 'n' B when they have more in common with early Punk Rock. Sorry maybe I didn't make that clear with my ramblings.
Ok so yes now I understand, and I agree with you, because as I understand it, they became successful in rebellion of the progressive rock scene in 1973/4 just before the punk movement did exactly the same.
Though they quote the blues as formative, it was no more than just that, and it appears that they just found their own sound with their own material.
Every band needs a stoke of luck and they were there when Ducks Deluxe had a gig cancelled and they stepped in.
They were very successful commercially right across Europe and a very hot live act in 1975
If your new band can generate that electric live performance you could do very well Kingley.
Last Edited by on Apr 25, 2010 10:50 AM
"Why people refer to Dr Feelgood as R 'n' B" 1/ many people just don't know what R'n'B is 2/ any lousy singer with a voice would be classified R'n'B nowadays
You're right, Kingley, Dr Feelgood is a typical rock band. I'm not sure about the erly punk rock thing, but they certainly share the esthetics of these times, sharp attacks, no dwelling on notes...
And yes, Wilko Johnson was almost pogoing on stage.
Yes you are right Kingley. They were more of an evolutionary stepping stone between the RnB bands of the sixties and the punk bands from abouty 1976 onwards (Pub Rock). There is an excellent book called "No Sleep till Canvey Island" which describes this pub rock period. However Dr Feelgood were very firmly rooted in the blues and did an album of Blues covers called Chess Masters in their own "RnB" style (Lee sadly didn't play on this one).The last track of the copy of this album that I have is a interview with Lee Brilleaux where he talks about Howling Wolf and what a huge influence he was to both him and the band.
If you have a look at some of the compliation albums of this time e.g Best of Punk etc you will see Dr Feelgood on many of these, labeled;
Best of Punk Rock Best of New Wave Best of Pub Rock Best of RnB
Most fans of the band would have labeled them an RnB band simply because at that time in the 70s that's was what most RnB bands sounded like.
I think Nine Below Zero sound was less punky and agressive than Dr Feelgoods and their earlier sets at least were more covers which they did in a more RnB style. I would also have to say that their harp player was alot more technically gifted than Lee Brilleaux, although he would have sounded very out of place playing in Dr Feelgood.
I can't comment on Johnny Kidd and the Pirates as I don't think I've ever heard of any of their stuff but I'm about to have a look on U-tube.
It's just a label and at the end of the day doesn't mean anything.
I hope the gig goes well. Post us any vids you have as I'd really like to see them.
i cant ever see the feelgoods as a pre punk band. apart from they were around well before punk scene happened. also the punk scene was mostly a london art scene, and canvey island is a very isolated place not were you get rebelling art students from.the punks always said thy had no heroes, just the opposite to feelgood. after watching oil city confidential their heroes and influences were all blues players. as you can tell i love the feelgoods, btw another of my favourites the jam were called punks when they came out in 76, and paul weller wanted nothing to do with the punks and pulled the jam off the clash's white riot tour. he did have heroes including dr feelgood and thats why the jam dressed in suits like they did and wellers early guitar playing was copying wilko johnson.
Punks said they had no heroes: they never said they had no influences though.
Punk was about the democratisation of music. Anyone could do it. It wasn't about skill, wealth or reputation. All you needed was energy and three chords. Punks were iconoclasts who celebrated attitude over technical prowess. Some incredibly talented musicians came out of the punk scene though, but you didn't cheer the guitar solos, you spat at them (pretty revolting really and the bands never encouraged it).
I don't think the Feelgoods were punk, but like the 101ers (Joe Strummers first pub-rock band) and the Blockheads (Ian Dury) they shared a lot of punk ethics: anti-establishment, working class (or at least claiming to be - Joe Strummer was a privately educated diplomat's son), energetic and dripping with attitude.
Last Edited by on Dec 03, 2010 10:58 AM
Looselips...who cares. I love the Feelgoods and the Jam too. If you read my original post I called them a pub rock band, not punk. But Pub Rock, as VLU points out, evolved into punk over time. You should never get to concerned about labels mate. Your right about Canvey BTW. I live in Leigh on Sea and although it's only 2 miles away Canvey is still a different country...and I hope it always stays that way.
Kingley..did you ever get to play with that band? How did it work out? ---------- Oisin
Last Edited by on Dec 03, 2010 12:01 PM
I never liked them , when I got up at my local Jam it was always Dr Feelgood music I called it Dr Feel bad music but then I saw the documentary & thought oh that's what they are all about & had to dig out my old MP3's ----------
well they are lying because they certainly had ONE influence and that's where they got the name. Dr.Feelgood and his Interns was run by Piano Red (Willie Lee Perryman) here in Atlanta Ga. from maybe 1949 up until he died around 1984. He recorded extensively with RCA, OKEH, and Checker as Piano Red and then did some recording under The Doctor Feelgood name in later years. He called himself Doctor Feelgood.He was also a DJ on radio WAOK with an afternoon show. He hit big in the early 50's with Red's Boogie...we grew up listening to him and his band working fraternity parties at Auburn and Georgia Tech. It's all in the history, gents. Regards, JoeLee
Last Edited by on Dec 03, 2010 9:34 PM
Oisin, I did one gig with them back in May and then promptly quit because it just ain't my kind of music. Like Joe says "Playing that stuff will crush your soul".
