Clem Burke, the driving force behind Blondie’s insistent sound, died last week.

While singer Debbie Harry grabbed most of the attention it is doubtful if Blondie would have achieved the success they did without Burke’s powerful drumming propelling them along.

This was their second UK hit.

Blondie: (I’m Always Touched by) Your Presence, Dear

Clement Anthony Bozewski (Clem Burke:) 24/11/954 – April 6/4/2025. So it goes.

Brian James, founder member of punk rock band The Damned, died on 3/3/2025. Punk rock wasn’t really my thing but it was undeniably a significant part of the late 1970s musically.

This song, written by James, wasn’t a hit in the UK but is very familiar from radio play in the years since.

Brian Robertson (aka Brian James ) 18/2/1955 – 6/3/2025. So it goes.

Singer Roberta Flack died earlier this week.  Her signature style was reserve, not flamboyance or over-indulgence, and her records were the better for it.

Not her biggest UK hit (that would be Killing Me Softly With His Song) but her first.  An all-but perfect rendering of a song Kirsty’s dad Ewan McColl wrote for Peggy Seeger.

Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Roberta Cleopatra Flack: 10/2/1937 – 24/2/2025. So it goes.

I was reminded of this by a piece in the Guardian during last week, so I thought I’d use it here.

The Only Ones: Another Girl, Another Planet

What promised to be Kiki Dee’s breakthrough track. Her first hit but only a no 13 in 1973. Her joint highest solo chart position.

Kiki Dee: Amoureuse

Below is a live version from the Dutch TV broadcaster AVRO’s TopPop.

https://youtu.be/k0RJFG6nTT4?feature=shared

Renowned record producer Quincy Jones died during the week.

His CV is beyond compare. He seems to have worked with just about everybody in the music business over the past sixty plus years.

He only had a few hits under his own name, of which this is one.

Quincy Jones (with Dune): Ai No Corrida

Quincy Delight Jones: 14/3/1933 – 3/11/2024. So it goes.

Kris Kristofferson, who died last week, was a man of many parts (literally as an actor but also a Rhodes Scholar, a soldier, helicopter pilot, singer and songwriter.)

It is for his songwriting and acting he will most likely be remembered for. Classic songs like Me and Bobby McGhee, For the Good Times and this one.

Kris Kristofferson: Help Me Make It Through the Night

https://youtu.be/CksF7Kr7Drw?feature=shared

Also lost to us last week was bass player Herbie Flowers. His CV is second to none.

Perhaps his most distinctive performance was his double bass line for Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side but that could be matched by the innovation on David Essex’s Rock On.

Lou Reed: Walk on the Wild Side

David Essex: Rock On

Brian Keith (Herbie) Flowers: 19/5/1938 – 5/9/2024. So it goes.

For a change, a TV theme from the 1970s. Follyfoot was a programme about a farm which took in horses in need of recuperation.

The tune will bring back memories for some.

The Settlers: The Lightning Tree (Theme from Follyfoot)

https://youtu.be/8vDZHANTXW8?feature=shared

A real forgotten track this.

The tune is of course based on a melody from the Largo section of Dvořák’s New World symphony, a theme also used for Goin’ Home.

I believe Smokey Blue’s Away got to something like no 38 in the UK charts in 1968.

1970s chart followers might recognise the singer’s voice though.

A New Generation were in fact an earlier incarnation of the Sutherland Brothers (later The Sutherland Brothers Band and then The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver.)

A New Generation: Smokey Blue’s Away

I noticed from the last link above that Iain Sutherland died in 2019. I missed that at the time.

Iain George Sutherland: 17/11/1948 – 25/11/2019. So it goes.