(TV) Television and tHE Only Ones

[Graham Urquhart <gurquhart@madasafish.com>]

I have been obsessing about the genius of The Only Ones since catching 
their recent comeback tour which for a hardened gig goer of many many 
years ranked as one of the best I've ever seen. (OO very much a 
soundtrack of 'my youth'...25 years ago!!!). Just seeing Perrett alive 
and singing was such a result!. And Perry is definantly up there with TV 
and RL.

Anyway, I've been revisiting Nina Antonia's book 'The One and Only' - on 
The Only One's - and our boys feature quite a lot since the OO 
.supported on the Adventure Tour. Here is some  the relevant text as 
printed. Warning!!! not all of it pleasant 
reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:
 
    Following some warm up dates at Harlow Technical College (September 
22nd) ,,,the band launched the Planet Tour at London's Lyceum on the 
Strand on             October 1st supported by Bram Tchaikovsky's 
Battleaxe and the business. The evening clouded over early. The Only 
One's seemed unusually fatigued and their     grand finale  "No Peace 
for the Wicked" was jarringly discordant due to the misguided efforts of 
Television's guitarist Richard Lloyd who came out to join the         
band for the last number: Peter:

   Richard was totally out of tune, completely different key. It was 
the worst guitar playing I've ever heard. That's how the evening started 
with him. I should have         realised he wasn't alright in the head 
then. (p.127).

   When the party eased off Peter took Richard Lloyd back to Forest 
Hill.. Lloyd turned out to be a most unfortunate guest given the 
circumstances: Peter: 

   Zena (Perret's wife) was in bed with a threatened miscarriage...Me 
and Richard were were sitting at the end of the bed. I gave him a line 
of smack, I know he'd     been drinking. I  think he'd taken some 
downers as well but even so, it was still a minute amount .  He snorted 
it and and after about five minutes  he just fell             
backwards.   [Then a description  of RL Turning blue etc, in serious 
medical trouble etc......]

   Zena was trying to stop him falling off the bed. It was the last 
thing she needed, at 6 o'clock in the morning with a threatened  
miscarriage. He was too heavy to         do anything about it by 
myself.    Luckily Kellie [OO drummer] lived in an old flat just down 
the road...We carried Richard out into my Damlier Sovereign. I         
   drove at a hundred miles an hour to  Lewisham Hospital. Kellie 
jumped out got,the trolley people, out and told them what had happened. 
As Richard was                 being  wheeled into the hospital they had 
to  start heart massage. He definitley owes his life to me because if 
we'd waited for an ambulance it would have been          too late. (p.128).


------------------------------------

John Perrry (OO guitarist) on the TV support slot:

That was a reasonable match...I got on well with Richard Lloyd. Tom 
Verlaine struck me as a little wound up. We toured on a coach and 
Verlaine who was tall he was walking along the aisle when we went over a 
bump.  He got a great chunk of his hair caught in a skylight but he was 
too self conscious to say...in the end he wrenched it away and walked 
off obviously in great pain...a great chunk of his scalp hanging...poor man.

I think it was a 50:50 audience to see us as much as Television

There has been a certian interest in the double billing of former 
coterie darlings Tom Verlaine and Richard Llloyd versus...Perry and 
Perrett...espacially as Perry and Verlaine are credited with a love of 
jazz structure...Guitarists who listen to Coltrane to influence their 
licks are few and far between.

There's more but too late.....all best everyone

Graham

np Woke Up Sticky - Peter Perrett


The coda here is that i gave my son a CD of a collection of songs that I 
like and I hoped might shake him out of Hard Fi, Killers Linkin Park, My 
Chemical Romance etc.  He was bowled over by Another Girl Another Planet 
and has appropriated it for his 'film co' which he posts on youtube.  
Inciidently he thought Televsision were crap but he's only 11. Later.......
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