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Frome Multi-Instrumentalist James Hollingworth Recreates Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Live

Oh hear ye, for a foretelling I behold. A prog-rock shamen of extensive knowledge and sorcery will enter our sacred vale during the moon to cometh.…

A mysterious lone traveller stands at the Trow Bridge, as steadfast as the mist surrounding him. Behind him, the home he departed, the market Frome across the Somerset border. In front as he strides barefoot across the downs, resides the unsuspecting kind folk of the White Horse. He arrives clasping under his cloak, a magical multi-track looper known as a Boomerang III Phrase Sampler, a gatefold sleeve album of yore in his other hand he holds high above his brimmed kappell, and he hath a celebration to bequeath….

….or he might have a van, I’m not 100% certain! But James Hollingsworth returns to Wiltshire to pay homage to Pink Floyd’s ninth studio album Wish You Were Here, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. With loop pedalboard and other such tech, he bravely attempts it solo, but if any one can, he can.

In our writer Andy’s extolled words of a review long past, when James did similar at the Devizes Southgate on Dark Side of the Moon’s fiftieth birthday, Andy called him a “tour de force, a stunning effort of both musical versatility, but also of concentration. It’s the music he loves, and it really showed.”

Unlike Andy, I’m not of that era, being only two when Wish You Were Here was released, and as a result I’m more critical about prog-rock. Though Floyd are a timeless band, whose lyrics we chanted on the playground, inciting us not to need education or thought-control. And of James I said in a 2022 review, again at the Southgate, “for any music lover from folk to prog-rock, from the era of mellowed Floyd-eske goodness, James Hollingsworth works some magic,” so, I must have loved it!

To make sure, James sent me his latest outpouring, an intense collaboration with keyboardist Steve Griffiths called Lost in the Winds of Time. With tolkienesque charm, swirling soundscapes and whimsical storytelling, Lost in the Winds of Time is a sea shanty rock opera, nine lengthy tracks strong, each flowing beautifully like the whistling winds, into a narrative, mystically.

Though Lost in the Winds of Time might be better comparable to the album Meddle, with its gorgeous circulating psychotropic-inducing effects and riffs which roll over like waves on a calming sea caressing the shore. James’ silky vocals drift across the ether, like Wiltshire’s own Justin Hayward narrating a Victoran fantasy adventure, or Harry Potter Goes to Sea with Gandalf!

It’s an impressive trip, to me, as I’m one who, during the intervening period between undesirable commercialised electronica and the more welcomed acid house, sought the archives for lost psychedelia to suit my blossoming journey into the psyche’s nirvana (I was at art college, it was part of the curriculum!) The older Floyd albums were an inevitable discovery I revelled in, horizontally in a moulding bedroom. Wish You Were Here stood out, for its vivid masterpieces of alienation and mental health, attributing original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, and paying their respects to him in such sublime manner reflected by listeners to anyone they once loved and lost.

Not to be confused with a tribute act, James Hollingsworth more simply pays homage to his influences in his own manner, and plans to play some of his compositions alongside. How will he do it? Bet you wish you were here to hear it… (see what I did there? I’ll get my fur-lined Afghan coat!)

He takes his show to Melksham, at the Grapes on Saturday 17th May. At the Southgate in Devizes on bank holiday Monday, the 26th May, which are both free, and as part of the Bath Fringe on Thursday 29th May at The Ring O Bells, ticketed event. Also at The Creative Innovation Centre in Taunton on Friday 23rd May.

REVIEW – James Hollingsworth @ The Southgate, Devizes – Friday 17th November 2023

Andy Fawthrop

Wish You Were Here

Apparently I’ve not reviewed a gig at The Southgate for a while, despite attending plenty of them over the last few months, including the wonderful Courting Ghosts last Saturday night…..

And, apparently, Debbie broke through the 400-gig barrier in early October, a major milestone which we allowed to pass without sufficient fanfare. And (apparently) there are plenty of gigs already booked for 2024. We don’t know how lucky we are in this town!

And, finally, apparently March 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd’s seminal album “Dark Side Of The Moon”. No – I didn’t know that either, but there you go.

Let’s try and put some of those omissions to rights.

So here’s the obvious warning – younger readers should probably look away now. We might mention stuff from 50 years ago. Don’t be frightened – some of the music was actually quite good!-

I’ve known Frome-based singer/ song-writer James and his work for a few years now, and I’m well aware of the two different sides to his musical repertoire – there’s the acoustic folky/ blues/ prog/ whimsical stuff, and then there’s barely-concealed Pink Floyd set. We were treated to the former earlier this year at the Gate, but now it was time to wheel out the big guns of prog rock. James, a huge Floyd fan, wasn’t about to let this anniversary pass without a major dusting-down of the whole album, and he’s been presenting this set throughout the year. Tonight was special though – this was the Gate, this was Friday night. The controls were set for the heart of the sun, and the interstellar overdrive was fully engaged.

The pub was absolutely rammed, which is a great compliment to the quality of the music on offer on a wet Friday night. And soon there were strange looping sounds coming from the stage as James set off on his journey. The first half contained lots of non-DSOTM numbers – Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, and Comfortably Numb, the latter evoking just the first singalong of the night. Playing with few breaks, James clocked up 70 minutes of material in his opening salvo.

Then, almost before you could get another pint in, we were off on the main adventure – the whole of Dark Side Of The Moon *** (see below for the factual stuff). Got all of that? And here was James – just one bloke in a crowded Devizes pub. And that’s where the pedals and loops came in. Appearing to play only acoustic guitar and harmonica, James built up the songs through many layers, adding the vocals as the songs swept past. Each song was greeted with a cheer, and there were a good few singalongs. I’m not going to claim that Messers Gilmour, Mason, Waters and Wright “could have been in the room”, but he made a bloody good fist of it, simulating drums, keyboards, synthesisers, bells, clocks, and even making a passable attempt at Clare Torry’s amazing vocal sequence on “The Great Gig In The Sky”.

It was a tour de force, a stunning effort of both musical versatility, but also of concentration. How he had the time to smile and raise himself for some inter-song chat was amazing. He must have been exhausted, but he looked nothing but happy. It’s the music he loves, and it really showed.

As the final track died away, James was rewarded with a well-deserved cheer and huge round of applause. And he still had enough gas in the tank to give us an encore. What a performer. He did Devizes proud, and I think Devizes responded with full enthusiasm.

Great night, great gig.

*** A bit of background info. “The Dark Side of the Moon” was Floyd’s eighth studio album and was developed during live performances before recording began. It was conceived as a “concept album”

that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and also deal with the mental health problems of former band member Syd Barrett, who departed the group in 1968. The record builds on ideas explored in Pink Floyd’s earlier recordings and performances, while omitting the extended instrumentals that characterised the band’s earlier work. The group employed multitrack recording, tape loops, and analogue synthesisers. Engineer Alan Parsons was responsible for many of the sonic aspects of the recording, and for the recruitment of session singer Clare Torry, who appears on “The Great Gig in the Sky”.

The album centres on the idea of madness, exploring themes such as conflict, greed, time, death, and mental illness. Snippets from interviews with the band’s road crew and others are featured alongside philosophical quotations. It’s among the most critically acclaimed albums of all time and brought the group international fame, wealth and plaudits. As THE blockbuster release of the vinyl album era, it also propelled record sales throughout the music industry. It’s certified 14 times platinum in the UK, and topped the US Billboard for 984 consecutive weeks. It’s claimed to have sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the band’s best-selling release, the best-selling album of the 1970s, and the fourth-best-selling album in history.

Future gigs at The Southgate:

Saturday 18th November Junkyard Dogs

Saturday 25th November Worried Men

Sunday 26th November James Oliver

Saturday 2nd December Lunabarge

Sunday 3rd December Jon Amor Trio + special guest Dale Hambridge

Friday 8th December Strange Folk

Saturday 9th December Black Nasty

Wish You Were Here: All Floyd at The Bell By The Green

By Andy Fawthrop

Been a while since there’d been much live music on at the Bell, and the last tribute band they had last year had been pretty poor, so I hesitated before unlocking the wallet and extracting a fiver to get in. But we were back in business.

The place was packed and the band were in full flow.

All Floyd are an 8-piece hailing from Salisbury and, as the name might possibly suggest, a Pink Floyd tribute band. Whilst I don’t go a bundle on tribute bands in general (a little voice inside me insists on wanting to yell “write your own bloody material” – but that’s another matter) I do have a bit of a rule on judging the quality of such acts. If you’re going to pay “tribute” to your heroes, you need to do one of two things – either re-produce their music extremely accurately, or else re-interpret their material in such a way that it really adds something new and interesting. However, the idea that you need, in any way, to look like your heroes, has little to recommend it. It’s music, not pantomime.

Anyway, All Floyd went down the first path and made a bloody good job of it. Number after number turned out immaculately, note perfect, complete with backing singers and that wonderful, rich throbbing sound that Floyd fans will be familiar with. Messers Mason, Gilmour, Waters, Wright & Barrett would have been proud to hear their music so faithfully rendered. Close your eyes and they could have been in the room. They weren’t, but they could have been. In their place All Floyd are a bunch of very talented musicians and singers.

All the “hits” were there, including plenty of material from Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here, The Division Bell and many others. Not too much chat from the band between numbers, letting the quality of the music speak for itself. And there were some great moments too. Whilst you’d probably expect folks to sing along to “Another Brick In The Wall”, watching a whole roomful of people belting out “Comfortably Numb” was something quite emotional and remarkable to witness. Absolutely terrific. And after this I might even change my mind about tribute bands.

Unfortunately the logistics of the Bell’s performance space didn’t allow for the full light show, but TBH I didn’t really miss it – the music alone was plenty good enough. However if you’d like to catch the band in full flow, they’re doing an all-seated version of the gig at Warminster Athenaeum on Saturday 4th May – might be worth a run out. Highly recommended.

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