Last night, on our way back from hauling stuff out to Palm Springs, Carole and I were listening to the Who and debating the relative merits of Nicky Hopkins and Billy Preston. For the uninitiated, Hopkins was the session keyboardist whose madly tinkling sounds can be heard (and immediately identified) on such classic British Invasion blasts as the Kinks' "She's Got Everything," the Creation's "Biff Bang Pow," the Rolling Stones' "We Love You" and a hefty portion of the Who's My Generation LP. He was so ubiquitous on the London recording scene that Ray Davies wrote "Session Man" on Face to Face about him — which Hopkins then duly graced with a crazed harpsichord intro.
Preston, on the other hand, was a funky and soulful keyboardist from the Ray Charles school, who had several hits of his own during the 1970s — including "Will It Go 'Round In Circles" and "Outta-Space" — and also laid claim to being one of the many "Fifth Beatles" thanks to his involvement in the Get Back sessions. (His electric piano part on "Don't Let Me Down" is easily my all-time favorite musical contribution to a Beatles song by a non-Beatle. And yes, I'm well aware that Eric Clapton played lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Fuck Eric Clapton.)
More importantly (at least in the context of this weekly feature), Billy Preston had big, big hair:
Man, when your 'do is sizeable enough for an art department to emblazon your entire name across it, you must be doin' something right. Oh, and just in case you think that's merely the work of some overactive Photoshopper, check out this photo of Billy and two other guys displaying three of the more popular 70s hairstyles:
I am reminded of Billy's appearance on a 70's TV show (possibly "In Concert" or something similar) in which he appeared with a HUGE - probably 3 foot diameter (no kidding!) - 'fro! As he got to the point in his concert where he got up from the organ and starting dancing around, the 'fro fell off! It was a wig! His real hair was about an inch long! He just laughed and kept dancin'! Great stuff!
Posted by: rich | January 11, 2008 at 04:31 PM
Wow, wiggetry in motion! Great story, Rich!
Posted by: Dan E | January 12, 2008 at 09:17 AM
Damn, a Gerald Ford sighting in the Friday Fro. That MUST be a sign of the apocalypse...
Posted by: Chris Perry | January 12, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Fuck Eric Clapton, in deed.
g
Posted by: Gary Poole | January 31, 2008 at 11:35 AM