![]() Roger that. By the late ’70s, Roger and his new wife Camilla had turned to Christianity, something that still looms large in his life. A fascination with airplanes, gadgets and all things science fiction ensured his list included names like Rocket, Retro and Ramjet, but it was the term used during two-way radio conversations in aviation that won out. Word has it that he changed his name in 1967 after Subud’s founder told him it would better ‘vibrate with the universe’.Īpparently, he was given an ‘R’ and asked to send back 10 names starting with that letter. Of course, he was plain Jim McGuinn before he was Roger, his adopted name coming out of a flirtation with Subud spiritualism. Now you know where I’m coming from I’ll carry on, and while – admittedly – I haven’t studied Roger’s solo output greatly, he remains something of a musical hero.Īnd I’m pleased to say he’s still hard at it all these years on, not least through his work with the Folk Den project these past 20 years, recording a different folk song each month. ![]() I soon shelled out for the 1985 CBS vinyl reissue of their 1967 11-track Greatest Hits, comprising some of the bigger numbers from those first four albums, and was hooked.Ī 20-track Columbia CD compilation followed that into my collection in the early ’90s, culled from a new boxed set.Īnd in more recent times came the shabbily-packaged original album classics five-CD box featured material up to the country-tinged The Notorious Byrd Brothers.įrom that you’ll gather I’m no completist, but this is still a band that mean a lot to me, from those glorious harmonies to the Rickenbacker sound that triumphantly announced the arrival of folk-rock.Īnd although I value Bob Dylan as a songwriter and have a great love for the albums he made when he went electric – notably 1965/66 offerings Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde – The Byrds’ covers spoke more to me. So frightfully camp, it made you laugh, t omorrow I’ll buy myself a dress (how ludicrous)” “I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn’s, I was hoping to impress. The inspiration behind the band was even-name-checked in Orange Juice’s Consolation Prize, Edwyn Collins’ glorious take on unrequited love informing us: I already liked radio staple Mr Tambourine Man, but there were many more great songs I was soon switched on to. The Long Ryders were part of the stateside variation on the theme – on the so-called Paisley Underground scene – that caught my imagination, and pretty soon Sid Griffin’s band led me to investigate further the work of McGuinn’s outfit. There were a host of influences offered up, and alongside those frequent Velvet Underground mentions there was also a nod to The Byrds. ![]() ![]() Some stood the test of time, others soon foundered, but it was a healthy scene all the same. My arrival on the London gig circuit properly came in the mid-’80s, amid a plethora (or a plectra, maybe?) of ‘jingle-jangle’ indie bands. I feel those of us who spent our teenage years watching guitar bands owe something of a debt to Roger McGuinn. Guitar Hero: Roger McGuinn is all set for his latest UK tour
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