Ok, so Bill is now all the rave with write-ups in Mojo ,Record Collector and Classic Rock Magasine, , but is it because these days so few musicians lack substance and thus we are forced to find somebody in the past that has never been lauded, or are we paying our dues, having been ignorant of such visionary's of the past. On a personal note I have been following Bill since the seventies and admittedly being a Christian Zionist, I have found particular appeal in his apocalyptic edge specifically in the early eighties when the Haley's Comet was approaching. Well now we have a wave coming and again Billy Fay rises up like an Atlantis soothsayer. Whether you like it or not Fay is what Mad Max 111 will be listening to while cruising the Namibian sand roads of Worlds end. Alright so here is a bit of history in the making, read well brothers an sisters for this is just the beginning.
Contemplating ballads that will stand the test of time
Bill Fay a UK based singer, songwriter and pianist, in hindsight an overlooked apocalyptic sage with a vision to the future. Ex-Them drummer Terry Noon helped Bill to sign a recording contract with ‘Decca’ putting out the oddly “Some Good Advice”/”Screams In The Ears” backed by Southend band The Fingers. This was followed by the lush orchestrated album Bill Fay backed by Unit 4 Plus 2, ex Mouse / Running Man guitarist Ray Russell, Nucleus drummer John Marshall, Ray Russell Quartet bassist Daryl Runswick & drummer Alan Rushton. The brass input was courtesy of The Mike Gibbs Very Big Band enhancing the anti-war “Gentle Willie”, organic “Garden Song”, a story of spiritual quest, “Methane River” and “Goodnight Stan”, all contemplating ballads that will stand the test of time. Dispelling the string arrangements Bill then put out the raw apocalyptic Time Of The Last Persecution, largely an electric album featuring again guitarist Ray Russell expelling nimble fingerwork on (“Til The Christ Come Back” & “Come A Day”) and “Laughing Man” while the pleading “Don’t Let My Marigolds Die” and naked “Tell It Like It Is” express an artist free of pseudo trimmings.
This album did at least entrap the late John Peel who invited Bill to perform on BBC2 TV show ‘Disco 2’ and radio shows BBC Radio 1 ‘Night Ride’ and ‘Sounds Of The Seventies’. Sadly Decca’ ended Bill’s prophetic reign until the late 1970s and third and singularly most underrated Tomorrow Tomorrow & Tomorrow emerged, supported by The Acme Quartet. Hard to describe this spacy contribution, namely “The Strange Stairway”, “Spiritual Mansions” and surreal ”Cosmic Boxer”, the album highlight being “Jericho Road” a fitting epitaph to another call for repentance. In 2004 ‘Wooden Hill’ released From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock - a beautiful collection of demos 1966 - 1970 backed by Honeybus who covered “Warwick Town” and “Maxine’s Parlour” during their BBC Radio 1 Sessions. This magical album spills infectiously with “Maudy La Luna” , “Doris Comes Today”, the ethereal “Strangers In The Field” and sublime “Brighton Beach”. Bill’s songs have inspired many, namely Wilco, songwriter/producer Jim O’Rourke, Ben Chasny of Six Organs Of Admittance and David Michael of Current 93. A cover version of Fay's, "Pictures of Adolf Again", by producer Jim O 'Rourke and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, can be heard in Koji Wakamatsu’s film United Red Army. The title track of "Time of the Last Persecution" became a live standard of the Brit Apocalyptic Current 93. Fay is due to release a new album entitled Still Some Light.
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