Paradiso 1969

The Beat Club TV appearance Roger Glover mentions, is the black / white take of "Hallelujah", which should be familiar to many. · Roger Glover

I've no idea what recording I've got, it came from a fan in Germany,
    and I'd just called it Paradiso. On my tape, Kneel and Pray is a mess, soundwise,
    RB can hardly be heard until two thirds of the way through, the bass is loud
    and boomy in parts, not in others. It gets better after this. This would be
    sort of normal - the out front sound mixing in those days was handled by one
    of our two roadies, Ian Hansford or Mick Angus, neither of whom knew anything
    about what they were doing. The first song was always a mess while they sorted
    it out.

I remember quite clearly the Paradiso gig.     We were nonplussed (a posh word
meaning surprised) at the reaction to the first song - hardly anything - which led
Ian to comment on the sight we saw as we peered
out through the stage lights: the entire audience was sitting on the floor, a
rare enough sight although not completely out of the ordinary (we used to get
the audience to sit during the quiet arts of Episode Six's show), but it was
the smell that wafted up to the stage that was so striking. We realised
that we wouldn't be able to get much reaction from this crowd because they
were all so out of it.

That is why, a few songs later, it's good to hear
them go wild for Wring That Neck, the song that really gets them going.

Just as a matter of interest I've just looked up my 1969 diary, I didn't
keep much of a diary during the early years of the band, (it was a tiny book,
measuring no more than a few inches), but I kept it up until September
1969.

Here then, the first time I've ever shared it with anyone, is a peek into
my diary from August 1969:

22 Friday.
Flew to Brussels.  Drove to Bilzen for Jazz Festival, poured with
rain.  Good crowd stayed.   Worked with Aynsley Dunbar, Humble Pie, Marsha
Hunt, Soft Machine etc. etc.  Blew them all off.

23 Saturday.
Drove to Rotterdam.   Club closed.   Instead drove to Amsterdam
and worked at the PARADISO.  Fantastic club.  Legal 'smokes'.  Worked with
some bands.   Great job.  Felt very good.  Stayed in Rotterdam.

24 Sunday.
PARADISO  Moved to a hotel in Amsterdam.   Another great job.
  Humble Pie not very good.   Brian Auger was fantastic.   Gary Boyle on
lead.  Got quite 'high'.

25 Monday.
Flew to Bremen to do BEAT CLUB TV show.   Also The Move.  Turned
out great.   Went to a club afterwards and got sozzled with Carl Wayne,
Ritchie and Ian Paice.

26 Tuesday.
KLOOKS KLEEK  Flew back to London via Amsterdam.   Worked at
Klooks Kleek.   Record crowd.  Lots of old faces.   Great reception.

27 Wednesday.
Went up town for an interview with Prague Radio.   Then to St,
Anselm's Hall in Hatchend to rehearse.   Dropped 'St. Louis' and tried to
write something new.  Took Barbara out for a drink and a meal.

28 Thursday.
Helped Tina clean her car.  Went mad 'cos everyone I phoned was
out or busy.   Went down the pub and saw Brian.

29 Friday.
LYCEUM   Bought a strobe with Mick and Ritchie.  Went to BBC and
recorded Stuart Henry Show.   Went to Midnight Court.  Atomic Rooster were
top, us second, and Pete Brown 3rd.   We blew them all off.   Great night.
 Marquee Martin were raving.   Got home at 6.00 am.

30 Saturday.
KENT POP FESTIVAL   Ran shopping errand for Mrs. Kindred.
  Went to Northfleet.  Lousy little football stadium.  Poor crowd.   Not bad
though.   Freddy Mack a joke.

Isn't that something? I wish I'd kept it up. BTW the Brian referred to
is Brian Connolly of the Sweet, a big pal at the time. Anyway, there it is,
Bilzen and Paradiso were obviously a day or so apart, hence the confusion.
It also looks like we did two nights at the Paradiso!
Roger Glover

Roger Glover's Narrative: