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Posted by Lutz Eikelmann on May 4, 2008, 6:18 pm
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Although I did not answer to every special guitar-matter discussion, I read all your contributions with highest interest.
And especially today I thought a lot about it during the daytime about the Denny-Les-matter.
I know that the first recording session with Denny was --- for him! --- spontaneously because he had to replace the guy ( what was his name? ) who practised the whole night for the session and overslept. But I could imagine that a less experienced guy like Les had the same problems during his first years with Lonnie. Maybe could you, Roger, or others of us who were "there" in that era of Lonnieīs biggest success tell me if itīs right or wrong what I guess.
Let me try to explain what I mean.
In those days you have not much time to record a song. And thinking of Lonnieīs professional dates and a booked-out-diary from 1956 onwards, I guess they had not the time to spend much on regular rehearsals. A consequence could be that they didnīt rehearse a new song much before recording it. So they had not much time to let the song mature. For a young guy like Les may that mean "show everything you can play immediately". He probably had not much time to think about how to improve a solo or any backing fills. And with such a full diary you have not enough time for practising at home or studying music. I know that from my own experiences, especially during the nineties. In those years I was happy if I could breathe a bit between the many gigs, but there was no time for more work. Lonnie described the fifties as "one canīt do more work than we have done, packing theatres countrywide, doing TV-shows, recordings, radio etc".
They had "to work" --- and in the truest sense of the word "it worked". But that didnīt let them any time to improve a recording to a matured song. Under these conditions itīs amazing how great stuff they recorded in the late fifties and early sixties.
It has advantages and disadvantages to work with the method of "running" through a recording session --- and it has advantages and disadvantages to work with the later pop song recording method of recording any single track and working days or weeks or month on one song. I know both methods from my own experiences as musician, bandleader and producer.
As far as I know they did not spend much time on recording a song in the era of "classic Donegan". Correct me please if I am wrong!
When we recorded with Dickie Bishop, we worked with the same method. For the 11 Skiffle tracks of the "No Other Baby"-album ( recorded in July 2000 ) we spent not more than five hours --- including the soundcheck. With such conditions you not much time to think about what you are doing.
And then I believe that Les was encouraged by Lon to play like he had played. Les was not a complete "nobody" when he joined Donegan, he had been a "little" star in the "Les Hobeaux Skiffle Group" and had appeared in the movie "The Golden Disc". And as many youngsters Les probably wanted to show everything he can play in one solo. It often needs much time and years/decades of experiences to come to the point of relaxing and following the principle "less is more". We would eventually expect to much from a youngster like Les in those days if we expect him playing like an old master.
I hope these thoughts are useful for you all and I am looking forward to your opinions!
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