Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. ![]() This article originally appeared in VG ‘s June ’14 issue. Going Back Home is both a serviceable Wilko Johnson primer and a must-have for longtime fans. Wilko’s distinctive duck walk, thousand-yard stare, and pudding-basin haircut all succumbed to middle age, but his chops have lost none of the freneticism that helped make him a missing link between ’60s British R&B and ’70s punk. Hardcore Wilko fans will appreciate the first proper release of the ballad “Turned 21.” The only oddity is also the album’s lone non-Wilko track, a take on the 1965 Dylan single “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window.” Then again, perhaps the line “How can you say he will haunt you” is intended to convey Johnson’s gallows humor. For his part, Daltrey turns in a stellar performance, often times seeming to channel late Feelgoods front man Lee Brilleaux, especially on that band’s chestnut, “All Through The City.” The album features Johnson’s touring band Blockhead bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Dylan Howe, with keys by Mick Talbot (exStyle Council and Dexy’s Midnight Runners). We watched his TV and we drank a little gin”). Nowhere on the album does the Green lineage and Johnson’s trademark “red-guard” Tele get more out front than on the workout of the ’80s-era Wilko solo track “Ice On The Motorway,” with its riff quoting the Pirates’ signature song, “Shakin’ All Over.” There’s also the title track (perhaps the album’s standout), a chugging Feelgoods rave-up from ’75 co-written with Green (i.e., “Old Johnny Green, he asked me in. Johnson has explained in the past that his singular technique was the result of a failed attempt to emulate the Pirates’ Mick Green. Going Back Home had its genesis at a 2010 awards show, where Johnson and Daltrey bonded over their mutual admiration of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. Given 10 months to live, Johnson refused treatment, telling BBC Radio 4 that the circumstances actually made him feel “vividly alive.” Wilko fans should be grateful for the inexactitude of the medical profession: Not only is Johnson still of this realm (as of this writing), but he’s also teamed with Roger Daltrey for this new release mostly comprising fresh takes on tracks from throughout Wilko’s canon. Then in January 2013 came the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. In 2011 he began appearing as a mute executioner in the cable series “Game of Thrones.” In 2012, he released his autobiography Looking Back at Me, followed by Fender’s launch of a Europe-exclusive Wilko Johnson Signature Telecaster. In 2009 he stole the show in Oil City Confidential, Julien Temple’s acclaimed rock doc about Johnson’s old band, Dr. Wilko and the boys are part of the big Planet Rock ‘Rocktober’ jamboree taking place in you guessed it October (aka Rocktober). Other highlights include Robb talking to Tim Burgess and music author and lecturer Simon Morrison and DJ Jonty Skrufff debating club culture writing, while there'll also be talks and appearances from Jah Wobble, Barney Hoskyns, John Osborne, Chris Salewicz, Tony Walsh aka Longfella, Clinton Heylin, Lucy O’Brien, Simon Warner, Hugh Cornwell and Charlie Connelly.Wilko Johnson was having quite a run. And whilst it’s not completely correct, it’s true that mainstream contemporary music isn’t up to the wonderfully inventive standards of the past. ![]() The programme's constantly being added to and currently includes Wilko Johnson talking about his life in music with writer, Quietus contributor and Jesus And Mary Chain biographer Zoe Howe, who'll also be in conversation with ex-JAMC man Douglas Hart. Here’s a favourite phrase of a multitude of today’s music consumers. A brilliant weekend for those in the know and who want to know more." maybe notice so much that I can play the guitar and I can write the songs. It takes its name from the excellent Louder Than War music website and record label run by top journalist and friend of tQ John Robb, who says, speaking to Manchester music site Silent Radio: "Louder Than Words brings you inside stories, insights and new angles from people who really know what they’re talking, reading and writing about. Legendary guitarist Wilko Johnson talks candidly to Music Republic Magazine. From November 15-17, the Louder Than Words festival, celebrating the relationship between music and writing, will be taking place at Manchester's Palace Hotel.
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