Diary 1974

London

IN JANUARY 1974 things started to really go bananas. On the 1st I got drunk on the way to the hospital to have my stitches taken out of my hand, and at the same time to have them replace the 'cast' on my broken hand. Drinking has well taken over my life now. On the 2nd I went to see a bone specialist about my broken hand as well. I don't remember much about 1974 except for the fact that I was drunk and stoned all the time, getting in and out of trouble. In fact I was so drunk and stoned that year, that I didn 't even bother with keeping a diary. 1974 is a mystery to me. I do know that I kept doing sessions, but for the main part I was a drunk. Also that's the year that Chris Blackwell said to me that now there was no more Free, and I was still under contract to Island, what would I like to do? I just simply said that I'd like to carry on doing my own solo albums until something else materialised.

He said fine, but asked who would I like to use as musicians. I thought about it a minute, and then remembered Terry and Tony, and said to Chris that I'd like to bring them over from the states to work with me on a Rabbit solo album # 3. And I would also like to bring over my old singer from my band 'Blackwell' over as well to do the singing. Chris said fine, he would bring them all over, so I went home, called them all up, they agreed, and the next thing I knew, the three of them were here in London, ready to play and sing. We went into the studio at Island - Hammersmith, and started rehearsing, and later laid down several tracks, which are still in the Island archives, unfinished. It was great! We had a ball. Just 4 Texans in England, pub hopping, rehearsing, recording, and generally having a good ole' time. We did some good tracks too, that took us into 1975, but more on that later. For now, I just knew it was good to have some 'soul mates' around me. Things weren't going all that good, and I was going down a slippery slope to nowhere. I had lost my direction! Fumbling around, looking for my path again. I lost it in 1973. Terry and Tony stuck it out with me, but I know they had a hard time. I was a changed man! The whole year was really a blank for me, but I do have some great tapes from then to remind me that I did actually make some music, and it was good music too. It's just that I didn't know where I was, or why I was doing it, except for the reason of not dropping out of sight all together. I had to stay on the scene, otherwise I might as well pack my bags and go back to Texas. No way, I was here for a reason, so I just had to stick it out until that reason became obvious. It eventually did, but not in 1974.

© John Rabbit Bundrick 2024 all rights reserved.

Site by a branch of design.

Valid XHTMLValid CSS