Tony Hazzard may not be a household name, but I bet some of the songs he wrote are in your music library. Hazzard has written hits for The Hollies, The Yardbirds. Manfred Mann, and Herman's Hermits for starters.
I was unaware of a 2022 release called "Demonstration" until I received some files from a friend this past Monday. Tony Hazzard's "Demonstration" collects songs he recorded between 1966-1969, demos of the songs that became hits for those artists mentioned above. It is essentially a recreation of his 1969 album "Tony Hazzard Sings Tony Hazzard." My friend thought I would like this and he was right. As he said, "These songs don't sound like demos at all. It's a solid record much like 'The Graham Gouldman Thing.'"
"Demonstration" is a blast from head to tail, a lost gem of swinging sounds from London's Regent Studios.
20 comments:
Great artist. His "Fox on the Run" has become a bluegrass standard (akin to Mark Lindsay and Keith Allison's "Freeborn Man").
David Bash's (International Pop Overthrow fest) podcast Material Issues did a nice interview with him.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=material+issues+tony+hazzard
Bob in IL
I was unaware of Tony until this very moment. Guess I’ve been remiss in reading some of my record sleeves. These certainly don’t sound like demos at all. Really nice listen in a Thursday morning.
That stuff is fantastic -- wow....😎
Have you heard the albums he recorded for Bronze Records in seventies?
He didn't tell me either, so you're in good company!
Never heard of him before this, great songs, at least two hit singles there!
"Goodnight, Sweet Josephine" is a favorite of mine. I didn't know he wrote it and I've never heard of him. He's a three sweet gems
Such fun! Thanks Sal
He should've called the album Hazzardous
His "demo" of Ha! Ha! Said the Clown is better than Manfred Mann's. And, that other one by Keith Relf fronting a bunch of session guys with a gun pointed to his head.
Same goes for "Hello World, which surpasses the Trems cover.
I always loved Lulu's cover of Me, the Peaceful Heart. It was a huge hit in San Bernardino. But, once again, Hazzard's "demo" is superior.
VR
Real songs sounding timeless.
An awesome discovery for me. Just ordered. Thanks.
A couple of the musicians on Demonstration have Bonzo Dog Band connections. Bassist Dave Clague played on parts of Gorilla and the first season of Do Not Adjust Your Set. And guitarist Roger McKew played on Lucky Planet by The World, alongside Neil Innes and Dennis Cowan.
yup, great stuff, sounds like a lost Hollies record from these two songs.
Gave the album a full listen this morning. So good. Would never have guessed that any of these were demos.
A blast, indeed! And he never told me either, the bastid!
Thank you for these positive comments: they make an old man very happy! :-)
www.tonyhazzard.com
Re Tracks on Demonstration:
To clear up any confusion: yes, the tracks are demos, apart from You Won’t Be leaving and Fox On The Run. The YWBL demo was very similar to the 2nd recording, using exactly the same musicians. Same for FOTR: the original demo used a flute motif but I changed it to the Manfred Mann flute version. Again, the same musicians.
When CBS decided to release an album of the demos, I decided that these two tracks needed to be brought in line with the other demo tracks.
When I heard Lulu’s Me The Peaceful Heart I expressed surprise at Mickie Most’s production sounding so like my demo. His comment was that sometimes demos are so good there isn’t any point in trying to improve on them. Jimmy Page played guitar on that track, as he did on so many of MM’s tracks. He told me he loved the demo and asked if I would send him a copy. Sad to say, I forgot.
We had a tight way of working: often a session was booked for 10am in Regent Sound A. I gave out chord sheets and dots where necessary, then we’d go through the song to familiarise it. We’d record the basic backing track, often in the first or second take (eg. The Matter With You). Then double tracked vocals (on the same mic) were added, plus solos and backing vocals. Then the mix, and we’d be in the pub over the road by 1pm with the master tape.
As the 60s progressed we became a tight band, as, I think, is evident. Anyway, I’m pleased these tracks are still being enjoyed 50-60 years later, and I wish I were still 24 again.
This is great stuff, Tony! Thanks so much for sharing this info.
You're most welcome.
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