Patto and Halsall

**strawberrybrick** · 08-16-2013

Oh this is so good... Ollie and Mike left waaaay too soon. Timebox pre-Patto band is second link.

**mogrooves** · 08-16-2013

Yeah, a good band. I caught Mike Patto when he was with Spooky Tooth; a pretty righteous singer. Ollie, of course, was with Kevin Ayers for years....

**Scrotum Scissor** · 08-16-2013

First Patto album has some pretty awesome parts, and obviously Ollie was an extraordinary axeman. And veibes player as well!

**Zeuhlmate** · 08-16-2013

There is a livealbum with Tempest where both he and Holdsworth plays, and Ollie is best IMO.

Here a later clip with Tempest

**Stickleback** · 08-16-2013

Ollie "Guitar Race" Halsall

**Progbear** · 08-16-2013

My fave Tempest song, followed closely by “Dance to My Tune.” Possibly my favourite thing Ollie Halsall ever played on:

Ollie was sort of a personal hero of mine, as a fellow lefty guitarist, who was also very proficient on keys and vibes (the vibraphone being his first instrument, he apparently begged his father to buy him a set as a teen).

-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"Siento que debemos saber para el sueño de quién brillará esta luz
o consagrar una propia estrella" --Alberto Felici

N.P.:“Dark Now My Sky”-Barclay James Harvest

**Bake 1** · 08-16-2013

Huge Patto fan... Ollie on Money Bag still kills me. Once in a awhile when other great players are doing their best off the grid playing, they'll hit some similar phrases... usually only for a few seconds. Didn't dig it right away, but the Roll em' Smoke em' record also has a lot of great moments. An exceptionally musical, inspired band even when they seemed to be goofing off. It was probably pretty humbling for TYA on a few nights when Patto was the opener. Most of their stuff was nowhere near Beefheart inaccessible ...really never understood why so many lesser bands in a nearby zip code made it big when they (Patto) didn't.

**Big Ears** · 08-17-2013

Many bands described as 'heavy' are just pop music compared to this:

**progmeister** · 08-17-2013

How come no mentions here of the 2 Boxer albums?

**Big Ears** · 08-17-2013

Boxer were okay, but not as good as Patto.

I like this quote:

“Ollie may not have been the best guitarist in the world, but he was certainly among the top two.”

John Halsey, 1997 (Drummer for Patto)

**Pekka** · 08-17-2013

There's a great story about Ollie auditioning for Soft Machine after Holdsworth left and playing mainly "Shaking All Over" with his teeth, just to take the piss.

Superb guitarist, love his work with Patto, Boxer and Kevin Ayers.

**strawberrybrick** · 08-19-2013

Kinda diggin these from Monkey's Bum.

BTW, lots of live recordings available....

**Calabasas_Trafalgar** · 08-19-2013

Ollie was considered as a replacement for Mick Taylor by the Rolling Stones. Glad he didn't get it, would have been a complete waste of talent.

**Scrotum Scissor** · 08-20-2013

Originally Posted by Calabasas_Trafalgar

Ollie was considered as a replacement for Mick Taylor by the Rolling Stones. Glad he didn't get it, would have been a complete waste of talent.

Of course he ended with The Rutles instead.

**strawberrybrick** · 06-25-2014

Just been listening to Tempest from the Marquee theatre from October 1973. Mind boggling to think that Halsall didn't achieve wider acclaim. The power trio Tempest is stunning, come to think about it.

Check out Barry Monk's website if you haven't.

http://olliehalsall.co.uk/

**Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof** · 06-25-2014

Patto kinda flew under my radar, as they did for lots of folks. I've held the records in my hands over the years working in collector's shops but never put them on. There is even a slim chance that I have the one pictured above with Hanging Rope in storage...

**Trane** · 06-27-2014

Patto is like Backdoor (and musically not disimilar either), I can't seem to get into their official albums (I tried a few times), so I kind of gave up on them, I guess because I find them often too raw
but I must say that the Monkey's bum track is ok to my ears

As for Tempest, it's Hiseman's project I like least, and I prefer the first album with Winter & Holdsworth, though only the fantastic closer really strikes a chord with me

**Calabasas_Trafalgar** · 06-27-2014

Originally Posted by Trane

Patto is like Backdoor (and musically not disimilar either)

Yeah, other than that Backdoor has no guitar or vocals

Hold Your Fire is not raw at all!

**walt** · 06-27-2014

Originally Posted by strawberrybrick

Kinda diggin these from Monkey's Bum.

.

A truly great track.

**Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof** · 06-27-2014

I've got two Back Door albums. Are they really similar to Patto? I only have Tempest with Holdsworth...

**rcarlberg** · 06-27-2014

Ollie's solo album is also a stunner. Released post-mortem, Ollie plays everything on it -- drums, bass, guitar, keys, sax and singing. He also engineered the tracks and drew the cover.

**Trane** · 06-27-2014

Originally Posted by Calabasas_Trafalgar

Yeah, other than that Backdoor has no guitar or vocals

Hold Your Fire is not raw at all!

They both play a sort of jazz-inflicted progressive blues to my ears

**strawberrybrick** · 06-30-2014

Has anyone mentioned Blue Traff?

"Unfortunately, the album - produced by Robert Fripp and featuring John Halsey [drums], Max Von Schmacks [violin], Harry Miller [bass], and Gary Windo [sax] - was never released and has, itself, become the Holy Grail of Ollie's recordings."