Paul W mailed me to say that Pete Proud has died of a heart attack. Paul himself said that the shock of someone�s death is a massive memory trigger � and of course that�s what I am going to write about � the memories triggered.

It was 1975 and these were bleak times � besides the obvious shocks to the system the glorious period of bumping into a different genius every week had come to an end. At its simplest � people had made various commitments and a lot of them weren�t working at all well � in quite a big way. I had moved into Paul Bell�s basement. Paul Wheeler phoned me in my new job at the DTI � I can remember taking the call � in a fairly direct way he told me that I had to get him a gig. I could appreciate the seriousness of his situation.

So I called Sue � I had met her at the end of the Tintagel period (where she had taken a shine to some of my writing) and she had been studying piano very seriously. She came to know Steve Pheasant, Richard Jones and Paul Bell pretty well. By this time she had moved through sound engineering at Radio 3 and was part of the new Capital Radio outfit. She could get us free studio time in the freewheeling atmosphere that prevailed. So we had a Capital gig � it was simple as that.

The band was Peter Proud, Paul and myself and we did a session � it got broadcast � and there was a permanent record of a moment in time. Crudely this is an enterprise which is between Wild Oats and Ghosts. One of the songs we did (all Paul�s) was Dressed Up to Kill which was subsequently covered by Phil Mazannera of Roxy.

To me the recorded output is interesting because of its transitional character. Pete played a Precision and Strat � I suppose they would both now be regarded as classic instruments. I can bring to mind the solo at the end of Dressed Up to Kill � it was DI-ed into the board � lots of bends and really sassy � not flash but a really strutting solo. I suppose he was from the same generation of guitarists as Jon Cole and Paul Kossof � who took Clapton and Page and gave the style extra manners.

I played the tape to Fred Frith at his digs in North London � I think that was where he decided that we were stuck in the past � he had bumped into Steve�s band doing be bop in Drury Lane. He gave me the Guitar Solos album he had just finished � he was about to go to NYC � he had obviously found a path to the future. I think he liked the passion we bought to be-bop � but at the end of the day (in today�s terms) he thought that was neo-classical Marsalis jazz repertory and he was heading for Zornland.

A couple of the songs were from the portfolio which Paul brought to Cambridge � Summer and Julie was Saying Goodbye. Summer is really classic folk baorque � very easy to play flute on. Julie is more intricate � post Sergeant Pepper � and more imagistic � I suppose one might say more BL than 5LL. Did we only do three songs?

At this point Pete was very into reggae � there was a point where reggae stood for what punk was about to become. I remember he liked Toots and the Maytalls � there was a programme from this era on digital radio last week � his bassplaying aimed

for that kind of directness mixed with a certain lightness and rhythmic sophistication.

(Its such a step from that trio to Ghosts � you might see this in terms of the seven ages described by Shakes. I suppose PP was part of a process which said that whatever it was it had to be electric and so from there I started to learn more and more electric technique.)

Paul says you are always working with borrowed time.