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Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is famously remembered as the man who
steered The Rolling Stones to success, 'picking-up' Marianne Faithfull, Chris Farlowe and
others along the way. He spotted The Stones at Richmond Athletic Club ( exotically renamed
as The Crawdaddy Club in the evenings! ) and set-about giving them a new image which
captured the imagination of the kids and the press and rocketed them to jockeying position
with The Beatles. As friend, guru and adviser to The Stones, he helped them go from local
band to international superstars and shared a lot of the pleasure and pain involved in
this process. Andrew's boss was Brian Epstein for a time and so Andrew knew a bit about
'the competition'. By the time The Stones were firmly established and they and Andrew
parted company he had already embarked on other new enterprises along the way, such as The
Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra and creating a new label, Immediate, which was responsible
for the careers and recordings of many top groups - The Nice, The Small Faces, Peter
Frampton and the aforementioned Chris Farlowe to name a few.
Having been artistically successful, the label nevertheless folded at the end of the
decade and things went a bit hazy but, not surprisingly, Andrew returned as an independent
producer, looking after Donovan and Humble Pie amongst others.
He then re-located to New York and the Brill building ( where writers such as Goffin and
King and Leiber and Stoller had created their masterpieces ). He continued to write and
produce and then met a Latin American actress whom he married,
subsequently moving to Bogotá, Colombia where he lives currently. Andrew kindly
agreed to look at some questions from Digger and here is the
result.
This interview is the intellectual property of www.retrosellers.com and Andrew
Loog Oldham and cannot be reproduced without the
express permission of these parties.
Digger: Having spent some time in Latin
America myself, I can understand the attraction.
Can you describe what life is like for you over
there and what are the best and worst things
about living in Colombia?
Andrew: Back when most of my world resided in
the "Avenida del marching powder" a lot of
people wishfully thought I'd moved to Colombia
to get it wholesale. Not true, though the prices
were appreciated. I went to Colombia in 1975
because I'd fallen in love and was following
the Colombian lady I'd met in London back home.
I hit the jackpot and got a wife, life and home.
None of my family were actually born in
England, I'm the only one who was. I come from
a line of Polacks, Russians, gypsies and Gringos,
some of whom were born in Australia, others
in Holland and Louisiana. So, though I have a
lot of affection for England, I don't have an
attachment or connection such as I've built
with Colombia.
Colombia's volatility and majesty provides a
reservoir of logic and stability to my life.
The food and the weather helps.....
Digger: Please tell us about your current projects.
Andrew: I put the lid on my addictions in '95, and
from that point was able to have projects as
opposed to chaos. I started the first part of
my triography, "Stoned", in '95 and it was
published in the U.K. last year and it's out this
past January in America. The paperback comes out
in the U.K. in May. I'm hard at work on "2Stoned",
which basically covers 1964-67 and picks up where
"Stoned" left off. I hope to have "2Stoned" finished
by September and out by the summer of 2002.
"2Stoned" deals with the reality of America,
"Stoned is involved with the dream.
I'm also working at clearing soiled parts of my
old universe, namely that of immediate records.
I'm fighting for my rights and those of the
many artists and producers whom I placed on
the original immediate. Consumers should be
aware that 95% of the artists and 100% of the
producers who provided the immediate music
that Sanctuary/Castle and Charly records
re-release do not get paid, Sanctuary and Charly
seem to prefer to spend their money on naff
inaccurate packaging and lawyers rather
than pay the acts.
Digger: Why do you think that there was such
a big R&B scene around Richmond in the early '60s
with The Stones, The Pretty Things, The Yardbirds and
so on? Why were these white middle-class Englishmen
replicating an authentic black American sound?
Andrew: One way of getting laid, I suppose. I don't
know, I guess skiffle begot R 'n B in England
whereby a bunch of elitist middle class kids
decided Cliff Richard was not for them and
identified with the Mississippi woes of the
sharecroppers. You had the same in France,
'cept it was more for the cool of jazz. The
British R 'n B movement wasn't that big, maybe
300/500 kids centered around Richmond, Eel Pie
island and The 100 club. I found the Soho clubs
and the early mods more interesting, I liked
the pills and the clothes better too. I was never
one for the "Think I'll be a poor boy, I got the
suburban blues" routine..... until I met The
Stones. They were not interested in being poor,
they wanted to be well known and well paid.
Digger: Do you find it funny that many of these
groups were touted as bad boys when they had
all been to public school and were in many ways
part of the establishment?
Andrew: I was the only one that had been to public
school. "Funny" didn't come into it, I touted
them as bad boys. Wasn't that tough, neither
were The Stones, except about being a group
and playing their music. It was ironic, however,
that The Beatles were the real rough bunch
... well, until Keith and I got shoulder-holstered
up in Dublin.
Digger: How did you decide on the direction
and image that you wanted The Stones to follow?
Andrew: History provided the obvious agenda.
Elvis vs Pat Boone; Cliff vs Billy Fury;
Bing vs Frank Sinatra; Diana Dors vs Hayley
Mills... even in the '80s it was Madonna vs Gloria
Estefan, the slut who slept her way to the top
versus the Cuban housewife. It's always the
whore/Madonna cycle ; The Trash/good boys
window of opportunity in which youth gets to
tell its parents who it wants to become and
identify with by it's musical and visual choices.
Thank God for heroes, they were our badge of
honour and hope.
Digger: What was your relationship with Epstein
and The Beatles?
Andrew: I describe this relationship very fully
in "Stoned". It's hard to capsule it here, but
basically London was a long, long way from
Liverpool, it was a time that you only made
long-distance calls when somebody had died,
and I got hired to get press and publicity on
"Please, Please Me" for the group in the London
-based musical and national press.
"Stoned" is less about me and more about the
times, '57 to early '64, when American films and
music were our inspiration and hope, when
American lyrics and image fueled our dreams
and imagination.
Brian Epstein and The Beatles gave Britain a
permanent stake in the musical world. They're
still number one, aren't they. It's Brian Epstein
who should be in the Brit awards. He's the one
who got The Beatles music in front of the world.
It's a shame that the Revisionists of today spend
more time on Brian's private life than the main
ingredient - he got The Beatles a record deal.
Digger: What are your happiest and enduring
memories of the sixties?
Andrew: Not having to get a regular job, probably.
My first year as a press agent, followed by my
first two years working with The Stones,
followed by every time I got a new suit or
another car. I was a simple lad, the list of
wins is endless, came daily and the time was
wonderful, so, probably every time my bum
sat in an airplane seat and I was told to
fasten my safety belt and we were cleared
for take-off.
You have to remember we were born to a time
when our future had no America on the screen
of possibility save at our local Odeon.... and
Europe, top weight, was a fortnight's holiday
if you were lucky and your parents were doing
well. But we were born into a time that
helped us beat the odds and our elder's
predictions and acceptance of the future.
Digger: Like you, Marianne is living abroad,
albeit closer to home in Ireland. How would
you describe Marianne?
Andrew: Marianne is a palette of life in bold
survivor strokes and colours. She beat the
odds of reputation sallied, infamy & shame
and became a productive worker, and as L. Ron
Hubbard states, "Production is the basis of
morale" and the lady has produced.
She's got a life and built a body of work of
which I'm proud to have been the first whiff.
Digger: Are you amazed, surprised, delighted that
The Stones have lasted this long?
Andrew: I wasn't aware that they had
lasted this long.
Digger: How would you describe your involvement
and experiences with The Stones and Marianne
Faithfull and are you proud to have been
involved in that scene?
Andrew: I'm doing so in my books. Well, The Rolling
Stones changed my life from the moment we
laid eyes on each other, and together we changed
our own lives and a bit of the world's. Not a
bad gig. After my time with them they did it again
and again. Marianne gave me a different kind
of adventure. She was my Grace Kelly and I got
to play Irving Thalberg.
I'm not trying to be salty, but your reader
and yourself, I hope, can understand that we're
having this dialogue, this exchange, in March of
2001, and if producing books had not become my
creative out-flow in the way that producing
records and musical careers used to be so, I'd
have no cause to discuss The Stones or Marianne.
I can, because I live in present time and they are
some of the subject matter of the books I'm
writing and producing. Just to reminisce
would be akin to a drunk Rock Hudson running
his old movies at the weekend when he should
have been present time celebrating the fact that
he was gainfully employed in "Macmillan & wife".
He obviously lived in an aberrated past and
lost his future to it.
I could chat for hours about whether Laurence
Harvey actually had his side teeth removed
in order to look more gaunt on screen, or
whether Elvis was prettier than Natalie
Wood, but I don't play "Satisfaction"
before I go out at night.
My books, I hope, will provide and edutaining
record of the times & the players. My reality
of being there, and maybe, on occasion, a key
to the door for some young upstart to ponder,
dismiss and get on with his life's work. I'm
happy to use your forum to bring attention to
my books now and to be - that's the exchange.
Digger: Your Immediate label generated some
great names and some great albums. What were
the biggest achievements of that enterprise
from your point of view?
Andrew: It's not possible to talk of achievements
whilst Charly records and Sanctuary re-release
work without paying the majority of the
artist and none of the producers, and let's
not forget that Castle release my Immediate
recordings from 1984 without paying a royalty
to any artist. Same goes for Charly from 1976.
Oh, from 1996 they paid the acts that could
afford lawyers or who had name value, but it's
just window dressing.
If this sounds complex, let me simplify
it for you. Castle, now Sanctuary, and Charly,
take the position that if you don't have your
original artist's agreement with Immediate
they are entitled to release your recordings
without paying you. Neat trick, huh?
Digger: You co-wrote a book about Abba - why?
Do you think that they are one of the top groups of
all time? What was the secret of Benny and Bjorn's
writing success? What are your favorite Abba tracks?
How would you describe their music and their legacy?
Andrew: "Knowing Me, Knowing You" is
my favourite Abba single.
Layers and innuendo are a major part of their
writing craft, plus the ear to pick up on a nuance
and non-words like "Uh-hu-huh" from "Knowing
Me, Knowing You" and placing it in a space that
made it a breathing hook in a national anthem.
The use of "Voulez-Vous" is as brilliant as
Kennedy starting off a speech with "Ich bin
einer Berliner". "Chiquitita" is another
gem; word-play as in Euro-understanding
untempered by the restrictions of one language
was one of their major abilities. Abba are the
true musical definition of the common market.
It looks like the book will be out again
with fresh chapters.
Digger: Why was there such a creative buzz and
'can do' atmosphere in Britain in the sixties?
Andrew: Look at the alternative, cap in hand
and nine pounds per week till death do us part.
Well, for all the creative buzz and "Can do-ism"
it wouldn't have meant anything if The Beatles
hadn't taken America.
The Pill helped; It meant we had a generation
who didn't have to settle down straight
away and had some disposable income and
insisted on a good time.
I'm sure that world war two was such a trauma
that Britain didn't feel that great even in
victory. It had to feel tired and worn out, and
pissed off whilst America bunged the money into
Germany and left us with R 'n B.
We war-babies said "No way Jose" and went for the
party rather than the slow death we were
promised as a future.
Digger: Who are your icons?
Andrew: An icon is a picture of Christ, or the virgin
Mary, or a Saint painted in a traditional form
on a wooden panel. The modern use of the
word icon is a little vague.
If you mean hero, some of them used to be James
Dean, Laurence Harvey, Elvis, Eddie Cochran,
Buddy Holly and Jet Harris.
If you mean examples I copped and learnt and
was encouraged by when I went to
work I'd have to include Laurence Harvey
again, his manager Jimmy Woolf, Jean-Claude
Brialy, Mike Todd, Alexander Korda, Ray Mackender,
Mary Quant, Vidal Sassoon, Sean Kenny, Phil
Spector and Lionel Bart.
L. Ron Hubbard, Graham Greene, Doc Cavalier
and Anthony Burgess are examples in my most
recent years as a survivalist and writer.
My sons influence me, I depend on their growth -
they are the invisible ink on the next blank
page, and their tomorrow is the wonder to know.
Finally, myself. I provided the motor, I maintain
the whole, I love the whole, I rejoice in my
capacity, I work at my ability and I depend
on my oil and reflection to get round
the next corner.
Digger: You tried a solo career before managing
The Stones. I hear you used names like Sandy Beach
and Chancery Lane?! If you could have been in any
group or been any performer who would it have been?
What is better/more enjoyable -
performing, managing, producing or writing?
Andrew: I never tried a solo career until recently
when I started my books. I made up the names
Sandy Beach and Chancery Lane, actually it
was The Chancery Lane trio. It was part of
my shtick when hustling journalists.
So you have to be careful of what you hustle,
it may end up as gospel in print.
Digger: What would you describe as
your biggest achievements in life?
What are your biggest disappointments?
What do you still want to achieve?
Andrew: Oh, surviving other people's natural
perceptions of my greatest achievements
is probably my ongoing achievement.
I try not to have disappointments, I try to
just have realities. My realities are pretty
present time; I hope it stops raining before
my dog wants its next walk.
Digger: What do you think of today's music?
What are you listening to?
Andrew: Lenny Kravitz greatest hits, well, track
6 and 9; The Band; K-Ci & Jo Jo; Shakira
unplugged; Herb Alpert's "Libertango";
and Coldplay.
Digger: You have worked with and befriended
some of the biggest names in music and
entertainment. Who have most impressed you?
Can you say why and describe the things or
characteristics that you admired?
Andrew: Anybody with the ability to produce,
succeed and produce again.
Anybody with the ability to produce
until they succeed.
Anybody who knows the correct moment
to call it a day.
And the song, I love the song.
Digger: If you were to create a sixties fantasy
supergroup from members living or dead,
who would be in it?
Andrew: Bob Dylan and Bobby Darin, vocals;
Steve Marriott, vocals & guitar; Al Kooper,
organ & keyboards; Paul Ossola, bass;
Charlie Watts, drums; Gil Evans,
arrangements; The Beverly sisters
& Marianne Faithfull, backing vocals.
Digger: What are your favourite British films
and albums from the sixties?
Andrew: Expresso Bongo, Never Let Go,
Room At The Top, Life At The Top, Coshboy,
The Good Die Young and The Ladykillers
are the movies. The best audio visual record
of pre-Beatles pop is contained in Jack Good's
pioneer TV shows Oh Boy and Boy Meets Girl.
They were the guv'ner, the emotion, the power
and the glory.
Digger: Describe yourself in a sentence.
Andrew: He gave us Satisfaction..............
Digger: Many thanks for now, Andrew.
Andrew: My pleasure. I thank you for your interest
in the time and my part of it. Your websites
are an informative delight. Well done!
Many thanks to Andrew for a very enjoyable and informative interview and
for his time.
www.andrewloogoldham.com
Many thanks to
The British Council in Bogota
for putting us in touch.
This interview is the intellectual property of www.retrosellers.com and Andrew Loog Oldham and cannot be reproduced
without the
express permission of these parties.
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