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Cinemaspop | continued |
"Ollie wasn’t an easy person to work with, but though many geniuses aren’t. He was a multitalented person, he also had an artistic side and painted and drew pictures. He was a multi-instrumentalist who could pick up any instrument and start playing it. At the same time he had a completely weird sense of humour and constantly made up practical jokes. He always found a way to make people laugh during travels. "But he also had quite a temper and was a perfectionist who had incredible demands on his fellow musicians. The reason one could stand working with him was that the result always turned out to be so good, Zanna, who today works as a singing teacher in England, says. "He loved all kinds of music, even opera. I remember flying with him to the U.S. where Ollie sat with a walkman on, and all of a sudden exploded loud and clear in ‘La donna e mobile’ so that all passengers gloated at him! He often lived in a world of his own, kind of in another dimension. "The coolest thing with Ollie’s way of playing was that he in the middle of a solo could completely leave the key of the song just to return right at the end of the solo. It left chills in your body! My best memory of Ollie was when we had a sound check in Majorca when backing the first punk rocker in Spain, Ramoncin. Ollie checked his sound and suddenly went into a guitar solo which made people’s hair stand at ends. Right at that moment his amp caught fire and started to burn. Everyone said that was “the hottest guitar solo ever played”!" Zanna Gregmar 2008 |
Sigan a Esa Rubia (45) 1983 Sal Gorda [film soundtrack] 1983 Cinemaspop 1983
Cinemaspop Ollie Halsall guitar keys vocal
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La Naranja Mecanica
Whilst the first three offerings could safely reside in the previous category (bar two vaguely interesting Halsall compositions), the Naranja Mechanica is a different plate of paella (sorry!). For a start It's in English and, apart from a bizarre Wild Thing, features Halsall written and performed material throughout. On the debit side the music is almost entirely sequenced & synthesised, with very little guitar. Halsall appeared very enthusiastic about this particular project describing them as "a great band". OK it's techno-pop, but I've not heard it done better. |
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Formerly The Offbeats Fica't Una Ceba Pes Cul! Hamish MacDonald vocals Many thanks to Ian Carpenter |
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Tomás Graves | continued |
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The Pa Amb Oli Band |
The Pa Amb Oli Band The Outer Tunes
L-R Carmen Graves, Tomás Graves, Ollie |
'Tuning Up at Dawn'
The Pambs bass player's book about the Catalan music and culture makes fascinating reading and includes a lengthy chapter on Ollie and his association with The Pa Amb Oli Band. Available from Amazon here: |
| Callejones | ||
"I must get out of Spain and start playing guitar again" Ollie Halsall 1992
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Al Pie Del Cañón 1991 |
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| Various artistes | ||
Starvin Marvin Ronni Urini
Included on an
Austrian 2-CD Compilation Neonbeats - Austrian New Wave and Postpunk Majaband Mania Manzanita Radio Futura
Rarezas [Rarities] 1992 In Concert recordings: Live in Santander 10 Aug 1989 Live in Madrid 25 Sep 1990 Los Favoritos El Primer Tercio Melopea Desperados Montana
Texido
Apart from playing, Ollie also co-produced the album, so I guess he is to blame for under-mixing his guitar at times. Texidó wrote his songs in English, being from the Malaga-Torremolinos area he found it quite natural to do it that way JS Distrito 14
Trupita Melopea Varsovia Mainstream Machine |
Rey Lui
Un Nudo en la Garganta 1988 Velocidad 1990
Corcobado y Los
Chatarreros Suceso 1991 Los Suaves 1991 Maldita Sea Mi Suerte Hombres G
Apart from being a nice solo, this was quite probably Ollie's very last studio recording JS Antonio Flores Tino Casal
Single: Ramoncin
Ramoncinco 1984 The two tracks feature a couple Zanna Gregmar Not yet documented Claudia Puyol
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| Coño, es Ollie Halsall, joder!joder! | ||
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I met Ollie when I was working at Estudios Kirios, Madrid, in the Synclavier studio in 1991. He was producing an artist, that to my limited knowledge, was never launched by EMI (no surprise there) called Lucrecia, and he wanted to play sampled drums on the keyboard, which he did. I considered myself a bit of a guitarists 'fanboy', but I had never heard of him (I should have known, the people in the Studio venerated him - Coño, es Ollie Halsall, joder!). He was a pretty cool guy, had his tantrums like anybody else, I found him to be more acrid than fun to be around; he wore a black leather jacket and pants and he used to smoke Ducados-black tobacco. I had the opportunity to share a 45 minute heavy traffic bus ride from Madrid to Alcorcon (Kirios)and we talked about the weather in the Peninsula, asked me if I could help him find a flat to rent (?), and talked about how easy it was to cop some good stuff in España. Although I was thinking of the smokable THC, I think he was referring to the strong stuff (H-ey, choose your poison!!!), but, anyway, we worked for a while and then he disappeared. On that bus ride, he told me about a guitar solo that 'Los Suaves' (a hard rock band) from Galicia that was recording their 'Dame Rock and Roll' album in the same studio) had asked him to play, along with other guest guitarists, and he told me that he had played the best solo on the record (not very 'umble there) with a right handed guitar and a mic stand!!! At the time I was thinking to myself 'yeah, right, this guy is full of shit' but, ah, life works in mysterious ways, and he was right! |
Check out Ollie;s solos at 7:29 to 8:04 and the one with the mike stand at 14:54'' to 15:29 I looked this site up in Google after re-reading a 1997 Q magazine with a Ten Years After album review where they mentioned him (the only time I have ever seen his name in print, shit!) and now, I find he was a legend . . . 12 years later! If I had known, Korben . . . Well, Bless his Soul and I''m glad I shared some time with him - Un Bongazo a su memoria!!! More meanderings: I remember the first day I met him. I arrived to the studio and he was already there, ready to play triggered drum samples from the Synclavier for Lucrecia''s CD- I thought that he either was an excellent player or a fool-no doubt after a few minutes later (I was the fool) Germán F [Germán Sánchez Fas] 2005 Please visit the 'Glammest' group website |
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