London “Then & Now”- ‘Music Related Locations’

As regular followers will know, my London Shoes are rather partial to a bit of the old ‘Then & Now’ photo comparisons around the streets of the capital – even more so when it’s a ‘Music’ related Then & Now’ – and this ‘small but perfectly formed’ little blog article, just so happens to be one in that category.

For this piece I’ve focused on what are now considered to be historic London photo-shoots of 4 iconic bands, 3 of which originated in the 1960’s and 1 a legendary band from the late 1970’s and beyond.

So – my first ‘Then & Now’ comparison for this blog, relates to probably the biggest rock/metal/prog rock band of all time……..the mighty….”Led Zeppelin”.

Formed in 1968 and comprising of Jimmy Page (guitar) / John Bonham (drums) / John Paul Jones (bass)/ Robert Plant (vocals) – their very first London promo photoshoot was a simple random photo taken in December 1968 outside the offices of Impact Agency in Windmill Street W1, just a couple of minutes’ walk north of Tottenham Court Road tube station.

The story goes that the upon leaving the Agency building the band, totally unplanned – decided to lean up against a Jag car that had been parked up outside – (these were the days when there were no parking restrictions) – and pose for a group photo.

Apparently, the photographer took just 3 photos – developed them straight away and then presented them to Zeppelin’s record label Atlantic Records. These 3 simple photos went on to achieve legendary status……as did the band of course, and still do.

So – my London Shoes, arrived at Windmill Street, and attempted to identify the exact spot where the now legendary 1968 photo was taken – and do a ‘Then & Now’ photo. Surprisingly, the scenery’ hadn’t changed that much – and I think I got it almost right!!

Next stop in this little pilgrimage was the globally recognised ‘Piccadilly Circus’ landmark – where way back in June 1967, a new slightly different band called ‘Pink Floyd’ had a shed load of promo photos taken around the statue of ‘Eros’ located bang in the Piccadilly Circus district.

At the time of this particular photoshoot, the band had only released 2 singles, both of which had a bit of an ‘edge’ to them, in terms of their lyrical content.

Pink Floyd’s debut single ‘Arnold Layne’ was released in March 1967 and was a song about a bloke who had a fetish for stealing women’s underwear from washing lines.

Their 2^nd single release “See Emily Play” was released in June 1967 – purportedly a song about a girl named Emily, who Floyd’s Syd Barrett claimed to have seen while sleeping in the woods after taking a tab of LSD. Other opinions claim that the song is about the Honourable Emily Young, daughter of the 2nd Baron Kennet and nicknamed “the psychedelic schoolgirl” at the popular ‘UFO Club’ an ‘underground’ hang out of the day, in Covent Garden.

Irrespective of all the theories – those 2 initial Pink Floyd singles were certainly about completely different subject matters than anything from the general stuff in the Top Twenty at that time.

I tried my best to replicate the photos taken of Floyd from that particular 1967 photoshoot – but it was quite challenging as Eros was swarmed with tourists thronging round it – as they seem to be each and every day – but I had a good go.

In 1966, a couple of years before the Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd photos, legendary London band ‘The Kinks’ had a load of promo photos taken in and around London’s Soho district.

That particular year saw them release 3 all-time classic singles from their extensive discography:- “Sunny Afternoon” / “Dead End Street” / “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” – the latter in particular reflecting the ‘vibe’ of Swinging Sixties- London.

Anyway – there is one specific Kinks photo from that period that has always intrigued and frustrated me – as I could never identify exactly where it was taken.

However – after some extensive research, viewing every inch of info I could find on the internet – I believe I finally managed to establish the exact spot where the photo was taken.

I say ‘exact spot’ – that was virtually impossible, as there had been extensive redevelopment of the area throughout the 60 yrs that have passed since the photo was taken – but I’m reasonably confident that I’ve got the location right – even though the site is unrecognisable from the 1966 photo.

Unbeknownst to me until recently, in London’s famous Denmark Street (Britain’s very own ‘Tin Pan Alley’) there’s a narrow little alleyway that runs alongside the famous “Hank’s Guitar Shop”. ‘Denmark Alley’ used to lead into an area at the back of Denmark Street – where, tucked away were a few shops amongst other buildings that were offices and stuff – and it was at the end of that alley where I believe this particular photo of The Kinks, that has puzzled me for so long – was taken…..(I think!!) – anyway – that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

Finally – moving forward a decade – the next music related ‘Then & Now’ I tried to locate and replicate, relates to a now well documented event that took place in Soho’s ‘China Town’ district, back in October 1976 – when a little guitar/bass/drums trio from Woking in Surrey called ‘The Jam’ who were just starting to make a name for themselves throughout London’s emerging Punk movement – totally unannounced, set up all their gear outside ‘Rock On’ records situated in the middle of Soho Market, right next to the ‘Newport Court’ alley – and started to knock out a load of R&B classics plus a couple of  numbers that would end up on their debut album, released in May 1977.

This entire area of ‘China Town’ has changed dramatically since those days – in fact it was already starting to undergo transformation at the time of The Jam’s impromptu open-air gig. At that time I was working at the top of Wardour Street, just a couple of mins walk from the ‘Newport Court’ area – so I knew the area very well – and was bang in the middle of all that was going on with the music scene at that time – so it was good to go back and see what the district now looks like.

So – following a very enjoyable few hours seeking out the above 4 locations and trying my best to replicate some Now’s to the selected Then’s – it was time to have a little liquid refreshment before heading off back home – and so I popped into an old Soho pub close to the famous Carnaby Street.

“The Clachen” located in Kingly Street-W1 – is a wonderful 1898 built pub building, that is now protected by a Grade II Listed status.

It still retains some of its magnificent Victorian fixtures and fittings – and because of its location, it’s very much a tourist attraction – however, it was the ideal place for me to neck down a couple of ‘cheeky’ pints of Guinness – and very nice they were too.

Hope you enjoyed this slightly different sort of blog topic and its accompanying photos.

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See below – the full extensive gallery of photos taken to support this blog topic