Fan e-mails on Tim Rose

When you send me e-mails, I store them all and, from time to time, I'll put them onto this page so that fans can keep in touch with the various thoughts, opinions and experiences of others.

This page has not been updated at the same time as the others (March, 2005). I do plan to add all your e-mails as soon as possible, but it is a major task, so please bear with me.

Most recent e-mails (June, 2000) are are the top of the page. I have given the name of each contributor, where possible, but not their e-mail address. If there is a point you wish to reply to, e-mail me and I'll forward it to the person listed here. I feel this is a fair way to guarantee privacy. For the most part, where someone has asked a question, I have responded with the answer, or forwarded the question on to Tim to respond.

There was a question about Come Away Melinda on the Johnny Walker show tonight. I knew it was Tim Rose's haunting song, but had to track down the date from your excellent site. Nice One. What a great album his first one was. I have several of the songs on the first album recorded live off Top Gear, with bits of an interview he did with John Peel. Rather indifferent quality recordings via a transitor radio, but the songs feature Aynsley Dunbar on Drums plus Alex Demachewski (?) on bass. They are in my view better than the album. Dunbar's drumming is stupendous. There's Long Time Man, Morning Dew, Hey Joe, Melinda, Fare Thee Well and Slippin' Away. Thanks again for a superb site - John Chapman

Dear Brian, Thanks for the info on Tim Rose on your excellent web site. I saw Timmy, supporting Arthur Brown at a pub in St Albans, this time last year. It was a performance that is etched on my mind forever. An acoustic set in this tiny room, Timmy silenced the usual natterings with his rendition of Hey Joe and held us all captivated, for the remainder of the set. I have been searching record shops for a recording of his to play to my son (14yo) as he performs the Hendrix version in his band and cannot believe anybody can perform the song better than Jimi. Would you recommend his latest recording on Haunted or perhaps should I look for one of the older recordings? Also, if you know of any tour dates for the coming year, particularly in smaller venues I would love to see him again and maybe bring the boy along (that would shut him up) Thanks again for the help you've been All the best - David Chilton

Brian... Read your web page. If you see Tim Rose around... tell him a big Hello. If he does not remember me, It's probably because that was an obscure era of both our lives. Did he ever tell you of his stint in Canada? Ask him whatever became of Jack Beale? No, I'm not him, I'm... Jim Kirby

Brian, Can you please help me with the email address of Tim Rose (if he has one). Reason: I'd like to ask him a few questions concerning his appearance in the 60's album from the A Go-go Singers (w/Stills). For some time now I'm working on a book about Crosby, Stills & Nash..Hope to hear from you. Thanks - Herman, Belgium

The Roadie's Tale: In February of 1968 I had a phone call from the Terry king agency. I was offered a choice of artistes to work for. At the time I was working for a middle of the road pop group called the Honeybus a typical one hit wonder sixties band. The choice I was offered by terry king was soul singer Edwin Star or a folk singer/song writer Tim Rose .My choice was Tim. I first met him at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. I went to his room. Tim was there but nowhere near ready for me to take him and his manager to the first gig of his 68, U.K.tour starting in Hastings east Sussex. No one seemed to be in any great hurry. In fact Tim and his manager Jack Beale played baseball across a very busy Kensington High St. The first time I heard Tim Rose perform will stay in my memory as the greatest musical milestone in my entire experience. Tim's line-up was a three piece. Two guitars and drums. Tim himself played lead and rhythm, a guy called Steve was on bass - as I recall a wonderful player - and on drums the greatest rock drummer of all time, John Bonham. It was from this point that Robert Plant came on the scene, turning up at most gigs to persuade John to join him to form LedZep. I stood in the wings and waited to hear my new charge perform. I was totally blown away by the power of Tim and his unique sound. His vocal power and his feeling for lyrics are still to this day unrivalled. In fact when I first heard Bruce Springsteen I thought now that's good but Tim Rose is great. Tim is a legend - his music comes straight at you; it stirs up passion; it commands your attention; it is performed with detailed personal feeling . I have seen Tim perform recently and believe you me, after thirty odd years, Tim is even stronger and underlines the opinion I have held over the years. I am back in touch with Tim and it is as though there has never been a gap of over thirty years. During 68, when we toured the UK, every performance was an incredible experience. I have a framed sketch drawn by a fan in the audience at Kettering. This is something I treasure along with other various pieces of memorabilia plus a good collection of Tim's recordings. I am privileged to have been present when Tim has been writing rehearsing and performing and recording. I have a collection of demos of which I am immensely proud . The size of the venues never seemed to bother Tim - he still drove his music straight at the audience and left them gagging for more. I shall always remember 1968 as my best period in the music world thanks to my connection with Tim Rose - great times. We would drive to places like Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds etc. Tim would finish his show and quite often we would drive back to London. Tim had an apartment in Eaton Place. But before going there we would have breakfast about 4 a.m. - pancakes, maple syrup and cream at the Royal Garden Hotel. From there we would go to a club. Most times it would be Blaises on Queens Gate. There was often a live band performing & other musicians would quite often get on stage and jam: one of these was the late Jimi Hendrix. I was always thrilled to witness this free Hendrix performance but Tim never showed any such emotion. It could be because Jimi's big number at the time was Hey Joe! I still favour Tim's version as the best. I was with Tim when he filmed a promo, on cine film; pre video, for his current single at the time, Long Haired Boy of which I have a copy. I am even in the closing shot. Fame indeed! Tim's last show of 68 was at the marquee in London. Many celebrities were in the audience, such as Chris Farlowe, Georgie Fame, Long John Baldry.plus many more. The influence of Tim Rose was strong with his fellow artistes. With the tour over, so was my job. We parted company outside Eton Place. Tim and Jack got in a cab to go to the airport, heading for the States. Tim said will you be allright? I said I will be fine; see you when you come back to the U.K. Thirty one years later it came true! On the odd occasion I am known to pick up my guitar and perform a folk set. I do include a couple of Tim Rose songs, Morning dew and Dim Light A-burning. If Tim was ever listening I know he would say now that's not the way they should sound, which of course is right. Only the man himself can deliver Tim Rose songs with the charisma and passion only Tim can supply. I remain Tim's greatest fan. - Martin.

Sorry for the intrusion. But I happened to find this interview you had with Tim Rose. I found this while looking for information about early Simon & Garfunkel material, on the web. In this interview Rose mentioned he worked for Simon & Garfunkel. Is it known what he did with or for them? Also there is this drummer called Purdie, mentioned too, is there more info about him? Your information is appreciated! - Rob Oudshoorn

Tim is a great friend of mine and would be thrilled to know somebody has taken the time to do up a webpage about him. Give me a call or e-mail me, and I'd be more than happy to help "fill in the gaps". Good job! - Walter Ocner

Brian, I found a copy of the new CD but I couldn't buy it unfortunately (too expensive for my minority taste - the rest of the family were clamouring for the Spice Girls latest and Perfect Day). But it was in HMV in Milton Keynes in a proper CD case with insert and everything ... no bootleg! Suffice to say that next time when I looked ( a week or so later) it had been sold so at least ONE other person in MK is listening to TR. Sadly - probably more than one. Late night viewing and TV channel hopping on Saturday night we caught 'Later with Jools' which featured an interview with the man himself - looking older of course, and better dressed than I expected. Long grey hair and tinted glasses. He sang 'Hey Joe' while accompanying himself on the guitar after explaining that it was an Appalatian Song (?) that he'd heard offa some guy in Florida and that he'd added a couple of verses to. His voice is still the same as I remember - the sort that can open beer bottles, lick paint off walls and light matches - but I'm glad, I'm afraid, that my kids weren't watching. They would have wondered about my sense of Rock'n'Roll taste. It was not a performance to write home about. But it was nice to see him in the flesh again (I had worried that he had died in some alley somewhere ...) and he looked well. It's just that I don't think that he will have gained any more fans by the night's work! Sad really - I personally think that his version of songs like 'Where do you go to my lovely?', '7.30 Song', 'Small Town Talk' (all off 'The Musician' LP in fact!) as well as the older ones 'Come away Melinda' etc were so good. He seemed able to inject a very physical, raw sensuality into the songs ... on Saturday night it came across as a bit seedy. Still - now tell me that you saw it and thought it was great! Cheers - Simon

Brian, Have just read you web pages devoted to Tim Rose ... thanks for doing them. Tim appeared at least once on 'Top of the Pops' - the (very) long running top 40 TV show on BBC TV in the UK. He did an unaccompanied (ie - no electric band back-up) solo guitar version of Long Haired Boy at about the time it was released here in the UK. His music was often played by John Peel on Peel's Radio 1 show and there were several 'live studio' appearances in the 60s. They seemed to get on well together. I first saw Tim playing live in a place called "Frank's Place" in Kidderminster, UK in the late 60's (1966 or 7)- I had been given permission to have a late pass from school to go and see a concert. Frank's Place was a dance school in the daytime and it used to put on pop music concerts at the weekends - a very strange place! This was about the time of his Morming Dew album. I saw him two or three times in London in the 70s - a couple of pub-rock venues and twice I think at Dingwalls. Once he was being 'backed' by a member of Police before they made it HUGE, and once by a band that I knew of through a colleague at work who knew them. I may still have in the garage vinyl copies of several of his LPs and I was pleased to see evidence of his continued existence in the HMV record shop in Milton Keynes when I found a copy of the '97 concert recording at the Albert Hall on CD. Thanks again for the Tim Rose web pages ... Cheers - Simon