Pinball And Other Stories

Product Information

Described in the liner notes by Protheroe as ‘A more solid, carefully planned album’ I/You is probably the pinnacle of the Chrysalis albums. As both a musician and actor, Brian Protheroe has walked the walk since the 1960s. On stage and screen (both small and large) his acting work has included the recurring role of Edward IV in several BBC Television Shakespeare productions and that of Saruman in the stage musical of Lord Of The Rings. Credits in television shows such as Lovejoy, Holby City, Midsomer Murders and Doctors have established him a familiar face for several decades. The Sad Song lyric is about my first serious girlfriend dumping me and marrying her ex-partner. But it’s also about how songwriters plunder painful relationship traumas in search of a good song.” Martin would write a lyric in different sections and I somehow had to find a way to bind them together, while giving each individual section the kind of musical choices the words suggested. There was a lot of criticism about Martin from the record company. They tried to take his name off the first album, so it would look like I was the only contributor. I threatened to stop working on the album if they did that so they relented. The producer Del Newman wasn’t sure about the songs Martin participated in either. He preferred the songs I wrote alone. My songs were varied, but they weren’t as mad as Martin’s! We used some songs Martin and I wrote for a musical called Lotte’s Electric Opera. They were totally out of context, so they were even weirder! But I like that. Martin’s a great friend so I always wanted him to be involved.”

In 1997, there started to be signs of a resurgence of interest in his '70s music, as the Basta label put out a set called Brian's Big Box. In 2005, Protheroe assembled unheard material, including new songs, for the CitySong collection. The next year saw the release of Pinball and Other Stories, a compilation of his '70s material that also had a handful of unheard '80s originals to round out the disc. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine HOMETOWN Salisbury, EnglandThe traditional showmanship is brough to the fore on The Good Brand Band Song, which has echoes of The Beatles and 10cc running through it, there’s a wonderful element of showmanship and English music hall or Pythonesque humour that is drip fed through Protheroe’s songwriting. This focus on the lyrics as well as the music is an obvious reflection of Protheroe’s acting, and with some superb arrangements and production by Del Newman, whose orchestral arrangements enhance many songs on here (just like they did on albums by Elton John and Cat Stewart) and help bring Protheroe’s warm vocals to the fore. In 2002 Protheroe played the role of Gower in Adrian Noble's production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre. In 2007 he was cast as Saruman in the original stage musical version of The Lord of the Rings. Performances began at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 21 June 2007. Protheroe played his final performance at the end of his year contract in June 2008. With a career spanning music and acting, Brian Protheroe has left an indelible mark on both stages. Renowned for his classic hit ‘Pinball’ and a run of acclaimed albums in the mid-70s, Brian now invites us to delve into the heart of his classic hit. Brian Protheroe (born 16 June 1944) [1] is an English singer, songwriter, narrator and actor. He is best known for his first single, " Pinball", which was released in August 1974, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. He has narrated the Channel 4 dating show First Dates since 2015. [2] Career [ edit ] Music [ edit ]

It’s quite remarkable how you’ve had sort of two parallel careers, in acting as well as music. I’ve read that it was a play that led you ultimately to get signed by Chrysalis Records, is that right? Very much in this mould is actor/singer-songwriter Brian Protheroe, who was Salisbury-born but came to London in the mid ‘60s, where his first band FBI (Folk Blues Incorporated) shared the same bill at a folk club with Paul Simon in 1965. One of Brian’s few concerts was at London’s Troubadour in 2012, with a band featuring Steeleye Span’s Julian Littman and Manfred Mann legend Paul Jones amongst others. “I wanted to do a small gig somewhere, and I knew Julian would support me” he explains. “I’d played at the Troubadour with my folk group in 1965, and I went to have a look at it and it was virtually exactly the same as it was then! I just loved the feel of the place, it held just over 100 and it seemed like the right thing to do” There’s some beguiling footage from this rare event on YouTube with pitch perfect renditions. Brian sounds like a seasoned touring musician, his voice unchanged by 40 years distance. Oh, thank you. I think the ‘Guilty Pleasures’ was one of the first compilations that I was on. But there have been several over the years, it’s been lovely.Babey, Ged. "Brian Protheroe: A Salisbury Boy – album review". Louder Than War . Retrieved 27 September 2023.

Chrysalis and Protheroe parted ways after 1976, and he returned to acting full-time. He had an appearance in Richard Donner's 1978 Superman film but, for the most part, Protheroe was a mainstay of BBC productions and British stage. From this point on, he acted steadily, doing anything from Shakespeare to spy thrillers. From one of the shows Brian was in, comes an incendiary version of Lucille which seems to fit the aesthetic of I/You perfectly and doesn’t feel out of place at all compared with what’s gone before. Friendship and the fact that he’s a brilliant musician, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He’s also patient and meticulous in the recording process. Something I’m not.” Possibly people are comforted by/identify with those desolate feelings expressed in the song. In truth, I have no idea.” Better known today as the voice of First Dates and First Dates Hotel, Brian is a well-established actor who’s graced both stage and screen since 1968 when he moved to Lincoln and made his debut in rep.Over the years, Brian has largely resisted live performances. “It’s not really something I do,” he says. “I did a one-off gig at the Mermaid Theatre in London in about 74-75, which was okay. In 1983, I did one at the Theatre Royal Stratford East where I was working at the time. I’ve done a couple since. All through those years, acting was my main occupation. That’s why it didn’t work out with the record company, I was much more comfortable in the acting environment than in the record environment. I loved being in the studio, working with session musicians and the producer and engineer that we had. I didn’t get on so much with plugging the music and all the extraneous stuff which wasn’t about simply creating”. Protheroe joined the folk group Folk Blues Incorporated (FBI) when he was nineteen, while at this time listening to Bob Dylan and the Beatles. He came to London with FBI in 1965, and played in folk music clubs in and around London. In 1966, Protheroe began his career as an actor. His first job was with his local repertory theatre in Salisbury. He worked there for about seven months then spent the next five years in various theatre companies around Britain, developing his musical skills as well as becoming an experienced actor. In 1968, he worked for nearly two years in a theatre company in Lincoln, where he met Martin Duncan who was also a musician, writer and actor. Over the next few years they collaborated on various musical and artistic projects. There’s lots of forums on the internet where angry middle aged men with beer bellies and living in their Mum’s spare rooms spend all day arguing with strangers on the internet about what is or isn’t progressive, this finale is what I would call progressive. Butterfield, Pete (28 December 1974). "Pinball. Brian Protheroe (Chrysalis CHR 1065)". Reading Evening Post . Retrieved 4 August 2019. I was living behind the Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden having recently broken up with a girlfriend. The lyric is an extended diary entry of my experiences at the time. Loneliness and feelings of not being in control like a silver ball being flipped around in a pinball machine. It didn’t remotely cross my mind that the song would still be around 46 years later.”

His final Chrysalis album I/You, with it’s distinctive cover art, featured session musicians like Alan Parker, Simon Phillips and Michael Giles on drums, whilst label mates Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson and Barriemore Barlow added flute and percussion to the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Under the Greenwood Tree. Brian Protheroe – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. 16 June 1944 . Retrieved 23 December 2012.

Recommendations

In 1973, Protheroe was playing the part of a pop singer in a play called Death on Demand, when a representative from Chrysalis Records heard a song he had written for the show. His first single, " Pinball", was released in August 1974, [3] and it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. [4] Then followed by an album of the same name. [3] The follow-up single "Fly Now" made Capital Radio's "Capital Countdown" chart. [ citation needed] Brian Protheroe is first and foremost an actor. He was born in Salisbury in 1944 and joined the city’s repertory theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, in 1966. By the early 1970s, he’d made strides as an actor and composer in stage productions. In 1973, his life took an unlikely turn while he was appearing in William Fairchild’s play Death on Demand. “I wrote the music to a lyric my character Johnny Tomorrow sang during the course of the play called For Tomorrow” Protheroe explains. “It was a very simple pop song – “Tomorrow will be my day, the day that dreams come true / tomorrow, flying high day, something something with you”. It couldn’t have been more basic really but the author absolutely loved what I did with his lyrics. We made a demo recording of it and he took it round to various record companies – Decca, Chrysalis and one other.” Protheroe was signed by Chrysalis on the strength of For Tomorrow, and embarked on an unlikely second career as a pop star. No. Songs generally emerge from creative doodling – musically and lyrically on guitar or piano. A particular chord sequence or musical feel, a word or phrase that might suggest or evoke a gradual stream of connected ideas. I suppose the source of many of my songs is, of course, personal relationships as with many songwriters down the ages. However, with many that’s not the case, especially songs written with lyricist Martin Duncan many of which have a theatrical/surreal feel.” Pinball was a slow burner, really. It only got to number 22 in the chart, but it almost instantly made an impression. Kenny Everett played it a lot on Capital Radio. When I was on Top of the Pops, Carl Douglas was number 1 with Kung Fu Fighting. There was a lot of crap on it – god, Peter Shelley with Love Me Love My Dog. Pinball was very different. The joke was that I went on Top of the Pops when it was at 22, and the week after it went down! I didn’t know what I did wrong.” Working with song writing partner Martin Duncan, the album opens in style with Enjoy It, with it’s complex tongue twisting lyrics that work within the musical arrangements as well.