Plain and Fancy: 04/14/25

Monday, April 14, 2025

Billy Gray - Feeling Gray? (1972 uk / italy, primo blues classic rock, with prog touches, 2010 remaster)

It's 1972. Prog has been a reality for a couple of years, but the counterculture is already knocking at the door with its hard, self-conscious sound. Meanwhile, the epigones of post beat and psychedelia are playing their last cards of trustworthiness because from the following year on, that kind of proposal will be less and less accepted by an increasingly militant and less compassionate public. It is therefore in time William Gray, aka Bill, better known as the guitarist of Trip to place for Polydor his first blues rock album “Feeling Gray” which, however, despite the undoubted quality of the product, will not give him much satisfaction.

Bill was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1947 and at not even 20 years of age already had on his resume a successful 45 recorded for Philips as guitarist for the Anteeks: “I Don't Want You” / “Ball and Chain,” now priced at about 290 pounds.

Settling in London in the spring of 66, he joined David Bowie's The Buzz as a replacement for guitarist John Hutchison, and with them recorded a demo of the single “I dig everything” written by Bowie himself. In The Buzz's version, however, the song never saw the light of day having left then-producer Tony Hatch dissatisfied and he fell back on studio musicians for the release.

The Buzzes nevertheless continued to accompany Bowie live for four more months before the reef, but in September they had to give up on Bill Gray of all people, lured by a tempting offer from our own Ricky Maiocchi, then sojourning in London in search of musicians.

Maiocchi, by the way, had already recruited on bass one Arvid Andersen, a quirky beatnik of Scandinavian descent, and a young guitarist of good hope named Ritchie Blackmore, a longtime friend of Arvid's from the days when they were part of first Neil Christian's Crusaders, then Screamin Lord Sutch & The Savages, and finally the Three Musketeers.

Thus, they lacked a drummer, later found in the figure of Ian Broad (formerly a militant in Rory Storm & The Hurricanes with whom Ringo Starr also played) and another guitarist, who was indeed William Gray. And so, here Maiocchi and the Trip began their Italian adventure.

Maiocchi, however, is very centralizing, and Blackmore, who often steals his thunder, does not like the former Chameleon's constant calls for calm. Ian Broad then turns out to be wretchedly undisciplined and scurrilous. After just three weeks Blackmore and Broad leave, the Trips abandon Maiocchi, recruit Sinnone and Vescovi, and proceed on their way.

Bill Gray, for his part will stay with them for two albums, The Trip and Charon, and then he too will drop out due to supposed differences with Vescovi who, some say, apparently was not exactly a model of democracy. Others murmur instead that Vescovi and Andersen were unhappy with the idea that Gray was working on solo material, but that is part of the gossip.

The fact remains that Billy leaves, a year later he meets former Rokes Shel Shapiro, and before long he is at Regson Studios in Milan recording with four other musicians (including Gian Luigi Pezzera and Shapiro himself) his “Feeling Gray?” nine tracks, half an hour long.

Musically there is not much to say about it: nothing prog, nothing innovative, so really nothing earth-shattering, but on the other hand a very pleasant record, very well played, polished and never banal despite the fact that it is evidently Anglophone blues rock. Between the grooves the experience of the musicians shines through, and even if we wanted to mistakenly consider it a filler or worse an exercise in style it is really worth a listen. Thus, if only and only for the sheer pleasure of the music. And also to evoke once again the great spirit of William, who left really too soon.

The album contains nine tracks, all sung in English, composed by Gray himself, who passed away in 1984.

by John Nicolò Martin