SAX WARS..

OK, following my last rant about the BBC I have to be fair (well, a bit) and say that the redeeming factor for BBC TV might be BBC Four.  It seems to cater for those of us who prefer the obscure, the unusual, the thought provoking and I was pleased some time ago to learn that BBC Four`s survival had been secured at the expense of BBC Radio Three which has apparently now gone online.   

Anyway, the other evening BBC Four showed again a documentary covering the life and work of Gerry Rafferty, he of Baker Street fame of course - but so much more as well.  And it provoked the thought in my obscure, unusual mind as to whether the saxophone solo, courtesy of the late Raphael Ravenscroft, was the best there has been in popular music.  Have a listen and see what you think:-

But maybe there`s a rival?  Years ago I got a bit hooked on the music produced and performed by the Alan Parsons Project and I always thought that the saxophone solo from Mel Collins on "Don`t Answer Me" was as good as anything I had ever heard.  So here`s that one - it`s about two and a half minutes in but the whole track is worth listening to:-

So there we have it.  In some respects this post is something of a memorial to those artists who have now left us - Gerry Rafferty died aged just 63 in 2011; Raphael Ravenscroft left us in 2014 aged just 60 and Eric Woolfson, who sang the lyrics in "Don`t Answer Me" passed away at just 64 in 2009.

But of course old rockers never die - they just roll away?