However, there was also a fast-developing scene in the south-west. The Crawdaddy Club has gone down as the birthplace of the Rolling Stones. The Station Hotel Richmond provided a Sunday evening residency for the Stones where they developed their act and gained a growing audience. When they finished they were replaced by the Yardbirds. Many other bands played this legendary venue and regulars included a young, local lad Ian McLagan who would soon join the Small Faces. Across the road is Richmond rugby group where the National Jazz & Blues Festival. Many groups would play there as the event evolved from jazz to include many charts acts of the time including Cream, the Small Faces, the Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann and many more. Later the festival moved up the road to Sunbury before headingb to Windsor by the late 1960s. It is still going strong though better-known nowadays as the Reading Festival.

Slightly further up-river is Eel Pie Island in the middle of the Thames adjacent to Twickenham. The Eel Pie Island Hotel was another incubator for the 1960s music scene and many greats played there includiong Rod Stewart, Bluesology with Elton John and David Bowie. The history of the hotel is amazing. It was, apparently, an amazing place for gigs but it soon became run-down and declined.

The book is a very interesting read especially if you know the area. This part of south-west London and the Thames was so important in the development of British music in the 1960s and would have been buzzing with live music in the mid-1960s. The characters involved were also very interesting. Yardbirds manager Georgio Gomelsky may be well-known but there are also others such as Harold Pendleton and Arthur Chisnall. This may not quite have been a small backwater and it was away from the centre of London but area made a massive contribution to music.

Published: 22 November 2021

Paradise Road