Vinyl Relics: The New Hovering Dog by B.J. Cole
Vinyl Relics: The New Hovering Dog by B.J. Cole
You may not be familiar with B.J. Cole’s name, but I guarantee you are familiar with his work. Maybe there was something in the water over there in England in the 60’s. How else can you explain the crop of amazing guitarists that all came from such a small geographical area?!?
B.J. – or Brian as he was known then – may have been another to add to that list had it not been for the sweet sound of the lap steel, played by Santo Farina on that timeless classic instrumental “Sleep Walk.”
“I was like them,” he said. “I was like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page and all those guys. I was exactly the same, a contemporary of theirs and they went off and discovered the blues and got into the guitar that way and became huge stars. But I got caught and pulled sideways by this other instrument.”
BJ Cole on pedal steel guitar
I had the pleasure of interviewing B.J. for my podcast Vinyl Relics to discuss his wonderful album The New Hovering Dog (1972), but I had to go back a little earlier to understand how he got interested in playing a pedal steel guitar – as you can imagine, not something that was overly popular in 1960’s England at the time.
He said “I heard this record by a duo called Santo & Johnny called ‘Sleep Walk’. It’s probably the most famous instrumental tune in rock ‘n’ roll music. It really changed me from being a guitar player to being passionate about the steel guitar.”
Initially intrigued by the entrancing sounds of “Sleep Walk”, the interest blossomed further when he saw a poster of steel player Pete Drake in a record shop. From that moment, he was all in. “I thought ‘this is really interesting’,” he said, “no one’s doing this, not the in UK anyways.”
Unlike American steel players, he attacked the instrument from a different angle. Primarily known for its use in country music, BJ decided there should be no restraints whatsoever. He feels the instrument can be used in any musical setting.
“It’s one of my beliefs that the pedal steel IS capable of working in a lot more musical genres than it’s given credit for. I’ve always pushed the instrument into new areas because I’m so bloody-minded, I BELIEVE this instrument is capable of a lot of things. It’s just a musical instrument like any other, just like a piano or a regular guitar or whatever you want to compare it to. There’s no reason it can’t be used in any sort of music.”
Some bands came and went until eventually, he connected with some other blokes in a group called Cochise. They blended psychedelia and country rock in a really interesting style over a few albums. Their first self-titled release from 1970 is my personal favorite. (Parental warning: there are bare breasts on the cover.)
When Cochise disbanded, a record was still owed the label. That’s when B.J. was offered the chance to record his first solo album.
Cole is extremely well-read, and at this point he had been writing poetry, with no intention of doing anything with them. When the chance to record an album came along, he decided to put them to music.
The end result is The New Hovering Dog, an album that is extremely difficult to classify. It sounds like nothing else of its time, or even now. It has an otherworldly, ethereal feel. It is not wholly psychedelic, though at times you would describe it as such; it’s not country-rock, though at times it is; it’s sometimes proggy, sometimes folky, sometimes symphonic… yet you wouldn’t be able to slot it solely into any of those categories either.
Take, for example, the opening track “The Regal Progression”. With its dream-like sounds, it would fall into several musical categories all at once. And get a load of these lyrics:
At the foot of the fountain, a small bird sings as he silently signals a birth.
In the old calloused marble, the water is trapped and is turned from its course to the earth.
In the fire of the king is a numberless man who will suffer the royal pain.
For his arms will be wrenched to the points of the earth as the ruler ascends to his reign.
To the corners of time come all singers of songs, to the parts that they once thought whole.
To the blending of breath where each though is a death, and the times take their terrible toll.
Like I said, this cat is well-read and it shows in his own work. Some famous friends came along for the sessions too: Mick Grabham (Cochise, Procol Harum), Danny Thompson (Pentangle), Mike Giles (King Crimson), Francis Monkman (Curved Air, Sky) with string arrangements by Robert Kirby, most known for his work with Nick Drake.
Perhaps because it didn’t fit into any specific musical box, the album sold poorly. But that didn’t stop B.J.’s career from taking off. As the “in” guy for pedal steel in England, he was becoming very well-known among musicians. He worked on countless sessions. The one that broke his career, however was when he got a call to work on Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” Over the course of six hours, he joined Elton’s band to record one of the most perfect songs ever cut to wax. His stock immediately skyrocketed, and he never looked back.
The list of artists Cole has worked with is incredible: David Gilmour, Sting (who called him “the best pedal steel guitar player in the world”), Nazareth, Cat Stevens, Humble Pie, T.Rex, John Cale, Terry Reid, Robert Plant, Joan Armatrading, Beck, Bjork, Spiritualized, The Orb, Depeche Mode… I could go on and on. He even joined The Verve in the 90’s as a member of that band briefly. In all, he’s worked on over one thousand albums, a body of work that is simply astonishing.
Even though he is known as a “session guy”, it’s still The New Hovering Dog that he seems most proud of. “I love that record, it’s just great. I put so much into it. I went a completely different way, and it became The New Hovering Dog”.
I had the pleasure of walking through each track with him as he discussed its origins and stories from the recording studio. You can hear these songs, their back story and the story of B.J.’s career in Epysode 56 of my show Vinyl Relics, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other major podcast platform. Each week, I feature an album “time has forgotten” and one that I feel deserves more attention. The New Hovering Dog definitely fits that category. It’s hauntingly beautiful and truly a unique piece of art.
Oh, and the name “B.J.”? That was anointed to him by none other than Steve Marriott. “I worked with Humble Pie on a few albums”, he said. “And he called me ‘B.J.’, though I don’t think he knew my initials were B.J. at the time, ha ha. Knowing Steve, he was probably being salacious, which he tended to be from time to time. When he said it, I just hung on to it. These are very useful, having a handle like that. People remember you better when you have something like that. ‘Brian’ just doesn’t quite make it!”
I hope you dig The New Hovering Dog as much as I do.
– Farmer John
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