In reponse to fifi, my father was a wonderful man, he have been slightly harsh or aggressive in his nature occasionally but he came from a very hard background without much money and has had to work extremely had in an uncomprehending and very unthankful business, so before you make “stupid” comments about someone you probably do not now please think next time. Also the amount of charity gigs he has run and times when he helped out friends for free, even when his business was nearly bust shows how great a man my father was.

Sorry for the downer towards the end but i felt it was needed. Anyway, thanks Gordon, great article.

Regards
Shawn Neate

I have hesitated to respond to your acerbic comment. Bobby was many things, including self-promoting; but he came by that quality, as many musicians do, in compensation for the injustices of life. He played on thousands of recordings, including some of the biggest hits of the sixties; still, luxury avoided him.

The life of a session musician represents the classic Marxist paradigm: the industry exploited Bobby for his talent and then discarded him. He could be bitter about that treatment; but I always knew him as a generous and affable. Even when he was unhappy with something you had or had not done (and I dare say I experienced his occasional dissatisfaction first-hand), you knew it would pass. You would be friends again.

I cannot say I knew a great deal about his private life. I did visit with him for interviews, traveled with him to a gig, and shared take-out with him and his son while we watched old videos. Like many session musicians, he had fought and won a battle with substance abuse and he would be the first to acknowledge that he was no saint. I am sad at his passing and regret not being able to hear his gravelly voice on the phone.

My lingering memory will be the conversation we had after he had had to give up drumming. It was as though they had already pulled the plug. The world is a better place because of him and not without him.

Gordon

Happy to provide you with what I can on Bobby for the radio show.

Gordon

Big Jim doesn’t include Them on his sessions list, but he played so many studio dates that he could have forgotten. Bobby specifically mentioned “Little Jim” (Page) to me, but again, memories of who else was on a date in addition to one’s self can be notoriously difficult to pin down. I’m going by my ear. I hear little Jim on the Decca sessions for Them, which is not to say I can’t be fooled.

The point here was that Bobby played on so many of these sessions and received so little recognition in his lifetime that I thought it worthwhile mentioning his contributions. I mention the work of the Big and Little Jims elsewhere.

Thanks for the comment.

Gordon

Jim has also been quiet about the Dave Clark sessions as well.

Bobby and Jimmy Page can be found on many of those Them tracks. Bobby was often asked to overdub a second drumming track (e.g., “Gloria”) to punch up the excitement. Page in particular talks about how angry the band members where when the session guys arrived.

Gordon

Go peacefully you genius you.

John O’Brien