Comments on: Denmark Street, The Rolling Stones, Vince Taylor And Denis Nilsen

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 10:30:51 +0000

Hello! I’ve been reading your site for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Porter Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the great job!

By: Ed Butler

Ed Butler — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:28:26 +0000

Wow! A comment by the great Albert Lee – good on you Albert! I saw you playing with Clapton in Galway in 1979.

By: Lucas Parker

Lucas Parker — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:51:45 +0000

Elton John is a very good musician and has been my idol ever since.;”

By: vera

vera — Tue, 25 May 2010 09:48:51 +0000

nice post brother…..

By: Martin Newell

Martin Newell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:35:49 +0000

I agree with Albert, there. (saw you in Hyde Park with Heads, Hands and Feet Summer 71′..I must have been all of 18) Great stuff. I’m researching a bit about the street for my own memoir at the moment. I practically lived at 22 Denmark Street between Sept ’86 and April ’88. I was there with my own band Cleaners From Venus. I was also helping out Captain Sensible with his album. I slept under the mixing desk. He slept under the grand piano during those weeks when we were working around the clock. It was in a fine tradition. Oddly enough, in 1986, before Steve Hoyland the maintenance engineer converted the place from ( I think) an 8 track to a 24 track, the last person to do a session down there was Ian Stewart from the Stones. He died of a heart attack very shortly afterwards
The history of the street is even stranger. It was generally thought to be the place where the 1665 plague took grip. Also, go and look at one of Hogarth’s engravings. It’s one of a set of four called The Four Times of Day.
In the Noon engraving is pretty much a sketch of the immediate area. St Giles in the close background, and Hog Lane (later Charing Cross Road). I’ll let you know when I post all this stuff up on my site.

By: Albert Lee

Albert Lee — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:26:03 +0000

Fantastic job, I’ve just discovered your postings today. I could comment on some others but I’ll restrict it to this one for now. I worked in Denmark St when the Giaconda was still Ledenois, hairdressers suppliers. I worked there during the day and was part of the house band at the Two Eyes in Old Compton St in the evenings. I recorded a whole album in about two hours at Regent Sound in 1961, we cut three acetates, one for the vocalist, one for me and one for Jimmy Page who was a fan of my playing at the time. Keep up the good work.

By: Shane levene

Shane levene — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:04:46 +0000

My father Graham Archibald Allen was Nilsens 14th victim (you can read about that on my site: http://memoiresofaheroinhead.blogspot.com) and yes Nilsen does have a musical bone in his body…in fact he has a deep knowledge of 70′s 80′s Rock and Pop. In the few letters we exchanged in the late 1990′s he ogten referred to songs or quoted lyrics. The most bizarre of which was the opening verse to The Pet Shop Boys ‘West End Girls’ which ends: “…In a restaurant, in a West End town, call the police there’s a madman around…”

Best Wishes & I love the site,

Shane.

By: Gigi Kordiak

Gigi Kordiak — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:09:55 +0000

I say it! Just delightful! Your authorship manner is charming and the way you handled the topic with grace is applaudable. I am intrigued, I make bold you are an expert on this subject. I am subscribing to your incoming updates from now on.

By: Mike Taylor

Mike Taylor — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:53:14 +0000

Hi. Dennis does have a musical bone. While I was editor of Big Breakfast News in the 1990s I had a regular Friday meeting with Charlie Parsons who ran Planet 24. They also produced The Word. Charlie played me a cassette tape he had been sent in the post. Lots of songs knocked out on a sort of Bontempi organ by Dennis in prison. Sort of Ivor Cutler meets John Shuttleworth stuff. It wasn’t broadcast on the Word. I wonder whatever happened to it… maybe Charlie still has it?

By: Rob H.

Rob H. — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:46:13 +0000

Great pics of Denmark St.
I remember Regent Sound with its grey sign, it was still there (as a recording studio) up until the early 80′s at least.
Next door was the Tin Pan Alley club that was frequented (due to a late bar) by a gangster type clientelle.Chris and Andys guitar repair workshop was there too.
The pic of Andrew Loog Oldham shows him walking down the other side of the road just about opposite from Regent Sound.
Dennis Neilsen also worked at the Job centre down Kentish Town Rd and my girlfrien of the time used to kick me out of bed to try and find a job from there.
I remember once I took one of the cards off the board and handed it to Neilsen and he tried to ring the job for me but couldn’t get through and almost smashed the phone in temper on putting it down.He always used to stink to high heaven of the worst B.O. you could ever imagine.
I walked out.
One morning I went to the jobshop and it was closed as they had had a flood in there.
This flood is actually mentioned in Brian Master’s ‘Killing For Company’.
A chill went down my spine when I first saw his picture in the newpapers, here he was – the bad tempered horribly stinking guy.