As well as the article that took up the whole of a page in The Times yesterday, they also published a leading article on the event:-
imi Hendrix would be 81 now. Imagine what the man proclaimed as the greatest guitarist of all time might have achieved in the 53 years since his untimely death in a London flat from an overdose of barbiturates. Hendrix is one of the 27 Club, that roll call of doomed youth, rock stars destined to die at that cursed age. Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones was a fellow member, like Hendrix a talent forever preserved in aspic. Yet, despite their reputation for hellraising, and the implied contractual term with fame to check out early, most great guitarists make it to old age. Now, a millennium’s worth of talent is being mobilised in a noble cause.
Mark Knopfler, singer and lead guitarist of Dire Straits, has co-opted his heroes to play in a recording of his composition Going Home, the theme from the 1983 film Local Hero. Proceeds from the recording will go to charities helping teenagers suffering from cancer in Britain and the US.
The line-up includes living legends such as Eric Clapton, 78, Pete Townshend, 78, and David Gilmour, 77, who join spring chicken Brian May, 76. Add the US contingent, including Bruce Springsteen and Slash, a baby at 58, and then bassist Sting, drummer Ringo Starr and harmonica player Roger Daltrey, plus others, and the total years of exceptional talent comfortably exceeds a thousand; an embarrassment of riches that has forced the producers to extend the instrumental to nine minutes. Most moving is the contribution of Jeff Beck, who died last year after recording it.
When it comes to so-called super groups the parts tend to be greater than the whole. Presumably, given the inevitable congestion, the chance for these talents to shine is limited. But this is help for a good cause, not an egofest. In any case, the recording offers years of drunken after-party fun for air-guitaring rock nerds as they shout over each other while sorting the Pete from the Slash.
