OFF: the Enid

[Nick Medford]

On Fri, 15 Dec 2000 03:52:20 +0100, Sebastian Welton <sebastian at WELTON.DE>
wrote:

>
>I remember seeing them some years ago at the Marquee (another farewell
>concert, 2 nights entitled In The Region Of Summer Stars) which was
>memorable for the fact that for an encore some little punk oadie played
>the drums while they did an excellent version of Anarchy In The UK.

Are you sure it wasn't Pretty Vacant? That was a regular encore, usually
sung by drummer Chris North (which would explain the roadie filling in).
Another frequent encore was a raucous version of Wild Thing, with Godfrey
camping it up outrageously and proving that he did possess a sense of
humour. If this subversive wit (and shredding guitar) had surfaced more
frequently they would have been a better band.


>Stand website shows that they are quite, er, pompous though, although I
>never knew that Robert Godfrey had anything to do with Barclay James
>Harvest.

Gawd yeah, he's spent much of his adult life trying to sue them over
royalties. As I understand it the case was eventually resolved in his
favour but he didn't get any dosh because of some legal technicality.

>--- From The Stand Website ---
>Godfrey and Stewart find themselves working with a wide range of
>artists, from Terry Hall and Katrina and the Waves, to New Model Army,
>Christian Death and Conflict. Their reputation and influence has
>permeated some unexpected areas of modern music. Conflict say on the
>sleeve notes of their album The Final Conflict: "We would like to pay
>tribute to The Enid for the inspiration of their life and work."

Their connection with Conflict was one of the more improbable associations,
although a smattering of hardcore punks would often show up at Enid gigs
and seemed to greatly enjoy the fey neo-classicism on offer. Anarcho-punks
Crass (closely linked to Conflict) also lived on a farm and tried to
maintain a completely autonomous existence, so there was a parallel with
the Enid there, making the connection a litle less mind-boggling perhaps.
I'm pretty sure RJG would not have been sympathetic to their politics
though- I once saw him engaged in an animated discussion in the Marquee
bar, exclaiming "you can't have a society of anarchists!"

Nick