Comments

Steve Rawson@ 3:30pm 05-29-2012
Great work keeping the memory and legacy of a fine musician.
Replied on: 4:52pm 05-29-2012

Cheers, Steve.

dave chalk@ 9:38pm 03-15-2012
great site. I remember ollie when he used to drink in the royal oak in abbots langley, very close to where he lived.great guy and very funny man.when i get time i will leave a couple of storys.
Replied on: 11:58pm 03-15-2012

Thanks, Dave. Look forward to hearing them.

tom russell@ 11:54pm 02-22-2012
hello friends , great to find more info on ollie . I have him on Patto, and a Boxer fan as well. Any tips or links please let me know. Esp . on Tempest as we never got enuf of them other than the solo effort with Holdsworth.
Cheers!!!!!
Replied on: 9:11am 02-23-2012

Plenty of Tempest here, Tom: http://olliehalsall.co.uk/tempest.htm

Alan Charles@ 1:34pm 02-18-2012
One of my biggest regrets was never seeing Patto, even though I was a fan of the band and OH in particular. As a learner guitar player at the time I could not figure out how so many notes could come out of one set of fingers but more importantly in such a beautifully structured and even pretty way. The was no horrible shred speed for the sake of it with him. It all tripped out so musically perfect for whatever the song was. A prodigious talent. A classic British rock voice, cracking bass lines and the must under-rated drummie of his age. I wish I could play well enough to have started a tribute band. Surely there is someone out there to pick up the baton
CHRIS PROF HOLMES@ 11:53pm 02-15-2012
worked with Ollie, in the Music Students, SOUTHPORT, any pics anyone? then the full duration of Timebox......so much to recall....but more documentation to come.....he was A ONE OFF, ..me ex Tommy Hunt, Babe Ruth Band, John Walker...albeit a few months...post Babe Ruth...and various other combos. PS Ollie should be a major post on Criminally overlooked Giutarists site..definitely no justice there
Chas Rigby@ 6:43pm 02-15-2012
I lived back to back with Ollie for many years in Southport where we were both raised. I was a drummer in the early days and Ollie would lend me his kit passing it over the hedge. His mum and mine were friends and his sisters with my sisters.
Always the brilliant Musician/ not just Guitar but capable of commanding other instruments as well.
I last met up with him at the Kevin Ayers 'Falling UP' tour at Band On The Wall in Manchester/ we arranged to meet at The Festival Hall gig days later but i couldn't make it/ I never saw him again. God bless you mate.
Stephen Barr@ 9:35pm 02-14-2012
Hats off to Barry Monks et al for this Ollieforum!
As an amateur (in the best sense of the word) guitarist for the past...(yikes!) # of years I have found most rock based soloing to be pretty easy to pick up after the fact, until that is the day I got turned on to Patto (5 years ago) by a pal at the record/disc shop I helped run in downtown Toronto.
Long story short, I am interested in sharing hints as to what the !@#$%^%^&&** Ollie Halsell is doing in for eg.- the 3rd bar of the intro solo to the mighty "Hold your Fire"!!!
An awesome brilliant motif that shows up time and again in the Patto canon (I believe Ollies' best/freeest playing) and one which totally/wonderfully eludes me still.
Any takers?
Cheers.
[email protected]
graham oliver@ 3:50pm 02-14-2012
great job love all things OLLIE ,see my bit O H A
Replied on: 4:56pm 02-14-2012

See: www.olliehalsall.co.uk/grahamoliver.htm

Glyn Jones@ 9:41am 02-14-2012
Patto were a great band live. I used to see them a lot in the early 70's, mostly at the Greyhound Fulham Palace Road.
A Fish@ 9:30pm 02-13-2012
There are very few occasions when I am lost for words but this is one of them. Patto were one of the finest live bands I have ever seen, and I have seen a good few. Ollie was just about THE most dynamic, passionate and talented musician I have ever seen. He pushed the riffs, the music, right to the boundaries where frustration is the edge.
I go back to the early days, Timebox even. The were fairly regular at The Black Swan in Sheffield. They turned out stunning, stunning sets that left me buzzing for days. I can't believe it was more than forty years ago, I can almost feel the music still, almost feel the raw mysterious power that came off the stage.
Jonathan Loonin@ 12:14pm 02-13-2012
I didn't know about Patto and Ollie Halsall until the past couple of years, but it's never too late to discover great music! Thanks to Baz for manning the helm, and for being incredibly generous with his time and the dispensing of music in his archive.
Regis COISNE@ 2:38pm 02-12-2012
What a work you do !!! Ollie was an amazing guitarist not enough known . I became a musician because of him , and some others . And he is always in my mind !
Thanks
www.regiscoisne.com
John Scales@ 2:32pm 02-12-2012
Great work. Patto were the best. Ollie was way ahead of his contemporaries in both style and composition with the exeption of Zappa, and what greater tribute can there be than that?
Jorge Souto@ 12:48pm 02-12-2012
The first Halsall I heard was his solo on Ayers' May I? in the June 1 1974 LP, and fell in love with what he was playing. That was back in 1985. The bad part is it took many years to get my hands on any other recordings of his (none available here), apart from stuff with a couple of Spanish groups. But then, when I finally got to listen to Hold Your Fire and the Timebox compilations, I realised how much I had missed.
Thanks for your fantastic work, Barry!
Kevin Spiers@ 12:25am 02-12-2012
Thanks for keeping the flame alive, alive o. Whatever you do. Don't make it sound like Sergio Mendes.

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