Pete Goodall: The Man
PETE GOODALL, THE STORY SO FAR...
small beginnings...
Peter George Goodall was born in May, 1945, and lived on Merseyside
with his parents. It was a musical family, his Great Uncle Tom was the
leader of the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra and his Aunty Elaine was a
concert pianist. So, Pete joined in the family tradition and began
piano and violin lessons at the tender age of 5. However, when he
turned his violin upside down to play, Uncle Tom spotted that he had a real talent so guitar lessons were suggested
instead, and for Christmas '53 he was given a 3 cord guitar....
For the next few years Pete worked at developing his talent, learning
to play Jazz, then Rock'n'Roll from the dance bands who played at his
fathers club; then aged 11 he put his first band together. They were
called The Roadrunners and went on to win competitions.
The next 5 years saw much work and more bands, such as The Sundowners, Bluestones, The Undertakers, Rory Storm and The Hurricanes(with drummer Ringo Starr), The Black Diamonds, and Savva and the Democrats.
In 1961, 16 yr old Pete was playing a gig every Saturday with the Black Diamonds, from 1st April straight through to 2nd December. At the beginning of the year, the band were averaging £5, but by September this had risen to the dizzy heights of £7.10 shillings( or £7.50!).
They had regular monthly slots at various social clubs across the Wirral and were particularly popular at the Cleaver Hospital Social Club, literally singing for their supper on 22nd November, as they weren't to be paid!
1963, and still only 18, Pete with Savva and the Democrats, pictured below 2nd right.
Savva and the Democrats (Available for all functions, according to their advertising), were playing every night from November '63 to April '64, at places such as The Grosvenor Ballroom in Wallasey for £7, The Royal Lido in Prestatyn, New Years Eve '63 for 10 Guineas (£10.50), and the Co-Operative Society Ballroom in Warrington for £12.
These smart venues demanded smart suits, and at the time, everyone who aspired to be anyone went to "Eric's". Eric's Ltd, Tailors and Men's Outfitters of Manchester St, Liverpool, supplied everything from suits to shoes.
Savva was managed by Wally Hill, the famous Liverpool promoter, before being signed up by Peak Promotions. It was Wally who staged regular weekly shows at Hollyoak Hall on the corner of "Penny Lane" (actually, Smithdown Road but that didn't sound the same!).
At a Savva gig, from right, Pete, Mum Dorothy, Dad Ernie, Auntie Elaine.
ROCK
In the late 50's-early 60's, there were two centres of Rock in Britain - Liverpool and London; part of the Merseybeat scene in Liverpool, Pete played at such places as the Kings Rhythm and Blues Club, the Borgia club, Riverpark, Plaza St. Helens, Belle Vale Beat Club, The Peppermint Lounge, St. John's Hall, Hope Hall(on following nights with both the Roadrunners and Savva ), Litherland Town Hall, Queens Hall Widnes(on the same bill as Screaming Lord Sutch and his Savages, and Rory Storm), the Majestic, Quaintways,the Iron Door, Mardi Gras, and, of course the Cavern Club...
AND FOLK
Pete was also into the folk scene in Liverpool, appearing at the Philharmonic Hall with the Spinners, playing acoustic guitar. As "Timothy" (the idea of Bob Wooler, folk and rock promoter and compere of the Cavern club, and Jim Turner, manager of the Odd Spot club), Pete organised and ran the Sound of Folk club and played at many folk venues across Merseyside, including countless appearances at the Spinners club.
It was Cliff Hall from the Spinners who introduced Pete to the music of the Carter family and the great Woody Guthrie.
Pete Seager was a frequent visitor to the Spinners club, and also the young Paul Simon, who was at that time living in London. Indeed, it was the day after Paul sang at the club that returning to London, he changed trains at Runcorn Station with a "suitcase and guitar in hand" - and recorded "Homeward Bound" shortly afterwards, with Tex Makins on bass and the Blue Fames playing the session.
At one of the main Liverpool gigs, Wigan Empire, Pete met Dick Heckstall-Smith, who was at that time playing with the Graham Bond Organisation (in terms of brilliance, the G.B.O was slightly after the Blue Flames). The Graham Bond Organisation consisted of Graham himself on organ, Jack Bruce on bass, Ginger Baker on drums, and of course, Dick on sax.
Dick told Pete he was wasted in Liverpool, to go up to London where there was a thriving session scene.
LONDON
So Pete set off, with a scholarship to the University of London under his belt. While at Uni, he was determined to follow Dick's advice so he went singing in the Folk clubs and busking with his girl-friend, Pam Balmer. During the week Pam worked as an Airline hostess but at weekends she sang folk songs with Pete at Marble Arch Tube Station.
Pam lived in Macketts Lane in Liverpool, next door but one to a certain George Harrison who was to immortalize her in song as "Polythene Pam", so called because of her trendy black-and-white plastic mac.
One day, busking on Speakers Corner in the pouring rain, Pete was spotted by a hot-dog seller, who said "You're good, why don't you go down to Bunjie's?".
Bunjie's Coffee House was, and indeed still is, a trendy haunt of the Bluesfolk fraternity. Situated in Litchfield Street it was a haven for Folk singing enthusiasts.
Pete played there with Terry Masterson and ex-Strawb Tony Pilsen. Within three weeks he had a resident Monday spot and had dropped out of University.
Pete was drinking with Tony Pilsen one night at the Brittania in Belsize Park when a mutual friend mentioned that a Multimedia group needed a guitarist. Off went Pete and phoned the girl who ran the group, Leonie Scott Matthews, was invited to an audition in a house in Hampstead and got the job.
So, by now, within a year of arriving in London, he was resident in Bunjie's in the West End on Mondays, and in Hampstead on Thursdays.
The Multimedia group, called Pentameters, are still going strong employing mime artists, poets and writers most of whom are household names.
1969
Then Pete fell in love, with Vanessa who ran the bookstall and the Liquid Lightshow at London's top venue, Middle Earth at the Roundhouse. Through Vanessa, who knew everyone in the business, Pete met Lee Harris, playwright, and was asked to write the music for one of his West End productions, "Loveplay", due to open on May 13th, 1969.
Amongst the musicians recruited to play was Jimmy Scott (the man who really wrote "Obladi"). Through Jimmy, Pete met Tex and the rest of the Blue Flames. 
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. From left, Georgie Fame, Speedy Aquaye, Mick Eves (on tenor sax), Tex Makins.
Georgie Fame told Pete he had so much more to offer, while at the same time Hendrix's roadie Pierre introduced him to that team and Chris Farlowe's Thunderbirds.
Chris was a frequent visitor to Pete's gigs and did a lot of work with him, also Chris's conga player Keith de Groot who was playing with the session squad backing Donovan, which consisted of Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and various drummers.
Keith had already completed his first Led Zeppelin album with Jimmy Page, but as Zep freaks will know, disappeared shortly afterwards.
At about this time, Pete met Rob Gold and worked on many sessions with him in the West End, Rob playing keyboards.
Pete and Tex built up a firm friendship and were joined by Viv Prince (the Pretty Things drummer) to become one of the most sought after session squads in London. Pete and Tex worked on countless sessions for International producers for many years, mostly in secret.
JAM RECORDS
As well as sessions, from 1969 to 1975 Pete arranged and produced as "Jam Records" for bands such as Jungle Soup, Royal Martian Fools, The Little Vehicle ( for Multimedia), and Judy Fisher (with Rob Gold).
Judy was a singer/songwriter and her brother Matthew was an organist and friend of Nick Mobbs. Nick was an A & R executive (Artists and Repertoire) at EMI and had set up the Harvest label, whose first signing was ELO, and they wanted Annapurna, which Pete was in at the time, because Matt had recommended them as a brilliant band. Unfortunately, Annapurna had just signed to Dick James, the Beatles publisher, so Annapurna went with the Beatles publisher, not with the Beatles company, and were released on Jam.
Pete with Annapurna in Hyde Park, 1969, playing his 1958 Gretsch.
GALE
Pete was invited to become booker for Gale (which was the Tremeloes agency) where he booked, not just the "Trems", but the Troggs (which he joined for a couple of years), the Alan Bown Set, Thunderclap Newman (whom he not only joined, but had a No. 1 hit, with the fantastic "Something in the Air"), and lots of others.
Pete spent a lot of time at Apple where he was involved with many of the Apple acts and played with many of the bands, at places like the Speakeasy Club, Scotch of St. James, the Experience, and just about every other club and music venue in London.
Pete was performing at the Speakeasy Club one night when Chuck Berry jumped on stage and actually said (down the microphone) "Peter you ARE rock'n'roll"! Praise indeed!
Many of the musicians Pete works with now, he met at the time.
One of the bands was the ill-fated "Ellis", and it was here that Pete and Zoot began to work closely together,and also Pete met Nick Payn, who was working with Sarah Gordon at the time.
Pete specialised in visiting Americans, particularly Black ones, as his formative years in the melting pot of Liverpool bore fruit in the music of American blues along with the likes of Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, and Carl Douglas.