VELVERT TURNER
The Velvert Turner Group (1972)
In various interviews over the years, Richard Lloyd (guitarist and songwriter, Television and solo career) recounts how he met Velvert Turner who boasted of knowing Jimi Hendrix and believed him when Lloyd’s mates were mocking Turner who not only did know Hendrix but also studied guitar with Hendrix.
Roughly 2 years of Hendrix’s death, Turner had his opportunity to record his one and only album and it’s not bad at all.
The songs and performances aren’t direct copies of Hendrix’s signature style but definitely sound like pastiches or, if one wants to be charitable, homages of that signature style and Turner’s voice on here is unnervingly similar to Hendrix’s to the extent, if I hadn’t known better and had heard the songs blind, I might’ve believed these tracks were previously unreleased studio outtakes by Jimi himself. The main difference, though, is that Turner doesn’t have his mentor’s chops and also doesn’t try to play exactly like Hendrix, at least not in the latter’s highly characteristic style.
“House Burning Down” and “Long Hot Summer” off Electric Ladyland seem to be the direct stylistic reference points rather than the psychedelic rockers and that limits the overall sonic palate of the album and makes it somewhat one dimensional. There aren’t any tracks that stand out as a cut above the rest. Turner is a journeyman, with some good lyrics, but without a unique songwriting talent and this is probably one reason, if not the major reason, why the album didn’t make him a star and why there weren’t any follow ups. Velvert Turner had his one shot but just didn’t have the magic to convert his homage into a sustaining career of interest beyond that of a curiosity.
