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9. The Out - Who Is Innocent? (Rabid Records, 1979)
I had never heard of Manchester's "not-quite-punk powerpop" group The Out or their leader, the Wrexham, Wales-born "Guitar George" Borowski, which is exactly why Derek Hammond's liner notes rightly exclaim, "Life can be so unfair. George Borowski plays like a demon squeezing out inspirational tunes so sweet they can make you feel physically seven stones lighter...and all he gets remembered for is being patronised by a bald bloke with a bandana." That bloke would be Mark Knopfler, whose Dire Straits song "Sultans of Swing" sent a shout out to the Out maestro as follows:
Check out Guitar George, he knows all the chords
Mind, he's strictly rhythm, he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
Yes, and an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
Besides Knopfler, The Doves, Radiohead, Teenage Fanclub (with whom he later played) and The Pixies (whose Frank Black says "I have never seen a rock and roll performer so completely connected with what he was doing on stage") are also fans...but, as Moz would say, the world won't listen. This despite GG being able to trace his lineage to Sergei Rachmanikov, (he's a great-nephew of the legendary Russian composer), touring with Meat Loaf (!), and having a half-brother (Tim Borowski) who plays for German football club Bayern Munich (OK, perhaps only I'm impressed by that last one).
Going by this track, George should be more famous, especially given this single's Jam-like mod energy. But as Q MAGAZINE blurbed it: "Guitar George Borowski, one of the hitherto-unacknowledged people, products and 'things that have helped shape rock'n'roll… and a commemorative verse in Dire Straits' 'Sultans of Swing' - such has been the life of Mr. Unsung Personified."
Speaking of Q, read their "Guitar George" interview with Borowski, in which he explains how he came to impress Mark Knopfler one night in Manchester:
"We had the job of opening for the bands at a place called Rafters...When Dire Straits played, Mark Knopfler came over to me and said, 'That's a great guitar sound you've got. How come you don't play solos?' The thing is, I can't really play solos, I just play chords. He had a go on my guitar; it was a piece of plywood with two pick-ups and a reject neck, but it sounded teriffic. I said 'You can have it if you want, it's only worth eighteen quid.' And he was like , 'Oh no, no, I can't take it.' That was about the long and short of it, really.
Well, "Who Is Innocent" may be the short of it, but the Sgt. Peppery montage picture sleeve provides the hours-long of it. I'm still trying to figure out who's who (as well as who's innocent!); click on the image above to enlarge.
Besides being immortalised in song, touring with Meat Loaf and Teenage Fanclub, and getting steady work as a session guitarist, Borowski was in a ton of bands, including his post-Out group, Captain Swoop & the Fabulous Wonderfuls, whose "Tonight Could Be the Night" single can be found on Hyper2Death Record's Messthetics CD series. He still plays with the lads and has his own Manchester radio show.
George Borowski on Wikipedia.
George Borowski's Website: georgeborowski.co.uk
George Borowski on MySpace.
George Borowski & The Fabulous Wonderfuls on YouTube.
9. The Out - Who Is Innocent? (Rabid Records, 1979)
I had never heard of Manchester's "not-quite-punk powerpop" group The Out or their leader, the Wrexham, Wales-born "Guitar George" Borowski, which is exactly why Derek Hammond's liner notes rightly exclaim, "Life can be so unfair. George Borowski plays like a demon squeezing out inspirational tunes so sweet they can make you feel physically seven stones lighter...and all he gets remembered for is being patronised by a bald bloke with a bandana." That bloke would be Mark Knopfler, whose Dire Straits song "Sultans of Swing" sent a shout out to the Out maestro as follows:
Check out Guitar George, he knows all the chords
Mind, he's strictly rhythm, he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
Yes, and an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing
Besides Knopfler, The Doves, Radiohead, Teenage Fanclub (with whom he later played) and The Pixies (whose Frank Black says "I have never seen a rock and roll performer so completely connected with what he was doing on stage") are also fans...but, as Moz would say, the world won't listen. This despite GG being able to trace his lineage to Sergei Rachmanikov, (he's a great-nephew of the legendary Russian composer), touring with Meat Loaf (!), and having a half-brother (Tim Borowski) who plays for German football club Bayern Munich (OK, perhaps only I'm impressed by that last one).
Going by this track, George should be more famous, especially given this single's Jam-like mod energy. But as Q MAGAZINE blurbed it: "Guitar George Borowski, one of the hitherto-unacknowledged people, products and 'things that have helped shape rock'n'roll… and a commemorative verse in Dire Straits' 'Sultans of Swing' - such has been the life of Mr. Unsung Personified."
Speaking of Q, read their "Guitar George" interview with Borowski, in which he explains how he came to impress Mark Knopfler one night in Manchester:
"We had the job of opening for the bands at a place called Rafters...When Dire Straits played, Mark Knopfler came over to me and said, 'That's a great guitar sound you've got. How come you don't play solos?' The thing is, I can't really play solos, I just play chords. He had a go on my guitar; it was a piece of plywood with two pick-ups and a reject neck, but it sounded teriffic. I said 'You can have it if you want, it's only worth eighteen quid.' And he was like , 'Oh no, no, I can't take it.' That was about the long and short of it, really.
Well, "Who Is Innocent" may be the short of it, but the Sgt. Peppery montage picture sleeve provides the hours-long of it. I'm still trying to figure out who's who (as well as who's innocent!); click on the image above to enlarge.
Besides being immortalised in song, touring with Meat Loaf and Teenage Fanclub, and getting steady work as a session guitarist, Borowski was in a ton of bands, including his post-Out group, Captain Swoop & the Fabulous Wonderfuls, whose "Tonight Could Be the Night" single can be found on Hyper2Death Record's Messthetics CD series. He still plays with the lads and has his own Manchester radio show.
George Borowski on Wikipedia.
George Borowski's Website: georgeborowski.co.uk
George Borowski on MySpace.
George Borowski & The Fabulous Wonderfuls on YouTube.
