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  BACK STREET

  CRAWLER

KOSS  

    SLESS   

Dear Terry (Sless),

Just found the website and though it's late just wanted to scribble a quick hello and thanks for one of the most memorable gigs I ever attended, Back Street Crawler at Birmingham Town Hall, must have been sometime in '75.

The band came up on the stage lift, Koss with a pint and fag in hand!

At 17 I was in awe of Koss, pushed to the front and was under his gaze all night. He was aware of my adulation and at one point made as if to kick a monitor at me only to give me a wry smile. It sounds almost pathetic but I stretched to touch his hand whilst he was playing on his knees at the edge of the stage, you though will understand why that is a cherished memory.

I remember he cut a finger breaking a string and played for a while before taking a break for a string change and another pint and a fag!

As for Terry Wilson-Slesser, well you weren't Paul Rodgers so you had some work to do!

At first I couldn't get my head round this lithe, almost elastic and camp front man, compared with the more moody, macho Rodgers I also idolised.

As the gig went on though, the rapport between you and Koss, the tightness and at times the looseness of the entire band, allowed me to appreciate the excellence of the job you were doing. You weren't Rodgers, you were different, you were above all a progression at that time for Koss and a perfect foil for his guitar with your voice, and for his laid back humour with your aggitated, almost desperate rock star strutting.

The first Back Street Crawler album remains one of favourite and most played albums ever.

In parts it is on a par with Free, not Free of course but uniquely different, taking the sound of the Free At Last album to another level. I love the stripped down sound allowing each instrument and vocal to stand alone yet compliment each other, and the live production feel. The near the surface humour seemed to suit Koss and offered so much hope for a truly unique band and excellent live experience which was so much more real rock and roll than much of the pompous crap emerging at that time.

So sad, you and Koss could have been one of the great marriages of rock, what with all that tension and banter, a perfectly balanced harmony and discord if that makes any sense.

So, thanks again for the memories and I'll be looking out for Freeway.

Ian Crean (Deke)..Aug 2007