It starts with an idea. That buzzes around my head for a while. I wait until I have another idea and marry them together. Then I place my ideas in a setting. Then a character comes to mind.
When I have those dominoes in place I shove the first one.
Thar first word sets the process in motion. The words tumble out. The ideas develop, the characters spawn and a story coalesces out of my subconscious.
For the duration of the writing I live and breath the story. The characters develop, the setting becomes richer and the story evolves. Often I have no idea what comes next but my subconscious seems to know. The dominoes tumble and one knocks another as I frantically attempt to keep up. It’s intense.
The idea for my latest book – The Time Traveller – came to me a long while ago. I had this idea of going back in time with modern weapons and the effect that would have on ancient armies. It felt too comic book but the idea wouldn’t go away. My mind kept mulling over the thought of missiles and bazookas against ancient armies. I imagined Hannibal and the Punic wars. Then I started thinking about the effect of that power on the human mind. A twentieth century nobody suddenly finding themselves the most powerful man on the planet. What would be the effect on his psyche.
My character had to be rich in order to afford to build a time machine.
I had to have a scientific genius from the backstreets who just needed the money and backing but who did not trust governments.
I chose the Punic Wars as the setting.
It ran from there. I wrote the first draft in eleven days. It flowed and developed a life of its own. I rewrote it in a further four days. It is currently being edited.
Opher Goodwin is a genre‑defying writer whose work blends memoir, cultural history, and visionary fiction. A lifelong explorer of music, counterculture, and the human spirit, he writes with the urgency of someone who has lived inside the scenes he describes — from psychedelic clubs and protest movements to the creative communities that shaped generations.Goodwin’s books move between the personal and the political, the intimate and the mythic, capturing the raw energy of rebellion and the quiet moments of human connection that give it meaning. His fiction and non‑fiction alike are driven by a deep belief in creativity, compassion, and the power of people to reshape their world.For readers who crave stories rooted in lived experience, emotional truth, and the pulse of real cultural change, Goodwin’s work offers a rich, resonant journey through the forces that define us.
Longtime Beefheart enthusiast Opher Goodwin has researched and written an essential reference work for fans old and new. Nicky Crewe takes us through the pages
It could be argued that we can now expect the internet to provide the answers to our curious questions on any topic, but sometimes it’s important to know what questions to ask, and whose information to believe. That’s where the ‘Every Album, Every Song’ series from Sonicbond Publishing steps in. The series is a great resource for those who want to know more about the music and musicians they admire and love. Written by fans who dig deep into the archives and their own experiences, these slim volumes pack a huge amount between the covers. In this one, Opher Goodwin shares some of his own life-changing encounters with Captain Beefheart and his music, coming right up to date with the Magic Band tours of 2014 and 2017. He sets Beefheart’s music and legacy into context, socially and culturally – in his case, John Peel’s radio programme and a significant 1967 London gig at Middle Earth meant he never looked back. Goodwin doesn’t avoid the difficult aspects of Beefheart’s behaviour towards members of his band, especially during the ‘Trout Mask Replica’ era. Some of the stories are as discordant and disturbing as the music they produced. Credit is also given to the roles played by John French, Ry Cooder and Frank Zappa in building Beefheart’s success and lasting reputation and relevance. He both researches and reviews this music that continues to inspire and influence, setting it in context, unpicking some of the stories and myths that have built up around the man and his chosen musicians. As the author his task is to listen with attention to every track: what an amazing opportunity. My own love of Beefheart’s music followed a similar trajectory. I first heard ‘Electricity ‘on the jukebox at the Magic Village, Roger Eagle’s cellar club in Manchester in 1968, and was blown away. I was then introduced to ‘Trout Mask Replica’ and ‘Safe As Milk’. Beefheart’s music may have been an acquired taste, but it was one I acquired quickly. I saw the band at the Bickershaw Festival in 1972, as I was working in a wholefood catering tent right next to the stage. No sleep possible! Roll on another year and I was in a band managed by Roger Eagle (later responsible for Eric’s in Liverpool). Not only did he promote Beefheart’s tours in the UK, but the two of them became close friends, sharing a love of blues music and a similar stature and approach to life. Through Roger, I was invited on the tour bus whenever I was free and got to see much of the ‘Clear Spot ‘tour. I took this opportunity for granted at the time. Many of my friends were musicians, in bands with varying degrees of success. I still have my gifted copies of ‘Spotlight Kid’ and ‘Clear Spot’ from those days, and over the years I have come to realise how privileged and fortunate I was to have had such an adventure. I followed Beefheart’s new releases for many years, but for me those two albums stand out. They contained songs that were unexpectedly tender and poetic, as well as harking back to the delta blues that Beefheart was so influenced by, and they are forever associated too with that particular period of my young life. Sometimes when I walk in to a cafe, club or shop, I unexpectedly hear one of Beefheart’s songs. My heart leaps: it’s a little piece of magic for the day. It happened to me last week with ‘Too Much Time’, which led to a conversation with a young barista, about the same age now as I was when I met Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. It’s fantastic that people are still discovering him, still sharing his music, as his legacy continues to grow. Opher Goodwin’s book covers the official albums, the compilations, rarities and bootlegs and the live albums. There’s information about the offshoot band Mallard, and the reformed Magic Band, and the solo projects of all those who passed through that legendary band. There’s even a section on tributes and covers. Sometimes I wonder if you can know too much: when I was 16 I didn’t need to know the hows and whys to respond to the music, the voice, the presence and the genius, but now I find those back stories fascinating, and I owe Opher Goodwin my thanks.
For her ‘Raging Pages’ column, Lisa Torem gives ‘Bob Dylan 1962 to 1970 : Every Album, Every Song’, Opher Goodwin’s new book on Dylan’s studio work high marks.
Opher Goodwin “taught the first ‘History of Rock Music’ class in the UK” and had the good fortune of catching Sixties acts, including Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Captain Beefheart, during his time in London, “the epicentre for the underground explosion of rock music and culture” according to his recent press release. His subject, Bob Dylan, the Hibbing, Minnesota-born troubadour, who has often been championed as North America’s incomparable poet laureate, greatly influenced John Lennon, particularly on the dreamy ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and literary-minded Suzanne Vega. Goodwin was originally dismissive of Dylan’s work – “We weren’t big on ‘folk’ music,’ he shares about his relationship with a then-friend, in the introduction. That statement, alone, piqued my interest, causing me to ask myself, ‘What, then, turned Goodwin into a super fan?’ But as I pored through the book, I easily discovered how the author’s evolution took place. Dylan’s early inspirations include no-holds-barred storyteller Woody Guthrie, soulful singer/guitarist Odetta, and oddly, “Be Bop a Lula” singer Little Richard. As such, one of Dylan’s chief goals was to befriend Guthrie, and on early albums, he would sharply mirror Guthrie’s talking-blues style. Goodwin also notes that Dylan’s rise to popularity in New York’s Greenwich Village came with a price. Being considered the voice of a generation “irritated him no end” and “heaped tension on his shoulders.” This conundrum would bedevil Dylan throughout his career. Radical French poets Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Verlaine would partially quench Dylan’s desire for dark, sensuous detail, before he embraced Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Goodwin cites examples of how Dylan would, many times over the course of his career, reimagine himself, to the chagrin of his early fans. At the 1965 Newport Folk Festival he was considered a turncoat when he blasted his electric guitar. Similarly, when on his album ‘John Wesley Harding’ he dared to enter the Americana realm, he tried the patience of the tried-and-true. And again, as the counter-culture gathered steam, Dylan was called upon to lead the flock. He decried such thoughts of attachment. ‘Nashville Skyline’ honoured his new image, or lack thereof, for he had given the boot to corduroy caps and faded jeans. His times were ‘a-changin’, and so was he. Dylan’s discography reveals debut album covers by Jesse Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson, Bukka White and Blind Lemon Johnson, et al, arranged instrumentally with hard-picking plectrum and mournful blues-harp. His sophomore album was a sea-change. His labelmates had turned him on to a roster of trailblazers, and he began to scribe protest-songs oozing with unbridled conviction. ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and ‘Masters of War,’ “the ultimate anti-war song,” would become period-pieces. ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’ “never fails to engage.” The author vehemently states: “No matter how many times you hear it there is always something new to discover or wonder at.” With the same razor-sharp focus, Goodwin ushers us through Dylan’s 1962-1970 discography, I highly recommend this well-researched book. That Dylan has achieved folk-rock royalty status is undisputed, but reading about his climb to studio self-actualisation answers a series of burning questions.
Having ordered through Amazon and still in the process of enjoying Opher Goodwin’s paperback book detailing Roy Harper’s most illustrious recording career, i have to declare that this is one heck of a read! the author has personally known Roy, as a friend, since the mid 1960s,even attending Harper’s very early gigs at London’s celebrated Les Cousins club, in deepest Soho, where many later famous Singer/Songwriters played nightly, such as Al Stewart, John Martyn, Sandy Denny. Bert Jansch, Davey Graham Paul Simon Martin Carthy ,and ,of course, Roy Harper himself! Harper later went on to a fairly famed career as a Poet/Alternative ‘Singer-Songwriter’, being musically admired by the likes of such famed Luminaries as Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, Kate Bush, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson(who later admitted Roy’s Music was a big influence on his career ,in the 1960s!..Having myself personally attended, over 4 decades ,..scores of live Roy Harper concerts. Roy Harper will always remain, for me, personally, quite probably Britain’s very finest Songwriter ,of unusually deep and profound Poetic depth ,and with an acoustic guitar style far far greater than most other Musicians aspired to…(inspired, of course by his contemporaries at the time, namely Bert Jansch, and the legendary Davey Graham!).This book, just now released is a great insight behind the actual meaning of Roy’s Lyrics, and goes song by song, through all of Roy’s amazing Albums ,right up to the present times, that is from 1966’s ‘Sophisticated Beggar’ to his last recorded Album, namely ‘Man & Myth’ and further covers live Recordings and still unreleased songs…what makes Roy Harper stand out way above his musical contemporaries is the undeniable depth of Lyrical Mastery to his Songs, many which now have become ‘Classics’.’ I hate the White Man’/’Another Day’/’When an Old Cricketer’/’Me and my Woman’/’Highway Blues’;/’One of those Days in England’/”Hallucinating Light’/’South Africa’/’12Hours of Sunset’/etc etc ,the list is of course Endless! For me surely surely England’s finest ever Singer/Songwriter, who also possessed a wonderful Vocal delivery, a voice so much more distinctive than most!….,Opher’s excellent book is a lovingly written reflection of Roy Harper’s amazing Musical output, and a successful attempt at revealing more of just what his songs were about! i find it an essential read, and it sits perfectly as a later companion to Roy’s own Musical Biography book, namely his ‘Passions of Great Fortune’, from 2003.!!no-one but Opher could have released a book on Roy Harper ‘s songs quite like this one, i say. Full marks
Reading the book and playing each song after reading Opher’s insight for each has created a whole new listening experience. Having the back story on these songs just adds layers to the unique lyrics and sound of Roy
I am a Roy AND Nick Harper fanatic, and wouldn’t you know it… The industrious and illustriously wonderful Opher Goodwin has written a book about both of their musical journeys!!! I love reading both, especially the one highlighting Roy’s songwriting. Opher is still in touch with Roy as far as I know and was actually present at several recording studios during the making of more than one of those brilliant albums! I can’t say enough good things about his thoughts on each album’s songs and Roy’s life. Truly a must have for any Harper fan because there’s definitely no other book like it! An in depth biography or even autobiography would be most welcome as well! Cheers!
Jonathan Tatomer5.0 out of 5 stars This whole book series is indispensable to the collector
I have everything Roy Harper ever released. Showing wisdom as a youth and still growing. He is one of a small handful who can still write and sing at 80. We are all waiting for the next one
I have to confess I know little about the work of Phil Ochs other than a vague familiarity with the name. At one time considered a rival to Dylan, his protest songs in the sixties touched on topics such as the Vietnam War, civil rights and social injustice, before he ultimately took his own life in 1976. If you want a concise but fact packed history of the man and his music and the causes close to his heart then this is just the book for you.
The quote on page 46 from Opher Goodwin’s On Track: Captain Beefheart of the track When Big Joan Sets Up, encapsulates what makes Beefheart special, and at the same time why he remains a niche artist.
“… a great melody that carries it through. It’s meaningless but full of insight, so frenzied that it shouldn’t work, yet it does. It hangs together. That’s what is so great about Beefheart’s music – it pulls you in; the music is complex; the lyrics seem full of meaning, but everything is just beyond one’s grasp. You find yourself hooked. It propels you. It’s visceral. It tugs at the cortex. Rewarding.”
This applies across all of Beefheart’s recordings. Not without the odd exception of course, such as the mid-period ‘commercial’-leaning releases and things like Beefheart’s contribution to Frank Zappa‘s Willie The Pimp on Hot Rats. One of the things I find interesting about these two maverick forces of musical nature (Zappa and Beefheart) is that both went to Antelope Valley High School in the small Californian Mohave desert town of Lancaster. They remained friends on and off after leaving Lancaster; when their monumental artistic egos would allow. With Zappa, being more successful, helping the often-broke Beefheart out.
This is a great addition to Sonicbond Publishing’s ever expanding Every Album, Every Track series. This looks at Captain Beefheart’s studio output as well as the plethora of live releases and bootlegs that have followed since his death in 2010.
Comprehensive and critical where required, self-confessed Beefheart obsessive Opher Goodwin, knows his way around an incisive phrase and sets each of the studio albums into a context of time and place, record company and management shenanigans, and contemporary critical reactions. As well as assessing the various incarnations of the Magic Band, and how well they were able to translate the Captain’s ideas into actual music.
After making his brilliant final album, Ice Cream For Crow (1982), he left music-making on a high point, and turned back to painting. Beefheart, under his own name of Don van Vliet became a renowned abstract expressionist painter, gaining the level of success in the US that had eluded him musically. A happy ending of sorts.
This makes an excellent companion to Mike Barnes’ Captain Beefheart: The Biography (Omnibus Press) where neither shy away from Beefheart’s obsessive and bullying behaviour that were part of his artistic makeup. Opher Goodwin’s On Track: Captain Beefheart is a great guide and companion to this often-challenging artist.
If you’re curious, for me the place to start is with 1978’s Shiney Beast (Bat Chain Puller), but every Beefheart fan will have a different gateway release to recommend.
If one band needs no further introduction then this must surely be The Beatles. Just mention the names of the Fab Four, their countless timeless compositions, and their groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road albums, and I’m sure many events, other milestone albums and miscellaneous facts involving The Beatles will come flooding back into memory. Surprisingly, for me, this didn’t include their ninth album The Beatles. Their 1968 effort which is best known as The White Album.
Here to make me never forget about this earliest of proto-prog albums comes author Opher Goodwin with his expertly told and in depth reconstructed Rock Classic interpretation on the album.
Living to tell the tale first-hand, Goodwin, aged 19 in 1968, starts of by painting the rural 60s with great cultural insight. And following a sum up of preceding singles (Strawberry Fields Forever, All You Need Is Love, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude) and other ventures like the Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine movies, quickly arrives at the challenges that The Beatles were facing prior and during the recordings of The White Album.
Well researched and comprehensively told with plenty of interesting historic details, Goodwin elaborates on The Beatles’ growing wealth, their new-found spiritualism, the individual marital changes of McCartney and John Lennon (enter Yoko Ono) and the disastrous sudden passing of their manager Brian Epstein which left the band fairly rudderless in approach to The White Album.
Just how directionless becomes perfectly clear in the 50+ pages that Goodwin objectively devotes to The White Album. Loaded with biographical information it is this lengthy chapter that creates a clear understanding towards the gradually forming split between the various Beatles members, and the resulting eclectic/fragmentary (take your pick) outcome of the album.
Sharing all the ins and outs on the making of the album this includes the thoughts behind the album cover, the various lyrical topics, Eric Clapton’s involvement on George Harrison’s composition While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and the many takes done before songs were finally approved for album inclusion. As well as a complete insightful rundown of songs that next to pop songs like Back In The USSR and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da includes tracks that touch upon such genres as folk, country rock, British blues, proto-metal (Helter Skelter) and the avant-garde (Revolution 9).
Add to this Ringo Starr’s two week Beatles-divorce, Yoko Ono’s studio invasion, the walk out of producers, and the fact that only 16 of the 30 recorded tracks actually included all four Beatles members, and it’s almost a miracle that The White Album was ultimately finalised. Much like the view of critics and listeners who rate the release to be one of the greatest albums of all time.
Successfully teasing readers to further investigate by mentioning demos, outtakes, the excluded album-related gem Not Guilty which they worked on for 102 takes, and related topics such as the Plastic Ono Band and cult leader/murderer Charles Manson’s obsession with several album songs, I find Goodwin’s substantiated narrative to end somewhat abruptly and not fully rewarding towards my own accumulating curiosity of what happened to The Beatles afterwards. An aspect Goodwin apart from a few words about the album’s legacy doesn’t particularly elaborate upon.
Personal preferences aside: Opher Goodwin’s book does exactly what it is supposed to do. It enthuses willing musical guinea pig readers like myself and those generally interested in music to explore the album. And all together offers a captivating in-depth and well-written analysis of The Beatles’ biggest-selling album to date. Simple conclusion: job well done!
