Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Noel Redding fans tend to paint Billy as a puppet who got told exactly what to play. I don't buy that. His playing is far too natural and confident sounding to be that closely tutored and I love the way he leans right into those pedal points. He has the confidence to not overplay and his sound is all bass, which is totally against the received wisdom that the sound has to cut first and boom second. You can really hear him working with that big column of sound, like Family Man. Maybe he was a one trick player but, if so, what a trick!