I said in the How You Doing blog that I was a long time lurker and don’t post much, so I thought I would rectify the situation and give it a go. This might be a bit of a ramble, so please bear with me. With it being Christmas, I thought a post about 1979, and especially Christmas 1979, would be a good place to start. A lot happened that year that would change the course of my life. In March I turned 18, but was in a bit of rut jobwise since leaving school two years previously. But by May through a bit of luck and perseverance, I managed to get an apprenticeship with a small engineering firm. Things were looking good, I had a great group of friends, we were out drinking every night, going to loads of gigs, and playing football every Sunday morning. What a year for music as well, with Blondie and the Police hitting the big time, and new acts like the Specials and Madness making their mark on the charts. There was plenty of rock going on as well. I went abroad for the first time with two friends (my mother was worried » Continue Reading.

A bit late in the day, but just a nod to say that The Reluctant Beatle, the biography of George Harrison by Philip Norman, is available today on Amazon as a kindle daily deal for just £1.99. That’s all folks.

I know this post is a bit late, but hey, better late than never. Anyway, what I came on here to talk about is the above album- Hello by Status Quo. Released on the 28th September 1973, it recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, and as far as I’m aware , it received very little coverage apart from a cover piece in Classic Rock magazine. In my humble opinion it is Status Quo’s greatest album, and one that had a massive impact on me the first time I heard it. You could say it changed my life. I was 12 years old in 1973 and already obsessed with music. I already owned three Beatles albums, Sgt Pepper and the recently released Blue and Red compilations, and I’d been buying singles for over a year, and was well into Glam Rock, Slade, 10cc etc. I was mainly into singles, while my brother four years older was into albums, especially the heavier variety, Led Zep, Sabbath, Floyd etc , which didn’t interest me at all at that age( they would years later). One evening towards the end of the year, he asked me to listen to a song from a new album he’d » Continue Reading.

Just a quick post to say that Electric Shock, from the Gramophone to the iPhone – 125 years of Pop Music by Peter Doggett, is one of today’s Kindle daily deals at 99p. Thought it might be of interest to many on this site.