The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Goodbye David Bowie

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Today I played Blackstar for the first time. I wanted to allow my first listening to be untarnished and uninfluenced the hyperbole surrounding its release.

He has since died.

It is a masterpiece. It is superb. It is an amazing, considered epitaph. What a glorious exit.

Never a great Bowie fan, but I was knocked sideways when I first heard ‘Stage’ in the late ‘70’s or early ‘80’s and today found a spliced DVD of the live album on YouTube. The production is not great, but it contains everything you need to know about his importance, his place and his impact in popular music.

Rock n’ Roll.

Thank you.

Goodbye David Bowie

“It’s Christmas Eve and I don’t want to hear bloody”

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Steely Dan.

Shout my wife and daughter, just back from London today. As Mothers and daughters do they are conferring in another room. I have since put on Coltrane, Marley, Martyn, Mitchell, Cinematic Orc., Tzuke.

I am only trying to wind down with good music and a Glenmorangie.

I will not allow Boney M, Madonna (did she actually ever do a Christmas song?) and definitely not Jusin Beiber (jeez).

Afterworders, your Xmas Eve listening suggestions please. Both wife and daughter generally receptive to good music.

Help.

A very Afterword Exchange?

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Spotted in the ‘From The Message Boards’ item in a recent Private Eye. I am sure this will give many of you something to smile about this fine autumn morning. It references a “new’ book, ‘Dull Men of Great Britain’.

‘As a serious record collector I collect mint vinyl (stored in optimal conditions which I have described before) and don’t own any form of gramophone (records are not for “playing”: styli damage grooves and turntable heat causes warping). The only non-mint discs I possess are valuable mis-pressings and mis-labelings: the Holy Grail of record collecting – nay, ALL collecting. Hence no such serious collectors appear in this rather silly book. – PCS 3042

If you don’t play them, how do you know they are mis-pressed and mis-labeled? – Jon

i got some record’s that are even more rarer i got a copy of the beatels sergeant pepper in the sleeve of dawns greatest hits and a copy of disc one of elvis 40 greatest hits in the sleeve of cherish by david cassidy i got them at car boots for 50p each but they must be worth a fortune – Record Fan

Those are neither rare, nor collectable or valuable » Continue Reading.

I ain’t got the blues, but I know a man who has

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Just before the old place (or was it the old, old place) went down I vaguely recall a ‘blues’ thread which listed some of the ‘modern’ or more recent bluesmen treading the boards and spanking their planks.

A neighbour who is really into the blues has asked me which bluesers I’m listening to (mainly because I play the guitar and he once dragged me along to a Walter Trout gig). In truth I’m not really that into ‘pure’ blues and don’t know who to recommend. I tend to like more ‘melodic’ blues based stuff and was only able to offer up John Mayer and Tedeschi Trucks as fairly recent arrivals on the scene.

Is ‘our’ blues specialist Junior Wells?. Anyway, any suggestions and links from you kind folks would be much appreciated.

Scottish Music Hall Singers. Who is this – it’s diving me nuts – and I must know. Now!

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Sir Harry Lauder has a lot to answer for – the Music Hall original who spawned possibly the most awful musical genre bar none, well, bar prog perhaps. But I need your help.

There was (possibly still is) a Scottish (maybe Irish?) male vocalist/entertainer who had a pretty unique vocal style or perhaps inflection is a better description. He had a habit of reaching high notes, sustaining the lyric in a crescendo and then ‘slurring’ the final word – almost as though the effort of sustain was too much and was vocally relieved to have reached the end. It was a horrible, misplaced sound – a bit like clearing your throat and gobbing! Does this make sense? In rockular terms it’s much as a guitarist would ‘crash’ a final chord and slide the chord shape down the neck in a flourishing coda.

If anyone can help, please post a single YouTube clip here. As a reward I promise I will not post any more examples as I do not wish to ruin anyones Easter.