The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Fantasy Concert

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Assuming that Santa brings you a time machine (single use only – its made in China) and a ticketmaster gift card for Christmas, what historical concert would you use it for…… ?

Stones at Altamont, Beatles at Shea, Sex Pistols Free Trade Hall, Woodstock….. any concert, anywhere in the world, at anytime in history – the choice is yours. And why ?

Van Morrison’s generosity

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On the track “Teardrops” from his new album “The Prophet Speaks”, Van Morrison sings “If I had $10 million, I would give her every dime….. just to hear her call my name out one more time”

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Van is worth $90 million. Does that mean that there are nine ladies out there who are about to become very rich just by giving him a call ? Maybe it’s to fund this that he’s put out so many albums lately.

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/rock-stars/van-morrison-net-worth/

Tangerine Dream Box Set

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Better start saving folks… 2019 will see a CD / Blu Ray box set of the classic Tangerine Dream Virgin years (1974 – 79) which have been remastered by none other that Steven Wilson.

No details yet – supposed to be out in April and rumours suggest in may be a 20 disc set that includes at least some of the albums in 5.1 surround. If it includes Phaedra and Stratosfear in 5.1, then its going to be difficult to resist for me……

http://www.musictap.com/2018/11/21/tangerine-dream-to-release-cd-bd-box-with-steven-wilson-remixes/

The joy of complaining

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I had pre-ordered the Jimi Hendrix and Beatles box sets that were released last Friday from the tax dodgers over a month ago. Living in Singapore, I usually bank on a 1-2 week delivery time.

Come last Friday and then Saturday, neither had been despatched. Emails fired off with a (polite) rant informing them that one of the reasons I pre-ordered was to get ASAP and surely with a pre-order they should be able to plan their supply accordingly to ensure timely despatch etc etc.

The usual apologetic emails received very quickly informing me that it was being investigated and escalated at the fulfilment centre for immediate action. Come Sunday, still no despatch, so further (maybe a little less polite) emails sent. Promised it was being escalated and they would expedite shipment.

Finally received despatch notices for the Hendrix on Monday and the Beatles yesterday. Replied back thanking them but still questioning why a pre-order had been delayed.

Two results…. i) The Hendrix boxset received today – a mere 2 days after despatch and way before the usual 1-2 weeks if this had shipped normally (I reckon they used Jeff Bezos private spaceship thingy) ii) They gave me a £20 » Continue Reading.

Bowie / Glastonbury 2000

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After the extensive discussions on the recent Bowie / Loving the Alien boxset, I was a little surprised at the lack of comments on this Glastonbury performance…..

For those that missed, the hour long highlights were on BBC last Friday night and available on iPlayer at the below link. My understanding is that when this was originally broadcast in 2000, they only showed 4 or 5 songs.

The full 2 hour concert is out on DVD / CD on 30th November and available from your nearest tax dodger. After watching this hour of highlights, I’m very much looking forward the whole thing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bntp2p/bowie-at-glastonbury-2000

Oxford University Interview question

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News item yesterday about Oxford University interview questions and how the obvious answer may be best. One of the questions was…..

“What are the different ways in which you listen to music ? How does that change the way in which you think about what you are listening to?”

Discuss……..

Let’s talk Bond, James Bond…….

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A lot of recent upheaval in the production of the next Bond film (cunningly titled Bond 25), with Daniel Craig being on board, but the loss of Danny Boyle as director.

I see now they have announce Cary Fukunaga as the replacement Director and the release date still down as November 2019.

I believe e that Cary Fukunaga was the director of the first season of True Detective, which was one of the best TV shows in recent years, so in my mind this looks promising…

So…. – Is Bond still relevant ? Has Mission Impossible stolen it’s thunder ? Any thoughts on this new director ? Who will be the next Bond ? Who is the best Bond ? Which was the best movie ?

Over to you lot……

For the record, I still love Bond films, so Yes, No, Promising, Idris Elba, Connery (with Craig just behind) and Goldfinger.

Dave Grohl / Play

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In which our favourite Foo Fighter takes on the task of recording every instrument for a 23 minute long instrumental track and the ensuing video cleverly composites them together to make it look like there’s seven Dave Grohl’s in the room……

The whole video is available on youtube (and also on BBC iPlayer) with the first 10 minutes or so explaining the background of being inspired by kids learning music (they are American kids, so be warned).

Song is pretty good – very much in the Foo Fighters vein, but with plenty of quiet bits, funky bits and prog bits. Overall I think it works and doesn’t suffer from lack of vocals. Pretty impressive job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e05H80-k0mY

Live albums

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The threads below on the new Springsteen live show download and the Allman’s live at the Filmore album, show the two different appraiches to live albums….

One is a straight ahead record of a single show, one a compilation of the best of a few nights.

I may be wrong here, but it appears that most “classic” live albums have been in the “compilation of best bits” camp and this release of complete shows has been a recent thing (another way to generate income in the days of decreasing album sales ?).

So what should a definitive live album be – is it a record of a show for folks who attended (or for those that couldn’t make) or a release of alternative versions of songs in a live context….. or am I just talking bollocks as usual.?

Thoughts……

Keeping Faith / Amy Wadge

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I’ve just finished watching “Keeping Faith” (the English version downloaded from iPlayer a couple of months ago before it was shown on BBC).

Very enjoyable drama and I can see the comparisons with Broadchurch. I know that its currently halfway through and so don’t want to discuss the plot too much for fear of spoilers…..

One thing that has really stood out though are the songs by Amy Wadge that run through the series – they really get under the skin. Best being the track “We Fall Down”, but I can’t find a Youtube of that so you’ll have to make do with the main theme…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzZEtiusO4

Most prolific artist

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Coming back on the ferry from the Indonesian island of Batam this afternoon, I was listening to “Schoolyard Ghosts” by No-Man – the joint project of Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness.

It struck me that with his work in Porcupine Tree, No-Man, Blackfield, solo, etc etc, he must be one of the most prolific artists out there.

So, question…… which artist has released the most albums in history (excluding various artist compilations) ? Not sure if we should limit this to just the artists work either solo or in band / project or include “significant guest appearances” – I’ll leave that to consensus…….

Greatest TV performances

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In addition to the radio, I’m sure most of us here were exposed to various music through performances on TV.

From dedicated music shows (Later, OGWT, TOTP….), music slots of the various talk shows (Wogan, Letterman, SNL….) to Saturday morning childrens TV (Swapshop, Going Live… yes a lot of us were students !), TV has been part and parcel of our musical upbringing, covering all manner of genres and tastes.

So folks, what are the greatest / your most memorable “TV performances” ?

I’ll start with a left field suggestion, one which would probably destroy any music credibility if i was bothered about that kind of thing. Its Wet Wet Wet from Going Live! back in March 1990. Its one of those performances that has always stuck in the memory and showed that this “teeny bopper” band could actually play (and I actually went to see them live at their warm up gigs at Manchester Boardwalk). Note the clip goes on a bit – the performance is actually only the first 5 minutes……

» Continue Reading.

New HMHB

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In what must be the lead contender for album title of the year, HMHB are back with “No-one cares about your creative hub so get your fuckin’ hedge cut”, released today.

Initial dip in sounds promising and the list of song titles seems to tick all the boxes for Nigel Blackwells usual social commentary and digs at the pretentious middle class…..

First track “Alehouse Futsal”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K7_cL5LeG4