Here in Singapore, most of the “commercial” chocolate we get from the likes of Cadbury / Nestle comes from Australia although some of the supermarkets do stock the UK variants. Maybe because i grew up in the UK, but I still do find the Australian stuff is not as good – I can’t exactly put my finger on what’s different (maybe the milk ?) but something is.

Having said that, we have just started to see two new variants of Kit Kat from Australia that are absolutely sublime – Dark chocolate with Tasmanian Mint and Dark Chocolate with Southern Australian Orange. The mint one is especially gorgeous.

My typical go to chocolate is Green & Blacks 70% cocoa (it’s from the UK) but these Kit Kat’s are giving that a run for its money.

So what is your favourite chocolate ? (Errol Brown is allowed).

https://www.kitkat.com.au/kitkat-dark-mint-170g

After a wait of Kate Bush like proportions, Tears For Fears have finally announced a new album due for release in February.

New track, Tipping Point released today – my initial reaction is positive.

I know there are a few War On Drugs fans on here. new album “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” due at the end of October.

Title track is up on YouTube. After a couple of listens, I really like it. However, is it just me or does it remind of Don Henleys “Boys Of Summer”…..?

No explanation needed

On Sky Arts on Sep 4th (I won’t be able to access so will have to wait until it appears in the international markets).

@dave-amitri

“ A brand new documentary ‘Del Amitri, You Can’t Go Back’ will premier on Sky Arts on Saturday September 4th at 9pm.

A revealing, behind the scenes look, ‘Del Amitri – You Can’t Go Back’ explores the men and the music of Del Amitri as ‘Fatal Mistakes’ is written, recorded and released in a quarantined world.”

I know it’s the Torygraph, but good interview with Bernie Marsden talking about amongst other things, Peter Green…..

And here’s a track from his new album, which is a bunch off covers of Albert / BB / Freddie King (and very good it is too)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/whitesnakes-bernie-marsden-snubbing-paul-mccartney-final-moments/

I’m in the process of doing a clean up of my digital music library – cleaning up the tags, deleting duplicate copies of tracks / albums, etc etc.

Some of the rules I have decided on are that compilation albums are listed as the date of release but live albums are listed at date of the concert (e.g some of the Grateful Dead “Dave’s Picks” were dated in the last couple of years have now been changed to the date of the concert – the Dave’s Picks order is now out of sequence, but I think it makes more sense). Albums are obviously arranged by artists family name and compilations are all at the end (per iTunes).

Some important questions though….. – Is Lana Del Ray filed under D or R? – Are Depeche Mode Pop or Rock? Similarly Duran Duran (yes I have an album of theirs) – Classical – date composed or date recorded ? – What genre are Everything But The Girle – my iTunes says Electronica but I don’t like that term so should I classify them as pop or rock or something else? – Brian Eno & David Byrne or David Byrne & Brian » Continue Reading.

I know there are a few fans on here….. new track from Aimee Mann, with the album “Queens Of The Summer Hotel” out in November.

I’m sure we’ve probably done this before, but the topic of ‘lost’ albums / tracks came to mind after the mention of the Buckingham/Nicks album on the “Well I never knew that” thread, Dave’s review of Gary Crowley’s Lost 80s and some discussion on rare 12” mixes over over SuperDeluxeEdition.

So what albums / tracks / 12” mixes have never had a digital or CD release and are only available in their original vinyl incarnation. What gems from your past would you love to see released ? What rumoured shelved albums (e.g Bowie “Toy”) ?…….

Six part series on Hulu with Rick Rubin and McCartney covering The Beatles (I’ve heard of them), Wings and his solo stuff. It premiered in the US on July 16th, but not sure on the rest of the world (not found it on any of my TV services here in Singapore).

Looks like with this and the Get Back movie in November , we have an abundance of McCartney / The Beatles this year.

Anyone watched yet ?

One for Dave…

“The War On Drugs announce I Don’t Live Here Anymore, their first studio album in four years, out October 29th on Atlantic Records, and a 2022 North American and European tour. In conjunction with today’s announcement, they present its first song/video, “Living Proof.” Over the last 15 years, The War on Drugs have steadily emerged as one of this century’s great rock and roll synthesists, removing the gaps between the underground and the mainstream, between the obtuse and the anthemic, making records that wrestle a fractured past into a unified and engrossing present. The War On Drugs have never done that as well as they do with their fifth studio album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, an uncommon rock album about one of our most common but daunting processes—resilience in the face of despair. ‘

It is generally accepted that back in the 60s, the likes of Peter Green, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were responsible for the “re-discovery” of the blues and likes of Muddy Waters, Freddie King, BB et al.

Having just watched the Joe Bonamassa documentary “Guitar Man” and been listening to the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s revisiting of “Layla”, it struck me that as those 60s icons have either departed or riding towards the sunset, we have the likes Of Derek Trucks and Joe Bonamassa that have taken up the baton as the next generation to keep the blues alive….

Both seem to be at the top of their game, and whilst they are not apple to apples comparatively (Trucks being more a slide guitar proponent, Bonamassa being more of a shredder?), watching this clip from the Freddie King Hall of Fame induction, who do you rate more highly ? Personally, whilst I like Bonamassa a lot, I sometimes feel he is a little too sterile, whereas Trucks has more of a “feel” (if that makes sense). BTW, if you are going to have great blues solos, you can’t do much better that having ZZ Top as your rhythm section !

I » Continue Reading.

Is anyone else watching the new Netflix series “This Is Pop” ?

Whereas the recent Apple TV series on 1971 was much more serious and ‘political” in is nature, juxtaposing the music with society at the time, this is eight 45 minute films covering a variety of aspects of pure pop music in much lighter tone.

I’m about half way though and it’s a really entertaining watch.

The first episode covers Boys II Men and how they became the benchmark for boy bands the world over. I’m certainly not a fan of their music, but they came across in really well and the background of how Babyface moulded their big hits is interesting.

Secondly, a film all about auto tune – how it was invented (did you know it was a spin off from the oil industry sonar detection?) and how it was used secretly for a few years before Cher took it into the open. Some debate on whether it was a good thing (the rapper T-Pain was blamed for “killing” music when he used), but concluded that it really is just a tool and can be used creatively, not just to mask crap singers. Episode features » Continue Reading.

I’ve been on a bit of a Talk Talk binge recently and whilst listening to their albums, was pondering the nature of how an artists music changes over the course of their career…..

I’m sure I am amongst many here that listen to artists that have been making music for 50+ years and so have long and varied careers. I look at some of those and they are essentially similar across their whole catalogue (The Stones, Springsteen, The Who?). I love many of these artists and will still buy new releases – I guess you know roughly what you are going to get and whilst there are some ups and downs, they are pretty safe bets.

Then there are the artists that change. Even then there are differences in the nature of the changes, of which I can think of three main categories…. i) The artist of constant change – the Bowies, the Joe Jackson’s, etc – the ones that cross all genres, sometimes following fashion, sometimes deliberately out of step. Each album could be a surprise, could be a masterpiece or a huge misstep…. ii) The artists that have changed due to changing circumstances – the ones that go » Continue Reading.

I know there are a few Tedeschi Trucks Band fans on here (who probably know this already) – they have just announced the release of Layla Revisited…..

‘Introducing Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’), a 2-CD, 3-LP live album of an instant classic concert, with Tedeschi Trucks Band joined by special guests Trey Anastasio and Doyle Bramhall II for a top-to-bottom performance of the classic Derek and the Dominos album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, live at LOCKN’ Festival on August 24, 2019. Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’) will be available everywhere on July 16.’

I have this on a bootleg and it’s fabulous – looking forward to the official release.

https://www.tedeschitrucksband.com/LaylaRevisited

New recording of the classic Peter Green / Fleetwood Mac track featuring an original demo vocal from Peter Green with a new musical backing from David Gilmour. It will be released as part of the forthcoming book on Peter and was apparently approved by him before his death.

After a couple of listens, I’m still not sure what I think – yes it sounds great, but it’s almost too good / produced. Maybe I just know the original too much.

So Ed Sheeran is going to be the shirt sponsor for Ipswich Town (of which I believe there are a few fans on here).

What other musician / football sponsorships would we like to see…….

– Swing Out Sister sponsoring any of the ESL teams (“Breakout”) – Status Quo sponsoring Newcastle United (‘Down Down”)

I’m sure you can do better (and no points for anyone suggesting Queen,,,,.)

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/06/ed-sheeran-to-sponsor-ipswich-shirts-next-season

New docuseries coming up on Apple TV looking at 1971 – the AWs favourite year (well Hepworth’s anyway). It’s from the director of Amy & Senna (which i thought were both good).

https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/news/2021/04/apple-tv-announces-new-music-docuseries-1971-the-year-that-music-changed-everything/

There’s a feature on a LA radio station that breaks down classic songs into their multi-tracks to show how they are put together. They recently covered the Beach Boys “Good Vibrations”. It’s about a 25 minute listen, but is seriously good…..

There’s a bunch more in there Soundcloud page – including Brass In Pocket, Space Oddity, Won’t Get Fooled Again and even Tubthumping. Not listened to them all yet, but those I have are good.

https://soundcloud.com/theklossessions

I really like this…….

New album of blues covers due in May.

The recent posts on the demise of CDs, discussions on vinyl and spotify show that many of us still have our own collections of music (be it physical or digital).

I know we have down this before, but I think it was a long time ago…. how big is your music collection and any other interesting details of its composition ?

I’ll show you mine in the comments.