This is fun (if you have any interest in footie that is)

I will lay down my marker now – 285.74 miles – this will only make sense when you click on the link.

… and no googling

http://www.buzzfeed.com/richardbeech/thats-liquid-football#.xeWyPrYn1

Thank you all for your efforts and to paraphrase young Mr Grace – “You’ve all done awfully well”. Note to self to make the next one a tad easier.

The winner is Lando Cakes with an awesome 9 correct answers ( I will be in touch). Anyway here are the answers

1. He tilts their tired faces Gently to the spoon Joni Mitchell – Edith and the Kingpin

2. Lonesome Sue, she’s in love with ol’ Sam Takes him from the fire into the frying pan Stephen Bishop – On and On

3. Statues made of matchsticks Crumble into one another Bob Dylan – Love Minus Zero / No Limit

4. I was raised on the good book Jesus Till I read between the lines Laura Nyro – Stoney End

5. Turn your heartache right into joy She’s a girl and you’re a boy Steve Stills – Love The One You’re With

6. Maybe we’ll make something Me myself I got nothing to prove Tracey Chapman – Fast Car

7. So I turned myself to face me But I’ve never caught a glimpse David Bowie – Changes

8. I saw cotton and I saw black Tall white mansions and little » Continue Reading.

So with the nights drawing in here’s something to mull over of an evening. The only clue is that they are all ‘singer songwriters’. First fully correct answer ie song title and artist wins (1 point for each) – else best score submitted by end of Wednesday and Ill reveal winner on Thursday.

The lucky winner will receive a copy of the brand new Feedback File album – and the runner up will get…. yes you’ve guessed it, cue comedy drum roll and cymbal crash.

Of course usage of the interweb is not allowed and I will trust in the renowned integrity of the Afterword community to respect that

1. He tilts their tired faces Gently to the spoon

2. Lonesome Sue, she’s in love with ol’ Sam Takes him from the fire into the frying pan

3. Statues made of matchsticks Crumble into one another

4. I was raised on the good book Jesus Till I read between the lines

5. Turn your heartache right into joy She’s a girl and you’re a boy

6. Maybe we’ll make something Me myself I got nothing to prove

7. So I turned myself to face me But I’ve never caught » Continue Reading.

At the risk of over-egging the current Van Morrison cavalcade, I’ve just spent a pleasurable hour putting together my own best of VTM playlist on Spotify. Got to 75 tracks without even blinking. What struck me was that I chose the entire first side of Veedon Fleece which to my mind is the best side of music he has made to date (which I guess means the best he will ever make) – from Fair Play to You Don’t Pull No Punches its just a wonderful listen and featuring some of the best piano playing on any rock album (Jeff Labes ?)

So made me wonder what else would you put up there as the best complete side of an album – cd only collectors can switch off at this point.

I have 2 tickets for Ron at RFH on Tuesday. Unfortunately I can no longer make the gig. Tickets cost £38.50 each and are Stalls row F seats 11 and 12.

Would be a shame to see them go to waster so any offers would be welcomed. Just PM me if interested

Just spotted that there is new updated vs of the Talk Talk biog ‘Spirit of Talk Talk’. I didn’t buy the original but this looks lovely so Ive splashed out my £30.

If there’s anyone out there that doesn’t know the TT story (unlikely given the discerning nature of Afterworders) it is pretty compelling stuff. New wave popsters from the early 80s move seemingly overnight from solid (but unremarkable) synth based pop to experimental and genuinely ground breaking music pioneers. Stories abound of hours of improvised music recorded in blacked out studios; abandoning any use of synths and incorporating instead wind quartets alongside the pianos, organs, guitars and wailing harmonicas. Mark Hollis their enigmatic leader then quietly disappears (excepting one solo album) and has hardly even spoken in public since.

Of course this is just an excuse for posting ‘I Believe in You’ which genuinely moves me tears every time it reaches the ghostly choir and Hollis’ anguished ‘Spirit’ section. I found this video which has the lyrics (notoriously hard to decipher on record).

If you haven’t heard ‘Eden’ or ‘Laughing Stock’ I urge you to check them out especially if you have any interest in any of » Continue Reading.

New talent show on Sky 1 starting tonight. Kind of intrigued by how this will work out – but got to be worth a look. I’m sure the contestants will manage to get some melismatics in there somehow.

http://www.sky.com/tv/show/guitar?DCMP=KNC-&gclid=CNKe07rQgsYCFVMatAod4ysANQ

In this month’s Prog there is a great feature on the bands, old and new, from Canterbury (alongside a lovely double feature on Camel – so worth checking out).

It has always struck me that of all the various musical styles that we’ve seen over the decades the Canterbury Scene is probably the most overlooked and dismissed by the knowing cognoscenti. It never really has been in vogue even back in it’s heyday, and whenever mentioned the focus tends to be on either Caravan or Soft Machine (both mighty fine bands). Whilst there is a magic ingredient that links the artists together it still encompasses a broad sweep of music. Over there the Softs – serious boffins – Mike Ratledge surely the coolest musician to wear shades on this side of the Atlantic with that strange crablike scuttling style on the organ. And then there’s Kevin Ayers, the dapper gent with a voice like wild honey – if he’d been a footballer he’d have been Dimitar Berbatov – full of talent but never going to chase the long pass, much preferring to be cosying up to a blonde and long drink in Monte Carlo. Let’s not forget Mike Oldfield the » Continue Reading.

If I can beg a moment’s indulgence folks. I’ve just released a new album which has been about 4 years in the making. A truly global effort with contributions from friends as far and wide as Australia, New Zealand and Hitchin !

It available on to stream on Spotify and also to download at my site on Bandcamp

Thanks for listening

https://thefeedbackfile.bandcamp.com/album/the-earth-beneath-our-feet

New Radio 2 4 parter starting next Monday at 10:00pm. He’s been good value on previous shows over the years so this is promising. Bizarrely the write up on the R2 website says :

Expect to hear tracks by the likes of Pink Floyd; Emerson, Lake And Palmer; Jethro Tull, The Toys, B Bumble And The Stingers; and Perry Como…… so that’s a direction I never realised he went down.

in the meantime here’s the magnificent Caravan to set the ball rolling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnet1oXThR4

I am officially ‘old’ (60) – I know that because of the gasps I get at work when people find out my age; by that fact that I can buy discount tickets at football matches and that by most general measures by which we are judged I’m in the ‘old’ category. Age is a funny thing – I found hitting 40 and 50 relatively pieces of the proverbial p***. I can tell you at what age I knew Id hit the benchmark – 57. No obvious reason but I just found that the occasional nagging ache in my back (neck, shoulder etc) became a permanent fixture; the inability to remember the name of anyone Id been introduced to the day before and the increasing amount of grey that hit various parts of my body.

But having said all that I am more comfortable in my own skin than Ive ever been and sometimes feel a strange combination of vulnerability and invincibility. I care so much less about what people may think of me and at work find that that the young folk come to me for counsel which I find hugely rewarding. I am though getting more obsessed with » Continue Reading.

I played this track by the Mutton Birds for first time in many a year and was reminded what a subtly terrifying song it is. On the surface the narrative feels somewhat detached and very ordinary but with an insidious undercurrent that builds to the throwaway final lines (I wont give it away). The music compliments it perfectly. Cracking the band the Mutton Birds whatever happened to them – something about them reminds me of the Decemberists ?

The other song that I thought of that gives me the shivers is John Wayne Gacy Jnr by Sufjan Stevens. The music is beautiful and yet the lyrics are just devastatingly awful (in the real sense of the word) and makes me think of Joseph Conrad “The horror! The horror!”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDraA7kf9YY

I have 3 tickets for the above film. As usual with the Feedback family of late, other events have overtaken our best laid plans so we cant make it.

If you’ve never been to the Rex it is a beautiful art deco cinema and makes for a lovely evening out (even if the film is crap – which I’m assured this one isn’t !)

Home

PM me if interested . If I hear nothing by 5 ish Ill call the cinema to put them back up for re-sale

I love the fact that we are still allowed to laugh at things like this – despite the politically correct world we all live in.

http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/the-stereotype-map-of-britain-according-to-north-londoners–g1ES8x4Y3g