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Simon House RIP

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Obituary

Hawkwind fans (and, indeed, fans of High Tide, Bowie and Japan) will be sorry to hear of the recent death of Simon House – violin and keyboard player extraordinaire.

Tiny Quiz – Father’s Day Edition

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Nothing to do with the NME this time…

Which album is this? And who is the famous reviewer?

“(X’s) fretless and flanged bass scribbles through (…) like a crayon across the face of the Mona Lisa. It wobbles like a weeble on a see-saw. It staggers like a drunk in a bouncy kebab shop. It writhes like an inflatable wraith outside a secondhand car dealer.”

Tiny Quiz – yes, it’s an NME review!!

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As before, here’s an extract from a review in the NME. No clues: no year, no journalist name… Which album do you think is being reviewed? You can guess the band – but you can’t win unless you also get the album correct…

“With the rhythm section asleep, the music unadventurous and the overall mood devoid of any real lightness or spontaneity, the task of turning (album title) back from the brink is inevitably down to the lyrics and the singing thereof. Only very rarely do either impress.”

Tiny Quiz – A quick one…

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As before, here’s an extract from a review in the NME. No clues: no year, no journalist name… Which album do you think is being reviewed? I expect this to be a quick and easy one – if someone hasn’t got it right by afternoon tea, I’ll eat ma bunnet!

“…all quite without consequence – idiot blues, folk and the sweating labours of a rock music taken by an agonising bowel disorder. It isn’t ABBA who are the most pernicious influence to have blighted popular music – it may still, alas, be this terrible group.”

Yet Another Tiny Quiz…Bank Holiday stylee

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As before, here’s an extract from a review in the NME. Starts off sounding quite complimentary – but by the end of the sentence, it’s become a bit double-edged!

No clues: no year, no journalist name… Which album do you think is being reviewed?

“It seems (…) has learned to pierce the centre of a tune’s target with one shot, rather than dropping a cobalt bomb on it and annihilating everything for miles around”

MM review – yes, it’s a Tiny Quiz for Easter!!!

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With due deference to Wheaty, his quiz is hard Hard HARD – and he’s not giving us the answers until Monday!

So here’s a Tiny Quiz which will be much easier – I’m sure it will be all wrapped up by tomorrow – or maybe even this evening!

To confound those who believe that I pick on the NME all the time, this is a review quote from the Melody Maker. No journalist name, no year – can you tell which album is being reviewed?

“(…) are distinguished by having one of the most boring lead guitarists ever to inflict his presence on a group. The group are also distinguished by having one of the most boring keyboard players ever to inflict his presence on a group. For proof, listen to (…), the extended track on this album, which contains remarkably tedious solos by all concerned…”

Tiny Quiz

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As before, here’s an extract from a review in the NME. No clues: no year, no journalist name… Which album do you think is being reviewed?

“It’s all technically tight and ship-shape, as you’d expect, and will no doubt be a source of some excitement for those who get into a lather over light-fingered fretboard work and similar musicianly virtues. It’s also incredibly dull and pointless, like a film that sacrifices plot and characterisation for flashy special effects and stunts.”

Van der Graaf Generator – World Record

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What does it sound like?:

Well, what do you get? Two CDs and a BluRay in a clamshell box, with a decent booklet. One CD is a remaster of the original stereo mix; the second is a new stereo remix by Stephen W Tayler, who did the remixes in the recent big Charisma Years box set. The BluRay has the content of the two CDs plus a 5.1 surround mix and the video promo for “Wondering”. For review, I was supplied with mp3 files for the two CDs plus a proof of the booklet – but nothing relating to the BluRay and obviously nothing physical, so the review relates to the mp3s. The A4 page of notes from Cherry Red/Esoteric mentions vinyl in passing, but gives no further details.

What does it sound like? I’ve been listening to this album for nearly 50 years, having bought the LP on release in October 1976. The remaster sounds fine and much as you’d expect – a bit cleaner, a bit sharper round the edges, but broadly what I’m used to hearing and nothing to scare the horses.

The remix, though…it’s a little bit odd (yes, well may you laugh) but fascinating! » Continue Reading.

Ravel

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The 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s birth is on Friday this week. I couldn’t let it pass without a gentle nudge (a Ravel klaxon seems rather inappropriate). Lots on BBC Radio 3 this week if you’re interested.

I’ve posted a jewel-like miniature in the first comment: I hope some of you might add your favourite pieces.

Tiny Quiz – nothing to do with the inkies

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Please be assured: this has nothing to do with the NME, etc.

Below are quotes from two members of a band, about a single track on one of their records.

Can you guess: which band and which record? If you’re feeling really astonishingly wonderful today, maybe even the track (might be a bit trickier)?

Band member A: “The ultimate destruction of rock ‘n’ roll is to destroy it with itself – and that’s to take out the ‘n’ roll part. Johnny B Goode stands for everything wrong with ’50s rock and roll: the cheerfulness and the neatness of the tune. So the basic idea of (…) was Johnny B Goode with one chord, repeating – and what it needed to go with it was a big, multitracked, fuck-off wall of guitars.”

Band member B: “It has a sort of majesty, we all felt it was the mission statement. It’s because of its incredible simplicity. Obviously there’s a bit of a chorus going on, but essentially it’s one chord. This is a possible music. Again, it’s this abstract thing: what’s the least you can do and it still be music?”

NME Review – Another Tiny Quiz (Something for the weekend…)

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Here’s an extract from a review in the NME. No clues: no year, no journalist name… Which album do you think is being reviewed? It’s a bit rococo/Pseud’s Corner – but great fun (the quote, that is…)

“It unfolds in arabesques and divaricating asymtotes, bespeaking an hermetic inspiration given only to those few for whom the head is in radiant and complete harmony with the heart and hips”

Mike Ratledge RIP

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Obituary

Sorry to hear that Mike Ratledge died yesterday, after a short illness. He was a huge part of my listening over a lengthy period of years with the mighty Soft Machine – and I’m sure that I won’t be the only one here.

NME Review – a Tiny Quiz

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Here’s an extract from a review in the NME. No clues: no year, no journalist name… Which album do you think is being reviewed?

“This album worries me. It worries me because so much of the music here is so blatantly lacklustre compared with the exhilaratingly high standards already set by (…). By most other standards, this album would be almost brilliant, but for (…) it is easily (their) worst album to date.”

MARSHES TO MOUNTAINS – a charity compilation download from Bandcamp

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As advertised – “OVER 200 SONGS FROM SAVANNAH MUSICIANS FOR JUST $30 – ALL PROCEEDS GO TO WESTERN NC HURRICANE & FLOOD VICTIMS”

The MARSHES TO MOUNTAINS story:

“On September 27, 2024, cities, towns and remote rural communities in the mountainous region of Western NC were horrifically devastated by unprecedented wind and rain from Hurricane Helene. Described as a “Thousand Year Storm,” it brought tornadoes and almost incomprehensibly swift and savage flash flooding to areas which were in many ways completely unprepared for that sort of extreme weather event.

Over 100 people died, and more than 100,000 homes were severely damaged or completely destroyed. Hundreds of necessary bridges must be replaced, and the rough estimate to repair just the state-owned roads in NC which were damaged by Helene has been placed at “several billion dollars.”

That doesn’t include hundreds more privately owned dirt and gravel roads which have been washed away.

Right now, three months after this natural disaster, thousands of people who were suddenly made homeless (virtually none of whom were insured against such an unforeseen occurrence as a tropical storm or hurricane in this high elevation, inland area), are living outdoors in tents, while temperatures dip into the » Continue Reading.

Jazzzzzzz – delicious hot…

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I was in our local Hospice shop today – I spotted a copy of Bix Beiderbecke: Vol. 1 – Singin’ the Blues, on a proper CBS CD, for a mere 50p. Reader, I purchased it…

Well, this unassuming purchase has made me smile more than just about anything else I’ve bought for some considerable time! Let joy be unconfined!

Anyone else bought any music recently which resulted in a surge of unexpected joy? Doesn’t have to be a chazza purchase, of course…

NME Review – another Tiny Quiz

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After the excitement of the election – and the inevitable tension – here’s a tiny quiz, to relax the fibres and massage the cortex.

As before, here’s an extract from a review in the NME. No clues: no year, no journalist name… Which album do you think is being reviewed?

“This is not a bad album. There’s just no point in listening to (…) being anything less than brilliant. Here (…) is just drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe.”