The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Packet of cheese and onion crisps, a pickled egg, oh and two packs of pork scratchings please songs.

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mentioning Bees Make Honey reminded me of the pub rock scene in the seventies. Alas not living in London I never got to see many of the bands mentioned in the NME or Sounds just a couple at a few festivals etc. The pub names read like a mythical country populated by the people in the know. Although we had a pub scene in Leeds we didn’t get to see those bands listed. Did you see any of those bands in their natural environment ? Here’s Ducks Deluxe ,one of the few bands I saw.. https://youtu.be/M6IDGGJVnBo

Days of the old school yard

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Watching Pointless the other day two of the answers were Sir Titus Salt and Joseph Priestley. The odd thing was they both went to my old school (obviously not at the same time as me or even each other).

Reading the biography of Al Bowlly I also found out that Ray Noble the bandleader also attended Dulwich College I have previously mentioned that P G Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler also went there.

So were you at school with someone who went on to fame and fortune or even noteriety?

How Sweet

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What does it sound like?:

HOW SWEET TO BE AN IDIOT was Neil’s debut solo album, first issued on United Artists in 1973, its title and cover design reflecting Neil’s eccentric sense of humour. ‘Despite the poor sales and lack of chart activity How Sweet To Be An Idiot serves as yet another reminder of what a remarkable talent Neil Innes was. Reflecting on the album in 2013 Neil told the blog Transatlantic Modern “I am one of the shrinking violets in this business because I’ve never been that keen on being famous. I like to share observations and feelings and things like that, but I can’t stand the idea of being popular.”

A couple of confessions, I planned to review this relaxing on my holiday unfortunately this enforced ‘ holiday’ scuppered those plans. I also planned to listen to this with a duck on my head, alas that plan also went awry. Plus I have had to listen monaurally as due to build up of cerumen in one ear and I have no hope of having it cleared at the moment. (You didn’t get this with the Melody Maker).

Neil left this planet in December last year » Continue Reading.

Gong 12 CDs and a DVD Box Set

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What does it sound like?:

Gong

What does it all *mean*?

As John Peel said of them on the Glastonbury Fayre Album “Curious Band”

Back in the early seventies I was introduced to this band by the ‘big boys’ and you either liked what Gong were doing or wondered why they were doing it in the first place. I recall seeing them at Bradford uni at about two in the morning at a Freshers’ Ball and reading in an interview with them that students had been fighting after the gig depending on which side of the fence they fell.

One of the ‘big boys’ I saw recently said that he didn’t want to listen from stuff from then in case it didn’t stand up to scrutiny and spoiled fond remembrances, so I’ve done it for him. I donned my Gong boots and with a plate of camembert (batteries not included) by my side I aurally immersed myself in the discs.

So what do you get? 12 CDs and a DVD * The First 4 Virgin Records studio albums plus bonus tracks * First CD release of the original Flying Teapot masters. Beautifully remastered with previously unreleased bonus mixes. * » Continue Reading.

Same name, same Band.

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On the Dull Men’s page on Facebook someone has said he can’t think of a band that contains two people with the same first name. There has been some sensible and quite daft suggestions. I’m sure we can do better. Over to you

The Magical Thread (aka the desperate touting for a hamper thread)

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As my last post was nine (9) posts away fro receiving a hamper this is my blatant attempt to curry favour and sympathy to receive that must have The Afterword Hamper.(c)

So I ask what are the magical experiences that you can remember?

Mine I hear you ask is standing in a wooded clearing near a lake late evening with my then young son as hundreds of pipistrelle bats flew round us. Truly a memorable and magical moment.

Over to you (remember that hamper won’t win itself)

Television Film locations I (or anyone else) have stumbled across.

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Yesterday watching Gentleman Jack I noticed that the room used for the solicitor’s office was one I had visited, nay actually worked in. I recognised the painting on the wall and ejaculated loudly “That’s Oakwell Hall” as indeed it was. My place of work was used in Love, Lies and Records (admittedly before I started there). It had been used in Frost previously (and other Yorkshire programmes). The off license in Muswell Hill was used in Paul Whitehouse’s Happiness. ( I visit regularly as my GLW is from there) Are there places (though some have changed, some forever, not for better) that you’ve recognised from films or TV standing in for somewhere else where you say Bloody hell look that’s dot dot dot?

Actually an afternoon out with Dr Strangely Strange

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Venue:

Cafe Oto

Date: 14/04/2019

Although the book launch happened three weeks ago I am only now putting finger to keyboard to write this review. I stayed in London for a week after with only a dodgy tablet to use (since repaired and now broken again after falling down the stairs this morning, both of us that is)

Because of my tardiness and feeling strangely strange I was beaten to this review by the Sun which says that the band played ‘with wit, warmth and some of the old wide-eyed wonder.’

Arriving early at the sold out show I rested my weary bones on a seat outside and watched as the queue built steadily with a preponderance of mostly silver-haired folks. People had travelled far and wide to be there.

Iain Sinclair (filmmaker and friend) started proceedings off with a talk about the Strangelies in Dalston (which I why the launch took place in Dalston) and the band and Adrian read the parts of the book about their stay with Renchi, (an old school friend of Tim Goulding’s), Goulding’s new shoes from the Kingsland Road and early gigs.

Then to the band proper Tim Booth, Ivan Pawle and » Continue Reading.

Dr Strangely Strange ‘Fitting Pieces to the Jigsaw’

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Author:Adrian Whittaker

Fitting pieces to the jigsaw’

Why did I want to review this book? Let me explain. 72/73 being a late-flowering trainee hippy in a Northern mill town, I was introduced to Dr Strangely Strange (DSS) by a chap I’d met well versed in the ways of music as he was three years older than me. We listened to their music, well the first album anyway as that’s was all we possessed. We recited various pieces from the songs and greeting each other with ‘There you go’ (even though we may have wondered where we were supposed to be going). Forward 36 years and a visit to the maze like Barbican, for the Witchseason season to see Fairport Convention, noticing a poster for the next day’s event I see that DSS will be playing in the foyer and playing with the Incredible String Band (sometime referred to as the Incredible Bing Strand). As I was staying in that London I thought I’d go and see the band I’d liked all those years ago. Stood in that foyer I travelled back over those years to the person I was then a smile on my face as I realised that quite » Continue Reading.

Longevity

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Listening to the radio in the car last night, ‘Pick of the Week’ there was a clip about U2 in Dublin. I thought about how long they had been together without a line-up change. 1976 to date. Any other bands with that longevity without changes to to musical differences etc?

What we did on our holidays.

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For many it’s the return to school tomorrow. What we did… was asked and to write an essay and the enjoyment or not of the six weeks off. Luckily two years ago I took redundancy from the school I worked at and can now enjoy holidays throughout the year. How did this summer pan out for you? I spent most of mine recovering from a second back operation but I shall be leaving soon for other climes. Do not write on both sides of the paper at once.

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Practical jokes

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The good old days post brought to mind those practical jokes that you could buy from the classified adverts at the back of the comics. X Ray Specs, black face soap etc. This brought to mind (nostalgia being what it is) the article from the NME of the Viv Stanshall guide to Practical Jokes. See enclosed. Did you buy any more importantly did they work? I once rung a friend up when I knew he was away and taped his answer machine message. I then rang back and played his message back onto his answer machine. I always imagined he’d got home, played his messages back and started hitting the machine thinking something was wrong with it. I never found out if he did.

http://www.shuttleworths.co.uk/sirhenry/pranks.html

The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast

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What does it sound like?:

Why did I say I’d review this? I didn’t hear it when it came out so I thought this would be a marvellous opportunity.I enjoyed Alan Aldridge’s drawings for the Beatles lyrics and my nineteen year old self would have loved this, as I pored over the drawings in the book as I listened to the music.

However listening to it these many years later!

There’s nothing wrong with it, just that it’s not something I’d rush back to listen to. However having said that I thought that it would make a splendid stage musical (reading through the accompanying booklet I see that is one of the planned ideas), or an animated film.

What does it all *mean*?

I enclose part of the press release so that you know what you are getting.

Following expanded reissues from the resurrected Purple Records by Deep Purple’s Jon Lord, Glenn Hughes, Silverhead, Elf and Hard Stuff, Cherry Red are proud to announce the new 3 disc edition of The Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper’s Feast. After leaving Purple in 1973, Roger Glover was asked to compose music to the illustrated book of the same name » Continue Reading.

ATM help

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I’ve booked for Richard Thompson on the 8th of August. Thought the date rang a bell, its my wedding anniversary. Days been bad enough but this just adds? What to do?

Musical mementos

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Did you ever whilst attending a gig take home a memento of that night? Did you catch a broken drumstick as the drummer threw it into the audience in disgust? Maybe you caught one of Morrissey’s gladioli. Maybe you have some record company freebie. Mine since you ask is a pair of Gong boots given to me by a friend who house sat for Mother Gong back in the eighties. Share them here.

Credit where credit’s due

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Unashamedly following on from @moseleymoles session post. Mention was made of corduroy trousers and fire extinguishers being ‘played’ on tracks.

Any other unusual credits on albums to delight and titillate the palate?

I recall Fairport used falling chairs and Professor Bruce Lacey’s robots on tracks and Lou Reed played ostrich guitar.

Anagrams

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Listening to the final of Counterpoint the music quiz on Radio 4, one of the questions was something on the lines of Svengali is the anagram of a musician ( before the question continued I thought Vangelis). However the rest of the question went on that this musician had collaborated with Miles Davis. The answer was of course Gil Evans, who recorded an album Svengali. I was impressed that two musicians could share an anagram. Any other anagrams?

Big Big Train – The Second Brightest Star

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What does it sound like?:

I volunteered for this as I’d heard the name but not heard anything by them, and that one of our number had had some involvement with them.

To be honest I didn’t know what to expect, my prog days being somewhat behind me. It needs to be listened to in a quiet and relaxed mood and possibly listening to it on a grey and damp day wasn’t conducive.

It feels to be an album of two sides, 40 minutes of new songs on one exploring landscapes, rivers and meeting places and longer workouts on t’other from their previous albums. As it is to be released on a sea-foam green double gatefold vinyl then maybe the best way to listen to it as if it is two separate albums.

It’s not as bucolic as I expected though I imagine the track Haymaking would be ideal as a soundtrack for a remake of Tess of the D’Urbervilles (or possibly to accompany a shot of the PM running through wheat fields)

What does it all *mean*?

It means I need to check their other output.

Goes well with…

A bottle of elderflower champagne and a cloudless sky.

Might » Continue Reading.

Great heckles of our time

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You must have heard plenty of heckles over your years of gig, comedy etc going. Maybe not great but I was told off by the act in question for silent heckling. Waiting for Roy Harper, sat at the front on the floor I decided the support act wasn’t for me so turning my back and using the stage lights I proceeded to carry on reading my book. Some time later I realised I was being berated from onstage by the act. Other people hadn’t enjoyed his act but I got it in the neck for reading whilst he was playing. You must have heard plenty, why not share ’em and any snappy comebacks.

Fairport ticket Union Chapel 27/05/17

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27/05/2017

I find that due to my brother-in-law attending a wedding that I now have a spare ticket for the above gig. It’s sold out and if anyone would like to attend with myself, wife and a good chum please let me know. It is their 50th anniversary gig so not to be missed (apart from by my brother-in-law that is). Thanks. (I’d only want face value£26)