The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Neither Fish Nor Flesh – What Took Me So Long?

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I picked up a copy of Terence’s second album a couple of weeks ago (on LP, 2 quid, complete with booklet, for those interested in such details) and after a couple of spins this morning I can’t believe I ignored it for so long. I love the albums either side of it, but the fact that NFNF got such a poor rap on release meant that it’s taken me 27 years to appreciate this melodic, soulful collection of music – with the occasional quirky bit of course, but nothing remotely unlistenable.

So, as a companion blog to RD’s Big Star OP, I ask the Massive: what albums that are supposed to be crap, and never appear on ‘best’ lists, did you discover late in the day to be fab?

Could this be answer?

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Earlier on this afternoon I found a packet of adhesive googly eyes in a drawer, which resulted in a very silly half-hour on Twitter posting images of customised album covers (don’t worry, I didn’t actually stick them down). Anyway, it occurred to me that this type of modification might be the answer to our copyright infringement worries. Got a photo of a pop star you want to post? Place some googly eyes on it, and violà! Your own, homemade collage! Would this cover it? Example in comments, feel free to delete, Mods.

Too Much Stuff- The Afterword reviews the Quietus’ Top 100 Albums

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Further to Lodestone of Wrongness’ thread on the Quietus’ Top 100 albums of the first half of 2016, I invite you to pick an album from this list and provide your fellow AWers with a review. It can be as short as a few lines or be a more in-depth critical analysis over several paragraphs – it’s entirely down to how much or little the music moves you, I suppose, or how much time/arsedness you can spare. You could even present it as a series of bullets points – the style you choose doesn’t matter. All I ask is that we refrain from sarcastic one-word reviews like “crap” or something, however strong the temptation.

The first step should be to post here which album (number, artist and title) you intend to listen to so that we don’t get too much overlap, although I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a couple of different perspectives on the same record. I suspect those available on streaming services will be the easiest, risk-free option.

Next, either post your review in this thread or do it as a Nights In if that’s what you feel like. There’s no time limit, so take as long » Continue Reading.

Rockin’ out with the Beeb

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There’s some good music telly on the Beeb over the coming weekend, kicking off on Friday night with the latest People’s History of Pop with, er, Danny Baker, but don’t let that put you off, as it looks brill. It’s followed by a couple of repeats; Rick Wakeman’s look at concept albums, and a psychedelia clips show.

On Saturday night there’s something called Keith Richards: the Origin of the Species on BBC2, and Sunday brings a Classic Albums on Pet Sounds then an Arena with author Jon Savage on 1966.

Should keep several of us here entertained. Links in the comments.

Harkive 2016

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I think some of you have heard of, and indeed taken part in, Harkive. If you haven’t, it’s a project that collects info from contributors via the internet in order to provide a 24-hour snapshot of the how, why and where of the music we’re listening to. This year it takes place on Tues July 19th, and I was delighted to be asked to provide an example blog post* in the run up. Of course I chose a car boot day!

There are all kinds of ways to take part, including email, Twitter, Instagram etc., and contributions can take the form of tweets, blogs, photos, videos etc., then the Harkive machine harvests the lot and does fancy things with the data. Oh, and you also get entered into a prize draw where you can win all kinds of music goodies.

Anybody joining in this year?

*previous featured guests include Jude Rodgers, Stephen Duffy and the keyboardist from Suede (plus a ton of people I’ve never heard of).

http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p773/minibreakfast/harkive%20small_zps6sfaoiic.png http://harkive.org/harkive-2016-10-days-go/

Hello caller… I’m listening

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I’ve been reading about Henry Mancini today, and was delighted to learn that he provides the voice of Al – they guy who hates his own voice – in the ‘Guess Who’s Coming For Breakfast?’ episode of Frasier (below, from 11:32). So the use of Moon River in the scene that follows is a very nice touch indeed! And of course the word Breakfast in the episode title references the movie from which the song is taken. Any more examples of caller-related ‘nice touches’ in other episodes? I bet there are loads.

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

Disturbed’s cover of Sound Of Silence

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I keep hearing this S&G cover by metal band Disturbed on the radio. It came out at the end of last year, but for some reason is getting a lot of airplay at the moment. I think it’s an overwrought horror, but I’ve heard comments like “This is better than the original!” and “Wow, that was mindblowing!” What do you think?

Bloody awful illustrations of musicians.

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Bought this yesterday. Great lineup, but f*** me, the artist who did the painting needs having a word with, particularly for his portrayal of poor Emmylou, who looks most unwell.

Any more terrible ones out there? Doesn’t have to be on an album cover.

http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p773/minibreakfast/7_zpscfyarbqr.jpg

The Country Side Of Esther Phillips once again available on CD

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The country-soul classic ‘The Country Side Of Esther Phillips’ has been crying out for a CD reissue for years, only being available second hand as part of a double pack, so I was delighted to stumble across it today in this 5-disc Original Album Series. I’m pretty sure it’s not specially remastered, but for £15 with four other albums, it’s still brilliant news.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Album-Esther-Phillips/dp/B019127L40/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461070262&sr=8-1&keywords=esther+phillips

Record Store day 2016

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The list for this year was published last night, and is longer than ever. Do any of the releases pique your interest? With no participating shops in Suffolk, I won’t be taking part, but there does seem to be a lot of pointless reissues, as mentioned in the linked article (though I’m sure several here would disagree with their opinion of the Monkees’ catalogue as nonessential…).

So, what are your thoughts on RSD these days? And if you’re a fan, what are you hoping to get?

http://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-releases/record-store-day-2016-best-worst-vinyl-releases/

Getting your money’s worth – long tracks

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I have a free £1 credit to spend on Amazon downloads. I thought I’d be clever and buy the Floyd’s 20-something minute long Echoes, but they know about cheapskates like me and have made it unavailable as a separate track. So, what other long song can I buy to get my money’s worth?

http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p773/minibreakfast/quid_zps1fbaqmwa.jpg