Abba were the first band I can remember. When I was three or four, ‘Arrival’ had come out and my parents bought it for me and would sit with me patiently, listening to the whole LP over and over again. I can still remember identifying the songs by their tones and feels, not having a clue what they were on about. Which was definitely a blessing in the case of ‘Dum Dum Diddle’.

The cover was (and is) gorgeous and became synonymous with the music for me. Four goodlooking people in white boiler suits standing around a still helicopter, in a mysterious dusk. Sure! Why not? The beautiful title track, all yearning chorale and folkish melody entranced and soothed me, after the terrifying screaming finale to the preceding ‘I Am The Tiger’.

The following year I was gifted ‘Abba The Album’, by a friendly nurse who worked at my dad’s surgery. It had to be explained that this was Abba – I still remember that, weirdly clearly, I initially didn’t understand that this was the same group of people as those standing around the helicopter. But again, here was a mysterious cover with lots to look at, colourful » Continue Reading.

I have decided to buy a bass. Budget £400- 450ish, am drawn to Squier models, currently looking excitedly at a Squier CV Jag. Intrigued by Mustang but wondering if short scale might feel a bit fiddly (I am a substantial slab of bloke at around 6’3 and broad in the beam).

Wildcard is a 50s CV Precision, this bloke’s review of it is pretty tempting and it looks stunning

I am veering towards the Jag as it blends P and J pickups, and review videos balance out the joys of these configurations in one package vs fiddly ‘stack’ controls.

A bass playing friend has recommended I go for a “proper” bass [his words] and just get a Jazz bass.

Any Fender bassists here who could give me any tips? I know it is not possible to physically try one out at the moment, I just want something with a lovely fat, rich soft tone which is approachable for a guitarist (Fender Jazzmaster) to learn on.

New episode of Albumtoalbum is out now and its the first instalment of a chat with bass-wallah Guy Pratt whose stock of HORAs is on a par with Ellen, Hepworth at the very least. We don’t get very far in our discussion of Lodger, but I did have a lot of fun with him. Have a listen! 🙂

View post on imgur.com

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/davidbowie-albumtoalbum/id1355073030#episodeGuid=tag%3Aaudioboom.com%2C2020-04-23%3A%2Fposts%2F7564339

If Keir Starmer wins the Labour leadership, popular “disk jockey” and severely-wronged public figure and beat obituarist Paul Gambaccini says he will stand (or run) against him at the next election.

From The Times:

Paul Gambaccini, the BBC radio star, is threatening to stand against Sir Keir Starmer at the next general election in protest at the Labour leadership hopeful’s handling of Operation Yewtree.

The disc jockey, who was arrested in 2013 on false allegations of sexual abuse, blames Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions, for the “torment” he suffered at the hands of the Metropolitan police.

“I can assure you if the Labour Party makes Keir Starmer their leader, I will run against him at the next election,” he said.

Mr Gambaccini claims that Sir Keir, who headed the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013, launched a “witch-hunt” against him and the likes of Sir Cliff Richard and Jimmy Tarbuck, “ruining countless lives”.

In 2013, Sir Keir responded to the Jimmy Savile scandal and sex-grooming cases by issuing new guidance to prosecutors to focus on the credibility of allegations, not the alleged victims, when deciding whether to prosecute.

In a valedictory interview on the Andrew Marr » Continue Reading.

This is really good. Swedish guys sample Trump in a vaguely mid 70s Zappa/Dan idiom and it works out pretty funny

I’ve been reading excerpts from Reg’s forthcoming autobiography in the papers. The extracts thus far have been v entertaining and hair-raising (toupee-raising?) in equal measure with the blizzards of gak fuelling the monstrous ego, all related with self deprecating wit. Who else is looking forward to this?

The annual ‘best gag of the Fringe’ poll by the intriguingly named TV station, Dave, has just been announced. What do you think? I think Richard Stott should have won, that’s a one-liner Monkhouse would have been proud of.

10 funniest jokes of the 2019 fringe:

1. I keep randomly shouting out “Broccoli” and “Cauliflower”. I think I might have Florets. – Olaf Falafel

2. Someone stole my antidepressants. Whoever they are, I hope they’re happy. – Richard Stott

3. What’s driving Brexit? From here it looks like it’s probably the Duke of Edinburgh. – Milton Jones

4. A cowboy asked me if I could help him round up 18 cows. I said, “Yes, of course. That’s 20 cows.” – Jake Lambert

5. A thesaurus is great. There’s no other word for it. – Ross Smith

6. Sleep is my favourite thing in the world. It’s the reason I get up in the morning. – Ross Smith

7. I accidentally booked myself on to an escapology course; I’m really struggling to get out of it. – Adele Cliff

8. After learning six hours of basic semaphore, I was flagging. – Richard Pulsford

9. To be or not to be » Continue Reading.

I was ambling down Portobello Road this morning when I saw a familiar, black clad figure striding along the pavement, accompanied by a dark-haired woman. As he drew closer, realised it was none other than the ABITW hitmaker, Dave Gilmour. I was getting closer. Should I say something? Should I ignore him? He was now almost level with me. I decided to say hello. He came towards me and I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I walked past.

What would you have done?

Bill Wyman has been uninvited/no-platformed/dropped from an upcoming talk at the Sheffield Film Festival where a new doc about him, ‘The Quiet One’ was due to be screened. (It’s not any longer). The reason? Most of us will know about his creepy association with the young Mandy Smith and all the palaver that entailed. Yet at the time, in 1989, the tabloid bonanza about it was more amused than thunderously condemnatory. Reading his ‘Stone Alone’ autobiog, written in the brief interregnum between marriage and 1991 divorce, there is plenty of defiance and belaboured justification of his actions with regard to the underage dalliance (“She pursued ME, we are in love” is the burden of his song) There’s also plenty of smirking, boorish reporting of his innumerable hookups over the decades which, whichever way you look at it, make him out to be a rather pathetic little chap, very Pooter-ish in his lack of self-awareness and how his prim boasting and gloating comes across. But I wonder, when all this has been in the public eye for many years and by his own account, Plod has told him he doesn’t have a case to answer – should the aged lothario now » Continue Reading.

While the other lot go hell for leather, with their 50th anniversary bonanzas this November, a much more minimal remastered new package is on the way to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Beggars Banquet. Includes a mono mix of ‘Sympathy’ and a recording of a phoner with Lord Beezlebub. Also coming up, rerelease of One Plus One and next year a reissue of RocknRoll Circus with a few more bits and bobs

https://variety.com/2018/music/news/rolling-stones-beggars-banquet-rock-roll-circus-deluxe-reissues-exclusive-1202966209/

I have to host a music quiz soon and came up with a beezer idea for the album cover round, where you see five album covers and have to work out the link between them. I thought of PSB ‘Introspective’ and Bowie’s ‘Station To Station’, the link being they both have six tracks. Now am stumped. Any recommendations for six track LPs, ideally a bit less obvious (but not too obscure!)? Cheers

Hello all, just to let you know the latest episode of my Bowie pod series is happening now featuring Quantick musing on Pinups

https://audioboom.com/posts/6777415-david-quantick-on-pinups

Apropos nothing at all, here is the gorgeous 1936 reading of WH Auden’s ‘The Night Mail’

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmciuKsBOi0