Deciding which records/cd’s to cull when you have run out of space is a tremendously difficult thing to do. It takes careful consideration as in my experience once you have decided to take something off your shelf and consign it to storage in the attic/garage or ,heaven forbid, the skip chances are you will want to listen to it. At the weekend I was looking for something I couldn’t find and started looking through a couple of boxes of stuff I was about to file in the garage – stuff that had been in boxes for maybe the last year. Whilst searching I came across ‘The indestructible beat of Soweto’. I have no idea why I consigned this cd to a future life of purgatory. It is brilliant. It has been redeemed and now sits proudly back on my shelf. So fellow AW’ers – have you regretted throwing something out in haste?

I lost my Dad 18 months ago. The pain has eased and although I think about him most days it is usually with a smile at remembering something he said or did. When we had his wake I singled out two songs I remember he loved and sang to us when I was a kid. One of them was King of the Road and the other one was Three wheels on my Wagon. This week I remembered this one from the recesses of my mind. Love you Dad, have fun with this one at your gig in the sky:

https://youtu.be/e3_xiUYMnXA

There is a splendid new 3 cd compilation Masekela 66 – 76 on Amazon for a shade under £14.00. It has most of his vital work on it. Listening as we speak – perfect for this weather.

Just as there are songs that make me dance there are also songs I cannot hear without singing along to. Here are some examples:-

Steve Miller Band – The Joker James Taylor – You’ve got a friend Simon and Garfunkel – America Paul Simon – American Tune Dawes – A little bit of everything Bruce Springsteen – Girls in their summer clothes Nils Lofgren – Goin back (The best version) Free- My brother Jake Rod Stewart – You wear it well Simple Minds – Alive and kicking

What are your singing songs?

Have been thinking about this for a few days as a potential post and how best to frame it. The idea came too me when I thought of artists that have endured in my record collection, those I no longer listen to and those who showed promise and then burnt out. So, if artists were relationships:-

Deep Purple – A fantastic one night stand when I saw them in 1971 – strobe lights, smashed guitars, thunderous jamming between Jon Lord’s keyboards and Blackmore’s fluid guitar solos. I tried many times to re-live that night of passion. There were some moments that were memorable but nothing compared to that one night.

Nancy Griffith – My first wife. Loved for a long time, this faded gradually over time.Still occasionally think back with fondness but largely forgotten.

Elvis Costello – My most enduring relationship. A long marriage, mostly happy but sometimes gets on my nerves and I find myself needing some solitude away from the nagging.

Father John Misty – there was an attraction or so I thought. Didn’t really get past first base -in hindsight what was I thinking?

Paul Simon – my bit on the side when Elvis Costello gets on » Continue Reading.

Philomena Cunk

So the Canadian senate has finally passed a bill to alter the words of their National Anthem O Canada. Removing the words ‘In all thy sons command’ and replacing with the gender neutral ‘ In all of us command’. Someone wrote that song, who has the right to change the words?

Shall we change the words of every gender specific song while we are at it? How about My Sibling Jake for starters?

The World gets more bonkers by the day. No doubt someone will be on here to defend this piece of crap.

Went expecting this but I have to say I love it:

There is an enigmatic message on Eels website and a little snippet of music that seems to indicate a release in April. I am officially fucking excited.

I will be even more excited if it is followed by a tour.

Earlier this week i had the misfortune of seeing The Dream Girls sing song on TV. Then this am I heard them sing another song. Their idea of singing appears to be shouting/screaming at the top of your voice, lengthening the words you sing by twisting the vowels and generally putting on what they think is a barnstorming performance. They cannot sing.

At the other end of the spectrum I was in Jessops yesterday am – they had Radio 1 playing. On came an Ant and Dec song. I had no idea they had recorded a song. It was a fucking godawful attempt at rap without any emotion and frankly was beyond embarrassing.

Both of these incidents have made me think there should be a punishment for this kind of behaviour. Maybe hanging is too severe but I am not entirely sure.

Currently reading Bob Harris’s autobiography which is very interesting as an historical document. In it he mentions a band called Fairfield Parlour. I remember the band name and looking on the Tax Dodgers website their album Home from Home is definitely ringing some bells – do I dip my toe into the water or completely leave it? Any other bands that have come back into your conscious after an extended period of time?

Also the vocalist is Peter Daltrey. Related?

Many arguments prevailed both on here and the predecessor site allied to the magazine that nothing good was written post 1971. This view was very strongly put forward by Mr Hepworth which I thought was strange given he was trying to make a success out of a current music magazine. I believe there is plenty of great music out there that is the equal of the stuff that came before and it amazes me that there still persists this argument that the Beatles are the start and finish of all things great and that everything else trails in their wake. Clearly wrong I am glad to say. So whilst I still enjoy the Beatles and the Stones and the Kinks I am glad that stuff like this has entertained me in this century:-

https://youtu.be/LHJhyrrUTgc

There may be some sneering on here that she is no longer relevant but I believe her new album Be Myself is excellent and she has a great way with a tune. Its a shame that singles don’t make money these days because there are 3 or 4 songs on this album that are so catchy they would have set her up for life in another age. Great stuff.

In early March one of my muckers from on here, our mate, my brother and myself are off to Hamburg for a long weekend. I am looking for recommendations and where better to start than here. Specifically record shops but also quirky bars, cafes etc. We will restrict the record shopping to the saturday so could do with knowing the best record shops in a similar area rather than all in the city so we can maximise our time in them rather than schlepping round the whole city. We are stopping close to the Reeperbahn area.

Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

Already announced is a new John Prine album and the Mary Gauthier album due in the first month of 2018 promises to be a really strong one. Aside from this it seems David Byrne may be releasing new music and so too Gretchen Peters.

Outside of these I would welcome a new Costello and the Imposters album but not any theatre production album so he can keep A Face in the Crowd shelved. Springsteen allegedly has an album of sons complete but not a planned release date. I have given up on new Guillemots music but Eels will hopefully come out of hibernation.

What are you looking forward to in 2018?

There are some on here who will sneer at hip hop and it is not a genre that features heavily in my collection. However when done well it is very good indeed. I had this song on a promo cd for DAP Tone records – I didn’t realise it was on You Tube but here it is:-

Two of my favourite artists together. Have loved this song for years, didn’t realise it was on Youtube.

This is your treat for the weekend:-

Since it is 1st December and nothing new of any note likely to come out between now and end of year thought I would be first up to post a top 20. This in no particular order but probably fair to say those at very top of list are my favourites:-

Hiss Golden Messenger – Halleleujah Anyhow Conor Oberst – Ruminations Baxter Dury – Prince of Tears Four Tet – New Energy Kevin Morby – City Music David Rawlings – Poor Davids Almanac John Moreland – Big bad Luv Zara McFarlane – Arise Jason Isbell – The Nashville Sound Ray Davies – Americana Penguin Cafe – The imperfect Sea Chuck Prophet – Bobby Fuller died for your sins Blue Rose Code – The water of Leith Curse of Lono – Severed Randy Newman – Dark Matter Lucinda Williams – Sweet Old World (2017) Ian Felice – Kingdom of Dreams St.Vincent – Masseduction Rodney Crowell – Close Ties John Murry – A short history of decay.