A few of us commented that Tig hadn’t been about much. I’ve been in touch with the great man and it’s just an over abundance of life getting in the way and he’ll be back amongst us soon. He’d like this…
The Who Sell Out – Deluxe Edition
What does it sound like?:
The Who’s 1967 album is given the Super Deluxe enormobox treatment. And there is a lot to get through. If you are new to this album, this 80 quid box is unlikely to be your starting point, so the assumption is that buyers of this will already be familiar with the album content. It’s been suggested that Sell Out was an early concept album. Not convinced – there is no narrative, no story thread linking the songs, and no conclusion. What it is is a collection of great songs linked by jingles and adverts. It is more an attempt to celebrate (or perhaps re-create) the experience of listening to Pirate Radio. The original plan was to sell the space between tracks for real adverts – when this idea didn’t fly, the band created and recorded their own (many of them created by John Entwhistle and Keith Moon in the Pub round the corner from the Studio). The 13 tracks that make up the original album are a mix of psychedelia, tough-egded pop, and with “I Can See For Miles” a rock edge that would become The Who’s trademark. Like previous outing ‘A Quick One » Continue Reading.
My Beatles Black Album With Charles Hazlewood
Conductor Chaz has an enjoyable gallup through that AW fave topic: “which songs would have been on the next Beatles album if they hadn’t split up?”
It was broadcast last weekend, so watch out for a repeat.
Hi Fi Fo Fum
This short film about audiophiles from 1959 came up on Facebook and it immediately made me think of this place and certain contributors in particular. The BBC archive page has a couple of other old films which might be worth a watch too, especially the one about vinyl restoration.
Sons about beloved pets
Suggest you keep the hankies handy for Chris Stapleton’s Maagie Run; a song in which he says more about love and loss in three and a bit minutes than many songwriters manage in their lifetimes.
Thanks to Retropath2 for inspiring this thread with his posting of Henry Gross’s Shannon in Mr B’s post about the loss of his dog.
Let’s hear it for the animals who bring so many of us here so much joy! If these guys don’t deserve their own thread then what does?
What is this s**t
Sounds like the lyrics were generated from a “you too can write a Stones song” bot
How big is yours / I’ll show you mine……..
The recent posts on the demise of CDs, discussions on vinyl and spotify show that many of us still have our own collections of music (be it physical or digital).
I know we have down this before, but I think it was a long time ago…. how big is your music collection and any other interesting details of its composition ?
I’ll show you mine in the comments.
At what point do you decide an artist/record, book, film, TV series is just not your cup of tea?
Taste being a personal thing, this question is about your deciding something just isn’t for you rather than slagging off others’ faves as being of little or no artistic merit (aka a load of old bollocks as it’s known in the trade). One man’s meat and all that…
Reason why the question came to me was the recent Crowded House thread when I thought that as I’d always been quite fond of Split Enz, I’d never really got deeper into the Finn’s more recent band than the better known songs (Weather, Dream, Cake, etc).
Subsequently bought the 2 CD Gold collection and got six songs in before deciding that myself and messers Finn et al weren’t – and were never likely to become – BFFs.
If I don’t really enjoy a book, I’ll generally chuck it within the first 50-pages.
While TV series rarely last more than one or two episodes, I did make a notable exception in the form of Peaky Blinders which I got four episodes into twice before deciding it wasn’t for me. Some stuff I just know I’m not going to like so don’t even bother to start (those US sitcoms where they » Continue Reading.
When I was younger, so much younger than today…
Well this is just extraordinary in so many ways. I feel like I want to get on a coach to a 1970’s wedding reception where all the family gets drunk and sings into the wee hours after Uncle Derek beats the shit out of the best man for spilling his pint. Happy days. Do you remember?
I want a Word with you!
The roots of this website are rooted in the Word Magazine blog/The Word Massive. Loads of that original online community have dropped away over the years and gone to Twitter or elsewhere and I’m wondering how strong that connection with Word Magazine and The Afterword still is, particularly given that David Hepworth and Mark Ellen have been very active during the past year with Word In Your Ear. In the early days of this website I got the distinct impression the ex-Word writers wanted nothing to do with it and apart from Mark joining in for a podcast there was very little interaction, and when WIYE got going it certainly didn’t have any connection to this site as I can tell. I don’t post or follow this “Forum” (ffs) so much these days so I wonder if there are many of us from the Word blog days left. Are any Afterworders on the WIYE Patreon? Have any of you paid to have Mark and Dave interview you on your Birthday?!
1970s MOR – Carpenters and Bread. My lockdown bubblegum.
Classic smooth music.
I love it.
No need to post a track but let me known about similar acts who were as good but ‘undiscovere’ in the 1970s
WIYE / NIR
It’s the Word In Your Ear / Nothing Is Real mashup podcast. Or something.
Vinyl pressing issues
Long and interesting (to me, so dull to everyone else) article on vinyl pressing capacity over at SDE.
Not On Spotify
The recent threads on Vinyl and CD versus streaming threw up a number of considerations, but several object-heads talked about the fact that they owned the music and that no-one could take it away from them was really important. Five years ago the discussion would have been dominated by the artists who weren’t on Spotify. Since then the last big hold-outs: Floyd, AC/DC, Swift, Zeppelin, Beatles have all taken the green dot shilling. But the question’s still valid, and was raised. Today, when I played Lloyd Coxson’s King of Dub Rock and realised that only volume one was on Spotify. A quick check on my itunes (yes, still digital but I do own the files at least) revealed that yes vol 2 was Not On Spotify. So here we go, your nominations for the Not On Spotify awards.
I’ll kick off with some obvious categories. The Spotify licensing and royalties model clearly doesn’t work at all for compilations. Ace Records – whose excellent Stax Funk series I am currently enjoying – are barely represented. Dave Godin’s Deep Soul Treasures only exists as the somewhat melancholic user playlists.
Even worse than compilations (where at least you can reconstruct the album) » Continue Reading.
Who cut Johnson’s hair?
He waited 4 months for that?
What a state the man is. What precisely did he ask the barber to do and did the barber do it blindfold while suspended upside down from the ceiling on lengths of elastic?
Apparently from what I’ve read he deferred a trip to a beer garden to get a haircut as a mark of respect to the late Prince Philip. We can all imagine what the departed might say if he could see the respectful result.
Christ I am so sick of this smirking toffee nosed Ken Dodd act.
Beeswing
Author:Richard Thompson
Subtitled ‘Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice 1967-75’, this is a book that really does what it says on the tin. By that, I mean it takes an in depth look at the author’s life over arguably his most fertile period creatively, namely the Fairport years and the records he made with his then wife Linda. The book begins with a brief look at his early years before moving on to meeting his future band mates and their adventures on the road and in the recording studio as they brought folk rock firmly into the public eye with their modernising of traditional songs and sounds. Thompson comes across as a pleasant, self-effacing sort of guy, who modestly underplays his own composing and playing talents, which were a huge part of the band’s sound. For someone who is such an accomplished wordsmith, he is sometimes a little reticent, but the best writing here is on those no longer with us, notably Sandy Denny and Dave Swarbrick, and of course drummer Martin Lamble and girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn, both tragically killed in a road accident in 1969, the occurrence and aftermath of which is movingly yet precisely described. The other » Continue Reading.
Vinyl Auction Here….
Some lovely stuff here if you’re that way inclined…
https://bid.omegaauctions.co.uk/auction/search/?au=30&so=2&g=1
Paying respect to the original Mr. Bellows
I like watching golf and I really liked Peter Alliss.
If you do too watch this.
Public Service announcement: Gideon Plays is now available
This just in by email: “Matsuli Music is proud to be releasing Gideon Plays by Gideon Nxumalo. This 1968 album might just be the most mythologised and sought-after LP in the whole South African canon. A sophisticated bop excursion with a distinctive African edge, it was Nxumalo’s second LP as leader.”
Album link: matsulimusic.bandcamp.com/album/gideon-plays
/PSA
Svengali
Waking during the night, and desperate not to obsess over banalities and tinnitus, I thought about which band or sole trader was still capable of making a great record. Not one of those Rick Rubin deathwatch numbers but going out on a high note.
Your in charge so you can ,say, can an ill-advised rap number and bring in any guest artiste/producer to liven things up .
For example: the Stones showed they were still capable of playing with there recent blues covers but you know there next will be an uninspired ‘I’m still up for it’ sad sack.
I’m thinking a country/blues feel with guest Norah Jones and Tom Waits producing.
This Website
No longer a blog, but a forum it seems.
One of my favourite places on the internet despite occasional grumpy exchanges.
I appreciate all the work that has gone into creating it, adding new features and keeping it going.
However other forums/message boards that I visit have very nice user friendly features like notifications when someone quotes or replies to something you have posted, also likes can be applied to any post and you get notifications about that too. Also easier to post photos and navigate on a phone etc
Just wondering what people might think about having something similar here. The main area of the site could remain the same, but the message board/forum would become sexier and easier to use.
Fully understand if that is not wanted here, but interested what others think.
Kindle monthly deals for April
It’s a very strong month for sci-fi, and some good stuff in thrillers and Non-Fiction. Not much in the classics and contemporary fiction veins, but I think overall a good month for Kindle bargains and most people could spend a fiver fruitfully. As ever, there are other bargains for prices as extortionate as £2.99 but I try and stick to the 99p limit.
Detective and Thrillers Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey – classic detective story about the true fate of Richard III
The Nine Taylors – Dorothy L Sayers First of the Lord Peter Wimsy series – Golden Age Detective fiction
Prussian Blue – Philip Kerr Much-loved Bernie Gunther no 2. For those new to these Bernie is in the Berlin police in twenties – forties Berlin and so the novels explore police procedurals during the Nazi era.
Non Fiction The Age of Football: The Global Game in the Twenty-first Century by David Goldblatt Mammoth investigation into the last 20 years of the game. As a City fan I am not expecting us to come out of it well.
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien Vietnam war classic.
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safar Froer I like this writer » Continue Reading.
Instrumental comfort
So I’ve got to admit the last year has been a bit shit. Not as shit as for many, of course. I’m still here, (relatively) healthy, not lost anyone close (though not seen a family member for 15 months), still working, just about, and for now. But a year plus of living alone during the pandemic has been less than ideal, battling addictions, loneliness, insomnia and more has been less than fun (and best not mention potential effects of Brexit on a remainer expat, or are they all related…)?.
But the point of the post is not to be negative. I’ve found a lot of comfort in instrumental music. Here are four examples of instrumentals I discovered over the last 12 months that have helped a lot. Very different genres, but all provide their bit of comfort. Fancy adding to the list? I could do with more of this kind of thing and I don’t know a better place to ask. I suspect a decent Spotify playlist could emerge.
BTS, Metallica, Beatles, Blue Peter, Mr Blobby: Fans ain’t what they used to be!
What is it like to be a fan in 2021? Or to be an artist with a fan club?
Listening to 1960s international Beatles covers last week got me thinking about how mop-top fever spread across the world. And how Brian Epstein recruited Liverpudlian uberfan, 17 year-old Freda Kelly, to be the secretary for the band’s new fanclub home in Liverpool. A bit of a cottage industry: neither of them could have suspected how that job would grow.
Freda had a wide variety of tasks. For example, one fan sent her a pillowcase, asked her to get Ringo to use it for one night and then post it back.
Fast forward to the present. I don’t think BTS get sent my pillowcases.
In April 2020, K Pop boyband SuperM sold over 75,000 tickets to 109 countries for a live-streamed arena concert. A new Korean company, Beyond Live, are developing this new product. When performing live BTS speak in five different languages. The Beatles did rather well in German and French.
Here’s @deramdaze commenting on the difference between Xmas 1963 and April 2021:
”I think we can all agree that fame has changed. It seems mighty strange that » Continue Reading.
