Musings on the byways of popular culture
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Sadly, Mike Appleton, the man behind the Old Grey Whistle Test has died. From David Hepworth’s blog
“I’m regularly asked to name the records that changed my life. If I’m perfectly honest records never changed my life. However, a handful of people did. Mike was one of that handful.”
Whistle test has a vital part of my musical education, screened at a time when access to music wasn’t easy. I’m sure we will all have memorable moments from the shows.
This is one of mine
https://youtu.be/u2srYNkA0N0
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I guess many of us are either working from home or self isolating. I work in an essential industry but work from home alternate days. Its a novelty and gives me chance to play discs that haven’t been aired for a while and catch up on new. Yesterday my Jukebox was:
Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbotts – Manchester calling (delivered that morning – first listen fab) Mike Oldfield – Ommadawn – long time since I played, really enjoyed hearing again. Fela Kuit – Everything scatter Elbow – The take off and landing of everything – a greatly underrated Elbow album Hurray for the Riffraff – Small Town Hero David Bowie – Is it any wonder ep Danny and the Champions of the World – Brilliant Light Goat – Requiem
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Who’d have thought that in 2020, that old CS&N classic, Helplessly Hoping, would suddenly become popular again. All thanks to a young Italian choir from Rome who are singing it in quarantine. David Crosby has commented on Twitter that their version is now his favourite and is better than the original.
il coro che non c’è (The choir that does not exist) must have been very chuffed to hear that. It consists of students from different High Schools and Universities in Rome and the tale about how they have inspired so many all over the world is a real sunshine story.
An ABC news article about the choir tells it very well.
My question to you is: What other examples can we think of songs or other pieces of music that have had a remarkable, unexpected revival, a while after their initial success?
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The reference to the Beatles in this article is pretty funny.
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Of course it’s ace. And I’ve got tickets for the Manchester show in October…surely we’ll be allowed out to play by then?
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Strange Days Indeed!
It’s the first Friday of a new month (on some parts of the globe, anyway), so, please, come and join in the Zoom session, make yourselves comfortable with a refreshment of your choice, and share with us – what have you been reading / watching / listening to or otherwise consuming in the last month.
Have you been listening to more music than usual ? Comfort-binging on old episodes of Porridge? Baking ?
All best wishes to everyone – stay safe, stay sane
Another victim…..70`s popstar and writer of “I Love Rock n Roll” died aged 69 on Sunday of Coronavirus I love this song, made ever more poignant. RIP Mate.
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For fans of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker books who are disappointed by the delay of publication of The Dirty South, there is an online novella being release in what seems to be daily chapters, starting today.
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This is an excellent read, and very persuasive. Not massively comforting, mind…
I was Ballard’s editor for a while in the 70s, including Crash and High Rise, and I’ve never quite got over the sense of unease.
https://www.newstatesman.com/2020/04/why-we-are-living-jg-ballard-s-world
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As you all know Aussies can’t help but abbreviate things. I think the definitive example is the Melbourne Cricket Ground which goes under the initials M.C.G. However, most locals refer to it as “The G”.
Corona virus – Rona Isolation – Iso Thwarted at shops by panic buyers buying out what you want – Magpied
” In iso coz of the Rona. Tried to stock up but got magpied.”
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Seems like a lot of frigging around to me but then again, one man’s poison…..
The fees were an eye opener. Charges based on plus postage price. Yowzah!
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It was just announced on the news here (in LA) that Adam Schlesinger, of Fountains of Wayne and ‘That Thing You Do’ fame has died as a result of the Corona virus. I’m gutted.
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The wonderful Laura Veirs is playing a living room gig tomorrow evening (7pm BST). What a way to spend a Thursday evening indoors.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-Z1aOmBiSx/?igshid=pnuwlsjf75kr
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I have’s checked in any detail but this playlist reportedly includes every Dylan song that is on Spotify, chronologically.
Warning: Playing this all the way through may danage relationships.
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I have a nice but old Samsung laptop (circa 2005) with a good screen, camera and speakers which is trapped running Windows Vista. I’m wondering how one installs Linux or similar to give it a new lease of life. A little lockdown project. Any advice gratefully received!
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Okay, so I have a massive list of my favourite songs of all time continually floating around in my head and I decided to have a bit of fun with that list and pick one for each letter of the alphabet [counting XYZ as one letter, giving two dozen songs in all]. Obviously, ignore “The” or “A” at the beginning of titles.
If you find this idea tedious or unworthy, don’t bother posting to tell me so; just join in if you want to. We may have done this before. But you may have time on your hands, as I do.
America [Simon & Garfunkel] Bell Bottom Blues [Derek & The Dominoes] Cinnamon Girl [Neil Young] Days [The Kinks] Everything Means Nothing To Me [Elliott Smith] Famous Blue Raincoat [Leonard Cohen] Gan To The Kye [The Unthanks] Harvest For The World [Isley Brothers] Into Temptation [Crowded House] Just Like A Woman [Bob Dylan] Kangaroo [Big Star] Life’s A Gas [T Rex] Mojo Pin [Jeff Buckley] Next [Jacques Brel] Ode To Billy Joe [Bobbie Gentry] Paranoid Android [Radiohead] Quicksand [David Bowie] Rainy Night House [Joni Mitchell] Strawberry Fields Forever [The Beatles] Tin Soldier [Small Faces] Up The Junction [Squeeze] Virginia Plain » Continue Reading.
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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.
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Obviously this will have been covered before, but there’s always new stuff out there. Scenario: 13-yr old daughter showed some interest a year ago in learning guitar. That was all the incentive I needed to get an acoustic (I’m a bassist mostly), and I picked a very nice Tanglewood, a real bargain. As is so often the way, she never quite round to it, but now that we’re housebound for the foreseeable future the interest has returned. I’ve shown her a few chords but she’s also keen on trying an app on her iPhone, or YouTube videos etc. So – anything to recommend? Anything to be avoided?
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Unlike others here I’m no guitar nerd but I hugely enjoyed this
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The Guardian is enticing us to try something new with a daily short article and listening guide including a ;start here; album for a new artist each day. Kraftwerk and The Fall were the first two, so nothing needed there. But Alice Coltrane, Curtis Mayfield and Fiona Apple. Ok, talk to me. So have now listened to Journey in Satchidananda (yes nice working music), Superfly (yes yes yes, excellent) and When the Pawn… (not really, a bit Tori a bit Alanis a lot 90s meh). Sleater-Kinney today so will listen to All Hands On The Bad One. Point being I might never have listened to any of these without a prompt.
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Author:David Watkinson
I recall reading a book by ex England and Lancashire cricketer David Lloyd a few years ago, where he recalls growing up in Accrington and hanging around with one of his best childhood mates Johnny Anderson, who went on to do big things. This fascinating biography looks at Anderson’s pre-Yes life, concentrating on his time in his first band, The Warriors, who were very active on the Lancashire music scene in the early sixties, releasing a single, appearing on TV and eventually following in The Beatles footsteps to the German clubs. Ultimately the band imploded and returned to the UK, where Anderson had a subsequent brief solo fling as Hans Christian before bumping into a certain Chris Squire in London, and the rest, as they say, is history. The story is told in brief bursts of narrative by the author, linked by extensive interviews with the original band members and of course with Anderson himself, supplemented by numerous previously unseen photographs of the band and associated memorabilia. This unique and meticulously researched book is a really enjoyable read and is recommended, indeed essential, reading for those interested not just in Jon Anderson and Yes, but also in the » Continue Reading.
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Me and a mate of mine finished off the 92 (football league grounds) last year. He did the driving, I chose the music (cos he has very few CDs and a limited musical taste/knowledge), but his one stipulation was “no bloody rap music!”. So I decided to make him a CD of the more accessible rap tracks to try to convince him it’s not all shouty old rubbish and I wondered whether it may interest anyone on here. Sort of repaying the favour for everybody who gave me recommendations (and CDs) when I said I didn’t like reggae and asked for some pointers last year. Yes, some rap music is very shouty and some is indeed rubbish (just look at whatever is in the singles charts), but there is such a variety of rap music that I’d be surprised if there’s not at least one track out there for everybody.
So I am going to stick the tracks on here, over the next howeverlongittakes (I have no idea how to do a Spotify playlist, nor do I know if all these tracks are on Spotify, but they’ll be on YouTube, cos everything is!), and hopefully folk who say they » Continue Reading.
On the last weekend before the apocalypse, four bands associated with the legendary Warehouse venue (1994-96) in Belfast – one band reunion, one new band of old hands, one one-off assemblage of all-stars… and Brian Houston, the ‘Belfast Elvis’ – played a ‘Warehouse Remembered’ show at the Pavilion. Proceeds went to FASD AWARE NI, a foetal alcohol support group run by Brian & Alison McNamara. It was the second Warehouse Remembered event, and there will hopefully be more…
A version of Dave McLarnon’s Hat Band came together for WR#1 in September 2019, and we simply had to have the man in the hat back! This time, Dave ‘The Hat’ (Peacefrog, Shock Treatment) was joined for a set of Ulster rock classics by Norman Boyd (guitar, Stonefish / Protext), Billy Shovel (guitar, Ghost of An American Airman), the one and only Ali MacKenzie (bass, Bush Turkeys / everyone) and the Legendary Petesy Burns (drums, Stalag 17 / Outcasts / ARSE). At very short notice, Warehouse legend Cormac O’Kane (New Brontes, now running RED BOX RECORDINGS, Belfast) filmed the show on two cameras, with ambient sound. Enjoy!
1. Heart of Stone (Peacefrog, 1994) 2. Broken Land (The Adventures, 1989) 3. Belfast (Energy » Continue Reading.
Whatever the merits of said publication, Afterworders stuck at home might want something to read. You can now subscribe for just £11.99 every 6-months via those nice people at BandLab. Less than £2 an issue and if the panic-buying gets any worse, you can always cut it into squares for the bathroom…
https://magazines.bandlabtechnologies.com/all-products/uncut.htm?promo=UCWEBES20
