Today’s 96th episode of my studio-blog is about West Heath / Hoxa HQ and features Roddy Frame and Robert Forster.
Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the heart
Venue:
Northampton Roadmender
Date: 17/05/2024
This was a tremendous gig; some seriously good re-workings of PiL’s “Metal Box”, the theme from “Midnight Cowboy”, and a couple from the first album turned inside out, upside down, and played straight, all at the same time, and mixed by the sound engineer with serious appreciation of the importance of bowel-loosening reverberations (the previous curry didn’t help) and dubwise tricks, often shouted by Mr Wobble as he was going along. The band were excellent with an ex-Banshee from the latter years doing the scratchy bits, and the “gorgeous and handsome” keyboard player (as Jah W insisted on introducing him) being distinctly proggy at points. The youthful drummer was not the PiL drummer of yore, but he was bloody good. At one point JW was playing timbales for a jazzier workout of a post-punk great, another time it was ALMOST heavy metal (but not really). You really didn’t know what was coming next, though we all knew the original album inside out. This is the way to play a classic album, and fair dues to JW for indicating the way forward.
The audience:
A mix of post-punk types now late-middle aged and more sensible » Continue Reading.
XTC – I assume we have discussed them before. Just rediscovered them…wow!
What a great band they were.
Andy Partridge is now 70.
The The Klaxon
No I haven’t acquired a stutter…. There is actually a new song and forthcoming album from Matt Johnson.
Album “Ensoulment” out in September. First song in comments.
Barry Adamson klaxon
Nice surprise this morning. Had my usual Friday look at my Spotify release radar playlist only to discover that Barry Adamson has just ‘dropped’ (sorry) his first album in 8 years, Cut to Black. Had no idea this was coming.
Already 5 listens in and it’s very very good. Much underappreciated is our Bazza, as I’m sure he doesn’t call himself, so I thought I’d do my bit to help spread the love.
Couple of songs in the comments.
Core likes
Inspired by one or two recent posts got me to thinking what are the cornerstones of my musical likes.
Over the years and decades I have accumulated much much music in a variety of formats. 1,000s as many of us will have done. 100s of artists.
But when I think about it there is probably 15-20 albums by say 10 artists or so and assorted tracks that I go back to repeatedly. Play multiple times every year. And probably represents a very high % of my total listening
In no order
Beatles – 2 or three albums and some singles Stones – sticky fingers/let it bleed/beggars banquet David Sylvian – 2 or 3 albums and various tracks Eno – music for films Apollo: Atmospheres Japan – Tin Drum Byrne/Eno My life in the bush of ghosts Little Feat – lycanthrope Robert Palmer – his Littke Feat Covers Physical Graffiti Electric Ladyland/ various Machine Gun Hejira/Hissing of Summer Lawns/ Don Jaun Stone Roses first How soon is now Innervisions Quadrophenia Muddy Waters – Hard Again
I could do a top 100 list but once past 30 or 40 probably don’t listen to (or am drawn to) that much.
Stu Kimball, long time Dylan guitarist, et al – early onset dementia.
He is 62.
The Black Crowes
Venue:
Hammy Odeon
Date: 15/05/2024
The Black Crowes tore the roof off of the old Hammy Odeon on Wednesday night and I couldn’t be happier; but let’s back the old flat-bed truck up a bit for some context.
The Black Crowes should be my band; they just should. I have always thought of them as the bastard sons of some salacious, illicit communion between The Stones and The Faces, in 1971, in the Riot House Hotel on Sunset, West Hollywood. Both bands were at the peak of their powers and they both had that one thing which so many pretenders to the rock ‘n roll throne don’t have; I call it Swing ‘n Swagger. The best rock ‘n roll bands have swing; Charlie had it and Kenney had it. It’s where the drummer sits in ‘the pocket’, that mysterious area of the beat which no one can explain but every musician knows. Swagger is so rare in a band. The Stones had it and The Faces had it; it’s an attitude, a walk, a confidence; a ‘fuck-you, you may think you’re better than us but wait until we plug-in and kick-off. We’ll blow you away.’ And those bastard sons » Continue Reading.
My favourite type of music.
Im sure we all been part of this conversation:
“What are you into to?” Me: “Errr, I like music” “What kind of music” Me:”Errr, all sorts”
… and thats the end of the conversation thankfully, because I dont want to explain that when I say “all orts” I dont mean everything. Far from it. I mean things like 60’s psych, early 70’s soul, pre-war jazz yada yada. If I tried to go into more details I would be considered an insufferable bore and rightly so.
Recently however I have been thinking that if my feet were held to the fire, and I had to name my absolute favourite genre what would I pick … and I’ve decided that, at least today it would be anything that ticks the following boxes:
1. Generally cheerful (at least superficially), sunshiny pop. 2. Chamber/Baroque, often orchestral, with obvious roots in Pet Sounds 3. Particularly with a Herb Alpert-y trumpet solo.
The 60’s give rise to this kind of thing. After Pet Sounds came Love, and lots of Burt Bacharach. In the 90’s and 2000’s there was a bit of a resurgence. The High Llamas have obviously built a whole career on just this » Continue Reading.
Primevals go WAY DOWN SOUTH
The Primevals have been making their own kind of din since 1983, and we have organised a short tour to promote our new EP.
Gigs are : Thursday June 20th – Leith Depot Saturday June 29th – Afternoon – Preston Goes Pop Evening – The Talleyrand, Manchester Sunday June 30th – The Black Prince, Nottingham Monday July 1st – The Lexington, London – Stewart Lee Event
Elbow @ Co-Op Live
Venue:
Co-Op Live, Manchester
Date: 14/05/2024
Not by design, we happened to be at the first proper gig at the newly opened Co-Op Live in Manchester, the new arena which is the biggest in Europe (or so I am told). You will likely have read in the press the numerous problems with this place & although it was a bit slow getting in, there were no signs of the many reported issues (Building work still taking place, Aircon units falling from the roof etc.) from where we were in the standing area. I will admit to being against the building of this new venue & I still think it seems unnecessary in Manchester. Location wise it is terrible! It’s a 25 min walk to the city & although parking is available, it is £25 so we parked nearer the centre & walked in. Trams are available but rammed so it is not really worth it. When the football coincides with a gig as it inevitably will, I am sure we will read about the chaos in the press as the infrastructure does not exist yet & it will be bad when it happens.
The first impressions were that » Continue Reading.
John Lennon – Mind Games Ultimate Mixes SDE
Just the $1350 !
It contains alternate versions of the Nutopian International Anthem.
(there will also be a version for about 100-150 quid with 6 CDs and 2 Blu-rays)
https://store.johnlennon.com/products/mind-games-the-ultimate-mixes-super-deluxe-box-set
Robin Trower – “Bridge of Sighs” (50th anniversary edition)
What does it sound like?:
Macclesfield, 1974. I am 16, 3 years into learning the guitar and keen for new music. I pop into Barry White’s record shop in Brook Green, location of many cool sounds. On the counter there is a mysterious looking sleeve with a strange exotic font and what looks like an ear but closer examination reveals it is actually an unidentifiable morphing shape hinting at a depthless vortex into which to fall. The music fills the shop – at one moment funky, the next rocking and bluesy, then spacy with swirling effects and layers of guitars. I’ve heard of Robin Trower, mostly second hand and of the “Hendrix ripoff” variety, but have never actually heard him. It doesn’t sound at all like Hendrix, I love it and my carefully coveted pocked money and paper round pay is exchanged for a copy. I’ve come back to this album many times in the ensuing decades, particularly the live album he released a few years later and never tire of Robin’s playing and particularly Jim Dewar’s great bass playing and sensational singing.
And so to the 50th anniversary of Robin Trower’s 1974 album “Bridge of Sighs”. This is » Continue Reading.
A damn fine cup of coffee
Here’s the thing. I like coffee; I mean I really like coffee, but after drinking it for half a lifetime the perfect cup of home brewed coffee still eludes me. I have a basic DeLonghi espresso machine which does pretty much what it says on the tin, although it extends to making cappuccino. I prefer a shot of espresso, but despite trying many different beans and ground coffees over the years never seem to achieve that rich, smooth intense coffee flavour I’m looking for.
So what does the expert mind of the Afterword think? I know we’ve dabbled in the coffee debate before, but I’m just after your thoughts on achieving the perfect cup – achieved either through the best beans or a really decent bit of coffee making kit.
Goodbye David Sanborn
Obituary
Very influential and prolific saxophonist, particularly in the ’70s and ’80s.
Nobody expects the Van-ish inquisition
“Our principal weapons are introspection, a curmudgeonly demeanour, and an almost fanatical devotion to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee!”
What do you do when you’ve exhausted all the Van Morrison in the world? All the albums, obviously. And then all the deep cuts, bootlegs, collaborations and live sets on YouTube. Well, if you’re like me you embark on the fool’s errand of compiling a playlist of songs that sound a bit like Van the Man.
Bear with me. My attempts to do the same for Pink Floyd, Neil Young and most recently Fleetwood Mac turned out OK. However, most acts have a psychedelic wigout or a Young-like grungy thrash in their locker. And the Heroes Are Hard to Find hitmakers have been ridiculously influential on the musicians of today, making an erstaz Mac comp not much of a challenge at all.
But Van the Man? In spite of the fact that his Caledonia Soul Orchestra period is, to my mind, the pinnacle of western artistic endeavour, very few artists actually sound like him. Bob Dylan has albums with similar orchestration; Jackie DeShannon covered some of his tunes and sounded like she used some of the same musicians; and the » Continue Reading.
Danny Baker auction
Danny Bakers auction of his music collection is now up and running!
Some gold in here. I fear this could cost me a lot of money… already bid on a few items
I wasn’t expecting that!
Every evening I sit with Mrs F to watch something on the tellybox, and comb our long-haired tortoiseshell cat, before we climb the steps to bedfordshire. Usually it involves someone who has a blue light in or on their vehicle. Usually they blur into one for me. Often I nod off before the end.
Currently we’re watching Superman and Lois on the iPlayer, where the titular couple live on the Kent family farm outside Metropolis with their two teeange boys, one of whom has inherited superpowers from his father, and the other has changed body and voice entirely between series 2 and 3, but neither parents or twin sibling appear to have noticed.
Anyhow, at the world’s most boring school Prom, one parent (the town fireman) hit the dancefloor to get the party started to… The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Head On. Eh?
Stickers On Record Sleeves
Further I comment I made in another thread, I thought I’d post up some of my more interesting (hopefully not just to me, haha) record sleeves that have special stickers on the front. I’ve found it’s most often the initial pressings that will have these special additions, sometimes making them much rarer records as a result, but often they seemed to have been added either as a marketing tool or just for fans amusement. Anyway, I have quite a lot of these and so will share some of my favourites, I’d be interested to see any others you may have too of course.
ATM – HDMI splitters
Mrs thep has a tech question I can’t answer – partly because it’s Windows and partly because the internet gets bored before I’ve even finished typing the question and tries to sell me an HDMI splitter.
So: the Mem is setting up two monitors on her home office desk, but the docking station has only one HDMI out. A splitter is the obvious answer, but her supplementary question is: will she end up with the same thing on both monitors, in which case there’s no point, or can you shuffle stuff between them on the laptop screen, as I vaguely remember doing when my MacBook was plugged into a monitor?
Info gratefully received.
WE START TODAY BAAAAAABY (fire emoji)
Thus read the message from number one son in the wee small hours.
Best of luck to all your kids and (dare I say) grand kids starting their A levels today. I hope they are as confident as my little rascal.
Tell us about something that doesn’t interest you in the slightest
Whenever a thread gains a little bit of traction, as sure as eggs is eggs, someone will post about how they have absolutely no interest in the subject and probably never will. I have done this myself, I am sure of it.
What propels us to do this? I wonder if it’s because we read a bunch of posts on a thread about (say) Lena Zavaroni and some psychological peer pressure kicks in to have an opinion, any opinion.
It’s as if you are in a pub and everyone in your group is having a long, detailed and spirited yatter about the genius of the deceased M!HMEAMHM. You try to change the subject but it’s Lena this and Lena that. Noticing your lack of engagement, then they fall silent and look at you and ask directly what YOU think. If you’re anything like me, you will say to them “Honestly, I literally have ZERO interest in her or her music! I never have and I probably never will!”.
That is fair enough.
But when you overhear a group conversation that doesn’t interest you – would you make a point of joining the group just to tell them that you’re » Continue Reading.
Villa 3 Liverpool 3
Villa salvage a draw with two late goals. But wait … and I find this more extraordinary than perhaps it is … Elliott assisting Qansah was the first time two English players under 21 (that’s English not England players) have combined for a Premier league goal … for 23 years.
The internet is a sewer
Yes, the timing might be a cynical ploy to promote her forthcoming solo album, but, jeez…
Now that looks interesting
Sometimes you come across a write up for a new album release that, even though you have never heard of, you just have to go and explore…….
Bill Fisher / How To Think Like A Billionaire
“Imagine Kate Bush and Tori Amos wrote a yacht doom album satirising the edgelord-tech-billionaire-worship generation, recorded by Peter Gabriel and Michael McDonald in the early 80s using an industry prerelease unit of the late 90s Yamaha PSR-8000 synthesiser, several heavily distorted guitars, and a baby grand”
Its on Bandcamp (and YouTube)