A week on, I have held off writing about it here as it is a bit concept-y. Not in a capes and wizzard’s hats way, but in a song-cycle-with-segues way. Not as accessible as their run from Field Music (Measure), […]

If they’d done nothing else since Violator, they deserve their dues. Same goes for The Cure and New Order, who jumped the shark (in terms of recorded output) at around the same time.

There was scorn amongst my NO-fan friends as “there’s nothing new, we know it all already” but I’m really enjoying re-reading stuff I’ve forgotten from 35+ years ago.

Sweetness; Spend, Spend, Spend (both B-sides); and High Wide and Handsome. Sadly the master tape for Glorybound was lost for decades.

Project HOTOL (a plane which flew in low earth orbit, for fuel efficiency). It didn’t take off, as it were.

Also, modern batteries are full of nasty/hazardous chemicals & rare earth metals like Lithium, found underground in places like The “Democratic” Republic of Congo. Western countries are not allowed, by a UN […]

Indeed. Still available as lossless download from Qobuz for a tenner, or as MP3 from the usual suspects.

Oh, very good, Mini.

Red Flag on the first pressing of The Bible’s debut. A track so unloved by the band that they dropped it for the repress and substituted a b-side instead.

Useless AW fact: Red Flag on the remastered LP, which […]

In which case you’ll be needing these bluffer’s-guide catchphrases:

“inky-black silence”
“holographic imaging”
“breathtaking dynamics”
“congested midrange”
“peaky treble”
“one-note bass”

Get ready to […]

I prefer Maria McKee’s version.

But, then, I rarely play Astral Weeks. The only time I did ‘get it’ was when I had a monster hangover, and I’ve been teetotal for years, so I’m unlikely to reach for it again.

I now have tea coming out of my nostrils.

Oi, Fenton! Get on with some bloody work!

If guests didn’t know* I was obsessed by music before they came to dinner, they do after.

(*) of course they already do!

It’s actually cropped on the cover, and a not especially good print. Mine is a high-res photo at 1:1 scale. Even then, it is no oil painting – the real thing glows, just like rose petals do.

Right now, I can’t think of one I’ve bought because of the artwork without knowing the music.

I can tell you that I went to the National Gallery in 1983 and paid them £60 (a lot of money to a 13-y-o) to take a […]

Ba-doom and, indeed, tish!

See also:

“Go on, let the other bloke in the band have a writing credit. He has bills to pay, too.”

From Eat To The Beat, Victor:

From Synchronicity, the similar Mother:

See also: any Queen song with Roger Taylor […]

Oh yes, Sunhouse. Gav (RIP) is much missed.

Bjorn Again gigs were the first time I heard Honey, Honey and Rock Me. I prefer their live versions.