Oh, absolutely – after an hour or so of these tuneful little gems, I usually need to get my roughage from something like Shostakovich 4 or Messiaen’s Turangalila-Symphonie.

There’s a fabulous boxset of the four CDs of “British Light Music Classics”, by Ronald Corp and his New London Orchestra, which rightly won various awards when released individually back in the early 90s. It’s […]

Once again, reality out-stranges art. Joy Division Oven Gloves, anyone?

Yes, the production makes it a tiring listen, sonically. Probably the album which would most benefit from a Steven Wilson remix (though, of course, the big missing remix job is English Settlement).

Money? Sense? Which is greater? There’s only one way to find out – unleash the wooden-crated boxset!

That’s another Christmas present sorted for ‘er indoors, since the SDEs for Paranoid and Vol.4 both went down very well. While we’re pondering the absence of an SDE for Master Of Reality, the same goes for their […]

Thanks – ordered! I saw them at Brum Town Hall in the very early ‘70s, pre-Rebop but post-Damo, and several “long instrumental improvisations” was the order of the day. Heard an extract and this sounds great.

Can non-fan dislikes new release of old Can performances. No surprises there, then. Any takes on the album from anyone more approving of the teutonic noodlers?

Another thumbs-up for Norman Records’ weekly newsletter. I also subscribe to Burning Shed, who are good for proggy stuff. Then there are one or two record labels such as Ghostbox and Erased Tapes. Mainly, though, […]

Very much this. Frank Zappa’s a prime example – albums based in everything from prog-rock to doo-wop, from virtuosic guitar noodling to puerile knob-gags in song form. Also there are jazz artists who went from a […]

Trouble is, I’m always drawn to extremes, when it comes to entertainment. Classical music? Mahler & Bruckner symphonies. Unclassical music? Tales from Topographic Oceans and anything by The Necks, especially the […]

All I know is, I’ve bought an awful lot of board games. My wife isn’t into board games. But those boxes full of pretty bits of cardboard and plastic are just so enticing…

Oh, 4 bedrooms sounds like a lot, but once you’ve each claimed one of them as an office/den, designated a guest room, and stuck your bed in the fourth, that’s them all allocated. Then you need a library, a din […]

I suppose the obvious question is, were the “designer anchovies” bought from Richard Dawkins or from God?

Much better choice!

Yep, this one fits the brief nicely. Legendary songwriter/guitarist… bafflingly ill-fitting cover image. Most of the foregoing are – well, who the hell are they anyway? But this hits the same spot as the Chick […]

Actually, that one sort of fits… yep, Millie Jackson – wot a wag, eh?

Oh, god, that’s terrifying!

Although you probably need to live near the Aldridge-Brownhills part of the West Midlands to get full value from it, this spoof article from excellent local blogger Brownhills Bob is one of the best I’ve seen in y […]