The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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It Was Twenty Years Ago Today…

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…or thereabouts. I have fond memories of the months of hype leading up to Free As A Bird and the Anthology series. In retrospect, the Fab’s timing was perfect: An upswing in all things Beatles from the Britpop Stars du jour; the nascent Internet had yet to consume the music business (so they could keep FAAB private and sell shed loads of double CDs) and George was still with us. The Anthology was a great showcase for previously unseen clips that are now only a YouTube search today, but more amazingly, there was Paul, Ringo & George… In a room… Together… with Macca still getting on thequietone’s nerves. I have fond memories of the whole enterprise & remain pro-Threetles.

Anyone speak French? Pipe up now…

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My co-author John has very decently been sent a review of our book on uilleann pipers from a french magazine. Neither of us are much good at languages. John likes to share reviews on his social media pages. Anyone here fancy translating a few phrases from it into English for us before he does so?

The Wheels of the World – 300 years of Irish uilleann pipers

A la vue de pareil titre, on ne peut qu’être enthousiasmé. Mais au moment de l’ouvrir point une certaine appréhension, car ce type d’ouvrage est parfois rébarbatif. Eh bien, pas de souci avec cette brique très agréable ! Pas besoin de suivre une ligne toute tracée, car les seize chapitres vous permettent de choisir, de plonger directement à la découverte de Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Leo Rawsome, John Doran, Paddy Keenan, Liam O’Flynn (de Planxty), des cornemuseux de l’Ulster … En outre, chaque chapitre est très clairement formaté, avec des commentaires de diverses personnes (cornemuseux et autres) imbriqués dans le texte. On trouve facilement les passages qui nous intéressent le plus. Ainsi on découvre que Séamus Ennis, lorsqu’il jouait des airs lents, pensait aux mots, à l’histoire racontée sur ces airs. De » Continue Reading.

Stairwell To Pop Heaven – Manchester Square

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North of London’s Oxford Street behind Selfridges department store lies the 18th century open space known as Manchester Square. Between 1960 and 1995 EMI records’ imposing glass fronted headquarters was located there (don’t look for it, it was demolished some time ago). Now, the one thing nearly everyone knows about 20 Manchester Square is that the cover photo of The Beatles’ first LP Please Please Me was taken in the stairwell there. But what most people don’t know is that this wasn’t just a one-off. For years EMI’s press office used Manchester Square extensively as a cheap and convenient location for their publicity photos. Dozens of iconic pictures were taken against the front of the building, or in the basement stairwell and some, like the Seekers’ EP cover shown here, were even snapped in the park-like environs of Manchester Square itself. The Marylebone Council park bench upon which Judith Durham is reclining so seductively here is clearly branded “Manchester Square 1953” so it was maybe 22 years old when the photo was taken.

http://i.imgur.com/JfW8D2F.jpg

The Last Time

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I was in a YouTube rabbit hole recently and found this: The last live performance from ELO at a charity gig in Birmingham in 1986. I find these kind of things interesting. The band, although headlining, are on the other side of a commercial peak. Did they know it was the end? Although it’s not as portentous as Ziggy & the Spiders or as iconic as the Fabs on the roof, there is a foreshadowing at the end when George Harrison comes on and shows Jeff where his future lies.

Any other interesting last things? Last gigs. Last songs. Last photos, etc.

Who’s listening to their music in surround?

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I’m curious to know who among the Massive listens to surround sound reissues. What’s your set-up? DVD-A? Blu-Ray? Type of surround sound speaker set-up? Is music just a by-product of setting up a surround sound system for movies? Worth it? Waste of time?

I would like to hear the upcoming surround releases of Oranges & Lemons and Tusk, but the whole thing seems a bit of a total faff to be honest. Interested to hear from y’all. Thanks.

Detectorists!

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Just a heads up that Series 2 of this fabulous (and to my mind very AW-esque) BBC4 comedy drama series (fear not, no laugh track) starts this Thursday. Four episodes of Series 1 still on iPlayer.

That said, the conceit of the trailer for Series 2 is ghastly: a faux-Hollywood Blockbuster voiceover which is not only wrongheaded (even in the context of being ‘ironic’) but actually makes the speech in the clips hard to hear. Have they learnt nothing from that ‘mumblegate’ thing last year?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06l51nr

Fleetwood Mac – how long has this been going on?

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Going to see the Mac next week . Mrs Wells is keen and so long as they play Green Manalishi I’l be happy. That’s a joke. I was surprised how few of the songs of this version of the bandI actually know. But that s not what this is about.The attached review makes mention of how Fleetwood introduces and thanks the various back up singers and musicians but failed to mention a back up drummer behind the amps.

How long has he had a drummer hiding behind the amps?

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/fleetwood-mac-review-too-long-sometimes-listless-but-hey-christine-mcvie-20151023-gkggkb.html

favourite band t-shirts

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I’ve got a drawer full of them, though some older ones seem to have shrunk quite a bit over the years 🙁

I’ve got three favourites ,a Dylan long sleeve with him posing with a bass guitar, the Neville brothers for a Yellow Moon tour and and Misty In Roots one from a tour of Zimbabwe in 1982.

These days the quality of most and the art seems to be a bit meh.

But today I came across this cracker !

Anyone got a shirt they want to show off?

View post on imgur.com

Since we’ve been on sport -the Aussie Rugby league final

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It was on last night, Sunday (you do the time zone thing) with 2 teams from Queensland. One had never won the cup in its 20 year history .Both captained by indigenous players.

Played at a breakneck speed on a hot evening with your usual bone jarring tackles it was a “showcase” game for rugby league, as the cliche goes. Tied at full time -drama aplenty.

Dunno if it is on one your cable services but worth a look

Lou Reed boots on Spotify

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Was pottering about on Spotify and lo and behold the Lou Reed category has quite a few boots – or are they semi boots or are they now official releases. A cracker of a concert from 72 with the Tots previewing some of his new songs off Transformer and a jazzy 1976 show with the unmistakable bass of Fernando Saunders are just 2 choice selections.

Is this the case with a lot of artists?

Yet more pontificating pipers on air!

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For anyone with 15 minutes to spare here’s John McSherry and myself chatting to Marie-Louise on BBC Radiio Ulster earlier this evening on the matter of uilleann piping and books thereon.

John plays two fabulous pieces of music (with fellow piping supremo Francis McIlduff) and gives a demonstration, and snippets of Liam O’Flynn and Séamus Ennis are played.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06cbgqm#play

The Power of Duffy

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Back in November 2013 I took part in a filmed (podcast) evening of John McLaughlin-related music and speech ahead of my book on JM, which was published in March 2014. Most of the evening went online ages back but for some reason this section was forgotten. It features Tíona McSherry performing ‘It’s Funny’, in a one-off grouping with Ali McKenzie (bass), Ronnie Greer (guitar), Scott Hamilton (piano) and Sean Randle (drums).

‘It’s Funny’ was co-written by Duffy Power and John McLaughlin and was first released on a French EP in 1966 credited to Duffy’s Nucleus. That version later appeared on the 1971 LP ‘Innovations’ by Duffy Power, collecting together several of his mostly unreleased mid 60s publishing demos. John McLaughlin, uniquely, featured an instrumental version on his own debut LP ‘Extrapolation’ in 1969.

Duffy passed on in February last year. Earlier today I finished work on a (mostly instrumental) album, which has been percolating in between books etc for three years. During the session, at Cormac O’Kane’s Red Box Studios, we had time (and remembered, at last) to upload this missing video.

I’m delighted to say the CH album will include two previously unheard Duffy Power tracks – collaborations » Continue Reading.

The Return of ELO

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It’s been announced that Jeff has signed with Columbia for a new ELO record due out next year. Here’s hoping we get a tour. Hold on tight to your dreams, etc, etc.

(photo via http://elobeatlesforever.blogspot.com )

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_3J_rl7XImU/VfGf7KgIbhI/AAAAAAAAL6E/1rHzw0nItO0/s1600/FB_IMG_1441895850873%255B1%255D.jpg http://jefflynneselo.com/news/258463

In praise of Midnight Oil

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Last night I dusted off a DVD of Oils On The Water – a surprise concert to some sort of competition winners for Triple J’s tenth birthday. The concert was held at a spectacular location- Goat Island in Sydney Harbour with the bridge as backdrop.

It reminded me what a remarkable band they were. Heralding from the surf culture of Sydney’s north shore they became increasingly political largely due to the efforts of frontman Peter Garrett who went on to be a Minster in the Federal Government ( how many musicians became government ministers -I can name 3 , but I digress) Garrett’s political monologues and sometimes incoherent mutterings put a lot of people off but at the same time it defined the band. Incredibly long limbed his dancing is unique.His voice is limited but does the job. The core of the band is drummer Rob Hirs, an absolute powerhouse, who these days plays in a low key stripped down traditional blues outfit. Good voice too- he lives and breathes every song.The 2 guitarists Moginie and Rotsey are highly capable and very different styles. Sitting back I thought I cant think of another band that sounds like them. Their political » Continue Reading.

One day internationals – dont give a rat’s?

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Was reviewing the “it’s all fucked on the Afterword …no it’s not thread and saw the references to the cricket threads.

Glad some people like them and those that have no interest happy to move along.

But back to the cricket.

I have not bothered to watch one ODI. And no one ( I dont think) has chosen to pass comment on the blog. The papers down here of course cover it but far less so than the tests.

What is the interest up north?

African music quiz

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1. How many women did Fela Kuti marry in one ceremony? a. 2 b. 11 c. 27 d. 33

2. Which African artist has recorded albums with Ry cooder and Taj Mahal a. Sailf Keita b. Youssou Ndour c. Ali Farka Toure d. Miriam Makeba

3. Match the style of music to the country it is most commonly associated with (may be muliples) a. Mbalax b.Mbaqanqa c.Chimurenga d.Soukous e. Fuji f. Ju Ju g. Afro-beat h. Jit i. Highlife k. Soukous l. Kwassa kwassa

1. Nigeria 2. Sth Africa 3. Zimbabwe 4.Ghana 5. Congo 6. Senegal

4. Match the artist to their nightclubs?

a. Nirvana b. Une Deux Trois c. The Shrine

1. Fela Kuti 2. Youssou Ndour 3. Franco

5. How many women did Fela Kuti marry in one ceremony a. 2 b. 5 c. 15 d. 27 e. 33

6. Who was thrown out of the window at Fela’s compound? a. His son b. His brother c. His mother d. His wife

7. What position did Fela’s brother hold in the Nigerian government? a. Minister for Culture b. Minister for health c. Minister for Arts d. Minister for Education

8. Which of the following artists has » Continue Reading.