
Rockin’ All Over The World — #8 Vikings, fjords, Slartibartfast, and homesick parrots. Such are the images springing to mind when Norway comes up in conversation. But did you know it has a reigning King and a conservative female Prime Minister? That the Norse people invented Thor before Marvel comics? Most of the population of […]

The Vinyl Connection Music Catalogue is quite large, but relatively simple in structure. Artist name, Album name, Year, Format, and a general field into which I push anything from colour of the vinyl to a bonus DVD. There are all kinds of useful or interesting things that could be included: date of purchase, original or […]

Is it simply a hangover from yesterday’s indulgence? For some reason, Beggar’s Banquet by the Rolling Stones found its way onto the turntable while I found my way to the Boxing Day couch. Here is the piece I penned for Discrepancy Records. After the kaleidoscope swirls of Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Rolling Stones entered […]

Michel Huygen is better known via his musical alias, Neuronium. Formed around the synthesiser skills of Mr Huygen, the band (if that’s the best word) released their first album in 1977 and the most recent—Lysergic Dream—in 2017. Neuronium is Spain’s major contribution to the electronic music scene, so it’s nice to have the opportunity to […]

The on-line purchase arrived piecemeal, as these things often unfold; a kind of retail lottery with a reveal at the post office. What’s in this parcel? The order included two albums by veteran acoustic outfit Oregon, who have been playing melodic jazz-influenced instrumental music since 1970, way before the term New Age became part marketing […]

My niece is in the midst of her end-of-high school exams. She’s feeling pretty stressed, as can be imagined. Who doesn’t have clammy-palmed memories of the final secondary school tests? As I vaguely recall—and as vaguely recalled in a much earlier post about exams, Deborah Roberts and Suzi Quatro—my stress levels were variable, ranging from […]