“What’s this?” says Uhg to Glurg. He purses his lips and trills a series of notes.

Glurg frowns and puts down his club. “That’d be a Yellow-throated Warbler.”

“Close,” says Uhg. “A Mountain Warbler. My turn again.”

“Mammoth droppings! That was never a Mountain Warbler. Yer Warbler from the mountains has  more vibrato. Yellow-throated for sure. My turn.”

“Get the wax outta yer ears, Glurg. Mountain Warbler no question. Now what’s this one…”

“Be buggered,” says Glurg. Picking up his club he stomps out of the cave.

And so the first music quiz was born, and quietly died.

*

Some ten thousand years later a motley bunch of twenty-somethings are sitting round a moodily lit living room. Strands of incense smoke drift through the candlelight. There are wall hangings and impressively long shelves of LPs. A chap with long red hair hovers over the cassette deck, finger poised.

“You’re only one ahead now, Max.”

He depresses a button and music surges into the room, ceasing abruptly after 15 seconds.

“Herbie Mann!” yells Max immediately. There is an audible sigh from a shadowy corner but the ringmaster just grins.

“Very quick. That’s one point. But for the other bonus points that’ll decide this game -”

The short tension-building pause seems to be working effectively. “Yes?” snaps Max.

“Who’s the guitarist?”

Silence.

“You said we weren’t including jazz.”

“But you just got a point for Herbie Mann,” observes Long Red Hair reasonably.

Silence.

Except perhaps the sound of a faint chuckle from the shadowy corner from whence a female voice emerges. “It’s not a jazz guitarist, is it?”

“No,” says LRH. “Do you know who it is?”

There is a definite smile in her voice as she says quietly, “Duane Allman.”

It’s not so much the answer as the quiet certainty that seems to enrage the deposed champion. He jumps to his feet and storms out of the lounge.

*

The present.

In the tradition of music quizzes throughout the ages and the friendliest kind of competition not involving wooden clubs, Vinyl Connection humbly offers twenty-five musical brain-teasers to while away those long summer evenings or short winter days.

Though the prize is only satisfaction and the admiration of fellow Vinyl Connectors, if you care to submit answers you are more than welcome to do so.

A complete set of answers will be posted sometime in the new year, when we’re back from the beach. No threats will be entertained though bribes are always welcome.

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A-1      Who was Martha in Paul McCartney’s “Martha my dear”?

A-2      Which American band had a “Psychotic Reaction” in 1966 and never recovered?

A-3      Q. Are We Not Men?

B-4      What group was formed in 1972 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme?

B-5      Of whom did The Hollies ask, “What’s your game and can anybody play”

B-6      Who were originally called The High Numbers?

C-7      What country were Easybeats George Vanda and Dick Diamonde born in?

C-8      What instrument did Sir Thomas Beecham (conductor) say sounded like “two skeletons copulating on a galvanised tin roof”?

C-9      What exotic ailment tends to accompany a case of the Boogie Woogie flu?

C-10    What hill did Peter Gabriel climb up in 1977?

C-11    What British band, after the departure of a vocalist and guitarist, name its next LP …And Then There Were Three?

D-12   When Lou Reed was waiting for his man, how much money did he have in his hand?

D-13   How much was that expensive Skyhooks riff worth?

D-14   And Gram Parson’s wedding?

D-15   Alice Cooper’s babies?

V-16    What dubious souvenir did John Mayall acquire in LA, circa summer 1968?

V-17    For what record label did The Blue Nile record their debut album?

V-18    Who wrote the title tune of In A Silent Way?

V-19    For what record label was Steve Maxwell von Braund a sales representative in the 70s?

V-20    In how many different sleeves could the Split Enz album True Colours be found (if you were a big fan)?

V-21    From which Bowie song does the lyric “Waiting at the lights” come?

V-22    What is the longest song/track on Ramones Rocket To Russia?

V-23    On the Blind Faith album, who played the violin on ‘Sea of joy’?

From what albums, featured in Vinyl Connection posts,  do these images come?

 V-24  

V-25   

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SOURCES

A. UTTERLY TRIVIAL KNOWLEDGE: THE MUSIC GAME (Penguin Books, UK, 1985)

B. UTTERLY TRIVIAL KNOWLEDGE: THE POP GAME (Penguin Books, UK, 1987)

C. TRIVIAL PURSUIT – RPM EDITION: A HISTORY OF MUSIC

D. ROCKWIZ VOLUME 2 (Hardie Grant Books, Australia, 2007)

V. VINYL CONNECTION (2013)

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Thanks for visiting Vinyl Connection

[Posted from Wonthaggi Public Library]