Category ACROSS THE DECADES
CATHEDRALS, SONGS AND NABS (CSN)
Funny how bits of music-related fluff stick in the old bonce. Something passes through the cranium and waves a vague kind of greeting to the odd neurone or two, quickly fading into obscurity like the second Kajagoogoo single. Then, when you’re having a pleasant browse through the racks of your favourite recorded music emporium, this […]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR REG!
It’s odd to think of Elton John as a Sixties artist. But Reginald Dwight first played and recorded in that decade of innocence and transformation, most notably with Long John Baldry in Bluesology. A solo career and an enduring song-writing partnership with fellow Englishman Bernie Taupin beckoned, as did one of the most famous name-changes […]
COUSIN HOOKER
Earl Hooker was an unsung hero of electric blues guitar. Born near Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1930, Earl (middle name Zebedee) moved to Chicago with his family but left home at an early age to go play music. And play he certainly did, adding his Robert Nighthawk influenced slide playing to recordings by Sonny Boy Williamson, […]
HERE’S ONE I PREPARED EARLIER
I Find somewhere to sit, it doesn’t matter where. Imagine a musician entering the space and preparing to perform. Count to two hundred and seventy-three in beats as close to a second apart as you can manage. Applaud as the performer exits the space. You have just created a mental facsimile of the most famous […]
IDES OF MARCH
9 MARCH 1970: Black Sabbath appear at The Roundhouse in London. There’s something special about debut albums, so yesterday I got a real Birmingham blast from this lovely Rhino re-issue. 10 MARCH 1973: The US release of Dark Side Of The Moon A ‘trying to be funny’ post on Dark Side of the Moon was […]
ODES OF MARCH
On a recent visit to Goldmine Records, respected Melbourne purveyor of albums both new and recycled, in addition to a couple of interesting LPs I scored a little extra something in my carrier bag. It was a calendar produced by the good folk at Rhino Records to mark—nay, celebrate—their fortieth birthday. It’s great fun for […]
INNER RADIANCE
Edward Larry Gordon was a part-time actor and occasional zither player who supplemented his thespian income by busking in New York. In possibly one of the finest synchronicities in popular music, Brian Eno—in the Big Apple to work with avant-garde trumpeter Jon Hassell—placed a note in the busking Larry’s hat that read, ‘Would you like […]
LET IT GROW
When 461 Ocean Boulevard was released in July 1974, it is extraordinary to note that Eric Clapton, at twenty-nine years of age, was a veteran of The Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos. Not to mention two solo albums. Under 30 with more than fifteen album credits. Not bad, […]
HEAVY SCENE AT BRUTON LIBRARY
While scouring a local charity shop last year, I happened across a bunch of Library recordings. Though some were scuffed and careworn, I hoovered them up, knowing that sometimes these anonymous, often nondescript albums can be unexpectedly entertaining. It also occurred to me that they could be candidates for the occasional ‘Curiosity Corner’ category. First […]
PLAY IT AGAIN, TIM
Video may well have killed the radio star, but the song also came very close to provoking the death by strangulation of my friend Tim. Released in September 1979, “Video Killed The Radio Star” was co-written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley a year earlier. Fans of Yes will know the first two […]
REARVIEW MIRROR #2
Being an multi-part wander through the Vinyl Connection year in music FEBRUARY On-line consumerism is a trap, isn’t it? I seem to succumb to the siren call of internet shopping in the late evenings. But is there more to the pattern than time of day? Is it more frequent, perhaps, at the end of a […]
REARVIEW MIRROR #1
Being an multi-part wander through the Vinyl Connection year in music JANUARY On vacation you often have to settle for charity shops for your crate-digging fix. Sometimes you’ll be lucky and the local Sunday market coincides with your time in a sea-side town, but not necessarily. Even if it does, chances are the solitary box […]
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