Category ACROSS THE DECADES
ROCKY ROAD
Just watched part one of Blood and Thunder, an excellent new doco on the Albert music company and its place in Australian rock history. Fast paced and carefully researched, it told a story well known to music fans but worth hearing again. How the Young family of Glasgow took the ten pound assisted passage to […]
ART ON YOUR SLEEVE #2 − OSIBISA
For the second instalment in the Art On Your Sleeve series I’m delighted to welcome JDB. Her blog Augenblick is well worth checking out. JDB contributed the ‘art’ section of this piece, increasing the overall depth and quality of the post immeasurably. Hope you agree. * OSIBISA – Osibirock [1974] * THE MUSIC When Osibisa was […]
ON THE ROAD TO GENESIS
Vinyl Connection’s love of live albums is well known. They’ve been written about frequently (the series on triple live albums, for example) but not recently (Back Live goes way back). Not through waning interest nor fears of retribution from the unconverted but simply because there just so much music to enjoy and so little time. […]
AGHARTA GLASSES
There have been occasions when Vinyl Connection has grouched about how much stuff is required to step outside the house. We have been heard to talk movingly of those long gone, halcyon days when a chap simply strolled breezily out the front door unencumbered by anything other than his thoughts. Nowadays it requires a hold-all […]
HEAVEN EARTH RELAY
Rock and roll will never last, you know. Gone in a couple of years. That’s what they said back in the early 60s. Yet not only has the beast survived, some of its protagonists have notched up multiple decades in the biz, inviting today’s extraordinary mission: Reviewing two albums by the same artist, released four […]
AN EVENING WITH HERBIE HANCOCK AND CHICK COREA, MAY 2015
The Melbourne International Jazz Festival began in 1998, co-incidentally the year that the Ms Connection/Vinyl Connection international festival kicked off too. Seventeen years on, both are still going strong though artists in both arenas seem to be a touch more, er, mature. Seasoned. Venerable. Ah shit. We’re all older. Nevertheless, when we noticed that the […]
LASTING FIRSTS
Debut albums are a bit special. Often the result of a long gestation period that may well have begun in someone’s teenage bedroom, there is an exuberance and excitement to a first offering that combines confidence (“Look at me! Listen to my music!”) and nervousness (“Is it OK? Will anyone like me?”). Over the life of […]
COLD SMOKE
The passing of Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese in January 2015 was a shock. That he died in his seventieth year, so soon after taking the Phaedra Farewell Tour around the world adds to the sense of loss. Herr Froese left behind a massive body of work spread over five decades. Fans will have their […]
BUZZ OF THE WEEK
One of the energising aspects of supporting a large – many would say excessive – music collection involves those moments when something crops up on the turntable (or, whisper it, in the CD player) that provides an unexpected thrill. It might be something from years past whose charms have faded from memory, leading to a mild shock […]
YESTERDAY’S TOMORROW
Named after one of the most odious characters in literature, Britain’s Uriah Heep have been churning out records and touring relentlessly for over forty years. The Allmusic guide lists more than three dozen albums and informs us that there have been over 30 members of the band formed by the wonderfully monikered Mick Box and […]
GUITARISSIMO
Who am I? I was born in London in 1951. My Father was a diplomat. As a result, I grew up all over Latin America. Guitar is my instrument. The first band I was in was called Pooh And The Ostrich Feathers. For the world of performance I chose my Columbian Mother’s surname over my […]
PRIMITIVE LOVE?
There was a moment during the Year 12 English exam, the one taken by every final year high school student in the State, that hinted at what was to come in the life of a young Vinyl Connection. English is traditionally first off the blocks in the ‘This Is It!’ series of examinations that decide […]