šµ Music
It’s been a while (over 3 years), but just now rebuilding my connected networks and home music system … and my Sonos is back online.
First test artist … šµ Aha.
God they were good!
šµ The Theme Song Of Madam Blanc Is More Of A Mystery Than Any Of The Stories.
The Theme Music for the Madam Blanc mysteries has firmly embedded itself into my brain and I love it. Still do. But who is the artist?
Turns out, a āduoā called āHague and Whiteā. But the White might not be who you think.
I thought āthe whiteā was one āSteve Whiteā. You might know him as the drummer for The Style Council and pretty much all the subsequent solo albums of Paul Weller. He clearly has chops in the drumming arena. He is also married to Sally Lindsay - the star of Madame Blanc - and the co writer and creator of the show. (I guess they thought they would keep it in the family).
But no …
The song is actually written by Hague and Joel White - who is also the vocalist. In fact Joel is credited with writing their first (and only album), Alan seems to have come along later.
And who is Joel White? Only Richard Hawleyās cousin!
That explains (so much of it) it.
šµ Can’t Find My Way Home … Winwood, Clapton .. oh - and Trucks.
A friend of mine down under shared with me … seemed a pertinent message at this point time … not to say it is just gorgeous.
šµ This Is The End
I wrote an email this morning, responding to something that had been sent to me, announcing - and I paraphrase - that despite the longevity of the work that he had been personally driving for decades, he has decided that this was indeed - āthe endā.
I guess it is one of those days, where every where you look, every page you turn emotion takes over and (at least for me), music takes hold.
Because I - and indeed he - are āof a certain ageā, āThe Endā came to mind. (If you arenāt of a certain age - I commend you to watch just one (if not all three) of the YouTubes below.) If you are of a certain age - you donāt need me to tell you.
This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes again
āEvery time I hear that song, it means something else to me. It started out as a simple good-bye songā¦ Probably just to a girl, but I see how it could be a goodbye to a kind of childhood."
š¬ Jim Morrison
If you want a really good cry, the images most certainly do nothing to distract from the pain of the song ā¦
If you want to listen to the original recording of nearly 11 minutes that took just 30 minutes of studio time (think about that) ā¦
If you are of the live music persuasionā¦ in the US you had Woodstock. In the UK we had The Isle of Wight ā¦
A couple of revised posts on the blog.
šļø Will Arnett doesnāt like the word content either.
šļø Why my term ‘English Progressive’ might make sense in musical genres.
Opening up a new category on the blog that I call ‘snippets’.
More refinement might yet occur.
Having said that I reject lists I am quietly building some interesting lists of albums on AlbumWhale … and when I say lists … were I to tell you that one of those lists has just two items on it … you will understand that the word ālistā is being rather loosely used.
Because actually, I like lists … but I like them to have context.
Sometimes the context is helped simply by knowing who created the list and maybe why they created it. āTop 50 guitarists in Rock music created by Rolling Stoneā might be one such example. I wouldnāt necessarily agree with who is on it, or what position they are in … But the source being a known quantity ā¦ Rolling Stone .. is sufficient for me to engage.
Lots of albums listed by someone I donāt know, where I rarely know the albums listed and those I do, I donāt like most of the time gives me no reason to engage. NONE.
If that album had a sentence that explained why? ā¦ my engagement interest goes up ā¦ significantly.
Back to my lists, they arenāt the 50 albums Iāve always loved ā¦ mainly because such a list would include bands like Talking Heads, Pink Floyd and Tears for Fears ā¦ and really ā¦ who cares?
Rather I have taken a different tack.
-
A list of phenomenal albums by artists you might not have heard about - and why I think they are so good? šµ Would that be interesting?
-
A new ‘WIP’ list - focussed on something I am calling š English Progressive. Early days yet, šµ there are only three listed so far, but the future is big
You can find all my AlbumWhale lists here - but those three are the main focus for now.
Thankyou for your attention.
šµ Family. Sadly a band that sits in relative obscurity … to the detriment of society and the future of our children. Album 4 (which I have never managed to find in the streaming world) is being re released. #progrockā who knowsā who caresā
This is a public service announcement.
šµ I have been working my way through Breaking Bad. Last night this was played with one of the characters singing along.
I had to look it up. Never heard it before. Didn’t know the artists. Superb.
The comments seem to be all related to the show, I guess it’s not just me.
šļø English Progressive Redux
š Andrew Hickey’s ‘500 Songs’ includes a good and interesting summary of why the UK and US musicians who ‘arrived’ in the 60s sounded so different, emerging, he argues, from significant social differences and country histories.
What do you think?
)
šµ More thoughts on what I call English Progressive
The Full Podcast: šļø 500 Songs - ‘See Emily Play’ by The Pink Floyd
šµ Transatlantic are set to release a new concert set. I just watched a video.
BRILLIANT (not the performance … the idea.)
Many artists complain about cell phones in their concerts and the ensuing distractions for them and the audience.
Portnoy has clearly solved the problem.
Get everybody to use their phones like an old fashioned lighter and get those batteries drained to zero!
šµ Apparently
HAKENĀ are set to release their seventh studio album āFaunaā on the 3rdĀ March 2023.
… and they celebrated Valentineās Day with the launch of their latest single āLovebiteā.Ā
I guess Valentineās Day is not what it used to be?
šµOne more example amongst the millions of examples that people donāt read.
There is a thread on Reddit talking about genres. I commented that I used a personal genre that I call š āEnglish Progressiveā adding the specific words that āan artist didnāt need to be English for me to classify them in that genreā. I then gave three example ā¦ Dream Theater, PFM and Focus.
This morning I have been informed that Dream Theater are American.
Thankyou - thankyou very much!
šµ Charleyās, Paia, Maui is no more
If you know Charleyās, this is not new news.
If you donāt know Charleyās - then why should you care?
This just in from my good friend Randall Rospond ā¦ number 25 in the image below, right beside another friend Tom Conway.
Randallās friend and Maui artist John Woodruff is the artist, the painting features many Maui Musician Regulars on stage with many of the Charleyās staff and regular patrons.
“Although this famous live music venue in Paia is no longer ā¦ the history will always stand.”
I saw numerous Willie Nelson shows, Neil Young w/ Promise of the Real, Leon Russell, Kris Kristofferson, Steven Tyler and Pat Simmons and so many more.
š¬ Randall Rospond
Randallās performances at Charleyās included opening shows for;
- St. Paul Peterson: keyboardist for Ā āThe Timeā discovered by Prince
- John Kadlecik of Dark Star Orchestra & Further { Bob Weir & Phil Lesh }
- Guested w/ the Planetary Bandits Ā { Willie Nelsonās Maui Band }
- Performed solo and with the Haiku Hillbillys for over 25 years
(Sadly the resolution of the image of the index is not good enough to always get to the ‘numbers’.)
šµ Musical Muscle Memory.
Listening to an š awesome album from my youth.
Back in the day, vinyl - of course AND as ‘well played vinyl’ the middle of one track jumped.
It never bothered me because I automatically compensated.
Listening without the jump just felt wrong.
An 'Unknown' Podcaster - He Sounds Boring - He Is Fascinating
šµ Despite my initial resistance to the 500 song podcast narrated by š Andrew Hickey .. I am now moving into my third ā¦ first āThe Monkeesā, then āLoveā, now āThe Moveā. The depth of information flying through the speakers is really quite incredible - thoroughly researched, packed with information - some of which I know - a lot I donāt.
A particular speciality of his is identifying groups that todaysā mega stars played with in the very early days. Examples like when Albert Lee played with Hendrix and Jim Morrison wishing he and The Doors were as good as Love. Or how Graeme Edge and John Bonham both played in the same band - sorry, cant recall who replaced who ā¦ and and and ā¦ fascinating - and NOT information that is on ‘the wiki’.
So - I did some prodding around to work out who Hickey is - assuming he must have been a music journalist at some point - but no. At least not that I could find. He seems to be a relatively āunknownā creator who writes books and does podcasts.
Interesting that in the search, I came across this review of his podcast : Pismotality: A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs that has one comment - from Andrew Hickey. He spends a little time talking about his accent and deadpan delivery … something I referenced in my first post on him, and it turns out there is a reason.
Anyway - suffice to say - if you love rock and related music genre and want to learn more - particularly about the genesis of the ‘names’ - highly recommend.
š šµ Pretty Things - Wikipedia
During their two weeks in New Zealand, they caused so much outrage in the media that the New Zealand Parliament addressed the issue of granting entry permits to musicians such as the Pretty Things.
Who knew they were so ābadassā?
I always had šµ BrandX as āJazz/Fusionā - but they are sometimes classified as āProgressiveā. Thatās why š āgenresā are so hard - if not to say meaningless. Whichever they are - a great listen - delivered courtesy of The Old Grey Whistle Test.
šµ Over on Scripting.com @dave mentioned that back in the day he was a fan of The Monkees. Unashamedly - so was I. He linked to this show. Itās long. The narrator (that’s what he sounds like) - has a boring voice - but still an interesting listen.
Never heard of the šļøpodcast - so had a look at other episodes. Just as long - and I suspect that the voice will be just as boring - BUT - some really interesting deep dives into some good songs and bands. I will be listening to this one - the band ‘Love’.