An idiots guide to an Idiot: Ten albums you might like to try.

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Ten albums you might like to try.: I was reminded of just how good Neil Young is the other day when his song 'Powderfinger' was played on Planet Rock. I realised I had...

Ten albums you might like to try.

I was reminded of just how good Neil Young is the other day when his song 'Powderfinger' was played on Planet Rock. I realised I hadn't played any of his albums for probably years!

Then I got to thinking about what recommendations from my collection would I make, so here's some food for thought.

Pink Floyd- Dark side of the Moon. Not a very original suggestion perhaps but a cracking album that came out in March 1973  and hasn't really left the album charts. There's some absolute classics on this one 'Time' & 'Money' being two of them. The proceeds of this album helped fund the film 'Monty Python & The Holy Grail.' 

Status Quo- Hello. Had to put a Quo album in didn't I! I've chosen quite an early one released in September 1973, many would say this is classic Quo with hits like 'Caroline' and 'Roll over lay Down' & of course features the original 'Frantic Four' line up of Rossi, Parfitt, Lancaster & Coughlan, there's also the studio version of 'Forty five hundred times,' I prefer this to the live version as it doesn't go on so long! This one along with 'Roadhouse Blues' used to be epics in their live set. Quite honestly I found they were far too long. Along with Dark Side of the Moon I love the album cover. This one looks abit boring but at the right angle you can see the band silhouetted. I think I got a limited edition poster when I bought the vinyl album many years ago, though I think I ruined  it by sellotaping it to the wall!

Massive Wagons- Full Nelson.   Jumping around as far as the chronology  of these albums goes as this one is from a band who only formed in 2009 with this album coming out in 2018. It's a full throttle rock album & is very high up on my faves list. Went to see them with Olly and Gary last year and what a great live band they are. Planet Rock Radio seems to have got behind them and they appeared all over the place. A particular fave track of mine is 'Back to the stack' which is a tribute to the Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt who died just before this album came out. They've got a new album due in July. Can't wait! 

Oysterband -Trawler.    My choices aren't all Rock n Roll! I guess this band would fit into folk rock category. This album came out in 1994  and is a nice mix of traditional folk songs some of which have been rocked up a little. With the addition of cello, violin and squeezebox it's abit different to my usual choice.

 

Viv Stanshall-Teddy Boys don't knit.  He of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band on one of his flights of fancy. A very different album it features the superb song 'Ginger Geezer' another oldie being released in 1974, alot of unsung talent joined him on various tracks, people like Rick Wakeman, John Kirkpatrick, Neil Innes and Richard Thompson have chipped in.

Airbourne- Black Dog Barking.Airbourne are an Australian band who sound alot like AC/DC, which is no bad thing. Its high energy rock music, very loud and very raucous. Its brilliant! Not one to play on a quiet Sunday afternoon maybe but certainly one you'll love. Released in 2013 it's their third album and in my opinion their  best so far (they are up to five albums to date).

Steeleye Span- All around my hat. More folk rock with this band. They've been going since 1969, this particular album coming out in 1975, it features the title track that was a big hit for them. Its still in the live set today usually as an encore, it's a great singalong track. Alot of their songs are original folk songs given a more modern twist. Maddy Priors vocal isn't everyone's cup of tea, she's abit whiney to he honest but I quite like it.

Halestorm- Halestorm. Another band with a female singer this time another rocker. Lzzy Hale and her brother Arejay formed this band and released this debut album in 2009. Another album to blow your brains out with it fairly sizzles with energy and rock. Brilliant!

Epica- The Quantum Enigma. I'm getting into something alittle different, its pseudo opera really. Epica ,from The Netherlands, are one such rock operatic band. Their singer Simone Simon hits some incredibly high notes! On this studio album there is the benefit of an orchestral backing which you don't get live.

Neil Young-Rust Never Sleeps. Couldn't very well leave Neil Young out of this line up. Not hard rock or heavy metal, he would I suppose fall into  folk rock again. This album features the track 'Powderfinger' which is the best track on the album. Hard to pick an era for when it is set, see what you think. 

Anyway there's ten albums you might like to try, all special to me and ones I could listen to anytime. See what you think & let me know, I'd be interested. 

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Some things don't change.

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Some things don't change.: I continue to add to the back catalogue of my favourite bands, though I say some things don't change I have noticed the price of CD'...

Some things don't change.

I continue to add to the back catalogue of my favourite bands, though I say some things don't change I have noticed the price of CD's has gone up alittle. Personally I'm quite happy buying the nearly new CD's, I've not had a duff one yet. 

So the gems I have recently picked up are Saxon's  'The Inner Sanctum,' a fine album from 2007. It's always interesting to hear how a band  progress's and changes over time. This album was produced by Charlie Bauerfeind  a German sound engineer known for his work with Heavy Metal bands. It's a cracking album and sounds not dissimilar to the Saxon of today as it goes.

The second addition is Magnum's 'Wings of Heaven,' from 1988. This is a brilliant album, it opens with the excellent track 'Days of No Trust' which has a great singalong chorus and the rest of the album, only 8 tracks so on the low side for Magnum, does not disappoint. 

Nightwish have been a growing fave of mine. I do like not only a female vocal but the pseudo operatics of this band ( and others, Epica springs to mind), this band is touring later on in the year though I think it's hardly worth even looking at dates,but more of that later, but whether it goes ahead of course is a matter no one currently knows.Their album is another good one. Very listenable.

The fourth latest acquisition is an album by The Waterboys. We saw them at Cropredy and again supporting Elvis Costello and what a great band they are. I bought their 1985 album 'This is the Sea' chiefly because it contains probably their major hit of 'The whole of the Moon.'  It's funny how you can be sitting there enjoying a band for what they are  then all of a sudden a song starts that you know but never knew who had sung it, so it was with The Waterboys.  The album is reasonably good, alot of the tracks sound similar but then again I like The Quo.

Back to band tours, on top of all the gigs we've had postponed inevitably the New Forest Folk Festival has now put off the festival until the August Bank Holiday depending on how things are then of course. We can't make that date though they have given the option of rolling tickets over to 2021 or even 2022 if you want.

This news, though not at all unexpected did make me feel alittle sad. I've been upbeat the whole way through this madness but just for a very short while I felt a sadness that something else arranged was not going to take place when it should and we wouldn't see our friends there.So it bloody goes. 

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Lockdown Birthday

An idiots guide to an Idiot: Lockdown Birthday: It was Ella's 80th Birthday recently. Of course all the good stuff Tara had arranged for her had the kybosh well and truly put on it, no...

Lockdown Birthday

It was Ella's 80th Birthday recently. Of course all the good stuff Tara had arranged for her had the kybosh well and truly put on it, not to mention the theatre trip Tim paid for and family gathering we were to have the Saturday before. Hopefully the two nights away in October will still go ahead. Surely we'll be back to something like normal  by then! 

T put together an photo/Birthday album for her Mum and asked all to contribute and a fine piece of work it is, Ella loved it! But even the big day's plan had to be changed. We were going to assemble outside Ella's house at 11am, then the minutes silence for Key workers who have died from Coronavirus was announced for 11am...so we moved to 11.10am!  Banged on the door and Ella came out in her dressing gown to a chorus of Happy Birthday to you  and she loved it!  Those assembled were Tara, me, Alec, Tim, Jackie, Linda and Kevin, all socially

spaced of course. Oliver had been round earlier and Gary & Beren had phoned. Weather that had been really nice was crap today! Wet and cold, so proceedings didn't go on too long, and that was it! It certainly had the desired effect and I think it was as good a birthday that we could muster in todays strange world. We'll have a get together  once we're through this madness.

Julian's Birthday is only a week after Ella so we assembled again in a socially distance kind of way to celebrate, at least the weather was nicer.

Other than I'm still working from home as sales of particularly puzzles have gone mad. Tara too is run off her feet sorting online orders, Every cloud eh!

I think its day fifty something of lockdown and measures have been eased a little so you can go out more than once there's no limit on exercise but you still  have to keep 2m away from everyone and you can meet up with one family member outside of who you live with , but only one at a time.  It looks reasonably simple written like that but with building sites going back to work but under new measures and now schools possibly starting back in some form or other if its safe there appears to be much confusion, oh yes, you can go to work if its safe....or not, and don't use public transport if you can avoid it. Simples!! 

 You know I'm not a political animal but constant carping about the Government or the 'bloody tories' online is incredibly tedious. I doubt very much whether Labour would have made a better fist of it, its the same scientists they would have been listening to. Its very boring and again I almost decided to come off FaceBook of which I am a great fan as you also know.

To more interesting things. The Herts At War group I belong to had to change their monthly talks due to the virus and decided to put them online. It's actually more convenient for me because I could seldom be bothered to drive to the University of Hertfordshire in the evening to take part, so just plugging into a webinar suits me find, and what brilliant talks they have been!  The scope has been widened since they first started (it was just about aspects of World War One) to cover all sorts. There was a brilliant talk on the Battle of Waterloo by an ex Household Cavalry officer who's talk was so animated you'd have thought he actually took part!   It was interesting to get his thoughts on a cavalry charge as he'd done it with a Squadron of Household Cavalry, it demonstrated how quickly an organised knee to knee charge soon looses its formation and this is with trained troopers.

The historian James Holland also waxed lyrical about the Normandy Campaign of 1944, another excellent speaker. Others have been about the Battle of the Somme, Battle of the Atlantic, Italy 1943/5, Battle of Berlin, Nelson, The SOE, Battle of Britain, the RAMC by Andy Robertshaw the historical advisor on the recent feature film 1917,   Battle of the Bulge, the Boer War, Operation Market Garden  with more goodies to come. Even Alec will be joining me on Sunday (so popular have they been the talks are now twice a week) for a talk on Isandlwana the precursor to Rorkes Drift, in the Zulu War. They are about an hour long, though some happily overrun with Q&A'a after. 

Well its Friday evening and I'm finished for the week and a nice bottle of red beckons to me. Keep safe folks!

Here's afew photos of recent things.

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