Tag Archives: music

May 16 2012

Dexy’s Midnight Runners – now less the midnight runners

I remember it all too well. 1982. I was working (briefly) at the now defunct Kimberley Brewery.

I didn’t have dungaree’s but I did have the Dexy’s Midnight Runners album – from which they drew ‘Come on Eileen’. It remains, to this day, a disco favourite. The drum section towards the end is a classic. Perhaps you had to be there…

Kevin Rowland was notoriously difficult and it was perhaps no surprise that the Midnight Runners ran off. It was a brief period of fame.

But 30 years on they’re back. But renamed, they are now just Dexy’s. Rowland is there as are a couple of the original members of the band. I have only caught a few minutes of the songs, but they sounded rather good. I was surprised.

You will know if you follow this blog that I’m a big music fan – and the music from the late 1970′s through to the Eighties was some of the best in my view. Squeeze, Bowie, The Stranglers and The Boomtown Rats. I liked the Dexy’s album, but when I listen to it now it sounds rather dated!

I have heard that the super-group Steps have reformed – but I think this sounds like it’s for the money. And that is surely the issue. When you have been away for so long, you can’t help but wonder whether these bands are in it for the cash. Cashing in on peoples memories. That’s going to lead to disappointment!

Perhaps I’m being cynical. I will probably buy the Dexy’s album out of curiosity. I won’t be following Steps though.

However, if Bob Geldof is out there watching – the comeback tour can’t come soon enough. It only seems like yesterday when I appeared on stage with Jonny Fingers and helped him play Banana Republic! Derby Assembly Rooms – April 1982 (oh dear that seems to be 30 years ago too!)

May 12 2012

Portable Speakers….

I bought some small portable speakers in New York four years ago – they were really good, but they got a bit wet last year at the Isle of Wight Festival. It turns out they weren’t waterproof and so emitted a hiss in protest. Irritating at the best of times. They got binned.

So I have been looking for replacement. Ideally so that I can listen to my iPod / laptop when I am away. An external speaker is a necessary luxury!

The solution has been found in the form of a Jawbone Jambox. I bought it in the shop girls don’t get – the Apple store in the Meatpacking District of New York. It was $199, so not cheap.

It is fantastic. The sound from the tiny little box belies its size. And better still it connects to my phone and laptop by bluetooth (although there is a dinky little red flat wire for a speaker connection). It also has a microphone so you can use it for ‘hands free’ – the reception is really clear. I haven’t used it for conference calling, but it looks as though it will handle this with ease.

It’s an impressive bit of kit, really well built, cool to look at and sounds as good as some hi-fi systems! The battery life is around 10 hours too. It could have almost been made by Apple – it’s so good!

It now accompanies me everywhere – so when the need takes me I can do Tiger Feet on the train or wherever…

Feb 5 2012

Live music – one to miss?

I’m a big fan of live music – in fact I’m just a fan of music period. I listen to it most days – and you can tell from yesterdays blog, I can re-discover some amazing stuff! I listen to all manner of stuff.

Nottingham is apparently in for a musical treat, enticingly titled,”A celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert”. Not only will there be a playing of the Queens favourite tunes – Gershwin, Corro, Sir Cliff and Morcambe and Wise. Wow – edgy stuff indeed. Grungy it’s not. It’s unlikely theres going to be dancing in the aisle – more flag waving gently I figure. Mrs Windsor isn’t actually going I don’t think.

But the real treat is that this gig is going to be punctuated with anecdotes from that most regal of reporters, Jennie Bond. She is regarded as more royal than the royals. And she is going to be telling stories about her life and times with the royals.

It sounds like a fun night out – those groovy tunes and the prospect of Mrs Bond spilling the beans and dishing the dirt. Unfortunately, I can’t make this particular gig – I’m washing my hair. My loss – I know.

Feb 4 2012

Musical Tastes?

My good mate Dr David Tetlow shared with me a great video a few weeks ago – C W McCalls “Convoy” from 1977. This got me thinking about some equally ‘great‘ music from the 1970′s and 1980′s. I really had to scrape the barrel for some of these. but in the spirit of trying to widen peoples choice I offer you the following…

These are the bottom of the barrel… but so bad that they are good? The double entendre in Meri Wilson’s Telephopne Man makes me smile to this day (and I remember it being released in 1977). I was saddened to learn from wiki that this talented (?) singer had died in 2002 – aged just 53… What a legacy she has left us though!

There’s 10 points for the identity of the Streetband’s lead singer (without resorting to wiki)….

Jan 29 2012

Punk Rock – for room 101 – I think not!

I have seen the new edition of Room 101 a couple of times in the last few weeks; the format is nowhere near as good as the original (what was I saying about originals last week?). But a few weeks ago Danny Baker was guest and suggested that Punk Rock went into room 101.

I have a lot of time for Mr Baker – I thought we were kindred spirits – he was, after all, there when Punk smashed onto the scene. He’s a bit older than me (not much!) so I had high hopes for him defending Punk, but alas no. He promoted it to be sent away to the great dustbin in the sky.

This is wrong on so many counts. OK, so some of Punks musical legacy is questionable, but some is still brilliant. Punk wasn’t just about ‘music’ (wonder what Alesha Dixon would think to the ‘musicality‘) it was about rebellion. It was trying to push against the blandness of the music scene, but also of the blandness soy life at the time. We were trudging through treacle.

I still listen to the music from that era – the period from 1977-1979 is still my favourite time. The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, The Boomtown Rats, The Stranglers all feature highly on my iTunes ‘top played’ list. Who can ever forget Geldof tearing up a picture of the cuddly bunnies of Bright Eyes on Top of The Pops? This was what we needed…

So, in my view there’s no chance of putting Punk (and everything that followed it) into Room 101 – I think rather that we should resurrect is. And to prove a point I bought The Rezillo’s vinyl in New York just before Christmas – it is brilliant!

Punk Rock lives on…. and I wonder if it should make a comeback to rid us of the Cowell-ridden drudgery in the charts at the moment?

Jan 8 2012

Apple iPhone replacement earphones

I once read that the value (in audio terms) of the bundled earphones with your iPod or iPhone equated to the price you paid for them; nothing. I have never found the little white packaged buds to be too bad, until a week ago.

As Best Buy enters the last few weeks of it’s short life there have been a few bargains. But one was that they were offering 50% off earphones. Amazingly I managed to pick a pair of Etymotic earphones up for £67.50 – half of their retail price! These are the Rolls Royce of earphones.

They are brilliant – especially as you can download an App from the Apple iTunes store – called awareness – it uses the microphone in the earphone wire to ‘listen out’ for whats going on around you – and if it hears something it interrupts the music… very clever…

The sound is really good, but partly because the block everything out – they fit like a glove. You can have some further earpieces made (for about £75!) which are made just for you – just like the rock starts have. I’m not sure whether I am ready for that sort of expenditure yet. I’m impressed though with the sound quality.

Whether I would have paid £135 for them .. I’m not so sure!

Dec 3 2011

Music – the deja vu state

I was having a discussion with my son Jak at the weekend and he was remarking that the last CD he bought was The Enemy – We’ll Live and Die In These Towns. It’s a great album – my favourite track is Happy Birthday Jane.

I was thinking about my firsts and lasts. I think my first single was The Wombles – Remember You’re a Womble – classy stuff. But LP’s in those days were a bit beyond my reach. I had to wait for a ‘blonde-white’ disc of Blondie’s Parallel Lines to reach this milestone – that was late 1978.

The last album I bought was U2′s Joshua Tree – 1987. and the reason was the introduction into our little house of a CD player – which came with three free CD’s – Joan Armitrading, Level 42 The Greatest Hits and the one CD everyone got first – Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms. Funnily enough – I still have all of them!

When I say that was the last LP was U2 that’s not strictly true – in New York last week I bought two. Firstly the brilliant Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous 1977 and secondly The Rezillo’s Can’t Stand The Rezillo’s 1978 album. I bought Pink Floyds Dark Side of Moon a month ago – and have played it to death!

But I am also still buying CD’s though – but this tends not to be ‘new music’ – rather filling holes in my collection! The Travelling Wilbury’s last week.

My ‘new music’ – which I source from Radio 6 Music, I tend to buy on Amazon track by track – much to the chagrin of Kate Bush – who was not impressed with people like me who buy single tracks – albums are the only way she told Lauren Laverne on Radio 6 last week.

So, I guess I am not an easy person to pigeon hole when it comes to buying my music? I wonder what my next purchase will be – CD, vinyl or download? I quite like the mix….

Nov 5 2011

the devil that is iTunes?

Radio 6 hosted the inaugural John Peel lecture this week. It was given by Who guitarist Pete Townsend.

I was interested in Townsend’s take on the music industry generally. In particular his attack on iTunes. His reasoning went something a long the lines that the record companies of old would offer a band, editorial guidance, financial support, creative nurture, manufacturing, publishing, marketing, distribution and payment of royalties. He went on to argue that iTunes simply deals with the latter two  - although you might suggest that marketing was a big part of iTunes?

I am not sure I agree with him. The music industry has hardly been a paragon of a clean-living machine occupying the moral high ground. The number of legal disputes over the years between record companies, managers, groups, writers and the plagiarism-claimers is huge. I think there are a lucky few who make it.

On the other hand, iTunes has a fairly open policy – they take a 30% commission. It’s not widely known that they don’t make lots of money on the tunes – the money is in the sale of the devices.

Townsend also takes a swipe at those who copy and distribute others work – claiming they are no better than common thieves. I can see his point to an extent, but what the music industry did not do was spot the digital distribution channel. All they did was carry on charging £15 for a CD. It was the music industry whose arrogance missed the kids sharing their music.

The world is a different place in 2011 from where it was in the 1960′s and I wonder if Townsend sounds like he is a little stuck in the past? I am happy to pay for my music, generally on CD – which I then rip into my iTunes library. But I do understand why some people share their stuff – just like in the 70′s when I used to tape the Top 30 from the radio…

Oct 19 2011

A sense of deja vu!

It happened at the weekend. I plunged headlong into buying a turntable – after threatening to a few weeks ago. I am the proud owner of a Pro-Ject Genie3 – which is about to be discontinued, but has won all manner of awards… It is connected to my new Cambridge Audio amp system.

It sounds fantastic.

I had to crawl into the back of my garage to rescue my collection of albums – ‘vinyl’ as it is now called! And I found some real gems from a (nearly) forgotten era. In no particular order…

Blondie – Parallel Lines – in beautiful white blonde vinyl
Bowies Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars – still an all time favourite
Bowies – Young Americans album – which must be nearly worn out!
The Boomtown Rats – A Tonic for the Troops – which I bought just after I saw them play live in 1979 at Stoke
U2 – The Joshua Tree – the last album I bought – and the best album they ever made!
Sade – Diamond Life – smooth, smooth, smooth
China Crisis – Working with Fire and Steel
Olivia Newton-John‘s Xanadu – on glorious pink vinyl!

Are what I have played so far…

I am loving discovering stuff from this era in my life. And it sounds so very good!

Oct 9 2011

Time travelling – back to the 70′s

There was an inevitability about the theme of last nights party. After a few weeks of contemplating going back to my vinyl record collection, we decided that it was time to go back to the future – the 70′s!

And so the collection of failed DJ’s from Nottingham Hospital Radio – that’s where we met out group of closest friends 30 years ago – got in the spirit of the golden age of music. And not so golden age of fashion! Or hair.

But we had a great time.

The joy of having so many tracks of music is that it is easy to put together a motley collection of music from that era. What I spotted ws the diversity of the stuff – starting with some kitsch early on, through prog-rock through to Punk (my favourite bit).

So in the spirit of trying to track down some goodies from each year – here are my top 10 by year.

1970 – Wand’rin Star – Lee Marvin
1971 – Maggie May – Rod Stewart
1972 – Long haired lover from Liverpool – Donny Osmond*
1973 – Can the Can – Suzi Quattro
1974 – Waterloo – Abba
1975 – Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
1976 – Dancing Queen – Abba
1977 – God Save the Queen – The Sex Pistols
1978 – Rat Trap – Boomtown Rats
1979 – Another Brick in the Wall (part two) – Pink Floyd

What do you reckon? Did I miss something… Two Abba songs? A Sex Pistols song that was kept off the top spot by fraudulent counting?

* 1972 – just kidding – should have read ‘Mama Weer all Crazee Now – Slade’