Day 31.
Welcome to the year ahead.
There’s this one:
Tons of Sobs is every bit as hard hitting and raucous and savage and a whole lot more punk than that other debut from a more lauded English blues rock band. It’s pretty much straight up in your face blues rock and doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Apart from that bass holding everything together.
Well I made it a post a day for the whole month. Not gonna do that again willingly.
Oh by the way happy new year.
Day 30.
Well that’s a stormer.
At 12 years old my cousin Tony drove us to Newcastle to see this tour. Not sure how he convinced my parents but he did. Two years later he couldn’t convince my dad to let me go see Led Zeppelin. Maybe my parents wised up.
I remember being terrified, exhilarated and disorientated.
Then there is the band that created its own genre.
This is at the same time sounds ancient and new. And maybe for the first time in my foray into Spaceman territory these songs sounds like they could be on someone else’s album. Of course then they would not be as epic, grandiose and at times overwhelming.
Don’t get me wrong they are all great songs individually they just don’t make me feel like someone is channeling the music of the ancient aliens. I enjoy each song as it happens but at any time I could lift the needle and move on. Hmmm interesting.
Maybe this is the album a veteran of the psychic wars makes in the lull between battles.
I think this may be a grower, I am going to come back to it when it’s settled in for me.
Day 29.
This evening I realized that Free are the greatest rock band from the 70s. You can take your Ledded ones and your Purple ones and your Heeps and Jethro’s for this evening I have decided that Free are the as you may say dogs bollocks.
Not only do they rock and roll but they due to the singularly funky bass playing of Andy Fraser are a strutting step beyond the others.
Moving right along with the spritely brightly sound of The Fall. It’s upbeat and danceable for some.
Day 28.
That’s a heavy trip.
The man will always grind you down. Wow. Hold a mirror up to society and make it sound so freaking good is a talent beyond expectation.
Day 27.
I’ve apparently bought a lot of records recently. Some of them are still sealed. This may be a crime on some level. I feel like I’ve fallen into a trap of consumerism. The festive consumer has indeed been consumed by the feast.
I’m feeling a need to fast as it were, so maybe January would be a good month for that. This may also give me some time to figure out what is going on with the blog. Or maybe it’s enough to just get my thoughts out so they aren’t cluttering my noggin. It’s also fairly anonymous as I’m pretty sure not many people I know are aware of it.
This was part of tonight’s listening.
Now Ry has managed to create an album of parables for the modern times. A gut wrenching punch to the bloated stomach. There I am waxing lyrical again but Ry brings out the best in all of us. An album of truth honesty and it pulls no punches.
It’s been snowing and the woods are always so peaceful then.
Then there was this.
Just remember “if there’s hell below we’re all gonna go.”
It requires a certain amount of self assured worth to wear that suit.
Seems like the end of the year brings a sense of self reflection to us all. Well me at least.
Day 26.
Hoylakes finest again.
It’s the day after the big event and regardless of not having drunk anything alcoholic it feels like a hangover day. Too much food, too much of everything time for some resolutions this year.
The Coral are perfect for that. Perky enough to keep you awake but relaxed enough so you don’t have to do anything about it.
Day 25.
Well that’s over.
Three year olds have so much energy.
Nerf balls, Scooby Doo, games and laughter and too much salt on the potatoes.
Surprisingly a good day.
So to settle down with Joni at the end of the day. She manages to simultaneously sound fragile and unbreakable. She’s been in the news a lot recently with her Kennedy honors award and out and about after her ill health.
As David Crosby says she was the best of them.
It’s Christmas Eve with all that brings.
Day 24 continued.
It’s been a long journey to here. 2019 was the last Christmas my mum spent with us. I put her on a plane January 2020 and three months later well we all know what happened.
Today she is at home again isolated basically sheltering still from a virus that the ignorant and self centered seem determined to prolong. Not just the idiots unwilling to pay attention to science but the politicians who true to form are more worried about their own pitiful power games. And the sheep who follow their own fears to vote for them.
It’s an age long problem it seems.
I could get maudlin but instead I’m gonna listen to Bowie and his triumphant return to Glastonbury.
I can’t describe the joy this album has brought me this year. I’ve been streaming it in the car as I drive around and it’s just a perfect Bowie concert. The hits the banter the band are tight. so I had to get the record.
Hopefully I’ll get to talk to my mum when she wakes up if I can stay awake that long. If not I’ll talk to her when I wake up in the morning before the insane present binge.
Hopefully I’ll be able to put my flying shoes on in the spring although travel has become more complex.
Day 24.
Do It.
Satisfying on so many levels.
I am still not convinced that Wiggle Wiggle belongs on any record.
One of my self imposed tasks this year is to revisit Dylan’s 80s.
On to the Elbow boys latest offering. There’s always a warm fuzzy glow to their albums perfect for Christmas Eve.
There’s also something endearing about the mid 70s boxing kids in the yard.
I’ve managed to avoid all Christmas music so far.
Day 23.
Off to Manchester definitely not the greatest north west musical city but a close contender.
I have to admit I’m a sucker for any album that has a track titled intro at the start. They’d have got top marks if the album ended with a track titled outro. They missed a marketing ploy there. Also extra credit for acknowledging their debt to King Crimson on M62 song. That in the early 00s could’ve been the kiss of death for any band.
So it’s poppy vaguely psychedelic melodic music that is chirpy and makes you feel good and allows you to dance around the room in a decidedly thirtysomething way which was my age when I first heard this. This and Yoshimi got me through 2002 almost intact.
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