I only just found out today that Dan Fogelberg died before Christmas.
Although I was not a massive fan, his album "Souvenirs" was one of the defining albums of my teenage years. Produced on this occasion by hero my Joe Walsh this album was pretty much his breakthrough set, and for me one of the finest albums of the 70's American folk rock era. If you ever get a chance to listen to it, take the opportunity, its a fantastic album.
Sorry and sad news.
Daniel Grayling Fogelberg (August 13, 1951 – December 16, 2007) Tribute site
"Our first relationship is to nature. You are part of nature, not the master of nature. This also gives us a strong sense of solidarity - you are about other people. Money is not important and power is not important. It's more your personality, the human being that is important."
Mari Boine Persen is a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the yoiks of her native people. Boine (born 8 November 1956 in Finnmark, Norway) grew up amid the Laestadian Christian movement as well as amidst discrimination against her people. She was asked to perform at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, but refused because she perceived the invitation as an attempt to bring a token minority to the ceremonies. Gula Gula (1989, Real World) was her breakthrough release, and she continued to record popular albums throughout the 1990s.
For those of you who found the last post a little distasteful, let me redress the balance with the stunning flamenco guitar playing of the worlds finest guitarist, Paco de Lucia
There aren't many forms of music these days as passionate and powerful as this. Check out Paco de Lucia and Camarón de la Isla for starters, and if those sparks don't ignite you then you need a new heart and soul....and who can ignore those wonderful dancers!!
I found this image on eBay today, its a poster of my guitar hero Joe Walsh. I had this poster on my wall when I was a teenager, and when I moved into my first pad too, so all in all it must have hung over my bed for about 10-12 years. I'm not even sure if I still have it somewhere up in the attic with my vinyl collection..I'd look if I could get in there amongst all the other stuff. Anyway I bought it for myself, don't think the wife will let me put it up in our marital bedroom, but when I get the attic fixed up properly one day maybe it'll be framed and take pride of place up there.
Funny, I haven't played my guitars for a good few years now, and after a little session revisiting my old Joe Walsh Cd's I fired up the Strat' and Tele' and had a wee burn up. To my surprise I can still play a bit. I used to be pretty good, at one time I was playing daily for 3-4 hours a few years back, then I got hit with depression and it all went by the wayside. I hope maybe one day it'll all fizz back up again, because I have to say, the 2 hours I spent "shredding" the fretboard have got to have been about the most fun I've had in years.
Spain?...never been there, though I have it high on my list of places to visit before I die. I love Flamenco music, Cameron de La Isla had one of the most emotive voices I have ever heard, and Paco de Lucia can play a guitar with so much passion it can make you weep.
However I am digressing. I came here to talk about Miles Davis' "Sketches of Spain". I bought this album first of all to impress a young lady I was taking out for a day trip to Bath. I wanted to show I was cultured and this was one way I showed it, by buying this album on vinyl. I must have been a re-issue because my LP version didn't have the usual cover and I haven't been able to track that one down for you to see. Anyway, listening to this album the other night it struck me as to why I love it so much, the big band support that Gil Evans orchestrated gives the album the same sort of sound that I remember hearing drifting up the stairs from our front room when I was a kid...not quite Tijuana Brass and Herb Alpert, but definitely a fore runner. The girl I was trying to impress.....I married her.
Had an e mail from the editor of Urban75 ezine no less, who had a couple of Back to the 70's and Cardiff related stories which some viewers might enjoy.
I really liked the Thin Lizzy one, so thank you Mike Slocombe!!
Unreleased Jimmy Page Guitar Riff To Be Retrieved From Secret Vault To Save Rock And Roll
GWYNEDD, WALES—Calling it the planet's last, best hope for saving rock music, the Guardians of the Protectorate of Rock announced Monday that they would take the extraordinary step of unleashing a never-before-heard Jimmy Page riff, hidden for decades in a mythic, impenetrable vault.
"We who believe in the immortality of rock took a vow 30 years ago that we would never release this incredibly powerful force unless we faced a Day of Reckoning—and that day has come," said Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, one of the chosen few who helped forge the Secret Vault to Save Rock and Roll, at a press conference in the Welsh highlands. "Just look at the pop charts, and you shall know I speak the truth."
"Let's give rock and roll its fucking balls back," he added.
The Guardians said recent developments in the music world, such as the unaccountable popularity of the Dixie Chicks and Sufjan Stevens, have created a "perfect storm of lameness" from which rock might never recover. While Iommi refused to say when the vault would be opened, hard rock sources believe it will take place just prior to next month's Fall Out Boy–Honda Civic tour, which many fear will suck the remaining lifeblood from all that still rocks.
"Citizens of Rock, we refuse to stand idly by any longer," ZZ Top founder and Protectorate High Elder Billy Gibbons said. "When a puss like James Blunt is allowed to rule the airwaves, we must respond by exposing this monster riff, and blowing minds into the stratosphere."
The Protectorate, devoted to the preservation of badass jams and blistering guitar solos, was reportedly formed in the 1970s during the rise of adult contemporary music. According to legend, the riff, played only once by Page and recorded on a special cobalt record, contains the raw power, mind-blowing skill, and unbridled passion of all the Guardians combined. Recently translated parchments from the era describe it as a soul-searing power-chord progression faintly resembling a cross between "Smoke On The Water" and "Living Loving Maid," but "basically defying all description."
It is believed that, upon the riff's release, even those who claim that the genre is dead will have no choice but to pump their fists, bang their heads, and bow down to the gods of rock for all eternity.
"May God have mercy on our souls for what we are going to set loose upon the world," proclaimed Queen guitarist Brian May, dressed in druidic robes and bathed in the rising blue smoke of a nearby fog machine. "Will it save rock or destroy mankind? We have no way of knowing—yet we have no other choice."
Members of the Protectorate were each given only partial information about the location of the vault, which they were instructed to open in unison only in the event of a total Rockopalypse. While some believed the vault was buried in Boston, Chicago, Kansas, Europe, or Asia, others claimed it could be found in the Court of the Crimson King.
However, after piecing together clues hidden in Yes album covers and Pink Floyd liner notes, rock historians now believe the riff is locked away deep beneath the Welsh countryside house known as Bron-Yr-Aur, at rock-grid coordinates SH735026. British weather satellites have also photographed an enormous cloud, shaped like a hybrid of an upside-down question mark and cross, forming above these exact coordinates.
The vault's Key, regarded as too staggering a burden for any one man to bear, was divided in two parts, with half entrusted to Eddie Van Halen and half to David Lee Roth, shortly after Roth left the rock supergroup Van Halen. The two men, who have refused to work together for 20 years, recently announced plans for a historic reunion tour.
"Before we shake Heaven and Earth with the vicious power of this riff, we of the High Council of Elders of the Guardians of the Protectorate of Rock ask you: Are you about to rock?" AC/DC guitarist Angus Young said. "If so, we salute you."
When asked to comment on the possible dangers of using the riff, Sir Paul McCartney seemed surprised.
"There's a secret vault to save rock and roll?" McCartney said. "This is the first I've heard of it."
I have just received my copy of the re-issue of Electric Light Orchestra's - "Out of the Blue". I now have three copies of this album, the original vinyl (up in the attic somewhere) and 2 cd's. The new one comes with the space ship cut out and make model in the booklet, just like the original, just a pity they didnt include the lyrics on this version. Anyway does it still stand the test of time??...well yes it does, it doesn't sound too dated considering it first saw the light of day in 1978 nearly 30 years ago!!! There are some cheesy songs in there, but each one could have been a hit single back in the day. It's not very often that an album gets released with so little filler. I'd say that maybe there's one duff cut on the whole set.
I bought this album originally in the face of the punk explosion that had just hit my part of the world, and it took pride of place alongside my Queen, Eagles, Joe Walsh, Clash, Stranglers and Adverts albums. I was never embarrassed or guilty about its inclusion in my collection then, and am not now.
I remember the day I bought it, in fact it was one of the first times I was allowed to go to "town" and went with my cousin Nick. There was this great record store in Cardiff called Sound Advice in Castle Arcade, all dark and mysterious, great logo, and one of the girls who used to serve was a real hotty by my early teenage standards..ie she didnt wear a bra!!!!! Can't recall what he bought that day, but I know we bought those joke cigarettes with the talcum powder in them that gave off puffs of "smoke" when you blew through them...wasn't long before I graduated to the real thing. As we arrived at my house the miserable old sod next door took a look at the record store bag and mumbled some derogatory comment about "more of that bloody noise" cos the record player had its speakers mounted on the adjoining wall and he'd bare the full brunt when my parents were out...haha!
"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one," he said.
"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one - but still they come!"
Yup...Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. What a magnum Opus...what a palaver!! Richard Burton, Phil Lynott, David Essex and Justin Hayward!!! (I hated the Moody Blues by the way!) Funnily enough never bought it, but borrowed it of someone in school during the Christmas holidays. I only ever got as far as the first side, and bits of that are in the black hole of memories. I have an Mp3 version of it now, and I've listened to it a few times now, and decided that on the whole it's an overblown piece of fluff really, but then that's what the 70's were all about!!
Sorry about the relatively unseasonal posting here, but I had to add this little gem to the christmas music list. A real slice of soul-lessness from one of my favourite all time bands The Eagles. This one came out just as they were falling apart from their coke fuelled late 70's success/excess. Even the cover says it all. Anyway, I liked the B-side.
*Not "Christmas" records, but records I had for Christmas.
Ok so the first truly great record I had for Christmas was Queens "Night at the Opera", an album I have mentioned elsewhere on this blog. It was my first EVER album record, and as such it holds a very special place in my heart, sending me on to a lifetime of musical joy and discovery. I must have played it until the grooves wore through straight to the other side. The moment the rolling piano lines of "Death On Two Legs..." roll into view my spine still tingles. A monumental moment in my musical history.
There are a few others too...
I got my first record player (yup RECORD player) in I think '77 or '78. I was twelve or thirteen, and that Christmas I had a number of singles: Blondie "Hangin' on the Telephone", Ian Dury "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick", and an Electric Light Orchestra EP featuring "Ma Ma Belle", "Strange Magic", "Evil Woman", and "Can't Get it Out of My Head". That was the year I discovered Punk music in a strange tandem with The Eagles and ELO?? I also had that year The Eagles' "On The Border", and ELO's "On The Third Day".
I have always had a fairly broad taste in music...it swings and sways wildly practically weekly...my bank balance proves that. The Rolling Stones always featured big in my Christmas record lists, "Tattoo You" and "Goats Head Soup" being notable ones, and The Eagles always appeared big on the scene in the late 70's and early 80's, "The Long Run" and "Eagles Live" being the two that stand out as of particular importance to me. Later again it was Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet". Coming to the 90's and I was all Frank Zappa'd up, and I was into "Shut Up and Play Your Guitar" and "Broadway The Hard Way".
Other years, In no chronological order I've also been high on:- Calexico, Santana, Weather Report, The Who's "Quadrophenia", U2's "War", Townes Van Zandt, Ten Years After, the absolutley awesome never to be beaten Joe Walsh (my hero), Siouxsie and the Banshees, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, The Hellecasters, The Clash, Springsteen, Metallica, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, Jethro Tull...last year the wonderful Sigur Rós, this year Bjórk...but I'm proud to say absolutely NEVER..EVER Bob Dylan or The Beatles!!! (shudders) Every one reflected a stage of my musical development (I play a mean guitar too)
Funny how these albums are ones that always seem to appear in my CD player or iPod (now I'm a true man of the 21st century) this time of year. Incidentally...and I'm no audiophile, but most of these albums REALLY DO sound better on vinyl. I'm sure there are more, but they escape me at the moment. Anyone have any of they're own to share??
Just to repost this little item as its getting pushed off the page by newer things...
If you contact me by my e mail address, (see side bar) and leave a nice comment, I'll let you know how you can get your own copy. Be quick tho' as I won't be around forever...and please don't forget to leave a comment.
Update: I've had about a dozen takers so far, but there are only 24 hrs left of this special offer because as of tomorrow at about 9.00pm this pc is shutting down for a few days of merriment
Ok, so now we've established that Christmas is a time when we let ourselves go a bit. Here then, are some of my guilty Christmas musical pleasures.
Firstly, Wham - "Last Christmas", why?...I'm not sure really, but it brings back memories of my late teens or early twenties, not sure on the date this was released, should research it really shouldnt I?? (waits...) Ok this came out in 1984,* I'd be 19! Just left school, In University trying desperately to "find myself"..not sure this would have helped. Anyway, this would have been a very drunken Christmas, and also the Christmas I discovered Bruce Springsteen...what a contrast then!
Anyway, so here's the video:
Secondly, and this one, if possible is even more painful...Chris de Burgh "A Spacemen Came Travelling"..which research tells me came out in '88. This one...well no excuses really, I just like it. There is no proper video on YouTube (sigh of relief) but there is this neat little animation made by someone with far too much time on their hands, but to whom I must be grateful for allowing this film to be posted:
...and just to get the credibility back somewhat, here's good old Bill Bailey taking the piss!
* According to a very reliable source (see comments) it was actually first released in '75
I've had a small trawl through YouTube for some of the better Christmas songs that I haven't already mentioned, so I give you Wizzard (Two "Z's" I looked it up), Slade, The Pogues and Jona Lewie, all of which have a special little place in my heart at Christmas.
There has been a fair amount of interest in this album on this site, and the post I made about it. It's a wonder it hasn't been re-released. However I have made up a digital copy, mp3 to wav thingy. If you contact me by my e mail address, (see side bar) and leave a nice comment, I'll let you know how you can get your own CD copy. Be quick tho' as I won't be around forever...and please don't forget to leave a comment.
Christmas songs....its the rock and pop ones i'm referring to here. I have a theory that the last great era for Christmas songs was the early eighties. I was in the sixth form in 81, '82, '83, and seem to remember a vast influx of yuletide tunes, Wham, Jona Lewie, Shaking Stevens, Band Aid, Chris de Burgh...added to the usual John and Yoko, Slade and Wizzard. Some of them still stand the test of time. Sure, they are a little "twee" but they are part of my history, and when they come on the radio, or I slip on the Christmas Hits cds, the memories come flooding back, of late teenage Christmas's: broken hearts, drunken family parties and even some good old snow. They are good memories. Memories of the last vestiges of innocence before the true nature of the world revealed itself in all its murkiness.
Not for me are all Christmas songs actual festive compositions, Eagles' "Heartache Tonight"and Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", Ian Dury's "Hit me with your Rhythm Stick" and ELO's "Cant Get it out of my Head" are all songs that hit my tender spot in the festive season and they still hold true today as "Christmas" songs too.
A really good Christmas song, however, can carry memories and last forever.
My first really great Christmas song was "Ring Out Solstice Bells", which I bought as a 7" EP, (which apparently goes for a few bob now...I saw one copy for £30!!) That one has stayed as a favourite, and is definitely in my top 2, nipping and tucking with Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas" which strangely I never bought, until a few years ago.
It's nice to look at this old Top of the Pops video, another part of my youth now dead and gone, somehow it goes so well, so typically seventies....
"...Solstice Bells" exudes a quintessential English folk feel that Tull will ever be known for, undoubtedly seasonal without the traditional clichés except for a few bells at the finale. Check out this animated movie set to the song, which puts into mind the whole atmosphere of the song.
"Now is the solstice of the year. winter is the glad song that you hear. Seven maids move in seven time. Have the lads up ready in a line.
Ring out these bells. Ring out, ring solstice bells. Ring solstice bells.
Join together 'neath the mistletoe, by the holy oak whereon it grows. Seven druids dance in seven time. Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.
Ring out these bells. Ring out, ring solstice bells. Ring solstice bells.
Praise be to the distant sister sun, joyful as the silver planets run. Seven maids move in seven time. Sing the song the bells call, loudly chiming.
Ring out these bells. Ring out, ring solstice bells. Ring solstice bells. Ring on, ring out. Ring on, ring out."
The other top Christmas song is Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas" which for me recalls many personal memories of childhood Christmases: finding out there's no Santa after all, seeing a world around that continues to blindly maim and murder despite all the promises of the seasonal goodwill, and of course, the fact that it just keeps on raining and it never bloody snows! All this wrapped in a beautifully arranged version of Prokofiev's Troika from Lieutenant Kije, again seasonal without the clichés, and wonderfully atmospheric. Strangely for some people the video was a composite of desert scene and real life war film footage, but nothing better than to present the viewer with the hypocrisy of the modern Christmas.
The audio is quiet on the above version so check this one out with the different visuals:
They said there'll be snow at Christmas They said there'll be peace on earth But instead it just kept on raining A veil of tears for the virgins birth I remember one Christmas morning A winters light and a distant choir And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas They sold me a silent night And they told me a fairy story till I believed in the Israelite And I believed in father Christmas And I looked at the sky with excited eyes till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas I wish you a brave new year All anguish pain and sadness Leave your heart and let your road be clear They said there'll be snow at Christmas They said there'll be peace on earth Hallelujah, Noel, be it heaven or hell The Christmas you get you deserve
I'm lying on my back laptop on my stomach, earphones plugged in listening to Queen Live in Rio, a bootleg I just downloaded off the 'net, and low and behold it's made me look back to my first ever album. Now that's VINYL folks, you know the stuff that used to come in big 12" slipcases with artwork you noticed, and sleeve notes you bothered to read. I swear I could have recited by heart the names of the songs, the band, the producer, engineer and tea lady on all my vinyl stuff. Now I couldn't even tell you the titles of the tracks on my favourite cds. Last Sunday I went to see Muse at the Cardiff International Arena, fucking amazing show..but me and my mate Gaz...about 5,000+ cds between us couldn't name half the titles of the songs, and I bleeding love their stuff....its never off the car stereo.
Anyway I digress, Its Christmas 1975 and my first ever album is "Night at the Opera" by Queen, and what a great start it was on my musical journey. Must have cost about £3 and I seem to remeber it coming from Woolworths on Queens Street in Cardiff, a shop long since gone. I posed and played air guitar to this for about 3 years before it inspired me (along with a few others) to pick up a guitar and try it all for real. Of course 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is the one everyone drools over, but seek out great tracks like 'I'm in Love with my Car', 'Sweet Lady' and the awesome 'Prophet's Song' which outranks its more famous counterpart in all respects. It still stands the test of time, not dated much, and funnily enough Muse's latest Cd contains enough trace elements of that Queen sound that if they were nuts would make it carry a health warning. However its not quite the same on cd as on vinyl, not sure why, I'm no audio geek, but this one only REALLY cuts it when is big and black!....I'm sure Freddie would agree!
Here's the Amazon review of Queen's magnum opus, cos I'm too tired to type any more:
" One of the most preposterous albums ever made, A Night at the Opera also remains one of the most popular. While it is difficult to completely dislike a record that successfully introduced the phrase "Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the fandango?" into the popular lexicon, it is harder still to understand quite what Queen were thinking of when they made this. Whether or not Queen were fully aware of their own absurdity remains a moot point. However, if one can find the hefty psychic hooks and pulleys necessary to suspend this much disbelief, A Night at the Opera is a perversely enjoyable record. The awesomely daft and supremely catchy "Bohemian Rhapsody" aside, it contains the almost equally risible excursions "The Prophet's Song" and "39", a couple of the irresistibly amusing headbanger numbers that Queen could write in their sleep ("Death On Two Legs") and the very possibly heartfelt pop ballad "You're My Best Friend". Immortally baffling, like the pyramids. Yet also enjoyably compelling."
Carrying on from the last but one post, I found this exceptional song and neat video by Leeds band iLiKETRAiNS (that's the way they like it written) : "Terra Nova"
I only just found out today that Dan Fogelberg died before Christmas.
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