Never was a track less likely to trouble the pop charts. Take Five is a jazz piece; it's an instrumental; it's in 5/4 time; and it was supposed to be a drum solo. In spite of all that Take Five reached number 25 on the US Billboard charts and did even better in the UK, spending 14…Read more Take Five
Month: April 2016
From the Underworld
It had been miserable weather for several days when, on Wednesday, the skies cleared, the sun came out and the first warm day of Spring beckoned to us. Mrs Crotchety and I had a free afternoon so we drove the few miles from our house to Bradgate Park for a bit of fresh air. Bradgate is an old…Read more From the Underworld
An Awesome Wave
An Awesome Wave was the debut album by Alt-J (Crotchety Man's band of the year 2014). It's an astonishingly mature release for a first album but perhaps that shouldn't be so surprising given that the band was formed nearly five years before the album hit the shops in 2012. The title is a quote from the film American Psycho, which hints at an…Read more An Awesome Wave
To Rule The World
The marigolds were blooming in Southwold. Half a dozen friends had gone to the coast for a weekend break and four of us were staying in the aptly named Marigold Cottage where the bright orange flowers had bid us a cheery welcome the day before. This morning we had decided to walk along the shoreline, cross over…Read more To Rule The World
Hole in the Ground
You know what's missing from this blog? A touch of humour. Now, I'm no comedian but I can find some funny songs for you to listen to. I'm not talking about laughable novelty songs like I Taut I Taw a Puddycat, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini or Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer, which I'm sure you all love…Read more Hole in the Ground