There are at least three well-known songs called Sledgehammer. Top of the Spotify list is one by Fifth Harmony, a five-piece all-female vocal group that came together when the girls entered the X Factor competition individually in 2012. As Fifth Harmony they came third and third is where Crotchety Man places their fairly ordinary pop/dance Sledgehammer. If…Read more Sledgehammer
Month: November 2016
Soft Machine – Gig
Last night Soft Machine played a gig at The Flowerpot in Derby. The band has appeared in these pages twice before but, for anyone unfamiliar with them, there's an excellent biography (if a band can have a biography) on Spotify. Suffice it to say that the current Soft Machine line-up includes three guys who joined…Read more Soft Machine – Gig
crotchetyman.blog
We interrupt this broadcast for a special announcement ... The Crotchety Man blog now has its own Internet domain which you can find at crotchetyman.blog. The old address works, too, but it just redirects to the new one. Let me assure you that nothing else has changed. In particular, the Crotchety Man blog will still carry the…Read more crotchetyman.blog
Boo Boo Bird
"It is up to you whether you read this... my advice is just to ignore it." Ivor Cutler Ivor Cutler was the Scottish equivalent of Spike Milligan. He was an eccentric poet, songwriter and humourist. His fans included The Beatles, John Peel, KT Tunstall, John Lydon, Neil Innes and Robert Wyatt. He was the driver of…Read more Boo Boo Bird
Annie, Let’s Not Wait
There's a big difference between 'awesome' and 'awful'. And that's strange. Both words derive from 'awe', which originally just meant 'fear'. So 'awesome' should mean 'instils a certain trepidation' while 'awful' should have the more emphatic meaning, 'terrifying'. The use of 'awe' in the Bible to describe the mortal response to God's presence is thought to have…Read more Annie, Let’s Not Wait
Archipelago
In my last post I gave you a glimpse of ten islands strung out like opalescent pearls across a monochrome ocean, the Archipelago album by Hidden Orchestra. It was a deliberately tantalising glimpse and, before we go off to explore the rocks in that necklace, I'd like to take a moment to examine what made a simple listing of track…Read more Archipelago
Archipelago – Teaser
This is from page 2 of the digital booklet that comes with the download of the Archipelago album by Hidden Orchestra. I really don't need to say any more but I suppose my readers would feel cheated if I left it at that. So ... ... a full post will appear in this blog soon.
Down Under
Australia is sometimes known as "the land down under" so it's fitting that the biggest hit by the Aussie band Men At Work should be called Down Under. It tells of an Australian who travels the world and the people he meets along the way. There's a woman on a hippy trail who makes him…Read more Down Under
Crotchety Man 