Santa Claus brought Crotchety Man much music this year. The cash vouchers were used to plug some of the gaps in the house collection. Just two vouchers funded five purchases, which together delivered 11 albums and very nearly 9 hours of listening. Now that’s what I call music!
For the record (no pun intended), those recent additions were:
- Wobbler, Wobbler I-III
- Yes, The Steven Wilson Remixes
- Soft Machine, Hidden Details
- Camel, The Snow Goose
- U.K., U.K.
The first two were album bundles: Wobbler‘s first three albums (Hinterland, Afterglow, Rites at Dawn) and five early Yes albums (The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans and Relayer). All of those artists have featured in these pages at least once before, and most of the tracks are from long ago. Even the Soft Machine title, released in 2018, includes tracks such as Out Bloody Rageous that first appeared in 1970.
This is music that is old but not cheesy, and mature but well within its “best before” date. I don’t need to say anything more about it. But that leaves me with one more glaring hole to fill, namely, what to provide for your listening pleasure this week. Surely there can be nothing more appropriate than the timeless humour of Jake Thackray.
If that doesn’t start your new year with a chuckle, I don’t know what will.
Crotchety Man 