Sounddate: Tuesday, 26th January 2015 I heard All Flowers In Time for the first time yesterday on the RadMac afternoon show on BBC 6 Music. Curiously, it has never been released although, as you can see, it has escaped from the recording studio and is available on SoundCloud, YouTube and elsewhere. All Flowers In Time Bend…Read more All Flowers In Time
Track
Down Here
Crotchety Man was a bright child. The headmaster of my primary school (ages 5 - 11) told my parents that in any ordinary year I'd have been top of the class. That there were a couple of other kids in my year smarter than me was, he suggested, a statistical fluke and I'd probably go…Read more Down Here
Island
One day in 1969, when I was just a lad, rippling piano arpeggios rang out from the radio. That was odd because the portable transistor radio in the kitchen was always tuned to the light entertainment channel. Radio 3, the BBC's classical music station, might have been on in the living room but not until…Read more Island
Birdland
Birdland is in New York. Currently it's in the Theater District of Manhattan but Weather Report's track of the same name harks back to its original location on Broadway. Judging by the music, it must have been a magical, joyous place then, always full of happy sounds. Birdland is the first track on the Heavy Weather album…Read more Birdland
Words
It's always nice when you receive an email announcing another follower of your blog, especially when it's someone whose name suggests a man of intelligence and standing. So when I saw that a Dr. Joseph Suglia is now following Crotchety Man I was eager to see what I could find out about him. His Gravatar profile was singularly uninformative so…Read more Words
The Battle of Epping Forest
As a child Crotchety Man lived in a south London council flat with his brother and parents. Sometimes in the summer when the weather was nice we would go to the south coast seaside resort of Brighton for a day out. The trip was usually planned the previous day and we looked forward to strolling…Read more The Battle of Epping Forest
A Glorious Dawn
Crotchety Man was brought up in a semi-religious environment: born in a (largely) Christian country, educated in Church of England schools, singing in the church choir, but growing up in a family for whom religion was essentially irrelevant. I was immersed in Christianity but not a part of it. Given no guidance I was left to…Read more A Glorious Dawn
Eyes Wide Open
Decisions, decisions... I've done most of my Yuletide shopping. There are still one or two gaps on the present list, though, for those awkward people who either have everything already or insist they want nothing this year. What shall I choose? Well, if inspiration fails me they'll just have to have whatever I gave them last…Read more Eyes Wide Open
Don’t You Wait
Ambiguous: adjective (Of language) open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning. Unclear or inexact because a choice between alternatives has not been made. Cloves - Don't You Wait (live) Last month something in my inbox announced that Peter Green had released a new album. Intrigued, I clicked through to see what the ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist has been up to recently. It wasn't…Read more Don’t You Wait
Waterloo Sunset
Between school and university I had a temporary job. It was the best vacation job a student could wish for: Assistant Scientific Officer (or some such title) at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist. It was the lowest and lowliest grade of scientific officer but I was paid the same as the permanent staff, which I believe…Read more Waterloo Sunset
Crotchety Man 