It's been a busy week here at Crotchety Mansions and the old blogger is rather tired today. So for this Track of the Week I'm going back to a familiar song from 1967, one that I don't have to think too hard about. Pin back your lugholes, listeners, as we visit the Pentecost Hotel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pEz9kMSczg…Read more Pentecost Hotel
Landscapes
No other band sounds like Hidden Orchestra. Or so I believed. But perhaps the Crotchety Research Elves just hadn't mapped that part of the musical landscape thoroughly enough yet. Recruiting the Global Network of Discovery and Spotify as guides, Crotchety Man embarked on a journey of exploration. Those regions were not thought to be dangerous but…Read more Landscapes
The Riddle
As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St. Ives?¹ For 62 weeks during 1984 and 1985 songs by Nik Kershaw peppered the…Read more The Riddle
What a Waste
Some year in the early seventies, while Crotchety Student was wasting a few years studying biochemistry, he was dragged along to a pub in the suburbs of London to see a band called Kilburn and the Highroads. That young man had no idea what to expect from the gig. He had never heard of the…Read more What a Waste
Whole Thing
Back in 1991 Peter Gabriel had a problem. His studios had issued a string of block bookings to successful bands like New Order, leaving no time for lesser-known artists on his Real World Records label who only wanted a day or two of studio time. His solution was to set aside one week for those…Read more Whole Thing
Flow
By definition, fluids flow. Steam rises from a boiling kettle, spring water spontaneously cascades down the mountainside. And when you hear a particularly fluid jazz lick you can be sure the band has achieved that indefinable quality of musical 'flow'. It's what all musicians strive for, when the notes spill out without bidding, floating in…Read more Flow
Mad Man Moon
Here, in the UK, we have had a long period of hot, dry weather. For 26 consecutive days a temperature of 30℃ or more has been recorded. In most of the country there has been little or no rain for about three months. The reservoirs are severely depleted and the farmers are struggling to grow…Read more Mad Man Moon
