A valuable work of art had gone missing. Detective Inspector "Crotchety" Mann was on the trail. His only clue was this track on Spotify from an album called Excalibur II: The Celtic Ring, under the artist name, Excalibur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLJ3aQ6MaeY The thieves should have been more careful to cover their tracks. Although Spotify had no information…Read more Excalibur
Love & Hate
When it comes to human emotions there can be no greater contrast than that between love and hate. And I guess that goes for cartoon characters, too. Bugs Bunny loves all the other characters he meets, even the ones that hate him - especially the ones that hate him, in fact, because they lead to…Read more Love & Hate
Attention Earth!
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Yes, folks, the aliens have landed. And they have brought their extra-terrestrial music to save us from ourselves. Billions of years ago Zpor was forced to leave his home planet of Agricular before it was consumed by its dying sun. He visited Xylanthia in the Sirius star system where…Read more Attention Earth!
Blind
Our village magazine carried the following listing this month: Saturday, 9th November The Black Feathers in Concert "A gorgeous mixture of Americana, Folk and Acoustic Indie Rock ... great tunes and sumptuous harmonies" ... 'Absolutely wonderful' Bob Harris Radio 2 The venue was Hoton Village Hall in the next small village to the west…Read more Blind
Hippocampus
Hippocampus The seahorse genus An anatomical subdivision of the brain A mythological sea-horse I don't have any definitive information about which meaning of 'hippocampus' Nguyên Lê had in mind when he wrote the Hippocampus tune but, as it forms the opening track of his Streams album, I am inclined to think the tiny sea creature…Read more Hippocampus
Feels Good to Me
Let's go back to the beginning ... In the Spring of 2015 a post with the title Feels Good to Me appeared in these pages. The Crotchety Man blog was less than three months old then and there was a veritable cornucopia of music itching to be the inspiration for an aspiring wordsmith. So many…Read more Feels Good to Me
Soon
We always hope that good things are on the horizon but, at the same time, we fear bad things will be coming all too soon. I suppose that's not really surprising; it's just what we mean by 'hope' and 'fear'. To an optimist the future holds sunny days and happiness; the pessimist sees only dark…Read more Soon
Blue Angel
The prog folk theme continues this week with the Dave Cousins song, Blue Angel. Born David Joseph Hindson, Cousins was the leader and primary songwriter with the Strawbs from its formation in 1964 through to the present day. The band has at various times included: Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention); Rick Wakeman (Yes); and John Hawken (Renaissance,…Read more Blue Angel
Europa’s Fall
A couple of years ago there was a small folk music festival in the grounds of Bradgate House. The house is a ruin now but it was once the home of a former queen of England. Lady Jane Grey was queen for just nine days but she spent her early childhood in that house surrounded…Read more Europa’s Fall
Newgrange
Today we have something old and something new. This track-of-the-week is called Newgrange, but that's a highly anachronistic name for an ancient Neolithic monument. The song is Clannad's response to the large burial mound with that name in County Meath, Ireland. Dating from around 3200 BC it is older than both the stone circle at…Read more Newgrange
Crotchety Man 