Caption competition: What is that frog saying to the pretty maiden? There's always an air of mystery about a wishing well. What lurks in those dark watery depths? If I make a wish, will it come true? What's the going rate for a wish, these days, and is there a discount for a bulk order?…Read more Wishing Well
Take Me To The Pilot
I can think of two reasons why someone might say "Take me to the pilot". Either they have a gun to your head and are about to hijack the plane, or the pilot has collapsed, and they are offering to land the aircraft safely. You would have thought that Elton John and Bernie Taupin would…Read more Take Me To The Pilot
Mail Order Quarks
This Quark is far too handsome to be on mail order, I think. What the skibidi is this? An American band called French TV offering Star Trek characters by mail order? No, it's just a tongue-in-cheek title for a 10-minute musical composition constructed in the Zappa mould. It's one of those slightly zany flights of…Read more Mail Order Quarks
Clouds
Today's entry in these pages comes from Curiosity Corner™. It was prompted by Burning Shed's pre-order notification1 of a 3-CD package containing all three albums by the 'proto-prog' band Clouds. The blogger's curiosity whiskers twitched, and the typing fingers became suddenly restless. What, I wondered, is 'proto-prog' and who was this band? Quick as a…Read more Clouds
Refugee
It wasn't hard to find photos to illustrate this week's choice of music. Pictures of refugees are never far from the news bulletins these days. Whether it's Palestinians driven out of their homes by the Israelis, those fleeing the wars in Ukraine and Sudan, or families flooded out of their homes in the Far East,…Read more Refugee
Speaking in Song
Of all the singers known to Crotchety Man, Leonard Cohen has to be the one whose songs speak loudest. But there's more than one way for musicians to get a message across. In their recent album, Speaking in Song, Musictellers dispense with words altogether. https://open.spotify.com/album/4WiGa7ZR3JnNtdutwYSodL?si=Q_qd0cWAS-ipOt4MBKoU2A Eight songs without words (1st July 2025) The band is…Read more Speaking in Song
Black Light Syndrome
Sitting in a backwater of my CD collection, there's an album called Situation Dangerous by the 'supergroup', Bozzio Levin Stevens. I don't remember how I acquired it now, but the mental index card has it down as heavy/prog rock, and the attached sticker says, "a very pleasant surprise". Just recently, Cirdecsongs, brought to my attention…Read more Black Light Syndrome
Self Titled
Quite often, when an artist releases a new album, the reviews say "this is their most personal yet". Generally, though, you can take that with a pinch of salt. The writer may just be searching for something to say that would give you a reason to listen to it. In the case of Kae Tempest's…Read more Self Titled
Luminous Giants
GoGo Penguin's compositions often have an astronomical theme. I was drawn into their orbit in 2018 when they released their album, A Humdrum Star, and I've been floating around them ever since. When they chose to call one of their latest tracks Luminous Giants, they were almost certainly thinking of a type of red giant…Read more Luminous Giants
Son of Glen
Jakko M Jakszyk had an unusual upbringing. His mother was an Irish singer, Peggy Curran; his father an American airman that Peggy has always refused to identify. The baby was born in London and named Michael Lee Curran. At the age of 18 months, Michael was adopted by a refugee couple who met and settled…Read more Son of Glen
Crotchety Man 