Before we get into the new year in earnest here's a belated Album of the Month post originally scheduled for December 2017. The album in question is called A Kaleidoscope of Rainbows and it was one of my first forays into the hinterlands of jazz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImHQwOKyL5s I must have bought this record in the late seventies…Read more A Kaleidoscope of Rainbows
Now We Are Three
- - - - - - - - A prisoner breaks out of jail. He runs down the street shouting "I'm free! I'm free!". A small boy is unimpressed. "So what?" he calls, "I'm four". - - - - - - - - The Crotchety Man blog is (very nearly) three years old now and,…Read more Now We Are Three
New Year Honours
With predictable inappropriateness the UK's list of honours for New Year's Day 2018 was announced two days ago. Highlights include: the musicians Barry Gibb (CBE) and Ringo Starr (MBE); Helen Sharman (OBE), Britain's first astronaut and passionate promoter of science and technology; and our former deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who gets a well-deserved knighthood.…Read more New Year Honours
Photograph
There has been an outbreak of man flu at Crotchety Mansions. In the interests of public safety Crotchety Man has cancelled all public engagements for the time being. A number of restrictions have been put in place on current activities, too. This Track of the Week was chosen simply because it was the stand-out track…Read more Photograph
The Fairie Round
An article in New Scientist about the Voyager 1 space craft caught the Crotchety eye the other day. It reports that the primary thrusters that keep Voyager's antenna pointing towards Earth are beginning to fail. Voyager does have backup thrusters but they had not been fired since 1980 so NASA's engineers did not know if they would…Read more The Fairie Round
August & September
Donning his pith helmet and carrying his elephant gun Crotchety Man went out hunting for tracks on the theme of autumn. It proved to be a disappointing expedition. To my mind autumn is a gloriously uplifting time of year and yet all the songs relating to the third quarter of the calendar seem to…Read more August & September
To Luminous Scale
A few days ago I was reading an article by Thomas Hatton on proglodytes.com titled "Some of modern prog's best frontmen are ... women". It makes the point that the progressive rock genre is usually regarded as something reserved for the male of our species, a decorative accessory to the boys' toys that we use to…Read more To Luminous Scale
The Brief and Neverending Blur
One entry in my Release Radar this week stopped me in my woozle tracks. The ears pricked up automatically when I heard something very much like the soft call of a Hidden Orchestra. The eyes opened a little wider when I saw the contrary title, The Brief and Neverending Blur. When I saw Richard Reed…Read more The Brief and Neverending Blur
Earthworks/All Heaven …
Sit up straight and pay attention, everyone, because if you don't what follows will be terribly confusing. For this Album of the Month piece I'm going to review two albums by Bill Bruford's Earthworks. Yes, Smithers minor, this is cheating but it provides a partial solution to a difficult problem. You see, I am very…Read more Earthworks/All Heaven …
The Lesson
Do you believe in formal education or are you a proponent of the school of hard knocks? Was your schooling a good preparation for your adult life or did it squeeze every precious drop of creativity from your soul like the juice of the lemon in a lemonade press? Did you leave school/university a rounded…Read more The Lesson
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