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
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
Lizard
It's a brave man that disagrees with the renowned guitarist, composer and producer Bob Fripp but, when it comes to King Crimson's third album, Crotchety Man takes issue with him. In the early seventies Lizard graced my turntable as much as any other record I possessed; it could almost be described as the soundtrack to my university…Read more Lizard
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
Bob Dylan
When it comes to Bob Dylan, Crotchety Man came late to the party. He had raved about House of the Rising Sun (by the Animals), adored Blowin' In The Wind (by Peter, Paul and Mary) and swooned over Mr. Tambourine Man (by the Byrds). He was moved by The Times They Are A-Changin', With God on Our Side and Just Like a…Read more Bob Dylan
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
One Year On
The Crotchety Man blog is nearly one year old. It came into the world in January 2015 with a tentative first post giving the briefest of mentions to the Jimi Hendrix track, Hey, Joe!. Since then there have been 9 posts about a band or solo artist, 14 posts about an album and 53 posts…Read more One Year On
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
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