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
2000s
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
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
Acoustic Environment
Are you tired of electric guitars? Fed up with the sound of oscillators, filters and shapers? Do you yearn for the sweeter tones of traditional musical instruments? Then Acoustic Environment by Mark Hillis is the album for you. Mark is a guitarist and photographer from San Diego, California. During his college years he teamed up with…Read more Acoustic Environment
Eyes Wide Open
Decisions, decisions... I've done most of my Yuletide shopping. There are still one or two gaps on the present list, though, for those awkward people who either have everything already or insist they want nothing this year. What shall I choose? Well, if inspiration fails me they'll just have to have whatever I gave them last…Read more Eyes Wide Open
Dirty Harry
There is a comedy slot on BBC Radio 4 at 6:30 p.m. weekdays. One of the programmes is called "I've Never Seen Star Wars". In it the comedian, Marcus Brigstocke, talks to well-known people and encourages them to do something they've never done before, especially if every other Tom, Dick and Harry on the planet seems…Read more Dirty Harry
A Whisper …
Tuesday morning. Barney is almost here. This year the UK's Meteorological Office is naming the storms that hit us. Abigail, the first storm of the season, brought floods last week; Barney is now following in her wake. The forecasters have promised us strong winds and more heavy rain; there is likely to be some disruption to transport.…Read more A Whisper …
The Remedy Of Abstraction
I've said it before, but I just love the Internet. Did you know there are websites dedicated to listing weird band names? And lists of funny names feature in quite a few music blogs, too. Most of the names in those lists are, not surprisingly, either mildly offensive or downright obscene. Some, though, are rather…Read more The Remedy Of Abstraction
Black Horse & Cherry
In 2005 (in the UK) a song called Black Horse and the Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall was getting a lot of play on the radio. It's been variously described as pop, folk, blues and indie rock. Needless to say, none of those tags capture the essence of the song, not even taken together. It's short…Read more Black Horse & Cherry
The Rising Sun
This time, for my Track Of The Week, I'm going to do something a bit different. Instead of focusing on a specific recording I'm going to explore about a dozen different versions of the same song: The House of the Rising Sun. The link is to a Spotify playlist containing recordings from 1941 to 2001…Read more The Rising Sun
Crotchety Man 