There's a lot wrong with the world, I'm sure you agree. And it's always other people's fault, isn't it? Those nasty foreigners take our jobs. Terrorists come to our country, bomb our streets and shoot our innocent citizens. Immigrants sponge off the state and we, the tax payers, see our hard-earned beer money wasted on those…Read more Burn the Witch
2010s
An Awesome Wave
An Awesome Wave was the debut album by Alt-J (Crotchety Man's band of the year 2014). It's an astonishingly mature release for a first album but perhaps that shouldn't be so surprising given that the band was formed nearly five years before the album hit the shops in 2012. The title is a quote from the film American Psycho, which hints at an…Read more An Awesome Wave
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
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
Don’t You Wait
Ambiguous: adjective (Of language) open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning. Unclear or inexact because a choice between alternatives has not been made. Cloves - Don't You Wait (live) Last month something in my inbox announced that Peter Green had released a new album. Intrigued, I clicked through to see what the ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist has been up to recently. It wasn't…Read more Don’t You Wait
Shiloh
It's a year now since Crotchety Man retired - a year plus a week since my last day at work and a year minus a week since I officially ceased to be employed. Over those last twelve months I have moved 100 miles south, swapping the busy tourist city of York for the relative quiet of a Leicestershire village, and…Read more Shiloh
Mountain At My Gates
When I launched this blog I wrote that it would feature a lot of indie music, but that hasn't really happened so far. There are a couple of reasons for this. Crotchety Man's memory goes back over fifty years and 'indie' is a relatively new term in music journalism; a lot of what I have written about pre-dates it.…Read more Mountain At My Gates
Free Henry Fool
While looking for Bill Bruford CDs I was directed to the Burning Shed website. Burning Shed publishes CDs and vinyl records on behalf of a few select musicians and hosts the online shops for various artists/bands. Two things make Burning Shed admirably different: 1) the copyright of the works they publish remains with the artist and 2) it…Read more Free Henry Fool
Marks To Prove It
In London, just south of the river, there's a large, multi-lane roundabout complex called the Elephant and Castle. For drivers not used to big cities and unfamiliar with the area it's a terrifying place. Cars come at you from every direction. And not just cars. Lorries, vans, motorcycles and buses roar and thunder round the bends…Read more Marks To Prove It
Take Me To Church
You know a song has caught the imagination of the general public when it's played to accompany the trailer for a popular TV program. I realised just the other day that Hozier's Take Me To Church has achieved that ultimate honour, and it's a really good tune, so I've chosen it as my Track of the Week. Needless to say…Read more Take Me To Church
Crotchety Man 