The parrot is a cunning bird ... ... but that is not what this blog post is about. An album by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks was released on vinyl in 1973. It was called, simply, Buckingham Nicks. Shortly afterwards, Buckingham and Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac, and their debut offering was eclipsed by their new…Read more Cunningham Bird
2020s
This Could Be Texas
The wind is picking up. A hurricane is coming. Run, Dorothy! There's been a lot going on in Crotchety Land recently, and I haven't been paying attention to what's happening in the wider world. In particular, I haven't been keeping an eye on the Mercury Music Prize. While I've been distracted, the winner of this…Read more This Could Be Texas
The Story of Mr. Bogd, part 1
Once upon a time, there were four musicians from Sweden who decided to form a prog rock band. They called themselves Ritual. Over the next 15 years, they recorded and released four studio albums and one live. Their fifth studio album, The Story of Mr. Bogd, part 1, was released earlier this month, after a…Read more The Story of Mr. Bogd, part 1
Lives Outgrown
I retired in the autumn of 2014. The calendar says that's less than 10 years ago, but it feels like a completely different life. Instead of writing software for a business making subsea welding robots, I now manage a website and provide I.T. support for a charity that offers educational opportunities to those in their…Read more Lives Outgrown
The Edge of the Land
There were several candidates for this week's post. Candacraig's prog/art rock album, Lit by Lightning, nearly made the grade but, in the end, felt a little too formulaic. Storm Corrosion, a collaboration between Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), was billed as "more spacious, ambient waters from either of their main gigs", and…Read more The Edge of the Land
A Sky Full of Ghosts
"A lot of those stars actually died millions of years ago. It's just they're so far away, the light they created before they died hasn't finished reaching us yet ... You're looking at a sky full of ghosts." Amie Kaufman Ghost stars. We see them, but they are not really there. They were there once,…Read more A Sky Full of Ghosts
Mordant Lake
Back in November 2022 I reviewed the Polarchoral album by Grice. In that piece, I noted that Grice is not backed by a big promoter and doesn’t do a lot of self-promotion. The implication was that this artist deserves more attention than you might think from the sparse mentions in the media. His marketing team…Read more Mordant Lake
Another Sweep of the Radar
Click the image for animation I love Spotify. Its collection of songs and instrumentals is vast. The Spotify app looks good, and it works beautifully well. It has even made a good stab at learning what I like. My only gripe is that its recommendations pull me towards the most popular artists (which almost invariably…Read more Another Sweep of the Radar
Oath Breaker
It's been a while since I used the track-of-the-week tag. I guess that's because there have been plenty of albums worthy of a spell in the spotlight here, and no one track has stood out above the rest. But, today, I'm going to feature a band called Alo̱r that, as far as I can see,…Read more Oath Breaker
Tom Penaguin
If you are wondering what a penguin has to do with a Zeppelin, read that title again. There's an 'a' in Tom Penaguin, and he's French, so his name is pronounced more like penaga than penagwin. And the airship is from the artwork for his experimental project, Soundtrack for Places I've Never Been Vol 1.…Read more Tom Penaguin
Crotchety Man 