When we talk about a string trio we usually mean violin, viola and cello: acoustic instruments playing chamber music in a broadly classical style. But substitute a guitar for the viola and a double bass for the cello and you get a stringy creature with a rather different complexion. Then, if you electrify the violin…Read more The Rite of Strings
Album of the Month
Vimana
It seems to me that progressive rock and its close cousin, jazz-rock fusion, have undergone a welcome renaissance over the past two decades or so. Or is it just that modern technology has made it so much easier to find art that rises above the bland, the mediocre and the ugly? It's hard to be…Read more Vimana
The Clockwork Fable
I love a good story. And The Clockwork Fable is a splendid story. It concerns the subterranean city of Cogtopolis, founded 200 years or more ago. There is no natural light there. The citizens have legends of a sun that once shone above the surface but its rays were extinguished by clouds of choking, burning…Read more The Clockwork Fable
Worlds of Yesterday
Some History The following information is taken (mostly verbatim) from the sleeve notes of Worlds of Yesterday, a compilation of Moonshot songs curated by Tim Bowness. 1967: Moonshot emerged from the ashes of the Warrington skiffle band, Scouse Mouse. Led by Jeff Harrison on keyboards and vocals they recorded a couple of non-charting psychedelic singles. 1968 - 70:…Read more Worlds of Yesterday
Excalibur
A valuable work of art had gone missing. Detective Inspector "Crotchety" Mann was on the trail. His only clue was this track on Spotify from an album called Excalibur II: The Celtic Ring, under the artist name, Excalibur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLJ3aQ6MaeY The thieves should have been more careful to cover their tracks. Although Spotify had no information…Read more Excalibur
Attention Earth!
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Yes, folks, the aliens have landed. And they have brought their extra-terrestrial music to save us from ourselves. Billions of years ago Zpor was forced to leave his home planet of Agricular before it was consumed by its dying sun. He visited Xylanthia in the Sirius star system where…Read more Attention Earth!
Feels Good to Me
Let's go back to the beginning ... In the Spring of 2015 a post with the title Feels Good to Me appeared in these pages. The Crotchety Man blog was less than three months old then and there was a veritable cornucopia of music itching to be the inspiration for an aspiring wordsmith. So many…Read more Feels Good to Me
Easy Targets
The Crotchety Wanderer stepped into yet more uncharted territory recently. This time it was a website called The Progressive Aspect. An album review in the News section had caught my eye. The album was called Black Bead Eye, which was an interesting title, and it was by How Far to Hitchin, an outfit I'd not heard…Read more Easy Targets
Sharig (and some)
What, you may ask, is 'Sharig'? And it's a perfectly good question. Not even the mighty Google can give a sensible answer to that. Unless it's a spelling mistake. ("Did you mean 'sharing', O seeker of truth?", it offers in reply. But there's no way to answer 'No'.) So don't look for deep meaning in…Read more Sharig (and some)
Hidden Orchestra – Live
Sometimes the Fates deal us a difficult hand. Just recently it has not been enough for Crotchety Man to paddle his own canoe; he has been asked to paddle other people's canoes as well. That, of course, is flattering but this naturally nervous gentleman was never cut out to lead the paddlers' flotilla. Do I…Read more Hidden Orchestra – Live
