My Release Radar this week included several interesting new pieces by not-so-new artists spanning a wide range of styles. I'm featuring them in another Spotify playlist this week. But before we get to that, I must pay tribute to Peter Green, who's death was announced yesterday. Rolling Stone placed the blues/rock guitarist born Peter Allen Greenbaum…Read more Radar Blips
blues
New Release Pick & Mix
Today you can pick your own treats from an assortment of recent releases that tickled the Crotchety taste buds over the last week or so. Two of these songs came to my attention via Josh Gering's Fortnightly Playlist; the other three appeared on my Release Radar on Spotify. --- *** --- First up we have…Read more New Release Pick & Mix
Diving Duck Blues
Today I'm playing the race card. Today your colour is the most important thing in the world to me. If you are black, white, red or yellow you are my enemy. 'Cos today I got the blues. You see, I picked the duck with the blue ribbon in the annual duck race and no yellow-bellied…Read more Diving Duck Blues
Theme for an Imaginary Western
Sometimes it's easy to choose a track of the week. More often it's hard. This morning was shaping up to be one of those difficult days. The Crotchety Couple have had a few days in which nothing quite goes according to plan. On Monday we went to a Christmas Carnival. Going via my dad's it…Read more Theme for an Imaginary Western
Old Love
Crotchety Man has become hopelessly distracted lately. The object of his latest passion is taking up far too much of his increasingly precious time and is never far from his thoughts. An old love has been rekindled by seductive words in a seemingly innocent email. You see, the ageing rocker has been invited to join…Read more Old Love
Tears in Heaven
While idly browsing the Web the other day, with my Release Radar playing in the background, my thoughts were hijacked by a bluesy bass solo. I knew immediately that it was something by Colin Hodgkinson. It had to be him because nobody plays bass like Colin Hodgkinson. Switching to the Spotify window I saw the…Read more Tears in Heaven
Thight Lines …
... and Screaming Reels No, I haven't spelled that wrongly¹. My Track of the Week really is called Thight Lines and Screaming Reels. Then again, it must be a spelling mistake. Somewhere between Colin Hodgkinson's pen and the record company an extra 'h' must have crept in. Perhaps it was a communication problem between an English…Read more Thight Lines …
Blind Faith
Regular readers of the Crotchety Man blog may have picked up that I hold a non-religious view of the world. I'm a humanist - one who believes that there is probably no god and we must, therefore, base our moral code on being nice to one another. I came to this way of thinking because…Read more Blind Faith
Electric Ladyland
Why do we write about music? After all, mere words can not express the pleasure we get from listening to our favourite songs. How do you communicate the excitement when you hear something for the first time and your inner music critic says "Wow, that's amazing!"? How do you explain what makes this song special?…Read more Electric Ladyland
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
