Fate is fickle, they say. On another day her pointing finger may have selected the indie pop of A Trick of the Light by The Villagers or the classical/folk guitar work of Impossible Air by Nathan Salsburg. But, today, she has guided Crotchety Man to a new single release by The Breath called Let the…Read more Let the Cards Fall
electronica
Burning Shed Free EP
Back in March 2017, in my Album of the Month post on Moroccan Roll by Brand X, I opined that the latest incarnation of the band had fully rekindled the energy and enthusiasm of their early albums. As evidence I cited a live version of Malaga Virgen recorded on their reunion tour just a few…Read more Burning Shed Free EP
I Promise
Radiohead have always had many influences. A band that tips its hat to Pink Floyd, Siouxie and the Banshees, The Smiths, Miles Davis, Aphex Twin, krautrock bands and 20th century classical music (among others) is bound to have developed a somewhat idiosyncratic style. And they are always experimenting. That gives their album catalogue something of a…Read more I Promise
Doctor Who
The First Doctor has been characterised as a crotchety old man but he was so much more, displaying childish delight, great charm, enormous warmth and a wonderful sense of mischief during his many adventures through time and space. - A quote from the BBC website It seems my secret identity has been revealed. Yes, Crotchety Man…Read more Doctor Who
No Reason
It's a bright, but frosty morning here in the East Midlands region of the UK - a day in which the rising sun should be welcomed by peeping out from the bedclothes with a sleepy smile and snuggling down for another twenty minutes while the central heating chases away the overnight chill. It's Sunday. There's no reason to get up…Read more No Reason
The Curse of Blondie
I think I'm slowly getting the hang of this Internet thing. It seems to have all the information you could ever want (and a lot more besides) but to find what you're looking for you have to know where to look. I've searched for Blondie's eighth album, The Curse of Blondie, on streaming sites in the past…Read more The Curse of Blondie
The Other Side
Cast your mind back to December 1968. Apollo 8 was on the launchpad. No human being had ever been beyond Earth orbit. No astronaut had flown on the Saturn V launch vehicle before. There had been no less than three engine failures on the unmanned Apollo 6 mission earlier that year. Apollo 8 had been…Read more The Other Side
4 Degrees
Ten days ago Crotchety Man watched the awards ceremony for the 2016 Mercury Prize on the TV. The scheduling was confusing. At 7 o'clock there was a one-hour program on 'the red button' (a channel up in the six hundreds most easily found by clicking the red button on the TV remote) and this was…Read more 4 Degrees
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
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
Crotchety Man 