Some year in the early seventies, while Crotchety Student was wasting a few years studying biochemistry, he was dragged along to a pub in the suburbs of London to see a band called Kilburn and the Highroads. That young man had no idea what to expect from the gig. He had never heard of the…Read more What a Waste
post-punk
Message In A Bottle
Or, Tales of the River Bank¹. One morning in the summer of 1979 Crotchety Young Man was on his way to work. At that time he was based in the Berkshire town of Reading and his route took him over the river Thames at Caversham Bridge. There were rather more people than usual in the…Read more Message In A Bottle
Road to Nowhere
The weather forecast for tomorrow and the next few days is lousy here, but there's not a cloud in the sky this morning so let's make the most of it. How about a drive through the glorious English countryside? We don't have to go anywhere in particular. We'll just point the car in a random direction and drive.…Read more Road to Nowhere
R.S.V.P.
One sunny summer's day around 1980, while browsing through the albums in my local record shop, I came across a striking and unusual cover. In the centre there was a large black and white photograph of a diver in mid flight, arms spread wide. This was surrounded by a wide silver grey border with the words The Monochrome Set above…Read more R.S.V.P.
