This week's mind tickler came once again from my Spotify Release Radar playlist. A track called Presidentially Yours caused the cog wheels in the mental gearbox to suddenly shift up a notch. The title alone was enough to disengage the clutch. The unmistakable voice of Simon Armitage, our Poet Laureate, selected a higher gear ratio.…Read more Presidentially Yours
post-punk
Nothing But a Fool
The members of Joy Division had agreed that the band would not perform under that name should any one of them leave. So, when their singer Ian Curtis took his own life in 1980, the dark post-punk group morphed into New Order. The band soon evolved more of a dance-rock sound, closer to new wave…Read more Nothing But a Fool
Sunlight to Blue …
A Burning Shed recommendation this week: Sunlight to Blue ... Blue to Blackness, a 2008 album by The Durutti Column. The band's name has always puzzled me. It turns out to come from an anti-fascist military unit in the Spanish Civil War under the leadership of one Buenaventura Durruti. (Although the commander's name is spelt…Read more Sunlight to Blue …
Strong Feelings
If a music blogger is only as old as the songs he reviews I have been getting ever more youthful. And my slide backwards has never been more apparent than with this latest track-of-the-week. Strong Feelings, was only released last month as a taster for Dry Cleaning's forthcoming album, New Long Leg, due out on…Read more Strong Feelings
Handshakes …
It was nearly time to pick up the weekly click-and-collect grocery order from the supermarket. Mrs. C checked the website for unavailable items and substitutions. Item 1: half a dozen wholemeal bread rolls; Item 2: half a dozen multi-seed bread rolls. For the wholemeal the supermarket had substituted multi-seed. Bizarrely, for the multi-seed they had…Read more Handshakes …
Killing Moon
Echo was a naughty nymph. When Zeus came down to dally with the maidens of Mount Cithaeron, he told the loquacious Echo to engage his wife, Hera, in long conversations so that she would not find out about her husband's indiscretions. And Echo did as she was told, for it would be most unwise to disobey…Read more Killing Moon
What a Waste
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
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.
Crotchety Man 