It's been a busy weekend in the Crotchety village. On Saturday there was the Duck Race, normally held in the Spring, and on Sunday the Open Gardens, postponed from the Summer. Mrs. Crotchety was organising the teas for the garden visitors; Mr. Crotchety scurried round with a camera, recording images for the village website. Neither…Read more Awakening
progressive rock
Zopp
Bandcamp came up trumps this week. They published an article with the mesmerising title, "You Can’t Bury Canterbury: A Guide to the Neo-Canterbury Sound". After a brief introduction to remind us that the Canterbury sound emerged in the early seventies with bands like Soft Machine, Caravan, National Health and Hatfield and the North it went…Read more Zopp
A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof
The second item in Burning Shed's newsletter this week announced a remastering of one of Djam Karet's albums. That name rang a bell somewhere deep in the bowels of Crotchety Man's memory but the sound had no shape or substance. There was no clue to the band's origin, personnel or style. Obviously, there was a…Read more A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof
Danger Money
Out of curiosity I looked up the most dangerous occupations in the UK. There are several lists based on fatality statistics. They vary considerably but most include some or all of the following professions: Seafarers, especially fishermenConstruction workersFarmers and other agricultural workersLorry drivers Some of the most dangerous jobs don't employ that many people: oil…Read more Danger Money
Just the Same
We don't do repeats on this blog. But today the Selection Sub-Committee has chosen an old song from Gentle Giant, a band that featured here in 2015. Although the song is from the 1975 album, Free Hand, this version has had the magical Steven Wilson remix treatment, making it as clear as a glass bell…Read more Just the Same
Symmetry
We all know what symmetry is, don't we? If we take this lovely picture of the dome of the Sheik Lotfollah mosque in Isfahan, Iran and flip it horizontally the resulting pattern will be indistinguishable from the original. There are several other operations we could perform that also leave the pattern unchanged - we might…Read more Symmetry
Fjieri
Fjieri is an Italian band. It was formed in 1997 by Stefano Panunzi and Nicola Lori. Their music falls at the soft end of prog rock, somewhere between Tim Bowness and King Crimson. They have released two albums: Endless (2009) and Words Are All We Have (2015). Both albums are superb, as you'd expect from…Read more Fjieri
Prophecy
I have seen the future. A vinyl edition of Solstice's 2013 album, Prophecy, will be released on 2nd July 2021. Or so the Burning Shed oracle tells me. The significance of this revelation, though, was obscure for, although I have seen many summers, no Solstice had ever appeared on the domestic music machines. While the…Read more Prophecy
The Princess of the Allen Keys
The Princess of the allen keys is the title of a newly released album by Noisy Diners. It is subtitled The history of Manto. To the Crotchety Team that presents a four-part puzzle: what, we wonder, is the connection between 'princess', 'Allen keys', 'noisy diners' and 'Manto'? It's a puzzle we have been unable to…Read more The Princess of the Allen Keys
11-11
At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 the armistice that ended the fighting of the first World War came into effect. Although, technically, the war had been neither won nor lost, effectively, it marked the defeat of the German armed forces. The peace treaty itself took another 6…Read more 11-11
Crotchety Man 