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
rock
Jessica
We started the year in quiet contemplation here on the Crotchety Man blog but now it's time to shake off the torpor of the holiday season and get moving. And, you know, nothing says "let's get this show on the road" better than Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TqmGptGZbM Jessica is an instrumental from the Brothers and…Read more Jessica
Soft Machine – Gig
Last night Soft Machine played a gig at The Flowerpot in Derby. The band has appeared in these pages twice before but, for anyone unfamiliar with them, there's an excellent biography (if a band can have a biography) on Spotify. Suffice it to say that the current Soft Machine line-up includes three guys who joined…Read more Soft Machine – Gig
Annie, Let’s Not Wait
There's a big difference between 'awesome' and 'awful'. And that's strange. Both words derive from 'awe', which originally just meant 'fear'. So 'awesome' should mean 'instils a certain trepidation' while 'awful' should have the more emphatic meaning, 'terrifying'. The use of 'awe' in the Bible to describe the mortal response to God's presence is thought to have…Read more Annie, Let’s Not Wait
Down Under
Australia is sometimes known as "the land down under" so it's fitting that the biggest hit by the Aussie band Men At Work should be called Down Under. It tells of an Australian who travels the world and the people he meets along the way. There's a woman on a hippy trail who makes him…Read more Down Under
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
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
Bundles
Bundles of Unpredictable Notes Define the Lasting Essence of Soft Machine For my money Soft Machine were at their best around 1975/6. It was a time when founding member Mike Ratledge was fading out¹ and Karl Jenkins was taking over the reins as band leader and main composer. They released two studio albums in this…Read more Bundles
Local Boy …
It's funny, sometimes, how one thing leads to another. For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For…Read more Local Boy …
River Song
The times seem to be changing at Crotchety Mansions. Recently, I added another couple of blogs to my list of followed sites. As if to balance those beginnings the first music blog I followed since starting this one, Vinyl Connection, has just ceased publication and this week The Maccabees announced they are disbanding. It's sad…Read more River Song
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