Back in June the Crotchety Man blog carried a review of Magnolia, which was then the most recent album by The Pineapple Thief. I gave it a rating of 3.5 out of 5 but reserved the right to adjust that as I got to know it better. Over the last few months, though, it has become…Read more Fend for Yourself
Track of the Week
Down River
Here's a Track of the Week from the guilty pleasures vault. It's old, it's simple and it's of a genre you might call folk/pop. But don't turn the web page just yet. Like many folk songs it's a sad song; like most pop songs it's easy on the ear. But it binds the listener to the torturer's rack, ratcheting up the…Read more Down River
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
Lord Franklin
At the end of the 15th century the colonial powers of Europe started to search for the Northwest Passage, a hypothetical sea route across North America that they hoped would be a profitable corridor between east and west to rival the mediaeval 'silk road' trade routes that connected the Mediterranean region with India and China. Many expeditions were…Read more Lord Franklin
‘Cause I’m A Man
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. John Gray Sometimes it seems that men and women come from different planets. Men are tough and strong; women are comparatively fragile and weak, both physically and mentally. Men are insensitive; women are warm and caring. When they are angry men are physically aggressive whereas women are devious and…Read more ‘Cause I’m A Man
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 …
Familiar
The 'classical' tag appears in these posts from time to time. Sometimes it refers to music from the years 1600 - 1900 but more often it indicates modern music in a style that owes a substantial debt to that period. Familiar is one of those more recent compositions. It is a single taken from Agnes Obel's forthcoming album Citizen of Glass…Read more Familiar
China In Your Hand
Back in 1987 I was a freelance software developer. In the autumn of that year I was working on a contract at offices some 15 miles from Leicester where I lived then, driving north up the A46 in the mornings. It was an easy journey. The road was fairly straight and not too busy. And it wound…Read more China In Your Hand
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
Diamonds and Rust
Nimble fingers pick gently at the strings of an acoustic guitar. Dark hair tumbles around her face. Her features and her music speak of Spanish ancestors as she gazes into the pale yellow light of a rising moon. A little while ago the phone had rung and the voice on the line stirred memories from years ago. Precious memories of…Read more Diamonds and Rust
Crotchety Man 