A band that I would have never considered until I was an adult. I first really picked up on the Hollies when they rereleased He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother in the late 80s. I got a best of the Hollies compilation in the 90s and they are seriously under rated. Beautiful vocal harmonies andContinue reading “Words That Were Spoken In Anger”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
We Stood and Stared
Where did heavy metal start? Well for me it was with Clive Hook who was doing the music for Scott House assemblies at Meridian. In the fourth form Mr Newbury was our head of house and he wanted Clive to play some loud music for an assembly. Clive asked if I could help him andContinue reading “We Stood and Stared”
Take a Load For Free
Take a Load For Free I went to the Doctor’s in 2014 and they told me that I was pre pre-diabetic (yes two pre) – or just a bit above average would be another way of putting it. They advised me to cut out drinking orange juice (which I had been doing to stay healthyContinue reading “Take a Load For Free”
We Build a Tower of Stone
I learnt about Rainbow backwards. The first songs I heard were singles in 1981 from Difficult to Cure like I Surrender. I earned income babysitting in that last year in Royston and one of my clients was the Greening family – John Greening had their previous album Down To Earth (most famously featuring Since YouContinue reading “We Build a Tower of Stone”
Just This Once Twice Forever
Songs you would never have admitted to liking at the time. Wham! Were a band that girls liked, not for boys and proper music fans. Though they had started their career with Wham Rap!, which was played on evening radio shows their album Fantastic was stuffed full of hits like Bad Boys, Young Guns andContinue reading “Just This Once Twice Forever”
Why Go To Learn the Words of Fools?
I don’t know why, but when I was younger, I kept confusing the Kinks and the Small Faces. Both have an iconic song and are from the same period, but apart from that they really are not that similar. The Small Faces were, in some ways, the first Britpop group. They were also a veryContinue reading “Why Go To Learn the Words of Fools?”
You’re Under the Gun
This where I sound like a grumpy old man, moaning about how the world today has changed for the worse. The supposedly inevitable time when a man’s broad mind and narrow waist change places. But I’m going to say it anyway. I’m not a native Londoner, my formative years were in Royston and Brightlingsea, veryContinue reading “You’re Under the Gun”
Conversations With Dead People
This is another part of the explanation about why The Sopranos is not as innovative as people think it is, plus a recommendation of the TV work of Joss Whedon, another great of modern television. After the Stephen Bochco series on network TV JM Straczynski created Babylon 5 – a series that ran for fiveContinue reading “Conversations With Dead People”
Before the Thud of the Future
Steven Doubtfire recommended this album to me. We both like Led Zeppelin and he persuaded me to listen to Roy Harper’s Whatever Happened to Jugula? as Jimmy Page was playing guitar on it. It is nothing like Led Zeppelin, but I am glad that he persuaded me. Why the hell do we teach Orwell toContinue reading “Before the Thud of the Future”
You’re a Pageant
Changing schools is traumatic and under the three-tier system (primary, middle and upper) you have to do it once more than in the two tier system (or two times extra when you move like I did). Meridian Upper School, in Royston, is actually right next door to Greneway Middle School – the boundary between theContinue reading “You’re a Pageant”
Five Miles Out 