Essex is not famous for its bands. It is not Manchester, Liverpool or even Sheffield. I can only think of three Essex bands that have been huge successes – Depeche Mode, The Prodigy and the only one from Colchester – Blur. Their first album was a baggy album and derivative of that scene from theContinue reading “And Then I’m Happy For The Rest of the Day”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
I’m So Tired of Trying
David Coverdale was the second lead singer in Deep Purple in the band’s third line up. Generally considered less impressive than the Ian Gillan era it is still much better than what followed it and Coverdale is an impressive vocalist. He formed Whitesnake and they were a solid metal band, though with a taste forContinue reading “I’m So Tired of Trying”
Working For the Black Gas
The Tube was Channel 4’s music show. Much more of a music show than Top of the Pops it was presented by Jules Holland and Paula Yates. It was anarchic, coming live from Tyne Tees, it featured a magazine section, bands that were not famous and bands that were, all doing a set of songsContinue reading “Working For the Black Gas”
So Let’s Dance Through All Our Fears
I am not a big fan of Kylie Minogue. She was the scruffy tomboy mechanic in Neighbours who turned up and fell in love with ethe fake Scott Robinson (Jason Donovan was not the original, the role was recast when it moved channels). My knowledge of Neighbours is pretty much limited to my student days,Continue reading “So Let’s Dance Through All Our Fears”
Suddenly the Rain Came Down
How to qualify as a chartered accountant keeps changing. When I did it the emphasis was on exams – a system that did not reflect what you had to do at work. The format was tweaked on many occasions after I passed. You were also required to complete a training file, showing that you hadContinue reading “Suddenly the Rain Came Down”
There’s Anger In My Heart
In Royston a lot of the same people were involved in the church (St Johns for the record) and the drama group. One family was the Lynch’s. Gill and Bernard plus their three daughters – Felicity, Stephanie and Rachel (plenty of people wondered why Rachel was not named Melanie to fit the pattern). Undoubtedly theContinue reading “There’s Anger In My Heart”
Across the Midnight Sky
Flip and Fill are one of those dance acts, with varying singers, who did a cover of a famous song in a dance mode – in their case I Wanna Dance With Somebody (other groups did Bryan Adams’ Heaven and Duran Duran’s Ordinary World). Shooting Star was their best track. There are six television auteursContinue reading “Across the Midnight Sky”
We Are All Just Prisoners Here of Our Own Device
They were yacht rock. Not that anyone called it that at the time, it was named that retrospectively and I only found out when I watched a Katie Puckrik documentary about the soft rock/ country crossover music of that period. The Eagles were the sound of the summer for several years in the mid-1970s. ThatContinue reading “We Are All Just Prisoners Here of Our Own Device”
Straight Out of Zenn-La
This another artist and album I ignored when people were telling me who great it was. It wasn’t just one person either, it was Neil, all of Dumper and various Dumper fans. They all said that Joe Satriani was a genius guitarist. I even missed the chance to see him locally. The album cover featuresContinue reading “Straight Out of Zenn-La”
Exploding out of a tunnel
Julian Cope makes it onto the list as part of the Teardrop Explodes and solo. (His first group was the Crucial Three with Ian McCulloch and Pete Wylie – Echo and the Bunnymen and The Mighty Wah! Make the list too, in one way they may be the most influential band of that period). JulianContinue reading “Exploding out of a tunnel”
Five Miles Out 