Only fans have heard of John Foxx. He was the lead singer on Ultravox’s first three albums, which only spawned a couple of very minor hits. He was replaced by Midge Ure and Ultravox had an extended period of success. Foxx had a couple of solo hits – Underpass and No One’s Driving, but hisContinue reading “It’s time to make our way through the fountained squares”
Tag Archives: Music
If I could buy my reasoning, I’d pay to lose
In Spring 1990 we had a university reunion at Dave Carter’s in the Lake District. I met Alex at a station near his house in Slough and we drove up together. It was a warm spring day, but the temperature progressively dropped the further north we went. By the time we got to Carter’s IContinue reading “If I could buy my reasoning, I’d pay to lose”
One cheap illusion can still be divine
Consider a counter-history starting in the sixteenth century. In 1588 Catholic Spain tried to conquer Protestant England – it failed, but what if it had succeeded? England is conquered by Spain and becomes an occupied country. Spanish people settle in East Anglia and Catholicism becomes the state religion. Protestantism is outlawed and heretics are burntContinue reading “One cheap illusion can still be divine”
I’m old enough to face the dawn
When are you an adult? Old enough to face the world? I have to admit that when I was young I expected at some stage there to come a revelation and that I would be able to handle things, that I would be an adult and sound profound mystery of the world would be unlockedContinue reading “I’m old enough to face the dawn”
I’m number one so why try harder?
These Academy Award commentaries are the least popular things on the blog, but I want to do them anyway. The 1990s were a good decade for the Academy Awards. It starts with a win for Dances with Wolves which is worthy but quite dull. Ghost is far better remembered but Goodfellas is probably the oneContinue reading “I’m number one so why try harder?”
And we can’t build our dreams
Mike lived in Leicester for quite a while. The first time we went up to see him he was living on his own and I rifled his CD collection and found one that surprised me – an Elvis Presley compilation. Now I knew that he was hugely important in the history of popular music, butContinue reading “And we can’t build our dreams”
As a white knight on his steed
Doctor Who was born in the 1960s and, as fans know, the first episode clashed with the assassination of John Kennedy. Fortunately they repeated it before episode 2 the following week. (The original cast – Carol Ann Ford, Jacqueline Hill, William Russell and William Hartnell) It was not expected to last long and the factContinue reading “As a white knight on his steed”
You fall to dust
The Psychedelic Furs are most famous for Pretty in Pink, a big hit after the film of the same name was released in 1986. Yet the film is an anodyne story about high school love between Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy (two of the 80s Brat Pack) and the song that inspired it is nothingContinue reading “You fall to dust”
Let your soul and your body and your mind be free
When I got into dance music I really liked the Shamen. Their story is quite sad as they recorded En-Tact and when they went to Tenerife to make a video for Move Any Mountain Colin Angus drowned in the ocean. The song Omega Amigo looks eerily prescient and the song Space Time off Boss DrumContinue reading “Let your soul and your body and your mind be free”
Remember when
I sometimes wonder if I would have been better off being born twenty years earlier or twenty years later. I hope, despite being 54, that I am still staying abreast of modern technology. I hope that I keep doing that and do not succumb to the seeming inevitability of older people of saying it wasContinue reading “Remember when”
Five Miles Out 