In The Shadows Of The Wine

As I may have said oft times before ‘Well it’s been awhile’. So here I am again, I thought I needed to blog at least once before the end of 2013. I have been busy trying to re-catalogue my entire digital music collection as it was all over the place on my external drives. I still have far too much music to listen to and will probably never hear the half of it but nevertheless as a lifelong collector every new album, every new track, every new artist entering my radar is a must have if it meets my musical criteria, which is very large and wide as you will already know as a life-long viewer of my blogs.

So that reminds me to give a big ‘up’ to my other internet dabbling on Tumbler with Spunky Onions and Outside The Mainstream, I still manage to post the odd track, video, and picture for both yours and my own pleasure.

Anyway since last time we have lost a great statesmen in Nelson Mandela, a great actor in Peter O’Toole, a great actress in Joan Fontaine and a great guitarist in John ‘Gypie’ Mayo……..

I suppose this being the season of goodwill I should mention Christmas, so there you have it I have finally mentioned the 'C' word and will say no more except to say I have never been much of a fan of this time of year as the unrelenting march of capitalism meets the rise of consumerism and we all pay the price. Let’s charge a £1 per plastic bag from 1st January that might make the majority of shopaholics stand back and ponder for a moment before they buy something completely pointless again and again.

 

 

 

A big Ho Ho Ho and a Merry Xmas to all my readers and listeners.

I leave you with a six-pack of top tracks today.

The Man Who Rode !!

 

 

Enjoy

Drive By Truckers - The Weakest Man

Jerry Lee Lewis - Turn On Your Lovelight

The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Painted On

The Pogues - Turkish Song Of The Damned

Jeff Finlin - Woke Up Inside A Revolution

Screaming Trees - All I Know

Hey, Careful, Man, There's A Beverage Here !

I am a beer snob, I have no problems admitting it and I wish the average beer drinker in the UK was a beer snob just like me. I say this because just lately I never seem to go to a public place without coming across the ubiquitous empty can of Stella Artois lying on the pavement or in the gutter. Last week I came across an obvious homeless man sitting or just managing to stay upright on a bench outside a church with a can of Stella clutched in his hands. I also was walking in some countryside on an old railway track with no other rubbish lying around when a can of Stella appeared in the bushes followed by another about 50 yards further on as if an individual was trying to create an empty Stella can trail across Public Footpaths. Personally I cannot stand Stella as a drink it’s too strong too chemical in flavour and has little or no taste, yet as a product it flows out of supermarkets by the case load everyday into the homes of students and other likeminded individuals who are charmed by the cheap prices and the appeal of a foreign-type strong lager.

It had also gained an infamous nickname as ‘Wife Beater’ which basically sums it all up really as an honestly as anything could.

 

“Ideal accompaniment to aperfect dinner party. The discerning choice of lager. Stella Artois is a beautifully balanced golden poils style lager with a distinctive taste of Saaz hops. It’s pronounced bitterness and crisp dry finish make Stella Artois the perfect choice for those special occasions”

The above paragraph is a direct copy and paste from Tesco’s website where you can purchase a box of 12 for £9.00 at 4.8abv. It’s bought for a perfect drunken Sunday afternoon with a bunch of loud mates in the back garden or the Saturday night party where you need to bring some drinks, maybe you will have a few cans before you even leave home, just chill it in the fridge and away you go. I can see no reason to buy the stuff other than it’s alcoholic and it’s cheap but the worse thing of all is how it’s a transportable, throwaway drink littering our streets and countryside so if you want to bring back attention once again to our lack of personal responsibility and our current throwaway society attitude then Stella Artois really is the standard bearer drink to measure it by.

By the way AnheuserBusch In Bev there is no such thing as Cidre. The British make the best cider in the world, we have the best apples and the most knowledge and it is called CIDER. Cidre is piss, a marketing ploy to make the ‘Wife Beaters’ think they are sophisticated, so just stop with those ridiculous faux-French adverts now and go home and make yourself sick drinking such crap.

 

Enjoy

Lil' Cap'n Travis - 3.2 Beer Of Love

Porter Wagoner - The World Needs A Washin'

North Mississippi Allstars - Drinking Muddy Water

The Popes - Loneliness Of A Long Distance Drinker

Splodgenessabounds - Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please

The Night Bleeds Hope

So my least favourite day of the year is long gone, good riddance to Halloween for another year. Goodbye to one of the most over-commercialised, over-hyped, fright night- shite days of the year. Unbelievably a reasonably civilised society such as the USA has built this tripe fest to massive proportions and then transplanted it back over here so we all have to suffer this nonsense. Why can’t we just celebrate our old-fashioned pagan ways ourselves without all this Hollywood scary movie, vampire slaying, Boris Karloff bollocks every 31^st of October.

Anyway moving on, this week I caught up with two fascinating documentaries on the making of ‘Tommy’ & ‘Quadrophenia’ by The Who. Two wonderful rock operas that still sound as cool and fresh today, even though they came out of Pete Townsend’s brain more than 30 years ago. Sitting watching these docs, really brought it home to me how clever and literate Townsend was and the fact that the band all came from my old area of West London makes them rather special. It made me smile watching Pete being filmed having a discussion about ‘mods’ in the Pie & Mash shop that is still there in Shepherds Bush. My Nan used to go there every Friday for a takeaway to bring it back on the bus (no 117) I think and we would have the pie, mash and liquor re-heated for a fabulous weekly treat.

 

Also this week saw the end of Lou Reed, I always appreciated what he did and what he was to modern rock music history without being a big fan although I do own a smattering of his albums. I always really liked ‘New York’ from 1989 which was his 15^th solo album !! for it’s great guitar riffs and acerbic lyrics. I only saw him play live once at an odd venue, The London Palladium and the gig became more memorable to me for the location rather than the music. 

Enjoy

 

 

RIP Lou Reed

 

The Who - Bell Boy

Lou Reed - Strawman

Mott The Hoople - Thunderbuck Ram

Screaming Trees - For Celebrations Past

Don't Turn Your Heater Down

 

Autumn is definitely back again, the trees are a glory of different colours and the atmosphere seems to have constant dampness in the air.

Here in the UK our Big Six Energy companies who control the power have started their annual remorseless price increase for us consumers. They really are a bunch of inconsiderate, fraudulent charlatans with no shame. I wish it was that simple to say ‘bollocks’ to them all but clearly it isn’t as we all need gas and electricity to fuel our modern world. Then the  Tories finally got their wish and part-privatised the Royal Mail leading to a mass scramble for shares and the tainting of my  political beliefs as I fell along with the crooked hedge funds and city capitalists and bought a few for myself to maximise a quick gain on the profit margin. I sold them back after a week and I now want to move on again and hide my shame !

Breaking Bad finally ended after six series and I was as amazed as ever by the acting and the great writing that made the show one of the greatest ever made. Homeland and The Walking Dead have returned to lessen the blow and see me through these darkening days.

This week I saw the return of Graham Parker with The Rumour touring Britain together for the first time in around 30 years or so. Considering how old they are now it was a really good gig and they are obviously still loved dearly amongst 40,50,60 year old music fans judging by the large turnout in Leeds on a Tuesday night. It led me back to Mr Parker’s classic songs and my soul shoes have been on all week since the gig.

 

Enjoy

Danny and the Champions Of The World - BreakingOut

Black Joe Lewis - Dar Es Salaam

Graham Parker and The Rumour - Don't Ask Me Questions

Todd Snider - Money, Compliments, Publicity

Roky Erickson - The Interpreter

I Can Feel The Heat Closing In

 

Just over two weeks ago the famous crime writer Elmore Leonard passed away. I have been a fan of his writing since I was a teenager and have already read over 30 of his books. I must admit that his death started me thinking a little more on the kind of books I like to read and my favourite authors over the years.

I suppose Crime Fiction has been the most popular subject of my reading experience. When I was younger I managed to read many of the so-called modern classics, (Slaughterhouse Five, Catch 22, To Kill A Mockingbird, Concrete Island, Tropic Of Cancer, The Great Gatsby, Tropic Of Capricorn, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, The Catcher In The Rye, The Outsider, Brave New World, The Naked Lunch. On The Road, In Cold Blood) this list could go on and on but I’m sure you get the picture of my adolescent reading material. Then I moved onto Crime novels especially Mr Leonard’s then came George Pelecanos, James Lee Burke, Daniel Woodrell, Jim Thompson, James M.Cain, James Crumley.

I expect you have noticed that they are all American writers and this fixation stayed with me as I then read everything by Charles Bukowski, Paul Auster, Pete Dexter, Raymond Carver, Harry Crews and Tim Gautreaux.

When it comes to British authors I lean towards, Magnus Mills, Jake Arnott and David Peace. Generally I have a pile of at least six books to be read and I am in the process of beginning on the Jo Nesbo Harry Hole detective series as I have read a few of Henning  Mankell’s Wallander books  and Scandinavian Noir is very popular these days.

 

My favourite book is probably Bukowski’s ‘Post Office’, the best series of books was definitely ‘Games Of Thrones’ and my current read is ‘Yellow Birds’ a book written about the Iraq War.

 

Enjoy

Gil Scot-Heron and Brian Jackson - Ain't No Such Thing As Superman

Glen Campbell - Galveston

The Coral - Pass It On

Medicine Head - One and One is One

Warren Zevon - Boom Boom Mancini

Straw Man Red Sun River Gold

The whole world has been concerned about debt for quite awhile now since the financial crash in 2008/9 and if you read a daily newspaper or watch any news programme on TV then there is always an article or some coverage of the state of the Euro, the Dollar, Sterling, Mortgage rates or the crisis in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Ireland etc.

On a personal level I try to avoid debt at all costs. I try never to be overdrawn, always pay off my outstanding amount on my modest collection of two credit cards and even actually try to save some money for my retirement, which in my case can’t arrive soon enough. I do understand that many people are suffering with all the benefit cuts, unemployment and the minuscule increases too most people’s wages. I am quite lucky that my pay generally increases every year, but that is only through Union negotiation because if it was left to the management of my company they would give me nothing at all. Union’s generally have a bad press and admittedly I do not agree with everything they try to do but overall I would not be in a workplace and not join the Union if there was one in situ.

Unfortunately this financial crisis has not hit the top level that governs and makes decisions that affect our daily purse; they often own mega-companies are chief executives, board members and are the higher ranks in our financial services. These people earn far too much and do not distribute their wealth, talent, benevolence to the benefit of the people they just continue to exploit the system which they have created in their favour to make more money. I would like to ask this question of these types of individuals, when do your large amounts of money become irrelevant ? you surely cannot spend it all, and it must get to a point where it becomes meaningless.

We are currently run by a bunch of toffs from Eton, who have never worked in a Greggs, a call centre, a mine, driven a bus, removed your bins, sat in an office in front of a pc for seven hours a day week in week out etc etc. Yet these Tory toffs are making decisions that have no consequence to them at all. I am at Socialist at heart and despise them all but when it comes to voting again I expect I will not vote because there is no political party that represents my general view of the world and our society.

As per normal I started one topic and moved into another.

As an old Labour supporter  I say to Ed Milliband sort it out mate or Labour are as doomed as the Liberals who sold themselves down the river when they made their coalition deal with these devil’s.

Enjoy  

Ha Ha Tonka - Problem Solver

The Black Lillies - The Arrow

Dr. John - Kingdom Of Izzness

Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band - Harry Irene

Two Days Til' Tomorrow

Today let’s talk about music, as this is mainly a music blog.

 

When I was younger I travelled a lot more especially to the South of the United States of America. I was always into music so through my travels I would buy albums, cassettes, cd’s and try to get to as many gigs as I could. I remember seeing Evan Johns and The H-Bombs at the Antone’s blues club in Austin, Texas sometime around 1986. My mate Paul and I were going to see Omar & The Howlers and Evan Johns was the support act, he was a giant of a man and his band really rocked so as an obsessive collector I had to go out and buy all the H-Bomb albums I could get my hands on. I have five or six albums but none beats his 1986 effort “Rollin’ Through The Night” on the Alternative Tentacles record label.

 

A few years later I was back in the states in New Orleans attending the wedding of my friend Yvette and I was loitering in a few dusty old second-hand record shops when the Schramms “Walk To Delphi” album caught my eye, I now can’t remember whether I had heard of the band before because the leader of the band Dave Schramm had been an early member of  Yo La Tengo but I bought the album and I have always had a soft spot for the LP especially the title track. Bucket Of Brains magazine review said it was ‘a record with a heart of gold, classic Americana’. I still have the review as I cut it out and put it in the record sleeve. I paid $6.50 for it back in 1992.

 

 Last but not in any way least ladies and gentlemen I give you the MC5. I was playing these tracks yesterday and I decided that these two tracks certainly get my vote as the best ever band introduction thanks to their manager and White Panther party activist John Sinclair the band then go straight into two of the best heavy guitar riff’s you can ever hear. Recorded live at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit over two night in 1969 the MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams” is a classic of it’s kind and should be higher than 294 in Rolling Stone’s greatest of all time list.

 

 

 Enjoy

Evan Johns and The H-Bombs - Rollin' Through The Night

The Schramms - Walk To Delphi

MC5 - Ramblin' Rose - Kick Out The Jams