New Star Rising There's a new star rising in the west, and it's coming from the place, that we know must be the best. The nights are growing longer, feel the power getting stronger, put the people of the old ways to the test. Along the horizon, lines of dust. In the prisons, bars of … Continue reading New Star Rising
A few days ago… well, look, I won't lie to you, it was two weeks ago, Killer Queen by Queen was playing on the wireless, you know the one, "She keeps Moët et Chandon, in her pretty cabinet..." and as the song finished and faded into the next song on the radio station's playlist, in … Continue reading In the Lap of the Gods.
'Octoberon' is the seventh studio album by the band Barclay James Harvest, and it was released on October 1st, 1976. In support of the album the band toured in the UK during October and November of that year. On October 17th, 1976 they played at The Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead and I was there. Barclay … Continue reading October on, Octoberon.
Thanks to my good friend Kerry Thorpe, I grew into the school of Prog whilst still in Middle School, but my path was not as delineated by Prog as one might imagine. Me and Kerry at the National Railway Museum in York, September 2011 Dateline: Christmas 1978. Boney M were riding high in the charts, … Continue reading Ra-Ra-Rasputin…
Woke up, it was a grey Tuesday. Went downstairs, brewed the tea, watched a few minutes of the (frankly depressing) news on TV. Took the tea upstairs for the customary half hour lie-in, listening to the wireless. It was just coming up to the hour and Radio Caroline had gone into commercials mode, so I … Continue reading Tuesday, 31st August 2021.
I wrote Cosmic Generation as a song; I didn't have any music for it, but I felt that it had a certain rhythm, maybe a certain beat...
We went to see Steeleye Span in concert at Chesham's Elgiva Theatre the other night, a small group of us. It was a fantastic concert. I didn't take any photos - yeah, I know, if there aren't photos on Facebook (or WordPress) then it never happened, right? I didn't take any photos because I was … Continue reading Below the Salt, above Expectations.
Sometimes you just have to go back to the source. The first time that I heard of or indeed heard anything by the Canadian rock band Rush it was their song, Closer To The Heart. Closer To The Heart had been released as a single in the UK in January 1978 and by February had … Continue reading Closer To The Heart
Musical appreciation, a blog piece in three parts at least, in which I digress... I know, I know, I've said it before but I'm jolly well going to say it again. Musical appreciation is hugely subjective. One person's Rib Eye Steak is another person's Tofu Burger. Speaking of which, which I don't believe I was … Continue reading Spicy Progressive Concierto Burger, anyone?
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, by Gil Scott-Heron. I first heard this poem/song many years ago, I didn’t catch who it was by, I just heard it and thought; Yeah, I quite like that… It’s one of those songs that whilst you like it, it sort of slips through the grasp of memory until … Continue reading Revolution…
A Point of Views, A Polish Odyssey and Other Stories. 