Author: notsosourpus

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RIP Jackie Leven

Very sorry to hear the news of Jackie Leven’s passing. Especially at this crucial moment in human history – it seems all the more poignant. Not so qualified to write about him as I would like to have been. Just occasionally, a songwriter gets brought to my attention by another songwriter. Jackie was one. To me, he was a sort of modern day Woody Guthrie figure, To some of my musician friends, he was not only a great songwriter, but also a very good friend. He was held in high esteem by many other aspiring songwriters, who, in turn, felt inspired to speak their own minds. He also wrote about some very powerful subjects. Not to even mention his remarkable personal story. At a loss for words to describe any of that, but probably dont need to if you are one of those whose musical radar includes Jackie.

He may not have been so well-known to the public, but I suspect his legend will live on somewhere, wherever songs are written. Sad news.

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Gig Rabbit

The indie professor over at the mothership raised a fine question today about people talking at gigs. Thought I might post this clip of Jeff Tweedy attempting to deal with the issue, as directly (and bravely, I would say) as you probably can. Found myself agreeing with Jeff, especially when he nails the joy of gig-going so neatly, by describing it as everyone being ‘part of a group of people in a wonderful way..but you have to pay attention to it’. Wondered what the rest of you thought(?)

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Jet Harris

Heard lots of great tales about the general diamond-geezerness of Jet Harris. As a nipper, the first band whose albums I collected was The Shads and my first attempt to form a band was playing Shadows/Drifters covers. I even have JH’s autograph at home somewhere, which my mum picked up for me at a concert he gave in Leicester in 1974. Another pioneer of British rock, sadly missed.

 

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Another lost son

Sad news of Garry Moore. I have to admit I wasnt a follower after he left Thin Lizzy – I know many, many were. But the one time I did get to see him give his all on stage (with Lizzy in 1980) it was totally electrifying. He was perfect for Lizzy at that moment, adding a touch of extra cool no subsequent guitarist in the band had, in drain pipes and brothel creepers, throwing himself around the stage and clearly loving the music he was playing. And with a massive guitar sound. A treasured memory. A great talent. RIP.

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Christmas in Oz

Not quite sure why I want to post this. You’re probably thinking “enough already!” after all the Christmas music you’ve heard in the run up to it all. But I always like to give a bit of support to anyone who’s reaching for honesty in their music. No idea who this guy is (apart from what Google told me) but something about this particular song said ‘share it’. So here it is.

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Almost

I just realised that this record is almost 20 years old. Staggering. Was it really twenty years ago that the band I was then an enthusiastic part of released this as a single? Most of us had already been playing in bands for more than ten years by the time of its release. We felt like veterans. Seems funny now.

Quite an uncharacteristic song for us – we normally always went for a more ‘classic’ sound, not so poppy. But our manager was ambitious for us, wanted a hit single – so we attempted to oblige. Our overall goal though was to carry on making records that would still sound good 20 years later. We almost got there. Almost.

Great fun it was to make though.

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Too cOol 4 sKool

Decided to share this, mostly because its so well done. When was the last time you saw a ‘viral sensation’ video on You Tube, that was designed to wind up a target group or well-known individual, which actually turned out to be a pretty good song in its own right? Maybe you have to live/have lived in London and possess the traditional English aversion to pretentiousness to really enjoy it that  much – then again, maybe not.

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Living Colour

I found this clip from ‘The Raven’ (1963) and remembered a night from my childhood, when my father brought me home early from my gran’s house (where i’d been staying for a few days) to surprise me with our latest acquisition – our first ever colour TV. As luck would have it, that evening (I was probably about 7 years old) they were showing The Raven on TV and caught in the glare of the beauty and grandeur of our first colour picture, I was allowed to stay up and watch it. It seems a touch corny now, but as a first taste of colour after a black and white world, it shook me to my tiny roots. I was mesmerised.

Then it occured to me, some of my fellow Spillers may well have had a similar experience with TV at some point. What were you watching the night ‘colour telly’ arrived in your house?