I hope you like Fairytale Of New York, because you'll be hearing it quite often over the next few weeks.

Fortunately, I do.

Sad news, but I'm amazed he made it to 65.

I thought I'd embark on another journey through the studio ouvre of some band or other, and - since I'd liked them since I was a teenager, but have never listened properly (or in some cases, at all) to some of their albums, I thought I'd do Can.

01: Monster Movie (August 1969)

I'd never listened to this album before, partly because it was recorded by a slightly different lineup than later records, and partly because it has a reputation of being "formative", and not in a good way. But I listened to it yesterday while out on a bike.

Very mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, it has a very experimental, avant garde feel that's genuinely exceptional for a 1960s recording. In places it's like post-punk, ten years before its time.

On the other hand - there are only four songs here, and disregarding the innovative style and attitude, none of them are any good. The last one, Yoo Doo Right is a 20-minute jam, edited down from a six hour recording. It's repetitive and interminable.

The lyrics throughout are stream-of-consciousness bollocks except for Mary Mary So Contrary which just takes its words from the nursery rhyme of the same name.

Outside my Door has a curiously dated, early '60s feel - almost like an early Who or Stones tune, except for the Hendrix-esque fuzz lead guitar and the anarchic vocal.

More of an experiment, a statement than a collection of music. Interestingly it was recorded in a very crude fashion onto two track tape. A mixing desk wasn't used, they settled for setting the levels carefully on their amps! And to be fair that does lend the whole album a certain immediate charm and character.

But I don't think I'll be revisiting this one.

There's a very striking Moonbow going on out there in NW Leics at the moment. Tried to get a pic, not very successfully.

That's Jupiter just to the right.

I think the most obvious surprise for most people reading the book is the quantity of drugs, in particular cocaine, that the band and crew were taking while on tour. I knew Neil had a fondness for the white powder because Peter (roadcrew) told me once, years ago.

It's probable that every time I saw Rush at Newcastle City Hall, Geddy helped himself to a snort during the drum solo.

Another thing I didn't know is the state of Alex' health and it's concerning to know that he doesn't always take care of himself particularly well. Heart stress, bleeding ulcers etc etc. Troubling.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001s2sb

It's a three hour show, the interview is 44:30 minutes in. I've only heard a few minutes myself.

I like to read this poem by Wilfred Owen each 11th November.


The Parable of the Old Man and the Young 

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
and builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.

But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.

So as discussed elsewhere, if you're working on something or practicing something in particular, please tell us about it here!

From my point of view perhaps this thread will encourage me to practice a bit more.

At the moment I'm working on diminished scale stuff over dominant / altered 7ths. I have a backing track which is a loop of the first few bars of Larry Carlton's (It Was) Only Yesterday - there are a couple of places in that where you can play the diminished scale.

One really nice hack is that there are a number of major triads consisting of the diminished scale notes and if you deploy those in the right place, you get a lovely sophisticated, modern sound.

May post a video in a few days if I can get a bit more fluent with it.

Really one of the defining figures of the entire sport of football for me. The thing I always remember is that when we went to Spain on holiday when I was a kid, quite often the Germans and Italians you'd meet would mention Bobby Charlton or Bobby Moore within a couple of minutes, in an effort to make small talk when they found out you were English.

Like most people, or I like to think so anyway - I loved Frasier. As you'll have heard, there's been a revival and the first two episodes have now aired on Paramount. I've just watched the first one.

The premise is that Frasier has moved back to Boston from Seattle, following his father's death.

I was surprised to find that Nicholas Lyndhurst is in this - I wonder how that came about? And I wasn't overly convinced by his performance (as a university lecturer) early on, it felt a bit wooden.

The whole thing felt a bit forced to me for the first 15 minutes or so. It has a very traditional, old-fashioned sitcom feel but it doesn't feel as relaxed or natural as the old Frasier, or Cheers come to that. 

But I did warm to it. No Niles (his son appears as a sort of more nerdy and awkward surrogate), no Frasier's dad, no Daphne but I tried to appreciate it for what it is, and I warmed to it. It's not bad. Kelsey Grammar still has all the old subtlety and timing. Looking forward to the next one.

I was going to work through the studio catalogue of The Who after completing my Rolling Stones journey, but this morning's reminiscing about hearing Kiss for the first time gave me a rethink. So:

1. Kiss (February 1974)

I hadn't listened to this for years before today, and I've probably listened to it three or four times if that. It wasn't one of the vinyl albums that I bought as a teenager; I bought it in a CD box set of the first three studio albums about 15 years ago. Good to hear it again. This is actually a pretty strong record for a debut, with classics that stood the test of time for many years - Strutter, Cold Gin, Firehouse, Deuce especially. By the time this was recorded they already had a pretty distinctive voice -these tunes are (mostly) powerful and economical but catchy. I hear shades of Zeppelin, shades of the Stones but for sure they have their own identity.

I have to say though - Kissin' Time is a real duffer. It actually reminds me of a sort of Brotherhood of Man or New Seekers tune on steroids. I've just read that it was a cover of an old '50s pop tune, and not included on the first release. Apart from that though it's all good, though some tunes are less focused than others.

I'd say that the selection of tunes from this record for Alive! is about right although I've never been completely convinced by 100,000 Years and generally when they lean too far toward ponderous metal and away from uptempo rock'n'roll they lose their charm (and my interest).

The Love Theme From Kiss instrumental is quite nice but it's not really the sort of thing you put a Kiss record on for. A novel oddity though. I enjoyed it.

None of the band was a particularly stellar musician (IMO) but they were all good enough to carry this stuff. Ace's sub-Page guitar licks sound a bit samey and predictable at times. The drums are maybe lacking a bit of oomph. But generally I'd say it's pretty well recorded and produced.

Here's an interesting thing. On the studio version, the Deuce riff has an odd syncopated treatment. I don't think it does it any favours.

Improvising over a slow Days of Wine and Roses backing. Annoyingly, I forgot to mute the click track, sorry. It's a bit rough, there are mistakes.. what I'm trying to do is practice smooth and natural transitions from one scale to another, something I do find really hard. You may notice that often, I'm playing a phrase over one bar, then a different, disconnected phrase from a different scale over the next.

Finally, notice how I resort to playing the blues over it toward the end, at which point I decide it's time to give up. Still, it was really enjoyable to do.

I've added a new board to the site, under the Music category, called Musicians. If you have a YouTube performance you'd like to share, or you'd like to start a discussion about music theory, or you'd like to discuss guitars, keyboards, effects pedals, amplifiers, music software, trombone maintenance or similar - please go here.

https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/worlds-first-3d-printed-vegan-salmon-debuts/

David McCallum has died at the age of 90. I loved The Man From Uncle as a kid; it's a bit of a shock to find out that he'd just turned 90 quite honestly.

He seemed to disappear for a long time after that, only to return in Colditz. In reality only a few years later, seemed longer to me at that age.

I never liked Sapphire and Steel.

This wasn't the most picturesque view from our road trip along the North Coast 500 but for me, it was one of the most interesting sights. In the early '90s I worked for the part of Rolls-Royce that was responsible for designing and procuring nuclear reactors for submarines. The company used a test facility situated here at Dounreay, about 35 miles west of John o' Groats.

I had colleagues who flew up here from Derby regularly, but I didn't think I'd ever see the place for myself.



I always imagined the "onshore test reactor" (also called 'Vulcan') to exist in something like a big shed overlooking the sea, accessible only by Land Rovers along a remote trail. But this place is huge and easily accessible by an A road.

I'm not sure why but I always imagined the far north of Scotland to be a sort of wasteland, almost untouched by human civilisation. Maybe the odd farm or little stone cottage nestling in the hills. But (as some readers will already be aware, I'm sure) it has decent roads and medium-sized towns with Wetherspoons, Specsavers, pizza places etc etc much like anywhere else in the UK. We stayed at Wick on the way round.

Earlier we'd been to John o' Groats, where I took the obligatory tourist pic.

I always find these "trial by media" exercises involving historic allegations a bit troubling, I must say. There seems to be a presumption of guilt rather than innocence.

Apparently Laura Trott - not the celebrated cyclist, the government minister - was on the telly this morning praising the supposed victims who have come forward. Given that we don't know - and probably never will - whether these allegations are a catalogue of fabrications, that seems rather presumptuous, doesn't it? Meanwhile the BBC have let us know that they're carrying out "urgent investigations", as though his guilt is a given.

The male involved is always guilty, that seems to be the most important principle in these matters.

I'm always interested in the technology of the Space Race but I found this particularly interesting as an examination of historic computing technology, especially from 10 minutes in when there's an interview with Albert Hopkins, who gives an introduction to the onboard computer used for the Apollo spacecraft.

Even in 1965 computers were said to be "dominating our lives" - at a time when a successful large business or university might own two or three of them. No-one had one on a desk at work, or at home, or in their pocket.

Mr Hopkins explains how the necessary technology had been miniaturised for the space programme. He shows the reporter some core rope storage roughly the size of a modern printer toner cartridge, and a logic gate roughly the size of a drawing pin.

These days both of these things are manufactured into tiny slivers of microchip. A modern microprocessor chip might contain a few hundred million logic gates, and a 16GB stick of RAM contains about 20,000 times the capacity of the storage unit shown in the film.

Anyone else finding the indignation and outrage over Luis Ribales kissing Jenni Hermoso a bit ridiculous?

It's actually front page news on the BBC News site as I type, as you'd expect - I'm sure they're only disappointed that Jenni isn't black; if she was the story would run for weeks.

The gender baiters and perpetual offence takers are trying to turn this into Spain's "Me Too" moment. Literally equating an innocuous peck on the lips in public with Harvey Weinstein exerting improper pressure over young women to have sex with him.

This perpetual virtue-signalling victim culture so beloved of the BBC and others .. it really gets on my tits.