Looks like we are having a typical English summer. Or should I say a traditional English summer, a typical English summers seem to be hot and dry, where a traditional English summer is cold and wet.
Not that I mind the rain, as Jeremy Paxman says in his book The English, A Portrait of a People the sky is the landscape for the English(or something to that effect).
Last night the sky look particularly spooky weird, it was about eleven o’clock and the lower level clouds drifting north to south were under lit by the sun now set well beyond the horizon giving them a dark dirty yellow colour. Above that much higher up and moving from west to east you could make out the storm clouds completely black, not cloud black but more an absence of light. Beyond the storm clouds was the night sky, a dark greyish blue without any stars. All this time the wind was picking up pace and wiping around and changing direction every 30 seconds or so. Eerie but cool.
I like the weather we get in the Britain and I really do not know why the locals complain. I have been rained on in every nation in the isles and I still enjoy it (except in Leeds where it sucks)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
This week I have been listening to a lot of Nymphs, well when I say a lot I mean their one and only album of the same name. Described by allmusic.com as the last great glam-metal album before grunge killed the genre, Nymphs to me seems to bridge the gap. This was one band that showed a lot of promise in my opinion, but faded very quickly into obscurity.
A girl at work, a fellow metalhead (the same one that recommended the Pearl Jam gig at Southend), and a good source of new music first recommended me to them, but it was not until a year later that I picked up the cassette in a sale. I instantly fell in love with the album and it is one of the few that had regular outings (right up until mp3 took over personal cassette players). There is a certain inevitability and mournfulness about the Nymphs music that seems to mirror their rather rapid destruction.
A girl at work, a fellow metalhead (the same one that recommended the Pearl Jam gig at Southend), and a good source of new music first recommended me to them, but it was not until a year later that I picked up the cassette in a sale. I instantly fell in love with the album and it is one of the few that had regular outings (right up until mp3 took over personal cassette players). There is a certain inevitability and mournfulness about the Nymphs music that seems to mirror their rather rapid destruction.
Here is a download for sad and damned though my personal favourite track is Imitating Angels
On a plus note, the lead vocalist Ingre Lorre really pissed off Courtney Love.
On a plus note, the lead vocalist Ingre Lorre really pissed off Courtney Love.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
all gone
The beard has gone.
Partly due to pressure from my wife (telling I look like a pervert) and partly due to the annoyance it was starting to cause me, but mostly because I lost a swizzles fizzer in it the other day.
Partly due to pressure from my wife (telling I look like a pervert) and partly due to the annoyance it was starting to cause me, but mostly because I lost a swizzles fizzer in it the other day.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Iron Maiden at Brixton
Iron Maiden are performing a one off gig at the Brixton academy on the 24th June in aid of the Clive Burr ms trust fund. I only found this out today and by the time I would have completed the necessary grovelling and begging to my wife to let me take my daughter I think all the tickets will have gone (assuming I could afford the wildly inflated prices that will be in demand). To see Maiden in a venue that is relatively small compared to where I have seen them play would just be amazing, and what a way to introduce the next generation to gigging. Que Sera Sera.
I would also like to say thank you to anonymous for not giving me something he hasn’t got. Cheers.
I would also like to say thank you to anonymous for not giving me something he hasn’t got. Cheers.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Disaster II
My taped copy of Tigertailz Young and Crazy has been terminally mangled by my cassette deck, this is the third time in recent months the machine has tried to eat something it shouldn’t have. The first was my copy of Quireboys A Little Bit of What You Fancy, which I have now replaced on CD, Then Ozzy’s Speak Of The Devil, which I managed to save, and now this.
Looking around the internet for a replacement I am shocked at what this is demanding on CD, Amazon has it priced at £42.95, and I have even seen one priced at $102 so that must work out roughly £51, outrageous if you consider these are all second hand. The album is much cheaper on LP but that’s not an option at the moment.
I had only listened to Young And Crazy once since rescuing it from my mother in laws a week ago, and I had quite enjoyed it too (please don’t ask me to elaborate on why). The tape is still in one piece but has a tear and very crumpled so I may be able to repair it, pity I no longer know any cinema projectionists, they used to have some great stuff for fixing tapes.
£50 for a 20 year old CD that nobody admits to liking, what is the world coming to?
Looking around the internet for a replacement I am shocked at what this is demanding on CD, Amazon has it priced at £42.95, and I have even seen one priced at $102 so that must work out roughly £51, outrageous if you consider these are all second hand. The album is much cheaper on LP but that’s not an option at the moment.
I had only listened to Young And Crazy once since rescuing it from my mother in laws a week ago, and I had quite enjoyed it too (please don’t ask me to elaborate on why). The tape is still in one piece but has a tear and very crumpled so I may be able to repair it, pity I no longer know any cinema projectionists, they used to have some great stuff for fixing tapes.
£50 for a 20 year old CD that nobody admits to liking, what is the world coming to?
Monday, May 28, 2007
tattooed millionaire
Let’s set the scene.
It’s raining, a lot, its also quite mild and therefore good beer weather.
Beer always tastes better when there is a lot of moisture in the air (or it does for me). Weather like this reminds me of the times when I was a young metal head and it never seemed to stop raining, but that’s ok, I like rain.
Bruce Dickinson released his debut solo album Tattooed Millionaire in 1990 in what felt like the dying days of iron maiden, my friends and I thought the album was great at the time but to be honest I have not listened to it in 15 years or so. Time to revisit it methinks, inspired of course by rock of ages.
1. Son of a gun; as this track started my daughter walks in and asks if this is guns n roses or iron maiden, I ask her what she thinks and she replies iron maiden, close I say (impressed that she can notice the similarities for somebody who listens only to stuff released since 2005. says it all really, but I enjoyed this track, so far so good.
2. Tattooed Millionaire; now I know I had gone of this song years ago but I persevered and listened and I still don’t like it. Trying to hard to be angry.
3. Born in 58; liked this, in fact it seems quite relevant to how I feel today, a feeling of losing something beyond my control, as if the past no longer matters. Other artists have done this better but this song still appeals.
4. Hell on wheels; ok now Bruce is trying to be somebody else, not to sure on this track.
5. gypsy road; not to sure what’s going on here, trying t hard to be serious, no its not working, sorry.
6. Dive, dive, dive; ok that’s bad, it’s like a heavy metal carry on sketch but not funny.
7. all the young dudes; great track, like this a lot but not sure if it’s the song itself or the cover version, but better version of this song about but it is a great song.
8. Lckin’ the gun and 9. Zulu Lulu; yep these both sound like Aerosmith covers that Aerosmith never wrote, again trying to be somebody else maybe?
9. no lies; couldn’t figure this one out, to be honest I had lost interest by this point and was concentrating more on getting Sunday dinner ready.
So it was not as good as I remembered but on the whole it was nice to listen to it again, the album comes across as something he needed to get out of his system but he went on to do a lot more solo stuff of which I have never listened to, which for all I know could be far superior.
To put the album into a little bit of context; this was something I had recorded from a friend so on the flip side of the tape was Giant and their album Last Of The Runaways, when Tattooed Millionaire finished I turned the tape over and thought what the hell, 30 seconds latter I was rewinding the tape so I could play the other side again.
It’s raining, a lot, its also quite mild and therefore good beer weather.
Beer always tastes better when there is a lot of moisture in the air (or it does for me). Weather like this reminds me of the times when I was a young metal head and it never seemed to stop raining, but that’s ok, I like rain.
Bruce Dickinson released his debut solo album Tattooed Millionaire in 1990 in what felt like the dying days of iron maiden, my friends and I thought the album was great at the time but to be honest I have not listened to it in 15 years or so. Time to revisit it methinks, inspired of course by rock of ages.
1. Son of a gun; as this track started my daughter walks in and asks if this is guns n roses or iron maiden, I ask her what she thinks and she replies iron maiden, close I say (impressed that she can notice the similarities for somebody who listens only to stuff released since 2005. says it all really, but I enjoyed this track, so far so good.
2. Tattooed Millionaire; now I know I had gone of this song years ago but I persevered and listened and I still don’t like it. Trying to hard to be angry.
3. Born in 58; liked this, in fact it seems quite relevant to how I feel today, a feeling of losing something beyond my control, as if the past no longer matters. Other artists have done this better but this song still appeals.
4. Hell on wheels; ok now Bruce is trying to be somebody else, not to sure on this track.
5. gypsy road; not to sure what’s going on here, trying t hard to be serious, no its not working, sorry.
6. Dive, dive, dive; ok that’s bad, it’s like a heavy metal carry on sketch but not funny.
7. all the young dudes; great track, like this a lot but not sure if it’s the song itself or the cover version, but better version of this song about but it is a great song.
8. Lckin’ the gun and 9. Zulu Lulu; yep these both sound like Aerosmith covers that Aerosmith never wrote, again trying to be somebody else maybe?
9. no lies; couldn’t figure this one out, to be honest I had lost interest by this point and was concentrating more on getting Sunday dinner ready.
So it was not as good as I remembered but on the whole it was nice to listen to it again, the album comes across as something he needed to get out of his system but he went on to do a lot more solo stuff of which I have never listened to, which for all I know could be far superior.
To put the album into a little bit of context; this was something I had recorded from a friend so on the flip side of the tape was Giant and their album Last Of The Runaways, when Tattooed Millionaire finished I turned the tape over and thought what the hell, 30 seconds latter I was rewinding the tape so I could play the other side again.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
new stuff
I took a chance and bought Linkin Parks new album.
And its shit.
I think I’ll take it back and exchange it (unless my daughter wants it). I get the impression they are trying to be U2, everything from the album art work to the songs them self give this impression, but the band don’t carry it off I’m afraid.
I can see why they have done this, its to break the mould, make a clean break and not be confined to the same style but the whole thing just come across as unmemorable and unimpressive.
Good luck to them but it’s not for me.
On a plus note I managed to grab a copy of Backstreet Symphony by Thunder on CD from eBay, I already have this on vinyl but no assessable record deck. I also have a long awaited replacement of Open Up And Say Ahh on order (my first copy was chewed up in a cheap personal cassette player about 1991) and a CD of Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind of which I only have a tape recording of.
And its shit.
I think I’ll take it back and exchange it (unless my daughter wants it). I get the impression they are trying to be U2, everything from the album art work to the songs them self give this impression, but the band don’t carry it off I’m afraid.
I can see why they have done this, its to break the mould, make a clean break and not be confined to the same style but the whole thing just come across as unmemorable and unimpressive.
Good luck to them but it’s not for me.
On a plus note I managed to grab a copy of Backstreet Symphony by Thunder on CD from eBay, I already have this on vinyl but no assessable record deck. I also have a long awaited replacement of Open Up And Say Ahh on order (my first copy was chewed up in a cheap personal cassette player about 1991) and a CD of Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind of which I only have a tape recording of.
oh dear
I am 30% Metal Head.
Most other metal-heads acknowledge my presence, but they laugh at me behind my back. Maybe I need to stop spending all that money on haircuts and invest in a few Pantera T-shirts.
there's more where that comes from
Thursday, May 24, 2007
battle of the beard
I have a beard
So what you all say
I nearly always have a beard, a small, short neat one
This one is getting wild
Well my wife and daughter want it gone
My sons support in this hairy endeavor and my work colleagues also stand by me
But my wife is all powerful
And my daughter is her mother’s daughter
So in the words of Mick Jones
Darling you gotta let me know
Should I shave or should I grow?
If you say that you are mine
Ill be hair til the end of time
So you got to let know
Should I shave or should I grow?
Should I shave or should I grow now?
Should I shave or should I grow now?
If I grow it will be double
And if I shave there will be stubble
So come on and let me know
What should I do?
So what you all say
I nearly always have a beard, a small, short neat one
This one is getting wild
Well my wife and daughter want it gone
My sons support in this hairy endeavor and my work colleagues also stand by me
But my wife is all powerful
And my daughter is her mother’s daughter
So in the words of Mick Jones
Darling you gotta let me know
Should I shave or should I grow?
If you say that you are mine
Ill be hair til the end of time
So you got to let know
Should I shave or should I grow?
Should I shave or should I grow now?
Should I shave or should I grow now?
If I grow it will be double
And if I shave there will be stubble
So come on and let me know
What should I do?
Monday, May 21, 2007
fantasy festival
Festival season is coming up and so far none of the line ups are perfect, but they never are so I have decided to come up with my own three day fantasy festival. Theses are not necessarily my favourite bands but just some I would like to see in a festival line up. Here goes,
Day one
Day one
Fun lovin’ criminals
Dick Dale
Kasabian
Pixies
U2* *I intend to be watching Fields of the Nephilim at another stage but if I’m too wankered to move I need something acceptable here.
Iron Maiden
Day two
Reef
Levellers
Velvet Revolver
Motley Crue
Bon jovi* *definitely not watching these, I’ll be watching Carter USM followed by New Model Army at another stage.
Rammstein
Day three
Green Day
Janice Joplin (it is a fantasy festival)
Rolling Stones (playing hot rocks)
Nirvana
Ramones
Jimi Hendrix
I have to limit the number of bands knowing my festival habit of spending most of the morning and early afternoon in a local pub.
The festival will probably have to held on the banks of the river Styx
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