Tired Not Tired - #Oktoberfest #3 - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Jerry Lee Lewis

I wasn't going to write anything today, I have to be up early tomorrow to pick up a parcel from The Post Office because they wont leave stuff with my neighbours and I am feeling tired, but my mind has decided to wake up, so my body is tired and my mind is wide awake. This seems to be happening more and more, I just wish my body was as jumping as my mind.

Well the #Oktoberfest song is "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Jerry Lee Lewis a favourite of my sadly missed rocker friend Chris and one of the many rock and roll classics he introduced me to. Jerry Lee Lewis AKA The Killer produced a hell of a lot of classics but obviously his hell raising tailed off in to middle of the road country and western and he was never afforded the musical rebirth that Rick Rubin helped Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond with.

Maybe that's not such a bad thing as Jerry Lee has a great back catalogue but I am sure Rick Rubin could have done something with this firecracker..

Yes another short post but we have a third drink related post.

I Shot A Man In Tesco ... Just To Watch Him Die

Over the last couple of days I've been listening to "90 Bisodol(Crimond)" and been slightly taken aback by it's sheer quality and brilliance. Saying that, you can probably apple that to most Half Man Half Biscuit albums.

I once said that whatever Bowie album you are listening to is your favourite Bowie album after listening to "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)"  (post here) and in the HMHB canon "90 Bisodol(Crimond)" certainly lives up to that.

There are a couple of songs that are maybe not quite as good as the rest, but still great none the less and or me these are "Excavating Rita" and "Something's Rotten In The Back of Iceland" and they are crammed full of excellent wordsmithery and litererary references, and these are the least good bits of the album, which emphasises how good it really is.

"The Coroner's Footnote" and "RSVP" are both lovely tunes with a very dark twist where you don't know whether to laugh or grimace. I just enjoy.

In the middle of the album (running wise) is "Descent Of The Stiperstones" (I think it should be spelt Styperstones for some reason) which is the big song on the album, and excellent off kilter Crossroads narrative ("The Crazy World of Arthur Brownlow"). For some reason I though this was the closer but no matter, there is a lot of great stuff still to come.

The title is taken from a great line in "L’Enfer C’Est Les Autres" and that line playfully plagiarising a line from "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash, and this album is a really great end to end play. The finale "Rock and Roll Is Full of Bad Wools" (I still don't know what that means) is a right on swipe and the majority of plastic football fans that have grown up thinking it the top six of the Premier League, Real Madrid, Barcelona , PSG or any team with money and it does mention Roots Hall.

Have a brilliant Christmas everyone, Yule love it.

Desert Island Discs

Today my friend Krista published her Desert Island Discs selection on Facebook here, and as such inspired me to do one. I thought I best read the concept of what it is, though I roughly knew it, but here's a definition:

"Each week a guest, called a 'castaway' during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their lives and the reasons for their choices."

So that's basically what I'm going to follow, Krista had annotated hers with years and events but  maybe mine wont be that detailed, though hopefully it will provide you with a little insight into what makes me tick. Although this will be albums it is not necessarily my favourite album list, just albums that mean something to me and I wouldn't grow tired of. It also dates me fairly and squarely in the late sixties, early seventies but that's just the nature of the beast.

So here goes:

1. Future Games by Spirit: Still my favourite album of all time and it's sort of a film for the ears featuring dialogue from Star Trek and Sci-Fi "B" Movies with some fine songs and plying. I still listen to it a lot and it still makes my mind fly.
2. Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix Experience: An absolutely gorgeous cornucopia of blues, space rock and containing his take on Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" which must rate as the best cover version ever, a double album that again takes you places that you want to be.
3. Live At San Quentin by Johnny Cash: My dad introduced me to Johnny Cash, and my friend Chris Waring reinforced that, although he was not deemed cool by my school contemporaries, though he is now. This is one of his live prison albums and just encapsulates the outlaw spirit that a lot of us would like to live.
4. Stranded by Roxy Music: Always one of my favourite bands, and though this was the first without Brian Eno in contains what is probably their finest song "Mother of Pearl" and that is something that would have to be in my music collection.
5. Quadrophenia by The Who: Their second concept album which actually makes a lot more sense than "Tommy" and contained a photo story book about Jimmy the Mod ending up on Brighton beach, which I spent time on when I was down there. Lots of unforgettable songs with motifs for each band member, each representing a facet of Jimmy's "quadrophenia".
6. Blood on the tracks by Bob Dylan: There are lots of choices for Dylan but this has "Lily,Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts" one of my favourites story songs that I never tire of, and "If You See Her, Say Hello" which still makes me think about my split with my first girlfriend. The album was about Dylan's divorce so no surprise there.
7. Scary Monsters and Super Creeps by David Bowie: Again not even my favourite Bowie album but a consistently excellent one with not a dud on there. Maybe tomorrow I would have chosen differently but I wouldn't complain if you put this album on.
8. Li'l Beethoven by Sparks: This is just like a box of musical fireworks. Sparks always surprise and delight and bring a smile to your face and this is probably my favourite album of theirs.

Book:

Clive Barker's Imajica: A thousand pages of majick, adventure, magical creatures spanning five dimensions, and one of those books you just don't want to end, but it is always a delight to read again.

Luxury Item:

A Guitar: And maybe one day I can learn how to play, though just making noise on one is always very therapeutic for me.

So that is my Desert Island selection, tomorrow it may be different but I wouldn't complain if this was all I had on that Desert Island.

There's A Mean Eyed Cat ...

.. so Bill Haley says, but really we have a great Mean Eyed Cat in Newcastle, and I visited it today. I was not feeling physically too good but thought a walk would do me good so went along to St Thomas' St and entered.

The place improved my mood immediately, garage band and rock and roll decor with CoyoteMen memorabilia photos of Johnny Cash and a big Cramps sign over the bar with Dave Campbell playing Mein Host and we chatted on with another couple of guys while I had a Diet Coke and we talked vinyl and rock and roll and the failures of the music industry. You can see a short video I took of the place here.

We were talking about the first picture discs which both Dave and I though was Curverd Air's "Air Conditioning" which you can see here but it was predated by a German Elektra compilation called "Hallucinations Psychedelic Underground" which features The Doors, MC5 and others and you can see here. I sourced both of them from Discogs.

SoThe Detroit Cobras were on the sound syste so I'll leave you with "Cha Cha Twist", but if you want a new slightly different pub  with a great atmosphere, great people , and great music get yourself down there and enjoy it.

I will be back.

Threks

When I sign in to do this blog I have to press "Sign In" on three different screens. Now OK I habitually delete cookies and such ensure web stuff I do is showing the current expected version but I don't know why Google has this incredibly inefficient log in process. In fact while I accept that cookies can be useful, they should not be used to store sensitive or secure information, although maybe that's just my opinion.

I've finished the latest John Niven novel I was reading "Cold Hands" and was surprised that there were zero laughs, these was a very dark pumped up Irvine Welsh with some disturbing insights into the natures of revenge and madness. While it is excellently written it was not an easy ride, so I'm hoping "No Good Deed" may provide a little light. I am fine with black humour but when you find yourself in a world of total darkness that gets scary.

Today has been a great day, my Dad's 83rd birthday and he's finally using his computer, then we finally caught up with Mark, Helen , Eve and Jess over a Sunday Lunch and high def Harry Potter movies.

Step wise this is the first day I have done less that 5K since a rainy day on holiday in Yorkshire, but I am  still ahead of the game for my January walks. February may be a different matter.

The word Threks is non existent as far as I know and was shome letters I was trying to make a word with in Scrabble .

One of the many things I have to thank my Dad for is introducing me to Johnny Cash , his "Greatest Hits Volume 1" was in our house and often on the stereo Radiogramme that we had, and from that I'll choose "Five Feet High and Rising" before I hit my bed. Tomorrow is Monday ....... the start of another wonderful week of life ....

Surprises , Thunderstorms, Sting, Johnny Cash and Bruce Springsteen

I was well impressed by Johnny Cash's American series, and "I Hung My Head" always struck me as a perfect archetypal Johnny Cash song, that would fit in with "Don't Take Your Guns To Town" or "The Wall", then my friend Paul said

"Do You Know Who Wrote It?"

I said "Isn't It A JC song?"

He said "No, you want to know who wrote it?"

I said "Yes"

He said "Sting!"

That was a huge surprise to me, though when Sting writes good songs they are good. So I thought I'd include the Sting version, then I found a Springsteen version as well, so in this post you you are getting three versions of a great song, two American Icons and one Geordie.

And when you hear Springsteen sing it, you could be excused thinking it's a Springsteen original.


Then last night we had thunderstorms and rain, and I really didn't want to leave my bed. Anyway it's time for work now and I will leave you with the Sting version, all these are excellent, but I like the Johnny Cash one best , but they are all good.

Some Days

Some days you just can't seem to get out of first gear. Today has been one of those days. There's things I tend to do on a weekend but have just not been able to get motivated to actually do anything. Though having said that I have gone into town and was disturbed by a huge Nazi rally in the centre of Newcatstle.

I then went down into the Monument Metro and there was an old guy sort of busking. He sank Perry Como's "Catch A Falling Star", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" and Dean Martin's "Little Old Wine Drinker Me" in a very pleasant melodic Geordie burr to recorded accompaniment.. The only problem was the timing of his songs and the timing of his accompaniment were completely out of sync. If he had been unaccompanied it would have been technically better, but ....

... on the station platform everyone was talking about with a smile on their faces, this guy was raising money for charity and putting a smile on everyone's face including mine. He was cheering everyone up and bringing lots of happiness to a grey day in Newcastle, especiall considering the idiocy that was happening above.

Anyway I went over to Gateshead to The Doll At The Black Bull to see if I could sort out why their website was juts showing advertisements. I couldn't find a real reason for it but it was working when I left . It's here , and I hope it works for you.

Anthony Moore

Anyway despite this potentially being a waste of a day, it turns out lots of good came out of it, and at the end of the day I'm quietly satisfied with my small contribution to the world. Hope you all sleep well. The music I was going to choose was Anthony Moore's take on Perry Como's "Catch A Falling Star" but it;s not on Youtube yet, so I chose "Judy Get Down" which is another song I love.


 I remember years ago when Bryan Ferry was asked his opinion on Cockney Rebel's "Judy Teen" he said he preferred the Perry Como version. How cruel ... and funny.

Three Feet Round And Falling

I remember John Peel being very depressed because he'd been measured for a suit and his results were 40-40-40. Well I cant actually ever remember buying a pair of jeans will less that 34" waist and since a very long time I've been on 38". Today I put on a pair of 36" John Rocha's that were a birthday present. So hence the title of the post.

I need to get off to work now but just to let you know .

Twenty Five Minutes To Go ......

My god I nearly missed todays post . Thanks to a message from my friend Carol , I was reminded with twenty five minutes to go. Incidentally that's a song by Johnny Cash which you can listen to below.

Well another trip to Darlington tomorrow and hopefully I can have a day free of the travel hassles that have beset me this week . Now it's time for bed said Zebedee - oh and that reminds of the sketch that made Jasper Carrott a national name!!