#TenAlbumsInTenDays #3 - Future Games (A Magical Kahauna Dream) - Spirit

Before the internet and email and mobil phones the was CB , Citizen's Band Radio. I'm not exactly sure what the attraction of this was for the average person but I know a few people who had CB Radio set ups.I could see a use for it for long distance lorry drivers and this was documented in the CW McCall song "Convoy".

This album opens with a track called "CB Talk" with Randy California descring the Spirit album. I had been majorly impressed by  "Spirit of '76" but this album took things to another level for me. The songs are excellent but are spliced with soundbites from Star Trek (this was just pre Star Wars), Science Fiction "B" Movies and The Muppet Show. There are a lot of interjections from "Jack Bond" the drummer Ed Cassidy's creation (he was also Randy California's father in law!)

It was like a movie for the ears, carried along by the excellent songs. California was favouribly compared with Jimi Hendrix but he was definitely his own man, but they still tackle Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" and deliver a creditable take although no one has ever touched the Hendrix version.

The songs are California sun influenced as well as being touched by certain other substances. THis album is my favourite all time album and when I first got it I was working shifts so would often drift off listening to this during the day.

Like all good albums you listen to it as a whole and ideally it should just be continously played, non stop.

I'm not sure if this was the first album where not musical dialogue was used an intefral part of the album,a concept later embraced by, among others, Big Audio Dynamite and Public Service Broadcasting.

Future Games

Yesterday I was listening to Spirit's "Future Games", my favourite album of all time. I mentioned it in a favourites post here. It was the first time I'd heard an album where sound snips from film and TV were woven into the fabric of the album. The songs a classic second stage Spirit with Randy California's etherial voice and guitar playing and Ed Cassidy's (Randy's father-in-law) guttural Jack Bond interjections, with effortless covers such as "All Along The Watchtower". Into this seemless tapestry are woven The Muppets, Star Trek and Science Fiction "B" Movie dialogue. The song I included gives you a feel for the album, and if you like that just buy the album. "Spirit of '76" has a similar feel to it though not quite as seamless but still brilliant.

It;s like a film for the ears. I'd often go to sleep listening to it after a shift as a computer operator when I got the chance. Though often I'd finish a night shift and my dad would ask me to just drive a wagon to a site and drop off some stuff, and I'd get there and they'd want me to some more stuff to another site going on til the end of the day and I soon be back on the computer night shift. As I was about 19 at the time I could take it.

Big Audio Dynamite were another band that used this process in their early albums successfully and their first two albums are brilliant, highly worth listening to.

Oh by the way Blue Oyster Cult's "Curse of The Hidden Mirror" is a class album if you can get hold of a copy, some of the lyrics a bit AOR but all the songs are brilliant.

Anyway it's time to set off for work, have a brilliant day everyone.

Bohemian Rhapsodies

It my last post I was talking about things Boho / Bohemian but it never crossed my mind to include Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (a fact mentioned by my friend Julie) ... to me that definitely does not fit the Boho Groove, though Freddie Mercury definitely did and this did spill over into some Queen songs (thinking "Killer Queen" and "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy"). The think that I loved about Queen was that they didn't give a damn about fashion and just did what they wanted.

I bought their first single "Keep Yourself Alive" which was released with the fanfare "NO SYNTHESISERS" despite some nifty phasing on the guitar. I think that statement appeared on a lot of their albums.

In fact I think the Muppets' take on "Bohemian Rhapsody" is actually in the Boho Groove.. and would that be a good way to start this April on April Fools Day... I think it would.

Enjoy your Saturday my friends.

Put A Little Love In Your Heart

It's Christmas Eve, well it's nearly Christmas Day and I have used today to relax, sort of barring walking a couple of miles for some shopping and buying stuff that wasn't immediately needed but not able to get mince pies (which I have eaten lots of already, so the house ins a mince pie free zone).

The estate of Charles Dickens must have made  a mint today as there were at least three takes on "A Christmas Carol" screened, namely "Scrooged", "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Scrooge" starring Alistair Sim in probaly the finest Dicken's adaptation after David Lean's "Great Expectations"

Anyway I'm going to wish you a brilliant Christmas and leave you with a message from Al Green and Annie Lennox  . "Put A Little Love in Your Heart"  ... and make the world a better place for you , your friends, your loved ones and everyone.

Time for bed... I think I can hear sleighbells ......

Now That's What I Call Christmas Entertainment.

Christmas is certainly upon us and there's a media tradition of Christmas films. I'm still quite amazed that the atrocious tripe served up that is Home Alone is presented as an acceptable example of the genre. I know we all have different tastes and it would be wrong to stop other people from enjoy what they want to watch , especially if the children love it. So stuff like Polar Express , Arthur Christmas , Elf and many others leave me cold and unmoved like a modern Ebenezer Scrooge . They're just corporate tripe to me and my time would be spent better doing something much more interesting.

This year  the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle put on a showing of "It's A Wonderful Life" along with a performance by The Cornshed Sisters, now that's what I call Christmas Entertainment. Tonight they're showing Die Hard which unfeasibly I do associate with Christmas along with The Great Escape. Steve McQueen trying to clear a barbed wire fence on his motorcycle , how much more Christmassy does it get.

Then I love Bill Murray in Scrooged featuring ex New York Doll David Johannesson as his most excellent taxi driver,  and really I thing that Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol really is for me the perfect Christmas Story that all others can only hope to aspire to, with it's lessons , horrors and story of redemption. There have been lots of adaptations over the years and I am yet to see the Jim Carrey version, but think when I do it will score well.

If push comes to shove I'll go for The Muppets Christmas Carol as my all time favourite, I never tire of watching it and has a brilliant balance of humour and sentimentality with a cracking turn from Michael Caine, although my favourite Scrooge or all time is Alistair Sim

I also enjoyed the remake of Miracle on 34th Street with Richard Attenborough which is very sweet.

So everyone enjoy your Christmas , find someone to have fun with ,  whether you are in Newcastle, Sunderland , Darlington , New Zealand , Australia, The USA, Tanzania, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, just have a totally brilliant , brilliant Christmas.

Christmas Eve

.....and this is a beautiful seasonal song, which caused me to buy the first album by the Fleet Foxes. I can hardly believe that this song is four years old.

Some wonderful things have happened today and I hope they keep on happening, that makes life the wonderful adventure that it is. I have now to work out seven more seasonal  songs to see the year out and was contemplating have The Muppets' "Ringing Of The Bells", which turns out to be just another reason to put a smile on your face.

So look after yourself, be happy , do things to put a smile on your face and make sure you have a wonderful Christmas.

Today we have had four seasons in one day, blue skies, bright sunshine, rain, snow, leaves falling , wind blowing , sleet, a lot of weather.

Ghost of Christmas Future

he world is improving and despite what the Dail Mail , Dail Express and most of the media tell us, life is getting better for most people . The progress of technology has been phenomenal , so you can watch what you want , when you want , where you want , how you want. Mobile phones these days are like something from Star Trek , but we still don't have hover boards and card or cities on Mars or under the sea.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The blot on the horizon is the continual erosion of the holiday for commercial concerns , I don't want shops open at Christmas , it gives us time to socialise , and enjoy stuff at a leisurely pace , but certain chains wont be happy until they're open 24/7 , 365 days a year in case someone wants a newspaper and they can chalk up another sale regardless of the cost.

Anyway there will always be Christmas films on at Christmas (most a variaton on Dickens' Christmas Carol) and business entrepreneurs will continue to try and remove the spirit of Christmas in the name of money!!