Showing posts with label Old Grey Whistle Test. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old Grey Whistle Test. Show all posts

Saturday 20 February 2021

Le Son

I'd lost my Bluetooth Emospeak headphones and yesterday I found them, so thanks to the milder weather I don't have to wear multiple coats and hats so the headphones are now an option once again. I wasn't sure what to listen to but I have a Disco playlist featuring Donna Summer , Lipps Inc , Marcel King , Janelle Monae and The Emotions although I have a hell of a lot of choice to listen to on my Google Pixel 2XL phone and it's still half empty so when I can be bothered I can add more from my collection.

This week one the original album series boxes that I picked out for listening was the first five albums by Little Feet , and though the albums are all under forty minutes and they are so good that they just seemed to disappear immediately . Steered by Lowell George they were on a similar level to The Band in terms of shaping the sounds of Americana.

I am quite shocked I have never mentioned Little feat before on this blog, but at leas this short post will rectify this and will share two live numbers from an Old Grey Whistle Test performance in 1975 , "Rock and Roll Doctor" and "Fat Man In The Bathtub" (maybe should be my theme tune).


Monday 4 November 2019

Late Again


For the first time since I can remember I woke and got up at nine am today. I am almost always up around six like clockwork and I know I am on holiday but that came as a bit of a surprise to me. I thought the older you got the less sleep you needed but that doesn't seem be the situation with me.

It is good to get enough sleep, and you need your sleep, it is not a good idea to do without. Sleep repairs the body and promotes good stuff happening in there. If you don't get enough sleep then it does affect you, although I expect it is different for everybody , but it is nice to be in bed and be able to enjoy the feeling.  The TED talk from Matt Walker below is extremely informative on this.


So a perfect song for this post is "Late Again" the song that introduced me to Stealers Wheel ( Joe Egan , Gerry Rafferty and band , the saxophone is glorious, I wonder if it was the same guy who played on "Baker Street" ) who I saw performing this on The Old Grey Whistle Test as a teenager.

Most people know Stealers Wheel because "Stuck In The Middle With You" was used for THAT scene in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", one of Tarantino's inspired musical selection that wonderfully litter all his films.

So I know it's Monday afternoon, and the fact I am not at work means I can write this and communicate with the whole world. That's one of the pluses of writing your own blog , there is no one to tell you not to do that, although maybe sometimes you do need that.

So watch the TED talk and enjoy the excellent Stealers Wheel song on this Monday.

Sunday 20 October 2019

Day of Rain - #Oktoberfest #23 - Apricot Brandy - Rhinoceros


Today is grey and rainy. It's strange you can spell grey as gray which as far as I know means exactly the same thing, so why have two separate spellings . It's the same with "despatch" and "dispatch"  although apparently the British prefer the prior version. The English language can be interesting and strange at times.

The song "Stone Fox Chase" by Area Code 615  (theme from The Old Grey Whistle Test) was playing somewhere today and I thought ah that's "Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros and would be great for the #Oktoberfest sequence. I was obviously wrong and can't think of any reason why I even know of "Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros but obviously I do. It was a one hit wonder so it's unlikely that I got into it from anything or through any friends but the title has stuck with me and it is a half decent riff.

So back to this rainy Sunday.

Sunday 28 April 2019

Late Again


That's twice in a week I've been up past midnight , mainly because of writing blog post, but last week was after a brilliant gig (see here) and yesterday I had been walmost hypnotised watching Stanley Kubrick's "2001:A Space Odyssey", fifty years on and some of the decor is very sixties but the classically accompanied space sequences are still mostly jaw dropping. Remember this was way before CGI so it was all models and backdrops and stop motion animation.

Anyway it means that I do have some way of activating myself to stay up beyond my usual ten o'clock, though I am not too sure what that is. Yes oit's doing something that stimulates my mind and brain, but I am not too sure what that is but it proves I can stay up late again.

That takes me back to 1972 , four years after  "2001:A Space Odyssey" was released , and I first heard Stealers Wheel on The Old Grey Whistle Test  playing "Late Again". Most people have only heard "Stuck In The Middle With You" from the ear removal scene in "Reservoir Dogs" but Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty had a bit more in their locker than just that, and are worth investigating further, although Rafferty did hit paydirt with "Baker Street".

So although I was up til about two this morning , I got up at seven thirty, so doubt will have a nap this afternoon, and probably an early night tonight as I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning.

Again my tangentiality has linked Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Stealers Wheel and Quentin Tarantino.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone.

Sunday 15 December 2013

There's No Lights On The Christmas Tree Mama, They're Burning Big Louie Tonight


Another unexpected prompt from a Facebook group I subscribe to called  "I Used To Go To Newcastle Mayfair" and someone started a thread about the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and posted "There's No Lights On The Christmas Tree Mama, They're Burning Big Louie Tonight" a song that you have to love just for the title, and is brilliant to listen and sing along to as well.

I remember when the had a hit with a cover of Tom Jones' "Delilah" and Tony Blackburn was absolutely disgusted , "How dare the call themselves 'Sensational' he spat out as they came on,and it was their biggest hit , delivered with panache and a brilliant sense of humour. If Tom Jones had any objection then, I bet he loves it now.

I couldn't find the Top of The Pops performance so an Old Grey Whistle Test One will have to suffice, but it's still good.

Well looking out my back window the sky is blue with a few pink and white clouds, looking better than yesterday, so have a great Sunday everybody.


Monday 14 October 2013

Three Really Nice Things


Mmmm
Today three people have really made my day just by appreciating something I had done. What I did wasn't much but it does make you feel good when people appreciate your efforts on something. The people will probably never see this but it is amazing what effect a simple well intentioned thank you can do. It makes you want to try harder for people and makes you appreciate those people as well.

This is going to be a short post because it's really just about another way you can brink positivity to the fore and make people happier. If you engage with people , talk with people , your smile can carry through the most mundane of mediums , even text.


So if you can thank someone for something, do it with a smile, and bring sunshine into yours and their life. Enjoy tonight everyone. This also gives me an excuse to include one of Barclay James Harvest's rockier moments which I first heard on the Old Grey Whistle Test , and it is an absolute killer riff. As I said Enjoy your night.