Music Blog

The Guardian’s Music Blog invites people to nominate their top gigs of all time. Predictably for the Guardian, most of those listed by their hand-picked pundits in the linked article are the predictable tiresomely overrated suspects like bloody Morrissey.

Like some other commenters, I can’t restrict it to just one gig. My gig going career seems to fit into two periods, in the early to mid 80s, and the last 2-3 years, with only a handful of shows in the years in between. Nowadays I tend to shun stadium extravaganzas for smaller club gigs where you can actually see the band’s faces.

I’ve chosen three from each era.

Back in the 80s:

Iron Maiden at the Reading Festival in 1980. Back when they were raw and hungry, still with their original singer Paul Di’anno. They combined the pure energy of punk with the precision and complexity of rock in a way nobody else was doing at the time. They would soon go on to conquer the world; this was one of the very last gigs they ever played when they weren’t top of the bill.

Pink Floyd doing The Wall at Earls Court in 1981. Nothing I’ve seen since has rivalled it for sheer spectacle, although Rammstein have come close.

Gillan and Budgie at the Top Rank, Reading, 1982. Gillan were one of those bands that shouldn’t be judged by their cheesy singles and patchy albums; you really had to seem them live to appreciate them. All the band were both great musicians and real characters, and they played with a tremendous amount of energy. Great as Gillan were, the Welsh power trio Budgie (one of the most underrated British bands of the era) gave them a close run for their money.

And more recently:

The reformed Van Der Graaf Generator at Manchester Bridgewater Hall, 2005. Amazing to hear such a massive sound from just four guys. Were they this good in their 70s heyday?

IQ at the Mean Fiddler, London, 2006. IQ don’t play live very much in their home country, because their brand of full-blown symphonic prog-rock remains deeply unfashionable. It’s our loss. Damn the fashion police!

Mostly Autumn, Crewe Limelight, 2006. While some of their shows in the earlier part of the year were a bit hit and miss, by the end of the year they were firing on all cylinders. Their Xmas shows at Crewe are always good, this one was an absolute blinder.

So much for the theory that your experiences from the ages 15-25 form the most vivid memories of your life. Those last two gigs are both within the last six weeks.

Surprise announcement from the Mostly Autumn website from Bryan Josh

It is my duty to inform you that due to unfortunate conflicting commitments that both Liam and Andy Jennings have departed Mostly Autumn. We can only wish them all the best for the future in whatever they pursue. Andy will be focussing his time with “Snowfight” who are at a very exciting position at present. Liam has issued the following statement…

“Although it has been one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, I feel I must sadly depart from Mostly Autumn. Working with Mostly Autumn has been a great experience and a truly inspirational journey, I sincerely wish them every success in the future, not only will I miss performing with such fine musicians, I will also miss everyone connected behind the scenes.

I will concentrate 2007 on working on my solo album which will hopefully see it’s release in the not too distant future.

I would like to thank each and every one of the fans that have given the band tremendous support throughout the years and all the years to come.
See you on the other side…”

Liam Davison.

I would like you to give a warm welcome to Gavin Griffiths, ex-Karnataka and Fish, who will be joining the band on drums. We have admired Gavin’s playing from afar for many years now and are very much looking forward to working with him. We will not be replacing Liam in the immediate future.

All dates will go ahead as normal and more will be added.

Andrew’s departure doesn’t totally take me by surprise, especially as he’s in two other bands (I gather he’s also leaving Breathing Space). But Liam’s is a bit more of a shock. He was a founder member of the band, the last survivor from the first album other than Bryan and Heather. He’s a good guitarist, although he was seriously under-used both on record and live. He’ll still leave a hole, though.

How many Classic Rock Album Covers can you identify? I got 32 out of 54. And there are one or two I’m kicking myself for not guessing…

(Link via the Mostly Autumn forum)

Meme from HippyDave – seven songs I have been enjoying a lot of late….

Fading Colours – Mostly Autumn
Interior Lulu – Marillion
Silver Glass – Mostly Autumn
The Moor – Opeth
O Come All Ye Faithful – Traditional
Further Away – IQ
Find the Sun – Mostly Autumn

Over to you!

After an interval of almost Kate Bush-like proportions, Uriah Heep will finally be recording a new album in 2007.

Uriah Heep are delighted to announce that the band has signed a new, exclusive worldwide recording deal with Sanctuary Records.

Heep will commence recording their first new album for nine years since 1998′s “Sonic Origami”, during March/April and going into pre production rehearsals in February. The as yet untitled album – which will be Heep’s 21st official studio album – is scheduled for release during late summer and will feature at least ten new tracks, produced by Mike Paxman.

Heep have been touring pretty solidly over the past few years, mostly overseas – they even toured Siberia in February a couple of years back: are they mad? But album releases have been restricted to live releases and somewhat dodgy rehashes of older material. An album full of completely new songs is long overdue. Let’s hope it reaches the heights of 1995′s excellent “Sea of Light”. Difficult to believe that one was released all of twelve years ago.

So you thought that Lordi’s victory in last year’s Eurovision Song Contest might mean the British entry this year might some kind of credible rock artist rather than some manufactured unknown. Unfortunately, the BBC’s interpretation of ‘credible rock artist’ is the high priest of NME indie drivel.

Former Smiths singer Morrissey could represent the UK at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, the BBC has confirmed.

The Mancunian musician first expressed an interest in taking part after Daz Sampson’s song, Teenage Life, came fifth from last in the 2006 contest.

Where are The Darkness when we need them?

The Guardian’s Martin Kettle, talking about the demise of Tower Records, gets it completely wrong.

I’m simply talking about the wonder of discovery. My generation learned an awful lot about music by browsing records in stores. It was both solitary and sociable. We learned in depth about bands and singers we’d not heard on the radio, that there were dozens of different recordings of this symphony or that sonata, and why this or that performer was better than the rest. And we learned in breadth too – as a teenager browsing in Valances in Leeds on Saturday mornings in the 60s, I learned more about jazz than I ever learned on the radio. I owe a lot of the scope and detail of my musical interests to record stores, and I wonder how the next generation is going to find that kind of opportunity.

I can’t help feeling that an important educational window is closing with the demise of record stores. Yes, it will be easier and cheaper to get the piece you already know you want online. But what about the piece or the genre you didn’t know about until you started browsing through the records in places like Tower? How are you going to learn about Hindemith or Art Tatum if you don’t know about them already? Online music destroys many barriers while erecting others.

Presumably Martin Kettle has never heard of music blogs, mailing lists of internet discussion forums. I cannot think of a single new band I’ve discovered in the past 20 years purely through browsing the shelves of HMV. More likely it be from a discussion in a place like The Opium Den or Mostly Other Music.

And unless you only care about whatever’s being hyped by the corporate media, high street record shops are increasingly useless for even buying music any more. A common experience is getting the train into Manchester, finding HMV has none of the CDs I wanted to buy, then ordering them online when I get home.

I think Martin Kettle really indulging in nostalgia for his misspent youth; the world has changed since he was 17. Most of those independant record shops run by music enthusiasts disappeared years ago, to be replaced by corporate chains staffed by people who might as well be selling baked beans. If HMV was to disappear tomorrow, I won’t miss it.

It’s that time of year when everyone posts their ‘best of’ lists. When I think back on this year in music, I think of live music rather than CD purchases; many of my favourite artists haven’t released an album this year, and it wouldn’t surprise me if I don’t discover many of the greatest releases of 2006 until some time in 2007.

I made it to a grand total of fourteen shows, including Anathema, Blue Öyster Cult, Hayseed Dixie (twice), IQ, Journey, Mostly Autumn (four times), Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Queensrÿche and Zappa plays Zappa. None of the four chord flavour of the month stuff, but not all nostalgia acts either.

The following four are probably the highlights.

• Zappa plays Zappa at Manchester Apollo on July 1. Dweezil and band reviving his father’s classics on stage, starring old hands Napoleon Murphy Brock and Stevie Vai, plus a bunch of talented unknowns.
• Opeth at Manchester Academy 1 on November 10. I never would have thought I’d really enjoy a gig full of Cookie Monster vocals, but this was just awesome.
• IQ at the Mean Fiddler in London on December 10. What have I been missing all these years? I’ve always known these guys were great on record, but I never realised how good they were live.
• Mostly Autumn at Limelight Club in Crewe on December 21. One that I never got time to review properly due to the flurry of activity over Christmas. But it was very bit as excellent as their previous Christmas shows, and certainly the best of the four of their shows I’ve attended this year. It was as much a party for the fans as it was an ordinary gig; this one ended with Bryan discovering that he couldn’t sing and drink beer at the same time during the final encore.

None of this years gigs were in any way truly awful, because I’m not in the habit of seeing crap bands. Weakest was the merely average performance from Queensrÿche. I’m told they died horribly on stage at Castle Donnington the night before. Most controversial has to be Journey, which would have made the highlights had it not been for those rumours of lip-synching.

Next year it starts over again with The Reasoning in January. See you on the road.

It sounds like one of the modern clone band songs. You know… one of those bands that all sound the same band everyone under the age of 30 thinks are the best things to ever hit music, like, ever.

David Meadows on the somewhat controversial song “Pocket Watch” from the new Mostly Autumn album. (You should read the whole thing, of course; quoting that line out of context gives an entirely false view of the album)

And my copy still hasn’t come, Dammit! Bad postie!