Music Blog

The new Mostly Autumn album Heart Full of Sky is available for pre-order.

Following the example of Marillion, they’re recording a limited edition double album, with a retail single album retail version to follow. The double album will only be available for direct order from the band’s website, and only 2333 will be made.

I’m hoping the double album format will keep both the older and newer fans happy, just as Marillion’s Marbles managed to do. There’s some evidence that the fanbase seems to be dividing into two camps, one that prefers the shorter and punchier rock numbers that characterised “Storms” and “Passengers”, and some of the long-term fans that prefer the longer progressive/celtic/folk-rock material that featured heavily on the earlier albums . With two CDs there should be room for some of both styles.

You don’t hear much about this music in the mainstream press, especially in Britain, where the kingmakers of the music press have inadvertently created generations of musical whores, all doing their utmost to produce what they think the NME will want, rather than the music they want to make.

Julian Cope on avant-garde metal.

Time for the answers to the 20 first lines. Unguessed ones are in italics.

1. “As I draw my breath, and silver fills my eyes”
– My Dying Bride, For My Dying Angel (Paul Erbehr)
2. “Brezhnev took Afganistan, Begin took Beirut, Galtieri took the Union Jack”
– Pink Floyd, Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert (Steve Jones)
3. “Contained in everything I do there’s a love I feel for you”
– Yes, Onward (from Tormato) (Steve Jones)
4. “Follow through, make your dreams come true”
– Muse, Invincible
5. “He goes to work in a brand new dawn”
– Journey, Faith in the Heartland (Paul Erbehr)
6. “Hey now baby, get into my big black car”
– Cream, Politician (Fred Webb)
7. “In the shuffling madness”
– Jethro Tull, Locomotive Breath (Steve Jones)
8. “No I won’t interfere, I’m the only sound you’ll ever need to hear
– Moloko, Over And Over
9. “On top of the sky is a place where you go if you’ve done nothing wrong”
– The Who, Heaven and Hell
10. “Paint me a picture and hang it on the wall”
– Rainbow (or Blackmores Night), Self Portrait (Steve Jones)
11. “Six of one and half a dozen, black guitars and plastic blues”
– Porcupine Tree, Four Chords That Sold A Million (from Lightbulb Sun) (Steve Jones)
12. “Sprawling on the fringes of the city in geometric order”
– Rush, Subdivisions (Hugh)
13. “Standing on a golf course, dressed in PVC”
– Caravan, Golf Girl (Steve Jones)
14. “The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin’, that’s what I said”
– Spinal Tap (or Hayseed Dixie), Big Bottom (Rob)
15. “The character actor plays romantic leads and the kitten curls in wet anticipation”
– Fish, 3D (Steve Jones)
16. “This place has a history, the Spaniards settled here”
– Blue Öyster Cult, Harvest Moon (from Heaven Forbid) Hugh)
17. “We come from the land of the ice and snow”
– Led Zeppelin (or Gotthard) Immigrant Song (Fred Webb, Steve Jones)
18. “We’ll drink together, and when we drink together, we drink together”
– Blackmore’s Night, All For One
19. “Well I’m here looking through an old picture frame”
– Roxy Music, Editions of You (Steve Jones)
20. “You had it right in the palm of your hand, right before your eyes”
– Tesla, Ez Come Ez Go

Just five that people didn’t guess. I suppose Blackmore’s Night count as ‘obscure’ since all but hardcore fans gave up on them after the first couple of albums. Everyone has forgotten Tesla (boy do they sound dated now!). I’m surprised nobody got either the Muse or Who songs, though.

Live gigs for me coming up in Manchester over the next few months.

Anathema on Wednesday 13th September (Academy 3)
Porcupine Tree on Saturday 30th September (Academy 1)
Opeth on Friday 10th November (Academy 1)
Hayseed Dixie on Friday 17th November (Academy 3)

I have tickets for all for of these. Unfortunately Lordi’s gig in October is sold out.

I’m planning on catching at least one date for Mostly Autumn, who are touring in October, although not all dates have been announced. I suspect they’ll not be playing Manchester itself, but will play Bury and Crewe instead.

Only seven of the 20 first lines still to be guessed. Here are some clues for the last seven.

1. Sole guitar-free song from an overwise very heavy 90s British Doom Metal album. The subject of the song (and the band itself) presumably died of consumption.

4. From the #1 album of a couple of few weeks ago, by a band hailing for a place previously known only for it’s sea wall.

5. From the most recent album by an artist that has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons. Can you say ‘Milli Vanilli’?

8. Taken from a 2002 dance album (but with real instruments, not computerised techno) with an Irish singer At least I assume she’s must be Irish with a name like that!

9. From what is supposedly The Greatest Live Album Of All Time, although this particular song wasn’t on the original vinyl LP.

18. HippyDave has described this band as having a ‘high camembert content’. Features one member from another band on this list.

20. 80s American hair metal band named after a mad scientist.

Rob has done another one, so have I. Same rules as before, if you recognise any, put the answers in the comments. These songs are from the sixties to the noughties, and there should be a couple of really easy ones this time round. I’ll post the answers in a couple of weeks time.

1. “As I draw my breath, and silver fills my eyes”
– My Dying Bride, For My Dying Angel (Paul Erbehr)
2. “Brezhnev took Afganistan, Begin took Beirut, Galtieri took the Union Jack”
– Pink Floyd, Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert (The Final Cut) (Steve Jones)
3. “Contained in everything I do there’s a love I feel for you”
– Yes, Onward (from Tormato) (Steve Jones)
4. “Follow through, make your dreams come true”
5. “He goes to work in a brand new dawn”
– Journey, Faith in the Heartland (Paul Erbehr)
6. “Hey now baby, get into my big black car”
– Cream, Politician (Fred Webb)
7. “In the shuffling madness”
– Jethro Tull, Locomotive Breath (Steve Jones)
8. “No I won’t interfere, I’m the only sound you’ll ever need to hear
9. “On top of the sky is a place where you go if you’ve done nothing wrong”
10. “Paint me a picture and hang it on the wall”
– Rainbow, Self Portrait (also performed by Blackmores Night) (Steve Jones)
11. “Six of one and half a dozen, black guitars and plastic blues”
– Porcupine Tree, Four Chords That Sold A Million (from Lightbulb Sun) (Steve Jones)
12. “Sprawling on the fringes of the city in geometric order”
– Rush, Subdivisions (Hugh)
13. “Standing on a golf course, dressed in PVC”
– Caravan, Golf Girl (Steve Jones)
14. “The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin’, that’s what I said”
– Spinal Tap, Big Bottom (also covered by Hayseed Dixie) (Rob)
15. “The character actor plays romantic leads and the kitten curls in wet anticipation”
– Fish, 3D (from “Fellini Days”) (Steve Jones)
16. “This place has a history, the Spaniards settled here”
– Blue Öyster Cult, Harvest Moon (from Heaven Forbid) Hugh)
17. “We come from the land of the ice and snow”
– Immigrant Song (The Led Zeppelin song, although the version I’d been listening to was a live version by Gotthard) (Fred Webb, Steve Jones)
18. “We’ll drink together, and when we drink together, we drink together”
19. “Well I’m here looking through an old picture frame”
– Roxy Music, Editions of You (Steve Jones)
20. “You had it right in the palm of your hand, right before your eyes”

This brain-dead review seems to sum up everything that’s wrong with British music journalists. It’s from the Murdoch Times, but seems to demonstrate the sort of NME snobbery British rock fans have had to put up with for the past 20 years. You definitely get the impression that this guy doesn’t actually like music. All he cares about is style and attitude, accompanied by lyrics that are deeply symbolic of man’s struggle against his socio-political environment.

Cloth-eared fools like him are the reason pseudo-intellectual poseurs like Franz Ferdinand or self-destructive idiots like Pete Docherty get all the publicity and exposure, thus ensuring that the British music public doesn’t get to hear anything other than third-rate music.

Eric Berlin challenges people to name their five favourite bands.

I was intrigued by this challenge, and very much struck both by how challenging it was – and is now – and how much the choices seemingly threaten to define my personality. Define me, really.

For example, the person who chooses Adam Ant, Kajagoogoo, Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, and Styx is very likely very different than the Iron Maiden, Metallica, Dream Theater, Queensryche, Rush dude, who again is probably worlds different than the Fiona Apple, Indigo Girls, Joan Baez, Patti Smith, Suzanne Vega person.

Here’s my five: I think shows that I’m more interested in musical craftmanship than rebellious posturing or tortured messiah figures. They’re all bands I first discovered around the same period (late 70s/early 80s), and all have careers lasting 20 or 30 years.

Pink Floyd – They’re significant for me, since the first album I ever bought was “The Wall”. The official British ‘rock narrative’ written by self-appointed cultural pundits either ignores the Floyd completely, or dismisses them as symbolic of the worst excesses of 70s corporate rock. Which just goes to show how much such idiots need a clue. Pink Floyd’s amazing performance at Live8 a year ago showed everyone how great they still are.

Blue Öyster Cult – They’re labelled as ‘thinking man’s metal’, but I think they were always more than a metal band. They can rock out with the best of them, but they’ve also excelled at sublime pop with a sinister edge. They’re a great live act even now; I’m seeing them live tomorrow night.

Marillion – They defied the critics by playing full-blown prog rock at the time when it was most unfashionable, and have continued to change and evolve with the times.

Rush – Sometimes I forget just how great their 70s and early 80s material is. Then I dig out classic albums like “Hemispheres”, “2112″ or “Moving Pictures”, and I remember.

Ritchie Blackmore – This is a cheat to include two great bands as my fifth choice, Deep Purple and Rainbow. Forget Jimmy Page, Blackmore was my 70s guitar hero. It didn’t hurt that he worked with three world-class singers, Ian Gillan, David Coverdale and Ronnie Dio.

Honourable mentions – Yes, Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath (both with Ozzy and with Dio), Genesis when Steve Hackett was in the band, King Crimson, Uriah Heep.

Possible candidates for ten years time – Mostly Autumn, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, The Mars Volta, Muse.