Carnival of Thieves “Welcome to the Carnival....

The other night sitting out in the yard, BBQ fired up, (Once I had been on a magical mystery tour to replaced the propane)  roasting a nice Cajun BBQ Whole Chicken I needed something special to play on the musical rock. It was getting late and still as hot and sticky as it can get, I  call out to # 1 Daughter, still up as school has finished “Give me 2 numbers” (This game corresponds to shelf and CD  allowing me to access truly random music). What The Hell ! out pops Carnival of Thieves “Welcome To The Carnival” So how did a signed copy of this most excellent and obscure (to the uninitiated) album get into my music library? Well sometime around my  Birthday Oct 1995 visiting my home town of Sheffield my best buddy Mark  drove us over to Chesterfield  dragged us up some stairs into a bar to see Mr Nick Harrison & Carnival of Thieves Mark IV play , sort of they were doing a three man show can’t remember why. Now you may think this is when I got hold of the signed copy of this  and you would be wrong. This is how the next morning I ended up in Carlsboro Sounds buying a Westone Thunder 1a Bass as a birthday present to myself. (The first consequence of my Birthday promise to myself to turn over a new leaf, from now on any foolishness uttered while drinking had to be followed up by dedicated action the next day a sort of credibility check, you have no idea how much trouble this has caused and how hard it is to stick by, but mostly believe it or not I have.) Twelve months later sitting in “The Lossie Inn” (a bar at the time that had its fair share off bikers) on the front at Lossiemouth in the wilds of Northern Scotland its  October 1996 I was busy enjoying an Indian Summer and the cold beers that go with it. Discussing how great the summer has been and how as always the three day Folk Festival at the “Beach Bar” had been excellent and wouldn’t it be great if we could have a Rock Festival as well. (Sounds like a sensible beer drink topic while sitting in a Biker Bar feeling very Rock & Roll in...

The Blue Nile “A Walk Across The Rooftops”....

I was surprised this came out in 1983/84 completely off my radar back then. Eventually bought this in a Hi-Fi store selling Linn, Rega, Arcam, Cambridge and other equipment I will never be able to afford. Vinyl was allegedly dead and I was busy buying albums at knock down prices so I became a proud owner of the Linn pressing of  The Blue Niles:  “A Walk Across The Rooftops”. It turns out to be the first album recorded on the Linn label and its in 1001. And its a delight a blend of soul and electronica and halting passionate  vocals of Paul Buchanan. Sort of small-town suburbia  passion very similar to the lyrics of Everything But The Girl. Just put it on and play it time and time again. So you will be asking why the hell did I sell it together with all my other LP’s? I can only claim temporary insanity my broken turntable and imminent emigration to Canada. Until recently my desktop slide show at work has been the art work from these missing /sold albums I remove each one as I repurchase it on CD ( Alas a lot of stuff has still not made it off vinyl) . Finally last year Virgin re-released this album 2 CD set with additional tracks and once again I am enjoying the pleasure that is The Blue Nile.  Loved by the likes of Peter Gabriel, Rickie Lee Jones and Annie Lennox. Even my kids are beginning to appreciate there old dad may have some taste in music (No rude comments please).  Recently I was sent on a mission by my son to find music for his girlfriends birthday present apparently I know what sort of weird hip stuff she would like. So birthday present was The Flaming Lips : Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and Portishead : Dummy,  apparently I did a good job however it appears they are not currently on speaking terms. If I did not own copies of these I might have been tempted to ask for them back. Oh the good old days. So the final question what the hells all this releasing albums on vinyl even ones that were not. I will not fall for it I tell you. especially when these newfangled 189g  LP’s  they are whopping  $25-$59 and CD’s are $5-$15...

THE BETA BAND “THE THREE EP’S”...

The BETA BAND, formed in 1996 and split in 2004 were a UK band  carrying the tag of  “Folktronica”, a blend of folk, electronic, rock, trip hop, and experimental jamming. I came to this one in the usual unexpected way, loving the Nick Hornby novel “High Fidelity” (so much so I lent it to someone to read and that was the last I saw of it). I watched the Movie release in 2000  John Cusack, Jack Black  & Todd Louiso interaction as the nerd inhabitants of a vintage record store rang so many bells my initial unease at the shift from 1980s UK to America post 2000 fell away; although  it had me messed up for a time but this movie is  so true I let it go . I even had a go at organizing my records(CD’s) AUTOBIOGRAPHICALLY. which worked great up to around 2000 and then nothing. My life got disconnected from the soundtrack. Roll on Christmas 2012 and a present from my wife reconnected me. I was the proud owner of 1001 Albums you must hear before you Die. And if you have the time or inclination you can follow my journey through its pages of this here Bio-Blog. Now back to the BETA BAND The Three EP’s is not in the revised 2010 1001  but I believe one of their Albums was in the 2005 edition. So onward John Cusack aka Rob Gordon announces to the shop “I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.’s by The Beta Band”and plays a minute give or take of the song “Dry the Rain”. As far as I am concerned at the time who are the “BETA BAND” and do they even exist because its hard to tell, try looking for something by “Kinky Wizard”. Now confessing here to a mild case of OCD in my operating system “High Fidelity” got stuck in my top 5 movie play list I have seen it a lot. Not as much as ” Flip side of Dominick  Hide” but a lot. So “Dry the Rain” and “The Three E.P’s” gets stuck in my head so prowling HMV last year has me speechless there  on the racks are 5 shiny copies of said album. Purchased and rushed home its an awesome sonic journey, yes it takes time and dedication but...

Thin Lizzy ” Live And Dangerous”...

No surprise with this one sitting here this morning blogging to Thin Lizzy. This was the first Album I bought back in 1979 ( which got scratched the replacement vinyl sold and now I have a CD) and I am still crazy about it today. Awesome cover (Has to be because of the Bass). This undoubtedly was why I eventually bought a Bass and proceeded to play it very badly. (I still play it badly today it hangs in my sons room with my Marshall which he completely ignores! don’t figure.) Favorite track has to be “Rosalie”, but slower numbers like ” Southbound” & “Dancing in the Moonlight” also get my vote. In case you missed them also released in 1978 were Van Halen :Van Halen , Dire Straits:Dire Straits , The Cars :The Cars and Magazines Real Life.   In 1979 listing my interests as Thin Lizzy, Hiking and D&D, reading  “Lord of the Rings” again ( I actually did this every summer right up to the summer of 1989). The favorite Wrangler shirt I am wearing was the one I went to my first Thin Lizzy concert in. Lined up twice round the City Hall from early morning with my friend Peter to get tickets. Awesome concert....