unpopular

I See You've Got Horses

Keep Me Distracted - TV Girl (Bandcamp)
My Dark Slimy Soul - Crystal Shipsss (Bandcamp)
Fitzrovia - Gravenhurst (from The Ghost In Daylight)
Kid - Tally Ho! (Soundcloud)
A Year - Channel Cairo (Bandcamp)
The Back Of Beyond - The Wake (from A Light Far Out)
I See You've Got Horses - Twin Library (Bandcamp)
Saying Goodbye - Frida Hyvönen (from To the Soul)
Nostalgic For.... - The Wind-up Birds (Bandcamp)
Stress Test - Blah Blah Tin (Soundcloud)
Drag - Slowcoaches (Bandcamp)
At The Lake - Standard Fare (Bandcamp)
Hymn The Girl - The Candy Strypers (Soundcloud)
Tallulah - Allo Darlin' (from Europe)
The Great Dividing Range - The Lucksmiths (from Why That Doesn't Surprise Me)
July - Cocoanut Groove (from the 'Colours' EP)
Growing Ur Hair Out - Sun Sister (Bandcamp)
Wild - Beach House (from Bloom)

Blame it on the pony express

Don't ask me why, but time has passed us by...

 

Anyone who is still in any doubt of the greatness of The Bee Gees should take a few minutes to watch this clip from the movie ‘Melody’, featuring the gorgeous ‘First Of May’ from the ‘Odessa’ set. “Orchestrated nostalgia that hits all the obvious targets” says the hardened cynic. To which the answer is “Yes.” Glorious, isn’t it?

Forty Shillings!

I don’t know what it has been like where you live but here in Devon it has felt like winter forever with just a few vaguely Spring-like days scattered amongst the past couple of months; their sparseness and fleeting quality only serving to highlight the otherwise uniform bitter winds and grey. Thankfully things seem to be changing at last. Today the air at last feels mellow, the breeze gentle and benign, whilst yesterday we managed a walk along the river, following the long-gone railway route and stumbling on this amusingly re-claimed sign from years gone by. Forty shillings indeed!

Tally Ho!

Have your latest WIAIWYA singles arrived yet? Mine came last week. They look and sound delicious. I think my favourite is the Tally Ho! cover of The Pretenders’ ‘Kid’. It’s a peach and a half. Plus added number 7 balloons. Record buying as Art event. Gotta love that.

I wave goodbye with a tear in my eye...

 

I'm sure I have said it many times in the past, but I have Harvey Williams to thank for hipping me to the greatness of the Bee Gees. My ridiculous 'year zero' notion of Pop culture had blinded me to so much for so long. I could place the blame firmly at the doorway of Punk, but really it was my own fault for refusing to accept that there could be greatness in records that sold more than 50 copies. So Harvey’s cover of ‘Kilburn Towers’ opened the door for me, directing me to ‘Idea’ and on... So many great songs. So many great records.

In my mind’s eye I can see a younger, stupider version of me failing to grasp the stature of the Bee Gees. I see that version of me wondering just why Robin Gibb’s passing should generate such expansive tributes. Then I sit down and play ‘Idea’ again and watch that younger version of myself shamble off in embarrassment. And of course his loss is nothing as compared to that of Robin Gibb.