If Mickey Dolenz was the smiley one, Davy Jones the English one and Mike Nesmith the quiet one, then Peter Tork, who died yesterday aged 77, was the odd one out. Already known on the Greenwich Village music scene before joining the packaged four-piece TV pop band, Tork had the dubious distinction of being the only member of the band to play an instrument on their debut album. An accomplished musician he co-wrote the closing theme to the TV show's second season as well as several songs on the band's output from album three onwards.
Outside of The Monkees he played with George Harrison, briefly becoming a solo artist before becoming a music teacher (finding time along the way to get busted on a dope charge and join a Blues band). However there was no escaping the red buttoned-up tunic and, in 1986, joined Dolenz and Jones to tour again before and record a new album, Justus, with Nesmith in 1996. Unfortunately the band imploded again in 2001, thankfully hatchets were buried from these creative differences in time for an anniversary tour in 2011.
RIP Peter Tork
Showing posts with label RIP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RIP. Show all posts
Friday, February 22, 2019
Friday, December 07, 2018
Goodbye Pete
The sad news broke last night that Pete Shelley, legendary singer-songwriter, innovator and Buzzcocks frontman, has died. His impact on the music scene was such that I honestly believe that a lot of the bands I love would not have existed without him.
A skill for creating spiky, catchy, indie songs that were more than punk, with raw emotion writ large in lyrics, was second to none. With the Buzzcocks he was responsible both for the raw and insistent Ever Fallen In Love [With Someone You Shouldn't've] and for bringing the Sex Pistols to Manchester (an action which is now seen as lighting the blue touch paper of the city's vibrant music scene). He also forayed into electronica, had one of his tunes banned by the Beeb and, bizarrely, was one of the few artists I can think of who released a proto-karaoke version of one of his albums for the ZX Spectrum.
RIP Pete Shelley.
A skill for creating spiky, catchy, indie songs that were more than punk, with raw emotion writ large in lyrics, was second to none. With the Buzzcocks he was responsible both for the raw and insistent Ever Fallen In Love [With Someone You Shouldn't've] and for bringing the Sex Pistols to Manchester (an action which is now seen as lighting the blue touch paper of the city's vibrant music scene). He also forayed into electronica, had one of his tunes banned by the Beeb and, bizarrely, was one of the few artists I can think of who released a proto-karaoke version of one of his albums for the ZX Spectrum.
RIP Pete Shelley.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Goodbye Dale
Sad news this morning, Dale Barclay, of And Yet It Moves and ex The Amazing Snakeheads, has died following a valiant fight with glioblastoma.
Of all the bands I've seen live, and there have been many, there are a handful of acts that have delivered as visceral experience as The Amazing Snakeheads, thanks mostly to the feral presence of Dale Barclay. He prowled the stage, eyed the front row like a Tiger would a steak, a scrawny, shirtless, shiny shoed battler. Like the Snakeheads, who imploded before they could capitalise on their debut album, Dale has gone to soon.
RIP
Of all the bands I've seen live, and there have been many, there are a handful of acts that have delivered as visceral experience as The Amazing Snakeheads, thanks mostly to the feral presence of Dale Barclay. He prowled the stage, eyed the front row like a Tiger would a steak, a scrawny, shirtless, shiny shoed battler. Like the Snakeheads, who imploded before they could capitalise on their debut album, Dale has gone to soon.
RIP
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Goodbye Chas
Chas Hodges, legendary session musician and half of easily the greatest pub rock combo ever, has died aged 74 after a battle with oesophageal cancer. In his long musical career Chas performed with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent, played alongside Ritchie Blackmore as part of Joe Meek's house band, The Outlaws, and guested on a variety of artists' studio sessions (most famously on the much sampled Labi Siffre tune I Got The, which also featured the other half of Chas'n'Dave, Dave Peacock, before they joined forces).
Over the course of their 40+ year career as Chas'n'Dave the duo had over eight UK Top 40 hits, hosted a variety TV show set in an East End pub, made drinking Courage beers more appetising, sound-tracked Alf Garnett, played Glastonbury, introduced the word "gertcha" into the common lexicon and definitely seemed to be having a lot of fun along the way. All that and they ensured that "rabbit" has a special connotation to those of us of a certain age too.
Whilst I never got to see Chas'n'Dave perform live they did once make an impromptu appearance in my old local pub, stopping in for a quick beer on their way to a gig in the next town. Sat at a table, joined by drummer Mick Burt, they supped a pint in the Lounge Bar (looking very much at home) whilst we shy blokes in the Public Bar craned our necks to steal fanboy glances.
RIP Chas Hodges
Over the course of their 40+ year career as Chas'n'Dave the duo had over eight UK Top 40 hits, hosted a variety TV show set in an East End pub, made drinking Courage beers more appetising, sound-tracked Alf Garnett, played Glastonbury, introduced the word "gertcha" into the common lexicon and definitely seemed to be having a lot of fun along the way. All that and they ensured that "rabbit" has a special connotation to those of us of a certain age too.
Whilst I never got to see Chas'n'Dave perform live they did once make an impromptu appearance in my old local pub, stopping in for a quick beer on their way to a gig in the next town. Sat at a table, joined by drummer Mick Burt, they supped a pint in the Lounge Bar (looking very much at home) whilst we shy blokes in the Public Bar craned our necks to steal fanboy glances.
RIP Chas Hodges
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Frightened Rabbit - 'Good Arms vs. Bad Arms'
One of my very favourite Frabbit songs, and this is a great acoustic version by Scott Hutchison.
Goodbye Owl John
"Come gather in my lungs Scottish wind
Belt out your blackest poems
As the sea around you sings
When that drone takes to the air
A single note to raise my hairCarry songs beyond my lungs cold Scottish wind"
Belt out your blackest poems
As the sea around you sings
When that drone takes to the air
A single note to raise my hairCarry songs beyond my lungs cold Scottish wind"
RIP Scott Hutchison
Devastating news, tragic. Such a great talent, such a loss. Your words have long been rooted in my head, have helped steer me my through my own dark times. Whatever peace you needed I hope you have it now.
Mental health affects us all. If you're struggling or feeling low, please know that you are not alone. Talking helps, and there is always someone to listen.
Samaritans - help is available 24 hours a day, call 116 123
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Life on Mars
One of the sad facts about gaining years is that, with every day, there's an ever increasing chance that someone you know, love, appreciate, admire or respect will disappear. It's one of the choice parts of the human condition, a happy/sad twist that makes you reflect on what you have, what you've missed out on, what hours there are in the day to make something new or maybe just that it's high time that you bought that new shiny thing that you'd promised yourself. It may be that someone you know has passed on, or it may be that someone you've never met, but to you has had an equally important impact on your life, has died; the writer of a book you can quote offhand perhaps, or an actor who's work you enjoyed, the painter who's way with colour makes the juices in your brain fizz or the performer who's music lifts your soul. If life is like a box of chocolates, and you never know what you're going to get, there's a likelihood that some days you'll be handed the Peanut Cracknel and not the Noisette Triangle. Today was one of those days.
David Bowie is dead and, not to put too fine a point on it, it's bummed me right out. It bummed me out when I woke up to the news, half-dreaming the report read out on the radio, and it's continued to do so as the day has progressed. It's bummed me out, it's pissed me off, it's made me sad and, from the tweets I've read and the items I've seen populating my newsfeed in Facebook, unsurprisingly I'm not alone in how I feel. Today may be beyond Peanut Cracknel, today was a big bar of Marmite chocolate, chewed with a grimace. David Bowie is/was a genius, an artist, a chameleon, a creator of beautiful music and, by most accounts, was a really nice chap to boot. Part of me thinks that this is just another way of him reinventing himself, that he'll reappear as a new creation tomorrow, but that's just the dreamer in me. Bowie has left the planet. The body may be gone but the body of work remains and will always be with us. He really made the grade, and for that I am thankful.
RIP David Bowie (1947-2016)
David Bowie is dead and, not to put too fine a point on it, it's bummed me right out. It bummed me out when I woke up to the news, half-dreaming the report read out on the radio, and it's continued to do so as the day has progressed. It's bummed me out, it's pissed me off, it's made me sad and, from the tweets I've read and the items I've seen populating my newsfeed in Facebook, unsurprisingly I'm not alone in how I feel. Today may be beyond Peanut Cracknel, today was a big bar of Marmite chocolate, chewed with a grimace. David Bowie is/was a genius, an artist, a chameleon, a creator of beautiful music and, by most accounts, was a really nice chap to boot. Part of me thinks that this is just another way of him reinventing himself, that he'll reappear as a new creation tomorrow, but that's just the dreamer in me. Bowie has left the planet. The body may be gone but the body of work remains and will always be with us. He really made the grade, and for that I am thankful.
RIP David Bowie (1947-2016)
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
CHAOS: 20 years and out
It's hard to believe I know but Chaos, Portsmouth's legendary alternative club night, is 20 years old this year. Since its inception in 1991 its entertained thousands with its fresh and dirty approach to music, first at South Parade Pier and, more recently, at the Wedgewood Rooms. Along the way its twice won The News' Guide Awards Best Club Night & Best DJs and has quite comfortably become the South Coast's longest running independent club night.
The 20th anniversary Chaos is scheduled for Saturday 26th November but, before you get a hankering for a slice of cake, any celebration must be tempered by the knowledge that it will also be the last Chaos; after 20 years of outstanding club nights the good people behind the scenes have decided to call it a day. The reasons behind the decision are both straightforward (20 years is a long time) and logical (there are many more pubs and venues offering a wide choice of music, wider than when the club night started) and fully explained on their website.
Over the years I've had some very good and, on occasion, very bad nights at Chaos, pretty much dependent on the amount of alcohol imbibed (more beer = more jumping around like a loonie). I'm old enough to (hazily) remember loud and raucous nights at the Albert Tavern on South Parade Pier, hopping over the moat of broken glass at the bar to get the beers in (and never risking the Sangria). I'd awake the next morning a fetid mess, wreathed in the smell of cigarette smoke and stale alcohol. Good times indeed.
Before it goes the way of Topdoris there are still a few opportunities to experience 'that Chaos feeling' before the lights finally dim over the wheels of steel; first up is this coming Saturday 8th October (£5 advance), then there's the legendary Halloween Special on Saturday 29th October (£6 advance). That sets things up nicely for the final Chaos, a two room celebration featuring DJs both old and current, all of whom will be spinning a cavalcade of Chaos classics (fingers crossed for Limp Bizkit's cover of Faith). Tickets will be £7 in advance and should be available soon.
See you down the front then, yes?
The 20th anniversary Chaos is scheduled for Saturday 26th November but, before you get a hankering for a slice of cake, any celebration must be tempered by the knowledge that it will also be the last Chaos; after 20 years of outstanding club nights the good people behind the scenes have decided to call it a day. The reasons behind the decision are both straightforward (20 years is a long time) and logical (there are many more pubs and venues offering a wide choice of music, wider than when the club night started) and fully explained on their website.
Over the years I've had some very good and, on occasion, very bad nights at Chaos, pretty much dependent on the amount of alcohol imbibed (more beer = more jumping around like a loonie). I'm old enough to (hazily) remember loud and raucous nights at the Albert Tavern on South Parade Pier, hopping over the moat of broken glass at the bar to get the beers in (and never risking the Sangria). I'd awake the next morning a fetid mess, wreathed in the smell of cigarette smoke and stale alcohol. Good times indeed.
Before it goes the way of Topdoris there are still a few opportunities to experience 'that Chaos feeling' before the lights finally dim over the wheels of steel; first up is this coming Saturday 8th October (£5 advance), then there's the legendary Halloween Special on Saturday 29th October (£6 advance). That sets things up nicely for the final Chaos, a two room celebration featuring DJs both old and current, all of whom will be spinning a cavalcade of Chaos classics (fingers crossed for Limp Bizkit's cover of Faith). Tickets will be £7 in advance and should be available soon.
See you down the front then, yes?
Monday, September 26, 2011
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
No sooner have R.E.M. decided to split up then news of a final Greatest Hits release lands. Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage will be released this November, a double CD that plunders the band's back catalogue for songs you probably already have plus three new songs recorded after Collapse Into Now was completed. For the most part I'm happy with the large chunk of the band's oeuvre I've already paid out for (call me old fashioned but that's how I am) so I can't see myself buying it.
Nevertheless it got me to thinking about what tracks I'd throw onto an R.E.M. compilation CD; what songs I'd include, what songs I'd leave off and why. Then I noticed that the chaps from Pet Sounds had already assembled a packed Spotify playlist over at Strong Island which is more deserving of a listen then something I'd conjure up.
But, whilst you're waiting for Spotify to load up, you could always give the following a listen; first up quite possibly my favourite R.E.M. song ever. It's just... well, you had to be there.
Nevertheless it got me to thinking about what tracks I'd throw onto an R.E.M. compilation CD; what songs I'd include, what songs I'd leave off and why. Then I noticed that the chaps from Pet Sounds had already assembled a packed Spotify playlist over at Strong Island which is more deserving of a listen then something I'd conjure up.
But, whilst you're waiting for Spotify to load up, you could always give the following a listen; first up quite possibly my favourite R.E.M. song ever. It's just... well, you had to be there.
Next perhaps an obvious choice, but there's a (suitably dumb) reason why; once upon a time my local pub had, tucked away on its jukebox, the Greenpeace Rainbow Warriors CD. It was only CD in the damn thing with any R.E.M. on it at all, hence this got played an awful lot.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
The End of The Revolution
The announcement that Pure Reason Revolution were calling it a day popped up in my Facebook feed earlier; the Reading alternative prog rockers have cited 'changing circumstances' but whatever the real reason it's a damn shame. I first stumbled across the band several years ago, supporting Mew at The Wedgewood Rooms if memory serves, and with their intoxicating blend of harmonies and melodic (and, yes, progressive) rock they soon became a band that my gigging buddies and I obsessively followed.
We bought the CDs, coveted the badges, used the bookmarks given away at the merchandising desk and waited with bated breath for news of a new release. Time passed only for debut album The Dark Third to be re-released in a slightly different form. Of course, we bought that too. Our fanboy ardour waned as the months went by; after a disappointing gig at The Joiners, beset with technical issues, one of our number decided that was enough. Our fickle fandom could only take so much.
However, being the kind of sad music obsessive that I am, I couldn't give them up completely. I scoured the internet for updates, there were rumours of the new album, but I wouldn't believe it until I had a copy in my grubby mitts. So it was, some months later, that I again found myself at The Joiners. The rumours were true; a pile of shiny new CDs, all in shiny cardboard sleeves, teased me from the merchandise desk.
Second album, Amor Vincit Omnia, dispensed with the lush strings from the debut, replacing them with dollops of synthesizer. The harmonies and repeated themes remained but, despite a couple of excellent signature tunes (Deus Ex Machina and Victorious Cupid), it wasn't as wholly satisfying a listen as their debut. Where the album succeeded though was in showing a band confident enough to experiment with their sound.
Not letting the dust settle PRR continued their push into electronic territories, perfecting their efforts on third long player Hammer and Anvil. Co-written and produced by Tom Bellamy (ex-Cooper Temple Clause) the album is a heavy, pounding, synth happy delight; throat-grabbing opener Fight Fire is a song that seems designed to accompany things blowing up.
Shortly after Hammer and Anvil's release I saw the band for what now looks to be the last time, at last year's SouthseaFest; having drawn the opening slot on the Wedge stage the band found themselves playing to a mostly empty room. No matter, they cranked the dials up to 11 and played a charged set sampling their new long player. This was a band ready to seize the day, or so I thought at the time; I really do have a kiss of death about these things.
But before they bid the crowds adieu, pack up their instruments and go their separate ways, the band will be playing a final six shows. The 'farewell tour' takes in Nottingham, Bristol, Norwich, Holmfirth, Glasgow and London (but sadly no 'one last time' at The Joiners, which is a shame) with debut The Dark Third being played in its entirety each night. A good way to say goodbye, if there is such a thing.
So long PRR, and thanks.
We bought the CDs, coveted the badges, used the bookmarks given away at the merchandising desk and waited with bated breath for news of a new release. Time passed only for debut album The Dark Third to be re-released in a slightly different form. Of course, we bought that too. Our fanboy ardour waned as the months went by; after a disappointing gig at The Joiners, beset with technical issues, one of our number decided that was enough. Our fickle fandom could only take so much.
However, being the kind of sad music obsessive that I am, I couldn't give them up completely. I scoured the internet for updates, there were rumours of the new album, but I wouldn't believe it until I had a copy in my grubby mitts. So it was, some months later, that I again found myself at The Joiners. The rumours were true; a pile of shiny new CDs, all in shiny cardboard sleeves, teased me from the merchandise desk.
Second album, Amor Vincit Omnia, dispensed with the lush strings from the debut, replacing them with dollops of synthesizer. The harmonies and repeated themes remained but, despite a couple of excellent signature tunes (Deus Ex Machina and Victorious Cupid), it wasn't as wholly satisfying a listen as their debut. Where the album succeeded though was in showing a band confident enough to experiment with their sound.
Not letting the dust settle PRR continued their push into electronic territories, perfecting their efforts on third long player Hammer and Anvil. Co-written and produced by Tom Bellamy (ex-Cooper Temple Clause) the album is a heavy, pounding, synth happy delight; throat-grabbing opener Fight Fire is a song that seems designed to accompany things blowing up.
Shortly after Hammer and Anvil's release I saw the band for what now looks to be the last time, at last year's SouthseaFest; having drawn the opening slot on the Wedge stage the band found themselves playing to a mostly empty room. No matter, they cranked the dials up to 11 and played a charged set sampling their new long player. This was a band ready to seize the day, or so I thought at the time; I really do have a kiss of death about these things.
But before they bid the crowds adieu, pack up their instruments and go their separate ways, the band will be playing a final six shows. The 'farewell tour' takes in Nottingham, Bristol, Norwich, Holmfirth, Glasgow and London (but sadly no 'one last time' at The Joiners, which is a shame) with debut The Dark Third being played in its entirety each night. A good way to say goodbye, if there is such a thing.
So long PRR, and thanks.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
So, farewell then Rilo Kiley...
The NME are reporting that American mellow indie types Rilo Kiley, following a long hiatus, have decided to call it a day. Bad news. Rilo Kiley were, like The Decemberists, one of the many fine bands I discovered thanks to the late and much lamented internet radio station WOXY.
A few years back the band nearly headlined the Wedge; a date was announced as part of a UK tour, a gig that I bought tickets for as soon as I found out about it. Sadly the show was cancelled shortly after (sad but true, I've still got the tickets).
So anyway, thanks RK for the good tunes, here's a few of them to be going along with...
A few years back the band nearly headlined the Wedge; a date was announced as part of a UK tour, a gig that I bought tickets for as soon as I found out about it. Sadly the show was cancelled shortly after (sad but true, I've still got the tickets).
So anyway, thanks RK for the good tunes, here's a few of them to be going along with...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
WOXY RIP
Unfortunately, despite it being probably the best internet radio station across the whole wide web (IMHO), and having pulled off a quite remarkable Lazarus act last time it looked like buying the farm, it appears that time has finally run out for WOXY.
An announcement appeared on the famed radio station's website over the weekend; the business model has failed and there just isn't the money to keep the station 'on the air'. Little short of a miracle The Future of Rock'n'Roll will be (once again) silenced come September 15th. The message wraps up as follows..
Sometimes no matter how hard you try and how special the thing you do, it simply isn’t enough to beat the odds. It’s the cold reality of business that not even we could escape. When September 15th comes, we’ll meet it proudly with heads held high and celebrate the past two years of woxy.com and the spirit of 97X. For those lucky enough to have been part of it, The Future of Rock and Roll will forever be in our minds and hearts.
It's a damn shame. Thanks to WOXY I heard of some excellent bands that I'd not have encountered otherwise, bands such as Fruit Bats, Over The Rhine, Forget Cassettes and, most importantly, The Decemberists.
As its says on the website, this sucks..
An announcement appeared on the famed radio station's website over the weekend; the business model has failed and there just isn't the money to keep the station 'on the air'. Little short of a miracle The Future of Rock'n'Roll will be (once again) silenced come September 15th. The message wraps up as follows..
Sometimes no matter how hard you try and how special the thing you do, it simply isn’t enough to beat the odds. It’s the cold reality of business that not even we could escape. When September 15th comes, we’ll meet it proudly with heads held high and celebrate the past two years of woxy.com and the spirit of 97X. For those lucky enough to have been part of it, The Future of Rock and Roll will forever be in our minds and hearts.
It's a damn shame. Thanks to WOXY I heard of some excellent bands that I'd not have encountered otherwise, bands such as Fruit Bats, Over The Rhine, Forget Cassettes and, most importantly, The Decemberists.
As its says on the website, this sucks..
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