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Showing posts from 2014

Missing Who footage appears online.

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What a way to end 2014 with some missing footage of The Who Appearing.  The show in question was transmitted on the 30th December 1970 called 'Into 71' You can see a full line up of the show here . The 2 songs performed were 'I dont even know Myself' and 'Naked Eye' both played a lot in 1970 and were tipped to be part of the 'Lifehouse' album that ended up being 'Whos Next' Naked Eye has always been one of my favourite Who songs and though the music is on playback the vocals are live.  I Don't Even Know Myself Naked Eye  

The Who Hits 50 in Cardiff Motorpoint Arena 15th December 2014

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So last night I went to the same venue I saw The Who at last year. Support band were called Slydigs they were one of those bands whom every song they played you knew exactly what records they has been listening to when writing their tunes bit of a disappointment esp knowing the excellent Standard Lamps had opened for the Who earlier on the tour.  After they had finished it was a very quick turnaround and The Who were soon on . The first 4 bars of ‘I cant Explain’ already for me beat everything about the Quadropheania show. No disrespect to the stand ins, but with The Who now Pino and Zak are the perfect rhythm section for Pete and Roger.    The augmentation of the band with extra keyboards and percussion really works well. A bit like the 89 tour except maybe not quite so over the top. The set was a great mixture hearing the Seeker again was a high point as was songs like So Sad about us and Pictures of Lilly both tunes I have never heard live before myself. Join Togeth

Pink Floyd - The Endless River - Review

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This has to be the biggest surprise of 2014 a new Pink Floyd album. Its out in the UK on Monday but by the miracle of technology I have acquired a copy for a review so here is my thoughts as I was listening to the album.   1 Things left Unsaid This is a ambient soundscape with some spoken lines for interviews, I wouldn't swear to it, but I think one line is even from roger. 2 Its what we do Very much a coda to the Wish you were here album a kind of a mix of Shine on and welcome to the machine, imho already better than anything that was in Division bell musically. Wonderful. 3 EBB and Flow This starts off with one of the pulsing synth noises off Metallic  Spheres think youth worked on this one. Some nice backwards guitar with some of Ricks electric piano. 4 Sum This start the second of the 4 phases of the album almost a flashback to Astronomy Domine at the start then goes into a Gilmour slidefest. I was expecting this to build up into something bigger and it

What Classic Rock presents Prog forgot part 3

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The last 10 album that I feel should have been the Classic rock presents Prog magazine top 100 albums of all time rather than too many albums by Yes and Genesis!  T2 - It'll All Work out In Boomland Pure classic progressive rock from Decca in 1972. This is another that should have been top 5. This trio had a solid sound a blend of Cream, King Crimson and a hint of Black Sabbath. The album has been re issued many times, though a 1st press on Decca fetches a tasty sum. Side 2 has the epic 22 minute song Morning that is as good as Echoes as far as long constructed pieces is concerned.  Manfred Mann - Chapter Three  Another release from Vertigo. At the end of Manfred Mann the band had gone down a Jazzy route and this carried on with Chapter three with its solid bass riffs and lots of great solos. Trumpet legend harry Beckett even makes and Appearance. Zappa fans of the Grand Wazoo era will love this, as will people that dig Black Sabbaths version of 'Warning'

The Next 10 Albums that Classic Rock Prog readers forgot

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Here is the next batch.. Renaissance In the late 60s one of the best bands in the UK was The Yardbirds, and in 2014 one of the best bands around is, The Yardbirds. When they split in 1968 Chris and Jimmy wanted to do Led Zeppelin (though Chris soon dropped out), Where as Jum and Keith wanted to do something more experimental and Progressive. The result was this belter of an LP released on Island and produced by former Yardbird Paul Samwell Smith.  A mix of Classical , Rock and a little bit of Jazz influences this collection of just 5 tracks but ranging from 4 to nearly 12 minutes in length.  Original Bass Player Louis Cennamo was seen recently performing with McCarty at his 'Frontman' show where Jim performed tracks from this era and beyond with some Prog epics in the set.  Focus - Focus 3 Moving waves made the list, but Focus 3 didn't, I cant work out why the side and a half of 'Annoymous' should have made it on to the list alone with its hea

Albums that Classic Rock Prog magazine readers forgot about.

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Having looked though this months Prog mag that they were giving away at Cropredy (I don't often buy it as at £8 I feel its overpriced) they did a top 100 best prog albums of all time. Most in the list was all very pedestrian and not really representatives of the world of Progressive rock in my opinion so I'm going to blog a fair few albums that should have been in that list.  As I have found out today the list was compiled by readers votes, rather than by Journalistic opinion. so I see this blog now as a guide to albums that your average reader might not know about.   Catapilla - Changes In the early 70s most of the best Progressive rock music was either on Harvest, Vertigo or Deram (owned by decca). This album was the bands second album released on the Vertigo Swirl label. Like a lot of these albums they didn't sell that well as at the time the world was saturated with Yes and Pink Floyd but thankfully like most good prog albums it has been re issued. Mine is a

Spring Update 2nd April 2014

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 So a little bit of an update from me.  Radio : I recently was a guest on the BBC radio Devon Introducing programme as a pundit on the round table of the new releases from local bands. There was a very good selection of material whoever said that Devon has no great music is so far off the mark. I feel that at the moment the standard of bands and artists has never been higher.    Last week I was live from the Royal Albert Hall at the Cures first of a 2 night residency there. The show was stunning the best Cure gig I have ever been to and the atmosphere was one of the best of any gig I have ever attended.  This Friday I will be live from the Danny Thompson 75 th Birthday gig in London with special guest Richard Thompson that should be amazing. Phonic FM in Exeter are doing a show dedicated to yours truly on Tuesday 29 th April at 8pm on 106.8   FM in Exeter and on the web at http://www.phonic.fm I will be talking about all the music I have done and more im