Sunday, August 3, 2014

How I got really cold at Glastonbury....

Below is a short (working, unedited, rough etc) extract from my forthcoming book about the Glastonbury Festival.

In this bit I'm standing waiting to watch The Rolling Stones...and getting really cold.    



As I stood there watching the field fill up more and more-many people must have been waiting for Primal Scream to finish- I realised that I felt cold. 

I’d gone and got a coffee from the nearest place at the back of hill while Primal Scream were playing, but that hadn’t warmed me up that much. I had my t-shirt on and a thin jacket, my rain jacket, although it didn’t make much difference. 

There was a dampness in the air; not a fog, nor a mist but a bone-chilling dampness. It was if condensation was seeping through to my very core. I couldn’t believe it. It was June and I was cold at 9.00 at night. I had never been that cold during an evening at Glastonbury. I wrapped my coat tightly round me and stuffed my hands in my pockets. It made no difference, I was still freezing. It was ridiculous.

I looked around me at everyone else standing there and walking around. They all seemed to have fleeces, hoodies and jumpers on. Some of them even were wearing woolly hats. I’d have killed for a woolly hat.

I looked at my watch. It was just coming up to ten to nine. The Stones were on at 9.30. They’d be on stage till midnight I guessed. I couldn’t see them finishing much earlier than that. 

What to do? 

Could I stay as cold as this for another 3 hours or more? 

It wasn’t as if it was going to get much warmer. The sun wasn’t going to come up and even if I danced around a bit to the Stones (not that I would) I couldn’t do it for 3 hours and I didn’t think that it would make any difference.

I’d end up in the medical tent with hypothermia, wrapped up like a big oven-ready turkey in a foil blanket and stuck with a bunch of pissheads and kids who’d taken too many drugs. This wasn’t me being overly dramatic, I really was that cold. 

I’d started shivering involuntarily. Wasn’t that one of the first signs? Would I start to hallucinate and lose all sense of where I was? If I went to the medical tent with those symptoms, there’d be a fair chance that I’d be mis-diagnosed and I’d be shunted in a corner with all the acid casualties. 

“I’m cold, I’m so cold,” 

“Of course you are. And you think you can fly as well. We know. It'll pass.” 

I could well imagine the conversation. I had to do something to avoid such a scenario. Even though it would have been a ripe source for writing material, I wasn’t prepared to go that far.

The rest of the (as yet untitled) book should be finished and published sometime before the end of this year.

In the meantime the first two books in the trilogy are available here, both as Kindle e books and paperbacks;

"Turn Left at the Womble" 

Friday, August 1, 2014

Totally Shuffled- The Full List!

"Totally Shuffled-A  Year of Listening to Music on A Broken iPod" 


This is what it ("Totally Shuffled", the book) is all about:


One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553.
From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex). 

From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse). 

From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees. 

From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between. 

This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again. 

Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated. 

Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking. 

There’s memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about. 

But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it. 

I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.     


   

The Full List of all the Artists

So, I've decided to start (re) tweeting a track a day in the order they appear in my book and just so they are
here on the blog as well as in the contents of the book, this is what will be coming up for the next year or so.

Like me, there must be some artists you love, some you don't love and some you've probably not heard of.

Or never want to hear again.

But that's the way it goes with nearly 10,000 tracks to shuffle through at random.

These are the artists in the order they shuffled up on my iPod, starting on January 1st and finishing on December 31st.

  

January
The Clash/ Half Man Half Biscuit/ Steinski /Carl Smith with the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle
Big Star/ The Upsettters / AC/DC /Buddy Holly/Wilco/Joy Division/High Rise
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir/Jackie Brenston
William & Versey Smith/Boards of Canada/Randy Newman/The Blue Nile/The Chords
Wire/Steely Dan/Mercury Rev/Sigur Ros/Massive Attack v Mad Professor
Steve Reich/TheSugarcubes/U2/A Sudden Sway/Laura Cantrell/Genesis
Mbuti Pygmies of the Iruti Rainforest/The Sisters of Mercy

February
Holy Fuck/ Swans/The Sundays/My Bloody Valentine/Ja-Man
Charles Wright & the 103rd Street Rhythm Band/Juana Molina/Sparklehorse/ The White Stripes
New Order/Dennis McGee & Ernest Fruge/Beethoven/ You.May.Die.In.The.Desert
Kate Bush/Cabaret Voltaire/Blind Lemon Jefferson/Bill Drummond/Gong
The Hold Steady/Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston/ Sunn O)))/Crass
Jelly Roll Morton/Grandmaster Flash/Led Zeppelin/Status Quo

March
Karen Cooper Complex/Spiritualized/Professor Longhair/Coldplay
Dee Clark/Prince/Teenage Jesus & The Jerks/Jeff Buckley
Young Marble Giants/Rovo/Lazy Lester/She & Him
Voodoo Ceremony in Haiti/Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers/The Woodentops
Tinariwen/Blind Blake/ Arctic Monkeys/Van Morrison/Burial/Boozoo Chavais/Teenage Fanclub
Mogwai/Nirvana/Girls/Skip James/The Lemonheads/Air Traffic Controllers
A Gril Called Eddy/ Aztec Camera/Goldfrapp

April
Evil Gazebo/ The Durutti Column/Cymbals Eat Guitars/Swell Maps/Warren Smith
The Go-Betweens/Fats Domino/Joanna Newsom/Dave Dudley/Fleetwood Mac/Lightnin Hopkins
Neil Young/Chin Up Chin Up/The Jesus Lizard/Mel & Tim/XTC/Faron Young/Electro Hippies
Rev. Gary Davies/ Robyn Hitchcock/Lee Perry/Fuck Buttons/Portastatic/The Jesus & Mary Chain
Blind Willie Davis/The Misunderstood/ The Art of Noise/The Feelies/Francoise Hardy
The Rolling Stones

May
Dracula’s Daughter/American Music Club/Godspeed You! Black Emperor/Echo & the Bunnymen
Link Davis/Television/This Mortal Coil/Elder Curry/Vampire Weekend/Scritti Politti/Battles
Immortal Technique/Pavement/Jad Fair/The Everly Brothers/Impact All Stars
Hambone Wille Newbern/The Zimmermen/Chic/Buzzcocks/Ellis Regina & Toots Theilman
The Silver/Lights In A Fat City/Althea & Donna/Phew!/Eddie & Ernie/Sly & The Family Stone/
The Parliaments/The Ruts/Muddy Waters

June
Captain Beefheart/Emmylou Harris/Jimmy Rodgers/Bob Dylan/Lush/Foetus Interruptus
Johnny Cash/Lattie Moore/Satan Alfa Beel Atem/Freddie Hall/The Ravens/Robert Parker
David Sylvian/The Stone Roses/Charlie Parker/SonnyBoy Williamson/Steve Earle/Tiny Bradshaw
Lonnie Johnson/Blind Alred Reed/Southside Johnny/The Showstoppers/L/Roy Orbison/The KLF
Tony Bennett/The Chantells/The Nightingales/Luciole

July
Some Chicken/The Meters/Kris Kristofferson/Rev A W Nix/The Flaming Lips/Big In Japan/Morphine
The Greenhornes/Ron Sexsmith/DoMaJe/Girls At Our Best! /The Masterdon Committee
Umm Kulthun/Alton Ellis & The Flames/James Brown/Brownsville Station/ The O’Jays
Jimmy Lewis/Tom Archia/Big Youth/The Smiths/The Fuckers/Nat King Cole/The 012/Group Doueh
Louis Prima/Jonsi & Alex/Carolina Buddies/Jerry Lee Lewis/Lori & The Chameleons/Dogie O’Dell

August
Frank Sinatra/Roy Head/Lara & the Trailers/King Solomon Hill/Central African Pygmies
The Beach Boys/The Pixies/ Billy Ward & His Dominos/Shep & The Limelites/The Adverts
Los Campesinos!/Elmore James/”Do you ever have a night when you don’t dream about The Fall?”
Aramic Wedding Chants/Camille/The Anemic Boyfriends/Trinity/Prefab Sprout/Bobby Marchan
The Grateful Dead/A Certain Ratio/The Beta Band/The Bell Rays/ DJ Food/
Booby Saffron & The Postal Bargains/Miles Davis/Anne Peebles/Marvin Rainwater
The Manavishnu Orchestra/Culture/Clannad
 
September
Gormenghast/Tammy Wynette/Wah! Heat/Mississipi John Hurt/The Henchman/Elvis Costello
The Velvetones/Mott the Hoople/ Armando/Walter “Kid” Smith /Junior Parker/Sandy Denny
The The/The Pilgrim Travellers/Muslimgauze/The Marvelettes/Elf Power/Ry Cooder
Johnny Burnette Trio/Big Amos/Johnnie Taylor/Ronny Jordan/Brahms/John Coltrane/ O V Wright
The Fall/George Jones/The Gang of Four/Pink Floyd/Mickey Lee Lewis

October
Young Fresh Fellows/ the passage/System Fucker/The Bays/Molton Rock/De La Soul/Muse
Popol Vuh/Schubert/Curtis Mayfield/Joe South/The Beat/Sleepy John Estes/Bruce Springsteen
I Roy/Soledad Brothers/Roshell Anderson/Louis Armstrong/The Nitecaps/The Clovers
Clarence Ashby/Emitt Rhodes/Black Uhuru/Gram Parsons/Chuck Willis/Johnny Fortune/
Blind Willie McTell/Dinosaur Jr./Charles Brown

November
Billie Holliday/Rocketship/Johnny Dove & the Magnolia Playboys/MGMT/Chrome/Blue Angel
Little Axe/The Delgados/Mahler/Novem/Siouxsie & The Banshees/Charlie Mingus/The Monkees
P J Harvey/Riley Puckett/Roger Miller/The Sonics/Louis Jordan/The Raincoats/Paul McCartney
Tampa Red & Georgia Tom/ The Upholsterers/Kristina Bruuk/Green Bailey/The Blue Orchids
Harry Pussy/Shostakovich/The National/Don Covay/K T Tunstall


December
Bill Monroe/Sonic Youth/Eltric Light Orchestra/Johnny Adams/The Cocteau Twins/Squeeze
The Latin Playboys/The Cherry Pies/Stevie Wonder/Toussaint McCall/Eva Cassidy
Howling Wolf/Crowded House/Stanley Winston/The Velvet Underground
Pat Metheny/Elbow/Alternative TV /Long Gone Miles/The Pernice Brothers/Paddy McAloon
Al Green/Talking Heads/Radiohead/AMM/Smokey Robinson & The Miracles/
Big Black/Joni Mitchell/Madonna/The Birthday Party/Honeyboy





"Totally Shuffled" is here as a Kindle book (bit of a massive tome; 600 or so pages)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CJYZ3CA 

and here as a paperback (Part 1:The First Six Months) 






Friday, July 18, 2014

Top 50 Debut LPs List-A Sort of Explanation



Top 50 Debut LPs

A bit of an explanation.

I thought long and hard about this list. Well, for a couple of days at least, but it sort of worked itself out without much intervention by me.

There were a lot of artists whose first albums didn’t make the list, but who are up there for me; Bob Dylan being a prime example. As much as I love Dylan’s work, I can’t honestly say that his first album deserves to be in my Top 50 debuts of all time. I think that he falls into a category of artist who only really get into their stride after one, two or three albums

There are also many, many other artists, who if they had ever recorded an album, would surely be in there; most of the blues artists from the 1920’s and 30’s could stake a claim, as well as some jazz greats such as Professor Longhair and Jelly Roll Morton, but albums were just not part of the landscape back then.

I then turn to those odd artists who have only recorded one album and sunk into obscurity. (Odd, being the correct word for some of these. Odd ,but great; that’s why they’re there!) I suppose these debuts could also be their final ones and it all depends how you look at it. I’m going for the glass half-full angle.

What has surprised me slightly is the lack of music from the 60’s & 70’s as well as whole genres largely missing; (album-era) jazz, soul, reggae, prog, punk. It could be that many of my favourite reggae, soul and punk tracks are singles rather than albums. As for prog, well, I just don’t like it very much! 

The final piece in the jigsaw was grading them in some sort of order.

I know these choices are my Top 50, but the hard part was sticking them in some sort of graduated order. Is the 50th one than much less worthy than what’s number one? Or does number two really deserve a place up there in the stratosphere?

It is all down to how I felt at the time of compiling the list. I’ll bet If I look back at it in a years’ time, I’d be thinking, “Number three? Really?”, but for now, here it is.

Hope you like it!
 
1
Madonna
Madonna



2
The Slits
Cut



3
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley


4
The Fall
Live at the Witch Trials

5
U2
Boy



6
Tammy Wynette
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad

7
Blue Angel
Blue Angel


8
Little Richard
Here's Little Richard


9
Swell Maps
A Trip to Marineville

10
MX-80 Sound
Hard Attack


11
Swans
Filth



12
Fats Domino
Rock and Rollin with Fats Domino
13
The Beat
I Just Can't Stop It


14
Frank Zappa
Freak Out!


15
the passage
pindrop



16
Satan Alfa Beel Atem
Delicior Pink Ribbon Beel (Music of Death)
17
Howlin Wolf
Moanin in the Moonlight

18
Jeff Buckley
Grace



19
Prefab Sprout
Swoon



20
The Saints
(I'm) Stranded


21
Tony Bennett
Because of You


22
Rip Rig & Panic
God



23
The Sundays
Reading,Writing & Arithmetic

24
Big Black
Atomizer



25
The Blue Nile
A Walk Across the Rooftops

26
Muslimgauze
Kabul



27
Alternative TV
The Image Has Cracked

28
Laura Cantrell
Not the Trembling Kind

29
The Descendents
Milo Goes to College

30
De La Soul
3ft High & Rising


31
Bruce Springsteen
Greetings from Astbury Park

32
Karen Cooper Complex
Shinjuku



33
The Congos
Heart of the Congos


34
The Strypes
Snapshot



35
Wire
Pink Flag



36
Rocketship
A Certain Smile A Certain Sadness
37
The Woodentops
Giant



38
Portishead
Dummy



39
Young Marble Giants
Colossal Youth


40
Capt Beefheart
Safe As Milk


41
The Art of Noise
Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise?
42
The Ramones
The Ramones


43
Manic Street Preachers
Generation Terrorists

44
Aztec Camera
High Land,Hard Rain


45
Scritti Politti
Songs to Remember

46
Burial
Burial



47
Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder


48
Talking Heads
77



49
Thomas Leer & Robert Rental
The Bridge


50
The Baby Astronauts
All the Pancakes You Can Eat



I wrote about many of these albums and artists in my book “Totally Shuffled-A Year of Listening to Music on a Broken iPod”

This is what the book is all about:

One track per day for 366 days on a broken iPod. 366 tracks out of a possible 9553. From the obvious (The Rolling Stones), to the obscure (Karen Cooper Complex). From the sublime (The Flaming Lips) to the risible (Muse).  From field recordings of Haitian Voodoo music to The Monkees. From Heavy Metal to Rap by way of 1930’s blues, jazz, classical, punk, and every possible genre of music in between. This is what I listened to and wrote about for a whole year, to the point of never wanting to hear any more music again. Some songs I listened to I loved, and some I hated. Some artists ended up getting praised to the skies and others received a bit of critical kicking. There are memories of spending too many hours in record shops, prevaricating over the next big thing and surprising myself over tracks that I’d completely forgotten about. But with 40 years of listening to music, I realised that I’ll never get sick of it.  I may have fallen out of love with some of the songs in this book, but I’ll never fall out of love with music.   

“Totally Shuffled” is available as a Kindle book here:

and as a paperback here: