Dio. Simply the finest voice ever. I remember paying a tout well over the odds to see him at the Astoria, London. But, it was filmed for a live DVD, so was worth the hole in the pocket. Saw him many times.
I was a fan when they first appeared, seeing them at the Marquee a few times and at Friars. In those early gigs they were something else, prog rock for sure but with an intensity from Fish that lent them an edge. As a prog/folk/Americana/metalhead they ticked a lot of boxes for me.
Post Fish I lost interest but still occasionally have a listen to the tracks that take me back to standing up against the barriers at the Marquee as Fish towered above us, sweat dripping, as the band sang of monsters, ancient and modern.
By a freak coincidence (with the references to him above - and I don’t mean God), I caught the last few minutes of the Radio 4 programme “Soul Music” featuring stories related to the impact on particular individuals of the Van Morrison song “Sweet Thing” from his 1968 album Astral Weeks.
I’ve heard many a tale about how obnoxious the guy is but that doesn’t prevent me from admiring him as a multi-talented musician. I think I was probably in my twenties when he first burst on the scene as lead singer with the group Them singing “Brown Eyed Girl”. Loved it.
Fast forward 60 or so years and last month (16 March 10.10pm on BBC2) I chanced upon a magnificent 2015 performance - Up on Cyprus Avenue - in celebration of what I think must have been his 70th birthday.
Worst gig is a toss up between The Specials at Margate Winter Gardens or Less than Jake at the Brixton Academy.
For the former Terry was totally disinterested, ended up having a spat with the pissheads at the front and to be honest the rest of the band looked like they would rather be somewhere else. As for the latter the sound engineers were more interested in their tape of the gig than mixing the sound for the audience, though to be fair it also featured two cracking support bands in Sonic Boom Six & a mariache band whose name is lost in the depths of my grey matter.
Best gig has to be first time I saw Alabama 3 at the Forum in Kentish Town
I went to see Paul Weller at the Royal court Liverpool in 2005.
The gig was already delayed by a few months due to a sore that (no issues with that), but the gig was just him sat down with an acoustic guitar. He didn't pick up the electric once, felt a little short changed.
I've seen Van Morrison half a dozen times, all but one were great, the exception being one time at Oxford when he walked off stage after around 40 minutes with no explanation. His set had been OK up until that point, but he did look as if he was struggling with a cold.
All this talk reminds me of an Andy Hamilton joke from a few years back - "David Cameron keeps trying to present himself as a man of the people, but he's not. He's so out of touch he thinks Van Morrison is Ocado for poor people."
Again, one that's been on Netflix a while, but I started watching How to Change Your Mind the other night. Very good so far. The book looks worthwhile too.
The new Dandy Warhols album is great - less pop, more psych rock. Side note, Zia McCabe is now an estate agent for her day job which makes me sad as I definitely had a crush on her as a young man.
Oh, that reminds me, if you’ve never seen the doc “Dig!” about the war between them and The Brian Jonestown Massacre then do. One of the greatest music documentaries ever made.
Worth doing as a double bill with Overnight, a documentary about the making of the terrible film Boondock Saints.
Another potential film to watch alongside Dig! is Grizzly Man. Courtney Taylor Taylor of the Dandy Warhols once said in a review of Grizzly Man something along the lines of it being like watching Anton (lead singer of the BJM) if he was into bears.
Is it too early to revisit the manics. Fuvk it! I’ve been listening to Kevin Carter and Motorcycle Emptiness again and I love a bit of anthemomic rock and basically I don’t care if they are Welsh they were are very good.
Design for life and the one after aren't bad either. Some spotty good tracks since and they are great live.
Not many bands I can think of who can keep up with the best and fastest when they go full blast but also have a load of quieter more thoughtful stuff, happy to take recommendations of anyone else that does.
Comments
Dio. Simply the finest voice ever. I remember paying a tout well over the odds to see him at the Astoria, London. But, it was filmed for a live DVD, so was worth the hole in the pocket. Saw him many times.
I was a fan when they first appeared, seeing them at the Marquee a few times and at Friars. In those early gigs they were something else, prog rock for sure but with an intensity from Fish that lent them an edge. As a prog/folk/Americana/metalhead they ticked a lot of boxes for me.
Post Fish I lost interest but still occasionally have a listen to the tracks that take me back to standing up against the barriers at the Marquee as Fish towered above us, sweat dripping, as the band sang of monsters, ancient and modern.
Kayleigh Lavender and Incommunicado were the big ones
By a freak coincidence (with the references to him above - and I don’t mean God), I caught the last few minutes of the Radio 4 programme “Soul Music” featuring stories related to the impact on particular individuals of the Van Morrison song “Sweet Thing” from his 1968 album Astral Weeks.
I’ve heard many a tale about how obnoxious the guy is but that doesn’t prevent me from admiring him as a multi-talented musician. I think I was probably in my twenties when he first burst on the scene as lead singer with the group Them singing “Brown Eyed Girl”. Loved it.
Fast forward 60 or so years and last month (16 March 10.10pm on BBC2) I chanced upon a magnificent 2015 performance - Up on Cyprus Avenue - in celebration of what I think must have been his 70th birthday.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=QKKmCBPI98s&si=JhL83c1GYQi0jydb
For the delectation of all you Fish fans, here’s a chance to gorge yourselves.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=iJcQTtjOeZw&si=o__wY1hb2m24THTd
For fans of Marillion I would recommend Big Big Train, similar neo prog style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GmmAUbfhMU
Worst gig is a toss up between The Specials at Margate Winter Gardens or Less than Jake at the Brixton Academy.
For the former Terry was totally disinterested, ended up having a spat with the pissheads at the front and to be honest the rest of the band looked like they would rather be somewhere else. As for the latter the sound engineers were more interested in their tape of the gig than mixing the sound for the audience, though to be fair it also featured two cracking support bands in Sonic Boom Six & a mariache band whose name is lost in the depths of my grey matter.
Best gig has to be first time I saw Alabama 3 at the Forum in Kentish Town
I went to see Paul Weller at the Royal court Liverpool in 2005.
The gig was already delayed by a few months due to a sore that (no issues with that), but the gig was just him sat down with an acoustic guitar. He didn't pick up the electric once, felt a little short changed.
I've seen Van Morrison half a dozen times, all but one were great, the exception being one time at Oxford when he walked off stage after around 40 minutes with no explanation. His set had been OK up until that point, but he did look as if he was struggling with a cold.
All this talk reminds me of an Andy Hamilton joke from a few years back - "David Cameron keeps trying to present himself as a man of the people, but he's not. He's so out of touch he thinks Van Morrison is Ocado for poor people."
Again, one that's been on Netflix a while, but I started watching How to Change Your Mind the other night. Very good so far. The book looks worthwhile too.
The new Dandy Warhols album is great - less pop, more psych rock. Side note, Zia McCabe is now an estate agent for her day job which makes me sad as I definitely had a crush on her as a young man.
When I was a young man I mean, not her.
Bloody hell, the Dandy Warhols. That's a blast from the past.
Oh, that reminds me, if you’ve never seen the doc “Dig!” about the war between them and The Brian Jonestown Massacre then do. One of the greatest music documentaries ever made.
Worth doing as a double bill with Overnight, a documentary about the making of the terrible film Boondock Saints.
Was the war over who had the better pun band name?
And I have literally just realised why one of their albums has an unzipped banana on the sleeve 🤦♂️
Big thanks to those who recommended This Town on iPlayer earlier in this thread - loving it, and what a soundtrack.
Another potential film to watch alongside Dig! is Grizzly Man. Courtney Taylor Taylor of the Dandy Warhols once said in a review of Grizzly Man something along the lines of it being like watching Anton (lead singer of the BJM) if he was into bears.
Is it too early to revisit the manics. Fuvk it! I’ve been listening to Kevin Carter and Motorcycle Emptiness again and I love a bit of anthemomic rock and basically I don’t care if they are Welsh they were are very good.
The Manics were great - A Design for Life is still a hell of a song. And we saw at Glasto that Bradfield can still belt them out brilliantly.
Just been listening to Let's Eat Grandma - they describe themselves as "sludge pop" whatever that is - anyway I enjoyed them.
The Holy Bible is one of the greatest albums ever made.
Design for life and the one after aren't bad either. Some spotty good tracks since and they are great live.
Not many bands I can think of who can keep up with the best and fastest when they go full blast but also have a load of quieter more thoughtful stuff, happy to take recommendations of anyone else that does.
I would say Los Campesinos! are good at mixing up fast, loud songs with quieter ones - although in a different (less G’n’R) way to the Manics.
Just spotted it in Radio Times. Straight to iPlayer tomorrow.
With one of the strongest ever album openers. Not many albums drop the C-bomb within the first four words.
The new Vampire Weekend album (which I won't stop going on about because it's so good) literally opens with the F-word
The opening line of 'Gareth Brown Says' by McLusky takes some beating.
"All your friends are c***s, your mother is a ballpoint pen thief."