Mix

Today people often try and share Spotify playlist with me. I don't contenance Spotify, it's not my inner Ron Swanson but the fact that it's not a business model that rewards almost all the artists who are on it's available catalogue. I suppose the other thing is that as a teenager if I wanted to share music with friends it required recording records in real time, at first recording via microphone and later when I got a job a music centre which recorded directly from the radio.

I didn't realise that the compact cassette first appeared around 1965 (comprehensive Wiki history here) , I thought it was a Sony invention because of the Walkman which allowed music on the move.

To create a cassette you had to record in real time, the playlist was just the initial plan, even when MiniDisk and CD superseded cassette it was still real time although CD recording speeded up significantly but there is still the production and labelling of the CD to do.

In October 2016 when I was 59 I  started the #ALifeInNumbers  which ran into November that year and I've referenced often since I did it. I haven't burnt a CD for ages and am not sure if I can use iTunes to create playlists (I'm sure you can but it's such bloatware that it is more about trying to make me buy things that actually play music), I may try that soon and then I need to print the CD label (as I still have a printer that can do that!).

I have just remembered that I can use Youtube to create playlists such as this two song ska one here , I used to do mixes on Grooveshark but their model wasn't sustainable, but I am going to investigate Youtube further.

I was going to list some significant records for me to pad out this post but here are a few, and maybe I will create a playlist at some point:

• Abba - The Visitors & Happy - The Carpenters , two of my mums favourites that I still love
• Lights Out - Jerry Byrne & Sea Cruise - Frankie Ford , two that remind me of my missed friend Chris who we lost to lung cancer
• Negativeland - Neu! , I was shocked when my dad asked me if I had this record asthis was way out of his comfort zone
• All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix , if I only could have one record this would be it, Hendrix playing , Dylan's words
• Hound Dog - Elvis Presley - apparently the first record I ever liked (aged 3)
• Jig A Jig - East of Eden - The first single I ever bought
• Come On - Chuck Berry - one of the first songs I played and sang live and I would be condent of doing it now
• Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman - The first instrumental cover I played live

I could go on and on but I'll stop and share "Happy" by The Carpenters (incidentally the title of my favourite Rolling Stones song , and they - the Stones - covered Chuck Berry's - Come On).

Enjoy this very rainy Thursday.

Music For Glaciers

I've been trying to maintain a post a day in June by posting a piece of music vaguely relevant to the day or something that's happened . There's obvious ones about June and the number of the day and what happened on this day , but I've tried to keep the music eclectic and maybe end it with a full Grooveshark playlist of all the June's Tunes.

Glad to see the weather is keeping up , raining at night and sunny during the day , so managed to mow my lawn today and fill the brown bin with lots of garden detritus.

Anyway was talking with a friend who had never heard of Sigur Ros , they were interested when I described it as Music for Glaciers . They are Icelandic , and make up their words so it doesn't sound like an auspicious start , but they are one of the most amazing bands you will ever here. So because of that conversation today's June's Tune is Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros with images from BBCs Planet Earth:

Junes Tunes

Last year I did "A Post A Day In May". This year for every day in June I will post a song that bears some relation to that day. It be the day , the date or something relating to it. I may do a full Grooveshark playlist at the end , although I may also try it on Deezer to compare the two.

This week has been semi eventful . I finally got a new Windows 7 computer delivered , but it turns out it's Windows 8 . I have then reinstalled most of the software on the new box , the hardest being the POP3 Email of Thunderbird , but that is all done now, The computer is up , running and behaving.

I entered my Dark Side Of The Moon representation on the EE Facebook page  to win a Glastonbury Ticket which I would give away if I won it.

And today I went to the Green Festival and saw the excellent Too Spicy , who I will write up on the Spoongig site.

Anyway todays June's Tune is  "One Fine Day" by The Chiffons.

Living In The Past

It's funny how we have a hankering for old things and things to remain as they were / are, when a lot of the time the new stuff is actually far better than the old stuff. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note phone , but I want an emulator on on it so I can play the games I enjoyed on my Amstrad CPC computer. I downloaded an emulator but it just crashes my phone . C'est la vie.

I bought an alarm clock that emulates Tetris , and believe me you dont snooze with it , that alarm has to be switched OFF.

A lot of the music I have on my players id the stuff of my teenage years such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull. Having said that I am a hige fan of convenience. and use both the ridiculous 48 GB capacity , plus Deezer and Youtube to allow me to play what I want when I want.

There have been recent things about returns to cassette tape even . Cassette was brilliant in its time , but was fragile , didnt last , and I would never dream of using a cassette again except to extract so rare music or something. The good part is that you have to do it in real time , which is a lot more personal that knocking together a Spotify or Grooveshark playlist , but those platforms  enable you to share music and Grooveshark does let you upload stuff that it doesnt have. Any way heres some old Bok Demo's from the mid 70s.

Premier In?

Last day of the Premiership today and Roberto Mancini thinks it'll be good for another team to win the Premiership (ie Manchester City) It's just a pity that the team that breaks the stranglehold will only do so because they had the biggest sugar daddy.

If you look at the top teams (position wise) in the Premiership the only teams being run on a sound financial basis are Newcastle and Arsenal. New Euro Fair Financial Play rules could see the likes of Manchester City , Manchester United , Chelsea , Tottenham and Liverpool excluded from Europe i the near future.

It's amazing that Swansea (Swanselona as they are known in some circles) and Norwich have fearlessly bedded into the Premiership and that has got to be due to Ian Holloway's attacking Blackpool last season . Yes they were relegated , but were a huge breath of fresh air to the Premiership.

Anyway , I'm sure theres going to be lots of twists and turns , controversy , cat fighting and fun. We still dont know who will win , who will be in The Champions League , who will be the last team relegated. We know the probabilities but favourites can always fall.

It's not long since Wigan were dead and buried , yet Dave Whelan and Roberto Martinez didnt panic , and they are still the only Premiership club who have never been relegated from the top flight.

Anyway here's my favourite football song, enjoy this afternoon:




Oh I'd forgotten about this for all the Man City fans!!

Oh and finally a playlist of my favourite football related songs

A Musical Dilemma

I was shocked to discover I have NO Black Sabbath Studio CDs in my collection . I have two compilations , the live "Reunion" and that's it, admittedly six CDs of Sabbath . But I was surprised . As a teenager I remember having "Master of Reality" , "Volume 4" , "Sabbath, Bloody, Sabbath" and "Sabotage" on vinyl and was sure I had "Never Say Die" on CD whoich I bought for the excellent "Hard Road" track.


Here's the dilemma , I can buy the CDs and rip them and listen to them on my MP3 player or my network , but I can also listen via the excellent Grooveshark , which costs me nothing. I have though about it and decided I will buy the CDs as that gives me lots more options what to do , but below is a Grooveshark Black Sabbath Playlist , enjoy !!

A Playlist For Christmas

Am quite impressed with Grooveshark , not sure how exactly it works , but thought I would try this playlist I put together in "Crimbo Limbo". Hope you enjoy it , I certainly do!