#AprilSongs #30 Everything's Tuesday

I'm surprised I've got through the #AprilSongs sequence with every song having the relevant day in the title. So sor the final #AprilSongs post I give you "Everything's Tuesday" by Chairmen of the Board, a Holland Dozier Holland composition which stands up with their best. I had thought of other more prominent songs like The Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday", Cat Stevens "Tuesday's Dead" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone", but plumped for this to share with you.

This is my 50th post this month, so I've hit that target and also my 1900th post overall. I've had 180,000 page views so that's an average of 90 views per post all though some have had no views while others have had over a thousand. Timewise that works out at 40 visits a day, although recently it has sort of ramped up (271 yesterday)  but that's nearly 2 an hour which is not too shabby over 12 years.

So on this foggy morning enjoy this classic slice of soul and feel free to trawl back through the blog and even buy some of the linked products (I know it's Amazon but they have effectively killed off all the online competition and provide a simple sharing interface).

Have a superb Tuesday everybody.

Dawn Chorus

The last couple of days I have wolen to the Dawn Chorus, I think I noticed it because I did a surver that asked if I woke to birdsong , traffic noise or something else, and went on further to ask whether I ever heard birdsong in any other situation.

I used to live in Shieldfield and there was a yard behind hit that was lit 24/7 and the birds used to sing all night long so you went to sleep to birdsong and woke up to it.

Part of the reason I'm waking to it it that all the upstairs windows in the house are open so, the double glazing doesn't block out the sound, but it is a pleasant , natural noise to wake up to, although my alarm is also set to birdsong so there is quite a lot of it in mt life.

I have about five bird feeders in my garden, and they do seem a little spoilt, as they do devour the seed at a rapid rate, but as it's coming summer I will let them fend for themselves for longer periods as I am sure they can find many other food sources.

Today is the last day of April, I have hit my step target , and I will follow this post by a shower then my final #AprilSongs post. I will include fifty minutes of the Dawn Chorus from the Chilterns though obviously mine is in Fenham, though you can also hear what seems to be traffic in the background, but it's still relaxing.

In A Parallel Universe

Well I was in bed before nine, but have woken with a dry cough, so I thought I'd post another piece just before midnight. I'm having a Morrison's Solero equivalent that is soothing the dryness and hopefully I can get back to sleep, but I am feeling refreshed after my sleep.

I thought I'd try and read more of the excellent, if swirling, "White Wolf's Son" while listening to the Hawkwind compilation "Parallel Universe" and I started with CD3 which opens with the band's take on "Ejection" which was from Bob Calvert's "Captain Lockheed and The Starfighters" album and I first heard as I walked into a record shop in Preston Guildhall as the opening jet sound crossed the shop very loudly, needless to say I bought it immediately.

I switched my side light on remembering it's only an energy saving bulb , not LED to it took a while to hit full brightness and I read while regressing to my teenage years as "Urban Guerilla" (also covered by Primal Scream) followed, which I think had a radio ban, so another that I bought immediately, and possibly still maybe you won't hear on mainstream radio, then we have selections from the sublime "Hall of The Mountain Grill" album culminating in a live take of Lemmy's "The Watcher".

I will share "Urban Guerilla" with you because it is rather good pop / rock and am now going to listen to CD1 which concentrates on their first two albums and takes me even further back, where I remember paying £1.50 for a copy of "Hurry On Sundown" b/w "Mirror of Illusion" on a Liberty Records single from a guy at a youth club I used to go to. They were the opening and closing tracks from their excellent trippy debut album.

OK it is time to hit the sack once more, it is a school night so to speak.

After The Late Show .....

I'm considering going to bed now (just after eight). Obviously there are times when I'm wide awake but others where I feel I'm wrecked, although compus mentis enough to pen a few words. Part of this is also the attempt to hit fifty posts this month, which I didn't set out to do , but the fact I got another #TenAlbumsInTenDays nomination meant that combined with #AprilSongs (which finishes tomorrow) meant that I posted a few more selections than I expected to.

Wreckless Eric has just been on Marc Riley's 6Music show talking about working with Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick and I remember buying the "Live at Budokan" on yellow vinyl in 1978, and because this am slightly tempted by getting it again. I'm quite surprised that I've never mentioned Wreckless Eric on this blog as I have been a fan since I first heard him in 1977, although I suppose I've rectified that now.

So who do I soundtrack this with?

Well at Budokan they covered The Move's finest rock and roll moment "California Man" which is a little more metal than The Move's version but an excellent band playing an excellent song for you to enjoy.

Maybe it's bed time.

#AprilSongs #29 Blue Monday

This is the second "Blue Monday" I've included in the #AprilSongs sequence the other was Buddy Holly's cover of the Fats Domino Song (written by Dave Bartholomew) , I wasn't going to include the New Order song because for many people you say "Blue Monday" and it is synonymous with the Manchester band, but the rhythm was set by the drum machine malfunctioning and that reminded me of other instances of musical instrument malfunction.

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come were one of the first bands to use a drum machine in a live environment but at one gig their Bentley Rhythm Ace went on a twenty minute uncontrolled drum solo, usually the realm of bloat rock drummers.

When Giorgio Moroder was putting together Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" something happened with the synthesiser / sequencer and resulting in a faint echo doubling of the notes giving it it's unique sound and probably helping become the iconic dance hit that it was and is.

So this is the penultimate #AprilSongs post focussing on mistakes that have resulted in some great music, enjoy your Monday.

Post 101 - When I First Heard Joe Strummer

I just realised that  this is post 101 this year and I can't let this go by without it's Joe Strummer and George Orwell connections. I've probably done this before (follow the related tags) but what the hell. I've now started to wonder whether I will hit 50 posts this month, it means three posts today and three tomorrow but the #AprilSongs sequence will account for two of those, and this will account for another one so it looks like I might almost match last years #August50 where I did 54 posts , but that is definitely going to stay as my highest number of monthly posts.

Anyway back to the point of this post, I first heard Joe Strummer singing the song "Keys To YOur Heart" with his band the 101ers when John Peel played it. It appeared on the excellent Chiswick Records which was similar to Stiff (when Indie meant Indie) in being independent and similar to Stiff featuring New Wave, Punk and Pub Rock with others in it's eclectic spread, but I bought the record straight away. While not as attack minded as The Clash it is still a great rock record.

The band took their name from George Orwell's "1984" where Room 101 was where you were subjected to your greatest fear. I remember that scaring me as a kid when I saw the fifties BBC adaptation with Peter Cushing (you can watch it here) with the rat cage helmet contraption.

So that is how I first got into the music of Joe Strummer.

Connected Centurion

This is my hundredth post this year and in December 2011 I first did 100 posts in a year. You can get get an idea of how I have progressed / regressed / stayed the same by seeing what I posted here . I'm currently listening to a Stone Roses and influences playlist show presented by Tom Robinson and sent in my suggestion of "Halleluhwah" by Can from "Tago Mago" which "Fools Gold" has more than a similarity to.

Today I walked into town, I've completed my steps for the month, but thought I would walk in anyway as was a nice day. Before mobile devices things like this usually needed a decent amount of planning or assumptions, but now you are permanently connected to people and information almost anywhere that you are, especially in an occupied area.

So I will share "Halleluhwah" by Can so you can hear why I thought that was the Stone Roses although the actual bassline for "Fools Gold" was taken from "Know How" by "Young MC" which also sample "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes, which you can track down on Youtube or Amazon.

Hope your Sunday is going well