- Roxy Musicus Vol.1

Don't care what you say, this is cool

Cool. The absolute epitomy of cool. Hopefully there are those among you who already share my opinion, but equally I hope there are those who will be getting their first listen of Roxy Music. No particular reason for this post other than I dug out a few of the old albums today and needed to share a few tracks as they're pretty close to perfection. Their early work from the early to mid 70s saw them instilled as Peel favourites; they did no less than four sessions in 1972. Today's offering comes from the later era, which, if certain fools are to be believed, their work would be described by Rolling Stone as:

"Roxy Music has not gone disco. Roxy Music has not particularly gone anywhere else either... as well as Flesh + Blood (is) such a shockingly bad Roxy Music record that it provokes a certain fascination."

Clearly wrong. If you don't believe me, all you have to do is listen to this fifteen minutes of wonder.

Roxy Musicus Vol.1

- Same old scene
- More than this
- Dance away
- Angel eyes

Listen now...

- Punishment of Luxury sessions, 1978-79

Formed in December, 1976 in the north-east of England, Punishment of Luxury, also known as Punilux, came from a background working in left-wing English fringe theatre groups. The band took their name from an 1891 painting by Giovanni Segantini in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. A four-man post-punk band, they first released a single, Puppet Life, in June 1978. Shortly after, the band recorded the first of two Peel sessions, followed by a second in 1979.

By 1979 they had signed to the major label United Artists and released the single Jellyfish/Engine Of Excess and the album Laughing Academy. 1980 brought the release of the single Secrets/Brain Bomb, which received both critical acclaim and also sold fairly well. A European tour followed and United Artists sent the band into the studio to record another album, a concept album to be called Gigantic Days. However, while the recording was still going on, United Artists were taken over by EMI, who dumped the band. Punishment Of Luxury released two further albums, Seven in 1983 and Feels Like Dancing Wartime in 1984. The album Gigantic Days was finally released, on CD, in 1998.

In 2007, they reunited and played a few songs for the basist Jimi Giro's 50th birthday party. A little more than a year later they landed a gig at a small pub in Gateshead, which was considered a success and was reviewed in The Guardian newspaper. The band are apparently planning more gigs in the future and possibly introducing more new material. They are currently enjoying gigging, on June 12th they played in Kilburn, North London.

30/08/1978 : TRACKLIST

-Funk Me
-Babalon
-Let's Get Married/You're So Beautiful

30/05/1979 : TRACKLIST

-Radar Bug/Metropolis
-British Baboon
-Secrets

Punishment Of Luxury on MySpace

- Not November, 1976, but February, 1977

Model railways were very popular in 1976

The time is November, 1976 and the Uk has well and truly forgotten the manic heat of that summer. America, it seemed, had finally forgotten the years of slavery that had led to its civil war as, on November 2nd, Jimmy Carter defeated incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War. On November 25th, which may or may not be the date of this broadcast, in San Francisco, The Band held its farewell concert, The Last Waltz.

More ominously, especially for those of you like me who think that, despite Terminator clearly being a work of fiction, the basic premise is almost certain to come true (yes, I am a freak, hopefully), on November 26th, which also may or may not be the date of this broadcast, Microsoft was officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico, thus commencing the end of the world as we know it...

Downloaden sie hier

This is how Britain looked in November, 1976:

UPDATE: Further investigation has revealed that this show dates to February, 1977 (9th to be exact) and the track list is as follows:

Wishbone Ash (live, recorded 16th January, 1977)

-Runaway
-King will come
-Lorelei
-Mother of Pearl
-Blowin' free

Johnny Guitar Watson - A real mother for ya.

- Peel and Star Trek

Here's a link to a documentary 'Beam Me Up Scotty', originally broadcast in February, 1996 on Radio 4 (28 mins). Peel is only the 'hired help' for this one but as a massive Trek fan who knew nothing about this, I'm drooling with anticipation at the prospect of listening to the account of the

musical careers of various Star Trek folks:

Download

- A brief history of sheet music

Going leftfield for a minute. I'm no musician but my brother remains an aspiring guitarist so I thought I'd post this one for him. For those of you who don’t know, sheet music is the hand-written or printed form of musical notation; the medium is typically paper, although access to musical notation has in recent years also included presentation on computer screens. Usage of the expression sheet is intended to distinguish music on paper from its audio presentation, which would arise from a sound recording or live performance. In everyday use, sheet music can refer to the print publication of commercial music in conjunction with the release of a new film, show, recorded album, or other special or popular event involving music.

Sheet music can be used as a record of or a means to perform a piece of music. Even though it doesn’t take the place of the sound of a performed work, sheet music can be used to create a recital and to expound aspects of the music that may not be palpable from mere listening. Authoritative musical information regarding a piece can be gained by studying the printed outlines of compositions that the composer might have retained, as well as the final signature score and individual markings on proofs and printed scores.

The Comprehension of, for example, piano sheet music requires an extraordinary form of literacy: the ability to read musical notation. I'm in awe of anyone who can do this. On the other hand, the capability to read or write music is not a prerequisite to compose music. In fact, many composers, take Captain Beefheart and Mark Edward Smith as two prime examples, have been capable of producing music without the capacity themselves to interpret or inscribe in musical notation, so long as an amanuensis of some sort is available. Examples include the sightless 18th century composer John Stanley and the 20th-century composers and lyricists Lionel Bart, Irving Berlin and even Sir Paul McCartney.

Ok, so now for the reason why I'm posting. The Pianosheetmusic website is offering a load of free sheet music downloads, including free sheet music and free guitar tabs, so take a look.

- Peel and Kershaw at Glastonbury, 1993

I've only ever been to Glastonbury once, in 1993, so am rightly delighted that this tape has surfaced, thanks to alanforduk:

'Here's a home-made compilation tape of broadcasts from Glastonbury in 1993 (25,26,27th Jun).
The programs were hosted by JP and AK, and both are on great form and many of the links are pretty hilarious. Johnnie Walker also appears, mainly introducing the bands. Apologies for the quality, which varies from poor to appalling (you might want to skip The Saw Doctors), and for some of the music choices. You may be able to spot where I've patched-in a couple of tracks from my own CD collection. These replace records played, not live performances.'

Side A (Mono)

00:00 John'n'Andy Intro
00:21 Saw Doctors
N17
Presentation Border
That's What She Said Last Night
I'd Love to kiss the Bangles
Hay Wrap
I Hope We Meet Again
32:35 John'n'Andy on the Velvet Underground
35:08 Rolf Harris - Tie me kangaroo/Stairway To Heaven
41:52 Hothouse Flowers - ?
45:45 John'n'Andy on Velvet Underground bootlegs
46:44 [end]


Side B (remastered)

00:00 New Bad Things - I Suck
04:57 Jonathan Richman - Velvet Underground
08:58 Christy Moore - Well below the Valley-O
15:22 JW interviews JP re Football/Frisbees/Sharon Shannon
18:34 The Four Of Us - Car Crash At 80 MPH
24:14 Tragically Hip - At the Hundredth Meridian
28:43 John'n'Andy on attracting quite a crowd
29:19 John'n'Andy on hearing voices
30:25 John'n'Andy on drainage etc
32:30 John'n'Andy on male organs of generation
33:02 John'n'Andy Sharon Shannon intro
35:02 Sharon Shannon
39:10 Van Morrison - St Dominic's Preview
45:26 John'n'Andy working well as a team
45:54 The Fall - Victoria
48:48 John'n'Andy outro
49:25 [end]

Here be the Verve at Glastonbury, 1993, although I think they were still called Verve then. Drug experimentation means I have no recollection of this performance:

- Genuinely funny

...Eminem's inability to take a joke. Click here to download and keep forever.