Showing posts with label Prog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prog. Show all posts

Monday, 9 September 2019

Out On Blue Six: Justin Hayward

*Firstly apologies for the radio silence on this blog for the last week. I spent most of it planning for or standing in city centres waving placards around. All to preserve democracy you understand.

You hear a lot of stupid things on the TV news lately, but one that really got up my nose last week was when one of the presenters said something along the lines of "I love this time of year, autumn"

No, no, no, NO! 

This is not autumn!

Autumn - this week apparently.

Autumn doesn't start the first week of September, it starts at the end of the month. What next? If we have a sunny day this week, will the proclaim it an Indian summer?! Of course, the conspiracy theorist in me can't help but think that this kind of comment, along with them now starting the football season in the middle of August is all some plan to condition us into thinking that summer ends much earlier, so they don't have to acknowledge the impact climate change has upon our seasons and weather. Pretty soon the summer months will be classified as May (when we seem to experience some of our hottest weather these days) to July, whilst autumn will commence sometime in mid August and last until October 1st when they'll announce that winter is upon us and shan't give up its icy grip until March. Spring will be approximately last for a fortnight in April. There, that'll keep the climate change deniers and governments of the world happy won't it?

But I guess the truth is that presenters of live TV often say stupid things just to fill the time. For that person, here's a suitable track... 




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Tuesday, 31 January 2017

Out On Blue Six: Asia, RIP John Wetton

John Wetton, the lead singer, founder member and principal songwriter of prog rock supergroup Asia, has passed away following a battle with cancer at the age of 67.


A real journeyman of rock, it's easy to name the bands Wetton wasn't in, than the ones he was, but here goes all the same; King Crimson, Uriah Heep, Family, Mogul Thrash, Wishbone Ash, Roxy Music, U.K, Jack-Knife, Qango, Icon and Asia, were all graced by Wetton's presence at one time or another. It was perhaps Asia that Wetton will be most remembered for, thanks in no small part to the massive 1982 American hit Heat of the Moment from their eponymous debut, which I'll share here in tribute to the man


Carl Palmer must be fed up of funerals right now.

RIP

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016

Out On Blue Six: Matt Berry

Seeing as today is the Winter Solstice - the shortest day - I thought I'd share actor, comedian and singer/songwriter Matt Berry's 9+minute track Solstice from his 2013 album Kill the Wolf...




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Friday, 11 March 2016

Out On Blue Six : ELP, RIP Keith Emerson

It's been announced that Prog Rock legend Keith Emerson died yesterday at the age of 71 at his home in LA. To mark this sad passing, here's the full version of Fanfare for the Common Man



RIP

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Friday, 3 July 2015

Monday, 26 January 2015

RIP Demis Roussos

"Laurence, Angela likes Demis Roussos. Tony likes Demis Roussos. I like Demis Roussos, and Sue would like to hear Demis Roussos: So please, do you think we could have Demis Roussos on?"

- Alison Steadman as Beverley in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party.


Sadly as Greece celebrates the excellent victory for anti-austerity party Syriza at the election, the famous Greek performer who provided such a sore point in Leigh's brilliant play and whose hit 1976 song Forever and Ever graced its soundtrack, has died today at a hospital in Athens aged 68. 



Born in Egypt to a Greek father and an Italian mother, Roussos arrived in Greece in the early 60s after his family lost their possessions during the Suez crisis. At the age of 17, he formed a band called The Idols alongside Vangelis and the pair would subsequently go on to form the brilliant prog rock outfit Aphrodite's Child.



Going solo in the 70s, Roussos gave the UK one of the biggest hits of the long hot summer of 1976 in Forever and Ever, whilst his fondness for kaftans hiding his massive girth earned him the nickname 'The Kaftan King'. Subsequent hits included My Friend The Wind and My Reason.

In 1985 Roussos spent his 39th birthday held hostage by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah after the TWA Flight 847 he had boarded was hijacked at gunpoint.



RIP

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

The Life Of Rock With Brian Pern

Truly fantastic comedy on BBC4 last night, a rock mockumentary featuring the Peter Gabriel-esque Brian Pern (Simon Day) former front man of prog rock outfit Thotch (which also featured Nigel Havers and Paul Whitehouse as the former bandmates) fronting a pretentious documentary series about rock music.



This was a genuinely funny spot on satirical spoof of the music business, I especially loved Pern's  racially aware song that contained the following lyrics;

"Why no black folk on Jersey?
Why no black folk on Sark?
Why no black folk on Guernsey?
Are they having a lark?"

If you missed it last night check it out on the iPlayer. The second episode is on BBC4 next Monday at 10pm.

This, and Shearsmith and Pemberton's new one for BBC2 Inside Number 9 (Wednesday nights) proves that original comedy still has a home at the BBC.

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

World In Action



Growing up in Granadaland in the 80s, I have so many memories associated with this theme tune, mainly fear. It sounded so imposing and doom laden and, as Tony Wilson did his day job and presented from the studio stories of harsh regimes abroad and social decline and desperation at home I felt even more scared and depressed. Growing up in the 80s could be quite traumatic




Kudos to Shawn Phillips for a great proggy jam that put the shits up kids immediately after watching Corrie


Wednesday, 20 February 2013

RIP Kevin Ayers

Another day another sad loss, this time to the world of music; Kevin Ayers, legendary singer/songwriter and founding member of Soft Machine died on Monday it has been announced.






RIP Kevin Ayers 1944 - 2013

Sunday, 16 December 2012

Out On Blue Six Xmas : Greg Lake

I love this one, but I'm always amused at how people seem to ignore or simply not figure out the rather pessimistic lyrics. It's especially funny when it's playing on a loop in a large shopping centre as stressy people panic buy forgetting the true meaning of Christmas, just like the song says.



Reminds me of the old roadie joke though; three things you don't want with you on tour - Earache, toothache and Greg Lake!
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Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Out On Blue Six : Fleet Foxes

The gentle Genesis-esque instrumental from the Helplessness Blues album



I love these guys, can't believe this is the first time I've blogged them here as I obsess about them!

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Saturday, 11 August 2012

Out On Blue Six : The Unthanks



The gorgeous vocals of sister folk duo, The Unthanks and their version of King Crimson's Starless

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