I interrupt my brief hiatus (I have a deadline for another project) to pay a small tribute to Troy Kennedy Martin, one of the great geniuses and innovators of television drama. He died the other day, aged 77.
The show of his getting most of the attention — rightly so — is Edge of Darkness, [...]
I downloaded a couple of tracks from Patti Smith’s covers album and it put more in the mood for a bit of the same: that is, cover versions. So I thought I’d bung a few up. Add your favourites.
Also, I’m trying to finish another project at the moment so will be a bit pre-occupied with [...]
I’ve got fifty free eMusic downloads to use — part of their make-up-for-the-mess-we-made-of-recent-price-changes strategy — and I’ve been noodling through their lists working out what to get. I thought I’d top up some of the back-catalogue and so have been checking out the likes of Eno, Tom Verlaine, Lou Reed and co, Jefferson Starship and [...]
Thought I’d run through some of the stuff I’m listening to at the moment. That is, just a brief chat about some of the CDs I’ve got that I haven’t really heard enough of to write a proper review of yet. Might even mention some books. Maybe this will end up being a regular feature. [...]
CD Review
The Drones
Havilah
(ATP)
So this album came out late last year, but as this blog didn’t exist then, I couldn’t review it then. Besides, one of the pleasures of running this site is that there is no particular imperative to confine ourselves to brand-spanking new releases. The idea is just to talk about music and related [...]
On Twitter this morning, @flopearedmule mentioned this recent piece by novelist/journalist Nick Hornby.
As much as I like Hornby’s novels, I’m not a fan of his music journalism. I find a lot of it preachy. He always seems to me to have a real chip on his shoulder and — in a business that is built [...]
Alex Ross, one of my favourite music writers, has a piece in The New Yorker about the way improvisation has been used in classical music. It’s an interesting topic because improv is not something we normally associate with that form. Certainly the classical musicians (including the odd conductor) I’ve known over the years [...]
CD Review
Special Patrol
The Stranger’s Dozen
(MGM)
Special Patrol are an Adelaide band who have been receiving plenty of airplay for their new album, The Stranger’s Dozen, especially the single, ‘Right On.’ It’s a really high quality album that deserves success, but I can’t figure out for the life of me why in god’s name they [...]
Someone asked me this the other day and I haven’t really been able to come up with a satisfactory answer. So let me throw it open to the collective music knowledge of Johnny’s readers:
What music do you want played at your funeral?
I mean, it’s a pretty personal decision, but I’m open to suggestions…..
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