Shambes / Old Wellington / Sinclairs Mini History

Finally...a bit of a labour of love. 

Not concert or music related at all - so if you have found your way here looking for more history / Manchester History, this is not my usual content. Music blog followers, this may still be entertaining.

I've been working on this since last year...but managed to complete the "history" when another friend posted a missing link picture from 1974... A remarkable story of one of my favourite pubs in Manchester UK - more than 450 years old surviving almost unchanged though redevelopment and bombings. Thanks to all the places and people I've pilfered pictures from...none are my own - please contact me if they are yours and you wish for a photo credit or to link to your work.

 

1. The Old Wellington Inn & The Shambles. Built in 1552 and bought in 1554 by the Byrom family (of writer John Byrom fame) - licenced in 1692 as "The Vintenrs Arms" .then "The Kenyon Vaults" then "The Old Wellington Inn". The fyshing tackle shoppe was originally a drapers, it was a wine merchants then then the Old Wellington expanded to fill the space the shops occupied. Originally the market stalls across the road were butchers (Shambles was the word for a meat market place). The Rear part of the building with the sloped roof built in the 18th century as "John Shaw's Punch House" - became the "Kings Head Tavern" in 1809 and "Sinclairs Oyster Bar" in 1845 when Oysters were added to the menu. This picture was taken in 1904 - the meat stalls had been moved - but the other buildings on the right are in the same location - rebuilds and extensions of originals from c 1550

2. Absolutely love this one - c1913 - the tackle shoppe is already a wine merchant but such wonderful context from he buildings around.

3. I don't think this adds anything to the story - just love the picture C 1920 is my guess.

4. Some of the buildings on the right were demolished in the Victorian era - but in 1940, Manchester was devastated by the Germans in the Manchester Blitz. Sinclairs was one of the very few Pre 19th century buildings to survive - the Old Wellington Inn the ONLY Tudor building to survive. Pretty much every building from the previous picture is destroyed apart from the 2 pubs and the wine merchant (divine intervention? 😜)

5. For ME this is the most fascinating one I have found...my Dad's office clearly visible on the far left of the picture, and some sort of underpass in front of the pubs (which are bottom centre)- but before the construction of the Arndale shopping centre - I'm guessing C1960 or so?

6. Until 1974 - this is how the Shambles looked...all the surrounding buildings gone. It was this way at the time we moved to the area.

7. To make way for the development of the Arndale shopping centre, the surviving buildings were floated on a concrete plinth and jacked up by almost 5ft

8. To make way for the development of the Arndale shopping centre, the surviving buildings were floated on a concrete plinth and jacked up by almost 5ft

9. "Shambles Square" reborn c1980....this was immediately adjacent to my dad's office building (National Vulcan - the engineering insurance arm of Royal Insurance) - he used to pick up evening shopping from the Safeway supermarket that was there on the way home. It was TRULY grim...a disaster of 1970s concrete planning...but often a quiet respite from the busy city when we used to hang out there as teens.

10. Just another view in the 70's 80s which nicely shows how some of the original Tudor details that had been covered over in the 1800s were revealed - and still the awful concrete jungle and old Marks and Spencer department store surrounding it. It's this era when it became a regular haunt....and it was always Sinclairs, not the Old Wellington....why?? Because the beer was better (Old Wellington was Bass...commonplace nationwide, Sinclairs was Sam Smiths from Yorkshire....delicious Old Brewery Bitter (OBB).

11. Manchester on 15th June 1996 - the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonate the largest bomb ever exploded on British soil in the heart of the city. My dad's old office building is destroyed - as was 1/4 of the Arndale Shopping Centre, and large parts of the Royal Exchange shopping centre and theatre. 212 people were injured but miraculously no fatalities...even the bomb squad who worked until the last moments to diffuse the bomb, without success. The now iconic red mail box stood completely unaffected. Shambles square (just past the bridge on the left) ironically was almost entirely undamaged BECAUSE of the protection provided by the awful concrete structures that surrounded it.

12. And so began the rejuvenation of the city. I think those who argue definitively that the IRA "did us a favour" are wrong....Birmingham, Coventry, Liverpool have all undergone significant rejuvenation without the IRA's "help".... but it WAS a turning point. The Old Wellington Inn and Sinclairs were turned at 90 degrees to each other...painstakingly reconstructed (not moved intact this time, but moved in "chunks" - 300 ft from the original location) connected at the corner by new structure....and now opening up the area to showcase the cathedral behind (it was so hidden before, you barely knew it was there).

13. A plaque outside Sinclairs gives a potted history...it's still identical to how I first saw it in 1973 - and for a structure like this to survive 2 redevelopments and 2 major bombings is quite incredible. It used to be our favourite city pub....it almost still is, were it not for the fact that it's now so popular it can be hard to get in!!

14. A final aerial view showing the shambles in its new context - the Mitre Hotel (c1815) to the left, The Corn Exchange (c1897) to the right - currently being redeveloped and Manchester Cathedral (c1450) to the rear - one of 15 Grade one listed buildings in the city.

93 Prince - 1999... His highness goes purple!

I took some convincing, but I eventually got there with Prince, before I joined the party, his early sex fueled egomania took a jazz / funk / purple turn.

93 Prince - 1999 - Streaming on Apple Music (Just the original tracks - not the laundry list of still excellent demos and live extras on the deluxe version)

Prince - 1999 - Spotify Album

Prince - 1999 - iTunes Album USA

Prince - 1999 - iTunes Album UK

Prince is another artist where it took me a long time to warm up to what he had to offer. Before this album, people in the UK were aware of Prince... "I Wanna be your Lover" and "Controversy" had got radio play... and grazed the outer reaches of the charts but it was this album that landed him in our consciousness (with a persona that would become solidified with the next offering). With the title track and Little Red Corvette (despite relatively poor UK chart performance) his Purpleness and the Revolution landed across the Atlantic. We forget just how much he really was a strange presence in the UK charts... and for me and my Prog / Rock / New Wave / Pop taste... his overtly sexual R&B / Funk early offerings were just not in my wheelhouse....I’ll get this out of the way and say that 1999 did not win me over at the time.

Both the song 1999 and Little Red Corvette made a huge impact on the UK music scene, this was the Prince we had been aware of, but now that sexy funk of early singles was infused with synths.... it genuinely was a new sound and at least for me cemented Prince as a talented curiosity with a lot of interesting ideas to offer. So let’s fast forward to 1989 when the genius of Sign ‘O’ the Times and Parade had genuinely started to win me over and I went back to properly listen to the back catalogue... from that point forward this and Purple Rain have become firm favourites. So this is very much reviewing looking back.... 

And it’s just astonishing. ALMOST.. a concept album.. IF you can stretch that idea to the concept being “we are all going to die in a nuclear war..... f**k it .... let’s f**k”.

And that’s the genius, we genuinely get a major glimpse of Prince’s social commentary, that was to feature so heavily later on... but infused with Princes’ sexual egomania and sly sense of humour (a Purple nuclear fallout....the dust cloud is falling but I’ve got a lion in my pocket....”mommy, why does everybody have a bomb”?)

Some of the indulgences are still too much unless you laugh along with them .... “International lover” is totally filthy and  “Lady Cab Driver” would never wash in the Me Too era. But alongside this is lyrical genius and thought provoking brilliance well ahead of it’s time “Free” and “All the Critics Love U in New York” are inspirational and cutting respectively.

Most of all... the musicianship is jut amazing, clearly Prince spent plenty time playing with his new electric toys, but as well as the synths, as with many of his other recordings, he plays large chunks of this himself... but the genius is how well he blends his own skills with the early incarnation of the Revolution ... Wendy and Lisa are both here and the interchange between Prince and Dez Dickerson on guitar is perfect. We think of Price as a lead guitar and Piano player...but the bass playing on this, all from his Purpleness is high energy funk excellence. If I had one criticism... the Drums are lifeless (mostly anonymous drum machine loops with simple fills).

Admittedly, some of the longer groove based noodling (D.M.S.R and Automatic) are far better live... where band members are given space to improvise rather than just letting the groove wander but it still fits together so well and somewhat forgotten tracks like Something In The Water are so atmospheric that you are pulled back in just as your attention might lapse.

My friend Pete B pulled my further into the Purpleverse in 1990 when we both headed to Maine Road to see the little man on the Graffiti Bridge tour... “Batdance” “Nothing Compares to You” and the title track from this are seared in my memory as some fo the best live performances I’ve ever seen! There is no doubt that he falls into the category of artists where once you have seen their genius live in action... it’s easy to re-evaluate all their work in a more positive light... but wither way you cut it... this real start of Prince’s Purple patch.... in SO many ways.

More later.....

94 Lionel Richie - Truly....forgettable

If “Endless Love” signaled the Lionel solo was something to look forward to, I was sadly disappointed when his self titled solo debut released.

94 Lionel Richie - S/T - Streaming on Spotify

Lionel Richie - Lionel Richie - Spotify Album

Lionel Richie - Lionel Richie - iTunes Album USA

Lionel Richie - Lionel Richie - iTunes Album UK

First of all - sorry for the delay. Life, work and stuff has got in the way, but an Easter break during Covid-19 prescribed lockdown seems like a perfect time to get back in the saddle.

Don’t get me wrong, Lionel is a superb artist. As my older brother drifted away from his prog and rock taste towards late 70’s disco, the Commodores were amongst the standouts - Easy, Brick House, Three Times A Lady and Still are absolute classics - up there with the very best of the output from Motown. The silky vocals Lionel brought to their best ballads were SO distinctive and memorable - to this day I’ll be transported by “Still” to a wonderful mellow headspace. As my taste began to drift away from my brother’s, the Commodores were definitely still common ground.

So after Lionel’s duet with Diana Ross on Endless Love - a mini classic itself, people were optimistic about his first solo album.... and “people” were generally pretty enthusiastic about this album.

I’m sure they had every right to be... it’s a smooth slice of Motown soul / disco...the glitterati of Motown session musican royalty make appearances, Nathan East and Joe Chemay, Greg Phillingaines, John Robinson... and literally dozens of others. Michael Boddicker and Thomas Dolby inject some nice synths and even Richard Marks adds his slick backing vocals to many tracks. They put in superb performances - there is slick uptempo disco, and smooth ballads. It’s easy on the ear but despite it’s ubiquity at the time it’s all just SO forgettable. Listening now to remind myself, I remembered every song, but had pretty much not thought of any one of them since 1982.

There are highlights - Jo Walsh’s guitar solo on Wandering Stranger is Superb... and the first single “Truly” is easily the best thing Lionel had been involved with since the Midnight Magic Commodores album back in the 70s - and “You Are” bounces along engagingly (and was a highlight at his “legends” slot at Glastonbury) but I bet even these highlights will fall right out of my head.

Just as “You Are” has woken us up 3/4 though the album.... we are into a stodgy dirge with “You mean more to me”....and the epilogue of “just put some love in your heart”,lush as the orchestrations are, just feels lazy.

Lionel had much better to come, as well as some excellent head clay work story videos ;-)... but I don’t think it’s too harsh to say this sounds to my ears like him finding his way as a solo songwriter....very safe, perfectly likable but ultimately meh....

Interestingly, my brother never engaged with solo Lionel either.... perhaps we still shared musical common ground ..... Still ;-)

More later.....(but not as late as the last time)

95 AC/DC - For Those About To Rock .... salutant vos essemus

"Pick up your balls and load up your cannons, for the 21 gun salute" - it's really not subtle is it!? But then AC/DC never were.

95 AC/DC - For Those About to Rock We Salute You - Streaming on Apple Music

AC/DC - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) - Spotify Album

AC/DC - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) - iTunes Album UK

AC/DC - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) - iTunes Album USA

Let's get this straight (and as we are talking AC/DC....I have to say...no pun intended), I LOVE this album and always have. As the 70's came to a close and punk began it's morph into New Wave AC/DC stood out for me. "Dirty Deeds", "Let There Be Rock" and "Highway to Hell" seemed to a young kid to be almost one and the same as punk, just (as I'd later come to learn) a more blues infused version.

AC/DC will, unsurprisingly get a couple more mentions in this blog series (there is a certain "elephant in the room" album to be discussed) - so I'll skip a bit of the overall thoughts on the band, their legacy, impact and failings and just concentrate on this collection.

Because it's happy memories indeed. This came very shortly after that other megahit album the band produced and I could just not get enough. I had heard the lead off single "Let's Get it Up" all over the radio, and excitedly bought the second (the album title track) immediately on release (Still have it to this day)

Then a double whammy of social circumstances elevated it's standing in my mind.

A "french learning" trip to Mortain in Normandy in the Summer of '82 saw me meet many like minded friends who also seemed to love this stuff. Janice G, Jonathan G...(where are they now I wonder - sadly last touch) were huge fans and the 3 of us having the bus driver play BinB and this album cruising round the French countryside was just terrific (I'm not so sure the course leaders and many of the other students were entirely enthusiastic 😄)

Another big fan was my 1/2 cousin Amanda (or whatever the technical term is for the daughter of my cousin). Her dad was working out in the middle east and used to return on breaks with huge stacks of hooky pre-recoded compact cassettes from the local market. We used to visit our family in the North East very frequently... making the trip across the pennines, ALWAYS stopping at the fish and chip shop in Yarm (Barnacles  BTW - it is superb, and still there after all these years, visit if ever you are passing!!)

So we used to pitch up at our cousins house....it was always great visiting, I learned to ride a bike there, discovered the Peanuts cartoons from the books they had... and we shared music ALL the time (Amanda's sister Louise was more a Nolan's and Buck Fizz Fan). Amanda, at that time was "all rock, all the way" and used that stack of hooky tapes to introduce me to all manner of great stuff (including Rainbow, Michael Shenker, Foreigner, Robert Plant's solo stuff) - but she was also an AC/DC fan - and this album got plenty repeat plays.

As for the album itself... after all these years I still think it holds up. Many see this as a poor relation to the preceding album and perhaps Mutt Lange's production was getting just a little bit too squeaky clean. I'd argue that although there are less iconic songs it's every bit as catchy and riff driven and ...frankly bloody brilliant.

"Let's Get It Up" and "Inject The Venom" (trust me I'm almost laughing out loud typing the titles....they really are NOT subtle 😂) are standout examples of powerhouse riff based metal, "Snowballed" barrels along at such a pace with those superb Angus Young licks (and a pretty decent solo to boot). Every track has Brian Johnson sounding like he's destroying his vocal cords. The closer "spellbound" hints back at their more blues based roots, and of course the opening title track is just iconic and closed their set for years.

I actually don't think they were ever better...
I never got to see them live 😞 - Now Malcom has sadly left us, Brian has retired...I just can't bring myself to take the gamble on weather Axl Rose will bother to turn up and sing (admittedly well) karaoke versions of Bon and Brian's classics.... but as I said, more reflections on the band as a whole later.

This seriously just still makes me smile, and brings such evocative memories of Normandy...and the North East and very happy family weekends. AC/DC don't get much play time these days in my house...but it's still great when they do!

Fire!!!

More later.....

Start Me Up....or don’t get me started

There have so far been AOR, bubblegum pop, and soundtracks...I’ve had my views on all of them but I don’t think any views have been especially controversial. Perhaps that is about to change.

96 The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You - Streaming on Spotify

The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You, Spotify Album

The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You, iTunes Album UK

The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You, iTunes Album USA

The Stones, of course, are legendary...from ‘62 onwards they were are the very forefront of the “British Invasion”. The Who brought the rock, Yardbirds brought the blues, the Hollies brought the harmonies and the Beatles brought the innovation. The Stones brought....???and there we have it! I was not a teenager in the 60’s, all these bands came before my time and I can only make a retrospective evaluation...I was not there to enjoy the hysteria and Mick’s swagger. I have never been able to figure out exactly what the Stones brought to the party.

Now don’t get me wrong I like the Stones and they have some truly brilliant highlights. Paint it Black, Gimmie Shelter, Wild Horses, Satisfaction, Sympathy for the Devil, Angie, Brown Sugar....you can go on and on with killer hits, but I can just never pinpoint anything distinctive or innovative for them to have such iconic status....perhaps other than Mick’s voice and swagger. In my attempts to see all my favourite living legends play live, the Stones never even get a look in. I’d love to hear your thoughts.....make a counter-argument, tell me why they are so great.

All that said, I’m not ignorant to their work. I’m at least familiar with most of their albums, especially those that came out in the 80’s. I can, therefore, at least put this one in context and share my thoughts.

The geek in me has to admit to loving “Start Me Up”....the song used to launch Microsoft’s Windows 95 (and making the stones a crap ton of money in the process). To my mind, this is still the standout track in this funny old compilation and I use that word deliberately as all the songs are recordings of outtakes from the 10 years that preceded the album’s release. I have to say that as a casual listener you would not guess. Most of the songs still have identifiable blues rock roots.

Hang Fire rattles along nicely, Slave is blues’y, Little T&A gives Richards chance to pretend he can sing 😉, Black Limousine is unadulterated blues. Waiting on a Friend is a great closer with some superb sax work. Re-listening a few times before I wrote this was certainly no hardship but outside of that first killer track I was never excited. I’d love if there could be just a little more something distinctive .... just like the rest of the stones career....Ho Hum.

More later.....

97 Boston’s Third Stage... the laws of diminishing returns

And so (after a work imposed break), hopefully back on track in numerical order we arrive at the first of what I’m sure will be a few entries for the mega-group REOSpeedForeignerBostonJourneyKansasWagon 😜.

98 Boston, Third Stage...Streaming on Spotify

Boston - Third Stage, Spotify Album

Boston - Third Stage, iTunes Album USA

Boston - Third Stage, iTunes Album UK

I have to admit (and forgive me if there is a theme emerging here) we were VERY unkind to the American mega groups / arena rock groups of the 70s and 80s. I don’t know who of my friends originated the name “REOSpeedForeignerBostonJourneyKansasWagon”? ..... but it’s a funny joke and does fairly accurately bring to mind that certain type of polished, tuneful and radio friendly American rock. Are they all the same?....well clearly not. A little maturity and the passage of time have allowed me to appreciate some of the great tunes these bands pumped out. It’s not like I actually disliked these bands at the time either, I simply preferred my rock to come with some harder edges and attitude. It would be really interesting to hear readers comments on bands or styles where your views have mellowed over time.

Third stage is a really curious beast. A VERY long time after “Don’t Look Back”, as a non-devotee I’d almost forgotten about the band, but it was immediately identifiable Tom Schulz’s incredibly distinctive sound…crafted by months or years of fine tuning in the studio.

“Amanda” was the big hit in the UK….and it does stick out as much more standalone than the rest of the album…a true ‘arms in the air’ stadium ballad. The rest of of the album seems much more themed, with Tom reflecting on hitting middle age. There are real standouts though…. “The Launch” and “Cool the Engines” are full of energy and “Can’tcha Say” is full of those amazing guitar harmonies we all know from the band….there is really no duff tracks on here.

But…. Outside of the lyrical territory, there is nothing really new here. You could easily argue that this is as good as the first album, but it’s just all so familiar that it has far less impact. The first time most of us heard those guitar harmonies on the first album, it was a real wow moment….here it’s just….well it’s just Boston. I’ve loved becoming re-aquatinted with this to write the blog…but a year from now, if I fancy some best in breed American Oriented Rock (AOR) action…ill be reaching back for the self titled debut. By the time the 4^thalbum rolled round I’d given up altogether (I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it all the way through)…it’s interesting that in reality this is Boston’s only 80’s album given they have always sounded so 80s.

Diminishing returns indeed but I still like the spaceship!

More soon

99 Miami Vice.....Shoulder Pads & Salmon Shirts

And so we backtrack to number 99...., I think it was sort of worth the wait as my $1.99 near mint copy of this album found it's way thought the postal system. Amazon sellers CAN be a wonderful thing!
As I mentioned, this album is not available on Spotify or iTunes either streaming or to purchase, so you will just have to play along in your head for this one

It's 1985 and Miami Vice was genuinely HUGE...20+ million viewers tuned into the American NBC broadcasts, in the UK it was the top rated drama on TV (yes...even more than Corrie or Eastenders).

Miami Vice (TV Soundtrack) - Listening on original vinyl.

You genuinely can't overstate the level of cultural impact of this show, in many ways the "style" of the mid 80s was either drawn from, or reflected in this show. South Beach Miami itself was rejuvenated in large part as a result of the increased attention the show brought on the city. Flash cars, fast boats and glitzy cocktail bars were very much hard baked into the DNA of the show.

And of course there was the fashion....if you think of the 80's for men as solid colour t-shirts with a sharp jacket (often with sleeves rolled up to the elbows)....this is where it came from! Truth be told I could never quite pull off the look, but I cannot think of a single one of my friends who did not follow in the style footsteps of Tubs and Crockett. 

Perhaps more than any show up to this time in my life, it also had a massive sense of cinematic style. It quite literally rewrote the rule-book of how a TV show could look... there is a direct line from this show to NYPD Blue, the CSI franchise, NCIS, and many more. Showrunner Michael Mann used this a platform to launch a massively successful film directing career.

Bound into the visual style was the music, musical vignettes became mini music videos, style and atmosphere were underpinned by a quite brilliant selection of contemporary tunes as well as a truly memorable score from Czech instrumentalist Jan Hammer who's tunes from the show permeated popular culture well beyond the show.

So it's no surprise that the show spawned an album (well 3 actually) - the first of these featured here. Fond memories of this record are not reflected in listening today. It's a mix of Jan Hammer's themes and tunes from artists of the day

As there is no Spotify or iTunes link....here is the track listing

1 The original Miami Vice Theme (Jan Hammer)
2 Smuggler's Blues (Glen Frey)
3 Own the Night (Chaka Khan)
4 You Belong to the City (Glen Frey)
5 In the Air Tonight (Phil Collins)
6 Miami Vice (Jan Hammer)
7 Vice (Grandmaster Melle Mel)
8 Better Be Good To Me (Tina Turner)
9 Flashback (Jan Hammer)
10 Chase (Jan Hammer)
11 Evan (Jan Hammer)


What you might notice about this list is that it misses many of Jan Hammer's best moments from the show. The title theme is intact, but many of the moments you are remembering did not make the cut (they are saved for albums 2 and 3). What IS present of course is Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight"... long before we laughed at the gorilla on the drum kit (American friends, google the song name + cadburys gorilla - you won't regret it 😂) Miami Vice implanted a brilliant mental image in our minds of Tubs and Crockett driving through the night, camera strapped to the front of the car.

We get a couple of forgettable Glen Frey songs (hardly up there with the best of the Eagles output)... a decent tune from Chaka Khan and an old favourite from Tina Turner.... and a truly awful track from Grandmaster Melle Mel. It's all just a bit "meh"... nowhere near as good as the show that spawned it and frankly astonishing that this shifted over 4 million copies! Later albums from the series were better, but did not sell as well, perhaps buyers were more than a little put off. That said, this was a brilliant trip down memory lane, better than watching the show which is curiously slow when watching these days.

The sun tans, the cars, the clothes..... I'm not sure it gets more 80s than this.

More later...

98 Tiffany.... Could’ve Been....a lot better ;-)

Well my good blog readers...the best laid plans... after starting at number 100, Number 99 is proving to be a bit of a problem (basically the album and many of the songs are not available on streaming, and I don’t own the album...yet)

So we skip ahead to 98 and it’s another self titled debut, this time from Tiffany Darwish the “flame haired shopping mall songstress” as I’m Sure Smash Hits called her at the time.

98 Tiffany (S/T).... Streaming on Spotify

Tiffany - Tiffany Spotify Album
Tiffany - Tiffany, iTunes Album USA
Tiffany - Tiffany, iTunes Album UK

This is a slightly odd one to wrap my head around. When producer George Tobin took a 12 year old Tiffany under his wing I'm sure he was not 100% sure of what sort of artist he had taken on.

Tiffany gained her stripes writing and performing country music. There is no doubt she has a decent voice but Tobin saw things a different way and seems to have shoe-horned her talents into a bland procession of bublegum pop. There are standout tracks "I Think We're Alone Now" is a real ear-worm and "Could've Been" is a nice MOR pop ballad (the less said about her cover of the Beatles "I Saw HIM standing there" the better) but at least half the album is forgettable 80s synth laden .... nothing.

This knocked Michael Jackson's "Bad" off the number one spot in the US!! and reached a respectable number 5 in the UK.....why? I'm sure the fact that Tiffany was a warm and likeable teenager, performing across the the US in shopping malls (Tobin's genius masterstroke) and almost every track was radio friendly had a lot to do with it. Her voice, as good as it is, genuinely feels like she would be better suited to country (or perhaps the more soulful direction she took later in her career).



I have to admit, it's the first time I've listened to the whole album. It is a perfect example of the sort of music my 16 year old self and my friends liked to be "snippy" about... We would sit around on Saturday Mornings, watching Going Live (international readers...a kids "magazine" and entertainment show, traditional activity for a lazy weekend morning) and gently make fun. Truth be told it's fine, no better or worse than plenty other 80s pop, but it's surprising to think quite how may copies this sold...I can't imagine there are many who return to this often, even if they were big fans at the time.

I certainly all grew out of my "snippy" phase.... there are plenty artists where I had that reaction that I now have a lot of time for - I think it's a peculiar aspect of being a teenage boy. I was certainly never cool enough to REALLY worry about what other's thought of my music taste, but there were certain artists that crossed a line.

Any Tiffany memories? Any bands or artists you were a bit unkind about as a teenager where you have backtracked (or even where a recent listen would suggest you were right all along!!!!)

More later (hopefully number 99 will arrive and I can get back in order)

100 Asia...Heat of the crossover

And so our journey begins.

Number 100.... Asia (S/T) (listening on original vinyl)



Asia - Asia, Spotify Album
Asia - Asia, iTunes Album USA
Asia - Asia iTunes Album UK

There is a huge irony that the first Album on our list could have quite happily had it's own entry in my previous "music that shaped me" blog style.

Asia really are a strange clash of cultures band....4 genuine prog rock legends, and a producer with stellar pop/rock credentials.... a true supergroup of their day with a "Yes" style Roger Dean album cover. Of course you might expect a noodling, head scratching flight of indulgence.

What resulted was a true AOR / Yacht Rock classic. There are key and time signature changes aplenty but, with the influence of former Buggles keyboard player Geoffrey Downes, the result, is an album with true pop credentials. Soaring choruses, catchy riffs, and the silky vocals from John Wetton.

The instantly recognisable "Heat of The Moment" is a superb opener, "Only Time Will Tell" will have many reaching for their air drums, and "Wildest Dreams" genuinely sounds like ELP, Toto and the Buggles got in a fight 😊 (in a good way).



But this genuinely hods a special place in my heart...as it was the constant (and I mean CONSTANT) soundtrack to my time spent in Wilmslow High School sound and lighting team! This motley band of us.... Me, Bill, Gareth, Robert, Martin, Nick (remind me if I've missed anyone Bill) would while away rainy lunch breaks "frigging about with amplifiers" (if the words of one grumpy Physics teacher). It was a great get out of jail card. School assembly...we have to run the mics and play and required music, rainy break or lunchtime...it's time to prep for the PTA meeting sound. Our light / sound room at the back of the school auditorium was entered through the library and was quite often just a retreat to chat and drink tea.

A lot that was great came out of my time spent in the team. I learned the basics of stage lighting (which in turn led to Amateur Dramatics, Wilmslow Guild Players and me meeting my wife!). Team members were first pick to run the film society, which was a 2 year passion project for the last stretch of my time at high school. I helped rig and light 4 brilliant school productions, including a truly superb version of Romeo and Juliet .... and it also inspired a love of lighting & sound equipment and technology in general that persists to this day (and informs my current career) and lifelong friends and connections were made.

All of the time, Asia, and it's follow up "Alpha", "Blackout" and "Love at First Sting" (both by Scorpions) were the soundtrack to everything we did, on constant rotation as we went about our work.
Time has not been too kind to Asia...it sounds a little stuck in the 70s (despite it's 82 release date), but as a slice of Pop / Prog there are few better albums.

As suggested - any thoughts on the album, any love or hate out there...any lighting / sound crew memories of your own?

More later.

100 Best Selling Albums of the 80s - The Project

So lets not waste too much time talking about why I’m back blogging, I am...
So what's the idea? 

Peter Dodd and others have written this fantastic series of books... each of the 100 entries has full page album art, a succinct summary and some excellent key facts.

The rankings are based on the number of RIAA and BPA platinum and multi-platinum sales awards each album has achieved. Net result is a very fair measure of albums success right up to the time the book was written, but also spanning both US and UK sales.

I’ve previously shied away from album reviews, there are plenty resources out there on the interwebs that cover such things far better than me...and I’m not a music journalist. So I plan to comment on the album, but try to put my thoughts in a personal context....what I was doing, the friends I was with, have my thoughts on the album changed over time, that sort of thing.

I’ll rigorously stick to a listening media preference. Original vinyl if it have it, modern vinyl repressing if i don't, CD as the next choice and streaming as a last resort.

If you want to pick up the book....it’s easily available at Amazon 
UK Amazon UK - 100 Best Selling Albums of the 80s
US Amazon US - 100 Best Selling Albums of the 80s

I’ll tell you how i’m listening and link to streaming sources so you can all “play along”.....and that really is the point, please do play along...share your thoughts, your memories, your love for (or hate of / indifference to) the music.

If this works I’ll be following up with the 90s and 70s (possibly even alongside the 80s, rather than wait until i’m done with all 100).

Most posts will be short enough to skim during a coffee break.

So have fun, enjoy the music and the posts .... see you tomorrow for post number 1

The First Album!

Before you fall over in amazement! A return to writing and blogging was a New Year’s Resolution, and as the second half of the year has been reached….well I think the time has come.

I do write lengthy missives on Facebook, but I do prefer the idea of my own space, that is not messed around with by the Silicon Valley mob.

Continuing a thought from WAY back, when I talked about school and Tubular Bells, I’m going to continue to tell the story of my musical development. We are at about 1975/6 now.

I’ve got two older brothers. This is important, and it’s important because without them I really don’t think my music taste would be what it is now.

As I’ve mentioned, there was plenty great music in the house, and in particular my eldest brother John had some excellent albums on constant rotation. Tubular Bells, Pink Floyd’s Meddle and Dark Side, Focus II and Genesis Live stand out in my memory (as well as Floyds “Atom Heart Mother” which I still think is pants!)
Just for a taste – check out this absolutely nuts clip of Focus on “Midnight Special”



I’d migrated from my parents “radiogram” to the record player in my brother’s room. It still had the spindle mechanism to play more than one single (even if the motor gave up if there were more than 3 singles on there!) and just a couple of stereo speakers mounted on the front of the cabinet but I was obsessed – I loved the thing!

So while John and Dave were out I would sit in Dave’s room, listening to Gilmour’s solos, and Focus yodeling….yes I was about 6!
I loved Genesis Live, and when a “record voucher” landed in my lap as a birthday gift, off I trotted to “Tony Greenwood Music” in Wilmslow and purchased my first record. Not the Bay City Rollers or Top of the Pops compilation

...but Nursery Cryme by Genesis. I don’t want to dwell on the significance of this TOO much, really I was simply intrigued by Genesis Live (Musical Box in particular) and wanted more, and the nice man at Tony Greenwood recommended it, but as the world was about to go disco and punk, six year old Ian bought a 1973 progressive rock classic!

If you don’t know, or need reminding, this is the nuts (and possibly quite inappropriate) type of thing.

 

The fascination did not last too long …only about a year later I sold the album to one of my brother’s friends and bought a number of singles with the proceeds.

Where things went from there gets really interesting…more next time, but a footnote that bears telling.

When MY son Marcus sat as a young toddler in his car seat, he became absolutely obsessed with…..yes….Musical Box from Nursery Cryme by Genesis. I always tried to vary the music as much as possible, but the “now, now, now” climax (possibly pun intended) of the song caught his attention, and, as kids do, he asked for it to be played again and again – genetics? History repeating? Strange whichever way you look at it.

So lets hear from you as well....what was your first album, can you remember any background as to why you bought it?

More soon....(promise)

New, refreshed, and most of all….Back!!

Well then folks, I can’t use world cup football as an excuse this time…I was kindly reminded today that is is over a year since I last promised to update the blog….and that…..well that is not good enough to even be called a blog.

I’ve not been idle – far from it, I’ve been involved in the re-launch and rebranding of two companies (Illingworth Research and ResearchNurses.co) and many projects, long overdue, around the house have been completed.

But there are so many more stories to tell….

So I’ve spruced up the blog, got to grips with Windows Live Writer (to speed up / streamline the blogging process – and avoid the terrible spelling mistakes I’m so prone to) – fixed a couple of broken videos and well…I’m back.

I intend to fill in a few of the more obvious gaps in the “evolution of music taste” series – post some reviews of previous gigs, and those that are coming up – once I get round to buying a few tickets.

Happy to take subject suggestions – and let me know your thoughts as to how some of this content might work as a podcast.

For today – I’ll leave you with the love it / hate it hit of the summer – definitely the poolside memory from my recent trip to Greece…the cheesily excellent “On The Floor” by Jenifer Lopez…along with the original Lambada by Kaoma from which it’s derived – THIS is how to update a song!

More soon….(I promise"!)

Mad World at the House Of Blues

Hi again folks, another apology for blog hiatus while I’ve been in the UK but I should be back on the map again for a while.

Took a trip last night into town to see the wonderful Tears For Fears at the House of Blues in Boston with my friend Robert.

A blog entry would not be a blog entry unless I threw in a bit of context and back story, and in the case of TFF it’s easy to come by.

It’s easy to forget that back in 1983, when their first album came out, “the Hurting” and all of it’s associated singles really did stand out in the crowd. Despite loving pretty much every track, it has never entered my CD collection purely on the basis of quite how tough a listen it is! Not only do the lyrics positively drip with the pain and suffering of Roland Orzabal’s childhood but the musical tone matches it perfectly, with an eerie tone and minor keys dominating throughout – perhaps it’s time to visit the iTunes store after all!

When it was followed up by the global juggernaut that is “Songs From the Big Chair” people somehow forgot the far darker first album, yet “Big Chair” is far more unusual that perhaps we all remember, with extended instrumental sections, sax solos and an outro track that is just plain weird.

My friend and, at that time, neighbour Steff would sit transfixed with her headphones almost welded to her ears with “I Believe” on repeat play (a neat trick when listening to Vinyl). The tempo of this song is so slow you can almost feel your heart rate decrease!! Even “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” has unusual 12/8 time signature (4/4 with the each 3rd bar punctuated with a frill) which seems the propel the song along in a barrelling feel.....Yet this album was HUGE – pretty much everywhere in the world. It’s really reminds me of quite how much more open to unusual music we were for much of the 80s.

And then along came the masterwork that is “Seeds of Love” – perhaps a controversial choice for some but to my mind one of the best albums of all time without a single duff track. You can hear the care and attention that has gone into the recording process but most of all the songs stand up so well. “Woman in Chains” should have been a massive hit but barely registered at the time :-( - “Badman’s Song” is an epic Jazz / Pop collision and “Year Of The Knife” sounds at once like a huge band improv that’s note perfect at the same time! (and yes I know how daft that sounds)

Solo Orzabal albums followed (a couple of them under the TFF name but still essentially just solo albums) before a real return to form (and the return of Curt Smith) with “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending” – Beatles-esque and brilliant.

And so to the gig....


House of Blues is a revamped venue that used to be called “Avalon” – which got plenty visits when I first lived out here. All standing downstairs (though with plenty elevated sections to nab a decent view) and seating and balcony sections surrounding on 2 further levels. It seems to lend itself well to a decent atmosphere whatever the gig.

I previously saw TFF at the Orpheum theatre in Boston – one of the oldest theatres in the USA (and the original home of Boston Symphony before they moved to the world famous Symphony Hall). At this time the Orpheum was a wreck, no AC (not good in a Boston Summer in a theatre filled with hot lights and people) vary cramped seats and terrible sound – a band had to work very hard to put on a good show. TFF pulled it off pretty well, but there seemed to me to be a little tentativeness as the band had only recently got back together and seemed to still be getting back into the grove.

How much a packed, enthusiastic crowd and a great venue can help cannot be understated but last night the band really seemed very happy in each other’s company from the outset and were obviously ready to enjoy themselves.

Michael Wainwright opened for the band – and put on a good show but it became clear why he was given his space on the tour when he contributed backing vocals – in particular taking on Oleta Adams’ vocal parts for Woman In Chains where he did a stellar job.

Highlights included “Mad World” (performed without any modern day updating - just as haunting as ever) “Head Over Heals” (which turns out to be a real singalong crowd pleaser) and the aforementioned “Woman in Chains” – not just for Michael Wainwright’s contribution but also a wonderful rendition of the intricate intro and powerful middle section.

Orzabal clearly has the better vocals, but in all honesty, the band were at their best when Curt Smith chips in with backing vocals / harmony or when the two trade lyrics between them.

New songs from “Happy Ending” came over well, with an enthusiastic response from the crowd, but it was pleasing to see how enthusiasm in the crowd was not reserved for just the big US hits, but also many of the tracks from “The Hurting” and “Seeds of Love”.

I’ve put together a video with some highlights – songs chosen more for the opportunity to hold up the camera than an attempt to capture a particular moment. I've embedded it as standard def - but try out the 720p option and let me know what you think (making use of the new HD iPhone video).




Far from an 80’s retro tour, they did come over as a current vibrant, and happy band – I’m optimistic that there is still more to come from TFF and as the band finished off the encores with “Shout” – along with obligatory audience participation – it certainly felt like the audience WANTED more – everybody loves a happy ending ;-)!


More Later

Home taping is...an art form!!! ;-)

Sorry I’ve been away for a while – the World Cup does terrible things to your blog writing schedule!!!

It’s September of 1983 and I’ve just moved High school (not town, just school – it’s a long and DEEPLY dull tale of catchment areas and school administrators!!).

So as I deal with the general hell of settling in, finding my way round, and starting all my school relationships from scratch.... we are joined in our form room by an ex student – I’m completely oblivious as to why, but he’s clearly a cult hero to many of my new classmates. Sporting the sort of cool swagger, and easy outgoing demeanour that impresses a 13 year old (even If they are not prepared to admit it) and sporting a well worn denim jacket....something stuck in my mind.

Along with the rest of the decorations on his jacket, embroidered logos from the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC was a patch taking pride of place across the back of his shoulders. If I was familiar with the other bands – classic heavy rock bands, all of whom I liked or was at least familiar, then this was a band I should know all about. I don’t know why, but I distinctly remember thinking that they must be “heavier” than all the rest of them – heavy rock, and liked by the cool kids – I had to find out more.

The band was Rush and I quickly established that I had heard them – albeit without ever knowing – “Closer to the Heart”, “The Spirit of Radio” and “Tom Sawyer” were all songs I heard on the radio and despite the fact that I liked them, they had passed me by to a certain extent.

So I did what any self respecting and law abiding 13 year old does – found a friend with a Rush album and made a taped copy! In those days this was a very detailed process – the best bands deserved the best tapes, with favourite bands earning the right to be immortalised on the hallowed TDK-SA, many others on the more ordinary TDK-AD and the cheep and cheerful TDK-D being reserved for recordings from the radio or bands I was simply giving a try out.

The whole process was completely ritualised. First the cassette was wound back and forth a couple of times to pre-tension the spools of tape. TDK were good enough to mark the leader tape with lines indicating each second of tape and so you would remove the tape from the cassette deck and wind the spool forward with your finger until the recording tape was visible, and then wind it back a couple of seconds before replacing in the deck and pressing pause / record buttons at the same time. The record was then carefully cleaned (in some cases even being washed), the record then laid on the anti-static turntable mat and the dusting arm and roller placed in the grooves for a while. You would then carefully place the arm in the groove, in the middle of the loudest track and the VU meters on the cassette deck were watched as you carefully adjusted the recording level until the needle peeked just into the “red zone”. Levels adjusted and all ready to go, the arm was then lifted into the run in groove and then, in a carefully timed precision operation the pause button was released just a couple of seconds before the music kicked in. As the side of the record drew to a close, you would closely supervise and as the music finished, the recording level was faded down to avoid the harsh jump from crackle to silence on the recording.

This ritual was not reserved just for your favourite bands, it was a matter of personal pride that you never heard the needle touching down, you never heard the needle lifting off the turntable and the music was always loud enough (though not so loud as to distort). People with the skill and equipment to record LPs well were in high demand, friends would bring round LPs to have them recorded to use with their walkmans. It was never a “geek” thing either (not that we’d have used that word then) – music spanned boundaries of the cool and uncool kids and the ability to do a good recording was a prized skill – whatever social group you were part of. I think I could probably pinpoint this as the start of people asking me for any sort of technical help (which continues to this day – I’m happy to say)

I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say in due course about the whole issue of music piracy – but to pass brief comment at this point that home taping for US did the exact opposite of killing music – it was one of two things. The way to get your LP purchases on to tape to use in your cheap Matsui Walkman rip-off or the best way to let your direct friends hear the music you were into. The bands you liked – you bought the next LP! I recently helped my friend go through his huge tape collection and more than 95% of what was there, he’d bought on CD since that point (the remaining 5% was music he listened to at the time, but had no desire to listen to again)




And so Rush’s “Moving Pictures” were immortalised on TDK-D – a fate seemingly inconceivable given my opinion of it now It should have been honoured with the ultimate accolade of the TDK-MA-X.

My friend Andy solidified my love of Rush at the time of the release of Signals and Grace Under Pressure, albums that rarely seemed to be off the record deck of his Bush music centre! I worked my way back through the older recordings and every listen confirmed my thought that here were a band of geniuses.



That said...

Rush really are something of a love or hate band – for one very good reason. Geddy Lee’s falsetto voice really just is not for everyone. I’ve introduced many people to Rush’s music but once I’ve given them the opportunity to hear the band, know there is nothing more to be done other than to let them draw their own conclusions.

That said, I can think of no better example of a band who have carved their own musical niche. Musicianship is at the core of what they do – every member of the band (especially Neil Peart and Geddy Lee – as bassist) can be considered as amongst the very best in their fields. That said, the band clearly work their craft in song writing terms, playing with structure and form, melody and rhythm in ways that many others don’t even attempt. And lyrically there are only a few (John Lennon, Fish, Steve Hogarth) that can quite equal Neil Peart. “Time Stand Still”, “Losing It” and “Afterimage” stand as some of the most incredible lyrics in rock music, they resonate with me at a tangible almost painful level. Far less successful are the tales of mythical gods doing battle and other such nonsense that plagued their early albums, but we were all young once!



Unfortunately the powers that be in Rush’s record company have blocked embedding most of their You-Tube videos – seriously guys... just grow up – embed a link to the official site on the video and let people like me encourage people to take a listen – so the the videos here (most latter period will have to do....give em a try, and see which side of the divide you fall, and remember to treasure your TDK-Ds!!!

More soon....