Posts by Rob Hosking
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In the spirit of many comments....'Born in the Wrong Time' from Peter Gutteridge, live in New York. Was originally a Great Unwashed song, circa 1984.
Vocal here is a bit rough, but.
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It’s the spawn of rock music as drone, you can drop it into a modern DJ set, it’s everything.
I think the first 'rock music as drone' was the Kinks' 'See My Friends' - inspired by a visit to India in '65, apparently, and released as a single the same year.
Doesn't have the production effects of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' though, which sounds like an entire aural landscape of another planet.
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Hard News: Bowie, in reply to Paul Campbell,
the actor who played Cat on Red Dwarf once sung backup vocals for Bowie
Woah. Swirly Thing Alert. This is an Awesome Fact.
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Hard News: Bowie, in reply to Soon Lee,
And yet not unexpectedly, the non-conformist Bowie tribute that was this afternoon’s Matinee Idle was met with a heap of abuse.
Yeah. That was extraordinarily meanspirited.
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Piece comparing countries, and touching, in the latest Atlantic: link here http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/10/europeans-comfort-touch-social-bonds/412861/
'“We hadn’t expected the Finns to turn out to be the most cuddly people,” Dunbars says, “or that the Italians are almost as uncuddly as the Brits.”
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Hard News: Hug Reform, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Since the power of the labour movement got smashed from the 70s onwards, it’s been ok to allow physical demonstrations of friendship, but only in support of commodified activities that encourage commerce.
You know, taking off my sceptical Tory hat for a minute, and putting on my whimsical social observer hat, I can almost see this.
The rise of the High Five, with its often competitive element, coincides with the period you're talking about.
Hmm.
There is such a thing as a Thinking Too Much About Stuff Threshold and I think, somewhere, we have passed it.
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Hard News: Friday Music: A Life of Stories, in reply to Russell Brown,
Yeah, I read a rave review of that in the UK Telegraph, which I think shows someone won the Culture Wars, though I'm not quite sure who.
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Tracey Thorn’s Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to be a Pop Star will have to sit around the house a little longer.
It's highly recommended - I think its the second best muso memoir I've read (Paul Kelly's How To Make Gravy is tops in my, err, book.)
Thorn's more recent Naked At The Albert Hall is a companion volume - its more about singing and her favourite singers, but it is highly personal.
As well as being a superb read.
(Shameless Link Touting Ahead) Reviewed 'em both here.
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Anyone read any Lydia Davis? Specialises in short stories which are often just a sentence or two. Quite delightful.
Picked up 'Can't and Won't' earlier in the year on the recommendation of a woman writer friend (who, scanning my modern fiction bookshelves full of Barnes, Hornby, Gee, Amis, Lodge, teased me for having a homosexual library).
Another recent find is Julia Schumacker, whose 'Dear Committee Members' - written from the perspective of grizzled male academic - is marvellously funny as well as one of those books where the laughter slowly dies and something more deep and telling takes a-hold.
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Hard News: The epitome of reason, in reply to BenWilson,
How did the list vote go in those seats?