Posts by Simon Grigg
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Not THAT Chch (although many of his friends are - Joe, Ian... ) but it's worth noting that the legend that is Terry Hogan finally has a website.
In NZ terms it's hard to be more musically iconic
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oh, that 'Rush' re-edit is amazing. I've worn out two copies of the original Morales 12" over the years so this fills a hole wonderfully.
If I was stuck on that bloody desert island a Morales remix or two would find their way there.
Now if we can have a re-edit of both sides of the Def Mix mixes of Alexander O'Neal's 'What is This Thing Called Love'...
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Cool Return, in reply to JamesPL,
Going out on a limb here, but I'd say that Bowie has always been more about the songs than anything else...
I'd say it's both but the theatre has always been underpinned by extraordinary songwriting and song construction - or at least it was until about 1981 - with a bigger picture in mind. I'd hugely recommend Peter Doggett's song-by-song of Ziggy et al's journey through the 1970s if you haven't.
And that's the silly thing about all these 'greatest comeback of all time' type reviews - for Bowie to achieve anything like the artistic success and impact of his core 1971-80 period he would have to change the popular music idiom with every release as he did then (with the exception of the contract filler PinUps).
The entity of Bowie in that period was so much more than just good records - they were the bi-annual pointer towards where we were going next.
Everything he did was so defining (even if he creatively lifted from just about everyone to do so), that what is really a great album from a legacy artist (which I reckon this is) doesn't come close to what a 'David Bowie' 'comeback' would be if such were possible (and it isn't).
Ironically the one reference point I can hear time and time again on this record is the first Decca album from 1967, both vocally and in the songs. He seems to have come full circle, and if this is it as it might be, it's a cool way to go out.
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Hard News: The Wogistan form book, in reply to Johnny Canuck,
Obviously even low-level tomfoolery will get you in trouble at any airport nowadays, but Hong Kong seems to take that to a whole new level.
To be fair, having done HKIA at least thirty times in the past 5 years, (without an issue - I rate it as one of the world's more efficient) the one airport that leaves it in the proverbial when it comes to overreaction is Brisbane. Try landing there in any aircraft which has a an overwhelming % of non-Anglo passengers and observe the way the security treat everyone on the aircraft as Osama's right hand.
It's the only airport I've seen arriving passengers asked to disassemble their cameras...
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Hard News: The Wogistan form book, in reply to Russell Brown,
But there's a big difference between the roles and rights of women in Bosnia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia respectively.
Yep. Java at least is both heavily Islam and a far more matriarchal society than any so-called Christian nation I know of.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Right back in there, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
As a happy coincidence, I spotted the album cover for the Pretty Things "Get The Picture" LP in the window of the excellent Vinyl Countdown second-hand record store on Devon Street in New Plymouth
Ah, cool Geoff. I'm seeing you in early March so I can arrange a swift scan.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Right back in there, in reply to Russell Brown,
and his bands were truly terrible.
I've mentioned to Trevor Reekie that I hold him personally responsible for Les Misérables
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Backstage covered two stories and worked on a system where an entry fee of $7 covered the night’s drinking. It was the height of the disco era and the dance floor hustled with over 200 people a night. It was also an illegal venue and its opening hours, until 5am in the morning, were a novelty for Auckland
Can't walk past the back of The Classic without looking down at that door and smiling.
One of the things I'm most grateful for, and something hugely influential in the way I've seen and interacted with the world since, was living in that wonderful flat with seven gay guys in Parnell, yourself included, in the late 1970s. Best time of my life.
And, let's not forget, Backstage also had the best tunes in town...
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The odd thing is how poorly-identified everyone is
Although my other half managed to identify a very young herself at 3.52 getting down to Russ and crew (she would've been 14..)
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Hard News: Friday Music: A Year of It, in reply to Grant McDougall,
Can't say I've bought a lot of albums this year
I'm the same, but I've listed to vast amounts of music. I blame Spotify mostly as I tend to listen without buying and then only buy when the playlist has been on rotate for a while.
I did a brief blog on the records I liked this year if anyone is interested.