Seb Hunter - Rock Me Amadeus: When Ignorance Meets High Art, Things Can Get Messy (2006)

Blimey, it's been a while, hasn't it?! In explanation for my prolonged absence, I'd like to offer up something that should resonate with every music-loving reader of this blog(which will be most of you).

Perusing my local library one day (as is my wont) I came across that book on the left. Its bumpf advised that it was a journey of discovery by a rock fan into classical music. Now, as classical music has always been very much a closed book to me (way too much wailing and shrieking and incidental music), I thought I'd give it a go. Little did I know I was unleashing a monster.

Hunter tells us that, like me, he has never had any time for the classical genre but, being a chap who doesn't like to have a closed mind about these things, he decided to immerse himself and try to learn to love it. With that (and taking advice along the way) he starts at "the beginning" of music as we know it and works his way forward.

A travelogue of the highest order, Hunter's book is a great introduction to this most impenetrable of genres. He doesn't hesitate to take the piss where he thinks it's due and makes recommendations along the way, managing to find a modern comparison to most of the music he's listening to. Nick Hornby/anal-type that I am, I found myself compiling a list of potential downloads within the first 20 pages! Finding some of this stuff has been a trial because most of the classical music blogs are elusive and make no concession to modern music. There is no TotallyFuzzy for the classics so Google has been a boon!

Which brings us neatly back to my absence. I've spent the last month or so finding and listening (although not exclusively, as Hunter does) to classical music and I've made some astounding discoveries. Some has been up there with the best stuff I've ever heard (true!) and some has been utterly unlistenable shite. The up side to this (although I would forgive your doubts) is that I will be recommending some of the good stuff here, along with the blogs where it can be found.

I can't recommend this book highly enough if you want to open up a whole new world to yourself. Go out and buy it. Meanwhile, give my "classical" posts a chance and a listen. I would be VERY interested to know what you think.

www.sebhunter.com

p.s. Seb Hunter also has a classical blog type thing called "The Bitterest Pill" which sub-titles itself "Classical Music one step at a goddamn time". Check it out. It's good.

Young Moss Tongue

Michael Dust Devil recently brought his astounding blog back to us after "going private" for a time, an event for which we can only thank him.

I've looked a Very Large Number of blogs over the years but YoungMossTongue is truly awe inspiring, not least for the sheer quantity of uploads.

Primarily looking at inependant music, he doesn't restrict himself to a decade or a genre but covers a vast number of artists from throughout the history of popular music.

Clearly a muso himself he's drawn to those on the outskirts of the industry who may have had critical acclaim but remained "cult" figures and the blog is all the better for it. A quick look down his band tags will give you some idea of the enormity of the site and the work that's gone into it.

There's no chat (at all) but there's no need here.

Pay Michael a visit, but be prepared to spend A LOT of time with him.

youngmosstongue.blogspot.com/Cornershop

Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time (1997)

Most people are going to remember Cornershop for the hit Brimful Of Asha, which remix by Fatboy Slim is not representative of what's on offer here. Whilst that song is present on the album it is in its "raw", unmixed format i.e. without the whistles and bells that Norman adds to bloody everything.

To go back to the beginning, this is Cornershop's 3rd album and was an enormous leap forward for the band. As recently as 2 years previously they were still hip young indie gunslingers, shooting at sacred cows like Morrissey. This album, however, was a revelation.

Kicking off with Sleep On The Left Side and Brimful Of Asha is a real statement of intent, hook laden tracks blending indie-dance with Indian influences and instrumentation, before hitting Butter The Soul where the band are straight into old-school hip hop, albeit with the requisite Bhangra twist.

That theme continues throughout the record with regular intervals of scratching and beatbox showdowns between the "proper" tracks.

We're In Yr Corner, track 5, is a pure Punjabi full-on sounddown (and awesome with it), before Funky Days Are Back Again brings a lo-fi synth presence to proceedings, followed shortly after by When The Light Appears, Boy, featuring legendary beat poet Allan Ginsburg reading from his own writing of the same name.

Good Shit is a return to the late 80s baggy sounding indie-dance, still with the hint of India, then Good To Be On The Road Back Home Again blends basic country with the band's Punjabi influences, tiger country, if you will. It's Indian Tobacco, My Friend is a pure ambient chillout.

The album concludes with Cornershop's version of Norwegian Wood sung, of course, in Punjabi.

This is a groundbreaking album for which Cornershop were deservedly lionised and I defy anyone not to like it.

www.cornershop.com/

Iz Prve Ruke

Clearly a massive fan of Neil Young, Bob Dylan and The Beatles, Tonics has a blog here that'll get anyone with similar tastes salivating.

Chock full of goodies, he's got a seemingly endless list of bootlegs from all of the above, along with other major players of the same ilk whilst also, on occasion, throwing in another sound from somewhere out of left field (The Exploited anybody?).

If you like your music primarily from the rock/folk stable and you want to find some high quality boots you haven't got, or if you just want a rummage to see what Tonics has thrown into the mix on a whim, check him out.

izprveruke.blogspot.com/neil young & crazy horse-weld

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Weld (1991)

Forget "No Sleep Til Hammersmith"; dump "Live In Leeds"; shove your "Live & Dangerous". To these ears this is the best live rock album ever released.

From the opening bars of Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) to the closing of Roll Another Number (For The Road) Young and The Horse crunch through the numbers, predominantly from the "Rust Never Sleeps"/"Live Rust" albums but with additional Young classics such as Cortez The Killer and Cinnamon Girl as well as Young's treatment of Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind, all delivered with an intensity and sound that makes your hair stand on end.

Throughout you can almost feel the static in the air and the stupendous production and sound quality really make you feel like you're there. This is the ultimate electric guitar record.

Clocking in at a couple of hours it's a long listen but well worth it. Be blown away.

www.neilyoung.com

what i like (The House Of Fun)

JP likes, in (it seems) no particular order, ska, reggae, punk, balearic beats, dance music and skinhead girls.

What you'll like is the VAST collection of stuff he's got on his blog, stuff that covers all of the above and more.

There's loads of hard to find compilations on there, from that below to the Street Sounds hip-hop collections of the late 80s. Very much worth your while checking his site for an eclectic mix of tunes.

whatilike-jp.blogspot.com/20 Of Another Kind

V/A - 20 Of Another Kind (1979)

In 1979 I was 12. I'd had my first record player for my 11th birthday and my record collection was thinner than Victoria Beckham, consisting mostly of Blondie and Showaddywaddy (anyone under 40, look it up).

My cousin, John, was 4 years older and a punk and his records were a revelation to me. He introduced me to The Damned (see later post) but he also had this which, having taped it off him (again, kids, look up "tapes"), I played to death.

20 Of Another Kind became my punk primer and I went on to buy albums by every one of the bands on this album (with the exception of Belgian novelty act Plastic Bertrand - the horrors in that sentance "Belgian"+"novelty act"), informing my musical choices for the next 10 years at least.

I can categorically say that this is the album that got me into music and you need it. Trust me.

Tracklist:

Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi ; The Jam - In The City; The Skids - Sweet Suburbia; Otway And Barratt - Beware Of The Flowers; Sham 69 - Borstal Breakout; The Cure - Killing An Arab; Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device; The Adverts - Gary Gilmore's Eyes; Generation X - Ready Steady Go; 999 - Homicide; The Stranglers - No More Heroes; The Boys - The First Time; Patrik Fitzgerald - Irrelevant Battles; Sham 69 - If The Kids Are United; The Jolt - No Excuses; Otway And Barratt - Really Free; The Heartbreakers - Born Too Loose; 999 - Emergency; The Lurkers - I'm On Heat; The Jam - 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street.

P.S. Clearly home taping didn't kill music - nor will blogging.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Taping_Is_Killing_Music

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showaddywaddy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_Bertrand