February 2008
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The school soul band rehearse for today's TM show.
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I think it was 1972. Larry Norman arrived in Scotland to play for the first time, at the militantly traditional, eccentrically evangelical Tent Hall in Glasgow’s Saltmarket. It was the moment rock’n’roll in all its glamour, hairiness, colour and American vigour, arrived in the midst of Scottish fundamentalism. Nothing would ever be the same again,…
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Arrived home to find the copy of George Formby – The Ultimate Collection had arrived. It is part of my continuing obsession with things ukulele-ish, but what a revelation in terms of comic songwriting (few of the songs were actually written by Formby himself). And filth. It seems My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock was…
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If you click on the link and have RealAudio, you’ll be able to hear one of the songs from the show I’m just putting the finishing touches to, the Malt and Barley Revue. It’s a mixture of whisky tasting, concert, celebration of Scotland and alcohol, and a questioning of our relationship with the demon drink.…
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From the Mundell Music website (http://www.mundellmusic.com) The day the music died……………! Urgent news about The Famous Bein InnThere will be no more music at The Famous Bein Inn due to a very sudden change of policy……….. but don’t despair as Mundell Music are continuing at The Glenfarg Hotel.Please call the Glenfarg Hotel on 01577 830241…
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Loudness wars, digital lies and why Springsteen’s ‘Magic’ is impossible to listen to more than twice
It’s modern mastering techniques, apparently. Overall loudness, via compression rules, clipping (distortion) is omnipresent, and music becomes tiring to listen to. This was why I had to stop listening to Springsteen’s ‘Magic’, which has some great songs, but the worst overall sound of any Bruce album. And he has never been produced properly, in my…
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I did a bit of work on this last week, and while it was sent out to various news organisations, I can see why it failed to make headlines…it has a (very) disgruntled ex-employee, pictures taken several months ago, and rather too much balance for its own good. Maybe I should have gone all-out for…
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It was the Northmavine Up Helly Aa on Friday night, our local viking conflagration. Not on the same scale as the internationally-famed Lerwick festival, but less precious and a lot more (in my opinion) fun. And indeed, the galley is not burned in a playpark, but out there on the water – the only Up…
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For reasons entirely professional, I have been listening to old vinyl LPs a lot recently, mostly by the marvellous (and tragic) Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher. Then, this morning, I decided to put on my old Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll! compilation. Fresh as paint, they sound, all those familiar classics: Sweet Little Sixteen, Maybelline and…
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Digital Audio Broadcasting – DAB – is dead technology, and the first nail in its blond-wood coffin was not the statement yesterday by the beleaguered head of commercial broadcaster GCAP (closing two digital ‘stations’ and selling its stake in one of the main DAB broadcasting thingies), and not even David Hepworth’s article in last month’s…
