If you are a pack rat like me then occasionally you have to bite the bullet and wade into the piles of albums, CDs, magazines, DVDs, books and so much more just to regain some living space.
The only problem is that once you stumble across an album you haven't heard in a while you have to put it on, and that leads to another, and then another.
Then while listening to them you start to deconstruct the piles of books with the intention of boxing most up to drop them off at a charity shop, but then what you do is starts sorting them into still to read, going to read again, and I can't part with this one towers.
Same deal with the movies, and everything else.
The chore becomes a magical hour or two of rediscovery.
And that's what I have been doing right now, and while I have been basically just rearranging where everything is I have stumbled across an old fanzine that I did.
It's crap.
Or to be more specific it is crap in my opinion, but we are all our own harshest critics, so who knows.
It does feature a few interviews, the bigger names being The Rezillos and Gogol Bordello.
So to get to the point of the post it is to ask if anyone is interested in me transcribing them over to the blog?
There would be no rush job on it, but if you want them then you can have them.
A part of me is probably going to do it anyway just so that there is a record online of them, but some encouragement might mean that I do them sooner rather than later.
Update: And yet another has been found.
This time it is the debut of El Diablo.
If memory serves me right then this was around early 2003, mid point of that year at the most as I had interviewed Lucinda Mellor (The wife of Joe Strummer) about the charity that was being started up in his memory.
Apart from that there is the interview with Michael Davis of MC5 that is already online, but there is Patricia Morrison in there too.
In hindsight it's difficult to wrap my head around how I managed to get these people involved from a cold start.
Glancing through them is like looking through a window to the past.
Maybe somewhere there is a few Unnatural Exposures kicking about.
That was my first tentative steps into the world of writing about music.
Same deal as the other. If anyone wants some of the content appearing online then message the page or add a comment non facebook.
Dystopian tales are evergreen, and an author who can write entertainingly of a restrictive divisive future is often assured of an audience.
From literal greats such as The Handmaid's Tale and The Shape Of Things To Come to the populist teen fiction of The Hunger Games and the Divergent series they pique the interests of a wide and varied demographic, but there is one novel in the genre that stands towering above all others, only one has become synonymous with the term dystopian in itself, and that is 1984 by George Orwell.
It might not be an individual personal favourite, but it is difficult not to acknowledge its position as the most well known and loved of them all.
And today is the anniversary of its release.
It was sixty eight years ago today that the first copies appeared and seized the worlds attention.
The amount of people who have read it are now incalculable as sales figures have no relationship to the number of individuals who have lost themselves in its pages.
Its influence on the world around us is similarly something we cannot underestimate too.
From CCTV to the manipulative msm we see Orwell's future existing in our present and it strikes a chord.
The novel time and time again reveals itself as eerily precognitive, or as some would claim, it was the misguided template for authoritarianism that successive governments globally have embraced, but stepping away from those discussions it is safe to say that while it is without a doubt a literary great, that it is also a populist one too.
Few books can match its popularity, and maybe today to celebrate the anniversary - with all that is going on in the world - we should proactively look to maintaining this popularity by passing it on to someone that has not read it.
You could dig out your copy and give it to a son or daughter, your niece or nephew, maybe just leave it on a bus seat and allow it to be carried into the world randomly where it will end up in a strangers hands, and then in their head.
Or you could just mention it on social media.
Quote a line, share a meme, add a link, or start a conversation.
It's good to read, it's good to think, and this is the opportunity for us all to use the anniversary of 1984's release to encourage that.
Instead of asking ourselves why should I, maybe we should ask why shouldn't I.
It’s safe to say that in Roger Waters we do not have the
type of artist who would call a spade a shovel.
The listener doesn’t have to dissect prose to reveal a
hidden meaning in the songs he writes.
There’s nothing lurking between the lines, there’s no veneer
that needs to be stripped away to allow us to clearly see the point he is
making.
He is in the business of creating straight forward no
nonsense story telling as an art form.
And that’s not to say that he is a meat and potatoes artist
either.
Never think that.
Don’t even give that thought a moment’s headspace.
The bluntness of his delivery should never be construed as bland
as it is far from it.
His music is always multilayered and thought provoking, but
at the same time it also has to be accepted that if he wanted you to
misunderstand what he was trying to convey then he wouldn’t have writ it so
large before placing it directly in your line of vision and then shouting it in
your face.
This is just what he does.
In so many ways he is closer to an art terrorist spray
painting a statement on a wall than someone looking to engage in debate with
you.
There’s a ‘here it is, fuckin’ take it or leave it’ attitude
that seemed to come to the fore on Animals and has been prevalent throughout
The Wall and Final Cut before continuing louder, stronger and more strenuously here.
He’s a force of nature in so many ways.
Bow to it, or break. That’s the deal.
And if you thought previous albums revelled in not drawing
the eye away from the darkness in the world, then you better strap in for a
bumpy ride as ‘Is this the life we really want?’ is pitch black, a raw howling
primal scream into the void at the idiocy of our existence.
We are sheep led by donkeys and we should be ashamed of our
passivity.
This goes beyond being an anti establishment concept album.
Far beyond that, and if there is any ambiguity within in it then
it lies in us not really knowing if he is trying to wake us up to what is going
on in this fucked up post Trump world, or if he just doesn’t give a fuck
anymore and is merely holding a mirror up to the horror as an expression of his
own impotence.
Either way listening to it is akin to tying yourself to a
post to wait the hurricane out.
Even when he sings softly and there is minimal accompaniment
there is no taking away the power of this work.
Astounding in so many ways.
PS. The redacted artwork of the sleeve in itself sends a powerful message.
It’s been a number of years since Little Steven has graced us with an album, but it has certainly been worth the wait.
Across the breadth of Soulfire we have Van Zandt delving into his own song book and embracing the material he has written for others, and in doing this he has reinvested in himself as a very credible artists and front man.
Loud applause and slaps on the back all round.
Let’s just say that no one puts Little Steven in the corner. Not even the Boss.
And there’s ample proof of this in the groove of Soulfire.
It’s a classic album in every sense that those two worlds imply.
Elsewhere, when not engaging with his own songs, he pays homage to his roots with an exhilarating take on the Etta James track The Blues Is My Business, and then with a nod of his bandana he slips into the sounds of blaxploitation to deliver a funky strutting dirty street level version of Down And Out In New York City, a track that appeared on James Brown’s Black Caesar soundtrack.
You want a breadth of styles being taken in the stride of a true professional then look no further.
The political fire may have been set aside, and that may well be something that some will miss, but there’s plenty of heat being generated here.
With there being a number of tracks that fans of Southside Johnny will have heard, then it has to be considered that some could think there is possibly a dearth of new songs to record, but rather than gravitate towards that negative assumption, this sounds more like Little Steven has decided to simply use his own material as the foundation stones to build another phase of his solo career on.
It was never on the cards that the follow up to Matt Scot’s debut
would have stumbled coming out of the gates.
Expectations have always been high, but he has surpassed
even the most fervent fans wish for him to deliver on all the promise that has
been seen in him.
With a band backing him the stripped down dustbowl aficionado
of old has been left behind as he embraces a much fuller sound.
Someone shout Judas at him so that others can loudly remonstrate
with them that they are stuck in the past.
In fact you can join me in shouting loudly ‘that was then
and this is now’
The entire signature markings of old are still embedded in
the songs, there is still Dylan, Springsteen and Frankie Miller in the DNA of
his song writing, but here we see the evolution of the influences of these
greats bearing fruit.
This is the release where we see Matt step out from under
large shadows and stand on their shoulders to reach for a piece of the
firmament to call his own.
Of a famous lager company made modern day folk singers with
a love of rock and roll then………..
In some alternate universe this, in parts, is what a
fanciful collaboration between Gram Parsons and Ray Davies would sound like.
Maybe after Gram had partied with Mick and Keef in France for a
week or two he would have ended up in Muswell Hill with Ray.
Ensconced in a tiny flat they would have drank and conjured
up stories about Britannia riding the range astride a mighty buffalo while
Geronimo confused and angry tried to navigate a sixties London.
And yet while that phantasmagorical aspect does seem to
exist on Americana,
The Jayhawks can’t exert any more influence than a bit of flavouring, as ultimately
the album is always being dragged back under the wing of Ray Davies who
expertly lays out the groundwork to support the argument that he is indeed a
national treasure.
Basically it is still more UK than US, and that is comforting
to hear as this is Ray Davies after all.
Content wise what we have on Americana is Ray deftly looking
back over his relationship with the USA with an unblinking eye, and while it
wasn’t all roses you do get the distinct impression that the lure of the
fantasy of the USA still holds some sway.
The reality wasn’t to his taste, but the fantasy is a
different matter all together.
Undoubtedly he would have loved to have broken the US with the
Kinks, and missing out on the British Invasion still rankles, but if they had
been up there with the Beatles and Stones at the time then we wouldn’t have got
this album, and that would have been a great shame.
Who knows, we may have got something as equally fantastic,
but it would have been different.
It’s all swings and roundabouts really, and in life it
always is.
And Ray knows this.
Life stretches out before us in all direction and every step
forward is the first on a journey that we have no way of knowing, and here we
have an example of this.
It’s an album that gazes back into the past and considers
the journey including where some paths untaken would have led.
This is pretty much an essential addition to the work of
Davies.
We should celebrate that we do have artists of this calibre
in this country, and that they are as vital and relevant as they have always
been.
Probably the best way to do that is to go out and buy it.
Are you at a loose end and wondering what to do with the remnants of the weekend?
Has Friday night, and all of Saturday, slipped into the past with little to nothing done?
Has the cushion on your couch moulded itself to the shape of your backside as you attempted to break the world record for surfing tv channels and eating wotsits?
Okay, it's time to do something.
Anything.
The weather is looking good and the world is your bivalve mollusc.
So put aside the self loathing you orange fingered freak and get moving, because tonight, in Audio in Glasgow, the Popes of Chillitown are coming.
Who? The Popes of Chillitown we said.
Here's what Tom Robinson said about them.
You know, that guy from Radio 6
"The sharpest, tightest Ska sound we have ever had on the show"
So if ska is your thing (and why wouldn't it be?) then this is for you.
The icing on the cake is that Strung Out Nights is opening the show.
That is now a month under my belt as Reservoir Droogs.
Moving into the first week of the second month could see updates appear a little more haphazardly.
This is due to time limitations.
I am about to move into a busy week, and part of that could be without access to the internet.
So the schedule is something that is being aimed at, but isn't necessarily going to be doable.
Everything will be back to normal moving into week two.
As always thanks for the support.
The blog has already stripped all expectations that I had for it, and is currently pulling in hits that I realistically thought would take around six months to reach.
That's everything to do with you.
The promotion the bands and artists get from everyone reading reviews and interviews is invaluable.
So take a bow.
And again, thank you.
Summer is here and it's time to start thinking about arranging a Chrimbo party.
Now if you are in charge of your works night out then you might be swayed by karaoke after a Chinese restaurant, or maybe the traditional finger buffet before hitting a nightclub is looking like an easy option, but wait, there is more out there.
And we reckon that you could go down in history as the best fuckin party organiser ever if you just took all of your colleagues to see the Angelic Upstarts.
Brian from accounts will love it, and Claire the manager will never look at you the same way again.
Far be it for us to say a promotion would be on the cards, but a promotion would definitely be on the cards.
This is a win win situation and a worthy option to be thrown into the hat with Carols idea about going to see reindeer in a petting zoo before hitting Santas Grotto outside Poundland in the local shopping mall.
Details are on the poster.
Just click on it to enlarge it.
The cry of unity rings hollow when applied to the world of music.
You show me one person who is going that extra mile to give another a leg up and I will show you two who will stab you in the back, and then add you to the pile of bodies that they will climb thinking that it will lead them to the top.
That being said, the people who do make the effort to promote others are worth their weight in gold.
The sort of people like those who are behind 'On the House' blog.
Consider it an online resource for independent artists.
To keep it simple here is what they do.
They will review any band or artists who is offering free, or pay what you want, downloads and include with that review links to the music.
It's all about the co promotion baby.
That's it.
There's no cost to this, and no hidden deal going on.
It's what is called a passion project, by artists for artists.
So if you are in a band or are a solo artists then check them out using the inks below, and then help them help you by spreading the word.
It would be cool if you said that you seen them mentioned here on Reservoir Droogs too.
Let's get the ball rolling on everyone helping each other.
Update: And yet another has been found.
