It was 20 years ago today..

It recently came to my attention that Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’ album was celebrating it’s 20th birthday (I know, 20 YEARS!!). This got me thinking, and after some investigation I found that 1991 was in fact a vintage year for music, with a few all-time classics released in that year.

But every silver lining has a cloud – this was also the year that gave us THAT Bryan Adams number one single!

Anyhoo – here’s a few of my highlights from 1991, enjoy!

Primal Scream – Screamadelica

 

REM – Out Of Time

Massive Attack – Blue Lines

Blur – Leisure

Nirvana – Nevermind

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magic

There’s a whole lot more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_in_music#Albums_released

I know I’ve missed loads – feel free to tell me your favourites of ’91.

Ye Gods! I’m simply thrilled, honey..

Orange Juice – Coals To Newcastle

I recently bought this box set containing (pretty much) the complete works of the mighty Orange Juice.

I’ve been a huge fan of the ‘Juice for many many years, but this box set has just brought it all home. This is one of the finest, and most influential bands of the modern era (Franz Ferdinand, anyone?).  I fully intended to write a full, in-depth piece on this, but while researching for it, I found this:

http://frankosonic.blogspot.com/2011/01/orange-juice-coals-to-newcastle.html

Frankly, it says it all, so I’m not even going to bother saying any more, just read this brilliant piece by Frankosonic – it’s far better than anything I could write.

I will say this – if you are a music fan (a real music fan), you have to check out Orange Juice. Damn good stuff.

You can buy it here

A few images added to Flickr

Hello folks

Just added three new images on my Flickr .

First one is a b&w sepia tone conversion of one of my recent studio shots. Also added a nice film grain effect.

Second one is a quick candid shot of a couple of young ladies outside Nando’s on the South Bank in London

Third one is my first attempt at HDR processing. Didn’t really know what I was doing, but I had a fairly bland shot looking up the Thames, and I think I’ve made it into something a bit more interesting!

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers

Adam Buxton’s Big Mixtape

Following on from my earlier post regarding Podcasts etc, I’d just like to point you in the direction of Adam Buxton’s new show on 6Music – Adam Buxton’s Big Mixtape.

A blend of weird & wonderful music and chat, with guests in the studio.

Highly recommended – well worth checking out..

Cheers

Flickr photos

Hi all

Just posting a quick link to my Flickr page.  I’ve been quite busy with photography over the last year or so, and there’s plenty of my stuff for you to <hopefully> enjoy.

Feel free to add me as a Flickr contact…

Cheers

Podcasts, and why I don’t read books..

There was a time when I used to read books, regularly. No better way to pass the time on the daily commute into London than losing yourself in a good book.

Then things changed. Firstly, it was free newspapers. When you are walking to the station and someone thrusts a newspaper into your hands, you can’t help but take it. The combination of the Metro in the morning, followed by the London Lite and the London Paper in the evening (now both superceded by the Evening Standard becoming a freebie) - led to me carrying a book around in my bag, and never reading it. Eventually I stopped even carrying the book.

Then I got an mp3 player (not an iPod at first, it was a Creative Zen thingy, it was pretty  good).  I’m not the sort of person who can listen to music and read at the same time, so the music took over for quite a while, and the books and papers were both relegated to the Reserve team.

iTunes

2006 – I switched. I got a Mac. Everything changed. I got totally into iTunes and all it has to offer. Wasn’t long before I got my first iPod – a 30GB iPod with video.

Then I discovered podcasts. and that was it for me. No more books, newspapers or music. Well, I still pick up the newspapers and thumb through them, and I do listen to music when I’ve got through all the podcasts, but primarily it’s podcasts for me now.

It’s great to be able to listen to radio shows you missed, or someone talking about a subject that really interests you. There are some great video podcasts too, both entertaining and educational. I should add I now have an iPod Touch 32GB, and watching video is a joy.

If you haven’ t tried podcasts, I suggest you do. They’re completely free – just subscribe to them in iTunes and they are automatically delivered to you whenever a new one is released.

Here’s some of my favourite podcasts:

Adam & Joe

Adam Buxton’s Mixtape

The Collings and Herrin Podcast

Frank Skinner on Absolute Radio

The Perfect Ten with Phill Jupitus and Phil Wilding

British Mac

Pets

Photoshop User TV

D-Town TV

Photofocus

Friday Night Comedy from Radio 4

As It Occurs To Me

That’s just the ones I can remember. See what I mean?

BBC 6 Music – Adam Buxton’s thoughts..

Hi All

Latest blog entry from Adam Buxton, discussing the potential loss of BBC 6 Music..

Read it here

There’s also a new song from Adam!

SAVE 6 MUSIC!

F*ck you, BBC.

Well, it looks like we lost the battle:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8544150.stm

Of course, this doesn’t mean we’ve lost the war. There’s still time and a few ways to fight against this ridiculous decision.
Facebook, Twitter, direct complaints to the Beeb – there’s a number of ways to make yourself heard.

Please do your bit, we need quality, diverse, intelligent, adult broadcasting.
We’re already becoming a nation of brain-dead, X-Factor watching fuckwits, we don’t need Auntie to contribute to this.

It’s all here:

http://www.love6music.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=278123313911

email them! srconsultation@bbc.co.uk

Always look on the bright side of life

Now here’s a funny thing…

I’ve always been a huge fan of the film Life Of Brian. It has always been in my ‘Top 5 films of all-time’ list.

My eldest daughter is now 15 years old, so it’s time for her to start watching some of my favourite films (to make up for all the times I had to sit through her favourite films throughout her childhood!). Need to steer away from the 18-certificates for another year or two, but we can get stuck into the 15s.

I decided that a good place to start for her would be Life Of Brian. She’s a smart kid, and would ‘get’ the irony of it, no problem. She’s also got a friend at school who’s really into it,  so she’s already heard a lot of the quotes in the playground.

We sat down to watch it on Saturday night, me full of anticipation that her taste in films was about to change forever. Armed with a box of Roses, we watched the film.

Afterwards, I asked her what she thought of it. Her response: ‘it was ok’. Now here’s the thing – I had to agree with her. I’ve seen that film umpteen times, and can almost quote it word-for-word. But I hadn’t seen it in a couple of years. I think it’s hit a point where it’s finally ’aged’. Can that happen? I have adored this film for all these years, then suddenly I was indifferent towards it. I don’t think I’ve changed, and of course the film hasn’t changed – but something has. Fine wines improve with age, but do they hit a point where they don’t taste too good? Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with the wine, but our taste in wine may have changed?

I’m scared to watch This Is Spinal Tap again now!

Whatever, it’s not a life or death situation, but it is surprising how time can change your views on something you thought you knew so well.

Square patterns are SO in at the moment.

Bought a few new work shirts yesterday from M&S, the non-iron variety (my favourites!).
Took one out of the pack last night and popped it on a hanger ready for the morning, knowing full well that the sqaure creases on the front and back from being in the packet were still there.
I took a punt on the creases disappearing during my trip to work, these non-iron shirts are great for that – you put a creased one on and it sorts itself out in 10 minutes.
Alas, this doesn’t work with hardcore packaging crease lines.
So, I’m sitting in the office looking like a total spanner with these creases on my shirt.
Maybe everyone will think I got lucky last night, didn’t make it home and had to buy a shirt on the way to work this morning.
But probably not, they’ll just think I’m a spanner.