TrevorR

At the risk oh having to dig out my LP collection and hurl Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms at this thread… I thought I’d post an updat as the number of live albums I “appear on” [very large inverted commas there] just ticked up by one. Just got a copy of “This New Noise” by Public Service Broadasting. It’s a recording of the Proms concert they did last year with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. This was a one-off performance so we were chuffed to get tickets. Didn’t spot ourselves in the BBC TV broadcast but it was a fabulous concert. We had earlier in the summer gone to the Earth Prom and we appeared in the interval interviews section so we’d already had our 15 minutes of fame! Anyway, the album is as good as remember it and well worth a look if you like their indie, documentary, archive clips style!

…and I heartily “third” it!

Frank, what you choose to do in the privacy of your own home is up to you, but please don’t bring it to the Bash… again! 🍹🛼

…and the “see if anyone wants to buy this thing I don’t need any more” table…

Someone asked me about whether coming to the Bass Bash means they’ll get stung by the ULEZ charge. I live locally to the High School and reassured them that we are well outside the current ULEZ zone and the proposed expansion. So no worries there!

Do, it’s going to be a great fun day!

Having been ill for last year’s I can’t wait! @cetera - Charvel 3B, ESP Surveyor '87, Fender FSR PJ Precision, Hamer Impact, Italia Imola, Spector NS2, Spector Euro, Spector EuroX (Spectorbird), Spector Pulse II, Gallien Krueger 400RB & Legacy800, GenzBenz Neox 2x12 @TheGreek - All short scale this year - a @Jabba_the_gut short scale 5er, Mini Ray, Short scale P bass @Harlequin74 - Zoot Performer, Status Shark, Spector QV4 , Markbass TTE501 and Matching CAB. Maybe the Lehle Basswitch… @Frank Blank - @Jabba_the_gut short scale fretted and fretless, JMJ Mustang, QSC K12.2, Grace Design Alix @TrevorR - Mk 1 Wal, Wal Pro IIE, Aria SB700, Frankenjazz, pedals and MarkBass LMII & Traveler 2x10

Thursday night went to a drum seminar which, to be honest, was much more a brilliant jazz gig, The line up we’re all Ronnie Scott’s house band stalwarts - Mark Fletcher, Carl Orr and the legendary Lol Cottle on bass. They were joined by Tomasz Buras on keys (he was none too shabby either). Some amazing music from some masters of their craft - and watching Lol playing close up was an absolute treat!

I only use glasses for reading and seeing with. So that would be a “Yes!” from me. Rimless varifocals are an absolute godsend. Next ones will be Reactolight coated too.

Zombie thread resurrection but The School Of Drumming is doing another evening on Thursday July 6th at the same venue in Woking. As noted above, I went to the clinic they did together last November - 🤯 Not to be missed if you are within striking distance of Woking. Main attraction for me was Lol Cottle, of course but both Carl and Mark are also monster players too. As a combination, stunning! info and tickets here: https://www.theschoolofdrumming.com/shop/p/markfletcherdrumclinic-tkhyw More details…

Fascinating! That’s an obscure bass. Yes, it’s a Revellation made by the independent builder from South Wales,Tony Revell. He was better known for building acoustic guitars and mandolins but in 1992 I commissioned him to make me a lovely acoustic bass. A few years later he developed a range of boutique electric basses - of which this is a rare example. Never knew that Mick Karn had one. Not many people did. He was a darned good luthier, though. Given that the date is post 1992 it’s unlikely that it was used on the RTC album. So there are a couple of possibilities given that they don’t give any details on the bass itself in the ad… a) it’s a 1990/91 custom order but more likely since it’s clearly one of the Revellation basses, then b) his wife can’t recall what it is and when it was bought - and memory simply got that particular detail wrong. Still a cool bass for a collector of basses and/or Karn, though!

Our 12 year old (who is autistic) has “Loop” ear plugs. They’re very comfy and have the benefit of looking super cool yet discreet. https://www.loopearplugs.com/products/experience/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=trgt_uk_search_generic_earplugs&gclid=Cj0KCQjwj_ajBhCqARIsAA37s0xav7wx864vIAumS-4PFEvSQPALRHzfjO-dkSJcPw8zrfR4CK0u2XcaAmGXEALw_wcB https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=loop+earplugs&rh=n%3A65801031%2Cp_89%3ALoop&dc&ds=v1%3AwiHXb5tO%2B20Ta6NaRGBd1hopOrtn36LEeMUorXNTulU&adgrpid=56096157311&hvadid=259016786811&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1007104&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=1465425629072203292&hvtargid=kwd-399669513770&hydadcr=25944_1813043&qid=1686007273&rnid=1632651031&tag=googhydr-21&ref=sr_nr_p_89_1

Not my personal fave MGM musical (Kiss Me Kate and Guys and Dolls) but absolutely one of the classics. Mum and dad had the soundtrack LP too! (…and South Pacific, Gigi, Sound of Mudic, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and and and…)

Looks like we’re getting to know you, getting to know all about you now!!!

Still finding it hard to come to terms with Johnny Fean’s passing so Horslips has been heavy on my playlists the last few days. Currently listening to The Book Of Invasions.

Whoops rubbihs tpyign! Sorry!

Oh my goodness! Of all the different keyboard sounds available to Geoff in all those boxes why on Earth would you choose THAT soft and mushy sound for an iconic MiniMoog keyboard lead line? “It tended to underplay the hugeness of the Moog synth monolith!”

And to think that they chucked out Oliver Wakeman out of the band to get Downes back… now there’s a properly good keys player. Has anyone heard the “From a Page” album they (well, “he with their blessing”) released a few years ago? He took the nearly complete 24 tracks that they abandoned when he was sacked and finished them off. There are a couple of really good whole band tracks on there plus a couple he admits were being worked on with band members at the time but are more like band-enhanced solo tracks. “To the moment” and “The Gift of Live” really stand up. And Wakeman can really play (a lot like his dad in style, really). If you’ve not heard it, the album’s worth checking out. Includes the Live At Lyon album too, which has Wakeman Jr on keys.

Are you including Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox in that classification? Coz I think that most of their stuff is pretty good. Some of it is brilliant (their versions of The Final Counrdown, Mr Blue Sky and Wannabe, particularly)

…post Squire (RIP), post Anderson but with Steve Howe and Geoff Downes still in the band with a selection of fill ins. It’s to promote their new album which is due out in mid-May. I have to admit that I was curious how it would turn out as a huge Yes fan. I have to say that even with my low expectations coming into it the song failed to live to even those. Sure Steve Howe’s guitar sounds as Howeish as ever and is about the only redeeming factor. The song seems really bland even by latter day Yes standards with little to make it stand out while it noodles along. Jon Davidson puts in a decent enough Anderson-alike performance but that is what he was to do a decade or so ago. However, the lyrics, such as they are seen to be simply a bunch of barely connected inspirational sounding non-sequitur. Basically nonesense… And that coming from someone who has spent 40 odd years listening to Jon Anderson’s convoluted, karmic bleating. However, as a long term Yes fan and as a bass player the biggest disappointment was the bass playing by Billy Sherwood. It’s not intricate and melodic while still driving the song along like Squire always was. No, it’s just busy and noodly. And delivered with a pretty uninspiring rock tone - OK it’s probably his Spector and they do have a distinctive Spector sound… but there’s nothing here which you’d grab onto in terms of tone. It was OK… and the bass in prog rock, and particularly following Chris Squire’s footsteps should never be just OK. I had always suspected that my interest in Yes, either live or in terms of new music died alongside Chris. Listening to this track does nothing to dispel that thought. Anyway, I wonder what you guys think - Yes fans and non-Yes fans alike,

This is artistic genius compared to her and Angelique Kidjo’s demolition of Gimme Shelter! And this album won a Grammy!!!!!

…not forgetting that Eric Carmen’s All By Myself was a cover of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, M’lud.

That was pretty “Meh”. Two downbeat Lizzy covers I do like are Sade’s version of Still In Love With You and Emm Gryner’s Running Back from her “Songs of love and death” - an album of Irish rock song covers. Also in the “Meh pile” - The Corrs version of Old Town. in the flippin excruciating pile is Metallica’s Whiskyin the Jar.

This is the important stuff. Praying for you, your dad and the family.