Linkblogging For 18/03/10

Shame about Alex Chilton. One of the greats gone…
Via Tez Burke, here’s a five-CD set of ‘toytown music’, that style of English baroque pop which combined piccolo trumpets and lyrics about toy soldiers and childhood. Follow the rapidshare links but also have a look at their notes. This contains all the usual suspects (The Move, [...]

Next Round Of Pop World Cup – help deciding, please…

OK, after a draw against Australia (moral victory), in which some people had the nerve to argue against Heinz’s Germanness, I’m going with the much more German-named Peter Thomas. Specifically a track from The Erotic World Of The Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra. But I’m unsure as to which one to go for, the genuinely deranged [...]

PEP is here!

This is a ‘beta’/proof version – the authors have yet to give feedback (and there’s one article where I had to cut a handful of words and the author may change that before the final print version), but it’s finally done. Click the image to read it.

FAQ: CDBaby

This is a very bad week for me as far as blogging goes – my wife’s been a little unwell, we’ve had visitors round the last three days on the run (normally never happens), I’m working longer than usual hours, I have an assignment worth 25% of my marks for this module due in for [...]

The Beatles Mono Reviews 10: Magical Mystery Tour

So we’re getting near the end of these reviews now – after this there’s only the White Album in the mono box set. Do people want to hear my thoughts on the Abbey Road/Let It Be reissues or is it more the mono mix differences you’re interested in?
Magical Mystery Tour gets surprisingly little respect as [...]

Spotify Playlist For 16/01/10 – Klaatu, Roy Wood, France Gall, Ella Fitzgerald, Mississippi John Hurt…

I’m back.
I’ve had a little while off from the internet, as a whole pile of things have been building up that needed dealing with offline, so I’ve not even checked my email for a week (I see I have emails from Sarah, Pillock, Brad, Tilt, Trevor, Alex and Richard that need dealing with…) and Twitter [...]

The Beatles Mono Reviews 7: Rubber Soul

Rubber Soul, the Beatles’ second album of 1965, is generally considered the first album of their middle, most creative period. Only the second album they made to consist entirely of originals, it saw the band’s influences opening up – to include Stax, Indian music and the Byrds – and saw the band’s lyrical style change [...]

Linkblogging For 03/12/09

Blogging will be a little light for a while as I’m writing my essay for the Mindless Ones, editing PEP! and writing about 15,000 words for that, and proofreading a book for my uncle. That said, I’m going to do a pop-drama and a Beatles review in the next couple of days…
Meanwhile, links:
The Association of [...]

The Beatles Mono Reviews 6: Help!

I’ve never been able to understand why Help! is critically regarded as one of the Beatles’ weaker efforts. Yes, it’s a slightly hazy album, due to it being the first since the Beatles discovered marijuana, and it accompanies a film that’s usually regarded as not very good (though I think it’s far better than people [...]

Spotify Playlist – Veteran’s Day Poppy

Remembrance Sunday and the eleventh of November are days that evoke conflicting emotions in me. I’m pretty much an absolute pacifist, so you’d expect me to disapprove of them, but at the same time the *reason* I’m a pacifist is because I don’t like seeing people go and get killed (or kill others), and I [...]