Three new reviews

LOS YORKS - El Viaje: 1966-1974

JULY- July




ERIC BURDON & THE ANIMALS
- Winds Of Change

Morrissey turns 49

"We don’t have to be violent or ugly or arrogant, just be charming and what a pleasant world that would be!"

Morrissey, 1984

Pink Floyd gets the Polar Music Prize

During the years there have been a lot of discussions about who the”fifth” Beatle is. Latest in the June issue of Uncut they list 10 possible takers of the name! It’s easier in ABBA case with their manager Stig “Stickan” Anderson who wrote or co-wrote the lyrics to most of their early hits and published them. If there ever was a “fifth” ABBA it was “Stickan”.

In 1989 he founded the Polar Music Prize (named after his label Polar Music) “an international music prize and awarded to individuals, groups or institutions in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music”.

It has just been announced that Pink Floyd together with opera singer Renée Fleming gets the prize 2008. As Renée been involved in the music to the “Lord Of Rings Movies” I guess I have heard her, but having done a duet with Michael Bolton sounds alarming.

That Pink Floyd the prize this year I prefer to think is a late tribute to Syd Barrett. The choices of the rock winners is always predictable and “safe” as earlier winners shows; Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Sir Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin etc. Yes, all are worthy winners (though their peak goes back to the 60s and 70s) but it would have been more interesting if the prize would have gone to someone lesser known - and before all who needs the money (SEK 1 million) more.

Therefore I hope the prize 2009 goes to Andy Partridge! The XTC front man who for 30 years been writing great songs, but never gotten the public recognition he deserves and also never gotten the money he should have had from their record label Virgin.

The Byrds – Mr. Spaceman

I’m going back to Noel Harrison who in the 70s hosted his own show Take Time where he was joined by various songwriters. More interesting for me is the one hour TV show: Noel Harrison Is Where The Girls Are! he hosted in April 1968.

Among the guests were Cher (Sunny), Association (Windy & Everything That Touches You) and a rare performance from The Byrds of Mr. Spaceman. Here they were re-joined by a sensitive looking Gene Clark and a bass player I don’t know who it is.

Does anybody know who plays bass here?

Noel Harrison – Noel Harrison

A review of Noel Harrison (the son of actor Sir Rex Harrison) self titled album from 1966 is now added.

Apart from also being an actor Noel had a music career in the 60s and early 70s. Best know for performing Windmills Of Your Mind from the 1968 movie The Thomas Crown Affair which won an Oscar for best original song.

He recorded songs written by him, but mostly covers by writers such as Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Donovan etc. The music he released was a kind of folky soft pop with heavy orchestrations. On this album he covers four songs by Bob Dylan.

The Parade - Sunshine Girl

I have added a review of the first release from the new label Now Sounds (distributed by Cherry Red). A compilation with The Parade featuring their singles, some demos and alternated mixes, as well as a rare Roger Nichols Trio song Montage Mirror.

The band had a top 20 hit with Sunshine Girl in 1967 a classic in the sunshine pop genre. Though the following singles failed to chart fans of this genre should find lots to cherish on this first-ever complete collection of the bands A&M records.

The label name could seem to be a bit misleading as they mission to “celebrate the golden era of popular music (1964-1972)”. But they also say they are not limited to this era, and as the founder of this label is Steve Stanley who is also the leader of L.A. band The Now People that might be clue to chose this name.

Steve has compiled many great re-releases for the Rev-Ola label so I think we can expect lots of interesting titles from this label in the future. Either they will be now sounds or old sounds.

I blog, therefore I am?

Recent years I’ve been introduced to many new things here on the net. Being a music fan I pretty early checked out myspace though it took me some years to actually put up my own site which soon developed into two when I figured out how to include music there.

Facebook came after that, but I still can’t really see the meaning of it except that it was a good way to re-connect and find old friends there. But if I wanted to take any of the tests I kept getting, why should I send the same test to at least twenty friends to see my result?

So now I thought it could be interesting to test a blog. Yes, I know it is old news now, but then it is time for me. Not sure what to make of it but I will test and use it as a news section for my Torpedo website. And also add some posts about recent things I heard, read, seen etc.

I also think it can be a useful means of storing information, like a personal library where I can file away interesting snippets that I might like to return to another day. And keep all my links and sites collected at one place.

As you (and I) probably will see is that I’ll mostly be very positive about things I write, but of course it will be about things I like- so there it goes. When you find and read this page I hope you will get some tips and information you’ll find interesting.

All tips for improvement are welcome as I am new to this “blog world”. You are welcome to mail me with suggestions for postings and links. But please be kind as this is my first time …