dream theater-live at buckodan

rush in rio

Big country-dont fear the reaper & oh well

Parked my ferrari

laurie Anderson

Video featuring peter gabriel, from1984

Adrian Belew-3 of a perfect pair

King Crimson- matte kudasi

King Crimson-Elephant talk

Yes-the Ladder

heard this onlast fm,quite like it.Not sure what year itsfrom.

Formula 1 -simulation ......

Now I dont pretend to be a computer game freak, to be honest things like unreal tournament bore me a bit. What I like about consoles is the games that act as like simulators. The formula one games that have come out over the last few years have been really good especially for the PS3. I remember back to the early 90s when the old microprose games came out, Geoff Crammond was the Designer of that game. What he brought to the games was the use of 3-d and vectors so the tracks and movement seemed more realistic.

In the mid 90s I did a few seasons on the game. Nothing special in that was the ferrari number 2, it was quite hard playing a game with no enabled cheats(ie.racing line etc). I think my championships finished like 5,6,6,8. I left it at that and brought the PS2 2001 formula one game. That has sat on the shelf for many years.

Part of my thinking with these games you can follow a career mode but the more years you go through the less relevant the game becomes. I have completed the earlier championships on the old amigas and atari's. So Im now in to the year 2002. All will become clearer, when I get to four championships then I will be up to date with the game(the 2006 season).
Its a bit like football management games where if you start in the 2010 season and then do 6 championships you wont recognise half the players. When you are playing a game relevant to the time and continuisouly it makes for good game playing.

Thats my old submission to gaming.It only holds my intrest if i have an intrest in it outside of gamning. I will post results soon and it will all make sense

Antartica

Nice photo. Must be challenging navigating the boat through that

Joe Bonamassa-Guitar legend fact

I dont pretend to know much about blues rock although my tastes creep into that field from time to time. But I have to say Joe Bonamassa really does deserve greater recognition for his musical talents. Maybe in about 10 years time the music press will give him his due (hindsight is a powerful thing), in a way Im glad he is getting recnition from Eric Clapton.

Joe Bonamassa sort of delivers blues guitar at many different ways, his early stuff was very blues based, where as i would describe his new work as drawing on early blues as well as Classic rock influences. On this web site I have included a link to a concert clip(just got paid-zz top cover version.

In visual looks he reminds me of David Gilmour but his music is like a cross between Jimmy page and Early Eric Clapton. He is a brilliant guitarist.

ps3 working when it wants to

About 6 months ago we brought a ps3, nothing unusual about that maybe but we recently tried to get mit to work with the internet. This was a long process, initially we worked out what the problem was. the Ethernet port was the problem. So then we hasd a working connection, but then we had another problem. On the Ps3 it lists something called playstation home. This is a similar thing to XBOX live. So I register on the site and entered my password. Then it comes up with another error.

i have to say this is the PS3 only downfall, it should be fully functional from the outset. The Xbox is quite good once you have an active ethernet port working, the PS£ makes you alter settings to get the connection working in the first place.

Downloading....now or never

At the moment I am going through certain sites trying to find rarities amongst the listings, sort of the last throw of the downloading dice. In a way downloading is a gamble in that you take the chance and you know the risks. Luckily I have been involved in downloading musics since about 2004 when there was not any proper regulation of it, over the years business have been built on the Mp3 revolution but some have come and gone as a result.

In the last year or so the RIAA has become more aggressive in its relentless pursuit of getting people banned, particularly in america. I am now just doing a final lot and then it will be a case of buying and streaming.

My issues with the whole thing of downloading are.
- That many albums which are on P2P and torrent sites are deleted or rare, where certain record comanies who have since folded. Who owns the copyright, the songwriter maybe ?but for instance I want to download a album by 23 skidoo(as an example), the cd came out in 1983 then was deleted about a year later. If I download it , who will prosecute.
- many computing (apple, Spotify) are basing a business on something that infringes copyright.
-

Skinny puppy-inquisition

blondie-dreaming

doors vs blondie

the doors-waiting for the sun

SPK-breathless

finding lots of old cy good video clips, this is probably better quality than when i brought it like 1990/91.Very good quality.

brian eno-music for airports

the chameleons again

the Chameleons-one flesh

One of their best songs....1985..

Sisters of Mercy-Afterhours 1984

David Sylvian-Taking the vail...12" mix

Bowie-breaking glass from 77

pixie lott-here we go again

new order-procession

The first song by New order that was uplifting, this came out in early 1981. Not an official video

new Order-movement

quite like the 'movement'album still, the sound of new order evolving. Quite stripped down, has some regaee dub influences and is quite experimental. 1981...

Muse-Mk Ultra 2009

The Who-Overture

Debt Table-premier league

Who will win the Premier League?
...debt table!

1st Manchester Utd = £716.5m
2nd Arsenal = £297.7m
3rd Liverpool = £237m
4th Fulham = £197m
5th West Ham = £110m
6th Aston Villa = £73m
7th Sunderland = £69.2m
8th Wigan = £66.4m
9th Pompey = £60m
10th Brum = £57m
11th Bolton = £53.8m
12th Spurs = £45.9m
13th Everton = £39m
14th Wolves = £20.68m
15th Blackburn = £14m
16th Hull = £9m
17th Stoke = £2.3m
18th Burnley = £0
19th Chelsea = £0 (£701m written off by Roman Abramovich)
20th Man City = £0 (£305m written off by new owners

intresting article on yahoo answers, the true league table. Some of these clubs debts are ridiculous. When does regulation begin? have to say that Portsmouth have jumped from 9th to 4th with their consistent debt of 138 million

lampard-import fromblogger

 

joe bonnamassa-just gotpaid

Steve hackett-Fly on the windshield

Fleetwood mac-Oh well

Really love the new and old fleetwood mac, their commercial success meant they were viewed a sellout band. yet they released some brilliant albums

Windows vista to look and work like a mac.

A tutorial, sounds like he is 12. But it shows you how to install

new order-Turn the heater on

New order-586

SPK-Metal dance and metal field

The Cure-100 years

the power of the cure in 1984, what a band of the time

Albums - that often get overlooked...Part 3-Depeche Mode-Some great reward

A Album i can say i brought at the time of release on trusty cassette.Looking back through their catalogue this album is one that often get overlooked but it shows that they were following their own path but also taking in influences from obscure acts.
In the early 80s Depeche Mode were very much part of the smash hits magazine pop culture. in 1983 their sound changed from highly poppy to more industrial. This album was Depeche Mode hitting their stride.

The album features tracks like 'Master and Servant', 'People are people' but also tracks like ' If You Want to'. at this time their were bands who were using industrial things like metal(einstruzende Neubaten and SPK)), Depeche Mode embraced these elements whilst still remaining commercial.

Albums - that often get overlooked...Part 2-Station to Station-David Bowie

Artist : David Bowie
title : Station To Station
year : 1976
"Station to Station"
"Golden Years"
"Word on a Wing"
"TVC 15"
"Stay"
"Wild Is the Wind"
The album before the berlin trilogy of low, heroes and the lodger'. Station to Station I would class as his most overlooked album, it doesnt feature many tracks(7 if i recall). the album starts with the title track and features 'golden Years', 'Stay'.
I think its such a natural progression from his earlier albums to the trilogy that it seems to get overlooked or scarcely mentioned, also featured 'Wild is the wind'. I think the album was originally intended to be a soundtrack album to accompany the 'man who fell to earth ' film however it was shelved. I suppose the mid 70s were a hard time for Bowie, who's Diamond Dogs album (which was based on george orwells 1984) was also shelved.

Station to Station is a brilliant album.

The Legacy of joy Division

This is a strange post to write I have to admit its hard to write about something when its so entrenched in your past, for me the music of Joy Division was there from about 1985/86, I cant actually say I as into them at the time(i was only 7 then). For me what I liked about the band initially was the production of the music and the strictness of the rythmns, I didnt get into them via a normal route. The Double album called 'Still' was my first hearing of them. This featured out-takes and a poor quality live album.
There has been 4 points which get me going back to them, the first was a Joy Division documentry which as almost film like which I watched on BBC4 about 3 years ago, in a way it unravelled most of the myths surrounding the group. The second was the film 'Control' which I watched in parts. Other points were stumbling across images of his daughter Natalie curtis and lastly picking up a book by his wife Debroah Curtis'.

The latter is a brilliant piece of work, in a way I let the book rest on a shelf for about 6 months. The thing is Joy Division were right up there with some of the classic all time rock bands, in reading it I thought i wouldnt like them in the same light. one has to say Debroah curtis is a brave woman to give such details of her life with Ian Curtis whilst keeping all that information back for so many years(the book was published in 1995).

What comes across to me in the book is that there were failings in the health service at the time in his diagnosis and his level of care, the side effects of the drugs he was taking ultimately affected his reasonable judgment. Also the lyrics of 'closer' I always classeed them as the most directed suicide note ever directed to an ex partner, at the time you thought the lyrics might have been aimed at the wife but alot of it was aimed at the mistress(horne).

The lyrics that stick in my mind about Ian Curtis are the ones where he was talking about life as a whole rather than aimed at the single person. Lyrics like 'here are the young men , weight on their shoulders'.'novelty' which was a b side to a single is quite an optimitsic song.

The legacy of Joy Division is that they influenced a music scene from small beginnings, obviously achieving long term success as New order long afterwards.

I have put a picture of Debroah and Natalie curtis at the top of the picture, it makes you realise that suicide is a futile and its the people left behind are the ones that suffer.

Albums - that often get overlooked...Part 1-Harvest'Neil Young'

On top of re-evaluations and google maps and various other stuff, I thought I would add posts about albums that often get overlooked in various bands histories. Obviously some albums are more succesful than others, but sometime for bands to reach their peak they sometimes have to record albums to get to to that point. Pink Floyd as an example without 'ummagumma' they would not have recorded the 'dark side of moon'.
Neil Youngs' Harvest' album from 1972 is my first, I remember the album cover before I heard the album. The album is a mix of electric and acoustic, the track 'alabama' was about the county and wasnt complimentry about it as a result lynrard Skynard recorded 'Sweet home alabama' as a response. This sort of deflects away from an album that is really good. 'Heart of Gold' was a brilliant song as well as'the needle and the damage done'. other tracks like 'old man' set the scene for what is a brilliant album from start to finish.

The inevitable decline of certain football teams.

I think from next month onwards all football related posts will be put on a seperate site, but these words just stick in my mind. There seems to be the acceptance within english football that football clubs run on different business model to most business. About 20 years ago before the premier league the team reflected players of that area, so for instance you would have players that grew up in a area and played for their local team. With the advent of the premier league and all that followed the money generated enabled clubs with the increase in tv revenue to buy players from abroad.

The problem is now is that the football clubs are taking financial risks on the promise of future funds. Hull city are example of this. They invested in players and the incoming chairman was warning the club that they are 35 million in debt, the chairman was obviously hoping that out of adversity and crisis the players would raise their game and realise how important staying in the top flight is. however last week they got relegated.

With portsmouth the club has been thriving on of field crises and somehow the club has managed to get itself to a cup final. I think some previous owners thought they coould find a saviour like a Roman Abrovanich , but they are very thin on the ground. With portsmouth being in debt it seemed to me that all subsequent owners inputted little money for big returns when the club went to the administrators. I see some of the owners are owed 14 million etc.

The big two Man Utd and Liverpool now have just under a billion of debt between them, one of these clubs will fall by the way side. I honestly think it will be the latter.

Ventnor- google maps

This is only about 10 miles away from here, ventnor is the southern most part of the island and has a climate that is different from the rest of the island. Houses were built mostly 100-150 years ago, so lots of winding victorian houses going down to the sea front. A lovely area to live, work s hard to find there

Google maps - Dunoon, scotland

Both these images are from Dunoon in scotland.Come across a book on the area, seems quite an unspoilt area.

Google map images.

Sort of random photos or should that be screen shots of things I come across. i think i like google maps as I have always had an intrest in geography. This shot was someone's photo of Ben nevis.There is also another picture underneath this one of Mount Everest.

Have been coming across alot of books on the subject of Everest, I sort of wonder at what makes people want to risk their lives to climb mountains and the risks they take in their desire to achieve the peaks

Icehouse-Hey little girl 1982

I like this song, its the sentiment of the lyrics. The chorus always remineded me of the best song Bryan ferry never sang, in a way it reminds me of him and sounds so alike. The singer is hopeless miming one has to say.

lady gaga- Live in australia 2009

Cant escape lady gaga at the moment, come across this after downloading it for somebody else. the songs sound a bit better in a live format, sort of reminds me of Madonna in about 1984/5 when she used to have 3/4 dancers behind her.

The Chameleons-Intrigue In Tangiers.1985

Always loved this band, never got the recognition they deservedj

Tangerine Dream-Movements of a visionary

This is from about 1975 , when their music as other-worldly.This kind of thing obviously influenced the orb

pink floyd-travel sequence

Pink floyd

This is on youtube, the whole concert.

Kraftwerk-electro cardiogram

Google Map-northern ireland

Google sky

Google are really breaking new ground with their web sites.not content with mapping the land they are now mapping the sky

igoogle

I quite like igoogle, which enables you to create your own welcome screen. only downside is most of the applications are american.

Siouxsie and the Banshees-partys Fall

1986 from the Tinderbox album, one of their best although at the time critically panned

Ministry-Just like You

from their second album called 'twitch'

Skinny puppy- Smothered hope

1984 industrial electro. Love that period from the band the 1984 - 1992 period. This is when they had Bill who went on to become Front Line

A WWE post? Run DMC-D generation

I always thought Run DMC were rap, this is almost like something else. Assiocated with the WWE raw partnership of Sean michells and Triple H.

Rush-xanadu

This is from the 1981 live concert 'exit stage left'. This is when Rush were really on fire.

The Beatles-Elanor Rigby

Have to admit, to collect the albums would bankrupt me. so done in cd-r format I cheated. this is one of their tracks.

audials - the true power of music searching

Spotify is all well and good brilliant if you have an active internet connection, but what about an application that can store these tracks as well as play them, convert.What about a package that can download videos from youtube and store them on your hard drive for when you are not online. Audials 4 is probably one of the best programs I have seen it does so much. I will do a longer article on it when I can work out everything it can do.