Severed Heads

orbital-ska for life

Found this track on orbital's back to mine compilation, like this electro ska song.

orbital-semi detahced. 1994

Tangerine dream-One night in space.

from the booster album

delerium -spheres II.

Musical Archives and future archives.

Over the past say 5-6 years my musical intrests have been all over the place. Starting with dowloading in 2003 after a break of a few years collecting music, I then moved into collecting before running many ebay shops online between 2006-2009. After this time I started to collect for myself and with the limitations of ebay and paypal combined I moved away completely from a seller to a buyer. Since 2008 and the introduction to facebook I created many groups (about 12), but even that is starting to run its course.

I am looking into other web sites for the new years and will be creating groups or fan pages if you like on google +. There are some brilliant links on this social network. as much as I like the transfer of information on facebook I am starting to become a bit annoyed by the changes to the group format. Initially facebook was for friends but the majority of my friends are my work collegues, and also family friends(some uinder age of 16). Which means that I have to be slightly more selective in my posts and content. The groups on facebook will still run, but some I will relinquish to other people to run. I will be the creator but it will be for someone else to do the posting.

As for archiving. A few years ago it was just a massive pile of cds both originals and Mp3. I have started to archive discs which is taking alot of time and I would say I am about 55% of the way through the collection. The plan with the collection is to have directories printed out that will enable me to locate albums by certain artists.

Even downloading is a bit more riskier, (I had a ban letter from my cable provider), however I feel that I have moved away from films. But i dare say that it will become a bit harder to download albums in the next few years as the ISP providers are given more deadlines and rules to adhere to. I am also finding their is alot of material on streams and the are programs that allow you to record from them.

as for buying of original cds. I think as mentioned before that all though ebay is popular it has lost a bit of its edge as it seems to limit people who want to sell cds just as a hobby. It pushes people to become business and views every transaction like a possible reason to limit money being transfered. Like a bank account that you cant access. The other sites like Amazon and play.com I will be using alot more as the cost of cds are alot cheaper than say ebay. So for like 1.28 you can buy a standard cd where as ebay is 2.00 on average.

Tangerine dream -1970- 1988

The Christopher Franke era , so much material to listen to. I love their work up until the late 80s . The equipment they used in the early 70s created such vast soundscapes and sounds more futuristic than their later 80s output. My plan with tangerine dream is to relisten to their work starting with the 1970 albums in chronological order.

The thing is with other electronic bands like say Kraftwerk their releases are sparse , ie they release an album every decade. Where as Tangerine dream are very prolific.

Kraftwerk Site

the klraftwerk site features some excellent videos, there is a live concert from brazil which is very good quality and some of the footage is rare. Which there was some way of recording them to my computer but only avialble on stream at the moment.
never mind, not giving up yet.

The Doors-waiting for the sun

Brian Eno-Kings lead hat(1977)

not the original video

Spotify and last Fm

absolutely brilliant with Spotify linking with last FM, the apps with spotify are really good. Will be watching developments with the apps most definately. basicallyu spotify has aloowed it self to have apps assiocated with it.

Delerium-Silence.airscape remix

March Violets....1984

havnt heard this for about 25 years. march Violets...A goth band that signed to a major label and dissapapered.

a grumh-generation

VNV nation remind me of this band. They did release some really good electro music tracks between 86-92..

Siouxsie and the banshees-into the Light. session version

I really like the 1981 era of the banshees, juju was such a brilliant album very psychdelic and very gothic sounding, the guitar work fro Mcgeogh sent the banshees into another direction.

Siouxsie and the banshees -The Scream...A Review

I really wish i could say that i was there listening to these tracks when they were coming out but that would be a lie, i discovered the power of the banshees much later than this album. This album followed about 2 years of gigs and building up a live repuation and of course recording peel sessions for the banshees to finally get a recording contract with polydor. Where as most clips of the banshees from the 77 era are quite chaotic and poor quality. Part of the problem lay in that they wanted a recording contract to give them fully artistic control and that probably meant that their records came out quite late after the initial punk movement. The album was released on the 13th November 1978 after Hong Kong garden had been a hit.

The album is such a classic post punk album, I think you could say carcass is quite punky but their is definately a dark theme to the album tracks like Jigsaw feeling. I read an article about Siouxsie critising the bromley area where she grew up. So tracks like surburban relapse had added meaning.

The guitar work of Mckay is simple yet effective. The gih points for me on this album are the tracks 'Jigsaw feeling' and 'Switch'. Morris's drum patterns are slighly delayed. Which gives the album a real stark sound.

Track 1-Pure


this is a live version of Pure the intro track

Track 2-jigsaw feeling


Powerful version of the old grey whistle test

Track 3-Overground


John peel session version.

Track 4-carcass


quite Punky track, not as dark as other tracks

Track 5-helter Skelter


track 6-Mirage



Beatles cover . Session version

Track 7 -Metal postcard


another track from their 1978 appearance on Old grey whistle test

Track 8-Nicotine stain


album version
Track 9 -Surburban relapse


surburban living -nightmare!

track 10 -Switch


probably one of my favrioute tracks of theirs . all versions are good . I was going to include the nocturne version but that wouldnt be true to the album review.

so there is the track by track review of the scream

SPK-Sandstorm method..

jukebox

Goldfrapp-Slide it in

Goldfrapp-koko

Musical archiving part 2...

Musical strategy- Everythin I plan cant help it, over the last few months Ive been buying collections of artists cds, quite easy to pick up collections buying the cheapest of ebay and amazon etc. For the next few weeks that is on hold. Now with a working base unit with massive storage capacity Im working out what is the best thing to do.

Musical Spotify used to make things so simple as it had entire libaries of music that was easily accesible, I think where Spotify was succesful is that it linked you to music that was beased on what you listened to and suggested new bands. However of late Spotify had goen the way of many other sites in that its now almost becoming pay as you play. The unique feature that spotify has is that it works as a player for your local files, so basically everything that is on your hard drive is automatically scanned into spotify. So at the moment Im getting my collection onto the computer, and using spotify as the libary controller if you like.

In the past soulseek was my number one musical serach tool, but I have been having numerous difficulties with connection and I notice there has been an increase in more restricted folders of music, in that people will browse your files on your computer whilist not giving access to what they have.

Anyway getting away from the point. I do feel that the musical landscape is a changin and that its not more riskier than ever to involve myself with muicla downloading(not that I did much anyway), so this web site is going to come more to the fore. providing links to stuff that is upoloaded on other sites.
I will be trawling through many discs trying to find rarities and stuff like that and providing information on links. I have ammased very big collections of certain bands and it would be nice to have them all in one place, so for instance Kraftwerk, probably have about 100-150 various albums amongst the collection.

So no more buying for now, computer local drive(through spotify) whilst trawling through discs...what have I let myself in for.

Colplday-White Shadows (glastonbury 2005)

Mcleish....will the city of Birmingham please makes it mind up

I have to say im very much for Alex Mcliesh as a manager, As a stalwart of the famous aberdeen side in the 80s, he was known as a no nonsense player who defended resolutely. In many respects he has been a success at many of the clubs he has managed. For instance when he took over at Rangers they had limited resources, it was a hard act to follow walter smiths 9 titles at that point. He managed to bring silver whilst managing the purse strings. He then took over at Birmingham and stuck with them whilst they were relegated to the championship, he then took them back to the premier at first time of asking. He then mantained Birmingham in the top flight through changes of ownership. In the last season he guided them to carling cup truimph and through lack of squad depth and limited funds , tried his best to keep them in the league, but to no avail. The problem was as soon as Birmingham were relegated they issued a statement in that they would back mcliesh but only if he took them back at the first time of asking.

Couple that with the fact that there would be a major offloading of player to reduce the wage bill and the effect of not being in the top division meant he was fighting a losing battle. There was alot of calling for his head by Birmingham fans when they were relageted. Aston Villa saw they opportunity and should be commended for that, not an easy decision to make when he managed the other half of the town.

My problem looking at the situation is that Villa fans should be applauding a manager who has brought silverware to a club(even if it was birmingham), also the club needs stability after a season so many managers and caretakers. For Birmingham they really should just move on, I bet in some respects who ever takes the birmingham job on is on a hiding to nothing as the board expects a instant return on limited resources. It will be intresting to see where these teams are in 12 months time. Both will be mid table I presume.

Porcupine Tree-Lazarus

Porcupine Tree-Open Car

From the arriving somewhere DVD

Nitzer Ebb-Let your body learn.

No body did dance music as good as nitzer ebb at the turn of the last decade. so ahead of its time.

Die Krupps-germaniac.

there is a point in this song where the metallic percussion hits perfection with the beat

The orb-Pepetual dawn

The Orb - Perpetual Dawn by 103clips

Mandriva Linux

Currently using mandriva linux and I have to say its one of the most easy install Ive had to do, I like the way it keeps the original windows installation and gives me a menu to choose between linux and windows. I find linux is brilliant to run the internet, where as the windows is what most applications are programmed in. Has some nice features like last fm add ons and lets music be ripped quite easily,

RIP. Martin Rushent

Sad news about one of the best producers of the 80s, actually that is to do him a diservice as he was producing acts before that time and long after. As alot of people I remember him on the artwork of the sleeve 'Love and Dancing'. Such a brilliant album of the time, where as Dare was the complete piece I liked the remix album that followed as it built on the songs and extended and expanded them. To be honest I hadnt followed his carrer of late, but I think the Human League were took to another level by his production and never quite recaptured.

Listen here

Radio

Rush-Overture

New Order-1981 senses

New Order-Ceremony

Musical collection and archiving

A few weks back I was trying to think like what is my role within my music collecting, I have followed music in depth since about 1984 in a almost obsessional way . I had a break for about 6 years in the 90s when other things were on my horizon. Since about 1998 I have followed music in a slightly different way than I did before. In the 80s the indie scene was almost like a cottage industry, so many genres of music it seemed that there were so many labels and so many artists, vinyl used to be king then of course. In the mid 90s there was a definate shift away from vinyl towards cds, in early 2000 the napster p2p program really opened up the world to so much more music. For instance I followed industrial music for a number of years, alot of artist I collected but some it was hard to get certain records as most were only available on import, as a result as my musical tastes moved on they fell by the way side. However with the mp3 thing I am finding artists that I previously like and rediscovering them more.

I suppose I am a musical archivist in that I used to collect vinyl, but after my break I collected cd in both original form and in digital format. My next chalenging is to think about the storage and ease of access to my vast collections

Twitter the hours away

All this thing about Twitter and privacy doing my head in. It does not take a genius to work out what football players in the top league use twitter and then sort of a process of elimination. It must be someone with alot of money to burn to run the risk of action from twitter if the case fails. I have a twitter account, but I dont get this follower thing where people thing they have legion of followers, I think twitter works on the assumption that everyone has a higher sense of their own importance,where as facebook is like a structered almost diary like site

Lotus eaters-retro 1983 and all that

Nice track...

Swayzak-In a car crash

Dont know much about them , like some of their tracks.

Jean Michael Jarre-Magnetic fields 1

One of those albums of his that seems to get forgotten about, doesnt seem to be played much either at concerts of late, in favour of oxygene and equinox tracks etc.

Jean Michael Jarre-Chronolgie 1

The brilliant opening track from Chronolgie

DAF-Der sherrif

A newish song

Clever

A clever way of making a picture of cds almost interactive

DAF

.part 2

DAF

I think this video is from 1981/2, I remember DAF at the time as being very critically aclaime by the press even though their music wasnt that commercial. This I think in German translates as Love at First sight, hence why Robert Gorl is dancing like a madman while the other member i sjust looking on in a wierd way. DAF heavily influenced Nitzer ebb throught their sparse sounding music

Simple Minds-Sons and fasicnation

I like this era of simple minds, the really driven bass sounds . this was the sound of them crossing from alternative to mainstream

Waterboys-the big music

'I have heard the big music and I will never be the same'

Play.com.....Not the first time

After a break of about a year I have tried to get my online business's back up and running. A few years ago i had ebay, amazon and play.com all at the same time. How i managed it I never know. I decided last week to start a new play.com account, I listed my 100 adverts and thought I would wait until I get to twenty quis and then apply to become a pro trader(which means you can list unlimited ammounts). The plan is to pick up cheap bits and build it up and up. After a week it was going so well, 13 orders and a comined value of 55.00. I sat down this morning getting ready to send out the parcels, I log in and it has changed my email password combination, so I phone them up like you do. Oh yes, sorry Simon but because you have an old account, we have temp suspended your new account.Aparently I have to wait 24 hours to see if it will give me full access.

This is the case in point where I feel i must touch on, when people buy from sites like play.com they are taking risks in that you can pay for god within their syste but the have the power to stop a sellers account without any proper justification, like a buyer who is puttin his money in, the system can halt it. So the money remains in a limb state where you cant send the goods because you havnt recieved payment. I would ideally love to send the 13 or so parcels out, but what if the account is cancelled. They would of paid for goods, I will then have a legal duty to send them while someone else is sitting on the money.

ebay is similar to this and if anything has more rules to abide by. At one time I had an ebay account that was closed at the point where I had about 40 orders to complete, that was a nightmare. I imagine that the system can give people nightmares, Ive just learn to ride the waves and always be ready to justify or verify another change

Kraftwerk-the Telephone call

goals...

EA Sports: England 1 - 0 Chelsea

Killing Joke-Turn to red

An early 1908s version of turn to red and tension...Must be about 1981/82

Football debt Article.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/football/08/28/football.platini.uefa.debt/index.html

Facebook...Brings together breaks apart

Facebook has been brilliant for me in a way that it has redirect me to things I wouldnt have seen and to people I had lost contact with. However as much as Ive seen it bring people together it has also driven people apart. Not anyone on my list at all you understand I just see it on other people's where people that are usually quiet, create this persona where their facebook page almost becomes like a confessional.

Their was an article in one of the papers I think it was the Guardian , when facebook was taking off he had to do a report on it. He joined the site and listed his school which put him in touch with people he had since lost contact with. Within three days someone who he used to know had posted a status saying something rude, then for two days afterwards the reporters wife would not speak to him. Even though he hadnt actually contacted the person first(only replied to a friend request). So in some ways facebook can alter things slightly and create a wrong impression.

How do i use it, I post retro videos and look for new links. Thats it nothing more....

Killing Joke.....1983 the tube

Love this clip. Brilliant version of eighties....

Financial Dis-adminstration.

Does anyone of the age 30+ remember workington, they were a lower league team that went out of business in about 1977. To me they were one of the first teams I can remember going out of business. It seems that even after teams like portmsouth , clubs and chairman can still put sucess above financial stability. If I followed a lower league team, (well in a way I do Southampton). I would rather my team exist and win a few games. rather than chase glory and put themselves out of business. I look at teams like Bradorf , who are at the bottom of league 2 at the moment, about 5-6 years ago they were in the top flight. To me it seems the teams with a bit of financial stability seems to be the ones who are gaining success.

It also worth noting that developments within the euopean game mean that teams with high levels of debts wont be able to compete in the champions league. most teams seem to think they can get around it. With irony fgor many of the big teams there desire for champions league spots, will no longer have to be driven by the debts they incur to get there. so it will probably be intresting to see in a few years teams that have not made themselves bankrupt might be challenging for european honours. I think some clubs have such a short term plan, where as clubs with a longer term plan will probably reap the rewards in years to come.

Re-Evaluation No 18. - Killing Joke

Sort of having a mjor update and posting of stuff of theirs at the moment. Killing Joke are one of those bands that Ive sort of followed on and off for many years. Theiur excellent Nightime album was my starting point. But then you come across the power of their earlier records like 'Revelations ' and 'Whats this for' you come to appreciate theiralmost dance like punk music, punk in the terms of revoltionary.

The things I i Like about Killing Joke is their unusual sounds of effects, specifically through the guitar work of Geordie, which set them apart from mo9st other bands of the time. the guitar work is soraing as the guitar is obviously put through effects. The bass work of Youth initially was very dance like, almost like dub but alot faster. Ravens bass technique was more throbbing and rythmicical.

Killing Joke - Rare songs

Industrial Videos - Various......

Sort of got me thinking about industrial music, followed this genre for many number of years. Got me thinking back to tracks that still sound good now. Most are Industrial Dance.



A Grumh if I remember correctly were from Belguim. Sort of were like a danceable coil, some of their lyrics were very off the walll and some of the record covers left alot to be desired. But boy they did release some classic elctro industrial dance . Like this.


SPK-Metal Dance - this was on a album called 'Auto De fe'. Amazing how brilliant this sounds as most of their early recordings were mono. Real Hypnotic synth on this one. There are live versions of this on a cassette(possible to download) on Angst pop. Which is more percussive and sounds even better.


Probably more famous in the Uk after their collabaration with Nitzer Ebb. This is from their album 'to Much History'. I like the bit towards the end wherer the mattlic percussion drives against a punishing drumsound.



A Offshot band from the ashes of Throbbing Gristle. This is a really good song with such a wierd drum tempo.



Nitzer Ebb-Join In The Chant....This was heavily influenced by DAf. but to Nitzer Ebbs credit they took it one stage further.



Skinny Puppy-Inqusition - the best remix of this song, this was from 1992. Such a brilliant single..

Front 242-Headhunter

Front 242 - Headhunter by Pegorink2


Front 242-Headhunter

Kraftwerk_tribal Gathering....1997

Kraftwerk - Live PA, Tribal Gathering, Luton, UK, Essential Mix, BBC Radio 1 1997-05-24 by +dB

Kraftwerk-Musique Non Stop(Minumum Maximum)

Killing Joke- European super state

Killing Joke - European Super State by UMGD

Killing Joke- European super state

Killing Joke - European Super State by UMGD

Killing Joke-their Legacy

Killing Joke -

Pure unadultered hard driving punk rock, post punk, dub, true heavy metal. So many varied descriptions can be used when describing Killing Jokes music. To be honest they are everything mentioned above and a whole lot more. With Killing Joke at the age of 12(about 1984) I was aware of them then but hadnt really listened to them , just sort of seen the artwork to the album covers but very little else. In an ideal world I would sday yes I first heard them when they on John peel in the 70s but I would be lying , I dicovered them more in 1985. I was blown away at the time by the Nightime album, just its pure power. As an album it was wonderfully produced very crisp sounding with guitars full up front in the mix. What suprised me was that 'Love Like Blood' was an excellent song, but there were so many other songs on that album that were brilliant.

As you are prone to do when your younger you get sidetracked by other bands and musics, Killing Joke I remember appearing ona radio show in 1986 to promote the album 'Brighter than a 1000 suns', rather than promote it Jaz Coleman was sort of like talking in statements, I remember his interviewer Terry Christian sort of laughing in the course of the interview. I always remember two things about it, Jaz Coleman was going on about buying property being the next thing, he was proved right. Sort of predicting things but not coming across as mad but putting forward informative discussions around the subject.

The History of KillIng Joke well there are lots of gaps. Killing Joke were formed in 1978 by Jaz Coleman and Paul ferguson, Youth and Geordie. Killing Joke released 'Turn to red' and numerous other singles at this time. Killing joke the album that came out in 1980 was really doomy sounding, not in a Joy Division way. Just such aggressive songs, the album was of that time in that in a post punk era, the artwork and the sound all came together at once to provide a real atrentaive to the post punk followers. Sort of pushing the boudnries that Public Image Limited had started two years earlier.



For me my favourite album is their 1981 album 'Whats this for'. Such a brilliant record, bass lines to the fore in this album. Youth's influence and some cutting guitar lines from Geordie. The album had a real energy. At this time Killing joke were building up a real following and this was built upon for the album 'revelations'. The album was a success and the band looked poised to move on still further, but at the very hieght of their immentent fame the band split into two with Jaz Coleman and Geordie left and stayed in Iceland. The outcome a year later was Youth had left and They recruited Raven on bass. They released a album called Firedances, which was a good album the songs were not as strong as previous albums but still a good progression on from what they had released before. I think their singles at this time were getting better, 'Blue feather ' and 'Lets all go firedances' and 'A new day' were brilliant songs, Eighties was such a powerful song, shame it instantly became dated once the new decade started.



'Brighter than a 1000 suns that came out in 1986 was in the press described as progressive, at that time the term was unflattering but listening to it now it still sounds good, if you can listen to the Chris Kimsey mix of the album which is available on spotify.
I have included some extra tracks on this page to show the diffrence in mixes, more driving and guitars were more soaring.

From about 1987 onwards Killing joke were somewhat quiet and released the rather poorly recived 'Outside the gate'. You can look back with hindsight and realise that Killing Joke were under record company pressure to release better produced records, for example Chris kimseys production on Brighter. Also worth noting is that lyrics and songs were put together seperately, so the Outside the gate project was very disjointed.



At this time in about 1989/90 Paul ferguson left the band and the return to their roots and on a indie label and released ' Extremeites and dirt and various repressed' which was a very good al.bum and featured highlights such as 'Money is not our god'. In 1994 they released Pandemoinum which was another return to form and this was followed by 'Democracy'. In the 90s Killing Joke were influencing everyone from Nirvana to Nine Inch Nails, as their seem nto be an increase in industrial dance acts like Ministry. There were increased collabarations between Killing Joke and other artists at this time. In the last 10 years killing Joke have released about 4 albums and various compilations and live concerts.

The thing with Killing Joke is which is good for a band is that they released their best recorded moments at the time, but obviously alot of recordings were made and various alternative mixes have surficed, so for those of us who grew up with Killing Joke its like discovering new sounds on an old song. Although they actively dont encoruage bootlegging they have released some bootleg archives which are fascinating time pieces which show Killing Joke in transititon.
To the unconverted Jaz Colemans stage presence can be a bit disturbing as is the case on 1981 clips shown on italian Tv, where Jaz Coleman just stands their emotionless. But Killing Joke provide such brilliant music and Colemans performances are always memorable.



It is worth noting the sad loss of Paul Raven bass player of Killing Joke who sadly passed away in his sleep about 3+ years ago, to be honest I thought that was the end of the band at this time but Youth who was the original bass player has stepped in and the band has become more prolific , which is brilliant.

Tori Amos_Pretty good year

Tori Amos-Winter

Kraftwerk-Aerodnamic

Eagles-Witchy Woman

Gimlour and the orb

Such heavy rotation on my computer and hifi at the moment, love the dance feel combined with Gilmours guitar work. Youth is playing a big part in the production. Absolutely brilliant record.

Killing Joke-European Super state.

from their last album

Cabaret Voltaire-the Legacy

With all the recent thing in the press about 80s music and the resurgence of bands from that era, there is always one band that gets overlooked in my opinion and that is Cabaret Voltaire. To Be honest my knowledge of the cabs only starts on from about 1984 with the Microphonies album, however they had a recording career that went as far back as 78 and they existed in various forms from 1973 onwards.
Cabaret Voltaire were Stephen Mallinder(bass and vocals) and Richgard H Kirk(synths)and Chris Watson. Chris Watson left in 1981 and went onto form the Halfer Trio. For me Cabaret Voltaire were a revelation in the 80s and 90s. In the 80s there was a massive thing in the press that with the punk revolution and particularly in the mainstream music press there was very little being mentioned about music from before the late 70s, the only band at that time that I remember being reviewed favourably was the velvet underground. Bands like Pink Floyd and even Roxy Music were sort of seen as dinosaurs in music terms even though there music had been truly groundbreaking only 10 years earlier.

Cabaret Voltaire's early records had a feature of distorted vocalks often treated through things like a vecoder which almost synthisised the voice. The very early records were almost like stripped down funk. At the time the indie scene was like cottage industry with labels popping up everywhere and music being accepted on to various labels like Rough Trade and 4AD. Cabaret Voltaire toured with Joy division and were briefly assoicated with factory records, With the loss of Chris Watson they still recorded in a similar style but it was with the 1983 release the crackdown that they embraced the new technology and samplers that were availble at that time. What makes Cabaret Voltaire's music so brilliant of that time was they were using their cut up techniques and old sounds and merging them with hard hitting synth and drumbeats.



They released some other brilliant records like 'the covenenat ' album in 1985, in 85 and 86 the released 12" eps like The Draintrain and Drinking Gasoline. One thing of note worth adding is that where as the mid 80s album 'Mircophonies ' had a bit of record company muscle behind it at that time, Virgin If I recall. However by 1986 they released records indiependantly. Drinking Gasoline which came out in 1985 was a brilliant record and I have to admit the first record I brought by them, what was appealing at the time was that it was a 12" record(double) which was quite rare, it was also cheap to buy.

By 1987 They had managed to get signed to EMI and released a good album in Code, but after another album after that they were back to releasing albums on indie labels again. The sound of the last few albums incorparates the sounds of the dance music at times, but the drum sound had gone slightly lighter as opposed to the harsh drum sounds of the 1984-1987 era.



Cabaret Voltaire Split in 1994 . Which was probably the right thing to do, all though they had influenced many artists theyt had gone from experimental to dance to techno , from self financing record labels to indie labels to two major labels.

I see on a art site Stephen Mallinder is contruting articles and remixes of Cabaret Voltaire tracks from 2009 and Richard H Kirk is still releasing solo albums under various alias's.

Although I still like the occasional techno track, remembering Cabaret Voltaire and what they released of the time renders everything that followed after as slightly redundant.

Simple Minds-Spakle in the Rain Demos

http://symphonyofghosts.blogspot.com/2009/02/simple-minds-sparkle-in-rain-demos-1983.html

Not hosted on my site, but discovered this on the above web site, I like Simple Minds early work alot, from about 1980-1987 the released some groudbreaking albums. Its easy to forget how big they were in the mid 80s. This album above is basically a recording of the sparkle in the rain albumas work in progress. I think its might be recorded from the monitors, but it also sounds like this was what the album was to soundlike, of course they brought in Steve Lillywhite to produce and he gave the songs a more rockier feel. Two of the tracks are almost dance trance like, where Burchills guitar really soars above the mix. These tracks ought to be reproduced and reworked, would make a brilliant record. These kind of recordings are fascianting pieces of music as you realise what gets discarded in the recording process and what gets kept.

Fedora - New operating system, Linux...

About two weeks ago I finally had enough of working with Windows as an operating system, a few years ago I would of happily worked with XP which truth be told was quite a stable operating system however over the last few years with the advent of windows vista and windows 7, there seems to be a greater increase in ram usage and also in security issues. In the later case I had reinstalled vista about three times due to the fact that it was only letting me install the proper graphics if I installed the updates, but then obviously it would then make the system slow and unresponsive at times. I currently run a AMD computer which was also having problems with booting up, actually sending the picture to the monitor.

Anyway getting back to the point , I had tried many linux distributions over the years some good ones come to mind like Xandros and Ubuntu. I used Fedora before but I must say it is quite a good linux operating system and its very easy to install. Firstly I went to a Linux Distribution site and downloaded the ISO file. Then you use a software package like CDburner XP (which is free). Once you have the downloaded ISO file, just burn it to disc using the burn iso option. Once your disc is ejected from the drive. Restart your computer and make sure it boots from the CD drive and not the hard drive. This normally means pressing f2 of f12. The beauty about linux distros is that they run straight from the CD and mean that you can try the operating systems without losing your windows operating system. Which to me is a good way to go through all the various operating systems till you find the one best suited.

With Fedora I found it pleasing to the eye. The good things with fedora is that sound worked straight away. It also has flash player support(you go to flash player site and download rpm version). That was a little tricky to be honest but from then on its been really good. The plus points I would say would be ease of use, soundcard support, fast web pages speed, organisation of folders is cool as well. The only down sound is that to configure a sound site like Spotify is very complex, however sites like Last FM and Grooveshark and We7 work, but in a ideal world there is not a operating system that is completely faultless.Also its only compatible with certain printers.

A very good feature of note in Fedora is the add/remover programs feature which takes alot of the hard work out of installing new packages. For instance I wanted to play music so downloaded last fm application and then I wanted a word processor, two or three clicks they are there.

All though we have windows on a laptop, Linux exists on the base unit. I think Linux is almost there , I think it needs one distribution to come along with such easy ease of use and full windows and flash player capabilities to really take over the windows crown.

Phillip Glass-Glassworks

A clip I uploaded to youtube. Got a confirmation saying that music was owned by sony music , but it wasnt....

Messi

ZLATAN TOP 10 GOALS

Talking Heads-Road to nowhere

Pink Floyd-Pompei

This is a video I found on Google Video. This is a complete film of Live at Pompei , this features Pink floyd from about 1971 to 1972. Really driving rock and a brilliant statement of the times, however I noticed it features clips of abbey road studios in early 90s and not the 70s , so this must be from the dvd reissue

Kraftwerk - 23 Years on....

I have to admit Im really happy with the recognition Kraftwerk are getting in the serious music press over the last couple of years. I was working it out in my head the other day that I have followed them for about 23 years which is a very frightening statistic. I Always remembered them from the 'Tour De France' record onwards but I discovered the Computer World album in about late 88, it was so out of context with what I was liseting to at that time. It had frequencies of electronics that no other record of the time had. I mean at that time there was alot of good house and dance records of that time, but the computer World album was to me was such a complete peice of music which all sort of merged into one. Almost like a electronic concept album, actually I think all their albums from Autobahn to Computer World were based around concepts.

What I find fascinating is a band that strives for studio prefection, wouldnt it be great to sort of hear almost all their album in demo form and what about tracks that didnt make it. It would be fascianting to hear. I see on the Internet their is a file called Led Zeppelin -Outakes'. That features alternative tracks and studio mixes, if only one existed for Kraftwerk

Wierd Photo of John Lennon, Yoko and Warhol

Robin Guthrie-Imperial

What i respect the most about Robin Guthrie is that he hasnt stayed still after the Cocteau Twins broke up. He has released some really beautiful records. I think his music moved more away from the indie/etheral to the almost ambient. This is brilliant tyrack that just glides along

Wayne Rooney Overhead kick

Trawling through discs and how it came to be..

Over the last week I have decided to do something really stupid and try and catalogue my entire collection. Over the years I have amased a massive collection of recordings from cds to tape to vinyl and more besides, as a result I am now working my way through discs upon discs of stuff. I find myself asking a question how come did I come to be in this position.

I can trace my desire for music right back to when I was about 6/7 years old, my brother who was considerably older than me at that time would come back with a seven inch single most days and I used to look forward to seeing what he had picked up. At that time football was the main thing but by the time I was 12 I got the music bug, I realised quickly that my intrest in music was not confined to recording or playing(although that would have been good), I think what I got into was how broad a thing it was. Say for instance someone who likes cars, after a while you know most brands of car. With music it was the sheer diversity of music that got me hooked.Over the years my musical taste has moved from many different genres. At this moment in time I can listen to music from a variety of genres. Where as say 10 years ago I could only listen to one style. Like Electronic as opposed to. If my musical taste were to be logged it would be something like this

1984-1985 pop music-chart
1985 -1986 Heavy Metal
1986-1988 Indie Music
1988 -1992 Industrail / Indie Dance
1992 - 1994 Guitar rock
1994-1999 70s rock (almost AOR)
2000 - trance
2003 - rock (progressive)
2005-ambient

At this moment in time I can listen to music from any genre and sort of listen to it back to back, where as about 10 years ago I would just stick with the music and shut out other forms.

Gary Moore-RIP

One of those artists that I was always familar with from the mid 80s. But never really discovered until quite recently. Gary Moore was a twice member of Thin Lizzy and released over 20 albums over the years. My favrioute music by him is at his phil Lynott tribute gig, the guitar playing is definately better than on the originals. In one performance he carries Brian Rbertson along, such a truly talented guitarist who will be missed by rock fans everywhere.....

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/metallicas-kirk-hammett-remembers-thin-lizzys-gary-moore-20110209

Kate Bush-Sat in your lap

Peter Gabrielk-More than this

From top of the pop 2, luckily steve wright didnt spoil it to much by talking over it

orbital-glastonury

the grid-rollercoaster

Muse-Knights......2007 abbey road

muse-new born

Image grabber on Fedora

Like the way you can sort of take parts from any part of a web page and effortlessly paste it to your web site, This is from the Thin Lizzy reunion of gary moore and scott gorham....

Killing Joke-Nervous System

From 1979/80. Quite liked its vibe feel...

Facebook groups.....Totals

Created some facebook music groups.....as of today 5th Febuary 2011. the readers are..

Kraftwerk - 688
King Crimson -133
Roxy Music -1070
The who -10?
Rychui Sakamtoto-709
Simple Minds- 37.
New Order-94
Goldfrapp -21
Siouxsie and the banshees-181
David Bowie -143

3086....subscriptions

Mike Oldfield -20...
Killing Joke - 19.

Amazing Really but its the acts that I thought would have a greater readership that are actually quite poor and the lesser knbown artists lkike sakamoto that have really took off. I will do some work towards some other music links and maybe run about 20 music related sites. I think Banshess and cure are ones who I will always like and remember alot from a previous time of liking them , however you can see a move towrds progressive tastes in my groups.

The Artwork of Brian Eno....

http://www.printmag.com/article/the-album-covers-of-brian-eno

Intresting to see someone reviewing the artwork of Brian Eno's albums, Im listening to alot of Eno at the moment. Really relaxing music which is great to work to.

FFWD-Robert Fripp and THE FSOL

I remember hearing this on the radio in about 1994, I remember the dj Anne Nightingale was really pushing it. Very laidback and almost non music if you know what I mean but it does convey a mood or as Fripp reffers to it 'Soundscape'

Sharon Shannon and Mike Scott

Seth Lakeman-hearts and minds

Killing Joke-Europe

from Nightime in 1985

Porcupine Tree-Anetahaise

above and beyond-stealing time

hmn

Andrew Gold-Never let her slip away.

Smlatzy sentimental seventies...

Old musique and grand designs

http://simonallen10.blogspot.com
The old site

Downloading - Such a grey area

One thing I must state that the US probably has the worst record for what people download and for what the authoroties do there. In the UK it is only 5 years after the p2p revolution that the government has finally made a statement(see link below).
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9160/IFPI+Wants+ISPs+to+Filter+Content%2C+P2P+Programs%2C+and+Websites


We are told by television and the media dont download, but then the BBC turns round and launches the Iplayer (which is a p2p application). Videos sites like google video and youtube accept videos posted by record companies as a means to generate more income off the back catologues of certain artists.

Working in record shops you realise that the new music is actually provided free by the reps of the record compnaies, the money is made in this sector by the sale of albums. Videos are promotional for the purposes of singles, the singles are promotional onto the albums.

That is where the main problem lies for record companies in the UK much of their income is generated by the back catologue of main artists. So They will be the first to say that dowbnloading is wrong. I find that downlaoding poses questions

is it OK to download something for your own personal use?
Is it OK to download something that has long since been deleted and is not available on LP
Providers giving highbandwidth , retailers selling 250GB-Youd be hard pressed to find that many legal downloads.!

Its like they use to say to record off the radio was wrong, but then if you go out and buy the album thats OK. Confused I sure am.

I think it is ok to download for your personal use and I like the way that using programs like Soulseek you can transfer stuff between one other user. But then on the other hand emule means you upload sometimes more than you can download, which is wrong.

50 Top albums....Written in 2008

Was looking through blog sites and noticed Musique and grand designs 1, that was the original web site I did in 2007 -2008. Cant access it now due to lost password....Anyway I wrote this in 2008, not in any particlar order....



1 Prefab Sprout- Steve Mcqueen
2 Cocteau Twins- Garlands & Head Over Heels
3. The Chameleons-What Does anything mean basically
4. This Mortal Coil - It wil end in tears
5. Killing Joke - Nightime
6. Siouxsie and the banshees- nocturne
7. Talk Talk - Colour Spring
8 . Goldfrapp-Black Cherry
9. Roxy Music - Avalon
10. Cure _Kiss Me, Kiss Me , Kiss Me
11 Keane - Hope and Fears
12 Metalica - Master of the puppets
13 Muse - Abosolution & Black Holes and revelations
14 Xymox-Twist of shadows
15 Xmal Deustchland-Vivo
16 delerium-Faces , forms and illsuions
17 Skinny Puppy- Cleanse fold and maniupulate
18 Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the moon
19 Waterboys -Waterboys
20 Tangerine dream-220 Volt Live
21 Tori Amos- Little earthquakes
22 Suede - Dog Man Star
23 James Taylors-greatest Hits
24 Goldfrapp-Supernature
25 Coldplay - X and Y
26 Manic Street Preachers-Genroation terroists
27 Chameloens-Script of the bridge
28 new Order-Lowlife
29 Joy Division -Unknown pleasures
30 U2- October
31 Big Black-songs About fucking
32 David Slyvian - Brilliant Trees
33 . Dead Can Dance -Spleen and ideal
34 The The -Soul Mining
35 Christian Death - The Ashes.
36 Soundgarden - Superunknown
37 Durutti Coulmn -LC
38 Marillion - Fugazi
39 The The - Infected
40 Verve -Urban Hymns
41 Prodigy- fat of the land
42 Stone Roses-Stone roses & second Coming
43 The cure-head on the door
44 this Mortal Coil-Filgree and Shadow
45 Frankie Goes to Hollywood-Welcome to the pleasure dome
46 Cabaret Volatire - Drinking Gasoline
47 Killers-Sams Town
48 Front 242- Back Cataolgue
49 Skinny Puppy- Vivisect
50 New Order-Power Curruption and Lies.

Cream Chilled out Electronic-various artists

A really good triple album thats out, this must be an official avert for the album. Features some really rare tracks and some old ones to, like the Grids -flotation single from 1990

Sound archives.......

Talking about music and downloading, there are several things I just cant get my head around when it comes down to downloading music is theft and all that stuff. browse through any argos catalogue and you will find about 40-50 devices that have greater than 2 gig of memory. So if you are to download legally then I think you would be hard pressed to find music to fill it up. Unless you download music by unsighned bands who have waved away their copyright.I think over the last 20 years there has definately been a shift into companies who existed to make money from artists(publishers) and also a business model for records that hadnt changed much since the 50s.

The music industry (espceially in the Usa) is struggling to cope with the sheer amount of downloaders. The Riaa is randomly picking people to sue, but this is just a drop into the ocean, so for example them suing 10 people when there are 10 million downloaders. Some artists like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are embracing new ways of getting their music across to a wider audience by using downloading of new albums.
The way in which online record shops are taking off and how high street shops are decreasing like HMV shows that even the way we buy records is going to change.

My main things that puzzle me about downloading is.

1) what happens if you download a album by 23 skidoo or some other relitavely unheard of band and say the album was released in the 1980s. The record label that promoted it folded two years after release and it was not picked up by any other record label. So in that case the songwriter would be the main copyright holder. In that instance its unlikely you would be sued as who would pursue you for copyright.
2) When you upload videos you recieve a message saying that the music is owned by Sony music and is taken off youtube. When the music is something on a indiependant label....
3)Some multinational companies advertise on sites like Pirate bay and other downloading sites, when they sell copyrighted music but advertise on downloading sites.
4).There is a demand for products that carry greater storge capabilities(like TB hard drives), wherfe as internet providers monitor downloaders and restrict the speed. So hard drives getting bigger and more storage available but greater risks....hmmnn.

Brian Eno-An ending Ascent

Always assiocated with Trainspotting soundtrack, which is a shame as the song and the album its from are truly brilliant pices of ambient music and no body more so than Brian Eno has put ambient on the map in musical terms

Brian Eno-Backwater

Reposted....mad track

Anelka (Chelsea or Liverpool)

Eno and Cluster -belldog

Brian Eno and members of Cluster. This sounds really cool. Very ambient but also driven by a snyth sound and not sounding unlike Tangerine Dream.

Above and Beyond-Uplifting trance

The Who-Live at Isle of wight 1970

The legend that is the who, I just love how Pete Twonshend holds it all together. I would of like to embed this onto the web page. But here is the address to find it

http://www.56.com/u68/v_NDk1NjUwODk.html

Jean Michel Jarre-Equinox 5

Solar Stone-More expanded than the first video

Jean Michel Jarre-equinox 1

Solar Stone-Seven cities(ambient mix)

Found this on a compilation of trance music, quite like it.

Musical Family Tree

I think tonight I could probably draw a rock family tree, in that I can see a link between all the videos Im posting. Started listening to brian eno initially, then onto Robert Fripp and then eno and fripp and then onto Roxy Music, then onto eno, manzenera then onto David Gilmour. You get the picture. I was watching a documentry on youtube tonight and you realise how many artists Robert FRripp has been involved with. Such an intelligent artist and man.

Frank Zappa-Muffin Man

Featuring Fran Zappa

Eno and Fripp all music review

Bowie-Heroes on top of the pops 1977

David Bowie and Berlin

David Bowie-Sons of the silent age

Phillip Glass-Sons of the Silent Age

Phillip Glass and David bowie

King Crimson-elephant Talk

king crimson - elephant talk
Uploaded by aosonho. - Explore more music videos.

from 1995 live concert

King Crimson-heartbeat

King Crimson - Heartbeat
Uploaded by 1962teto. - Explore more music videos.

map of visitors

Hmnnnn...On picasa

http://picasaweb.google.com/102201686734704427592/MusiqueAndGrandDesigns2?authkey=Gv1sRgCL2L1O6UzPzcvQE#

Cocteau Twins- Head Over Heels album 1983

Intro track from same album

Cocteau Twins - Musette and Drums - Full version, Live 1983

I remember the head over heels album, it was always a good entry point to discover the cocteaus. Where as Garlands and other albums were always harder to find. Looking back at this album, some of the tracks were absolutely out of this world. The above video is from the tube in late 1983, 2.29 and Robin Guthrie hits the audience with etheral and swiriling feedback. People want them to reform but they can never recapture these days. Brilliant

Cocteau Twins - Millimillenary (live 1984)

Inner City-Big fun...1988

Blimey 1988....Thats some time ago, I really liked Inner Citys first two albums extremely powerful and dance driven. where as the last albums have been more soulful

King Crimson-heroes...2000

What a brilliant version. But then Fripp did play on the original and Belew an ex bowie guitarist.

David Bowie-Absolute beginners

propaganda-dream within a dream

Absolutely love propaganda, did at the time and still like the album now. Such a brilliant album ' a secret wish from 1985'.this features Derek forbes who was with simple minds for a time.

Dream Theater-As I Am

Modern prog

Facebook No.2

Sort of like a recurring theme. Im starting to find facebook a bit limiting and I think the initial surge of people joining it has died off a bit. I have noticed alot of other sites are now sharing links to and from facebook. Examples being twitter and video sites, also music applications like spotify.

In a few years time things would of moved onto another application or site and facebook will struggle to keep a hold on its market share. In the Uk we think its a world wide thing and in some ways it is, but in the US I beleive that myspace is still dominant. Also there has been recent articles saying that a high percentages of divorces and court cases are mentioning the social networking site.

To be honest I will just follow a path of posting directly to my web site and share what I want to share. With facebook being used randomly rather than staying a dominant open web page on my browser