TW Blog :: Archives for January 2005

What's on the Playlist

Relates to Nostalgia and Music

If it isn't enough that I subject the world, beyond these four walls, to my sporadic outbursts, this year I am going to inflict my eclectic taste in music on you as well! Ok, its not all bad. I confess that of the few live acts I have seen one was the teen sensation of the last decade. But then, I also got to see the Pixies and the Sisters of Mercy play Manchester and the NEC respectively in the early 90's - surf rock and gothic melancholy make the perfect match!?

Doolittle still features highly on my playlist but I tend to jump around a lot, through the decades and over different genres from Mahler to Mad-chester or Ozrics to Ziggy. Though I find beyond what I hear on Radio 2, I have little passion for contemporary music. New bands are emerging all the time with some interesting styles, but I find the originality and creativity that flavoured the music of years gone by is lacking. The phrase I have heard something like this before springs to mind.

Something I had most certainly not heard before was Argus which I was initiated to only last year. Where have Wishbone Ash been all my life? Argus is a superb album of medieval rock and roll with electric guitar playing to rival anyone - just plug in to Throw Down the Sword to hear 120 seconds of perfect harmony and synchronicity from Andy Powell and Ted Turner's dueling. This became my album of choice last year, carrying me through many long nights of urgency.

Early this year, I have slipped a little further back in time, dusting off some old Barclay James Harvest cassettes. Once referred to as the poor man's Moody Blues in the 70's, BJH have delivered many timeless harmonies from the inspiring and somewhat haunting Mocking Bird to rolling melodies like Song for the Dying and the 1968 debut Early Morning. Achieving a perfect balance of orchestral and rock, BJH were accompanied by a full orchestra on their tours in the early 1970's (the Harvest Years) even integrating Shostakovitch and Handle into their sets. The Poet/After the Day medley provides a fine example of the perfect juxtaposition of orchestra and rock ballad. Time Honoured Ghosts provided my first introduction to BJH in my teens, and it wasn't long before Medicine Man, Suicide and Dark Now My Sky were playing alongside Some Kind of Stranger (SOM), Hey (Pixies), Life On Mars, Made of Stone and other eternal favourites.

If you are reading this and Wishbone or BJH have not entered your life before, I strongly recommend a quick deviation.

Posted on Saturday, Jan 29, 2005 at 05:49:14.