Always something there to remind me...

I'm not someone who necessarily looks that deeply into how music is produced or even conceived, although I possibly should bearing in mind that I was studying to be a sound engineer many moons ago. That dream sadly never came to fruition, but being the inquisitive person that I am, I still have a fascination with all things music and am resigned to understanding it as best as I can. I am currently reading the book ‘How Music Works’ by the brilliant David Byrne and am looking forward to gaining some insight into this world via his prose. In the meantime though, my mind is still actively questioning. 

I was recently on a train journey to London and, as always, I was carrying my trusty notebook and pen so I could write down anything that came into my mind as a possible new article. Staring out of the window and seeing the familiar scenery approaching the outskirts of London, I remembered growing up there and had various other memories of days gone by. I then had an idea. So into my notebook I wrote the words ‘music and memory or association’. I also wrote some other bits and bobs around this and did a bit of googling. It was the start of a train of thought (literally) and the thought was this. Why does music link to memory and what does this mean?

We all have certain songs that are related to events in our lives. For example, when people get married they have a first dance and this song then becomes intrinsically important to their lives from then on. It will always be ‘our song’ because of that. You may remember that a specific track was playing the first time you saw ‘x’ across a crowded dance floor and suddenly realised that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with them. It may well be why ‘Saturday Night’ by Whigfield means so much to you, but who am I to judge?

Anyway, this thought also reminded me of a recent radio show that I had been listening to where the host, Claire, asked folks to get in touch and tell her which song related to various events in your life like your first crush, when you were a teenager or when you left home etc. I had a ponder and ended up joining in. This also got me reminiscing about when I was younger and the various reasons why my songs choices were important to me. Claire had asked for the song that represented your first crush and mine was ‘If I Can’t Change Your Mind’ by Sugar. The reason I picked this song is because it was on a mixtape that my first real crush made for me when I was about 19. It’s still a firm favourite with me and I have to say that when I listen to it now I am always reminded of him. It’s quite odd really as I haven’t seen him in person for nearly 20 years, but when I hear the jangly guitar of this track I can see his face as clear as day. And that’s what makes the link between music and association so very interesting.

Also in my notes was a line that said ‘Glenn T – cowboy films’. I'm sure this will mean absolutely nothing to you, so let me try to explain my thinking around this bizarre notation. I am a big fan of the band Squeeze and in particular Glenn Tilbrook. Glenn has released some solo albums and also recorded a tour video when he travelled around America in an RV. As I was thinking about memory related to music, I recalled Glenn telling a story on his tour video about how when he was a small child he used to like watching cowboy films. Not very interesting so far, but just bear with me. He said that his memories of the films were linked to the sounds he heard in them rather than the picture he’d seen on the screen. He would hear the sound of metal on metal and place this as a cowboy scraping a spoon across a metal plate while eating beans. He did not recall the colours or what was in the background picture, it was all about the sounds that were being made. I find this fascinating.

I read about ‘Music-related memory’ on Wikipedia and the opening paragraph says this:

Musical memory refers to the ability to remember music-related information, such as melodic content and other progressions of tones or pitches. The differences found between linguistic memory and musical memory have led researchers to theorize that musical memory is encoded differently from language and may constitute an independent part of the phonological loop. The use of this term is problematic, however, since it implies input from a verbal system, whereas music is in principle nonverbal.

Interesting stuff, but not really what I was aiming for. Looking at savantism or child prodigies who can play 10 instruments at the age of 6 is a bit beyond me. I also read an article on some new psychology studies around the link between memory and music. Again, not quite what I wanted to delve into, but worth a read none the less. Check it out here.

I think what I am more intrigued about is the relationship between music and how it messes with your emotions. Why does hearing certain pieces of music make you happy or sad and why do we feel the need to attach certain feelings to it? I also wonder why I can remember the lyrics to songs I haven’t heard in years, but I have no idea what I did last week? It’s a strange thing that you can recall all the words to a random song like ‘Snooker Loopy’ by Chas and Dave and yet I can’t remember to pick up milk on the way home. It must perhaps be related to the part of your brain that holds what is basically useless information.

It could be that music is such an emotional tie because it’s more important to certain people. I would class everything music related as a hobby of mine so I am always focused on learning about it, be it a new artist, reading about it or a new way of obtaining songs. Perhaps if you don’t consider this to be an area of interest to you it wouldn't have such an impact. Although I'm pretty sure that going back to Claire and the song requests on her radio show, that we all have records that mean something to us for whatever reason. It could well be that the bands your grew up with when you first started to take an interest in music have stuck with you throughout your life. I know that I attach my adoration for my hero Neil Finn to the fact that I discovered the music of Crowded House when I was in my teens and at the age where I was looking for something to speak to me about my life. I found that with Neil and his band and he has been something of a constant companion to me ever since.

I used to travel by train a lot in my early twenties and back then I didn't have my beloved iPod with me as they hadn't been invented yet (yes I am that old). Instead, I used to take with me my personal CD player and one of those CD holders where you could just carry the discs in a zipped pouch. The effort of picking only a few discs to take along was torture, but I always seemed to have ‘Ether Song’ by Turin Brakes each and every time. When I listen to tracks from that album now, I can still sense those old train journeys from London to Liverpool and I remember how it made me feel. That album is my travelling friend and when the first track ‘Blue Hour’ opens with the drum machine, I associate it with the train pulling out of Euston station and heading up the railway tracks northwards. I haven’t made that particular journey for well over 10 years now, but I'm transported back to those days whenever I play that record.

I suppose it’s easy to say that this is just human nature or memory working in the usual way. The same thing happens with more or less everything around us such as food we've eaten at specific places or certain books we've read. What makes the link with music so interesting to me though is the feelings that it brings with it. I mean, I can probably recall the first time I tried Chinese food, but it doesn't really bring out any emotion in me. It was no doubt very nice and I still like it now, but does it make my happy thinking about it? Not really, no. When I hear that song by Sugar playing though, now there’s a completely different story. I find myself smiling and thinking about the person that made me a tape a very long time ago. And that’s the power of music. The images it conjures up and the feelings it brings with it are something wonderful and I really do hope the things I am listening to now will continue to have this effect on me for a very long time to come.

Listen to the music...

My lovely bumbling mate sometimes has a bit of an issue hearing song lyrics correctly. This wouldn't be a problem (and to be honest it's not), but she regularly sings them out loud which is very amusing to everyone else. Our all time favourite (she's has a few which I'll include later on) was her joining in with the song 'Reasons Not To Be An Idiot' by Frank Turner. The line should be:

"She's so wrapped up in her invisible armour". The version we all enjoyed was "She's so wrapped up in her invisible llama". True story.

Anyway, this got me thinking about misheard lyrics as it's always been something that amuses me no end. It's a subject that comes up quite often and I think most people have either had an experience where they've got the words wrong and perhaps made a clown of themselves, or someone they know has and it's become something of legend.

Sticking with my fab friend above, another of her classics was thinking that the song 'Enola Gay' by OMD (you know the anti-war song about the Hiroshima bomb) was actually called and had the lyrics of 'Alone Again'. A certain amount of irony in that one perhaps...

There's a couple of classics that always make me howl. I'm sure you've heard them before, but my all time favourites are:

Madonna, Erotica - "Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie, put your hands all over my body". 

Robert Palmer, Addicted To Love - "Might as well face it, you're a dick with a glove".

As this seemed to be an amusing subject, I turned to Twitter and asked the folks on there if they had any stories or lyrics they wanted to share. And guess what? Course they did!

Mark (@bringitonskippy) told me that he always thought that the J Geils Band were singing about their girlfriend being the 'Centre Forward'.

Two people seemed to be having a bit of trouble with Fall Out Boy and their song 'This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race'. David (@davidbruce) was convinced the words were "this ain't a scene, it's a goddam arse face" while MissDxx (@Miss_D_xx) overheard it as "I'm a little man, and I'm also evil, also into cats".

Neil (@recrwplay) was very fond of "Young girl with eyes like potatoes" for Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita'.

David also thought that Air were singing about 'Sexy Pudding' in their song 'Sexy Boy' and that Primal Scream had the lyrics "Get your rock salt, get your rock salt honey". 

An old mate Mark always sung the lyrics to 'Sound of Eden' by Shades of Rhythm completely wrong. The real line is "She leaves my breathless", but he heard it as "She brings me branflakes". I have no idea why there would be breakfast options in a 90's dance classic, but hey-ho...

Here's a link to a great website which has loads of these on it. Hours worth of entertainment on kissthisguy.com. Check it out.

A couple more to finish then.

Duffy should be singing about 'Mercy', but it actually sounds very much like "You got me begging you for birdseed". 

And finally, I always hear the words to 'Weak Become Heroes' by the Streets totally wrong. The correct words are "We were just standing there minding our own" but I hear (and sing them out loud) as "We're just living in our Barratt Homes".

You can send me your faves on Twitter at @call_me_cynical and I'll add them on :0)

Back on the chain gang,..

I recently saw someone write on Twitter that they hated bands doing anniversary tours as it means they've sold out and have no new material. Not sure I agree with that one to be honest. An artists back catalogue is not necessarily something they should be ashamed of, but I do take on board that some bands seem to use it as their weapon of choice.

The Rolling Stones for example are nearly as old as time itself. They are still out there playing live though and pulling in the crowds. Nice work if you can get it. I like the Stones, they are one of the building blocks of music, but I can't see myself ever going to see them live. I'd probably need to re-mortgage my house for a start off.  Anyway.

Looking good lads...

I was both overjoyed and ecstatic in equal measure when I heard last month that my beloved Bluetones were doing an anniversary tour later this year to celebrate 20 years together. Bearing in mind I had written not long beforehand that I didn't think they would ever reunite, I was left gobsmacked and a wee bit shamefaced when I heard the news. Let's just say there might have been some tears. Literally a few days before I had published an article on their final album 'A New Athens' and was droning on about it being their swan song and then blam. Reunion tour. Clearly my writing had made all of this happen. Ahem....

So, does this mean they have sold out? I would say no. The fans want it so doesn't that show that the need is there? I for one am over the moon that this is happening. Those of you who have read some of my other posts will know why, but let's just say it's been a long time in the making. I have friends online who have seen the band somewhere in the region of 20 times now, and yet they have bought their tickets and are as excited as I am about seeing them again. I think this tells us that regardless of how long a band has been performing, if they give a good show then the fans will want to see them play live.

Course it was all down to you Nic...

There is the question of new material though. I was fortunate enough to interview Adam Devlin from the 'Tones and I asked him whether there would be any new stuff. He said not at the moment, but who knows what will happen. This tells me that this perhaps dependant on how this tour goes we may well see something new come out of it. They are nothing if not creative chaps, so watch this space and keep your fingers crossed.

At the other end of this are the bands who do nothing but tour with the same old dirge year in and year out. They may have had a few hits in the 1970's or something and have been trying their luck with it ever since. Classic bands such as 'The Hollies' I can forgive, mainly because I think they are fab, but I'm sure you can think of some others that always seem to be on the gig listings and you have no idea why. Who actually goes to see them? Quite possibly the same people each and every time and I would guess they probably know the set list better than the artist.

Coming soon to a theatre near you. Again.

I was interested to see that Badly Drawn Boy is touring in a few months as it's been 15 years since the release of 'The Hour Of Bewilderbeast'. How time flies huh? I am hoping to make it to a show as I've never seen him play before and would enjoy hearing him perform the album live. Last year I saw two bands perform 20th anniversary tours in celebration of their landmark albums. Therapy? toured with the epic 'Troublegum' which left me with hearing loss for 2 days afterwards (true story) and Linkin Park played their album 'Hybrid Theory' from start to finish at the Download Festival. Both were awesome and the fans loved it.

Unbelievably this is 15 years old

I think this goes to prove that if an artist has a great back catalogue then touring could be considered something of a necessity. I do take on board though that if someone has been singing the same song for the last 20 years it could be a rather painful experience for them to have to keep doing it. I've seen this at shows before where someone in the audience demands a song that the artist simply doesn't want to sing. I think in these circumstances we have to appreciate that it's up to the artist themselves as to what they want to perform. As fans, we can ask, but be prepared to hear no. As an artist, don't be such a bloody good songwriter then :0)

Thank you for sharing...

I don’t tend to write reviews about music as it’s not really my area of expertise. I mean, it’s really about opinion and I'm never too sure that my opinion is something that people are actually interested in to be honest. I have, however, picked up a few new albums lately so I thought I would write about the new music I've bought and also what I've been listening to over the last few weeks.

First up, I bought the new album by Irish rockers Therapy? entitled ‘Disquiet’. It’s their fourteenth (yes fourteenth) studio album their last being released in 2012. My relationship with the band is mainly due to my sister in law who has always been a massive fan of theirs. We went to see them last year performing a twentieth anniversary tour of their 1994 album ‘Troublegum’ and saw them again a few weeks ago. This album has been compared to ‘Troublegum’ by some people who are classing it as kind of a follow up album and it seems that this is what some fans have been waiting for. The album opens with the song ‘Still Hurts’ which belts out a catchy chorus and the usual heavy, pounding guitars and drums. Other stand out tracks are ‘Tides’, ‘Good News Is No News’ and ‘Torment Sorrow Misery Strife’.

It’s loud, dark a bit f**ked up and totally to the point. There’s no hiding here, just straight to it with tortured vocals and direct lyrics. I think Therapy? are something of an acquired taste for some people as they are situated somewhere in alternative metal and heavy rock, but this album will hopefully make them a bit more accessible to new listeners.

Next up is ‘Short Movie’ by Laura Marling. Now, I'm someone who takes on board recommendations on bands and singers and this was an album that was being touted as one to look out for by various sources. I’d not heard that much of her previous work, but what I had, I liked, so I decided to give it a go. I'm very into folk music and love acoustic guitar so I guessed this would probably float my boat and I wasn't wrong. It’s a very impressive piece of work, a personal and moving journey. I'm guessing that the questions that are thrown out there throughout the album are rhetorical in nature and that Laura is looking to reconcile herself in some way. 

It’s beautifully written and very pleasing to listen to throughout with tracks such as ‘Warrior’ and ‘I Feel Your Love’ being just a couple of standouts. She’s only 25 years old, but sings like someone who has been around for a considerable amount of time. Well worth a listen.

I also recently purchased ‘If I Was’ by The Staves. Another recommended album that I had seen various murmurings about so was intrigued to have a listen to. In fact, when I was in Fopp buying the 2 albums mentioned above, The Staves were playing in the background. I was unaware of this at the time, but I remember thinking that whoever it was sounded pretty damn good. And I was right. 

The Staves are an acoustic folk trio of sisters who have totally built on the familial harmonies to amazing effect. There is a real element of sadness in some of the songs with the feeling of lost love being apparent in the lyrics. I was listening to it one day and it really got under my skin which shows the power of great songwriting. The track ‘Let Me Down’ is a favourite alongside the heart-breaking ‘No Me, No You, No More’. It’s not all tears though, and in fact hearing someone sing about watching ‘The Shining’ with just the kitchen light on did make me smile. Highly recommended.

Peer pressure got the best of me again as I decided to take a punt on an album which was being mentioned as possibly ‘the best of 2015 so far’. With references to Nick Drake (who I adore) I was intrigued to know what ‘Carrie & Lowell’ by Sufjan Stevens was all about. I have not heard any of his previous 6 albums so he has well and truly slipped under my radar.

This album is descried as indie folk and is apparently a return to his roots as it’s sparsely instrumental. It’s a very simple sounding, yet personal album that was inspired by the death of his mother, Carrie. It’s a difficult listen at times, but there is a real intimacy in these songs and it’s very raw. Tracks like ‘Eugene’ and ‘Fourth of July’ are stark and beautifully written. Tough going, but worth a listen.

I also did a bit of catching up recently and finally got round to buying ‘Chaos and The Calm’ by James Bay. I first heard James, probably as many people did, with the release of ‘Hold Back The River’. As soon as I heard that song I wanted to hear more as it sat perfectly in my folk, acoustic leanings. My partner described it as boring, but I disagreed and wanted to hear the album before I could make an informed decision.

So, here’s the thing. I have read a few reviews of the album and all of them are basically saying that this album IS boring. It’s a bit too safe and nothing about it stands out. It seems James has gone with the tried and tested method of songwriting and with comparisons (many of them) to in particular Tom Odell (who also struggles to stand out) it clearly hasn't gone down very well. As a debut I'm pretty sure it will fare well in some quarters as obviously we all have different tastes, but if the so called music experts are struggling to find something positive to say about it then it’s slightly worrying.

I like the album, but mostly because it’s something you can put on and just let it play. The stand out tracks for me include ‘Hold Back The River’ and ‘Craving’. It’s not that bad, far from it, but I can understand why out of all the similar styled musicians out there the fact that James is being held in a higher esteem is somewhat puzzling. Good effort nonetheless.

I still have a pile of other albums to get through and am looking forward to listening to ‘Matador’ by Gaz Coombes and ‘The Race For Space’ by Public Service Broadcasting. I was also very pleased to hear that Badly Drawn Boy will be touring very soon as ‘The Hour Of Bewilderbeast’ is amazingly 15 years old. This has meant that I've pulled the album out so I can reacquaint myself with it. It’s certainly going to be a fun few weeks.

I'll make you a mixtape...

"I'll make you a mixtape that's a blueprint of my soul, it may sound grand but babe it's all you need to know, I'll make you a mixtape that will charm you into bed, it details everything that's running round my head" - Lyrics from 'Mixtape' by Jamie Cullum

Ah, the beauty of the mixtape. A little piece of yourself that you give to someone for a variety of different reasons. I was listening to Jamie's song recently and it got me thinking about the idea of creating a tape for someone and what it means when you do it. I asked some lovely folk whether they had ever made someone a tape and if so what was the purpose behind it. Here's what they said:

"Made loads for my ex when we were together and vice versa" - Helen @givesyouHel

"I have, many times, because I find it incredibly romantic" - Michelle @littlehotmess77

"@dave_d_i_s_c_o made me many when we started dating. Loved listening to them whilst travelling to visit him" - Suzie @sukisuzmorris

"I had a brilliant one made for me by a friend at school, I think I made one back for her. It had loads of cool songs on it and was my introduction to Beck as she included Sissy Neck and also a song by Corduroy which I loved. I did once make a mix CD for a boyfriend as well. Sad but true!" - Nicole

I think the resounding thing I picked up was the idea of making something romantic that you could give to someone you liked to show them how much they mean to you. And the beauty of a tape (for those of us old enough to remember the good old TDK 90 minute cassette) was that you could surprise them with a selection of tracks hand picked just for them. The hours I spent calculating how many songs I could fit onto one side of a tape was ridiculous. Making sure there wasn't too much blank space at the end before you turned over to side B was an art in itself. My friend Laura told me that sometimes she couldn't be bothered to work it all out so she just recorded it, and if it stopped part way through a song she'd just turn the tape and continue where it cut out. How she wrote out the track listing is anyone's guess...!!

Not one of mine, but you get the idea

Now I wasn't of the romantic school of thought I have to be honest. For me, it was more about making collections for mates to showcase how much cool music I knew about. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't being an arsehole about it. I just wanted to share my love of the obscure and the downright awesome with people to show them what they were missing out on. And it worked too. I once made a tape for an old friend and included a track by Radiohead on it. It was probably something off 'The Bends' I would think. She had never heard anything by them before and totally loved it. So much so that we ended up going to see them at the NEC in Birmingham and years later she said to me "if it wasn't for you Nic I would never have got into them". Point made and case closed.

My baby's got the bends

I do totally get the romance thing though. Reading the comments that people gave to me was very sweet and I think it's lovely that something as simple as making a tape could bring happiness to people. Sharing your love of music is a very personal thing as it says something about how you think and feel about things. It could also show what diabolical taste you have, but I guess that's a chance you have to take!

I was given a tape once by someone I worked with. Those of you that have read my blog before might recall a certain man I now refer to as bellend who incorrectly told me that the Bluetones were naff live. Yes him. Well, he made me a tape once. I didn't think anything of it at the time. I assumed he was just doing the 'I know more than you' thing, but I must admit I have been thinking about it a lot since writing this piece. My friend Nicole told me I should relisten to it and see if there were any subliminal messages in it. Doubtful, but it did have the song 'If I can't change your mind' by Sugar on it which I love. And it's because of this tape that I love it. In fact, I have the tape somewhere upstairs in my house and I can guarantee if I put it in the tape deck now and pressed play it would be queued up on this song. Bellend may not have made me a romantic tape (at least I don't think he did), but he did start my love affair with a lot of good music so take from that what you will.

I decided to write this piece as I find the concept of making someone a tape very interesting on lots of levels. In the film 'High Fidelity' John Cusack's character talks about the art of making a mixtape. "The making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do's and don'ts. First of all, you're using someone else's poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing". 

He's right of course. If you're making a tape for someone you like you need to carefully plan what you want to share with them. After all, the hope is that they'll listen to it and think 'Wow. John really knows his music and he's put lots of songs on here that he knows I'll like. He's great'. Rather than leaving them wondering why you have given them a cassette with some nonsense on it that even the artist themselves won't ever listen to again. It's a tough call, but do it right and as the comments above show it can make someone feel all warm and tingly inside. Do it wrong, and that tape is probably now gathering dust in a box somewhere while the recipient tries very hard to blank it from their memory...

So finally to wrap up, here's the song that started me thinking about this whole thing. I tend to agree with the line about charming someone into bed, but hey, maybe that's just me and Jamie...

Going back to my roots...

I watched a very interesting documentary today about the rise and fall of independent record shops in the UK. It gave a great insight into how music has changed over the years and about the way in which we purchase and learn about new music. It's called 'Last Shop Standing' and if you haven't seen it you should definitely take a look. Find out more about it here. This film made me consider my own journey and how and why I became a music lover in the first place. I know I've touched on some of this before, but I decided to take a trip down memory lane and look into all the things that I remember that have shaped my musical taste, and especially the shops I spent time in.

My parents both loved music and when me and my brother were growing up it featured around us a lot. My mum was a Mod and my dad was a Rocker which made for a very interesting combination. Mum always loved the latest tunes and was a big fan of Cliff Richard and the Beatles. We used to have music playing in the house and in the car all the time and I think this had a big influence on both me and my brother. Dad was a bit of a DJ in his youth and we had a lot of vinyl in the house. I remember the hi-fi unit we had which featured a double tape deck with a turntable on the top and room at the bottom to store your LPs. It stayed with us for a long time and in the LP stack were things like 'Dark Side of the Moon' by Pink Floyd and 'Machine Head' by Deep Purple sitting along side various Beatles albums. I think the first time I heard 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac was when I pinched the vinyl of 'Rumours' and played it.

Welcome to the dark side

As much as I heard a lot of music growing up, I didn't begin to buy my own until the late 80's when I would've been around 11 years old. I tended to buy 7 inch singles from places like Woolworths for the latest chart music and I was into the likes of Kylie and especially Rick Astley. I still have Rick's first 2 albums on vinyl, although sadly they are not currently in my possession. When I left London and moved to the Midlands over 10 years ago they didn't make the journey with me. In fact, I am not actually sure where they are. In storage I think. One of my tasks is to be reunited with them at some point soon.

Anyway. I come from East London and grew up in a place called Chingford. You've probably never heard of it, but the most famous person to come from there is probably a little known footballer called David Beckham. Nearby we have Walthamstow (the end of the Victoria Line on the tube) and also Highams Park and both of these places have produced the high quality musical stars (ahem) East 17 and Blazin' Squad. Top class entertainment...

East 17. Who knew one of them would one day manage to run over himself whilst driving his own car

We had a few independent record shops where I grew up which we spent a lot of time in. I had to text my brother earlier to ask him the name of one of them as I couldn't actually remember what it was called! In Highams Park we had a very small shop called 'Master Blaster'. It sold mostly vinyl I recall and I think this would've been where I bought my Rick Astley LP's. It was a tiny shop which had a section of vinyl in the middle and it was very tight to actually move round someone who was looking through the racks. The only other memory I have of buying something from the shop was getting a cassette of 'Some Fantastic Place' by Squeeze as it was an album I didn't have. I still have the cassette somewhere actually.

Chingford is sort of split into 2 main areas for shopping with North Chingford having Station Road and South Chingford having the Mount. Both locations had a branch of a record shop called 'Turntable' which I spent a lot of money in. The one at the Mount was slightly larger and we knew the staff in there quite well. In fact, we went to school with one of them. They didn't stock everything, but you could order stuff in and they would usually be able to get it for you within about a week or so. As far as I know, the shop at the Mount went first during the decline of people buying records in the 00's and was followed by the Station Road branch a few years later. My brother bought some of the storage racks from the Station Road shop when they were having a closing down sale. He also got me a Semisonic mug which they had for the release of the album 'Chemistry' and it's the one I always use for a cuppa when I go home to see my mum.

Chingford. It really is the end of the line.

Walthamstow is larger than Chingford and has a street market which apparently is the longest in Europe. We used to shop down the 'Stow on occasion and it was a treat to visit there as they had a McDonald's and of course a pie and mash shop called 'Manzies' which was amazing. On the high street there was a record shop called 'Sounds Familiar'. It would later change it's name to 'Cavern Records' and this was the place I remember visiting. It was a fairly large shop and had lots of vinyl, and Cd's and you could spend a long time in there checking out the stock. I don't really recall what I bought from there, but it would have probably been some cassettes or CD singles. It's gone now which seems to be par for the course for independent stores. There was also a shop called 'Record Village' which I think was further down the high street, but I don't remember it as well as Cavern.

Meanwhile, down the market...

Another place I bought vinyl from was 'Mike's Record Shop' which is in the indoor market at Wood Street in Walthamstow. It's actually still there I believe and has lots of second hand rare vinyl. I bought some Queen records from there in the mid 90's including the rare 'Queen's First EP' which cost me over £10. Of course you can now pick this particular EP up online for just a few quid, but I'm glad I got my copy by sifting through piles of records and finding a little gem for my collection in a proper record shop rather than faceless online purchasing.

My other half comes from Liverpool and I asked him about buying records where he grew up. He told me that the first record he bought was 'Dancing in the Dark' by Bruce Springsteen on 7 inch vinyl. To be honest though, bought is a bit of a lie. Now, hang on a cotton picking minute here. Do not go stereotyping please. The story is this, apparently when you purchased a pair of shoes from Clark's shoe shop they gave you a voucher for Woolworths to go and spend on a record. He used his voucher to get the aforementioned Springsteen single and thus started his collection. His vinyl now mostly comprises of 90's dance tracks as this was what he was into at that time. Compared to my britpop and rock albums it does make a rather interesting talking point.

Hey baby!

I still have my 7 inch singles somewhere (probably in the same storage place as my albums I guess) and I got some of these from a newsagent in Chingford Mount. It was a typical newsagents with magazines and sweets etc, but for some reason in the middle of the shop there was a white carousel type thing (the kind of stand you find greeting cards in) filled with vinyl singles in white sleeves. They had all sorts of stuff from chart hits to slightly older singles and all marked up from 50p to £1. We would spend ages in there getting in everyone's way while we hunted through to find a bargain. I believe this is where I got my single of 'We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off' by Jermaine Stewart. It never actually occurred to me as to why this shop was selling records as it's kind of strange when you think about it. I just knew it was somewhere else that I wanted to go when I was at Chingford Mount.

Another of my posts talks about the decline of record shops so I won't go into that again, but let's just say that when I think back to when I was younger and visited the places I've mentioned above it now makes me sad. I grew up visiting those shops and now none of them actually exist anymore. It is comforting to know though that more independent shops are appearing and that youngsters are visiting them to purchase music. I think Record Store Day is a massive help and I am looking forward to this year's day on 18th April. Check out what is happening in your local store and join in and support the local retailers. Go on, you know it makes sense!

I want my music television...

Music television. No, not MTV. I'm talking about television programmes featuring actual music. With musicians on them. You know, to chat and perform like. I can remember a time when there used to be a few of them on and I probably watched most of them. This was some years ago, but it makes me realise that the choice for programmes about music especially on terrestrial television now is pretty sparse. Were they actually any good though or was it all just a load of old rubbish? And what is missing from our telly boxes in 2015?

I want my, I want my...

Before we look at all of that though, here is an article from the Guardian on why any shows on music that we have had on TV previously are apparently so bad. It raises quite a few questions and will leave you with some stuff to ponder I think. Have a read here.

Well then. Let's start by going backwards. What did we have to watch in the past? Well for me it was things like 'The Tube', 'Top of the Pops', 'The White Room' and any of the chat shows that had a music slot on them such as 'TFI Friday' for example. There was also 'Later with Jools Holland' which still graces BBC2 now. I'll skip that one for now though as I have somewhat of a bee in my bonnet about 'Later' at the moment. 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' was another good one, but that was slightly before my time.

There were also programmes on the satellite channels with this mainly being things on MTV. I mean, that's what the channel was designed for and why Sting was droning on about it with Dire Straits (link to blog title right there, woo!). It was the platform for music videos and bands took this on board and started to realise that by making a kick ass video it would sell the song more. MTV started in 1981 and as you will probably know the first video ever played was 'Video Killed The Radio Star' by The Buggles. Factoid alert - The Buggles featured none other than "The man who invented the eighties" himself, Trevor Horn. I bet you knew that didn't you? Yep. MTV also had various programmes in their schedule and my favourite from the 90s was 'Most Wanted' which was hosted by Ray Cokes. It had chat, live performances and plenty of messing around which seemed to appeal to my sense of humour. It was a shame when it finished in 95.

Anyway. Thursday night was Top of the Pops night when you got to see what was in the charts that week. I don't recall being overly interested in it when I was younger, but when Rick Astley appeared in the charts (my hero!) I became keen to know if he was performing that week. It was the thing to watch and I guess I would've seen it pretty regularly from the late eighties well into the mid nineties. The show was pulled in 2006, but Christmas specials still seem to appear each year. The spin off show TOTP2 is still running and shows archived footage, although they have to be a bit careful about what they show now due to who some of the presenters of the original show used to be. Moving swiftly onwards...

'The White Room' was a Channel 4 programme which ran for a couple of years in the mid nineties. It was hosted by Mark Radcliffe and focused on performances rather than chat with the artists. Bands like Oasis and Suede played on it, but it obviously didn't have the legs or maybe the viewing figures to keep going as it's stint was rather brief. Here's the wonderful Supergrass performing live on the show.

As I mentioned there were some weekly entertainment shows which featured a live musical artist on them. We still have a few of those now I guess. 'TFI Friday' was probably the one I watched the most as Chris Evans was a good host and the music was mostly britpop era bands which I enjoyed listening to. It ran from 1996 to 2000 (on a Friday night obviously) and was a good way to end the week, hence the name! I actually have a negative of The Bluetones which was taken during one of their performances on the show. Cool huh? Have a look below. I've heard just this week that Chris Evans has hinted that the show will be back in June 2015.  Watch this space on that one!

So I guess we have to talk about 'Later with Jools Holland'. I have nothing against Jools personally, in fact he is a fabulous musician and as Squeeze are one of my favourite bands I can't fault him. BUT, I don't watch the show very often now, if at all. I did, however watch it a lot years ago as he had some awesome artists on it. As regular readers will know my all time hero is Neil Finn and Crowded House are my number one band. Well, they have played on the shows a considerable amount of times over the years which pleased me greatly. In the nineties a lot of artists I liked got to play and I still have VHS tapes (seriously) of episodes featuring some great acts. I don't actually have a VHS player anymore and I can't watch them, but never mind about all that. So what is wrong with 'Later' now? I guess it's just become too pedestrian for want of a better word. It seems to feature a lot of MOR artists and doesn't seem to have the same excitement of new and groundbreaking music. I don't watch the yearly Hootenanny shows either as it's the same artists each time and it doesn't interest me that much to be honest. I saw an episode of 'Later' last year as Neil was on it to play some songs from his new album and when Jools had a little chat with him and showed him a video clip of a Split Enz song, Neil told him that the exact same clip was used the last time he was on the show. Slightly embarrassing for the so called researcher I would've thought. I remember seeing a comment recently from someone on Twitter about the programme saying "I always record 'Later' so I can fast forward through all the shite that's on it". I have to say, I do exactly the same thing and it makes it a lot easier to watch.

At the moment I think the BBC4 channel has the best music programmes on it. I have thoroughly enjoyed shows on singer songwriters, rock, goth and other such areas of music and it's the channel I always check to make sure I'm not missing something fab. I was quite dismayed to hear that there was a possibility that it would be taken off air last year and I really hope this doesn't happen. Bearing in mind that there is a distinct lack of music shows on telly now it would be a real shame to take away the only channel that actually has something good on it! The recent 'Top of the Pops' shows from the eighties have been great fun to watch.

I suppose I have to make mention of the reality music shows that grace our screens throughout the year. Just as one ends, another one seems to start. I don't watch any of them though as I sometimes feel that we should have surely found all the talent we have by now. Some of these shows have been going for years and I have to admit I can't name very many of the 'stars' they have produced. I know and like Will Young and I'm pretty sure One Direction came out of one of these shows, but I don't think they actually won it though did they? I do like the premise of 'The Voice' more than any of the others as this is solely based on what they judges can hear rather than what the person looks like. My issue with this show however, is the judging panel. I don't really feel that any of them (with perhaps the exception of Tom Jones) can claim to be experts on talent. I mean, Rita Ora? Come on. Na. Sorry, not my cup of tea.

I guess the question therefore is what kind of music show would you like to see? For me, it would have to be one that includes some serious chat with the artists. I listen to a lot of podcasts and radio interviews with musicians I like and to me their opinion and thoughts are of great interest. I'd really like to see this on a TV show and have it as more of a chat show format where a singer comes on, performs a few songs and talks about various music issues and ideas to the host. It would be a great way of actually hearing from the 'other side' of music. As an example, I was listening to a radio interview recently where the singer talked about Spotify from the musicians point of view. I'd never really considered it before and I found it extremely interesting. This is the kind of thing I would like to see on a show. I have nothing against radio at all, I just like to see the folks that are talking that's all. Never mind about Jools jumping in on piano to overshadow your song, let's hear the real views and thoughts of musicians on what the industry is like for them and what their plans are.

There already is 'Needle Time' on Vintage TV which is hosted by music journalist Neil McCormick. This is an interview show with video clips and artists that have graced the show include Jackson Browne, David Gray and Mike Scott to name a few. Vintage TV is available on satellite and Freeview and this channel actually has quite a lot of good stuff on it anyway. I haven't actually seen much of this particular show, but it certainly ticks some of the boxes that I am looking for so depending on the guest, I might well give it a go.

I'm sure I have missed a lot out of this post as to be honest, it's one that has taken me a while to write. There are so many considerations to take into account that it has been hard to cover it all. I don't think I have really, so this may well become one of those posts that gets revisited at some point. Bit like Highway 61 I guess...

I really would like to see a serious show about music grace our screens. One that asks the artists for their thoughts on music as I think there is so much of interest out there that we are missing a trick. And if anyone is looking for a host, perhaps someone new who likes music and writes about it a bit, I am available for a small fee ;0)

So to wrap up here's a great radio interview with Olly Knights from Turin Brakes where he chats about an upcoming gig and touches on the music industry and how it has changed. Spoiler alert - Olly's speaking voice sounds remarkably like David Beckham so please don't get confused and think he's now a musician! It's very obvious that Mr B has stolen Mr Knights' famous speaking voice... (I was asked to write that).

Listen here.

Now this is what I'm rambling about. Imagine something like this, but on the telly. How great would that be huh? Indeed.

Gimme shelter...

I was part way through writing another post on music television (which I'll publish soon) when my tiny brain was filled with lots of thoughts and ideas about gig venues and whether this can have an impact on your enjoyment of the music. As I started writing this piece I was also made to consider the actual venues themselves and what they can mean to the people visiting them or to the local community. I actually ended up changing my stance while writing which I guess is not such a bad thing really.

The main reason this subject has been in my mind is due to a gig I went to last week. I'm not going to name the venue or where it was, but let's just say it was possibly one of the worst places I've ever been to to watch music. It was a pub with a room at the back which they had decided could be used for music. Clearly it had previously been a back yard or similar as the walls were the exterior walls of the building which caused the whole room to be absolutely freezing cold. I nearly kept my gloves on for the whole night. True story.

Unfortunately at the time this kind of made the gig a bit of a downer for me and while I was moaning on about it to a mate it made me consider how much the venue can actually affect your enjoyment of the thing you have gone to see. Be it music, comedy or theatre, can the place the event is happening wreck your night or even sway whether you actually go in the first place? Well, apparently the answer can be yes.

I asked some nice folks what they thought about this and here's what my colleague Jo Cook had to say:

"I generally don't go to mass arena music gigs now. Too impersonal, not close enough, they are usually in London so it takes all day to get there and then the trains don't run in the evenings etc. Best gigs are usually small, intimate venues, same for comedy, learning  etc, lots of space, but small enough for individual conversation. There are bands/comedians etc I would like to see, but I don't bother because of the venue!".

This seemed to be a common theme when I was talking to people and I totally agree with it. They said they had deliberately missed going to see a band due to the venue that they were playing in. I've done it myself in the past to be honest. When I lived in London I was lucky as most of the bands I saw played at reasonably sized locations such as the Hammersmith Apollo or Shepherds Bush Empire. But I guess this was also due to the fact that the artists were somewhat well known so they needed to be in the larger, better venues due to capacity. But then, what about the smaller, upcoming artists?

This coming week is Independent Venue Week, a 7 day celebration of the small music venues around the UK. Places like The Fleece in Bristol and Surya in London will host both up and coming artists as well as some bigger names like Frank Turner. Frank is the ambassador for Independent Venue Week and has been publicising the current e-petition which has been set up to ensure that anyone who buys or rents a property within a set distance from a music venue should sign a waiver giving up the right to complain about the noise. The UK 'Toilet Circuit' as it's known is running the risk of these venues shutting down due to escalating rent and noise pollution orders along with redevelopment which could mean closure may well be around the corner. These venues have nurtured some big stars over the years and by considering closing them down we run the risk of preventing up and coming acts getting off the ground as these are the kind of places they will look to perform at. Take a look at an article from the Independent on this here.

Bigger venues can be a pain in the arse too though. I have been to a fair few arenas over the years and you either end up sitting miles away from the stage and having to watch it on a screen (if there is one) or you're in the nosebleed section, looking down at a dodgy angle and not really seeing much at all. I know I went to see David Gray at Earls Court years ago, but I have no recollection of actually 'seeing' him as I was so far away from the stage I could've been watching anyone. And of course, a bigger venue means bigger speakers which means blown eardrums. Not good. Sometimes though, you have no choice but to go to the arena due to who the artist is. Bigger bands mean that more tickets will be required for the fans and there is no choice but to schedule the gig at an arena.

Can you hear me at the back?

In Nottingham we have a variety of venues of different sizes which can suit most musical crowds. We have a rather large arena for the bigger acts, the famous Rock City which is of a big enough size to get lots of popular artists playing there and the smaller more intimate Rescue Rooms or Bodega. There are loads of others too which is great for those of us living here as it means there is generally always something going on somewhere. We have had closures here too though and most mornings on my way to work I pass Bar Seven (or Junktion 7 as it was also known) which was a great music venue, but has been shut for a number of years now. There was talk that it would be turned into student accommodation, but so far it still remains derelict.

Something else I have been following with interest is the Save Soho campaign which was set up following the closure of world famous Madam Jojo's. The aim of group is to protect and nurture the music and performing arts venues of Soho which are rapidly disappearing. The coalition (which is formed of performers, residents and politicians) understand that redevelopment has to take place, but they want there to be an assurance that the character of Soho is still kept. You can find out more information and sign the various petitions for Madam Jojo's, the Curzon Cinema or Save the Spirit of Soho on the Save Soho website which you can find here. You can also follow the campaign on Twitter and Facebook. Look for 'Save Soho'.

The fight for Soho seems to be another in a long list of closures and I was also sadden to read about renovation of Denmark Street or Tin Pan Alley as it's affectionately known and the closure of the 12 Bar Club and Enterprise Studios. Since the 90's Denmark Street has been a parade of guitar shops, but it had great personality and remained untouched with no chain stores or coffee shops. Once upon a time it was the centre of the UK music industry with major music publishing and management companies being based there as well as recording studios which were used by artists such as the Kinks and Elton John. Redevelopment is inevitable, but it's still disappointing to see so much history disappear. Despite a petition to save the 12 Bar Club, it was ignored and the development moves on. The club has relocated elsewhere, but the heart has now been taken away from this small corner of London. This is something that seems to be happening more and more nowadays.

When I started to write this post it was mainly to talk about crappy venues and how they can ruin a gig or night out, but as I've been researching and thinking about it I have discovered this. The venue is important to the show. Of course it is. It can make or break your experience and if you end up somewhere that has a bad PA system or sticky floors you will probably come away feeling like the night has been shite. But here's the thing though. Sometimes those crappy venues are the starting point for a new artist who can't get to play anywhere else and without them, where can they go? An unsigned band is not going to be able to play the O2 arena now are they. Nope, it's the back room of the pub with the freezing floor for them along with the hope that one day they'll be playing somewhere a bit better to a bigger audience.

The fight to save these venues is an important one as without them the music scene will falter. We need to preserve the history of these great places and allow a whole new audience to enjoy and appreciate the reasons why they are there. I want to be able to tell people that I saw 'blah' perform in front of a small crowd in a tiny venue before anyone else knew who he was. And I can't do that if there are no tiny venues for him to perform in now can I? It may well be a ballache to go to the dodgy pub, but just think. It could actually turn out to be one of the best experiences you'll ever have so surely it's worth it in the end. Right? Just remember to take your gloves with you...

Blah? Yes, I saw him before he was famous

Music shop lovers of the world unite...

Right then. Hands up if you got some sort of music bought for you for Christmas. Now then, what was it? Did you get a nice CD or maybe some gorgeous vinyl? Yeah, me too. But I'm sure some of you also got either an iTunes voucher or the promise of some sort of downloaded music too. Correct? Thought so.

No feeling the presents

Now, I've written about physical vs downloaded music debate before, but this reared it's head again with me just before Christmas when it became apparent that the lack of music retailers available now is a huge pain in the arse. A friend of mine at work wanted to buy a relative a CD as a gift and had to ask where in town she could actually find a shop selling CD's. And you know what, when we thought about it there weren't that many to choose from. It left me feeling very sad. To make matters worse I saw a tweet from someone a few days later saying that HMV was absolutely rammed when he was out shopping. And why was that? Cos people want to buy bloody physical music and films, that's why. Pah. 

I went Christmas shopping at one of the faceless, massive shopping malls we all love so much and my partner had a look at what shops were there online before we went. He informed me that HMV had closed down and that there were no music shops there any more at all. I was gutted. He was in fact wrong though (or the internet was) as HMV was still there. And of course it was packed and we struggled to get near anything. Which is interesting if people are supposedly not buying physical music anymore. Hmm...

People, people everywhere...

I went to a gig last week and afterwards I bought a rather beautiful limited edition purple vinyl from the lovely merch lady and also got it signed by the artist. Now buying at a gig is all part of being a fan. You may be lucky enough to get some really great stuff that you can't get anywhere else. Could I buy this vinyl in a shop? Not likely. I may get it online, but would it be the correct one? Doubtful. And I definitely wouldn't be able get a signed copy of it. That in fact takes a mixture of a certain little smile, along with a little charm and a lot of style to go with it (wink). Or just polite harassment. You choose. Which is why buying in person for me is always better than taking your chances online. Plus I can now look at my signed vinyl and smile. I can't do that with a download can I? Well, I could, but I think people would be slightly more concerned about me than they usually are...

My partner knows that if I enter a music shop I will disappear without a trace in approximately 10 seconds flat. He's given up trying to keep up with me and knows that at some point I will appear again by the front door to find him. It's a fact of life. I go into a music shop, I will be kept occupied for a considerable amount of time while I roam the aisles. I love checking what is on offer, seeing if there's an album I haven't got or looking at the staff recommendations to find something new.

When I was younger we had a couple of independent retailers in my home town. Me and my brother used to love going to them and wasting away time looking for bargains. There was also the institution that was 'Woolworths' when we were growing up. I think I bought most of my 7 inch singles from there to be honest. It was a sad day when these shops closed down and our town had nowhere to buy music from. We had friends who worked in these stores and lost their jobs when they shut. We had to go further a field to buy CD's. It was the beginning of the end and for music fanatics it was the grim reality that it would never be the same again.

Who misses Woolies then?

Another mate of mine who also happens to be a musician, fully embraced the digital age of music not that long ago. He got rid of all his beloved vinyl and CD's and now only uses Spotify to stream his music. When I asked him why he'd chosen to do this he told me that he is fully aware that physical music is going to disappear in the near future and he is preparing himself for it in advance. Brave man. This is not something I can even consider doing though as I love my CD's way too much for that. When I moved house a few years ago I had to go through my boxes of singles and ended up chucking some of the older, rather obscure ones that I had collected over the years. It was a painful experience and even now I have the awful feeling that I might have accidentally binned something I wanted to keep. My partner didn't understand. He basically owns about 10 bloody CD's himself so he has no idea.

My brother on the other hand, does understand these things. He came to the gig with the last week and we were having an in-depth debate about vinyl on the way there. There has been a so called 'vinyl revival' of late where folks seem to be going back to buying this format over mp3. I said this to my bro who looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said "Well I've never actually stopped buying vinyl Nic". To be fair he is a DJ so I guess I can let him off on this occasion. But I do think he is correct. The muso's among us will no doubt be of the same opinion. Vinyl never actually went anywhere in the first place. We then had a long and rather interesting conversation about white label records and how you had to be in the know to be able to find the rare ones. None of this ordering them over the internet, nope. You had to visit a record shop and hope they had a copy somewhere under the counter (and that the they liked you enough to sell it to you) as they weren't advertised. Those were the days.

Mysterious white label record

When HMV collapsed a few years ago it didn't look good for music retail. The availability of cheap CD's in supermarkets was blamed and of course the online market such as Amazon. Funny thing is the supermarkets I go in only ever have a very small selection of CD's and usually only the so called 'chart' and not much else. Not the kind of place you would go to if you wanted to buy a specific album. Amazon does fare better I guess. I have bought quite a few albums from here, but mainly because I can't pick them up in a shop myself. Some of the HMV shops were saved, but the fact that the flagship store in Oxford Street has gone is somewhat of a crime. I spent a lot of time pacing those 3 floors and it was one of the many places I liked to shop when I lived in London. They now have a smaller place not that far away, but it's just not the same.

I was over the moon when a local campaign to save Fopp here in Nottingham worked earlier this year. The store was under threat of closure as their lease was coming to an end, but some local people got together to protest and finally they found somewhere it could relocate to. It's a great shop and every time I walk past it there and tons of people inside having a good look around. Fopp are leading on the vinyl revival and are proud to state on their walls that vinyl is killing mp3. Very nice indeed.

The debate is ongoing and could be considered to be about preference (as are most things in life). We sadly now have a lack of places where we can embrace music, be part of the discussion and spend our time thumbing through the LP's on offer in the hope of finding that little something special. We should support our local independent music retailers as much as possible because without them this becomes a thing of the past and those among us who truly love the physical aspect of buying and owning music will be left with no option but to become online consumers. And as someone whose house basically looks like a small branch of HMV, I can definitely say that it's not as much fun...

Got it, got it, got it...