Musical Influences

It can be said that most people's musical taste is formed in their childhood. And parents take a large part of the blame or praise for that. Then, as you grow, you become exposed to more and begin to develop your own direction. Unfortunately, this is where people go wrong and get mixed up in RnB nonsense, but they can be rescued.



My dad in his Freddie Mercury phase!



But this isn't about them, this is about me and my influences. I can put my musical education down to five people and here they are:

1) My dad! As a youngster, all those car journeys that were accompanied by the likes of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the like have instilled a liking of the 50's era. Add to that the occasional flicks through his record collection revealing delights as The Rolling Stones, The Hollies, Elvis Presley and of course Monty Python's Life of Brian!

2) My mum. Along with my dad, my mum has her own influence. Not her current music tastes, granted, but the likes of Marvin Gaye and the first two Beatles albums (although my dad lays claim to one of them). To be fair, even Tina Turner and Cliff Richard have left their mark on my steamy windows!!

3) My mate Doug (and probably his parents too!). Growing up together at the time of the British music boom in the early to mid-nineties, he was probably one step ahead of the game thanks to avid readership of NME. From there he ensured I got to appreciate the likes of Oasis, Supergrass, Kula Shaker, Cast and many more. Thankfully we both managed to skip the drabness of Coldplay. And he also helped me make the first connection with Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin and probably most joyously of all Nick Harper.

4) My lovely lady Marisa. I was already pretty advanced by the time she came into my life, and had written off the majority of 'new' music. She still managed to get me hooked on the Fleet Foxes and Mando Diao, whilst embedding Led Zeppelin further into my consciousness.



James, possibly pointing the way to music nirvana



5) My brother James. Easily the greatest influence on my musical education. Whilst I was playing my Subbuteo and Game Gear in my room, he was next door with his 'music centre' (radio, twin cassette AND turntable) blasting out the likes of De La Soul, Beastie Boys, The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. He also did his Ibiza phase which I just don't get. It didn't stop there, he embedded the Beatles in my head forever (although it took me a while to officially give in), The Beautiful South (and the Housemartins by association), and House of Pain.

So, those five people can stand up and take a bow and congratulate themselves on creating a musical connoisseur (or snob, take it as you will).

Anyway, I'm off to listen to a bit of Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band... (just kidding, it's The Sopranos soundtrack)

Albums You Should Own Part 7

Welcome back to another in my well-established series of suggestions for your record collection. When I say well-established, I mean I've actually put some thought into it and come up with more than a couple of posts in the same vein!!

I'm sure by now your bank balances have recovered from the serious outlay that was the entire Beatles studio back-catalogue, so we can move on to my next offering.

All Things Must Pass by George Harrison

Totally inspired by the showing of Martin Scorsese's documentary on the BBC over the weekend, my next offering is the debut solo album from the "under-rated Beatle". Fresh from the Beatle break-up and subsequent law-suits, George Harrison found an outlet for his ever growing stockpile of songs deemed 'not good enough' for Beatles albums Let It Be and Abbey Road. And, boy, what an album to produce.

Released at the end of 1970, in the vinyl format of the 'olden days', this was a triple album, but technological advancement meant that it fit on to two cds (even the 30th Anniversary edition produced in 2001 with bonus tracks).

It starts with "I'd Have You Anytime", a writing collaboration with Bob Dylan that gives a mellow opening before kicking up a few gears with the mammoth "My Sweet Lord", a song that both made George a fortune and also cost him a fair bit (a lawsuit centering on the similarity between this and "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons). Play this song and before the first chorus is over, you will be singing along. I guarantee it.

Following closely behind is "Wah Wah", written the day George walked out of the Let It Be sessions after a filmed heated discussion with Paul McCartney. The recording is distorted and noisy, thanks to Phil Spector (still basking in the perceived success of the Let It Be production), something George admitted his dislike of initially, but it grew on him.

Another gear change down brings us the first of two versions of the song "Isn't It A Pity?". This version is seven minutes long and beautiful. Enough said. Then George takes us back up a notch with a real gem, "What Is Life". I first heard this song on the Goodfellas film soundtrack, just a snippet during the film - the full version became one of my firm favourites. From here, we then have a rare cover version - George's rendition of Bob Dylan's "If Not For You". Equally as good as Bob's version, and possibly easier on the ear! This is followed by three good solid tracks (although many artists would kill to be able to have songs like them on an album) in "Behind That Locked Door", "Let It Down" and "Run Of The Mill".

After this, you'd be forgiven for wondering if the quality of songs might dip. Not just yet, for we are treated to another truly wonderful song, "Beware Of Darkness".

For me, the rest of the album does struggle to maintain the standards so far set, but one final mention should be given to the album's title track - "All Things Must Pass". First written and demoed during the Let It Be sessions (see the Beatles Anthology albums for the song's Beatle-days incarnation), George finally gets to air this masterpiece of musical philosophy and gives it the platform it deserves. It would have been a crime to have this playing second fiddle to "One After 909" or "Dig It".

And then the album finishes off with some good, solid if not unremarkable tracks including the second version of "Isn't It A Pity", "The Art of Dying" and the closing "Hear Me Lord". Then we get an extra treat in the form of recorded session jams, one for the purists only I think (a banner I happily fall under).

And there we have it, a real beauty of an album, often forgotten thanks to the extensive post-Beatles outputs from Lennon and McCartney. Hard to believe it's 10 years since George left us, but with albums like this, he'll always, always live on.

Ta'ra!!
And as George would say, "Hare Krishna"!

Reunions, reunions, reunions

Over the past couple of years, there has been an increasing trend of bands getting back together years after splitting up for whatever reasons.

The latest two are from the complete extremes of the spectrum: Steps - purveyors of cheesy, trashy, smile-until-your-face-hurts-even-though-you're-dying-inside pop and the Stone Roses - purveyors of Madchester, stare at your shoes, borderline tuneless singer yet the band of a generation that split acrimoniously after a long-awaited much anticipated second album failed to ignite the masses still in awe at the stellar debut album.

For me, the news of the Roses 'resurrection' was of more interest. Having only heard about their legend secondhand and been made to settle for multiple listenings of the albums, and the odd youtube video, the chance to witness it all firsthand is tantalising to say the least. Admittedly, the first shows in Manchester came around too soon for my bank-balance to have recovered enough to fund a couple of tickets. I just have to hope there will be a substantial tour to follow the scheduled album.

But this brings me on to a little gripe of mine...

Why risk the legacy for an ill-advised attempt to reclaim past glories? One reason is probably to supplement the retirement funds in light of the current financial meltdown. Another maybe a poor indictment on the current music scene.

Other bands that got back together with varying degrees of success: Take That (luckily, their fans grew up with them, so were generally at the age that meant they had the buying power to justify it); Spice Girls (just as the individual solo careers hit the rocks - short-lived most likely because nobody cared); Blur (because Damon Albarn needs to have as many projects on the go as humanly possible, and Alex James wanted a break from making cheese); Pulp (just because they can) and Spandau Ballet (because they all sued Gary Kemp, and having used all their money to do so, needed more, and Gary Kemp was feeling sorry for them!).

I've also heard that Liam Gallagher is open to a reconvening of Oasis to celebrate and tour for the 20th anniversary of (What's The Story) Morning Glory. Noel is less so, and I am on the side of the older Gallagher. There's no need.

One reunion I would like to see though is The Smiths. Not for any new material, just a bit of a tour playing the old stuff.

Oh, and before I go, the Dave project is continuing at a slower speed than expected, thanks to Sony and their dastardly addictive Playstation2!!!!

How times change...

There was a time in the quite distant past (oh, how depressing that is) when I became obsessed with football. And with that obsession came the peer pressure: Liverpool or Manchester United??!

Well, my first experience of footballclubreplicakitmania was actually not the real McCoy, as they say. My mum very skilfully copied the Derby County ram and stitched it on to a pair of plain white shorts. And I wore those shorts with pride. This was the first time I had had football gear specifically for me. Before this, I'd had the usual hand-me-downs from my big brother: England '82, Villa '81 (already a hand-me-down for James), then another unofficial Napoli effort from the Maradona era, Liverpool '84, and then Liverpool '85-ish away.

And then, I gave in, and the pestering of my parents began. My first full football kit came as a proud 9 year old boy with my full Liverpool kit in red. I was on the bandwagon and it was Liverpool-bound. The next season saw me running around on that red Liverpool kit with the white flecks on that looked like I'd been flicked with paint - the one they wore when they last won the title. I also celebrated England's World Cup success with a full away kit (again, red - must have been my favourite colour or something).

Then something inside me changed. Even now, 20 years on, I find it hard to explain or justify. One April lunchtime I was sitting in my parent's loung watching the FA Cup Semi-final between Arsenal and Tottenham. James was rooting for Arsenal, and something that I can only put down to healthy brotherly competition stirred me to support the Spurs. Gazza's free-kick started off a glorious Tottenham victory and a new glory-seeking affiliation was born. Spurs won the cup sporting a fancy new kit, and weeks later, I was wearing that very same kit (less the beer sponsorship) on the school field in a summer football course run by the legendary Frank Clarke. But to us kids he was just 'Frank'.

A few years later, I was one of the many excited Tottenham fans awaiting the new season with Klinsmann, Dumitrescu, Anderton et al. I was suitably adorned with the Tottenham shirt of the time (with the funny double collar thing... you know the one), playing football with my mates, celebrating goals with Klinsmann dives through the mud. I even went as far as to buy Germany shorts on a school trip to Germany!!

And then, the replica kits dried up. Mostly because I was considered 'too old' by my parents to have a football kit bought for me, and then lack of funds meant I couldn't by my own. But for my 21st Birthday, my brother kindly helped me fill the void with the all-white Italy kit of the 2000 European Championships (complete with shirt number 21, and name Ercoli - a Sopranos in-joke for those wondering). Then, if I remember correctly, it wasn't until the 2002 World Cup that I bought my next piece of replica merchandise. It was England again.

Then, in the summer of 2004 (I think, I may be wrong) I purchased my first and, to date, only Shrewsbury shirt. A special day indeed. Being different, of course, it was the away shirt, but classy all the same.

A couple of years later, I picked up a Glasgow Rangers away shirt in a JJB sale for a tenner, much to my now ex-wife's chagrin.

And my most recent purchase came in the form of last years Rangers 3rd kit shorts, and home socks (basically both black). I'm always on the look out for a bargain - my next purchase may well be from Austrian football (yes, they do play it, and yes, they're not particularly good at it).

But last weekend, for the first time, I took my eldest son and got him a football kit. His head has been turned by the financial masters in the blue half of Manchester, but, just like his dad, he went for the away kit. A chip off the old block.

And I'm still waiting to buy him his first Shrewsbury shirt, but you know all about that...

Notice to 'Dave' fans

Evening all, because for me, it is the evening.

Just a quick note to say I've taken the Dave stories off the blog.

That's because they will soon be appearing in print. Not an e-book, not on Kindle, or shitePad. In print. On real paper. You will be able to turn the pages and everything. Won't that be nice?

Before you get carried away in congratulating me on a publishing deal to rival JK Rowling, calm down, I'll be going down the self-publication route.

If you want a copy, please leave a comment here, or on the inevitable Facebook post, or by tweeting in my general direction.

I can't give a publication date as yet, as I've got to pull my finger out and write another four or five stories, but I would hope to have something ready for Christmas.

I'm quite excited by the way.

Don't worry, I will be bringing some other writing projects to the blog over the next few months.

JM.