It has been pointed out to me (in no uncertain terms) that my collection of CD's LP's, DVD's and Blu-Ray discs is taking up far to much room in our house.
Given that there is now much more music in the collection than I will ever be able to listen to and the options I have have been presented with are either I move out or the collection is dramatically reduced I have started putting some items on eBay.
As I get time I will post here as items are listed but in the mean time you can always check out my eBay page
Stephen's Used Music
For bargains on a variety of Music and Video
Friday, August 21, 2015
Saturday, October 12, 2013
I'm back...well sort of
After a long hiatus...which corresponds to getting back back to full-time employment. I have determined to get back to posting...if not on a regular basis at least every now and then.
As well as Music I have previously commented on some of the place I have traveled.
This first toe back into the waters of blogging is travel related.
Firstly here is a map showing places I have been. Still a lot of territory left to cover..Interesting that this app seems to count each individual US state as a country?
I'll admit there are many places I don't feel like visiting. And a few places I would like to visit but they will have to put in some four star hotels (at least) first.
And that's it for this first post in over a year...more soon, just not too soon.
Leave a comment on any places you have traveled or want to travel.
As well as Music I have previously commented on some of the place I have traveled.
This first toe back into the waters of blogging is travel related.
Firstly here is a map showing places I have been. Still a lot of territory left to cover..Interesting that this app seems to count each individual US state as a country?
| Get Your Own Map | View Larger Map |
I'll admit there are many places I don't feel like visiting. And a few places I would like to visit but they will have to put in some four star hotels (at least) first.
And that's it for this first post in over a year...more soon, just not too soon.
Leave a comment on any places you have traveled or want to travel.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Still Stuck in the B's - This Week in Anniversaries
Believe me I do appreciate the irony of this post. I know I only have myself to blame for the near constant touring of bands that now need their bus fitted with all manner of assisted living gear. For the constant re-issues of classic albums in different formats and packaging.
After all I'm the person that goes to some of those concerts and I'm certainly the one who buys all of those repackaged versions of songs from my long ago past. There are a few albums where I have at one time or another purchased two copies of the original vinyl (they were scratched, lost or sold to fund an overseas trip), The CD from when it was first released on CD. The CD from when the discs were remastered recently, the DVD 5.1 version and the Hi-Res 192/24 download. I'll even admit I'm now looking longingly at the Newly Remastered - Collectors Edition Box set of Paul McCartney's RAM:-
This week I heard on the radio a fair bit about the 40th anniversary of Davis Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the stone spiders from Mars" album. A few comments from different announcers and a few tracks (well one really, they all played "Starman")
There was also talk of a Beach Boys 50th anniversary tour. (all except for Dennis and Carl Wilson on account of them being deceased) complete with new album. I've listed to some tracks from the album and I guess it says something that even I will not buy it. I would go to see Brian and the band do their old hits but not in a 10,000 seat venue.
I know I was going to say something else in this post originally but all I can think of now is :-
Where is my Anniversary - remastered - collection edition box set of Ziggy Stardust?
After all I'm the person that goes to some of those concerts and I'm certainly the one who buys all of those repackaged versions of songs from my long ago past. There are a few albums where I have at one time or another purchased two copies of the original vinyl (they were scratched, lost or sold to fund an overseas trip), The CD from when it was first released on CD. The CD from when the discs were remastered recently, the DVD 5.1 version and the Hi-Res 192/24 download. I'll even admit I'm now looking longingly at the Newly Remastered - Collectors Edition Box set of Paul McCartney's RAM:-
- 5 disc (4 CD, 1 DVD) in deluxe packaging, plus two digital-only bonus tracks
- The original 12-track album, remastered at Abbey Road Studios in London
- 8 bonus audio tracks
- Remastered 12-track mono album
- Remastered Thrillington album
- DVD featuring previously unreleased and exclusive content including the brand-new Ramming documentary as well as original music videos
- Downloadable 24bit 96kHz high resolution audio versions of the remastered album and bonus audio tracks (via download card)
- 112 page book with scrapbook insert, plus photo prints, handwritten lyrics and mini photo book
- Box Set also includes digital-only premium membership access to paulmccartney.com.
- Digital download of 22 tracks and all video material
- Download Access included to facilitate the download of large files
- Add an exclusive RAM re-issue t-shirt plus an exclusive 20" x 16" RAM lithograph
This week I heard on the radio a fair bit about the 40th anniversary of Davis Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the stone spiders from Mars" album. A few comments from different announcers and a few tracks (well one really, they all played "Starman")
There was also talk of a Beach Boys 50th anniversary tour. (all except for Dennis and Carl Wilson on account of them being deceased) complete with new album. I've listed to some tracks from the album and I guess it says something that even I will not buy it. I would go to see Brian and the band do their old hits but not in a 10,000 seat venue.
I know I was going to say something else in this post originally but all I can think of now is :-
Where is my Anniversary - remastered - collection edition box set of Ziggy Stardust?
Friday, May 18, 2012
Back to the 60's - Lola and the Beatles
It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I am old.
I was born a mere 12 years after the end of WW2 and the world was a different place then.
My parents were youths of the of the 50's in England. Imitating American clothing styles while still riding their bicycles to work because a weekly bus ticket would consume half their wages. Both sexes teasing their hair and teasing each other but not yet protected by the pill, or the sense or cents to buy condoms. But enough about my parents, my conception and their teenage marriage.
My early youth was firmly in the 60's. A strange forward looking time when the world changed. Repeatedly.
I can recall the Beatles. Not as some semi-mythical figures from folklore but as an actual band who appeared on "top of the pops"
I won half a crown (or two and sixpence) at a local dance hall one Saturday morning singing to "Ticket to Ride" at the top of my voice when it was still in the charts. (c 1965) Much later I recall hearing "All You Need Is Love" and then seeing it on TV in one of the world first satellite broadcasts in a resolution that would embarrass most 6 year old filmmakers today.
As such the school houses are named after breweries (I recall being in Whitbread House) and everybody who boarded (there were also some day students from local showbiz families) lived in a pub.
So when the English Public School tradition of "Half-Term" (one of the six times a year parents might see their children) rolled around I would find myself off with a friend from school staying at a pub for the 3 or 4 day holiday.
One Half-Term I ended up staying with a friend from London in a small pub run by his Mother. The Abbey Tavern. I'm pretty sure this is not the current pub of that name. In 1968 it was a small pub around the corner from the Abbey Road recording studios.
So one weekend, probably early in 1968, I ended up in the pool room of a small English Public House playing 8 ball with a friend from school and a super group of the time. My memory is now fading and I can't tell you for sure if it was the Hollies or the Kinks that I played pool with that day. More recently I have tended to go with the Kinks as they have retained their cachet but I would still be happy with the Hollies.
So from 1968 (or thereabouts) here are the two groups:-
Just as an aside, (without going into the whole "Tom Brown's School Days" culture shock of English Public Schools)
I was born a mere 12 years after the end of WW2 and the world was a different place then.
My parents were youths of the of the 50's in England. Imitating American clothing styles while still riding their bicycles to work because a weekly bus ticket would consume half their wages. Both sexes teasing their hair and teasing each other but not yet protected by the pill, or the sense or cents to buy condoms. But enough about my parents, my conception and their teenage marriage.
My early youth was firmly in the 60's. A strange forward looking time when the world changed. Repeatedly.
I can recall the Beatles. Not as some semi-mythical figures from folklore but as an actual band who appeared on "top of the pops"
I won half a crown (or two and sixpence) at a local dance hall one Saturday morning singing to "Ticket to Ride" at the top of my voice when it was still in the charts. (c 1965) Much later I recall hearing "All You Need Is Love" and then seeing it on TV in one of the world first satellite broadcasts in a resolution that would embarrass most 6 year old filmmakers today.
In all of this history, somehow my parents (well by this time Mother and Step-Father, who would have thought?) were managers of a pub and by a further twist of fate I found myself for one year (Sept 1967 - July 1968) a border at the Licensed Victuallers' School
For those not familiar with the language or the school, this was at the time a school for the children of owners or managers of English pubs situated in Slough.
As such the school houses are named after breweries (I recall being in Whitbread House) and everybody who boarded (there were also some day students from local showbiz families) lived in a pub.
So when the English Public School tradition of "Half-Term" (one of the six times a year parents might see their children) rolled around I would find myself off with a friend from school staying at a pub for the 3 or 4 day holiday.
One Half-Term I ended up staying with a friend from London in a small pub run by his Mother. The Abbey Tavern. I'm pretty sure this is not the current pub of that name. In 1968 it was a small pub around the corner from the Abbey Road recording studios.
So one weekend, probably early in 1968, I ended up in the pool room of a small English Public House playing 8 ball with a friend from school and a super group of the time. My memory is now fading and I can't tell you for sure if it was the Hollies or the Kinks that I played pool with that day. More recently I have tended to go with the Kinks as they have retained their cachet but I would still be happy with the Hollies.
So from 1968 (or thereabouts) here are the two groups:-
Just as an aside, (without going into the whole "Tom Brown's School Days" culture shock of English Public Schools)
If you check out the Wikipedia Entry for the Licenced Victullaers School you may end up at the entry for "(Famous) People educated at Licensed Victuallers' School" which lists four people. I have never heard of two of them. (I thought I had heard of Paula Hamilton but it turned out she was a Model, Not exactly my circle)
So that leaves Tracy Ullman who has long been a favourite of mine (except for her last series) Most famous recently for attempting to prise some of the ill-gotten gains from "the Simpsons" from Rupert Murdoch's not quite dead but still cold hands.
And lastly Simon Cowell (who would have thunk!) who also attended the School for only one year. (as did I) If I would have stayed at the school till Upper Sixth I may have had the opportunity to bully the world famous bully.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Cinco de Mayo
To celebrate Cinco do Mayo (A celebration of Mexican Culture held in the U.S.) I bring you a Mexican duo who met playing in a thrash metal band and later gained fame playing in the pubs of Dublin.
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Amazing musicians who don't like to limit their music to a single genre. They have an energy an intensity that translates into the musical experience. They also do a great version of "Stairway to Heaven"
The sticker on my copy of the album goes on to describe how they are backed by a 13 piece Cuban Orchestra and special guests. From track 1, it's a masterpiece! I have yet to listen to the whole album but it is my currently my favourite album and my neighbors will be hearing it most of the day. The musicianship and artistry of the duo is now backed by all the power they need from a Latin brass section. The full orchestration adds so much to the songs while still allowing the two guitars to shine through. So I'm off to fill the esky with Mexican beer and have a blast for Cinco de Mayo.
If things do need to slow down later in the afternoon I can always listen to one of Linda Ronstadt's Spanish albums...I'm sure the neighbours will approve.
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Amazing musicians who don't like to limit their music to a single genre. They have an energy an intensity that translates into the musical experience. They also do a great version of "Stairway to Heaven"
Before I had seen any of this I was watching something on SBS last week when they flashed up a promo of four world music albums. "Time for some new music I thought" so yesterday I went into JB-Hi-Fi to look for the albums. mentioned. I could only see one of them and it was also listed as a staff recommendation with the comment "Rodrigo Y Gabriela as you have never heard them before"
As I hadn't heard any of their music before I was pretty sure they would be right so "Area 52" joined my collection.
The sticker on my copy of the album goes on to describe how they are backed by a 13 piece Cuban Orchestra and special guests. From track 1, it's a masterpiece! I have yet to listen to the whole album but it is my currently my favourite album and my neighbors will be hearing it most of the day. The musicianship and artistry of the duo is now backed by all the power they need from a Latin brass section. The full orchestration adds so much to the songs while still allowing the two guitars to shine through. So I'm off to fill the esky with Mexican beer and have a blast for Cinco de Mayo.
If things do need to slow down later in the afternoon I can always listen to one of Linda Ronstadt's Spanish albums...I'm sure the neighbours will approve.
Friday, April 6, 2012
A Little Bit of K-Pop and the LSO
Recently on a business trip to the Philippines and back via Singapore Airlines I had the opportunity (and around 20 hours in the air) to see a few films that I has been meaning to catch. "My Week with Marlyn" was one that I was glad to be able to see. Then I saw a number of films that were not quite so good and finally I saw 10 minutes or so of a some films that were a waste of 10 minutes even aboard a crowded Boeing.
I then turned my attention to the foreign language films and managed to traverse several thousand kilometers watching Bollywood blockbusters. Most of which stared the same actor and for some reason were at least half set in London. Anyway I quite like Indian films so managed to enjoy a a few hours with the colour and movement and subtitles.
On the last half of the return leg to Sydney I had enough of the tiny video screen and turned my attention to the audio selections. I skipped the English language playlists figuring there would be not much new there for me. It was then that I did the hard work that this blog is all about. I sampled all of the artists in the Korean and Japanese selections looking for new and interesting artists just so you don't have to.
There was a mixture as you would expect. Some greatest hits collections by superstars from years gone by and a host of boy-bands and girl-bands from the current Asian Pop scene. I found some of the greatest hits collections interesting. In the big production numbers from the 70's and 80's to my ear they that strange quality where you suspect they are big hits in their own country for the elements of the song that are western but to me the appealing parts are the bits that sound different. The best example of this effect is the track Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto.A worldwide smash in 1963.
Anyway I digress. While I would have like to follow up on some of the super stars featured this brings me to one of the first problems. With some artist names and albums only shown in Korean or Japanese and my firm resolve to only mangle one language (english) I have had a hard time tracking them down. No matter where I searched for an album titled "Super Greats" I could not find the Japanese artist I was looking for.
Skipping (not literally) pas the boy-bands and girl-bands I did find some interesting albums. There is no question that besides the over-produced manufactured fare there are some artists who are worth a listen. The one that I found most interesting was an album called Soul-Ri by a Korean artist Ali. Again searching was an issue. Searching anywhere for Ali is more likely to produce an image of a famous heavyweight champion of the world that a Korean pop star and even soul-ri produced nothing on any western music site.
Amazon - Nothing either in the US or the UK (i'll admit to not venturing onto the Japanese site.
iTunes - again nothing.
U-Tube did provide a few links including this one of track one. Just vocal and Piano. The track that hooked me into listening to the rest of the album
So problem three. Where to but the album. As mentioned Amazon and iTunes drew a complete blank. I could find sites to download a copy but I'm opposed to that if it is at all possible to buy a copy. I then ventured onto Korean pop sites and placed an order at asiandb.com using paypal rather than my actual credit card. Just over a week later, my order still shows on the site as in-stock and not shipped which probably explains why I don't have it yet. I'll keep you posted, I'm really looking forward to playing the album again.
Meanwhile if you do want to but something from Amazon Check out this re-release of a version of Tommy by the London Symphony Orchestra and guests. Issued after the original by the Who and before the movie (and movie soundtrack) it was a double album with the amazing booklet and packaging that made some LP's of the time truly multi-media
I then turned my attention to the foreign language films and managed to traverse several thousand kilometers watching Bollywood blockbusters. Most of which stared the same actor and for some reason were at least half set in London. Anyway I quite like Indian films so managed to enjoy a a few hours with the colour and movement and subtitles.
On the last half of the return leg to Sydney I had enough of the tiny video screen and turned my attention to the audio selections. I skipped the English language playlists figuring there would be not much new there for me. It was then that I did the hard work that this blog is all about. I sampled all of the artists in the Korean and Japanese selections looking for new and interesting artists just so you don't have to.
There was a mixture as you would expect. Some greatest hits collections by superstars from years gone by and a host of boy-bands and girl-bands from the current Asian Pop scene. I found some of the greatest hits collections interesting. In the big production numbers from the 70's and 80's to my ear they that strange quality where you suspect they are big hits in their own country for the elements of the song that are western but to me the appealing parts are the bits that sound different. The best example of this effect is the track Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto.A worldwide smash in 1963.
Anyway I digress. While I would have like to follow up on some of the super stars featured this brings me to one of the first problems. With some artist names and albums only shown in Korean or Japanese and my firm resolve to only mangle one language (english) I have had a hard time tracking them down. No matter where I searched for an album titled "Super Greats" I could not find the Japanese artist I was looking for.
Skipping (not literally) pas the boy-bands and girl-bands I did find some interesting albums. There is no question that besides the over-produced manufactured fare there are some artists who are worth a listen. The one that I found most interesting was an album called Soul-Ri by a Korean artist Ali. Again searching was an issue. Searching anywhere for Ali is more likely to produce an image of a famous heavyweight champion of the world that a Korean pop star and even soul-ri produced nothing on any western music site.
Amazon - Nothing either in the US or the UK (i'll admit to not venturing onto the Japanese site.
iTunes - again nothing.
U-Tube did provide a few links including this one of track one. Just vocal and Piano. The track that hooked me into listening to the rest of the album
So problem three. Where to but the album. As mentioned Amazon and iTunes drew a complete blank. I could find sites to download a copy but I'm opposed to that if it is at all possible to buy a copy. I then ventured onto Korean pop sites and placed an order at asiandb.com using paypal rather than my actual credit card. Just over a week later, my order still shows on the site as in-stock and not shipped which probably explains why I don't have it yet. I'll keep you posted, I'm really looking forward to playing the album again.
Meanwhile if you do want to but something from Amazon Check out this re-release of a version of Tommy by the London Symphony Orchestra and guests. Issued after the original by the Who and before the movie (and movie soundtrack) it was a double album with the amazing booklet and packaging that made some LP's of the time truly multi-media
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Angelique Kidjo - Now Touring Australia
Angelique Kidjo - With a voice even more impressive than her full name, which according to Wikipedia is Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo This singer from Benin has been at the forefront of African Music for a long time.
The first CD I picked up of hers was a greatest hits collection titled "Keep On Moving" 
Some of the track names looked familiar and once I listened to them the tracks were definitely ones I had heard before but I couldn't tell you where. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is more familiar by Jimi Hendricks. "Agolo", "Batonga" and "Wombo Lombo" turned out to be tracks I was also familiar with. The standout however was "Sumertime" the Gershwin penned song from 1935's Porgy and Bess. This version is certainly the best I have ever heard. Backed only by what sounds like a sparse bass line and a A Capella choir Angelique stuns with her vocals. The A Capella treatment features on most of the tracks on the album to great effect with the African rhythms
A search of the web will turn up many collaborations with famous western musicians and it is no surprise that she is held in great regard by Musicians everywhere.
Currently touring Australia I unfortunately missed out on tickets to see her at the Sydney Opera House which would be a fitting setting.
The first CD I picked up of hers was a greatest hits collection titled "Keep On Moving" Some of the track names looked familiar and once I listened to them the tracks were definitely ones I had heard before but I couldn't tell you where. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is more familiar by Jimi Hendricks. "Agolo", "Batonga" and "Wombo Lombo" turned out to be tracks I was also familiar with. The standout however was "Sumertime" the Gershwin penned song from 1935's Porgy and Bess. This version is certainly the best I have ever heard. Backed only by what sounds like a sparse bass line and a A Capella choir Angelique stuns with her vocals. The A Capella treatment features on most of the tracks on the album to great effect with the African rhythms A search of the web will turn up many collaborations with famous western musicians and it is no surprise that she is held in great regard by Musicians everywhere.
Currently touring Australia I unfortunately missed out on tickets to see her at the Sydney Opera House which would be a fitting setting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)