Blog

It might be urban myth, or it might be a genuine quote from Paderewski the pianist. He claimed, ‘If I miss one day of practice, I notice it. If I miss two days, the critics notice it. If I miss three days, the audience notices it.’ I’m no Paderewski; I’ll never be a...

The very estimable Piers Cawley runs an on-line song swap on Friday evenings. Huge fun, either to watch and listen or as a participant: chat that might amuse, enlighten or just meander, studded with half a dozen songs each. Here are edited highlights of my session...

The voice is true enough but not a thing of beauty. Harsh, even. The guitar playing is clumsy, staccato, full of snaps and rattles. The whistle playing, on the other hand, is supple and deft. The material’s a rag-bag: the album opens and closes with contemporary...

An occasional series on buried treasure for the ears The memory haunts me still. 1979, a Friday evening, at The General Elliot in South Hinksey — a folk club that, in the few years I loitered there, foster-parented Jumpleads, Magpie Lane, The Mellstock Band, and...

Time, they say, heals all things. The sprained ankle, the broken heart, the ache of loss; they all mend with the passing years. Oh yeah? They’re wrong. One pang strikes as keen today as it ever did: that my ex-wife (who I remember fondly in all other respects) took...

I do like a big band. Nothing quite like one for rousing the blood, when the brass section kicks in and the fiddles all march in time. Home Service, Eliza Carthy’s Wayward Band, Salsa Celtica, Bellowhead.  And the Irish one, Moving Hearts. The Hearts came together in...

An occasional series on rediscovered treasures Recorded in 1973 -- but the band broke up as soon as it was finished, the members going separate ways to new projects. It was eventually released (slightly modified) three years later, by which time it had acquired Lost...

An occasional series on rediscovered treasures 1983’s Hand of Kindness is the second of Richard Thompson’s first solo albums; Henry the Human Fly after he left Fairport, this one after the break-up with wife Linda. It’s hard to pick a favourite RT — so many mean so...

An occasional series on rediscovered treasures When I was young and even more foolish, me and a chum tried to smuggle quotes from Bob Dylan songs into our English homework. We got away with 'blowing in the wind', 'when the ship comes in' and a few more. But when I...

An occasional series on rediscovered treasuresSomehow the old favourites fell short; too familiar for unfamiliar times. Crown of horn (Martin Carthy); Penguin eggs (Nic Jones); Handful of earth (Dick Gaughan); Led Zeppelin’s Four symbols. Not even Sergeant Pepper or...