September 28th:
Dear all, under protest my ATOS form is done and all I have to do is wait for what fun and games my latest application for the esa benefit will inspire (remember, I still haven’t heard if I passed my second application yet despite only sending that in May, four months ago not six – what the hell are they playing at?!) However its becoming clear that doing all the different strands of this website (the news, the review and the top 10) plus living a chronic fatigue-induced life of pain that something has to give. I’ve been trying to give this a lot of thought and I’ve decided that as I love writing the reviews and I’ve been having too much fun with the top tens that it’s the news section that has to go (you may have noted its been getting a bit thinner on the ground as of late!) However, I might have just found the solution, thanks to ‘paper.li’, a website that’s allowed me to create a mock newspaper full of the news stories published on various official music websites in the past 24 hours from a total of 25 different news sources (so I’ve chosen either official website rss feeds or the official twitter feeds of every AAA artist I could think of). Now clearly this won’t cover everything (there wasn’t space to add entries from some of the lesser covered groups on this list, for instance),is rather biased towards which artists tweet/update their websites the most and it won’t add the odd TV/Radio repeat or DVD review that we’ve been offering elsewhere. However, it will cover the basics of what you readers might want to read and I can always to add to it with my own news items afterwards. Please note that, in time, you’ll be able to view ‘past issues’ by clicking on the calendar icon – I wouldn’t bother doing it now, though, because this is the first edition! – and if you want to bypass this site you can subscribe direct to the ‘paper.li’ feed and keep an eye on news stories in between issues (in fact someone seems to have done that already, which is a bit alarming seeing as the site is less than an hour old and I havenb’t advertised it yet!) Anyway, let’s give it a try and see how it works: you can read the first ever ‘paper.li’ version of our newsletter here (or alternatively have a look for it down the bottom of our home page on www.alansalbumarchives.moonfruit.com or the right hand side of the home page of www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk ):
http://paper.li/f-1347835090
I’ve actually been a busy bee this week and have also re-posted all of my own compositions on Soundcloud, with a link on our ‘links’ page on the blogspot site (readers of our moonfruit site can still hear the tracks via their own page) so you can all listen to some music while you read. There’s a handful of explanations I’ve cut and pasted from my old notes for the songs back in 2008 when they were first posted, but if anyone wants any more info on any tracks just let me know. Alas there isn’t enough space to post all of them but most of the best ones are there – and the bonus is you can download them to your computer’s download directory to keep or transfer to your I-pod (in fact two people have done just that – though quite what my Russian visitor makes of ‘Rain On My Window’ I dread to think; perhaps I ought to change the title to ‘snow’?!) While I’m on the subject, if you’ve got some recordings you want me to hear/comment on/plug remorselessly on this site and you’re already on Soundcloud (I always discover these great sites a year after everybody else!) then add me as a friend and drop me a note. The site is here (and my username is ‘Alan Pattinson’ if you want to add me/have a listen!)
http://soundcloud.com/dashboard
Finally, and best of all, Martin Kitcher’s wonderful ‘ATOS Song’ (‘You’re Not Fit To Live) is being issued this week as a fully fledged download in aid of charity. The song only costs 89p to download and, as we told you last week, is well worth it, seeing as it sums up perfectly the casual way this Coalition Government are treating the disabled and vulnerable in the UK. Please buy a copy from all online music websites (and from Amazon.com if you want a hard copy) and help take a stance against this tyrannical period in our troubled Government’s history. The Itunes page for it is here if anyone wants to buy a copy http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/not-fit-to-live-aka-atos-song/id562910152
And that really is that (finally!) It’s off to our smaller-than-usualnews column for our latest radio news...
♫ Beatles News: As said above, we’re going to use this space more for radio/Tv repeats and non-CD reviews that won’t make the ‘main’ list (ie films, documentaries and DVD releases) and, as ever, its a BBC6 repeat we havwe to tell you about. This week saw a repeat of the two part BBC6 ‘Beatles at the Beeb’ series, broadcast in the station’s 3am documentary slot last Sunday and Monday. It should be available on I-player for a while and is well worth a listen if you missed it last year, being the only official place where fans can hear a good hour or so’s material of the fab four at their rawest and most powerful.
♫ Dire Straits: Another unexpected BBC6 radio repeat was a longer version of the band’s 1978 session, back when the band were plugging second album ‘Communique’. Some 15 minutes of the show was repeated back in the Spring – hence the fact we didn’t bother telling you about it – but there was one extra track at the end, a sprightly version of ‘Lady Writer’, which was cut from that repeat. It was broadcast last Thursday in the 4AM ‘in session’ slot and should be available on I-player until this Thursday.
♫ Oasis News: In a busy week on BBC6, Oasis’ show at Clapham Grand Theatre (which if I remember rightly was around the time of ‘Shoulders Of Giants’ in 2000) is being repeated this Saturday, September 22nd at 2AM in the channel’s ‘Classic Concert’ spot.
ANNIVERSARIES: Birthday boys this week (September 19th-25th) include Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who would have been 78 on September 19th and Linda McCartney Linda McCartney (Wings and various McCartney solo projects 1970-97) who would have been 71 on September 24th. Anniversaries of events include: short-flighted Byrd Gram Parsons died in the Joshua Desert in still unexplained circumstances at the age of just 27 (September 19th 1973), Simon and Garfunkel re-united on stage for the first time at New York’s Central Park (September 19th 1981), Paul McCartney is arrested for drug possession for the second time in his career after a passing sniffer dog uncovers cannabis plants in his Mull Of Kintyre greenhouse (September 20th 1972), the Rolling Stones score their last non-compilation number one with AAA review no 58 ‘Goats Head Soup’ (September 21st 1973), the Stones also become one of the first rock and roll groups ever to play at the Albert Hall (September 22nd 1966), John Lennon signs an ill-fated contract with new label Geffen Records just three months before his death (September 22nd 1980 – his ‘replacement’ Neil Young has a horrid time trying to live up to being Geffen’s ‘big star name’ and ends up being sued by his former manager David Geffen), Paul McCartney is dead – or so a writer for the Illinois University declares for the first time on September 23rd 1969 (the rumours continue to this day - you can see a three-hour documentary about it on Youtube!), 10cc chart for the first time (under that name, anyway) with the release of debut single ‘Donna’ (September 23rd 1972), ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ finally makes number one 29 years after its original release, giving The Hollies the then-record of biggest gap between number one UK records (September 24th 1988; their only other #1 is ‘I’m Alive’ in 1965) and finally, Wings get the European leg of their world tour off to a good start by playing a forgotten charity gig for the restoration of water-damaged art treasures in Venice, raising $50,000 along the way (September 25th 1976).
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