Collection: The New Issue of Uncut!

I got this two days and forgot to post it. I also forgot to include the CD it came with as well in the picture but it's not related to The Clash in any way. I do like Uncut, although I don't purchase it regularly. I did love their special issue devoted solely to The Clash though, so naturally I was excited to get this. It's a great  article - I particularly loved the section were Paul Simonon made some very insightful comments regarding their infamous trip to Belfast in 1977. I must say I echoed his sentiments wholeheartedly indeed. Better still - I've finally been able to get some locations for the pictures taken of them here. I'd only been able to identify a few taken in Royal Avenue prior to getting this magazine. It's not just The Clash that provided the only bit of interesting reading in the magazine though for me - there's also a lengthy interview with Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac). I'm sure I'll find a new band worth investigating in their review section too, although I haven't read the reviews section really yet. Nevertheless it's a worthy addition to my ever-growing Clash collection!

Collection: Last Week's Amazon Order and a suprise one.

Afternoon all, I'm just back from my walk. My legs felt this one moreso - which I suppose is a good thing.

Anyway, after forgetting to do so a few times, I can finally share my Amazon order from last week now that it's all here. The first CD arrived on Wednesday which was obviously Joe Strummer's birthday. Naturally, I didn't want to make any posts that were unrelated to Joe on that day. Anyway, I got the 2CD version of Atomic: The Very Best of Blondie which comes with the bonus Atomix disc (a compilation disc of remixes). There's also Mirage which is only the third Fleetwood Mac album I have on CD, Ghost In The Machine which is my first Police studio album and Bleach (Special Edition) by Nirvana. I actually have all of Nirvana's studio albums now. I'll post a picture of my burgeoning Nirvana collection soon.  This should have been my last Amazon Order for around about six weeks, but something surprising happened last night. I've been searching for Earthquake Weather by Joe Strummer for around about six months. I can even remember traipsing around a record fair back in April trying to find it. It's very rare because it's been out of print for years. Why they've never reissued it, I do not know. Anyway, last night I searched again (I check for it on a semi regular basis). To my disbelief, my favorite Amazon Marketplace seller - Zoverstocks - had received one copy of it very recently. It goes without saying that I ordered it straight away. It's just too rare of a record to pass up. I search Zoverstocks for it pretty often and they've never had a copy of it in. It could have been months before they had it again; it could have even been never. Along with The Future Is Unwritten soundtrack and the Let's Rock Again! DVD, it was something I was missing. Those two are also very easy to purchase online anyway. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty lucky right now!

Blondie and Fleetwood Mac Goodness.

Afternoon all, I'm still here. I've just had a busy week of it. Writers block, feeling slightly ill and personal business being the main culprits for the lack of blogging. My reading has gone to rot too, I really should have finished my Clash biography at least a week ago. It seems to be creeping back now though. Hopefully I should able to finish it soon.

Anyway - I did watch two excellent music related things today which are both well worth watching.. Firstly, I watched the 2006 Blondie documentary entitled One Way Or Another, originally broadcast by BBC. Funnily enough they're actually repeating the documentary tonight. This was the first insight I've ever had into the history of the band. I'm pretty sure it was the first time I've seen Debbie Harry interviewed as well. I have to say, I really liked the documentary. Admittedly I would have liked it to have been a little more in depth about the music. It's understandable, but a lot of the documentary does focus on Debbie Harry's skills as front-woman and her looks etc. My favourite Blondie albums, Eat To The Beat and Autoamerican didn't even get a mention. I did love the insights into the innovative Rapture though. The other thing that struck me was just how low situations for the band went: I had no idea that Chris Stein suffered from a deadly illness that very nearly proved fatal. The other surprise was just how low their final album before they broke up, The Hunter, actually sold. It's actually one of my favourite Blondie records to be perfectly honest. It's amazing to think they were a top selling band, yet all the members ended up with massive financial difficulties. It's funnty how fast life can turn. It was also great to see Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads there too. The sole survivng member of the original Ramones line-up; Tommy Ramone, was also interviewed too. It's a shame that Dee Dee, Joey and Johnny all died before the documentary was made because I think they definitely would have been interviewed for it. In any case, it was a really interesting documentary and I'm glad the band were as interesting in it as I had hoped they'd be!

So after the documentary I wanted to watch something like a concert. After a few minutes I settled with Fleetwood Mac's The Dance. I've seen bits of this before, although not the full show. It was actually my first full length Fleetwood Mac show I've seen which is quite surprising really. I have to say I absolutely loved it. Watching it also gave me a new found appreciation for just how damn good a guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is too. You'd be surprised how often those sorts of things are lost on me. The version of Big Love performed here was brilliant. Other highlights were Everywhere (I think it was even better than the studio version), Rhiannon and the epic closer of Don't Stop, performed with the University of Southern California Marching Band.  My only (very slight) grievances were the absence of any material from Mirage, I'd have loved Only Over You to have been performed. Also I wished they had have performed Second Hand News or Never Going Back Again too. Admittedly very minor qualms. It's a great performance though and it makes me wish that one day Christine McVie will rejoin the band. I think I'll purchase the CD of it soon in all honesty, and definitely the DVD at some point also!

So that's me for the moment - I'm hoping that on Monday the iPad will return and I also think I'm going shopping on Friday too. I've another two posts coming today though, so stay tuned!

Yesterday's Purchases

I was working on this post last night, alias I was tired and went to bed. Anyway, last night I said that I didn't just get Electric, so here's all that I got. Left to right from top they are Pet Shop Boys - Electric, New Order - Lost Sirens, Goldfrapp - Black Cherry, Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night, David Bowie - Low and New Order -Movement (2CD Special edition). Originally my plan was to get Delta Machine by Depeche Mode but they only had the regular edition in stock (I always go for special editions). I just left it and that's how I ended up with Black Cherry and Low. I actually ended up with more albums for less money - Head is a fantastically priced record store. Even Electric only cost £9 which for a new album on release day is pretty good. Although the fact that there's no deluxe edition accounts for that I'd say. I'm so pleased that I finally got Tango In The Night as I've wanted that for ages, and I've finally got all of New Order's studio albums at long last!

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (Classic album)

Good afternoon/early evening. Summertime is definitely back here in Belfast, perfect weather for the annual Pride parade which took place today. I didn't go into town yesterday, so I'm hoping to do that on Monday. I'm actually listening to Tango In The Night by Fleetwood Mac which is pretty apt for this post. I love that album, I'm going to pick it up when I'm in town in nine days from now picking up Electric by Pet Shop Boys on release day.

Anyhow, last night I watched yet another documentary I had recorded from Sky Arts. This time, it was the Rumors edition of Classic Albums which was originally broadcast in 1997. There's been a-lot of Fleetwood Mac on TV lately which is always welcome. I've still got more to watch yet actually. Anyhow, I've seen a few Classic Albums but so far this has to have been the best one I've seen. I was expecting the documentary to be interesting because there's so much history surrounding the recording of Rumors. I mean the inner turmoil that dogged the band during the recording sessions makes listening to them retelling the story themselves always interesting. What was especially brilliant about this particular documentary was how it made me look at the music in a different light though. Tracks are dissected, more often than not elements are separated in the studios by the band. It allows for things such as rhythm lines etc to be played in total isolation and it makes you appreciate and marvel at the finer details of Rumors far more. My personal highlight was Lindsey Buckingham dissecting one of my personal favorite Fleetwood Mac tracks, Second Hand News. The track had so many elements that I had never even considered before and it's just made me love it all the more. The whole documentary is so worth watching though and it just underscores that the music on Rumors is stunning, regardless of the circumstances it was recorded in. Well worth watching!

Another Fleetwood Mac Documentary.

I had a day off from blogging yesterday, it's good to have days like that. I was meant to go into town and pick up two New Order albums: Movement and Lost Sirens but alias I decided not to. I'm going in this week instead. Also, last night I watched a Paul Simon Omnibus special. I have to say I really liked it - although I can't seem to locate it online to share with you.

What I can share with you however is what I've just finished watching. It's another Fleetwood Mac documentary. It's entitled Don't Stop and was broadcast on the BBC originally in 2009. This documentary I really liked, much more so than Behind The Music. Not least because it covered all their albums in more depth: including Mirage and Tango In The Night. It was especially interesting to see how in some ways the Buckingham/Nicks relationship was still rather tense even in 2009. The footage of them recording Tusk was also really interesting (I really need to watch their Tusk documentary). I highly recommend this documentary in all honesty!

Fleetwood Mac - Behind The Music

Another documentary that aired on Sky Arts about a week or so ago that I recorded. I've only just got round to watching it earlier. Even though I don't mention them on my blog nearly as often as I should, I love the Buckingham-Nicks version of Fleetwood Mac. So, I was looking forward to watching the Behind The Music special on them.

I have to admit - whilst it was decent - it felt very sparse. The version that I watched had obviously been updated from it's 1997 transmission. I think it was updated up until 2010 actually. Having said that - I often felt watching it that the documentary was pretty sparse. Perhaps understandable, there's a lot of history to cover to say the least. The biggest flaw for me was the way the documentary jumped straight from Tusk to Lindsey Buckingham leaving the group in 1987.  It pretty much ignored Mirage and Tango In The Night. The latter is probably my favourite Fleetwood Mac album. Needless to say, that was disappointing. Although to be honest I'm not sure if material had to be omitted so they could add the updated parts. That may well have been the case actually. In any case, I did enjoy the documentary. I just wish there was more of it (although I'm sure there's plenty of other documentaries).

One thing I did love though was it finally introduced me to some live footage from 1997's The Dance, which I've never watched before. The brief snippet was of Everywhere - and it sounded incredible. I watched the full song online straight after the documentary was over and I loved it. It's the video I've included in this post because I couldn't share a full recording of Behind The Music (though it's all on Youtube). I must admit - I've never actually realized how good of a guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is until I saw that. Definitely will need to watch The Dance soon! As for documentaries - I'm thinking either the Classic Albums edition of Rumors or their Tusk documentary will be next!

Updates & a documentary (yet again)

Hello everyone from a substantially cooler Belfast. It's a relief really because whilst the sunshine was lovely, when you suffer from bad psorasis (as I do) heat can become very uncomfortable indeed. I've got some lovely news today - I'm recieving posters of Joy Division and The Clash as a gift! I'm so pleased about that because they've been two notable absentees on my bedroom walls. I'll need to do some redecorating once they arrive (not sure when though, next week maybe) but when I do I'll be sure to post a picture! I actually took a picture of my old wall to share on my blog but its a bit pointless sharing it now that the walls are going to be changed. No sign of my Amazon order here yet either, I'm guessing its going to arrive tomorrow.

Anyhow - what I'm sharing with you today is a documentary I watched recently. It's Sound City, which was. Rather than focusing on any one particular band, Sound City instead focuses on a studio: Sound City itself, which is located in Los Angeles. I love learning about studios, record labels and all that sort of thing, its just as key as the music itself more often than not I feel. Dave Grohl directed the movie, which is his directorial debut. The studio - active from 1969 to 2011 - hosted some of the most famous artists in the world, including Slipknot, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails amongst others. Arguably the most iconic album to be recorded at the studios though was Nevermind by Nirvana (hence Dave Grohl making the movie), which pretty much saved the studio in financially difficult times. As such there's quite a bit of talk about Nirvana (Krist Novoselic is also interviewed) so I would heartily recommend the documentary to any fellow Nirvana fans. It's an excellent documentary, my only problem was that other than Fleetwood Mac and Nirvana a lot of the bands that recorded there weren't ones of interest to me. That is just a personal thing though, it's not a reflection on the quality of the documentary itself, it is excellently made. What was very interesting though is the way it makes you reflect on the changes in the music industry since CDs were introduced, and with the advent of Pro-Tools etc. I only wish Trent Reznor was shown more because he did provide a very interesting alternative viewpoint. It was also really interesting to see the studio: it was grotty as hell yet it was exceptional at recording drum sounds, hence why it managed to secure so many top quality artists and why Dave Grohl himself feels such an affinity with the studio. It's an excellent documentary, definitely worth it if you have an interest in any of the bands featured or you consider yourself a music geek!