PASS IT ON 21: weekly walkabout Sunday Supplement 8th October 2023

SIDETRACKS AND DETOURS

present

PASS IT ON

weekly walkabout Sunday Supplement volume 21

8th October 2023

Hello. We have another bumper PASS IT ON bundle today with contributions for nine differently named writers. Michael Higgins looks at what can sometimes be a fractious folk scene, and we will also hear bells ringing round the Ribble. We hear about jazz In Reading, of course, and Steve Bewick will serve us all with Hot Biscuits as he previews his jazz on air for this week. Andrew Peter, our correspondent in South Korea tell us all about looking at exhibits from the National Gallery London in his home city of Seoul. Meanwhile Ralph Dent remembers ´a shanty from old shanty town´, and Alfred Michael looks at the history of his local Moseley Festival in the UK as Norman Warwick´s island insight promises us a new rock festival on Lanzarote next month. Peter Pearson focuses on All Points Forward by looking back at the artists who have lined on to his record shelves, somewhere around John Stewart and The Eagles,. So, enjoy your reading

CONTENTS

Live Folk And Blues

Ringing Round The Ribble

preview by RIBBLE VALLEY JAZZ AND BLUES

Live Jazz Music

xxx

preview by JAZZ IN READING

Jazz On Air

HOT BISCUITS preview STEVE BEWICK

only a shanty in old shanty town

Remembered Music

review by RALPH DENT

Festival Fun

MOSELEY FESTIVAL

remembered by ALFRED MICHAEL

More Festival Fun as Manchester secures Womex

a report by NORMAN WARWICK

Island Insights

New Festival Lands On Lanzarote

preview by NORMAN WARWICK

A Reader´s Perspective

logo All Points Forward

Names On The List review by PETER PEARSON

Live Folk And Blues

Ringing Round The Ribble

preview by RIBBLE VALLEY JAZZ AND BLUES

photo radio Ribble Valley Jazz And Blues is a much more all encompassing name than it may see. Of course, it alludes to the brilliant festival they organises each year in what is one of the most scenic and beautiful festival locations in the UK. What the name doesn´t tell you is that they also have a radio programme service, at Ribble fm 106.7 and they publicise the jazz and blues clubs and acts of that genre on the radio, and in newsletters in fliers.

The latest information we have received from them reminds us that Agbeko embody a heady concoction of Afrobeat, psych-rock, Ethiojazz and Protest Song. Channelled through an onslaught of horns, irresistible grooves and powerful lyrics, Agbeko’s songs strive to call out corruption and embolden the collective pull towards societal change and healing in present times. They are the soundtrack for a congregation revelling upon a world teetering on the edge of collapse.

Drawing as equally from Fela Kuti and Mulatu Astatke as they do from Led Zeppelin and Woody Guthrie,
‘Agbeko are their own force of nature, with a message, an understanding and an consitent ability to erupt a dance floor.’ (Groovement)

Deafhaüs confirmed as support!

We delivered this news to you last week, so this is just to remind you.

There is always good news, though, in any correspondence from Ribble Valley, and this week´s included the fact that

RVJB Presents

Low Moor Club Jammin’

If you’re looking for a chilled evening with good company, good beer and great entertainment then Low Moor Club is the place to be.

2nd Tuesday of the month. 7:30 pm.

Low Moor Club, St Paul’s Street, Clitheroe BB7 2LS

We have some crackin’ good players come along who may well treat you to a rendition of Lee Morgan’s Sidewinder or similar. Equally, and just as importantly, we have players like me!  Still got a way to go! It’s about having the opportunity to play with a solid back line and feeling comfortable to take part.

Pay us a visit.  It’s free, open to all and you’ll be made most welcome with or without an instrument.

Live Jazz Music

The Blues Explosion
with Marcus Bonfanti,  featuring Jo Harrop 

Bishop’s Court Farm

Dorchester on Thames OX10 7HP

Sunday 15 October
Doors 6pm | Show 7 – 9pm | £22

The third show in an exciting series of contemporary jazz evenings at Bishop’s Court Farm

 ‘Utterly spellbinding.’ The Times

´ delicacy and boldness. Sheer perfection.’ The Guardian

photo 1 Marcus Bonfanti has the blues running through his veins like a stick of rock. With a gutsy, whiskey-soaked voice that sounds like the missing link between Tom Waits, Paul Rodgers and Leon Russell, his music is a potent gumbo stew of classic blues and rock and roll.

Bonfanti’s sound has an intoxicating edge that has won him numerous awards and a raft of critical acclaim since he first burst into the spotlight. He has had a regular residency at Ronnie Scott’s for over a decade and worked with an illustrious list of legends including Van Morrison, Ronnie Wood and Eric Burden.

For this special Snug Sessions show, Bonfanti and his barnstorming band will be joined for a unique set of timeless jazz and blues duets by the unmistakable voice of Jo Harrop, who first collaborated with him on her debut solo album, The Heart Wants.

Warm, smoky and capable of the most delicate dynamics, Harrop’s sublime voice shimmers and weaves its way between the notes of Bonfanti’s deliciously understated bluesy guitar like steam, revealing an intimacy few singers are capable of generating.

After signing to London-based jazz label Lateralize Records, she received rave reviews everywhere from The Times to The Guardian and has been played extensively on BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 2 and Jazz FM.

Marcus Bonfanti – Guitar/Vocals / Jo Harrop – Vocals

Now Here’s news of another unmissable show

logo Live Jazz

DARIO NAPOLI GYPSY JAZZ TRIO

Wednesday 18 October
The Crooked Billet, Newlands Lane, Stoke Row RG9 5PU

preview by JAZZ IN READING

Promoting his new album Gypsy Nights, enjoy this internationally acclaimed gypsy guitarist within the intimacy of the Crooked Billet.

Whilst his path in jazz began in New Orleans and his musical upbringing is rooted in blues, rock & modern jazz, over the last 2 decades Dario Napoli has built an international reputation as one of the world’s greatest gypsy jazz musicians.

He’s presented his modern Manouche project at some of the world’s most renowned festivals, at both straight ‘jazz’ events as well as many of those built around the legacy of Django Reinhardt.

Dario has shared the stages with all the giants of the genre from Stochelo Rosenberg & Martin Taylor to Robin Nolan.

On Wednesday 18 October Dario performs with Tonino De Sensi on bassand Tommaso Papini on rhythm guitar, infusing modern sounds & arrangements with traditional Manouche gypsy music – just as Django Reinhardt performed.

A special £15 concession ticket price offered to ‘Jazz in Reading’ email recipients (usually £30) mention ‘Jazz in Reading’ £15 tickets when booking.

For further information, tickets & table reservations contact the Crooked Billet on 01491 681048 / 682304 or paulclerehugh@thecrookedbillet.co.uk

Arrive between 6.30 – 7.00 pm (pre show dinner) on stage 8.30pm

Full regular menu, £30 music cover charge | A special £15 concession ticket price is offered to Jazz in Reading email recipients; just mention ‘Jazz in Reading’ £15 tickets when booking.

Jazz On Air

HOT BISCUITS preview STEVE BEWICK

Hello to all you jazz listeners.

Next week, in our broadcast of Hot Biscuits there are some live tracks from a session featuring harmonica maestro and purveyors of fine beards, Robin Sunflower with Robin Dewhurst on keyboards.

Also included is Adam Fairhall, Tebu Muziki with Hugh Peters, `In Pain.`

Cerys Matthews MBE ; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the “Cool Cymru” movement of the late 1990s.

Matthews programmes and hosts a weekly music show on BBC Radio 6 Music, a weekly blues show on BBC Radio 2, and a weekly show on BBC Radio 4 ‘Add To Playlist’ which won the Prix Italia and Prix Europa 2022. She also makes documentaries for television and radio and was a roving reporter for The One Show. She founded ‘The Good Life Experience’, a festival of culture and the great outdoors in Flintshire in 2014, and is author of Hook, Line and Singer published by Penguin Books and children’s stories Tales from the Deep and Gelert, A Man’s Best Friend, published by Gomer.

Her illustrated version of Dylan Thomas‘s Under Milk Wood was published in November 2022, by Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

So, as Cerys and I are obviously fellow broadcasters I was delighted how she described how Adrian Cox, clarinetist and saxophonist,  as ´touching the other world that all musicians aspire to. Listeners to Hot Biscuit will surely agree with her after listingig to a track by Adrian and his trio..

We will also play The  Michael Hughes Trio, albeit  in practice mode.

Another highlight track is of Joe Pass with,  You Stepped Out Of A Dream.` Vocalist Stephan O’Goodson tells us of  Crush and the show closes with us accompanying Chet Baker on his flight  `Over The Rainbow.` If these look good to follow you can catch me at www.mixcloud.com/stevebewick/  24/07

a shanty in old shanty town

Remembered Music

review by RALPH DENT

Theodore Leopold Friedman, better known as Ted Lewis (right, June 6, 1890 – August 25, 1971), was an American entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician. He led a band presenting a combination of jazz, hokey comedy, and schmaltzy sentimentality that was a hit with the American public. He was known by the moniker “Mr. Entertainment” or Ted “Is Everybody Happy?” Lewis.

“In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town” is a popular song written by Ira Schuster and Jack Little with lyrics by Joe Young, published in 1932. Ted Lewis and His Band performed it in the film The Crooner in 1932. His version was released as a single and it went to #1, where it remained for 10 weeks.

I loved, and still love that song. When I used to go pub singing in the late fifties and sixties with my step-father-in-law, Sid Anderson, it was  a staple part of our repertoire. We might have looked a pretty incongruous partnership, as I was six foot tall and large and Sid was five foot nothing and skinny. We were Don Estelle and Windsor Davis long before It Ain´t Álf Hot, Mum. We were, perhaps, the original Little and Large. But we each had melodic bar-room voices and we could harmonise and we usually had enough pennies in Sid´s cap to buy fish and chips on the way home.

The ´audiences´ in venues like The Coach And Horses, The Welcome Inn and The Junction, (which was our Prestwich And Whitefield Weekend tour, ofen playing all three auditoriums on the same evening!)  seemed to love the song every time we performed it, but to this day I´m not sure what made the song so popular. There was an air of nostalgia, a homesickness, a yearning,…and maybe a bit more.

The dictionary definition of the word ´shanty´ is ´rough cabin, hut or mean dwelling. It is thought to derivbed from the French Canadian word ´chantier´ a word meaning gantry and appertaining to a  meaning lumberjack´s headquarters ! That in itself was derived from the Latin ´cantherius´ meaning rafter or frame, so I suppose shanty came to describe an old wooden, basic residence.

photo 2 I think I´m correct in saying that Sid and I had learned the song from a recording by Doris Day, (born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff, April 3, 1922), an American actress, singer, and animal rights activist. Doris began her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording, “Sentimental Journey”, in 1945. After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to try a solo career, she started her long-lasting partnership with Columbia Records, which would remain her only recording label. The contract lasted from 1947 to 1967, and included more than 650 recordings, making her one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century. In 1948, after being persuaded by Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne and her agent at the time, Al Levy, she auditioned for Michael Curtiz, which led to her being cast in the female lead role in Romance on the High Seas.

A SHANTY IN OLD SHANTY TOWN is a much a part of the jazz genre as it is a folksy-bluesy sort of number.

It remains one of those popular songs given new life by improvisers. On YouTube, you can find Ted Lewis’ 1932 let-no-heartstring-be-untugged version, the 1940 Johnny Long hit (where the band sings vaguely-hip glee club lyrics) and there’s also a Soundie.

But many deep listeners will know it from recordings by Edmond Hall and Coleman Hawkins, then Red Allen and George Lewis and on and on. The harmonies are not the usual, with many traps for the unwary.

The lyrics, not heard here, are a Depression-era fiction (1932) where the speaker rhapsodizes about his decrepit home in the poorest section of town, but inside there’s a “queen / with a silvery crown,” whom I take to be Ma. Another version of “We’re incredibly poor but we’re happy,” which I suspect kept Americans from rioting. Cultural historians are invited to do their best.

logo Festival Fun

MOSELEY FESTIVAL

remembered by ALFRED MICHAEL

If you haven´t already met, I´d like to introduce you to Moseley Folk And Arts Festival, that takes place annually in Moseley Park´s not-so-.secret hideaway. The event is a family-friendly festival exploring the very best of contemporary folk.

The festival is held in Moseley Park, a stunning eleven acre woodland glade in the heart of Moseley village, just two miles from the centre of Birmingham. Nevertheless, it’s a world away from city life. It is, instead, the perfect setting for a festival, with its sloping grounds creating a stunning amphitheatre in front of a beautiful lake.

Moseley Park is adjacent to the Village. Therefore convenience shops, newsagents, restaurants, pubs and cash machines are all nearby. The Park is home to a huge variety of trees and plants and supports a wealth of wildlife. It also holds one of the Midlands’ best-preserved ice houses. A kind of eighteenth-century refrigerator, this was used to preserve food and serve ice to the Moseley Hall owners. During the festival, the Ice House will be open for viewing, courtesy of volunteers from The Moseley Society.

The park is also home to the I AM YOGI studio, a dedicated space for yoga practice surrounded by the trees and tranquillity of this beautiful park. The purpose-built studio opened in October 2018 and runs a schedule of classes 7 days a week from Basics to candlelit Restore. Whether you are a practising yogi or have never set foot on a mat, there is a class for all in a welcoming and relaxed environment surrounded by nature.

Loyalty tickets  for next year´s festival  are already on sale to previous ticket holders and the event´s database. Next year´s event will be held from 30^th August to 1^st September 2024, and will be the eighteenth successive Moseley Park Folk And Arts Festival

 Each year we try our best to improve on the last, and judging by the size of our audience and the positive feedback we’ve had from our regulars we tend to get most things right.

We try to program a healthy mix of traditional, contemporary and downright experimental folk and acoustic music. Showcasing unsigned acts right next to well-established international artists makes for a really exciting bill.

Ours is very much a family-friendly event with activities for all ages. An independently run festival, each year put together for the love of music, community and friendship, giving us all the chance to see our favourite acts in a much more idyllic and intimate setting.

photo 1 isb Previous artists include legends like Jethro Tull, Supergrass, Billy Bragg, Jake Bugg, Don Mclean, The Monkees, Davy Graham, The Dubliners, Tinariwen, Johnny Marr, Richard Thompson, Saint Etienne, Incredible Sting Band (left) , Pentangle, Laura Marling, Ian Campbell, and The Waterboys over the years and with each year and your support getting better and better.

Before next year´s event proper you can generate the Moseley Folk & Arts magic to stretch through the year.,with local gigs in Birmingham. Check out what we have coming up at the Moseley Park Folk And Arts Festival web site. You can catch with up and coming local artists and established names like Americana artist Lucinda Williams, at Birmingham Town Hall on 1^st March. We will keep you updated on the musicians playing next year as announcement are made,

EFEx AND MANCHESTER SECURE WOMEX FESTIVAL

Norman Warwick shares their press release as English Folk Expo celebrates

efex logo pio International music convention WOMEX will be coming to Manchester next year after the city won its bid to host the prestigious global event on behalf of the UK and Ireland.

WOMEX takes place each year in a different European city and features a huge trade fair, talks, films and showcase concerts. While the daytime activities are reserved for music industry delegates, the live night-time music events will be ticketed and open to members of the public as well as delegates.

With Manchester Music City at its helm, Manchester’s winning bid was led by the city council with Brighter Sound, English Folk Expo, Marketing Manchester, the hub, Factory International, Horizons, British Council and Arts Council England.

Hosting WOMEX will put Manchester firmly front and centre of the international music scene with the event expected to attract over 2,600 music professionals and performing artists from around 90 different countries.

Its musical spectrum covers everything from the most traditional of music forms to the latest local underground, embracing folk, roots, jazz and local cultures, alongside urban and electronic sounds from across the globe.

The convention will take place at venues across the city centre – with Manchester Central hosting the main conference and trade fair, and venues including Aviva Studios, Albert Hall, Bridgewater Hall and O2 Ritz all set to host live music showcases, alongside a programme of international films at HOME.

Debra King (left) Director of Manchester Music City, offered her thoughts.

“As a city with music in its DNA, where better to host one of the most important international music events in the world. Bringing WOMEX to Manchester in 2024 demonstrates a strong commitment to the value of international music, and of being connected to the global music industry.

“Hosting WOMEX will help us to promote our incredible city region on the world stage, strengthen our reputation as an innovative, diverse and international hub for music, and channel our innovative and creative spirit into supporting new waves of talent. The impact of WOMEX 2024 will be made possible by the partnership with UK and Ireland, ensuring a cultural, social, and economic legacy resonating across the city region, the North and beyond.”

The economic impact of hosting the conference in Manchester is expected to be significant.

Based on similar global events of this size hosted in the UK it’s estimated that the total value of business generated at WOMEX 2024 will be around £28.3m, of which an estimated £5.6m will be generated by UK delegates (see note 2 to editors).

Beyond the value of business done at the event itself, the conference and related live events are expected to provide a direct economic boost to Manchester and the city region of between £2.9m – £3.2m.

The convention is also expected to generate a significant economic impact across the wider UK of between £6.3m – £7.2m.

Councillor Bev Craig (right) , Leader of Manchester City Council, believes that “The figures speak for themselves in terms of the economic impact that hosting WOMEX 2024 on behalf of the UK will have.  But this isn’t just about the numbers.  Just as important will be the real opportunities it will give our musicians and other professionals working in the music industry to network and do business on their own doorstep with their peers from around the globe.

“In Manchester we’ve long recognised the powerful role that music and culture can play in regeneration, creating jobs, and other opportunities, and are determined to do everything we can to support the sector and the people who work in it.”

As well as a packed programme across the five days and nights of the convention, work is also underway to ensure that WOMEX 2024 creates a tangible, lasting legacy for everyone involved in music in Manchester, the North, and across the UK and Ireland.  This work is being led by Manchester based Brighter Sound. 

With an overarching focus on social justice and sustainability, it’s hoped the plans being developed will better help musicians, producers, promoters and other music professionals of all ages – including young people – to make a sustainable living from music , locally, nationally and internationally.

Kate Lowes, from Brighter Sound, said: “Brighter Sound is delighted to be leading on the legacy programme for WOMEX 2024. We’ll be working collaboratively to do this and bringing our passion for inclusion and equality into the heart of the work we deliver. We’re looking forward to working with communities of young creatives, artists and independents from across the region, in partnership with the UK and Ireland, to amplify the amazing work that is already happening and to have a long-lasting impact on the sector for generations to come.”

Whilst the convention itself is aimed at musicians and professionals in the music industry, there will also be a full programme of live music showcases and films that will be put on sale to the general public. 

Tom Besford, from event delivery partner English Folk Expo, is a real fan of Womex, saying : “Manchester will be an amazing place to host WOMEX. Whilst I’m incredibly excited to welcome the international music industry to our city, it’s even more brilliant to have thousands of tickets available for local audiences to some of the most spectacular worldwide bands. 

“You might not have heard of WOMEX before, but this really is the best gathering of global music anywhere. I hope music lovers from across the region and beyond embrace this once-in-a-generation event to discover life-changing music.”

WOMEX is owned and produced by Berlin-based organisation Piranha Arts, who will be celebrating the event’s 30th anniversary in Manchester in 2024.

Alex Walter, Director, WOMEX, said: “It is wonderful to be in Manchester, marking the 30th anniversary of WOMEX amidst the vibrant cultural boom and diversity of this city. Gathering the global music community in Manchester, alongside friends, collaborators and creative minds from the UK and Ireland and beyond, presents a remarkable opportunity for all. We are all very excited.”

Piranha Arts will be working closely with Manchester Music City and the rest of the Manchester event team over the next year to help market the convention to potential delegates around the world and to help ensure its success.

Sheona Southern, Managing Director at Marketing Manchester, said: “We’re delighted to hear that WOMEX, the pinnacle meeting of the global music industry, is coming to Manchester in 2024. This is a truly significant occasion for the city, which has a rich and illustrious musical heritage that has left a lasting mark on the global music scene. Manchester has always been at the forefront of innovation and creativity in music and hosting WOMEX reaffirms our position as a vibrant and influential hub in the music industry. With over 2,600 professionals and artists from 90 countries converging on the city, we anticipate a remarkable exchange of ideas, sounds, and experiences. This event is a testament to the power of music in the city and we will be delighted to welcome the world to us in 2024.”

WOMEX 2024 is being supported by Arts Council England, British Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and Manchester City Council.

Jen Cleary, Director North, Arts Council England, said:“It is fantastic news that WOMEX is coming to Manchester in 2024 and I’m delighted that we have awarded a grant of £300,000 towards this hugely significant event. Alongside the concerts, trade fair and talks, it will provide an opportunity to showcase the very best of our local music and culture to international promoters as well as highlighting the quality and breadth of the region’s music sector. The accompanying programme working with artists, schools and community music groups will ensure that this global event engages with local audiences and creatives while delivering a positive economic impact to the city. Manchester is well known for its extraordinary music scene and I’m looking forward to seeing it celebrated next October.”

Joel Mills, Director Music, British Council, said:“We’re thrilled that Manchester will be hosting WOMEX in 2024. As a global music conference and showcase, it will offer wonderful opportunities to bring new cultural connections for the city and across the wider UK. We are committed to supporting Manchester Music City to build on our WOMEXchange partnership programme that will nurture and build international relationships that can reflect the exciting and vibrant diversity of its music communities.”

Island Insights

New Festival Lands On Lanzarote

preview by NORMAN WARWICK

It is only a few weeks ago that American actor John Malkovich delivered a prestigious one-man performance (not counting a thirty piece orchestra and two sopranos) to fulfil a twenty year held ambition to play at Jameos Del Agua, having seen the incredible theatre in a huge underground cave whilst under construction. The theatre is now, of course, a fabled venue, where we have seen symphony orchestras play, heard wonderful chamber music and even seen the musical biography in play-format of Cesar Manrique, the artist who envisioned the theatre and who remains, thirty years after his death, the stuff of legend here on the island.

The performance by Malkovich was frantic, frenetic and fantastic and you can still find my confused and confusing review in our archives of what was purporting to be a reading of his autobiography but was actually a reading from, and comment upon, the autobiography of a German serial killer !

Malkovich called the evening The Infernal Comedy, which had me drawing comparisons to Dante´s Inferno, of course, and I also referenced a music group that pop up regularly on my. playlists.

The Divine Comedy last year released their second Best Of album, called The Charmed Life. Two best of albums should not make you think of a couple of collections of chart hits,….they have delivered only a few, well, one maybe, of those, but their songs are all socially perceptive and take a somewhat wry look at themselves and the world.

Amazingly I never had the chance to see them in the UK but in November I am hoping to see them here on Lanzarote as part of a new arts and culture festival. That in itself is great news for an island that in January will see the start of the The Canary Islands International Classical Annual Musical Festival that brings fantastic acts to tour the eight islands.

Canari Festival 2023 lanzarote This new festival, meantime, in called Canari, and will see the Divine Comedy and support groups play on Lanzarote and our near-neighbour island, La Graciosa, the eighth island to be inducted into The Canary Islands a few years ago.  Like many festivals held on the islands, Canari promises to bring ´experiences linked with music, the landscape, food and heritage.´ It is certainly our experience on the island, having lived here now for eight years or so, that these festivals enhance our life-style, but there is no doubt in my mind that the island life-style mutually enhances these festivals. The festival will be staged at a variety of venues on both islands, with Lanzarote holding events at La Geria, Salinas de Janubia, Arrecife and San Bartolome. I´m pretty sure that news will make its way to our editor, to include in his what´s on listings so keep your eye on Lanzarote Information and What´s On Lanzarote.

The Divine Comedy will surely be the headline act of the series and they are likely to attract a huge audience. They already had a large niche following of their own before  that one hit I referred to earlier, National Express, in 1999, and the music they later composed for the Father Ted sitcom swelled those numbers. It is fantastic to hear that the line-up for this festival also includes Spanish artist Maika Makovski (left) , garage rockers The Parrots and the popular indie group Zürych, who hail from Lanzarote,

If any further reference is needed to persuade readers that this promises to offer a spectacular November is the reassurance that the festival is being organised by the same team who deliver the annual Sonida Liquidos Festival in the earlier months of the summer. Canari Festival will offer similar dining and wine-tasting experiences.

I will, naturally, deliver as many reviews as possible from the various performances, and I will be definitely purchasing a copy of Charmed Life, another best of collection from The Diving Comedy, the Indy rock-band formed in Northern Ireland in 1989. The track-list on this album contains a song called Norman and Norma, so I will be prepared to sign your copies should you wish to approach me. I don´t think the song is really about me but as my name is Norman, which for some reason Google  translates in Spanish  to Norma, I think I can stake my claim.

Tickets opened for sale on 29^th September at 30 euros at The Canari, and watch this space and our What´s On Lanzarote pages for any further news and our reviews.

A Reader´s Perspective:

All Points Forward

Names On The List of PETER PEARSON

Not that long ago if you enjoyed an artists song and it was on an album-you had to buy the whole album, unless it had been released as a single on vinyl and you were prepared to invest in singles. Now you can buy/download tracks or the whole album.

Personally I have never bought singles-so I do have a number of albums that I bought on the strength of one song. Equally I have albums that I bought and enjoy but have either lost track of the artist or have not felt their subsequent albums sufficiently appealing to invest in.

Surprisingly I don’t have many albums that I have been unhappy with. Nonetheless there are many that with the passage of time become less appealing and therefore are increasingly seldom played.

So, when editor Norm asked me about one-offs on my polayñists. the following spring to mind:

Dave Loggins (left) is a second cousin of Kenny Loggins, and like him, is a is an American singer- songwriter. In 1974 his song, Please Come To Boston, was a top 5 US single and earned him a Grammy.

It was featured on his Apprentice album which I bought. I love the whole album and still play it from time to time.

Prior to this, his 1972 song, Pieces of April, was played regularly by Noel Edmonds on his BBC Radio 1,  singer songwriter show. Pieces Of April featured on his album Personal Belongings.

I bought the album but was extremely disappointed with the album as a whole and ended up trading it in.

Dave only had a short career as a recording artist but a long career as a songwriter. His 1984 song Nobody Loves Me Like You Do, performed as a duet with Anne Murray, topped the country charts but none of his albums other than Apprentice has ever fully appealed to me. He has however written many successful songs for other artists.

Sam Neely-Loving You Just Crossed My Mind

Sam Neely (right) is another American singer songwriter. His title song was another I heard first via Noel Edmonds. Released in 1972 I bought the vinyl album and still have it. Again, I love the album and, just playing it again, it stands up quite well. I lost track of him after that but recently discovered he made 5 more albums between 1972 and 2002-hardly prolific and I have never heard them. He died in 2006 aged 57.

Dan Hill-Longer Fuse

Dan Hill (left) is a Canadian soft rock singer songwriter. In 1977 he scored a hit with Sometimes When We Touch. I bought the album but was not keen on any of the other songs and whilst I still have it, I never play it. He is still making albums but nothing else I have heard from him appeals.

Bruce Springsteen-Western Stars

Probably this will raise some hackles. I love some Springsteen (right) songs but have found only one album which I felt compelled to acquire´, which was Western Stars-released as a CD and DVD in 2019. It is amongst my favourite albums but momne of his other albums hold the same appeal for me.. I think it is probably because either they are too down, like Tom Joad for instance, or just too loud and overproduced-at least to my ear. To the best of my knowledge he does not include anything from Western Stars in his live sets and never has.

Maybe he just can’t replicate the sound in big arena concerts. The dvd features the songs performed to a small live audience in his barn.

David Olney-Deeper Well

US singer songwriter David Olney (left) released this album in 1998 and features what I consider to be the best of his output. The title song and Jerusalem Tomorrow were covered by Emmylou Harris and it was her versions which made me buy the album. It also features If My Eyes Were Blind which I love.

I have sampled his other albums but they just do not appeal enough to buy them. I saw him live in the upstairs pub of The Coach and Horses in your Norm´s old territory in Prestwich and he was excellent.

Michael Murphey-Blue Sky Night Thunder

In 1975 US the US singer songwriter Michael Martin (right) released a song much played on the radio, titled Wildfire. The song always seemed to be on play when I was auditioning loudspeakers for my hi-fi system in Laskeys in Manchester. I bought the album and was pleased with it. His next album Swans Against The Sun was released the same year. I loved the title track but the remaining tracks just did not appeal. He is regarded as progressive country and has released an enormous number of albums but Blue Sky is the only album I have of his.

On the other hand I have every album the Eagles have released and every album John Stewart has released.

We are back on the road ,tomorrow, or at least we are back on the sidetracks and detours that look likely to take us to the top of old smokey, to look down perhaps on what The Monkees called Shades Of Grey.

Whiulst we arfe the States we might also have a looik atthe wonderful cinematic career of Sofia Copello

Inb the middle of the week, we will be counting down the folk music charts in the UK.

We envisage being home in time to spend the weekend to extend our mythical bookshelf. this for a title of The Beloved Vision, which takes a look ahead by turning around to face the nineteenth century..

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