Out with the old year and in with the new Part Three

"Greetings" as Joey Boswell would say in the eighties sitcom Bread.  There, I've shown my age now haven't I...  It's not really a secret anyway, because I sign off each time with my age to the day.  What do I care now?  I'm past the age where I can hide anyway, so there is no point to even try to.  Some people think that I look younger anyway.  They tend to wear dark glasses and walk with a cane or a beautiful golden labrador type of dog, but I still take it as a compliment.  Whenever I get called the "young" word, then I am happy (just like Pharrell Williams hey - I should have got that link in for Despicable Me in Part Two (?), but I missed it).

This review is taking ages... again!!!

Anyway, this isn't a general rambling, it is a flaming review of the year and I should get on with it shouldn't I!?!  Too bloody long spent on Farmville 2 on Facebook I think!!!

Now I think we are going into July aren't we?  Yes, it seems that way doesn't it.

A lot of my foreign friends won't know her, but singer Bernie Nolan died in July, and The Nolans were very much a staple of late seventies early eighties television I can tell you (I bet you can't guess which song the link is - it's one that many might not recognise).  Her sister Colleen in fact is still on the television mainly in the lunchtime "light" discussion programme Loose Women.  She died of Breast at the age of 52 - no age (Bernie that is obviously)!  We must find a way to cure it some time. :-(

Alan Whicker also died in July, and to me I vaguely remember the programme Whicker's World, where I think he travelled the world just talking about the places he goes to?  I think that's right.  That plus I remember him doing the commercials for Barclaycard credit cards (others are available).

Comedian and actor Mel Smith also died in July, he was most famous for the comedy series Alas Smith & Jones (with Griff Rhys Jones) and Not The Nine O'Clock News (which also featured Griff Rhys Jones as well as Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson).  He was also in the films Morons From Outer Space and The Princess Bride among others.

JJ Cale died on the 26th of July, and my first interest in him came admittedly from the songs he wrote that Eric Clapton covered (Cocaine and After Midnight for instance).  From there I think I had a compilation of his material, but have to be honest and say that I didn't have much else.  He was however a fantastic songwriter and performer.  I wrote a song for him while taking part in the 5090 songwriting challenge (which started on July the 4th), but it isn't a great recording...

Actor Michael Ansara (RIP) playing
Kang in Star Trek The Original Series

Actress Eileen Brennan died two days later, and I remember her from Private Benjamin and Hustle (a fantastic thriller starring Burt Reynolds that isn't known by enough people), among other things.  In the Star Trek universe (I am a big Trek fan) we lost the actor Michael Ansara, who played the klingon character Kang in the original series and Deep Space Nine.  He was also in the films Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea and The Comancheros.

As a breather I will look at music that jumped out at me during the year (now that I have found a link that I can work from)...  Adam Ant came back after many years away with the album Adam Ant Is The Blueback Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter...  An album title that really does roll off the tongue!  I feel bad because I haven't heard it, and I was very much a fan of Adam & The Ants back in the day, and I know that this is bound to be great.  Like many others who were fans, I would love to see The Ants reunite, but am not sure of the possibility of that.

I just know that people are going to be screaming out artists as they read this, but hey I'm over forty!

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in the
studio with producer Nick Launay.

Ooh a new Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album produced by Nick Launay...  That could be good.  David Bowie surprised everyone by bringing out new material after an incredible amount of time away from the business.  The actual album The Next Day is a strange one in a way because it features music from all over the spectrum.  There are some fantastic rockier numbers on there, but also material that is very laid back nineties styled, and everything in between.  I think that people who like David Bowie will find at least a couple of things they would like on there, but he's one of those artists who can split opinion even between his own fans!

I don't own a copy but what I've heard from Delta Machine by Depeche Mode sounds good, although also very much "by the numbers" in some ways.  Rob Zombie?  Ooh, I really loved White Zombie, so I'm bound to enjoy that!  What can I say but that I have eclectic tastes (most of which I can't listen to when Louise is at home).  +Paul B. Edwards what is the album by The Stooges like that came out?  To me the albums Raw Power and Fun House are essential listening for anyone wanting to know what Garage rock is!

An album I think I will be buying

The Dillinger Escape Plan's album One Of Us Is The Killer...  Well...  The album seemingly came out in May, but I believe that I heard it at HMV in Lincoln in December.  I thought the riffs and everything were amazing.  I think I may go back and buy it for myself from my Christmas present money!

I really must check out the reunited version of Alice In Chains because I see they have released what is their second album with a new singer.  I loved the first one they made with him, and I am sure that Jerry Cantrell's awesome writing will be all over the second one.

One of my other favourites Boards of Canada came out with an album as well, and I love to just chill out to their serene soundscapes, textures, and just pure beautiful aural imagery.

I really enjoyed the Black Sabbath album 13!  If you love the classic line-up of Black Sabbath, then you know what to expect.  I do miss Bill Ward's drumming though!

That's my personal bullet points from the first half of 2013 musically, other than I started taking part in the 5090 songwriting challenge on July the 4th...

Wow, this is going to be another long post....

Jack Clement (RIP) with Johnny Cash

What, I am only just getting to August?  Flipping heck!

On the 8th of August we said goodbye to the multi-talented Jack Clement.  He was a fantastic singer, songwriter, and producer of both films and records.  He wrote songs for other artists such as Johnny Cash (Ballad of a Teenage Queen), Elvis Presley, Charley Pride and Tom Jones.  He also produced albums for artists such as Waylon Jennings and U2 (a couple of songs on Rattle & Hum including the fantastic When Love Comes To Town with BB King and Love Rescue Me with Bob Dylan).

The late Sir David Frost with ex-US
president Richard Nixon.

Also in August we saw the death of the great American writer Elmore Leonard, who was responsible for such greats as Get Shorty, 3-10 to Yuma and Mr Majestyk (another Charles Bronson link there).  Finally, but certainly not the least, we saw the passing of Sir David Frost, who was so much more than just the broadcaster that wikipedia says.  He was responsible for the series That Was The Week That Was.  Although it is before my time, I know that the show was the forerunner to all television satire that would follow in the UK.  It also brought people together such as the future members of Monty Python, the great double act of The Two Ronnies, and members of The Goodies as well I believe?  As well as that he brought to us such incredible interviews with people such as Richard Nixon's first interview after the Watergate affair, and so very much more.  He was a true pioneer in so many ways - producing shows, working in journalistic circles, and so on.

Okay... I will leave Part Three there I think, and carry on in Part Four.  I know I haven't done three months in this, but it is a long post again.

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

1.43 in the morning of January 2nd 2014 (43 years, 1 month, and 7 days old).