Agression - Misty's Big Adventure

I've had this track going round and round in my head for various reasons lately, so it's a great excuse to make good on my promise to continue promoting the music of Misty's Big Adventure. Almost 6 months on from the passing of Grandmaster Gareth it's still almost unimaginable that there won't be any more music or gigs from 'em...whatever the rest of the band are up to I hope they're all as well as can be expected. 

Edge Of The Edge - Panda Bear & Sonic Boom

How beautiful is this track eh? Odd, I'll give you that, but beautiful nonetheless. Especially if, like most of us, you're on the edge of the edge right now.   

Jazzberry Ram - Stupid

Took a punt on a CD (a whole 35p punt too) on Saturday by a Canadian band called Jazzberry Ram and it's a bit of a winner. If you're a fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers and/or Barenaked Ladies (the band, not actual bare naked ladies...ahem...) I'm guessing Jazzberry Ram will be right up your alleyway. Enjoy! 

Music For Chameleons - Gary Numan

With our Sky TV on the blink I've been rewatching Alan Partridge on DVD this week and was reminded of the frankly awesome bass solo (played by Pino Palladino I believe) at the heart of Gary Numan's Music For Chameleons (that Partridge plays air guitar to in series 2). The rest of the track's not too shabby either. 

The Real Mercury Award Winners 2022...

Once again it falls to The Hearing Aid to reveal the real winner and this year it's...drum roll please...YARD ACT! Congratulations lads, worthy winners.  

Where Have You Gone - Mr Bruce

Brand new track from Mr Bruce in tribute to his The Correspondents band mate Tim Cole (aka Chucks) who passed away suddenly from a pulmonary embolism back in 2020 at just 35 years old. I was fortunate enough to see the band back in the 2010s and clearly Mr Bruce has lost none of his Duracell Bunny energy. How the hell does he dance like that and still manage to sing? Voodoo I'm guessing. 

Face It Alone - Queen

A mere 31 years after going to that great stage in the sky Freddie's back with a brand new track! An offcut from Queen's last but one album (The Miracle) released during Freddie's lifetime it's clearing the reflection of a man who knows he's not long for this world, perhaps giving it more in common with the band's follow up, Innuendo. I wonder if Queen are keeping an eye on ABBA's Voyage and plotting a similar virtual. Hmmmm, that could work!

Blues Five Spot - Thelonius Monk Quartet

How cool is this? It just is. Even the bloody cover's cool. Damn. In fact it's ice cold, it's that cool. 

Tomorrow's People - Humble Souls

Following a tip from Gilles Peterson (and being a fan of all things Acid Jazz) I snapped up a copy of Humble Souls' 1993 album on CD for a whole £1.25 (+ p&p) the other day. With echoes of Galliano's best it's well worth a listen and Peterson was right, how the hell did it fail to get anywhere? 

ABBA Voyage @ ABBA Arena - Friday September 30th 2022

ABBA! Live! Sort of! 

Unless you've been living under a rock this year (and quite frankly who could blame you if you had) you'll be aware that ABBA have been turned into ABBA-tars and are 'gigging' again for the first time in 43 years. I was a little sceptical about how well it would all work but it really does look as though they're up there on stage. That's only part of the show though, there are animated bits and videos shown on ruddy huge screens that make up the walls of the Arena, a live band and vocalists to add that live feel and enough frickin' laser beams to destroy a small planet. In short, it's pretty bloody spectacular. 

Pretty much all the hits are included plus some of the new stuff that magically appeared last year and each ABBA-tar 'comes out' on stage to deliver a little speech throughout the night. Of course what they can't do is interact with the audience so there's the odd moment or two when people cheer something that's been said but the ABBA-tar carries on speaking rather than basking in the adoration but that's a minor quibble. I'm guessing there's zero chance of seeing the real band play live ever again so this is a pretty great substitute. 

What its success will mean for live music in the future, who knows? As this technology develops will artists play live shows in one country and have them beamed around the world so they appear to be on dozens of stages at the same time? And will people accept it? Will they even notice? Lets face it, if you go to a huge gig the chances are you'll end up watching most of the action on giant screens anyway. I suspect the likes of The Rolling Stones are watching this play out and seeing a way to carry on raking in the squillions without having to leave home. Fast forward a decade or three and you'll probably be able to beam bands into your own living room so you can enjoy the show in your pants...

PS: A word of warning about buying tickets for this show. There doesn't appear to be a box office so all sales are handled by Ticketmaster. Oh dear. An awful lot of tickets then seem to end up on Viagogo, a secondary ticketing platform with a lousy reputation populated by touts who are making millions by slapping obscene mark-ups on anything they can get their sticky little hands on. Worse still are the scammers who don't even have any bloody tickets, My father in law bought 4 tickets through Viagogo...or so he thought...but they didn't exist. He was unaware that Viagogo was a secondary ticketing platform or that he was 'buying' from a private 'seller'. When we turned up we were gently informed by a very lovely lady that he'd been scammed. Ouch. Fortunately Mrs B and I were able to buy tickets from a couple of people who had spares for a fraction of the sum that the scammer had charged and we got in but father-in- law and his partner weren't so lucky. I LOATHE Viagogo and anyone who prays on music fans and always have done. It should be illegal to buy tickets purely for profit but sadly too many people are making too much money from it and there seems little appetite to stamp it out. Personally I'd never buy a ticket with a mark-up on it and if everyone else did likewise these leeches would be wiped out.