It has been a while since I have posted a blog. Things got pretty hectic at work and over the last few months I have also shifted countries, leaving Fiji after an eventful four years. Maybe I should have written a blog about that but that may not have always been believable.
So now I find myself sitting in an airport lounge after a 14 hour delay and having had a couple of friends recently ask why I had stopped writing and suggest I should start again. They said they needed some new recommendations.
So here I am.
We left Fiji in early May and I have been without a stereo for that time. Perhaps the longest I have ever been without a stereo since I was 13! In the meantime I have had to make do with the car stereo, headphones and my new Ultimate Ears Boom 2.
Hardly Hifi but it is helping me get my fix.
It is also interesting being back in a place with good access to music stores (yes they do exist) with JB Hifi and 5 independent record stores in Wellington and the Hutt Valley. Each of those stores has its own personality - the one in my old hometown of Wainui is particularly unique - maybe the messiest store I have ever come across.
So there has been a steady stream of new music entering the house here in the meantime. Filling up nooks and crannies. It is good that most of the new LPs I have bought have come with CDs or downloads so I do get to listen to most of the new stuff I have bought. Of course the second hand records I buy do not come with such bonuses so I have quite a few gems that I still have not heard. Over the next months I will talk about how I feel about albums by Eilen Jewell, Lissie, Brandy Clarke, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Bramlett, Randall Bramblett, Honey Island Swamp Band, Kamasi Washington, Los Ragas, Perry Keyes, The Pines, Dexys, Charlie Parker, Big Bill Broonzy, Bessie Smith, Tonio K and many others.
Over the next few months I will also get access to the records that have been in storage for the last eight years. I have already retrieved a bundle focusing on some of the rarer stuff in the collection, old Pretty Things, Who and a delightful number called We Are Fuck You by a band called the Finger. Nice to see that the red vinyl copy of that that I have now goes for about $500. If only some of the stock I own had had the same appreciation!
My last blog was in December last year and since then we have lost a few of my musical touchstones, Bowie of course who started it all for me, Merle Haggard who I had come to really appreciate in the last ten years, Prince, Guy Clark the consummate songwriter, Chips Moman - who as a producer, studio owner and writer played a key part in the southern american scene in the late 60's and early 70's.
We have also lost some great session musicians whether they be Elvis's Scotty Moore, Rob Wasserman whose bass seemed to be everywhere in the 90s and Bernie Worrell who I think was instrumental in bringing the funk to Talking Heads after his earlier stints with Funkadelic and Parliament. Over the next while I will also write about how losing some of these made me feel, reach back into their music and remember some of their stunning contributions.
So the documentation of my search for the great lost record starts again.
Hope you enjoy it.
So now I find myself sitting in an airport lounge after a 14 hour delay and having had a couple of friends recently ask why I had stopped writing and suggest I should start again. They said they needed some new recommendations.So here I am.
We left Fiji in early May and I have been without a stereo for that time. Perhaps the longest I have ever been without a stereo since I was 13! In the meantime I have had to make do with the car stereo, headphones and my new Ultimate Ears Boom 2.
Hardly Hifi but it is helping me get my fix.
It is also interesting being back in a place with good access to music stores (yes they do exist) with JB Hifi and 5 independent record stores in Wellington and the Hutt Valley. Each of those stores has its own personality - the one in my old hometown of Wainui is particularly unique - maybe the messiest store I have ever come across.
So there has been a steady stream of new music entering the house here in the meantime. Filling up nooks and crannies. It is good that most of the new LPs I have bought have come with CDs or downloads so I do get to listen to most of the new stuff I have bought. Of course the second hand records I buy do not come with such bonuses so I have quite a few gems that I still have not heard. Over the next months I will talk about how I feel about albums by Eilen Jewell, Lissie, Brandy Clarke, Paul Simon, Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Bramlett, Randall Bramblett, Honey Island Swamp Band, Kamasi Washington, Los Ragas, Perry Keyes, The Pines, Dexys, Charlie Parker, Big Bill Broonzy, Bessie Smith, Tonio K and many others.
Over the next few months I will also get access to the records that have been in storage for the last eight years. I have already retrieved a bundle focusing on some of the rarer stuff in the collection, old Pretty Things, Who and a delightful number called We Are Fuck You by a band called the Finger. Nice to see that the red vinyl copy of that that I have now goes for about $500. If only some of the stock I own had had the same appreciation! My last blog was in December last year and since then we have lost a few of my musical touchstones, Bowie of course who started it all for me, Merle Haggard who I had come to really appreciate in the last ten years, Prince, Guy Clark the consummate songwriter, Chips Moman - who as a producer, studio owner and writer played a key part in the southern american scene in the late 60's and early 70's.
We have also lost some great session musicians whether they be Elvis's Scotty Moore, Rob Wasserman whose bass seemed to be everywhere in the 90s and Bernie Worrell who I think was instrumental in bringing the funk to Talking Heads after his earlier stints with Funkadelic and Parliament. Over the next while I will also write about how losing some of these made me feel, reach back into their music and remember some of their stunning contributions.
So the documentation of my search for the great lost record starts again.
Hope you enjoy it.
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