May 24: Sugar - back to the 1990s

Sugar were one of the best bands of the 90s. 

Last night. I went to see them play live for the first time as a three-piece. I've seen Bob Mould perform several times: solo and in a trio, but Sugar didn't play very often in the UK. This was the first time they'd played in the UK for over 30 years and they got a great reception from a packed crowd - many of them a similar age to me. This was my first time at the O2 Forum, a converted cinema, and it was flipping hot! I had a seat upstairs which was preferable to standing up for four hours.

I first heard these songs when I was in my 20s and now I'm in my 60s....

Here's a few shots from a very hot and sweaty gig at the O2 Forum, Kentish Town last night. 24 songs in 90 minutes... and lots of distortion.

Images: Alan Parkinson

I had all their albums - there weren't many - and many CD singles too with extra tracks.

Copper Blue is the classic. 

Released in 1992, and featuring songs such as 'Hoover Dam'.

They released 'FUEL', and 'B-Sides' and then a short EP album called 'Beaster', which was particularly ferocious. 

I loved the fact they played 'Gee Angel' last night too, from FUEL.

And from Beaster they played 'J C Auto'.

I'd actually bought some ear protection for this gig - the first time I've ever worn any, but I already have a bit of tinnitus and could do without it getting a lot worse. 

I bought some Loop hearing protection, and after the first three songs (from Copper Blue) I needed to put them in and I have to say that they made a real difference. The sound was sharpened (and the volume reduced 10-15 dB) and they certainly improved the experience. They are recommended.

There were some excellent limited edition posters for sale as well.

Here's Tilted from 'Beaster'.

The setlist is here.

I shall add some reviews once I find some.

May 24: Hether Blether

An interesting album from Erland Cooper and collaborators which came out in 2020. The tracks on the album are mostly the names of places in the Orkneys, such as Noup Head.

May 23: The Lake

Just remembered today that Lac Leman in Geneva, pictured below was the Lake referred to in the title of one of my favourite pieces of music: Mike Oldfield's 1984 classic.

Image: Alan Parkinson

I remember this being an important piece of music when I was in my final year of undergraduate studies, when you had to chase down music...

Listen to it now, turn the speakers up loud...

May 23: Rush Fantoons

People are gearing up for the Rush tour in the USA (over 250 000 tickets sold) in 2026 and then the UK and elsewhere in 2027.

Fantoons has brought Hugh Syme's memories of designing the cover for their 'Moving Pictures' album, which many feel is their finest album.

A nice animation with some details on the design of the album cover.

May 22: 'Ouses 'Ouses 'Ouses

I love the mood of this piece from the first album by 'The Imagined Village'.

It's the opening track from their album 'The Imagined Village', and starts up above the Chalk Downs of the South Downs.

The band is a fusion mix of traditional musicians, with world music and electronic beats...

It's worth searching YouTube for other clips of their music, which include interpretations of other classic songs. They will appear elsewhere on the blog.

They deserve a place here if only for this CD cover...

It's an EP I have a copy of:

The first track is excellent for considering the multicultural nature of'English' people - one for Reform perhaps.

Released on Real World Records on 23 July 2007.

1. England Half English Meets John Barleycorn - Billy Bragg, Martin Carthy and Eliza Carthy
2. Acres of Ground (Beats Mix) - Eliza Carthy
3. Welcome Sailor - Sheila Chandra and Chris Wood
4. Cold Hailey, Rainy Night (It’s Turned Out Nice Mix) - Transglobal Underground

May 22: Antarctica

Several musicians have tried to capture the atmosphere of Antarctica. Have they succeeded? Conjure up an image in your mind of the icy wilderness around the South Pole. How can that be captured in musical form?

Vangelis had a go with his early album of the same name.

Ralph Vaugham Williams composed the music for the classic Ealing film 'Scott of the Antarctic' featuring John Mills.

This is used to great effect in the film, which I used to show in instalments along with some accompanying work when I first started teaching.

Suns of the Tundra, who have geography Chief Examiner Simon Oakes on guitar and vocals (as well as referencing a Polar ecosystem in their name), released an album exploring the story of Shackleton's 'Endurance' exhibition.

Their album was called 'Bones of Brave Ships'. It is well worth seeking out.

The album is intended as a soundtrack for the 1919 film 'South' and they performed it with the film. An extract can be seen below:

Suns of the Tundra (ex-Peach GB) perform their soundtrack for the 1919 film SOUTH (from 2016 concept album Bones of Brave Ships), joined onstage by Ben Moor (narrator) and Al Murray (additional drums) Venue: Bedford Theatre, Balham, South London, 2016

Also check out a few others here...

What other Antarctic-themed musical tracks should I add to this list?

May 21: Ticket Stub #8: It Bites

Well, what a band they were! They were so tight!

This was an excellent gig - one of about fifteen at least that I saw in various venues, both headlining and also supporting others, such as Robert Plant.

This was for a standing gig at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

The band was formed in the Lake District in 1982.

The line-up was Francis Dunnery, Bob Dalton and Dick Nolan who were joined by John Beck on keyboards (and red lipstick and top hat).

Here's Francis Dunnery talking about how the band came about:

In 1986, they had a Top 10 single with 'Calling all the Heroes' - you may remember this one. They were even on 'Top of the Pops'.

They were featured on an episode of the Channel 4 show Equinox, which showed the recording sessions for their album "Once around the World".

Here's another stub from March 1990 - second row seated this time, at Sheffield City Hall.

And here's one of my original T-Shirts from that time.... this is a classic logo, which was designed by Roger Dean - who also designed the Yes logo.

It Bites - tour t-shirt - image by Alan Parkinson

Here they were in the 80's...

They were all set to tour the US with Jethro Tull, when Francis Dunnery announced that he was leaving....

May 20: Ewen and the Gold - a story song...

Ewen Gillies was a resident of Hirta: an island in the archipelago of St. Kilda - somewhere I have always wanted to go.

It's a remarkable place and also a World Heritage Site.

Three times he left the island in search of gold.

Dick Gaughan's performance of the song is a reminder of the theme of the song: chasing your dreams.

I wrote about it some time ago as a curriculum artefact.

The lyrics are by Bryan McNeill

Read about Ewen's story here.

May 20: Tour T-shirts

I own some classic vintage t-shirts from bands who I saw in the 1980s and beyond... a few of my favourites are here.

What are your best tour t-shirts? Tell me some memories you have of the concerts where you bought them.

May 19: The anniversary of 'So'

  It's the anniversary of the release of this - I believe the phrase is 'absolute banger'....

I saw the tour that accompanied this album when it was first released - I saw a couple of the concerts, with the swooping lights and amazing musicians that Peter took on the road with this album. A powerful experience, ending with arm raised for 'Biko'.

Twenty five years later, I was in Glasgow at the Hydro to see the return of the album played in full with the same musicians. I wonder whether the music of today will have the same longevity with students of today. Will they have the same lengthy connections with music as we had, with reduced access and different formats to access it.

Second image copyright: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

What's your favourite track from the album? Let me know in the comments.

Here's one of mine:

May 19: So

Another post for today about 'So' as I seem to have written two without realising.

Today, in 1986, Peter Gabriel released his fifth album, and the first with a title.

It was also the start of his new phase of music.

I was privileged to see his live tour in support of this album in 1987, complete with its amazing staging, and the moment when he fell backwards into the audience and they supported him and carried him around as he sang. I also attended the concerts that were held 25 years later... heading up to the Hydro in Scotland to see that one.

And the final song remains a live performance closer... before the encore of Biko.

And here's a DNA video created in 2013:

May 18: Robbie Cumming

Robbie Cumming is the film maker behind 'Canal Boat Diaries'.

This returns to TV today and can be streamed on 'U' - series 7.

A lot of the music used in the series is composed by Robbie himself. He has a Soundcloud page.

Here's one of his pieces of music:

Robbie Cumming · Under Cut

May 18: Popol Vuh and Herzog

The next pair of soundtracks is by the same band, and were made to accompany wonderful films by Werner Herzog.

The first is the soundtrack to 'Aguirre: Wrath of God'.

This is a rather remarkable film which follows a fortune hunter in South America who heads into the jungle. He is played by Klaus Kinski. It has one of the most striking opening scenes of any film, as the adventurers pick their way long a narrow path through the Andes - the Huayna Picchu trail.

Here's Roger Ebert's review of the film.

It tells the story of the doomed expedition of the conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro, who in 1560 and 1561 led a body of men into the Peruvian rain forest, lured by stories of the lost city.

The second soundtrack is for the film 'Fitzcarraldo'.

Set once again in South America, this one follows the obsessive attempt by Fitzcarraldo to build an opera house in the Amazon in which the great opera singers will perform. He buys a ship which he sails to a point where on a map he can see the chance to drag it over land and cut off a notorious set of rapids.

Herzog took a real boat and tried to do the same.

The amazing documentary 'Burden of Dreams' follows the story of the making of the film.

I will blog separately about the films of Werner Herzog, and his method of film making and huge variety of projects. I once worked on some resources for a film by Werner Herzog and was invited to a special screening.

Roger Ebert writes about his work here as being a form of madness.

And here's the trailer for Fitzcarraldo:

Both soundtracks were by the enigmatic band Popol Vuh and Florian Fricke in particular.

Check out the band and their other music

May 17: 'Groovy, Laid back and Nasty'

The new book by journalist and writer Daniel Dylan Wray explores the history of independent music in Sheffield.

In today's 'Sunday Times' he shared a tour of some key locations in the city of Sheffield.

There are some familiar stories here. I watched a lot of bands play at the Grapes - not the Arctic Monkeys though. 

Here's a feature on BBC Radio Sheffield.

Details of the book can be found here from the publisher.: White Rabbit Books.

Daniel Dylan Wray traces nearly seven decades of Sheffield’s independent music in Groovy, Laidback and Nasty, a sweeping account of a city whose creativity has always thrived on the margins. From electronic futurism and post-punk to pop, metal, bassline and bleep techno, Sheffield has consistently produced era-defining sounds shaped by isolation, economic struggle and a fierce DIY ethos.

The book explores how this understated city became home to visionaries who reshaped British music. Drawing on more than 150 interviews with figures including Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, The Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Self Esteem and Richard Hawley, Wray builds a rich portrait of scenes that evolved through determination rather than civic swagger.

Positioning Sheffield alongside – and often ahead of – more documented UK music hubs, Wray offers both cultural history and a heartfelt tribute to the people who forged the city’s singular sound. As a writer embedded in Sheffield’s creative community for over two decades, he brings rare insight to a story that has long deserved this depth of attention.

Groovy, Laidback and Nasty stands as the definitive celebration of Sheffield’s independent musical legacy.

A podcast interview here.

May 17: Met - Musical memorabilia

In April 2019 I had the experience of heading for New York. We were going to go for my daughter's 21st but decided to go a year earlier - and it was just as well that we did.

It's just as well that we did, as if we had waited for the following year, COVID would have cancelled it.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art had an exhibition called 'Play it Loud'.

I have some excellent pictures from this exhibition.

Here are details of the galleries and a good list of the items.

Who played this guitar and for a bonus point, what was it called?

There was a Spotify playlist for the exhibition:

May 17: Potty and spotty

Angine de Poitrine are described as a experimental or math-rock band, who produce compositions featuring micro-tonal changes and progressions in their music.

They wear papier-mache masks with large noses and are covered in spots and perform anonymously under pseudonyms.

When you search for them in Google, see what happens... it's fun.

It translates from the term for 'angina pectoris' or 'chest pains'.

They have released two albums.

The group describes itself as a "mantra-rock Dada Pythago-Cubist orchestra" composed of "space-time voyagers", reflecting their fusion of technical complexity, hypnotic repetition, and absurdist aesthetics.

Here's a live performance at KEXP:

Songs: Sarniezz 00:32 Mata Zyklek 06:10 Fabienk 13:09 Sherpa 20:33 

Khn de Poitrine - Microtonal Guitars 

Klek de Poitrine - Drums

May 16: This must be the Place

A book by Shain Shapiro. This explores the role that music plays in making places special.

I've flicked through it and it looks interesting so will see if I can get it out of the library.

May 16: Popplagið in Reykjavik

A cross posting from my Fieldnotes from Iceland blog.

For the Heima concert film, Sigur Rós came home and performed in a park close to the city centre - the first time a concert had been held there of that kind.

A performance from that concert of the song Popplagið which builds to an epic crescendo...

"Klambratún looks very impressive. A large, sloping, grassy site, a few hundred metres away from the centre of town, it has never staged a large-scale music event before and the hope is Sigur Rós could set some sort of precedent. Finni, our film producer from the immaculate True North production company, tells me he has managed to blag a helicopter to take some aerial shots of the event. Also in the air is the PA, which is hanging from two enormous cranes on either side of a stage specially imported from the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Jónsi turns up on his shopper bike from his apartment downtown, while Georg parks his caravan round the back of the art museum that will today serve as our dressing room and place where we will later shake hands with the great and the good of Reykjavík who have contributed funding to make this unique event financially feasible. I meet the folks from Reykjavík city council who put their money where their mouths were, while Craig, the Word journalist, tells me he’s been introduced to no fewer than half the current cabinet. Later, the President himself will turn up, but, despite urging from the band, his First Lady will refuse to parade across the stage with the brass band at the climax of ‘Se Lest’." - John Best