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

May 15: Berlin

Berlin is a city which has influenced a great many musicians. 

This Guardian piece is a good place to start.

David Bowie is connected with the city, and released his Berlin Trilogy of albums, working with Brian Eno.

In the mid-1970s, David Bowie’s life had become increasingly unstable, dominated by cocaine addiction, paranoia and creative exhaustion. Seeking anonymity and recovery, Bowie relocated to Berlin, then a divided city marked by Cold War tension and artistic experimentation. Berlin offered Bowie distance from celebrity culture and a sense of anonymity that allowed him to rebuild both personally and creatively.

Source: https://www.davidbowieworld.nl/berlin-trilogy/

Lou Reed also spent time living there.

Public Service Broadcasting's "Bright Magic" was the band's "Berlin" album.

The Guardian review described it as "a selective history of Berlin, split into three distinct movements: the city’s rise, a celebration of Weimar-era hedonism and a more abstract three-track requiem."

The final track on the album is an interesting one as it features a Kurt Tucholsky poem atop an ambient background.

'Ich und die Stadt'.

Narrated by Nina Hoss.

This poem has also featured in the classic series 'Heimat'.

Bob Mould has also spent time living in the city, and talks about his time living there.

Rammstein are of course linked with the city having been born there.

May 15: Happy Birthday to the Maestro

73 today...

Enjoy Taurus II from 'Five Miles Out'

And here's the track diagram so you can follow the instruments on the tracks...

May 14: Cities in song titles

Here's some suggestions for songs with cities in their title from Emma.... can you suggest some others?

• “New York, New York” — Frank Sinatra
• London Calling” — The Clash
• “Viva Las Vegas” — Elvis Presley
• “Leaving Las Vegas” — Sheryl Crow
• “Paris” — The Chainsmokers
• “Paris” — Taylor Swift
• “Budapest” — George Ezra
• “Barcelona” — Ed Sheeran
• “Philadelphia Freedom” — Elton John
• “Walking in Memphis” — Marc Cohn
• “Midnight Train to Georgia” — Gladys Knight & the Pips
• “Georgia on My Mind” — Ray Charles
• “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” — Dionne Warwick
• “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” — Scott McKenzie
• “Amsterdam” — Coldplay

Image: Near the Louvre, Alan Parkinson - shared on Flickr under CC license

May 14: Guest blogger Carl Lee #15: BTS and the K-Pop Wave

The latest in a series of posts from Carl Lee.

BTS and the K-Pop wave

Back in June 2019 my youngest daughter shocked me by informing she’d bought a ticket to see the BTS show at London’s Wembley Stadium, costing a little north of £100. She wasn’t asking for a contribution as her job at Waitrose covered the cost but even so, a hundred quid for a South Korean pop band! 

BTS (Korean: 방탄소년단; RR: Bangtan sonyeondan; lit. 'Bulletproof Boy Scouts')

I was left scratching my head. 

She went and she loved it.  

I should have realised there was something more to this teenage fandom because now she has lived and worked in South Korea for almost two years. She is learning Korean and can negotiate her way through the social mores and culinary challenges of a society that is both familiar but intrinsically different from anything in Europe. 

Earlier this year she was unable to get a ticket for BTS’s huge open air shows in front of at least 100,000 people outside Seoul’s Gyeongbokgung Palace in the heart of the megacity’s downtown area. The free tickets disappeared instantly they became available, with most of the rest of the crowd strung out along the linear Gwanghwamun Square connected by huge video screens that projected the highly choreographed hour-long show. 

It was clearly the hottest ticket in town, or Asia for that matter, for that weekend probably the World.

When I visited Seoul in 2025 this square was the focal point of political demonstrations connected with the arrest of President Yoon Suk Yeol for insurrection as a result of his illegal attempt to impose martial law in December 2024. Highly amplified chanting was echoing around the high-rise offices that line its sides from both supporters of Yeol and his opponents. 

The show’s backdrop was Gwanghwamun Gate built in 1396 in the reign of King Taejo, the first king of the Korean Joseon dynasty, although as is often the case with such culturally significant physical symbols of nationhood that monumental gate has been destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries, the last time as recently as 2010.

There is no doubt that BTS are a global phenomenon. 

Since their inception in 2010, and first album, Dark & Wild in 2014, the seven clean cut boys of BTS have danced and sung their way across the world to 140 million album sales and billions of streams.  BTS’s clean-cut projection is often carefully curated against a more transgressive vibe with song titles such as ‘Hooligan’, and the track Normal with its lyrics.

“Kerosene, dopamine, chemical induced

fantasy and fame, yeah, the things we choose

Show me hate, show me love, make me bulletproof

Yeah we call this shit normal”

In a high trust, and still socially conservative society such as South Korea this is verging on fighting talk and is a long way from the more traditional folk sounds, although I suspect singing mostly in English rather dilutes its impact in a society where English is still not that widely spoken amongst older generations - even after more than half a century of partial occupation by US military forces. 

Singing in English does however enable the global reach that has turned BTS into a multi-billion dollar economic phenomenon that can support a 70 date global tour crossing North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.  

Their latest album Arirang, their first since they had a military-service enforced hiatus, sold just shy of four million copies on the day of its release.  Arirang is the name of a Korean folk song that is so ingrained in Korean culture, north and south, that it has obtained UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status. It is song of departure, longing and regret. 

It is a melancholy music, a lyrical style that appears perennially popular across the world whether Portuguese Fado or the blues of America’s deep south. 

As the lyrics of Arirang state: 

“The trees and the flowers will bloom for aye

But the glories of youth will soon fade away”

In the wake of BTS a host of other K-Pop acts have followed with BlackPink, Stray Kids and Seventeen leading the charge. This is a global dynamic that isn’t going anywhere other than upwards. 

Critically you might be drawn towards arguing that K-Pop is derivative and formulaic and if you watched the BBC series  “Made in Korea: The K-Pop Experience” you’d probably have such a perception confirmed, although it is worth watching if only for the scary record company bosses who cast their dismissive eyes over the five likely lads from Britain and their attempts to ply their melodies under the name ‘Dear Alice’. It borrows heavily from US hip-hop and rap, and European electro-pop.

Yet what is undoubtedly true is that the enthusiasm of these five British lads to emulate a band likes BTS is confirmation that K-Pop is an integral part of Hallyu, as the ‘Korean cultural wave’ is called, that has found has a sound foot-hold in the UK and elsewhere with food, cosmetics, fashion and film all playing their part. This is a textbook example of the concept of ‘soft-power’.

However, I think my daughter will prefer the authentic South Korea for some time more. She said to me recently “Dad, I love the place, it is so liveable”. I guess another visit out east is on the cards sometime soon.

P.S:

The most accessible book on the history of South Korea is ‘Shrimp to Whale' by Ramon Pacheco Pardo who is a Professor of International Relations at Kings College London.

Looks like a book worth reading...

Carl Lee is retired but was a lecturer at The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, taught A level Geography for 20 years at Sheffield College, is the author of five books about geography and has a PhD in economic geography. He has been nuts about music since buying his first single in 1973: 10cc’s 'Rubber Bullets' if you were wondering.

There was also recent success at the Oscar's for K-Pop Demon Hunters, and the song that features in the film also won an Oscar.

May 13: Roman Roads

Roman Roads is an album by Land Observations.

Land Observations is a solo project by artist and musician James Scott Brooks. 

The music explores warm, repetitive minimalism via electric and acoustic VI and XII string guitar, to create instrumentals around ideas of landscape, architecture and place.

The tracks are named after Roman Roads (naturally).

Via the publisher:

Attempts to develop a new project alongside the visual art meant that Brooks did a lot of home recording at his flat in Hackney, East London. Land Observations, developed out of an interest in the former Roman roads that lay just a short walk from his front door - roads of communication and conquest that stretch from the old City of London and out across parts of Britain, Europe and beyond.

Land Observations sees Brooks exploring the power of minimalism via layered, repetitive electric VI string guitar to create warm, evocative instrumentals. Although Brooks spent considerable time researching Roman Roads - with each of the compositions responding to the psychogeography of an individual road - this isn't just an historical project, or an attempt to look only into the past. There is an obvious fascination with Roman Roads as man made structures, with their bold lines carving through the landscape, creating an album that's a reflection on the broader ideas of travel, momentum and progress.

Roman Roads IV - XI is released on Mute on CD, vinyl and download, with packaging featuring original drawings by Brooks. The album was recorded at the Bridge and Tunnel Mobile, Berlin and engineered and mixed by Mark Bihler and James Brooks.

Before the Kingsland Road
Aurelian Way
From Nero's Palace
Via Flaminia
Appian Way
The Chester Road
Portway
Battle Of Watling Street

Here's the Appian Way.

May 12: Eurovision Preview

Eurovision is an annual gathering of countries from across Europe... and Australia for a song contest.

This year's competition is hosted by Austria and will take place in Vienna on the 16th of May, with earlier semi finals taking place to slim down the entries. The first of those is tonight.

It has previously led to quite a bit of political controversy over who is invited or not, and who boycotts the event.

The main website offers a chance to scroll back through Eurovision history, and download the apps ready for voting, as well as stock up on merchandise (although the P&P cost will make that unlikely).

Over the years of watching Eurovision, there are a few recent songs which stand out for me.

Margaret Berger's Norwegian electropop entry from 2013 came fourth.

And here's Iceland's Daði Freyr: Think about Things....

Daði Freyr (Daði & Gagnamagnið) were in the COVID-hit competition.

Years ago, the creative geographer Tony Cassidy produced an annual resource on the politics of Eurovision to show how many countries just voted for each other.

UCL did an analysis of voting in 2014.

It is years since the UK had any chance of winning, although Sam Ryder did particularly well.

Steve Brace shared some ideas on TES more recently which is now behind a paywall.

This interesting article from Ellie Chalkley suggests that everything she knows about geography she learned from the Eurovision Song Contest.

Hopefully she didn't see this map:

A StoryMap by David Morgan from 2024 exploring the idea of Europe.

There is also the controversy over the inclusion of Israel which has led to boycotts from several countries.

May 11: Ticket Stub #7: Tori Amos

This ticket was from one of the relatively early Tori Amos gigs that I attended when she still played relatively small venues. She returned to the Sheffield City Hall last month to kick off the tour in support of her new album "In Times of Dragons" as it happens. My sister went and said it was excellent.

We were up in the Grand Circle which is where I preferred to be for gigs at the City Hall. I saw so many different bands from up there - including some stubs I've already posted, such as Big Country. I also saw her down at the Ipswich Regent and elsewhere.

My first Tori Amos gig was actually very much smaller than that. 

I traced it back using this tours archive, and it was on February 19, 1992 at Norwich Arts Centre. There were only about 30-40 of us there and we were actually stood around the piano rather than sat down.

Two days previously she had played Manchester University and the set list was:

Little Earthquakes
Crucify
Silent All These Years
Whole Lotta Love/Thank You
Precious Things
Happy Phantom
Leather
Girl
Upside Down
Sentimental Journey
Me and a Gun
Winter

Encore 1
A Case of You
Killing Me Softly
China

Encore 2
Tear In Your Hand
Angie

As her style developed, I saw her in various other formats, and with other musicians. 

She was also in the Radio 2 piano room at the end of February - which could be found on BBC Sounds.

Here's a favourite from this set list. 

Others are scheduled to appear in other posts....

May 10: Cat's in the Cradle

A powerful song about family relationships...

This is from Harry Chapin, whose family had strong musical heritage.

From Wikipedia:

"Cat's in the Cradle" is narrated by a man who becomes a father in the first stanza. He is constantly too busy with his work to spend time with his son, despite his son looking up to him and promising he will grow up to be just like him. When the son graduates from college, he declines his father's offer to relax with him and instead asks for the car keys. In the final stanza, the now-retired father calls his adult son and asks to spend some time together, but the son is now too busy with his own work and family to spend time with his dad, and the father realizes his son has indeed grown up to be just like him.

And speaking of family, here's a track from Mike Oldfield that then became a hit for Hall and Oates.

May 9: Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds'

The 80s saw some interesting releases which bridged rock and classical music to an extent.

One rock-classical crossover album was 'Variations' by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

I loved this album at the time and played it a lot. There was a disco element to some of it, but also a lot of musicians who played other styles of music including rock and blues

Julian Lloyd Webber – cello
Gary Moore – Gibson Les Paul, Rickenbacker electric 12 string & Fender Stratocaster electric guitars, Guild acoustic guitar
Rod Argent – grand piano, synthesizers (Minimoog, Roland RS-202, Yamaha CS-80)
Don Airey – grand piano, synthesizers (ARP Odyssey, Minimoog, Solina String Ensemble), Fender Rhodes electric piano
Barbara Thompson – flute, alto flute, alto and tenor saxophone
John Mole – Fender Precision Bass, Hayman fretless bass guitar
Jon Hiseman – Arbiter Auto-Tune drums, Paiste cymbals and gongs, percussion

It also featured Phil Collins. Seek it out on Spotify.

Another crossover between rock and orchestral music came out in 1978. This is still going strong almost 50 years on.

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

The album was a huge success, and later spawned a long running stage show. I had the double album with gatefold sleeve and booklet.

It does have some wonderful moments.

Forever Autumn has a wonderful feel to it, along with Thunderchild.

I went to see a live performance of the album at the O2 - it was in 2014 and billed as 'the final Arena tour'.

Here's an image of mine from when I saw the show, with some well known musicians.

They were accompanied by the Ulla Strings, conducted by Jeff himself - he has now stepped back from conducting duties.

Image: Alan Parkinson

All together now.... ulla!!

And here's an extract from Variations...

May 8: Derek Gifford -

Some details of an album which I came across when searching for information about Alex Gifford's 'Morecambe Bay'.

There’s a strong green thread running through the album, too. It’s topped and tailed with different takes on environmental damage: the poignancy of Land and Sea set against the cheerily scathing Coming in Further. 

Human damage to the natural world crops up in a number of the songs here, like the concertina-backed whaling chorus song Nantucket Sleighride, with its updated conservation message, or the acapella Do You Remember?, cataloguing 25 years of environmental decline.

May 8: What a Wonderful World

On David Attenborough's 100th birthday.

 

A century of storytelling and curiosity...

 

The Icelandic band Sigur Rós were invited to perform at the special event at the Royal Albert Hall tonight. I look forward to watching it. I saw them perform live there in October 2025 - a memorable occasion.

On their Facebook page earlier, they said:

"We are deeply honoured to be a part of David Attenborough's 100 Years on Planet Earth celebration. He is one of the pillars of nature conservation and has raised awareness of environmental protection all over the world. He has been a part of our lives from early childhood, educating us on the wonders of our planet.

The fight for nature is one of the most important things in our lifetime.

 
Even in our little Iceland where we still have the largest unspoiled wilderness in Europe, we are facing plans of irreversible damage to our nature in many aspects.

Salmon farming is Iceland's new gold mine. As open-net salmon farming has been heavily taxed in Norway, the Norwegians are now welcomed to Icelandic fjords, destroying the seabed and the ancient breeds of wild salmon in our rivers. The conditions in these farms are absolutely disgusting. The raw sewage coming from fish farming in Iceland is equivalent to an 800 000 population town or city. To produce one kilo of salmon you need three kilos of protein. The salmon is partially bred on soy protein which is grown in faraway places which is another serious matter altogether.

As we speak they are transporting wind turbines to our first wind farm in the unspoilt Icelandic highlands and there are many more planned in the near future. We are told there is an energy shortage in Iceland which is not true. The wind farms will be used to power aluminium smelters, ferro-silicon plants, bitcoin mining and data centres. We don't really have to mention the effect these will have on birdlife and wetlands.

Iceland is also still allowing bottom trawling in certain areas around the island. Bottom trawling is like cutting down all the trees to get their fruits. It is a vulgar disrespectful method, destroying so much more than the species they are hunting for.

 
Oh, and let us not forget the whales. Iceland is still hunting fin whales, the second largest whale on earth, still listed as a vulnerable species, for no applicable reason at all.

The ongoing greenwashing of our government and the breach against our international commitments of conserving 30% of our seabed is highly alarming. 

Iceland should be in the forefront of protecting nature and inspire other nations to follow in its footsteps. Monetary bullying and greed for natural resources is the main fuel in this attack on our country's nature.

These are just a few things happening in our little bubble called Iceland. 

The whole world is at stake. Everywhere, we humans are slowly destroying our planet without giving it the slightest thought. We need to save nature to save ourselves. 

We should fight for nature as David Attenborough has done all his life.
Thank you David."

May 7: Normal Town

A post via KLOF Mag.

Some bands go deep into the feeling of a particular place.

I've already mentioned several bands who do this very well.

Here's a deep dive into Didcot.

May 7: Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

This 'band' is one person, who crafts the soundscapes with electronic instruments. 

"Gordon Chapman-Fox impeccably soundtracks the construction and growth of a northern English community from the mid 1970’s to early 1980’s, rendered in shimmering arpeggios and soaring, euphoric leads."

As with several small labels, music is released through Bandcamp, where you can see the variety of releases, many of which have titles themed around a period of house building, when new towns, housing estates and tower blocks were springing up - a period written about by John Grindrod.

There are also some tracks featuring archive audio from a time of great promise and change in urban areas.

Here's a track called Renewal and Regeneration. 

May 6:Your musical book suggestions #1

Back at the start of the blog I added a Google Form.

Please fill it in....

It is still there and you are welcome to complete it still.

One of the questions was about books with a musical theme which came to mind.

Here are a few suggestions from those who filled in the form so far:

Angus said:

The Philip Norman book on Elton John set an early high bar. I liked Keith Richard's candid "autobiography" "Life".

Matt suggested Neil Young's "Waging Heavy Peace".

Sandra said:

Brian Johnson's "The Lives of Brian". I loved this book. I learnt so much more about Brian and AC/DC by reading it. I didn't know how worried he was joining the band and taking over from Bon Scott. I also learnt a lot about his life in Glasgow as he grew up. 

John suggested 'This is Memorial Device'. 

I heard a lot about this book and bought it but it didn't click - reminded me of Iain Banks' 'Espedair Street' - Alan

Stephen was all in on The Beatles, with the recent "John & Paul  A Love Story" and also Craig Brown's book on the Beatles. 

Brendan was in agreement on The Beatles, suggesting 'Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year' by Steve Turner, a deep dive into the pivotal year of 1966 when The Beatles transitioned from pop stars to studio innovators, focusing on their final tour, and the creation of "Revolver".

David suggested "Sinatra: The Life" by Anthony Summers

More suggestions in another post later in the year...

May 6: Kaleo in Þingvellir

A cross-posting from my Fieldnotes from Iceland blog.

KALEO is playing at Þingvellir National Park, in the Bergmál festival in Iceland on the 20th of June 2026.

On the summer solstice, the midnight sun will become part of the experience: an endless golden hour against one of Iceland’s most iconic landscapes.

Bergmál (Echo) draws from the natural acoustics of Þingvellir, where voices once carried across the rift valley during Alþingi gatherings. 

Known for their powerful, emotionally-charged live shows, KALEO is one of Iceland's most internationally recognized music acts, with roots that trace back to the country's vibrant music scene.

IcelandAir are offering a package which includes return flights, a festival pass and shuttle bus transfers between Reykjavík and the Bergmál festival at Þingvellir National Park.

Located between the drifting tectonic plates of North America and Eurasia, Þingvellir is not only a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also the historic heart of Iceland, where the nation’s parliament was founded over a thousand years ago.

KALEO will headline BERGMÁL at Þingvellir, joined by a handpicked group of artists. The lineup features some of Iceland’s most celebrated musicians, including Emilíana Torrini, Mugison, Stuðmenn, Helgi Björnsson, Hjálmar, GDRN, Júníus Meyvant, KK, and Árný Margrét – with more special guests to be announced.

I have to say I'm tempted, but we haven't quite finished for the summer by then....

 

The venue is significant as it is a World Heritage Site and has special cultural and historic significance to the people of Iceland as well as its stunning landscape: it's one of my favourite places on the island. 

I wonder whether there were some people who weren't impressed with the location for this particular concert and the environmental impact of it.

Here's a spot of KALEO for you: