Jun 30: Hackett and Rothery

A new album has been created by Steve Hackett (formerly of Genesis) and Steve Rothery (of Marillion).

It's called The Roaring Waves.

The first track is now out, and it doesn't really go anywhere... more drama needed. Looking forward to hearing the whole album.

What do you think?

Jun 30: A different year through July and August.

Today marks the half way point of my year of musical blogging.

Thanks to all of you who have visited, contributed blog posts or commented. Over 40 000 page views is not too bad for a brand new project: a lot more than some of my previous 365 projects.

The idea is that I'm going to be sharing some music that I listen to from each year from 1973, when I first heard Tubular Bells to the present day. 

This will count up through the years as we go through July and August and be supplemented with additional posts as always...

If there's an essential album you think I've missed out, please get in touch.

There'll be Google Forms at the end of some of the classic years.

Tomorrow we start with 1973, and straight away we have: 'Tubular Bells, 'Houses of the Holy', 'Dark Side of the Moon' and 'Queen' to kick us off... to name but a few from that particular year...

To get you in the mood - here's a song I loved when at Primary school and tried to play on the keyboard when two friends and I 'formed a band'... couldn't quite nail that opening piano riff at the time... Matt Podbury will appreciate this one...

See you tomorrow for the start of the count-up to 2026.... Feel free to chip in with your own favourite music from each year in the last 6 decades covered by this new section. There'll also be additional posts as usual...

Jun 30: A song that reminds you of yourself

Day 30 of the 30 Day musical challenge....

Who am I?

I'm a New World Man...

I distinctly remember buying this single in 1982 and playing it for the first time. It marked a departure into a reggae-tinged style.

Jun 29: A song you remember from your childhood

When I was a child I would often spend Saturdays at my maternal grandparents' house a few miles from home in South Yorkshire in a village called Whiston on the edge of Rotherham. I used to play records on a record player here. My grandad was a coal miner, so there would always be a coal fire lit, even on hot days, as it provided hot water for the house. 

This song stuck in my head for some reason. 

The lyrics are quite strange and mention death.

It turns out that this is a cover version of a Belgian song called 'The Dying Man' by Jacques Brel.

It also has an unusual key change towards the end.

It was a number one single in many countries including the UK.

Jun 28: A song by an artist whose voice you love

Of all the vocalists there are several whose tone stands out: Peter Gabriel is instantly recognisable; Kate Bush was unlike anyone else when she appeared on the scene; Aimee Mann of course.

I'm going to go for the voice of Paul Buchanan from 1989's album 'Hats' from The Blue Nile. I've mentioned them several times on the blog already - their name is geographical of course.

The song is called 'Headlights on the Parade'.

According to Buchanan the song's meaning is:

"It's about being alive and therefore lots of things, happy and sad, happen to you simultaneously, so what do you hold on to, really?"

Jun 28: West Runton Pavilion

This is a legendary venue which attracted some really big names, despite its location. It lies between Sheringham and Cromer. I passed through West Runton in early January 2026 as it happens, and was back in the area last month. I need to go back to take a picture of the plaque.

It was near to the Village Inn, which has a plaque on the wall.

It was demolished in 1986.

This Facebook page describes it as "gone but not forgotten". It has quite an active community, and the local newspapers have also written about its legacy.

The Facebook group has shared a whole range of memories, including the flyers and details of bands that played there.

This one has a good range of bands.

Haydn Brown provided the following detail:

For several years it was a starting point for many British tours by major artists, including The Damned; The Clash; The Commodores; Hot Chocolate; The Jam; Bad Manners; Motorhead; The Pretenders; Saxon and Iron Maiden. During the 1960's, 70's and early 80's, numerous pop groups took over the entertainment programme. Many bands preferred the venue for practicing, due to the exceptionally food acoustics. Although considered by some as perhaps ‘off the beaten track’, it proved an ideal location for groups trying out new material before making their UK tours. On August 19th 1976 the Sex Pistols performed here for about 30 people. Other bands included at different times, the Stranglers, the Jam, the Clash and the Four Tops.
The last gig took place in 1983 and only three years later in 1986, the building was demolished, to be replaced by flats named Slade Court which was named after the band ‘Slade’ who had played there twice. Today, the only reminder of the West Runton Pavilion, is a Blue Plaque on the wall of the nearby Village Inn pub, to commemorate its former existence.

John Medd remembers visiting the Pavilion to see Generation X.

Julie Fielder has written a book about the pavilion and its history. There was apparently a bus that used to run from Wells to the venue for gigs which seems unlikely these days.

The plaque on the wall has attracted some controversy regarding its accuracy as to which bands actually played there.

Does anyone else have memories of this venue?

Jun 27: A song that breaks your heart

Again, this is hard to pick.

I've not attended many funerals. 

The first one I ever went to ended with this song as the choice of the deceased, and there are few songs less geographical in theme...

Jun 26: Lived landscapes

Sara Cohen and Robert Kronenburg 2018, wrote Liverpool's Musical Landscapes.

Liverpool has gained a national and international reputation for popular music, most recently recognised in its designation as a UNESCO City of Music in 2015.

As this project showed, in Liverpool the architecture, history, social landscape and culture combined to shape an urban identity comprising four elements - which could be identified in other cities as well: 

• local landscapes (the role of music in the city’s everyday life); 
• global trends (in the development and global networking of provincial and post-industrial cities); 
• material landscapes (the importance of material culture in conveying and communicating these narratives, through a combination of places and things); 
• lived landscapes (music’s influence on how the city is lived and experienced).

Cohen, S., and R. Kronenburg. 2018. Liverpool’s Musical Landscapes. Swindon: Historic England.

June 26: America the Beautiful

Pat Metheny has released an unexpected digital only single today... I'm seeing him in a few months' time on his latest Side Eye tour, having seen the previous two of these.

Jun 26: A song that makes you want to fall in love

Coming towards the end of the 30 day challenge....

Couldn't really think of anything to go with this theme today...

So here's a track called 'Magnetic Love'.

Following the jazz theme of yesterday, I thought I'd introduce you to Steps Ahead. 

They were a jazz-fusion band.

On this particular track.

Backing Vocals – Diva Gray, Janis Pendarvis*, Jocelyn Brown
Drum Programming – Jimmy Bralower
Guitar – Paul Jackson
Lead Vocals – Dianne Reeves
Mixed By – Michael Brauer*
Synthesizer – Mike Mainieri, Scott Martin (5)
Synthesizer [Synclavier Sampling], Sampler – Andy Topeka
Synthesizer, Synthesizer [Sequencing], Sequencer, Sequenced By – Phil Ashley
Tenor Saxophone – Michael Brecker

Michael Brecker - who died in 2007 - played in Joni Mitchell's famous 'Shadows and Light' band - this album will be featured on the blog.

Jun 25: Discovery (and the Lake)

Mike Oldfield released his album 'Discovery' on this day in 1984.

The cover is quite striking.

Following his touring in 1983, Oldfield relocated to Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland for tax purposes and started work on this album.  He had also recorded another album in the area.

All the instruments were played by Oldfield, other than the drums, which were from Simon Phillips.

The best track on the album, and one of the best that Mike Oldfield produced is called 'The Lake'. 

It's a long instrumental piece, and this is the remixed '1984 Suite' version of the song. It builds wonderfully...

Whenever I listen to this song I am transported to Norway and it's 1984.

I first travelled to Norway with a friend from my student days. It was the summer before the final year of my geography degree and he had made a connection with a student called Yngvild. We ended up staying with the family and then heading off hitch-hiking for two or three weeks - heading north up towards Bergen and beyond...

Hopefully now that Rayburn Tours are offering trips to Norway I might get back there some day.

Jun 25: A song you like by an artist no longer living

OK... so we have lost a great many wonderful musicians and each year brings more at my age.

I shall go here for a song by Joe Zawinul, from the 1985 album 'Sportin' Life'.

Joe Zawinul was the keyboard player and arranger of a lot of Weather Report's music.

This also features Wayne Shorter and Omar Hakim, both of whom I heard playing live.

Joe Zawinul – keyboards
Wayne Shorter – saxophones
Omar Hakim – drums, background vocals
Victor Bailey – bass, background vocals
Mino Cinélu – percussion, lead vocals and acoustic guitar

Joe, Wayne and Victor are all sadly no longer with us.

This song is Confians. I love how it builds...

The song has also been recorded by Mino Cinelu: the percusionist on the track, and his version is also worth seeking out.

And the band name is geographical of course...

Jun 25: Keep Looping

Sugar have released their third new single after the two they released ahead of their recent UK concerts.

It's a characteristic, guitar-driven short punky blast of less than three minutes...

There’s a thief at the door. 

Always looking for more. 

Once you get in the feed.

Bob says of the song:

“Living in San Francisco, I have a love/hate relationship with AI. It’s bringing my city back to life, but at what cost to society and the environment? And do we trust the current regime to do the right thing with this new tech? The new song has more snarl, and the lyrics say it all: A touch of dopamine. The steady beat of the drum. Get used to the constant hum of the Lie.”

Warning: one rude word.... which you've doubtless heard before...

Jun 24: A song by a band you wish were still together

So that would mean a Rush song. 

As I said on January the 7th, the passing of Neil Peart meant the end of Rush. It's likely that they would have finished anyway as Neil was fed up of touring, but after a few years break he may have been tempted back for a final tour. I'm going to add the final song from their final album: a concept album called 'Clockwork Angels'.

The song is called 'The Garden'.

Here's the studio version. 

And here's the live version of the song, with strings...

This was the final song on the final Rush album and it acts as a perfect closure to their career.

I am going to see the tour in 2027 and very much looking forward to seeing Anika Nilles behind the kit, but that will be to see a different band, and not the one that recorded all of Rush's albums.

Jun 24: How big is Glastonbury?

Always good to have little map 'experiments' / projects like this appearing. Glastonbury's gates opened yesterday.

Glastonbury is big. Sixteen years ago today, I was there... in the heat, working with the Geography Collective in the Green Kids Zone. I've blogged about it before - search the blog for 'Glastonbury'.

This map shows you how big, although from my experience it felt quite a lot larger than it is shown here. I think there are other areas still beyond what is shown here - whether car parking or additional camping and the security zone.

It's made by Geoffrey Prytherch.

Here's Ely compared to the site.

And here's one of my images from up near the letters... at night, it looks pretty awesome too. This was sunset on the 24th of June.

Image: Alan Parkinson - shared on Flickr under CC license

What are your Glastonbury memories?

Jun 23: A song you think everyone should listen to

At some point in their life, everyone should sit down and drop the stylus onto a vinyl copy of 'Tubular Bells'.

While listening they should consider various things.

• The age that Mike Oldfield was when he composed it.
• The nights spent at the Manor working when other bands using the studio had finished for the night.
• The endless overdubs which ended up wearing out the tape.
• The impact of this album - the first release on Richard Branson's new record label. Its unprecedented success funded the Virgin empire that came after.... for better or worse...
• The enduring discography that followed...

Jun 22: Cities and Music #5: Leeds

OK, so we are heading to West Yorkshire next to the city of Leeds: home to the football team I have supported for over 50 years - which has not always been easy... 

Image: My Leeds Subbuteo team from back in the day - Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license.

Leeds has given rise to some popular bands and musicians.

They include: 

Kaiser Chiefs 

Soft Cell

Alt-J (who feature an Old Elean - a former pupil of the school where I teach - in their line-up).

The Wedding Present - who had a moment

This Leeds music website has a great list. The Visit Leeds site also makes much of the current music scene in the city.

Leeds had some well-known venues, including the Brudenell Social Club (follow them on Spotify), and the old Duchess of York pub. It still attracts a good cohort of musicians to play there. Bob Mould stopped by the Leeds Irish Centre on the recent Sugar tour that I blogged about a few weeks ago.

There is a short history of music in Leeds here.

One venue I've been to for larger events is Roundhay Park, which has a good sloped amphitheatre like area.

I saw Genesis there in 1987 on a wet day on the Invisible Touch tour - the year later Michael Jackson played there on the 'Bad' tour. Both of those were to over 80 000 people. In 1992, they both came back: Genesis on the 'I can't dance' tour, and Michael Jackson doing the 'Dangerous' tour. Madonna also played there around that time.

A VHS transfer here to YouTube... can't find much better video...

Looking back at the news media around the Genesis concert, it mentioned that Runrig were the support band. I don't remember that at all.

Leeds and Reading festivals still attract very large audiences.

Jun 22: A song that moves you forward

What does that even mean? 

A song that provides motivation perhaps and that you would have on your compilation if you were into running and needed to push through the final kilometre to home...

Perhaps a song that you would put on when starting a task that you didn't want to do. 

When my children were younger, this one would motivate us to clean up the house... and tidy stuff away...

What song would be your choice?

Jun 21: World Music Day

Today is World Music Day.

World music day or ‘Fête de la Musique’, as it was first known, has its origins in France. 

First thought up by Jack Lang and Maurice Fleuret from the French Ministry of culture in 1982, it was a day intended to encourage the mass performance of music. Now, the event has spread all over the world where musicians of all kinds (professional and amateur) play music in public for free. 

Here is the official school album - although the day is on a Sunday this year.

Jun 21: A song you like with a person's name in the title

Lots of potential songs to choose from here....

A few that spring to mind are 'Valerie' from Steve Winwood, 'Rosanna' from Toto etc.

I'll probably go for a track from Goldfrapp's album 'Tales of Us'

And I'd choose the opening track 'Jo':

Jun 21: All aboard...

One of the best guitar riffs, from Randy Rhoads.

This was Ozzy Osbourne's first solo single.

The lyrics deal with the subject of the Cold War and the fear of annihilation that existed during that period

"Crazy Train" has been used as the walk-out song for Premier League football club Aston Villa F.C.. Osbourne was a fan of the team, which is based in his hometown of Birmingham. Similarly, the National Football League (NFL)'s New England Patriots also use(d) "Crazy Train" as their entrance song.

Source: Wikipedia

What are your favourite guitar riffs?

Tell me below and I'll do a separate post in the future...

Jun 21: Invasive species

If you are after images of invasive species, the SISI Flickr page has plenty for you to use.

They cover a few plant species, and also some work to control mink and other animals as well.

It is likely that the impact of invasive species on a range of environments will form part of the investigative work of the new specification as it is an example of where humans and nature overlap.

Invasive species can often cause problems for ecosystems, competing with local species or even damaging properties in the case of Japanese knotweed or out competing the natural residents e.g. red squirrels.

Here's perhaps one of the most famous pieces of music about invasive species. 

A classic from early Genesis, with Peter Gabriel on vocals.

Jun 20: A song that has many meanings to you

Another hard one...

This requires some thought about the different meanings a song can have.

It has to provoke some emotions of course, and perhaps be a song that I keep returning to it at different stages in my life... and view differently.

In the end, I went for the Moving Hearts song Tribute to Peadar O' Donnell.

At one point this was down on my shortlist of funeral songs... the uillean pipes here are played by Davy Spillane. I remember seeing him play live a number of times... including in the band that played live at the Riverdance show I saw in the mid 1990s.

The track appears on an album called 'The Storm'.

When I used to travel up to Skye for climbing trips this always went on in the car as we were driving through some of the more dramatic landscapes of the trip such as Glencoe or past Buachaille Etive Mòr. The album starts with 'The Lark' - a good set of tunes.

Jun 20: Music for a New Crossing

I bought this CD from a record shop in Durham back in 2001. I was up there for a meeting with Professor Tim Burt who had agreed to help me with some research that I was doing at the time.

The album was commissioned by Music North and premiered at the opening of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in September 2001. 

It's a limited edition CD and I'm not sure how many of them were made.

The Millennium Bridge was a 'new crossing' of the river Tyne.

I visited and crossed the bridge when I was up in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2024 to give the Cath White Memorial Lecture.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared on Flickr under CC license.

Jun 19: A song that makes you think about life

Another strange category and similar to some of the others.

I suppose one way to interpret it would be a song that is really old, although you can remember it being released, and therefore that makes you feel old.

My choice is by multi-instrumentalist Eddie Jobson. He has played with a number of progressive rock bands including Curved Air, Roxy Music, Frank Zappa and U:K. More on most of those elsewhere on the blog.

He also 'joined' Yes for a few days then realised it was a mistake and had to be edited out of the video for 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'.

This video amusingly captures the moments when he remains in the video.

His debut solo album from 1983 is a concept album called 'The Green Album'.

And here's a longer documentary covering his career.

And the song I will choose to add here is: 'Who my Friends...'

Jun 18: A song from the year you were born

So that needs to be a song from 1963.

I had a good look to find one that may have been both geographical and one that I remembered listening to when I was young.

In January of 1963 Peter, Paul and Mary released 'Puff, the Magic Dragon' and I remember hearing it as a child. There were some suggestions that the song was linked with drugs, but the musicians themselves frequently said that it never had.

Another one that was actually number 1 in January 1963 was 'Telstar' by The Tornados (a suitably geographical name.)

The distinctive sound is produced by an instrument called a clavioline.

The song is named after a pair of satellites: Telstar1 and 2.

These were early, low-orbit communications satellites launched in 1962 and 1963, respectively, by the US

The song was produced by Joe Meek.

The song went to number one.

"Telstar" won an Ivor Novello Award and is estimated to have sold at least five million copies worldwide.

Jun 18: Three years ago today...

I was watching Peter Gabriel's i/O tour at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham...  and the nearly 40 year old tour t-shirt I wore is also pictured....

Images: Alan Parkinson

Jun 17: A song you'd sing a duet with someone at karaoke

I'm thinking of when I have previously sung at karaoke... and that's mostly Finnish songs on a ferry which was sailing through the Baltic between Helsinki and Stockholm. I'd had some shots of liquorice vodka before I started and was singing with a fellow geographer called Jukka. 

I suppose I could choose a duet song that I know all the words to...

But here's one that most people will not have heard of instead. I'd do the male part and someone would have to sing the female part. Preferably somebody Welsh...

The track is called 'You + Me' and is taken from Public Service Broadcasting's 'Every Valley' album...

It's the first track that features vocals from J Willgoose Esq.

He is joined by Lisa Jên Brown from the Welsh group 9Bach.

Listen to it here:

Here's Lisa on the power of stories.

Jun 17: Ticket Stub #10: Rush

This was the last concert I attended by Rush.... I thought for ever... and certainly the last one with Neil Peart.

It was the Time Machine tour. They played the whole of 'Moving Pictures' including the Camera Eye, which they had rarely played live. They repeated that in one of their shows at the Kia Forum with Annika Nilles on drums.

Half way through the concert I decided to relocate to a new place at the back of the arena which had spare seats as my view was affected by other people. I saw several other people then having the same ideas as the concert progressed. 

This was one of the final concerts that I also parked at a pub in the Sheffield area of Attercliffe called the Cocked Hat. This was a super pub in an area which had quite a few dodgy ones. It no longer exists...

To the left of the entrance was a bar billiards table - you don't see those in pubs very often... I loved having a few games of this with a nice pint of Landlord. Through the back were lots of small boothed seating areas - a great place to sit. From there, you would walk past the stadium built for the World Student Games, where I saw U2, and which was visited by bands such as the Rolling Stones.

Similarly, it no longer exists. Using Street View you can go back to 2008 when it was still there...

After that it was past hotels and restaurants to get to the Arena and the Don Valley Bowl, where cricket was played.

Across the car park from the arena - now called the Utilita Arena - is a pub called the Noose and Gibbet Inn, with an interesting pub sign.

The man hanging outside, looking down at passersby with a mournful expression on his pale, lifeless face, is the notorious highwayman Spence Broughton. He was sentenced to death in 1792 after robbing a mail boy delivering the post to Sheffield and Rotherham. A judge, wishing to make an example of him, ordered that his body be hanged on a gibbet on Attercliffe Common and left on display there as a macabre warning to others. His corpse was left to decompose within a cage and it became a ghoulish visitor attraction, reportedly drawing 40,000 people within the first few days of its appearance close to the road between Sheffield and Rotherham.

Source

My friend Rob Hindle has written a poem-sequence about the incident - details from Longbarrow Press here.

Jun 17: Guest blogger Matt Podbury #3: "Uncovering the lost Freddie Mercury photos" - Part 3 of 3

If you've not been following the story of Matt Podbury's connections with Queen, go back and read part 1 and part 2 of this series first.

This post finishes off the story of Matt's love of the band and their solo recordings, which form an archive he is collecting.

Previously we heard about photos taken by a friend of Matt's uncle called Paul.

The images also made it into Mojo magazine.

All images courtesy of Matt Podbury

Matt shared the story of meeting Brian May and Roger Taylor at an event at the Royal Albert Hall when he was still at school.

Matt finishes the series by bringing the story up to date.

In the subsequent years, I have seen a few reincarnations of Queen with both Paul Rodgers, and more lately Adam Lambert. 

In fact, my wife and I feature briefly on the live Queen Return of the Champions DVD filmed at the Sheffield Arena in 2005. Watch out for Matt holding up a camera at 2'10" and 2'30" (the days before smartphones when you could enjoy the gig more).

I have seen Roger and Brian perform smaller solo gigs around the UK but was born too late to ever witness Freddie and the boys do their stuff. 

More recently the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' movie took the band to even greater heights and interest in everything Freddie Mercury and Queen related has reached levels never seen before. 

Here's Remi Malik and the others recreating that classic Live Aid set that Matt mentioned in Part 1 in the film 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Thanks very much to Matt for these memories.

Thanks to Carl Lee, Brendan Conway and Sandra Patterson who have also shared guest posts. Please think about a contribution of your own memories of a particular place and time linked to music.

Matt Podbury is a Geography teacher with nearly a quarter of a century of classroom experience, and he has been teaching at the International School of Toulouse for the last 17 years. Matt authors www.geographypods.com and www.ibgeographypods.org and also works for the IBO. He can be found on Discogs with the user name podders79 and adds a few extra vinyl records to his collection every month.

Jun 16: A song that's a classic favourite

I'm going to go for a song that I've heard a thousand times and that I would always be happy to hear again. It's also featured on the blog before.

Here's 'Subdivisions' from 1982 from the album 'Signals'. 

I'm hoping this is in the setlist for their 2027 UK gigs...

Jun 15: A song you like that's a cover by another artist

There are quite a few songs where the cover version is better than the original version.

Jude Roger's book (mentioned all the way back on January the 2nd) mentions several of these.

My choice is from Peter Gabriel's album 'Scratch my Back' (2010)

It's a cover of a Lou Reed song.

It was also featured earlier in the month... so here we are again...

Jun 15: 36 years ago today

This is one of my favourite albums although it is also one of the most frustrating as it never settles for long into a particular theme... and is interrupted by some annoying diversions along the way including the moment when Janet Brown appears... 

It is now rather old too, with a special edition on vinyl coming out last year.

The album cover features a number of riddles.

I am told that when men hear its voice, it stays in their ears, they cannot be rid of it. It has many different voices: some happy, but others sad. It roars like a baboon, murmurs like a child, drums like the blazing arms of one thousand drummers, rustles like water in a glass, sings like a lover and laments like a priest...

Amarok was the final album that Mike Oldfield made for Virgin Records.

It contains a coded message for Richard Branson.

I had a vinyl version, requiring you to change half way through - the CD version is more continuous.

It's a brilliant and frustrating album.

Jun 15: Guest blogger Matt Podbury #2: "Uncovering the lost Freddie Mercury photos" - Part 2 of 3

This is the second of three guest posts by Matt Podbury on his love for Queen.

If you've just come across this one, please go back and read part 1 before you read on.

The first part of the post explored Matt's love of Queen, which started early, and his discovery that his uncle had a connection with someone called Paul who knew Freddie Mercury before he changed his name from Bulsara.

Image courtesy of Matt Podbury - Paul and Freddie

Matt's favourite magazine 'Record Collector' jumped on the photos too, and included them in their March 1996 edition! Good to see Ian Anderson in standard pose on the front cover as well.

Matt takes up the story:

All went quiet for a few months and then one evening I received an excited phone call from Dave. “Matthew” he said, “how would you like to go down to London with Paul and Chris for the opening night of the Freddie Mercury Photographic Exhibition at the Albert Hall?"

"Paul’s photos have been chosen to be displayed, and he has a spare ticket and thinks you should go, given that you started all this off”.  

I didn’t take any convincing at all, although it was on a Friday night, and I had to be back by the next morning for my 8am shift at the butchers in Conwy!  

I left Aberconwy School early on 22 November 1996 and took the train down to London's Euston station, then made my way close to the Royal Albert Hall where Paul and Chris had said they would meet me. 

Ten minutes went by and they hadn’t arrived. I could see a queue of fans outside the Hall waiting for the rest of the band and other dignitaries to arrive. I found a payphone and phoned Dave – he didn’t know where they were and just as I was giving up any hope of getting in, they both appeared after an obvious extended session down the pub and were well ‘oiled up’ in true rock ‘n roll fashion!  

I remember walking down a red carpet and flashing the visitor passes to the security guards. 

This was all too weird for a normal lad from Conwy who six hours earlier had been sat in his A-level geography class!  

When we got into the venue, the first person I spotted was Brian May – he is huge and obviously stands out. I couldn’t believe it! 

A bit further on was Freddie’s good friend Dave Clark (from the Dave Clark 5), and his onetime girlfriend, Mary Austin! 

Paul & Chris headed off to the free bar and so I went off for a wander to have a look at the photos. I had brought a Queen record with me and had purchased a silver marker pen just in case I summoned up the courage to ask anyone for their autograph. 

As I was walking up the stairs admiring the photos, Roger Taylor was coming down with his wife. Without thinking, I reached out my hand to shake his hand and said how much I had loved his recent solo album. He grinned, said thanks and then signed my record. His hands were massive – that’s all I remember. 

A few moments later, a girl about the same age as me came up and asked which school I went to in London. I was still wearing my Aberconwy uniform and told her that I had come down from Wales because I was with Paul Humberstone who had taken some old photos displayed. She followed me round for a while and was talking about some of the photos and how much she liked them. I told her that I had just met Roger and showed her my signed record. She didn’t seem too impressed and said that we should go and meet her dad as he would be wondering where she was. We walked into the main reception area and she walked me straight up to her dad - Brian May - and introduced me as the kid who had come all the way from Wales. 

He said something nice to me; I can’t remember what as I was far too star-struck (and he’s massive) and then he duly signed my record. Two down. Before we interrupted him, he had been speaking to Chris and had apparently remembered him straight away from their Smile days. 

At that point, I thought my life was pretty much complete. 

I had to keep an eye on the time as I had to get the last train back to Holyhead and that meant that I only had another 30 minutes or so before I had to leave. There were some free food and drinks on offer and so I wandered over to the table to fill up before the journey back. 

As I stood there on my own with my plate, a lovely elderly lady beckoned me over and asked if I wanted to sit down with them. She was a bit worried that I was on my own and had spotted the school uniform. 

“Come and have a cup of tea with us” she said kindly and took me over to her husband and daughter. “I’m Jer and this is my husband Bomi” she said. And this is our daughter Kash”. I looked at Kash and pretty much realised who she was before being told “We’re Freddie’s mum and dad, and Kash is his sister”. 

You can see them in the video at the top of the post, with one of Paul's photos on the wall.

I hope I said something suitable – but I can’t really recall.  I remember shaking their hands and talking about Conwy as they had been there on holiday, as well as how much I loved their son’s music (how strange to be saying that). The moment was almost too weird to contemplate: here I was at the Albert Hall in London having tea and sandwiches with Freddie Mercury’s mum, dad and sister. I remember that his dad had very soft hands, and his mum reminded me of my grandma. His sister was the spitting image of her brother. 

Soon, the party was over and I was heading back on the train ready for my morning shift at Edwards of Conwy, probably making burgers or washing dishes.  

I didn’t talk much to the lads in the butchers the next day about it as they weren’t really Queen fans but I remember being on cloud nine for many days after. 

My signed record stayed with me for a few years until I sold it to Piccadilly Records in Manchester in 2002 when I had no money after finishing my degree. I sold it for about £100. I should have sold a kidney instead! 

So, the best day of my music life came about because of my Uncle Dave, a shared love of collecting, days spent in a rubbish dump, and his London connections. 

“Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy” – that pretty much sums up the 22nd of November 1996 for me!

In the final post in this series, Matt shares his continuing love of Queen.

Matt Podbury is a Geography teacher with nearly a quarter of a century of classroom experience, and he has been teaching at the International School of Toulouse for the last 17 years. Matt authors www.geographypods.com and www.ibgeographypods.org and also works for the IBO. He can be found on Discogs with the user name podders79 and adds a few extra vinyl records to his collection every month.

June 14: Songs with city names...

Some obvious ones...

Vienna - Ultravox

Budapest - Jethro Tull

I've mentioned this song before...

City of Blinding Lights - U2 - not a named city... but based on New York...

There is a connection here with New York, which was explained on this Wikipedia post:

The chorus was inspired by U2's first concert in New York City following the September 11 attacks during their 2001 Elevation Tour. When the lights illuminated the audience during a performance of "Where the Streets Have No Name", the band saw tears streaming down the faces of many fans. Upon seeing this raw release of emotion, Bono shouted, "Oh you look so beautiful tonight"; later, the band integrated the line into the chorus.  The fans' passion, along with the resolve of the city following the attack, were the primary inspirations for many of the song's other lyrics.

What other city songs would you select?

Jun 14: Moon Safari

One of the purposes of this blog is to broaden your musical horizons and introduce you to some new music, and aim to make some geographical connections along the way.

Moon Safari are a Swedish group. It's a fairly large one and they certainly fill the stage when they play live.

They are from Skeleffteå in Sweden and were founded in 2003.

The musical style of Moon Safari is characterised by a symphonic rock sound with five-part vocal harmonies, and plenty of changes in time signature and tone and mood within the same song

One of their long songs is named after the place where they were founded.

Jun 14: Just for one day

The track 'Heroes' is taken from David Bowie's album. We can all be heroes, just for one day....

Why not be a hero and help out the development of the blog by filling in one of my Google Forms.

Songs with cities in their titles.

Songs about our changing climate or environmental damage.

Your favourite protest songs.

A song with a colour in the title.

A song with a number in the title.

Let me know which bands your streaming algorithm throws up when you type in the letters A - Z

Your favourite film soundtrack music

Tell me about the first gig you attended.

Share album covers which feature geographical features of some kind... human or physical.

Have you ever been to the Glastonbury Festival? Please tell me all about it....

What are your memories of Live Aid in 1985 - were you there? Did you watch? Whose performances can you remember?

Please share the locations and images of music related street art that you've seen...

Please share your favourite, oldest or most interesting tour t-shirts in your collection.

What are the best TV theme tunes?

And finally, if you're feeling particularly helpful... fill in the original form from the start of the blog. This has about a dozen questions.

Jun 14: Arctic Monkeys

A new book about the music scene in Sheffield by Daniel Dylan Wray was mentioned a few weeks ago. The development of Arctic Monkeys was included in the book. This Guardian article explores their starting point, influenced by other local bands.

Jun 14: A song you'd like to be played at your wedding

I'm already married as it happens...

And this song was played on a mix tape as guests arrived for our wedding reception. More on this in a later blog post....

Jun 13: Dee Palmer, RIP

Sad news of the passing of someone who was very important in the golden years of Jethro Tull's success: Dee Palmer.

Here's a song they wrote and arranged from the album 'Stormwatch'.

Jun 13: Live Aid - a month today...

 “It’s 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia and around the world, it’s time for Live Aid”.

It was the 13th of July, 1985 and the world waited with anticipation as the stage at Wembley Stadium was poised to launch Live Aid. BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner famously declared,

Everyone remembers this particular set, which was also recreated for the film 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Please tell me more!

Jun 13: Guest blogger Matt Podbury #1: "Uncovering the lost Freddie Mercury photos" - Part 1 of 3

A first guest post by Matt Podbury.

Uncovering the lost Freddie Mercury photos

I have been a big Queen fan for as long as I can remember, and over the years I have built up a large collection of memorabilia. I also collect vinyl records in particular that today numbers into the thousands. 

Image courtesy of Matt Podbury

I have everything from Air to ZZ Top in the collection and have always enjoyed sifting through the 45s, 12"s & LPs in record shops in any city that I visit. 

However, the really valuable stuff, the stuff that is in protective covers, and the stuff that my kids can sell off for a small fortune when I pop my clogs is by Queen and their varied associated solo projects. 

The reasons for this were brought back to me recently when I was invited by Russel Tarr – my friend and history teaching colleague at the International School of Toulouse – to be the next guest on a series of 'Desert Island Discs' secondary assemblies.  

I recounted how I played the piano from a young age and so I have naturally been attracted to music involving the piano and piano players. Early on, I remember hearing ABBA playing at Christmas parties at my grandparents’ house in Yorkshire and listening to Stevie Wonder in amazement at how fast and talented these artists were at playing live and in the studio. 

I explained to Russ how my Uncle Dave introduced me to the world of collecting as we used to go ‘bottling’ in the old Victorian dumps around Harrogate in the early to mid-1980’s. 

We used to come back with all sorts of treasures including marble bottles and porcelain marmalade jars!  Whilst uncovering hidden treasures, I used to love listening to his stories about travelling around Europe in the 60’s and 70’s following bands and living an amazing footloose existence. 

I particularly remember Dave’s story about him and his brother - my Uncle Brian, heading down to Wembley Stadium to watch a collective of artists perform at a charity concert for Ethiopia in 1985 – Live Aid.  

He originally went down to watch ‘The Quo’ but was so taken aback by Freddie and the boys that day, that later in July of 1986 he headed back down to Wembley with Uncle Bri for one of the two dates that Queen was performing with ‘The Quo’ in support.  Incidentally, when they arrived back at Leeds train station after Live Aid, his Ford Escort had had its windscreen bricked in and so they had to drive back up to Harrogate with the wind blowing through their hair!  Rock ‘n roll!

Uncle Dave and his Live Aid ticket - these are now worth quite a bit of money - image courtesy of Matt Podbury.

That story and many others he recounted made visiting W.H. Smith’s a must and I spent hours and hours thumbing through music books and magazines trying to find out everything I could about Queen and their secretive singer. 

I have early memories of listening to and buying the Queen Album ‘A Kind of Magic’. However, Dave told me that ‘the’ song to listen out for was from way back and was called 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. 

A visit to Woolworths later and I had managed to secure Queen’s Greatest Hits 1 on cassette with my Christmas money, and I didn’t get much past track 1. 

What a song! 

What a bit of piano work! 

What a genius!  

In fact, for my Desert Island Discs, I didn’t choose 'Bo Rhap' but went in with a deep cut track that clearly showed Freddie building up to writing this opus. The track that I chose is called 'The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke' and I recounted how I used to listen to the 1974 album containing that track (Queen II) at a time when everyone else at school was listening to Guns N Roses and Ice Cube!  Give it a listen – it is truly bonkers, and I have no idea how you even start to write and record something like that on your second album! The piano work is magnificent. 

Fast forward a few years to around about 1993, and on one visit up to Harrogate I remember Dave talking about his mate named Paul who he had lived with in London, and back in his Ealing Art School days happened to know and hang out with a certain Freddie Bulsara (as he was then known) and had taken some photos of him during his pre-Queen days as a student. 

Sadly, by 1993 Freddie had died and Queen were working on what would be their last album containing vocals left behind by their singer. There was peak interest in the band and at the start of ‘93 some relatively unknown Freddie solo songs had been remixed and released to great commercial success.

Freddie’s solo work with Montserrat Caballe had also been played extensively the year before as the soundtrack to the Barcelona 1992 Olympics.  

I said to Dave that he really should tell Paul to dig out the photos and see what they were like, as there was bound to be huge interest in anything Freddie related, particularly from this time period where there were no photos in circulation.  

I was sure that my favourite monthly magazine, Record Collector would be more than keen to have a look. 

About a year later, I got a lovely surprise when Dave posted me a birthday card with a very cool black and white image of a guy playing a guitar in a room with a Jimi Hendrix poster on the wall behind him.

Image courtesy of Matt Podbury

Dave was a brilliant graphic designer and always used to come up with something special for birthday cards! 

I didn’t register who the guitar player was and opened it to find a birthday note from him with an additional section telling me that he hoped I enjoyed this never-before published photo of Freddie on the front! 

Bloody hell! 

It was him too, and Paul had finally located the old albums and found some real gems! Paul also lived about five doors down from Dave in Harrogate and so a conversation started about what he should do with them.  

At this point, it is worth mentioning a guy called Chris Smith who also lived locally. 

Amazingly, he was the bassist together with Brian May, Roger Taylor and Tim Staffel in a pre-Queen group called Smile. 

Tim left Smile to be replaced by Freddie, and Chris left to be later replaced by John Deacon. 

Paul knew Chris from years back, and had been in contact with him after talking to Dave. They had set off down to London to go and visit Queen's HQ and some auction houses with the photos. 

You can read a copy of the letter below that Dave sent me in late 1995 with the details of what happened that day, and how they bumped into Brian May while they were there...

Image courtesy of Matt Podbury

Paul managed to make some decent money from the pics, and they began to appear in other music publications and even on the 1996 Freddie Mercury Solo collection – a lavish box set that cost me a small fortune back in the day!

Image courtesy of Matt Podbury

What happened next?

Come back in a few days to find out more!

Matt Podbury is a Geography teacher with nearly a quarter of a century of classroom experience, and he has been teaching at the International School of Toulouse for the last 17 years. Matt authors www.geographypods.com and www.ibgeographypods.org and also works for the IBO. He can be found on Discogs with the user name podders79 and adds a few extra vinyl records to his collection every month.