Just thought I'd write up an open post to the Duke De Mondo (and perhaps Simon of No Rock&Roll Fun who won't like it one bit) that I have just purchased
Motion Sickness, Bright Eyes
Down in Albion, Babyshambles
Capture/Release, The Rakes
All found at Rounder Records, The Lanes, Brighton. Rounder listed Capture/Release as its personal pick for #2 album of the year. I wasn't too sold on Bright Eyes until I saw the song When the President Talks to God. Down in Albion has received good reviews from other quarters, so there you are: the Mondo Irelando podcasts have made a significant impact on my music purchases to date.
Speaking of Brighton, have met up with a fellow business traveler who was home for a visit from his new digs in Spain. His name is Harry, which is easily remembered because I keep stifling the desire to sing Ray Davies' Harry Rag in his honor.
We started talking about -- what else -- music and he proudly recounted how he had a police record for a long-ago weekend in Brighton back in the days of the Mods and Rockers.
Me: Oh hey! Like Quadrophenia.
Harry: It was brilliant!
Me: Okay. I have to guess if you were a Mod or a Rocker.
(Quick furtive look at hairline, clothing...no clues there.)
Me: A Rocker?
Harry: No! I was a Mod!
Me: Look, you just told me that one of your life goals was to drive a Ford Mustang through the streets of San Francisco. That's something a rocker would want to do. And you knew your classic American cars. That's all I had to go on.
Harry: Nah...not me. Madras jackets, winkle-pickers, the lot.
And so on. Last night, Harry told me about a great three piece blues band down at the Fountain. So we had to go check it out. When they launched into John Mayall's All Your Lovin, Harry and I exchanged looks that said "Not bad, huh?" At the break the musicians stopped by our table, which had grown to a party of six, and we somehow got into a comparative discussion of Gary Moore and Rory Gallagher. "Rory," said the lead guitarist of the trio, "Rory was the pure thing."
And who could disagree?
I left Harry and the others to enjoy the music til closing time. Tonight I'll be solo at the Festival Theatre, but that's the music news so far from Brighton.
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5 comments:
How wonderful you're in Brighton. The Lanes were where I spent my formative teen-deliquent, art student days. My friends and I represented a third if tiny factor in the Mods & Rockers conflicts -- the Bob Dylan-looking beatniks whose neutrality was respected by both sides.
That sounds like the group I'd try to hang with! In my school, it would be the 'drama club kids' and we did manage to avoid the jock/stoner dichotemy that ruled everyone else.
Incidently, it was my third bookstore when I realized I should use this opportunity to find some more Farren. Did land a tasty Caroline Blackwood at a Brighton secondhand store.
Today Portsmouth.
hurrah! Down In Albion is gorgeous, as is Conor Oberst, an thankfully the music created by him in Bright Eyes is enough to shake the eyes from the skull. great purchases, you've made!
Not much of a quibble here, but I prefer Gary Moore, but that's because I'm much more familiar with his career than I am with Rory's, although I do know enough to say that Rory's Irish Tour live album (1974 I believe) is one of the best live recordings of all time.
Cheers,
L+
This was a great thread to come back and find. I hear you on Gary Moore, Listerplus. And completely agree on Rory's Irish Tour live album. What is truly cool is that we have the music from both guitarists.
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