Bubblegum

Nice bubblegum post over at TVD on Friday. There were a few bubblegum records in our house back in the late 60s including this all but forgotten gem from 1969.

It was on the Major Minor label – whatever happened to that? Other artists we had on the label were Tommy James and the Shondells, Karen Young, Johnny Nash and Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. Whenever I hear old songs that we had I always picture the record label and sleeve. Do you even know what label your CDs are on?

mp3: Crazy Elephant - Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’ (1969)

My boys like this one even though it always ‘tricks’ them. When they hear the opening bars they think it’s ‘Cherry Bomb’.

Not exactly a Friday night party record…

...but it’s been a while since I indulged in my progressive rock fixation. Allmusic says of this song “Refugees turns out to be a wonderfully moving song that eschews hidden meaning in favour of direct statement - this is a song about people fleeing to the West, taking next to nothing with them. An elegy to freedom, the song not only takes in the idea of escaping to freedom, but takes in the planning as well, though in poetic terms suitable for the average Peter Hammill lyric” which is mostly true but even a cursory listen to the lyric tells you there’s a much more personal story in there.

All you prog haters out there (and in my experience most prog haters haven’t heard any but have accepted received wisdom that it was all pretentious crap) give this a listen and see if you can honestly tell me it isn’t great.

mp3: Van Der Graaf Generator - Refugees (1970) (Buy)

This mp3 will only be available for a limited time.

It’s cold outside Part 2…

Message on the school website:
School (and Pre-school) closed due to snow on Tuesday 3rd February. Please continue to visit our website and listen to the local radio for updates.

That’s my quiet day off work buggered! Course it was worse in my day (see mid 60s picture above) and we didn’t have central heating. Frost on the inside of your bedroom window etc…Just read this post, you'll get the idea.

The Stiv Bators song comes courtesy of Darkdance, who thought it might be too punky for me. I actually think it’s a great piece of power pop.

mp3: Stiv Bators - It’s Cold Outside (1979)

It's cold outside...

The school's closed today so you can imagine how upset the boys are.

Update: We were a bit low on milk and bread so I’ve just walked up to the local Co-op for supplies. The snow’s about eight inches deep in places so it’s really quiet out there apart from that nice sound your boots make in the snow. I Don’t have to go into work til Wednesday.

mp3: Pezband - Baby It's Cold Outside (1977)