Steve Howe - Lute Concerto in D Major / Mood For A Day

[cocopops61]

Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits,what a great album this is,yeah I know that greatest hits are to be sneered at by the purists but the share class of I Need Your Love (a cover I think), Albatross and Man Of The World plus the brilliant Oh Well makes this any blues fan should own, Fleetwood Mac went mainstream after Green left and evolved into world superstars but you know what,I kinda wish that they hadnt

[cocopops61]

The good news...

I ended up playing some solo work of Jon and absolutely loved it,I Hear You Now is so beautiful I envy those of you in love 10/10, I'm going to listen to the first two solo albums next

I never got around to listening to the first two albums for one reason or another but I bought a second hand copy of their greatest hits off Amazon cheap and thoroughly enjoyed it,I Hear You Now and I'll Find My Way Home are exceptional songs and Jon shows what a beautiful voice he has,also on the there was State Of Independence which I know from Donna Summer version but I didn't know that it was a cover of a Jon and Vangelis single,any of you old proggers like them?

[griff]

They were OK but I never bought ny of their stuff. You’re right about early Fleetwood Mac though, probably my favourite band back then. Green Manalishi a standout track.

[cocopops61]

Tonight I've mostly been listening to Bruce Springs**** back to back and I've got to say what great albums that The River and Born In The USA are, absolutely fantastic songs on both of them and a 10/10 from me,thing is though I had originally wanted to hear Johnny Bye Bye and I remembered it being on the Born In The USA or The River but there's no sign of it anywhere 🤔 Nevermind,still worth the replay of two great albums

[griff]

A lot of folk won’t like this, but I’ve never much likes Springst­een’s music. I always listened to it and though it was American blue-collar music aimed at blue-collar, apple-pie eating Americans. Some of his more recent stuff is far better, but I don’t want to hear about wall-to-wall Americana in music. A bit of a one-trick pony for most of his career unfortunately.

[cocopops61]

A bit of a one-trick pony for most of his career unfortunately.

Im lost for words, honestly I'm stunned by that one sentence alone,sure he's got an image of speaking for the working man but some of his songs are bordering on poetry imo,his 70/80's albums are especially good,have you got Netflix,watch a film called Blinded By The Light about a young Pakistani lad discovering Bruce on the 80's,it's a true story (mostly) to boot,Born To Run still makes me pick up my air guitar 40 years after first hearing it and every time I meet someone called Wendy they instantly reminded me of it

[griff]

Nah, not for me. Music aimed at Americans which doesn’t translate well here for me. Sorry Bruce fans.

[griff]

If you want poetry, have a look at some of Chris Rea’s stuff from around the same time.

“Joys Of Christmas"

I see all the tough guys still not 25
Dying on their feet
Coughing, honking, cadging cigarettes
And still out on the street
Well, they got no money, nowhere to go
Fathers of 2, 3 maybe 4, what are they gonna do
Jimmy got a busted mouth in a fight last night
He says he's OK
Going down to the workies club (that's a laugh)
To buy something strong and take the pain away

Joys of Christmas
Joys of Christmas
Northern style

Flashing Christmas light of police blue
Go spinning down the street
Women try to drag the men from pubs
Into the stores
Unworked hands in empty pockets deep
We stand outside the neon ice and wish ourselves the best
He says he's OK, out of work and fighting
Is all he's ever known
And laughs and says I worry too much anyway

Joys of Christmas
Joys of Christmas
Northern style
Let's drink to the likes of Jim
Before we all go insane
And please don't ask me why
It'll take too long to explain
Joys of Christmas

That’s about living in Thatcher’s Britain in the North East of England, far more resonant to me than anything BS wrote because it’s something I can relate to. “Unworked hands in empty pockets deep” still gets me today.

[cocopops61]

Rea is indeed a great musician and song writer,I first heard of him when Elkie Brookes went into the charts with Fool If You Think It's Over and I mentioned at work how good I thought that the song was and somebody said that they preferred the original version,I didn't even know that Elkies version was a cover (no internet days then) and the next day I was given the Rea version to listen to, initially I thought that it was ok but not as good as the version in the charts at the time but as the years past I slowly grew to appreciate the original more and more and looked into Rea's back catalogue and wasn't disappointed,I've still got that single that I was "lent" somewhere and I won't get rid of it because it tells a story to me,it played a small part of my love of music and when I look at it it takes me right back to working in a really crappy job with some very dubious characters but upon reflection was great times

What about Tell Me There's A Heaven? If there's ever a sing that can make me feel down about the world it's that one,written about his six year old daughter watching lynchings in South Africa on the news on TV

An excellent choice of yours btw Griff 😎

[griff]

Here’s another by a band that you’ll know. It always seems to be more about the development of the USA than the UK but what do I know? By one of the best UK lyricists.

A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
Made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he plowed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travelers came walking down the track
And they never went further, no, they never went back
Then came the churches then came the schools
Then came the lawyers then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road

Then came the mines - then came the ore
Then there was the hard times then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river...

And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There's six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow...

I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found
Yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road

You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'Cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't want to see it again...

From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
All the way down the telegraph road