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Aug 05 2022

TO WHERE I AM NOW

Today was one of those days that you never have time for, the day when you stay in to watch an old afternoon movie on the Tele. The third Noctorum album, Honey Mink Forever, had a tribute to the concept with the song Tora! Tora! Tora!. Those of you who watched ITV in the seventies and are about my age will know what I’m talking about. The introduction to the song (taking off the seventies presenter) was spoken by Dare’s friend David Bickley. Tragically, the drummer on the track, Mark Wilkin, was later killed in a motorcycle accident in Cornwall. On a lighter note, the film I watched this afternoon was The Band Wagon (1953) with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. The old line, “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore” comes to mind.

Television, what a concept but who watches it anymore? The young’uns don’t and as the old guard blends into the soil, traditional television disappears. It’s a screen, yes, and you can watch television on the screen but with the streaming, the concept has become redundant which is why France is doing away with their public television licence fee and why the BBC will probably follow. We just subscribe to what we want to watch, makes sense, it’s the modern world. We couldn’t imagine being able to pick and choose, when we were kids we were stuck with what was on and had to wait for our favourite shows and if we missed one, it was a disaster.

Having said that and watching what we want, Episode 7 of Strange New Worlds was really terrible. Success sometimes seems to inspire a lack of quality, surely at this stage, Star Trek should be pouring the money into talented writers, not the comfortable established formulaic writers, true Trekkies want ideas. I always wondered why franchises or bands generally got worse the bigger they got. I suppose there are exceptions but the exceptions might be bands that were never too concerned with commercial success in the first place. One intriguing massive band who had a run of good albums is Pink Floyd (if you like that kind of thing), starting with that commercial psychedelia, the sound of the moment in the sixties.

They lose their Syd after the first album, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967), making another psychedelic follow-up with his influence and Dave Gilmour’s inclusion, A Saucerful Of Secrets (1967). Next, they do a soundtrack, More (1969), and then they make their fourth album, Ummagumma (1969), a mixture of live versions from the first two albums and the weirdest, most left-of-centre strangeness you’ve ever heard. It makes Zappa sound like Limahl. Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict comes to mind. Then there’s the album with the orchestra, Atom Heart Mother (1970), and then Meddle (1971) – short songs with unlikely vibes like San Tropez, the annoying Seamus and two other classic Floyd short songs, A Pillow Of Winds and Fearless and including one instrumental, One Of These Days. Side 2 has the classic epic Echoes with vocals but mostly instrumental. Then another soundtrack, Obscured By Clouds (1972), and suddenly from nowhere a massive commercial success with you know what (1973). But the point is the quality that runs through all the albums, Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977), The Wall (1979), until perhaps The Final Cut (1983). But then for me, Pink Floyd are what I want music to be, musically interesting, that is Rick Wright, Nick Mason, Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters together. Not everyone wants what they did and I didn’t want what they did after Waters although I do have a soft spot for The Endless River (2014).

Music today has been that very strange double album Ummagumma (1969), don’t listen to it alone in a cabin in the woods with the electricity down.

Music Of The Daze

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵 📷 @oliviaelek Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵

📷 @oliviaelektra 

#danelectro #danelectrobass #redeyerecords #pleasantrylane #pleasantrylanestudio
You usually don’t spend the day in the studio an You usually don’t spend the day in the studio and the night at a gig but if you put the studio next to the gig then there’s a greater chance. So @salimnourallah did just that, he put the gig and the studio next to each other and made it possible for me to spend the day recording and the evening playing live 🎵

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TO WHERE I AM NOW A visit in the studio today fro TO WHERE I AM NOW

A visit in the studio today from old mate Mark Burgess from The Chameleons who has been hanging in Texas recently. I was thinking about the two of us growing up in the northwest of England and all these years later finding ourselves in such an unlikely spot together. We fixed a few issues in the universe and I carried on recording some guitars until Mark had to leave. Mark had played at the Galactic Headquarters next to the studio this year as Olivia and I had four years ago and this reminded me to remind myself to remind everyone to remind their friends that we will be playing there with Salim on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, for the ultimate in intimate performance. You can get tickets here (follow link below).

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TO WHERE I AM NOW Sadness manifested in a buildin TO WHERE I AM NOW

Sadness manifested in a building, today we went to visit Paisley Park. Prince built Paisley Park in Chanhassen, about twenty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. It opened in 1987 and he recorded his later albums there. Apart from Prince, REM also recorded and mixed Out Of Time there, recording Kate Pearson’s vocal on Shiny Happy People vocal. Madonna had Prince play guitar on three songs from Like A Prayer and the two co-wrote Love Song, finishing it remotely due to Madonna not being able to stand the cold weather and the rather desolate location of the studio. Of course, there are things around but it’s not in the city and it’s not in the countryside, it’s in a suburb, no distractions, just what Prince wanted.

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📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
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At last, a proper door stop. 📷 @judgeschamber At last, a proper door stop.

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🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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