Strange how memories are triggered..............

 I’ve just been reminded of a very strange conversation that I had with a ‘well-known’ person, must be over 30 years ago now. It proved how easy it is to get away with being cheeky, and how easy it is to upset your Other Half.

We took our small son to Olympia in London to a computer show. Walking between the stands, coming the other way, was an extremely good-looking young man, dressed head to foot in shiny, expensive black leather, with a glass of whisky in one hand, and seemingly a few more inside him.

So – the conversation was very simple:

Me: Are you a real biker, or just a poseur?

Warren Cann: Would you like to see my bike?

Me: Is that a proposition, by the way, this is my husband

Warren: It’s parked out back. You’ll like it.

Out back………….

Me: Nah. It’s a Harley

Husband………………..bright red and embarrassed.

To be fair, it was a gorgeous pearl white Electra-Glide, and he went out back to call someone to pick him and the bike up after the show……………….

If you don’t know who Warren Cann is, you can Google it

Oddly, that memory came out of a discussion Dick and I were having about antiques experts. The only connection I can see, is that Harley…………………………..

Random jokes and amusing musings

 Legend has it that Fred Astaire opened the oven door once and his treacle sponge exploded...

He had pudding on his top hat, pudding on his white tie and pudding on his tails.................................. and I bet you sang that in your head

does anyone know what it was that the knights in white sat in?

Music with a meaning

You may have realised by now, that every now and then, I struggle with my feelings, and struggle with trying to explain to other people how I feel. When it gets bad, I find that other people, especially musicians, can express it better than I can. Sometimes, it's not even a singer or band I particularly like. It doesn't have to be. All they have to do is feel the way I'm feeling now



And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't wanna go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
When sooner or later it's over
I just don't wanna miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

Ah! They don't write them like they used to...........

How often have you heard that (generally from an older generation)? I think I may have been guilty of such comments myself from time to time.
Yeah, they used to write wonderful songs. They also wrote a lot of dross. (A wop bop a loo bop a wop boom bang)
And poetry...........I'm a huge fan of Lord Byron, and I must admit to not really understanding this current trend for Japanese Haiku. I mean, it doesn't rhyme or even scan, so how is it poetry?
But just once in a while, there comes a song, or a poem that simply takes my breath away. It can even be a song where the lyrics are true poetry.
And then......................
Watching the TV, or rather listening to it while my husband watches it, comes this advert. A quiet voice singing a song that appears to have wonderful lyrics.
So I investigate, and I'm right. It's a band called 'Sleeping At Last', who I've never heard of, and I doubt that this song is representative of their general output, but the song is beautiful. It's moving. It's lyrical, and it's true poetry. Add to that, a simple uncluttered melody, and you have something that will stay with me always:

now read, and listen...............

A-Z of Music - O

Today, the greatest 'O' of them all. I'm talking about The Big O - Roy Orbison.  (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988)
Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country and western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. His greatest success came with Monument Records between 1960 and 1964, when 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top 40. His career stagnated through the 1970s, but several covers of his songs and the use of "In Dreams" in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) revived his career. In 1988, he joined the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne and also released a new solo album. He died of a heart attack in December that year, at the zenith of his resurgence. His life was marred by tragedy, including the death of his first wife, Claudette in a motorcycle accident, and his two eldest sons in a house fire. Orbison's vocal instrument bridged the gap between baritone and tenor, and music scholars have suggested that he had a three- or four-octave range.  He was known for performing while standing still and solitary and for wearing black clothes and dark sunglasses, which lent an air of mystery to his persona. One of his earliest hits was this, 'Only The Lonely', which really shows off his tremendous range, and depth of feeling

For this episode's classical choice, I've gone for a musician, rather than a composer. I've long been a huge fan of pianist John Ogden,(27 January 1937 – 1 August 1989) and his incredible interpretations of Chopin and Liszt.
 Ogdon's health was good, and his physical constitution was strong, as his wife often recalled in her biography. Regarded as a "gentle giant", known and loved for his kindness and generosity, he had tremendous energy. But an everyday business argument seemed to upset him more than expected and then suddenly in 1973 he experienced a severe breakdown. This sometimes changed his personality completely. His illness was initially diagnosed as schizophrenia, but then changed to manic depression (now referred to as bipolar disorder). Either condition may have been inherited from his father, who suffered several psychotic episodes and a mental breakdown. Ogdon spent some time in the Maudsley Hospital in London, and in general needed more nursing than it was possible to provide while touring. Nevertheless, he was reported to maintain three hours' practice a day on the hospital's piano.
 In 1983, after emerging from hospital, he played at the opening of the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. He died in August 1989 of pneumonia, brought on by undiagnosed diabetes.

I've chosen Liszt - Dante Sonata.

A-Z of Music - N

So, after all the traumas of the last few months, I've decided to make a concerted effort to catch up with my blog, starting with the latest installment of our musical meanderings.
For the letter N, I've chosen two characters with very similar names................
Firstly, on the lighter side, we have Harry Nilsson, who came up with what I think are two of the most beautiful songs of the period - 'Without You' and the ever-popular 'Everybody's Talkin'. 
He was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York, of Swedish descent, and died in 1994 of a heart attack.
Now is this curious, or is this curious? Nilsson had a flat in Mayfair for a while, which he would lend out to friends when he wasn't using it.  During one of his absences, ex-Mamas and Papas singer Cass Elliot and a few members of her tour group stayed at the flat while she performed solo at the London Palladium. Following a strenuous performance with encores, Elliot returned to the flat to relax and sleep and was discovered in one of the bedrooms, dead of heart failure at 32, on July 29, 1974.

On September 7, 1978, The Who's drummer Keith Moon returned to the same room in the flat after a night out, and died at 32 from an overdose of Clomethiazole, a prescribed anti-alcohol drug. Nilsson, distraught over another friend's death in his flat, and having little need for the property, sold it to Moon's bandmate Pete Townshend and consolidated his life in Los Angeles.

So, going back to 'Everybody's Talkin', which was used to great effect in the film 'Midnight Cowboy', this was not Nilsson's first choice of song for that film. He also penned 'I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City', which to me, suited the story line far better. However, it was rejected in favour of the former.

See what you think:

And so onto our classical composer, Carl Nielsen, who was born in 1865, and who grew up in a poor but happy home on Funen, Denmark’s second-largest island. He worked variously as a goose-herder, a cowherd, a wedding musician, and a military bugler before winning a scholarship to the Royal Danish Conservatory, in Copenhagen. His major pieces—which include not only the six symphonies but the operas “Saul and David” and “Maskarade,” a beloved Wind Quintet, and concertos for violin, flute, and clarinet—are grounded in ruddy, earthy, insistently singable melodies; more than a few of his songs have entered Danish folk tradition. (When the composer turned sixty, in 1925, a national holiday was declared, and he woke to find a brass band playing outside his window in Copenhagen.)
Although best known for his symphonies, he wrote many other fine pieces. This is his Helios Overture Op.17:

A Complete History of Music

As a sideline to our A - Z of Music, I came across this short film, giving a complete history of music in a fascinating and totally unique way. Enjoy!

A-Z of Music - M

hmmmm......seem to have gotten way behind with this, but anyhow - here we go with M.

It seems that M stands for marvelous. There are just so many famous composers whose names begin with M - like Mozart, Mendelssohn, Mahler et al. But we had one of the top names last time, so this time I thought I'd go with a biggish name. Modest Mussorgsky. History doesn't record whether he was Modest by name and modest by nature though.
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky 1839 – 1881 was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five". He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music.
Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes.
You may well know some of his music, even if you don't realise it. Probably his most famous works are 'A Night On A Bald Mountain' and 'Pictures At An Exhibition'

Pictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano in 1874. The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists, but it is best known in its' orchestral arrangement by Maurice Ravel.

Here are 3 movements played by Lazar Berman

Now, on a lighter note......down in deepest darkest Cornwall, is a tiny fishing village called Mousehole. And Mousehole has a wonderful male voice choir. They're so good, they're the only non-Welsh choir to have been invited to perform at the Welsh National Eisteddfod.

Unfortunately, there's not much on YouTube, but anyway - enjoy them performing actually on the Harbour at Mousehole, complete with screaming seagulls

So, Ferry 'Cross The Mersey.............

Well, actually, not. I didn't take the ferry, but I have just come back from a few days in Liverpool.
Can't make up my mind whether I like Liverpool, or not. It has its' good and bad points.

Since we were last there. it has undergone some remarkable modernisation and regeneration. Unfortunately, this has left the main shopping area seeming no different from other cities and towns. I regret the loss of Lewis's department store. We went in there just before it closed its' doors, mostly because I wanted to see inside the wonderful Art Deco building that housed it, and it is sad to see such an old family-run firm gone.

However, the regeneration of the waterfront, particularly around the Albert Dock, is excellent. As well as the new Arena for events (what imaginative person thought up THAT name?), there's the new Museum of Liverpool. We thought we'd poke around in there for an hour or so, and ended up being in there for over 4 hours! We'd done the Museum of Slavery and the Maritime Museum last time we were in Liverpool, so didn't expect much more of interest to come from this new collection.

How wrong we were! It gives a fascinating insight into past ways of life in Liverpool's heyday, as well as feature areas dedicated to the cities' more famous sons and daughters.  You can't escape the Beatles. From the Beatles Story at Albert Dock, to the Cavern Club in Matthews Street, they are everywhere. And rightly so. They are, after all, the most important group in the history of popular music. But, down by the docks, between Albert Dock and the new museum, is a statue of Billy Fury. Long one of my all-time favourite singers, he is much neglected in my opinion. It was good to see him featured in the Museum.

The other person featured, who gets an entire gallery all to herself currently, is the late Dame Beryl Bainbridge. Yes, I'd heard of her, but no, I was not over familiar with either her novels or her paintings. The gallery was quite an eye-opener. I can't say I liked all of her work, but one or two really made an impression on me, such as this - 'Boarding The Titanic' from the late 1990s.

Anyway, the upshot of this is, I've been researching Dame Beryl, and I now have a thirst to read some of her novels. Apparently she was runner-up for the Booker Prize 5 times! How has she slipped through my net?

Well, so, the trip wasn't an entire waste of time, from a cultural point of view.

Oh, and did I mention the plethora of SuperLambBananas? If you've never heard of them, or seen them, they are everywhere in Liverpool. There was only one, when we first went there, now.....oh dear..........

A-Z of Music - L

Halfway then.
For L I've gone with one of the most famous composers of all time, Franz Liszt.
Franz Ritter von Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher, renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist.
He led an eventful life, being the consort at various times, of a princess and a countess, and at one point retiring to a monastery, where he took lesser orders.
Despite this, his music flourished. Best known for his piano works, my choice for this week comes from amongst these.
This is the Liebestraum (Love's Dream) No.3. I've actually got this as the ring tone on my 'phone! Here it is played by the wonderful Artur Rubinstein in 1954. One of my favourite performances of this beautiful, soothing music:




Now - the lighter end of the spectrum. Although not technically the best band in the world, I love watching the Levellers live. They are undoubtedly one of the best bands I've ever seen live. They're a great favourite with bikers, and often play at big biker events like the Rock&Blues custom show, where they were selected to play by popular choice, coming ahead in the polls of such groups as Motorhead and ZZ Top!
Penning all of their own material, their songs often have a strong protest theme, or take a political stance. Anarchists (in the true meaning of the word) and environmentalists, they are deep thinkers and strong personalities, but their music retains a high level of musicality, Mark's voice is strong, Jon's fiddle playing is techinically brilliant, and Jeremy's hair is long! What more do you want?

Because they are so good on stage, I've deliberately looked for a live show video. This is 'Barrel of a Gun' filmed at Wychwood in 2010. The song is a protest at the shooting of 3 IRA members by the SAS in Gibraltar. Although they were undoubtedly preparing a bomb explosion, at the time of the killings, they were not in possession of any explosives. McCann was shot five times, Farrell eight times, and Savage between 16 and 18 times. All three were subsequently found to be unarmed, and without any kind of remote trigger.


No matter what country
Under the sun
You can't mete justice
From the barrel of a gun

A - Z of Music - K

Well, it's all been a bit hectic lately, and I've not had time to blog. However, here's the next instalment of the A-Z, and we've reached the letter K

K is for Aram Khachaturian (June 6 1903 – May 1, 1978)who was a Soviet Armenian composer. Alongside with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, Khachaturian is sometimes dubbed as one of the three "titans" of Soviet music. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical European music and Armenian folk music.
Born in Tiflis to a poor Armenian family from Nakhichevan, Khachaturian moved to Moscow at the age of 19. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1934.

 I guess a lot of older folk will remember the 'Onedin Line' series on TV, and the music used as the theme was his Adagio from Spartacus. You may also know his lively 'Sabre Dance'. However, I've opted for this, the Waltz from his 'Masquerade Suite'.
This is not one of your Straussian waltzes, evoking visions of handsome hussars whirling young ladies in gorgeous dresses around the floor of a Viennese ballroom. No, this is aggressive, almost violent. I don't think Mr. K knew how to write anything that wasn't dramatic and stirring!

And for the lighter side? Well, howabout Kilburn & The High Roads? What - you've never heard of them? Watch the video, and you'll recognise the vocalist. So you think you've seen him somewhere before, eh? You're right. It's no less a person than the great Ian Dury. Kilburn and the High Roads were a British rock and roll band formed by Ian Dury in 1970, and was the first band formed by Dury. The band released two studio albums and had one compilation, and separated in 1977 when Dury left to form the more prominent band The Blockheads. Here we go then, with Mumble Rumble & The Cocktail Rock

A - Z of Music - J

Josquin Des Prez - usually referred to just as Josquin - was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. During the 16th century, Josquin gradually acquired the reputation as the greatest composer of the age, his mastery of technique and expression universally imitated and admired.
Josquin wrote both sacred and secular music, and in all of the significant vocal forms of the age, including masses, motets, chansons and frottole.
His music was so admired and imitated over the years, that, with the advancement of scholarly knowledge, a number of works have been removed from the cannon of his output and attributed to his contempories.
Because of his immense prestige in the early sixteenth century, many scribes and publishers did not resist the temptation of attributing anonymous or otherwise spurious works to Josquin. The German editor Georg Forster summed up the situation admirably in 1540 when he wrote, "Now that Josquin is dead, he is putting out more works than when he was alive."
Josquin's fame lasted throughout the 16th century, and indeed increased for several decades after his death, eventually being replaced in popularity by the works of Palestrina (we'll come to him later!)
As usual, I struggled to decide which work to protray here, but decided on this one:  Miserere Mei Deus



Now, what shall we have for J? The all too obvious choice would be Michael Jackson, the so-called 'King Of Pop', and indeed, his was an extraordinary talent, even if his life was somewhat weird. I guess when you achieve such heady fame at the age of 5, it will take its' toll on your lifestyle and personality.
However, rather than Michael, I've opted for the Jacksons as a whole.
This is the Director's Cut of their amazing (for its' time) video to an equally great song - 'Can You Feel It'

A - Z of Music - H

Oh dear me, with everything that's been going on in my life, I really haven't had the time (or the inclination) to do this.
Oh well, let's hope things improve from now on.
Right, here we go with the letter H. Some of the world's greatest composers have been H's - think Haydn, Handel, Holst, Hovhaness...................

Yes, I said Hovhaness. That's Alan Hovhaness, American, 1911-2000. Although he composed over 500 works, he was very little known until the 90s, when, partly because of the influence of Classic FM, his work suddenly began to achieve recognition.

His is a very descriptive voice, in the same way that Delius and Debussy were descriptive. He obviously had a great love of mountains, and he composed several works describing them (Mysterious Mountain, Mt. Wildcat, Farewell To The Mountains et al) He also had a large output of religious-themed music, and from these, I was torn between the Prayer Of St. Gregory, and 'And God Created Great Whales' which utilises whale song as a background 'chorus'. Both are incredibly beautiful and moving. In the end, it came down to which one I could find a decent clip of.

This then is the incredible Wynton Marsalis, with the Prayer Of St. Gregory



And so onto the lighter bit. I make no apologies for going back in time again, but, when all my friends were swooning over the Beatles, or arguing about whether the Beatles or the Rolling Stones were the best, and which one they fancied, I was quietly sitting in the corner listening to the Hollies.
I loved, and still love, the crystal clear quality of the voice of Allan Clarke, the excellent musicianship of  Graham Nash, and the excellence of the song writing.

A - Z of Music - G

This week's classical composer is Philip Glass.
I'm not a huge fan of minimalist music, but for some indefinable reason, I absolutely love just about everything Glass has written to date. Whether it's his driving, insistant rhythms, or the clarity of every single note, I don't know.
What I do know, is that there's a sense of urgency behind his music, that speaks clearly of modern life.
This is the second movement of his wonderful Violin Concerto No.1....



And so to the non-classical bit for G. I had many ideas for whom I wanted to portray, but this morning, the death was announced of Robin Gibb of BeeGees fame, and I'm sure you won't mind me using the space for a tribute to a member of a vocal group that spanned more than 5 decades. The BeeGees have had many, many hits themselves, and were responsible for writing a number of hits for other artists, including Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers (Islands In The Stream) and Barbra Streisand (Guilty).

Robin was a great songwriter and had recently turned to classical-esque music, composing a piece with his son in memory of the Titanic. For me, however, the greatest BeeGees songs were the early ones, where Robin not only wrote the songs, but took lead vocals.

And the greatest? This is a live recording of him singing 'I Started A Joke'



Robin, The Day you Where born the whole world started living, The Day you have Died, the Whole world has started Crying

Rest In Peace, free from pain, and thank you for the music

A - Z of Music - F

seem to have got a little behind with this. Ah well, nevermind eh?

Right - F. So what have I got for you this week? Well, F is for Faure - that's Gabriel Faure, a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. Fauré was recognised in France as the leading French composer of his day, and indeed, his music is still much loved, for its beauty and romanticism.
This is his gorgeous Pavane Op.50, set to pictures by Claude Monet:



For the non-classical bit this week, I've opted for something that I first heard on the John Peel show. John Peel, for me, was the greatest DJ ever. He was never afraid to showcase the unknown and obscure music, and was responsible for more than one person or group attaining stardom.
These are The Flying Lizards with their rendition of the old Beatles classic 'Money'. Don't blame me if you don't like it, blame John Peel!



Now, how odd is that? Guaranteed to get inside your head though...........

A - Z of Music - E

Seems like this is the only post I currently have time to do. I really must catch up with all the other thoughts in my overcrowded brain.......

But, how are you doing? Found anything new that you like yet?

However, the letter E:

Obvious choice for the composer this week - Sir Edward Elgar. Most people consider him the greatest English composer ever, but personally, I prefer Vaughan-Williams.
But Elgar was indeed, truly great.
Appointed 'Master Of The King's Musick' in 1924, he is probably best known for the Enigma Variations and the Pomp And Circumstance marches, which include the melody for 'Land Of Hope And Glory' - considered by many to be the English National Anthem.
Why England doesn't have an official anthem beats me. After all, Scotland, Wales and Ireland all have theirs.

But I've gone for one of his more delicate works. This is the exquisite 'Chanson De Matin' Love this video, which sets the music to the paintings of J.M.W. Turner.



Now, the non-classical bit............

A bit spoilt for choice this week, as I like everything from the Everly Brothers to Eminem. However, I finally settled on one of the greatest folk-rock bands of all time, who have endured for decades - the incomparable Eagles.
Having decided on Don Henley and his band of (sometimes) Merry Men, I'm now spoilt for choice as to which number to play.......

Finally settled for this:

A - Z of Music - D

What's part French, part Japanese? Well, the French part is Claude-Achille Debussy, who can be described as the greatest French Impressionist composer. And you thought impressionism only applied to art, huh?
Debussy was a master of the tone poem, expressing thoughts and scenes by means of musical notes instead of brush strokes on canvas. Among his musical paintings, is 'Snowflakes Are Dancing', from his Children's Corner No.4 suite. If ever a descriptive piece of music existed, it is this.

And the Japanese? Well, classical music doesn't have to be played by a symphony orchestra, or string quartet et al. The undoubted master of the synthesiser is the Japanese, Isao Tomita. Internet clips don't really do his performances justice. I strongly recommend you buy one of his recordings, a decent hi-fi and a good set of headphones.
Now, turn the music up, and listen. See? It really does get right inside your head, and dances around!



And so to one of my all-time heroes - Bob Dylan, composer, poet, and.........Bob Dylan. To me he is the greatest poet of the 20th. Century, and, yes, he can't sing for toffee, but his music has a depth and authenticity that is unrivalled.
A lot of youngsters today dismiss his words as meaningless drivel, but, if you were young in the 60s, you knew instinctively what he was getting at, and understood his emotions and where he was coming from.
He's still making excellent recordings today, all be it a little more straightforward and easier to comprehend.

Sadly, I couldn't find a clip of him doing Desolation Row, only covers. That is my all-time favourite song of his, so here he is with a live performance of 'Tangled Up In Blue'

A - Z of Music - C

So, where shall we start today? How about Eric Coates? You've never heard of him? Oh right - you're a bit young then.

Eric Coates was a great composer of British Light Music, and many of his pieces were used as signature tunes on the Radio, and if, like me, you were a youngster in the 50s, you would be very familiar with Eric Coates and tunes like 'Knightsbridge' from his London Suites. He also composed the title music for 'The Dambusters', a march which is still a great favourite with military bands everywhere.

Here then is Knightbridge, from his London Suite No.3:



And so to our non-classical choice for this week. As I said, I grew up in the 50s, and had my teenage years in the 60s, as a consequent of which, I became very familiar with the Rock N Roll music of the time.

Someone who started rockin' in the 60s, and who still does today, is Cavan Grogan. Fronting 'Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers', he is still a force to be recognised whereever teddy boys and old-style rockers hang out.

Renowned for having the longest legs in rock n roll, Cavan not only puts down some solid vocals, but he and his sidekick Lyndon Needs composed a lot of the tunes they still play today.

Sadly, there's not much quality footage of him around on the web, but I did find this from 1979, and my favourite Cavan song:



And Cavan as he was in 2005, with 'Both Wheels Left The Ground':



Sorry about quality, but as I said, there's not a lot of quality out there. If you like to rock, and you've never seen him live, do try to. He's great

A-Z of Music - B

OK, so this week's letter is B, and this week's composer is Bach. Now, how many Bachs would you like? The Grandaddy, Johann Sebastian, founded a whole dynasty of little Bachs who followed in his footsteps. Not literally, I hope, as JS Bach once walked 250 miles from Arnstadt to Lubeck, to hear Buxtehude play the organ!
Bach had 20 children, by two wives, but only 10 survived to adulthood. JC. JCF, and WF were all great composers in their own right, but their father was superlative.

There are over 1,000 known compositions by Johann Sebastian, amongst which are the tremendous Goldberg Variations.

Now, a lot of people find the playing of the late Glenn Gould a little eccentric, but I have always found his renditions of Bach thrilling. So here he, and JS are....




And for the non-classical B, who better than the master of differing identities, David Bowie. Words are not needed here, as, if you've never heard of Bowie, then you must be a time traveller from the distant past.

Here he is in his incarnation as Aladdin Sane:

A-Z Of Music - A

So, as promised, here we go with the first instalment of an A to Z of music. As I explained, each week, I'll be highlighting one classical composer, and one non-classical music act.

Now, with one or two notable exceptions, I'm not a huge fan of modern classical music, but John Adams seems to me to offer more than just (sometimes) dissonant non-tunes. He's a marvel at telling a story, whether in one of his operas, or by means of a purely instrumental piece of music.

In 2001, he composed an opera, The Death Of Klinghoffer, based upon the hijacking of the ocean liner, the Achille Lauro. This is the Night Chorus





As I said though, it's not just his ability in opera to tell a story. He can also convey a multitude of emotions and visions with his instrumental tunes. This is his 'Short Ride In A Fast Machine', or as I prefer to call it, and as this clip has it, 'Short Ride ON A Fast Machine', as it's a piece I love to listen to when I'm out on one of the bikes.



OK, so you might not like it, but please give it a listen.

Next, the non-classical act for 'A'.

I toyed with all sorts of ideas, from Abba to the non-populist side of Adam And The Ants, but in the end, I settled for what I believe to be the greatest of all the British Rythm And Blues acts from the 60s. This then, is the Animals, from Geordieland, and the wonderful voice of Eric Burdon, and, of course, Alan Price on keyboards. (hmmm....think it's high time we had a 60s R&B revival). Sadly this is a side of 60s music that has been much overlooked. We get plenty of Rolling Stones, Beatles, Flower Power etc., but you very seldom hear music such as this, Long John Baldry, Yardbirds, John Mayall et al.