Dozens of songs listened to, here are five that stood out:
Just for you!
Forget using your super smart, internet enabled portable phone as a means of playing music. And forget iPods, too – sadly the swines at Apple have decided to sacrifice their master product, in order to concentrate on their vile mutant phone. My mate Greeny has a much better music playing machine than any of those.
Greeny has a jukebox.
The jukebox is named Florence. After Florence and the Machine, as she’s a machine, obviously. Florence stands proudly in the corner of the lounge, neither dominating the room or sitting back like a wall flower. But Florence has presence: when the lights are on and the tunes are spinning, you will be drawn magnetically to this wondrous device.
He’s been collecting 7 inch singles since he were a lad, has Greeny. Now Florence is a treasure trove packed full of delightful vinyl gems. There’s a wild variety of musical genres in Florence, spanning the decades. She’s regularly re-stocked and/or has the records switched out and replaced with others, keeping the music selection fresh and entrancing.
Florence holds around 84 records. Don’t forget that there’s a song on side A and B, so that’s a generous amount of music to enjoy.
It’s a lot of fun gathering around the jukebox in Greeny’s front room, with a few beers and spinning some records. I would love one of my own, one day – though they cost a few hundred quid, so it’s unlikely. I’m collecting a few cool 7 inch singles just in case, though…
Here’s a list of the records that are currently stocked inside Florence. Remember Greeny has to rotate the records, as he has far more than this! Which songs would you choose to play?
And if you’re interested, this jukebox is a Rowe AMI RI-3.
The tracks:
Repetitive, moi?
I love lists. These random playlists serve no purpose other than to remind me of music that’s buried away in my iTunes, waiting to be rediscovered. One song leads to another; one band creates a ripple effect leading to another needing to be heard again.
I was out on the longboard this time, on a beautiful sunny afternoon. I didn’t have long, however, before other commitments would tear me away. Here are a few songs chosen at random by my iPod as the skate soundtrack that day.
Well, two different Siouxsie and the Banshees tracks, from different albums, one after the other. Most strange. Great songs, though.
I remember really enjoying the Stones track; the Shirley Bassey number was a bit out of the blue. But then, random is what this game’s all about.
Till next time, groovers!
It’s been a long while since I shared a random playlist with you.
I recently went out for a skate, split between riding my Mindless longboard and spending some time on a classic old school Santa Cruz Street Creep. Whilst skating around, I switched the iPod onto shuffle and these are the tunes I heard.
Not a bad selection by the iPod there.
Tragedy
Wednesday 9th March 2016
The Live Rooms, Chester
It’s my first gig of the year, and another visit to the ever reliable Live Rooms in Chester for some rock’n’roll. I’ve had a few rockin’ parties at this venue, but this night was destined for greatness. The exquisite Disco Metal of the one and only Tragedy was scheduled to set the sky on fire with dazzling party anthems.
Finding common ground between the opposing world of heavy metal and disco was never going to be an easy task. They’re two genres of music that repel like the same sides of a magnet. But with Tragedy, the water and oil can, and do, mix. It’s a hard rockin’ combination of guitar and high pitched disco vocals in a totally crazy metal tribute to the Bee Gees (and beyond).
A heavy metal tribute to the Bee Gees is only the beginning, you see. As well as Brothers Gibb classics like “Staying Alive” and “Night Fever”, their set is expanded to take in other disco and pop classics. The mutated songs feature glimpses of riffs from Van Halen, Pantera and more. One of my highlights was the ridiculously fun idea of warping the intro from Slayer’s “Raining Blood” into “It’s Raining Men”!
Part of the fun of this Tragedy gig was spotting chunks of recognisable metal riffs, and then being dumbfounded by how the band weave them into a late 70’s disco style. The mash up is suitably gory too – these gruesome Frankensteins have no qualms when it comes to hacking limbs from one sweet pop track and stitching them maniacally to a heavy metal corpse.
With a light show and numerous skits introducing the songs (not to mention Lance the towel boy bumbling across the stage) it’s all very entertaining. And professional, without being soulless.
For any metal fan with a sense of humour, Tragedy are well worth seeing. You’ll have a hard time finding a more bonkers night out anywhere. Great fun!
The Tragedy website is here.
The Live Rooms website is here. 
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Queen’s Head, Mold
Friday 26th February 2016
Welcome back to the Queen’s Head in Mold, North Wales! Get yourself a pint and make yourself comfortable, ‘cos you know what time it is. That’s right, it’s Bring Your Own Vinyl Night again!
Remember the rules: there’s a fifteen minute slot for each person; play whatever you like, so long as it’s vinyl.
Only Greeny and myself made it this time – Adam and Ben the Swede were both unavailable. No theme for my set this time, just a few songs I really had a yearning to play…
Ennio Morricone – The Ecstasy of Gold
This song is of course from the soundtrack for the classic Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. My version came from an album called “This is Ennio Morricone”. You don’t need me to tell you how great that film is. And Morricone’s soundtrack is stylish and ground breaking. In particular, this track (which plays while Eli Wallach’s character runs frenziedly through a Civil War graveyard) is sheer class. It builds magnificently and captivates the listener. A bit over the top, I admit, as the first song in my set – but never let it be said that Platinum Al doesn’t do drama.
Ramones – Surfin’ Bird
If I was going to recommend a Ramones album for a novice to start their education of NYC’s finest, I’d go for “Rocket to Russia”. I thought that this frenetic cover of the Trashmen’s surf rock gem would be a suitable place to go, after the majesty of the last track. I love the Ramones and this song was a ton of fun to play.
Soundgarden – Fresh Tendrils
This song, from the simply fantastic “Superunknown” album, is probably my favourite Soundgarden song ever. And I’m a bit of a Soundgarden nerd – I’ve collected tons of their stuff. Rather than play a more obvious, well known song, I decided to go with my top tune. “Fresh Tendrils” has an epic, classic rock sound that I love. No idea what Chris is singing about, however. The version I played was from the “Spoonman” 12″ single (on clear vinyl!).
Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues
Originally I was going to play a Stooges song, but then I remembered that 26th February was Johnny Cash’s birthday. So I decided to play a song by the Man in Black. “Folsom Prison Blues” is a legendary track, one of Cash’s best. And I’ve already stated how big a hero this guy was to me. The album this came from – “Original Golden Hits Volume 1” – was my Gran’s. After she passed away, it was given to me. I’d heard a lot from bands I was into how Cash was an inspiration, so I checked the record out. I loved it, and my Johnny Cash fandom was born. The first Cash record I heard, but not the last!
That’s my list for the night. There were may great songs played through out the evening, though. Budgie! Hawkwind! Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy! Anthrax! Check the link below for the complete list.
Wax is back – get spinning those tracks! Thanks for a great night!
I’d also like to thank my old mate Graham, who turned up with a couple of Suicidal Tendencies records for me. You see, I’d sold these two exact albums to Graham some twenty years ago, when I was a broke student. Although I could’ve tracked the records down on eBay, I decided to message Graham and see if he’d sell them back to me (if he still had them). The reason being that one album, the awesome “Join the Army”, had been given to me when I was 15 by my friend Kelvin Bedford, who I used to skateboard with every day. Sadly, Kel passed away a couple of years ago. So it was cool to get that actual copy back in my record collection, as a nice memory. It even had the same plastic protective sheet over the album – and the selotape strip I patched up the inner sleeve with many, many years ago! Graham gave me both records for free – so I bought him a pint or two. Thank you!
The Halcyon Dreams blogspot is here.
The Halcyon Dreams mixcloud page is here.
The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.
Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister
24.12.1945 – 28.12.2015
A huge part of growing up is buying your first Motorhead album. For me it was the compilation album “No Remorse”, which I wanted because it had “Ace of Spades” and “Killed By Death” on it. With that purchase, I took a step into a bigger world. Motorhead were a gang, not just a band – and with buying that record I was subscribing to a whole new way of life.
The first time I encountered the rabid monster that was Motorhead was when they performed the legendary “Ace of Spades” on the Young Ones episode “Bambi”. Lemmy was there front and centre, a living icon in mirror shades, mutton chop whiskers, and thunderous bass guitar; bellowing into a mic that was stretched to the ceiling.
Motorhead’s music was a raucous, fast burst of adrenaline and I played that album every Monday morning before school. It was the best way to get into the zone and face the start of the week. Total take no prisoners, take on the world music. Of course, real life wasn’t so harsh, but Motorhead made you feel like you could do anything.
Lemmy himself was always the uncompromising rock’n’roll figurehead. His gruff demeanour and his reputation for fast living only cemented his status. And Motorhead were always cool. When I developed a taste for punk rock, Motorhead were still cool. Lemmy and Motorhead straddled the otherwise impossible crevasse between punk and metal. He had roots going back to early rock’n’roll and the classics of the 60’s with the Beatles and Hendrix. Lemmy was part of rock’s DNA.
Over the years I collected their albums, bought the t-shirt and Lemmy’s autobiography, and saw them live. I even met the guy once. One day I’ll write up the story of that night, which I was always going to call “The Greatest Night Out of My Life”. Suffice to say that I met Lemmy in a strip club in Liverpool after a Motorhead gig, totally by chance. I hung out with him all night. He was extremely gracious and funny. He was tolerant of drunk fans because he knew how much the music meant to us.
As much a gentleman as a warrior, the world has lost a real original with the passing of Lemmy Kilmister. He was a pioneer, an innovator. We knew he’d go one day, but it’s still unbelievable. I’ll miss Motorhead. Raise a glass to the great man and yell:
“You know I’m born to lose, and gambling’s for fools, but that’s the way I like it baby, I don’t wanna live forever!”
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Queen’s Head, Mold
Friday 4th December 2015
Unlike the last event, I didn’t have a theme for Bring Your Own Vinyl Night this time around. Just some tunes I fancied playing. I hadn’t even decided exactly what they would be till the show was on.
For anyone still uninitiated, the night is hosted in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales. There are two turntables and each participant gets to play 15 minutes of whatever music they want, vinyl only.
I had myself a couple of beers and rattled out this selection:
Motorhead – Ace of Spades
When you buy your first Motorhead album, you know you’ve entered the world of grown up music. Big, nasty unapologetic rocking grown up music. A song that never gets old, I was introduced to “Ace of Spades” when the band performed it on the classic “University Challenge” episode of The Young Ones. It’s just a non-stop, joyous racket that simply will not stop or slow down for anyone. Absolute perfection. I played this in memory of drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor, who sadly passed away recently.
The Vapors – Turning Japanese
A New Wave/Punk Rock classic, I was donated the brilliant “Turning Japanese” by a friend. Thank you, Simon. It was supposed to be part of a tribute set that I’m still working on. It was going to be hard to follow up the adrenaline rush of the previous song, The Vapors pulled it off here though. A great power pop song that kept the pace of the set nicely.
Dinosaur Jr. – Freak Scene
A slight fast forward to the late 1980’s for this next track. The first track on Dinosaur Jr.’s album “Bug”, this track nicely covers the appeal of early American alternative rock. Born out of punk and hardcore, with one foot in old Black Sabbath and one in jangly pop; Dinosaur Jr. constantly delight. Reminds me of my skateboarding youth.
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
I couldn’t decide which track to play last, so I let the audience choose the album. The Beastie Boys “Ill Communication” won hands down, and I chose “Sabotage” as the track to play. Another unrelenting monster of a song, “Sabotage” has a funky groove delivered with a rocking style. Again, a song I never tire of. Plus the Spike Jonze video, with it’s 70’s cop show homage, is a work of genius. It’s been over twenty years and I still want to dress up and play Sabotage Cops for a day.
My buddy Adam strode up to the decks next, and delivered another fine set. It went something like this:
Four top songs from Adam there, the Queen track was a load of fun and had me doing my world renowned Freddie Mercury impression. It was nice to hear a modern song on vinyl too, with the Ronson/Mars number.
Great night, great songs – well done all on another fine evening’s entertainment. I’m currently stumped what to play next time. I’ll work on it.
The Halcyon Dreams blog is here, where you can find listed (very helpfully) all of the songs played on the night.
The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.
Wales Comic Con – Sunday 29th November 2015
Glyndwr University, Wrexham
Back in April, my family and I attended the first Wales Comic Con of the year, held at Glyndwr University in Wrexham. However just one day was not enough – November saw a second event in a similar vein.
So that meant star guests signing, merch for sale and dozens of cosplayers – all gathered together for a fun day. Whatever you’re fan of, from the realms of film, television or comic books; be it sci-fi, fantasy, or other genre – there was something there for everyone.
At the previous event, we were lucky to have some stunning warm weather. No such luck this time – the rain lashed down and the wind blew mercilessly. Even for November, this weather wasn’t great. No matter though, the atmosphere at the event was still every bit as sunny as previous. Quite surprisingly, everyone’s spirits were high and there was still an air of excitement.
Comic Con was largely about Star Wars for my family, with my daughter Eloise dressed as Princess Leia in classic A New Hope style outfit. She had a fantastic time having photos taken, and running after stormtroopers trying to shoot them (with a blaster from my collection!). Meeting Chewbacca was also a highlight.
The costumes were varied and impressive – though due to the weather, lack of time and a technical fault my photos were limited. Which was a shame as there were many more photos I’d have liked to take.
So another great event at Wrexham, and an excellent afternoon out. We’ll definitely be back for more next time.
The Wales Comic Con website is here.
Platinum Al's Virtual Hot Tub 