Here are five more tunes that stood out from my listening over the last week. Enjoy!
Presenting a new feature at the Virtual Hot Tub, my Songs of the Week. Each week, I will pick five songs that I’ve enjoyed listening to over the last seven days, and share them here for your enjoyment.
Now I listen to probably hundreds of songs in any one week, so choosing just five won’t be easy. Each track will have stood out for some reason or other – perhaps it was poignant, perhaps relating to something going on in my life. Most likely it will just be a proper banging tune that I’ve loved.
This is intended to be a regular weekly feature, but we’ll see how that goes. It’s not easy running this Virtual Hot Tub, you know.
Here’s the five for week ending 03/07/2016:
There you go – five killer tracks. No explanations necessary. Unless the multitudes of readers want to know why songs are chosen, then I’ll reconsider.
For now – keep rockin’.
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.
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Queen’s Head, Mold
Friday 8th April 2016
Got a record collection? Want to spin those discs on a nice turntable for an appreciative bunch of vinyl enthusiasts? The Bring Your Own Vinyl Night is for you!
Held monthly in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales, this event goes from strength to strength. The idea is simple: each participant gets 15 minutes to play whatever records they want. That’s vinyl only; no CDs, MP3s, cassettes or whatever else. Just have a beer and enjoy the music.
My pal Adam was back on the decks tonight, and was the first of our crew to step up. He played a great set of songs from movies, that went something like this:
A special prize if you can name the films these songs are from! A great set from Adam, I think one of his strongest. In particular, I thought “Sleepwalk” was an exceptional track.
Then it was my turn:
Suicidal Tendencies – Possessed to Skate
Regular readers will know the story of my Suicidal records. Here’s a quick recap. Going back to the height of my skateboarding days in 1988 (or thereabouts), my friend Kelvin Bedford gave me the album “Join the Army” by Suicidal Tendencies. A few years later, as a broke student, I sold that album and another ST record to my mate Graham. Now fast forward to the recent past, and although I had the CDs, I was kicking myself for not having the vinyl anymore. They were easy enough to buy off Discogs. However, sadly Kel had passed away a couple of years ago, so I thought it would be great to have the copy he originally gave me back. I contacted Graham, and he gave me the records for free. What a gentleman! I bought him a beer or two as a thank you.
Not so brief that recap, but now you have the background. I wanted to play a track off the classic “Join the Army” record, as it was back in my collection, and this had to be it. Many fun memories of my old skateboarding days always come flooding back with this fast paced punk rock/metal hybrid. And I still listen to it when I skate nowadays (which isn’t often enough). “Possessed to Skate”. RAD.
Iggy & The Stooges – Gimme Danger
The next song is a favourite I was introduced to in my university days. I was already a fan of the early Stooges albums, but hadn’t heard “Raw Power”. It’s a superb record, full of barely restrained energy and chaos. “Gimme Danger” is a the second song on the album, lulling the listener in to a false sense of comfort after lead track “Search and Destroy” decimates your speakers. “Gimme Danger” still has an air of menace, however – a sense that anything can, and will, go wrong. Decadent and beautiful, a masterpiece.
Chris Isaak – Wicked Game
And so on to Chris Isaak. I have the “Wicked Game” album on CD, so I can regularly bask in the warmth of Isaak’s voice and imagine desert roads, truck stops, motels and neon lights. This version is on a 7″ single that Greeny gave me for Christmas, and I’m so glad I have it. Timeless Americana that always carries a hint of David Lynch, thanks to the song being included in “Wild at Heart”. I usually drunkenly sing along to this at 2am. I’ve also attempted “Wicked Game” at Karaoke a couple of times; I think I got away with it.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Sexy Mexican Maid
One of my favourite RHCP songs ever, you can find this sensual little number on the fantastic “Mother’s Milk” record. It’s a slow funky groove that deserves to be heard more often, from one of their greatest albums. “Sexy Mexican Maid” shows the Chili Peppers exploring their sound and developing towards “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, whilst still happy to languish with their sexually charged lyrics.
So last up was Ben the Swede, who recently moved house and now had access to his full vinyl collection. The theme was bass, of different types:
And there you have it: another great night with some great songs and some very cool people.There were some killer tracks from PIL, Perrey & Kingsley, Elvis Costello and more. You can see the full playlist on the Halcyon Dreams blog here.
Thanks all – looking forward to the next Vinyl Night!
You can listen to this Bring Your Own Vinyl Night (and previous ones, too) on the Mixcloud page here.
The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.
Thanks Graham!
RIP Kelvin Bedford
Sci Fi Weekender 17th – 20th March 2016
Hafan Y Mor Holiday Park, Pwllheli
Wow. This year’s Sci Fi Weekender was a blur – it went faster than light speed. All the usual geekery was in full swing, though I’ll be gosh darned if I can remember everything and what order it happened in. Too much blue milk?
Never mind, I have numerous photos of the weekend to share; to help report on this cosmic adventure. Except that didn’t go to plan this year. My trusty Canon was on the blink, so I resorted to a little digital snapper and my phone.
Not ideal, but sometimes you have to compromise.
So what is Sci Fi Weekender? For the unititiated, it’s a weekend of events and special guests, all held on site at the Hafan Y Mor holiday park in Pwllheli, North Wales. Think Comic Con but at a holiday camp and with a party atmosphere. All manner of interview panels, Q&As, games, and musical entertainment are part of the festivities.
Plus a prog rock festival – HRH Prog – was also being held on the same weekend. Not a massive tie in with science fiction you may think (at least not without Hawkwind playing). However it gave additional entertainment for those with musical interests.
Our weekend began with four of us – Adam, Greeny, Kurt and myself – driving from our corner of north east Wales to the north west. On the way we popped into Cob records in Porthmadog to feed our vinyl addition. Then we settled into our caravan home from home – complete with haul of supplies from the local ASDA – and planned our DVD watching schedule for the night.
Unfortunately the DVD player wasn’t working, and without tickets for the Thursday evening SFW party, we were stuck. Rather than watch TV, we went for a pint in the onsite pub. We then popped in to see what the prog rock was all about. We didn’t think we would get in, but it was no problem. As a result we were able to see Third Quadrant (quite good) and the excellent Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Arthur is over seventy years old and jumps around on stage like a nutter. Highly entertaining and some great tunes.
Friday began with the bad news that Kurt was ill. He’s only 16 so booze wasn’t the issue. As a result, Kurt and his dad Greeny were pretty much out of the running for the day. They watched TV and chilled. Plus Ste, our remaining member, had burst the inflatable camp bed by leaving it too close to the fire. He suffered a bad night’s sleep on the sofa as a result.
The rest of us headed over to the arena and started checking things out. I took a few photos and looked round the stalls. We caught a Cosplay panel with Tabitha from Artyfakes that was very interesting, with extremely impressive Space Marine costumes and hints and tips about the hobby. I bottled asking my question though, which was “How do you go for a wee?”.
I also watched an interview panel of comic book artists. The panel consisted of 2000AD greats such as Glenn Fabry, William Simpson, Clint Langley and Simon Davis. Hosted by Dez Skinn, the panel was informative and also amusing; it seems some of the assembled masters had been on the pop? Either way, these guys were like rock stars to me when I was a young 2000AD fan, so it was pretty cool.
The vibe around the arena was good natured as always. I took some cool photos (thanks everyone) and despite our numbers being depleted, we had a good afternoon.
After a delightful pizza from the onsite Papa John’s (it was great!); we were ready for the evening’s entertainment. I’m afraid to say that the Imaginarium and magicians weren’t really my thing this year. It’s difficult to dig the magic when you can’t see it up close.
The highlight was the one and only Professor Elemental, steam punk hip hop pioneer. His smooth raps mixed with groovy beats like a well tuned gin and tonic. A pleasure to witness, as always.
At the end of the night, I teleported across the site to see the end of the set by Caravan. Not only a very apt band to be playing, they were actually pretty good. The Soft Machine were on last with a more jazz orientated approach. All very impressive and I’m glad I got to see something different.
I’m ashamed to say that we all ended up crashing out early on Friday night. Illness and lack of sleep took it’s toll. I was last man standing, going to bed at 11.30pm. Pathetic, I know.
In Part 2: Brian Blessed, the Cosplay final, more Prog Rock…
PLUS: will we be able to stay up late?
Stay tuned to this frequency…
The Sci Fi Weekender site is here.
You really should check out Professor Elemental. His website is here, plus he’s on that Twitter and stuff too.
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.
Bring Your Own Vinyl Night
Queen’s Head, Mold
Friday 22nd January 2016
The first Bring Your Own Vinyl Night of 2016 brought out fantastic tunes old and new. Regardless of genre, all were welcome to spin their records for the enjoyment of the gathered vinyl enthusiasts.
Held in the Queen’s Head pub in Mold, North Wales, the idea is simple. Each participant gets a fifteen minute slot to play whatever they like, so long as it’s on vinyl. No other format permitted.
Again my selection for this evening had a theme, though a sad one. Inspired by the loss of many musical heroes recently, my songs were selected as a tribute to some of those musicians who had passed away.
My old mucker Adam was first up from our gang. He’d got to the pub early and had some food, which I’m told was very good. Here’s his set:
Five great songs, awesome set. Some of the other punters had a go, then it was my turn on the wheels of steel.
Stone Temple Pilots – Plush
Taken from the first Stone Temple Pilots record, “Core”, this song is my favourite track on the album. “Plush” is a big, epic song that always reminded me of Led Zeppelin. A great track to start the set off, though as it’s over five minutes long it meant that my set would be three songs rather than the usual four. No problem. Played in memory of STP singer Scott Weiland who died in December 2015.
Motorhead – Killed by Death
At the last Bring Your Own Vinyl Night, I played “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead as drummer Phil Taylor had passed away. Sadly Lemmy, Motorhead main man and all round rock legend, was to follow on 28th December 2015. After “Ace of Spades”, the next best Motorhead tune is “Killed By Death”, so I gave this classic a spin. Taken from the best of compilation “No Remorse”, which I bought when I was 16 as it had both of the aforementioned tracks on it. Every home should have one!
David Bowie – Heroes
And finally a Bowie song, to remember this great artist. I chose “Heroes” as it’s my favourite Bowie song, grand and optimistic with a tinge of melancholy. Truly magnificent. The track I played was the single edit, taken from the “Best of Bowie” album, which I picked up a couple of years ago in a charity shop. There were several songs I could have picked from several albums I own, all brilliant tunes. 
After three songs I was running out of time for my fifteen minute slot and decided to call it quits. I had the Eagles “Take It Easy” in reserve, to commemorate the passing of Glen Frey, but I was running out of time. Plus Bowie’s “Heroes” was a perfect track to end on.
So Ben the Swede took to the stage after me, armed with just three records. He’s moving house, you see ( a real house, not a cardboard box) – and most of his stuff is in storage at the moment. Despite limited resources, Ben dropped a set of bangers.
A nice mix there, from Megadeth to Elton John!
There you have it – another night of great tunes and good company at the Queen’s Head. I even had a few requests for songs from the audience, though couldn’t oblige as that’s not what vinyl night is all about! Thanks to everyone concerned.
Hope to see you there next time!
The Halcyon Dreams blogspot is here.
The Halcyon Dreams mixcloud page is here.
The Halcyon Dreams Facebook page is here.
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