05-09-2018, 20:36
Firstly – apologies for being so absent. I don’t have access to broadband right now which is incredibly frustrating. It’s right there, in my new place, but so are the contractors who have seemingly never heard of the Gregorian calendar and who work entirely to the beat of their own mysterious drummer. I am in limbo – moved out but can’t move in. Gah!! Soooo – sometimes the mobile connection works ok, sometimes it just #$%&* doesn’t. Sheer chance that I get anything posted on here at all. Anyway – grumbling over …
Alastair Ian ‘Al’ Stewart was born on this day in 1945, Glasgow, Scotland, and I can’t believe he’s missing from this thread! How remiss!! He writes and sings about pithy stuff – lots of historical subjects, more recently wine and associated matters – he became enamoured of the fruit of the vine when he started making shedloads of money and thought perhaps he’d better invest some of it, which he did, in prize bottles … one thing leads to another (which is something you’d never hear Al say as he is not given to clichés and repetition and never quotes someone else without credit – a bit of a stickler ol’ Al, and why not?). There seem to have been a few musicians around in the early 70’s who were of a similar ilk – British musos at any rate, which I know more of than others; Cat Stevens, Gordon Giltrap, Donovan Leitch spring to mind - there are more. All primarily solo performers, doing their own thing and somehow making their voices heard – some more successfully than others. Al’s big breakthrough was Year of the Cat, but his music is kinda timeless, I think. It doesn’t feel old and decrepit and I love his sources of inspiration – so much more interesting than the utter crud that gets dished up en masse and I’m pretty sure Alan Parsons would never have produced him unless he was worthy of that particular honour! He’s also worked with some notable guitarists, including Tm Renwick (who I’m sure I’ve raved on about on several occasions), Laurence Juber, Jimmy Page and Richard Thompson.
Trotting out the usual suspects … with Laurence Juber – “Tasting History” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX2SnmzzBe4
And Tim Renwick –
Alastair Ian ‘Al’ Stewart was born on this day in 1945, Glasgow, Scotland, and I can’t believe he’s missing from this thread! How remiss!! He writes and sings about pithy stuff – lots of historical subjects, more recently wine and associated matters – he became enamoured of the fruit of the vine when he started making shedloads of money and thought perhaps he’d better invest some of it, which he did, in prize bottles … one thing leads to another (which is something you’d never hear Al say as he is not given to clichés and repetition and never quotes someone else without credit – a bit of a stickler ol’ Al, and why not?). There seem to have been a few musicians around in the early 70’s who were of a similar ilk – British musos at any rate, which I know more of than others; Cat Stevens, Gordon Giltrap, Donovan Leitch spring to mind - there are more. All primarily solo performers, doing their own thing and somehow making their voices heard – some more successfully than others. Al’s big breakthrough was Year of the Cat, but his music is kinda timeless, I think. It doesn’t feel old and decrepit and I love his sources of inspiration – so much more interesting than the utter crud that gets dished up en masse and I’m pretty sure Alan Parsons would never have produced him unless he was worthy of that particular honour! He’s also worked with some notable guitarists, including Tm Renwick (who I’m sure I’ve raved on about on several occasions), Laurence Juber, Jimmy Page and Richard Thompson.
Trotting out the usual suspects … with Laurence Juber – “Tasting History” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX2SnmzzBe4
And Tim Renwick –
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson