Whistling precisely is hard. Try whistling the same tune with someone else – you will wobble out of key with each other, for sure. There are, however, some people who can whistle with great precision. A few have made a career out of it, and had novelty hits with whistled versions of popular tunes. Such a […]
Category: 1970s
The World at War was, when it was made in the early 1970s, the most expensive documentary series ever produced. Mixing archival footage and survivor interviews, in 26 episodes it told the story of the Second World War, skillfully shifting the focus between grand strategy and colossal battles, and the individual lives and experiences of […]
There are times when the news, both at home and abroad, is so bleak, stupid and depressing that you need an escape. At such times, in my personal opinion, only hot-fingered bluegrass banjo will do. Hit it! Whoops, wrong speed. (Notice how it sounds strangely like traditional Chinese music?) Arthur Smith, who we are about […]
To most of the Anglophone world, the name Manuel evokes the harried Spanish waiter who had the misfortune to work at Fawlty Towers. But before John Cleese created Basil Fawlty, Manuel must have been a bit exotic, a name with a hint of the Latin Lover about it. How else to explain an act called […]
The Beatles throw a long shadow, such that other parts of the rich musical tradition of Liverpool can get a bit lost. Like many other ports and industrial centres, Liverpool drew waves of migrants in search of work. Each community brought their own music, and the result was a melting pot of influences from all […]
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When the boat comes in
If you were around in the 1970s you are likely to remember When the Boat Comes In, a television drama set in a working-class British town in the years after the First World War. It was a drama about disillusion. The men who returned from “the war to end all wars” struggled to deal with […]
To dare question the might and majesty of AC/DC in Australia is to risk being pelted to death with empty bourbon bottles. They are an iconic, much-loved band, titans of popular music. They are Australia’s most successful international act, for decades. Not just success: AC/DC has street cred as well. They have a lane-way in […]
The strangely-named “The RAH Band” burst onto the scene in 1977, with a UK top-ten hit, a bouncy dance track called “The Crunch”. Who were they, this peculiar ensemble, with their strange-sounds? The music industry newspaper Billboard provided the answer: Billboard assumes its industry-savvy readers knew who Hewson is, and fair enough. You know his […]
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When the bagpipes start up
Ever noticed that when the bagpipes start up, at a big military tattoo or a highland gathering, the bass note, the drones, tends to sound a bit wobbly, slightly out of tune? Like this: Same with sustained notes in the melody, especially high notes: The Planet Vinyl shuttle has landed today in Bonnie Scotland. To […]
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The wizardry of sheep shearing
There once were things called flexi discs. They were records, and you could play them on a turntable, but they were made of a thin sheet of vinyl. So thin that you could roll them up. Unrolled, they would still play. They were cheap to produce, and often included in magazines as a novelty. The […]
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