The fostering of musical foundlings: 78s, rare vinyl and oddities, mostly. Updated with monotonous regularity.
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Danby and the Sparrows’ Nest – Historic Rotherhithe Organ – Nicholas Danby (1960-1970)
Published on 2012-02-08 12:45:00
Two organ pieces by English composers of different eras. If you like the sound of an eighteenth-century English organ untainted by German influence, this will be your sort of thing. Gramophone, again, is quite helpful here: Noel Mander’s sympathetic restoration ten years ago in no way changed its tonal qualities, and it remains an instrument of great historic interest and beauty. The trumpet is quite as good as any continental reeds of the period, although completely English in treat
Another Talbot O’Farrell Video – Little Green Heaven
Published on 2012-01-29 06:22:00
Again, from the Pathe website. Before singing ‘Little Green Heaven’ he gives us some comic patter about the use of microphones on stage: “God’s gift to the anaemic terror.” Other posts on Tablot O'Farrell, including those with mp3s: The Great Tablot O’Farrell An Encounter with Talbot O’Farrell Talbot O’Farrell: Yorkshireman or Irishman?
The Voice of the Iron Lady
Published on 2012-01-21 03:31:00
My Great Web page After watching The Iron Lady, about which I suppose my feelings are about as mixed as they are about Thatcher herself, I was almost entirely consumed by one conviction: that hers is the most recognisable voice ever in British politics (no doubt partly because she is still probably the most discussed – and most polarising – woman in the Western world). During the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, Wendy Richard was a frequent and conspicuous sup
An Interview with June Honri about ‘Working the Halls’
Published on 2012-01-16 10:17:00
(This post complements my post on Peter Honri’s book Working the Halls. You might want to read that first!) You may remember my post in October about Peter Honri’s book Working the Halls. I was so impressed by the book and the accompanying flexidisc that I felt that rare desire Holden Caulfield talks about in Catcher in the Rye to call up the author. To that end I contacted the Honris and managed to speak to June Honri, Peter’s wife, later that month to ask her about the circumstan
Timbre! Unusual Instrumentation Playlist - Vol. I
Published on 2012-01-07 14:19:00
Timbre, as Frank Zappa says in the Real Frank Zappa Book, is everything. But it’s also confusing. To a Westerner, the sitar eternally signifies the mysterious allure of the East, while – as Talvin Singh once pointed out – ‘in Bombay, an electric guitar is exotic’. Why is this? ABOVE: A rare and dangerous example of the urethra flute. This playlist argues that context, rather than the instrument itself, is the key. I hope to demonstrate this by putting fifteen instruments in an unex
Two Visuals: The Contents of Music Makes Me, Represented Visually
Published on 2011-12-21 08:00:00
The Venn diagram shows the overlap of the different tags which accompany each post on the site; the bar graph shows how many posts there are under each tag. Click on either pic to be taken to a list of all the mp3-related posts. It makes it a lot easier to search for content. My Great Web page
The Festive Five (2011) - A Garden Full of Sensi
Published on 2011-12-13 15:10:00
Oh, look what Santa brought! Yes, everything from the sentimental to the chemically-enchanced is there, right there under the tree! And what’s that? A DMCA takedown notice? Oh, Santa, you shouldn’t have! Twelve Days Of Christmas - Peter Brogs“On the first day of Christmas my Jah Jah gave to me/ A garden full of sensi.” And what says ‘Christmas’ like highly potent cannabis plants? Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells - Fats WallerThe wonderful thing about Waller is that every recor
Links of the Month - November 2011
Published on 2011-12-05 15:12:00
Very much indulging in shellac and that sort of thing this month: a reminder that there are many, many good blogs on 78s at the moment. Dark Sweets - Soothing Sounds of Shellac for a Long Winter At the top of my list is this delicious compilation of obscure 78s. Even the cassette tape cover art is spot on, in an anachronistic kind of way. Symphonies on American Odeon A 1921 recording of Schubert’s 8th Symphony conducted by Eduard Mörike. (The 8th is the Unfinished, for those am
Let’s Put The Beatles Back Together Again: Book Review
Published on 2011-11-15 14:56:00
About the Beatles it’s hard to write anything new. The Beatles already have their chroniclers: their Lewisohns, their Ryan & Kehews, their MacDonalds. Everyone with any claim to be the Fifth Beatle already has a book to their name. One thing that is certainly left, and a thing that is accomplished with fearless dilettantism by Jeff Walker in his book Let’s Put The Beatles Back Together Again, is the job of pruning what exists. This book is a veritable orchard of the resulting bonsai t
Links of the Month - October 2011
Published on 2011-11-05 04:22:00
Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition A selection of photographs created using a microscope. The objects are sometimes shown 2000 times their original size. Bizarre Love Triangle – Frente Lovely cover of an already beautiful song. The soaring melody is sung against guitar arpeggios. The Composer as Accompanist This site posts some astounding classical 78s, including a solo piano piece by John Ireland. The Shellackophile have some really nice pieces.