Interlude

The sun is out, so perhaps later there will be new stuff to post but in the meantime an early post interlude .....

By default working and being at home everyday I've seen more around the garden and posted more in the last month than I have done for a long while. And in terms of content, it must be the most illustrated months-worth of posting (though I'm not going to check to confirm).

April content:
Total posts 24
Total photos/images 184

Named Species / Sp. Featured:
Moths 32
Flies 25
Beetles 25
Bugs 6
Bees 3
Other inverts 5
Plants/Lichens 22
Vertebrates 5

Audio Links:
Bands 17
YouTube links 20


Remember that I mentioned some Facebook thing to post albums that in some way influenced me or my taste in music. I was not old enough for punk, and turned 11 in 1979 just in time for a load of post-punk new wave type stuff, the ska revival and the wider-scale emergence of synth-based music. I have no older siblings, so aside from whatever my Dad was playing (which was mainly prog rock but in the late 70s included Blondie, The Police, The Stranglers) and mainstream TV and radio, my wider appreciation of music started when I hit secondary education in an inner-city comprehensive in 1979.

Summarising your whole musical outlook in ten albums is nigh on impossible, but I picked these as being some of them:

Vangelis - China (1979)
Inner City - Paradise (1989)
Depeche Mode - Speak and Spell (1981)
The Art of Noise - Who's Afraid of (1984)
Jesus Jones - Liquidizer (1989)
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Once Upon a Time (1981)
Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981)
Skinny Puppy - Remission & Bites (1987)
Japan - Assemblage (1981)
Madness - One Step Beyond (1979)

These are not necessarily my favourite albums by the artists or in the genre, but they were the lead-in to listening to more of them and/or more of similar artists at the time or over the years. I make no apology for picking a couple of singles/back catalogue compilations for Siouxsie and Japan, and a label re-issue package of earlier material for Skinny Puppy.

It's notable that all of these are pre-1990. It's not like there has been nothing since then, but if I think really hard about it, everything I listen to could be worked back to earlier influences including these. There is lots of new music, but it's all evolved and it doesn't feel like there's been any musical revolution for decades. Or maybe I am really just so old now I am completely out of touch with dem yoot.

I listen to a lot a varied stuff, pretty much anything except out and out hillbilly country of folky stuff. I think some of that varied taste is reflected in these albums but it's clearly far from comprehensive. I could easily have listed another ten and then done it again.


And finally, a vid clip came up on my Facebook timeline this morning reminding me that four years ago today LCFC became Premier League Champions when Spurs handed over a 2-0 lead and cashed in any chance of catching the mighty Foxes. But it wasn't the footballing glory that immediately struck me; it was the huge numbers in the pub, drinking and socialising without restriction. It's only been a few weeks since this became impossible, but the marked contrast to lockdown makes it seem a lifetime away. We were in the main City pub for football fans, the Local Hero, along with media from around the world ....

Fat bloke middle-left in white LCFC shirt throws full pint and celebrates the second Chelsea goal at 0.36secs, and jumps around on verge of coronary when the final whistle blows ..