Jump to content


  • Content Count

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Total Watts

32 Excellent

About ZilchWoolham

Recent Profile Visitors

1,672 profile views
  1. Spotted a nice Ibanez RS900 today, on a Trafalgar Square busker, no less.

  2. American hops, American hops, everywhere you go, American hops. 

    1. Mykesbass


      As in "Let's go to the hop" hops?

  3. Ah yes, I'm sure you're right. I'm not that well-versed in matters Yes, to be honest, but the point still stands in regards to people's perception of them and whatever bands might have more of an actual fantasy slant. I suppose in all fairness Rick Wakeman didn't really help ward off that image what with the cape and the Arthur stuff.
  4. I'm with you on a lot of these points, 4000. Not really sure how a Stranglers thread became a discussion about the various forms of prog, but I have to jump in as well! I definitely don't hear much of folk in Yes either, but then British folk does happen to be the genre (or tradition, rather) of music I enjoy the most as a whole, so my perception, and definition of folk might be a bit different, more narrow, from others (as an example, my favourite band is Jethro Tull, and while many have applied the label "folk rock" to much of their output, I'd say it's folk-inspired at most - and even then certainly more Celtic than English, and much more apparent in music than in lyrics). I also think medieval bent, as in the case of Gentle Giant, really is something of a compliment rather than something to look past! I do appreciate a good groove but I tend to stay far, far away from one-note funk. I've also had trouble connecting with modern prog bands. Too much of it sounds the same to me; it's often to metal-oriented, and almost always strangely dour, dreary and humourless. I can enjoy a bit of darkness, and certainly some heaviness now and then, but I think prog is best when it's energetic, adventurous and exuberant. I don't have much of a taste for fantasy themes myself, but I do prefer it to brooding self-importance. As an almost-aside, Robert Fripp is very near the top of my list of most pretentious musicians, along with his chum Eno and the No Wave crowd. How do we all feel about Captain Beefheart? In my experience he seems to be one of the biggest unifiers in music. Probably the artist who most attracts punk and prog fans alike. I'm not a regular listener but I do happen to like him, myself, and the attitude is brilliant.
  5. Early Stranglers, to me, are just plain old rock, but it's very clear they rode the punk wave, and intentionally so. In fact, in their earlier incarnations a few years before their breakthrough they were decidedly more mellow. Strange Little Girl, for example, began as an early demo from this period. B&W would be easy to classify as post-punk, but so would an awful lot of albums from 1978 that don't necessarily sound like one another. Raven and Gospel are damn near art rock. Then, onward through the 80's they were more of a pop band than anything else, really. For whatever it's worth, Dagenham Dave's other favourite bands were Genesis and The Tubes!
  6. You hit the nail on the head. Taken alone, some of those lyrics are tolerable, but together they do paint a bit of a rough picture. It's hard to claim the sexism charges of the time were unwarranted, although I do think purging their records from the Rough Trade shelves might have been a bit much... And indeed, there was definitely a tonal shift, lyrically, from B&W onwards. For a rather stark contrast to the early provocation there's JJ's European Female from the Feline album.
  7. I tend to feel a bit uneasy whenever punks talk about prog, and prog rockers talk about punk, seeing how among my favourite bands there's one group which invariably is described as prog rock (Jethro Tull), and one which invariably is described as punk (Buzzcocks) ( with good enough reason, although to my ears, neither are the best examples of their respective genres). Not the most usual combination of bands, I'm sure, but there are a lot of music lovers who dabble in seemingly contrasting genres.
  8. To be fair, they did have a record called The Gospel According to the Meninblack, which was a concept album about ancient astronauts... Ironically, while Hugh and JJ were both Doors fans, Dave Greenfield had never heard them. Agreed! Always the Sun is a personal favourite. I don't know if we're talking about the same tracks, but I echo the sentiment. They could be quite inconsistent even within the same album, which isn't usually how I feel about bands I like, but for my money you could stick half of Rattus together with half of No More Heroes and make a better album in the process. Also, to me some of their best stuff were singles, even B-sides (like Straighten Out). They also have some very good songs that, I have to admit, make me a bit uncomfortable (like Sometimes). My favourite Stranglers LP is The Raven, though. And if anyone thought Down in the Sewers was prog, have a listen to this one, where Hugh is in a different meter from the rest of the band:
  9. Slightly unusual question: Does anyone know if there's a place near Banbury I can hire a bicycle? 

    1. HazBeen


      I do know where you hire a C0ck Horse .... sorry... couldn’t resist 🤪

    2. Old Horse Murphy

      Old Horse Murphy

      Not too sure, but there's plenty of bells round there, so I'd give them a ring

  10. The Smiths... I THINK. There's of course a dedicated following all over the world now, but at the time I don't think they were really that massive across the pond. Certainly nothing to the extent of their UK fame, with constant coverage, the New Morrissey Express, and all that.
  11. If you keep an eye on Reverb and eBay, you can find at least late 60's/early 70's plates for no more than what the Spitfire man charges.
  12. I'm sorry Ricky, but this script of yours is utterly unbelievable. Sting would never call himself Gordon.
  13. There's Shakespears Sister named after Shakespeare's Sister, I'd argue the best single by The Smiths. In turn named after A Room of One's Own, the essay by Virginia Woolf with which it seems to have little in common.
  14. And while we're thinking clearly, let's not forget that the majority of successful UK artists/bands do the same, and have done for a very long time.
  • Create New...