A QUICK GUIDE TO NORSE POP Long ago in a kingdom east of the sun and west of the moon, three young men ventured to London and thence onto America. They saw, they conquered and subsequently became Kings in their homeland; thus a love affair with a-ha and Norway ensued. Soon after, the merits of […]
A JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS If you look at the map on my Arrivals page and on social you may notice the grey graph of the ocean floor and dotted around it, a small ship. Aside which I mention the tag line ‘Riding the New Wave of Cultural Travel one – point on the curve – […]
In my Subshine review I begin with A-ha and it’s pretty amazing I haven’t given them the full works so continuing the Norwegian theme here goes… TAKING ON A-HA November 1985, as I stare forlorn into the crackling bonfire just over the chest high wall in the wilds of the local pub’s garden there […]
URBAN HYMNS OK, I was never into Brit-pop and as previously stated the nineties left me pretty much cold in terms of musical development in our humble isles (the UK). Recently in my local library I spotted (front man) Brett Anderson’s biog Coal Black Mornings and from there wanted to go back and listen to […]
This blog was originally published on the eve of 2018 which marked the 70th birthday of Brian Eno. It occurred to me that while he is often spoken about, written about and admired, there wasn’t really a generic overview of best bits; solo and collaborative, which as you may imagine is a formidable body of work, so here’s […]
HOW MANY SONGS DOES THE BIG CHAIR HAVE? Recently I discovered yet another reissue of Tears For Fears sophomore effort Songs From the Big Chair is due with no less than six discs and all manner of other paraphernalia attached to it in obligatory box. But why and why now? In a few months (March, […]
There are in the age-old battle between art and commerce, casualties. Here I detail some of the works that languished like shipwrecks in the record company vaults, unseen or heard for decades and in some cases not at all. PULL – MR MISTER For 20 years this album was stranded in limbo for no reason […]
This piece was originally written in Asia in 2014, so whether it’s a monsoon or a downpour, it remains that if you find yourself stuck indoors on such a day, here are some tunes that will imbue the vista before you. And yes, you’ll be able to tell I’m of a certain ilk and age […]
Sometimes while reading travel publications I come across questionnaires with celebs and imagine myself in their spot, this is not so much to do with narcissism (creatives always are) but in questioning myself and taking stock of what I’ve been through so far after 50 odd countries and 20 years of independent travel. Here’s some […]
JANUARY: FRIENDS As with the 1991 blog this is another of those golden years that shows up every now and again. I’ve included a few singles to give a fuller flavour of what the time was like, these are largely overhangs from 1981 albums but important to include. So let’s make this a blog to […]
kulture kiosk 