I am sure that a number of you will want to support your.......well, my local Punk band during these testing times... So, to that end, The Damned have released a new official t-shirt to commemorate The Damned Show. That makes the small number of 22 different designs available currently from the official site. It's only £24.99 and if we purchase enough of them, maybe Monty will stop recalling his childhood in never ending detail (please God!) and Dave will broadcast something.........................actually, he won't. Anyway, here it is..... please log in to view this image Buy generously, now!
I watched American Graffiti the other night on Sony movies strange that it is never shown on the main TV outlets, classic rock and roll and early roles for Harrison Ford And Richard Dreyfuss
Friday marked the 25th Anniversary of the release of Stanley Road - I am struggling with that - 25 years, I think it's a fabulous album that still sounds as vibrant & fresh today as it did when I first heard it 25 years ago. I know that The Changingman borrows heavily from ELO (and that Jeff Lynne borrowed an equal amount from The Beatles), but when I first heard this song it really resonated with me and I believed that Weller had gone full circle and this was how The Jam would have sounded if they had stayed together. The album and in particular Whirlpools End & The Woodcutters Son confirmed this. I think its aged well and barely a day goes by that I don't hear at least one song from it.
I've still got a lot of time for wildwood and Paul Weller his first solo album which was overlooked at the time , bull rush and above the clouds being among my favourites , Wild wood, Paul must have listened to a lot of Traffic and Steve winwood with a bit of Nick Drake and John Martyn thrown in for good measure, not a bad bunch to be influenced by .
I totally agree regarding Wildwood, Sunflower, Has My Fire Really Gone Out, and Shadow of the Sun are particular highlights for me, and I love Bullrush too (live with the excerpt from Magic Bus on the end was fabulous). I also agree that the first album,is under rated both the first 2 albums are still amongst my favourites and the 3 of them are probably his most consistent solo albums, and whilst I remain a fan and am looking forward to the new release next month, I am not expecting an album as consistent as any of the first 3 - but the first song from it is promising
One of my mates is a Jam/ Weller completist and I was lucky enough to go with him to see PW at the Royal Festival Hall when he recorded Other Aspects , I have never seen PW so relaxed and on such good form , lots of chatting with the audience that did not make it onto the album or DVD , made my evening when he did You Do Something To Me and enhanced by the setting in Royal Festival Hall
I was catching up on some music programmes that I recorded, Punk at the BBC had Joy Division on the TV show "Something Else" I sure this was the show I referring to
Whilst I've benn plugging The Damned Show, I've neglected the much better Ruts/Ruts DC Lockdown shows, which have been much better... This is Episode 3 but it's all very, very good and Ruffy and Segs are top, top blokes. Enjoy...
It's amazing that the rest of the band didn't realise that he was suicidal, given the lyrics to virtually every Joy Division song.
It was very difficult back then. Nobody spoke about mental illness. At pretty much the same time, I was starting to realise that I had some real issues of that nature. Nobody apart from my dad's brother and his family spoke to me about them, as I went 'off the rails' from the age of about 13 - especially not my parents (who were both depressives themselves), nor my school (who tried to beat it out of me - not a chance!). I got zero medical help before things got really ****ing serious in my early 20's. Fortunately, the realisation had dawned that I was probably ill and that I really needed medical help, although I can see why Curtis did what he did. Thank **** things are different now. My youngest was diagnosed by a psychiatrist aged 13 and gets real help from home, school, doctors, etc. If young people think there's a problem, there is help available...although waiting times are a really big problem.
please log in to view this image Mental health services really do need addressing in this country. Their depletion just causes a drain on everything else, even if you overlook the personal cost to so many people. A failure to address these issues hits the justice system, the health system, homelessness, education... It's penny wise, pound foolish.