Off Topic Saints Not606 Music Thread

The Friend I Never Met - Andy McKee:

 

Or a later version with better sound quality. I think he's more 'on it' in the earlier version:

 

24 years ago today, Rory Gallagher died from complications after a liver transplant. An amazing live performer and a true blues man. He left behind some wonderful albums and I’ve just received the triple album “Blues” by him, which is fantastic.
He influenced so many guitarists including Brian May, Johnny Marr and (ahem) Slash (well, never mind).
Quite probably right up there with the best of them, but, sadly, still not recognised by the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame
Rumour has it that the Stones asked him to join back in the early 70s but he turned them down, as he didn’t want superstardom ........ there’s also a rumour (unsubstantiated and most probably false) that after the Isle of Wight Festival where he played and Rory’s band “Taste” were performing, Jimi Hendrix was asked what it was like being the best guitarist in the world and he said “I don’t know. Ask Rory Gallagher”
Was lucky enough to meet him after a gig at Soton Guildhall back in 71 ..... such a humble man and always had time for his fans ......
If you have a few minutes, listen to this ...... great guitar work (and he played sax on it too - a man of many talents)

 

Stunning ...... Thanks for posting

 

Yep, I saw him at... wait for it... Southsea. Best gig I ever attended. He was amazing. For me, most bands sound worse live, because they're just not tight enough or don't play well enough. Peter Frampton is/was an exception. But Rory was just in a league of his own.

 

Last night, ended up listening to a whole spate of Andy McKee stuff. You may of may not remember that I came upon Andy due to my love of Michael Hedges music. What you probably won't know is that the reason why Andy is an acoustic guitarist is because of Hedges. And Hedges is a real hero to Andy, and is the reason why he wrote the song, The Friend I Never Met. Here Andy explains his guitar influences before he plays one of Hedges' best known songs, Aerial Boundaries [yep, I've posted it before with a crappy video]. However, I've found a decent video of Hedges playing it too. Anybody who thinks Hedges was a fringe or niche player may note the size of the audience on that video. Anyway, here's Andy first. By the way, you can judge for yourself whether he makes a good job of playing this song, which he freely admits is bloody difficult to play:

 

Hedges, on the other hand, makes it look remarkably easy. Then again, he wrote it. At last a half decent video of him playing:

 

songs not to play at a funeral (stole this from somewhere)

my favourite was "staying alive' Bee Gees

 

The funny thing about that song is it feels current to me (being an old git) and it was 30 years ago.

In 1989, a 30 year old song was from 1959...Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly etc. I must be old as they never felt current then...but something my dad would listen to.

 

Like you, I am an old git. Yet somehow, I have a couple of friends coming down this next week, who I have known for a couple of years, and we get on very well. One is Dutch and has flown in this morning, and one is from Yorkshire, and he's arriving later on. They both want to go to Stonehenge for the sunrise on the longest day and my Dutch buddy wants to go to see HMS Victory and a few things on the IOW, and drink some decent beer. Both are in their late twenties. Here's hoping I can keep up. Nerds can mix in all ages.

 

Stonehenge is brilliant at the solstices these days, you can go right up to the stones. There will be up to 20,000 there this year. Best thing is to go up the night before and park in the field next to the Visitor Centre, it cost £15 last year so car-sharing is advisable. Then you have about a mile to walk across the fields to the stones. Food and drink stalls a short distance away from the stones, a bit of live music with a terrible PA, very reminiscent of the 70’s!

One thing, absolutely NO alcohol on site. Don’t try and smuggle it in, security will find it and confiscate it!

 

Yep, I went a few years ago on my VFR. Fantastic. Mind you, it was a gorgeous morning. Not sure about this year. We'll see.

 

We haven’t had this song on here for a while, and certainly not with this animation. I have absolutely no idea why I have been singing it to myself recently :

 

Neil rocks!

 

^^ Ian Anderson writes such magical songs. Sometimes they just miss the mark, but sometimes they are bang on:

 

It was years before someone told me that “Thick As A Brick” was a piss-take of a concept album. I loved it and still do ...... utterly brilliant