If anybody else is similarly hooked I can recommend Sanbrook’s book State of Emergency which covers 1970-1974 and also Andy Beckett’s book When the Lights Go Out. There is obviously an overlap in timescales and material but the two books co9mplement each other very well. Both are hefty books: the Beckett one is about 570 pages and the Sandbrook one about 750 pages. Being a bigger book about a shorter period, the Sandbrook one is more detailed and has room to cover a lot more popular culture but the Beckett one gives you a better overview of the whole decade.

So far the TV show has been about 10% politics and 90% popular culture, fashion, sociology and everything else. The book is more balanced with more politics in it. Mind you, the politics of the 70s were depressing as hell – but then that is the same of just about any time.

With YouTube, Spotify, on-demand TV and all the long tails of internet sources we can actually enjoy the bits of the 70s that we want to whenever we want to. Fancy seeing clips of Morecambe & Wise or Bowie on TOTP? Bound to be on YouTube. Want to hear the early Elton John albums? They will be online. What we don’t get is the joy we had the first time round when something great came along, because we can now limit ourselves to only the good stuff if we want to. We no longer have to eat all our vegetables to get our Angel Delight; we can just gorge ourselves on Angel Delight and its not so delightful in that context.

The ongoing BBC experiment of showing complete editions of TOTP has given us a bit of a reminder of what it was like to sit through Our Kid and Pussycat because there was the possibility of seeing Thin Lizzy later on – although the chances are you will be watching it time-shifted on V+ or Sky+ and have the temptation of the fast forward button.

Maybe episode 2 will contain more actual history than cultural history but even if it doesn’t I’m sure it will be a joy. How can it be otherwise with the decade that brought us punk, disco, glam, reggae and prog during the golden age of British TV and American movies?

The cover of Anthem by Desolation Angels

Isn’t internet brilliant for eating up your time?

The ‘what’s new’ section of Spotify keeps displaying an album called Anthem by somebody called Desolation Angels, with a strangely familiar cover. It reminded me of something.

The name ‘Desolation Angels’ and fantasy artwork made me think that maybe it was some variety of metal, so I had a listen and track one was a cover of the Four Tops’ Walk Away Renee, so not metal then, but try telling Spotify that!

Spotify has a bit of a problem with two artists or bands having the same name, and can’t really cope with it. The biography for Desolation Angles is all about a NWOBHM band and is a minor masterpiece itself, making much of the fact that they took their name from the Bad Company album and not the Jack Kerouac novel and that they got through over a doxen drummers before their first album.

Neither version of Desolation Angels was even famous enough to get their own page on Wikipedia, but I did find out that the lot who did Anthem actually released that album in 1996.

Another thing that Spotify is not terribly good at is deciding what date to put against an album. Should it be the original release date, the re-release date, the re-mastered reissue date, or the date it was added to Spotify? In this case the 1996 album is dated 2012.

This particular band is described in passing on Wikipedia as an ‘über-group’ featuring the Roches, Kit Hain (who was half of Marshall Hain who did Dancing in the City), Karla DeVito (a jobbing singer. Successful but not a household name), Deborah Berg (Similarly successful but un-famous singer-songwriter) and others.

I don’t want to confes how much time I spent looking all that up.

As for what the album cover reminded me of – it was another album cover for an album called Anthem, featuring a fantasy painting of a female figure with wings:

The cover of Anthem by Toyah

Firstly a few CDs arrived on Saturday morning. Last weekend was Kraftwerk weekend on 6 Music, and after that I was moaning on an online forum about how listening to a few shows on iPlayer I tried to track down the first 3 Kraftwerk albums only to find they are not on Spotify or available to buy because they were never released officially on CD. Some kind soul burnt copies of them for me.

I don’t normally indulge in dodgy copies of music, preferring to buy it, download it legally, or stream it legally. In this case I was happy to make an exception becasue it is the only option available and if Klink Klang ever get around to their long-promised remaster and official release I know I’ll buy it

As expected, the first three albums are nowhere near as accessible as the later ones and are quite challenging in parts, but worth it for the really ‘motorik’ parts which I do enjoy a lot.

The other recent development was an email out of the blue asking for permission to use a photo of mine in a book. Although my photos are Creative Commons I do appreciate the courtesy when people tell me they are using them or ask. In this case I had to be involved because the publishers needed a release form signed to make sure everything was above board. Best of all, sometime next year I will get a copy of it when it is published.

It will hardly be a bestseller, being an academic work about the history of architecture, but I find that sort of thing quite interesting anyway, so a bit of a result there.

It is all part of 6 Music’s Kraftwerk weekend. I think I am going to be spending a lot of this weekend listening to the radio (or a lot of the next 7 days on iPlayer more likely)

Steve Howe with his endless swapping of guitars – he used three different guitars during one song, and then later on used three other guitars during another song. Rick Wakeman surrounded on three sides by banks of keyboards and at one point stretching to play two that were 6 feet apart. Even Jon Anderson had at least three different tambourines to bash, when he wasn’t playing the harp. Chris Squires stuck to his trusty Rickenbacker most of the time but at one point did come out with a triple-necked bass and did actually play all three parts of it during the song. Alan White stuck to the one drum kit, but he did fget to play the crotales and I’m sure I heard a gong at one point.

So, I can see why some people don’t take them seriously, but really it was a treat to watch.

It is possible I only watched a bit of it before though – just the couple of older songs. I never did really like the Trevor Rabin version of Yes and have never owned or even listened much to either 90125 or Big Generator. This time I watched it all the way through, even the unfamilar songs, but didn’t enjoy it a lot. It certainly isn’t Steven Soderbergh’s best film either.

The weird thing is that I think of it as the ‘new Yes’ so it was a bit of a shock to realise this was from 27 years ago, which is more than a little scary. Its probably more of an 80s thing though, because I quite like some of the later Yes material. And it is a terribly 80s film. Not just the music, which is more straightforward and less proggy than before or since, but also the clothes and even the film style – loads of those cheap video effects and split screens: all the things that are worst about the Mike Mansfield-directed Jean-Michel Jarre concert videos.

I may have to go down later and watch one of the other concerts to clear my mind – perhaps the Live at Montreux or Keys to Ascension.

Since I already have 4 live CDs by Yes, not to mention 10 live DVDs and VHS it was a bit of an indulgence. Did I really need a 4th live version of And You & I or Roundabout on my PC or yet another verson of Starship Trooper? Probably not, but I just couldn’t resist it. for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, although it is not my ideal Yes line-up it is, as far as I know, the only official release featuring both Benoit David and Oliver Wakeman. I think he was only a second keyboard player on Fly From Here.

Secondly, it does contain a few tracks that aren’t on any of the other live albums I have – Machine Messiah and Tempus Fugit from Drama and Astral Traveller. I think Jon was always reluctant to do songs from Drama for obvious reasons.

The big question was always going to be how does Benoit David cope with being Jon Anderson? For me the answer is that he is OK. Better on some songs than others. I think he comes across better on the unfamiliar songs, which makes it a bit of a shame this didn’t include any of the new tracks (though I’m sure that album will be out this year).

In some places he did seem to be struggling a bit, but to be honest Jon sometimes did but he always got away with it because there wasn’t someone he was living up to. At the root of it all is the problem that Benoit is impersonating Jon rather than being himself and that is always hard to pull off. Any time you try to add anything, a little flourish or a different intonation it will be assumed that you couldn’t do it the right way. Mike Yarwood used to end his shows with impressions of singers like Tom Jones and Frank Sinatra. No matter how well he did them, nobody would have wanted to see him do a whole concert as Frank Sinatra if they could have the real thing instead.

Considering the circumstances I reckon he does a good job and doesn’t distract from the rest of the band who are on absolutely top form. I think that Steve Howe puts in his best performance ever on this CD, truly outstanding, Oliver Wakeman is as good as his Dad or Igor Khoroshev, and Alan White and Chris Squire are as solid as ever. In fact White puts in a fine solo in Astral Traveller that is reason enough to get the album.

Despite the initial misgivings about having a stunt vocalist, I really enjoyed this. The sound is far better than the House of Yes album and the inclusion of some less familiar tunes makes it worth having. On top of all that it comes beautifully packaged and with a 3rd disc of video extras like interviews and live clips.

I haven’t watched the DVD yet. Saving that for a rainy day.

Not sure what to make of it all. Sounds a bit noodly, but then it *is* prog rock. I don’t think you can get a feel for it in a 50-second clip so with any luck it will be available on Spotify so we can hear whether it works better as a whole.

I’ll admit that David Torn is a new name to me, though he seems to have a bit of form, but I’m familiar with Alan White and Tony Levin and two out of three ain’t bad. More twiddly bits than you can shake a (Chapman) stick at, fretless bass ahoy and intricate drumming. What’s not to like?

Midge Ure in 1980 with Ultravox!

Is it OK to admit that I not only remember Slik well from then, but quite liked them and still have a soft spot for ‘The Boogiest Band in Town’?