Beatles v Stones

Remember Oasis v Blur. Well in the 60s it was The Beatles v The Rolling Stones. I was working through some pretty heavy shit when I was a kid, so naturally I was a Stones fan. I liked the Beatles, but for what I needed saying I needed Mick and Keith to say it.

As time went, I guess round about 67/68, the philosophies and images of the the two bands kind of came together. That would be roughly around the time of the albums Sergeant Pepper and Satanic Majesties. Glorious days!

Youtube has this feature that I recently discovered, where they present you with a random selection of songs, compiled depending on your previous requests (yes Vicus, technically not random ok). My list is made up of 80% Beatles tracks, and for some reason quite a few Jethro Tull songs. I have never requested one of those that I remember but I did get a bit into The Soft Machine a while ago - I think Jethro must qualify as Prog rock.

Now as I get older I spend most time listening to The Beatles. I just love the simple words and emotions of the early Beatles songs, and then of course when the psychedelia kicks in, well, I'm like a pig in shit!

Love and Peace brothers and sisters.

Odds on Obama

Evens
He does something really dumb within two weeks.

11-8
Over the next three months it becomes apparent he is as crap as all the other politicians.

2-1
Within four years it becomes painfully obvious that despite all his good intentions, he is as unable to cut through the crap as anyone else has ever been.

5-1
His ratings drop dramatically in the first year as all the hyped up people realise he is full of shit too.

10-1
Sends US troops into action in another country within 12 months.

25-1
Gets out of Iraq within the next 14 months.

50-1
Sees sense and pulls out of Afghanistan.

100-1
Reins in the Israelis and actually makes some progress on improving Palestinian rights.

1000-1
He actually is as good as he seems.

Family Trees

'a dirty load of catholic shagging bastards'

Yes, that's how my dear wife described my family - she has a way with words! This was her measured and thoughtful response to my enthusiam for the release of the 1911 census.

Tribute to Frank

This track is off Frank's classic work 'We're only in it for the money'. When I bought this album in 1968 it said it all for me really. The hippy scene was blossoming, but inevitably 'business opportunities' were opening up and we could see that the seeds of destruction were already well germinated by this time.

By the early 70s the game was up, but we did make some impression. Small it may have been in the great scheme of things, but it's good to get down a marker every now and then - helps keep the monster in check!

New Year 2009

Bollocks to it!