Walking Away

I was surprised when I saw a news story today that Sony has ceased production of the cassette Walkman. Surprised because I assumed this happened years ago. Almost 9 years to the day after Apple introduced us to the iPod, Sony has finally thrown in the towel. The Sony Walkman was not an overnight success. Introduced in 1979 in Japan, it failed to make much headway initially and it was considered to be a strange idea to walk around town listening to your tunes. However, despite media criticism, Sony persevered and ultimately sold 200 million units over the next 30 years.

I bought one similar to that in the picture in 1981 or thereabouts. The headphones had bright orange earpads and, if you were going to be out for more than a few hours, the bulky extra battery pack was a necessity. Measuring about 5 x 3 inches and with a capacity of about 90 minutes on a standard cassette,it is certainly a far cry from the latest iPod Nano which is about 1 inch square and can hold around 200 hours of music.

Although Sony subsequently lost it's way in the portable music player market, those of us who enjoy music on the move owe a debt to the company and it's co-founder, the late Akio Morita, for persevering with what was considered at the time to be an outlandish product.

Wrong!

"A lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people. OK – the country is full of very angry people. Many of us are angry people at times. Some of us are angry and drunk. But the so-called citizen journalism is the spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night."

These were the words of wisdom of Andrew Marr, a Scottish journalist, author and broadcaster in a speech at the Cheltenham Literature Festival recently. He was giving a talk about how modern technology is rapidly changing the way people receive news and current affairs information.

I enjoy Andrew's work but I think he is very wrong to take such a misguided pot shot at the world of bloggers. As a relatively new blogger, let me answer these charges head on:-

Socially inadequate : possibly after too many drinks but, en route, the life and soul
Pimpled : 30 years ago, perhaps. Not now.
Single : not since 1989
Slightly seedy : certainly not!
Bald : OK, guilty!
Cauliflower-nosed : No
Young : Sadly, no
Ranting : During working hours only
Angry : See ranting
Very drunk: Occasionally, however, I would never drink and blog.

So Andrew, please don't tar all bloggers with the same brush. And I look forward to hearing the feedback from the cauliflower-nosed fraternity on those ears of yours...

Remembering John Lennon

Regardless of where you happened to be over the weekend, I am sure you would have been reminded that it marked the 70th birthday of John Lennon. It is, indeed, hard to believe it is almost 30 years since John was shot dead at point blank range outside the Dakota Building in his beloved New York City, robbing the music world of one of it's most exceptional talents.

I was barely out of short trousers when the Beatles hit their stride in 1966/67 with Revolver and Sgt.Pepper but I have never had much doubt it was John's contribution that lifted them into legendary status.

John was always controversial and his solo career ebbed and flowed. During this period, he is probably best remembered for the much loved and many times covered "Imagine",the anti-war "Give Peace A Chance" and the bed-in for peace at the Amsterdam Hilton. However, for me, his most powerful song was "Working Class Hero" from his first post-Beatles recording - 1970's "Plastic Ono Band". Not a radio favourite due to it's acerbic and unprintable lyric, it has stayed in the memory for so long. Here is a sample:-

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever and classless and free,
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
There's room at the top they are telling you still,
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill,
A working class hero is something to be.
A working class hero is something to be.
If you want to be a hero well just follow me,
If you want to be a hero well just follow me.

The following clip is a great compilation of images of John's life. Strangely, John was the one Beatle who was brought up in what was regarded then as a middle class household. As the Americans would say, go figure.....

Vinyl Revival

In the end, the temptation proved too much. Seduced by the surprisingly large number of outlets selling new and 2nd hand vinyl records in Singapore, I finally succumbed and purchased a nice new shiny turntable, the first one I have had for over 20 years. Yes, there are many easier ways of listening to music these days, however, it is a great nostalgia trip to see a record spinning on the deck and enjoy the warmth of the sound, notwithstanding the odd snap, crackle and pop on the older versions.

What has been most interesting is the unearthing of some long forgotten records which I had brought with me to Asia from Europe in 1987. The turntable has therefore become the 70's and 80's time machine - the forum for artists like the Average White Band, Luther Vandross and the Isley Brothers. There is a lot of soul music and I had forgotten that the younger version of me was very into the Sound of Philadelphia.

Of course, there are also a few embarrassing ones, but I'm not telling......

A Week of Musical Contrasts

Over here at Musings Towers, we like to embrace a broad church. On our first day back from holiday last week, we went to the Slash concert at Fort Canning Park with around 7,000 other like minded souls. From the teenagers at the front (including our two) to the older crowd from the Guns 'N' Roses days at a safer distance, there were no complaints as I am sure this was one of the best rock concerts Singapore has ever seen. The energy generated from the stage was remarkable and the guest singer, Myles Kennedy, proved himself to be one of the great rock frontmen with an energetic performance and a soulful voice not unlike David Coverdale's in Deep Purple's heyday in the early 70's. Our kids thought it was "awesome" whilst even I was moved to utter the word "epic." It will stay in the memory for a long time.

In stark contrast, almost a week later, was a hastily arranged visit to see Belle & Sebastian at the Esplanade Concert Hall, a great venue near the Singapore waterfront. For the uninitiated, Belle & Sebastian are a 7 piece Scottish "indie" band formed in Glasgow in 1996 with a cult following all over the world. With a sound described as wistful by some and twee by others, their appeal is indeed diverse. A recently announced concert in Mexico, for example, has sold out and the Singapore concert was attended by a wide cross section of the population. Of the two ladies sitting beside me, one was from Japan and the other from California. They, like most of the people around us, seemed to know the words of most of the songs performed. Augmented by a local string quartet, this was an exceptional concert complete with audience participation on a few songs and some good natured if poorly executed dancing on stage!

There is plenty of YouTube footage on both concerts but it is of the poorly shot, shaky hand variety. For a better idea of the quality of these acts, try these....

Neil Finn

Can it be true that when Paul McCartney was once asked what it felt like to be the world's greatest living songwriter, he replied "I'm not, Neil Finn is" or words to that effect? Fact or fiction, there is no denying that Neil is one of the very best songwriters of his generation. I have followed his career on and off since I first heard "I Got You" an early Split Enz recording from 1980 which received a lot of radio airplay in the UK and was an international hit.

Since then, there has been Crowded House, some solo albums, The Finn Brothers and now Crowded House again. Notwithstanding Neil's re-invention with a very dodgy moustache, the latest Crowded House album "Intriguer"contains some gems. There may be nothing to rival "Don't Dream It's Over" or "Weather With You" but there are not many of his contemporaries writing songs as strong as "Amsterdam" or "Falling Dove." For anyone in any doubt about Neil's enormous contribution to popular music, here are a few reminders. The first is the aforementioned classic "Don't Dream It's Over", followed by the lesser known "Won't Give In", an excellent inspirational song dealing with Neil's family problems which was recorded with his brother Tim.

Americano?

We must indeed be leading a sheltered life in Singapore. We have just spent a couple of weeks in Melbourne and surrounds enjoying the colder weather, a change in pace and a selection of nightlife. Within the space of of a few hundred yards, we enjoyed the full throttle rock bands of The Esplanade in St. Kilda and the ambience of a kitsch piano bar where we left the proprietor punching the air as his keyboard man performed The Four Seasons' December '63 (Oh What A Night). Elsewhere, on the car radio, on the TV and booming out of shop fronts was...We No Speak Americano.!

It was only when we got back to Singapore that I realized the "creators" of this very catchy tune are a couple of Aussies known as Yolando Be Cool. Now a worldwide No.1 including the U.K., I was wondering why it was so familiar. Of course, it is a heavily sampled version of an old 1950's Italian song by Renato Carosone. I first encountered this song in one of my favourite movies directed by the late Anthony Minghella, "The Talented Mr. Ripley" where Jude Law and Matt Damon performed "Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano" in a memorable scene in an Italian jazz club. Whilst I am sure there are many Italian jazz purists unimpressed by this new version becoming a worldwide hit, I think there will also be lots of listeners feeling compelled to investigate the origins of the song and open up new horizons. Isn't it just great that an old Italian jazz song is now so familar all over the world thanks to a young Australian duo? Even if it does become irritating after a while....

Me vs Paul the Octopus

So..it has come to this. The World Cup Final is just hours away and here I am pitting my wits against an octopus. You may recall my suggestion in an earlier post of the possibility of Dutch success, based on nothing more than the following of a colour pattern. It's hardly clairvoyance but no more ridiculous than the idea that a two year old octopus could successfully predict results of important football matches....Except that it seems his track record is quite good; in fact, it is extraordinary.

Paul, who lives in a tank at a Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany is presented with two boxes containing food, each marked with the flag of a national football team in an upcoming match. Apparently, he chose the box with the flag of the winning team in several of Germany's six Euro 2008 matches, and in all seven of their matches in the 2010 World Cup including Germany's third place playoff win over Uruguay yesterday. He even predicted correctly that Germany would lose to Serbia in the qualifying round.

With a 100% success rate in the World Cup to date, Paul has now dipped into the box with the Spanish flag on it. I should be concerned but I'm sticking with the Dutch. Whatever happens, the World Cup will have a new name on it. The Spanish have never progressed further than the quarter finals and the Dutch, although reaching the final in 1974 and 1978, lost each time.

Which brings me to the real reason for this post. In those 1978 finals, apart from Argentina who defeated Holland 3-1 in the final, only one team managed to beat the Dutch. The decisive goal by Scotland's Archie Gemmill in a memorable 3-2 victory was one of the classic all time World Cup goals. Sadly, it was not quite enough to keep Scotland in the tournament. Archie can, however, be proud that it is the only known piece of World Cup action to form the backdrop to a sex scene in a major hit movie. You can see the goal below. In yet another You Tube video, Archie can be seen talking about his embarrassment the first time he saw that scene in "Trainspotting"!

England Get The Bird

Have a look at this picture. This South African pigeon, already recognizing that he would need to put up with a lot of noise at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, decided to at least perch somewhere he would not be disturbed. His chosen place at the top of the net of the Algerian goal during their World Cup match against England would appear to have been carefully calculated if it is true that, as suggested by Henry Winter of the Daily Telegraph, the canny bird actually changed sides at half time. Certainly, Mr. Pigeon's choice of venue ensured no ruffled feathers from a flying Jabulani. He would have been in more danger in the stands. Bookmakers should take note of the predictive powers of the South African pigeon.

By contrast, the England manager, Fabio Capello celebrating his 64th birthday on Friday, looked to be a man under considerable pressure. Before the match, the media enjoyed referencing the Beatles song "When I'm Sixty Four" inviting readers to suggest appropriate lyrics for the occasion. That moment has now passed. For the sake of Fabio's health, the nation will be holding it's collective breath hoping that another track from Sgt. Pepper will be invoked on Wednesday afternoon in Port Elizabeth. "Getting Better"....

Poor Britannia?

So, how bad are things in the U.K. really? Hot on the heels of the new coalition government's proclamation that things were much worse than expected, comes the inconvenient conclusion of the newly formed Office of Budget Responsibility that, actually, it's er..not THAT bad! Whilst the politicians argue about the details, a surprisingly upbeat set of results from Majestic Wines this week would suggest that there is, at the very least, some cheer left in the economy.

Majestic posted a pre-tax profit of £16m for the year to March 2010, a very impressive increase of 117% over the previous year. Interestingly, sales of fine wine (classified as £20 per bottle and above) rose by the largest measure - over 22% and online sales rose by almost 20%. For a nation barely out of recession, these are amazing statistics.

It's not new, of course, to suggest that the wine and spirit trade is immune to economic factors and perhaps in this case, the steep increase in consumption is directly related to the depth of the downturn. Has Majestic just had much greater nous than their competitors over this period or is this performance telling us that there is surprisingly resilient spending power left in the economy? Or is everyone broke but determined not to let a little financial difficulty get in the way of a respectable Pinot Noir? Above all, in credit crunch Britain, it would be interesting to know, apart from the 20% online transactions, how much of the £200m+ in store sales was accommodated with a little help from a "flexible friend".....

Tangerine Dreams

What is the most unexpected event of the past couple of weeks? The coalition government formed between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats following the UK election, perhaps? Jose Mourinho completing an unprecedented treble with Inter Milan? Sarah Feguson's willingness to accept a few bob for access to her ex-husband's address book? No, I would suggest the biggest surprise of all has been the severe outbreak of tangerine in Glasgow and London. Last week, Dundee United won the Scottish Cup for only the 2nd time in over 100 years. Yesterday, at an unexpectedly steamy Wembley Stadium, Blackpool won promotion to the English Premiership after almost 40 years in exile from the top division.

These are both magnificent achievements but the most extraordinary story is that of Blackpool. He may previously have been regarded as a bit of a clown, but the manager, Ian Holloway, deserved his day in the sun yesterday at Wembley having taken Blackpool from being relegation favourites to winning promotion in a single season. The adjustment for the Seasiders will be truly transformational. This is a club which only recently smashed it's club transfer record with a £500,000 signing and where first team players are responsible for washing their own kits. With their new found riches, it remains to be seen how many of the current patchwork quilt squad of journeymen players will survive to play in the Premiership, but for the moment, they should enjoy their success.

Is this an omen? If you enjoy a flutter, you may consider a wager on the Dutch winning the World Cup.

Black Swan

Attending an in-house conference a couple of months ago, I asked one of my new colleagues from another department where he worked. I'm a "quant" he replied. I was about to offer some comfort and suggest that perhaps he was just having a bad day when I realized he was one of those PHD-wielding gents charged with calculating how much banks could expect to lose when things get a bit rough. Banks may have paid these guys a lot of money in the golden years but, as we all now know,the idea that markets could police themselves effectively proved to be a pretty expensive mistake.

A long-term critic of such risk modelling, Nassim Nicholas Taleb in "The Black Swan" highlighted the vulnerability of these assumptions in the event of high-impact, hard-to-predict and rare events.

Thom Yorke's "Black Swan" was released in 2006 and has nothing to do with the financial crisis that was to come. But the lyric certainly fits the way things turned out...

BA(RMY)

As if the prospect of another ash cloud and 2009 losses to be reported this week in the region of £600m was not enough for BA's management to worry about, the threat of industrial action over the next 20 days looms large. A baptism of fire for the new Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond. What happened to the once proud BA? There is certainly not enough space here....

I was thinking about BA last month when Malcolm McLaren died. McLaren was always more of a showbiz impressario than a serious musical talent but this arrangement of an old French opera known as "The Flower Duet" was a perfect accompaniment to BA's outstanding advertising campaign from 1989. Although you may prefer "Buffalo Gals"....

HANGING AROUND

These really are momentous times. A week in which Nick Clegg was described as a harlot and Adam Boulton on Sky News almost at the point of punching Alastair Campbell's lights out on live TV! In case you missed it, here it is...

John Hartson

It was great to hear that John Hartson has made a full recovery from cancer. John was with Celtic from 2001 to 2006 and made 146 appearances, scoring 88 goals. The one I remember best is this one from 2003 against Liverpool in the EUFA Cup. I was in Hong Kong watching on TV at about 5.30am when John unleashed this rocket. I must have made a racket because Terry, our helper, suddenly appeared. She was certainly surprised to see "sir" up so early and animated. It really was a moment to savour. (With apologies to my Liverpool friends..)

Oil City

Don't worry, this is nothing to do with the price of oil or the major oil spill in the U.S. I recently watched the Julian Temple documentary on Dr. Feelgood called "Oil City Confidential". The title refects the band's roots in Canvey Island, Essex in the shadows of large oil refineries. The film is well worth seeing and confirms that Wilko Johnson is every bit as unhinged off the stage as on it.

I first encountered the Feelgoods in 1975 when they were on the bill at the Reading Festival. Having just turned 16, I managed to convince my parents that I should be allowed to go - my friend's uncle obligingly gave us a lift in his HGV all the way to St. Albans and we hitched from there. It was a major event with bill toppers being Hawkwind, Yes and Wishbone Ash. But the real surprise was Dr. Feelgood - their debut album "Down By The Jetty" had just been released but they were relatively unknown compared to the other big names on the bill. It's a long time ago now, but I can still remember the impact of Wilko's manic strutting around the stage and the power they generated. As soon as I got back to Scotland, I bought the album which I still have to this day. It was defiant to the point of being in mono and with a single black and white sleeve in an era when Roger Dean's elaborate artwork adorned many a gatefold album cover. The Feelgoods were never slaves to the vagaries of fashion.

Welcome

I've been thinking about doing this for a while as a way of keeping family and friends up to date with my current ramblings. Since moving to Singapore last year we have all been kept very busy and work has rather unreasonably interrupted our schedule. I can't make any promises as to how prolific my posts will be but I will try my best....

This is not intended to be a serious zone, rather a place to retreat for some light relief. If you manage to discover something new here then I will consider my work done.

The Cosmic Rough Riders just might be the best band to come out of Castlemilk (or Chateau au Lait), a large housing estate in Glasgow. They haven't recorded an album since 2006 but this track from 2000 is an enduring classic.