Ramble Inn pub, Tooting SW17

> I just love the mobility scooter parked outside. Cheers 🍺🍺🍺

Having written FM Spot last week as an abbreviation for THE FRIDAY MUSIC SPOT I realised this could indicate some sort of radio station - as in Capital FM or Classic FM etc.
Frequency Modulation (FM) isn't new technology (invented in the 1930s in America - the tragic story of its birth is told here > https://www.damninteresting.com/the-tragic-birth-of-fm-radio/). Consequently FM radio was slow to emerge through the late 50s and 60s but being better suited to high fidelity music than AM broadcasts were, it finally took off and by the 1970s in the US it had arrived.
It became popular in the UK and the rest of world during this time but in one case, BBC Radio 1, it would be 1987 before it was allocated an FM frequency. Up until this time the station only shared evenings and weekend FM airtime with Radio 2, meaning during the week no daytime 'Wonderful Radio 1" FM transmissions. (More on this in the coming weeks).

Which about brings me to… I was listening to BBC Radio 6 at the weekend (strictly speaking a digital station and not on an FM frequency, but let's not split signals here). On came the song 'Summer Breeze' by the Isley Brothers, their version of the Seals & Crofts number from 1973. But would it be the superb LP version or the single, issued as an A side: 'Summer Breeze (Part 1)' and a B side '(Part 2)'. Would the radio play the full version or just the shorter single 'A' side? As it faded on 3 minutes I realised I wouldn't be enjoying the last 2 minutes of the full version, where Ernie Isley unleashes a guitar solo, that is one of my all time favourite solos, of all time.  But today we can!  And here it is…

Here's a relatively new song (2013) that sounds very much like an old song, circa 1972. From Rod Stewart's album 'Time' this is 'Live the Life'. The album was a welcome return to form for Rod and became his first No.1 album in the UK charts since 'A Night on the Town' in 1976. 
I really like the philosophy expressed in this track:

So love the life you live
And live the life you love

And always remember let the good times rule

… and then someone put on the Penguin Cafe Orchestra!

All very elegant English eccentricity or Avant-Pop as some would label it. First there's a track I already knew, then the one I heard played and finally another that was pointed out. In each case all of them come with a storyline…. I couldn't choose one in particular, so play all three tracks !

The one I knew 'Music for a Found Harmonium' - you may recognise it, as it's featured in many films and been adapted by various artists. Composed on an old harmonium found in Japan by Simon Jeffes. The 1989 BBC recording presents a great setting.

When I heard 'Perpetuum Mobile' play it reminded me of the harmonium track and there are similarities only it's strangely different with an unusual time signature. Same BBC show and set.

And finally the very odd 'Telephone and Rubber Band' - which I'd never heard of but is said to be the Penguin Cafe Orchestra's most famous piece. Using a telephone ring tone and rubber band (the title gives it away) as the backing rhythm. Nice old black and white movie images provide an interesting watch. It's mad, I love it.

As previously mentioned the idea for my Friday Music Spot was to recreate the practise whereby every Friday afternoon at work we’d get in the mood for the weekend by cranking up the volume and playing a selection of favourite tracks.
As this week I have found myself back in the studio - though not exactly as it was - and as this maybe my swan song (my last gig) - I thought one of my old boss’s favourites would be a good choice. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" he’d shout and on it would go… well he was the boss, after all !

The original song is early Crosby, Stills & Nash from 1969, but this video is Live from the New Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles in 1982 > Stephen Stills is quite extraordinary and those harmonies …. amazing !

DVD of the concert: info at http://www.allmusic.com/album/daylight-again-video-dvd-mw0000934217

Welcome to another instalment in the ongoing series entitled "How did I get to this?"
It starts with me seeing a newspaper ad for Joe Bonamassa and a FREE album download at www.jbonamassa.com  > I checked it out and a 12 track selection of his music, spanning some 15 years came my way for free. (Still available as of today).
One of the tracks called 'One of These Days' was credited to Joe Bonamassa and Alvin Lee! It's his 2007 take of the Ten Years After song, written by Alvin Lee, that opens their 1971 LP 'A Space in Time' - which I have. And which I probably haven't played in over 40 years !
It has turned out to be one of life's little RE-discoveries. It's Ten Years After's 6th studio album and less 'heavy' than previous releases with acoustic and psychedelic elements mixing it with their blues rock. Among the many great tracks is "I'd Love To Change The World". Early 70s sentiment that still remains relevant today & sounds like Led Zeppelin meets Lynyrd Skynyrd… 

Having started with 'One of These Days' here's the link to a TYA nine-minute 'live' version from 1975 > complete with harmonica and organ solos and a mic-stand guitar solo ! > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSgr0bip7xg
And the 2007 Joe Bonamassa cover version > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juKqZivVNRs

Wild Flowers, Holyport Village, SL6 

A driveway, running a hundred meters and leading to a farm had a 3 meter strip bordering a field of wheat, full of wild flowers. Stunning ! 

Shared on Facebook earlier this week was this version of the Guns N' Roses song 'Sweet Child o' mine'. Slightly renamed to express the crossover influence and marriage of Eastern music meeting Western Rock. It features Carnatic guitar maestro Baiju Dharmajan and the vocals of Girish Pradhan. 
The videos demonstrating his slide guitar technique are great to watch as is my pick for this week's track. Composed by Baiju for his 2012 album called 'The Crossover', this is 'Philia'. Love the video (of his Southern Indian home) and the fantastic LP cover illustration (below).

Don't miss the 'Sweet Indian Child o' Mine' video as it really does display the Indian sound of the music. As does this amazing version of 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara' - a famous Indian tune composed nearly 30 years ago to promote national integration and unity in diversity.

(Summer transfer news) Bill's Beer Buys

Rather overpriced 
English striker

Kernel Table Beer
Well crafted, full of flavour and certainly worth trying. 
Different outlets > approx £2.50 a 33cl bottle.

NEW Back Four

Various breweries and styles, available from Aldi at 99p a 33cl bottle. The American IPA and Red Rye a recommended pairing.

Replacement reliable Midfielder
and Foreign Star

(Left): Wild Bill's IPA (appropriately) > tastes like Lidl's Green Gecko use to taste. Available in Aldi at £1.19 in a half litre bottle.


(Right): Alhambra Litre bottle of lager, great value at €1 – but you'll have to go to Southern Spain to buy it at this price.

On the bench

Substitute (D'OH !)
Buy at Lidl for £1.25 a 50cl can

Great story in last weekend's Times all about its editorial by William Rees-Mogg, the paper's editor, who 50 years ago had unexpectedly come to the aid of the "strutting bad-boy of rock 'n' roll – Mike Jagger.
The article is not available in full (without registration) - but these links give an outline @ BBC and the National Post.
The Times story re-told the situation, the party, the trail and the night in jail while reminded us that "in 1967 the Rolling Stones and their lead singer were seen by many as a genuine threat to society, civilisation and morality, a sexual rebel with his thick-lipped mouthings and corybantic contortions". Indeed ?
Rees-Mogg had argued that "Mr Jagger was not treated exactly the same as anyone else". And the article closed with: "Up until that moment, most of the media had painted the Rolling Stones, and Jagger in particular, in diabolical colours. The Times reflected the changing times, by showing sympathy for the Devil".
My brother was always the big Rolling Stones fan when I was growing up. He had the singles and LP's. I would discover these great 'B' sides of singles that were very different to their well known hits and almost provide a kind of commentary to the story surrounding the drug trail and conviction in 1967. Songs like "Play with Fire", "As Tears Go By" and this "The Singer Not The Song". This was the flip-side of the UK release "Get Off Of My Cloud" > in the US it was changed to "Sad Day".
The video shows a very young Mick Jagger, who now is Sir Michael Philip Jagger but still that singer. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, but I like it.

This is classic though - same song on YouTube - but the maker of the video has put the 45 on the wrong speed !  We've all been there….