Another collection of Alan Dearling’s creative diversions to keep us just a little more sane in these tricky times!
Created with some love and inspiration by Alan Dearling
Horse Drawn Camp. Rather lovely intimate pics and some music by the Hedgerow Crawlers from the roadside. Another way of life indeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=yBtJKwjoL-Q&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0LwENKtCCHR-sNu0lFo3FDwXou5gLaytkbEpruSmnoO7PMPadmMZqIsGA
Horse McDonald is nowadays something of a Scottish national treasure. As she said on R4, “Nowadays, I’d be called non-binary, but back in the day there wasn’t a name for me.”
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1495581677132712
Happenings ten years time ago. Back in 1967 during the birth of psychedelia, the Yardbirds were changing line-ups in a seemingly endless succession of stellar guitarists. Here we see Keith Relf fronting the band and Jimmy Page on lead guitar with no sign of Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AF8yMx9SvE
A 2020 Covid phantom Yardbirds’ cover version of ‘Happenings ten years time ago’. Rather wonderful in its own weird way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfGsdGlwhm8
Long, Long Times-ago. Professor Emily Caston. The British Film Institute offers lots of fascinating insights into some aspects of the film history of music-promos. Here’s her take on the UK’s music videos; many from pre-MTV days. A fair few examples to click on, from Blur to Roots Manuva.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/short-history-british-music-video
Want to smile and have some fun? Join your Fab Four hosts for a few minutes in, The Bottles: Get Back:
https://www.facebook.com/2074237369498316/videos/205009087999424
Peter O’Toole and the ‘stupid pet trick’ with David Letterman. Wonderful stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hejwNs1Vy04
Sonic Bed Scotland. The bed was designed by Kaffe Matthews, a sound artist. There are several of these beds featured in museums around the world. With a 12-channel speaker system installed directly into the frame, the possibilities for musical exploration are endless. The music is from Scotland and Ulster, plus bespoke textiles to make the whole experience totally tactile! You can get a taste of the experience by watching the video below:
A rather spiffing video from our Strangler friends. ‘Golden Brown’, no less! Nearly 5 million viewers can’t be wrong…probably…
First single, easy sing-along style, with a nice video from The Disappointments. ‘West Country’. Complete with lots of seabird sounds! It made me smile, which must be a good, positive thing.
Bex Day’s photos of kids’ daily lives in lockdown. Some wonderful interviews for a Channel 4 short, special item about their lives, home schooling and more. Make sure you watch the section with the young girl, Gabriel, who is asked at 3.55: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Her answer reminded me of various ‘ultra-green’ friends.
https://www.channel4.com/news/life-in-lockdown-the-kids-growing-up-in-the-age-of-covid
Time for some ear-splintering blues? You need go no further than a visit to Larkin Poe, whose first covers album has recently surfaced.
They say on Facebook: “Who You Gonna Hoodoo Now?⚡️⚡️ Thank you Tony Joe White for writing one of the baddest little riffs in town… I had to take it for a ride! Guitar is good for the soul ??”
https://www.facebook.com/100044283346763/videos/837393043486932
Larkin Poe’s covers album KINDRED SPIRITS is out now!
I’ve always had a space in my brain for the electronic, psychedelic ambience of Tangerine Dream. They have changed line-ups, but their music evolves and continues. This is a fascinating recent film. Enjoy! Here’s the ‘blurb’:
“Ulrich Schnauss, who has been part of Tangerine Dream since 2014, says that pretty much all contemporary music—not just acolytes of the band’s prog-leaning electronics, but genres like R&B and hip-hop—would be slightly different if the German group had never existed. This is the legacy that Schnauss and two others, Thorsten Quaeschning and the Japanese violinist Hoshiko Yamane, seek to uphold in the wake of founder member Edgar Froese’s death in 2015.
There have been countless different Tangerine Dream lineups since the late 1960s, releasing dozens of albums along the way. The latest incarnation performed live at London’s Union Chapel. This film captures the trio performing two songs—1977’s ‘Monolight’ and 1986’s ‘Dolphin Dance’—along with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. As she introduced the band to the crowd, Froese’s widow, Bianca Froese-Acquaye, looked up and said, “Tangerine Dream at Union Chapel—Edgar would have liked this”.”
https://ra.co/films/3327?fbclid=IwAR2Ilzl_dn9qD6n9b3a_ZBuDYoy97gBUa3LgVQpGmsZqwjTNvrdA6iNJiD4