molan

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1374066515' post='2144889'] I regularly look at the price of these and haven't seen any for sale in the UK at that price recently although you may find them at that price in the U.S. Most of the 70s Mustangs are now usually £600+ in the UK. [/quote] It's possible the last couple I saw we're US ones. I leave my search open to worldwide on things like this as I'm quite happy to bring stuff over. A £400 US bass would come in over here at £585 so that's more or less the same as a UK one at £600. I've seen some listed at much higher prices but they haven't sold (a bit like 60's Fender J's - some ludicrous prices on UK EBay for these but they never actually sell!).

I've seen nice late '70's Mustangs sell for as little as £400 - £450. Even £700 sounds like top of the market to me. Racing stripe ones, as mentioned above, are about the only ones that sell for more than this.

Bergantino CN212 is a great cab. I know a couple of people using them with Aggie TH500's and they sound great.

I should be around this year. Maybe I'll bring some stuff that's a bit 'different' - Ritters, Celinders, Alleva Coppolo etc.

I used to regularly see him wandering around our local Waitrose looking totally lost. He'd seem to walk from aisle to aisle and back again with hardly anything making it into his trolly. I always felt like volunteering to be his personal shopper Seemed like a nice chap and always smiled back at people who recognised him Unlike the Gallagher / Appleton partnership who looked as miserable as sin when I've seen them there! On hols at the moment so will have to hope it's on iPlayer by the time I get home.

I have a 63 Jazz, a 64 Precision and a pair of Ritters - that must be a fairly serious clash of designs and cultures but I regularly swap between them

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1373875042' post='2142385'] as any fule kno. [/quote] Reality is so unspeakably sordid it make me shudder. . .

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1373831379' post='2142096'] Have you read many of my posts ? [/quote] But you're not being paid Hopefully, anyway

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1373826990' post='2142006'] It's an opinion - nothing more, nothing less. Agree or disagree (or don't give a toss) and move on. [/quote] Or ask other people what they think on a discussion forum. . .

[quote name='bobbass4k' timestamp='1373826421' post='2142001'] Surely he's a musician and a songwriter first? Can't say I'm familiar enough with Bowie to comment but I see no reason why an instrumental couldn't be a high point of any musicians career. [/quote] Totally agree - above all else he's a great songwriter and plays decent guitar (still love the raw tone on Rebel Rebel), good sax, some keys etc. etc. However with something like 25+ albums. of material on which he sings on maybe 95% of all songs, I just find it hard to accept anyone could think that his top 4 are all instrumental

I always prefer Spectors with nice natural, or stained, wood tops

Said a journalist for Mojo. . . In all seriousness how can anyone, let alone a music journalist, say that 4 instrumentals are the pinnacle of such an amazing vocalist's career? I get all the stuff about it being influential to a swathe of electronic musicians but there was also Kraftwerk, Neu, Can, Moroder plus Brian Eno's earlier work pre Bowie. I checked and I have 188 Bowie songs on my iPod (it's one of the 160GB ones, lol) and I reckon there may well be 100 I'd rate higher than side 2 of Heroes! Do some of these people just write any old twaddle to appear 'contraversial'?

Higgie is the cruise ship man - zap him a PM

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1373568144' post='2139184'] The irony in this argument being, although you consider nothing after the punk era to be true punk, London Calling, which you say some consider the last true punk album, is actually quite devoid of what I would class as true 'punk' songs. So now we're into a debate on how you classify punk. I've even heard some question the Clash as true punk due to Joes boarding school, art college upbringing. [/quote] I'm afraid, as a purist, I'm one of those who definitely think The Clash only released one punk album. I was genuinely devastated when I ran home with my, pre-ordered, copy of Give Em Enough Rope to discover the Clash had become a 'rock' band. Over the years I mellowed and was able to enjoy it (and London Calling) but it really was an end of an era album for me

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1373535814' post='2138663'] Everybody has their own opinions of course, but for me punk was born out of the prog rock scene, complete anti prog rock if you like and nobody, but nobody strips down rock and roll to the core basics like the Ramones did, that's why for me, if anybody 'invented' punk they did [/quote] I must admit that some punks I knew liked the Ramones but, in London especially, there was a strong anti-American feeling. Admirably summed up by the Clash with "I'm so bored with the USA" which became something of an anthem whenever anyone brought up the Ramones, Television, Richard Hell, Talking Heads etc. Personally I'd always associated the Ramones with the stripped down rock that was growing fast in the UK pre-punk. People like the 101'ers, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Dr Feelgood etc. I did go and see the Ramones at the Roundhouse (supporting the Damned I think). They weren't bad but were already veering towards cliche ridden rock posing. They seem to have worn well though. Much of their stuff still sounds good today and is much more listenable than a lot of early punk which has dated pretty badly

[quote name='megallica' timestamp='1373537525' post='2138682'] The punk music I grew up with is now considered old school (Bad Religion, NoFX, Suicidal, DK, Poison Idea etc), the youngsters discovering punk music now are more inclined to gravitate towards a band of their generation. In the same way that I considered the first wave of punk music to sound dated and safe, the next generation will look for something that is relevant to them. It's arrogant to think that the music you grew up with is real and everything else is just done by copyists. [/quote] I don't think the music after punk isn't real - it just isn't 'punk'. I think lots of people referred to it as 'post-punk', 'new wave' or even 'oi' and 'hardcore'. And then there's the punk revivalists of the later '80's and early '90's - some of these are still going now! I think anyone who was around during the height of punk 'proper' would acknowledge that anything beyond '79 has to be 'post' punk. Exact timing of punk's demise will always be a source of great debate. Eg A lot of hardcore Clash fans will say that Give 'Em Enough Rope was the end of the Clash as a punk band because of Sandy Pearlman's overtly American rawk mainstream production. Meanwhile others will say London Calling was the last punk album proper and yet more will say the spirit managed to survive Sandinista and continued until Joe Strummer's untimely passing. For me it was the release of Public Image in October '78. Mr Rotten resurfacing as Lydon, Jah Wobble's sinuous bass and Keith Levene's jangling crashing guitars signalled the death knell for me. The flat I lived in had housed Billy Idol for a while and was visited by many a Pistol, future Ants, Pretenders, the odd New York Doll and even the Clash turned up one night on the way to see the Mighty Diamonds in Harlesden (I bummed a free ticket, yay!). By early '79 most of the London crowd were moving in droves to what became the New Romantic nightclub scene. A lot of them, including me, still wearing the same colour nail varnish and mascara and using Krazy Kolor on top of peroxide but with less leather and more lace

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1373531466' post='2138583'] if you're being serious, the Ramones, they practically invented it [/quote] Ramones were never a punk band - just a fast rock band with short songs. If any US band can get any credit for stirring future punk imaginations I guess the New York Dolls could have an honourable mention. Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers were pretty much adopted as punks because they spent so much time over here. The reast of the US bands that tagged along coined the horrible 'new wave' epithet so beloved of Radio 1 and BBC DJ's when they were forced to play things they so obviously detested. Post '79 most genuine punk bands had floundered and/or turned into cheap parodies of themselves. The Americans were merely copping a style of music. Saying that punk lives on is a bit like saying genuine Mod or Ska or Rock 'n' Roll is still with us. Sure, there are bands playing this type of music but they are just copyists not the 'real thing'. I don't have anything against them (I, unashamedly, play in a covers band) I just can't accept that they are 'punk' bands. Maybe you had to 'live the life' in the late '70's to understand it.

[quote name='Prunesquallor' timestamp='1373529883' post='2138552'] Well, thrash is a totally different genre... I believe the genre police called Suicidal Tendencies and the Dead Kennedys 'West coast skatecore' or something, but punk will do for most of us. [/quote] There are no American punk bands. . .

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1373491403' post='2138339'] I'm sorry but anything after 1980 isn't punk, apparently that's how music works. [/quote] I'd say '79 - '80's was just 'power pop with attitude (much of which was 'pretend'). Punk was more than a musical style. People had been playing hard and fast for a long time and will continue to do so for many more years I'm sure. It just ain't 'punk', maybe 'thrash' is a better term

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1373489156' post='2138294'] It stops being a group of mates playing for fun and becomes a professional outfit. [/quote] I think it's sometimes worse than that. From a personally point of view I think any paying gig should be treated as a professional one (but I totally understand what you mean about the differences). My issue with some corporate gigs is simply that you get treated really badly. Arrive early, get bossed around by an organiser who is, way too often, out of his/her depth, little understanding of simple stuff like needing to sound-check and then sometimes loads of crap from the people who hired you that have decided 'Ernie from the post room' is a fantastic singer/drummer/lead guitarist or, heaven forfend, bass player

Forgot to add corporate functions are often a bitch to play - good money but not always that much fun

I've recently booked a 5 piece for my daughter's wedding for the, substantially reduced 'mates rates', price of £1,900. They usually go out for a lot more than this and are pretty busy. One of the very best function bands in he country though. All pro live and session players with a list of credits as long as a very long thing indeed My old 11 piece soul band started at about £1,500 and peaked at £3,500 for function events. We'd sometimes drop to £1,100 for smaller events or £800 for family and friends. My wife sometimes books high end function bands and regularly pays £3K plus.