Dankology

I'm not sure I said that. But as an outsider he perhaps had a degree of perspective (and freedom to speak his mind?) that others that others did not but he chose to bullishly pursue his own agenda.

I'll have to agree to disagree on this one as I reckon his tenacity almost certainly contributed to the toxic atmosphere. But I suppose that's an eternal conundrum: how much does the observer change events merely by observing them? Or by continually punting daft ideas, of course.

In this context I think so. The editing here admitedly emphasises it but I think his insistence on pushing the live show aspect when the band were clearly in the midst of an existential crisis shows a complete lack of emotional intelligence. I'm not sure he comes across at all like a benign or even helpful influence. And that's not to mention his utterly outlandish ideas for the show itself or his pointless desire to use codenames for the individual Beatles.

So true. The proof of the pudding being that, once they removed the self-imposed time and creative restrictions, they crafted Abbey Road out of essentially the same pool of material. I do feel they were just short of one person pointing out how needlessly destructive the whole idea was but between the dead Epstein, apparently disillusioned George Martin, clearly star-struck Glyn Johns and the imbecile Lindsay-Hogg there was no-one to state the obvious and gently guide them right. Complete aside: I absolutely love the fact that history's very first "shut up, Yoko" jibe seems to have been cracked by McCartney himself, aimed at Linda

I suspect it's actually a hymn.

This was exactly the example I had in mind. Seems bonkers to me that such an iconic part could be considered not to be an integral part of the song.

I reckon it's horses for courses with the key being to get a solid agreement in place *before* the millions start rolling in... I always liked what Madness did: for each song the main songwriter got 50% and everyone got a 1/7 share of the other half. Somewhat smooths over that disconnect between a contribution (that could subjectively be large or small) and what might traditionally be seen as "songwriting". Although that does seem generous in a seven-piece band. I truly hate the situation that frequently exists in which the writer of an absolutely key part/riff/etc gets no recompense as it doesn't form part of the traditional top-line/lyrics view of a song. Then again, I'm sure what appears in brackets after a song title and how the income is actually split can be two very different things. My last band fell apart largely because one person wanted to do (and be seen to do) all the writing. Current band is very much a whole-band credit - which I'm slightly uncomfortable about as the singer contributes all the words and main melody even though the backings are fairly equally contributed to.

Apologies for a slight thread-jack but are there any pointers on a surround set up that won't break the bank and/or give the living room an unfortunate air of singleton's masturbation dungeon? I seem to have amassed loads of 5.1 discs in boxsets and I never get to listen to listen to them.

We've just put this up as a free Bandcamp download ahead of an imminent small local gig and to have something to send promoters while we mix our recent studio tracks. I'm quite happy with the mix and I hope I earn brownie points for not correcting a couple of clangers I played on the bass 😜 https://deadtenantmusic.bandcamp.com/releases

It might be interesting to read "The Inner Game of Music" by Barry Green which is aimed at getting over the sort of psychological blocks that get in the way of performance. I've only read the first few chapters so far but there are definite references to the sort of issues you mention above, including the ability to play a part flawlessly when not concentrating on it. I have to say though that the book is quite irritating in places - I've owned it for about three years and can only bear to read a few pages at a time... https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/848522.The_Inner_Game_of_Music

No experience to contribute here but happy to be a follower if we need to experiment and see what happens when you go significantly over 100...

I saw PJH on that tour and I think the same song had to be restarted because Eric Drew Feldman seemed to start it in the wrong key. Makes me wonder if it was part of some ongoing in-joke, although the facial expressions in this clip would suggest not. I think the bvs are the most egregious element of this performance though.

You are presuming a degree of common sense that may not be justified here. I can't quite remember the sequence of events but I suspect my LP came with Dunlop buttons and my Ric with Schallers, which I then adopted for my Fender basses (or did they just arrive with compatible buttons?) plus there are the various instruments that have neither - and enjoy various bottle washers and cheap plastic locks. One day I'll get them all the same. Or maybe not, now that I've learned this wonderful life hack.

Genius. Why have I never thought of this before? All that time spent messing around stretching eyelets around straplocks, not to mention the chaos of needing a quick swap and discovering a strap/button incompatibility.

I'm so glad I'm not alone in being unsure of this...

Ah, so easily said...

My band doesn't do many covers but this one came up in rehearsal and that intro/verse figure is driving me mad. I can do a sort of fumbled approximation of it but it (E F# G A A B C# D) but this is pretty far away from the tabs I've seen online (https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/j-j-cale/after-midnight-bass-2751288) and I'm now pretty sure that neither I nor the tabs have it right. This feels like the sort of tasteful, musical bass playing that should be getting my head and fingers around - can anyone give me some pointers, please?

I'm 42 and started buying music when I was about 8 so I was just on the cusp of CDs coming of age but because of the cost of players (and discs back in the day!) I did most of my listening on a mono tape recorder and a series of boot sale/hand me down/budget turntables. I picked up most of my vinyl from secondhand shops, charity shops and car boot sales and did so primarily becuase it was cheap and secondarily because the covers looked better that big and I also genuinely enjoyed the process and ritual of putting a record on. Fast-forward a couple of decades and my continued miserly ways have been thwarted by the vinyl resurgence: unremarkable pressings that I spent £3 or £4 pounds on routinely sell on Ebay for anything between £30 and £80 and the days of hitting the Vinyl Exchange and coming out with a stash of stuff that I just fancied the look of are long gone. I still love vinyl for the other reasons mentioned above but I'm finding it harder and harder nowadays as the quality of new records has entirely gone to pot: indeed the last three new records I bought (Stephen Fretwell, Arlo Parks and Jesca Hoop) all sounded like complete sh!t - clearly the quailty control people are aware of how many of these new releases are being used solely as objets d'art. (And yes, I have a reasonable turntable with an upgraded and properly aligned cart). I suspect my days of buying *new* records are now over but I'll always love the format for many of the reasons others have cited above and hopefully we'll see a return to sensible secondhand prices once the current, inexplicable, penchant for cassettes fully takes hold... (DOI: currently own two turntables and am actively looking to replace one of them)

I'm sure someone will help put me straight here but I'd have thought that the properties desirable of a turntable plinth (ideally deadening all vibrations) would be rather different to those of a guitar's body (t*ne w**ds and all).

After the mid-lockdown collapse of my last band (whole sorry tale recounted elsewhere on here), the three of us left behind have been working hard. We've got our first gig this Saturday supporting friends at a small bar close to home. Here's one of our works-in-progress: https://www.mediafire.com/file/45nwkqhivxuck1a/Dead_Tenant_-_82_%5Bnew_vox-rough_mix%5D.mp3/file If anyone is near Rawtenstall on Saturday night do pop in to the Whip and Kitten and say hello 😀 https://www.facebook.com/deadtenant

The version of Lost in Music on 27 Points is a thing of wonder - so much better than it should be...

Joy Divison - Preston 1980: in the midst of an incredibly intense performance fired up by equipment failures, someone grabs the mic: "Anyone from Burnley - the coach leaves in 10 minutes" At another point you hear Barney tell the soundman "everything's fukcing bust so everything's going through the bass amp"... I do like to think about the band's more humourless fans trying to discern the poetry and mystery in all this.

Just remembered a few more... Iggy Pop - TV Eye - one of the few live recordings that actually sound like being at a gig Allman Bros at Fillmore East Bob Marley Live Pink Floyd - the live stuff on Ummagumma Joy Division - Preston - love listening to the synths and other gear gradually failing and the band reverting to a much rawer set Mick Ronson tribute concert - quite a bit of dull stuff but the bit where Joe Elliot fronts the Spiders from Mars is fab Neil Young Unplugged - brilliant flipside to Weld despite being I'll thought of by many Suicide - 23 mins over Brussels Really looking forward to making my way through some of the recommendations posted above. God, I love live albums.

I love live albums. My favourites: Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl - check out the harmonies vs the rudimentary (non-existent?) monitoring Who - Live at Leeds - not a massive fan of the original short album but love the expanded 1995 edition with A Quick One etc John Martyn - Live at Leeds - the original, not the later rerelease that swapped a load of performances out Stones - Get Yer Ya Yas out Neil DIamond - Hot August Night Jane's Addiction's first LP Lou Reed - Rock & Roll Animal and bits of Take No Prisoners Nirvana Unplugged J. RIchman & the Modern Lovers - think it's just called "Live" Doors - the big In Concert compilation, despite multiple edits and overdubs The Fall - Totale's Turns, 27 Points, Live Various Years, Legendary Chaos Tape, Reykjavik... Most of the live ones, to be honest The Meat Puppets are about to release a live album I was involved in recording. Sadly, my mix was rejected and I've been relegated to a photo credit :o(

Yep, that would be sensible but I've now dug this mic out of the "Ebay box" and I'm keen to give it another whirl.