There are some albums that don’t merely convey a vibe or message, but also a time and place. Some utterly outstanding albums are only the first two. When one is all four, though, it becomes something . . . magical; something with the spine-tingling power to take the listener back to that time and place like being stood there breathing and feeling the very same air.
Excuse Me Love is one of those albums. Continue reading
No Time Like The Present opens with upbeat foot-tapper ‘The Hat’; a story of gigging here, there and everywhere told in a cheeky Ian Drury-esque vein; smiling through not simply the trials of life but more so the death sentence of using Ryanair and then laughing riotously about it all with new best friends for life who’ll only be so for the night of a show. Not only lyrically, the vibe is caught in the music too; a feel of looking out of a car window at a never before seen fields, tired and thinking of the previous night while heading down a new stretch of motorway equally energized about the potentially likewise one to come.
Thoughts on negative reactions to live music; inspired in particular by Billy Nomates / Tor playing Glastonbury 2023 and The Who in Toronto 2016: Continue reading
While out for a scroll the other day across the groups and pages where poetry is shared, a post caught my attention.
Someone wrote of previously having dropped a poem directly to the group, only for someone else to . . . Let’s not mince words. The ‘someone’, Fern Stone, is mid-twenties and female; while the critic male and heading the wrong side of middle-aged.
Cringe worthy stereotypes abounded from the latter with unabashed aplomb.
This poem is inspired by one written a few weeks ago: Hollywood
Hollywood relied on a play of words to say something concise about a serious subject.
It also used a ‘playground metre’ to give it a ring-of-roses feel; the hope being to replicate the flippancy frequently shown dark matters. Continue reading
A poem about Hollywood and the events recently in the spotlight there. Events present from its conception. Events present every and any where else too. Even way back before anyone ever knew films could be made or that there’d be a whole town dedicated to doing so when they could. Continue reading
N. P. Ryan 