Classic FM Hall of Fame 2016 vote...

...while you wait for the game report (which is wholly dependant on me finding some time to actually play the damn thing.. 😏), you may (and may not) be interested in my vote in this years Classic FM "Hall of Fame" [clicky]..  for those of you who fancy it, pop over and put in your three favourite classical pieces..who knows you may even win a prize...

In first place, a piece of music I have raved about in the past [clicky] "Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra)" by Francisco Tárrega. Last time I gave a version by John Williams (exquisite) this time by way of a change this is Ana Vidovic ...  many players have a tendency to race the piece, and she doesn't... she's also (as the Legatus would say) "splendid" in the looks department.. 😀


Second, Mozart's "Laudate Dominum" from the 'Vesperae solemnes de confessore, KV 339' ...  just to show that there is no right way to arrive at classical music*, I first heard this in an episode of Inspector Morse..  I love it...  at our wedding, the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer walked down the aisle to a version of this played on the organ - I think this version is monumental, but by way of contrast I would also recommend those by Emma Kirkby and also by Katherine Jenkins...


* ...to prove it I can only offer in evidence that my enjoyment of opera, yes, opera , came from Malcolm McLaren, and yes again, he of the Sex Pistols..

Third - this is the most peaceful and mentally easing piece of music I think I have ever heard (though Thomas Tallis is also to be recommended)...  and this is just the most beautiful rendition of it (by the choir of New College, Oxford)... darken the room, find a comfortable chair, get a glass/mug/cup of your favourite concoction and lose yourself...

All Things Must Pass....

Went to see these guys [clicky] last night.. absolutely superb evening, they are consummate musicians dedicated to playing and recreating the music of the "quiet Beatle", George Harrison...

...and that's as good an excuse as any to nominate a few more wholly deserved Top 20 nominations [clicky]...  😁

Recuerdos de la Alhambra - Tarrega - John Williams

I have fairly wide ranging tastes when it comes to music, but one of the core components of practically all the music that will eventually appear in this Top 20 feature is the guitar...  in all its facets... and in this case, Spanish..

There are a number of quite astonishing guitarists about in this particular style, but my favourite has always been John Williams (this one by Emmanuel Rossfelder [clicky] is also rather good, and shows the intricacies involved in actually playing the composition)

I have a fair amount of Spanish classical guitar in my collection - I find it very relaxing, and soothing (I often find myself listening to this if I'm out sailing). This one in particular, though, has been in my top 20 since forever..  there is something about this composition that just oozes heat, sun, dust, and in my minds eye, a slight scent of oranges, Spanish tobacco, and siesta..

Exquisite....


Bear with..  new figures are lurching from the painting table even as we speak...  the Sikhs and Bengal Lancers have also arrived, and are already made up and undercoated....😀

John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014)

I'm a little bit late, but better late than never....

Readers of the blog will know that music has always played a fairly large part of Steve the Wargamers life (along with beer, books, military history, sailing, and the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer - not necessarily in that order..) and some of the earliest music that hit my radar and stuck was that of Jimi Hendrix and Cream - not at the time they were current, I hasten to add, I'd have been about 10 at the time of the following and I doubt very much I'd have been allowed out that late on a school night... of the two I much preferred Hendrix (and still do - he will feature later in this occasional series) because Cream (ok, Clapton!) always struck me as being a little too "restrained", but in my Top 20, this one definitely features, and this clip is breathtaking - far better than the album version... and I think that is the key to why the muso's of the time rated Cream as highly as they did - they were absolutely blistering live, but a little over produced on album.....




By the by - if ever evidence was needed that old rockers shouldn't come out of retirement, compare this to the coverage of the same track at their 2005 reunion shows - don't get me wrong I'd have been there like a shot if I could have got a ticket or afforded one - but there is simply no comparison..... 

RIP Jack....

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters... Bounemouth O2 Academy

This is the first time I've had the opportunity to hear "rock god", Robert Plant sing since I last saw him at Knebworth on August 11th 1979 [clicky] and to say I was looking forward to it is a little like saying RCH Pitchfork is 'drinkable', or a Melton Mowbray pork pie is 'nice'.....   😏

Robert has moved on considerably since his days in Zeppelin, and I like to think that with the exception of John Paul Jones, he is the one who has adapted to life post Zeppelin best....  he is an innovator, whereas Page continues to mine old ground, re-releasing and re-editing old sounds...

So it was that I and the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer found ourselves at the 02 Academy in Bournemouth on a cold grey night in November at the end of a very long queue, waiting to see the man...

He and his 'new' band "The Sensational Space Shifters" were touring the latest album "Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar" [clicky], but rather than doing the huge International Centre they were playing at this much smaller, intimate, venue...

So how was it?? Well to be honest I had said to the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer I'd be amazed if he played more than one Zeppelin song - how wrong was I, as you can see from the set list following! The yards of wordage you see in the press about how Plant feels about a Zeppelin re-union are clearly nothing to do with the songs..! 

It was a brilliant evening - Robert can't howl like he used to in Zeppelin any more - he's 66 and the best singers voices change character over the years - his voice now is far more earthy...  but he still has soul... and he can still do the Zeppelin songs, but better still (for me) he doesn't leave the songs anchored in the past - his new band have the skill and the instrumentation to bring them right up to date..  the Page and Plant album from some years ago gives the clue as to his direction.... Robert has gone back to the blue grass roots, but then mixed it in with some African ryhtms/instruments, and it works really well....  have a listen to the following and see what I mean....


Highlights of the concert for me??  "Going to California" always one of my favourite Zeppelin tracks (and definitely in my top 20), and the power chords at the beginning of "Whole Lotta Love"...  sorry..  old hippie.. 

What a brilliant night - enjoyed it so much I bought the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer a pint, and a t shirt.... 

"Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born".

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street (UK)

With the death of Raphael Ravenscroft [clicky] it seemed an opportune moment to put this up... only my favourite song of all time..... 😊

He's gone, but he's also left an amazing legacy..!

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return) [Live Stockholm 1969]

I blame Chris Evans [clicky]..  there I was making ready to leave 'Chez Steve the Wargamer' for another day at the grind stone and this came on and stopped me in my tracks....  Stood there grinning like a loon until it ended....  oh man....  first time I heard this was back in 1978 at Knebworth [clicky]*....  my first time there, and my friends and I were just laying around on the grass looking at the sky and this came on*....  thought I'd died and gone to Heaven....  never did see the man, but the first three minutes of the following still make the hairs on my arms stand on end, and I must have heard it hundreds of times..

*1.  1978 - "OH GOD NOT ANOTHER BORING OLD KNEBWORTH" featuring Frank Zappa, The Tubes, Peter Gabriel, Boomtown Rats, Rockpile, Wilko Johnson's Solid Senders. Audience: 45,000

*2.  Shortly afterwards, they played Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way" which had a similar effect...

PS.  Feel free to tune out for the middle drum solo....