Pheasant

Twig snaps underfoot

Frantic pheasant soars skyward

Single feather falls

Honky Tonk Masquerade by Joe Ely

This is very much on the Western side of the Country and Western spectrum, with songs of lost loves in Amarillo and lonesome boxcars, as well as two songs about good ol’ honky tonks closing with a great Hank Williams cover. I always used to think that I didn’t like music like this, but it turns out it’s the schmaltzy 70s Nashville style that I’m not a fan of. Albums like this bring in elements of traditional blues, rock and western swing and I would happily listen to this in a dusty bar late at night with a beer in hand.

Boxcar-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/1669638062

Pansy

A hardy flower
Pushing through the cracked paving
Pansy survivor

Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout

I was initially intrigued to listen to this one, mainly because I saw that Thomas Dolby had produced it and I have previously enjoyed some of his work. The album opens promisingly enough with a jaunty honky tonk style tribute to country singer Faron Young, but then it turns into a series of fairly bland and almost identical songs about nothing particularly memorable. It’s a pleasant enough listen, but it falls into the previously mentioned genre of unthreatening CDs to put on at 80s dinner parties. 

Blandtastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/1483229818

Of fiery demons and freezing coffins

The first order of business was fashioning a balustrade, or maybe that should have been a barricade for the cell block. We moved the statues to block the doors and retreated to the cell block to rest. We were able to recover our strength but heard worrying noises from the rest of the dungeon. Krisanna was keen to get back to exploring - who would set deadly traps unless there was some really nice treasure hidden there?

Krisanna explored an previously unnoticed passageway and found an interesting looking door into a storeroom that contained only barrels of vinegary wine and a box of coal - booooring! Can we open the magic door now, please?

There were some odd drag marks on the floor but we had trouble figuring them out. Bastonn said it was clearly from somebody moving furniture by draggin' the dungeon. Krisanna pushed her way in front of the door and said the magic word "QUICKSILVER"

There was a crackle of electricity as the door opened to reveal a corridor, with high quality stone flags. Surely this was the way to the treasure?

There was an impressive looking statue of a fire demon cast from bronze. We we able to grab the spear from the figure, but unfortunately the eyes didn't seem to be gems - BOOOORING! Krisanna found that the shield rotated and started turning it clockwise three times until a bolt of electricity sent her flying with her hair smoking.

To the north was a heavy stone door with an iron pentagram, but a hidden pressure plate released three cobwebbed skeleton warriors who attacked us. Orla realised that her quiver was empty but a swift dagger from Krisanna did some damage. Makander slashed with his axe, Orla reached for her second quiver and stuck an arrow into one of them. Things rapidly became farcical with fumbles aplenty, including a skeleton getting stuck on Aodhan's staff. We eventually finished them off, but only then realised that our knives, daggers and arrows had only been doing half the damage that blunt weapons would have done.

Orla then turned the shield anti-clockwise three times, causing a series of clicks from the floor plate and elsewhere. The door didn't budge though. The door resisted Bastonn's attempts to lever it open, and Krisanna's attempt at knocking and tracing the shape had no effect. Setting fire to it did nothing as well.

After trying every devious door opening trick, we finally just tried the handles and the door opened. DOH!

Beyond that, we found a room with a large pentagram on the floor and mysterious demonic markings on the wall. As we stepped in, the pentagram started glowing red with a distinct smell of sulphur!

A demon appeared and challenged us with three riddles and after some nervous debate we answered them correctly and the demon vanished, leaving only a faint wisp of smoke behind

The next set of doors also opened easily, showing another room with demonic markings and a polished stone sarcophagus. The room was unnaturally cold and even colder air spilt out of the sarcophagus as we prised the lid off to show a mummified body. The corpse had a grinning amulet and an iron wand, and was wearing a circlet with an ice crystal set in the centre.

Spring Rain

Warm spring days bringing
New life to winter gardens
Sunshine and showers

Kid A by Radiohead

The turn of the millennium was a really strange time. It felt as if we had all been holding our breath as the clock ticked over and we had no idea what to expect from the 21st century. This album arrived at exactly the right moment, mixing weird, glitchy beats, ambient noodling, abstract vocals and discordant jazz breakdowns.

I can see why it took some people by surprise, but would you really have preferred another by-the-numbers collection of rock songs? I’m glad when musicians produce experimental work, even if it doesn’t always land. It took me a while to get into this album, but it’s definitely one that bears repeated hearings, revealing new facets every time.

https://album.link/gb/i/1097862870

Stork

Lorry overturned 
Spreading a load of Stork on
Margarine Corner

Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen

It’s interesting to go back to this album after listening to Born in the USA, to hear the difference in the sound. Where the later album was bombastic, this album is quieter and more reflective with more piano and less sax, although there are some excellent hard rock tracks on here too. 

There’s a slightly odd obsession with cars though - driving around aimlessly, tinkering in oily garages and racing late at night on empty strips at the edge of town. Perhaps it’s the car as a symbol of freedom for a working class kid, although maybe that’s more of an American thing? There are also songs playing with Old Testament themes of vengeful Gods and other familiar themes of urban decay and poverty.

The highlight for me was the song Factory, an utterly devastating indictment of working class drudgery and poverty that chews people up and spits them out at the end of a working day. This easily stands alongside songs on similar themes from Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie.

https://album.link/gb/i/400713977

Bee

Do bees at the seaside
Pay for a holiday at
A bee B&B

New Moon

It’s called a new moon
But I have been watching and
It’s just recycled

Daffodils

When wandering
Lonely as a cloud, beware
Hosts of daffodils

Born In the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen

When this album came out, it was easy to dismiss it as a typical bit of jingoistic, flag waving propaganda. Indeed, Ronald Reagan himself started using the title track as a campaign rally song. However, when you start listening to what Bruce is actually singing the level of disconnect between the bombastic chorus and the verses is enough to give you whiplash.

Born In The USA is a bitter and angry song about the fate of American GIs coming back from Vietnam to find that there are no blue collar jobs in their home towns and then ending up broken and in jail from post traumatic stress. Other songs have similarly veiled barbs - Cover Me is again about coping with hidden trauma and Dancing in the Dark is about someone with a crippling lack of self confidence, at odds with the jaunty, danceable synth pop music. 

For me, this album is at its best in the quieter moments, and I’m glad that he chose My Hometown as the closing number which mixes nostalgia with frank honesty about a town suffering from unemployment and racial tensions.

I think that this album is probably Springsteen’s ‘Dylan Goes Electric’ moment that took him from earnest folk troubadour to mega stardom, maybe alienating some of his earlier fans while gaining a whole lot more.

Flag-tastic!

https://album.link/gb/i/203708420