1/4/17 RIP my RYM Friend Rosdaw

Another grim January, John Wetton passed away. Saw him many times, with Asia, King Crimson, Family, Icon and solo. Overend Watts, Mott the Hoople, Mike Kellie, Spooky Tooth, The Only Ones. What a pity.

25th December 2016, year finishing as it started, Greg Lake, Rick Parfitt, now George Michael. A tragic year for music.

19 December 2016
Another black day for rock music,Team Rock publisher of Classic Rock Magazine, Prog and Metal Hammer and Classic Rock Awards goes into Administration i.e. is bust. Lot of jobs lost. Where is my 2017 calendar guys? What will I write my gigs on now? How will I know what's going on, who is playing? Never mind Trump, this is a catastrophe. Let's hope someone else picks up the titles.

My track ratings are based, not on quality, it's all a matter of taste after all, but whether they reach the parts that others can't reach. Ultimately I have to like the band and feel something. As the saying goes one man's meat is another man's poison, well I'm not a snob, I'll eat almost anything that's put in front of me, give it a shot anyway, that is except most radio fodder.

5* know who it is, recognise every song, like every song, recognise album instantly (not many of them)
4-4.5* lasts the pace, never tire of it.
3-3.5* more good than bad, play regularly
2-2.5* cherry pick, few good songs.
1-1.5* odd good song but mostly lost cause.
.5*. Your having a laugh.

From Vashti Bunyan to Watain, anything goes.

I must admit I do love a great riff and music that rare as it is provides some emotional impact

What a January (2016) Lemmy, Bowie, Glen Frey, Dale Griffin, Jimmy Bain and now to round it off Paul Kantner. A black month for rock music indeed.

Music, songs, bands are like stars in the sky, apparently endless. Finances, now age and time prohibits me from indulging my OCD like behaviour and listening to/seeing every band which catches my attention although I do try damn hard. But that is one of the pleasures, this constant journey of discovery, skipping genres, to a mountain top that you will never reach (for that would be the end would it not). It is this adventure which I never tire of that is both a constant source of excitement and pleasure.
My musical epipheny was seeing Black Sabbath (Paranoid) and Deep Purple (Black Night) on the same edition of Top of the Pops way back when. This was followed by Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Atomic Rooster in the following weeks. This led to my first concerts, late night, they were, of Jethro Tull, Procul Harum , Tir na Nog, followed by King Crimson at which I used to fall asleep. I was young but "hey" that atmosphere in the Green's Playhouse in Glasgow. After that I was hooked which continues am to this day. I am an enthusiast bordering on unhealthy obsessive for anything and everything which comes under the heading of "rock". I am not choosy, AOR, Thrash, Acoustic, Psychedelic, love it all. My spiritual home however is Prog. Finding old bands that passed me is an adventure, Comus, Khan, Pentagram as well as the new, Katatonia, Graveyard, Haken, Big Big Train, Porcupine Tree etc. etc.