Motorway Special (10 pics from '25)

I had a lovely birthday, thank you for asking. I spent it over at the Number One Son's new gaff in Stockport. He and Natalie were the perfect hosts and ensured that Medd Snr. didn't have to lift a finger all day. (Though I was in charge of the decks while James was cooking up a storm in the galley, so dropping the needle onto the grooves was as strenuous as it got.)

I opened a few prezzies in the afternoon and amongst all the shiny new things I unwrapped I was delighted to find a both a tee shirt and mug paying homage to one of my favourite buildings: Forton Services on the M6 is legendary - I would love to have seen it in its heyday but alas my Time Machine is still in dock. The photograph above, my tenth to mark 2025, is one I took earlier this year at the aforementioned motorway services on our way to Scotland. And the photos of my gifts are below.

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Rewind to the early 60s and The Ted Heath Big Band were welcoming in the dawn of the UK's emerging motorway network; much of KPM's library music was scored specifically to showcase and highlight the new, the fast, the modern. Raph Dollimore wrote this with all of the above in mind. 

 Ralph Dollimore - Motorway Special (1960)

 

Send in the clowns

As Boxing Day draws to a close and the eve of my birthday beckons I have nothing major to report: a quiet Christmas spent, for the most part, at Medd Towers - nipping out for lunch at The Balti House - and then back home to see off the remaining episodes of Broadchurch with David Tennant and Olivia Coleman.

Followed by a new book (there's still no feeling quite like starting a new novel). You can keep yer reindeer and yer wee donkey and all and sundry oxen, cattle and other Xmas related beasts. The only animals I'm interested in this Christmas are slow horses. Mick Herron's latest Slough House offering - Clown Town - was lurking in my stocking (and a signed copy too) so that's the next few days sorted. I truly hope your Christmas was as chilled as mine.

Ho Ho Ho

Nicholas Was... 

...older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die. 

The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories.

Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves' invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time. 

He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher. 

Ho. 

Ho.

Ho.

(by Neil Gaiman, 1989)

Before Summer Ends (10 pics from '25)

Here's my ninth photograph to mark 2025. Summers are all too brief in this country at the best of times, but after the year I've had I really could've done with a bit more of it; of all the summers I wanted to go on longer, 2025 was definitely the one. But it wasn't to be. I can't complain though. My friend J is really struggling at the moment. In fact she may not have many summers left, bless her. These are the trees just up the road from where she lives. I photographed them just before the end of summer. They were around long before we were and they'll still be around long after we're gone. I'm no philosopher (except maybe when I've got a pint in my hand), but I do find myself ruminating more than is probably good for me. I read a quote the other day and it's found its way into my psyche: 'A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.' I've never planted a tree before. I think I may have just found my New Year's resolution.

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 Keith Mansfield - Before Summer Ends (1976)

 

 

Beach boys

Squeeze c.1975

One of the most enjoyable - and brutally honest - biographies I've read was Chris Difford's 'Some Fantastic Place - My Life in and out of Squeeze'. His relationship with Glenn Tilbrook, alcohol and drugs is laid bare for all to see. And as an insight into what it's like being one half of a mega successful songwriting partnership that's often been compared to Lennon & McCartney, look no further; it's all contained within its 317 pages. I've been meaning to reread it for ages but since moving house back in 2017 I've not been able to find it. It's here somewhere, it's gotta be. But I'm buggered if I know where.

So it was a serendipitous charity shop find earlier today when browsing the bookshelves in Oxfam and I stumbled upon a signed copy! "Hi Brian", it says followed by Chris' trademark scrawled moniker. And this copy includes a new final chapter. So, thanks, Brian. And Chris, obviously. I'll get stuck into it next week over a glass of eggnog and a tin of Quality Street.

Voice of the Sea (10 pics from '25)

Here's my eighth photograph to mark 2025. I paid two visits to Bristol this year. The second time was to record some new material with Phil Cooper. I wrote about the songs I recorded at the time, including this one. Fuelled by nothing more toxic than tea and biscuits we had a really productive session (I'd like to go back next year and do a couple more) and between takes we chatted in his garden. I was admiring the artwork on his boundary fence; turns out Phil's wife is not only green-fingered but an artist to boot as well. I may have to let her loose on the album cover!              

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Eric Spear (1908-1966) is probably best remembered for a television theme tune he was commissioned to write in 1960. Granada TV  were making a new serial set in the North West. Eric duly came up with the goods and wrote Lancashire Blues for the show which was to be called Florizel Street. They paid him the princely sum of £6 for his work. When Granada realised one of the cast (William Roache) couldn't pronounce the name of the show, it was hastily changed to Coronation Street. This isn't that.

 Eric Spear - Voice of the Sea (1964)

 

Spotlight (10 pics from '25)

Here's my seventh photograph to mark 2025. A few days in Suffolk back in September was most welcome. We stopped in an agreeable hotel in Southwold that not only served sensational beers in the bar (Adnams, natch) but  an establishment where kippers could be found on the breakfast menu; definitely a coastal thing - I'm thinking of Whitby and Newcastle where I also dropped anchor this year and where too the herring was a breakfast option. Southwold is also home to that rare breed of lighthouse - the inland type; in this case, found in a residential street a couple of hundred yards from the headland.

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São Paulo resident Rogerio Duprat was a devote of avant-garde art and music. At his peak, when blending psychedelia & classical music for his film scores, Duprat was dubbed the Brian Wilson of Brazil.

Rogério Duprat - Spotlight (1981)

The Apartment (10 pics from '25)

Here's my sixth photograph to mark 2025. Glasgow, November - walking back from the venue to the digs after seeing XGenerationX we wended our way down a leafy tree-lined avenue very reminiscent of New Walk that cuts through Leicester, taking you to the De Montfort Hall. Anyway, about half a mile down Kelvin Way and a particular apartment caught my eye. I don't care if it's wrong or if it's right.

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Duncan Lamaont was a jazzer through and through. Born in Greenock in 1931 he plied his trade in the myriad of jazz clubs that proliferated London's Soho in the 50s & 60s before pitching up at the KPM label. If you're ever asked at your local pub quiz who wrote the Mr. Benn theme music, look no further; tho' he used pseudonym Don Warren so as not to upset the Jazz fraternity.

Duncan Lamont - The Apartment (1975)

Love Deluxe (10 pics from '25)

Here's my fifth photograph to mark 2025. I'm not sure if it's been the same where you live but we've had some absolutely stunning sunrises and sunsets over the last few days; huge balls of fire in the sky doing their coming up/going down thing. And the beautiful pink backdrops they leave behind are equally mesmerising. It was one of those skies I happened upon on Friday evening. My friend Neil and I were between bars when I looked up and saw an ordinary sign looking anything but. 

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Another track from the KPM stable. And another from Keith Mansfield. For those of you who follow such things, Mansfield's riddims have been sampled over the years by, among others, Danger Mouse, Gnarls Barkley and Fatboy Slim. 

 Keith Mansfield - Love Deluxe (1976)

Roswell

Anyone who's seen Asteroid City will know it evokes the whole Roswell vibe. Wes Anderson's unique homage to all things alien starring Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks is a visual delight. Imagine Andy Warhol working for NASA and you're half way there.

Asteroid City (2023) - Trailer 

Have Elle Cordova and Toni Lindgren seen Aseroid City? I'd put the house on it. Here's a song they wrote  wrote when their van broke down in Roswell New Mexico and were forced to stay in Roswell for 10 days; soaking up all the alien mumbo-jumbo Roswell had to offer: Roswell International UFO Museum, Roswell UFO Spacewalk and of course the infamous Walker Air Base in Roswell. It's called Roswell.     

Summer Thoughts (10 pics from '25)

Here's my fourth photograph to mark 2025. I knew I'd turned a corner when I was well enough to leave the house and get away for a few days. Starting with #BlogCon25 in Bristol and then Whitby, it felt good to be sleeping in a bed that was neither mine nor the NHS's. I'd follow it later in the year with sorties to Stranraer,  London, Blackpool, Southwold and most recently the iconic XGenerationX tour which took me & Steve to Hebden Bridge, Glasgow, Nottingham & Leeds.

The tea hut in a chilly Whitby was framed by a brilliant blue sky; whilst pressing the shutter it was easy to fast forward in my mind to next year when, hopefully, the sun will be warmer and I'll have to dig out my passport in order to see it. Ah, thoughts of Summer. 

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James Clarke's style was made for the KPM label: richly orchestrated, laid back and very Henry Mancini. 

James Clarke Summer Thoughts 1967 

On the Brighter Side (10 pics from '25)

Here's my third photograph to mark 2025. It was April, my final stay in hospital, and I was but a handful of days away away from receiving my leaving papers. This was the corridor leading to Morris Ward. I was on Morris Ward. Great things happen on Morris Ward and great people work there. They offer the ultimate emergency service. Like many parts of City Hospital, that's where lives are saved, mine included. I'll never forget that. I'll also never forget the first day I was allowed to leave my isolation room and slip anchor. I made it as far as the walled courtyard where the sun shone and I drank a cup of real coffee. I took this photograph on the way. For the first time in a long time I was filled with hope.

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This mini series appears to have been hijacked by the KPM record label. And none the worse for that. Today I've gone with another one of their writers in residence: Johnny Hawksworth was a jazzer born in 1929 and, commercially, probably best remembered for his Thames Television ident (you'll know it as the precursor to the Sweeney!). Johnny provided the label with so much TV and film material - I'll probably do a little resumé of his work (and the other KPM stalwarts) in the New Year.

Johnny Hawksworth - On the Brighter Side (1982)   

Man With a Mission (10 pics from '25)

Here's my second photograph to mark 2025. Back in those lazy, hazy, crazy days of Summer, my good friend Ernesto and I decided to pay a visit to a mannequin graveyard; fifteen thousand mannequins in the middle of nowhere Lincolnshire. Someone in my writing class had given me the steer: 'It's made for you,' she said. Turns out she was right. I took scores of photos that day so editing to down to one was nigh on impossible. But I guess if you have Superman powers then nothing's impossible; here's that one photograph.

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I'm currently obsessed with Library Music and the KPM label. Here's another exponent of the art; where easy listening soundtracks meet loungecore meets jazz and funk.

Keith Mansfield - Man With a Mission (1974)

Library Shares · Keith Mansfield - Man with a Mission - (KPM 1136) - 1974

Girl in a Sports Car (10 pics from '25)

It's been one helluva year, I don't mind telling you. I'm not generally one for hyperbole so I'll just say 2025 has been tough. If you want chapter and verse then take a peek at some of my back issues - you'll get the gist. But, and this is a big but, it hasn't all been bad. Friends and family (you know who you are) got me through this. Music got me through this. Books got me through this. Blogging got me through this. And my camera got me through this. During my recuperation I was still able, despite feeling quite weak, to get out most days and get some (much needed) air in my lungs and, whilst out and about, point my camera at whatever and whoever I bumped into.

So what I've done is select 10 photographs I took at some point during the last calendar year. They're not in date order or indeed ordered in any way. Just 10 shots straight off the bat. Also, I've tried to choose images that I haven't previously posted on my blog. Oh, and there may be a piece of music to go with them as well. I say may - I'm not 100% sure yet as to what the other nine pics will be (or even that I'll post them all this side of the New Year). 

Anyway, let's start with the lovely Lisa. Lisa & Mike own a rather nice bar in my part of the world. Lisa heard I was poorly and said there'd be a drink with my name on it when I was well enough to venture out. And, sure enough, there was. Thank you, Lisa

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Alan Hawkshaw was, together with Johnny Pearson, the King of Library Music. His compositions spanning 50 years can be heard all over film and TV. He also wrote the theme tunes for Grange Hill and Countdown. 

Alan Hawkshaw - Girl in a Sports Car (1973)

No brainer

It's no secret that Emerson, Lake & Palmer plundered the classical repertoire mercilessly. Their debut album was them performing Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky's piano concerto in 10 movements) live at Newcastle City Hall; I know, it's insane. Everyone, even non-prog fans knows their take on Coplands's Fanfare for the Common Man but for Monday Long Song I would never be so populist. Instead I've gone for their interstellar version of Alberto Ginastera's Toccata. This, and every other track on the album it came from (1974's Brain Salad Surgery), changed my life overnight. I bought the album the week it came out and I've still never heard anything quite like it.

ELP - Toccata (1974) 

And for anyone who wants to compare and contrast, here's the source material. 

Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra (feat. Astuko Seta) - Piano Concerto No. 1 (4th. movement) Toccata 

... 

 Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)

Keith Emerson (1944-2016)

Greg Lake (1947-2016)

Carl Palmer (1950-)

I forsee terrible trouble

I think it's a pretty safe bet that had I still been running Vinyl Club (and I must admit I haven't ruled out bringing it back) that the Dan would have made a further appearnace. Would I have gone for 1977's Aja - their imperious slab of Yacht Rock? Maybe. But more likely, I think, I'd have reached a bit further back to their 1972 debut, the fully formed Can't Buy a Thrill - a statement of intent par excellence. This album really did raise the bar for everything and everyone that followed. If, heaven forbid, you found yourself on Death Row on your final day on earth savouring a final meal of your choice with a last brandy & cigar complete with your bespoke soundtrack, the chances are the tune below would still be ringing in your ears as you fried in the chair. Proper little ray of sunshine, aren't I?

I've never needed an excuse to play the delightful Elle Cordova and Toni Lindgren. Their musicianship, be it original compositions or classic covers, is absolutely jaw dropping. And this Steely Dan reinterpretation is no exception. It could originally be found on side one, track two on the aforementioned album. But as you can see in this video it is vey much at home on a balcony at 8,000 feet. 

Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren - Dirty Work (2025)

To Heron back (#5)

Thankfully the rain held off just long enough today thus enabling me to get well over 20,000 (dry) steps under my belt. Highlights of Friday's urban hike? My first proper sighting of the new footbridge over the Trent; more horrific 'go slow' school children; a rather splendid pork pie and, unsurprisingly,  the ubiquitous Heron Foods. Oh, and I got my hair cut.

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So wots with these kids, then? To be found outside many a school in the county, anyone who's seen The Brood (classic 1979 body horror flick starring Samantha Eggar) will know the vibe that these things give off.

But enough of the children from hell already, here's that bridge I was telling you about. Back story -  developer builds swanky new apartments with river view. However, they're on the wrong side of the river: down-at-heel Cowlick Vs upmarket Lady Bay. No problem, speak to the local Council and voilà, let's build a £20M footbridge. The first new Trent crossing in 65 years. 

Anyway, that was enough excitement for one day. Time for a pie and a pint. The Old Volunteer always has at least one sensational dark beer on and a selection of filled rolls and pork pies. Come to daddy.

No pictures of Tracy my love hairdresser, sadly. Maybe next time...

Love Hertz

I've just started reading Last Train to Hilversum - Charlie Connelly's love letter to radio; I too have a ton of memories the from the box of voices; as Charlie says in the first chapter, "we're all radio people." Maybe at some point I'll share some of my radio milestones spanning the last 60 years but right now I'm too engrossed in this delightful tome. If you're stuck for stocking fillers this year then look no further... 

In the days before Van Morrison turned into a total bellend he recorded this paen to the wireless. I have a feeling it may get a mention in later chapters. 

I am down on my knees 

At the wireless knobs 

Telefunken, Telefunken 

And I'm searching for Luxembourg, Athlone, Budapest, AFN, Hilversum, Helvetia 

In the days before rock 'n' roll

...

Van Morrison - In the Days Before Rock 'n' Roll (1990)