Grumpyrocker

Britain's politicians know how to rock. In a survey by the British Library of the musical tastes of Members of Parliament it was classic seventies rock that came out on top. The MPs were asked to name their favourite number one album.

And the winner was?

Led Zeppelin's 1969 tour-de-force Led Zeppelin II, the one that crashes in with one of the best album openers ever, Whole Lotta Love. Other progressive rock bands from the seventies were rather popular too, including Pink Floyd and Deep Purple.

Read on for a great 1970 video performance of Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin and what the politicians have to say about their favourite records.

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The second coming of Bruce Dickinson has been fantastic for Maiden. Since he rejoined the band for the Brave New World album they've been making some of the best music of their long career. Dance of Death was an even better record. Now September will see the release of A Matter of Life & Death.

Click through to see the video and here the first single from the album, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg.

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The Crazy Diamond himself, Syd Barrett has died at the age of 60. I can't think of anything else to say really. It's really sad news . Syd's story isn't a happy one and I'd always hoped he'd got on stage with Floyd one more time, just like the character based on him in Still Crazy.

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Have you heard The Dixie Chicks' latest song, Not Ready To Make Nice?

It's certainly a powerful piece of music. Watching the superb video for the song it's clear to see that Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire are still seething with anger about they way they were treated following Maines' comments about George Bush.

At a london gig in 2003 Maines said "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." This did not go down with the Country Music fraternity, by and large rather Republican and right-wing by nature.

What ensued following these comments was nothing short of a pathetic scandal. The Dixie Chicks received abuse and death threats, so much for the land of democracy and freedom. Speak your mind and folks will want you dead. Even more bizarre and rather sickening, the American Red Cross turned down a $1 million donation from the band.

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So one of Britain's greatest bands has announced its latest album. Annoyingly it's in the can already but we won't get to hear it until early September. The album is called A Matter of Life or Death, continuing Maiden's history of naming songs/albums after classic movies/books.

The album was recorded with producer Kevin Shirley at Sarm West Studios in London. Shirley has been the nob-twiddler on the last two Iron Maiden albums. From beginning to end the whole process took two months, something of a record for the band.

The tracklisting for A Matter of Life or Death is as follows:

1. Different Worlds (Smith/Harris) 4.17
2. These Colours Don't Run (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 6.52
3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 8.44
4. The Pilgrim (Gers/Harris) 5.07
5. The Longest Day (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.48
6. Out Of the Shadows (Dickinson/Harris) 5.36
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg (Murray/Harris) 7.21
8. For The Greater Good of God (Harris) 9.24
9. Lord Of Light (Smith/Harris/Dickinson) 7.23
10. The Legacy (Gers/Harris) 9.20

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Is utter cack, 'nuff said.

What in Tony Iommi’s blessed name is wrong with modern, so-called rock bands? I look at these bands such as Strokes, Kaiser Chiefs, Franz Ferdinand and their ilk and the thing that strikes me is they must have some new setting on their amps called “teh ghey!” That’s the only explanation I can find for the completely un-rock that is emerging from their equipment.

Guitar tones hit an all time low with the broken plastic ukulele sound of Edwin Collins’ Girl Like You, but that was hardly a rock song. Now we have all these earnest guitar bands trying to out-wuss Collins’ guitar tones. When I hear any of these bands I find it hard to imagine any of them throwing shapes in front of a wall of pigeon-destroying Marshall amps as Deep Purple would have done.

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Death on the Road is the first concert DVD released by Iron Maiden since the band made it known that there would be a live release from every tour from now on to beat the bootleggers. Yet this is no mere budget release and marks the best visual package released by Maiden so far.

Not only is the performance from all members of the band exemplary, the production values of the three disk package sets a standard for other bands to follow. It’s not without its faults, we’ll come to those later, but what we have in Death on the Road is an essential package for any self-respecting rock fan.

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The title of this blog entry is a play on the title of a song I wrote ten years ago, it was actually the last song that I wrote before leaving university. Since then, although I’ve recorded plenty of songs, I haven’t really written as many, certainly not compared to those years at college and then university.

I did have something of a renaissance in 2002, where I wrote quite a few songs within a short space of time. However right now I can’t remember the last time I wrote a song or at least a song worth remembering. Am I busier than I was in 2002? Not really, so what could the answer be to my lack of song writing these days?

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It's an Aria 12-String Semi-Acoustic.

Here's a quick and rather ham-fisted demo. You can certainly tell I've not built up the strengh in my fingers yet.