Dedications: My four late friends Rory, Stan, Bryan, Jeff - shine on you crazy diamonds, they would have blogged too. Then theres Garry from Brisbane, Franco in Milan, Mike now in S.F. / my '60s-'80s gang: Ned & Joseph in Ireland; in England: Frank, Des, Guy, Clive, Joe & Joe, Ian, Ivan, Nick, David, Les, Stewart, the 3 Michaels / Catriona, Sally, Monica, Jean, Ella, Anne, Candie / and now: Daryl in N.Y., Jerry, John, Colin, Martin and Donal.

Sunday 26 April 2015

So beautiful or so what

Those two old guys Paul Simon and Sting have just finished a successful - and no doubt lucrative - series of concerts here. My friend Candie went and she was blown away. It was value for money as they both did a lot over a three hour show, singly and separately. 
I have always liked Paul since his "I am a Rock" single in 1966 .... and his solo albums are wonderful, with hardly a duff track. I particularly liked "Still Crazy After All These Years" in 1975, and I loved his recent "So Beautiful Or So What". I see he has a new Ultimate Collection compilation out, with 19 tracks - but he has so many other compilations, some with 20 or 40 tracks .... 

"Ask your dad", indeed.

Top marks to veteran disk jockey and rock historian Paul Gambaccini for taking a pop at the BBC's Radio One weekly "The Chart Show" - where the young (female) disk jockey dismissed the number one album - Paul Simon's latest Platinum Collection - with the comment "Ask your Dad" before moving on to something more trendy or in tune with what young people listen to. As Paul said, this was not only disrespectful to the artist who after all has the number one best-selling album and is still a major artist having just completed a successful tour here, it also reinforces that view that young people don't have to bother with older music from before their era. I know that feeling so well, from having worked with two guys in their twenties, Tom and Tony, for some years, who simply had no interest in anything from before their time. Thank goodness we were not like that back in our day ... 

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