Marillionboy

Listening to Stuart Maconie's Critical List a while back I was amazed to discover the track I switched on during was actually by "that 60s bloke from Glasgow" Donovan Leitch. Maconie went on to explain that he had always thought Donovan was a rather suspect artists until hearing From A Flower to a Garden, rock music's first double album boxed set, with an acoustic and an electric side. It is indeed a great summery record, Sun and Isle of Islay two of many highlights. As a result of discovering the cooler side of the man,I notice he's touirng and playing Findhorn. Just thought I'd share this with anyone in the vicinity, he's not the artist I thought he was! http://www.findhorn.org/content/uhall/index.php

Ill be there lads, and at Keith naturally.

I'll just get it and take a community chest. Thank heavens for the HMV credit card... Stu: am PMing you now re this weekend.

Sex Age and Death, apart from having an excellent cover: is it any good? All the reviews seem to focus entirely on the lyrical content....not bought any Geldof solo ever and am curious about this but it's so pricey!

I forgot The Wicker Man

Phil Collins, no question. Can people get out of this lazy habit of assuming that because he had a crap solo career as a droopy balladeer that he was obviously a crap drummer in the 70s too. Just listen to Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, or a Brand X album. Both The Who and Led Zep asked him to drum for them by the way. I'd chuck in Keith Moon for being so integral to The Who and for such a personality in his playing. And Ian Mosley, although I take the point about Mr Bloc Party!

I've not heard it yet, what kind of style is this one in as I've heard its pretty different to the last?

Theatrically Aberdeen is very poorly served. But I do think the "safe and conservative" comment is fair in some respects: the theatrical profesion has always regarded the city oin this way, and always actors loathe opening a play in Aberdeen as the audience reactions tend to be very muted. Trying to set up a theatrical event is usually an uphill and fruitless task. Musically thingsa re a lot better, but it's a chicken and egg thing: Aberdeen is underrepresented in the arts and equally it offers little opportunities in them. That was the very reason I left in the first place. The Arts Centre is a great place but The Lemon Tree always left me cold, its a horrible place to stage gigs, a carpeted cafe with no atmosphere: the theatre upstairs is a little better.

Where do you begin? Alcohol is a wonderful thing. It tastes great it laces a situation with spice, it can unite, can generate friendships, sex, help you through tough times: we have a typical screwed up view of it in Britain: we can't get enough of it but are kind of ashamed of it, just like sex and most other nice things. Its open to abuse, as is chocolate, but its a bloody sight more versatile. I drink because I love the taste and the effect, and being in a pub and not drinking is at best boring and at worst irritating. Also they have yet to invent a non-alcoholic drink you can drink all evening which doesn't make you feel crap. What's more in leisure-pleasure situations I don't want to see the world in sharp focus, I want to be in a heightened sense of relaxation and let go.

That would be Ian McDonald? There was an incident at a Crimson gig once where whoever was playing keys at the time had dysentry and had to get through all ten minutes of ITCOACK for trhe encore. Apparently he had to exit the stage backwards at the end of the gig.

Pardon's begged, now you come to mention it, I've been told this before. My mistake. Nice flute sound all the same!

Well Stairway to Heaven is one of my favourite songs although not especially for the mellotron. I think no band used the mellotron as beautifully as Genesis, and on no album more than Trick of the Tail. The closing two minutes of Entangled are some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. King Crimson's first album for the strings: also IQ have always been fond of the mellotron choir, although in later years tended to use it as a power backing to uptempo numbers rather than as streams of choirs softly invading.

The wonderful mellotron. Okay, it was technically a nigthmare, but what a sound. I'll never forget Phil Collins describing is on early Beatles, Genesis and Traffic records as "sounding pretty ropey but was the only way you could get strings". Cobblers. The choir sound has never been surpassed and the strings and flute sound lovely too.

I've no idea, who's that? Would love to know who they're by! The Campbell is a great album by the way.

I actually don't currently own any, just a grand piano

There are also lots of sample things available you can plug into a master keyboard, but I really think it can be quite unusual and fun to buy some obscure antique keyboard and add it to your existing sound, means you have a trademark.

That ain't very much... Depends of course on what you want them for. Ebay is a good place for retro keyboards, and the Roland D50 and the Yamaha SY-35 are still tremendous pieces of kit. Its jugely versatile, with some good synth lead sounds and some great strings, organs etc. The lead sounds are a bit 80s though, in particular the keyboard sound used on KC and the Sunshine Band's Give It Up! At the newer end of the market the Korg CX-3 is an incredible good rock organ. If you're wanting your synth for aone particular task, say for example some dark string in the background and you wanna go for a real curio, seek out a wonderful Logan String Synth. These go very cheap now and are still the darkest synth strings I've ever heard. And if you are prepared to be patient with it, a cheapo mini moog is a terrific lead synth which will never really date, it sounded quaint when it first was invented! These are just personal selections, don't know what your band style is, but what I would say is that as these are predominantly more erpic sounding instruments that could make a nice unique mix if your band has a rawer sound...look how distinctive The Stranglers were for chucking a prog-rock keyboard into the punk brew! In a studio I was in once someone had left an ancient Wurlitzer a la Sgt Pepper and just holding a few chords on it added an entire new magic to everything we played.

JImmy Campbell's Half Baked... and the equally eerie Nirvana's Local Anaesthetic I have always preferred photographs to artwork on covers and in the early 70s there seemed to be a real taste for sparse, intriguing images, of which this is a perfect example:

It's not as if there's a lack of other pubs showing them though is it? Aberdeen is top heabvy with them. The Moorings to me is a place for socialising and listening to music. Watchig tv is a fairly antisocial habit: how infuriating is it to talk to someone who's looking over your head at the screen half the time or you're being drowned out but sporadic "ah!"..."yes!!" "argh!" sounds!

Usually stick to vinyl but as I've been spending most of the last few weeks on trains back and forth to Aberden, I bought Cds of Kaiser Chiefs, Doves, Donovan's From A Flower To A Garden (brilliant!) and also a cheapo Martika compliation cos I got hooked on that Toy Soldiers song Eminem sampled which I'd never heard before. It's mostly dross but that track is addictive!

Spot on Sir... why does every pub (bar The Moorings ) insist on tv's? When the Scotland Italy game was on I could not find a single other bar in Aberdeen that wasn't showing it, and this was a Saturday night. If people want to watch tv stay at home!

The bedsheets scene is pretty good in the film as Ewan Bremner plays it so well, his reactionn when he wakes up and realises he's not in his bed is priceless.

That's a great sequence: she thinks the body may still be alive because its sweating soesn't she? Bit of a definitive moment for Welsh.

Isn't it a disgrace that we live in a supposedly developed country and yet someone can have toothache but not afford to get it sorted? I think though if it persists before you're in funds then casualty will sort you out... Meantime, a little whisky can help a bit.

I never said it wasn't a novel! Its form is of a series of stories whihc aren't all threaded together by one character's story, but that doesn't mean it ain't a novel.