Moving On...

Well, it's been an odd few weeks really. Trips to London and Manchester to see my first Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre and my first England football international at Old Trafford were followed by a short break in Cornwall - which was taken down almost entirely by my recurring stomach pains (again!).

As well as feeling physically low I've been feeling low emotionally and seeing the forthcoming challenges and the demands of life as all rather daunting. But you know, as Whoopi Goldberg once said "Today is a brand new day - a brand new day!", so we're moving on...

Music News

Wetton/Downes - The second Wetton/Downes album "Icon II: Rubicon" is due for release on November 10th. A sample of a rather good track called "Die Is Cast" can be heard here:

http://www.frontiers.it/portals/0/multimedia/01icon2sample.mp3

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Returns with her third solo album "Trip The Light Fantastic" in Spring 2007

Meat Loaf - Releases "Bat Out Of Hell III: Monster Is Loose" in October. Fifteen tracks in total - seven written by Jim Steinman; guest appearances by Steve Vai, Brian May, Todd Rundgren, John 5, Nikki Sixx and Marion Raven and the whole shooting match produced by Desmond Child. It would be easy to sneer and dismiss it as a marketing ploy - which it probably is - but there are some talented people involved in the making of this album, so let's wait and see eh...

Slade - A 4CD career retrospective of Slade has been released this month, including some of the 'Barn' singles appearing on CD for the first time. A full track listing can be found here:

http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=553922

Videos

Louise - Pandoras Kiss (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTK1ySBGnTM

"Ms Redknapp's last single to date"

Olivia Newton-John - Twist Of Fate (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2hawbp5XT4

"Another fab pop track from Livvy, this time from 1983"

Bucks Fizz - I Hear Talk (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh8yNXF6jMs

"Always liked this one..."

Laura Branigan - Self Control (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtUpvJa9FmY

"I've been meaning to put this up here for a while"

Dave Edmunds - Slipping Away (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixiXoa6SILA

"Again from 1983 (I spot a pattern emerging here!) another Jeff Lynne song and production"

My Name Is...

I found this a couple of weeks ago. It's probably my warped sense of humour but it made me laugh...

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/frank-butcher-p1.php

Anyway - Video time..

Supertramp - The Logical Song (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBAasek8NR4

"Classic song with a superb lyric"

Queen - Calling All Girls (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw8ojWh0KOQ

"Had to have a couple of Freddie videos to celebrate his birthday this week. This is a rarely seen Queen one taken from 1982's 'Hot Space' album."

Dollar - Give Me Back My Heart (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ZCa9PI4Vs

"Another superb Trevor Horn production. Theresa looks and sounds Angelic on this one."

Space - Magic Fly (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1llNSdf9cl4

"I knew this had to on there somewhere!"

Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender (Extended Version) (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmG1TNQCR04

"The best version of a wonderfully silly Freddie video"

"Come On One's Lads!"

The road to qualification for the European Championships starts here as Steve McClaren's young lions take on Andorra at Old Trafford.

Although I can legitimately claim to have supported England before I started infants school, (the first live England game I ever watched was in April 1971 - a Nations Cup qualifier against West Germany at Wembley. We lost 3-1. I was 4 years old at the time), September 2nd 2006 will represent the first time I've actually been to an England game! It's been an ambition of mine for some time and I'm really looking forward to it. I've never been to Old Trafford before either so that will be another first too.

Anyway - Saturday, so it's video time...

Pat Benatar - Sex As A Weapon (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmYA9yYbsGk

"Excellent mid-eighties pop rock song with a good video to match"

ELO - Can't Get It Out Of My Head (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPlD8mrVHeg

"A great song from 1974's "Eldorado" album with a rather...erm...'basic' video"

Abba - Honey Honey (Star Parade 1974)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeGtaSWzFRA

"Another vintage European Abba clip"

Mamas & The Papas - Creque Alley (Ed Sullivan Show)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDx4A2coKiY

"Great clip of a great song with glorious harmonies. Always worth watching for the wonderful and much missed Cass Elliott"

Kate Bush - Hammer Horror (Rock Pop1978)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJHTy5ijv6Y

"Kate's third single performed here on German TV with the Phantom Flan Flinger..."

Landscape - Norman Bates (Promotional Video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLvnYwvJMKE

"The links to videos on You Tube are prone to change. Some videos are removed by the site, some are removed by the people who uploaded them in the first place - so sometimes when you find a gem on the site you'd better link to it quickly! Such is the case here. A 1981 single by Landscape who's video I've only seen today - 25 years and 5 months after first hearing the song"