Category: Prog rock

Focus and a Whole Load Of ‘Hocus Pocus’

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that the domain name for this place is one quite a few other parties would like to get their hands on, as it reflects the name of their product or business. I have therefore had to remove any mention of it in the blog in case I get a take down notice.

H.G. Wells time machine

Anyway, back in 2017 I had planned to start a new series where I journeyed back in time in my ‘magical jukebox’ (you see where I’m going with this?) but only got as far as one spin the random number generator (I had it all thought out). It took me back to this date:

Year – 1973
Month – 2, i.e. February
Date – 14 (St Valentine’s Day!)

The act at the top of the UK Singles Chart on that date was Sweet, with their only chart-topper Blockbuster. I wrote about that song recently (link here) so time to mention another band who appeared in that very first post in the ‘series that never was’. Although I can’t say I was a big fan back then, in the fullness of time I have come to appreciate the falderals involved in the making of a Focus record (a bit of yodelling anyone?) and February 1973 was their time in the sun as far as chart success went. Their instrumental Sylvia was a climber at No.5 and Hocus Pocus was also climbing up the chart at No. 22.

The Dutch prog rock outfit, Focus.

I may well have forgotten all about these Dutch prog rockers had it not been the album I got for Christmas that year was ‘Arcade’s 20 Fantastic Hits by the Original Artists’, the emphasis on the word original, as up until then most of these compilations were very much by the unoriginal artists – I still have the album and Hocus Pocus is Track 7 on Side 2.

Hocus Pocus by Focus:


I don’t know if you’ve ever watched Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver but I’d thoroughly recommend it. I’m not usually a fan of films that feature multiple car chases, but this one was a very different animal, and the best car chase of all was played out to the sounds of Focus with what has turned out to be their most memorable recording (was it because the words rhymed so well I wonder?). Watching this excellent clip again, the lead character Baby, could definitely give Lewis Hamilton a run for his money.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my second journey back to February 1973. All you need is a random number generator it seems and we’re good to go, although the mode of transport was a tad uncomfortable. If there is a next time, I might have to trade in H.G. Wells’ time machine for Doc Brown’s DeLorean. Might make for a smoother ride.

Until next time….

The Reading List, Teenage Progheads and ‘Whole Lotta Love’

Well, it’s been over four years since I added a new page to this blog’s main menu, but today’s the day. It’s called Reading List and provides links to all the novels and comic books written by the ‘blogging buddies’ I’ve made since setting up this place. If you hop over there you’ll find: details of the novels and short stories written by Rol Hirst and Martin Pond; the compendium of Rock Docs written by Rick Ouellette, and; the most recent additions to my collection, the comic books. Other than purchasing the odd Buffyverse comic book for DD, this medium was new to me, but I really enjoyed Rol and Rob’s Department of the Peculiar series, the most recent editions made possible via Kickstarter.

A few weeks ago, the proprietor of another blog which can be found on my sidebar published his first comic book, and of course I bought a copy. As Rick is based in Massachusetts, the fee I paid for the comic didn’t even cover the postage, but he kindly sent it anyway. In return I said I would give it a plug on my blog.

As anyone who visits here regularly will know, I am no Proghead, but it really didn’t matter with this comic as the subject matter was universal. High school kids hanging out together and listening to music. It was set in the mid 1970s, so a period I was really familiar with, and although the issues they discuss were not relevant to us in the UK at the time (Nixon and Vietnam), we had our own issues, so not so different after all. Here is what I wrote on Rick’s blog (Reel and Rock) about it.

Hi Rick – The comic book arrived this week and I’ve just finished reading it. I loved it. The years you cover are so pivotal aren’t they, that sweet spot before you venture out into the world, when the most important things in your life are hanging out with your friends, listening to music, and fledgling relationships (with schoolwork and good grades thrown in of course). Life was not so different in my neck of the woods and I totally get how the whole Proghead thing came about. My husband’s older brother was very much into the same music, whereas we came of age just as punk had exploded, so got into that instead. Some very funny dialogue in there and of course the premonitions about the future were a masterstroke. Thanks so much for sending it out.

One of the many bands mentioned in the comic book was this one, Led Zeppelin. I don’t have much in my library by them, but I do have this, Whole Lotta Love from 1969. What Rick probably won’t realise, is that for much of it’s history, it was also the theme music for our weekly chart show Top of the Pops. Yep, whenever I hear that intro I’m back in my parents house and it’s 7.30pm on a Thursday evening.

Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin:


So, ‘What’s It All About’ – I hope you visit my new page and perhaps make a purchase ahead of Christmas. We’re going to have to be inventive this year with our choice of gifts, as many of the usual purchasing options might be closed to us. I’m glad I managed to plug Rick’s comic as I suffer the most awful guilt when I’m behind with such things. I have a couple of ‘guest posts’ pending too, but I’ll get onto them when this momentous 30 in 30 challenge is over, I promise.

Until next time….

Whole Lotta Love Lyrics
(Song by John Bonham/Willie Dixon/John Paul Jones/Jimmy Page/Robert Plant)

You need coolin’, baby, I’m not foolin’
I’m gonna send you back to schoolin’
Way down inside, honey, you need it
I’m gonna give you my love
I’m gonna give you my love

Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love

You’ve been learnin’, baby, I’ve been yearnin’
All them good times, baby, baby, I’ve been learnin’
Way, way down inside, honey, you need it
I’m gonna give you my love
I’m gonna give you my love

Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love

You’ve been coolin’, baby, I’ve been droolin’
All the good times baby I’ve been misusin’
Way, way down inside, I’m gonna give you my love
I’m gonna give you every inch of my love
Gonna give you my love

Yeah! All right! Let’s go

Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love
Want a whole lotta love

Way down inside… woman… you need… love

Shake for me, girl
I wanna be your backdoor man
Keep it coolin’, baby
Keep it coolin’, baby
Keep it coolin’, baby
Keep it coolin’, baby

Nick Drake, “Pink Moon” and Pink Floyd

Since discovering that all full moons have a name (given to them by the Native Americans who kept track of the months by the lunar calendar), I have written about each one as they appear in our skies. To accompany the post I always include one of the numerous songs that have been written about the moon and its many foibles.

It passes in a flash doesn’t it? Ever since following the full moon cycle for this blog, the lunar months seem to have rocketed by. This calendar month, on the 30th April, we are to have a Pink Moon appear in our skies. This time the name comes from one of the spring flowers the ancient Native Americans would have seen covering the ground around April’s full moon – The pink Moss Phlox.

Well I can’t say I have such a flower in my garden, but I can share a picture of what my cherry blossom tree should look like at this time of the year. Sadly, because of that really cold snap back at the beginning of March, it seems that Mother Nature’s work has been delayed, but here is what the blossom looked like at this time last year. Very pink, to coincide with the Pink Moon.

177 4th May Cherry blossom

When I started choosing songs for this series, I couldn’t help but notice there was a song called Pink Moon written and recorded by a man who seems to have become a bit of a cult figure in music circles. Nick Drake only made three albums, and died at the ridiculously young age of 26, but over the last couple of decades has sold hundreds of thousands of albums. Many of these sales came about as a result of the song Pink Moon being used for a car advert which sparked a resurgence of interest. Time to see what caused all the furore then, and for once we seem to have an example of an ad where the inclusion of music was well executed and aesthetically successful.

Pink Moon by Nick Drake:

It’s an incredibly short song, only one verse and a chorus, on repeat, but the spare delivery and acoustic guitar accompaniment just seemed to work. Drake was a troubled soul however and suffered from major depression, often reflected in his lyrics. After completing his 1972 “Pink Moon” album, he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his parents’ home in rural Warwickshire. On 25 November 1974, he died from an overdose of a prescribed antidepressant. His cause of death was determined to be suicide.

nick drake
Nick Drake

Drake’s music remained available through the mid-1970s, but the 1979 release of the retrospective album “Fruit Tree” allowed his back catalogue to be reassessed. By the mid-1980s Drake was being credited as an influence by such artists as Robert Smith and David Sylvian. In 1985, The Dream Academy reached the UK and US charts with Life in a Northern Town, a song written for and dedicated to Drake. By the early 1990s, he had come to represent a certain type of “doomed romantic” musician in the UK music press.

Interestingly, Life in a Northern Town was produced by Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Although never a big fan of Pink Floyd (I was just a tad to young for them I think), I knew that at some point in this series I should include something from their album “Dark Side of the Moon”. I think this post, what with all the pink-ness, should be the one. I will leave you with The Great Gig in the Sky, the fifth track on the album. I was pretty much blown away by Pink Floyd when I watched them at Live 8 in 2005 (the first time they had performed together for 24 years), and subsequently took to listening to Mr WIAA’s collection of Floyd tracks. Whenever I heard Clare Torry’s “wail”, used in effect as a musical instrument on Great Gig, I got goose bumps.

The Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd:

Until next time….

Pink Moon Lyrics
(Song by Nick Drake)

I saw it written and I saw it say
Pink moon is on it’s way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get you all

It’s a pink moon
Hey, it’s a pink moon
It’s a pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon.
It’s a pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon.

I saw it written and I saw it say
Pink moon is on it’s way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get you all

It’s a pink moon
Yeah, it’s a pink moon

Postscript:

I was a tad early in posting this full moon alert, so just in case you missed it, here is a picture of Monday night’s Pink Moon taken by my photographer friend – Stunning as ever.

30821676_10214213941835474_8420860583310334124_o
Picture courtesy of R.J.