The year the music died?

Image credit: christhebarker

2016 will probably go down as one of those years where sad news overshadowed the good – certainly that was true for me both in personal terms, which I won’t cover here, but also the seemingly relentless march of famous icons being taken by the grim reaper.  Just as we were coming to terms with Lemmy passing away at the end of 2015, in 2016 we’d be constantly reminded by social media of a glittering parade of cultural icons shuffling from this mortal coil.

David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Jimmy Bain, Terry Wogan, Harper Lee, Frank Kelly, George Martin, Keith Emerson, Frank Sinatra Jr, Paul Daniels, Ronnie Corbett, David Gest, Victoria Wood, Lonnie Mack, Prince, John Berry, Nick Menza, Muhammad Ali, Henry McCullough, Anton Yelchin, Caroline Aherne, Kenny Baker, Dalian Atkinson, Gene Wilder, Pete Burns, Leonard Cohen, Andrew Sachs, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rick Parfitt, George Michael, Liz Smith, Richard Adams, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.

That’s not an exhaustive list, I’m sure, but that’s not really what I wanted this blog post to be about – but you can’t really do a review of the year without mentioning the elephant in the room.  As with seemingly most things these days it caused ruckuses on Facebook with folk taking to social media to express their sadness whilst others get irked at seeming over-emotionalness.  Certainly there’s a lot in that list who whilst I’ve never met have had huge influences over my life, and I felt genuine sadness at them moving on – some seemingly far too early, others having reached a ripe of age.

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Freeborn Al / 30th December 2016 / Band, Gigs, Hell Hounds, Lee Bonsall, Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments

Along the Old Straight Track..

13139052_1049283961774622_1064068471929423814_nThe journey Along The Old Straight Track (see what I did there?) had a rocky final straight for The Leylines – a slick crowd-funding campaign and dual launch party had the fly in the ointment of technical problems leading to a delay for the physical release.  Hey, these things most definitely happen – it makes the waiting all the sweeter.  Technically I’m still waiting – someone (Pete!) had the temerity to go on holiday before getting a chance to add his moniker to the signed album that I’d backed in the campaign.

However, I was lucky enough to get my mits on a friend’s copy for a long awaited listen (thanks Andy!) – Ella and I sat and hammered it a few times on the drive back from Ey Up Mi Duck, and I’ve been getting to know it a fair bit in subsequent days.  Songs that are immediately familiar from an increasing number of live performances I’ve seen from the band burst forth even more polished and shiny thanks to the tender production of Sean Lakeman and mastering from Al Scott.

I’m a big fan of the imagery and packaging, a woodland scene overlaid with the band logo and the album title – a reference to Alfred Watkins’ 1925 book The Old Straight Track – which presented the theory of, well, ley lines!  Without blowing my own trumpet I might just have led them down this particular line (or track) of thinking, suggesting the book title to Steve on Facebook when he was inviting folks suggestions for the name of the album.  Inside you’ll find the band looking moody (aside from Pete) and a lyric/credits booklet.

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Freeborn Al / 12th May 2016 / Music, Other Bands, Photos / 0 Comments