Nine Feet Underground

I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist it - it's even the title of compilation by quintessential Canterbury band Caravan - but my musings on the album titled The Wilde Flowers could only have one title. It probably hasn't escaped your notice that Mr NineFeetUnderground is quite a fan of the Canterbury sound / scene (is it a 'sound' or is it a 'scene'?) - both past and present, so it should also come as no surprise that the release (or strictly should that be "modified re-release"?) of an album by the band who are the progenitors of almost every original Canterbury band should arouse some interest. [Aside: Even if it has escaped your notice I'm still writing about the album anyway. So there.] I'm not going to witter on about whether or not the Canterbury sound is a lazy music journo invention or indeed whether every band that spawned, directly or indirectly, from the metaphoric loins of The Wilde Flowers actually conforms to s

New Order have always had a way with the melancholic dance song, somehow managing to mix euphoric dance tunes with melancholic lyrics as shown on their most recent album 'Music Complete'.  Even without the glorious rumbling basslines of Peter Hook the album does mark a return to form that is far better than might be expected.  A high spot of the album is the track 'Tutti Frutti' which epitomises the dancefloor tristesse.  The lyrics hint at coming to terms with getting older - "I feel like I'm a setting sun" - and perhaps mid-life crisis, whilst at the same time being a hymn to a partner though even that hymn is tainted by some level of dependency - "I'm under your command". The video seems to take theme of getting older to a another level, capturing a sadness that goes well beyond the lyrics and really rams home a message of someone coming to terms with their self-image compared to how they are seen by others.   Perhaps all

There’s nothing like being topical and, as this post demonstrates, NineFeetUnderground can’t be accused of being too topical.  To be fair this was largely written at the time however “real life” prevented its completion. As the post is mainly a personal perspective I have decided to post as it was originally conceived – with the appropriate amount of grunting, sweating and recriminations… In the space of just under two weeks music lost two of its greatest figures, first on the 28 th December a few days after his 70 th birthday Lemmy died then on the 10 th January, two days after his 69 th birthday and the release of what proved to be his final album, David Bowie died.  A lot of media coverage followed both of these sad events – both making the main TV and radio news – so I just thought I’d write a few words about how they both touched my life though I met neither of them (well, I "almost" met one of them - read on). Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister to me was first