"How long have I been sleeping? How long have I been drifting alone through the night?" Released OTD in 1974, Jackson Browne's classic 'Late For the Sky'. #musicsky
Ben Finlay
@benfinlay74.bsky.social
MA Cultural History, BA (hons) History. Former history and politics lecturer at University of Chichester. Historian, writer, reader, musician, talker, blues and jazz obsessive. https://bsky.app/profile/lionunicorn.bsky.social
'The Trials of Oz' (1991) - a dramatisation of the 1971 trial in which the editors of the British underground magazine 'Oz' were charged with obscenity - is now up on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M-T...
The Trials of Oz (720p) ft. Hugh Grant, Nigel Hawthorne, Leslie Phillips, Alfred Molina
YouTube video by Forgotten British TV
youtube.com
Another excellent survey, Ben. Thank you for sharing your well-informed opinions.
"If privately life was proving difficult, musically 1975 would be somewhat of a peak for Martyn..." The great John Martyn - one of my favourite ever artists - was born OTD in 1948. His underrated 'Sunday's Child' features in my top ten records of 1975. Read here:
Top 10: 1975
BEN FINLAY selects the best British albums of 1975. Expect the unexpected.
thelionandunicorn.com
'Catch a mood and fly away' Remembering the one and only John Martyn, born on this day in 1948. I'll always remember seeing him at Salisbury City Hall on 20th May 2005 - he and his great band took the place on a trip that night...
Missed Penda’s Fen last night? Both David Rudkin’s 1974 film and a new interview with actor Spencer Banks are streaming on BBC iPlayer. Catch up on the film, then listen to our podcast episode tinyurl.com/PendasFen #PendasFen #FolkHorror #PlayForToday #BBCiPlayer
Happy birthday to one of the greatest British drummers, Barriemore Barlow, who played with Jethro Tull from 1971 to 1980. His superb playing is a highlight of the band's majestic 'Heavy Horses' album, which features in my top ten prog records. Read here: @lionunicorn.bsky.social #musicsky
Top 10: Prog rock
Fancy time-signatures, album-length songs and mystical lyrics – BEN FINLAY takes us through the best of prog rock.
thelionandunicorn.com
"My rider left upon the midnight flyer, singing like a summer breeze.." - 'Operator' from 'American Beauty' (1970) Remembering Grateful Dead founder member Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, born OTD in 1945 and gone far too soon.
1) Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' was published OTD in 1957. I can't quite remember when I first read it, but the first copy I owned (I've had several) was the one pictured, an early 90s edition. It introduced me to a new world - Ginsberg, Burroughs, Gregory Corso - but Jack... #booksky
"Every man should pull a boat over a mountain once in his life..." Happy birthday to director and film maker Werner Herzog, born September 5 1942. He made two of my favourite ever films: 'Aguirre, Wrath of God' (1972) and 'Fitzcarraldo' (1982). Brilliant. #filmsky
Just finished wstching series five last night. Undoubtedly one of the finest television dramas I've ever had the pleasure to watch. Incredible characters, plots, acting, period detail and storylines. Excellent.
Nice charity shop find yesterday - 'The Penguin Book of English Short Stories' featuring Dickens, Hardy, Kipling, Joyce, Huxley, Waugh, Greene and others. #booksky
Excellent piano recital of some challenging material yesterday by Oscar Davis at Christchurch Priory. Annoyingly, enjoyment was somewhat spoilt by some attendees use of bloody mobile phones during the performance (and this was not a young audience.) Quite frankly, I despair at times.
Saddened to hear of the passing of Cassandra Wilson. I was lucky to see her live in the 1990s, still remember buying the masterful 'Blue Light 'Til Dawn' when it came out, and followed her career. A singer of incomparable emotional depth that we won't see the like of again. RIP.
Remembering a blues icon and one of the guitar greats, Freddie King, born OTD 1934 in Gilmer, Texas and gone far too early. His influence - particularly on a generation of guitarists - was huge. *Trivia note * His 'Texas Cannonball' album was the first CD I ever bought.
Today's book purchase: Good 1969 first edition of 'The Penguin Book of American Short Stories' with a Norman Rockwell painting on the cover. Features Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Jack London and John Updike among others
"I do believe that God has his hands on me and that he has work for me to do..." Remembering Brother Billy Preston, born on this day in 1946. An amazing singer, musician, performer, he bought the church and gospel to everything he did. #musicsky
Released OTD in 1967, 'Crusade', the third studio album by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, and the first to feature future Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, just 18 at the time. Highlights include 'The Death of J.B. Lenoir' and Taylor's 'Snowy Wood'. Classic Brit blues.
'Hergest Ridge' by Mike Oldfield was released OTD 1974. A personal favourite of mine, I wrote a little bit about it. Read here: historyman74.substack.com/p/on-the-bor...
1/ Van Morrison turns 81 today... #nowplaying 'Veedon Fleece' Veedon Fleece is Van's forgotten masterpiece, full of Gaelic mysticism with Blakean journeys into the soul. The piano-led prayer of 'Linden Arden Stole the Highlights' into 'Who Was That Masked Man?...
Happy 82nd birthday to saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger John Surman. He has explored avant-garde, modal and free jazz and has also incorporated folk, pastoral, choral and chamber music into his highly original sound. One of the greatest British jazz musicians.
'In South Carolina there are many tall pines I remember the oak tree that we used to climb But now when I'm lonesome, I always pretend That I'm getting the feel of hickory wind' Released OTD in 1968, the beautiful 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo' by The Byrds.
"All I ever wanted to do was hear music that I like and play it to other people.." John Peel, born on this day 1939 in Heswall, the Wirral (then) Cheshire.
“The art of movies is to allow the audience to suspend their disbelief. They need to use their imaginations.” Remembering William Friedkin, born OTD 1935. His run of films from 1971 to 1980 - 'The French Connection', 'The Exorcist', 'Sorcerer' & 'Cruising' - are pinnacles of film making.
Remembering the great Richard Attenborough, born OTD 1923. For me, he directed a number of my favourite films; 'Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), the truly creepy 'Magic' (1978) and 'Shadowlands' (1993); as an actor, who can forget his portrayal of John Christie in '10 Rillington Place'?
Released OTD in 1969, BB King, 'Live and Well', one of my favourite BB albums, and one of the first I bought many years ago (on cassette) Side one was recorded live at the Village Gate, in New York City and side two recorded at The Hit Factory. #musicsky
"I’m not a star, I’m a singer..." Remembering another great, the one and only Dinah Washington, born OTD 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Bird lives! "They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art..." Remembering a true virtuoso, an icon, a musical revolutionary - Charlie Parker was born OTD in 1920 in Kansas City.
