what a racket

coming from robin park tonight, boom boom boom I'm 2 miles away so folks nearer must be more disturbed

The Robin Park summer music series starts tonight. More to come

LINK

I can see the stadium from the back of my house so only about a mile away, if that, and I can't hear anything. Strange that. I can hear crowds cheering when there's a match on though.

"borough’s musical history" .... "Richard Ashcroft returns to his hometown"

Richard Ashcroft isn't from "the borough" and Wigan isn't his 'hometown'. In his own words, " I come from such a hybrid area, Skelmersdale".
In fact, not one of The Verve band members are from Wigan or Wigan 'borough'.

To many things through the press get associated with "Wigan" which may of happened in Leigh Atherton Skelmersdale or other places bar Wigan

Richard Ashcroft was born at Billinge Hospital which was in Wigan even though after his birth living in the Skelmersdale & Upholland area!

His birth was registered in Ince in September 1971.

Mollie, the wind carries the sound so the wind last night must have been blowing my way, May next week you'll enjoy the concert ,

Haydock Park have concerts mainly Friday Night and sometimes you can hear them up here in Stubshaw Cross We may have a Free concert back end of August because Ashton Town FC are having a concert starting at 1-00pm

"The week will be rounded off by two shows from Richard Ashcroft, performing in his home town for the first time since his iconic Haigh Hall gig in 1998."

"It will be the first time Wigan’s famous son has performed in his home town since The Verve’s huge show at Haigh Hall in 1998."

"At the Haigh Hall gig with The Verve, I remember walking on stage and seeing Billinge Hospital where I was born in the background and all the places I had grown up and it was an incredible feeling.”

"Speaking exclusively to the Wigan Observer, Richard said: “It’s very exciting. I have been trying to do a gig in Wigan for years now. "

Richard seems to strongly attach himself to Wigan and definitely tries to promote Wigan.

" I come from such a hybrid area, Skelmersdale".

That's what he said. "Skelmersdale". Not Wigan.
It'll be somewhere else next. The drugs have made him worse!

What a 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' of comments there are on here

Haigh Hall Concert LINK

In a 2006 interview, Ashcroft mentioned taking Prozac to help him with clinical depression. but said that it did not help, referring to the pills as "very, very synthetic." Ashcroft has said that he's always been "a depressive, someone who suffers from depression", and that music and creativity help him cope with his illness.

LINK

It should be remembered that Robin Park Arena, which is the running track in between the Stadium and Asda, is open to the world, apart from the front where the entrance and stands are located.

They have put the stage at the end of the venue which backs on to the Stadium, so that means the stage and sound system are pointing in the direction of Asda, Newtown, Goose Green, Worsley Mesnes and Poolstock, hence the 'racket' in those areas, I did not hear anything myself, but apparently the concert could be clearly heard all over Worsley Mesnes

"I come from such a hybrid area, Skelmersdale".
Wasn't that statement a long time ago?
Possibly, it's all those Urban Hymns gravitating from his Northern Soul, which could cause A Storm in Heaven. Then, again, it might be All in the Mind.

Mollie,
Getting back to the sound and the volume, there is a lot to consider. Large trees in full leaf and other thick vegetation will dampen the volume of the sound. Also, buildings will obviously block out some of the sound.
Additionally, where your house is in relationship with the stage and the speakers will determine the volume of the sound.
And...

Can't ere it from down here in Land's End TP. ...well and truly cracking the flags. Next stop ...Leominster... Marvellous.

Ian, I can hear the noise tonight loud and clear. My house is on a higher elevation to where the stadium is so, between me and it, there's very little to block the sound.

It's very loud tonight though, so the only reason I couldn't hear it last night may have been wind direction, as Tom has suggested.

Can't imagine how loud it must be to those who live nearby on Robin Park Road.

It makes sense Mollie because, there is no wind tonight and, its quiet here,

It's gone quiet now. Perhaps there's a 10 p.m. cut-off point.

It's Noel Gallagher tonight, he always makes a racket.

I think he makes a nice racket Angel much better than his brother,

I can't stand Oasis, together or apart. Never heard such moaning, whingeing voices in my life.

I don't know exactly the size of the area they were playing in, or how big an audience there was, but getting acoustics right outside is a monumental job as sound disappears.

Years ago, we were invited to play at a place called The Stables Inn - can't remember where it was - but they asked us to play outside, which we didn't expect to do. Our sound system was fine for indoors, but not really up to scratch for outdoors, but we managed and played on the large car park.

Halfway through the night, we noticed that about 30 motorbikes had pulled up on the far edge of the car park and I thought, oh-oh, what do we have here.
Anyway, it turned out to be a really good night and even the bikers came closer (without bikes) and danced along with the others.

Mollie, you're a dark horse, were you in a group/band , what did you play ??

Oh, I thought most people knew, Tom. I didn't play anything as I was the singist, but my partner played keyboards and his brother was our lead guitarist - just the three of us.

We were very busy from around 1988 onwards, gigging around pubs and clubs, and we played at a truck stop called Rolling Inn at Widnes. Don't know if it's still there or not.

I'm impressed Mollie

Ah well, it was a long time ago now, Tom. Our lead guitarist got a bit fed up after a while as we all worked full time as well, so it left just my partner and I, but he made up for the loss of one instrument on his keyboards. It was a great time, but all good things come to an end.

I think I put a picture of us both on my Profile Pictures.

yea just had a toot, you Rock girl

mollie m

It sounds like you were Wigan's answer to Suzie Quatro!

Wigan's answer to Suzie Quantro!

Posted by: Owd Codger (3391)
mollie m
"It sounds like you were Wigan's answer to Suzie Quatro!"



Not quite, Owd Codger, but we did okay.

Anybody know if the concert is on tonight? I can't hear anything so far.

Mollie, I believe that it is on tonight, tomorrow and Sunday.
I'm sure that The Lathums are on tonight (or this evening) and, I am quite sure but may get criticised, they are a Wigan band.
Richard Ashcroft (ex.The Verve) is performing on Saturday and Sunday.

Mollie did you do the clubs scene round wigan in the 70's, I may have seen you without knowing, The labour clubs were many then and had ' turns' on at weekends and mid week in some venues,

Ian:

Thanks for the reply. I've never heard of The Lathums. I've heard of The Verve, but their stuff isn't my cup of tea.

Tom:

Not so many clubs around Wigan, Tom. We were in The Swan in Pem one Saturday night and a Committee Member came in and asked us if we could do a middle spot at Lamberhead Workers' Club because the group that was booked only did two and, to be honest, they were awful, so we did a dance spot in between and got folk up dancing. Some people left after that, but some of the old-timers stuck it out till the end.

We did play a lot of pubs, some permanent Saturday nights and some Sunday nights. We played at The Railway at the bottom of Enfield Street for a couple of years on a Saturday, and the Waggon and Horses in Leyland Sundays. Lots of other places too. We had to have about 40 songs to learn as we couldn't keep doing the same sets every week.

Mollie,
The Lathums and The Stanleys have been promoted as two of the most recent successful Wigan bands, although they have been around for a number of years - but not too many years.
The Stanleys are playing or have played - I can't remember if they supported Noel Gallagher or they are supporting Richard Ashcroft.
The Lathums have had two successful albums. But, for me, they seemed to have lost some of the creativity they had and I feel that their first album is better than their second album.
The Stanleys seem to be slightly improving, but seem to be still missing that one special ingredient in their songs.
I think that both bands have been around for about five years.

Ian, again, I've never heard of them either. They mustn't be playing my type of music. You see, time stopped for me in or around 1976 as far as music, groups and singers go. I'm still stuck with music from the 50s, 60s and early 70s. After that I'm in the dark about anything modern.

The only "modern" bands I like are Crowded House, Dire Straits, Mike & The Mechanics, Pointer Sisters, and some others whose names I can't remember.

The Lathums at Glastonbury 2023

Their (Lathums and Stanleys) music is pleasant, but certainly not groundbreaking.
Mollie, three excellent bands, but not so modern.

Mollie I can see you were at the closing end of what I'd call ' proper live music' you would have to learn and rehearse your sets whereas, the new upcomers would, 'load' the set in a computers and mime the pre taped sets and after that came the, sole singer, he/she had a machine that played the music and he/she sang, then came , Karry oky , and the end came for proper entertainment,,,,,

Thanks, First Mate, but no thanks. Not my thing at all. To me, that's just noise which needs sub-titles to understand the words. I like a much "softer" sound that's not just a thump, thump, thump.

Good grief! I've turned into me dad! I was brought up to the classical music he played on his records, but I was nine years old when Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Elvis, Cliff, Ricky Nelson came into focus and, as I had an older brother, I loved that stuff. Dad hated it and I called him old-fashioned. This stuff won't last nearly as long.

The best bands in Wigan at the time of proper bands were, Kettle, rainbow cottage, Winston and they were top class,

My Dad said to me in the 60's , learn to play proper tom, the beatles won't last five minutes,

Tom, yes, Copper Kettle, Rainbow Cottage and the others were really good. We played everything live too. No pre-recordings, no miming, nothing fake. It was really good at the time, but hard work learning new words to songs for me, and for him to learn the right notes on the keyboards. He wouldn't leave out an A minor, or anything else between the majors. He'd started out as a bass player, so had to learn from scratch to transfer to keys.

Well, if they are playing tonight, the wind must have changed as it's silent here, thank goodness!

Oops, wind's just changed and I can hear 'em caterwauling away! Aw shucks!

Was talking to one of our supervisors today and he said he could hear them last night as well, and he lives in a street off Enfield Street at the bottom, so even further away from me, but he's going there tomorrow night, so I'll hear all about it next week.

yep, that 10 0 clock cut off has gone for a burton, its loud and proud here

Please don't dismiss musicians and bands because they are not from a particular decade.
There are still "proper" bands in and around Wigan and have been since proper bands first appeared in the area.
The Lathums and The Stanleys are decent musicians and they are working hard on their own music. Please give them some credit for that!

I can't hear it now. Wind must have changed again.

Tom, I've just been remembering some of the other pubs we played, around your way. We played at The Park Hotel, one called (I think) the Golden Lion, Ben Jonson, and there was another one which I can't remember, but it wasn't the Black Bull.

Kettle, Rainbow Cottage and Winston were good bands when considering the club scene and that area of entertainment.
The musicianship was good and they entertained the audience in the clubs they played.
But, outside of this area of entertainment, these bands were not considered as being anything special amongst other musicians performing in different venues and amongst the fans of original music.
Additionally, they greatly lacked originality and song writing abilty.
For an audience who wanted to see and listen to a local band performing an ELO song or any other chart song, and perform the song well, these bands were very good. But, other from that, well!

my memory fades as well mollie, there were loads of pubs and clubs back in those days and I can't remember them all but, the freemasons on clapgate lane, the new inn and the crown all were busy pubs in that locality,
Ian, i hear what you're saying but, there is something special about a four piece band with , A drummer, bass with guitars ,singers that keep things tight and together without computers, The rolling stones and beatles are perfect examples, Yeah, i know even they use electronics now, no way can keef play with his hands but, in the 60's they set the mark,,

Good point Ian about they just copied other artists, you're right but, they did it well, I know Andy , the keyboard player from rainbow cottage, he teaches music and is a session guitarist and keyboard player, i was working in his house one time and he had been booked by an American artist and he said to me, " I've gotta be ' on it' for this mon, he's a proper black. I laughed but knew this was not derogatory remark, it meant, he had ' soul' and could reflect it in his performance,

Ian:

It's like most things. You either like it, or you don't, and I give lots of credit for getting up on stage as it's not the easiest thing to do when you've got many pairs of eyes on you, watching your every move and listening to you.

Tom:

The Crown! Yes, that was it, not the Golden Lion. It was set back off the road if memory serves.

Even though we started out as a trio, then went on to being a duo, we had a very full sound because of all the different beats on the keyboard, and extra instruments that could be utilised, but he still had to learn to play the melody.

By the way, the keyboard you see in the profile picture was an old one, and he went on to much better keyboards later on. I think the last one was a Roland.

Tonker:

If you're still there, who are the groups in the photos you've put on?

Tom, many bands are overlooked due to the music genre or they aren't in the limelight.
For instance, the punk music scene was commonly viewed as bad musicians playing noise. But, Elvis Costello was and is regarded as an excellent musician and an excellent songwriter; he has worked with Paul McCartney.
The Police first appeared in the punk era and their first single was considered punk; all three members are considered excellent musicians.
The four members of The Stranglers were excellent musicians at the time they released their first album. Also, you would be surprised if you checked out their educational background.
Mark King, Level 42, is an incredibly talented bassist.
And, I haven't gone much beyond the sixties.

yea, i was wondering about that keyboard Mollie , It looked a bit like a christmas gift from his grandma , there are 3 keyboards that a serious player will use,
Korg, Roland and Yamaha,

my choice is Yamaha,

I totally agree ian another famous band that was, in my eyes , none musical but made a great din was, Doctor feel good, he just bashed a good tune out and it was enjoyable,

He had a keyboard stand and on the top tier he had a Yamaha, and the bottom one was his Roland. I called it his central heating system!

He bought the latest keyboards every time new ones went on sale, and the last one was a beauty.

Believe it or not, I have a 1960s Vox Continental like the one Alan Price from The Animals used to play.

Mollie, you are partly right in stating that "you either like it or you don't." For me, I look at these things with a slightly different view. I'm not totally taken by The Lathums and by The Stanleys, because I'm not really impressed by their songs and by their song writing. But, I am totally willing to give both bands some credit, because they are writing their own songs and performing them to a live audience; with some success. Also, they are local.
I'm not really interested in watching a band only playing other bands' music and I have never been. Although, I would never dismiss the performers and I have never caused any disruption when these bands have performed. I have always been respectful when they have been performing. I have always felt annoyed when people cause some disruption when someone is trying their best to entertain an audience.

Tom, Dr Feelgood was a great band and that single release "Milk and Alcohol" is a classic.

Ian, hecklers are the worst kind of audience. They're just there to make trouble. Luckily, we didn't get many, but those that tried, very quickly got shut down.

I understand what you're saying about writing and playing their own music, and that in itself has to be applauded, because again, that isn't an easy thing to do, to create something brand new, never heard before, in the hope people like it. I also wrote some lyrics to a couple of songs (country style) and he put the music to it, and they went down well on the odd occasion we'd use them, but the audiences we played to were mainly older people, so enjoyed the 50s and 60s stuff that we did. There was one time though, when we'd been booked to play at the Crooked Wheel and there were mainly younger people there, so we didn't think they'd like what we did but, surprisingly, they enjoyed the songs. Some of them said they liked that kind of music because that's what their grannies and granddads played!

A friend, Phil, is a good keyboard player. I'd say the best I've ever heard.Look at his keyboard and console.

Nice, from what little I can see which, I'm afraid, isn't much. That's an up-to-date system, whereas we were playing in the late 80s/early 90s, so used what was available at that time, and it was good stuff, as I'm sure Tom will attest to.

Mollie and Tom, I believe that we all love music which brings us closer to a time of great happiness, especially in times of disappointment, and those years of our youth were filled with great moments.
Additionally, audiences today are being mostly fed what the music industry chooses to feed them and the industry is no longer as open as it once was. Stars of today and recent years, such as Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift would not have even made any impression back in the decades leading up to the 21st century.

Mollie, those photos are of a Wigan band called Grass Roots, well, one of them is because it says so on the writing. I don't know about the other 2 photos, I kind of thought about them when Tom mentioned Copper Kettle and Rainbow Cottage and I thought they might be known on here. Being Wigan, laaaaike? One of the group is my wife's uncle. From Wigan!

Phil and his wife, Anne, run an entertainments agency called MBM. He's played alongside some top musicians all over The World. Unfortunately, he's geet Parkinson's now.

Music, in some form or another, is a great joy to most people. It can, as you say, remind people of happier times, sad times, but mostly memorable times from an era gone by, never to return.

People's attitudes and tastes change as well, Ian. I quite like Ed Sheeran as his songs have meaning and the words are clearly understood. The accompanying music isn't louder than his voice, which is the case with most rock groups and soloists these days, rendering the lyrics useless.

Can't say I know much about Taylor Swift, but many female vocalists today sound very much the same to me as they nearly all sing in the same register, with no great depth to their voices, unlike singers like Cher and Dusty Springfield who have lower vocal registers. I have a deeper voice and sang in what would have been described as a man's key, but not all songs suit all singers' voices.

Cut off was 11.30pm tonight being a Friday.

Tonker:

Thanks for the reply. I missed that last night. I'd never heard of Grass Roots either, and I've no idea who those other groups are.

Very sad that your friend now has Parkinson’s. That is a cruel blow.

A couple of bits of Phil for you to listen to .......

One bit .......

Another bit.

I can hear music LINK

Posted by: tonker (28287) View tonker's page

A couple of bits of Phil for you to listen to .......

One bit .......

Another bit.

Excellent. Thank you so much for those, especially You Raise Me Up. Call me soft; call me whatever you like; but I have tears in my eyes watching and listening to him and his music. Such wonderful voice control filled with emotion and every word as clear as a bell. Now THAT is a singer.

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15923)

I can hear music LINK

Yet another excellent group from the 60s. That surfin' sound was wonderful and Brian Wilson was a great singer. Those songs left you with a happy feeling, and made you smile. The first LP I ever bought was Best of the Beach Boys, and I still have it. I really must play my records again. I have some wonderful ones.

Those concert goers tonight, who are watching Richard Ashcroft, are gonna get wet

I was just thinking that. It's hammering down here. Our supervisor who's going tonight which I mentioned will be there now getting soaked. I did warn him to wrap up though, but I bet he didn't listen to his Auntie Mollie.

Tonker, Thank you for the links you gave. What a beautiful voice. I was moved to tears as Mollie was.

Yes tonks, he's got a luverly voice and a very complex system, I wish I had his skills but thankful i have good health, as yet so. I would not like to change places and I think he would agree if you showed him

my raw talent

Tom, as a matter of interest, what make is the guitar you play? I started to learn years ago but, for the life of me, I couldn't make the F chord as my little fingers couldn't make it around the strings. It was only an acoustic guitar, but I managed to finger pick quite well. Can't do it now though.

Our lead guitarist had two guitars, used for different things. When he played Shadows and R&B stuff he used his Fender Strat and, for country and western, he had a 1958 Hofner Committee.

Mollie , One of the best guitarists in the world only had 2 fingers

its not what you got, its how you use it

I used to have nine guitars, good un's too but arthritis got a grip of my hands in 2017 and i could't play them any more so took up keyboards,

It's not that, Tom. I have the onset of arthritis in my right fingers now and it's becoming a bit of a struggle using that hand.

So, what make is your guitar.

I had a fender strat, fender telecaster, gibson les Paul, Martin acoustic, Yamaha acoustic, a metal resonator, a wooden resonator, a 5 string banjo click my profile Mollie, there is a picture of them on there,

Oh yes, that's quite a collection.

By the way, we were talking about pubs last night that we played in up your way. One was called Simms Road at Garswood. Do you know it?

I do yes, they had good groups on for a while then, It got took over by a landlord who prefered to , do meals instead,

We liked playing there. It was nice, but that's the way a lot of pubs went unfortunately. People don't want live music disturbing them when they're eating and, of course, a lot of pubs closed down when the smoking ban was enforced.

I have seen you playing a guitar though on one of your videos, and you do "play proper" like your dad told you to do.

A favourite pub i like to visit on a tues night was the Hawk on Hawkley Hall in the 70's, they had a country night and Bob mcclintock played there regular,
Another good pub night was the Red Lion at Bryn and another member of WW played there in his group called, three cornered hat,
can anyone guess who ??

an orange for the winner,,,,

thank you for that compliment Mollie,

Billy Shym? The Shyms were another local group back in the 60s/70s and they were good.

There's one group in particular that I remember, but weren't a Wigan band. They were called The Wheels from Belfast. They played at The Room at the Top a few times and they were outstanding. The lead singer (Brian Rossi) was totally bald and had a gold earring in one ear. They played stuff from different eras but were an R&B group, and Van Morrison was a member for a while. There was one song totally apart from any other that a pop group would normally do and, when he sang it, the whole room stopped riveted. It was the Joan Baez/Bob Dylan song “With God On Our Side.” My stars! He sang it with such heartfelt emotion it was literally stunning. At the end of the song the dancers didn’t move for what felt like hours before they started to applaud, they were so moved. Tremendous performance, then we were back in the room with “Mr Tambourine Man” or something. They went on to bigger things for a while, but Brian Rossi died in the 80s aged around 49.

Phil has a nice set-up for recording, Tonker. Life can sometimes be extremely unkind and Parkinson's disease is certainly unkind. Although, I believe, there is no cure, yet, there are medical breakthroughs.
It can be clearly seen and heard that your friend Phil deeply enjoys his music; hopefully, his condition doesn't cause that unfortunate barrier for a long time and he can continue to carry on what he clearly enjoys for more years.

A very nice collection of guitars, Tom. The Gibson Les Paul, in black, is one of my personal favourite guitars. Also, a Martin acoustic guitar is certainly a very nice edition to any guitar collection and certainly one to have for those acoustic moments.

Mollie, I know Bill very well and although there are many years between our ages, we get on extremely well.
Some months ago, I was having a long and interesting chat with him.
He used to be a regular contributor to this site, but he hasn't posted anything for quite a long time.

Thanks Ian I loved My Martin and here's a situation you would not expect a Martin to be in
johny be good

Tom! You old rocker, you! That's a good bit of lead guitar you played there. Better than being a three-chord wonder like some I've seen.

You're too kind Mollie, rock n roll is 3 chord stuff and I remember an interview with status quo and the interviewer said to Frank Rossie,
" you do well for a band that only plays three chords" , He said ,

" how many chords are there ?"

Certainly a different way of playing a Martin acoustic, but I feel that you fully enjoyed the moment.
I would have probably chosen a Gretsch G model for that number.

Tom, that's a rhythm guitarist who does that. I mean a lead guitarist. At least that's how our guitarist used play as lead during riffs.

Another one of Phil's!

Thats how it works Mollie, you all had a job to do, you would sing the melody, your partner did the rhythm , bass and drums and his brother filled in the lead trills and fills but, there are only 8 notes in a scale and the tonic is repeated, the tonic is the first note and the eight, a chord is a group of 3 notes so there are only 3 time 3 notes in any scale so, If you use 3 chords you're already spent all the notes there are, But having said that,

you can, boil them. fry them, oven cook them and spice them,

Precisely, Tom. It's how you mix and match them. Surprising what you can do with only eight notes in a scale, and yet they can be produced in thousands of different ways.

A great song written by Van Morrison.
Personally speaking, I feel that Phil is straining his voice too much and would be more comfortable by dropping it down a key. Also, the keyboard sounds don't do any justice to the song.
Yes, I am aware of Phil's unfortunate condition and I'm not criticising him, but only offering my opinion.
Sometimes we can become overwhelmed by the sounds technology offers us and can get carried away. As somebody once said, "It isn't what you play, but what you choose not to play which matters."

his favorite song of mine is, Brown eyed girl,

Ian said:

"Sometimes we can become overwhelmed by the sounds technology offers us and can get carried away. As somebody once said, "It isn't what you play, but what you choose not to play which matters."

That's very true. I was limited to a certain degree singing some songs. Not because I didn't know them, but because I sang at a lower register than most women, so there were songs that just weren't right for me, or I had to have the music dropped half to a full tone. I drove my poor partner bonkers sometimes because the only way I could sing one particular song comfortably, was in F# so he had to learn all the notes in that key on the keyboard! It was a Dr Hook song.

Mine, too!
A song which has everything thing and Van the man sings it perfectly; certainly suits his voice.
But, some of the songs by Them are great!

I love Brown Eyed Girl, because I is!

My favourite by Them was their first (I think) - Here Comes The Night. That lead guitar intro was spooky, clean and sharp.

Another with terrific guitar work was The Byrds' Mr Tambourine Man. All great stuff.

All these great posts from one topic called What A Racket!

It comes down to the musicians you are working with and how they learnt their instrument.
Many musicians in bands are either self-taught or they have had lessons from a musician with a similar background. Many cannot read music very well; they learn the basic chords and pick up the rest by playing by ear.
There is nothing wrong with this as long as it works. But, to quickly drop the key from G major to F# major might cause difficulty for them.
But, let us remember, The Beatles said that they couldn't read music and that they didn't really know what chords they played.

Mollie, I think that it was the band's third release.
The band's first release was not a hit and possibly regarded as a flop.
The band's second release, I think, was "Baby, Please Don't Go.", which, along with "Here Comes The Night" is another one of my favourites.

I understand it perfectly, If i play a note on a guitar , piano and play another , it either sounds right or, it doesn't, that is the basics of music,
like in artwork, the old saying, I don't know nothing about art but, I like what I see,

My partner couldn't read a note of music but, as I said in an earlier post, he never once left out anything as he played by ear. When he was learning something new, he instinctively knew that there was something wrong, so he played around until he found it. John, our guitarist, was the same. They both had a keen ear for music. If any of us heard a "bum" note during rehearsals, we'd stop until it was put right as it stuck out like a sore thumb to us all.

I think, most decent musicians quickly hear a "bum" note as it hurts like severe toothache.
I remember watching a band and one of the strings on the rhythm guitar was out of tune and I was extremely uncomfortable with the sound, because this guitar string was getting on my nerves more and more.

What a racket!

Or, raquet.

I've found a list of Phil's songs on You Tube, which I've saved in My Favourites, and which I'll listen to. He does appear to be stretching his voice a little more than he needs to though. This is not a criticism, just an observation. He's very good indeed, and I hope he can continue with his music for a long time to come.

After a painstaking research of you tube I finally found some of Mollies performances in her stage name of ,,,,

hilary Club

Cheeky! I didn't play any of those. Mine was an owd scrubbin' board which I bashed wi' a rowlin' pin!

Those concerts at Robin Park look to have been superb, I am not saying all the of artists, were my 'cup of tea' or even my 'mug of coffee', but it looks to have been OK

I'll find out tomorrow when our supervisor is back in the office. I hope his eardrums are still intact as it must have been blasting at the stadium.

Hello Mollie and Tom,
I thought that I would forward the following just in case you hadn't come across it.
https://www.youtube.com/@johncarterbrown991/videos
This comes from "Hobbies / Books".

Hello Ian

I tried copying that into You Tube but it said No Results Could Be Found. I'm no good at links as I can't remember how to do them. Hopefully somebody will be kind enough to give it a go.

John Carter Brown

Mollie, sorry for not putting it on as a link: I only copy/pasted it from John's.
First Mate, thanks for putting the link on.

Ian:

That's okay. For the life of me I just can't do links anymore. I've tried and tried, then gave up.

First Mate:

Many thanks for putting in the link. I think I need an Idiot's Guide to teach me again.

I've listened to the first one "Killing Floor" and it puts me in mind of 60s protest songs, which I don't mind, so I'll listen to another one at some point.

I've had a listen to three of them, so far.

Mollie, I've just given my judgement on the song "Killing Floor".
It would be extremely interesting to read your opinion of the song.

I've never looked for deep and meaningful lyrics, I'm a rocker and what first got me interesting in music was

3 chords that shake the dance floor

Tom, they are meaningful lyrics. Also, you can't dismiss the song as a basic 3-chord song, because there is so much going on around those chords. Additionally, that simple but powerful riff greatly helps to carry the song along with that heavy bass and busy drums.
Status Quo were masters of these layered sounds which worked so well.

absolutely right Ian, There is a very true saying that, you have to spent 10,000 hours to do anything competently , and competent means, you now have the minimum skill, you have scratched the surface but, there is more to be gained,
That goes for any job, 10,000 hours is the apprenticeship ,
Quo have a million hours under their belt and it shows,