Well it's been a little while since I did a This Week's Music posting. It's not because I haven't been listening to music. It's just I haven't been able to post about music without becoming a little emotional. So I waited awhile.
On July 5th Ozzy Osborne brought the curtain down on being a live performer, both as a solo artist and as the lead singer of Black Sabbath, with 'Back To The Beginning' a farewell concert, held at Villa Park in Aston, Birmingham. At a concert featuring a number of different acts, Ozzy performed 9 songs in total. Of these, 5 were from his solo career. And 4 were with the original line up of Black Sabbath. Ozzy was suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinsons Disease and so had to perform sitting on a large throne. But he performed brilliantly to go out on a high. It wasn't intended to be the end of Ozzy's career. In recent years, he has released a couple of critically acclaimed albums and intended to record more music. However just 17 days after the concert, on 22nd July, Ozzy suddenly and unexpectedly passed away.
I am a big fan of Black Sabbath and Ozzy. I have seen him live on a number of occasions. So it was a shock when he died so suddenly and so soon after his live farewell.
So I have been listening to a lot of his music this Summer.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath LP
Black Sabbath, Paranoid LP
Black Sabbath, Masters Of Reality LP
Black Sabbath, Volume 4 LP
Black Sabbath, Sabotage LP
Black Sabbath, Blackest Sabbath Double LP
Ozzy Osborne, Blizzard Of Ozz LP
Ozzy Osborne, Diary Of A Madman LP
Ozzy Osborne, Bark At The Moon LP
Ozzy Osborne, The Ultimate Sin LP
Ozzy Osborne, No More Tears LP
Ozzy Osborne, Ordinary Man CD
Ozzy Osborne, Patient Number Nine CD
It's always wonderful to listen to this music. But it's definitely been emotional. I immersed myself in the music of Black Sabbath and Ozzy for a few weeks. Behind the craziness surrounding Ozzy and his life it's the music that's important. And it really is wonderful music. Farewell to the Prince Of Darkness.
The Pogues, Rum Sodomy And The Lash LP
In a similar way to Ozzy Osborne, the life of Shane MacGowan was surrounded by craziness. But it's the music and the wonderful poetry of his lyrics that are important to me. Coming from a family with strong Irish connections on my Mother's side, I grew up surrounded by Irish folk music and rebel songs. And then I found punk as a teenager. So to hear an Anglo-Irish folk punk band was just wonderful, and then there was the lyrics. Shane MacGowan was more than just a lyricist. He was a poet who deserves a place among the best of the great poets of Ireland. It's nearly 2 years since we raised a parting glass to Shane, but I regularly drop into his music and words.
Gary Numan, Living Ornaments Vinyl Box set
I bought a copy of this live box set from synth pop pioneer Gary Numan, when it was released in May 1981. It cost me £15 or three weeks pocket money. Then in 2009, I sold it for £30 to buy frocks and make up. Recently I found a copy in the second hand section of my local record store and had to buy it. It cost me £49. So not much more in real terms from when I first bought it. And about on par with my selling price sixteen years ago. I always regretted selling it. After a couple of years of massive success, with the Tubeway Army album Replicas and then rebranding himself under his own name and continuing his success with the Pleasure Principle and Telekon albums, Gary Numan suddenly announced his retirement from performing live in 1981. He played lavish farewell concerts at Wembley Arena in the April and released this live box set of live performances recorded at a the Hammersmith Odeon on his 1979 and 1980 tours as a live momento for fans. His live retirement at the peak of his fame seemed a bizarre decision. Even more so when he toured again in late 1982. Some fans even misconstrued his retirement from live performing as a complete retirement and were confused when he released his next album, Dance in September 1981. His erratic behaviour definitely caused his career to go into a slow but steady decline. He has managed to resurrect his career in the last couple of decades and is now a big act again. And he was diagnosed as being autistic, which accounts for his strange decisions which nearly torpedoed his career. Musically he has always been brilliant and this box set is wonderful. I played it to death when I was at college. I'm very happy to have it back.
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Out Of The Blue Double LP
The first album I ever owned. And I still have the copy I got as a Christmas present in 1977. I love this band. The wonderful melodies, harmonies and orchestration. I got into this band in the Spring term of school in 1977, when my friends and I played the previous year's New World Record album to death on a little cassette player during the lunch breaks. Unfortunately my pocket money only gave me enough cash to buy singles to play on my Dansette record player. I couldn't afford albums, let alone a double album, but I was desperate to get hold of this album when it was released, so asked for it for Christmas. I was delighted that I received it. I also got a brand new shiny Raleigh racing bike, that was totally unexpected, so what a fab Christmas that was! This album is probably ELO's best. Featuring the hits, Turn To Stone, Sweet Talking Woman, Mr Blue Sky and Wild West Hero. Even the cover was awesome. The bands ELO logo turned into a giant spaceship that covered the gatefold sleeve, with an interior view of the same spaceship on the inside. I hadn't listened to this album for well over a decade, but when I did, I was suddenly a teenager listening to it in my bedroom again.
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