World Wide Woozle episode #642

Thank you readers! 50 people have taken the time to read my first "albums that matter" blog post. I'm flabbergasted. I really wasn't sure that it would generate any interest at all. You can be assured that, with renewed vigour and enthusiasm,  I'll keep working on more of these.

ZZ Top - I Thank You (1979) - https://youtu.be/PjbaHlTl86Q

Link to Spotify playlist for all the songs in this episode; click here.

Jethro Tull will be releasing a new album in early March. As you'd expect, a single has been released, along with the obligatory music video, to get our attention. Ignoring the fact that Jethro Tull should never have won a Grammy for heavy metal bands, I quite like them albeit not in huge doses. The album Stormwatch (1979) is the one for me and has been for more than twenty years. The new single is classic Tull. They have an instantly recognisable sound based around Ian's flute and voice melded with traditional and modern instrumentation. The new single showcases all of that as well as new guitarist Jack Clark who channels the old rhythm sounds and adds tasty soaring lead breaks.

Jethro Tull - Curious Remnant - https://youtu.be/sFOv9HHe19c

I'm a bit miffed today. I thought my sore knee was better so I headed off for a gentle walk. Well, I was wrong and it still hurts. I will put my big boy trousers on and get it looked at by the physio next week. This is so annoying. I trained hard on my walking fitness prior to going to the USA. I gradually built up distance and time to the point where a 21km hard hike up and down hills felt good. Oh well. I'll do the rehab and get it back to what passes for normal. Meanwhile my new bike with its geometry that suits my back is a total revelation. At least that doesn't hurt anything! I also have some other fitness stuff going on but maybe I'll reveal that another time.

Have you ever listened to a band called Mogwai? Me neither. Not with any real level of interest anyway. They are from Glasgow and have been around since 1995. At some stage I got it into my head that all they did was make noise that annoyed me so I tuned out. I was turned around by some tracks from their new album (released yesterday) that were early releases. Much of their music is instrumental and some tracks are very long and involved. If you'd like something to listen to that you can feel as well then this might be it. Apparently they are a "post-rock" band. 

Mogwai - Fanzine Made Of Flesh - https://youtu.be/hKFvvSE4SCo

Here's one for all my peeps in the UK, USA and Canada. While we are sweating it out DownUnder, they're contending with some very average weather. How had I not heard of this celtic/punk band from Sydney? They are awesome!

The Rumjacks feat. Ken Casey of Dropkick Murphys - Cold Like This  - https://youtu.be/LAS3hnlzSH8

Jason Isbell also has a new album coming out. This time it's a solo, acoustic affair. He's a well regarded lyricist and musician and I'm looking forward to seeing how he fares without The 400 Unit backing him up. If you haven't heard the album of mostly solo, acoustic demos from the Southeastern album that came out last year then seriously, run to the record shop (or your preferred streaming service) and have a listen. 

Jason Isbell - Bury Me - https://youtu.be/dMUTZv-6Yak

I've chosen the next song because it's one I started listening to a few years ago and I regularly find myself re-adding it to my playlists. When I first heard it, Willie Nile was a guy I didn't know but it turns out he's great. The album that includes this track is well worth listening to. Sometimes I feel that he has the same pattern of repetition in many of his songs but then if it works then why fix it. This is earthy, honest rock and roll with lyrics that, despite a million cliches, bite hard.

Willie Nile with Steve Earle - Blood On Your Hands - https://youtu.be/LCM1QyWM-3M

My mate George is busy prepping for some upcoming gigs. Watch out for details soon if you are in Canberra as well as further afield. He's also found time to release a new song and associated clip. This one is a bit different to a lot of George's slower tunes. Yes, it's complex but also easy to listen to (without being easy listening). It's a song that I feel I can let wash over me and seep into my pores. Please give it a listen. Supporting local music is more important than ever in a world of billion listen Spotify tracks. And if you want a copy of this on physical media then George is available via his website or Farcebook page.

George Huitker - What Makes It Rain - https://youtu.be/ateArN2kZtU

Sometimes the internet is a good thing. I mean that's how you're reading this as opposed to me sending reams of photocopies of a fanzine all over the world. As a result of being online and looking for Big Country songs this band popped up. They're from Saskatoon in Canada which is also where one of my great friends, Ken, lives. Were they well known outside of Canada? I dunno. This is a great song though and I intend to track down an album or two. To be honest, when the song started I thought that they were about to cover Blondie's Heart of Glass.

The Northern Pikes - Things I Do For Money - https://youtu.be/7FnrC0JPEAI

Shirley Manson has a singing voice that I really like. She's also a great actress. Check her out in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as she's wonderfully evil. This song regularly resonates with me and perhaps as a cautionary tale. It's too easy to only be happy when you've got something to whinge about.

Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains (acoustic) - https://youtu.be/ieZWE_A6gzc

What would happen if The Doors, The Specials, and a beat poet mixed their DNA up in Washington DC and started a band? I think I've found the answer to this in a group called Des Demonas. One of my regular music pusher-men, David Dubya, pointed me in their direction and I was not disappointed.

Des Demonas - Apocalyptic Boom Boom - https://youtu.be/NxzHZLw_JOQ

That'll do. Watch out for a link to the next albums that matter episode via Fartsbook or in the next blog. I'm not emailing those out as a maximum of one email every now and then for me is enough.

Rock on and keep smiling,

The Woozle (with 'assistance' from Gertrude and Fitzwilliam)

"If you wanna be an Aussie, here's the way to go

Take care of Country and let the wattles grow.

There's no room for hate here, love runs the show..."

John Williamson, If You Wanna Be An Aussie, 2025.

World Wide Woozle episode #641

Hello groovers and welcome back.

First of all, the World Wide Woozle current listening playlist is completely updated and available for your listening pleasure. Click here to access it via Spotify. Spotify doesn't tell me if anyone actually listens to this but it keeps me amused for ages.

Secondly, as I mentioned last time around, I've started a series of new blog posts about albums that matter to me. Episode 1 is now online. I'm always interested in feedback and to hear if particular albums or songs resonate with you. This series won't be particularly regular but there are a few posts bubbling away on paper and in my brain so keep an eye out for links here and perhaps via Farcebook. To be honest, all you're going to get out of me on social media for the foreseeable future is music links and maybe a photo or two. I have successfully reduced my usage of Zuckerberg's Zombie Zone almost down to zero. This accompanies an increase in the amount of reading I'm doing.

On Friday night I was fortunate enough that my mate Steve invited me out to a gig. We headed to Smith's Alternative in town to see John Kennedy & The New Originals. All I knew about the band was what I could glean in a week of listening to a lot of their albums. The show was awesome. Imagine Elvis Costello mixed up with Wedding Parties Anything and The Go-Betweens (with a touch of The Johnnys) and you're in the ballpark. John's band included Phil Hall (Lime Spiders), Murray Cook (Soul Movers, The Wiggles) as well as Pete Timmerman (drums) and Matt Galvin (guitars). They were admittedly a bit rusty but that only showed on one or two brand new songs and they laughed it up and played on. I grabbed a signed copy of their latest (live) CD, Live At The Marrickville Bowl, and was disappointed that they didn't have other albums for sale. Great band, great fun and with the early slot at Smith's, I was home by about 2145hrs!

John Kennedy & The New Originals - Good To Be Here - https://youtu.be/uiD_I9ac4mQ

I've had a rough couple of weeks with my mental health. There's no rhyme or reason to it and that's such a frustrating thing. Then I twisted my knee while out bushwalking and it's been a bit sore. Cycling has been fine but I had to drastically cut back on my walking for a week and a bit. Boring! And just when I was at my lowest this song popped up via the YouTube algorithms. For once they got it right. This is a ripper and I'm sure you'll understand why. Good old Ringo!

Ringo Starr  - Look Up - https://youtu.be/1SyYbLRlwKI

I can't top that song from Ringo so that'll do for this time around.

Keep smiling,

The Woozle

Never ever ever gonna drive so fast,

Never ever ever gonna smash the past,

Never ever ever gonna hide my face...

Soul Movers, You-Turn, 2024

World Wide Woozle - Albums that matter episode #1

Welcome

Welcome to an irregular series of posts about albums that matter. As with all my blog posts I am interested to hear from you with comments, questions or feedback. I'm not a professional writer however so there's no need to correct my grammar, style or spelling!

What's this all about?

I've written almost 650 blog posts about music, songs and my life. I started in 2007 and although there have been a few twists and bumps along the road, I've been writing for close to twenty years. The reasons for wanting or needing to write change from week to week. Often I'm writing for myself as much as for you, the reader and listener.

Last week I was blogging and listening to music when a track came on that floored me. I was instantly transported back to a particular time and place. I remembered listening to the album that the song was on over and over. Is it the greatest album of all time? Hardly. What I reflected on though was what the long player meant to me then and now.

As a result, I've decided to write about some albums that matter or mattered to me in one way or another.

Album #1: AC/DC - Blow Up Your Video (1988)

AC/DC fans will no doubt already be up in arms. The 1988 release is hardly well regarded and although it gave us two big singles, the rest is forgettable to most. Not to me.

In January 1988 I was going into my final year of school. My family had been in a state of change and I'd come back to Australia to live with my Dad. It wasn't an easy time for anyone. On the way home from Melbourne airport to Gippsland we dropped into a shopping centre. I knew that Blow Up Your Video had just been released and I was hoping that it would be in stores by now. At that time I was a massive fan of hard rock and heavy metal despite it really not being a popular form of music with other than one or two of my friends. I was ecstatic to get the cassette and Dad gritted his teeth and let me pop it into the car stereo.

Let me tell you about the car stereo. Back in the 80s, having a great car sound system wasn't all that common. Certainly only a few years earlier I'd been told that we wouldn't be playing the radio or cassettes in the car because Dad said it was distracting. Times change! This car had a two speaker system as well as receiving AM stereo which was brand new in Australia at the time (and didn't last). I loved to be in that car and listen to AM radio that wasn't the standard muffled mono sound. The cassette player was awesome too. It had separate controls for bass and treble, as opposed to a single tone knob, and that mattered to me.

So, in went AC/DC. I think Dad managed to cope with the first side before he'd had enough. In all fairness to him, this is before we really saw eye to eye on music to listen to, but that's a tale to tell another day about another special album.

In 1988 albums were precious. None of us had many and we shared and copied. My cassette carrier with its twenty cassettes was a prized possession. As a result, I got to be very familiar with those particular recordings as well as my small collection of LPs and 45 rpm singles.

In no time at all I knew the tracks on Blow Up Your Video inside out. I can still sing along to most of them now. In 1988 I'd stay up late for the few hours of MTV we got on a Friday or Saturday night in the usually vain hope of seeing AC/DC or anything close to hard rock. The clips for Heatseeker and That's The Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll were aired once in a blue moon. No-one I knew had a video recorder. I'm not sure that my school had more than one or two either.

I don't think there are any stinkers on this album, in fact the opposite. The guitars growled and roared in a way that they wouldn't again on an AC/DC record. The next album had a more commercial, almost processed sound and then after that the guitars, whilst still awesome, became cleaner. More Rolling Stones-esque than what we'd been used to. Brian Johnson (vocals) talks about the record being recorded in an old chateau in France. It sounds glamorous but in reality it was run down and spartan. Apparently the band couldn't wait to get out of there. As a result the album has a level of urgency to it. The AC/DC swagger is there in spades but there's also a menacing feel borne of a level of discomfort. I guess that edge to the sound resonated with me then and it still does.

Only four of the ten tracks on Blow Up Your Video have ever been played in concert by AC/DC. I guess that's an indication both of the strength of their catalogue but also of how much they maybe don't like the album.

Meanstreak is, for me, the one that they should give an airing once in a while. The intro riff reminds me of a police siren and the song has a wonderful groove that conjures up images of old cartoon crooks tiptoeing down a shady alleyway.

I still have Blow Up Your Video on that original cassette from 1988. I shudder to think how many times it was played at home and on my walkman clone. I've now got it on CD as well but it's not one I've managed to add to the collection on vinyl yet. I must remedy that one day soon. The album is a reminder of my final year at school and all that is part of that pivotal time. A very strong memory is listening to it on the bus on the way to school, hoping that the batteries in the walkman would last. My player had two headphone jacks so I would regularly be listening with my mate Paul. I'm pretty sure I didn't subject my Dad to it in the car again though!

Thanks for reading this,
The Woozle

World Wide Woozle episode #640

Welcome back enormous listening world. To paraphrase Bon Scott, if you want tunes, you've got it!

I started creating a playlist for this episode a little while ago. Whilst there's a theme, I won't make you guess. The playlist is here on Spotify.

There's no secret that I really don't like to dance. I always feel awkward, self-conscious and like I'd rather be anywhere else. I'm happy to stand or sit at a live show and I'll tap my foot, nod my head and sing along but I'm not dancing. At least not in public. When I was in Jindabyne recently I was pumping out some tunes and one made me want to throw caution to the wind and dance. So I did. This group of songs are the ones that I dance to when no-one is looking. These are the ones that make me smile and I hope you do as well. The episode is meant to be fun so click ALL the links (or the playlist) and get moving. Remember, no-one ever has to know!

First up, the song that made me want to move my body. This is also a really good fun song to play but I can't sing it for quids!

Bryan Adams, Mel C - When You're Gone - https://youtu.be/wB4fLBULvdE

SWOOP were around from '91-'99 and this track has always been a favourite of mine. The fuzzed out guitar solo is a killer and I really like the interplay between the two vocalists.

SWOOP - Apple Eyes - https://youtu.be/c2gvieJeKXA

The Party Boys had a rotating roster made up of the who's who of Australian music. Their 1987 album brought them a couple of hits and also the support slot for AC/DC's 1988 World Tour. The self-titled album was on high rotation with me all through my last year of high school. This is an old La De Da's song and Kevin Borich is in both bands. I just think it's a great rock and roll song. I was hooked from the first three descending power chords that come just after the introduction.

The Party Boys - Gonna See My Baby Tonight - https://youtu.be/wSpXFlh_47k

I missed the Skyhooks because I was a bit young and not living in Australia or paying attention when they were at their peak. That's OK, I've made up for it in recent years. For a while I thought they were a bit too glam for my liking and then I focussed on the tunes. There's a really good compilation of 70s Melbourne bands named after the next song. Two and half hours of bands like the Skyhooks, Daddy Cool, Jo Jo Zep, The Sports, and Mondo Rock. This CD turned me on to this track and subsequently more Skyhooks tunes. But yeah, it's another one that makes me want to get up and move.

Skyhooks - Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo) - https://youtu.be/rjVqGyxb_NY

I saw You Am I play live at the Livid Festival in Brisbane back in 1995 and they were woeful. Maybe they were just having a bad day in the brutal heat but I didn't hang around for much of their set. The same day I saw Supergroove, The Mark of Cain, The Cruel Sea, and Rollins Band play magnificent sets. I've not had the chance to see them again but live footage and longevity seems to suggest that they know what they're doing! This track, recorded live in 1997 for a programme in the Netherlands, is a great demonstration of indie pop. It's got a great beat, catchy melody and it's a toe tapper.

You Am I - Good Mornin' (live) - https://youtu.be/72YAhcRN62c

In 1992, Dan Baird (ex Georgia Satellites) released an album called, Love Songs For The Hearing Impaired. If good old fashioned rock and roll is your thing then this album is for you. It's full of tracks made for singing along to and possibly getting a little line dancing in as well. This one is a story in just a few minutes; it's just a shame there's no film clip.

Dan Baird - Dixie Beauderant - https://youtu.be/NyI4181J-Z4

Hands up who remembers when mobile telephones were carried around in a satchel and only rich people and posers had them? Me, I do. I also remember my good mate Vaughan and I managing a loan pool of them at work. Who was that senior officer who allegedly used his loaner to call x-rated phone lines?! Anyway, this song isn't so much about the advent of mobile telephones as it is about people changing and not always for the best. I saw Weddings Parties Anything at the Canberra Racecourse somewhere in the mid-90s and they were so cool. I loved, and still love, the Celtic and folk influences in their brand of Aussie rock and roll.

Weddings Parties Anything - Telephone In Her Car - https://youtu.be/tpTrjR0CFOk

Last year I saw The Darkness play here in Canberra. It was almost surreal to be in a smallish venue, up close and personal with such a big band. They have a lot of fun and make sure that their audiences do as well. As this song should indicate to you, they don't take themselves too seriously.

The Darkness - Friday Night - https://youtu.be/_MdSawNUEIk

This one shouldn't be a huge surprise to anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time. It's been a while since I picked up a guitar but this is one of my favourite songs to play. It was great fun in a band and it's a cracker alone as well. Watching Jason and Sadler playing though I think I probably should be learning it in an open tuning. I avoided Super 8 motels in the USA but I guess it would've been amusing to go to one. Next time.

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Super 8 (live at Red Rocks, 2024) - https://youtu.be/OAPT13PUqxM

I'm going to finish this little dance playlist with something from Kylie. I'm not too proud to say that very early on I didn't think much of her at all. But then it's easy to jump on a bandwagon without really making up your own mind. In the late 80s heavy metal fans did not listen to Kylie. Bollocks to that. She's awesome and this is a very fine track.

Kylie Minogue - Say Something - https://youtu.be/KMt8NbndXCo

Next time on The World Wide Woozle I'll be starting an on again, off again series of deep dives into albums that mean something to me. All that and the usual blabbing and a live gig review.

Keep smiling,
The Woozle

"We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance
And if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine..."

Men Without Hats, Safety Dance, 1982.