And we'll have it backwards

Hearing, at around the same time, Tomorrow Never Knows and Don't Stop  I remember thinking, "If I ever record an album, I'll do all the guitars backwards".  I was unaware until about a week ago that such an album had been recorded by the Teenage Filmstars.  (But only in 1997, conceptually I was years ahead of them.)  They don't just do the guitars backwards - everything is, except the drums.  It doesn't blow me away to be honest but I salute their er, indefatigability or something.

Teenage Filmstars H.U.M.

In search of space xmas

It should be one of the hundred things you do before you die - see a Hawkwind gig. And, the other night, that is what I did.

I wasn't sure what to expect really. I've got a few of their albums and obviously I had enough faith to shell out the twenty pounds for a ticket. Chatting to one of my friends the next day he said he'd been worried we were in for a big cloud of dry ice with strange noises coming out of it. And I think that was lurking in the back of my mind.

Anyway, it wasn't like that at all. Instead it was surprisingly full on rock, a decent light show of course and, the first time I've ever seen this at a gig, a couple of gyrating dancing girls. Aside from the inevitable Silver Machine I didn't recognise any of the tunes (my request for Orgone Accumulator went unheeded). But so what. It was great. I think I'll go every year.

Newfoundband

Thinking about all the music that's ever been released you think, "There must be tons of great stuff out there that I've got no idea about". In the past I've been vaguely aware of bands, will have heard what's regarded as their classic track or something but only come round to appreciating their full awesomeness years later.

Sometimes though you find an amazing band of whose existence, like some lost tribe in the Amazon, you'd had no inkling. This happened to me a few months back with The Young Rascals. The "Where have you been hiding this band?" is made all the better, I think, by the fact that they were pretty famous in America.

They're a bit Small Faces, starting off quite straight soul belters, then getting a bit weird and psychedelic and this tune is from round about the time they pop out the other side.

The Young Rascals Easy Rollin'

Psychedelic warlock

Flipping through the latest Mojo I was most struck by a full page photo of Roy Wood (pg 105). I don't own any of his stuff (might put a bid in for Boulders) but that is one of the most impressive pop star get ups I've ever seen, just look at that hair. And I'd love a top like that. Not sure where I'd wear it though.

Unser Herr Nimmersatt

There are so many great things about autumn - wearing big coats and scarves, crows cawing in bare trees, Bonfire Night, the sharp night air, massive industrial action, several family birthdays, pubs with fires and it all culminating in Christmas.

Yet another great thing about autumn is the reappearance of hearty food, food that just wouldn't seem that palatable during the warmer months. And so, in a slight change to my usual output here's a post on me making bratkartoffeln.

With some obvious exceptions I find myself drawn to German things. When I was young I used to prefer my little model German stormtroopers over their British commando counterparts, whose uniforms looked a bit scruffy in comparison. (My favourite was the one with a shiny flame thrower, what an insane toy.) This preference must have been marked, I remember my mum waking me up one morning with the words, "I've got some good news for you, you've got German measles").

But anyway, the food:

A nice chunk of smoked bacon. A tiny bit carcinogenic apparently, but then what isn't eh?

Cook for about ten minutes in a pan with a chopped onion and then put to one side.

Next in the pan, the main ingredient: potatoes. For the best results you need to have boiled them the day before and kept them in the fridge overnight, otherwise they tend to fall to bits.

Plenty of salt and pepper.

Parsley, certainly adds to the flavour and, at a stretch, one of your five a day.

I started the pan warming with a splosh of vegetable oil but round about now like to add a bit of butter.

The triumphant return of the onion and bacon.

Move it around a bit with a spatula and then just before it really starts to burn serve with bratwurst and I've been eating it with salad with tons of fresh peppers.