So here we go, two games left, four points to be certain of promotion back to the Championship. In fact because our goal difference is so much better than our only challengers, Huddersfield, then actually three points should be enough.
We have played very well of late winning our last three games but so have Huddersfield so we remain locked on the same number of points.
We have one advantage however, we have a vital game in hand, which we play tomorrow afternoon against Plymouth Argyle at their ground. If we win we are effectively promoted, if Plymouth lose they are relegated, so it's a real "six pointer".
If we do lose then, our last game is at home against Walsall, who also can still be relegated, so they will also have everything to play for. We never do it the easy way!
It's been a good season but for it to be a great season, we need those three points.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Sunday, 10 April 2011
The Gates of Delirium
As you would expect with a group of such talented creative types, there has been a number of falling outs over the years. To be a Yes fan means that you also have to put up with the soap opera which has been the line up changes that have dogged the band.
Yes first hit album was "The Yes album" which was recorded by Jon Anderson (vocals), Chris Squire (bass), Steve Howe (guitar), Bill Bruford (drums) & Tony Kaye( piano and Hammond organ). They had recorded two previous albums with guitar played by Peter Banks, but it was the introduction of Howe that took the band to the all important level of musicianship that would be the hallmark of their sound.
As the band toured the album, they introduced a synthesizer and to accommodate that sound into the studio Kaye left (was he pushed or did he jump?) and "keyboard wizard" Rick Wakeman joined. This line up produced the albums "Fragile" and "Close to the Edge" to critical acclaim. Just as the band was about to tour the second album Bruford announced that he was leaving and the band recruited drummer Alan White, who had played with John Lennon's band. These five became known as the "classic " line-up.
They actually only recorded one studio album, however, (The double concept album, Tales of Topographic Oceans) before Wakeman left as his solo career took off . He was replaced by Patrick Moraz for one album, before he left and Wakeman returned for two more studio albums.
Then came the first real jaw dropping line up change when Anderson and Wakeman both left to be replaced by Trevor Horn (vocals) and Geoff Downes (keyboards), who were better known as The Buggles best known for their pop single "Video killed the radio star". An album "Drama" followed which rocked a bit more than previous albums and they toured including 3 nights at Madison Square Garden. Horn however was more a producer than a singer and the band dis-integrated, with Howe and Downes leaving to form "Asia" and Squire and White originally looking to do something with Jimmy Page. When that didn't happen they met up with South African multi-instrumentalist Trevor Rabin and started a new band "Cinema" produced by Trevor Horn! (Hope you're keeping up!!). Technically at this point "Yes" no longer existed, but Anderson heard the recordings and with Tony Kaye coming in to play keyboards the only logic was to call the band "Yes" especially as Squire "owned" the name!
What followed was period of popular success during the 80's, built on a chart hit "Owner of a lonely heart" and two albums were recorded which brought particular success in the USA.
Then Anderson left to join with Bruford, Wakeman and Howe in ABWH , which was "Yes" but as Squire owned the name they couldn't use it so there were now two versions of the band. As the official one wasn't doing anything, however, that could last for long. Indeed it didn't as the next "Yes" album "Union" (1991) was as the name suggests a joining of the two factions with Anderson singing for both parties! They also toured with as many as eight musicians on a circular stage!
The "Owner of a lonely Heart" version then went on to record a studio album "Talk" (1994) which they toured but it didn't really have any commercial success.
In 1996 therefore the "classic" line up kissed and made up and recorded a series of live dates and6 new studio tracks which were added to the two live albums rather than as a studio album. Wakeman then left again and the remaining four with additional keyboard and guitar support released three new studio recordings and toured. In 2003 (the band's 35th anniversary) again the classic line up got together and they toured and released live DVDs and live albums but produced no new studio material.
In 2008 Jon Anderson suffered a serious respiratory disease than meant that he couldn't do the planned tour and Wakeman also bailed out (again). Rather than wait for Anderson to recover, however, the band took the strange decision to recruit a new singer (Benoit David) from a Yes tribute band and Wakeman's son Oliver was recruited to take over his dad;'s role! They have toured since 2008 and I have not wanted to see them as as Anderson is now recovered and he should be restored as singer?
Now the latest twist. The band have recorded a new studio album "We can fly from here" which gets it's name from an old track written at the time of Drama but not recorded but played on the accompanying tour. Yes have now recorded it and it was produced by Trevor Horn, who got the Drama era keyboard player Geoff Downes to play on it. Now Wakeman junior is out and Downes has rejoined the band, so that Yes now are the Drama era band with a decent singer.
Meanwhile, Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin are working on some tracks so we could yet again have two versions of the band!
2013 sees the 45th anniversary, I still think that the classic line up has one tour left in it but who knows. We could yet see a tour with upwards of 10 members on stage!
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Meeting Mr Miandad
Half term coincides with the start of the Cricket World Cup in India/Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This means that I shall get to watch a bit this week, (am sat watching England play the Netherlands as write this).
The thing that has so far made me laugh out loud on occasions is the music being played at the stadiums over the public address system.
Twenty/20 cricket has changed cricket in many ways, some good, some bad. One of the first changes was that batsmen couldn't walk to the crease only to the sound of generous applause from the crowd. No, now there had to be loud, at times deafening, music played, initially when batsmen were out ( and therefore the new one came in|). That soon changed to playing the music whenever there was a gap in play, i.e.at the end of the over, a drinks break or the aforementioned wicket falling. Then some bright spark had the idea of letting the incoming batsmen choose what music was blasted at the unsuspecting public while there hero walked to face his first ball.
It's fairly well known that footballers have fairly dodgy taste in music and cricketers are not far behind!! This therefore led to all sorts of RAP, R"n"B and dances tunes making octogenarian members of the home club spill large quantities of gin and tonic as for example The Black Eyed Peas let everyone know "tonight's gonna be a good night".
The 2011 Cricket world cup is taking this use of loud music to a new and all together confusing area. This I shall call "Bollyrock" Imagine the Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water" sampled to just the main riff (beloved by aspiring guitarist's) mixed with a "Bollywood" style" dance background! Or try Queens "We will rock you" with the main chant repeated ad nauseum, with the guitar riff then sampled in to give light and shade!!!
Yesterdays game between Kenya and Australia had a medieval flute interlude, which sounded like Robin Hood was about to appear, followed by live Indian drumming, which on occasions sounds like someone has dropped the drums down a long flight of stairs.
I never thought that I would look back fondly at 10cc's Dreadlock Holiday being used in cricket coverage, but it appears that I do!
The thing that has so far made me laugh out loud on occasions is the music being played at the stadiums over the public address system.
Twenty/20 cricket has changed cricket in many ways, some good, some bad. One of the first changes was that batsmen couldn't walk to the crease only to the sound of generous applause from the crowd. No, now there had to be loud, at times deafening, music played, initially when batsmen were out ( and therefore the new one came in|). That soon changed to playing the music whenever there was a gap in play, i.e.at the end of the over, a drinks break or the aforementioned wicket falling. Then some bright spark had the idea of letting the incoming batsmen choose what music was blasted at the unsuspecting public while there hero walked to face his first ball.
It's fairly well known that footballers have fairly dodgy taste in music and cricketers are not far behind!! This therefore led to all sorts of RAP, R"n"B and dances tunes making octogenarian members of the home club spill large quantities of gin and tonic as for example The Black Eyed Peas let everyone know "tonight's gonna be a good night".
The 2011 Cricket world cup is taking this use of loud music to a new and all together confusing area. This I shall call "Bollyrock" Imagine the Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water" sampled to just the main riff (beloved by aspiring guitarist's) mixed with a "Bollywood" style" dance background! Or try Queens "We will rock you" with the main chant repeated ad nauseum, with the guitar riff then sampled in to give light and shade!!!
Yesterdays game between Kenya and Australia had a medieval flute interlude, which sounded like Robin Hood was about to appear, followed by live Indian drumming, which on occasions sounds like someone has dropped the drums down a long flight of stairs.
I never thought that I would look back fondly at 10cc's Dreadlock Holiday being used in cricket coverage, but it appears that I do!
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Return of the Mack
My last blog post was about a "comedy" series with which I was less than impressed. This one is about one which I find really funny.
"Not going out" is now in its fourth series and it is an oddity in that after series three it was cancelled, only for it to be re-commissioned a while later.
The show stars two stand up comedians, Lee Mack & Tim Vine (brother of Radio 2 DJ, Jeremy Vine), they play best mates, who first met at a party in the 80's. In the first series Lee Mack shared a flat with Tim Vine's ex girlfriend, played by the American actress Megan Dodds (who had previously starred in Spooks).She's very attractive and Lee Mack tries to juggle, fancying her, not wishing to annoy her (she owns the flat) and taking every opportunity to wind up Tim Vine that he is sharing a flat with someone who dumped him. As in all good comedies most of the action either takes place in the flat or their local pub/wine bar. Clever plots and excellent scripts made a good first 6 episodes.
At the end of series one, Megan Dodds left the show which gave the writers and producers a challenge as the "will they/won't they" tension between her and Lee Mack had been the cornerstone of the first series. Their solution was to say that she had gone back to the USA & introduce Tim Vine's younger, equally attractive sister Lucy to the story and make her Lee's new flat mate. To play Lucy they chose Sally Bretton who had some comedy interspersed with more serious parts and she quickly restored the underlying sexual tension with Lee Mack only this time Tim is trying to defend his sisters honour. Just to screw with Lee's mind a bit more Lucy finds a boyfriend who is older then Lee (who is already 10 years or so older then Lucy) with Lucy announcing that she likes "older men". Series 2 found plenty in the various relationships to keep us laughing and entertained. Along the way series 2 also introduced Barbara the clumsy cleaner, played wonderfully by Miranda Hart.
Series 3 continued the Lee/Lucy story to no great conclusion, although by then she had dumped the older boyfriend, with the main development being Tim getting a "nice but dim"girlfriend, Daisy. played by Katy Wix, to add to the ensemble. Barbara, the cleaner, had a bigger role and her clumsiness became an art form and one of the features of series 3. The scripts remained well written and it was with some disappointment that I learned shortly after series 3 finished that that it had been cancelled. when one of the writers, Andrew Collins tweeted to that effect.
That was reversed however and series 4 is now with us. Sadly Miranda Hart has left as she now has her own self named "sit com" (and very good it is too) so Daisy now has a bigger role. Lee Mack continues to play his "lovable Northerner"( who still fancies Lucy) to great effect and Tim remains the repressed accountant.
I will continue to look forward to 9.30 pm on a Thursday for at least four more weeks.
"Not going out" is now in its fourth series and it is an oddity in that after series three it was cancelled, only for it to be re-commissioned a while later.
The show stars two stand up comedians, Lee Mack & Tim Vine (brother of Radio 2 DJ, Jeremy Vine), they play best mates, who first met at a party in the 80's. In the first series Lee Mack shared a flat with Tim Vine's ex girlfriend, played by the American actress Megan Dodds (who had previously starred in Spooks).She's very attractive and Lee Mack tries to juggle, fancying her, not wishing to annoy her (she owns the flat) and taking every opportunity to wind up Tim Vine that he is sharing a flat with someone who dumped him. As in all good comedies most of the action either takes place in the flat or their local pub/wine bar. Clever plots and excellent scripts made a good first 6 episodes.
At the end of series one, Megan Dodds left the show which gave the writers and producers a challenge as the "will they/won't they" tension between her and Lee Mack had been the cornerstone of the first series. Their solution was to say that she had gone back to the USA & introduce Tim Vine's younger, equally attractive sister Lucy to the story and make her Lee's new flat mate. To play Lucy they chose Sally Bretton who had some comedy interspersed with more serious parts and she quickly restored the underlying sexual tension with Lee Mack only this time Tim is trying to defend his sisters honour. Just to screw with Lee's mind a bit more Lucy finds a boyfriend who is older then Lee (who is already 10 years or so older then Lucy) with Lucy announcing that she likes "older men". Series 2 found plenty in the various relationships to keep us laughing and entertained. Along the way series 2 also introduced Barbara the clumsy cleaner, played wonderfully by Miranda Hart.
Series 3 continued the Lee/Lucy story to no great conclusion, although by then she had dumped the older boyfriend, with the main development being Tim getting a "nice but dim"girlfriend, Daisy. played by Katy Wix, to add to the ensemble. Barbara, the cleaner, had a bigger role and her clumsiness became an art form and one of the features of series 3. The scripts remained well written and it was with some disappointment that I learned shortly after series 3 finished that that it had been cancelled. when one of the writers, Andrew Collins tweeted to that effect.
That was reversed however and series 4 is now with us. Sadly Miranda Hart has left as she now has her own self named "sit com" (and very good it is too) so Daisy now has a bigger role. Lee Mack continues to play his "lovable Northerner"( who still fancies Lucy) to great effect and Tim remains the repressed accountant.
I will continue to look forward to 9.30 pm on a Thursday for at least four more weeks.
Thursday, 13 January 2011
I'm Mandy fly me
I never found "Little Britain" hilariously funny, so I guess that I shouldn't me surprised that David Walliams & Matt Lucas' new show "come fly with me" leaves me cold.
The concept is good, a "mockumentory" about the airline industry, based on the various programmes made about airports, airlines and the various other industries that depend on flight. Lucas & Walliams play various "colour full characters" both male and female, old and young and of various ethnic backgrounds. Some are funny, like the really thick teenager (Lucas) who dreams of being a pilot but can't understand how to serve on the counter in a fast food restaurant. Some make you smile, like the 1st class flight attendant who doesn't think that a couple are "worthy" to be in 1st class. The majority however range from not funny to insensitive. I don't see that making fun of a boy in a wheelchair or excessive drug taking by customs officers is "funny". That was the two worst examples and there were plenty more. Some sketches clearly tried to shock but that is a poor substitute for a joke that makes you laugh.
As the journalist David Hepworth wrote on Twitter "Re: Come Fly With Me: at what point did they convince themselves it was going to be funny? When they banked the cheque?"
Fortunately the BBC scheduled "Not going out" straight afterwards and that was funny with jokes and everything.
The concept is good, a "mockumentory" about the airline industry, based on the various programmes made about airports, airlines and the various other industries that depend on flight. Lucas & Walliams play various "colour full characters" both male and female, old and young and of various ethnic backgrounds. Some are funny, like the really thick teenager (Lucas) who dreams of being a pilot but can't understand how to serve on the counter in a fast food restaurant. Some make you smile, like the 1st class flight attendant who doesn't think that a couple are "worthy" to be in 1st class. The majority however range from not funny to insensitive. I don't see that making fun of a boy in a wheelchair or excessive drug taking by customs officers is "funny". That was the two worst examples and there were plenty more. Some sketches clearly tried to shock but that is a poor substitute for a joke that makes you laugh.
As the journalist David Hepworth wrote on Twitter "Re: Come Fly With Me: at what point did they convince themselves it was going to be funny? When they banked the cheque?"
Fortunately the BBC scheduled "Not going out" straight afterwards and that was funny with jokes and everything.
Saturday, 1 January 2011
New Years Day
So what do I hope for in 2011, besides the obvious stuff of health, happiness and wealth?
1) Saints to end the year top of the Championship.
2) the "classic" line up of Yes to get together and play while they are all still alive.
3) England to win the Cricket world cup.
4) Arsenal to win the Premier League and Blackpool get into Europe.
5) new series of Sherlock, Dr Who, Not Going Out, Modern Family and Downton Abbey.
6) Prog to continue it's resurgence.
7) play lots more golf!
Happy New Year!
-- Post From My iPhone
1) Saints to end the year top of the Championship.
2) the "classic" line up of Yes to get together and play while they are all still alive.
3) England to win the Cricket world cup.
4) Arsenal to win the Premier League and Blackpool get into Europe.
5) new series of Sherlock, Dr Who, Not Going Out, Modern Family and Downton Abbey.
6) Prog to continue it's resurgence.
7) play lots more golf!
Happy New Year!
-- Post From My iPhone
Friday, 3 December 2010
Russians
It is hard not to look like the loser in a beauty contest crying "it's not fair, I'm the prettiest" but the outcome of the draw for the country to host 2018 World Cup has been fairly hard to take.
The contest looks at a number of areas (security, infrastructure, stadia, hotel accommodation, training facilities etc) and then reports are produced by FIFA. By all accounts our reports were very good with the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, allegedly saying that we were ready to host the tournament "tomorrow".
Yesterday each bidding nation had to make a presentation to the jury and again ours was seen as the best.
As we all now know the 2018 World Cup was awarded to the Russians and the main reason appears to be that their hosting it will leave the biggest legacy, which is one of FIFA's stated aims in awarding tournament. Does that mean that as we invented the game and have most of the country playing the game and have the best league in the world (?) that actually we couldn't leave a legacy? Our presentation in fact addressed that issue by talking about how we would use the competition to work alongside unemployed and disadvantaged people and use football to help them, but that was obviously not what FIFA see as a legacy.
We needed 12 votes to win from 22 delegates, we got 2. Frankly that feels like Eurovision does!
While the Sunday Times article and BBC Panorama programme (who both alleged bribery or corruption amongst the FIFA board) may have annoyed or offended some of the delegates, 2 votes show that it appears we were never ever a serious candidate as we were never going to leave a legacy similar to that that Russia and Qatar (who were awarded the 2022 competition|) could easily demonstrate.
The depressing truth is that I can't ever seeing us hosting the World Cup again in my life time and it could be 100 years after the last time that we did do it, before we might get the chance again if this experience is anything to go by.
The contest looks at a number of areas (security, infrastructure, stadia, hotel accommodation, training facilities etc) and then reports are produced by FIFA. By all accounts our reports were very good with the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, allegedly saying that we were ready to host the tournament "tomorrow".
Yesterday each bidding nation had to make a presentation to the jury and again ours was seen as the best.
As we all now know the 2018 World Cup was awarded to the Russians and the main reason appears to be that their hosting it will leave the biggest legacy, which is one of FIFA's stated aims in awarding tournament. Does that mean that as we invented the game and have most of the country playing the game and have the best league in the world (?) that actually we couldn't leave a legacy? Our presentation in fact addressed that issue by talking about how we would use the competition to work alongside unemployed and disadvantaged people and use football to help them, but that was obviously not what FIFA see as a legacy.
We needed 12 votes to win from 22 delegates, we got 2. Frankly that feels like Eurovision does!
While the Sunday Times article and BBC Panorama programme (who both alleged bribery or corruption amongst the FIFA board) may have annoyed or offended some of the delegates, 2 votes show that it appears we were never ever a serious candidate as we were never going to leave a legacy similar to that that Russia and Qatar (who were awarded the 2022 competition|) could easily demonstrate.
The depressing truth is that I can't ever seeing us hosting the World Cup again in my life time and it could be 100 years after the last time that we did do it, before we might get the chance again if this experience is anything to go by.
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