Category: Music

I bought this album because Smith and I were due to see this band at some festival somewhere at some time. I haven’t seen this band. I seem to remember the album being OK. Nothing special but also not terrible.

This is communication number 1938, here are some things that happened in that year:

• Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
• The Yellow River flood kills at least 400,000.
• “I have in my hand a piece of paper”.
• LSD is first synthesised.
• Nuclear fission of uranium discovered.

Not overly sure why I got this! I think I had seen Blade Runner and wanted some nice calming music in the same style. I don’t know. I’m not sure I’ve played it al the way through. Sometimes songs will come on as part of a shuffle and it depends on my mood as to whether I skip or not.

This is communication number 1934. Here are some things that happened that year:

• The Japanese invaded Manchuria.
• The Philippines is given some autonomous control from the USA.
• A typhoon in Japan kills 3036 people.
• Australian Frontier Wars end.

I am not sure if I’ve ever really listened to this album.

This is communication number 1931. Here’s what happened that year:

• Oswald Mosely founds the New Party.
• Porsche is founded.
• The China floods have deaths between 400,000 and 4,000,000.
• The Panama Canal is closed for a while due to damage by earthquakes.

I think all I had to say about FFDP I said in the previous communication about them. There seems to be a bit of a dip in quality albums in this area of the alphabet. Or, it’s just that there are a lot of Ts and coupled with my mistake of the “THE” word creates a stretch of albums I’m not fussed about.

This is communication number 1930 and I’m kinda trying to beat my “most in a month” record while at the same time trying to keep the quality up. It’s 19 days into the month and progress is good. I’ve got some ideas for longer communications too so maybe they will get written when I have some more time and freedom? Here are some things that happened in 1930:

• The existence of Pluto, dwarf planet, is confirmed.
• Lili Elbe begins sex reassignment surgeries.
• A fire in the Ohio penitentiary kills 320 people.
• The last recorded lynching of African Americans in USA.
• The Pope stresses the sanctity of marriage, the ban on artificial birth control and the church’s view on abortion [what a cunt].

I got a number of FFDP albums after I saw them at Download and then a location in London. I don’t mind when one of their songs comes on in a shuffle but I am definitely not bothered about playing a complete album. I’m not too fussed by their double bass drumming all the way through complete songs. Chaps, you have to have variation. But then, I’m old so maybe that is the way to go? So, there may be good stuff on here, there may not. I’m also trying to beat one of my previous best communications-per-month totals so that is why I’m publishing a lot this month.

In 1928 some of the following things happened:

• Frederick Griffith proves the existence of DNA.
• A dam failed north of LA killing 600.
• The voting age for women in UK lowers from 30 to 21. Prior to this only women over 30 and with property could vote.
• Farnsworth demonstrates the first all-electric television system.

This is actually a really good album in that late 1970s way. I’m glad Jeff has made a shit-ton of money from this. I like the fact that the first Martians land near Jase’s house, also loads of the place names are places I know. But those two things were more about HG than Mr Wayne. Oh well.

Communication number 1927 so in keeping with recent tradition and recognising this communication feels like a “cheat”, there’s not much to it, here’s what happened in 1927, curated by me:

• British troops land in Shanghai which is British [apparently].
• The UK formally becomes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• The Mississippi floods and kills 700,000.
• Iraq gains independence from the UK.

I think I own this because everyone thinks they should own this album. I don’t particularly enjoy Pink Floyd’s music and while some of it is quite good and catchy I find the rest dull and repetitive. Yes, I know, that makes me an awful person in the view of many but I just can’t quite get it. I’ve always felt like this about Floyd, not sure why, you can’t help what you like I guess.

Communication number 1923 so here we go:

• First flight of an autogyro.
• First Le Mans 24 hours race.
• Louis Armstrong makes his first recording.
• Large hailstones kill 23 in Russia.
• A damn bursts in Italy killing 356 people.

There’s something about “best of” albums that ends up meaning I don’t play them much. I think I buy a “best of” because I know some of the songs and want a few more but I don’t want to be saddled with an album that might be a bit shit. So, I get a “best of” and I hope that I enjoy listening to it. Broadly speaking I don’t enjoy listening to it and I don’t play it that often. With Van Halen I really love the album 5150 and enjoy listening to that all the way through but for some reason having the “best of” doesn’t bother me and I don’t play it. I think my emotional attachment to 5150 belongs with when I first encountered it in my life and it takes me back to the summer of 1988. Live albums are slightly different though and while they are a kind of “best of” they are also different from the studio recordings and so you discover new parts to each song.

This is communication number 1922, so here are some things that happened then:

• Snowfall causes a roof of a theatre to collapse in Washington DC killing 98.
• Insulin treatment is successfully used for the first time.
• Monza race track is opened.
• The Barbary lion and the Amur tiger both become extinct in the wild.