Introduction


Welcome to my Blog which combines the unlikely topics of supply teaching with progressive rock. Here you will find my ongoing 'Diary of a Surviving Supply Teacher' and a variety of lists/ timelines/ articles on progressive rock.



Saturday 19 February 2011

Rainbow Discography


1975     Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow on Polydor
            Singles: Man on the Silver Mountain, Catch the Rainbow 

1976     Rising on Polydor
Singles: Starstruck, Stargazer   

1977     On Stage Live  

1978     Long Live Rock 'n' Roll on Polydor
            Singles: Kill the King, Long Live Rock 'N' Roll, LA Connection

1979     Down to Earth on Polydor
Singles: Gates of Babylon, Since You Been Gone,

1980     Single: All Night Long (1980)

1981     Difficult to Cure PolyGram
            Singles: I Surrender, Can't Happen Here 

1981     The Best of Rainbow Compilation

1981     Jealous Lover EP

1982     Straight Between the Eyes on Polydor
            Singles: Stone Cold, Power       

1983     Bent out of Shape on Mercury
Singles: Can't Let You Go, Street of Dreams      

1986     Finyl Vinyl Live             

1990     Live in Germany '76 Live           

1995     Stranger in Us All
Singles: Hunting Humans (Insatiable), Ariel         

1997     The Very Best of Rainbow Compilation
2000     20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rainbow Compilation         
2001     Classic Rainbow - The Universal Masters Collection Compilation 
2002     Pot of Gold Compilation
2002     All Night Long: An Introduction Compilation
2003     Catch the Rainbow: The Anthology Compilation  
2006     Live in Munich 1977 Live                       
2006     Deutschland Tournee 1976 (box set) Live           
2009     Star Club Präsentiert Rainbow Compilation         
2009     Anthology 1975-1984 (incl. unreleased track) Compilation

Picture from: http://www.josephinewall.co.uk/rainbow2.html

Originally posted on Saturday, 19 February 2011

Friday 18 February 2011

Progressive Rock Books


PROGRESSIVE ROCK GENRE
·         Bach Meets Liszt: Traditional Formal Structures and Performance Practices in Progressive Rock (1992), article in Musical Quarterly, vol.76, no. 1, pp. 67-92, by Nors S. Josephson ISBN Not known
·         The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music by Bradley Evans ISBN: 0823076652
·         The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music (1997) by Bradley Smith ISBN: 0-8230-7665-2
Keith Emerson: The Emergence and Growth of Style doctoral thesis (1988) by Blair Pethel. No ISBN
·         Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, 1968-1978 by Bill Martin       081269368X
·         Mountains Come Out of the Sky (2010) by Will Romano ISBN 13: 9780879309916, ISBN 10: 0879309911
·         The Music's All That Matters: A History of Progressive Rock by Paul Stump 0704380366
·         The Music's all That Matters: a History of Progressive Rock 2nd Edition (1998) by Paul Stump ISBN: 0-7043-8036-6
·         Power, Passion and Glory by Walter Kolosky ISBN: Not known   
·         The Progressive Rock Files by Jerry Lucky 1896522106
·         The Progressive Rock Handbook by Jerry Lucky 9781894959766
·         Progressive Rock Reconsidered (2001) Ed. by Kevin Holm-Hudson ISBN: 0815337159
Rockin' the Classics and Classicizin' the Rock (1985) by Janell Duxbury ISBN: 031324605X
·         Rockin' the Classics and Classicizin' the Rock – First Supplement (1991) by Janell Duxbury ISBN: 0313275424
·         Rockin' the Classics and Classicizin' the Rock – Second Supplement (2000) by Janell Duxbury ISBN: 0738837547 (hardcover), ISBN: 0738837539
·         Rocking the Classics (1997) by Edward L Macan ISBN: 0-19-509888-9
Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture by Edward Macan ISBN: 0195098870
·         Rockmusik und Klassisch-Romantische Bildungstradition doctoral thesis (2001) by Bernward Halbscheffel ISBN: 3-00-008178-X
Scented Gardens of the Mind (2000) by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen ISBN: 1-899855-12-2
·         The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive Rock by Charles Snider 978-0-6151-7566-9
·         The Tapestry of Delights 3rd Edition (1998) by Vernon Joynson ISBN: 1899855084
·         20th Century Rock and Roll: Progressive Rock by Jerry Lucky ISBN: 1896522203
·         Uncle Joe's Record Guide: Progressive Rock by Joe Benson 094303115X ISBN: Not known
·         Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis by John Covach,Graeme M. Boone ISBN: 0195100050

ELP
·         Emerson, Lake and Palmer: The Show That Never Ends by George Forrester, Martyn Hanson, Frank Askew ISBN: 190092417X

GENESIS
·         The Complete Guide to the Music of Genesis by Chris Welch ISBN: 0711954283
·         Opening the Musical Box: A Genesis Chronicle by Allan Hewitt ISBN: 0946719306
·         Turn It On Again: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Genesis by Dave Thompson ISBN: 0879308109

GENTLE GIANT
·         Gentle Giant: Acquiring the Taste by Paul Stump ISBN 0946719616

RUSH
·         Chemistry: The Definitive Biography by Jon Collins ISBN: 1900924854
·         Mystic Rhythms: The Philosophical Vision of Rush by Carol Selby Price, Robert M. Price 1587151022
·         Rush: Visions, The Official Biography by Bill Banasiewicz 0711911622

VAN DER GRAAF
·         Van der Graaf Generator - The Book by Jim Christopulos and Phil Smart ISBN 095513370X

YES
·         Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes by Chris Welch ISBN: 0711969302
·         The Extraordinary World of Yes by Alan Farley ISBN: 0595331335
·         Music of Yes: Structure and Vision in Progressive Rock by Bill Martin ISBN: 0812693337
·         Yes, But What Does It Mean? by Thomas J. Mosbo ISBN: Not known                          
·         YesStories: Yes in Their Own Words by Tim Morse ISBN: 0312144539

GRAPHIC DESIGN
·         Tales from Graphic Oceans MA dissertation (1997) by Jonathan Wright of the University of Southampton and Winchester School of Art
·         Views (1975) by Roger Dean ISBN: 978-0061717093
·         Magnetic Storm (1984) by Roger Dean ISBN: ISBN 978-0061717109
·         Dragon’s Dream (2008) by Roger Dean ISBN: 978-0061626975


From:
http://ghostland.com/ghostland/books.asp
http://www.progbibliography.de/guide.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Dean_(artist)


Originally posted on Friday, 18th February 2011

Sunday 13 February 2011

In an Historic Market Town



Monday 7th February 2011

O
n Monday I received a late call and drove across the centre of the city. When I arrived I was taken to the classroom by a receptionist. She left me in a classroom, saying she would get the year 4 children. There was an untidy pile of the usual incomprehensible plans constructed with codes and acronyms. Thankfully, the ‘year leader’, who had been working in the corridor, arrived to tell me that the children were swimming. I was to read through the plans, supervise another class and then return to teach the class when they arrived from swimming. This teacher had been keeping half an eye on the unattended class, with their door open and the noise spilling into the corridor.  The plans made little sense and assumptions were made that I knew the timetable.

I duly supervised the class who were playing their own board games based on SEAL activities. It was impossible to make head or tail of the structure of the games or the activities. I made little attempt to settle the class as it seemed futile. After half an hour or so, this class readied themselves to go swimming and the others returned. A child in the returned class, with a lot to say for himself, declared, “You’re scary!” His LSA later said he was on ritelin and very subdued. I asked rhetorically, “This is him when he is subdued is it?” She replied, “Yes.”

During the guided reading (English) I learned the groups had names like ‘phrases’, ‘sentences’ and ‘captions’, which made it very difficult to tell the difference between the group and the activities on the plan. The tasks involved groups: (i) continuing a sci-fi story, which the children claimed they had not started, (ii) completing a cloze procedure, (iii) free writing to include connectives ie. ‘meanwhile’, (iv) spellings with the LSA, and (v) improving a paragraph on a photocopied extract from an ‘anonymous’ child’s writing. After introducing all of the tasks I concluded with, “Is there anyone who has not got everything they need?” No hands were shown, followed by a kerfuffle. Trying to get to the bottom of this revealed a cluster of boys claiming not to have a pencil. Sorting this took most of my time and I spent around five minutes with the group that I was supposed to be supporting (re-writing an ‘anonymous’ paragraph, which they boasted they could identify).          

In the afternoon, the children were setted for maths and I had the quite large top group. I introduced perimeter and worked through examples on the board. We then undertook activities on the interactive whiteboard. Anticipating the usual software problems, this went reasonably smoothly. However, we ran out of time for worksheets. The ‘year leader’ asked if I had fastened the worksheets in books. I had to explain that we had not started them. Introducing a new topic, seeing if the children coped with the examples and negotiating the interactive whiteboard were more than enough for me.

My maths set had a session changing books in the library and then merged with the rest of the year group for a language-cum-music session with a visiting teacher. All I appeared to be required to do was sing songs I did not know in languages I could not speak and to shh children every now and again.  


Tuesday 8th February 2011

Tuesday’s call was not particularly late and was for a local school. As I entered the office, the deputy, bizarrely perched on a worktop, declared stridently, “You need to sign in.” What she thought I was doing in the office otherwise, I cannot imagine. Later, she walked through the classroom and told me, equally officiously, to remember to turn off the projector, even though I had not turned it on. However, the class ‘rogue’ was absent, and following the register, I trailed a low-ability booster group to another room to work on reflection using an x-y co-ordinate grid. The children were very enthusiastic and on leaving the room, one declared, “That was good!”

The whole class came back together for an unaided writing task which, in this case, was based on a newspaper article planned yesterday. It was difficult to introduce without knowing what they had been told already and the fact that we were not allowed to discuss the task. Yet the task had to be set. They did not complain beyond not liking having a test. There was also a SAT-style mental arithmetic test to be read out in 5, 10 and 15 seconds respectively and which was to be answered on standard photocopied sheets. Finishing early I improvised and gave the class a measuring task, involving the construction of a border and divisions on plain A4. My intention was to get them to write about their topic on WWII, but lunchtime rescued me.

In the afternoon, it was games with hockey skills. Apparently the children usually switched, mid-session, for basketball skills, but this was changed, perhaps because of my involvement, much to the children’s chagrin. Nevertheless, the children were well taught and compliant, if not quiet. To finish off the afternoon we researched the WWII topic in the ICT suite.


Wednesday 9th February 2011

Wednesday, I took a late call for a school behind an abbey in the centre of an historic market town. It was difficult to find in the one way system and, unusually, I got lost. Equally unusually, the two people that I asked for directions gave good instructions. My first job was to take an English group outside into the corridor, to work on writing a letter requesting information on immigration. Stages which I was told were already completed and those which were to be undertaken did not match what the children claimed they had been doing. I later learned that the two different teachers, who gave me instructions, were the class teacher and a regular supply teacher. The right hand did not appear to know what the left was doing. Anyway, the children were co-operative, if not slow to get the letter down on paper. They were also very adept at throwing in red herrings. At the same time, there was a child working with an LSA, separate from us. At one stage, the LSA disappeared and the child drifted out to stand at the top of a cast iron staircase facing an atrium. When I spoke to him, he gave me a defiant glare. Later, I enquired about this and was advised to leave him to the LSA who was with him at all times! I pointed out that I was concerned because she was not present and I was the only adult.  

For the next lesson, maths, I was given a group of children, again in the corridor, who needed help with comparing and ordering fractions. I could not get to the bottom of the method they had been given and they claimed it had it not been made clear.  

Science in the afternoon was on circuits, with the proviso, ‘Make the light bulb dimmer without a switch’. The children were to work in mixed-ability groups of three. Components were to be made freely available and, paradoxically, I was to discuss ‘health and safety’, but not to give guidance. To my way of thinking, it is not possible to introduce health and safety, without giving direction on using components and constructing the circuits. Probably seeing the horror on my face, the class teacher insisted that I was not to give guidance. As a former secondary school technology teacher, my instinct is to teach circuits in series and parallel in a structured way. I find it extremely difficult to be told how to teach something, when I know from experience that it is wrong. My policy has always been to follow the instructions, no matter how wrong, and that is what I did in this lesson. Needless to say, I was compelled to offer the minimum amount of direction. We coped, but it was unsatisfactory and I felt the lake of introduction meant it was unfeasible to sum-up or conclude. According to instructions, the children presented their write-ups on sugar paper at the end.  

Finally, I was required to take a class assembly using the internet software-by-subscription, Espresso, incorporating a video clip of a child called Carly who travels from village to village. At most she is rejected until the last community where she is welcomed with open arms. My assumption was that this tied in with the work on immigration. Home time was at 3:30pm, but a child at 3:24 claimed her mother was collecting her early and was waiting in the office. I said I knew nothing of this, to which she announced, “Well, she’s there!” She then flounced out of the room, with another child following suit. When I related this to the class teacher, despite knowing nothing herself, she told me the child was very honest. My points were that (a) she was rude and (b) who is responsible if she has an accident before 3:30pm?   

My conclusion is that this school has a very carefree approach regarding issues which are taken extremely seriously by most other teachers and schools. Responsibility, while clearly needed, is not made emphatically clear.


Thursday 10th February 2011

Thursday was a day booked in advance. But, despite expecting year 6 on arrival, I was shifted into a year 3 class in the morning and two year 4 classes in the afternoon for music. The year 3 class contained a boy who did not expect to do as he was asked and therefore drifted around the room talking in a loud voice. He prevented me from calling the attendance/lunch registers and eventually left the room twice without permission. My patience ran out at the point where he stood in the doorway, making hand gestures to me and shouting, “I have got a name you know.” While, on the one hand, teachers ignore him, I would be criticised for not following the procedure of a warning and subsequent marks against this name. This class also had a system of moving pegs up and down on a chart.  I had completed the number of marks, moved the pegs and sent for the class teacher, but he was not in the library as claimed. Finally, I sent for the head teacher, who wanted to know what the child had been doing. He appeared to anticipate the defiance, as I recalled the events (while trying to keep my head). At one point the child muttered that he did not like me as much as his teacher, to which the head teacher replied, “You probably don’t like me as much as Mr *****, but the bottom line is that you have to do as you are told.”  I had a certain amount of admiration for him for saying this. 

Part of the morning was spent on practising a year group assembly and finishing scripts back in the classroom. We also visited the book fair in the hall.

I took two successive year 4 classes for music in the afternoon and walked the first down to the hall for a book fair. On a chart in their books, the children had to match physical movements first to rhythms and beats and then to instruments. The problem was not only knowing the names of instruments but also spelling them. I vowed to look them up on the internet and to carry a list with me at all times! 


Friday 11th February 2011

I knew in advance that I was booked to be a float all day on Friday. Lesson 1 was supporting a student on the last day of her first teaching practice. She gave each year 4 child a box of mini-Smarties and they had to estimate the total number of sweets in each box and the number of each separate colour. Then they checked the actual total and numbers of individual Smarties. After this, they could choose whether they constructed a bar graph or a pictogram to show the estimated and actual figures. There were a lot of individual areas of knowledge in one lesson, but it worked to a large extent. Adults were mob-handed as we were joined by a classroom assistant. Normally, as a supply teacher, I do not like supporting a student at all, but this was reasonable.  

The class teacher returned late so, as I headed for the next class, a classroom assistant came to track me down. Year 6 set were required to draw an equilateral triangle on squared paper, with a protractor, which they had to cut out with scissors. This was placed on a x-y grid and traced around to form another equilateral triangle in their book. The idea was that the cut-out could be rotated three times to demonstrate that an equilateral triangle has three orders of symmetry. The problem is the children had to find the centre of the cut-out, which assumed they could visualise the lines of symmetry.  It took most of the lesson to construct the triangle with a protractor and some did not fit the drawn outline, on the grid, when rotated. After play, another year 6 mental maths test, a tables test in two minutes and eight maths SAT questions in 20 minutes (we actually spent 11 minutes and went over time). In the afternoon I was back with year 4, this time the second class of two, and making cards for a leaving teacher. The year 4 games lesson, a series of relays, was led and dominated by the class teacher. Her scores did not accord with mine, but I said nothing. The class teacher, who is also deputy head, arrived as the children were getting changed back into their school uniform, and assumed control without extending the courtesy of an explanation. The head teacher struggled manfully to get through a whole-school assembly in which he had children volunteer for a charades-style presentation. Unfortunately for him, they were quicker to volunteer than they were to grasp the idea of charades and tended to just stand there. That was the end of my first whole week for ages!


Monday 14th February 2011  

I
 was back to the same school as Friday, with year 6 again.  I had the briefest of explanations for English, but the plan was complex. On a wing and a prayer, the children heard part of a story called ‘A Rival for Rachel’, who was normally a good netball player, but, distracted by family problems, her place in the team is threatened by a new girl. The children had to write four sentences, with speech, in a different order, saying the same thing. Then they had to anticipate the next part of the story. Despite my inadequate explanation and the rushed pace of the lesson, most of them worked hard.

The maths set was built around the different types of angle: 90 degree, acute, obtuse and reflex. In other words, the children constructed and labelled each type of angle, with a protractor, on an x – y grid. One of the LSAs advised I ignore the mental starter, because it did not make sense, as the previous one had not. I had already worked this out for myself and also realised that the lesson objective, about reflection, did not match the main task. The children then had to draw and label a number of angles, from a list ie. ‘95 degrees equals obtuse’. They did have the knowledge of types of angle, but found them difficult to construct accurately. Drawing angles of more than 180 degrees was difficult for them to measure with a 180 degree set square.

After break, the group reading task meant the whole class reading aloud a paragraph each from Michael Morpurgo’s The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (2005). This is the true story of Morpurgo's grandma's experiences as she grew up in Slapton, in Devon, during World War Two, told through her diaries when she was 12 years old. It is 1943 and Lily's village is needed for soldiers to prepare to invade France so they must all move out of their homes. I read a few pages at the end of the lesson, as the class told me their teacher was used to doing. Most readers were clear, it was an interesting story and enjoyable to hear. An LSA was present to support a table of weak readers, but she was unobtrusive.

The afternoon lessons were ICT, using Word Shark and a Whizz Kids frog game, and mental maths and tables tests (torture square). As can be the case, when using the internet, some children had to be kept on task. There was some cheating in the tables test as the quickest child had marked her own paper.

Originally posted on Sunday, 13th February 2011, fully posted on Friday, 18th February 2011


Tuesday 15th February 2011 

On Tuesday I had to drive across the city again, in answer to an early morning call. I asked a lot of questions of the year 5 class teacher because he made a lot of assumptions based on my extremely limited knowledge of the timetable, but he was willing to answer them. A Sims
electronic register made it difficult to see the children and complete the attendance on the screen. The lunch register may usually have been completed simultaneously, but I found it easier to compile after the attendances.

For the first lesson, I was assured the children had discussed setting goals and how to achieve them. When it came to the (Seal) lesson, seated in a circle on the carpet, the class did not seem to know about a discussion involving goals, but could set their own and say how to achieve them. For example, one child announced that her goal would be to ‘lose her attitude and not answer back’, although she spent the rest of the morning with an attitude and answering back. At one point, being the only child not working, she declared the task to be boring. On being informed that, by writing, she would be too busy to be bored, she repeated her expression of boredom. During the introduction on the carpet, I spoke to a boy for fidgeting, while moving another for being facetious and giggling.

Despite being told that the interactive whiteboard would be set up for me when I transferred to another classroom for the next (maths) lesson, I could not find the flipcharts I was expecting. It appeared they were there all along, but I could not find them. The task consisted of a list of vocabulary with numbers projected onto the whiteboard. The setted children had to make word problems combining the words and numbers. There was an LSA in the room, who was unobtrusive, but did not intervene when I floundered. She was better than some, but still not ideal.

During break I visited the toilet in another block which required a password. On my way, the deputy head teacher asked how the class had been. I told him they had tried it on and needed telling, but were OK after that. He said they were the sort of class to try it on.

English was back in the first room and meant rereading a traditional Indian story, The Drum, to the class. They were required to write the sequence of events of the story in their books. If time permitted, they were to transfer this to a storyboard on a photocopied sheet. By the end of the lesson, some were well underway on the storyboard. The Drum is an episodic tale in which a boy wishes for a drum and his mother, returning from the market, finds a piece of wood, which she gives to her son in place of the musical instrument. He goes out to play and passes the wood on to a woman who cannot light a fire she needs for cooking chapattis. In turn, she gives him a chapatti to show her gratitude. Further along the road, our hero hands his chapatti to another woman whose baby will not stop crying because it is hungry. She returns the favour by giving him a bowl, which he gives to a potter, and so on, for a total of five or six ‘trades’. Eventually, the boy is rewarded with a drum, which is what he wanted all along. The moral of the story being that one’s unconditional kindness will be reciprocated in the end.         

During lunch, an experienced year 5 teacher said children from outside the catchment area negatively influenced behaviour and inclusion had made things worse. Children were only children and could not be expected to understand the extreme behaviour. This conversation came about because some of the boys had played up their regular music teacher (who released class teachers for PPA). My role for the afternoon was to take the music with the two other year 5 classes in succession. To make things easier, I was given an activity from a textbook which meant the children would write out a rhyme, based on The Drum, as handwriting and then complete it in the same pattern. The first teacher helped me obtain drums, tambourines and soft beaters from the music room, which would have been handed out judiciously so that some children could have a beat played along with their rhyme.

On my journey through the corridor to classroom two, I overheard a girl tell another, “That man is horrible.”  As it transpired with the first class, I ran out of time for chanting the rhymes to the drum beat. This was a pity because they were keen and wanted to progress to instruments. I said if they asked their regular teacher, she would probably allow them to perform their rhymes and beats next week. But, I was being hopeful, rather than optimistic. The second class also ran out of time, were more quietly subversive and showed less inclination to use instruments in any case. A few boys had a lot to say for themselves, in both classes. In one example, a girl pointed out, “He’s got ADHD.” I managed to ignore both him and his peer’s remark, feeling glad just to survive an almost-specialised music lesson.   

Teacher number one said he had noticed the children working quietly and the older more experienced teacher said she’d had a ‘horrible’ comment and all it meant was that we were not prepared to take any nonsense. The teachers thanked me for marking books. 


Thursday 17th February 2011 

As I was leaving the school on the previous Friday, the head teacher asked me if I was available for a half-day on Thursday (today) although he had to confirm it with his financial officer. While answering in the affirmative, I was not entirely comfortable with this, as I would be working for an agency. It was almost as if the head teacher either was not aware of this or had forgotten the protocol. Telephoning an agency to do their work is insulting in the light of the fact they take my pension and a large chunk of my pay for nothing in return; nevertheless, I contacted them when I got home on Friday. They confirmed the booking on the following Monday.    

Although the ‘year leader’ briefly described the work, the class teacher arrived and would be present at a meeting in school. English necessitated the children to write a ‘Save It’ leaflet as an assessment task. When the children eventually began to ask for help, I was sympathetic because of the nagging suspicion that they were being given tests as an alternative to planned work. The low ability maths set constructed and measured the internal angles of a range of quadrilaterals to ensure they totalled 360 degrees, similar to the way they had previously done with triangles equalling 180 degrees. They did not find it easy, but worked hard overall. Strangely, movement from the class upstairs, made the whiteboard shake throughout the lesson.   

After break, the ‘year leader’ had said that he would combine the classes to explain the work on the WWII topic. As it turned out, we traipsed into his room and he expected each group to present their WWII area of research. These included the land army, weapons, leaders and others. The first group, having looked at the land army, showed an amusing musical video-clip from the Cbeebies website. The second showed a large cardboard model of a tank and described some different types of mechanised machine. For me the most alarming stage came when a group, having described some weapons and armed with BB guns, fired them at a sheet of paper stretched across the top of a stacker box laid on its side. The pellets not only penetrated the paper but completely punctured the base of the stacker box. When asked by the ‘year leader’ for a reason for using the guns, they casually replied that it was because guns were used in the war. He appeared to be recording grades or comments for the presentations, but at the half-way stage began eating a piece of sponge cake with a pastry fork. During a discussion of the homework, some of the children claimed a teacher had told them there would be no homework over half-term. They were asked, “Who is the year leader?” To which they chanted, “You are.” That appeared to be the end of the matter.   
    
Before I went home, I gave a teacher, who was leaving at half-term, a card wishing him luck in his nest post and pointing out that they were lucky to get him (actually from a set of notelets). Initially, I planned to place it in his register, but could not find the book/folder in the front office. So, I had to visit his room and hand him the card. He thanked me for my work and offered to walk me to the front of the school. I declined the offer as I had to get my things together. In truth, I could not visualise seeing him again as a classroom assistant had shouted at me in front of the class, in his new school. He also appeared to be a sensitive teacher and I was not sure this was the school for him, even if they had offered him a promotion as maths co-ordinator and teacher-without-portfolio. Not working on Friday, this was my last working day of spring term 1.


Originally posted on Sunday, 13th February 2011 (on the day of my one thousandth hit since this blog was created in December 2010. Fully posted on Friday, 18th February 2011. Updated on Sunday, 27th February 2011. 

Rick Wakeman on Just a Minute


F
ormer Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman made his first appearance on the BBC Radio 4 programme Just a Minute today at 12:04pm - 12:30pm, Sunday 13th February 2011. The Radio Times described it thus, “Nicholas Parsons hosts the stopwatch comedy panel game as Paul Merton, Gyles Brandreth, Shappi Khorsandi and Rick Wakeman are challenged to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation.”  The subjects for each round were:

(i)                   Dear listener
(ii)                 How can bankers make amends?
(iii)                A rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle – started by Rick
(iv)               My best impression
(v)                 The price of milk – Rick was speaking as the buzzer sounded
(vi)               Through the telescope
(vii)              Page three – Rick was once married to a page three girl, but this was not mentioned

Although this was the first episode of a series of 8 (series 59), it was a repeat. However, it may be available as a podcast. At first I thought, “Oh, No,” as I would prefer to hear Rick’s keyboard playing to hearing him as an affable personality. Nevertheless, he was his usual quick-witted self and he showed a good sense of humour as it was possible to hear him laughing a lot in the background.

Originally posted on Sunday, 13th February 2011

Friday 11 February 2011

Manfred Mann's Earth Band Album Discography

1972   Manfred Mann's Earth Band
The debut album reached number 138 in the US album chart. It features Manfred Mann on mini Moog synthesizer for the first time. Covers include Bob Dylan’s Please Mrs Henry and Randy Newman’s Living Without You, which was a minor US hit.

1972   Glorified Magnified
The first album to feature the Earth Band logo on the sleeve and includes the Bob Dylan cover It's All Over Now Baby Blue. The album did not chart in the UK or US.

1973   Messin'              
The third album reached number 196 in the US album chart. It was first released on the Vertigo label in the UK and issued on the Polydor label in the US with the title Get Your Rocks Off.

1973   Solar Fire
The first Earth Band album to be issued on the Bronze label reached number 96 in the US album chart. It features the hit singles Joybringer (based on Gustav Holst's Jupiter from the Planets Suite) and Bob Dylan's Father of Day, Father of Night.

1974   The Good Earth
             Anyone who bought the album acquired the rights to a square foot of land in Wales. It reached number 157 in the US album chart and number 20 in Norway.

1975   Nightingales & Bombers  
The last album by the original line-up reached number 120 in the US album chart and number 10 in Norway. It includes a recording made on the 19th May 1942 by a sound engineer for the BBC. Intending to capture a nightingale's song, he also, by accident, recorded the sound of RAF bombers on their way to attack Mannheim, Germany. The album also includes the first Bruce Springsteen cover Spirits in the Night.

1976   The Roaring Silence
The first album with a new line-up: Chris Thompson (vocals, guitar) and Dave Flett (lead guitar) replacing Mick Rogers (guitar, vocals), reached number 10 in both the UK and US album charts. It fared even better in Norway reaching number 6. It includes the international hit single Blinded by the Light, a re-working of the Bruce Springsteen song.

1978   Watch    
Original bassist Colin Pattenden is replaced by Pat King for Watch, which reached number 33 in the UK album chart, 83 in the US and 2 in Norway. It features a live version of Manfred Mann's 1968 hit single Mighty Quinn, written by Bob Dylan.

1979   Angel Station      
Angel Station reached number 30 in the UK album chart, 144 in the US and 3 in Norway. It features Bob Dylan's You Angel You and Mike Heron's Don't Kill It Carol. Geoff Britton replaced Chris Slade on drums, leaving Manfred Mann as the only original member. Steve Waller also replaced Dave Flett on lead guitar. Lead singer Chris Thompson intended to leave the Earth Band to concentrate on his solo project Night, but this was not successful and he remained for the group’s 1980 album, Chance.

1980   Chance  
Chance did not chart in the UK, but reached number 87 in the US and 6 in Norway. Produced by Manfred Mann and Trevor Rabin, it includes another Springsteen cover, For You. John Lingwood, who toured with the band on the Angel Station tour, replaced Geoff Britton on drums. Willy Finlayson contributes vocals to Heart On The Street.

1983   Somewhere in Afrika       
Ahead of its time, the album features African singers and chants, as well as versions of Bob Marley's Redemption Song and Sting's Demolition Man. Runner, available on the north American version of the album, reached number 22 in the US album chart, 16 in Canada and 8 in Norway. The album made number 87 in the UK album chart and 40 in the US.

1984   Budapest Live
Recorded live on 6th and 7th April 1983 at the Budapest Sports Arena on the Somewhere in Europe tour and includes live versions of the band's greatest hits including Spirits in the Night and Mighty Quinn. The remastered edition contains a live version of Runner.  

1986   Criminal Tango   
Criminal Tango is credited to 'Manfred Mann's Earth Band with Chris Thompson' and marked the return of Mick Rogers on guitar. It is the first album to feature Steve Kinch on bass. The album includes covers of Joni Mitchell's Banquet and Eddie and the Hot Rods' Do Anything You Wanna To Do. Criminal Tango did not chart in the UK or US, but made number 7 in Norway.

1987   Masque  
Subtitled Songs and Planets, the album features parts of Gustav Holst's Planets Suite. It represents the completed version of a project originally planned for 1973's Solar Fire, (shelved because the band was unable to obtain formal permission from Holst's estate). The band is Manfred Mann, Mick Rogers and John Lingwood. Chris Thompson is not present.

1991   Plains Music
Credited to 'Manfred Mann's Plains Music', the majority of the tracks on this album are based around the melodies of the North American Plains Indians. It is the first album to feature Noel McCalla on vocals.

1996   Soft Vengeance
Recorded over four years, the album has both Chris Thompson and Noel McCalla on lead vocals, with Mick Rogers on lead guitar. It includes covers of Del Amitri's Nothing Ever Happens, the Rolling Stones’ Don’t Play with Me and Bob Dylan's Shelter from the Storm. It reached number 22 in the Norwegian album chart.

1998   Mann Alive
Live recordings from the Soft Vengeance European tour 1996 – 1997. The line-up is Manfred Mann keyboards, vocals, Mick Rogers guitars, Chris Thompson guitar, vocals, Noel McCalla vocals, Steve Kinch bass  and John Trotter drums.

1999   The Best Of Manfred Mann's Earth Band Re-Mastered
             A 'best of' compilation, featuring single versions of various tracks. The album reached number 1 in Norway.

2001   The Best Of Manfred Mann's Earth Band Re-Mastered Volume II
             A 'best of' compilation featuring single, 12” and live versions of various tracks.

2004   2006
             The album is credited to 'Manfred Mann '06 with Manfred Mann's Earth Band'.

2005   Odds & Sods - Mis-takes & Out-takes
A 4xCD box set of alternate takes, outtakes and other assorted rarities, recorded over the 35 year career of Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

Originally posted on Friday, 11 February 2011

Sunday 6 February 2011

Golden Earring Discography

1965   Just Earrings
             Singles: Please Go / Chunk of Steel (1965)
             Lonely Everyday / Not to Find (1965)

1966   Winter-Harvest
             Singles: That Day / The Words I Need (1966)
             You Leave Me / Waiting for You (1966)
             Things Go Better / Rum and Coca Cola (1966)
             Daddy Buy Me a Girl / What You Gonna Tell (1966)
             Don't Run Too Far / Wings (1966)

1967   Miracle Mirror
             Singles: In My House / Smoking Cigarettes (1967)
             Sound of the Screaming Day / She Won't Come to Me (1967)
             Together We Live Together We Love / I Wonder (1967)

1968   On the Double (double album)
1968   Greatest Hits (Polydor)
          Singles: The Truth About Arthur / Gipsy Rhapsody (1968)
             I've Just Lost Somebody / The Truth About Arthur (1968)
             Dong-dong-di-ki-di-gi-dong / Wake Up - Breakfast! (1968)
             Just a Little Bit of Peace in My Heart / Remember My Friend (1968)

1969   Eight Miles High
             Singles: Where Will I Be / It's Alright, But I Admit Could Be Better (1969)
             It's Alright, But I Admit Could Be Better / Song of a Devil's Servant (1969)
             Another 45 Miles / I Can't Get a Hold on Her (1969)

1970   Golden Earring (aka Wall of Dolls)
1970   The Best of Golden Earring (US)
             Singles: Eight Miles High / One High Road (1970)
             Back Home / This Is the Time of the Year (1970)

1971   Seven Tears
             Singles: Holy Holy Life / Jessica (1971)
             She Flies on Strange Wings, Part 1 & 2 (1971)

1972   Together
             Singles: Buddy Joe / Avalanche of Love (1972)
             Stand by Me / All Day Watcher (1972)

1973   Hearing Earring (compilation)
1973   Moontan
             Singles: Radar Love / The Song Is Over (1973)

1974   Singles: Instant Poetry / From Heaven From Hell (1974)
             Candy's Going Bad / She Flies on Strange Wings (1974)

1975   Switch
             Singles: Tons of Time / Love Is a Rodeo (1975)
             Ce Soir / Lucky Number (1975)
             The Switch / The Lonesome D.J. (1975)

1976   To the Hilt
1976   Contraband (titled Mad Love with different cover art and alternate track listing in the USA)
             Singles: Sleepwalkin' / Babylon (1976)
             To the Hilt / Violins (1976)
             Bombay / Faded Jeans (1976)

1977   Live (double album)
1977   Story (compilation)
             Singles: Radar Love (live) / Just Like Vince Taylor (live) (1977)

1978   Grab It for a Second
             Singles: Movin' Down Life / Can't Talk Now (1978)

1979   No Promises...No Debts
             Singles: Weekend Love / It's Only a Matter of Time (1979)
             I Do Rock 'n Roll / Sellin' Out (1979)

1980   Prisoner of the Night (1980)
             Singles: Long Blond Animal / Triple Treat (1980)
             No For an Answer / Annie (1980)

1981   2nd Live (double album)
1981   Greatest Hits, Vol. 3
             Singles: Slow Down / Heartbeat (1981)

1982   Cut (1982)
             Singles: Twilight Zone / King Dark (1982)
             The Devil Made Me Do It / Shadow Avenue (1982)

1984   N.E.W.S. (1984)
1984   Something Heavy Going Down (live)
             Singles: When the Lady Smiles / WOrwell's Year (1984)
             Clear Night Moonlight / Fist in Glove (1984)
             N.E.W.S. / It's All Over (1984)
             Something Heavy Going Down / I'll Make It All Up to You (1984)

1986   The Hole (1986)
             Singles: Quiet Eyes / Gimme a Break (1986)
             Why Do I / Gimme a Break (rock version) (1986)
             Why Do I / Love In Motion (1986)
             They Dance / Love in Motion (1986)

1988   The Very Best, Vol. 1
1988   The Very Best, Vol. 2
             Singles: My Killer, My Shadow / My Killer, My Shadow (alternative version) (1988)

1989   Keeper of the Flame
1989   The Continuing Story of Radar Love (compilation)
             Singles: Turn the World Around / You Gun My Love (1989)
             Distant Love / Nighthawks (1989)

1991   Bloody Buccaneers
             Singles: Going to the Run / Time Warp (1991)
             Temporary Madness / One Shot Away From Paradise (1991)
             'Pouring My Heart Out Again / Planet Blue (1991)

1992   The Naked Truth (live acoustic album)
1992   Radar Love (compilation)
             Singles: Making Love to Yourself / In a Bad Mood (1992)
             Another 45 Miles (Live) (1992)
             Radar Love / Bloody Buccaneers (1992)
             I Can't Sleep Without You (1992)

1993   Singles: Long Blond Animal (live - acoustic) / Twilight Zone (live - acoustic) / Jangalane (live-acoustic) / Don't Stop the Show (live - acoustic) (1993)
As Long as the Wind Blows (live - acoustic) / Please Go (live - acoustic) / Sound of the Screaming Day (live - acoustic) (1993)

1994   Face It (partially acoustic)
1994   Best of Golden Earring (Europe only)
             Singles: Johnny Make Believe / Minute by Minute (1994)
             Hold Me Now / Freedom Don't Last Forever / Livin' With Me (Ain't That Easy) (1994)

1995   Love Sweat (cover album)

1996   Singles: Gotta See Jane / Try a Little Tenderness (1996)
             This Wheel's on Fire / My Little Red Book (1996)
1997   Naked II (live acoustic album)
             Singles: Burning Stuntman / Bombay (1997)

1998   The Complete Naked Truth (compilation)
1998   70s & 80s, Vol. 35 (compilation)
             Singles: The Devil Made Me Do It [unplugged] / Mood Indigo (1998)

1999   Paradise in Distress
             Singles: Paradise in Distress / Are You Receiving Me? (1999)
             Whisper in a Crowd / The Vanilla Queen (1999)

2000   Last Blast of the Century (live)
2000   Greatest Hits
2000   The Devil Made Us Do It: 35 Years (compilation)
             Singles: Miles Away From Nowhere (2000)
             Yes! We're on Fire / Yes! We're on Fire (orchestral version) (2000)

2002   Singles 1965-1967
2002   Bloody Buccaneers/Face It

2003   Millbrook U.S.A.
2003   3 Originals
             Singles: Albino Moon (2003)
             Colourblind (2003)

2005   Naked III, Live at the Panama (live  acoustic album)
             Singles: I've Just Lost Somebody (2005)
             Angel (2005)

2006   Live In Ahoy
2009   Collected (triple CD)
2011   TBA (Album will be recorded at London Abbey Road Studio)

Originally posted on Sunday, 06 February 2011