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Curioser and curioser
[Updated Jul 17 with media reactions] The official teaser for the season 5 of Netflix horror/fantasy series Stranger Things has a familiar theme for the soundtrack.
Read more »Play nicely and burn the candles
A couple of trainspotting items of marginal interest, probably not warranting their separate posts. In a recent interview, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull talked about guitarists who played “nicely” – Hank Marvin, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Ritchie Blackmore — “Precise, accurate, they sang melodies.” This bit starts at 3’20” and wraps up at 5’40” into […]
Read more »The beauty of simplicity
Smoke on the Water was featured and dissected on the recent episode of BBC Radio 4 show Add to playlist that was on the air on May 30, 2025. The premise of the show is to introduce several pieces of music and find links between them. Composer Gavin Higgins and soprano Claire Booth take us […]
Read more »Mean one-finger Smoke on the Water
The band Primus did a series on YouTube where they auditioned new drummers for the band. There were a couple of DP family references and I have edited them together for your pleasure.
Read more »Unbelievable!
Couple of letters from the trainspotting desk of our Department of Silly Little Things. Deep Purple got a mention on BBC Radio 4 show The Unbelievable Truth. The premise of the show is guest comedians trying to smuggle truths past their opponents. The opponents have to spot the truth among the lies. In series 31 […]
Read more »It’s a killing machine
A couple of items from the desk of our trainspotting department. British TV series SAS Rogue Heroes is a WW2 action/adventure drama based on “mostly true” events. What it lacks in historical accuracy, it makes up in the entertainment value. And a very anachronistic soundtrack. Season 2, episode 5 features a convoy of said rogue […]
Read more »At the controls of a spacecraft
On this slow(ish) news day, we will leave you with a couple of items that the mailman delivered to our trainspotting department. Sir Elton Hercules John writes about the keyboard geniuses who blew his mind for The Guardian. Jon Lord gets a mention: And as the decade progressed, keyboard players progressed too, away from their […]
Read more »Only quill pens and horseback messengers
This is straight from the desk of bizarre appearances in our trainspotting department. Some time over the past year, crooks posing as Ritchie Blackmore scammed an old lady in the UK out of £115,000. See the maestro himself appearing at around 12:40 expressing sympathy for the victim and vehemently denying his involvement because he doesn’t […]
Read more »Jon Lord making love to his organ
Straight for our trainspotting department, Louder Sound has a nostalgic piece dealing with the bad old times: Back when the UK still had weekly music magazines – iconic titles such as Kerrang!, NME, Melody Maker and Sounds – having rock stars visit the editorial offices to review singles by their peers was always an entertaining […]
Read more »Maria Moita author passes away
Our contributor from Brazil Marcelo Soares writes: Legendary bossa nova composer Carlos Lyra has died today, December 16, 2023, at the age of 90. You may not be a bossa nova fan, but you definitely have heard of at least one of his songs, Maria Moita — the riff, originally written by Tom Jobim for […]
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing