The Voltarol Years

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That episode of ‘Dad’s Army’, incidentally, was ‘Menace from the Deep’, with Warden Hodges singing ‘Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life’ at [29.05] here.) It’s standard industry practice to have a ‘lead single,’ and now that they have a distribution deal it’s that company – Proper – who have released the ‘single.’ I was really hoping to hunker in during this storm and listen to the new album, shame about the date change.

Rogation Sunday’s Here Again!” Getting excited about something kind of unexciting – reminded me straight away of Joy in Leeuwarden Just a shame that the vinyl is held up due to Adele’s divorce album using all the pressing capacity. Chur bro as they say round here – for those on Albion’s Plain I should say winning 3 T-shirts from Matinee Idle would be like having three Dukla Prague away shirts, all given to you by John Peel. Though I’m probably over-analyzing. It’s as similar to lots of things quite likely -including Benjamin Kanes (as portrayed by Rob Lowe) TV production company reimagining the theme tune to the Waynes World TV show in the movie of the same name. It’s a rich tapestry.Shipment notification at last. Now can I get away with getting into work 4 hours late so that the postie can deliver before I go out? Tess Of The Dormobiles”. Another laugh-out-loud one which instantly reminded me of “where be my camper van”.

It’s not straightforwardly me banging on about the Wirral, particularly. Although it was perhaps inevitable that I was going to do one purely about walking around the Wirral, so yes and no would be the answer to that – which is not the answer you want! I’d have put more obscure footpaths and fields in if it was purely me, I think. I would have thought about the geographical things more. I didn’t particularly think that much about them. Great to hear that Oblong probably won’t be their swan-song; the way it is written did make me wonder. Oh and it’s my new favourite HMHB song too now, rarely have I ever heard anything so beautiful. If you told the young me (listening to Trumpton Riots and Dukla Prague) that Nigel would one day write a song that would make me cry, well……Alfie Bass just fitted – it amused me that he would be in a medieval battlefield. The Norman Hunter-Franny Lee reference (“Norman Hunter and Francis Lee are going toe-to-toe/Amongst the entrails of the slain”) was just about the mud and their fighting. Most footage of the Baseball Ground in those days involved much mud if I remember correctly – mind you, when you watch it there isn’t really a muddy pitch on that one. But it’s the fighting as well. And Lee has him, doesn’t he? Just rang Proper Music. Was told it will be going out today or tomorrow. Given the unconvincing tones in which this info was delivered, I’m not expecting it to be today. Clouds part, showtime/ Cowslips and celandine” is almost like a major key rendering of “Time’s up, We’re through/ I’m out on account of you”. Live versions of ‘When I Look at My Baby’ and ‘I’m Getting Buried in the Morning’ are still available on Kershaw’s podcast 5. Update – there’s an explanation of ‘Various Artists – Topic’ here and in a video here. Seems the band/distributor have somehow registered the song with YouTube, even though it’s not on the ‘channel’ for now.

Brilliant article, very informative. With bands (not just HMHB) I love finding out what inspired the lyrics, or what the story is behind them, especially first hand from the person that wrote them. Excellent stuff. Have to admit that the case of Stutty Northam isn’t one I knew about, so something to look into there, thanks! It’s fairly straightforward for me this song. I just thought that everyone when they were hanging around when they were 16 or 17, they had one mate who – he was OK, he was alright, but he was just slightly…might have been into karate or something (we weren’t, we were just into football and that) – he would have been into slightly different things. One of the good things about this board is that if a post prompts me to find out the derivation of something, I only need scroll down (or wait a while if it’s fresh) to find out, without having to trouble Wikipedia. As a lazy old ditherer, I appreciate it. A throwaway 30 seconds! It’s just exactly what it says on the tin. I probably just wanted to get “Garstang” into a song!

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One fine retailer here in this mediocre city has just told me they are expecting delivery this afternoon. If I was inspired by that, it was purely subconsciously. Obviously, John Cooper Clarke is magnificent and I know the song, though I’ve not heard it for years. Lux Inferior – well, you’ve made an old man happy just looking at that Rovers picture. It’s been a long time since I lived in the UK let alone Haverhill but it feels like yesterday seeing that. I was a contemporary of Neil Farlie and Derek Richardson who both went on to play for Rovers – making me a couple of years older than you. It was loft ladders what killed our Martin”– I was thinking about those old public information films. Nothing more than that. It’s just a time-travelling fantasy. It’s the type of song I enjoy writing. It’s not a chore, because you can hop about – you’ve got the whole dictionary open to you.

Failing that, why not bribe the musicians at your local folk club to learn a couple of HMHB numbers and inevitably some of them will fall in love with the band and keep learning more? After due consideration, I elected against Whakapapa for the place name bingo in favour of an obscure hamlet in North Shropshire – which is probably all for the best!Moved house just prior to Covid and sold/gave away all cds and vinyl and means of playing them. Will be spending a lot of time in the car when this arrives. But @ the same pedants. Do feel free to point out that it’s the arc, the circumference and most importantly the area which is reduced by choosing a point on the coast or a corner coastal town, and that the radius is just about the only thing that isn’t.