Guitars and Life

Ok... This is the original prototype Les Paul Custom made by Gibson for him for the updated custom release in the early 50s.  It is NOT as claimed the first from which all others came from or made by "Mr Paul" - he made The Log first.... Now - that still makes it one hell of a rare, valuable and historically important instrument - esp to a Les Paul Black Custom owner like myself....   But I hate the inaccuracies implied in these recounting of the story.   Grrrrr! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31070330 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/original-les-paul-guitar-goes-auction-1485949

I've seen a load of real negative stuff about some hearfelt tributes lately and I just feel a lot of the complaining is not only unjustified but hurtful to those carrying out the tributes. Item one. A new tribute to Randy Rhodes of the legendary track Crazy Train he made with Ozzy.  The comments are terrible - these guys were hugely influenced by Randy and this is their attempt to pay him tribute and all you get is people moaning away.  Not the greatest version - that is Randy and Ozzy's!  But it is noway as bad as the comments would have you believe. Item two. Gordon Giltrap on Facebook admitting sheding a tear when listening to some old Bert Jansch tracks.  Someone accused him of "name dropping"... sorry?  This is Gordon Giltrap and he was a friend of Bert's and hugely influenced by the man.  This troll so got to Gordon he posted and apology which most other fans instantly told him was more than just unnecessary. Item three. Kirk Hammett of M...

Have you noticed the massive change to the blog? No?   Not surprised but I've linked it to Google+ - I doubt it'll increase interest or traffic much.  But I did pause just before clicking.  Since now if you do gaze to the bar on the right... notice the profile?  I'm no longer Furtheron I have to be Graham Hunt (who?).  Since I've been blogging about music, guitars, recording, playing, writing, listening, reading, family, life and recovery since 2006 I've been Furtheron which came from my first blog "Further on Up the Road".  Which I deleted some years back in a fit of some daftness or other. Now of course I'm also Furtheron in the Wordpress sphere and have a separate blog where I talk about life stuff.   I just thought it somehow fitted better having two blogs.  But on there I've mostly been outed to so people often comment back "so... Graham... "  etc. The only real concern is that I do hear ruffle against one of the guidin...

Kingdom is the last in Robyn's Insurection trilogy.  This series of books has been charting the life of Robert the Bruce. By the time this book kicks off Robert The Bruce has murdered John Comyn (Edward I's puppet Scottish Vassel) at the monastry in Dumfries.  Bruce quickly claims the Scottish throne and begins to wage a war against the invading English.  Edward I, not known for is leniency against such uprisings throws his weight behind the war. The book fictionalises the events from that point up to the Battle of Bannockburn (with a short couple of epilogues).  It is pretty good, a reasonable page turner keeping you interested although we all know the outcome of course which is true of any historical novel.  There is some tinkering with historical details, some due to lack of knowledge.  Early on in the campaign Bruce goes on the run and the author turns this into him building support in the Western Isles but there is no real solid evidence of this. ...

2015 has started with a few terrific new discoveries. Firstly a duo from middle England who are just terrific - if you loved The Civil Wars then listen here.... The first edition of Acoustic Magazine to drop through my door this year had a freebie CD collection of new music, a bit all over the place as a collection but a couple of jems from it. First we have Jamie Beau and The Mill - love his backing singers by the way, my kind of guys ;-) Next up we have Jess and The Bandits - I found this live one of them... excellent Lastly my pre-release copy of False Lights CD dropped through the drop yesterday. Again I'm loving this album it really is the best thing in Folk Rock at the moment. This is the stunning album closer - Crossing the Bar lyrics courtesy of Lord Tennyson.

Round up of my Christmas gift CDs Øysrein Greni Forty Days  Øysrein is the main man in Norwegian band Bigbang. This is a 9 song collection of material previously pit of under the band moniker over the years. My son saw him doing a solo support of Rodrigo Y Gabrielle some weeks ago and thought I'd like it. I do!  Think Crosby, Stiles and Nash with Tom Petty and Red Hot Chilli Peppers thrown in at times. So stuff that reminds you constantly of other stuff but in a good way. Spotify has most of the tracks off the original albums. Try it out  Ben Howard I Forget Where We Were Every Kingdom was a terrific début.  On his second full album (ignoring the Burgh Island EP) he seems to have leapt forward.  Simply this is a stunning album, hypnotherapeutic is one word I'd use to try and capture it.  He layers delay and effect laden guitar lines with sparse additional instrumentation and then the vocal delivery reminds me a lot of John Martyn.  Cra...