Guitars and Life

Or BCCIV as it is billed on the cover which features a fiery phoenix rising from the flames - very apt. A few years back it looked like that was it from BCC as they collapsed in a bunch of disgruntled tweets between band members.  Essentially Joe Bonamassa saw his solo career as his prime objective, Glenn Hughes saw it differently and when Joe declined to extensively tour the last BCC album that became an impasse.  Joe left, taking Derek Sherinan (keyboards) off into his solo band.  Glenn and drummer Jason Bonham briefly rekindled in a band called California Breed which Jason then similarly didn't tour the album off before that collapsed. We move on... Glenn gets inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of Deep Purple (he was in the post Ian Gillan Mark 3 version of the band.  He was also in the short lived non-Blackmoore Mark 4 lineup).  Joe calls him up to congratulate him, they make a dinner date and shortly they are talking about a new BCC album and at Gle...

Long time no update... and I know hardly anyone reads this... I got around to some guitar work recently.  I bought a Fret Levelling Beam recently (more about that in a mo) and used that on two Telecaster kits I built a while ago where there were some fret issues, largely no doubt to me bodging it before with a shorter file.  The Levelling Beam did seem to make it a lot easier to get something considerably better. I also have been installing some shims on the necks of various guitars.  I know there is a lot said where people groan etc about them but if you've a bolt on neck it actually is one advantage that installing one is a non-destructive way to try and sort stuff out.  In particular, with my 12 string electric it helped me get a better action and massively improved overall intonation.  On one of the Telecasters it helped get a better angle over the brass bridge saddles. Finally on the Squier that I rebuilt sometime ago it helped set a better working a...

When my time comes Forget the wrong that I've done Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed And don't resent me And when you're feeling empty Keep me in your memory Leave out all the rest Leave out all the rest

Yes I've finally written something and recorded it.   Been ages I know. So - this features my home built 12 string and my new octave mandolin....

Just plugging a friend of mine who contributed the vocals to this Kate Bush cover...

Seems hardly anytime when I waxing lyrical about thier last offering Folklore. This is a highly credible effort, the growing membership bringing new talents notably the string work and arrangements via Rachel Hall have added greatly for me. If you've heard Folklore this is very much part 2 and that very British prog rock with folk overtones runs through much. Experimental Gentlemen is a favourite of mine but each of the 8 tracks is well written, constructed and performed. Meadowland has be lying in a field by a brook with swallows swooping overhead.... beautiful.  Dave Longton's vocals are brilliant throughout with that slight Genesis feel but then possibly that's the hole I think Big Big Train fill in the space a truly British old style prog rock band. Highly recommended.

A frankly ludicrous and frivolous purchase!   Mrs F and I went to Canterbury for some shopping and I headed over to Hobgoblin Music, which is one of my favourite places to wonder about.  It covers from all rock guitars to banjos, keyboards, violins, recorders, then into more and more esoteric instruments you've never even heard off let alone expect to see in essentially a high street music store. The manager said twice "Please try anything you like".   I bought some mandolin strings, my excuse for heading there in the first place.  Then lured towards the more obscure stringed instrument section I spotted an octave mandolin, which I've wondered about as an addition to the collection.  I picked up one in particular - walnut back and sides, spruce top, simple but reasonably well put together in what looks like a more hand then factory assembly hit and A chord and was like - "oh that sounds really nice"....   A little picking later Mrs F said t...

Mrs F really like The Shires.  We saw them on tour a year or so back ... anyway I saw them back at Folkestone and only two weeks after Mrs F's birthday - so ... Birthday Treat! First up a quick mention of Catherine McGarth who was support act and suddenly has invaded my world.  I heard a track on Bob Harris' show on Thursday, she was there live on Friday and then my Guitarist magazine falls through the door on Saturday and there's a full page intro and interview with her in that.  She'd only 19!!!  One to watch. The Shires - just brilliant.  One of those acts that can simply deliver.  They can sing so well live, if anything better than in the studio.  A good collection of songs from both albums, varying of tempo etc. and a simply stunning cover of Robbie Williams' Angels.  That should be a single - it was just fantastic!!! My ear was a bit problematic at times, tinnitus was bad that day, but good old noise reducing earplugs helped and I enjo...

Every now and then you get an album and you find it spends so long in the car before you replace it.  Bear's Den Red Earth and Pouring Rain is just such an example. Take Snow Patrol, City and Colour and mix together.  That's Bear's Den but also the quality and quantity of terrific tracks on this album mean I struggle to pick any stand out tracks.  Red Earth and Pouring Rain itself, Greenwoods Bethlehem, My Jerusalem, Dew on the Vine, Broken Parable.... best stop there I'll list the whole album! By the smallest of margins my suggestion to listen to is Auld Wives... love the bass on this.

Gordon Giltrap and Paul Ward - The Last of England The really good news about this release is that Gordon is well enough to be talking about it.  He's been through the ringer over the last 18 months or so with a cancer issue needing some big surgery.  That he is back at all is a real pleasure to say.   And this is a great Gordon Giltrap release.  He's teamed up with Paul Ward and with Paul's orchestral knowledge on the keyboards this takes Gordon's guitar skills to a new dimension.  There are parts where you try to just turn off the slightly obvious synthy strings and imagine this in an Albert Hall like setting with a large orchestra.  There are others too that are a real hark back to Gordon's band albums with some really terrific proggy like stuff.   Really terrific album which my wife also says is incredibly soothing when on a long drive around South London the other day.  Search out A Promise Fulfilled - terrific progressive folk rock track. ...

It's been ages since I've posted on here.  Apologies.  Life seems to be just flying by so fast. It is therefore with great sadness that I have to post first on here for ages about the passing of one of the finest guitarists of the last 40 years or so.  Allan Holdsworth passed away recently aged 70. Now for many Allan will not be a name that is known but some years back if asked that question as a guitarist myself of "Who is the best guitarist?"  well... Allan would be one of the first names off my tongue in a very short list... with Jeff Beck in there too. Allan was simply a genius.  I first heard of him through various guitar magazines and then in the briefly lived but incredible supergroup U.K. which was himself, Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson etc.) John Wetton (Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash, Roxy Music and after U.K. of course massively successful in Asia) and Eddie Jobson (Yes, Curved Air, Roxy Music etc.).   They produced one incredible album wi...

Coffin Road - Peter May I've read some of Peter's previous novels .  In particular his Lewis Chessman trilogy.  This is again set in the Western Isles Peter's preferred setting.  We are presented with a classic amnesia story.  Man comes too on a shore in the middle of a storm, he has been shipwrecked it seems but he has no idea how, or who he is, or what is going on. A terrific page turning thriller as you want to know who our hero really is?   This is made more difficult for him and us since he can find nothing in his croft as to who he really is.  Just some odd clues.  His neighbours don't help much they tell him he is a writer researching a book.  But... he finds no notes, no writing on the laptop.  Actually... nothing at all again... Only that he is a beekeeper with some hives that are secreted somewhere he clearly didn't want them to be found in. The second thread is a teenager who is convinced her missing father isn't dead an...

2017 has started with a really good piece of news.  Back in the late 70s / early 80s Shergold guitars were one of the top British brands around growing in the Burns tradition of something unique and quirky not just based on USA designs.  A nascent band I was in that was a 5 piece that reformed itself a few months later as a 4 piece that had some success had a lead guitarist who had a Shergold Masquerader.  I remember it being a seriously good guitar - esp when compared to the Columbus Strat copy I possessed at the time.  This is the model I remember... Well Barnes and Mullins, a well known distributor in the UK, has bought the company name and set up with a 21st century make over and relaunch.  They've enlisted Patrick Eggle as the consultant to design the launch model.  Patrick has taken the Masquerader body shape, updated the headstock to avoid the friction inducing string guides and used Seymour Duncan pickups offering various pickup combinations a...

It is remiss of me but I've missed getting the annual Furtheron review of the year out before the end of the the year... oh well. Gig of the Year In days gone by this would have been hotly contested as I attended so many gigs but finances, commitments and my ears have meant less choice these days.  So from a very very small list the winners are Joe Bonamassa. CD of the year .  Rock -Going to give this to Wild by Joanne Shaw Taylor .  This has been a mainstay on my playlist since it's release.  Fantastic playing and singing - Joanne is as good as Joe Bonamassa and many many others in this genre on this outing. Folk - Has to be the superb On a Winter's Night by Cara Dillon which I bought as my Christmas listening this year.  It is a stunning album worth getting to keep for next year but frankly so good I can't believe I'll be digging out still in the summer!  Holly and the Ivy is just to die for - she has frankly one of the greatest voice...