The Piley Diary: March 1977

Well the last full month of the 1977 Piley Diary is here already, what a five minute wonder that was! A shame really, as I remember 77 for numerous street parties and Jubilee celebrations, as well as my initial introduction to punk. Alas, none of that has been documented, but on the plus side there is still a lot of important historic information captured... Swimming certificates, teachers strikes (and ill teachers!), piano lessons and lets not forget those all important TV programmes.... Crackerjack, Go With Noakes, Just William, and even a mention of the legendary Tomfoolery!

Piley

Podrophenia - Show 13: Covers II - Attack of the Clones

Unlucky for some (YOU mostly!), episode 13 of our Podrophenia podcast hits the virtual shelves today. This show is another 'cover version' special, a theme I think we will always periodically return to, as there is unlimited material.

This time round Mondo and I are joined by a special guest, Neil 'beardy' Beard from Pop Culture Care Package. It's an extended special too, so you get 33% more unscripted ramblings and nonsense... amongst which you can find out which music celeb resembles a face drawn on a slightly withered balloon, Which 1940's American actor hosted a 1990's British game show, which music stars could be cast in Last of the Summer Wine, and much more. There's also the very latest from Piley's Newsround desk....

Oh, and lets not forget those tunes... another 10 classics, all lovingly re-presented in the strangest of styles!

You can listen to it here:


download it here:
Podrophenia 13

or pick it up at iTunes here (along with all previous shows):
Podrophenia on iTunes


Piley

The Piley Diary: February 1977

Well, we only started this feature last month, but already we are at the penultimate month of my 1977 diary (what a five minute wonder that was!).


Alas, no more news on my attempt to build a model of Big Ben out of matchsticks, neither is there any update on how the new school meal regime is panning out... we can but only guess. But on the plus side, more mentions of Batman, Swap Shop, Arsenal, Sunday Gang and pianos!


Last month I went for edited highlights, but this month you can have the whole bloody lot!

Piley

(Another) One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others....

Back in December I spotted a Christmas DVD display in WH Smiths, set up, I presume, by a member of staff who didn't have the widest knowledge of films.... or Christmas.... or both.

After the success of the Christmas campaign, this guy or gal must have become the talk of the retail trade... perhaps a 2 page spread in 'The Grocer' magazine. No doubt a bidding war to poach them soon commenced, with Sainsbury's being the winner in snapping up their services. How do I know? Well whilst in there this week, I spotted their new display of 'Family Fun' DVD's... no doubt set up to tie in with half term week.... But which one of their selection is likely to give little Jimmy a bit of a restless evening, and requests to have the hall light on all night???

Can't get it? OK, have a little zoom in then...

Piley

Come To Our Zoo... Now With Extra Church!

As a child, I was regularly taken to Colchester Zoo by my parents. After a hiatus of some 30 years or so, I've been reacquainting myself with the place on a fairly regular basis (4 visits within the last 2 years). Of course this is now for the benefit of Piley Jr, rather than myself!

The place has changed beyond all recognition, and my still quite vivid memories don't fit in with the current surroundings in any shape or form. Back in the day it was all a lot smaller, and in those unenlightened times, so were the cages. And 'cages' are a thing of the past now too, it's all glass fronted 'enclosures' now. There is also much more of a 'theme park' feel to it these days, but I guess that's what you have to do to compete with so many other attractions.

In the 1970's this place was 25 acres, now has spread to over 60. But in more than doubling the size of the zoo, there's obviously been a few causalities over the years, and one of them stares you in the face, the moment you set foot outside the 'Orangutan Forest' enclosure. There, right in front of you are the ruins of an 800 year old church - All Saints. I certainly don't remember that being there in the 1970's!

I guess that as they snapped up more and more land, the zoo became the reluctant owners of this Grade II listed building, sitting slap bang in the midst of their purchase. I could be completely wrong, but I get the impression that the zoo feel a little 'saddled' with this sideline into ancient religious buildings, and would like nothing more that to build an Ostrich birthing pool or suchlike in its place. I can certainly feel some resentment oozing from the plaque in front of the church which reads:

"as part of the planning permission for building Orangutan Forest, Colchester Zoo was required (can you almost hear them saying "forced"!!) to renovate this listed building. The renovation took two years, at a cost of £180,000. These costs were covered by Colchester Zoo"

All Saints church was built in Stanway, as part of the Stanway Manor complex in the 13th Century. Thus designed to make it dead handy for the Lord and Lady of Stanway Hall to roll out of bed and straight into communion (there was even an underground tunnel linking the two, no doubt to combat any adverse weather). Not so lucky for the rest of the parishioners of course, as the remote location of the church meant a hike of a mile each way for their Sunday service - but I don't suppose that bothered the Lord and Lady unduly.

But just like when Tesco open up a superstore, and immediately nicks all the local clientele, a new church - St Albrights - was built in 1580 in the heart of the community, and the locals all jumped ship. All Saints church soon became a private church, for the exclusive use of the residents of Stanway Manor. As a result, the building went through a number of alterations in the early 17th Century, to reduce it's size. The Chancel and North Tower were removed, and the North porch was added.

remains of the north porch

the Chancel would have been here, where the bushes are now!

view from inside

Where the Orangutan Forest now sits, turned out to be a very heavily populated ancient graveyard. But as ancient graveyards aren't covered in the same way as ancient buildings, these were all quickly yanked out and disposed of.

As someone who is more than a little brow-beaten by the recent regular, endless sights (and lets not forget those smells!) of animals, I find this little piece of history fascinating, and a welcome diversion. But it's a real shame that anyone else with an interest, now has to shell out fifteen odd quid in order to get through the gates to see it.

Piley

Delightfully Bad Taste!

As a fully paid up member of the 'people watching' club (nosey parker division), I am always interested to see what other people buy. I can't help but have a sly little peep in other shopping trolleys to see what goodies have been snapped up. And how about sitting in Argos?! Watching all those items crunch down the conveyor belt, proudly put on temporary display on makeshift racks (collection points A, B and C!), and then seeing who picks up what!

But the ones that really get me, are when you see an item in a shop, so awful, that you think (a) why on earth did the shop think this would be a good item to stock, and (b) who on earth is going to buy it?!

That thought hit me again last week, when I spotted a truly hideous item for sale in a new tat (but not cheap) shop in the high street. In amongst the 8ft high dragons, and 6ft wide Buddhas, was a item to out-class them all. Yes, this could be yours for a few measly hundred quid (yes, you read that right!), this years 'must have' home accessory....

The round, glass chessboard, lovingly balanced and screwed onto the head of Tutankhamen!

Each chess piece has been lovingly mass produced to represent some piece of Egyptian old guff.

A truly wonderful 'thing' I'm sure you'll agree. Form an orderly queue ladies and gents.....

Piley

The Piley Diary: January 1977

Whilst clearing out an old box of stuff late last year, I came across a diary of mine from the 1970's. I stuck it to one side, and in a shameless rip of Planet Mondo's 'Dear Diary' posts, thought I might blog some of it.


The diary itself is one of those '5 year' jobbies, where you fill in the year manually. I think we'd been doing Samuel Pepys at school around that time, and I'd got all buzzed up on keeping a diary. I guess I dreamt of logging the final years of the seventies, as we went head-first into a brand new decade. I imagined my musings would be studied in years to come as an invaluable historical document of how people lived back then... and with a market shop down the road doing 5 year diaries for 25p (5p a year!), what could possibly go wrong?!


But I think it was a bit of wishful thinking on my part, and far from completing 5 years worth, I didn't get much further than 3 months, and the end of March 1977! the rest of the year (and indeed, the rest of the diary) remains blank.



Also, with the benefit of hindsight, I'm not sure that all of my entries would perhaps have been on a par with 'ol Pepys. Although riveting, I can see now that a book documenting that "mum bought 2 subbuteo floodlights", "I went to Southend, I got Roy of the Rovers" and "Arsenal won 3-1- yesterday" may not have set the literary world on fire.


Still, on the plus side, I do know what I was doing this very day 34 years ago (and oddly, 1977 works the same as 2011, so the 31st of Jan was a Monday too)... yes, I can confirm we had art with Mr Jones, and I watched Batman when I got home. Nuggets like that would be lost if it weren't for the likes of me and Pepys.

I've scanned in a few of the entries. More next month (maybe!)


Piley

UPDATE: Have just discovered that this was almost certainly the issue of Roy of the Rovers that I bought on 1st Jan 1977!

John Barry

I'm sure the blogs are filled with John Barry tributes, so I'll keep it brief....

Just to say that I have always admired this mans music, sometimes not even knowing it was his work. As a kid I bought all the James Bond soundtrack LPs. Unlike many other 'music from the movie' albums, which can often sound a bit lost minus the pictures, the Bond albums still sounded exciting, magical and exotic, and still do. He created striking and memorable music for so many great films; Zulu, Ipcress File, Born Free, Midnight Cowboy, and who could forget his contribution to Howard the Duck! (yeah, we all have one or two jobs we'd rather not talk about!)

My favourite TV theme has always been The Persuaders, and every time I hear it, it instantly transports me back to my childhood, and watching that programme on a Sunday afternoon.

A friend of mine bought the above album in the 1980's, and I fell in love with it. As a DJ he was known to play a whole side back-to-back (sometimes the whole album!) whilst people were filing in early doors. A bold move, but one that always seem to inject atmosphere into the club before it had even got going. It took me ages to track down a copy of that album, and I think I paid a little over the odds for it, when I eventually found it. But whatever it cost, it was worth it, and some 25 years on, this album is still one of my vinyl LPs that gets a regular airing.

Back in May last year, our man on the inside of film, Stephen Pickard, sent me a few photos from his private collection. Amongst them was a shot of John Barry during the recording of the 'Diamonds Are Forever' soundtrack, which I used in the post about Stephen's years at Pinewood (Stephen can be seen in the background of the picture). Stephen kindly sent me 3 shots from this recording session, but I didn't use the other 2. So here are all three of them now.
Persuaders TV Theme:

Piley

Podrophenia - Show 12... Local Heroes

Mondo and I are back with our first Podrophenia podcast of 2011. The theme for this show is one we have talked about for a while... 'Local Heroes'. We got the map out, scrawled a 5 mile radius around Piley Towers and Mondo Manor using a blunt compus, and then pulled 10 tracks out from the selected area.

As well as the songs there's the usual old waffle, where amongst other things you can find out which celeb's brother (who in turn looks like another celeb!) runs a local shop, the confessions of a door-to-door video rental man, which celeb Mondo used to live next door to, and more....

You can listen to it here:



download it here:
Podrophenia 12

or pick it up at iTunes here:
Podrophenia on iTunes
Piley

The Best of 2010

My 4th January in the blog-o-sphere, and my 4th go at trying to capture some of my favourite albums of the previous year.

At the end of 2009, 'the lads' (Mondo, Marmite, The Brownster, E.F Rice, Coops, Jack, Si and myself) started up a yuletide CD swap. We all burnt a disc of our favourite tracks from the previous 12 months, made enough copies for everyone, then met down the pub (I knew there was an ulterior motive) to hand 'em out. Hey Presto, within 5 minutes, we all had about 10 hours of new listening treats. It went so well with out 'best of 2009' event, that we decided to have another go for 2010. Here are the very strict rules for the swap, as decreed by E.F Rice:

1. Create a CD containing tracks from albums bought during 2010. This can be artists you have got into for the first time during the year or established artists of whom you have picked up an old track or album. Whichever, you must have purchased all the tracks in the last 12 months.

2. You may have more than one track of the same artist on the CD, although 80 mins of Springsteen would be pushing it.

3. You supply all those taking part with a CD including a full track listing. The CDs will be circulated in November\December down the pub.

So rather than plough through my favourite albums of the year blow-by-blow, as I have in previous years, here's the 20 tracks that made my 'Best of 2010'... which by default, mean you can also work out my favourite albums!

So without further ado, here they are:

1. Jiggery Pokery – by The Duckworth Lewis Method
From the album ‘The Duckworth Lewis Method’ (released July 2009, bought 2010)
A concept album about cricket, described by the band as "a kaleidoscopic musical adventure through the beautiful and rather silly world of cricket." The album was nominated for an Ivor Novello award (for best album) in April 2010. Quite possibly the album that gave the most pleasure last year.

2. Variety – by Marc Almond
From the album ‘Varieté’ (released June 2010)
Marc Almond revisits the cabaret sleaze of earlier albums in this his final ‘all self penned’ album. It’s a celebration of nostalgia and a stock-take of his life to date, jam packed with personal experiences throughout the years. As Marc said himself on the release of this album “This is a personal record of my own life and the decades I’ve grown through: born in the 1950's, a child of the 60's, a troubled teen of the 70's, a star of the 80's, a drug casualty of the 90's, an actual road casualty in the new millennium, and from it a rehabilitated and re-invented person, with a new sense of self.”

3. Going Back Home – by Doctor Feelgood
From the album ‘Going Back Home’ (released January 2005, bought 2010)
One of best value purchases all year, a CD & DVD package of the Feelgoods performing live at The Kursaal, Southend - November 8th 1975 (£6.99!). Both discs bursting with energy, capturing the band at the height of their pre-punk power.

4. Ghost – by Slash (featuring Ian Astbury on vocals)
From the album ‘Slash’ (released May 2010)
Debut solo album by the former Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist. The album features multiple singers and musicians, including four of five original members of Guns N' Roses: Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler. Some tracks are better than others, but this one is a belter.

5. Beneath The Underdog – By Baxter Dury
From the album ‘Len Parrot’s Memorial Lift’ (released July 2002, bought 2010)
Debut album from son of Ian (who was on the cover of New Boots And Panties with his dad aged 4!). Blockhead Norman Watt Roy makes an appearance on the album, but that’s where the similarities with his old man cease. Think less chirpy Cockney ‘barra-boy’, and more Flaming Lips, Spiritualized, Lou Reed and Mercury Rev.

6. The Finer Things In Life – by Pugwash
From the album ‘Almond Tea’ (released 1999, bought 2010)
Debut album from this Irish power-pop band fronted by Thomas Walsh (who is one half of The Duckworth Lewis Method). The band signed a five-year deal with Andy (XTC) Partridge's label Ape House last year. Pugwash songs are noted for their emphasis on catchy melodies, clever lyrics and high production values. Influences on the band's sound are regularly cited as including XTC, ELO, Beach Boys, Kinks and Beatles.

7. The Complete Banker – By The Divine Comedy
From the album ‘Bang Goes The Knighthood’ (released May 2010)
10th studio album for Neil Hannon (who is also the other half of The Duckworth Lewis Method), and for me, right up there with some of his best. Solid throughout, it’s full of his trademark wit, and contains another batch of intelligent, insanely catchy tunes. This song is aimed at the reckless behavior of the banking industry that caused the global meltdown. Even if you don’t like the song, you’ll love the lyrics!

8. Valentine – By Richard Hawley
From the album ‘Lady’s Bridge’ (released August 2007, bought 2010)
Like a Northern Scott Walker or Roy Orbison, ex-Longpigs and ex-Pulp man Richard Hawley croons his way through this melancholy album. Much like Marc Almond, he lives in a ‘doom and gloom’ world, where every silver lining is closely followed by a cloud. Just my cup of tea!

9. Fingerprints – by I Am Kloot
From the album ‘Sky At Night’ (released July 2010)
Fifth album from I Am Kloot (produced by Elbow duo Craig Potter and Guy Garvey), and possibly their best to date. The single ‘Northern Skies’ was all over Radio 2, and rightly so. Part Elbow, part Richard Hawley, even part ELO in places (well, some of the orchestrated bits). But always 100% Kloot.

10. Anyway, Goodbye – by Andy Ellison
From the EP ‘Fourplay’ (released 2008, bought 2010)
A rare new offering from the legendary ex-frontman of John's Children, Jet, and The Radio Stars. This EP contains 4 new songs, written, recorded and produced by Ellison. Probably should have put the track Cluster Bombs on this CD!

11. Light My Fire – by The Doors
From the album ‘The Doors’ (originally released 1967, this release 2007, bought 2010)
This 40th Anniversary release presents the Doors debut album at the correct speed for the very first time. The speed discrepancy was identified after a study showed that all the video and audio live performances of The Doors performing "Light My Fire" (as well as the sheet music) show the song being in a key almost a full half step higher than the original LP release.

12. Two Halves Of The Same Boy – Silvery
From the album ‘Railway Architecture’ (released August 2010)
Second album from Silvery providing more of their trademark quirky madness. Sparks, early Blur, Cardiacs, XTC, Kaiser Chiefs are all in there somewhere!

13. Strange Things – by Tom Jones
From the album Praise and Blame (released July 2010)
It’s back to basics for Sir Tomo and his collection of gospel and blues songs. Comparisons to the Rick Rubin Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond albums are understandable as there are more than a hint of the American Recordings in the song choices and vocal performances. Was going to pick one of the gloomier tracks, but went for a barnstormer instead!

14. Bread and Circus – by Marc Almond
From the album ‘Varieté’ by Marc Almond (released June 2010)
(see 2 above)

15. The Sweet Spot – by The Duckworth Lewis Method
From the album ‘The Duckworth Lewis Method’ (released July 2009, bought 2010)
(see 1 above)

16. Fungus Hedge – by Baxter Dury
From the album ‘Len Parrot’s Memorial Lift’ (released July 2002, bought 2010)
(see 5 above)

17. Darkness Makes Us Blind – by Pugwash
From the album ‘Almond Tea’ (released 1999, bought 2010)
(see 6 above)

18. Down In The Street Below – by The Divine Comedy
From the album ‘Bang Goes The Knighthood’ (released May 2010)
(see 7 above)

19. We're Gonna Change The World – by Matt Monro
From the album The Complete Singles Collection: Remastered’ (released January 2010)

Shirley Wood was dragged still sitting
By a policeman from the road
Margaret Beatty had her face slapped
By a man she tried to goad

Ah, they don’t write em like that anymore! The lyrics are quite at odds with this jolly tune, taken from an incredible 5 disc box set that does exactly what it says on the tin… a complete collection of both "A" and "B" sides of every single Monro ever released. From Decca in 1956 to Philips/Fontana in 1958 and finally to EMI Parlophone from 1960 onwards. I’ve had this particular song in the collection for years, but having re-read the small print of the rules, I’m confident that this is a legit inclusion!

20. La Boheme (Le Bohème) – by Charles Aznavour
From the album ‘Le Bohème’ (released 1966, bought 2010)
Inspired by Puccini’s opera of the same name, this is one of Aznavour’s most famous songs. Originally recorded in French, Aznavour subsequently re-recorded versions in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and German (don’t worry, this is the English version!)

Piley

You've GOT To Be Joking?!

I've always put that saying "as soon as Christmas is over, it'll be Easter eggs in the shops" down as just something that people say as a laugh (although I've never found it particularly funny). But I took this picture on the 2nd OF JANUARY!!! I had to do a double-take, but no, there it was. I mean another load of chocolate a week after Christmas is going to be as welcome as a dog at a game of skittles...

Note the display has been completely unbothered by a single punter!

Piley

The Word of 2010

I've already seen a number of lists highlighting the year that was 2010.... best\worst films, best albums, best TV show etc etc. But over the last few days I've been thinking about the 'word' of 2010. "You've too much time on your hands Piley" I hear you cry, but I didn't spent that long on it... honest!

So what's the rules then?? Well it could be a buzz word that became popular during the year, a cultural reference that was high on the agenda... an event, TV show or maybe even a heavy hitting celeb. But whatever it is, it has to be a word that you associate with 2010.

Consolation prizes must go to near misses such as 'Credit Crunch', 'Coalition', 'the Big Society' 'Recession', 'tuition fees', 'spending cuts', 'X-Factor', 'Twitter', 'Facebook' and the dreaded 'Iconic'. All very dominant throughout the year, but all in wide use prior to 2010, so you couldn't really attribute them exclusively to the last 12 months. 'Election' was obviously another big word, but then it was a big word 4 years ago, and 4 years before that etc etc...

A Bronze medal goes to 'Con-Dem', a play on words dreampt up by the media for our new Government. But alas I don't think we've heard the last of that one.

It's a photo finish for the top spot, and just pipped at the post for a well earned silver is a word that has always been sitting there in the dictionary, but has been lying dormant for more than half a century....

Austerity!

Other than in historic terms, I don't think I'd ever heard this word used. It was picked up mid-year, and now I don't think a day goes by without hearing it (especially where I work).

But my Gold medal is an easy award. A word I'd never heard of before 2010, and with any luck, a word I'll not be hearing again! (and believe me, I REALLY don't want to be 'hearing' this word ever again!). So chances are that 2010 was 'the' year for it. So without further ado, the coveted 'Start The Revolution Without Me - Word of 2010' award goes to....

The Vuvuzela!

Before I go, I must just relay a story from good friend Jack. He and some pals went to the World Cup last year, and took in a number of games. On the first game they went to, it was getting close to kick off when it started spitting with rain. The collars of the coats went up a bit, and it was on and off for the rest of the game. Shame. At the next game, incredibly, the same thing happened again, just as it was getting close to kick off, it started to rain. Then someone twigged it.... they turned round and saw 80,000 vuvuzelas pointing down at them! yuk!

Anyone got any more words of 2010 to add?

Happy New Year!

Piley