Best Ever Albums

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Wed, 2 Sep 2026 06:13:23 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 09/02/2026 10:13

Johnnyo wrote:

What a special gig it was last night at the Eventim Apollo (or as I still refer to it The Hammy Odeon) in Hammersmith, London. Still an icon venue despite the name change

Tewo great bands but I'm going to start with the headliners, The Black Keys

I've seen them before but not at a venue this damn good and what a wonderful performance. Dan Auerbach was simply on fire on lead guitar as the band, yes, played the hits, but also played some deeper cuts that were just brilliant. They also did four covers, the best of these being I Wanna Be Your Dog by The Stooges and You Got To Lose by Earl Hooker

An added personal bonus for me was the addition of Little Barrie Cadogan as second guitar. I couldn't get to see him earlier in the year because of a clash of gigs so this, in a small way, made up for it

Fabulous gig, fabulous band

In support of The Black Keys was Robert Finlay and it's hard to think of a better band to support them than this fabulous blues and soul man.

I've seen Robert live before an he always delivers.

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Tue, 1 Sep 2026 02:18:37 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 09/01/2026 06:18

What a special gig it was last night at the Eventim Apollo (or as I still refer to it The Hammy Odeon) in Hammersmith, London. Still an icon venue despite the name change

Tewo great bands but I'm going to start with the headliners, The Black Keys

I've seen them before but not at a venue this damn good and what a wonderful performance. Dan Auerbach was simply on fire on lead guitar as the band, yes, played the hits, but also played some deeper cuts that were just brilliant. They also did four covers, the best of these being I Wanna Be Your Dog by The Stooges and You Got To Lose by Earl Hooker

An added personal bonus for me was the addition of Little Barrie Cadogan as second guitar. I couldn't get to see him earlier in the year because of a clash of gigs so this, in a small way, made up for it

Fabulous gig, fabulous band

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 04:06:40 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/24/2026 08:06

I started my 60's & 70's listening groups a year ago, which is quite unbelievable to be honest. How time has flown.

So, in the last year I've posted 23 different albums for comment and review in the Forums and got an unbelievable 1.3 million views and 485 comments (thanks for the engagement folks)

Top of the pops was

In Search Of The Lost Chord (1968) by The Moody Blues

with 245,077 views. Not sure why this album was so popular but it clearly peaked a lot of interest.

The most posts, not too surprisingly was for

Revolver (1966) by The Beatles

with 60. Revolver also got 131,350 views placing it in 3rd place

2nd, with 200,037 views was

Sticky Fingers (1971) by The Rolling Stones

Also, no surprise there

We are now embarking on another group, 80's and 90's so more albums to post in the coming months. Keep 'em peeled

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 05:19:07 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/23/2026 09:19

Johnnyo wrote:

Last weekend I attended the revamped Cambridge Folk Festival. I have been to this festival over 30 times and seen soem great gigs. Don't let the work folk fool you, I've seen Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds , Patti Smith , Afro Celt Sound System and ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ [Tinariwen] , to name a few over the years. Usually a very eclectic line up

I hadn't been in quite a few years and last year it was cancelled. It was back this year and a group of us, all CFF veterans, decided to go.

Much leaner than usual, and less crowded and a great weekend.

I'm going to post my highlights on what I saw over the next few days

Just realised that there was one last act that I didn't mention that I saw on Stage Two, Nick Harper , son of the legendary Roy Harper

Nick told some great stories about his dad between songs and it was a nice hour or so of excellent acoustic folk.

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 05:32:17 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/21/2026 09:32

Anyone else spotted this

Emotional Junglist (2026) by Nia Archives

What Color Is Love (1972) by Terry Callier

Coincidence?

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 05:40:53 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/19/2026 09:40

Johnnyo wrote:

Brògeal would have been a great band to finish the last day of the festival, but they chose to put them on mid afternoon. No problem with that at all as I got to see them.

Folk / punk / indie band. Not sure what they might sound like on record but live they were great. Our last band of the festival as we had to leave early but nice way to finish the festival

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 04:36:27 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/17/2026 08:36

Johnnyo wrote:

Coming towards the end of our CFF weekend.

Next up were The Deep Blue. All female indie band who really rather rocked the place. A bit of a punk attitude which was a refreshing diversion from the usual CFF fare. Good band

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 04:28:05 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/16/2026 08:28

Johnnyo wrote:

Next up on Stage One were The Thorn (formerly Large Plants) . Absolutely brilliant

I hadn't realised but they are an offshoot of Wolf People who I adored back in the day

Great live band and very much in the vain of Wolf People

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 04:30:18 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/15/2026 08:30

Johnnyo wrote:

Next up on Stage One was George Boomsma

I had never heard of George but i will certainly be checking him out from now on. He has some very good songs and if I were to pick out Folk / rock influences for him you would probably go with Jeff Buckley and maybe Crosby, Stills & Nash. Just to give you an idea of the ballpark that he occupies.

Really enjoyed his set and will be checking him out from now on

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 06:10:54 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/14/2026 10:10

Johnnyo wrote:

so here we are, Sunday morning at Stage One.

Kicking off are Christina Alden & Alex Patterson.

A decent folky start to the morning. Nothing to grab you but pleasant enough.

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 03:08:11 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/13/2026 07:08

Johnnyo wrote:

The suns gone down, everyone is in the mood for a final boogie of the night so you decide to put on a guy with an electric guitar singing angry protest songs. Ahhhhh. What a disappointing way to finish the night

I've never been a fan of Frank Turner , I don't understand why he's so popular. There's nothing ground-breaking about his music and he's not got a particularly great voice. It was just dull and we left about 20 minutes into his set.

Finishing with Seth Lakeman would have been a great way to finish off the day

Oh well, we still have Sunday

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 02:15:42 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/12/2026 06:15

Johnnyo wrote:

2nd from last on Stage One on Saturday was Seth Lakeman and this was the best thing all weekend.

Seth and the band were on fire and would have been a fitting ending to the day (more on that next). Great song writing, performing, energy and joy. The crowd were rockin' and who can blame them. Fabulous stuff

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:10:40 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/11/2026 13:10

Johnnyo wrote:

Next up, on Stage One were Skinny Lister a folk punk band and they were Ok but to be honest, nothing to write home about. There were better to come next

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 02:50:30 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/10/2026 06:50

[quote="Johnnyo"]

Johnnyo wrote:

Back to Stage One for Songs Of Joni Mitchell, Kate Stables (This Is The Kit ) Jesca Hoop (formerly of Goat Girl ) and Lail Arad, playing, you've guessed it, songs of Joni Mitchell

Interesting concept andf i really rather enjoyed this. It didn't always work but it worked enough for it to be a good gig

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 02:49:15 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/10/2026 06:49

[quote="Johnnyo"]

Johnnyo wrote:

Back to Stage One for Songs Of Joni Mitchell, Jesca Hoop (formerly of Goat Girl ) and Lail Arad, playing, you've guessed it, songs of Joni Mitchell

Interesting concept andf i really rather enjoyed this. It didn't always work but it worked enough for it to be a good gig

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Sun, 9 Aug 2026 01:47:06 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/09/2026 05:47

Johnnyo wrote:

Next up, and my first visit to Stage 2, was Katacombs , not a band but an individual.

Not sure of her real name but she was rather good. Nice voice accompanied by her acoustic guitar. Quintennial CFF

UK based US artist with Spanish and Greek parents she drew on all of these influences in her original material. Was joined on stage for one song by Frank Turner , which was nice

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Sat, 8 Aug 2026 06:45:24 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/08/2026 10:45

Johnnyo wrote:

Next up was Ustad Noor Bakhsh a master of the benju, a sort of zither.

Spellbinding and mesmeric. I could listen to this all day. This is folk music at it's best

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Fri, 7 Aug 2026 01:59:21 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/07/2026 05:59

Johnnyo wrote:

Next up on Stage One were Amaidi, an Aussie outfit who , for me, really kicked off the festival.

There were elements of celtic folk here and a great energy. Would I buy one of their albums? Probably not. Did I enjoy seeing them live. Most definitely.

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Thu, 6 Aug 2026 01:32:05 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/06/2026 05:32

Johnnyo wrote:

1st up on Stage 1 at the two day festival was Nick Cope

I knew nothing about him but it turned out that he's a children's singer! Decent voice but I'm afraid that the lyrics to his songs illuded me and I rather switched off. Fine as we were chatting as people arrived at our pitch.

Re: My Musical Musings by Johnnyo

Johnnyo — Wed, 5 Aug 2026 02:12:09 GMT

Author: Johnnyo

Posted: 08/05/2026 06:12

Last weekend I attended the revamped Cambridge Folk Festival. I have been to this festival over 30 times and seen soem great gigs. Don't let the work folk fool you, I've seen Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds , Patti Smith , Afro Celt Sound System and ⵜⵏⵔⵓⵏ [Tinariwen] , to name a few over the years. Usually a very eclectic line up

I hadn't been in quite a few years and last year it was cancelled. It was back this year and a group of us, all CFF veterans, decided to go.

Much leaner than usual, and less crowded and a great weekend.

I'm going to post my highlights on what I saw over the next few days