Music Links
Here are my music links - arranged in no particular order......
Rush would appear to be a real nerdy band - judging by the amount of links you can find about them - here is the pick of them (and there are quite a few to plow through). Expand your mind!
Mainly a commercial site dealing with progressive rock - good place to locate those hard to find recordings. I have also found a very well written article (written in the style of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) about finding your way in prog rock. Click here to go to it.
Counting Out Time - A Prog History
This is a very good site that takes you though the history of prog rock one year and one classic album at a time - 1967 through 1999 - with extensive reviews. Well worth a look.
Like them or loathe them - they are becoming more popular and certainly form a large part of the live music scene in this country - and it is the only way you are going to see some bands play live - you will just have to train your mind to believe that the band playing Rush tracks are indeed Rush and not a gang of civil servants from Nottingham! I went to see the Australian Pink Floyd in Southport (I have scanned the ticket on my images page) and would have to concede that they were nothing short of superb. Give them a chance! You can also specialise and just look @ Rush Tribute bands if you do not want to plow through about 8 million ABBA tribute bands! If you are anxious to see a tribute band, then check out the link to Crewe Limelight Club below.
These are a young bunch of lads (from sunny Thatcham) who have a band and have put together a nice site - with pix of their jam sessions etc. Men after my own heart. Go along for a look - this is a very good site!
Jazz - who the bloody hell knows what it is on about? If you need help you can look here. As it contains links to Amazon it is perfect for locating those hard to find items.
A 1950's Jazz tribute page - well worth a read if this period in Jazz history is your thing. A good feature is a guide to all of the main movers of the period - Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie etc.
A radio station dedicated to Jazz - well it is not quite dedicated - it plays a lot of Soul as well - which I am not overly fond of. However, one must keep an open mind - the best time to listen to Jazz FM is Late Lounge - around 22:00 every night - that and any time that Tony Blackburn is not on! Also check out Dinner Jazz - 20:00 hrs every night - also Rosie Kendrick - who has actually been on this ite (come back any time, your Royal Jazzness!) - she has perhaps the strangest and best show on the air.
The site dedicated to the man himself. I must say I was a little disappointed by this site, given the length of his career and his utter brilliance.
This is the home of Norwegian Jazz on the internet - their very well put together site details the back catalogue, tour news and even allows you to have a quick listen to the stuff on offer. Be warned - this music is very weird.....
These are the guys who organised the Jodrell Bank Concerts that I was once so fond of - they have now moved the concerts to Leicester so I am not best pleased! They also have a catalogue of CD's that you will never be able to find anywhere else - good stuff! Nice people to deal with.
These are the best of the bands promoted by Synth Music Direct. Check them out!
GianFranco Fiocco - Rush Midi Page
This guy has put together some midi files of his fave band, Rush. I have heard some very cheesy midi files over the years but these are well thought through and are probably the best Rush midi files you will ever find.
This venue, in the delightful town of Crewe, provides a good venue for stuff you would be hard pushed to see anywhere else - check it out! This is a very good place to see one of the many tribute bands around.
These guys I do not know much about (apart from their Canadian nationality), but I would suspect that their CD collections are full of stuff like Rush as this is who they sound exactly like. Brilliant musicians - but a nice fast connection would be a great help here! These guys were also nice enough to tell me that I have spelt Jeddy Lee wrong (it should be Geddy!). Nice wholesome chaps.
Piccadilly Records of Manchester
This is the best music shop in the uk - knowledgeable staff (they write little reviews on post-it notes that they stick to the front of the CD's on sale). This is a brilliant place to locate all of those hard to find recordings; Jazz, Funk, Electronic, Ambient, Exotica, Progressive - but not a very good place to pick up S-Club Juniors singles for your niece.
Liverpool's own version of Piccadilly, this shop is also home to all of the weird stuff that your record collection needs. Well put together site and the home of underground music in Liverpool.
My friend, Graham Hickey, is heavily into making his own music arrangements - in fact he wrote the music played at his wedding in April 2003 - most impressive - most blokes have trouble sorting out the hiring of Limos and the buying of flowers without the added confusion of writing music as well. The link above is his site should you need a piece of music for any reason. Graham also has a family tree page here and his Sibelius publishing site (I don't know what it means either so don't ask - I only know it contains copyrighted material cos he told me!) can be found by clicking here.
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