Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Ha Ha! I was playing all three, with a dash of Andwella's Dream and Gentle Giant, only yesterday. So maybe I'm an exception there. I love my trad psych and anyone who disses Yes, well, that's fighting talk! ;

When ever I play Syn or Tomorrow I just want to listen to the early Yes records. It's like going back and watching footage of a great player in their youth team days - it's all there but not fully formed.

If you include Kingdom Come, early Man, Atomic Rooster etc in your definition then I guess I would revise my sweeping bias against English Psych but I think of them more as early Prog. When I think of Psych I think of a more touristy Carnaby Street / Kings Road thing. There were a ton of bands who wore the clothes for a year in the "Listen To What The Flower People Say" / "Cups n Cakes" style. I know I am in a minority but Donovan and early TRex make my toes curl. Love The Zombies though and talking of The Syn, The Who's Psych period too. I love it when Psych is more in the Power Pop area.

My new Bong bookmark has softened my hardened attitude to marketing ploys but yes the DVD/Bluray/general annoyance at marketing shite to sit on rich boys shelves does rankle but I know that at some point the lure of decent live tracks will reel me in

Thankgod I turned my back on footy all those years ago, my one regret at Southampton getting promoted is that it brings them ever closer to the point where I will have to show interest in football again.

You know Ian, apart from the tracks Astral Traveller and Time And A Word, I've always avoided early Yes, as the little rest of it that I did hear I wasn't very impressed with. Maybe I should give them another go from a different perspective. With Yes there is a general consensus that it all really started with The Yes Album, there last chance re. their contract etc.

Well yes there is truth in that. Time & A Word is not very good though it tries hard. It's a decent stab at symphonic prog but with real orchestra rather than mellotron, Hammond and moog. The first album is a bit of a corker on the quiet. An odd mesh of Beach Boys and The Nice with jazz drumming. "Surivial" is one of Squire's best bass lines.

You might be better off just getting Yesterdays (especially if you don't already have their 10 minute version of "America" on something else) though it doesn't have their versions of "Every Little Thing" or "No Opportunity Necessary,No Experience Need" which are worth hearing and I would class as Yes essentials with "Survival" and "Sweet Dreams". I imagine it is all there on Spotify if you want to give them a test drive!

I've been watching Barnet and QPR pretty regularly since the 72-73 season (both had a rare good final day on Saturday). It's £300 - £400 a year to watch Barnet in D2. My first season ticket in the Southern League in the mid 70s IIRC was £14. God knows what a QPR ST will be next season. A grand easy I imagine. 95 my QPR ST in the top division was £175. Even allowing for inflation that is a 400% rise in real terms. Same seat. Same everything apart from the crappy rebranding. At least they don't have Wonga or a bloody bookie as sponsor but that is small comfort in the face of a naked money grab.

Want to knock the whole thing n the head but its like Floyd reissues ...

It's also like concert tickets. Why was it deemed suddenly ok to charge £50 for a routine arena show? There has to be a roll back somewhere though ironically it is the cheaper shows that are really suffering. Seems a lot of people are saving their money for the big ticket O2 type events and festivals.

And this includes a cover of "Learning To Fly".....

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/04/toc-william-shatner-is-searching-for-major-tom/