Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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| Image by Tumisu from Pixabay |
When former government minister David Mellor hosted the BBC's 606 football phone-in, he always used to launch into it by declaring it was going to be filled with, "Red-hot soccer chat," thus instantly displaying how in touch with the average football fan he was.
However, this site is so vast that it has space for red-hot chat of all kinds.
Those kinds might be arts, carts, cards, cars, marts, Mars, bars, darts, smarts, parts, films, flans, plans, books, bagels, cooks, nooks, crooks, ducks, drakes, pixies, rocks, socks, blocks, music, mucous, fairy tales, fairy lights, Fairy Liquid, fairy cakes, Eccles cakes, myth, moths, maths, magic, tragedy, comedy, dromedaries, murder, larders, Ladas, mystery, mayhem, molluscs, Moorcock, May Day, mangoes, bongos, drongoes, bingo, Ringo, Pingu, Ringu, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Doris Day, Marvin Gaye, Marvin the paranoid android, Brookside Close, Ramsay Street, Coronation Street, Albert Square, Scarlet Street, Dead End Street, chickenpox, the Equinox, parallelograms, rhomboids, androids, asteroids, The Good Life, the Next Life, That's Life, pomegranates, raisins, grapes, currants, blackcurrants, figs, waves, ether, Esther, ethanol, methane, granite, marble, marbles, maples, staples, fables, stables, sofas, eggs, pegs, legs, dregs, moons and supermoons, Supertramp, Supertrams, streetcars, desires, sodas, sausages, eggs, whisky, broth, Bath, baths, Garth Marenghi, Garth Brooks, Garth Crooks, Bruno Brookes, Bruno Mars, Mars Bars, wine bars, flip-flops, flim-flam, flapjacks, backpacks, see-saws, jigsaws, dominoes, draft excluders, blockheads, blackheads, dunderheads, deadheads, webheads, flowerpots, flour bags, shower bags, shower heads, mop heads, Deadheads, Bill and Ben, Ben and Jerry, Margo and Jerry, Tom and Jerry, flour pots, bread bins, bin bags, body bags, body horror, shoddy horror, dodgy watches, doggy bags, bean bags, handbags, glad rags, silk, milk, mink, coal sacks, cola, cocoa, dodos, Dido, Soho, Solo, silos, windows, day-glo, Hey ho, sago, winnebago, bagels, eagles, beagles, seagulls, glue, Gloy, Oi, Joy, Bostik, pancakes, Eccles cakes, Bakewell Tarts, landinggs, stairwells, farewells, Fabulous Wealthy Tarts, Mr Kipling, Rudyard Kipling, pizzas, pastas, pastors, baking soda, sci-fi, Wi-Fi, Hi-Fi, sewage, saunas, suet, Tomorrow People, yesterday's men, Forever People, Party People, purple people-eaters, Blobs, Globs, slobs, snobs, Sheila Steafel, steeples, Silurians, Sontarans, Sea Devils, spin doctors, saw doctors, dockers, miners, social workers, sins, suns, sans, sense, sludge, slumps, sumps, pumps, sunshine, slime, soup, sandwiches, servants, Sultanas, Santana, Satana, sultans, grapes, grappling hooks, grippling, sandcastles, Spirograph and Uni-Draw.
But, then again, they might not be.
What kind they are is entirely up to you because it's the return of the feature they're all talking about. The one in which the first person to comment below gets to decide what the day's topic of debate might be.
So, don't wait or hesitate. Simply get in there and have your say before it's too late.
Posts
35 comments:
What is your favourite fruit? Have you tried the more exotic kinds of fruit or do you stick to the familiar? Do you prefer tinned fruit to fresh fruit? Or maybe you hate fruit and curse its' very name? Now's your chance to abuse an apple or badmouth a banana.
Strawberries - easily the best. Kiwi fruit - maybe second. That said, I don't eat fruit very often - and I should.
Phillip
Thanks for the topic, Colin.
Of all the fruits in the world, I would have to say my favourites are plums. My least favourite are pears because they're always too hard or too soft. The period when they're just right is annoyingly brief.
Bananas, Colin.
This could be quite short, so does anyone mind if I offer up something else too? Seeing as its Record Store Day on Saturday, and after the chat about 'Houses of the Holy' recently, what about lp covers? That was a major artform in the 70s that was of got lost in later decades, when video became big and then - especially - the rise of the cd (although it's having a slight return at the moment).
Which ones were - are - people particularly into?
-sean
*was sort of lost in later decades...
Apologies for a poor edit and slightly garbled comment there.
-sean
Charlie is very partial to Persimmons, native to southern Indiana. Very hard to find ripe because the only sign they are ripe is when they fall to the ground, otherwise they are too astringent. And once they hit the ground they are not allowed to be sold.
Second favorite is fresh figs off the tree. Charlie only had that in the south of France at the former in-laws every few years. So darn good!
So… compared to apples and bananas, persimmons and figs are fairly exotic, no?!
Charlie likes rhubarb and grew it every year for the past 30 years and made a ton of strawberry-rhubarb pies! Very sour, only 1/4 cup of brown sugar so as to create a wonderful contrast with the vanilla ice cream!
Oh man, Steve are you so on point when it comes to pears. I want to love them but my success rate when I buy them is very poor.
I can eat a boat load of Michigan cherries when they're in season.
Album art? First comes to mind, Kiss Destroyer then Iron Maiden The Trooper.
Mine is a Bowen mango (known commercially as Kensington pride), which are bigger and juicer than most species, and grown in tropical north Australia. I'll think about the album cover a bit more but Aladdin Sane and Diamond Dogs both spring to mind as highly iconic.
DW
Beatles White Album is near the top of Charlie’s list of album covers. Revolver comes in second. Always dug the Molly Hatchett covers, done by Frazetta (?), though indifferent to their music.
My tastes in fruit are rather pedestrian, I suppose: bananas and oranges. And red seedless grapes, too. Must avoid Phillip's strawberries, as I can't eat nuts or seeds. Lousy irritable digestive tract...
Album artwork: let me think...
Always liked Split Enz' "True Colours". Especially like the laser etched vinyl; does that count as album art? Literally the album is art....
Joe Jackson has several examples of my favorite album art: "Night and Day", "Beat Crazy" and "Body and Soul". Yes, I have a thing for retro style...
2 good suggestions guys:
Fruit. Raspberries, Oranges and Victoria Plumbs for me.
Album covers. Bowies Aladdin Sane and Diamond dogs of course.
Cheap Thrills by Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Beatles. Abbey Road.
Roxy Music , Country Life ( for obvious reasons)
Velvet underground and Nico . The banana cover!
Colin: hard to pick a favorite but I love apples, pears, oranges, tangerines, tangelos, grapefruit, lemons — not crazy about limes, come to think of it —watermelon, cantaloupe, cherries, apricots, plums, peaches, nectarines, bananas, papaya, guava, passion fruit, mangoes, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries.
Persimmons, yes — lovely delicate flavor — but you do have to eat them when they’re just ripe or they’re awful.
Yes, pears are tricky too. If they’re a little too ripe, they’re still yummy, just messier.
For their relative scarcity, maybe I’ll choose cumquats as my “favorite”. We actually got a really good basket of em just last week.
I generally prefer fresh fruits over canned — but I do have a nostalgic fondness for fruit salad in heavy syrup. Canned peaches are yummy too.
Gonna have to think on Sean’s album cover question….
b.t.
Was never particularly fruity as a kid or a young adult so I’m still finding my feet with fruit.
Blueberries are pretty versatile.
Tangerines (with Greek yoghurt) are a favourite breakfast. Love a decent apple but not too tart.
Not fond of melon. Pineapple and mango are OK, but I’m not crazy about them.
Albums covers…
I honestly have no love for them any more. I grew up with vinyl albums, and when I was younger was into bands who did nice sleeves - New Order and acts on 4AD etc - but it was always the music itself that was the thing for me.
The switch to CD and then later the fact that even though I still buy CDs I simply rip them and never touch them again because I only listen to the files means that sleeve design appreciation has all but disappeared from my life. And I find the resurgence in vinyl a completely fatuous marketing gimmick given that music on vinyl sounds like shit. See this article for how the hoopla about vinyl sales has been a load of hot air…
https://superdeluxeedition.com/feature/saturday-deluxe-18-january-2020/
That’s said, I do really like Mati Klarwein’s covers for Miles Davis and Jon Hassell.
And still fond of the Cocteau Twins covers up until 1986 (even though they themselves weren’t).
Thanks for your topic as well, Sean.
The first cover that leaps to mind is Sgt Pepper, as there are so many people on it for you to make an attempt to recognise. And, of course, it has that strange, funeral vibe to it.
Thanks for the comments. I'd say my favourite fruits are kiwifruit, pears, tangerines (or satsumas or whatever they are called nowadays), dates and pineapple but only the tinned variety (I tried a fresh pineapple and didn't enjoy the experience - it was messy and the acid in the pineapple made my lips sting for several hours afterwards which has never happened with tinned pineapple). Steve, I agree about pears - I remember my mother buying pears and they were always hard as rocks but I bought some pears from Tesco recently and they were perfect. Charlie, my local Tesco used to sell persimmons but I haven't seen any for a while
I'll have to think about the album covers but three I've always liked are:
Abbey Road because it was such a simple idea but it's an iconic image.
Dark Side Of The Moon because of the prism image - another simple but iconic image.
Super Trouper (ABBA) because of the circus theme.
Here are a few of the album covers I have admired over the years:
Kate Bush : ‘The Dreaming’
Carly Simon : ‘No Secrets’ and ‘Playing Possum’
Blondie : ‘Parallel Lines’
Be-bop Deluxe : ‘Sunburst Finish’
10CC : ‘Deceptive Bends’
Thin Lizzy : ‘Jailbreak’
Queen : ‘News of the World’
Alice Cooper : ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ and ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’
Meat Loaf : ‘Bat Out of Hell’ and ‘Dead Ringer’
The Cars : ‘Candy-O’
Kiss : ‘Destroyer’, ‘Rock and Roll Over’ and ‘Love Gun’
ELO : ‘A New World Record’ and ‘Out of the Blue’
Peter Gabriel’s first 3 solo albums (sometimes called ‘Rain’, ‘Scratch’ and ‘Melt’)
Santana’s first album
Starcastle : ‘Fountains of Light’
Hawkwind : ‘Hall of the Mountain Grill’
Ramones : first album and ‘Pleasant Dreams’
Wings : ‘Band On The Run’
Pink Floyd : ‘Animals’ and ‘Wish You Were Here’
So many more…
b.t.
Sean - sorry, as regards record covers, I'm not really qualified to comment! I think I only bought 2 vinyl albums, and neither had an artistic cover.
Phillip
COLIN - To Charlie, 4000 miles away, your fruit question is very interesting from a cultural perspective. Charlie has always been interested in native species!
Alas, Charlie will fill in for REDARTZ and notify the community that in RED's neck of the Indiana woods (way down yonder in the yakety-yank... lol) there are two native species called PERSIMMONS and PAW PAWs. (There is a song "Way down yonder in the paw paw patch...")
Indiana Persimmons are, as B.T. noted: sublime! Not like the Fuji Persimmons. (IF you want Charlie to expand on Persimmon events, just say so...)
Paw Paws are supposed to taste like a banana custard. Never had one. Just another good reason to go visit RED!
Both are finicky as hell about when to harvest: the Persimmons not a minute to soon (literally must fall to the ground) and the Paw Paw not a minute too late.
Charlie will also step in for MP!
The Dakotas are lush (???) with BLACK WALNUTs, native to the USA. It is the only totally wild nut tree in the USA.
The flavor... Let's just say that Black Walnuts are to the nut world as Pate de Foie Gras is to cold cuts. DIVINE!
They ain't cheap. They are wonderful with vanilla ice cream.
Quick story.. the man who bought my house 2 years ago was from South Dakota. He said his property was littered with Black Walnuts. The thick outer shell is very tough getting through and then there is an inner shell after that. He actually noticed Crows and Squirrels were pushing the walnuts onto his drive way where his car traveled so that the car would break open the nuts. Can Charlie get a "WOW!"?
Charlie:
"A paw paw - or a prickly pear" - see Baloo the bear, in the Disney Jungle Book.
Persimmons - see the Lovejoy episode, "The Kakiemon Tiger".
Phillip
Oh, and "Persimmon" is also the name of a company that builds lots of crap new housing estates in the UK.
Phillip
My favourite fruit is the satsuma. I'm going through a phase of peeling them then popping them in the freezer. Delicious and the fibres in it give it more of an ice cream vibe than a frozen juice vibe.
And it's sad how the artistic quality of album covers has dropped off a cliff. When CDs replaced vinyl there was a drop in standard and there's now another one happening with streaming replacing CDs. And so many new albums these days just have black and white covers – what's all that about? Maybe if the vinyl resurgence continues, we,Ll go back to the glory days?
Well, theres a (gulp) live Allmans double lp on this year's RSD list, dangermash.
Personally, I didn't stop buying records - well, except when I was short of money - so obviously I'm not going to go along with Matthew about vinyl sounding shit. But I will agree on Mati Klarwein's covers, for the Last Poets and er... Santana, as well as Miles and Jon Hassell.
A lot of that ancient to the future pyramids and spaceships stuff on jazz records from that '68 - '73 era does it for me, from various Sun to sleeves to Herbie Hancock's 'Sextant'.
b.t., Yeah, 'Bat Out of Hell' has an impressive cover... fortunately I still have an old book about Richard Corben which reproduces it inside, so don't need the Meatloaf album (or the Steinman one). The Wrightson cover didn't strike me as one of his works though.
'Animals' is a good choice - a symbol of fading power, under a then rising new Right (nice clouds too). Quite appropriate that the new mix - with the shell of the old Battersea power station being redeveloped on the cover - should have come out when Liz of the 49 Days was about to become prime minister.
-sean
Found that ABB album Sean. I already have four 2-3 disc live albums from this incarnation of the band ("the Haynes & Trucks era") including three complete concerts with all sorts of guest stars. Might still be tempted by this one, though, if the price ever comes down to something sensible.
On the album covers, I guess one good thing about the decline in quality is that I'm less likely to be tempted to buy a crap album just because of some great artwork. So I'm safe from Yes for a while.
*various Sun Ra sleeves to Herbie Hancock's 'Sextant'...
Apologies for the typo (I think predictive text changed 'Ra' to 'to'. Why it did that is anyone's guess).
Also, I should really add a shout for the Residents, and their Ralph label. They had some strong designs, especially in the late 70s and early 80s, reminiscent of mags like Raw and Robert Crumb's Weirdo.
-sean
dangermash, A copy of Roger Dean's 'Views' book saved me from ever having to get 'Tales of the Oceanographic Edge' or whatever.
See also: Rick Griffin. Love his artwork, but who needs an old Grateful Dead record?
-sean
PS And yes, the prices on this year's Record Store Day albums are ridiculous (especially for American imports).
-sea
*-seanDuh. It's not my night.
Some more favourite album covers:
ATLANTIC CROSSING - Rod Stewart (giant cartoon Rod steps over the Atlantic)
GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD - Elton John (but the cover is more Hello Yellow Brick Road than Goodbye)
RAY OF LIGHT - Madonna (never before or since has Madge looked more beautiful, almost like a character from a fairy tale)
THE BEST OF BLONDIE - ...er, Blondie (the first album I ever bought)
VOYAGE - ABBA (makes me think of 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Does anyone remember an LP that had the Silver Surfer on the cover from the mid to late 1980s. I thought it was Santana but can't find it in any search.. or am I just imaging this?
I see Various Artists will have a few albums fir sale this weekend!
McScotty:
Joe Satriani maybe?
That's the one anon, thank you.
McScotty -
It was Joe Satriani!
I just saw it in a charity shop today.
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