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intoabrownstudy · 6 years ago

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“So are you United or City?”

This is the inevitable follow-up question after, on clocking my accent, someone has asked me where I’m from. I always say that I’m from Manchester. I feel there is a reasonable expectation that they might know where that is or maybe have at least heard of it.

And I enjoy that follow-up question. It shows interest and knowledge that Manchester is, at least these days, probably best known as a football town. But I never like my answer.

“Well, actually, I’m from a town a few miles out of Manchester called Bolton, and it has its own team, Bolton Wanderers, they used to be in the Premier League a few years but now…”

I try to stop myself at this point. The poor questioner was anticipating a simple one-word answer but is now being faced with the prospect of having to feign interest in far more information than they expected going in.

“Oh.”

I’ve found that striking up a conversation whilst watching games in bars over here is almost inevitable. I moved from Bolton to San Diego, CA, just over ten years ago. Since then, I have spoken to many people with varying exposure to football. One aspect that seems to fascinate those not used to the sport is the idea of promotion and relegation in club football.

“If you’re not good enough, you get kicked out the league. My team were relegated a few years ago from the Premier League.”

“Oh right. So who’s your team now?”

This question stems from the fact all the major sports in the US don’t have the jeopardy of falling out of the league and that even the franchises themselves can be moveable feasts. Sometimes the sports fan in the US are asked to change allegiances.

“Oh, no, It’s not a case of that. I just follow them in whatever league they are in.”

Bolton Wanderers: A club that very few choose for. Manchesters United and City have, respectively, established and growing international fanbases because of, respectively, historic and current successes. It is extremely unlikely that Bolton Wanderers will ever garner anything like the attention that their noisy neighbours attract.

So why do I bother? Why do I follow this team in lower leagues, where the standard is awful and the coverage is limited. What has got me to the point where I, as a moderately-intelligent forty-two-year-old, more than five-thousand miles from home, still get all hot and bothered about a team that has only ever brought me disappointment? Well mostly.

I want to explore the origins of my love for Bolton Wanderers. The memories that have formed it. These memories are genuine, with the only research undertaken was to make sure timelines are correct.

oOo

In early 1987, Bolton Wanderers are struggling. A once mighty club1 are in a bad way financially and in the bottom third of the old Third Division. Relegation to the old Fourth is a very real possibility.

As a ten-year-old however, I was blissfully unaware of all of this. All I knew was that I liked football and I liked watching football matches. My first interest in the sport was being allowed to stay up for the 11 pm kick-off to watch the instantly-forgettable nil-all bore-off that was England’s group stage match versus Morrocco at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. A game in which nothing happened, save England’s captain, Bryan Robson, being carried off and England’s vice-captain, Ray “Butch” Wilkins getting sent off for throwing the ball in the general direction of the ref. Awful. Loved it2.

A combination of our enthusiasm for football and the dire situation in which Bolton Wanderers found themselves must have been the catalyst for my dad to take us to some home games. Usually, this would be the point in the piece where I am supposed to wax lyrical about my first game. The intoxicating aromas of wintergreen, second-hand pipe smoke and the half-time pies. The roar of the crowd. The elation of seeing my first goal. None of that. I can’t bring it to mind at all. I assume that we did go to some home games before the first game that I do actually recall, which was an away game. And it’s not a particularly cherished memory.

Looking back, I’ve no idea what my dad was thinking really. One of Bolton last few away games of the ill-fated 1986/87 season was at York City. As a family, we had been to the city of York many times. So, the plan was that we would drop my mum off in the city centre to do some shopping, whilst me, my dad and my younger brother would head over to Bootham Crescent for the 3 pm kick-off. We parked up around the corner from the ground and found our seats in the away end. My only recollections of the game were that the real Robbie Savage3 had his shirt ripped and that he refused to replace it. And that we were one-nil down at half-time.

This, apparently, was all that was needed for some Bolton fans to start causing mither4. The seated section of the away end was separated from the terraced area by railings to our right. Some Bolton fans started to climb them. An image that is seared on my retina is a deranged face poking through the railings, as he swung on them to force them to fall over. Other fights broke out behind us. This was Bolton fans against each other. I was frightened. As was my brother. I recall my dad asking for calm. I don’t recall if there ever was. We left the game before the second half started, as my brother and I were in a pretty inconsolable state. We picked up my mum and headed for home.

This incident is consistent with a fairly stereotypical view of football crowds in the late Eighties. It is the only time that trouble has happened so close to me at a football ground, but it must have had an impact, as I didn’t go to any other away games until my adulthood.

Bolton were relegated a few months later. The fourth division. A historic new low for the club.

Bolton Wanderers as a football club didn’t have a great deal going for it at this time. Burnden Park was an outdated stadium and in order to pay off debts, a corner of the ground was sold to the Co-Op so a Normid supermarket could be built. Sympathetic away fans would later chant “You only sing when you’re shopping”. The club asked regular supporters for financial help. They set up what they called Lifeline. Supporters could set up a monthly direct debit to donate money to the everyday running of the club. They needed fans to step up, and they did. Amongst those fans was my dad and I remember helping him spend his winnings from the monthly draw on the occasions his numbers came up. And I think it was in this spirit that he decided that buying season tickets for the first ever season in the fourth division was the right thing. It was this idea that, I believe, triggered my love of Bolton Wanderers.

As a young fan, the fourth division would be a baptism of fire. We were at our lowest ebb. In theory, things should only get better but certainly not get worse. We should have a good season.

The manager, Phil Neal, England and Liverpool legend, was able to bring in new players. I actively followed the moves made before the start of the season in the Bolton Evening News, the local paper. We had signed an impossibly-bronzed right-back from Halifax Town called Phil Brown5. A frontman from Bristol City called Trevor “Sumo” Morgan, who’s backside had its own gravitation pull. A striker from Preston, John Thomas, who seemed like he might score goals. The new home shirt6 was great; the best one there ever has been and since. I definitely recall a sense of optimism around the place when the first match of the season finally arrived. A home game against Crewe Alexandra.

And we scored first. The goal came from another new signing, from Grimsby Town, the box-to-box midfielder Gary Henshaw7 with a volley. We were cruising this division, right up until the point that Crewe equalised, by some no-mark called David Platt8. One-all, the final score. Ah well.

This was, and hopefully will forever be, the only season Bolton Wanderers spent in the lowest professional league in England. We gained automatic promotion to the third division by clinching third place on the last day of the season.

During this season, a matchday routine was crystalised. Parking up on the same street and then walking on the ground, buying the matchday programme from the same corner and asking my dad where on Earth Scunthorpe or Hartlepool or Darlington is.

Inside the Burnden Park itself, the amenities were less than salubrious. We sat in the Great Lever end which was nominally designated as the family end, although I was never sure what it was that made it family-friendly. It was dark, had just-about serviceable toilet facilities and a portacabin serving your half-time Bovril. As season ticket holders, we had designated seats which were right behind the goal almost all the way towards the back of the stand. In actuality, we could have sat anywhere we chose, but we always very deliberately sat in “our” seats. There was no earthly reason to do so, as in the seat in front of us, was a very elderly gentleman, complete with flat cap, who sat quietly on his own but would chain-smoke his way through every game. Looking back, we must have been a persistent annoyance to him also, as we would bring along a genuine World War Two ARP rick-rack, which we had painted club colours. On the appearance of the teams, we would swing that thing around for all our worth, making, on reflection, a very unpleasant noise. But neither side relented. Every week, same spot.

What I do remember with fondness about Burnden Park were the times, as a family, that we would go to lunch to what was dubbed the “Executive Lounge”. This is where the top brass of visiting clubs would be entertained and what passed for the fancy-eating quarters for the players after training. But during the day, any old scruff could avail themselves of the plentiful buffet for a very reasonable price. You would often see the players tucking into their lunches and best of all, the club legend and lifetime president of the club, Nat Lofthouse would be there. A nicer, more considerate and conscientious man I have yet to meet. Sir Nat had time for everyone.

In his pomp, he was the most feared striker of his generation. After scoring two goals against Austria whilst playing for England, he earned the title, The Lion of Vienna9. To this day, Bolton’s six-foot-plus furry mascot is named Lofty the Lion. As a tribute to the great man and this epithet, local folk band, The Houghton Weavers produced a song of the same name which they released on 7-inch vinyl. Sir Nat was gracious enough to sign my copy even as I interrupted his meal one day. My mum has kept our copy10.

Nat Lofthouse was an important part of why Bolton Wanderers survived as a club. And for him to not mind some oik asking for an autograph, and in fact made to feel actually welcomed, meant a great deal. Even in the moment, but probably more so now.

It was around this time that I must’ve had it bad. With definitely my dad as the enabler. The whole family would often go to see the stiffs11 play on cold midweek evenings. Even travelling to Blackburn’s Ewood Park and Oldham Athletic’s Boundary Park to see youth team cup games. I enjoyed that a typewriter had been used to produce the teamsheets that were handed out at these games, that you could hear the players’ voices as they hurled insults toward the ref, as well as the creek of the wooden stairs in the Manchester Road end12.

There were other occasions, such as the day, we all woke early on a dreadful Saturday morning to go see a Bolton A13 team match against Manchester United at their old training ground, The Cliff. It was a disgusting day; the type when the rain drives at you sideways. It also happened to be Christmas Eve! The redeeming aspect of this adventure occurred before the game even kicked off. Manchester United’s first team were there for a light training session before their Boxing Day game. I was able to get the autographs of players that I’d seen on the telly and who I knew were really good. Gordon Strachan, Paul McGrath, Mark Hughes, Steve Bruce and, best of all, Bryan Robson14. A hero. Amazing. Then Bolton A played in a match.

As I planned this piece, my research revealed that I had misremembered gaining promotion to the third division in the same year as we won a Wembley final. That glorious day in North London remains the best I’ve had as a Bolton Wanderers fan. Alas, that happened in May 1989. Eek. I had remembered us fighting on all fronts, cup and league when in reality, we had clinched mid-table mediocrity by February and had only the Sherpa Van Trophy to play for in the rest of the season. These were the years when only clubs from the third and fourth divisions could enter15, so after we had beaten Blackpool over two legs in the semis, I felt confident that we could go on to beat a fourth division team, Torquay United, in the final. That final was at Wembley.

It probably goes without saying that I had never been to Wembley before. In those days, there were only a handful of games shown live on television. A few hand-picked first division matches on a Sunday. And, of course, the FA Cup Final. At Wembley. Where it was always sunny. The field, implausibly green and twice the size of any other. The crowd, unfeasibly large. I really couldn’t wait to see my team down there.

We stayed overnight at my auntie’s in Stevenage and, as a family, marched on Wembley Way, bathed in the prerequisite sunshine. It was the time when supporters had started to bring inflatable objects to games; a craze started by Manchester City fans, who honoured their striker, Imre Varadi16, with inflatable bananas. Bolton produced their own inflatable, a pig, as we are known as the Trotters (Even though it is believed that the nickname doesn’t actually relate to pig’s feet, but to a colloquial term for a practical joker). I had brought one of these for the big day, but when it was made clear that I would be responsible for carrying the thing all day, a decision was made to leave it in the car. However, the rosette created especially for the game did make it to the ground. I miss the use of a rosette for finals, I think they look smart and are due for a revival.

Bolton won. But not before conceding the first goal of the game. Four different scorers for Bolton made it four-one at full-time, which included one of the best goals ever scored by a centre-half at Wembley17. To this day, I remember Dean Crombie cushioning a pass on his chest after making a lung-busting 50-yard run and then slotting home like it was his job. Everyone around me was understandably ecstatic and were stood up during the trophy lift. I decided to stand on my seat, the kind that flips up, to get a better vantage point. So what I remember most about Bolton receiving the coveted Sherpa Van Trophy is the excruciating pain of trapping my leg in the seat after losing my balance. Even now, this mental scar twinges whenever I’m navigating a partially-empty sports stadia.

Looking back, I’ve used the word “we” a great deal. We won the cup that day. It was an important day for the club, as it reminded the whole community how important it was to the town.

Bolton were bang average for the next few seasons after the Sherpa Van Trophy success. Phil Neal was never able to gain promotion to the second division after several attempts. These seasons have, over time, merged into nothingness. It was only after the appointment of Bruce Rioch did the club start challenging for promotion. Under him there were great cup runs, defeating, most notably, Liverpool at Anfield in a FA Cup replay, and promotions to the second division and ultimately the Premiership/Premier League18 through the playoffs.

oOo

It was my dad’s enthusiasm for his football club, and his sense of civic pride, that first nudged me down the path towards Bolton Wanderers fandom. Continuing what he started is a huge part of why I still care.

I support because of the great days the club has afforded me. I support because of the sense of sharing with friends and family and with absolute strangers. I support in hope, rather than in expectation.

Bolton Wanderers has always been a club that represents the town. I take pride in how our 1958 FA Cup win was achieved by 11 blokes who were born and raised in the town. That has not happened since by any club, and will probably never happen again. Nat Lofthouse epitomised that. His love of the club meant that he would do whatever was asked of him. Filling in as manager if needed. For our club to be associated with a great figure like Sir Nat is a privilege. His example is one that we as Bolton fans should always be mindful of. Throughout its history, the club has existed for the fans, and also because of the fans. Currently, the club is in a difficult period. We need to be watchful and supportive in ways that might extend further than simply cheering on the team on a Saturday afternoon. It should be treasured, and we must not be complacent. The club should be maintained so that it can thrive and remain the great representation of our town into the future.

Bolton Wanderers is a significant, historical sporting institution. As I Boltonian, I am extraordinarily proud of it.

Footnotes

1 Founding member of the Football League; scored the first-ever goal in that League; Four-time FA Cup Winners; Winners of the first FA Cup Final held at Wembley in 1923

2 On the back of this, me and my brother both got full England kits, which we both wore out of the sports store in York.

3https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Savage_(footballer,_born_1960)

4https://www.yourdictionary.com/mither

5 Now famous for being impossibly-orange in management at Hull City et al and number two to Sam Allardyce at Bolton.

6 Alas, my replica of this shirt is lost. Either at an Airbnb in Milwaukee or Chicago. Tragic.

7 On my first day of a summer job as a driver’s mate for a local delivery company, to my surprise and delight, Gary Henshaw was the driver of the van. Together, we made sure the good folks of Scunthorpe got their fridges and washer-dryers that day. I was definitely star-struck.

8 A few years later, David Platt went on to play for Aston Villa, then, Arsenal, Juventus, Sampdoria and of course England. He scored “in the last minute of extra time”.

9 For more reading about Nat Lofthouse, this is a fabulous article from TheseFootballTimes.com https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/09/29/nat-lofthouse-the-lion-of-vienna-and-the-gent-of-bolton/

10 The photograph courtesy of my mum; note that Sir Nat signed with Thanks.

11 The reserve team.

12 So here’s where I allow myself to wax lyrical, about reserve team games.

13 A third-string team of reserves and youth players.

14 This photo courtesy of my mum who still has the autograph book.

15 In its current iteration, the Checkatrade Trophy, Premier League and Championship clubs can submit academy teams (if they wish).

16 Some kind of corruption of Varadi into Banana. No, I don’t either.

17 All views expressed are my own.

18 Delete as appropriate for that year.

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intoabrownstudy · 7 years ago

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Had a go at a succulent wall. At least of a fashion... (at Golden Hill, San Diego)

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intoabrownstudy · 8 years ago

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Sonic Review of the Past Fortnight

This may end up being a little more like a fortnightly affair. A combination of having the opportunity to sit down and do this, and getting around to listening to enough quality items may just be enough to make sure these missives will be bi-weekly thing. Anyway, there are some very interesting pieces since the last time, so here goes...

Best new Radio of the Week:

Writing A Power Ballad, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08y0t5l

I have grown to hate the idea of a guilty pleasure. As a 20-something year old, it did feel important to lord it over others and their pitiful musical tastes. Now, I realise how utterly facile all that is. There isn’t good and bad music, there’s just stuff you like and stuff you don’t. The power ballad would certainly have received derision from this writer’s judgey 20-something self. They still aren’t my favourite, but I do enjoy listening to people talk about what buttons are being pressed when music is created. This programme follows Rev. Coles, formerly of The Communards, now Radio 4 mainstay, who, whilst investigating into what makes a successful power ballad, is also trying to write one himself. The final song is actually really effective and the reconstruction of the power ballad is very revealing and I will endeavour not to be manipulate musically like this ever again. I won’t happen.

Holloway Dreams: The Joe Meek Story, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t1q3l

This is the first of what seems to be a series of documentaries narrated by Tom Robinson about the very singular life of Joe Meek, the music producer best known for his work with Telestar. In this first episode, we are given an insight into how his production style developed into want we most recognise Meek for and the very “alternative” take he had on the forces that are at play on everyday life. It’s pretty remarkable. I look forward to the following episodes.

We are firmly into Proms Season at The Royal Albert Hall. As always, there is a wide range of music represented. This performance involves reimagined and rearranged Scott Walker tunes. I feel I should know more about Scott Walker and his cannon, but I do know that most of the people that I love to listen to adore him. These include the performers for this show, Jarvis Cocker of Pulp fame, John Grant, Richard Hawley and Susanne Sundfor, who certainly steals the show with her interpretations of On Your Own Again and Angels Of Ashes. The Heritage Orchestra lead by Jules Buckley is the backing to some wondrous performances. Well worth a listen.

Best of the BBC iPlayer Archive:

The Ipcress File, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01697h2

This is where I will highlight something that is available on the BBC Radio iPlayer that hasn’t been on air for a while. Another excellent full-cast dramatisation of the Len Deighton novel starring Ian Hart, who is probably best known for the numerous times he has played John Lennon in film. The production is able to portray the murky and claustrophobic world of espionage with a tight script that stays pretty loyal to the original text and solid performances.

Best Podcast & Highlight of the week:

England Win The Women’s World Cup, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p059h6d5

This podcast includes the commentary of the moment the women’s cricket team beat India in the World Cup Final and the immediate reactions of the BBC Radio commentary team. They are obviously very close to the squad, and so emotion spills over in a charming way. They cannot contain how pleased their are for their friends, and so this also my highlight of the week.

Best album released this week:

Soft Sounds From Another Planet; Japanese Breakfast, https://open.spotify.com/album/6AOaqWipm2Zk0oBp0uUey2

Sophomore album from this Philadephia solo performer. Very reminiscent of Camera Obscura in places in terms of delivery of lyrics and the ethereal production. A calming influence in my listening this week.

Best track released this week:

Pain; The War On Drugs, https://open.spotify.com/track/4hq17pF8HvRG9NtmWET4FF

It’s very exciting to keep getting the odd song off the new album from The War On Drugs that is due for release August 25th. This track seems to take up from where the last album finished. Driving beat, Dylanesque vocals (in a good way) and with nods to Dire Straits. I’m all for bands just keeping to what they do best and are known for, rather than any “radical departures”. I can listen to other bands if I want to hear different types of music.

Best new discovery:

Dumb White Guy with Brendon Burns, https://soundcloud.com/brendonburns

I heard about this podcast after listening to Brendon Burns and Craig Quartermaine interviewed on Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast. They were talking to Richard about their Edinburgh show, Race/Off, which in itself sounds interesting: an exploration of race, with particular focus on his home town in Australia. The podcast itself is based around a previous Edinburgh show, and it again attempts to tackle issues that are “kind of awkward” for white blokes. The language gets a bit racy, so beware.

-o-

There it is, I hope you find something of interest here and if you have your own suggestions, be that podcasts, radio shows, albums, tracks or live performances I would be delighted to hear about them.

open.spotify.com/user/phutch1977/

twitter.com/IntoABrownStudy

tumblr.com/IntoABrownStudy

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intoabrownstudy · 8 years ago

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Sonic Review of Last Week

After the information splurge of last week in which I covered the whole of the first half of this year, this week should be a little more sedate. I’m not going to hold myself to rigid categories each week, but roughly speaking they will highlight these same areas moving forward.

Best new Radio of the Week:

Paul Sinha’s History Revision, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07d7hhc/episodes/player

This is the third series of this show which is essentially a monologue about revisiting overlooked periods of history or events in history that our host believes should be more well know then they are. It is different to the Malcolm Gladwell podcast that I suggested last week in that it is filmed in front of a live audience and it there is a definite comedic slant. This week was the fourth episode where he covers how cinema has represented history. In previous editions, he has covered the contributions that immigrants and the gay community have made to history and how they have been largely under-looked.

Paul Sinha is really smart but also really funny. He challenges the audience with trivia throughout, and they usually do surprisingly well.

Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour Live from Manchester International Festival, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08xjkv1

Manchester’s greatest evangelist and lead singer of Elbow, Guy Garvey, has a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 6 Music every Sunday. This is a special live show from the heart of the city he loves during its International Festival. As a veteran of the festival himself in the past, Guy talks of how excited he was to work with Manchester’s Halle Orchestra in 2009 and describes how it felt to incorporate the Town Hall’s bells into probably their most well-known song, One Day Like This. He plays tunes from previous contributors to the Festival including Bjork and Rufus Wainwright, and there is live music from Kiran Leonard and poetry from Tony Walsh, whose poem, This Is The Place, became a lightning rod for the all emotion following the Manchester attacks. A wonderful celebration of all that Manchester has to offer culturally.

Best of the BBC iPlayer Archive:

Treasure Island, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jwxp

This is where I will highlight something that is available on the BBC Radio iPlayer that hasn’t been on air for a while. I’m a sucker for a good dramatisation, and this is a rip-roaring one. It has a great collection of greats of the radio drama world including John Moffatt as Squire Trelawney and Geoffrey Whitehead as Dr Livesey. A classic story told brilliantly.

Best Podcast:

Desert Island Discs: Sue Perkins, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08x4rzj

There has been a move in the past few weeks to have a the podcast of Desert Island Discs be an extended version of the radio show. Although for rights reasons they will only play snippets of the tunes chosen by the castaway, they will go into more depth in the interview. Kirsty Young’s interviews are always incisive without feeling intrusive. This is absolutely no exception. And judging by Sue’s music choices, we would definitely friends.

Best album released this week:

Every Valley; Public Service Broadcasting, https://open.spotify.com/album/3a33Xlh3zCHxs1hOlGTzMz

Public Service Broadcasting’s third full album charts the fate of the Welsh Coal mining industry using, as ever, sampling audio from old public service announcements. This album seems to have a much fuller band sound than their previous albums which probably reflects the larger live venues they are able to play.

Best track released this week:

Signs of Life; Arcade Fire, https://open.spotify.com/album/2GBKkbr7I9m0f7nEpexIhO

Seems like a little bit of a departure from the sound that the band are most recognised for. This song is much dancier, even funkier, than previous offerings, yet there is still the driving beat we associate with them, just this time they are stabbing strings. Usually I don’t like when bands move to far from the well-worn path, but this sounds really fresh, whilst at the same time, still sounding like an Arcade Fire track.

Best new discovery:

Under The Skin with Russell Brand; http://www.russellbrand.com/podcasts/

I may not get to a new discovery each week, but I was particularly struck by this relatively new series of podcasts from Russell Brand, where he speaks to a wide range of interesting people from all areas of life. The goal is to listen and to learn. This week, he speaks to Frankie Boyle. He is such an interesting character, who is in what seems to be a more thoughtful period of his career, particularly his topical writings showcased in his new TV show, New World Order. They talk about the political situation, media censorship and fatherhood amongst many other subjects. I look forward to catching up with previous episodes.

Highlight of the week:

Each week I’m going to pick out a particular moment that I think needs to be particularly championed. This week, Susan Calman is given this particularly “silly thing to do” on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue. She sings the lyrics of There’s No One Quite Like Grandma by St Winifred's School Choir to the tune of Harry Nilsson’s Without You. It’s quite magnificent.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08y027x

-o-

As always, I hope you find something of interest here and if you have your own suggestions, be that podcasts, radio shows, albums, tracks or live performances I would be delighted to hear about them.

open.spotify.com/user/phutch1977/

twitter.com/IntoABrownStudy

tumblr.com/IntoABrownStudy

#newmusic #radio #podcast #newalbum

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intoabrownstudy · 8 years ago

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Sonic Review of 2017 (so far):

I listen to a lot of stuff. I devour audio content. Be it new music, podcasts, radio, bird song. Quality is the only prerequisite. I have been meaning to start commenting on what I listen to and so David requesting that I submit something in print has been the stimulus to sit down and collate. The idea for future weeks is to present audio highlights on a week-to-week basis, but this submission is a summation of the best bits of sound so far this year. I’ll be covering the podcasts and radio programmes, the albums and individual tracks, and the live shows that I have made an impression on me so far this year.

So here goes. The descriptions will be fairly brief this time around, as I’m going to cover six whole months, but here’s what I have enjoyed sonically so far in 2017, starting with my favourite albums so far this year:

There are 11 here; these are albums that have made an impression on me and that I have continued to listen to. I’ll say a few words about what to expect from each them, as well as a little bit about why I have chosen them:

San Fermin; Belong

My favourite. From soup to nuts, a consistently wondrous collection of tunes that hop from genre to genre effortlessly. Beautifully arranged and performed.

Highlight: the emotional-charged title track, Belong.

Fleet Foxes; Crack Up

New music from Fleet Foxes that’s not a minute too soon. Essentially, it is more of the same acoustic sound and the divine close harmonies we have come to expect from the Seattleites. There is definitely more chances taken in the way the album is produced, so there is enough to distinguish this album from their others. Gorgeous.

Highlight: Third Of May/Odaigahara

Cigarettes After Sex; Cigarettes After Sex

This album travels at it’s own glacial pace. Majestic, with definite nods to New Order.

Highlight: Apocalypse. No K. No Apocalypse. No K.

Roger Waters; Is This The Life We Want

Not being the most ardent fan of Pink Floyd, I hadn’t been in too much of a hurry to listen to this album. But I am so glad to have got round to it. Roge ain’t happy with how things are just now, and he’s going to tell you about it. I was just as riled by the end. It’s also an old-fashioned album in the sense that this tells a story with each tune morphing into the next.

Highlight: Picture That

Kendrick Lamar; DAMN.

Goodness. Where do you start? After I had seen Old Country For Old Men, my immediate impression was that I knew it was brilliant, but I wasn’t sure how I’ll be able to prepare myself to see it again. I had exactly that same thought after listening to this utterly overwhelming piece of documentary. Mesmerising.

Highlight: DUCKWORTH.

Public Service Broadcasting; Every Valley

Continuing with their M.O. of sampling old public information announcements; this time focusing on the fate of the Welsh Coal mining industry. This may not sound too exciting or indeed, to some, even interesting, but somehow, again they are able to tug at the heart strings with tape recordings, empty spaces and fine musicianship.

Highlight: Progress

Father John Misty; Pure Comedy

Lyrics so dry, I was on a drip by the end.

Highlight: Total Entertainment Forever

Com Truise; Iteration

The slightly 80s-tinged instrumental EDM is making a bit of a comeback following the Stranger Things soundtrack. this is some of the best electronica so far this year.

Highlight: Memory

London Grammar; Truth Is A Beautiful Thing

The vocals are the main event here, ably supported by the stark production surrounding them.

Highlight: Routing For You

Run The Jewels; Run The Jewels 3

Certainly gets the heart pumping. Lyrically charged ebullience.

Highlight: Legend Has It

The xx; I See You

Somewhere between the minimalist production of The xx’s previous releases and the more poppy output of Jamie xx, this album offers very judiciously-deployed samples of Hall & Oates and stonking vocal performances.

Highlight: On Hold

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One of my favourite things to do is to collate new tracks that I hear from my various sources into quarterly playlists on Spotify. I am phutch1977 on Spotify so feel free to follow. Below is a link to what individual tracks I have enjoyed between January 1 and June 30 this year. I’m going to pick out a couple of my favourites:

https://open.spotify.com/user/phutch1977/playlist/4HDLGq11dknFaTLwBIJQ2v

UNKLE (feat. Mark Lanegan and ESKA); Looking For The Rain

Thumping beats with swooping orchestrations and one of my favourite baritones. Ticks a great many boxes for me does that.

Young Fathers; Only God Knows

Off the new T2: Trainspotting soundtrack, which incidentally is a thoroughly captivating watch, it highlights the changing of the guard of what is current within the British music scene. See also, Slow Slippy, Underworld’s remix of their classic, Born Slippy, that became so synonymous with the first movie.

The War On Drugs; Holding On

An exciting amuse-bouche for what is to come from their new album released later this year. Sounds like more of the same, which gets two thumbs up from this reviewer.

-o-

These are the podcast that I have gone back to consistently and those that I look forward have a new episode showing up each week:

Revisionist History; http://revisionisthistory.com/

This is the second series of Malcolm Gladwell’s attempt to revisit and/or reinterpret an event, a person or an idea from the past that he feels has been overlooked or misunderstood. At time of writing, there are 4 episodes of the new series available, but so far he has covered topics as diverse as terrorism, civil rights and rich folks addiction to golf. I like how he picks out something relatable to the present day. The first series is also worth digging out.

S-Town; https://stownpodcast.org/

This is produced by the same team that created the Serial podcast. I didn’t actually fully embrace Serial, however this series did I great job of hooking me in. The focus of S-Town shifts continuously throughout the series, and just when you think it has run out of puff, there is a new revelation that makes you do whatever the equivalent of page-turning is with a podcast. All of the episodes were released at the same time, so you could genuinely binge-listen to this story. Brilliantly put together and extremely poignant right now, S-Town is fantastic.

30 for 30 Podcasts; https://30for30podcasts.com/

Short and sweet. If you’ve seen the supreme sports documentaries on ESPN, well now there are some for your ears.

The Political Party with Matt Forde; https://soundcloud.com/thepoliticalparty

I have a bit of a crush on Matt Forde. In this podcast, he does a few minutes of super-topical (and super-funny, which doesn’t always happen concurrently) stand-up and then interviews a prominent political figure from either side of the aisle. Matt Forde, a stand-up by trade, is able to really humanise his guests with his very disarming style and focus on a side of their personality that doesn’t usually shine through in more formal interviews. He even managed to show that even William Hague is a right craic. Really good fun.

Special mentions:

The Adam Buxton Podcast; https://soundcloud.com/adam-buxton (especially The Steve Coogan episode)

Song Exploder; http://songexploder.net/ (especially the Fleet Foxes episode)

This next section are still podcasts but are based on actual live radio shows:

James O’Brien’s Mystery Hour; http://lbc.audioagain.com/presenters/6-james-obrien/368-the-mystery-hour-free

This is the pure sharing of knowledge. It’s the audio equivalent of when you used to have to write into a newspaper, before Google, if you had a question you wanted the answer to, and wait two weeks for it to be answered. This show rewards and celebrates acquired knowledge. The minutiae of life attempted to be explained.

Russell Brand on Radio X Podcast; http://www.radiox.co.uk/radio/podcasts/download-the-russell-brand-on-radio-x-podcast/

Russell Brand reminds me so much of Peter Cook. Previous forays into cinema might show that it may not his medium, but radio may very well be. He is just allowed to explode for a couple of hours on a Sunday, riffing on everything and nothing. Sublime stuff.

Johnny Vaughn on Radio X Podcast; http://www.radiox.co.uk/radio/johnny-vaughan/highlights/download-johnny-vaughan-on-radio-x-podcast/

Again, Johnny Vaughn is just so good on the wireless. Lightning quick. And there is a more sport-focussed show at the weekends called The Kickabout which is also hilarious.

Loose Ends; http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qjym/episodes/downloads

So happy that the BBC made the decision to start podcasting this live show with its wide ranging guests from film, stage, literature, comedy and all parts in between with excellent musical guests who perform live in the studio. Everyone is encouraged to contribute and interject throughout the show, even if the focus isn’t particularly on them at that time. Clive Anderson is the perfect host for this kind of format.

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 Podcast; http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pc9pj/episodes/downloads (especially the Dead Ringers episodes; not so much The Now Show)

A lot of the time, the comedy writing doesn’t match the performances when it comes to impressionist shows. For Dead Ringers, they are definitely on a par with each other. Highlights are Jeremy Vine and Andrew Neill’s exasperated utterances of “Diane Abbott..?!?!”

All Songs Considered Podcast; http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510019/all-songs-considered

Bob Boilen has my job. That is all. Great new music in a handy hour-long package.

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And finally… I have been lucky enough to get to see a good number of live shows so far this year. Here are a few of my highlights:

Kate Tempest @ The Casbah

She performed her second album, Let Them Eat Chaos, in its entirety, from track #1 to track #last. Performed from the heart, you could hear a PBR tallboy drop such was the respect for performance. Amazing. Amazing.

San Fermin @ The Casbah

The sound created by this very talented bunch will live long in the memory. They simply crushed it. And there is a horn section. Even the sax solo was well done. Highly recommended.

Timber Timbre @ Soda Bar

Obviously there to push their new album, Sincerely Future Pollution, but I would have liked for them to have played more off their eponymous first album. Lively, intimate show.

Blossoms @ The Casbah

Stockport’s own. I felt very old watching these fresh-faced whippersnappers. Great set and went down a storm.

I’m excited that I have more shows lined up for the rest of the year. Public Service Broadcasting play the Soda Bar. I’ve managed to secure a ticket to see Fleet Foxes at The Observatory in September, as well as an outdoor show with Future Islands & Explosions In The Sky on the same bill. And the great Elbow are in SoCal in November, so I’m going to see them in Santa Ana. All very thrilling.

-o-

Hope you find something interesting out of all this. Going forward, this will be hopefully a little more concise, listing a few highlights of what I’ve enjoyed listening to week by week. I’d also be very interested in your own suggestions, be that podcasts, radio shows, albums, tracks or live performances.

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