Music

Welcome to my music section. Here you can read reviews of my favourite albums, see my instruments and read about my music recording. Hopefully, one day, I'll have some tracks to download.

Random album review

Siren by Roxy Music

One of the most popular bands of the 70s, Roxy Music are almost unheard of to the generations of today. This is very unfortunate, because there is so much artistry in their music, and the sounds are still fresh even where the production isn't. Siren was Roxy's fifth album, and demonstrated that they would never do things half-heartedly; in fact you could quite easily argue that each one of their albums was a great success, depending on the flexibility of your taste. Siren received almost unanimous praise, and rightly so. "Love is the Drug" was heralded in being given a position in "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll", and this and "Both Ends Burning" are live favourites that are still performed to this day. While they are brilliant songs I would actually argue for the beautiful harmonies of "End of the Line", the intense brilliance of "Sentimental Fool" and the playful transpositions of "She Sells". It's difficult to define a pinnacle of Roxy Music's achievements, but this is pretty close.

Track list

  • 1. Love Is the Drug 4:11
  • 2. End of the Line 5:14
  • 3. Sentimental Fool 6:14
  • 4. Whirlwind 3:38
  • 5. She Sells 3:39
  • 6. Could It Happen to Me? 3:36
  • 7. Both Ends Burning 5:16
  • 8. Nightingale 4:11
  • 9. Just Another High 6:31

Featured instrument

Taylor 310CE electroacoustic

Taylor 310CE electro-acoustic

I didn't expect to buy this. I naively thought I could go into "Sound Control" (now out of business) in Birmingham, try a few guitars in a detatched fashion, and leave safely. I failed, miserably. The main problem was that the salesman was brilliant: I told him the kind of price-bracket I was interested in, and he knew EXACTLY what I needed. And he was right, as I fell in love with the Taylor 310CE straight away. My innocent trip to Birmingham turned out to be the most extravagant shopping fling I've ever done, but, if you'll excuse the ridiculous Americanism, it was SOOOOOOO worth it. Every time I play this guitar I'm amazed by it, which is how it should be. When I plug it in I'm even more amazed. I love Taylor for creating this guitar just for me, which they quite clearly did.

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Hi, I'm Jon Cairns

I'm a web designer and graphic designer who likes to create good-looking, accessible websites with XHTML, CSS, AJAX and PHP. I'm also a musician, photographer and student, and I live in Durham, up north in the UK. Use the links at the top of the page or just above to navigate my site, or read my blog to find out what's going on in my life.

Updates

  • 22nd Aug Added a new blog, "The Great Synchronisation". It seems that all of my updates are blogs these days!
  • 21st July Added a new blog entry, the first in two and a half months! Join me in the celebration of this momentous occasion by reading it.

From the blog

28th Aug 09

The Great Synchronisation

A few minutes ago I was sitting on a sofa with nothing to do, thinking, "maybe it's time for my annual blog entry". You may be wondering whether you should bother reading something that's been created simply because I had nothing better to do, but I submit to you that all good things are created that way. Think about it.

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