Changing up the vibe at SFTFG

I hope some people are still reading my blog? It's been a long while since I regularly posted. Well, in truth, I've never managed to post with anything like real regularity!

I've decided to change the approach to my blog. I started it because I wanted to share music as many others have done, and many still continue to do. However, from an ethical perspective (something a bit like the Buddhist idea of not taking the 'not-given') - never mind the legal one - I feel I can't share copyrighted music. This is basically and fundamentally because I'm a musician, and I myself want, in a world such as ours now is*, to make a living from my own musical 'work'. And so I must respect the work of others. If music is out of copyright, or has never been copyrighted (e.g. bootlegs from concerts), then I might still share it, as long as there are no ramifications to prevent me.

But, as a rule, I'll be aiming, somehow, not exactly sure how yet, to have audio samples that readers can listen to, but not download. There are numerous options for doing this, and if any of you have helpful suggestions (I'm aware, for example, of Soundcloud, but as yet not very au fait with using it), please get in touch and let me know. So far I've updated just a very few posts (Jobim/Aguas de Marco, Beefheart/Decals, and a couple of the Earth Disciples posts), with Soundcloud tracks. I'll try and do more in this vein as soon as time allows.

For those who might be interested, I write a monthly column for Drummer magazine (UK), called 'Recycled', in which I cover a classic or obscure album every month - I'm fast approaching 100 issues/articles, for this esteemed publication - writing about everything from the band to the historic context, but obviously with a drummer's eye view. I'm also an Amazon Vine reviewer, and have written over 150 reviews on Amazon's UK website, ranging from highly informal 'fan-boy' ejaculations, to more 'serious' pieces, most of which are written out of pure passion on my part, but a number of which are part of the Amazon Vine program.

I'm going to attempt to write a short review as often as possible for a period of time, in order to start covering a big chunk of my favourite music, and, once I know how best to, I will aim to include at least one audio track with each post (where that's appropriate). Please do leave comments/feedback!

* Whether or not I think the way the world is now - economically speaking - is the best we could have, well, that's another matter altogether!