| Grunt1861 | 18 Mar 2010 6:47 p.m. PST |
YouTube link I had no idea this song even existed.
Who'd of thunk it, Al Stewart!? Any of you folks in Scotland know if he is a gamer? |
aecurtis  | 18 Mar 2010 6:50 p.m. PST |
From his songwriting resume, it's clear that he has an interest in history; see the whole album "Between the Wars": link …if anyone remembers "albums". "Past, Present, and Future" also had an historical theme, and was one of those college albums that we'd… ummmm… appreciate in an altered state of consciousness. Equally awesome is that it's Roger Taylor on drums, Wakeman on keyboards, and Dave Swarbrick on mandolin on the album. Allen |
| aecurtis | 18 Mar 2010 7:00 p.m. PST |
How many pop songs are written about Punic triremes? YouTube link Allen |
| Grunt1861 | 18 Mar 2010 7:03 p.m. PST |
I just bought his Greatest Hits Album on iTunes.
Talk about some great painting music! |
| D6 Junkie | 18 Mar 2010 7:08 p.m. PST |
Year of the Cat was one of my first albums,
along with the awesome Stormwatch by Jethro Tull.
My wife made me a 'Ballads Cd' a few years back,
and Roads to Moscow is the last song. It's so powerful that sometimes I find myself skipping it. |
| Ivan DBA | 18 Mar 2010 8:02 p.m. PST |
My dad and I usually put on Roads to Moscow at some point when playing GDW's monster boardgame, Fire in the East. For a Dark Ages theme, it's hard to top Jethro Tull's "Broadsword." |
| mweaver | 18 Mar 2010 9:13 p.m. PST |
Great song, and "Past, Present and Future" was an excellent album. I made a back-up of the CD and put the songs in the proper order – they weren't quite in chronological order on the album because the two longest (Roads to Moscow and Nostradamus) were on one side of the album, rather than Roads being between the song for the 30s (The Last Day of June, 1934 – a reference to the Night of the Long Knives) and the song for the 50s (Post World War II Blues). The CD release kept the songs in the order they appeared on the album. |
| Lentulus | 19 Mar 2010 6:59 a.m. PST |
Probably the only singer-songwriter who ever read a history book. |
| Jemima Fawr | 19 Mar 2010 7:26 a.m. PST |
Wasn't his excellent 'On The Border' about arms-smuggling during the Spanish Civil War (or was it the Peninsular War)? I agree, he's a very talented and intelligent songwriter. |
| Rod Robertson | 19 Mar 2010 8:47 a.m. PST |
And let's not forget the Future of "Past, Present and Future"!
YouTube link
Fine stuff!
For those interested in historically minded bands try the Real McKenzies. Here are two offerings.
YouTube link
YouTube link
Enjoy! |
| 50 Dylan CDs and an Icepick | 19 Mar 2010 1:59 p.m. PST |
I've loved Al since I was a teenager. Had the good fortune to see him in NYC twice – back in the old "Bottom Line" before it closed a few years ago. I remember being in college, finding his double-album LP for fifty cents (!) in a used music shop. There are historical songs on every one of his albums. He has Scott freezing to death in Antarctica… Marat and Danton haunting the French aristocracy… Ernst Röhm appearing in a vision to a Bavarian wine-grape farmer… you name it. Incidentally, his most recent album is full of historical songs, too: link He once joked that Bob Dylan had challenged him to write a true "pop" song, and so Al sat down and thought about it, and called him a week later to tell him he'd written a great tune, but he just needed a good rhyme for the phrase: "Versailles Peace Conference." |
| Lentulus | 19 Mar 2010 4:38 p.m. PST |
I hadn't known this one: YouTube link I must get up to date on what Al has been doing. |
| Phillipaj | 20 Mar 2010 6:38 p.m. PST |
I'm a long time fan too, saw him in London Ontario years back having just arrived there from Australia- a real treat! I reckon he's got all the makings of a gamer- loads of military and history references in his songs. When I was at Versailles last year I was humming his song about the place to myself most happily. ;) Any man who writes a song about seduction thus is surely gaming material: " I sent my crack divisions through the early morning mist,when they fell upon your positions you were powerless to resist Encircling and probing for the weakness in your lines, by night you were surrounded, your territory mind. I call for your surrender, this you swore you would not do, so I stormed very fortress you thought would shelter you. Held you upon your knees and turned to give my thanks to the regiments assembled in their ranks--where are they now?" (Last Days of the Century Album) His work just gets better and better all the time. |
| Microbiggie | 23 Mar 2010 10:03 a.m. PST |
He is still tourig. I saw him a couple of weeks ago in the Atlanta area. He is doing small venues that are a lot of fun. It gives him a chance to talk about his work and career.
link Still has a great voice and his sideman is incredible. If he is coming close to your area, do go see him. A pop culture treasure that knows how to turn a historical event into a nifty son. Mark |
ScottWashburn  | 23 Mar 2010 11:07 a.m. PST |
Yeah, a friend of mine had that album when it first came out. |
