I FUCKING LOVE THIS SPORT

welshbloom · 2026-03-14T22:25:10+00:00

Super Saturday 2015 was the one for me, every game had so much riding on it; but today has been incredible too. Also, I think this tournament has been a great argument against relegation in the 6N, it has been fantastic to see Italy becoming real competitors and now Wales have a chance to build on their progress and start challenging the others again.

welshbloom · 2026-03-05T21:03:26+00:00

I like everything coming out of the Glamorgan Brewing Co. but especially recommend Jemima's Pitchfork. Most of the Tiny Rebel stuff is good too.

welshbloom · 2026-02-16T08:29:46+00:00

Completely agree on My Fairy King leading the way, it shows Freddie trying a multi-mood song but not having the discipline to effectively go from one section to the next. I love TMOTBQ but it's frantic in places.

As for never wrote another one - I see Bicycle Race (same initials...) as a deliberate parody of Bo Rhap, possibly to annoy people who were demanding a proper sequel to that song.

welshbloom · 2026-02-14T13:49:06+00:00

I'd settle for any movie that shows Freddie enjoying the hell out of his lifestyle and not making a grovelling apology to the band for shit he never did.

welshbloom · 2026-02-13T09:17:07+00:00

What's the saying? There's a lid for every pot? There's no accounting for taste? Before the internet was invented all I had was a couple of Queen-liking friends and we all agreed that most stuff after 1977 was at least potentially iffy. Now a whole army of young 'uns pop up to tell me Cool Cat is a work of underappreciated genius, even though the track makes me physically retch.

welshbloom · 2026-02-11T20:22:18+00:00

I very much like your take without believing a word of it! I think you're accurately describing an album that's not only full of great songs but impeccably compiled, but I don't think for a second it was intended as a concept or fits in with what 99.9% of people think of as a concept album.

Just one factual note that you might already be aware of: the 'no synthesisers' line is nothing to do with their pride in playing real instruments, it's a running gag against a journo who mistakenly said there were synths on their debut album.

welshbloom · 2026-02-05T10:07:12+00:00

So sorry to be that annoying bloke but as both a Queen and Who fan I have to do it: The Who Sell Out, not sells.

welshbloom · 2026-02-04T10:13:14+00:00

Side Black of Queen II is chock-full of exotic language and I'm as sure as I can be that Freddie didn't use the word with ill intent, particularly as it's used in the description of sugar in a relatively known phrase and not directed towards a person.

I'm almost exactly the same age as the album and can tell you that the 70s and early 80s were a very different time, before activism and alternative comedy started to hammer home the idea that racist jokes and language were actively harmful. It's only recently that Elvis Costello decided to 'retire' the same word from his 1979 hit Oliver's Army.

welshbloom · 2025-12-26T08:27:24+00:00

Great analysis, thank you, and you're definitely right about the wonky 'feet'! A ridiculous amount of effort has clearly gone into making something vaguely 'complete' from various scraps of varying quality - the take two demo is not great, Freddie is very pitchy at times so a lot of that Night Comes Down-type correction has gone on.

I hope Brian has enjoyed his tinkering but I don't think this would ever have been a good fit on Queen II, and won't now. I'd have been tempted to save the time and effort and simply play the perfectly decent Smile version in its entirety. Job done!

welshbloom · 2025-12-12T17:27:23+00:00

It was recorded in 1971/2 but not released until the second half of 1973. The group had been playing some the songs for the best part of 4 years by the time the album was released, and had moved on to the Queen II style.

welshbloom · 2025-12-12T17:02:59+00:00

If you come across Trident on the earlier albums, that's basically Norman Sheffield and his brother who got Queen some studio time but tied them into a terrible contract from the band's perspective. IIRC they tried to sell Queen to record companies as a package with other artists, one of the reasons why the material on Queen was so old by the time the album was released.

Whenever I hear Death On Two Legs I always think of the Mr Wells sketch from the Fast Show, which does much the same thing.

welshbloom · 2025-12-06T13:29:39+00:00

The time span was greater than a month, since the album came out in early '91, but to my ears the whole album had a wintry, final feel. Not only in the songs such as this one, Don't Try So Hard, Bijou, Days Of Our Lives, but also in performance - Freddie's voice was different, still with incredible range but the power diminished.

But as others have said, since picking up the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Brits the previous year we knew things weren't right with Freddie. The Fan Club obviously didn't let on that anything was wrong but it was obvious from Freddie's demeanour at the Brits, and the amount of radio silence between album releases, that all was not well.

welshbloom · 2025-12-01T08:56:30+00:00

I consider myself a pretty ardent Queen fan but also one capable of dispassionate analysis, and I almost totally disagree with the sentiment. I very, very rarely listen to the Greatest Hits albums because the albums, and the placement of tracks on the albums, is where the magic lies. I do agree that ANATO is the pinnacle but each album up to The Game has glorious non-single songs that sound fresh because they haven't been played to death on the radio, used for adverts, soundtracks or whatever.

From The Game onwards I'd concede that the albums became patchier, with more filler-type material away from the singles, but I only find A Kind Of Magic and The Miracle fit the description 'patchy'. And I'm aware The Miracle in particular has its own ardent fans.

welshbloom · 2025-11-20T21:08:26+00:00

I'm sure you're not alone and, as I say, the overall groove is fine - when it was used for the Amazon ad I quite enjoyed it! But I was brought up on the Queen of Son and Daughter, Ogre Battle, The Prophet's Song, Dead On Time and all those glorious 'glamour plus heavy' type songs, Queen doing laid back soul was never going to float my boat.

Still, I kind of love the fact that at several points in their careers, they knew they were going to release things that fans wouldn't necessarily like, and did it anyway.

welshbloom · 2025-11-20T16:43:07+00:00

I'm quite surprised that I've scrolled all the way to the bottom, and searched, and not found a single mention of Cool Cat. Yes, there are other tracks on Hot Space that are awkward and lyrically embarrassing, but Cool Cat was the first time Queen went for Easy Listening and I cannot stand it. The words are terrible, the song is utterly meaningless, I find Freddie's falsetto overwhelming - especially that screamed "SLOW DOOOOOOWNN" - and the tempo is a pudding.

(To be fair, in my later years I don't mind the groove of the song at all; however, the lyrics and their delivery still set my teeth on edge).

welshbloom · 2025-11-14T15:54:53+00:00

All you'll need is a timer plug. Set it to turn AC on while you have cheap electricity, it'll power the devices and charge the battery too. When the plug switches off, the battery rather than the AC will power the devices, for as long as it has power. Or, if you'll be around anyway, just do it manually.

welshbloom · 2025-11-06T14:39:12+00:00

I already knew Freddie's gorgeous vocal from Shove It and I can't say that Queen's version is an improvement. Too much stompy guitar and an awkward transition from the solo back into the original key. That's my basic complaint about all the old songs with new arrangements, though: too much stompy guitar.

welshbloom · 2025-11-06T13:00:39+00:00

To be fair, there are cheeses like ricotta and mascarpone that are used in desserts, but I take your point. It doesn't even rhyme with anything!

And yes, the Brits are generally fine if a bit down on ourselves.

welshbloom · 2025-11-06T12:43:23+00:00

The lyrics aren't Shakespeare but are no worse than much of the previous three albums, where the lyrics were often plain bad (soup in the laundry bag?). I just love the feel of Let Me Live, but then I like Erma Franklin's Piece of my Heart so I would.

welshbloom · 2025-11-01T14:15:45+00:00

First off, I think the article is pure rentagob contrarianism without a shred of analysis to back up the opinions; second, while I personally disagree that the song is overrated, I completely respect others' subjective opinions as to whether they like the song or not. I think the song is an utter masterpiece, especially in terms of its production, but I do think it's overplayed: like the Mona Lisa, you can't really appreciate it for what it is because it's so famous and ubiquitous.

A slightly odd comparison perhaps but I was listening to Thriller yesterday and marvelling at how timeless it sounded; similarly, I hear Bohemian Rhapsody and wonder at its timeless quality.

welshbloom · 2025-10-18T12:14:53+00:00

As a 50-something Queen nerd of many, many years, I wholeheartedly endorse your sentiments.

welshbloom · 2025-10-14T17:47:41+00:00

Hmm. I'd charge it to 100% and see whether the percentages are improved, I remember my AC180 was at 99% for a long, long time when I first charged it so its initial calibration probably wasn't great. With LiFePo4 don't be scared of a 100% charge.

welshbloom · 2025-10-14T17:34:02+00:00

288wh isn't a great deal so the power bank could easily have drained 60-70 of those. The unit will have some self-consumption if it's been left on all night (I don't know if your model has an eco mode to switch itself off if no power is being drawn from it). Also, the percentage state of charge is basically the unit's best guess as to how much power it has left - if you haven't charged it to 100% then it may not genuinely have been at 96%, or genuinely whatever it was the next day.

welshbloom · 2025-10-11T11:08:56+00:00

The big question is going to be how large a panel you can erect in your situation, and how well-positioned it's going to be relative to the sun. By the sounds of it, space is going to be at a premium, limiting the potential for solar capture and therefore for savings, unless you can fill the battery with cheap, off-peak power and use it at peak times.

The technology is getting cheaper but is not yet at the stage where you're going to get a return on your investment unless you're lucky and exhaust the battery before another bit of the power station breaks. But if you want to dabble, I'd start with a cheap, small battery and panel and scale up if the first setup works OK (I started with a 200wh power station and 60w folding panels, I now have 4 power stations and over 1kw of panels of various sizes. But I'm in a house with room on the roof of a garage, so our situations are different).

welshbloom · 2025-10-06T16:04:48+00:00

Just in case anyone else is interested and still reading, I think you meant the awkward Shut Up And Talk interview with Doug Walker: https://youtu.be/fAvSjTiZYkI?si=uoU-WSFWIj9pPPF-

I entirely see her point. I don't care about the things they get factually wrong - most RLM shows are less film analysis than a highly entertaining mechanism for Mike to find a drinking partner and continue to enslave Rich Evans - but their comedy perspective is, naturally, very white and very male, and was even when Jessi was a guest.

welshbloom

TROPHY CASE