The Two Sheds Mix Tape 25: Tribute to Marc Bolan

If you’ve been following these Mix Tape collections you’ll know that one of my earliest musical memories is listening to the late great Marc Bolan and T. Rex. I’ve gone into the reasons why Bolan is one of my all-time favourites before, and who was responsible for introducing me to his work.

So with the Mix Tapes hitting a quarter of a century it seemed kind of fitting to pay tribute to the man who was essentially my first musical hero, with a list that begins with Tyrannosaurus Rex days in the 1960’s through to his untimely death in in 1977, as well as a couple of tracks that hit the charts after his death.

The Two Sheds Mix Tape 24: Tribute To Eddie Van Halen

The music world lost one of it’s greats this week when guitar hero Eddie Van Halen passed away. He was 65 years old.

Eddie was a true pioneer, a self-taught player who had a glorious career with his band Van Halen, as well as appearing on one of the most recognisable songs in pop history when he teamed up with Michael Jackson for “Beat It”.

Rest In Peace Marina

A very sad day today. Marina, our youngest cat, passed away this morning. She was just two and a half years old.

The vet said it's possible that she had an undetected underlying health problem, and given that she was more or less the runt of the litter (she was the fifth of six kittens Tinker had, and the sixth one died after a couple of days) it's entirely possible.

Like our other animals she was always sweet and affectionate, and even though she was so young she was always a big part of our family.

Rest in peace baby girl.

New Fiction Addition: The Final Part of the New Age Story

So it turns out The New Age story didn't end when Anglo-Force defeated Darkmagus and his army. There was one strand left, one part of the story to tell, and that part happened nearly four hunded years later about the U.S.S. Valkyrie.

The final part, The Passing of the New Age, originally completed in December 1994, sees Captain Watt and his crew encounter a sleeper ship from the year 2000 that is surrounded in mystery, and you can read the chapters by clicking on the links below:

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Oh, and if you're wondering why there's an image of former England cricketer Geoff Boycott here, read the story!

The Two Sheds Mix Tape 23: Deep Purple in the 90's

I think it’s safe to say that the 1990’s was a somewhat turbulent time for legendary rockers Deep Purple. Former Rainbow front man Joe Lynn Turner replaced Ian Gillan, who had been fired in 1989, with Gillan returning at the insistence of the record company and everyone else in the band apart from Ritchie Blackmore in time for the band’s 25th anniversary in 1993. Blackmore only let Gillan back in in exchange for $250,000.

Blackmore himself quit during the tour to promote their 1993 album. He was temporarily replaced by Joe Satriani, who couldn’t join permanently because of his solo obligations. This led the band to recruiting Dixie Dregs and Kansas axe man Steve Morse, who’s remained with the band to this day.

The Two Sheds Review Facebook Group Is Back!

The Two Sheds Review Facebook Group is back! (Although it's actually been back since May!) Join the ever-expanding number to find out when new stuff is posted! It'll save you having to visit the blog once every five minutes!

You can also hype your own Facebook group if you want!

To join the group visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/twoshedsreview/

Anglo-Force: The New Age - Full Story Now Online!

Those of you who follow me on social media may have seen that I've been adding a few old chapters to the blog in recent times. The New Age was by far the biggest Anglo-Force story I'd written at the time,coming in at over 25 chapters. Hopefully you've already read the prequel, set during World War II, and there will also be a sequel of sorts, set during the time of The Valkyrie Chronicles.

All of the chapters been posted, and you can read them by clicking on the links below. More links will be added when the chapters go online. Enjoy!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven 
Chapter Eight 
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven   
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen  
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen 
Chapter Sixteen  
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two  
Chapter Twenty-Three 
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five  
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine 

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One 

Two Sheds Mix Tape 22: Tribute to Martin Birch

There was a time in my life where whenever I picked up a record I saw Martin Birch’s name on it. He wasn’t a singer or some axe-wielding guitar hero, but he was someone who helped shape the sound of dozens of albums over the years.

As a sound engineer, and later as a producer, Martin worked with some of the giants of the music business. Martin shared studio time with the blues-heavy Fleetwood Mac, rockers such as Jeff Beck, the Faces and Silverhead, as well as hard rock and heavy metal icons Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake, and most notably, Iron Maiden, and even though he retired in the 90’s the sounds that he helped produce continue to influence decades later.

The Two Sheds Mix Tape #21: The Forties Weekender

Every year the Norfolk coastal town of Sheringham holds their 1940’s Weekend. It’s an annual celebration of all things to do with that historic decade. Thousands of people dress up in period costume and descend on a town that’s as equally decorated to attend numerous events, including riding on the North Norfolk Railway’s vintage steam trains.

This year’s event was scheduled for next weekend, September 19th and 20th. Then that bloody coronavirus intervened, which meant that the organisers had to cancel the event.

Now in recent years I’ve taken quite a liking to Forties music, so much so that I’ve now got quite a bit of it stored on my hard drive, so this Cromer boy thought he’d try and bring a bit of cheer to his neighbours by putting together a Mix Tape of great tunes from that era. I did, however, decided to go in a slightly different direction.

The Two Sheds Mix Tape #20: Silly Songs From The 80's and 90's

The last two Mix Tapes proved to be very popular, so much so that I’ve decided to hit you all with yet another barrage of Silly Songs, this time from the 80’s and 90’s.

The beginning of the 80’s saw a distinct change in the world of laughs as alternative comedy burst onto the scene, and they didn’t just set their sights on the comedy clubs and the late-night television schedules of newly-launched television channels. The UK charts were also targeted as the likes of Alexei Sayle and the Young Ones joined the more traditional Silly Songs that were on offer.

There were also some memorable parodies. Spinal Tap and their British counterparts Bad News showed us just how crazy the music business really was, while “Weird Al” Yankovic took pot shots at everyone, particularly Michael Jackson.