Strange Days Art Gallery & Craft Shop

30/08/2026

Sunday soliliques, or some such...Anyway, I came over all groggy, again, this morn so.. some Bo Hanson, Swedish progger, a lighter start to the day. Steve Hackett, ex Genesis ( left them before they went all top 20 radio friendly). Steve Howe, on his solo album whilst sojourning from Yes for a bit. Peter Hammill, brilliant. Then I'll amp it up a bit with Hawkwind's aptly named 'Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music' one of my favourite Hawkwind albums. And then, the Stranglers, with ' La Folie' , I love em, equally loved and hated by punkers 'cos, in fact they were more prog than punk, which sorted out the real punks from the posers 😉. So, nowt to do, pop around, grab a brew from t' bistro, sit in the sun ( or the stoep) ...and listen.

29/08/2026

The weekend is all of a sudden here and I had nuffink in mind for today's Strange Days playlist so I bunged together a mix of stuff I currently like and stuff I ain't heard from a while ( and probably forgotten that I like). 'Course goes without saying that Wakeman's '6 Wives' is an eternal classic to me and probably the only 'link' here as he features on Al Stewart's 1972 album 'Orange' a current fave of mine. Wakeman states that Stewart's track 'The News From Spain' is one of his all time favourites. We have Georges Moustaki's live album 'Bobino 70' , an Egyptian/French singer songwriter in the Chanson genre, also wrote songs for Piaf and Francois Hardy. Ian Mathews' - ' If You Saw Through My Eyes' , Ian was a founder member of Fairport Convention. A bit o' balance by bunging in Magazine and Simple Minds to remind me how great post punk really is, 'Real to Real Cacophony' being Minds second album where they start experimenting with some Kraurock sensibilities several albums before they went all stadium rocky ( and crap)....

23/08/2026

I try to plan these album playlists but my mercurial mind changes like the wind and what I had in mind changes on awakening the following day, so today is a bit of planned and then some.. .If there is any theme, as such, it is because each of these albums features a definite fusion of genres, and some are linked. The Nice, their 3rd and final album before Keith Emerson formed ELP, an intriguing mash of classical, jazz and rock, a format which would shortly be labelled 'prog', or 'progessive rock'. Pentangle, a band I probably listen to most to recently (along with Incredible String Band) a wonderful fusion of classic English folk and jazz. Emerson, Lake & Palmers first album, certainly a prog classic. Refugee, and band comprised of two former members of Nice, and Patrick Moraz who went on to join Yes after this album as a replacement to Rick Wakeman on their Relayer album. Leo Kotke is an guitarist I've found rather interesting who's unique style, guitar wise and lyrically draws on jazz, country, slide and other picking styles. And the final album by Incredible String Band, who's albums range from wacky to insanely wacky pot pouries of folk, psychedelia, jazz and experimental meanderings... So, grab a pint from the Bistro, pop in, sit in the sun and chill...

22/08/2026

22/08/2026

Spring into the weekend...

22/08/2026

Saturday special - electronics, a cool, almost icy splash on this lovely warm almost spring day. Switched on Bach by a pioneer in electronics, Wendy Carlos (then, Walte,r but that's a whole other thing not relevent here) who literally patched together segments of moog created instrumentation, transforming classical epics into electronics masterpieces, loved this album as a young 'un and her subsequent Clockwork Orange contributions were epic. White Noise, featuring Delia Derbyshire, another electronics pioneer, creator of the epic Dr Who theme. Kraftwerk, a German group who turned pocket calculators into musical masterpieces. Tangerine Dream, vast swathes of electronic landscapes who went on to create epic movie soundtracks. Jean Michel Jarre, still using the same basic analogue equipment to this day - I saw his concert at Sun City accompanied with an epic lazer show over the surrounding ancient volcanic core. Both John Fox and OMD, both epic, minimalistic masterpieces....

16/08/2026

Today's musical maelstrom at Strangdays, in no order of preference: 'Tarkus' by ELP, nuff said. 'Sitting Targets' by Peter Hammil, a recent acquisition, thanks Paul@ Khaya records (Tweedie, just around the corner), I love Hammil's stuff, from Van Der Graf Generator and his solo stuff - catch his recent rendition of VDGG's Refugees on the very recent Prog Proms. 'Obscured by Clouds', Pink Floyd's precursor to Dark Side of the Moon, it was recorded during the making of Dark Side as a movie score. Peter Sinfield's 'Still', a vastly underrated album in my own opinion - watch 'Song of the Seagoat' an Old Grey Whistetest performance, Sinfield did lyrics for ELP, King Crimson and even Celine Dion and Bucks Fizz?!? Then 'Y' by the Pop Group, a musical maelstrom on one indispensable album...Pull in 'n chill...

09/08/2026

An odd mix up today, Fripp/Summers cos this week's Fripp @80 series featured this album, Fat Mattress cos I wanted to refresh my mind on what Noel Redding was up to after the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the two Kinks cos I want to compare old 60's Kinks to the late 70's version and Faust...Back in the 70's I managed to satiate my musical curiosity by frequenting Etkinds, a photographic store who, oddly, always had a rack of what must've been catalogue deletions. For around 99c I could find the likes of Faust, Rick Wakeman, Can, Amon Duul etc amongst racks of, somewhat more mainstream stuff. Today I regret not getting the other Faust available and artists like Henry Cow ( worth a pretty penny these days), buuut, even 99c back then was significant - at least 3 Black Labels at the Swan Hotel around the corner🍻.

07/08/2026

I have cd's of this album available in the shop...

11 track album

02/08/2026

New vintage stock this week...