Richard Rees-Jones
@viennesewaltz.bsky.social
Occasional music blogger. Interested in prog rock, folk rock, free jazz & improv, noise, experimental & avant-garde classical.
Author of 'Peter Hammill On Track: Every Album, Every Song' (Sonicbond, 2022)
Substack: viennesewaltz.substack.com
Author of 'Peter Hammill On Track: Every Album, Every Song' (Sonicbond, 2022)
Substack: viennesewaltz.substack.com
How do you get readership & engagement for your blog? I get fed up with the lack of views. Spent the best part of a day writing a blog about a band, v complimentary review of their new album. Tagged them in my socials so they knew about it, but they didn't repost it to their thousands of followers.
November 10, 2025 at 7:26 PM
How do you get readership & engagement for your blog? I get fed up with the lack of views. Spent the best part of a day writing a blog about a band, v complimentary review of their new album. Tagged them in my socials so they knew about it, but they didn't repost it to their thousands of followers.
I reviewed the new Naked Lunch album, Lights and a Slight Taste of Death.
Naked Lunch, Lights and a Slight Taste of Death (Tapete, 2025)
When I lived in Vienna, one of my most exciting musical discoveries was the Austrian alternative rock band Naked Lunch. Hearing them play for the first time at the 2008 Donaufestival in Krems, perform...
viennesewaltz.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I reviewed the new Naked Lunch album, Lights and a Slight Taste of Death.
If you're one of those lucky people discovering the wonders of Peter Hammill's Charisma/Virgin back catalogue via the recently released box set, I humbly recommend my On Track book as a listener's guide. A deep dive into every album and song ever recorded by the man.
Peter Hammill On Track: Every Album, Every Song
Peter Hammill On Track: Every Album, Every Song : Richard Rees-Jones: Amazon.co.uk: Books
www.amazon.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 8:12 AM
If you're one of those lucky people discovering the wonders of Peter Hammill's Charisma/Virgin back catalogue via the recently released box set, I humbly recommend my On Track book as a listener's guide. A deep dive into every album and song ever recorded by the man.
"I cannot abide cruelty to living creatures."
"I'm a creature, you can abide it to me."
"You're not living."
RIP Prunella Scales.
"I'm a creature, you can abide it to me."
"You're not living."
RIP Prunella Scales.
October 28, 2025 at 11:50 AM
"I cannot abide cruelty to living creatures."
"I'm a creature, you can abide it to me."
"You're not living."
RIP Prunella Scales.
"I'm a creature, you can abide it to me."
"You're not living."
RIP Prunella Scales.
Over on the Henry Cow fan page on fb – the fan page! – I've encountered one of the vanishingly rare "free improvisation isn't actual music" blokes. He's complaining that the music on the forthcoming Henry Now live album will be the sound of them "pissing about".
October 23, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Over on the Henry Cow fan page on fb – the fan page! – I've encountered one of the vanishingly rare "free improvisation isn't actual music" blokes. He's complaining that the music on the forthcoming Henry Now live album will be the sound of them "pissing about".
The Formless Irregular, a massive and eyebrow-raising book collecting the visual art of Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton, just landed. I've kind of lost touch with NWW's output in recent years, so this looks like the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted.
October 15, 2025 at 2:49 PM
The Formless Irregular, a massive and eyebrow-raising book collecting the visual art of Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton, just landed. I've kind of lost touch with NWW's output in recent years, so this looks like the perfect opportunity to get reacquainted.
New Necks album is really hitting the spot today. Four long tracks, all of them keepers but this one is the highlight for me.
October 13, 2025 at 8:43 AM
New Necks album is really hitting the spot today. Four long tracks, all of them keepers but this one is the highlight for me.
Wordle 1,577 1/6
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
(total fluke, never happened to me before and probably never will again. I pick a different starter word every day.)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
(total fluke, never happened to me before and probably never will again. I pick a different starter word every day.)
October 13, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Wordle 1,577 1/6
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
(total fluke, never happened to me before and probably never will again. I pick a different starter word every day.)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
(total fluke, never happened to me before and probably never will again. I pick a different starter word every day.)
New Substack post: in the footsteps of Tony Harrison.
Facing north: in the footsteps of Tony Harrison
I was saddened to hear of the recent death of the English poet Tony Harrison. Harrison spoke to me more clearly than any other poet I’ve read. His peerless command of rhyme and rhythm, his lyrical, elegiac tone and his blend of vernacular language and classical erudition all combined to produce a body of work that I found uniquely affecting and readable. But I’m no literary critic, and I don’t intend to try and analyse Harrison’s poetry in any depth. Instead, I wanted to set down a few personal reflections on the man and his work.
viennesewaltz.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 5:47 PM
New Substack post: in the footsteps of Tony Harrison.
#cassunday Cultural Amnesia, Did You Hear The Music (2025) – great, quirky post-punk electronic songs. Limited run of 100 copies, only a few left so don't sleep if you want one of these.
October 5, 2025 at 3:56 PM
#cassunday Cultural Amnesia, Did You Hear The Music (2025) – great, quirky post-punk electronic songs. Limited run of 100 copies, only a few left so don't sleep if you want one of these.
So many inexcusable typos and howlers on the outer box of the new Peter Hammill box set. Clearly this wasn't checked by a fan (i.e. me) or they would never have slipped through. These detract from an otherwise superb package. Universal (or PH himself!) should employ me as a proof-reader next time.
October 4, 2025 at 9:39 AM
So many inexcusable typos and howlers on the outer box of the new Peter Hammill box set. Clearly this wasn't checked by a fan (i.e. me) or they would never have slipped through. These detract from an otherwise superb package. Universal (or PH himself!) should employ me as a proof-reader next time.
Another extraordinary concert tonight by Peter Hammill at the Royal Festival Hall. Such riveting power, passion and intensity.
October 2, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Another extraordinary concert tonight by Peter Hammill at the Royal Festival Hall. Such riveting power, passion and intensity.
Went on a pilgrimage to Holbeck cemetery in Beeston, Leeds, to find Tony Harrison's family grave as mentioned in 'v.' He was right – I did have to search quite hard. But I found it.
October 2, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Went on a pilgrimage to Holbeck cemetery in Beeston, Leeds, to find Tony Harrison's family grave as mentioned in 'v.' He was right – I did have to search quite hard. But I found it.
My first Peter Hammill concert in eight years tonight in Manchester. He's still as brave, gripping and emotionally acute as ever. Highlights were The Siren Song, The Lie and a desolate A Way Out.
October 1, 2025 at 9:56 PM
My first Peter Hammill concert in eight years tonight in Manchester. He's still as brave, gripping and emotionally acute as ever. Highlights were The Siren Song, The Lie and a desolate A Way Out.
"This graveyard on the brink of Beeston Hill’s/the place I may well rest if there's a spot/under the rose roots and the daffodils/by which dad dignified the family plot." I hope he makes it there, and that I make a pilgrimage there one day.
September 28, 2025 at 6:21 PM
"This graveyard on the brink of Beeston Hill’s/the place I may well rest if there's a spot/under the rose roots and the daffodils/by which dad dignified the family plot." I hope he makes it there, and that I make a pilgrimage there one day.
Despite not having a Yorkshire accent, a few years ago I recorded myself reading Tony Harrison's 'v.'
Tony Harrison – v.
YouTube video by viennesewaltz
www.youtube.com
September 28, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Despite not having a Yorkshire accent, a few years ago I recorded myself reading Tony Harrison's 'v.'
Reposted by Richard Rees-Jones
The Sound Projector Magazine 2006 to 2008 (Edited by Ed Pinsent, UK) – Found on this afternoon’s clean-up… what a top retrospective read… I suspect I got these from viennesewaltz.bsky.social – U would appear to be in here… please to see the soundprojector.bsky.social still exists 😉
September 28, 2025 at 5:28 PM
The Sound Projector Magazine 2006 to 2008 (Edited by Ed Pinsent, UK) – Found on this afternoon’s clean-up… what a top retrospective read… I suspect I got these from viennesewaltz.bsky.social – U would appear to be in here… please to see the soundprojector.bsky.social still exists 😉
I met Tony Harrison on two occasions. The first was at Salisbury Arts Centre where my 6th form English teacher had organised a reading by him. The first and only time I heard him read poems like Long Distance II and Continuous, so beautiful and sad. I'll never forget the awed silence in the room.
September 28, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I met Tony Harrison on two occasions. The first was at Salisbury Arts Centre where my 6th form English teacher had organised a reading by him. The first and only time I heard him read poems like Long Distance II and Continuous, so beautiful and sad. I'll never forget the awed silence in the room.
Very sad to hear of the death of Tony Harrison, England's greatest post-war poet.
September 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Very sad to hear of the death of Tony Harrison, England's greatest post-war poet.
Always sad to see the end of the cricket season, as it signals the true end of summer. Hampshire are in the one-day final today and were ticking over nicely at 106-1 until rain stopped play.
September 20, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Always sad to see the end of the cricket season, as it signals the true end of summer. Hampshire are in the one-day final today and were ticking over nicely at 106-1 until rain stopped play.
This photo of Philip Glass, critic John Rockwell, Brian Eno, musician Leroy Jenkins and Robert Fripp has been doing the rounds on Facebook. It was apparently taken at The Kitchen in NYC in 1979 and is obviously some kind of panel discussion, but no-one seems to know what the occasion was.
September 20, 2025 at 8:55 AM
This photo of Philip Glass, critic John Rockwell, Brian Eno, musician Leroy Jenkins and Robert Fripp has been doing the rounds on Facebook. It was apparently taken at The Kitchen in NYC in 1979 and is obviously some kind of panel discussion, but no-one seems to know what the occasion was.
I must admit though, I'm kind of conflicted on Bailey. I admire the artistry, the technique and the attitude, but I find him hard to listen to on CD. I can happily put on an Evan Parker solo disc and groove away to his headspinning improvs, but I don't derive much pleasure from listening to DB.
September 17, 2025 at 11:34 AM
I must admit though, I'm kind of conflicted on Bailey. I admire the artistry, the technique and the attitude, but I find him hard to listen to on CD. I can happily put on an Evan Parker solo disc and groove away to his headspinning improvs, but I don't derive much pleasure from listening to DB.
This R4 profile of Derek Bailey is worth listening to, particularly the bit at 23 mins where Stewart Lee mercilessly skewers Matthew Parris' ignorant, philistine response to Bailey's music:
Great Lives - Comedian Stewart Lee on Derek Bailey - BBC Sounds
Stewart Lee chooses guitarist Derek Bailey.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
This R4 profile of Derek Bailey is worth listening to, particularly the bit at 23 mins where Stewart Lee mercilessly skewers Matthew Parris' ignorant, philistine response to Bailey's music:
Happy 90th birthday to Arvo Pärt (pronounced like parrot without the O, not like paert). Very happy to get this signed edition a while back.
September 11, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Happy 90th birthday to Arvo Pärt (pronounced like parrot without the O, not like paert). Very happy to get this signed edition a while back.
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is probably the only double album that really would have worked better as a single album. In fact you don't even need to compile it from the whole thing – the 3rd and 4th sides are essentially redundant.
September 8, 2025 at 6:25 PM
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is probably the only double album that really would have worked better as a single album. In fact you don't even need to compile it from the whole thing – the 3rd and 4th sides are essentially redundant.