Season’s Greetings!

I don’t do Xmas really. That is, sure, I partake of a few days of paid leave and I spend time with my family, exchange a few gifts and drink a bit more than is usual, but Xmas lost its sparkle for me circa 1988, when I left home and spent my first Xmas alone in my bedsit. I remember getting just the one gift, posted to me by my favourite aunt. It was a bottle of ‘Fahrenheit’ by Christian Dior. Still one of my favourites 😉

Anyway, that experience, coupled with working in retail for nigh on 15 years in my early days of gainful employment, and a personal blow one Xmas day in 1997 delivered by the first Mrs Muso, have served to remove any sense of occasion from this season. And not being of any religious persuasion, I resent the way a celebration of the winter solstice has been hijacked both by religion and consumerism. So, apologies if that offends, but I hope my readers are intelligent and considerate enough to both entertain and allow alternative viewpoints without them clouding their enjoyment of this site.

ANYWAY…!! 😉 Moving on…

I just wanted to wish all my readers, whatever their seasonal persuasion, a very merry one and a safe, happy and prosperous 2015!

And talking of the new year, I have a bunch of stuff lined up for review, some of which I’ve been playing with for some time, so do make sure you come back in the new year to read/watch reviews of such products as GForce Software’s stunning Oddity 2 soft synth, UVI’s Vintage Vault and EGP libraries and Arturia’s V Collection 4.

Add to that some more Fairlight restoration posts which will likely culminate in the Stanley CMI finding a new owner and the commencement of the IIx restoration and acquisition of another Series III!!

I had desperately hoped to find suitable sponsorship to fund a trip to Anaheim, CA for Winter NAMM 2015 but that sadly fell by the wayside due to, mainly, me not being able to come up with an ingenious crowd funding plan/idea. Still, there’s always 2016!

Enjoy the coming festivities and, most of all, enjoy spending some well earned downtime with those that you love the most.

I will leave you with this video that my friend, and altogether utter fucking stand-up geezer, Dave Spiers made just recently. In lieu of my own Xmas ditty that is absent this year, Dave has made what can only be described as the most moving, synth-based Xmas video I can ever recall.

Ciao tutti! Buon natale e felice anno nuovo!