Vagabond’s World

A site for the obscure and trivial in rock music, established in October 1997

Introduction

My name is Brian Currin and I was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1959. I used to feel “too old to rock and roll, and too young to die” until I discovered the World Wide Web during the 1996 Festive Season. For my birthday in February 1997 I bought myself a PC with Windows 95 and a 28.8 kbps dial-up modem. And so it began.

I used to think I was alone in the universe in my passion for music trivia, but the Web has shown me that I’m actually just one of many!

In 1997 there was no Google, Wikipedia, YouTube or Facebook. And no high-speed connections! It seems unbelievable to me now that there was even life before the Internet, as computers and the internet are such an integral part of my life, both for income generation and for relaxation.

I have two sons, Michael and Christopher, with whom I am well-pleased; besides them, I have two main passions in my life: Music and Technology. I am in the very fortunate position to be able to earn income from both of these loves. I also enjoy reading fantasy novels, like David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey and Raymond E Feist, but I haven’t found a way to get paid for that yet!

Unfortunately I have no talent in playing a musical instrument or singing (I do play a mean air guitar solo, though), so I have been collecting and cataloguing musical information since I was about 7 years old. I call myself a vagabond because I wander around the world of music picking up scraps of information from all over and everywhere… the internet, magazines, music shops, radio, TV, people, etc. I like nearly all types and genres of music. Pop, rock and roll, blues, classical, jazz, reggae… whatever, but my heart really lies with ROCK! Classic, vintage, brilliant, unforgettable R-O-C-K (and especially South African Rock).

Since I established this site in October 1997, a number of the sections have actually needed to be expanded into websites of their own!

Vagabond’s Quiz

A quick quiz to see if this is where you really want to be:

• Do you think Rodriguez‘s Cold Fact is one of the best albums in the world … ever? Never heard it? Rectify that now!
• Do you know (or even care) how many live versions of “Smoke On The Water” have been officially released by Deep Purple? I’ve lost count …
• Do you feel that South Africa’s Legends of Rock, like Hawk, Rabbitt and Freedoms Children, deserve more recognition? They sure do!
• Have you ever bought an album just for the Roger Dean cover? I know I have.
• Do you know which songs appear in the film version of Pink Floyd The Wall that are not on the LP or CD? I have the answer.

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Rock Legends

Special Mention

• Roger Dean (the artist who painted some of my all-time favourite album covers)

Obscurities

Artists

Rodriguez was an obscure artist in most of the world when I first created the “Vagabond Of The Website World” website in 1997. After the “Searching For Sugar Man” film in 2012, he achieved the worldwide recognition he deserved.

Brian Currin

Albums

Songs

• Deep Purple – Grabsplatter All you ever need to know (and more) about this obscure track
• Pink Floyd – Pigs On The Wing unique version featuring a Snowy White guitar solo
• Ramases – Quasar One A deep look into this obscure track, originally recorded as “Crazy One”

Rock Lists

• 30 Spine-Chillers [Music Scene 75 Annual]
• Hear This Now! – 1975
• Julian’s Rock Lists The best rock list site on the whole world wide web (archived on Wayback Machine).
  • NME Readers All Time Top 100 Singles 1976 My first contribution to Julian White’s Rock Lists site.
• South African Rock Lists
• ’70s Compilation Albums that helped shape my music tastes
• My Top Ten Favourite Rock Albums Of All-Time
• Top Ten South African Prog & Psych Albums
• Title Songs Not On Original Album
• Big In South Africa

Set Lists

Vagabond’s Shows

Some of the concerts that I have attended.

• Jethro Tull – Cape Town 1994
• Deep Purple – Cape Town 1995
• Uriah Heep – Cape Town 1995
• Meat Loaf – Cape Town 1996
• Rodriguez – Cape Town 1998
• Rodriguez – Cape Town 2001
• Rodriguez – Mossel Bay 2001
• Roger Waters – Cape Town 2002
• Rodriguez – Cape Town 2005
• Deep Purple – Cape Town 2010

Trivia

Variations On A Theme

• David Bowie – John I’m Only Dancing At least 3 different studio recordings were made of this classic song
• Jimi Hendrix – Red House info on the different studio recordings
• Deep Purple – Grabsplatter All you ever need to know (and more) about this obscure track
• Ramases – Quasar One A deep look into this obscure track, originally recorded as “Crazy One”
• Pink Floyd – Pompeii Intro Variations on different releases of the classic film “Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii”

Spot The Difference

Differences in tracks and covers

Artwork

Showcase

• The Making of Uriah Heep’s Magician’s Birthday album cover

Imaginary Compilations & Playlists

Albums

Artists

Pop Memories

Cross Album Suites

Extended works with sections appearing on different albums.

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Design and Concept

Originally designed in 1997 using Netscape Navigator Gold 3.04 and WebPen95 with a lot of help from a book entitled “Web Publishing With Netscape For Busy People” (Osborne books) by Christian Crumlish and Malcolm Humes.

Over the years I have used a wide variety of gadgets, apps, utilities and online resources.

Vagabond’s World includes previously published articles, images, and sounds for the purposes of research, commentary, and criticism. Credit is given wherever possible for news reports, photos, lyrics, songs, and other materials. If you notice any omissions, please let me know, I’ll gladly correct them.