Genesis play Polo

Remembering a rock band special edition

The late eighties and early nineties were the golden era of the special edition, with manufacturers and dealers alike jumping on the bandwagon. In those days when base models really were basic and had little more than a full set of wheels, many of these 'specials' involved simply taking the base model and tarting it up with some stick-on stripes, maybe a sunroof or a better stereo if you were lucky, and a daft name (who remembers the Nissan Micra Wave? Yes, it genuinely existed and was a factory-built model!). There were a few better ones though that really were special with decent performance and/or luxury upgrades, and a recent sighting at a show reminded me of an interesting but forgotten example that neatly combines my interests in cars and music, but the version we got in the UK sadly wasn't a patch on that available elsewhere.

In the mid 1990s, Volkswagen became the major sponsor for European tours by several of the world's biggest rock bands, and a suitably-named car was produced as part of this sponsorship deal. The first of these was Genesis, who in 1993 were at the height of their commercial success with the line up of Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks, and were embarking on a mammoth worldwide tour following the release of the We Can't Dance album. This tie-up with Volkswagen led to the production of the Polo Genesis, not just any old special edition but one endorsed by the band themselves. What more could a fan want? Now you could listen to your new Genesis album while driving around in an official Genesis car...

All change at Gaydon

What was the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon has recently been through one of the biggest upheavals in its history, closing late last year and reopening in February with a new name and a new building, so the time had come to pay another visit and see what had changed. I have been there several times over the years and seen the place develop since it first opened in 1993 in the ownership of the Rover Group; it was included in BMW's sale of Land Rover to Ford and is now owned by Jaguar Land Rover. Following a refurbishment and the opening of the brand new Collections Centre it is now known as the British Motor Museum and is responsible for three principal collections, the original British Motor Industry Heritage Trust assets being joined by those from the Jaguar Heritage Trust and the former James Hull collection.

The Jaguar Heritage Trust collection is now at Gaydon. I like this XJ6 estate but it never made production.

A Genesis revelation

Retro Record Review: Genesis Classic: Live in Poznan by Ray Wilson and the Berlin Symphony Ensemble (2011)

 

 

My musical tastes are increasingly starting to favour artists many of my friends and contemporaries have never heard of, and today's subject is a particularly esoteric album that I would be surprised if any readers are even aware of, yet alone have ever actually heard. In my previous piece in defence of Ray Wilson, I made mention of his Genesis Classic shows with the Berlin Symphony Ensemble. Having seen various YouTube clips of these performances, I recently discovered that an official recording is available and have now purchased it.

Ray Wilson may not be a household name like his Genesis predecessors and hasn't appeared in the UK charts for many years, but he still has a cult following (which is especially strong in his adopted home country of Poland) and has been far from idle since leaving the band almost two decades ago. Alongside a solo career and a revival of Stiltskin, his other recent project has been the Genesis Classic, an innovative fusion of Genesis hits with classical instruments, and after years of listening to the band's own live and studio versions this album is a refreshingly different take and really is a revelation.

Stondon a year on

It has now been over a year since the Stondon Motor Museum closed its doors for the last time and the fuss has started to die down, so this seems an appropriate time to look at what became of the former exhibits following the much-anticipated disposal auction. Many have not yet reappeared and are hopefully undergoing restoration, but others were rapidly listed on eBay in the hope of a quick profit, and those that were not included in that auction have recently started to come to light. It is surprising how many were purchased by dealers rather than private buyers, considering the high prices that left little room for profit, but the classic car market seems to be on a high at the moment and the Stondon collection no doubt benefitted from this euphoria.

A yellow Reliant without Trotters signwriting! It didn't take long for the inevitable to happen.

The puzzle of the London premium

Why is London so expensive?  

 

London is the place many of my graduate friends inevitably seem to be gravitating to in search of work, and many are now settled there and employed in well-paid jobs. That's perfectly understandable as the city offers the best job prospects in the country, but as one of those 'simple country folk' there is one thing about London I have never been able to get my head around. Why is the cost of living so much higher there and why does everyone accept this? I genuinely do not understand this state of affairs, and whichever logical angle I approach the question from, I always reach the conclusion that London circumstances should mean the cost of living is cheaper there. Allow me to explain...

Tipping point

Today's post explains my views on something else that seems to have become an accepted fact of modern life, yet really shouldn't be so: the insidious practice of tipping staff in the catering and hospitality industry. When dining out, it is expected nowadays that you should pay a tip to the waiter or waitress who served you, and this is often added on to the bill automatically and in some cases is a compulsory charge, but why should that really be so and why should the service charge be an extra on top of the cost of the meal itself? Why is the hospitality industry so different from others in expecting tips from its customers for doing its job, and making its staff rely on these tips to supplement their wages?

A futile Quest

Quest 80 and the U-drive

I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds the failures of the motoring world so much more fascinating than the successes. So much has already been written about the most celebrated and popular vehicles that there is nothing new to add, but those that failed to make an impact are far more worthy of study and raise so many interesting questions. Why did they fail? Could they have succeeded under different circumstances? And in some cases, what the hell were they thinking?! Today's subject tends to fall in the latter category: unsurprisingly you may never have heard of Quest 80 buses and coaches as they went out of business more than thirty years ago after building just a handful of vehicles, but their claim to fame (or should that be infamy?) was a notoriously cumbersome and inefficient drivetrain that frankly defied engineering logic. Read on to find out more about this strange and forgotten manufacturer and their range of blunderbuses.

A compendium of bad error messages

The subject of computer error messages is something that is guaranteed to get me riled. Errors are a sad fact of life in computing and something no one really wants to happen, but so many IT companies really don't help themselves with their unhelpful and often flippant attitudes towards them. It shouldn't be difficult to write a clear, concise description in language the average user can understand of what went wrong, what caused it and how to solve it, yet even in the short time I have worked in IT I have seen so many error messages that are quite frankly terrible and unfit for purpose and become utterly exasperated by them.

They range from the indecipherably technical to the overly 'friendly' and vague, via total gibberish, patronising nonsense, inappropriate frivolity and instructions that are quite simply impossible to follow, but all have one thing in common: they have singularly failed in their sole duty of helping the unfortunate user to understand and recover from the error. Here, in no particular order, is my own personal compendium of the worst error messages I've ever had the misfortune to encounter. You may find some of them hard to believe, such is the scale of their sheer awfulness, but I can assure you every one is genuine and has been seen on a real live computer system in the 21st century.

Only Connect

A tale of three four Transits...

It's the curse of modelmakers. You have a great idea to make something unique that isn't available commercially and spend hours working on it, but no sooner is it finished than a manufacturer announces something very similar that can be bought off the shelf and would have saved all that effort. I'm sure we've all suffered from this curse at one time or another, but it's managed to strike me no less than three times in a short period while modelling Ford Transit Connect vans! Here's the story of this run of bad luck...

In defence of Ray Wilson

Genesis seem to be one of those bands that have a strictly divided fan base, with fans who either like the Peter Gabriel era or the Phil Collins era, but very rarely both (personally I fall into the latter camp as I'm not a huge fan of Gabriel, who is a little too bizarre for my taste). One of the few things both factions seem to agree on though is that neither of them think very much of Ray Wilson, and he has gained a reputation as the man who ruined Genesis and caused them to split up. Having spent a lot of time recently listening to Wilson's work, I've come to the conclusion that this reputation is entirely unfair and unjustified, and the unfortunate Wilson deserves much greater recognition in the annals of the band's long history.  

Is this man really guilty of ruining Genesis?