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wonderful socks

wonderful

providing a decent name for a rock band is a lot harder than you'd think. jazz bands have it delightfully simple by comparison; simply count the number of folks in the band and name accordingly. like thewashingmachinepost quartet for instance. that sort of naming convention has never really entered the psyche of the contemporary rock or pop musician, unless you're willing to accept the dave clark five as the exception to the rule. (just while we're here, mr clark played a rogers drum kit that i would have given my right shoelace for).

a trio such as emerson, lake and palmer never showed a great deal of creativity when it came to the wording for mr palmer's bass drum, but then in complete contrast was the almost unpronounceable premiata forneria marconi, an italian prog rock outfit allegedly named after a milan bakery. those in the know sidestepped the pronunciation problem by referring to them as pfm. keith moon was reputedly the progenitor of the name, led zeppelin, purely on the basis that he figured that's how they'd go down in concert.

wonderful

my own musical involvement in my late teens/early twenties, never quite reached such heights. not for me my very own pantechnicon with palmer writ large on the side, though i'm sure carl would have been happy to lend it out for those gigs at aberdeen's treetops hotel. one of the local bands when at college, drawn from several different further educational institutions, came up with the rather superb rue de remarx (think about it) only letting themselves down on their gig posters by referring to themselves as la rage. this, it turns out, is french for rabies.

still, musically i recall they had it more together than the band of which i was a member.

we deliberated long and hard over those metaphorical letters on the bass drum head. looking at concert posters appearing around the locale, we considered calling ourselves support, since we could then produce a highly impressive palmares. the name cancelled also seemed like a novel idea, culled from one or two other posters, but we finally settled on original copy, a name that spawned a caption on the posters get xerox off baby. pathetic, i know, but in our defence we were young and naive.

wonderful

the same difficulty must surely raise its head in other strains of modern life. rarely is there a single company that has its portion of the market all to itself, so the label on the product has to stand out from the crowd. that in itself must offer a bit of a challenge, but if that logo professes a superlative, it is all but imperative that the product fulfils its marketing promise.

such is the wonderful sock company. you will note, perhaps, that the definite article is contained within the name; these are not just wonderful socks, they proclaim, but the wonderful socks. the implication here is that no other socks are as wonderful as these. the website claims they were conceived adjacent to mont ventoux, and though i have no reason to disbelieve this assertion, i must confess in the shadow of such a terrifying mountain, socks would not be my first (or last) thought. however, it's hard to argue with the mantra "much like the pedals or the correct gear, the socks need to be perfect too."

the wonderful sock company are also in possession of a wonderful logo. and on opening the black monogrammed envelope that arrived with the impressive pair of black socks, with a letter proclaiming 'dear brian, you are wonderful.', it's very hard not to warm to these people.

wonderful

their made in italy socks feature polypropylene for breathability and resistex carbon for insulation. though i've not had them long enough to gauge their wearability, i can attest to both of the previous notions as being more than adequate in the heat of battle (all terms used are relative). the others in the range are a tad more brightly coloured than the black version reviewed, but i rather liked their understated quality and suprisingly, the mid-calf height; i always considered myself more of an ankle sock person.

probably the best that can be said about any sock is its level of invisibility when riding a bicycle, in which case, these wonderful socks score eleven out of ten. i quite fancy the pink giro version, but matched with either a bright blue pair of rapha climber's shoes or the more sedate dromarti burgundy leather, the black logo'd version acquitted themselves commendably well. however, might i respectfully suggest that the words 'follow us' over the toes on each sock, be turned to face the wearer? that would seem more logical to me.

wonderful.

the wonderful sock company

sunday 28 june 2015

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................