Showing posts with label Bob Fripp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bob Fripp. Show all posts

Tuesday 19 May 2020

Not Heroes


While out for a walk today I was listening to "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps" by David Bowie which I nearly said was one of my favourite Bowie albums but then I remembered this post about the problems with listening to David Bowie albums. That is a little further information on the album, when "Teenage Wildlife" came on I thought , this sounds very like "Heroes".

"Scary Monsters and Super Creeps" sort of follows on from "The Lodger" which was the final Berlin Trilogy album and was the next album he produced so I shouldn't be surprised that that the sound textures are the same and Bob Fripp's guitar features heavily on both "Teenage Wildlife and "Heroes".

It's probably a good idea to share both pieces with you so you can here the similarities and they are both wonderful songs.

I suppose if anyone is allowed to borrow from Bowie , Bowie can.

I know this is a pitifully short post but just wanted to share this with you.



Saturday 14 December 2019

Splitting Ions In The Ether


I am 45% of the way through "On Some Faraway Beach" and we have reached Brian Eno's third solo album, although for some reason I thought it was going to be "Before and After Science" but it actually is "Another Green World", one of the two Brian Eno albums I own on vinyl although he is generally more digital artist, defining this as vertical music rather than the more standard horizontal format (beginning, next , next end).

It is full of great songs and instrumentals but I always loved "St Elmo's Fire" (not the John Parr AOR one which is not too bad) for it's lyrics especially the:

"..and we saw St Elmo's Fire
    Splitting Ions In The Ether"

And a stunning incendiary guitar solo from Bob Fripp follows that line, which many people regard as his finest recorded guitar solo. It does take some beating, have a listen as that is the song that I am sharing. Incidentally St Elmo's Fire is a weather phenomenon often seen by sailors as a positive omen.

This is definitely a very short post but is an excuse to share this wonderful song with you soundtracking a Felix The Cat cartoon.

Saturday 7 December 2019

Wading Through Treacle


That's how I feel reading "On Some Faraway Beach" the David Sheppard biography of Brian Eno. Two weeks in I'm only up to page 140 of 450. The thing is the writing is excellent and interesting and unskimmable, you want to read every word. Roxy Music were probably the band I was furthest into combining so many stylish elements visually, lyrically and musically. It's just the typeface and setting makes it difficult to read many pages at one sitting, but I do actually love it.

I am just passing Brian Eno's time with Roxy Music and flowing into "No Pussyfooting" which features two twenty minute drone pieces  "The Heavenly Music Corporation" and "Swastika Girls"  his wonderful album with Bob Frip and his first solo "song" album "Here Come The Warm Jets". One of the pieces on "No Pussyfooting was accidentally played backwards by John Peel and in the deluxe CD version you have that option as well as a half speed (so double length take.

So included a part of "The Heavenly Music Corporation" and I often listen to this to go to sleep to, no hooks, nothing that grabs your attention but , in my opinion, an amazing wash of sound.

Enjoy.

Sunday 14 April 2019

#AprilSongs #14 Sunday Girl


I know it's absolutely obvious but my mind and brain has told me to follow Billy Bragg's "The Saturday Boy" with Blondie's "Sunday Girl" from their most successful and well known album "Parallel Lines".

When I was searching for options I came across The Sunday Girl a make up blog which may or may not pique your interest, but few other "Sunday Girl" songs. I need two more Sunday songs and "Sunday Girl" was not on my original list but it just means I have more choice for my final two songs in the coming weeks.

I first got into Blondie when I heard "X-Offender" from their debut album and bought the single on the Private Stock label. I followed that up with a 12" single of "Denis" when "Plastic Letters" came out and sold the pair for £50 to a collector a couple of years later., and bout the two albums for maybe six quid as I was into the music rather than the objects.

When "Parallel Lines" came out I loved Bob Fripp's guitar work on "Fade Away and Radiate" as this marked out Blondie as being more adventurous than your average band, but "Heart of Glass" (which I still like) really marked the direction they were going to take.

I only saw Blondie live once, at The King Georges Hall in Blackburn with Television in support, and absolutely great night, and great to see Blondie still producing music and playing live.

It's 2:30 AM on a Sunday morning, I wasn't intending to write this now, but it is done, so I can go back to bed now.

Wednesday 26 July 2017

Calculus,Nice Biscuits and Sky Saws on This Day on Earth


Shaun Keavney has just mentioned Nice biscuits and taking two buttered digestive biscuits with a sklice of cheese in between and dipping it into your cup of tea. That's definitely not MY cup of tea. My new book has now hit calculus , that was where maths became too complicated for me, but we shall see if I get any further with calculus. Also wasn't Professor Calculus a character in Tin Tin, which confused me because I got it wixed up with Rin Tin Tin which I thingk was a dog.

Anyway this week I am having a rest from walking. Apparently the average number of steps most people do is about 5K a day , so at 8K and 7K over the last two days I am still above average and my steps effectively lift the average, but not as much as the proper , walkers , runners and athletes.

Anyway this is just a very short post as I am quite tired and just wondering what song should we , and I have decided, for absolutely no reason at all to go with Brian Eno's "Sky Saw" featuring Bob Fripps sky saw guitar from "Another Green World". I loved this the first time I heard it and it still sounds brilliant and strange today with it's vicious noise guitar over an almost lounge jazz / ambient backing. Also unusual in the the main / lead instrument plays the same note all the way through.

This  idea was repeated on the song "This" from the album "Another Day On Earth" where the main rhythm is provided by the word "This" repeated 35 times. That's included at the end of the post.

Sleep well my friends.

Thursday 25 May 2017

Forced March II (Being Boring)


I got home today and had 8.5K steps on the clock. Google Fit seems to be working OK. Fiona is in hospital in Coventry and there is no phone signal, but the good news is that she will be out soon and won't miss our holiday. Hospitals are brilliant places but you never ever want to be a patient.However thanks to our brilliant NHS they diagnosed and sorted her, which really puts your mind at rest.

Have done loads at work and started on some lyrics for song that my friend Sarah wrote, just need to kick on with the home recording. That may happen this weekend.

I had no need to walk any further but thought I could maybe do another 2.5 K, the weather was good and so I set off. I got to the top of the road realised I'd left my bus pass (in case I wanted to ride back) and wallet at home. But decided to continue and wander round taking in a few streets that I've not been down before managing to hit over 11K again.

I apologise for writing about walking, as I do like to write about interesting stuff, but I suppose I have just been very boring over the last few days, but it's got to 10:30 and I haven't even found an interesting piece of music to play, then I found this recent take of King Crimson playing "Heroes" no Bowie , but Fripp is going strong, and forty years on it sounds amazing.

"King Crimson performed Heroes at the Admiralspalast in Berlin as a celebration, a remembrancing and an homage. The concert was thirty nine years and one month after the original sessions at the Hansa Tonstudio overlooking the Berlin Wall. This is released in the Fortieth Anniversary year."

Robert Fripp.


Thursday 27 April 2017

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?


I was going to write this a couple of days back, but time seems to be running away from me all through the day. Actually that's not completely true, what it is is that my time is being taken up by stuff. Instead of leaving the house at 7:30 and being in work before 8 AM , I am leaving the house at 7 AM and walking into work most days , maintaining my step challenge of 10K steps a day , which at walking pace takes me around a hundred minutes. That's over an hour and a half ... a day! If you then factor in that most days I do more than that, all of a sudden I have a two hour chuck removed from my day.

Add to that catching up on Doctor Who from 2015 and another chunk of time goes out the window. It's not that I am not enjoying doing this and it's definitely a far more interesting form of exercise than going to a gym. At a gym you are directed but this walking needs my own direction, and I always try and find another way to walk in.

I have discovered a lot of places I didn't know about, realised that some places are closer together than I though, I mean I never knew there was an Asda down Westgate Road. The other thing is I am getting a lot more music listening in, today I was reminded how great the title track of "Aladdin Sane" is , drenched with Mike Garson's off kilter piano, I also got "Helden" as well from the soundtrack of "Christiane F" with Bob Fripp's luscious everlasting guitar lines, so two slices of David Bowie on my way in this morning.

Which song should I choose?  There are three songs mentioned here and I decided to hit "Christiane F"

Have a lovely evening

Friday 14 October 2016

Going Schizoid - #ALifeInNumbers #21


One of the problems with the early numbers in this sequence is realizing the good stuff I've missed. For 20 I could have had "20th Century Boy" by T. Rex, but "20 Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran is still a great so that's fine. I have the songs mapped out to 41 at the moment with a few scattered between there and 59, and the original premise for 21 was "21" by The Eagles from the album "Desperado".

Coming home however the perfect, for me, 21 song came to mind, six and a half minutes of monstrous jazz rock that the Rolling Stones had to follow in Hyde Park in 1969, not other than "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson featuring the psychotic and psychedelic lyrics of Pete Sinfield, Greg Lake on vocals and Bob Fripp on guitar. This is still an incredible piece and it always amazes me. I bought the album "Court Of The Crimson King" on DVD to listen in full surround sound , and though it's close on fifty years old it sounds stunning. I managed to find the Hyde Park broadcast but the album should be in your collection.

Time for bed now, though this is not music to fall asleep to.

Saturday 4 January 2014

ABC DB


Got a taxi home last night and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" was playing on the radio. It's nice to have something decent playing while you are going home. The taxi was an ABC one , who are my preferred taxi in Newcastle.

We were talking about favourite tracks and "Life On Mars" and "Changes" were mooted , though my favourite is probably "Station To Station". I said that I couldn't argue if anyone put forward "Heroes" as his best song , and the driver remarked that that song has Bowie, Brian Eno and Bob Fripp all bringing stuff to the table on that one , and it doesn't get muche better than that.

Any I hope you all have a great weekend. Enjoy yourselves.