Summers End .. A Corrosion of Conformity

We're at the Bank Holiday Weekend at the end of August and the doom and gloom merchants will signal it as the  end of all things. It isn't , no way. Everyday I find new things I want to do or try and am never satisfied with     doing what is expected and conforming to expected boxes.

It's quite amazing how through my life I am continually deemed weird and strange because I don't watch X-Factor , Eastenders and Coronation Street , and I don't  have an Apple iPhone.

Rhino Rhino

The thing is I conform where I have to , I use money rather than barter, I have and Android Samsung Phone and a Windows Computer. But I prefer to be defined by what I do do , rather than what I don't do.

So I wont be watching any of those programs, but I know I'm in the minority. It's like Terry Pratchett , I enjoyed Mort and that was it but it doesn't matter because I have so much that I do like and I do not need any of those things.

Tonight I recut some CDs for a great friend to fit in his/her hatbox



I have lots to stimulate me, am in a constant state of feeling good , and every time I speak to someone I feel even better. like the ending of "True Romance" where Alabama eulogises for Clarence with the "You're So Cool" motif backed by the Orff "Gassenhauer" borrowing of Hans Zimmer.

I am feeling very positive so am going to bed now , but leaving with the wonderful Peter Gabriel song "Come Talk To Me", I really wish you would. Good Night my Great Friends

Time Signatures and The Classical Popular Crossover

Well there's a mouthful , and it's sort of as a result of a chat today that for some reason wandered on to time signatures in music , originating from the fact that all formalised dance is done in 8 bars. I said that nearly every pop song is in 4/4 time , notable exceptions being Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit in Waltz time which is 3/4 , Peter Gabriel's Solsbury Hill which is in 9/8 time , Dave Brubeck's Take 5 which is in 5/4 time and Unsquare Dance which in god knows what time.

Anyway that got me on to Malcolm McLaren who had some mad ideas such as his Opera / Hip Hop album Fans and the mad collaboration with Bootsy Collins and Jeff Beck taking on Strauss Waltzes resulting in the impossibly awesome House of The Blue Danube , which should not possibly work but it does:



Oh and here's the whole of the Fans album - pure brilliance:

Boxing Spectacular

On of the things with CDs iand vinyl is having a tangible artefact and sometimes the packaging that goes with it. From the heydey of vinyl Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" with it's fold out full newspaper and Hawkwind's "Space Ritual" and "In Search of Space"  were major experiences. The Hawkwind ones were reproduce in CD format.

The japanese do some great vinyl / CD reproductions but often the wording is illegible without a magnifying glass!!

We've recently had the Pink Floyd Immersion editions , and the latest major addition is the Blur 21 box. Now these might be worthy endeavours but each one clock in at around a hundred pounds or more , not too easy on the pocket!

Following on from that we have the Peter Gabriel "So" and Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks" again in wallet destroying editions. The think is once you get them you have to put them somewhere , they are 12" by 12" boxes.

The only one I have at theat size is the Elektra box set , which was reduced from it's normal £150 to £40 , and I have a number of smaller boxes such as the CD version of the Smiths Complete and The Electric Light Orchestra's Classic Albums (11 albums for £20).

These are great if you want them but you can't really get too many of them from a cost and space perspective!!