Stille Nacht

Last night, oddly and exceptionally, when I decided in was time for sleep , I thought I don't want anything playing, I just want silence. Normally I have something playing, maybe Brian Eno or some space rock /  Krautrock such as Hawkwind or Tangerine Dream and let myself get lost in the sounds and drift off into the realms of Morpheus.

I know a lot of people who have difficulty sleeping and going to sleep is a bit like riding a bike, if you think about it, you can't do it.

This morning I posted off a CD to Germany and had difficulty writing the letter "ß" as it sort of comes out as a "B" when I write it, but hopefully it will get there.

The "Silent Night" aspect of this post reminded me of two takes on the Christmas Carol by Franz Xaver Gruber one by Can and the other by Sinead O' Connor (from "The Ghosts of Oxford Street" by Malcolm Mclaren, a great album / documentary if you can track it down. My friend Alison just found that it's on All4 here , so watch , learn and enjoy.

I've inclluded both for your enjoyment.

Winter Is Here ... The Magic's Back

Today is the first day of winter and I will theme December on #SuddenlyItsChristmas (taken from the title of a Loudon Wainwright III song. Yesterday we had snow as Autumn drew to a close, and today that snow is frozen making it difficult to walk , so I am wearing boots with soles like tractor tyres in the hope that I won't slip and end up on my bum.

Today there is a disco at Kommunity that started twenty minutes ago at 6:30 am so I will visit that before work. I did , and I'm completing this at 9 pm because I didn't want to be late , and enjoyed a vegan breakfast burrito and a coffee before work. The dancefloor was full and I hope there will be more of these events.

Anyway my first set of seasonal songs were on "The Ghosts of Oxford Street" by Malcolm Mclaren , which features a beautiful version of "Silent Night" by Sinead O'Connor as well as many other appropriate songs, but the one I will choose is "Magic's Back" by Alison Limerick, to usher us into this Winter Season.

If you can find the video of the show , it is worth watching, educational and interesting. McLaren's talent is for getting other people to do things (sometimes joining in) with never less than interesting results.

Five Inches of Pleasure ..... 500 Posts .....Spiritual High ..... Becoming More Like God

and this is my 500th post, and it is music related. Every so often something just comes into my head, and one of the things I liked about the CD single heyday (is that the right spelling ?) were the remix singles. Two that stuck in my mind were Spiritual High by Moodswings featurg Chrissie Hynde and Becoming More Like God by Jah Wobble featuring Sinead O'Connor.

These are just the tip of the iceberg and the Moodswings CD dropped through my letterbox featuring six versions of the song clocking in at forty minutes , currently on my CD player. It cost me just under three quid including postage. The Jah Wobble one was on sale at £25 so I think I will leave that for the time being , maybe just invest in the new deluxe version of Take Me To God. Anyway I've include Youtube copies of both tracks for you to enjoy.