Music For Glaciers

I've been trying to maintain a post a day in June by posting a piece of music vaguely relevant to the day or something that's happened . There's obvious ones about June and the number of the day and what happened on this day , but I've tried to keep the music eclectic and maybe end it with a full Grooveshark playlist of all the June's Tunes.

Glad to see the weather is keeping up , raining at night and sunny during the day , so managed to mow my lawn today and fill the brown bin with lots of garden detritus.

Anyway was talking with a friend who had never heard of Sigur Ros , they were interested when I described it as Music for Glaciers . They are Icelandic , and make up their words so it doesn't sound like an auspicious start , but they are one of the most amazing bands you will ever here. So because of that conversation today's June's Tune is Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros with images from BBCs Planet Earth:

Summer Solstice

Well the longest day is here and light is fading , celebrations are taking place and I was struck by a pause for thought I heard today on BBC Radio 2. The guy said that rather than celebrating the longest day and  midsummer and the light , lots of people see it as the return of darkness and it's all downhill from here.

There are many ways to view things and when the weather is good certain people seem to focus on the fact it will soon be raining. Celebrate the moment , and remember when it rains you don't have to water your gardens. Usually the positives to take from every situation but it's not always clear what the positives are. Anyway the guy talked about shining the light and I'm going to choose this video I did of "Illuminating Hadrian's Wall" soundtracked by my daughter Juliet's favourite band Ash playing "Shining Light":

Almost Midsummer .... Next

There's be druids about , and celebrations at Stonehenge, and it's still hot but looking like rain. My cough is still here so off to docs tomorrow in the home they can suggest something. Just listening to some very old Alex Harvey stuff and very impressive it is , apparently he won a competition to be Scotland's very own Tommy Steele .... a very mixed blessing though Rock With The Caveman was all right.

Anyway there isnt that much footage of Alex live despite being one of the greatest live acts of their time. This is the band that opened at Donington with a cover of The Osmond's Crazy Horses , very daring at the time. Anyway this seems an appropriate song for the June's Tunes as I keep looking for the next song.

Lord Rochester Gets His Skates on

Nineteen days in and I had a great idea for todays post because of something that happened and now it's gone. I'm not going to have anything from Adele's "19" or Paul Hardcastle's "19" though. The summer is still here despite doom mongers forecasting rain , but it still looks extremely sunny to me.

Tonight I was waiting for a train at Darlington and was just shocked how people would rather cram themselves into a hot , airless carriage on an effectively four carriage train than wait ten minutes and travel in comfort. You find the same with drivers who have to overtake the car in front to save a few seconds on their journey. Impatience is not a virtue and just makes your life experience worse.

Sometimes a little waiting and chilling makes life so much more palatable. Well I'm going to The Schooner tonight where I saw the excellent Lord Rochester and as Rochester has just gone superfase the EE's 4G I think we'll have "Hey Bo Diddley" which is taken at speed:

18

More than halfway through June (it's already the 18th), and the Summer Solstice draws near . Than immediately makes me think of "Ring Out Solstice Bells" by Jethro Tull , which is essentially a winter song so I will stick with my original June's Tune, which is just based on the day and is going to be "18" by Alice Cooper. Although Alice Cooper surpassed this many times , it's still a great song , the American equivalent of The Who's My Generation:


Oh and it's still far, far too hot

Classical Gas

Back to work today and still coughing like hell. Tonight we had a lovely sunset though and the weather is still great , though most of the public will forget about it when it next rains.

Anyway I put on an album of obscureish seventies rock instrumental and the first song on is Joy by Apollo 100, a modern take on one of my favourite Bach pieces "Jesu Joy of Man's Desire". I'm not particularly God fearing or religious but sometimes enjoy classical massacres (see Emerson Lake and Palmer) and this is not too bad barring the "tasteful" guitar bits. Anyway today's June's Tune is here:

Dr Feelgood and First Woman In Space

Well it's that last day before I go back to work and I still sound like a consumptive despite the drugs and medicines  and rest that I've taken this week. Sometimes things like this are just awkward. It's Father's Day and I'm listening to excellent Dr Feelgood compilation All Through The City. One of my favourite Wilko Johnson compositions is "Paradise" which I thought was premiered on the first Solid Senders album. It's out it actually appeared on Wilko's last Feelgood's album Sneakin' Suspicion. I never knew that , god knows how I missed it. Anyway that has to be the June's Tune for today.

Also on this day in 1963,Lieutenant Valentina Tereshkova, 26, was the fifth Russian cosmonaut to go into the Earth's orbit when her spaceship Vostok VI was launched at 12:30 Moscow time. Full details here. I was going to have some space themed piece but I'm afraid it just has to be Paradise which could be classed as vaguely stellar :