Galivantisation

That word came into my head today, for no particular reason and is probably something to do with the transition for ordered movement to frivolous galivanting. New words are being aded to dictionaries all the time and old ones are being dropped.

I'm quite surprised that I am writing this at quarter to midnight on a Friday night , after a fairly uneventful week, apart form getting the hang of Power Query and using it properly , watching series 1 of "Cobra Kai" which is excellent , and going through the first series of "American Horror Story:Murder House" which is extremely inventive given the limited nature of it's subject.

Tonight I watched "Des" the story of Denis Nilsen , which was unnervingly excellent with David Tennant's Nilsen both reminding me of a work colleague as he talked matter of factly about his murders, it's almost funny , then you realise this happened, reminds me a bit of the intro to "The Death of Stalin", I had the same reaction there.

October has been very sparse for postings , but if you have nothing to write about you have nothing to write about.

I've done little walking, and need to do a final lawn mow for the year if we get a few dry days.

My NAS Network disk I think is dead, so I am going to have a play over the weekend to try and revive, but if not that's my digital music and video collection gone, although I do have backups so it's just a question of setting up a new DNLA server (I sound like I know what I'm talking about). While I did wire all the digital stuff in the house, to me it's just a load of plugs and wires.

I've been listening to a Cherry Red compilation today and it's going for £100 on Amazon, but it's only worth that if someone will pay for it. Anyway I've chosen "XOYO" by The Passage from it which I loved when first heard it on the "Pillows and Prayers" compilation back in th eeighties.

Back & Romania

 I'm back from and extremely relaxing holiday in Thirsk , on which I did nothing strenuous, didn't walk very far although I maintained more than five miles a day, but I now feel as though I need another week to recover. Maybe I just don't want to resume work, although I set my alarm for 5:45 AM tomorrow morning, and I am sure that I won't want to get up.

I keep thinking I'm not writing as much , because I'm not listening to as much music, although yesterday while posting off some Discogs orders I listened to "Meddle" by Pink Floyd, and "Echoes" is still my favourite Pink Floyd piece, and today I listened to my new vinyl acquisition , a recording of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" , my favourite classical piece.

I've been watching a lot of streaming shows, all excellent , namely "Better Call Saul" (the "Breaking Bad" prequel) , "Disenchantment" , "Cobra Kai" (forty years later follow up to "The Karate Kid") and working through the "American Horror Story" series that I've not seen , starting with "Murder House", and "Silicon Valley".

A strange coincidence is that three of the last books that I have read and revisited have been partially set in Romania , the firs was "The Lost" by Jonathan Aycliffe , "Spear of Destiny" by his alter ego Daniel Easterman and the lastest is "Coldheart Canyon" by Clive Barker, which I had forgotten where it started. It's not surprising with the Romanian connections with Vlad The Impaler and Dracula.

So at least I have written something, So what music should I share. Tom Robinson is playing "Ice Cream For Crow" so I think that is definitely worth a share as we fall into next week.

Purelax

This is post number 2332 , so a numerical palindrome, there will be a few of these coming up  (every 110 posts) and there's also post number 2345 to look forward to before the end of the year hopefully.

I've done virtually no writing or anything really this week. It's been a purely relaxing week, which I travelled by train plus a lift from Northallerton to Thirsk. This week has been lying in , watching TV and walking a reasonable amount of steps each day.

Thirsk is a relaxing place to be with lots of places to eat , drink and also lots of walks , especially along Cod Beck the waterway that runs through  the place. I was particularly impressed with The Red Bear (the pigeons seem to love the roof) and Bianco's , a nominally Italian restaurant, but it offers so much more, and there's always about ten other things on their menu that you fancy trying.

Like many other similar places the only places you can buy music is the charity shops and Tesco. Although I think my vinyl collection is complete , I picked up a copy of my favourite classical piece "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff, which I will share with you for this post.

Ray Manzarek of The Doors also made an album of the piece although I have still yet to hear it, but can be listened to here.

As I have said, this week is pure relaxation so the two hundred words in this post will have to do. As I have said, not sure how many people read this these days, as my follower count is just six, but it works for me as a diary.

In Thirsk

 There are thirty steps from the entrance hall to the top of the house, it's slightly different living in three storeys. This is a total relaxation holiday , with no plans to do anything major, to lie in and enjoy the surroundings.

These days with so much available via smart networks you can come on holiday with a bare minimum of stuff, though I have a DVD of "The Terror" which I still haven't finished. Inherent laziness means that we want to watch and listen to things after a few button presses, so messing with physical media becomes a huge inconvenience when it  really isn't.

Today I watched series on  Channel 5 on Lost Railways which was very fascinating but required me to do nothing. I have the options of Netflix , various hubs, plus the laptop I am writing this on means that I won't be short of entertainment.

So I think "Sleeping With The TV On" by The Dictators would be an appropriate tune, although I have shared it before, it's a great song.

63 - The Greatest Thin Lizzy Album?

I am now 63 and will be reminded of that every time I see a Stagecoach 63 bus, which is not something that overly bothers me. 

One of my birthday presents was a vinyl copy of Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" mainly for the excellent Jim Fitzpatrick cut out cover, which the reissued version is done as a single sleeve rather than the original gatefold , clevely using the inner sleeve for the band breakout image.

Although most people will pick up on the single "The Boys Are Back In Town" , it is nowhere near the best song on the album, but is a great demonstration of Phil Lynott's talking vocal style , where the vocls seem completely add odds with the music lines , and sing like that while also playing bass shows prodigious talent.

The album crashes in with the title track which does have one of the most faux-pas of an opening line ever:

"Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak,

Somewhere in this town"

Could it be a the jail maybe?

As that screeches to a siren filled finale , we are treated to three quieter but no less impressive songs "Angel From The Coast" , "Running Back" and the gorgeous "Romeo and The Lonely Girl" with stunning guitar work from Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham. The side finishes with the robust "Warriors" , and side two opens with  "The Boys Are Back In Town"  which is classic Thin Lizzy.

"Fight or Fall" is contemplative but probably the least memorable song on the album , but it is in very impressive company, "Cowboy Song" contains some great lyrics and and a memorable descending riff , just making you want the song to never end.

The finale is "Emerald" taking on Irish mythology and culminating in a stunning guitar duel between Gorham and Robertson underpinned by Lynott's bass and Brian Downey's drums.

The album was probably only beaten by "Live and Dangerous", but for me stands as their greatest studio album, though I also like "Black Rose" very much, and their albums alway produce some stand out songs.

The Second Finest Roxy Music Album? - #FruitfulSeptember #12

On my afternoon walk yesterday I was listening to "Stranded" the third Roxy Music album, and my Emopeak headphones ran out of power. It is slightly annoying that you get about four announcements that you have low power then the shut off. I only  need one warning telling me the power is about to go off.

Anyway "Stranded" is another brilliant Roxy Miusic album and does contain their finest ever song "Mother Of Pearl"  with two sections that are a universe apart but do fit together, almost worthy of th edeparted Brian Eno. The album opens with their firs album based single "Street Life" , complete with debutant Eddie jobson's violin solo, followed by the mellower "Just Like You", then the slightly off kilter "Amazona" with lots of guitar effects before closing with the overlong religious "Psalm" closing a satisfying first side. The second side opens with the powerful "Serenade" slipping into the awesome "Song For Europe"  preparing you for the magnum opus "Mother of Pearl"before slipping out quietly with "Sunset".

If anyone wer to put this forward as the greatest Roxy Music album I couldn't argue with them, although my preference is for "For Your Pleasure.

I was shocked my the number of buses I saw on my morning walk, and as approach my 63rd birthday I'm gonna be reminded of my age my the number 63 Stagecoach bus that goes up Netherby Drive every twenty minutes.

So for the #FruitfulSeptember I am not going with another Roxy Music song, but with "Cherry Oh Baby" by Eric Donaldson that was covered by UB40 on their first "Labour of Love" album.

The weather is now bright sunshine, so enjoy the rest of the day.

The Finest Roxy Music Album? - #FruitfulSeptember #11

 On my recent walks I have been listening to a lot of Roxy Music. Today my music player on my Google Pixel 2XL stopped working so I applied another , it sounded fine but it was listing songs on albums in alphabetical order with the option of shuffling. Songs are meant to be in the album order , but so many apps default to alphabetical order, which is plain stupid. It's ok if you are looking at all the songs on a device but not within an album. There is no option to sort by album song number, but luckily the file date sorted them into the correct order.

Anyway back to the point of the post, I've decided that "For Your Pleasure" is Roxy Music's best album. The have made a lot of great albums, and "Stranded" , "Country Life" and the debut are close behind , plus "Avalon" is an amazing soundscape and the rest of the albums have their highpoints but "For Your Pleasure" everything just falls into place.

The cover features Amanda Lear , a jaguar and Ferry as a chauffeur , Ferry being the only band member to feature on the outer cover although they are all on the inner one.

Originally a vinyl release (which I have as well as the CD) , listening now it's in two distinct parts with the strident opener "Do The Strand" sounding contrived but excellent followed by "Beauty Queen" with the superb instrumental break going into "Strictly Confidential" introverted and sullen, before "Editions of You" closes the first part but not the side.

That falls to "In Every Dreamhome A Heartache" one of the creepiest songs to ever hit the mainstream, and it delivers in spades , close the side with swirling guitars and leaving the listener at least a little unnerved.

Side Two opens with "The Bogus Man" with the band almost in Can / Bertolt Brecht territory , and this was the direction Brian Eno wanted the band to go in , although he acknowledged it was Bryan Ferry's vision and band. This goes into "Grey Lagoons" (also known as "The Bogus Man Part Two") which is grand rock and roll with a stunning Andy Mackay saxophone solo before the grand finale of the title track complete with Eno piano treatment and the hypnotic fade.

Although this is their finest album , their finest song is the wonderful "Mother of Pearl" on "Stranded" the follow up the "For Your Pleasure" with Eno replaced by Eddie Jobson from Curved Air.

So that's two posts today, obviously influenced by my afternoon walk, but what to do about #FruitfulSeptember ? Roxy Music have no fruit related songs, or so I thought. Then I found this:

"The Wild Prairie Rose is not only known for its beauty but also for its medical and food uses. The rise hips and roots are used to treat inflammation of the eye. The fruit can be eaten raw or made into jellies. The stems and leaves are used in teas."

So we hit Roxy Music's fourth album "Country Life" for "Prairie Rose" , another great song. 

Basically their first four studio albums, and the first live album "Viva" are all essential , after that they are a little patchy but with some gems in there. The albums below are the essential ones plus an excellent compilation that contains most of the first four albums plus rarities.