Surprise Surprise

I often wander into to record shops and sometimes drop into HMV. It has improved since it went belly up but still seems to be selling to disparate a swathe of goods, but on Sunday I noticed a Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie album. It was a ridiculous £5.99 and so I bought it, knowing that the genius of Buckingham would guarantee some essential listening and while McVie is not part of my essential canon , this comprised a mjor part of the talent that was Fleetwood Mac.

I put it on and the first two songs are Buckingham killers. I've not looked at the songwriting chedits so correct me if I'm wrong but "Sleeping Round The Corner" has a to-die-for chorus, the songs like "Feel About You" and "Red Sun" confirmed that this indeed is an essential purchase, and they both still have it.

I'd said I was going to load some French music to listen to on my walks and one of those was "Camembert Electrique" by Gong , led by Daevid Allen an Australian ex-pat living in France along with Dider Malherbe (Bloomdido Bad-de-Gras), Gilli Smyth (Bambaloni Yoni) , Steve Hillage (Stevie Hillside Village) , Tim Blake and others. I bought it as a Virgin Reissue for 49p in my teens and loved it. Sometimes when you revisit albums from your youth they sometimes don't live up to the memories.

This sorted exploded in my head , a little introductory silliness before the killer riff of  "You Can't Kill Me"  the whole album lets the music melt into each other with spacey glissando guitars and incredibly complex tunes that grab your attention. "Mr Longshanks" seems like a silly throwaway but ther is major playing going on in that, then "Dynamite" and Celine" are enjoyable if challenging and laid back piences. "And You Tried So Hard" is another stand out.

Both these albums have taken a lot of my time ofver the past couple of days and they are both worth spending some time on.

I'll include a song from each one for you to enjoy.

Sleep well.

If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day

I've just noticed it's Pancake Day so what other record could I have as the lead than "If I Had Possession Over Pancake Day"  by Half Man Half Biscuit.  It is one of my many favourites of their songs from the excellent "Cammell Laird Social Club" album and obviously very appropriate.

I've never been a fan of pancakes, always a bit bland for me like butternut squash. You can use them for bulking things out but you always have to add something.

I'm glad to see that the cars aren't frozen up this morning so the walk into work should not be as cold as it has been.

Actually after the last post, I wanted to to mention another album I listened to yestereday, "Apocalypse Girl" by Jenny Hval. The album is as disturbing as the cover (click through on the title to see) and at times very explicit.  When I started I was thinking this is just talking over noise, but the more you listen, the more you grow into it, so on the second listen the noise that was "Kingsize" becomes the song or piece that is "Kingsize".

Soundwise this is a less accented Bjork but possibly more challenging. By the time I had listened to the album I had been won over so I will be exploring more of Jenny Hval. She is someone to be approached with an open mind but definitely rewarding.

OK now time to get off to work, and no pancakes for me today.

It's An Education

This is just a short piece about Public Service Broadcasting. Basically they take archive material and provide a sonic backdrop, and I still don't know how J. Willgoose, Esq. manages all the buttons and instruments to play live and trigger the sound bites.  I have to take their biography and mission statement from their website as they can put it far more eruditely that I ever could

Public Service Broadcasting is the corduroy-clad brainchild of London-based J. Willgoose, Esq. who, along with drumming companion Wrigglesworth and multi instrumentalist JFAbraham, is on a quest to inform, educate and entertain audiences around the globe.

PSB’s uniquely spell-binding live AV transmissions see them weave samples from old public information films, archive footage and propaganda material around live drums, guitar, banjo and electronics as they teach the lessons of the past through the music of the future – beaming our past back at us through vintage tv sets and state of the art modern video projection devices.

On Public Service Broadcasting's new album Every Valley, J. Willgoose, Esq. takes us on a journey down the mineshafts of the South Wales valleys, with the stories found there a black mirror to the plight of workers everywhere. Although Every Valley is the story of one industry in a region and time far from ours, the tales of a disenfranchised working class in this age of turmoil could not be more relevant.

Although the concept is localized and historical, J. Willgoose, Esq hopes the story is "applicable to industries all over the western world and possibly beyond, in the way that the Industrial Revolution generated these communities that were so dependent on one particular industry, and what happens to that community when you remove that industry from it, and where that leaves us now"

Today I listened tp "Every Valley" for the first time , even though I have had it for six months and you have read what it contains.

My first taste of Public Service Broadcasting was "ROYGBIV" an acronym for the colurs on the TV spectrum then that was followed by the atmosphere of "The War Room" a precursor to their debut album.

The thing is every time you listen to a Public Service Broadcasting record you learn something, and there are very few bands you can say that about. You won't be singing along to their songs but you can dance and your mind will definely be stimulated.

Their second album "The Race For Space" was more subject focussed as was "Every Valley" . Even singles such as "Everest" will teach you new facts while give you aural stimulation.

They are also probably THE live band to see at the present time, and I have seen them thrice.

So I leave you with "They Gave Me A Lamp" from "Every Valley" , a wonderful atmospheric piece with some telling sentiments. Enjoy.
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Bitey - We Are Here To Drink Your Beer!!

That was a word Chris Hawkins used to described the cold this morning. The laminate kitchen floor was so cold that I had to put slippers on.  Outside the cars are frozen up and I am considering walking into work today. The sky is clear so it will be interesting to see the sunrise this morning. The roads are clear and on Saturday they were frosted up , and we did have snow flurries during  Sunday night.

Yesterday I was walking past the Westgate Ark Charity shop on Two Ball Lonnen I had noticed they now have cats in the window, and couldn't resist taking an instagram video that you can see here. A lot of people seem to like it and it is cute as hell.

I'm currently clearing recordings frome my TIVO box in anticipation of taking delivery of a V6 box, although as Yodel are delivering it I haven't a clue when I will get it, but rumours have it that it's an improvement on the TIVO box.

Anyway I'm sort of prepared for the bitey weather out there, though luckily I have the option of catching a bus if it really does get too cold.

I wimped out from seeing Alestorm last night but I'll include their video for "Drink" for you to enjoy as I get wrapped up and ready to continue my walking into work to deal with whatever awauts me when I get there. The Alestorm video will definitely wake you up.

"We Are Here To Drink Your Beer!!"

I know it's Monday, but be positive and have a great start to the week.

Short Circuits

We had a little snow last night and it has been cold today and though it's been a bit of a forced march I managed to do 15K steps today so that's getting back on the road so to speak.

I am really tempted to do a post of maybe ten words, in fact I saw a blog where the person was posting thousands of posts a year (I have done 1500 in ten years) but when I looked each of the posts just seemed to be links, and that was it, no explanation just a link, and thousands of them. Unfortunately I didn't take a copy of the URL so I can't share it with your.

I think most blogs are a form of diary, though mine tends to morph depending on what I'm doing ate the time. Obviously the walking has become fairly important to me and obviously music and books will always be a big part.

Film and TV also are in my ballpark as is Football (real Football not the American Handball game).

This blog is meant to give me inspiration for a book or a novel and my book ended up with 10K words and in a dead end, so I am still hoping inspiration and ideas will come. My friends do help me and inspire me, but this is the only body of written work that I have produced for public consumption.

I said the Jean-Michel Jarre that I had been listening to had encouraged me to listen to mor European music but today was a tiny dip with Steve Hillage's second solo album "L" which featuring a lot a great guitar nodling and thumping covers of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and George Harrison's "It's All Too Much" which appeared on the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack album. One of my favourite moments is when "Hurdy Gurdy Glissando" strays into the monster Maurice Jarre "Lawrence of Arabia" riff , absolutely wonderful, as well as the introduction of Don Cherry to embellish the "Lunar Musick Suite" with his jazz phrasings.

I found a live take of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" for you to enjoy, but the album is definitely worth a visit. Sleep well my friends.

Rumours of ...

Apparently there are rumours that tomorrow there will be snow. It's raining at the moment and if it gets colder the precipitation may very possibly turn to snow.

I've just found a silver polishing cloth under my computer desk, I haven't a clue if it's mine or Fiona's or something the cleaners from APM have dropped.

Today has been relativelty relaxed and I've only done a little walking but still hit 10.5K steps. I didn't get to town but just walked doing food shopping at Aldi.

I phoned Virgin about the delivery of the new V6 box and got a complete arsey person who told me I'd have to wait in all day Monday after being told it would be delivered between eight and nine in the morning. I put the phone down , knowing I was beaten by the idiot on the other end of the phone who kept repeating the same thing over and over again, but I also know these people actually are told to stick to scripts, so I blame Virgin management, another example of Richard Branson's complete disdan for the public.

This maybe should be on my And Annoyingly blog but I usually try to be positive, there is so much negativity in the world and I don't want any part of it.

So what could be more uplifting than The Addams Family dancing to The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop". Enjoy this, keep warm and dry, and sleep well.

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It was freezing this morning but the frost now seems to be fading. For the first time in ages I've had porridge for breakfast and thaks to the new set of pans I picked up forom Morrisons it's just a quick wipe clean.

I've found that listening to instrumental music can be quite good and have been listening to Jean-Michel Jarre's "Aero" which was an experiment in surround sound, and it does sound good on headphones. This is the blurb from the album description on Amazon:

"Aero is Jean Michel Jarre's first experiment in surround sound as well as being the most respectable "best of" album in 13 years. The album features reworked versions of his golden oldies and three new pieces. The result of the new orchestration is a modern-sounding remix album, rather than a definitive greatest hits.

The album was designed and recorded in multi channel surround-sound and is therefore presented on both a CD and DVD in the same package (including Dolby Digital and DTS tracks allowing playback on a standard DVD video player in 5.1 surround sound). Sound quality is top notch as you'd expect although sometimes the transitional pieces between tracks overdo the surround effects for the sake of demonstrating the technology.

The music itself, as a collection of greatest hits tracks, is a surprising choice, presumably designed for the best 5.1 surround sound. There's no "Revolutions", "Chronologie 4", "Ethnicolor", "Calypso", "Oxygene 8" or "Hey Gagarin", for instance. We are treated to fresh, excellent reworkings of classics: "Oxygene 2", "Equinoxe 3" and "Last Rendez-vous". Aging tracks such as "Oxygene 4", "Chronologie 6", and "Rendez-vous 4" have all been brought up to date. The three new tracks recall Robert Miles and Orbital. They're good but there's a feeling they were left over from previous projects. There are too many synth presets sounding too clinical and lacklustre compared to the high standard of sounds used in Jarre's other studio albums. Moreover, there are finer unreleased tracks that could have been included.

Also included on the DVD is a visual track. A close-up of the actress Anne Parillaud's (Nikita) eyes while she listens to the music for the full 73 minutes in one take is typical of Jarre's subtle, minimalist and "non-MTV" visual style. Aero will appeal to those wanting to test their home cinema equipment and those seeking some of the greatest hits of France's electronica wizard. --Colin Neal"

The last few days I've cut down on the walking but still hit over 10K a day so I'm still on track to hit my target for February. Today I will be going for a couple of walks before dealing with Virgin who've given me an upgrade for a reduction in costs, but have been a little economical with the truth. It's a situation where you have to go with it because you are actually better off with it even though it comes with certain inconveniences like not being able to keep your recordings, but if I haven't watched them in six months then maybe I am not losing out.

I've included "Oxygène II"from Aero which sounds excellent on a decent sound system, and it's just playing on my soundbar now, and I hope I haven't disturbed my neighbours Ray and Michelle with the noise.

Have a brilliant Saturday my friends.