Sunday, April 20, 2025

WELCOME TO CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS
We issue the solo and collaborative work of musician, broadcaster and abstract artist
DAVID REILLY

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This is the Cloudland Blue Diary - to go to another section of the site, click on an icon
                         

DIARY

The diary is up to date, with daily entries for over twenty years...

First Entry: Sunday 5 March 2005
Latest Entry: Saturday 19 April 2025...
 (Scroll down for the latest entries)

Between those dates, 146 days are "picture only", across 5 periods in 3 of the, now, 21 years:-

2016 (3 Days): 15-17 October
2022 (85 Days): 18 April - 10 May (23); 6 July - 5 September (62)
2023 (58 Days): 21 September - 15 October (25); 18 October - 19 November (33)

It is always the intention to update "picture only" days with the relevant text but doing so is, of course, subject to opportunity (and, indeed, memory!)

CRISPYCAT RECORDINGS ON BANDCAMP
To go to the Bandcamp discographies of these Crispycat related artists, click on an icon.

                    

Crispycat Recordings released the first 25 Cloudland Blue Quartet albums (recorded between 1996 and 2012) to Bandcamp in 2013.

A further 8 LPs were released between 2013 and 2019.

Then, with the advent of lockdown, David spent much more time on new Cloudland Blue Quartet works, with the result that, since May 2020, new music has been released almost every month, with almost 80 further new releases having been issued in the last five years.

The current 14 strong pipeline (see below) will take matters to April 2026, pushing the total Cloudland Blue Quartet releases available on Bandcamp to well beyond 100.

Meanwhile, retrospective releases by David's groups Creek, Crazy Wisdom and Capital Models have also been being issued by Crispycat Recordings and these are set to continue, with around 50 planned over the next 18 months or so...

LATEST RELEASE

As always from Crispycat Recordings, entirely Free to Stream or Name Your Price (including zero) to Download

Following on from the 2023 and 2024 Record Store Day releases, "GLAM!" and "GLAM! #2" comes the equally imaginatively entitled "GLAM! III", a further two and a half hours of Glam Rock (kind of) from Cloudland Blue Quartet, the equivalent of a 2CD set or, indeed 4LP Box Set. 

Recorded over 14 days from February to June 2023 and one additional day in October 2024, as demos for his band Capital Models re songs they might cover or, in a few cases, already do, CBQ has compiled another 36 performances for this Record Store Day release.

Most have never been heard before, while a few have been featured on his weekly Eclectic Selection podcasts on Mixcloud.

Every vocal is a 1st take - indeed, as with 2023's "GLAM!" and 2024's "GLAM! #2", David had never sung many of these songs prior to these renditions.

So, you may spot vocal fluffs & errors from the very off (e.g. the initial cue on "Rebel Rebel" slightly missed, the less than absolutely in tune "Sound and Vision", or some shockingly bad vocalising on "Crazy Horses" - mind you, everyone else scrapes the barrel for Record Store Day!), but is he really desecrating the catalogues of David Bowie (6), Brian Eno (5), Lou Reed (2), The Beatles (2), Uriah Heep (2), Roxy Music (2), The Electric Light Orchestra (1), Alvin Stardust (1), Bad Company (1), Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1), Bread (1), Frank Sinatra (1), Bryan Ferry (1), Kraftwerk (1), Kiss (1), Status Quo (1), The Monkees (1), The Osmonds (1), Elton John (1), Alice Cooper (1), T Rex (1) or Elvis Presley (1)?

You are the judge!

CURRENT CBQ RELEASE SCHEDULE

   

Friday 2 May 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Variations on Brian Eno's "On Land" (Soundscape Variations LP)
Friday 6 June 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Strand (Soundscape Piano & Synthesiser Based LP)
Friday 4 July 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Gould (Soundscape Composers LP)
Friday 1 August 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Variations on Fripp & Eno's "No Pussyfooting" (Soundscape Variations LP)

   

Friday 5 September 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet Variations on Fripp & Eno's "Evening Star" (Soundscape Variations LP)
Friday 3 October 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet & Robert Scott Thompson - Forest Ascent (Collaborative Soundscape LP)
NEW! Friday 7 November 2025Cloudland Blue Quartet - Like a Sunday (Soundscape Ambient LP)
Friday 5 December 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Disquietmusik IX (Soundscape Guitar Based LP)

   

Wednesday 24 December 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentytwentyfive: The Originals (Compilation of 2025 Releases)
Wednesday 31 December 2025: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentytwentyfive (Compilation of Rarities recorded throughout 2025)
NEW! Friday 6 February 2026: Cloudland Blue Quartet - Shostakovich (Soundscape Composers LP)
Friday 3 April 2026Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dissolution VI (Soundscape Piano Based LP)

 

Saturday 11 April 2026 (Record Store Day)Cloudland Blue Quartet - GLAM! FOUR (RSD Special: Covers LP)

(All artwork, releases and release dates subject to change)

SCHEDULED LIVE PERFORMANCES

            

Capital Models - Saturday 24th May 2025, Doors at 7pm, Band on at 8pm
Leith Dockers, 17 Academy Street, Edinburgh, EH6 7EE
Repertoire: 3 sets of top covers, from Elvis to Taylor Swift

In addition to these, there are these further possible appearances...

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Occasional Thursdays, from 8pm 
Out of the Bedroom, Safari Lounge, 21 Cadzow Place, Edinburgh EH7 5SN
Repertoire: 3 song acoustic set (if attempting to secure a slot the date will be added here)

Performances include those solo, as Cloudland Blue Quartet, presenting sets of either songs or soundscapes, and group, with the current line up of David's 1980 new wave band, Capital Models, currently playing covers (from Elvis to Tay Tay but about to embark on a project to re-lrearn the bands original canon from 1979/80). 

At present there are no plans for his electronic improvisational quartet, Creek, to play live...

BROADCASTS
David produces a weekly podcast on Mixcloud, reflecting his esoteric taste in music and encouraging listeners to broaden their musical horizons.  Since 2014, over 700 editions of the "Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection" have been recorded.  Unfortunately, only the most recent 10 are able to be made available on the Mixcloud platform.  To obtain an MP3 download link for any currently unavailable Cloudland Blue Quartet Eclectic Selection, simply e-mail your request to crispycat@hotmail.com.  Click on the pic to go to Mixcloud...


Saturday, April 19, 2025

Hearts broken, Queens rule...

Music Played Today


Meanwhile, here's what happened...

Saturday - cup semi final day for Anne...


More Crazy Wisdom work, rejigging the 7" mix and making it "better" and, then, a long ambient mix...

All sent out to Ed and Talcy...


With Anne off to the football, further attempts at keyboard input to the CMs, with just the CS5 today...


Again, failure - although I did sing through a goodly number of songs with just the guitar and it sounded "not too bad"...

And so, all keyboards back into the attic, equipment stowed away and room tidied...

Meanwhile, at Hampden...


Own goal off the back of goalie Craig Grodon, equaliser from Shankland, then, a man sent off, straight red, just before half time...

But Hearts held on to secure extra time, only to have another man sent off (for an undeserved second yellow) with 5 minutes to go and, then, lose a second goal in the second last minute...

Message from Anne: "Oh well. Never mind. We are in Rosa's Thai in Glasgow now"...

That's the "just as well it's only a game" spirit...

At three I was over in Balerno at Dhaba 36 - no pics were taken but I have pulled a few together from here and there to illustrate...


It was a late lunch with Malcolm and his old schoolchum and Capital Models and Crazy Wisdom and CBQ fan, Nicholas...


..and his wife, Alessia, originally from Tuscany...


...and here are me and Malcolm, at the rebirth of Crazy Wisdom last March...


Cups of tea and pakoras...


...and tasty curries with rice and naan...


..and good chat enjoyed - talking about the old days and how we all came to be where we are today...

Around 5, we said our farewells and I headed home, with a tasty easter egg gift from Malcolm...

He's suggested he'd like to use a couple of poems he'd e-mailed to me recently - one by him and one by a friend from Sweden, who died recently at the age of just 48...

So I created a new piece, using just Malcolm's keyboard from 5 March and computer generated reading of the poetry...

Then...

Finished off yesterday's ripping...

Picked Anne up from the bottom of the hill and home to enjoy "Dr Who" which started last week and I don't think I mentioned it...

I find the new Doc very annoying but will continue to watch -  a tradition I've kept since 1963...

Also, the new season of "Leverage" continued - the first, last night, was disappointing but this was better...

Some music listening late on, the newly acquired CD of Schutz was lovely...

Another away win for Queens today over Kelty Hearts, saw them move up to 3rd, with two games to go, although both are against Top 4 sides...

So the Play Offs are not a done deal quite yet...

But they are top of the league based on everyone's last five results...


So, you never now..

Highlight of the Day : Lunch with chums...

Today's New Music

Friday, April 18, 2025

Lunch, Creating and collecting...

Music Played Today


Meanwhile, here's what happened...

Up under good skies, although this is a treatment...



Friday...


...and so, with a coffee...


...new music sought...

Hawkwind, Melvins and quite a few completely new to me acts, including splendid LPs by Kneebody and the Aleph Quintet...

The D20 was brought down from the attic and things were set up and initial attempts at possible keyboard insertions to the CMs set in the absence of Paul, tried out...


Called away at 10:45 to give Anne a lift along to meet up with Jane - they were off down that Leith to pick up the results of their pottery day a couple of weeks ago...

We noted that, hallelujah, someone is at last clearing out the house at the end - which was completely ruined by the morons who lived there post a very lovely couple and their kids having lived there when we first moved in...


While Anne collected her bowls...




...I returned to my music but it proved fruitless and, frankly, just too difficult...

I walked down the hill and had a look through the three chazzas there.  Nothing in the first but I noted a big bag of just donated CDs not out yet...

Three things were found in the third and taken with me to the Corstorphine Inn...






...where I was meeting chum Bernardo for a pensioners' lunch...

Soup/Chicken Strips...


Mains of unpictured Fish & Chips for B/Scampi for me - v small portions...

Choc Brownie/Jam Roly Poly for dessert...


Bernie on good form...


Back to the main street post farewells and I returned to the first shop and was allowed access to the big bag of new stuff...

As I was searching, Anne appeared, post a tasty lunch with Jane at Teuchter's Landing...

She'd seen me walking towards the Hospice shop as she passed on the bus, and so, jumped off...

However, she soon got bored with my perusing and popped to Costa for a coffee...

A good hall for £15...














...even if the Judy Collins has a different Judy Collins CD inside (with more tracks)...

Total intake for #CDFriday...


While out, I got word from Edward Spark that he'd finished his mix of Crazy Wisdom's "Cowboys and Indians"...

On arrival home, I downloaded and immediately started work...

By the end of the day we had my original mix, Sparky's mix, three more mixes from me and a 7" version of Sparky's mix...

Swift work...

All sent to Malcolm, who was suitably impressed...

The ripping and listening to the CDs began and the shelf was updated, not only with CDs but with two of Anne's three bowls...


Later on, the D20 was removed again from the set up, which now looked like this, ready for tomorrow...


Highlight of the Day : Lunch, Creating and collecting...

Today's New Music