Got up around 9 and listened to some music by Arvo Part followed by the waltz from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” (it was in Anne's head for some reason so we played it - he did write some good music of course) and then Colosseum’s “Valentyne Suite” (which was definitely not in Anne's head) and a track from Elbow's last album, which I bought when it came out but have never actually listened to.....
It’s a bright cold and frosty but beautiful morning...
..and so, listening to Sparks as we drive, it's off into Stockbridge for breakfast at Patisserie Florentin followed by a browse around the small shops in this village within Edinburgh....
We live in another such village, Corstorphine, sadly, our village is not as cosmopolitan or bohemian as Stockbridge, probably due to the older population and the propensity of larger houses rather than older flats, the latter perhaps giving rise to younger and more varied inhabitants...
OK so that photo collage doesn't really purvey a "village" as such but....
Anyway, yes we have all the charity shops, but we don’t have the deli, the fishmonger, the butcher, the baker and the other small specialist shops that make a wander round Stockbridge such a rewarding experience...
Anne buys a present for Mr Brodie’s ex, Julie’s upcoming birthday, as well as a couple of trinkets for herself, while I pick up Lou Reed’s 2CD anthology “NYC Man” for £3.99 at Oxfam..
I was a little hesitant on this since I have almost every track already, but it turns out Lou worked with the original master tapes and remixed many of the tracks to improve the sound quality. It’s a great collection...
In Shelter I bought a couple of latin jazz compilations (at £2 each you surely can’t go wrong)....
“Blue Bossa” is on Blue Note and features the likes of Duke Pearson, Ike Quebec, Cannonball Adderley, Kenny Dorham, Grant Green, Horace Silver, Andrew Hill, Hank Mobley and Donald Byrd.
I was drawn to “Focus on Fusion” by the word “fusion”....
Whilst the Blue Note disc is mostly 60’s stuff, this disc is rooted in the 1970’s and features less well known names...
Finally, for £4, I bought a 2CD set of “The Very Best of Classical Chill Out” which, amongst the usual suspects includes tracks by Wiliam Orbit, Brian Eno, Michael Nyman and Craig Armstrong...
At Herbie’s delicatessen we bought a lovely French farm loaf for lunch. I enjoyed a couple of pieces with Brussels Pate and sliced apple...very tasty indeed...
Then Anne went off to Tynecastle for today’s match – Hearts v Motherwell – hoping for a win and insisting Meg the Black Cat cross her paws for good luck...
Also today, second bottom in the 1st Division, Queen of the South, play bottom of the table Brechin City – it’s a must win situation for Queens and, with 3rd bottom Stranraer away to leaders St Mirren (who I also kind of support since I spent my formative years living in Paisley) , it’s a great opportunity for QoS to leave Brechin behind and move to withing 3 points of Stranraer...
So stop running around chasing a toy fish on a stick so fast that you're merely a blur in a photo and cross those paws Meg the Black Cat!
I fire up the computer to try and record a final version of “Do As Others Do” and put it on a one-off CD for Lindsay West, along with a new recording of “Skylines Full of Cranes”...
Three hours later and I have reasonable versions of the two songs..
Re the footie – Hearts have done well and beaten Motherwell 3-0, St Mirren have also done well and beaten Stranraer 3-1 but the mighty Queen of the South have only managed a disappointing goaless draw with lowly Brechin City....
An opportunity lost....
I take a break from the tracks to get some perspective and record Harry Hill for later. Anne returns home and is in a jubilant mood, though still not 100% happy with the way Hearts are playing – hah – try being 2nd bottom of the 1st Division instead of 2nd top of the SPL....
As Anne settles down to watch “Celebrity Ice Dancing on Ice” or something, I go back to the two tracks and need to record three words – which I do quickly – and then it’s some judicious editing of the various guitar lines and vocal performances to try and squeeze something satisfactory out of the afternoon’s work...
By 8pm I think I have succeeded – I have an approximation of what Thursday night would have sounded like had I, in reality, been a Quartet rather than one man and a guitar. The recording features four vocal and three guitar performances...all melding together nicely into an eight minute medley of the two songs...
So that should be that – I’ll burn a one-off disc for Lindsay and add the recording to my ever-growing collection of “rare” CBQ discs...
And so I now have three projects on the horizon...
Project one is more work on Ian Sclater's music...
Ian has been back in touch, having lived with the “final” mix of his album for a couple of months. He now wants to do some more recordings and some remixing. He has sent me an itemised list of changes and additions he wants us to work on. I think it’s going to entail a lot more work than he suspects...
Work on this starts tomorrow...
Project two is Out of the Bedroom’s fourth compilation CD....
This will involve recording sixteen different acts, with each getting 30 minutes time to lay down their wares. The idea of the discs is to give the listener a taste of what a really good night at OOTB would be like – so all the performances are recorded without overdubbing and I then have to listen back to eight hours of music and select one track by each artist and master the CD...
I produced volume 2, which includes “Skylines Full of Cranes” and volume 3, on which Jamie’s “Why Billy Why” appears – so I have some experience of what it’ll be like. It’s hard work but worth the effort as the CDs are one of the main fund raising assets the club has....
However there’s a question mark over where we’ll do the recording as OOTB is shortly to move from its spiritual home of The Waverley Bar in St Mary’s St – and both the previous sets of recording sessions I undertook took place in the room where OOTB happens – albeit without an audience...
Work on this will start in the next couple of weeks or so, with sessions probably taking plce in early to mid March - but the committee hasn't approached the bar owner yet re recording there - he may well be prejudiced by the fact OOTB is moving home...
Project Three involves the burning and printing of rather a large order of “Deeperdown” CDs for a charity golf match organised to raise money for a cancer relief centre....
A copy of the CD will be given to each participant in the competition. I am in the fortunate position of having the organiser of the event as one of my “fans”. He thinks the album is brilliant and that it ought to be getting more exposure...
Who am I to argue?
Of course in order to be able to do this, I’ll need to get a new printer. I think the event is in May though, so I have a bit of time to get things organised...
The evening is rounded off with “CSI:NY”, “Law & Order : Criminal Intent” and “Match of the Day”
Highlight of the Day : Leisurely breakfast and browse in Stockbridge
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