Play loud...

Playlist
King Crimson – Singles (Disc 1) (CD-R)
Various (Shuffleplay) – Early 70’s Faves
Weather Report – Best of
Magic Pie - Motions of Desire
The Tangent – A Place in the Queue
Crimson Jazz Trio - King Crimson Songbook Vol 1
OSI – Free
Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow
Mogwai - Mr Beast
Brad Mehldau Trio - Anything Goes
Yellow Matter Custard – One Night in New York
Reid Anderson – The Vastness of Space
Magellan – Misanthrope
The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity
Neal Morse - ?
Tool – 10,000 Days
Shadow Gallery - Room V
Glenn Gould – The Alchemist (DVD)
Weather Report – Weather Report

Two CDs bought today – Weather Report’s debut from 1971 and a classical sampler for Warners’ budget label Apex (an impulse buy at the counter for a quid)...

Reading up about Weather Report on the web, the general consensus seems to be that their first three or four albums are their halcyon period and this first album certainly seems to continue the type of stuff main men Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous were doing with Miles Davis immediately prior to forming the band, which, along with Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever, spearheaded the Jazz Fusion movement of the early to mid 70’s...

Purchases concluded, back home it was more chicken for tea then a visit from Dr Prog, bearing the 21 disc Haydn box set as promised and also Steve Hackett’s new album...

Anne was off out to the cinema with her friend Michelle (“The Devil Wears Prada”) but, while she waited for Michelle to arrive, the prog started. Anne asked if the music needed to be so loud....

The answer was “yes, I’m afraid it does”...

As Anne left we set out on a journey through some highlights of the best albums I’ve bought out of the last 100 which sit on a shelf in the living room...

The good doctor was impressed with Magic Pie, The Tangent, Crimson Jazz Trio, Nine Horses, Mogwai, Reid Anderson (whom he saw during the recent Edinburgh Jazz Festival), Tool, Shadow Gallery and Neal Morse (whose music he has hitherto avoided due to its God-bothering aspect, despite being a big fan of Spock’s Beard)..

He already had the albums I offered by Brad Mehldau and The Bad Plus...

He was most taken though with the Yellow Matter Custard album – the aforementioned Neal Morse along with a band which includes Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater on drums – paying a two disc set of Beatles covers live in a New York club....

Dr Prog borrowed the DVD....

He was a big hit with Meg the Black Cat, who spent some considerable time sitting on the Prog man’s lap, no doubt enjoying the music of the evening...

He also demonstrated exactly how to view the 3D sleeve of Tool's "10,000 Days" album...



Then we watched the Glenn Gould DVD which I bought at the fair on Saturday but forgot to mention, “The Alchemist”...

It contains some wonderful performances as well as some very enlightening interviews...

Gould was a world famous pianist who abandoned the concert stage at the age of 32 to concentrate on working in the studio...

His reasons for doing so were illuminating and certainly resonated with me. He found playing live to be a discomfort to him and, basically, that it was a waste of time. It was impossible in a live situation to reach every member of his audience in the way in which a recording could...

From then on (around 1964) he concentrated on working in the studio, meticulously producing the best possible recordings he could of a very varied repertoire, by editing and splicing and joining takes – work which he personally oversaw...

The DVD gives a fascinating insight into his working methods...

One of my heroes...

Anne arrived home around 11 and, shortly afterwards, Phil (Dr Prog) decided he’d best get back home...

We wished him a happy holiday and he went on his way, while Meg the Black Cat escaped out the back door to explore the neighbourhood, before returning home around half an hour later none the worse for wear...

Highlight of the Day : A visit from Dr Prog