Last day of the year (again)...

Playlist
Various –Jukebox Shuffleplay

Ah - last day of the year...

Slept till 6 up at 7 and tidied the computer room then updated the links on the blog then looked for cover art and track lists for Craig’s CDs and found them all then rejigged the CDs on shelf in the living room to add recent acquisitions (my last 100 CDs are on the shelf, taking me back to around October)...

At 11, just after Anne woke and got up, I went back to bed for a much needed snooze..

We were supposed to be going to Anne’s mum’s for a family lunch at 1, but at 10 to 1, I woke to find Anne ready to leave without me leaving the ill, sleepy man behind...

Next thing I knew the phone was ringing at around 3:30...

Got up, phoned my mum back and wished her a happy new year (she’d called and left a message)...

This is what the world outside looked like...



Had a couple of slices of toast and watched the end of “Star Trek IV” then a film called “Explorers” – which was, frankly, rubbish...

Anne returned before the end, bearing some chicken salad and a couple of iced buns from her mum who, it must be said, makes the best sponge cakes in the world...

Anne started to cook the curry for later on as I continued to watch the film...

Then we enjoyed the football highlights from yesterday...

Then a quick log-in to the ether world before returning to the living room for “Coronation Street”..

Very windy weather and already Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast, Glasgow and Stirling had called off their events...

I remember being in Amsterdam three years ago when we discovered on New Year’s Day that Edinburgh’s Hogmanay had been cancelled..

Two years ago we were in Barcelona...

Last year we were in Leith at Anne’s brother’s place...

This year, it’s a quiet night in with lovely home-made pakoras and curry and a few beers and maybe we can steel ourselves to drink some champagne...

Watched a very entertaining Billy Connolly DVD, “Dead Ringers” (must’ve been a repeat since they had a sketch re Saddam Hussein’s trial), “Only an Excuse” (hit and miss as usual) and “Still Game” (great stuff) before midnight..

We’d forgotten that there’d be fireworks on Corstorphine Hill (Edinburgh does some kind of “seven hills” type thing these days re its displays) and so we hadn’t realised we’d be treated to an excellent display right outside our house ...

At first I was thinking “jeez, the neighbours have really shelled out on the fireworks this year”...

We waited in vain for any sign of the Pet Shop Boys Edinburgh performance being shown on BBC – till they mentioned the concert and street party had been called off due to the weather...

Twice in four attempts – a reputation beckons...

Went to bed at 1:15 after seeing “Bottom”’s Ade Edmondson singing the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK” with Jools Holland’s big band...

We eschewed the champagne, recalling July 13 and the great getting absolutely smashed out of our faces on champagne and feeling decidedly dead on July 14...

My albums of the year?

Well, of the 312 CDs added to my collection this year, I've set out below, my top 150, split into self-explanatory categories - all are, of course, recommended listening....

150 Albums I Liked in 2006

New Albums (23)
Alice Peacock - Who I Am
David Gilmour - On An Island
Francoise Hardy - Parentheses
Frost* - Milliontown
Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat
Jakko M Jakszyk - The Bruised Romantic Glee Club (2CD)
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Kino - Picture
Mathilde Santing - Under Your Charms
Mogwai - Mr Beast
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
OK Go - Oh No
Pet Shop Boys – Fundamental (2CD)
Scissor Sisters - Ta Dah!
Sparks - Hello Young Lovers
Spock's Beard - Spock's Beard
The Church - Uninvited Like the Clouds
The Flower Kings - Paradox Hotel (2CD)
The Killers - Sam's Town
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
Tool - 10,000 Days
Violet Archers - The End of Part One
Wetton/Downes - Icon II Rubicon

Recent Albums (28)
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
Antony and the Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
David Sylvian - The Good Son v The Only Daughter
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Eels - Blinking Lights and other Revelations (2CD)
Eels - Shootenanny
Eels - Souljacker
Gang of Four - Return the Gift (2CD)
Girls Aloud - Chemistry
Halloween Alaska - Halloween Alaska
Halloween Alaska - Too Tall To Hide
Laura Pausini - Escucha
Madonna - Confessions on a Dancefloor
Marillion - Marbles (2CD)
Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
Neal Morse - ?
Nine Horses - Snow Borne Sorrow
Paul McCartney - Flaming Pie
Phil Manzanera - 50 Minutes Later
Richard Shindell - Sparrow's Point
Sarah McLachlan - Afterglow
Sarah McLachlan - The Bloom Remixes
Shadow Gallery - Room V (2CD)
Sigur Ros - Takk
Susumo Yokota - Grinning Cat
The Church - Forget Yourself
Tom McRae - All Maps Welcome
Wetton/Downes - Icon

Re-Issues (28)
Anthony More - Flying Doesn't Help
Be Bop Deluxe - Modern Music
David Byron - Baby Faced Killer
Francoise Hardy - Ma Jeunesse Fou de Camp
Gentle Giant - Free Hand
Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
Grand Funk - Phoenix
Grand Funk Railroad - Red Album
Jethro Tull - War Child
Ken Hensley - Eager to Please
Led Zeppelin - I
Led Zeppelin - II
Led Zeppelin - IV
Michael Hoenig - Departure from the Northern Wasteland
Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes
Mott the Hoople - Mott
Mott the Hoople - The Hoople
Neu! - Neu! 4
Paul & Linda McCartney - Ram
Paul McCartney - McCartney
Paul McCartney & Wings - Red Rose Speedway
Steve Hillage - Motivation Radio
Television - Marquee Moon
The Eagles - Hotel California
The Move - Message From The Country
This Mortal Coil - It'll End In Tears
Ursa Major - Ursa Major
Yello - Flag

Live Albums (8)
Alice Cooper - Live at Montreux 2005 (CD+DVD)
Dido - Live at the Brixton Academy (CD+DVD)
Dream Theater - The Score (3CD)
Grand Funk Railroad - Live Tour 1971
ProjeKct One - Jazz Café Suite
Rheostatics - Barrymore's Ottawa 1996 (2CD)
Robert Fripp - Soundscapes for Orchestra
Yellow Matter Custard - One Night in NYC (2CD+DVD)

Single Artist Collections/Anthologies (13)
Asia - The Very Best of Asia : Heat of the Moment
Barclay James Harvest - The Harvest Years (2CD)
Blancmange - Best of Blancmange
Fountains of Wayne - Out of State Plates (2CD)
Francoise Hardy - Messages Personnels (3CD)
Grand Funk Railroad - 30 Years of Funk 1969-99 (3CD)
Laurie Anderson - Talk Normal (2CD)
Lou Reed - NYC Man (2CD)
Mathilde Santing - Ballads
Peter Gabriel – Hit/Miss (2CD)
Suzanne Vega - Retrospective (2CD)
The Beatles - 1
The Beatles - Love

Various Artist Compilations (7)
Various - Nuggets
Various - Shine On
Various - Super 70's Rock (3CD)
Various - The Best Prog Rock Album in the World...Ever (3CD)
Various - The Greatest Hits of 1972
Various - Time Machine : A Vertigo Retrospective (2CD)
Various - Trojan Dub Rarities (3CD)

Jazz New (5)
Brad Mehldau Trio - House on Hill
Crimson Jazz Trio - King Crimson Songbook Vol 1
John McLaughlin - Industrial Zen
Metheny/Mehldau – Metheny/Mehldau
The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity

Jazz Recent (9)
Allan Holdsworth - Road Games
Brad Mehldau Trio - Anything Goes
McLaughlin/De Lucia/Di Meola - Guitar Trio
Reid Anderson - Abolish Bad Architecture
Reid Anderson - Dirty Show Tunes
Reid Anderson - The Vastness Of Space
The Bad Plus - Give
The Bad Plus - Motel
The Bad Plus - These Are The Vistas

Jazz Re-Issue (15)
Andrew Hill - Dance With Death
Andrew Hill - Smoke Stack
Art Blakey - Like Someone in Love
Billy Cobham - Total Eclipse
Jacques Loussier - Play Bach No 1
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
Lee Morgan - The Gigolo
Lee Morgan - Tom Cat
Return to Forever - Hymn of the 7th Galaxy
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Weather Report - Black Market
Weather Report - I Sing the Body Electric
Weather Report - Mysterious Traveller
Weather Report - Sweetnighter
Weather Report - Weather Report

Jazz Live (1)
Brad Mehldau Trio - Progression : The Art of the Trio Vol 5 (2CD)

Classical (13)
Albinoni - Complete Oboe Concertos (3CD)
Handel - Complete Chamber Music (4CD)
Haydn - Complete String Quartets (21CD)
Heinichen - Concerti Grandi
Lindsay String Quartet - Art of the Lindsays (5CD)
Mozart - Complete Works (170CD)
Mozart - One Hundred Best Mozart (6CD)
Philip Glass - The Hours OST
St Georges - Violin Concertos Vol 1
Various Composers - The Glory of the Baroque (2CD)
Vivaldi - Complete Cello Concertos (4CD)
Vivaldi - Concert for the Prince of Poland
Vivaldi - Four Seasons Etc (6CD)

I hope some of your favourite music is included in the list....

Finally, here are my top ten singles and albums of 2006...

SINGLES
1 Sparks - Perfume
2 Girls Aloud - Something Kinda Ooooh
3 Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
4 Pet Shop Boys - Minimal
5 Gnarls Barclay - Crazy
6 The Killers - When You Were Young
7 Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla
8 Pet Shop Boys - I'm With Stupid
9 Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
10 Nine Horses - Wonderful World

ALBUMS
1 Sparks - Hello Young Lovers
2 The Flower Kings - Paradox Hotel
3 Spock's Beard - Spock's Beard
4 The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity
5 Pet Shop Boys – Fundamental
6 Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat
7 Wetton/Downes - Icon II Rubicon
8 Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
9 Mathilde Santing - Under Your Charms
10 David Gilmour - On An Island

So - a doubly whammy, as they say, for the mighty SPARKS who also win my award for Gig of the Year, followed very closely indeed by Paul Buchanan (twice), The Bad Plus, Dar Williams, Asia and Wetton/Downes (both of whom are also in Asia of course..)

While I'm at it, I can advise my Top Five Restaurants visited this year were:-

Café St Honore, Edinburgh
Howie's, Queensferry St, Edinburgh
La P’tite Folie, Tudor House, Edinburgh
No 3, Edinburgh
West End Balti & Dosa House, Glasgow

I only went to the cinema twice this year - I saw "Superman Returns" and "Starter For Ten" - need to do more cinema next year perhaps...

I read no books - which is pathetic really - though I'm still to finish that Nick Hornby one I was reading on the plane home from Italy, "A Long Way Down"...

That's it..

And so, farewell 2006, you were "no bad" I suppose....



Highlight of the Day : Probably “Still Game”