Cookin'...

Playlist
Various Composers - The Glory of the Baroque
Various Composers - A Barock Festival
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Souvenir XIII
Art Blakey - Free For All
Thelonius Monk - Monk's Blues
Thelonius Monk - Mysterioso

Should really have practised today but, somehow, just never got round to it...

Instead, Anne and I cooked a lamb and tomato curry and, for the second time in a row, it ended up looking, smelling and tasting like a real curry - amazing...

A new Thelonius Monk album arrived from e-bay and we listened to this as we cooked...

While the meal simmered to fruition, I burned a few copies of the CBQ CD for tomorrow night and printed and prepared the covers...

I continued to put off and off any thought of a set run-through as I watched "Coronation St", the Scottish Cup game Motherwell v St Johnstone (a deserved win for the underdog Saints), "Grand Designs" about a couple spending over £1M restoring a castle and the latest episode of "Desperate Housewives", five minute ad breaks and all...

Ended the day with some more Monk on the phones, "Mysterioso" the album I bought last May in Amsterdam...



Highlight of the Day : Cooking with Anne

Unphased...

Playlist
J C Bach – Quintets and Sextets
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Souvenir XIII (proposed)
Various Composers – The Glory of the Baroque

Today started well as I sat in the living room with Meg the Black Cat on my lap and enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee whilst listening to the lovely sound of some CF Bach quintets...

A bit more relaxed about matters today all in all today, following last night’s crisis - and, in fact, I was completely unphased when Jamie called to say he couldn’t rehearse tonight...

So I’ve had two rehearsals with Andy, of which Jamie was present at one, and, counting that one, three rehearsals with Jamie. Jamie’s not played along with five of the nine backing tracks and, prior to the one night we all made it along, we’d not played together as a trio since August 2005..

Bodes well...

Jamie did pop by briefly however with son Conrad in tow, and I gave him a CD with the backing tracks on it and the full versions which will be available on the night as “Souvenir XIII”, the first in the CBQ Souvenir series since the “55 Songs” CDs from the Fringe back in 2004...

We watched “CSI” live on Five followed by “Law & Order : Criminal Intent” – then off to bed with some relaxing baroque music in the cans, man...



Highlight of the Day : Another great episode of “Law & Order : Criminal Intent"

Uptight...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Souvenir XIII
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Ersatzreal Work in Progress
Schubert – Impromptus

After running through the set with Andy tonight (4 times no less) I am suffering from an acute crisis of confidence…

It’s not that the playing was bad or the backing tracks sounded naff or the mix wasn’t quite right – I just think there’s so much that could go wrong…

But why am I worrying about what is, after all, an inconsequential performance to a room of probably no more than 25 – 30 people?

Every time I play a gig I get so nervous about what might happen and I start to get things entirely out of proportion…

I am becoming tired of this aspect of my life – why can’t I just let it go and never play live again? Why do I even write and record the songs in the first place? If I didn’t write and play music or write this diary, how much more time would I have for other things?

Anne had been out while Andy and I played and, upon her return, Meg the Black Cat had disappeared. The cat flap was open and we searched all over the house for her before I was sent out into the night shaking a bag of her favourite biscuits…

She was eventually found sitting at the locked back door waiting patiently to be let in…

Later on, she did the same again – out the cat flap at the front – found on the back step 30 minutes later…

I hope she’s not wandering around on the road – at the end of the day though we must accept she’s a free agent and we can’t watch over her every move…

Watched two very disappointing episodes of “Coronation S”, taped tonight while we rehearsed, followed by the latest episode of “Ugly Betty” then retired with some calming piano music on the phones…

Highlight of the Day : Return of Meg the Black Cat from her “adventures”

Minimal...

Playlist
Dvorak - String Quartet in E Major, Opus 80
Kenny Dorham - Matador/Inta Somethin'
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Souvenir XIII

Up early again today and updated the blog for the last couple of days before going downstairs with Meg the Black cat and listening to a Dvorak String Quartet and a Kenny Dorham album whilst perusing a book on Minimalism - the perfect start to a Sunday...

No sign of Anne by 11 am so I decided to work on simplifying the drums for the CBQ live backing tracks....

Anne eventually surfaced for brunch around 12 and I drove to the local shop for some croissants and rolls for brunch...

After two episides of "Desperate Housewives" I remixed the backing tracks and, for the "Souvenir" EP, re-recorded one of the vocals completely and one line on another track with a lyric change suggested by Anne last night...

Designed the cover in a minimalist style....



...and then we headed to Anne's mum's for the family tea. Niece Kitty was on top form today, chatting away twenty to the dozen and generally being a delightful child...

Tonight's telly, for me, comprised "Coronation St" and "Match of the Day 2", in between which I tweaked the CD cover text-wise and listened back to what I hope will be the final version of this 9 song "Extended Play"...

Highlight of the Day : Early morning listening

Proud...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Souvenir XIII (proposed)
Eric Dolphy – Out There

Up and to the computer at 7:30 am and worked for several hours on the last four backing tracks...

By midday, with a short breakfast break, they were ready...

Early afternoon, I added acoustic guitar, and vocals and burned a CD. Around 3pm, drove into town to buy a card and a “surprise me” present for nephew Andy’s 21st tonight. The vocal was too high in the mix...

Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” was the number one album on the day he was born, 25 February 1986...

He’s getting a wad of cash too of course – a £6 CD, no matter how (in)significant, would be a bit paltry...

I also bought a disc for myself – Eric Dolphy’s 1960 set, “Out There”. Late 50’s/early 60’s jazz astounds me in terms of its originality and pushing back of borders. I admire jazz more than any other music because I know I will never be able to play it. To me, as a musician, jazz is what all music must be to a non-musician....



In football, the mighty Queen of the South lost to Hibernian in the cup (we didn’t get tickets) 2-1 in front of a sell out crowd in Dumfries. By all accounts they can hold their heads high and might have forced a replay. Now to concentrate on staying in the 1st Division...


Continued with the CBQ recordings by adding backing vocals and remixing a new version for a CD for the car...

And so to Andy’s 21st Birthday party in Penicuik....


What struck me most was the unbridled enthusiasm and general joie de vivre of his young friends. They had a brilliant night – and I had a not bad night just watching them and getting a hit off of their fun and enjoyment...

His mum and dad, sister Sheila and her husband, seem genuinely popular with all Andy, and his younger brother Alastair’s friends – almost as if they are the hippest parents of all the parents – you’ll know what I mean when I say, when you’re young you always wish your own parents could be like those of a particular friend because they’re much more laid back, easy going and somehow “better” than your own...

I saw my sister and her husband in a different light tonight...

Especially when Andrew snr joined his son and around twenty of his friends on the stage, all topless, singing along and dancing to Chesney Hawkes’ “classic” one hit wonder “The One and Only”...

You had to be there and, all in all I was glad I was...

On the CBQ front, we listened to the proposed versions for the upcoming gig and the Executive Producer made a couple of excellent suggestions – so not quite there yet...

I wonder if there’s a place in the world for my music other than in my own headphones...

Highlight of the Day : Topless to “The One and Only” – not me though...

Spilled...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Rehearsal Recordings
Luna – Best of
Roxy Music – The Thrill of It All

Worked on the fifth of nine backing tracks for CBQ live before heading over to Count Brodski’s this evening for an impromptu meet-up...

Whenever we call each other on the phone, we always seem to end with “I’ll call you at the weekend to make arrangements...” and nothing ever happens...

So, last time we spoke, we made a conscious effort to put something in the diary – we tried for last night but I was rehearsing – we tried tomorrow night but it’s nephew Andy’s 21st party...

So, despite the fact that Alan’s partner, Penny, was on a night out with her work colleagues, tonight it was...

It was great to see him again – last time was when we were both recovering from operations and the time before that was at one of my Fringe gigs last August – so just twice in 6 months – in the “old days” we used to see each other “all the time”...

We had a few drinks, listened to some choice music from his eclectic collection (Luna’s double “Best of” being my particular fave of the evening) and enjoyed an excellent takeaway from his local Indian, House of India...

Very tasty- as they say – even though the Executive Producer did manage to spill half of her curry onto the kitchen floor...

There’s a possibility of Alan and Penny coming along to Documenta 12 in the summer, or of my returning to Kassel with Alan towards the end of the 100 day run. Here’s a (treated) pic of us at Documenta 11 in 2002...



Like Laurel & Hary reading some books in an Art Gallery...

Home by 1:30 and, prompted by the Bryan Ferry concert we talked over, to bed with some Roxy on the phones....

Highlight of the Day : A visit to Castle Brodski

Saved...

Playlist
Various - Jazz from the Jukebox on Shuffleplay

Jazz on the listening agenda today - along with a nice lunch at the Balmoral Hotel...

In the evening I set up for the impending visit of James Jamieson and nephew Andy for our planned rehearsal....

I ran through the four songs I did backing tracks for the other night then went downstairs to wait on the boys' arrival...

Meg the Black Cat came running into the house from the back door and, after pacing around for a few seconds, deposited a deshevled but still live mouse under the coffee table...



I managed to hold her off while Anne got a pint beer glass from the kitchen and I put the wee creature into it, took it outside and along to the nearby woodland, letting it go...

Meg spent some considerable time searching for the beast but, of course, it was nowhere to be found...

A call from Andy advised he wasn't able to make it. Shortly afterwards JJ arrived and we ran through the set, agreeing that I should create backing tracks for the remaining five songs...

So, next Thursday, CBQ will indeed be a quartet:-
David Reilly - Vocals, Guitar
James Jamieson - Guitar, Vocals
Andy Wilson - Keyboards
C.D.P. Layer - Bass, Drums

On concluding the set runthrough, Jamie and I murdered a couple of old Capital Models songs, "Second Generation" and "The Sweet Thrill of Industry" before calling it a night and retiring downstairs for coffee and jaffa cakes with Anne - it was 10 pm...

Jamie finally left at 2:20 am, after we had set Education, Health and Policing policies to rights...

Highlight of the Day : Saving a mouse

Apples...

Playlist
Cloudand Blue Quartet - Last night's rehearsal
Cloudand Blue Quartet - Acoustic Setlist for OOTB
Cloudand Blue Quartet - Erstazreal Work in Progress
Various - Funkrock
Bley/Peacock/Motian - Not Two, Not One

Spent most of the evening creating bass and drums backing tracks for possible use at the gig next week. Managed four out of nine in around three and a half hours...

Might try these out tomorrow night...

Elsewhere, watched tonight's "Coronation St" and a documentary about a 34 stone, 19 year old girl who underwent stomach reduction surgery...

Finished off the night blogging while listening to some tasty funk rock...

Forgot to mention being in touch again with my old chum Mr Alan Brodie - and we're looking at the possibility of running a Krautrock night somewhere...

Here's part of picture taken a year ago tonight...



...for no particular reason...

Highlight of the Day : Creating..

Practise...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Acoustic Setlist for OOTB
Richard Williams - New Horn in Town
The Rod Levitt Orchestra - The Dynamic Sound Patterns of..
Kenny Dorham - Una Mas

I sent this picture to Out of the Bedroom for their website to publicise the one-off return of CBQ on 1st March...



A rather fetching portrait by Mr Stuart Cobley...

In the evening, the first rehearsal of the CBQ trio featuring James Jamieson and Andy Wilson. It's an early one as Andy has a DJ set in town at 9pm...

Musician that he is, he soon gets the hang of the seven songs he's never even heard before tonight - and refreshed his memory re the other two, which he's not played for around 18 months...

Jamie is as professional as ever...

Another rehearsal this week and then a couple with Andy on his own next week and we'll be as ready as we can be with just two weeks' notice...

From e-bay, three more tasty jazz CDs take up the rest of the evening once Mr Jamieson has left, having chewed the fat with Anne re the latest stories on Hearts (both are season ticket holders), while partaking of some lovely coffee and jaffa cakes...

Highlight of the Day : CBQ rehearsal...

Swine...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Ersatzreal Work in Progress
Various Artists - Funkrock
Arild Andersen - Hyperborean

No musicking today other than listening back to what I've done so far...

To FOPP at lunchtime where I picked up a compilation of "funkrock" compiled by DJ Spina and Monty Burns - I'm not sure if it that's the Mr Burns who owns the nuclear power plant in the Simpsons...

Some fine performances here from, amongst others, Sly and the Family Stone, Santana, Can, Brian Auger, Steve Winwood, Julie Driscoll, Babe Ruth, Colosseum and Buddy Miles...



In the evening , out for a rather spectacular Chinese banquet in celebration of the coming of the Year of the (rather aptly) Pig...

Stuffed to the gills and home by midnight...

Highlight of the Day : Chinese New Year

Spades...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - New Recordings
Alice Cooper - The Eyes of Alice Cooper
Spock's Beard - Spock's Beard
Various Composers - Great Recordings of the Century

8:00 am Up and working on the new album, including two almost complete reworks of already started tracks "He Thinks of You" and "Go Away and Leave Me Here" - they are much better now...

12:00 am Brunch - a home made pizza using ingredients Julia gave us away with us last night - extremely tasty and accompanied by an episode of "Ugly Betty"...

1:00 pm Following exercises on the arm, a run through on guitar of the seven songs worked on so far...

2:00 pm To my mum's for a visit where we are joined by sister Sheila and her grandson Kerr - who didn't utter a single sound the entire time we were there - during the visit, confirmation that nephew Andy (Kerr's dad) will be part of CBQ for the upcoming gig...

5:00 pm To Sainsbury to purchase ingredients to cook a curry for tonight's evening meal...

6:00 pm More exercises on the arm then to work on preparing the curry - my tasks involve much chopping of vegetables and opening and pouring a bottle of excellent Spanish Red Wine. Whilst cooking, we listen to the latest version of the new CBQ recordings. The Executive Producer even sings along with some of them - a good sign!

6:30 While the curry continues to cook on its own, we watch the last episode of "Ugly Betty" we have on tape, halfway through which, dinner is served. It is frankly the best curry ever to have been made at Crispycat Towers....

7:30 Coronation St...

8:00 Write up the blog and surf the net. Checking my e-mails it seems Jim Park may not be able to play with CBQ on 1 March (perhaps he'll still be able to) but that doesn't rule out further appearances by the percussive comedian...

9:30 Finish off on the computer for the day with a couple of purchases from E-Bay (3 more jazz CDs). I listen to the very tasty CD I bought yesterday, a sampler from the series below. On first listening in the car yesterday it promised little, tonight however, it delivers in spades...



Highlight of the Day : Home cooking - what a team...

Sing for your supper...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - New Recordings

Various Composers - Great Recordings of the 20th Century

Various - Pitchfork's Best Tracks of 2006

Up around 7 today and to the computer to continue work on the new album, this morning starting the song "I Still Write You Letters" and doing some work on a couple of the others which I've been working on this week..

Around 10, out to Patisserie Florentin with Anne for breakfast - bright and crisp morning....

Then a stroll down to Stockbridge for a quick look in the Oxfam Music Shop (one CD purchase - a classical compilation) while Anne popped next door to Herbie's for some lovely bread for lunch later on...

Then up to George IV Bridge to the Music Library to hand back the CDs I borrowed three weeks ago...

Almost directly opposite the library is the pub where, in a couple of week's time, we'll be meeting up with some old friends from days gone by - ex-members of the band Capital Models and their contemporaries, Pure Bears and a few more from around that time...

Last time we did this was apparently five years ago - I didn't think it was so long since then but it was a great night and we're hoping for another...

Back home I returned to my work and finished off the first working draft of the latest song, which makes seven altogether which I've workied on in the last seven days...

Still a long way to go though...

Work continued whilst Anne was out watching Hearts scrape a 1-1 draw with my hometown (of sorts) team, St Mirren. Meanwhile, QoS whipped their closest rivals 3-0 away from home and are now just one point behind Airdrie (for it is they) with a game in hand...

Mid afternoon, whilst taking a short break, I happened to look out the back window only to see a strange looking chap trying the doors of the cars parked in the street beyond our back garden...

I grabbed my camera and went out the front door, confronting him a little further up the road...

What a cheeky bastard!

I told him to leg it, that I had his picture and was going to call the police....

Of course I didn't bother as they probably wouldn't have turned up for a couple of hours...

And they would also probably have charged me for infringing the would be thief's human rights by photographing his attempted car break ins...

The world's going to hell....

In the evening we drove to Meg the Black Cat's ex-mum Julia's for dinner. I'd put together a CD of the seven songs to listen to while we drove, giving the Exec Producer to have her say on matters...

Mostly positive and I noticed a few things to work on tomorrow...

At Julia's we enjoyed helping her cook some Thai soup followed by home-made pizza - I rolled the bases...

Very tasty indeed - Julia's a great cook - and she appreciated the copy of the Pitchfork 3CD set which I gave to her and which we listened to as we ate and drank - wine for the ladies, orange juice for me...

Later on, once a couple of bottles of wine had been consumed, she produced her guitar and asked me to sing a few songs - so I managed "The end of Everything" without a hitch, forgot a few words and chords in "The Angels Took His Soul" and completely botched "I Still Write You Letters"- the song I had spent practically all day working on and listening too - I am hopeless!

Crispy cake and a glass of port each, then back home just before one and to bed with the new CD on the headphones...

Highlight of the Day : Julia's soup and pizza

Live discs...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – New Recordings
The Church – After Everything, Now This
Dave Holland Quintet – Extend Play Live at Birdland
Keith Jarrett Trio – Always Let Me Go : Live In Tokyo
Paul Motian Trio – Live At The Village Vanguard
John McLaughlin – Thieves and Poets
Yo La Tengo – I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
La Dusseldorf - La Dusseldorf

A call from James Jamieson confirmed last night’s OOTB was a good one, while my excuse for not attending (a headache) was considered “not very rock’n’roll”...

Jamie also confirmed our 30 minute set will be on Thursday 1 March, my first since 21 September last year, a gap of 160 days, and my 83rd since 30 January 2003 which was my first for around five years...

But enough of these stupid statistics...

Anne and I had lunch out today at Howie’s, a rather excellent restaurant in Edinburgh’s West End...

Can you guess what it was like children?

Yes, that’s right – it was very tasty!

In the evening, I ran through our nine song set then swithered about musicking on the computer but, in the end, just ripped some CDs to the hard drive instead whilst giving various tracks from them a listen – particularly impressive is the double live set from the Dave Holland Quintet...



Caught BBC’s Timewatch programme on Beatlemania – which was reasonably interesting...

This was followed by my favourite, “Law & Order : Criminal Intent” and “Grumpy Old People on Food & Wine”, for which they could very well have interviewed me and have received the same kind of responses...

I am a middle-aged grump a lot of the time, moaning about this and that and, indeed, the next thing...

Glad it's Friday...

Highlight of the Day : A lovely lunch with Anne

Stellar line up...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - New Recordings
Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib
Various - Pitchfork's Top Tracks of 2006

Jamie called me late afternoon and we agreed we'd head along to Out of the Bedroom tonight...

However, having suffered from a rotten headache all day, together with increased pain in my arm following last night's guitaring and, for the past few days, sharp pains in the broken ankle department, I called him back to advise I'd give it a miss....

Instead, I took a night off from CBQ'ing and I relaxed with Meg the Black Cat as I listened to Sonny Clark's 1957 album "Sonny's Crib"....



What a stellar line up...

Anne was out at the cinema with her friend Michelle and Michelle's sister and daughter, to see the new Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore RomCom "Music and Lyrics" which sounds like fun...

I put together a cover for the CBQ "Instrumentals 1977-2006" disc I compiled for Dr Prog last weekend and I also finally got round to printing off a cover and track list for the 3CD Pitchfork set I downloaded at New Year....

Over 50 tracks of music, most of which is completely new (I think I'd only heard The Killers' "When You Were Young" before) and, for the most part, entertaining to me. I listened to the CDs as I constructed the cover...

Disappointing not to be performing a couple of songs tonight but the time will come round soon enough...

Highlight of the Day : Relaxing with some cool jazz on the stereo...

Together again...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - New Recordings
James Jamieson - New Songs
Sonny Clark - Sonny's Crib
Kenny Dorham - Matador/Intasomethin'
Rheostatics - Introducing Happiness
Ornette Coleman - Science Fiction

St Valentine's Day today - but Anne and I didn't do anything special in that regard - other than Anne bought me a tiny piece of chocolate cake from M&S which we shared (tasty) and I brought home two bottles of very expensive champagne which we didn't drink....

Worked on new lyrics for Jamie's song from his memory stick and just finished a very rough recording of them as he arrived for tonight's rehearsal re the mooted gig at Out of the Bedroom sometime in March...

Jamie liked the lyrics and I saved this new version back to his memory stick....

Then we started to rehearse and it went well. After we'd played through a few of my songs, I asked which ones of his he wanted to do...

Jamie reckoned we should just do CBQ songs on the basis that we each deserve a full showcase and it's a bit off of the OOTB committee to try and fit both of us into one slot...

Who was I to argue?

So we put together a set of nine CBQ songs for a 30 minute set - I think my songs are getting shorter as I get older- ten years ago, nine songs might have clocked in at over an hour...

The set comprises eight of the songs for the next album "Ersatzreal" (five of which are on the acoustic version from last year) and one "oldie"...



Sounding good...

After Jamie left, Anne called. She was out with Lynn in the bar of a hotel down the road so I went and joined them, arriving just too late to get a drink but in plenty of time for a chat before taking everyone home...

Highlight of the Day : Singing with Jamie again...

Time travel...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - New Recordings
Kenny Dorham - Matador

Still managing to spend a good amount of time on the new project. Today I moved onto the next song "He Thinks of You" and redid the drums on "No Concrete Idea" while adding an opening theme to "Chocolate On Your Bread"...

Anne advises that the songs now sound less "organic"...

This is probably true, but they are nowhere near finished. What's being recorded at present are just structures and backbones, all of which will be built upon over the weeks and months ahead....

Of course I should have also been working on Jamie's new song - I am to write a draft lyric for his consideration...

But every piece of music work always takes much longer than is expected and the hours fly by...

Leaving me with no time to listen to the two new Blue Note CDs which arrived via e-bay - I manage to snatch a few minutes of Kenny Dorham while we prepared tonight's salad...

I take a break from musicking for the first in the new series of "Life on Mars"...



...great to have it back - and then "CSI" which we recorded while watching "Life on Mars"...

Then back to the computer....

Highlight of the Day : Return of "Life on Mars"

Scattered...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Ersatzreal Work in Progress

More work today on the new album, programming on a song called “Go Away” and vocal recording on “No Concrete Idea” using the track I originally constructed for the remix…

Obviously everything is still at a very basic stage and I am saving backing tracks, vocal tracks, wav.files and MP3s all over the hard drive – these will need to be organised at some point….

The evening’s work was interspersed with cooking the evening meal with Anne, a very tasty Spaghetti Bolognese, and the watching of two episodes each of “Coronation St” (both live) and “Ugly Betty” (both on tape), the latter fast becoming a favourite watch…



Finally to bed at 12:40 am with more new CBQ in my ears…

Highlight of the Day : Continued work on new music

Action-packed...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – New Recordings

7:30 – 9:30 – Organising a methodology for recording the new CBQ song album and make a start on the first piece. Recording in alphabetical order, so first song is “Another Piece of Cake” – not my favourite...

9:30 – 10:30 – Prepare breakfast and consume same...

10:30 – 12:30 – Back to the studio and finish off rough mix of “Another Piece of Cake” – now my favourite...

12:30 – 1:30 – Snack lunch – Anne has prepared some of her famous pakoras, with a couple extra for us. It’s niece Kitty’s birthday party this afternoon. Exec Producer gives thumbs up to new recording – it wasn’t her fave song either before this rework – then an episode of “Ugly Betty” on tape...

1:30 – 3:00 – Work on second song “Blue Eyes Across The Room” – was one of my faves before – and remains so. Once again, thumbs up from EP....

3:00 – 8:00 – To sister-in-law Jane and Bobby’s for Kitty’s party – much drinking and carousing in the name of the wee three-year-old – here she is with her brother Ollie – this may have been the only time she sat still all day...



....sustained by two lovely curries from Jane preceded by Anne’s pakoras...

8:00 – 9.00 – Back to the studio and working on third song – “Chocolate On Your Bread”....

9:00 – 9:30 – Today’s episode of “Coronation St” on tape. A call from James Jamieson postpones our live rehearsal from Monday to Wednesday due to children commitments...

9:30 – 10:30 – Finish off first draft of third song and transfer all three to Jukebox for repeated listening – I am on a roll and will continue....

10:30 – 11:30 – “Match of the Day 2” then bed – tired, but with three new recordings in the headphones...

Highlight of the Day : New album underway at last.../Kitty’s birthday party...

Wined and dined...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Electronic Collection 1977-2007
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Concrete
Robert Fripp - World Trade Center, 28 November 2000
John Coltrane - The Complete Quartets

Up at 5:30 and to the PC to compile a CBQ electronic collection for Dr Prog - he has requested this along with a copy of the latest Spock's Beard album and who am I to argue?

By 9:30 it's done and ready to be listened to - and lo, it is good...

Today I had the choice of:-

(a) working on the new CBQ song album (free but hard work)
(b) going to see Hamilton v Queen of the South (£14, and in Hamilton)
(c) going to see Scotland v Wales (free and with food and drink thrown in)

I swithered over going to watch Queens for the second week running, but, eventually, I chose option (c) and was entertained right royally from around 12:30 till 6:30, including the game...



..which Scotland won 21-9...

66,999 other people were there too and they all seemed to be driving their cars in the direction of Crispycat Towers as I headed home on foot (travelling faster than the buses caught in the traffic)...

I can advise there are 1,510 CBQ length steps from the bottom of Corstorphine Hill to the back door of said Towers...

Anne didn't particularly enjoy the Jam Tarts' 1-0 win over Inverness but, you know what they say, "win ugly"...

At Hamilton, Queens came from behind to draw 2-2 but remain bottom of the league as both their closest rivals also secured draws...

In the evening, we watched a new Sci Fi series on ITV1, "Primeval" which was ok (with excellent special effects though), followed by "Harry Hill's TV Burp" on tape, then "CSI:NY" and a particularly good episode of "Law & Order", ending off with the final couple of games on "Match of the Day"...

Then upstairs for me to get this up to date whilst listening to Bob Fripp's soundscapes from back in 2000 at the now destroyed World Trade Center, and downloaded the old Grandaddy album "Under the Western Freeway"...

I've only bought one CD this week (Vivaldi on Monday) but, this morning on e-bay, I bid for two quite rare Blue Note discs and found on my return from the rugby that I'd won both...

At Amazon, they would have cost over £50 for the pair - I secured them for £10, including postage...

And so now I look forward to their arrival...

Finished off the day with some tasty John Coltrane...

Highlight of the Day : The rugby and "Law & Order" - a tie...

Out of the frying pan...

Playlist
Mozart - String Quintets
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Concrete
Vivaldi - Concertos for, variously, Bassoon, Flute, Guitar, Oboe

Barely a couple of days after shelving the "Concrete" project to concentrate on the real job in hand of recording the follow-up to 2005's "Deeperdown" and 2003's "Anotherhappyday", tonight I resurrected the album as a forty minute, mainly electronic, work (it includes just one acoustic song now)...

I still see it as a further step on the way to the next song-based album and a companion to "The Acoustic Ersatzreal" which I put out last summer...

The recordings of the five new songs I was going to include are not up to scratch and the original intention of three separate EPs showcasing those songs got a little out of hand of course as the project grew until each EP contained two acoustic songs, an electronic remix of one of those songs, a small piece of electronica and a 14 minute mix of a version of Elgar's "Nimrod", which I created late last year...

I ended up with almost 90 minutes of music...

So, to create a workable album, I've now removed the acoustic material (with the exception of the one song which was not new), left the three electronic reworkings of three of the new songs, upgraded the three short pieces of electronica and chosen one of the three mixes of "Nimrod"...

I've reworked the cover too...



...though the four portraits by Stuart Cobley remain on the inner sleeve...

Other than this work, we watched "Coronation St" and another excellent story from the "Law & Order : Criminal Intent" new series on Channel 5...

Productive...

Though the Executive Producer's input is still sought....

Highlight of the Day : Possible pulling from the frying pan, though it may only be into the fire...

An empty life...

Playlist
Anger 77 - Keine Angst
Dio - Live in New York
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Best of 1990-1995
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Best of 1996-2006
Various - Pitchfork's Best 100 Tracks of 2006
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Deeperdown

To Out of the Bedroom tonight with Mr James Jamieson, purely in audient mode, though we have been asked to play a 30 minute showcase in March, for which rehearsals will begin on Monday - a joint set of three or four songs each probably...

Good chat with Jim Igoe, co-founder of the club, no longer involved but still a very interested party, and John Barclay, committee member and Impossible Song-ster....

The standard tonight was much better than we've experienced of late - a couple of guys even tried some quasi prog rock on their guitars - and there was some amazing picking to be witnessed from some of the performers...

Every act was male - it seems there's a dearth of new female talent coming along to OOTB at present...

The exception was tonight's excellent showcase, the very talented guitarist and lyricist, Emily Scott, whom I recorded around this time last year for the fourth OOTB compilation CD...



Just six songs, flawlessly and subtly executed...

Despite Emily's brilliance, I'm afraid Jamie and my's stand out track of the night was No 99 in the Pitchfork top 100 tracks of 2006, The Divine Comedy's "A Lady of a Certain Age" from the album "Victory for the Common Muse" which we listened to on repeat mode in the car as we travelled to and from the club...

I've never much liked the Divine Comedy but there's something rather special about this track...

It's a story, told with warmth and wit, of the loneliness of an aging English aristocrat "lady of a certain age" whose grown-up children are rare visitors, whose husband left her home to his mistress, and who has finally had to give up lounging around the French Riviera and settle into a small flat....

A no doubt fun but, ultimately, empty life...

I've to load it onto Jamie's memory stick for Monday night...

The stick contains three new recordings he's been working on recently - he needs to get another CD out...

Looking forward to playing again...

Highlight of the Day : A good OOTB

Stupid questions...

Playlist
Dream Theater – Singles 1982-2006
Roxy Music – 50 Song Best of (Jukebox Playlist)
John McLaughlin –Industrial Zen
John Abercrombie – Timeless

A break from my own music again today as I regroup for the long effort to record the next CBQ album to the overall satisfaction of both me and my Executive Producer…

To the Queen’s Hall tonight with Dr Prog to listen to a piano recital by Frederic Rzewski…

Mesmerising stuff – sometimes brilliant, sometimes not so brilliant, but always engaging…

He played four compositions, “Dust”, “Cadenza”, “Stop the War” and “4 Pieces”…

Really enjoyable concert and Phil(Dr Prog) and I sat in the bar for some considerable time afterwards discussing both this and the state of music in general…

Mr Rzewski is a very stylish 69 year old indeed…although he’s actually only 65 in this photo…



I asked him if his CDs were easily obtainable…

He replied “No”…

I suggested he ought to get some and sell them at his concerts…

He replied “I have no interest in CDs”…

I asked if he had a piano at his house (what a stupid question)…

He replied “Of course I do”…

I didn’t add “well, based on what we heard tonight, I bet you don’t half annoy your neighbours”…

Despite the way this exchange looks on the page, he was not in the least tetchy and I didn't come across as a CD obsessed idiot….

But I’m afraid it was obvious that a couple of Japanese beers had done for me somewhat and I made my way home on the bus after getting the maestro to sign my programme…

No hard feelings...

Highlight of the Day : Rzewski recital

Shelved...

Playlist
King Crimson/Robert Fripp/P4/P6/Fripp & Eno – Time Stands Still
Uriah Heep - Sweet Freedom
Uriah Heep - Wonderworld
Uriah Heep - Return to Fantasy
Uriah Heep - High and Mighty
Edward Spark - She Don't Like Techno EP
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Concrete (Proposed CD)
Grant Green - Live at Club Mozambique
Uriah Heep - Sonic Origami
Grant Green - The Main Attraction

Another day of Heep frenzy on the music front - that'll do me for a while...

A call tonight from Dr Prog reminds me we're meeting tomorrow night for a piano recital - should be good...

Of course I missed Bang on a Can in Perth on Saturday due to my trip to see Queen of the South...

On my own music front, I must advise that, a matter of days after being reasonably confident of having a new album ready to go, I have bowed to the views of my Executive Producer and must now return to the drawing board...

As I opined just the other day, it needs a lot more work...

Putting it out now would only lead to regrets further down the line re what might have been...

So, farewell then, Cloudland Blue Quartet's "Concrete", consider yourself well and truly shelved...



I consoled myself with some "CSI"...

Highlight of the Day : Anne's lovely cooking and her opinions on my music...

Perspective...

Playlist
King Crimson/Robert Fripp/P4/P6/Fripp & Eno – Time Stands Still (CD-R)
Uriah Heep - Very 'Eavy Very' Umble
Uriah Heep - Salisbury
Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself
Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards
Uriah Heep - The Magician's Birthday
Rheostatics - Hillside Festival, Guelph, Ontario, July 2003
Vivaldi - Adagios

Up early and breakfasted alone to the soothingness of Mr Fripp's soundscapes...

Today I listened to some classic Uriah Heep, following on from the unforced purchase of three late period CDs by the band...



In HMV I spent £3 on a 2CD set of Vivaldi adagios. I have rather a lot of Vivaldi in my collection, and I'm pretty sure I will have versions of all of the tracks on this set..

So why did I buy it?

It was £3 for a double CD...

Uptown, £3 hardly buys you a pint of premium "imported" (but actually brewed under license in the UK) lager...

Back home and, while Anne was at her aerobics class, I should've been working on my music - but, instead, I listened to excerpts from the fifteen or so live concerts by Rheostatics which I have on the hard drive - and decided to burn one to CD...

Upon Anne's return, we proceeded to the kitchen to follow what we hope will be the first of many recipes from a couple of cook books I purchased recently...

It's fun cooking together - and, tonight, we shared a bottle of Californian rose wine while we cooked - and it went down very nicely indeed...

Tonight's dish was spaghetti carbonara, which involved me beating three eggs, and adding a carton of double cream and rather a lot of grated parmesan cheese to them to produce the sauce, while Anne cooked up the pancetta ham, onions and garlic and prepared the spaghetti...

Mmm - very tasty indeed...

Telly-wise it was just tonight's double bill of "Coronation St" and, later on, a programme about "Alan B'stard" during which the self aggrandising writers seemed to take sole credit for bringing down Margaret Thatcher...

And there was me thinking it was the Tory party which did that...

It was a good, sick comedy alright - but it didn't change the world...

Get some perspective guys...

Highlight of the Day : Home made spaghetti carbonara

Out of the last eight - probably...

Playlist
King Crimson/Robert Fripp/P4/P6/Fripp & Eno – Time Stands Still (CD-R)
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Concrete
Happy Apple – The Peace Between Our Companies
Uriah Heep – Spellbinder
Uriah Heep – Sonic Origami
Uriah Heep – Sea of Light
Grant Green - Live at Club Mozambique

Opened the day with a surf around the net, mainly reading through the blogs I link to...

Then compiled the third in a series of CDs compiled from free downloads from DGMLive...

Also compiled my top ten CDs for January...

You may recall I vowed at the start of the year to try and limit myself to 10 discs a month - in fact, I acquired 26 at a total cost of just over £100. Still, it’s an improvement on 2005 when I bought 44 CDs in January – last year it was just 14...

Still in a quandary as to whether or not to unleash the unscheduled album I appear to have created over the last few weeks, or whether to abandon it and move on to the real next CBQ disc which ought to be full workings of the last 15 songs I’ve written...

Of course it’s not as if the world is holding its breath re this but it matters to me...

I listened through to the album again and it sounds good – but it could be better if I could be bothered putting a lot more work into it...

But can I?

I am a very lazy musician...

Up town around lunchtime, leaving Meg the Black Cat snug and asleep....



Anne was buying birthday presents for our niece, Kitty, who will be three this week (or “free” as she says) - I went to FOPP and, at last, gave in to the three Uriah Heep CDs which have been sitting there for some weeks now at £3 a pop...

They are the group’s last two studio albums, from 1995 and 1998, and a live set from 1994...

When I was a teenager, I loved the music of Uriah Heep....

These albums are not by the classic line up but they are by the longest lasting line up and, they are pretty good rock records...

I also bought a live set by jazz guitarist Grant Green from 1971 which lay in Blue Note’s vaults for 35 years – “Live at Club Mozambique” - which is highly recommended, brilliant jamming jazz stuff...

So that’s 4 CDs in February so far – and it’s the fourth of February..

Alice Cooper’s 59th birthday...

Back home to hear Queen of the South have drawn Hibs in the quarter finals – at home. Not a good draw. At home they’re unlikely to make as much money and, playing Hibs, they’re unlikely to progress – we can dream though...

In the afternoon and evening, "TV Burp" from last night, "Law & Order : Criminal Intent" from Friday, “Coronation St” - Friday’s and tonight’s, and “Match of the Day 2” and, were I not such a lazy musician, I might have done some some work on music after listening to some Heep...

But I stuck Grant Green on the Walkman and groooooooved the night away instead...

Highlight of the Day : Discovering the last Uriah Heep albums are not as bad as I imagined

Into the last eight...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - The Three 2007 EPs
Various - Music from Dawson's creek/The OC/Smallville etc
Various - Top 10 Singles and Albums 2006
Various - Now That's What We Call Music

Up just before seven and to the computer where I reworked a couple of the instrumental tracks for the 3 CBQ EPs I'm working on at present...

In all, the 15 tracks total around 85 minutes, so I blended tracks together and compiled them to fit onto one CD (79:32) for ease of listening purposes - and hey presto, a new album?

Sort of...

At 11:32, we left for Dumfries for the Scottish Cup tie between Queen of the South and Cowdenbeath. Queens had the chance to make it into the quarter finals for the first time for thirty years...

We drove down via the scenic A702 and stopped off in Biggar for lunch - a snack from the deli there...

As we neared Dumfries, the fog came down and it became very cold, almost freezing...

We parked up around 1:45 and went to the town centre. It's really rather run down and horrible if the truth be told - hard to believe such a place has such a romantically named football team...

We had a big coffee then headed out to the ground - I filled the club's coffers by purchasing a programme, a new scarf, two tickets for the half time draw (neither a winner, I'm afraid) and two entries..

We took our seats in the stand and enjoyed a rather good game. Very nerve wracking though, as I consider myself the ultimate hoodoo...

In the end Queens ran out 2-0 winners, with goals either side of half time, the first a penalty...

Anne was not so fortunate though, as Hearts' bid to defend last year's cup success bit the dust at Dr Prog's home town, Dunfermline - the latter scoring the only goal of the game, with their only clear cut chance of the game, in the last 30 seconds of the game...

Ouch...

We forewent the chance of a curry in Biggar on the way back and headed straight home, stopping off at the chippie for a tasty fish supper each...

Back home, I listened through to the new album length CD, while Anne watched the end of the celebrity ice dancing on ice TV programme thing...

Later on, new series of both "Law & Order" and "CSI : Miami", then "Sportscene" with the cup highlights...

Here're the highlights at Palmerston...



Mon the Queens...

Highlight of the Day : Seeing my team win....

Moon river...

Playlist
The Bad Plus - The Bad Plus
The Bad Plus - These Are The Vistas
The Bad Plus - Give
The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity
Reid Anderson - Dirty Show Tunes
Reid Anderson - Abolish Bad Architecture
Reid Anderson - The Vastness of Space
Happy Apple - Youth Oriented
Happy Apple - The Peace Between Our Companies
Ethan Iverson Trio - Constructed
Ethan Iverson Trio - DeConstructed
(These eleven albums on shuffleplay..)

A day off today...

A bad plus day as I shuffled around amongst four band albums and seven "solo" albums by the members...

Jazzy...

In the evening, a visit from Rose and Ken, whom we last saw just before Christmas when I got pretty wrecked at the Living Room in George Street...

Sedate tonight by comparison - a couple of beers at Crispycat Towers and then down to the Chinese Manor House for some excellent oriental fayre...

Normally I'm fairly risque with my tastes in foreign food but tonight I fell back on the staples I used to order when I first ate chinese food way back when - spring rolls followed by chicken chow mein (though tonight's main meal was prepared in a special szechuan style) - very tasty - and a couple of pints of lager complimented it very nicely indeed...

Back at HQ, I copied an Andy Williams compilation from my collection for Ken, as he had a hankering for some crooning by the maestro - I had to let him down gently re his request for any Matt Monro though...



Then they were off into the night, with a promise to meet up again in March...

A good night...

Highlight of the Day : A tasty meal with friends

Looking good...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - No Concrete Idea EP
Cloudland Blue Quartet - The Angels Took His Soul EP
Cloudland Blue Quartet - He Thinks of You EP
CPE Bach - Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus
Happy Apple - Youth Oriented
Happy Apple - The Peace Between Our Companies

I suffered for my art today by listening (almost all day) to the three new proposed EPs...

Last thing last night, I created a new backwards ambient mix of the long piece "Hey Hollywood Nimrod" and so, this morning, I added the relevant MP3 to the jukebox playlist of the fifteen tracks which will be spread across the three EPs....

In the process, I removed the rather clunky mix I did back in November which was previously slated for inclusion...

I hadn't heard the backwards mix yet though, so it was a nice surprise to hear it in context...

Once again I passed up on telly to work on the new discs, tonight finalising the covers...



Looking good...

I didn't pick any of the portraits from the collage I posted yesterday - instead I chose this by Stuart Cobley...

The three discs are differentiated by the font of the "CBQ" logo on the T-shirt...

I also wrote up this week's entries having not had the time on the days themselves as I preferred to work on these new releases (or visit Jim Park's comedy club)...

Another productive day...

Late night TV included new comedy, "Benidorm", followed by "Question Time" and "This Week" - and, on Youtube, I watched all the new PG Tips ads and the old ITV Digital ads featuring Johnny Vegas & monkey...

Hmm - February already....

Highlight of the Day : Cover finalisation