My brain on music...

Playlist
David Reilly – Anthology Vol 10
Allan Holdsworth – Metal Fatigue
The String Cheese Incident – Outside Inside
Pet Shop Boys – Disco 4
Various – Canadian Blast
Couperin – Concerts Royeaux
Jacques Brel – Vol. 2

Had some trouble getting to sleep so put on volume ten of my own anthology, guaranteed to make me nod off – after five or six tracks it had the desired effect but the sound of our neighbours’ boiler is still causing me to stress out in my own home...

Awoke very late indeed at 10:45 and faced a bit of a rush to get uptown to meet with Dr Prog at the Record Fair – alas we couldn’t be joined by Count Brodski as he’s flying off to Australia today for an extended trip...

There were some good pickings today though, e.g. Pet Shop Boys’ “Disco 4”, which I tried to buy in Avalanche around four months ago only to be told they couldn’t find the disc behind the counter...

This is a stonker of an album even though, at first glance, you might think the PSB content a little low with only two of the tracks being “solo” performances by the duo but their remixes of The Killers, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Madonna, Atomiser and Rammstein do indeed “rock”...

From Mr Bert Muirhead, former proprietor of my favourite shop, Hot Wax, before its demise and the advent of FOPP, I purchased five discs for a tenner – “Outside Inside” by The String Cheese Incident (a jam band, reminiscent of Phish), “Canadian Blast”, a disc given a way free with NME last year comprising tracks by up and coming Canadian bands, a compilation of Jacques Brel, a disc of Couperin’s “Concerts Royaux” and a 2CD set of the Julliard String Quartet’s interpretation of JS Bach’s “Die Kunst der Fuge” (The Art of the Fugue)...



Tasty...

It was good to see Dr Prog again as we always have interesting, stimulating discussions on subjects of interest – i.e. MUSIC...

He advised Jon Anderson has given up on singing again with Yes due to his health (they cancelled a lengthy American Tour this year due to a heart condition which has forced him to rest for at least a year)...

The band has recruited a singer from a Yes tribute band and is set to tour in the next couple of months...

With no new material in the offing and none now since “Magnification” in September 2001, it looks like they’re going to go out with a whimper rather than a bang and when you compare their situation to that of the ever-challenging King Crimson, there’s a gulf of tragic proportions (even though the Crims’ latest tour produced no new material, the reworking and new lineup offered at least some progress, whereas Yes have been backward looking now for almost a decade)...

We also discussed the purpose of performance, and I advised I’m more in the Glenn Gould camp of rather having a band spend time in the studio producing excellent new music which I can enjoy on headphones than attending a concert in the midst of a prevalently moronic audience with a complete lack of etiquette or respect...

We visited Blackwells Book Shop where I bought Levitin’s “This is Your Brain on Music”, a tome which attracted me in Canada a few days ago but which I reneged on buying, fearing I already had too much to carry...

Back home, I watched the scores roll in with Anne whilst listening to my new purchases – Queens enjoyed a goaless draw away at Greenock Morton despite having a man sent off, while Hearts lost 2-1 away at Falkirk to an infuriating last minute goal...

A call to Loanhead confirmed my mum is back home from hospital and is doing fine...

Good to know...

In the evening I continued with my listening around two taped episodes of the new and rather enjoyable BBC comedy drama, “Mutual Friends” and the ordering and fetching of a shared Indian takeaway...

“Match of the Day” rounded off the night, by the end of which I’d managed to listen to all the new CDs save the second of the Bach two disc set...

Highlight of the Day : Catching up with Dr Prog