Friday, March 04, 2011

Walking about, you can take it for granted...

Playlist
Viotti - Violin Concertos
Stravinsky - Symphonies
Threnody Ensemble - Timbre Hollow
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
Various - Gatecrasher's Trance Anthems 1993-2009

Took a few pics today...



A grey sky this morning...



At lunchtime, another walk, different from that to FOPP...

Out of Charlotte Square...



...over Princes St...





...into the gardens...













...over the railway bridge...





...along beneath the castle...











...out onto Kings Stables Road, past the 60's multi story car park...





...again beneath the castle...









...past the, now sadly closed, Lot...



..into the Grassmarket...



...to Avalanche...



...where two CDs were bought...



I used to own the Stevie Wonder album on vinyl but he's not an artist who particularly enthralls me - his position has been weakened by the MOR pish he's produced for, probably, the last 35 years or so and, of course, by Jamiroquai's pathetic Wonderesque apeings of recent times...

In fact, for me, "Innervisions", from 1973 (a classic year for music), along with "Fulfillingness First Finale" and, perhaps, "Talking Book", are the only* Wonder releases worth owning and so I'm pleased to do so once again...

"And the triple CD Gatecrasher purchase, Dave?"  Well you can never have too much trance music...

Maybe...

After all, it has its roots in Tangerine Dream...

Back over the railway bridge...



..and through the gardens...


The bus out to Crispycat Towers, past our "garden"...



I love the trees and the sky...









...and the telegraph poles...



...and the hedges...







..and I wonder what was once in this book, from which every page has been torn...



Home to Meg the Black Cat...



..and a very tasty chilli from the Exec Producer accompanied by a dreadful Tivo'd "Glee"...

Then, some banging trance into the night till 10 pm and "Law & Order"...

So, as you can see, I spent the majority of my evening posting up all these pics whilst listening to Tangerine Dream influenced dance music...

Other than that, there was a call with Dr Prog to arrange a meet tomorrow...

There have been e-mails with sister Pam over the last few days - she is doing well and is readying herself for Monday...

There were e-mails today with my fellow Capital Models, regarding a possible further get together later this month...

So there you go, six years of my life posted on the internet...

That's nearly 12%...

Lights out...

Highlight of the day : Walking about, you can take it for granted...

*I also have a 2CD "Best of" by Steve Wonder somewhere...

4 comments:

Sid Smith said...

Great blog post Mr.CBQ. Many thanks for sharing the walk this way. I've no idea why this kind of thing is interesting - I suppose deep inside we're all voyeurs to some degree!

Interesting point on Stevie Wonder. I go from Music Of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions (the best Wonder there is for me), and finally, FFF.

Anything thereafter is, to use your expression, cheesy pish. However, what gnaws at my enjoyment of this creative quartet is when Stevie does the drumming. I know I'm in a minority here but his drumming is so leaden and cat-sat-mat obvious, I always wonder what might have been with Innervisions especially.

Anyway.

Really enjoying these guided tours around the city and neighbourhood.

Cloudland Blue Quartet said...

Thanks for the compliments Sid - after six years of daily blogging, it's knowing someone else is actually reading and, dare I say it, enjoying, my posts which keeps me going...

Does take a while though to add so many pics - hence the profusion of collages here...

I hear what you say re Wonder's drumming - imagine it with Cobham?

But, like Paul Thompson in Roxy Music (listen to the drums on "love is the drug" for example) their very simplicity adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the proceedings...

And, re Wonder, the fact that he has created these tracks almost entirely single-handedly, something which I as a musician often try to do too, fills me with nothing but admiration...

Then if you add his blindness into the mix...

Nothing short of amazing really that the music he crerated during that golden period exists...

OK it's not "Tales from Topographic Oceans" or "Billion Dollar Babies" but it's still pretty good...

Sid Smith said...

Perhaps the politest way of putting it is that Stevie's trap work makes me really appreciate the art and facility that goes into good drumming!

Cloudland Blue Quartet said...

Indeed - succinct and true!