Saturday, June 30, 2012

A successful climb...

Playlist
Various - Last 9 Months on Shuffleplay
Sombre Reptiles - Palace of Truth
Sombre Reptiles - World of Fire
Sombre Reptiles - Bitter Sweet Covers
Sombre Reptiles - A Kiss and a Smile

And so another half year disappears into the distance...



To the gym at 7 and then the work continued...


A new project today - the transfer of 1980's self made music to the hard drive...

Meanwhile, up North, Pam's chum Anna arrived last night and, this morning, climbed Ben Nevis in four hours to raise over £2,000 in sister Pam's name for Macmillan Cancer Support...

It's not too late for you to add to her total - go here and give a couple of quid if you can - I know from personal experience what a much needed service Macmillan provides, both to cancer sufferers and to their families and friends during what are, often, the very worst of times...

Back at Crispycat Towers, a prospective visit from Count Brodski and Penny was postponed till next week...

Instead the film "Burn After Reading" was enjoyed although, contrary to the blurb on the box, my sides remain intact...

The last three episodes of the second series of "Spiral" took up much of the rest of the night...

Highlight of the Day : A text from Anna indicating her success...

Friday, June 29, 2012

Just one too many murder she wrotes possibly...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight Box Content on Shuffleplay

Up early and I think the music is finalised...

Worked again on artwork - still loads to do over the next 30 days or so...



Spent the day listening to all the tracks (over 100 all in all!) on shuffleplay...

Possible tweaks arising...

Came home tonight and my recently ordered Koss Plugs (ear bud nutcans) had finally arrived...

I have enjoyed using Koss Plugs in the past and, despite some of the recent negative reviews on Amazon, I went ahead and purchased a pair, looking forward to blocking out the traffic and annoying chat on the bus...

Oof - what a disappointment - dreadful sound - muffled, unrealistic, just absolutely shockingly, appallingly bad...

In fact, so bad, I do believe this is the first thing I've bought from Amazon that I've been moved so much by to actually sit down and post a review...

How have the mighty fallen...

Putting the dissapointment behind me, I took Anne to Zumba and then negotiated several annoying traffic jams to drive over to my mum's...



...to try and sort out her Tivo box - which has been playing up recently...

She was, of course, pleased to see me - given today is the ninth anniversary of my dad going the way of all dads...

Re the Tivo, I think it may have been conflicted by my mum's duplication of an order to "series record" "Murder She Wrote"...

She does seem to record rather a lot of episodes of said detective show...

That and "Midsomer Murders"...

And anything about the Royal Family...

Anyway, seems ok now and old mum is in charge of the remotes once again...





Home for tea and "Two Broke Girls" and "Don't Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23"...

Some surfing, some further headphone purchasing - and off to bed...

Highlight of the Day : Box taking shape...

Thursday, June 28, 2012

The order of running...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight Packages

Forgot to mention, last Saturday I procured a ticket for the Coop at the Usher Hall on Halloween - I shall be trying to elbow my way to the front...

A rainy start...



A sunny finish...





In the evening, with the Exec Producer out on the red wine fuelled ran dan with bestest chum, Lynn, I forewent Germany v Italy (Italy 2 Germany 1 - boo!) for an evening of working on finalisation of running orders, master discs and artwork...



Some tweaking still to be done...

The EP returned late on, having had a quite excellent time - so all was well...

Highlight of the day : Artwork...

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The sound of the crowd...

Playlist
Various - Blue Note Best 50
Gene Ammons - Jammin in HiFi with...
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Before Aftersilence

More background work today on the "Starlightnight" packages...

Still much to be finalised...



Spent most of the evening watching Spain v Portugal, the former fnally coming up trumps on penalties...

Loathe as I am to listen to football commentaries, it was soundtracked by some tasty jazz on the nutcans...

What we need is a red button that removes the inane rambling but leaves the sound of the crowd...

That's what we need...

Yes indeed...

Highlight of the Day : Working...

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Mirrors that must surely be lying...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Before Aftersilence
Lee Morgan - The Procrastinor
Lee Morgan - Cornbread
Lee Morgan - Delightful-Lee

A day off from music work and a lovely day too...


...first thing anyway...

By the time I was driving to the gym - yes, the beast returns - the rain was pelting down...

I'm pretty sure the mirrors in my gym do not give a true reflection on matters...

There's no way I'm as fat as I looked - they must be like that so that I keep going...

Soundtracked my "routine" with Lee Morgan's 1967 session, "The Procrastinator" - attention to it having been drawn earlier in the evening whilst reading The Bad Plus blog, "Do the Math"...

"CSI" and "Spiral" entertained before hitting the sack with another couple of Mr Morgan's works...

Highlight of the Day : Return to the gym...

Monday, June 25, 2012

Hair havoc...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Before Aftersilence

More work on the compilation - tracks being dumped, replaced, switched etc etc...

Meg the Black cat has a new favourite spot - the bags around her are full of sister Pam's photos, awaiting sorting out and organising...

 


Work on the covers continues...


Oh what it was to have hair...

Mind you, the wind used to play havoc with it...

Two "Spiral"s and the last two "Curb"s entertained...

Highlight of the Day : Extras taking shape...

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Pirlo's penalty...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Before Aftersilence
Sister Pam came to me in a dream...

She was ill and I was looking after her but she said it was all going to be ok...

And I awoke from this having had a new idea for the very start of the new album placed in my mind...
Up before seven and working on this...

Along with the newly proposed pre-CBQ compilation...

The new intro was debuted to the Exec Producer in the car to my mum's but was drowned out by the torrential rain...

A good time was had - sister Sheila also in attendance...

Over to Anne's mum's, where the kids were as mischevious as ever...



We watched the first half of England v Italy before heading home...

Absolute torturous finishing from the Italians but, inevitably, justice was done (based on performance) and England lost the penalty shoot-out...

England are ranked 6th in the world while France are 12th, Italy 14th, Sweden 17th and Ukraine 52nd - yet England were worse than any of these four teams...

Of course, Scotland would have done worse than England (they are ranked 41st)...

But how do England maintain their high ranking?

I believe it's because they are eternally drawn against "diddy" teams in the qualifying groups for the European Championships and the World Cup...

Their ranking is determined from their results against those teams...

But where is the sporting integrity in seeding?

Wimbledon is the ultimate culprit re this of course and has been as long as I can remember...

Seeding in football competitions says to me that television has ruined football...

Anyway, post the match and the extra time and the penalties, a couple of episodes of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" from the borrowed season three...

Then, back to some late work...



...and off to bed...

Highlight of the day : Pirlo's penalty...

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Before aftersilence...

Playlist
Madredeus - Metafonia
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
David Guetta - One Love
Joni Mitchell - Mingus
David Guetta - Pop Life
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Before Aftersilence 1977-1996

Up and working...

An idea for part of the Starlightnight package...

Two CDs of music which predates the start of CBQ in 1996 from when I was Sombre Reptiles and the Heavenly Music Corporation...

First draft of disc one in the car as we set off out and uptown...





A call to Dr Prog and, post picking up Bad Plus tickets at the Hub...



...and some shopping for nice things by the Exec Producer...



...we met up with the Doc at the library...





Two Genesis box sets and a variety of other CDs borrowed, when I wasn't even intending on going to the library...

To nearby Cafe Florentine for lunch and a natter re music and football...



Then, back home for more work and some listeneing to discs purchased yesterday at HMV's new 2nd hand CDs for £2 section - same as Fopp...

Wilco, Joni and two David Guettas...

In the evening, watched a bit of Portugal v Czech Republic before retiring for more work...

Late on, more episodes of "Spiral"...

Highlight of the Day : Lunch with chums...

Friday, June 22, 2012

Awarded...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Before Aftersilence 1977-1995

New thoughts today on what might fill the boxes...

This evening, out with the MBFives boys for the first awards ceremony since 2007...



I've not played for a long time now and my invite came couched in "founding father" terms, given my participation in the original MB (Meadowbank) Fives back in 1982...

The awards are, in the main, comically negative, and I managed to pick up an unexpected two - unexpected given my long term absence from the pitch - although I did make up the numbers during Mr Nigel's stag day last summer - albeit attired in shirt, jeans and Chelsea boots...

I was happy to reclaim my very own "Dave Reilly? Didn't He Win Deadliest Finisher One Year? How Have The Mighty Fallen Award" for Slowest Player - it used to be the "Stanley Matthews Statue Award" but was renamed in my honour after I won it in 2001, 2003 and 2005...

Erm, and in 2006 - but I would hope that, that year, it was down to my broken ankle...

I lost out to someone called "John (Dom's Mate)" in 2007 but now, after five long years, it's back on my mantlepiece for "taking months to make it along to a game"...

My second award was "The Nigel Simpson Award for Player Most Likely to E-Mail Everybody About Anything At All" for "Best Communicator"...

As you might gather from the award title, the "best" is in there sarcastically and I managed to beat off the competition (Nigel Simpson) for spamming the guys regarding CBQ activity...

Cheeky buggers...

With two awards, I just missed out on player of the year, which was won by new boy Abdul, seen here on the left, who made it to three...



...counting both "Best Goalkeeper" and "Worst Goalkeeper" amongst his honours...

An excellent night - there were so many awards it was almost as long as the Oscars...

And it was accompanied by Germany beating Greece 4-2 - four cracking goals from the Germans, a good one too from the Greeks, along with a fairly inocuous penalty...

Made my way on to Waverley Bridge just before midnight...







...for an Airport Bus and a lift up the hill from the Exec Producer...

Surprisingly, very much not the worse for wear...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Being awarded for stupid stuff...

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Little boxes...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - New Box Potential Content

Longest day of the year and it was dreich...



Some excitement uptown as a grenade was found...



Some excitement back home (after a prolonged traffic jam infested journey to the Royal Mail depot for a pick up), as the first boxes arrived for the proposed "special editions" of the new album...

Meg the Black Cat helped on the assembly line...







....as Portugal pipped the Czech Republic 1-0 to the first semi final place in the Euros...

"Mock the Week" entertained...

As did the first two episodes of the second series of French police series, "Spiral"...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Boxes...

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The drone continues...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight
Cloudland Blue Quartet - The Drone Effect (Remix)
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Remake/Remodel EP
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight Live Version
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Abandoned Souvenir
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight Early Demos Version
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Acoustic Anthology
Moby - Hotel/Hotel : Ambient
Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

To the far end of George Street this morning...



...and to nearby Fopp at lunchtime...

Soundtracked by proposed material for the "Starlightnight" release...

Two 2nd hand titles purchased for just £2 each - Fopp's deal is they buy these for £1 and sell for £2 so 100% profit - fair enough...

And so a Moby 2CD box, of which I already had a burn and a catchy wee Iron & Wine CD entered the collection...

Opportunistic seagulls once more in Rose St...





Is there any other kind of seagull?

Legal work on sister Pam's estate continues apace - I have no idea how much all this is costing...

I suspect it will be considerable...

But much to be fixed...

Such are things when a loved one dies and stuff needs sorted out...

Another trip to England is on the cards...

Back home a card from the postie signals two items to be collected - I suspect these will be the CDs for the upcoming release and. possibly, the boxes for the special editions of same...

In the evening, no football but the last episode of the excellent "Silk" very muchly entertained your correspondent, his Exec Producer and the wee black cat who owns them (even though she appeared to be asleep)...

Some listening then off to bed...

Highligth of the Day : Silk - sorry it's ended...

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Travesty and chickens...

Playlist
Various - Last 9 Months on Shuffleplay
The Mars Volta - Nocturniquet
You Say Party We Say Die - Xxxx

Another sunny day...









Spent some time working out details for the release of the new LP in around 40 days' time - including sourcing boxes...

Home to find Meg the Black Cat sitting on a wrapped up painting with a story to tell...



It was a story of chickens...

Anne's mum's (in Anne's opinion "scary") painting of us in Canada...





...has been removed from its spot on the kitchen wall, to be replaced by a much better painting, of chickens - also by Anne's mum...





Later watched England (ranked 6th) struggle to beat Ukraine (ranked 52nd or so) by 1-0 - Ukraine had a goal cleared from behind the line...

Once again England managed to defeat a plainly better team but, once again, it's about getting the ball over the goal line - mind you how the fifth official, who was literally within 10 yards of the goal and standing exactly in line with the goal line, did not give a goal to Ukraine beggars belief...

In the end though, even a draw would have seen England win this (weakest of the four, based on world rankings) group and they will play Italy on Sunday in the quarter finals...

Well done England - you have made very little go a long way...

Highlight of the day : New painting in the kitchen...

Monday, June 18, 2012

Cheats ought to never win but often they do...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight

A fine morning...



...and a fine afternoon...



In the early evening, having listened back to yesterday's work today, I set about remixing the song "Vendome" for the umpteenth time...

This is definitely the final work, music-wise, on the LP - it is officially finished...

It was supposed to have been done by 30 November 2011...

The writing and recording has now spanned over 18 months - probably the worst 18 months I've experienced, truth be told...

But onwards and upwards...

I also amended the running order to move the opening soundscape to the middle of the album - it will now start with the rather upbeat (for me, anyway) "The Actor takes the Stage"...

Then, footie, with Spain playing in their usual frustrating fashion - like Germany last night, trying to walk the ball into the net - ironically, they almost literally succeeded in doing this with 3 minutes to go and sent Croatia home - Ireland, beaten 2-0 by Italy, also left the building with a disappointing, though expected, nil points...

So, if England make it through tomorrow by gaining at least a draw against one of the two worst ranked teams in the tournament (co-hosts Ukraine, the other was co-host Poland), they will face either Italy or Spain...

In other football news, the inevitable has been confirmed and there is indeed evidence that Glasgow Rangers cheated for over a decade by paying their players more than they declared to the Scottish Football Association...

They did this by using Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTSs) which allowed them to sign players whom, if the going rate of Income Tax and National Insurance had been paid, they would not have been able to afford...

At the time, there was nothing wrong with the use of EBTs - but Rangers' players and agents weren't satisfied with having an offshore tax free fund that they knew could be called upon in an ad hoc fashion - they needed it in writing and it is on this point that the EBTs failed (you can't have a contract in relation to them stipulating certain payments at certain times)...

So Rangers failed on two counts (1) their EBTs were not really EBTs because they had side contracts and so they owed the taxman millions in unpaid tax and NI and (2) they never told the SFA about those contracts, which meant they were paying their players more than they were declaring and so were cheating their competitors...

In other words, while EBTs were fine, their very nature made them hopeless for footballers - all earnings needed to be declared to the SFA - and to declare those EBT "earnings" in a contract (which the SFA would have required had they known about them) rendered them fully taxable...

In this way, Glasgow Rangers cheated every team they played against during that period - including Queen of the South in the 2008 Scottish Cup Final...

Some work on the cover for the new album, then to bed with the final version on the nut-phones...

Highlight of the day : Definitely finishing the album...

Sunday, June 17, 2012

The opiate of the people, or at least, my mum...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight
CCS - A' B's and Rarities
Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV Vol 1
Brian Eno - Discreet music
Various Artists - Future Sequence 1
The Bad Plus - Do the Math
Madredeus - Essencia

Up early and back to the synth for final additions and tweaking before burning the last (last?) version of the new album...

The family was to have been going to North Berwick this morning to scatter Pam's ashes, as requested in her Will...

However, we had to call off as my mum was unwell...

She's on new medication which is having side effects...

A lunch for eight was cancelled too...

Instead, Anne and I drove over to The Shore in Leith for a very enjoyable duo lunch...



We were a bit early so had a walk around the dock area...













...before heading inside...



To Loanhead to see my mum - who now appeared to be high as a kite on her various "opiate based" drugs...



She seemed happy enough...

Our driving today was soundtracked by the new album, to which the Exec Producer gave an executively produced thumbs up...

Back home for some relaxing listening and reading before watching Germany v Denmark...

Germany were very frustrating, in an Arsenal, Barcelona, Spain kind of way - you know, trying to play a hundred "one-twos" and then walk the ball into the net...

Eventually they topped the group with three wins out of three..

Portugal also went through after coming from behind to beat the hapless Dutch, who go home pointless...

Updating this then bed...

Highlight of the Day : Finishing the album / lunch out with the EP...