Sofa frenzy...

Playlist
Ochre Room - Box, Bar & Diamond
Mysliveček - Mysliveček Six Sonatas for Two Cellos and Bass
Wayne Shorter - Wayning Moments
Schenck - Nymphs of the Rhine, Vol 2
The Velvet Underground - Live In Columbus 1966
Various Composers - 50 Best American Classics
Various - A Hard Nights Day - A History Of Stiff Records
Various Composers - Sony Essential Classics Collection
Various - Island Presents: Dub 1976-1990
John Scofield - A Go Go
The Stooges - The Weirdness
She & Him - Volume One
John Foxx - Glimmer
The Pack A.D. - Do Not Engage
Anonymous - The Mass of Tournai - St Luke Passion
Wilson Steven - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
Various - Blues & Soul Masters
Suzanne Vega - Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles
Jellyfish - Best!
Ars Moriendi - La Singuliere Noirceur D'un Astre
Moebius Neumeier Engler - Other Places
Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Over America
Dittersdorf - Sinfonias A Min, D Maj, A Maj
Ian Hunter - From the Knees of My Heart
The Presets - Pacifica
Gabor Szabo - Jazz Raga
Ravi Shankar - Toward The Rising Sun
Andreas Scholl - Wanderer
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs
Molter - Orchestral Works Vol 1
Gurdjieff/Tsabropoulos - Chants, Hymns & Dances
Dan Mangan - Oh Fortune
Schubert - Complete Piano Sonatas
William Basinski - Watermusic I

And the month of June 2014 is sent off into the mists of time...

My present from Anne's Balearic trip has taken pride of place on the fridge...

Meanwhile, in the living room, the arrival of the new new sofa was awaited...

Before...

After...

Very comfortable indeed...

Another hot and sunny day...

At lunchtime, a walk down to Stockbridge - where nothing other than some salad enticed...

On the way, a chance meeting with Doctor Prog's wife, Mrs Prog...

Looking very well indeed, although not pictured...

On the way back, the view from the bridge...

...including daring seagull...

Back home, more CDs had arrived - a five CD box of Schubert's complete piano sonatas...

...which entertained during Anne's absence at Zumba...

After which, a tasty sea bass based tea...

Also tonight, two more World Cup games watched, as France eventually overcame Nigeria with two goals in the last ten minutes, while Germany were taken to extra time by Algeria but eventually won 2-1...

On Friday it'll be Brazil v Columbia and France v Germany...

Tasty - if you like football that is...

To bed post extra time, with William Basinski in the cans...

Highlight of the Day : New sofa...

Leaving it late, twice...

Playlist
Paul Corley - Disquiet
Barry White - The Collection
Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Over America
Cluster - Apropos Cluster
Ian Sclater - It's Weird In Here
Ars Moriendi - La Singuliere Noirceur D'un Astre
Various Composers - Music From The Golden Age Of Rembrandt
Various - Blues & Soul Masters
Suzanne Vega - Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles
She & Him - Volume One
Cloudland Blue Quartet - CBQ Proposed Live Set 2014
Ochre Room - Box, Bar & Diamond
Various - A Hard Nights Day: A History Of Stiff Records
The Paragons - Island Presents: Dub 1976-1990
John Foxx - Metadelic
The Stooges - The Weirdness
Various Composers - Pure Classical Chillout
Molter - Orchestral Works Vol 1
Schenck - Nymphs of the Rhine, Vol 2
Matthew Bourne - Montauk Variations
Dittersdorf - Sinfonias A Min, D Maj, A Maj
Ian Hunter - From the Knees of My Heart
Dittersdorf - Sinfonias D Min, F Maj, G Min
Paul McCartney - Off The Ground
Jellyfish - Best!
Cut Copy - Free Your Mind
Schenck - Nymphs of the Rhine, Vol 1
Various Composers -  Sony Essential Classics Collection
Andreas Scholl - Wanderer
Jellyfish - Best!
Wayne Shorter - Wayning Moments

Up around 8 this morning after a very late night re the return of the Exec Producer - some good Balearic pics on her camera card, some of which my end up here at some point..

In the meantime, I took some close ups with said camera as it is seldom used...

Spines...

Dust...

Time and money...

Catphone...

Good new music soundtracked much of the day...

Who is this at breakfast in the kitchen?

Huzzah and a hey nonny nonny!

Tis the EP, back at Crispycat Towers...

...with various goodies...

In other news, on Friday, music chum Ian Sclater posted up a couple of vids to Youtube of the House Concert we did with Kat McKenzie back in December 2011 - so I added them to the entry for that day...

The CD I produced for Ian in 2005/06 (at the very start of this diary) was given a spin and found to be good...

Ian is of a mind to repeat the House Concert formula - it having been a proverbial hoot to do...

In the afternoon, a proposed acoustic set compiled and played through - it was good to do but will probably come to nothing...

Out to Loanhead...

An old lady was entertained by a not so old lady's holiday stories - as of today, my mum has lived on her own for eleven years....

Good memories though...

Back home with a cheeky wee Chinese takeaway in tow - your correspondent's dish of choice these days is chicken and green pepper in a black bean sauce, with boiled rice...

Football watched with one eye - Holland beating a previously 1-0 in front Mexico 2-1, with an equaliser in 88 mins and a penalty in the 94th minute...

For the second half I was once again upstairs playing the geetar - having revamped the set slightly, resulting in it being a smidgeon less enjoyable to play...

Accordingly, some culling carried out...

This weekend's purchases added to the Red Book of CDs I Own...

...followed by more football - Costa Rica earning a quarter final against Holland by beating Greece on penalties - the 52nd game of the World Cup - 12 to go...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : The EP is back...

The return of the Exec Producer...

Playlist
Various Artists - 2014 Weekly Playlists
Wilson Steven - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
Taketi Uloomu - The Fifth Season
Ian Anderson - Homo Erraticus
Haken - The Mountain
Sumner McKane - Select Visual History
The Who - Then And Now (1964-2004)
John Foxx - Metadelic
John Foxx - Glimmer
Suzanne Vega - Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles
She & Him - Volume One
Trey Gunn and Marco Minnemann - Modulator
Paul McCartney - Off The Ground
Paul McCartney & Wings - Paul McCartney & Wings Singles 1972-1977
Various - Island Presents: Dub 1976-1990
Cut Copy - Free Your Mind
The Presets - Pacifica
The Presets - Pacifica Remixes
Band Of Horses - Mirage Rock
Paul Corley - Disquiet
Dan Mangan - Oh Fortune
Gabor Szabo - Jazz Raga
Jellyfish - Best!
John Scofield - A Go Go
Zola Jesus - Stridulum II
Ladyhawke - Anxiety
Ochre Room - Box, Bar & Diamond
Ymir's Blood - Voluspa: Doom Cold As Stone
Ars Moriendi - La Singuliere Noirceur D'un Astre
The Pack A.D. - Do Not Engage
Nebelung - Palingenesis
Moebius Neumeier Engler - Other Places
Cluster - Apropos Cluster
Barry White - The Collection

Up at 7:30...

..despite last night's, and every other night this week's, late sack hitting...

Some house work carried out in preparation for the return of the Exec Producer...

Then, a leisurely drive through to Glasgow, a wee day out for Mr CBQ, seeing as how I've spent most of my spare time this week in the house, cooking, watching footie, listening to music etc etc...

Erm, so actually just what I normally do then...

Anyway, parked at Byre's Rd around 9:50...

...and took a look around the shops here, making my first purchases of the day at Fopp, comprising CDs by John Foxx, Suzanne Vega and Zooey Deschanel's music vehicle, She & Him...

Took the Clockwork Orange into the city centre...

...where I discovered the very large HMV store at the top of Buchanan Street has closed...

So it goes...

On to nearby Love Music, where I spent almost an hour trawling through just about every CD in the shop, before exiting with three purchases - Trey Gunn, Paul McCartney and a 2CD set of dub from the vaults of Island Records - tasty...

Down to Union St and the main Fopp, where I was wandering around with three CDs in my hand having checked out reviews online - Band of Horses and two Australian "dance" duos, Cut Copy and The Presets...

Upstairs has been changed around and now houses much of this...

...the "comeback" of vinyl, seen here on the right, while, on the,left, a huge quantity of little known CDs at £3 each...

Of course, this was a display that Mr CBQ could not ignore and much time was spent swithering about various items, some chosen due to the artist, some due to the artist location, some due to the instrumentation - at £3 a pop, what did I have to lose - except £3 a pop...

Eventually, I stepped back out onto Union St with ten CDs in my second Fopp bag of the day - the aforementioned Cut Copy, Presets (including a remix disc) and Band Of Horses...

...along with known artists Canadian Dan Mangan, jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo's sitar crossover classic from 1967 "Jazz Raga", a greatest hits set from Jellyfish, a cracking disc by John Scofield with Medeski, Martin & Wood in support, and the latest CDs by Zola Jesus and Ladyhawke...

In fact the only chance I took was on a disc by "composer and sound sculptor", Paul Corley - which, on later listening, turned out to be a beauty...

I thought about heading for the car but just couldn't resist one more shop and so made my way along to the East End and Mono, taking some time to peruse the works at a nearby gallery on my way...

Oh no, a further ten discs purchased, albeit for under £11...

Chances taken with Finnish Americana(?) outfit, Ochre Room, growling in places heavy metal from Ymir's Blood and Frenchmen Ars Moriendi and some interesting low key stuff from a German band called Nebelung...

Added to that were discs by artists known to me - more Canadians, The Pack A.D., German faves Moebius and Roedelius (including a not previously seen Cluster release) and greatest hits sets from The Who and Barry White...

Total outlay for the day was....

Quite a lot...

But it worked out at just over £2.50 per title...

If I'd bought this haul on Amazon (which, of course, I wouldn't have) it'd have required an outlay of four times what I spent...

The Szabo Gabor disc (which is excellent btw) is going for over £25, while the Paul Corley disc is over £16 (as are the best of by Jellyfish and the new The Pack A.D. disc)...

And so another waste of money is justified - the defence rests m'lud...

Back onto the street...

... a walk back to the subway station and back to Byre's Rd - where I was almost tempted by a man with a series of wallpaper tables straining under the weight of more CDs and DVDs than you could shake a stick at - but I held firm - thirty (counting multi-disc sets purchased) discs in one day is surely enough for any music listening idiot to take on board...

A drive back along the M8 and some provision shopping carried out before spending the rest of the day ripping and listening...

...with one eye on the footie - after a 1-1 draw post extra time, Brazil scraped through 3-2 on penalties against a very good and very unlucky Chile (it could have gone either way), while Columbia beat Uruguay 2-0, to face the hosts in the Quarter Finals...

Meanwhile, the Exec Producer, Lynn and Penny, who had been in touch throughout their day of travel,  landed at Newcastle and headed up the A1...

With Anne's return, it's time to be Executively Produced once again...

Which is welcome...

Highlight of the Day : The return of the Exec Producer - and buying loads of CDs...

Weekly Playlist No 26

Welcome to the Cloudland Blue Weekly Playlist No 26 - oh no! we're already half way through 2014...

Twenty six veritable juicy and downright tasty plums which have tickled the aural tastebuds of Mr CBQ over the last seven days...

during which time, this...

...was also created by light entering the CBQ camera...

Press play and away we go...

Cloudland Blue Weekly Playlist 2014 No 26 by Cloudland Blue Quartet on Mixcloud

Rainbow - Long Live Rock 'N' Roll  4:25
from "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll"
No jazz or classical this week but we start with a right old rocker from the pens of Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio - for me, by this time the band was probably past its best but this still rocks out big time - a hit single no less...

ProjeKct Three - Masque 01  5:41
from "Masque"
With King Crimson reformed as a seven man/three drummer band, I gave a listen again this week to some of the fractal work which emerged from the interregnum between 1997 and 2001, this the improv work of Robert Fripp on guitar, Trey Gunn on stick and Pat Mastelotto on drums and percussion - Fripp and Mastelotto are hard at work rehearsing for the upcoming US tour by the Seven Headed Crim...

Transatlantic - Shine  7:29
from "Kaleidoscope"
An excellent slice of pop rock from the latest album by prog supergroup, Transatlantic, comprising members/ex-members of Spock's Beard, Marillion, Dream Theater and Flower Kings.  Top quality tunesmithery...

Dio - The Eyes  6:28
from "Master Of The Moon"
And back to Ronnie James Dio, with a track from his band's tenth and final album.  The riff has a wee bit of Led Zep feel to it - and the "eye eye" part, played on guitar, reminds me of Meg the Black Cat's singing...

The Samuel Jackson Five - Radio Gagarin  4:34
from "The Samuel Jackson Five"
Some post rock from new discovery The Samuel Jackson Five, hailing from Norway.  This comes from their eponymous fourth album from 2012 and it's an album that's impressed me over the last few weeks...

Jethro Tull - Sweet Dream  4:05
from "Stand Up"
In my early teens, I used to make up my own charts, based on records I owned or had taped or even borrowed.  This was my first number one - in January 1973 - a single borrowed from school chum Rory MacRae.  I searched for it for years after giving it back.  Of course such a conundrum no longer exists these days..

Jeff Beck - Beck's Bolero  2:55
from "Truth"
And this was the theme tune to my "radio" show in 1973 - the "b" side of the re-release of "Hi Ho Silver Lining"...

Maximilian Hecker - The Whereabouts Of Love  5:01
from "Mirage Of Bliss"
From self confessed purveyor of melancholic pop hymns (hey, that sounds familiar), Berliner Max Hecker this is another recent discovery which has impressed the listening audience here at Crispycat Towers of late...

John Cale - Sandman (Flying Dutchman)  3:44
from "Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood"
This, the final track on Cale's latest album, reminded me of Brian Eno's work with him on the album "Wrong Way Up" when it came up this week on shuffleplay - see what you think...

Sumner McKane - The Bloody Bozeman  8:40
from "Select Visual History"
Form Maine USA comes the guitar wizardry of Sumner McKane - I really enjoy his cross between country, folk and ambient in his music, which is mainly written as soundtracks for his own documentaries put together using vintage footage of the logging industry around his home...

Jason Lytle - Get Up And Go  2:16
from "Dept Of Disappearance"
From the second solo outing by the ex-singer of Grandaddy, a great band, this is a nippy wee upbeat message to us all...

Steven Wilson - The Pin Drop  5:03
from "The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)"
This has been languishing on the hard drive for a few months now and it was only this week that I decided to give it a good listen.  It's an excellent piece of work from the go-to remaster/remixer of the great and the good of the prog scene...

Gentle Giant - So Sincere   3:50
from "The Power and the Glory"
...which leads us to this which is about to be re-released with the new package including a 2014 remix by Steven Wilson.  Wonderful complex vocal and instrumental work form this landmark prog band who were never really as big as they ought to have been but are fondly remembered by many today - and an influence on many too...

John Grant - Vietnam   5:29
from "Pale Green Ghosts"
Probably one of my favourite albums from the last year or two is this from ex-Czars singer John Grant - this may be the fourth time tracks from his LP have featured in the playlist - but deservedly so...

David Bowie - Plan  2:02
from "The Next Day"
An extra instrumental bonus track from Bowie's comeback album from 2013.  For me, this is actually better than a few of the tracks that made the cut onto the first edition of the LP...

Wintersleep - Saving Song  4:06
from "Hello Hum"
Massive band in Canada, virtually unknown here Wintersleep produce a sound which I would dare to say would be impossible for a best selling band in the UK to put forward for mass listening.  Very enjoyable indeed...

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Shadow Captain  3:10
from "Crown and Treaty"
This is, however, a UK band who kind of disprove my last point darn it!  Sweet Billy Pilgrim have a sound all their own and it's a sound I very much like...

Big Elf - Already Gone  3:29
from "Into the Maelstrom"
A cracking rocker of a track from Big Elf's comeback album, which is yet to empress me quite as much as their first two LPs.  Nonetheless, one of the best releases to hit the racks over the last 12 months or so...

65daysofstatic - Taipei  6:00
from "Wild Light"
...as is this.  Saw them in Edinburgh in March and they very much impressed.  They specialise in the old post rock cliché of quiet loud quiet loud etc etc but they are very, very good at it.  One of the best of the genre...

Levin Minnemann Rudess - Descent  3:24
from "Levin Minnemann Rudess"
Tony Levin from King Crimson, Marco Minnemann from UK and Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess - what's not to like - here, the emphasis is on precision playing and improv and it's precision playing and improv of the very highest order.  Let's rock!

Lucy Kaplansky - My Father's Son  4:16
from "Reunion"
From the latest album by one my and the Exec Producer's very favourite singer songwriters, Lucy Kaplansky - a great "story" song and a nice quiet interlude between the previous raucousness and the next item...

Haken - Cockroach King  8:15
from "The Mountain"
Haken is the London-based prog metal and who took the prog scene by storm last year with their third album "The Mountain" which won awards all over the place. You can hear the Gentle Giant influences in the opening section.  And it's always good to hear a track featuring a cockroach character.  Mon the 'roaches...

The Unwinding Hours - I've Loved You For So Long  3:45
from "Afterlives"
I bought the two albums which comprise the discography of this Scottish band last year and both are superb - as amply demonstrated by this from the latest of the two, released in 2012.  It has a kind of eighties feel to it but in a good way, if you see/hear what I mean...

Spock's Beard - Down a Burning Road  6:52
from "Brief Nocturnes And Dreamless Sleep"
For the second week in a row, I'm featuring a track from Spock's Beard's last album and, for the second week in a row it comes from the bonus disc.  But, if something pops up on shuffleplay which I feel I just have to feature, then I don't care about its origin, on it goes to the playlist for your enjoyment and delectation, mes amis...

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twenty Five Things  3:19
from "Starlightnight"
A song from the last CBQ song LP, "Starlightnight", released almost two years ago.  It's over two years since I've played live and over two years since I've written a song - but I've got some new soundscapes coming so it's all good.  This is my take on a "list" song, all based around a nifty wee guitar loop...

Paul McCartney & Wings - Maybe I'm Amazed (live)  5:21
from "Wings Over America"
And we finish with a single from Wings, taken from their triple live LP from 1977 and probably the best version of this track from McCartney's early solo career.  Interesting to note that, of the twenty eight songs in the set there are only five Beatles numbers.  This seems to perplex present day reviewers but they forget that, at the time this was recorded and released, Wings had far outsold the Beatles in the 70's and were huge all over the world.  There was no need for McCartney to fill his live set with sixties material, no "Hey Jude" or "Let it Be" encores. Of course all that changed after the death of Lennon and once the Apple marketing machine got into full swing super-boosting the Beatles' legacy to a point where they will never now be caught in the stakes of most popular band ever to have walked the planet...

And, on that happy note, I bid you all farewell for another week...

Thanks for listening, hope you enjoy the music and will come back next week for more...

I re-arranged the house pt 657...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twenty Four Paintings
65daysofstatic - Wild Light
Ke$ha - Warrior
The Unwinding Hours - Afterlives
Levin Minnemann Rudess - Levin Minnemann Rudess
Lucy Kaplansky - Reunion
Haken - The Mountain
The Stooges - Ready To Die
Mogwai - Les Revenants
Piano Interrupted - The Unified Field
Rush - Clockwork Angels
Jon Hopkins - Immunity
Spock's Beard - Brief Nocturnes And Dreamless Sleep
It Bites - Map Of The Past
Yan Wagner - Forty Eight Hours
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Starlightnight
Dutch Uncles - Out Of Touch In The Wild
Christian Kjellvander - The Pitcher
Dido - Girl Who Got Away
Paul McCartney - New
Muse - The 2nd Law
Various - Tighten Up Vol 5
Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Over America
Wayne Shorter - Introducing Wayne Shorter

Second last morning without the Exec Producer...

Parked again at Roseburn...

Unfortunately, it was only after the event that I realised how annoying parking under a tree can be re sap deposits..

Into town...

A couple of wooden wine boxes acquired from chum JY Johnny to add to the storage capability in the back room...

At lunchtime, first visit to Fopp for a while and partook of reasonably priced "Wings Over America" 2CD set of the triple LP release from 1977 - along with a 2CD set by Wayne Shorter featuring two of his LPs recorded for the VeeJay label in 1959 and 1962...

Also took on board two DVDs, films by director of German fave "Heimat", Edgar Reitz, including his first from 1967, "Mahlzeiten"("Lust for Love"), which was awarded the prize for best debut work at the Venice Film Festival that year and "The Tailor from Ulm" made ten years later...

This led me, upon returning home, once I'd rearranged all my various artist CDs after integrating to two new wine boxes, to try and sort out all our DVDs....

I moved all my music DVDs into the back room and brought upstairs all films we've watched, leaving unwatched films in the living room - they number over 30...

So the (unseen) jazz, classical, self-made burns and compilations (and Music DVDs) wall now looks like this...

No footie tonight, so the majority of the evening was spent compiling and recording this week's podcast, which was uploaded around 1:00 am and, around half an hour later, I retired for the night...

Highlight of the Day : Wings Over America - I'd forgotten how good it was...

24, not that 24...

Playlist
David Bowie - The Next Day
John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts
Brian Eno - Lux
Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
Wintersleep - Hello Hum
The Stooges - Ready To Die
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Crown and Treaty
Roy Harper - Man And Myth
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Riverleaves
Yan Wagner - Forty Eight Hours
Black Sabbath - 13
Asia - Gravitas
Dido - Girl Who Got Away
Ian Hunter - When I'm President
Big Elf - Into the Maelstrom
Paul Buchanan - Mid Air
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twenty Four Paintings

Funnily enough, for approaching the end of June, another hot, sunny day...

Parked again at Roseburn...

...and walked into town...

The final two plums were enjoyed in lieu of much available but fast diminishing chocolate...

Not so bright on the way home...

Back to the bridge and the car...

Face-timed by the Exec Producer just as I arrived home - good to see her wee face...

The trip to Palma seemingly much enjoyed by the trio of lovely ladies...

Post a not great, rather badly concocted tea, watched the progress of Germany and USA to the last 16 (later to be joined by Belgium and, surprisingly, Algeria as opposed to Russia)...

And, finally this week, actually got down to some work...

The first full set of the proposed 24CD version of "Twenty Four Paintings"...

Physical at last...

Attempted sack hitting around midnight looms...

Highlight of the Day : Realising the 24CD set...