Continuing to venture forth...

Playlist

Gentle Giant - In a Glass House

Gentle Giant - Civilian

Gentle Giant - Giant For A Day

The Bad Plus/Joshua Redman - The Bad Plus Joshua Redman

Creek - Creek 2015

BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Four Last Things

Schubert - Lieder Volume III : Winterreise

Queen - Queen

Nordic Giants - A Seance of Dark Delusions

Daniel Cavanagh - Memory & Meaning

Max Richter - from Sleep

Sumner McKane - North

Sumner McKane - Stone's Throw

Various - 3/60 Legends of Soul

Grand Funk Railroad - Shinin' On

November gone - and a month since I was discharged from hospital...

First thing, some required work on the new CBQ album, "Four Last Things", comprising splitting the four "movements" into individual tracks...

Took a walk down to Corstorphine this morning to post another order, with "FLT" in the cans...

Walked the length of the main street...

...and back again...

...before taking the bus back to the top of the hill, noting these on the way back down to Crispycat Towers...

The beast etc...

Meanwhile, Anne had been busy again in the kitchen and the new paint job seemed complete...

In the evening, I eschewed my slippers...

...and we drove into town for a show at The Playhouse...

A present from Anne from my birthday back in May - long before there was any inlking of my now (daily improving) condition...

Bill Bailey's latest show, "Limboland"...

As we arrived, I had a bad pain attack lasting 45 minutes or so - it was agony - like horrendous heartburn - a throw back to the first night of this whole saga - I think Anne's Red Thai Chicken Curry is now, like Tuna Fish, off the agenda going forward....

Luckily, the pain subsided just as the show commenced...

Mr B was extremely funny but I couldn't laugh too much because of the pain when I did...

So it goes...

A drive home through the cold night, having been muchly entertained...

Highlight of the Day : Getting out...

View the queue...

Playlist

Opus 20 - Hidden Streams

Sarah MacDougall - Across the Atlantic

Lutosławski - Concerto For Orchestra

Sor - Guitar Duets, Vol. 1

Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton

Tippett - Ritual Dances

Françoise Hardy - In Vogue

The Tubes - Hamburg 2015-07-26

Pet Shop Boys - Format: 1996-2009

Joe Satriani - Shockwave Supernova

Asia/Boston - Winning Combinations

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress

Riverside - Shrine Of The New Generation Slaves

BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul

Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer 2014

Hollywood Vampires - Hollywood Vampires

Markus Reuter - Mundo Nuevo

Matthew Florianz - Tauern

David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock

James Whyte - Ship

Donna Lewis - Brand New Day

Sparks - FFS

King Crimson - A Scarcity Of Miracles

Various - 3/60 Legends of Soul

The Undisputed Truth - The Best Of The Undisputed Truth

David Bowie - Blackstar

A quiet Sunday...

Gradually integrated jazz acquisitions from February to August...

Took a wee while...

Meanwhile, Anne was executively producing a re-paint of the kitchen...

I finished off the 1970's podcasts with 1978...

...and 1979...

...meaning I now have 21 up, from 1959 to 1979...

We also ventured out into the horrible November weather, briefly, to post off an order - car journeys are still painful...

Despite this, shaved my head and face...

...and off we drove to Leith to brother-in-law Keith's to see their new Sonos set up and enjoy copious amounts of coffee and good chat - it makes all the difference to get out of the house...

Phrase of the day was awarded to Keith for "how do I view the queue?"...

Home around 9:30 and some pottering around before hitting the sack...

Highlight of the Day : A wee trip outside...

Possible progress...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Four Last Things

Various - The Last 12 Months on Shuffleplay

Uriah Heep - Magician's Birthday

Lou Reed - Take No Prisoners

Lou Reed - Transformer

Various - Walk on the Wild Side : The Jazz Side of Mod

The Undisputed Truth - The Best of The Undisputed Truth

Alice Cooper - School's Out

Various - That Cat Was Clean ; The Mod Side of Jazz

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder Sweet and Other Distress

Tame Impala - Currents

BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul

Various - 3/60 Legends of Soul

Up early after a better night and listening, for the first time in a while, to the new CBQ album, which may be out before the year ends but certainly by the end of 2016...

Spent some time integrating discs which have come from the living room shelf to the back room into the main A-Z...

Anne was going uptown to meet up with chums Lynn and Penny for lunch - to Spoon again...

So, under doc's orders to get out and exercise, I tagged along...

The building where the nearby college and its open, spacious grounds once was, has nearly been completed - after several years... 

Onwards up to the bus stop...

An apprehensive Mr CBQ was Executively Produced into the city...

A visit to HMV then a further bus ride along to Fopp where I met up with Dr Prog...

Some purchases were made (see below), before we walked all the way back along to the West End and enjoyed an excellent chat along with some very tasty sustenance at Pintos...

The beast was once again about its business...

But, by 2, the beast was starting to feel the pain and so it headed home on an airport bus and was surprisingly able to walk up the hill...

Back at Crispycat Towers, I finished off the filing and enjoyed the new acquisitions...

Some cracking stuff on these two...

Indeed, after 43 years, I finally became aware that the final track on Alice Cooper's "School's Out" album, "Grande Finale" is based on Elmer Bernstein's theme tune to the film "Walk on the Wild Side" - Jimmy Smith's interpretation is the title track of the first of the two compilations above...

I had always thought the theme was somehow connected to "West Side Story" due to "Bernstein" appearing in the credits on the Coop album - Leonard Bernstein being co-writer of the musical with Stephen Sondheim...

So there you go - you can indeed learn something new everyday...

Also joining the fray were the latest from Godspeed You! Black Emperor...

...and Tame Impala...

...and, for a fiver, I even took a chance on jazz trio BADBADNOTGOOD's collaboration with rapper Ghostfaced Killah - despite not having liked that much, the promo copy of their single, which I bought in August 2014...

Finally, over three hours on 3CDs of top notch soul for £3 - what's not to like...

On Anne's return, soaked by the lashing rain, coffee and Abernethy biscuits buoyed - then, I forewent "Strictly" to listen to the new stuff but did enjoy one of the best ever episodes of "Dr Who" followed by two more superb instalments of "The Bridge"..

And so, time for bed...

I feel as if I have made some significant progress today...

Let's see what happens tomorrow - five weeks on...

Highlight of the Day : Dr Who, new music and getting out and feeling much improved though still sore...

Calm after the storm...

Playlist

Tangerine Dream - Mala Kunia

Tangerine Dream - Ricochet

W F Bach - Symphony in F Major

W F Bach - Keyboard Sonata in E Flat

Various - History of the Single 1959-2015

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Birmingham

Steve Harley - Discography

Various - Top Ten Albums of 1975

Various - Top Ten Albums of 1976

Various - Top Ten Albums of 1977

Various - Dub

Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton

Snoozing with Tangerine Dream after a bad night sleepwise - the Exec Producer reported much snoring - a rarity for your correspondent these days...

Nightmares and uneasiness were the main elements of the night in my head...

Spirits lifted by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, son of J S Bach - discovered I do not have enough of his music...

Breakfast with the Exec Producer - the preparation of which caused us to curse the invention of the microwave oven...

Brought the "Red Book of CDs I Own" up to date...

Enjoyed a goodly amount of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel mid-morning, while Anne ventured out in search of a new washing machine...

Despite the rough night, I was feeling much better than yesterday with painkillers now settled for the time being at 50% cocodamol and 50% paracetamol...

Lunch, Anne having returned and reported success...

In the afternoon, with the weather having nixed a planned walkabout, the EP engrossed herself in the tennis, while I returned to the Albums of the Year project (click on "podcasts" above), recording and uploading a further three in the series...

1975...

1976...

1977...

A small Indian takeaway was ordered for tea and much enjoyed - my first since the op and no adverse effects to speak of...

"Josh", "Have I Got News For You" and "Graham Norton" also enjoyed, whilst updating the "Excel Spreadsheet of CDs I Own", before turning in...

Highlight of the Day : Anne at home...

Seeking audience with King Morpheus...

Playlist

Various - Top Ten Albums of 1972

Various - Top Ten Albums of 1973
Teramaze - Anhedonia

Kenny Dorham - Quiet Kenny

Stan Getz - The Steamer
Cloudland Blue Quartet - The Dakota Starman EP
Cloudland Blue Quartet - The Leonard Cohen EP

The Moody Blues - This is the Moody Blues

Various - Top Ten Albums of 1974

Started the day on good form - Anne was off super early and I got down to recording and uploading some more podcasts...

1972...

1973...

I was expecting my mum and sister around 10:30 so called a halt to proceedings...

Due to various factors, they arrived at 11:45 but brought lunch...

And hearing aids...

Sister Sheila was a little suspicious of my "scones" from yesterday...

I must admit to preferring hers, which she'd baked at 6 this morning...

They left around 2 with me not feeling too great...

I retired to bed rather than going for a walk...

I was awoken around five by a worried Anne who was supposed to not have returned but have gone straight to Edinburgh for tonight's performance by Ballet Rambert...

She had been unable to raise your correspondent...

All seemed ok...

So off she went to the ballet, meeting up with chum Theresa at Spoon (formerly Nicholson's - were JK Rowling wrote "Harry Potter" - as opposed to the claims of The Elephant House on George IV Bridge - always annoys me when I walk past that place and tourists are packing it out and milling about on the street taking pics, not realising they've been duped)...

Anyway, a small pizza and a couple of "Big Bang Theory" reruns and, after a couple of hours, I returned to my podcasting and recorded and uploaded my third of the day, 1974...

Then, awaiting Anne's return while watching Dominic Sandbrook's rather disjointed attempts to prove that today's UK culture is based on Victorian values - which, coincidentally, included footage of JK Rowling writing Harry Potter in Nicholson's cafe...

Anne arrived home at getting on for 11, having enjoyed what seemed to have been three quite excellent pieces from the talented young people at the Rambert...





We watched the end of "Question Time" but I fell asleep again during "This Week"...

Not doing too well today but let's hope it's just a passing phase...

Highlight of the Day : Sleeping...

The quest for the scone...

Playlist

Various - History of the Single 1959-2015

Yes - Fragile

Various - Albums of the Year 1970

Various - Albums of the Year 1971

Dizzy Gillespie - Afro

Japan - Tin Drum

Yes Union

John Coltrane - Africa/Brass

Ornette Coleman - Change of the Century

John Coltrane - Coltrane Jazz

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus

Breakfast in the dining room...

I always feel pretty good first thing and then go downhill mid-morning - weird...

This morning, recorded and uploaded the Albums of the Year podcast for 1970... 

...and that for 1971...

In the afternoon, another walk...

Chum Moira had alerted me to a short film re the simple making of scones - which seemed, well, simple...

Accordingly, the three ingredients were bought, self raising flour, cream and, erm, lemonade...

What could go wrong...

Hmm...

My "dough" was far too wet - despite what the video showed - it may have been better not to add all the lemonade to the mix...

Oh dear...

They looked more like nan breads...

A bit of a disaster but they tasted kind of ok...

On Anne's return, she advised we'd locate a better recipe and try again on Friday - she too has always wanted to be able to make scones...

In the evening, some twittering and listening while Anne Zumba'd... 

Tasty baked potatoes for tea and we enjoyed "Cuffs" and "Holby" before retiring...

A reasonable day - much pain still but that may be because I'm noticing it more as I change the medication...

Highlight of the Day : Baking, kind of...