Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Weathering, twattering, podcasting...

Playlist
Guy Davis - Chocolate to the Bone
Glanert - Sinfonie Nr. 1, Vier Fantasien, Mahler/Skizze, Drei Gesänge (Sinfonie Nr. 2)
Various - Front Line Presents Reggae Discomixes
Tiles - Pretending 2 Run
Chantal Juillet - Korngold; Weill; Krenek: Violin Concertos
Starcastle - Fountains Of Light
John Abercrombie - Timeless
Deadmau5 - Album Title Goes Here
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vol 22

Oof - there goes the month of May...


On the upside, the sunny weather continues....


Another salad in the gardens...


...before heading along to Haymarket/Dalry for a trawl around the shops...




This found at BHF for just 99p, complete with 3D cover...



Good weather continued on the way home for top notch pasta from the EP...



The beast was about its business on Crispycat Hill...




Working tonight on this week's podcast - had to bump a couple of songs due to time restrictions...

Twattering and podcasting...


"Holby" was top notch as ever...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day :  The weather and podcasting...

Monday, May 30, 2016

Managing the night...

Playlist
Various - Dancing In The Streets - Motown's Greatest Hits
Igor Levitt - Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski
Various Composers - Jared Sacks 25 Years Of Recordings
Royal Shakespeare Theatre Orchestra - A Shakespeare Celebration
Everything Everything - Get To Heaven
Amsterdam Guitar Trio - Plays Music by Debussy, Fauré, Chopin
Moondog - Moondog 2
Fauré - Piano Quartets & Quintets
Marilyn Manson - The High End Of Low
Elvin Jones - Elvin!
Bartók - Violin Sonatas
David Reilly - Rubinmusik 1977-2016
The Congos - Island Presents: Roots
Alpha Rev - Greatest Thing I've Ever Learned
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vol 22

A holiday Monday and beautiful (unpictured) weather but no rest for the wicked...

Weetabix for breakfast, salad for lunch...

In the evening, the initial shortlist for this week's podcast - decided to leave out Denis Johnson till the box set arrives...


Another eclectic selection...

Highlight of the day though, had to be the last two episodes of the excellent "The Night Manager"...

Brilliant stuff...

Lights out with tracks of the week on the cans...

Highlight of the day : "The Night Manager"

Sunday, May 29, 2016

A tidy music room is happy music room...

Playlist
Dennis Johnson - November
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Rubinmusik 1977-2016
Cloudland Blue Quartet - DDHR40
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Fly Across the World (2016 Demos)
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Four Last Things (Pedantic Pedestrian Remixes)
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Library of Congress
Durutti Column - The Return Of
Durutti Column - LC
Miles Davis - Miles in Berlin
Chantal Juillet - Korngold; Weill; Krenek: Violin Concertos
The Cure -Staring at the Sea
Mike Oldfield - Platinum
Grand Funk Railroad - Closer to Home
Madredeus - Euforia
Starcastle - Fountains of Light

Over the road this morning, Rory Custard was once again taking in the world...


...while I listened to, mostly, my own music...

Then, on the recommendation of the Exec Producer, I tidied up the back room, removing all my recording gear and instruments to the attic - to set up there at a later date - and leaving just one acoustic guitar downstairs - on which, later, I played through a few CBQ songs...


A tidy music room is happy music room...




Out to my mum's - don't know how we missed these items in her cupboards when we cleared them all out a year or so ago...

 


This is all that remains - the custard too is out of date but, as we all know, stuff in tins doesn't go off...


Morphine and beans, mmm...


To Ikea and a "bar stool" purchased for those times when standing up at the computer gets too much...



....the previous chair will now be used when musicking in the attic...

A tasty tea...



..."Wallander" and the fourth episode of "The Night Manager" - leaving a double bill to finish matters off - "The Windsors" and some last minute listening whilst updating this...

Weekend over yet again...

Highlight of the Day : Tidying...

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Discovering November...

Playlist
Coldplay - Ghost Stories
Tiles - Pretending 2 Run
Fauré - Piano Quartets & Quintets
Various - Gatecrasher Anthems Paul Van Dyk
Van Nostrand - Voyage in a White Building I
John Cale - Slow Dazzle
Various - The Best Of Hallyday, Rivers, Mitchell, Anthony & Vartan
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Greatest Hits
Einaudi - Waves The Piano Collection
Black Widow - Black Widow III
Various - Know Your Enemy
Amsterdam Guitar Trio - Plays Music by Debussy, Fauré, Chopin
Rachmaninov - Symphonies ・ Orchestral Works ・ Concertos
Various - Anthologie De La Chanson Française
Bobby Womack - Everything's Gonna Be Alright - The American Singles 1967-76
Martin Tchiba - Linkages
Chicago - Live In Japan 1972
David Bowie - Acoustic Bowie (Earthling Promo Tour 96/97)
The Marvelettes - The Essential Collection
Moondog - Moondog 2
Barber - Solo Piano Music
Pärt - Piano Music
Ferguson - Piano Sonata in F minor
Various Composers - Deutsche Grammophon : Original Masters : The Singles
Igor Levitt - Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski
David Lloyd-Jones - English String Miniatures, Vol. 3
Nordic Union - Nordic Union
Thunder - All You Can Eat
Beethoven - Diabelli Variations
Alpha Rev - Greatest Thing I've Ever Learned
Beck, Bogert & Appice - Radioshow
Gubaidulina - String Quartets 1-3 & String Trio
Alpha Rev - New Morning
Lachenmann - Ausklang
Gabi Delgado - 2
Grateful Dead - American Beauty
Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman - Jin Jin/Firefly
Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty
Rawsthorne - Cello Concerto, Oboe Concerto, Symphonic Studies
Lunatic Soul - Walking on a Flashlight Beam
Various - Dancing In The Streets - Motown's Greatest Hits
Various - Tamla Motown: Big Hits & Hard To Find Classics, Vol. 2
Muungano National Choir, Kenya - Missa Luba: An African Mass - 10 Kenyan Folk Melodies
Tippett - Stravinsky: Apollon musagete & Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra
Everything Everything - Get To Heaven
Montrose - Jump On It
Beck, Bogert & Appice - Live
Haken - Affinity
Brahms - String Quintets
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells III
Derek And The Dominos - Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Schubert - Die Schöne Müllerin
Various Composers - Les incontournables du baroque
The Revivalists - Men Amongst Mountains
Krauze - Piano Works
Stockhausen - Kontakte
Feldman - For Samuel Beckett
Perahia / Rupu - Mozart; Schubert: Sonatas For 2 Pianos
Blind Faith - Blind Faith
Murray Perahia - Béla Bartók
Axel Rudi Pell - Game Of Sins
Matthew Friedberger - Winter Women / Holy Ghost Language School
Pet Shop Boys - Super
Jason Moran - Modernistic
Dave Douglas - Convergence
Earth, Wind & Fire - The Box Set Series
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Soul Legends
Sardelli - Concerti, Psaumes, Musique De Chambre - Modo Antiquo
Françoise Hardy - The Real... Françoise Hardy
Bach, J S - English Suites #2, 4 & 5
Mendelssohn - Piano Concertos
Boxhead Ensemble - Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back OST
Gabi Delgado - 1
Chopin - 4 Ballades
Commodores - The Very Best Of The Commodores
Stockhausen - Telemusik / Mixtur
Circle - Paris Concert
Stockhausen - Oktophonie
Cloudland Blue Quartet - DDHR40
Johnson - November

The day commenced around 6:30 with work on my tax return and correspondence with our accommodation provider for a trip to Hamburg later this year...

This was followed by some locating and commencement of downloading of much music by Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, following conversations on Thursday evening with Sid Smith...

Although I had a goodly number of Stockhausen works in the collection, those being spoken of in particular were not there...

Over the course of the day, this situation was rectified, as the pieces witnessed by the Exec Producer, Dr Prog, Count Brodski, Jim Park, David Bann and your correspondent in April 2005, when this diary was but a month or so old, "Kontakte" and "Oktophonie", along with Sid's first two acquisitions back in the 70's, "Telemusik" and "Mixtur" joined the fray...

In addition to this, I partook of recordings by the jazz quartet Circle, their "Paris Concert" on ECM, which Sid had eulogised over, having purchased an immaculate copy of the 2LP set in Edinburgh during his trip...

In all then, around four and a half hours of new music...

I left the computer doing this as, around midday, Anne and I set out on a walk, starting in the sunny garden...







...and down the hill...


...over the main road and took the scenic route...







...where this inquisitive wee monkey was spotted...


...as was Anne's mum's house...


Our goal was the tram stop...



...said machine taking us to The Gyle...



...where some time was spent provision shopping re a tasty tea and on the purchase of birthday cards for brother in law Senior, Ross of Lynn and Ross and Lady Penelope, who turn 60, 50 and 40 this week respectively...

A number 12 back to the foot of the hill and a walk up, still under good skies...


The rest of the afternoon and early evening was taken up with the first three episodes of "The Night Manager", which was gripping - looking forward to the last three...

Between this and the enjoyable return of "The Musketeers", some music work...

Around an hour of guitarscaping in preparation for some new recording or gig or other which may or may not materialise...

I attemped updated versions of my 1977 compositions "Landscapes" and The Drone Effect"....


Late on, my final musical discovery of the day, by complete chance, was a five hour composition from 1959 by Dennis Johnson, a college mate of La Monte Young...

It seems Young's famous 1964 composition "The Well Tuned Piano" was much influenced by Johnson's "November" of which, until a few years ago, the only rendition existed on an old C120 cassette tape - two of the, proposed by the score, five hours...

The story of how the composition was restored and eventually recorded is over on Bandcamp, from where the recording can be purchased...



I managed to find a very reasonably priced new copy of the 4CD box set on Amazon (made even more reasonable by the recent acquisition of a voucher with regard to work carried out).  And so this is now winging its way to Crispycat Towers from Switzerland while I plug the wait with a download from the tube of you...

This recording sets the template for minimalism and ambient at least five years before the previously believed point of departure...

And, as a bonus, the music is actually excellent!

Ended the day with work in relation to transferring funds to Europe without having to pay extortionate bank charges...

All in all then, a busy Saturday...

Highlight of the Day : Discovering Dennis Johnson...

Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vol 21



38 tracks from acquisitions made over the last 7 days by Mr Quartet, featuring the following albums:-

John Cale - Paris 1919
Copeland - The Essential Bernstein
Dillon - Traumwerk • String Quartet No.2 • Parjanya-Vata • Vernal Showers
George Benson - The Shape Of Things To Come
George Benson - I Got A Woman And Some Blues
Earth, Wind & Fire - The Box Set Series
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells 2003
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells III
Rainbow - Stranger In Us All
Marilyn Manson - The High End Of Low
Matthew Friedberger - Winter Women / Holy Ghost Language School
Can - Mute Promo-Sampler
Voigtlander from Contemporary East German Composers
Milhaud from Salute to France : Rarely Heard Masterpieces
Beethoven - Diabelli Variations
Ferguson - Piano Sonata in F minor
Brahms - String Quintets
Turnage from A Shakespeare Celebration
Arensky - Piano Trio Op 32; String Quartet Op 35
Rachmaninov - Symphonies ・ Orchestral Works ・ Concertos
Hindemith - Mathis der Maler; Metamorphoses; Violin Concerto
Bush from English String Miniatures, Vol. 2
Holst  from English String Miniatures, Vol. 3
Lewis from English String Miniatures, Vol. 4
Barber - Barber: Solo Piano Music
Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra - Sky Blue
Boxhead Ensemble - Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back OST
Commodores - The Very Best Of The Commodores
Takashi Hirayasu & Bob Brozman - Jin Jin/Firefly
Mike Oldfield - The Songs Of Distant Earth
Mike Oldfield - Music Of The Spheres
Fashiøn - The Height Of Fashiøn
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Soul Legends
The Marvelettes - The Essential Collection
The Marvelettes from Dancing In The Streets - Motown's Greatest Hits
Deep Purple - Deepest Purple: The Very Best Of ...
Moby from Gatecrasher Anthems Paul Van Dyk
Tchaikovsky - Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty

Hope you pop by again next week for more...

Friday, May 27, 2016

Up and, indeed, down...

Playlist
Brahms - String Quintets
City and Colour - Little Hell
Alpha Rev - New Morning
Kiss - Destroyer
Magdalena Kožená - Le Belle Immagini - Mozart; Gluck; Myslivecek: Arias
Yes - Drama
Khymera - The Grand Design
The Marvelettes - The Essential Collection
Chilingirian Quartet - Berkeley, L: String Quartet No. 2 / Berkeley, M.: Abstract Mirror / Magnetic Field
Various - 1973 Singles
Steven Wilson - 4 1/2
Rihm - Piano
Chris Walla - Tape Loops
The Yardbirds - Shapes Of Things
Various - Tamla Motown: Big Hits & Hard To Find Classics, Vol. 2
Hélène Grimaud - Beethoven & Schumann Piano Concertos
Various - The Trojan Story: The Label That Defined Reggae
Various Composers - Contemporary East German Composers
Joachim Kühn & Walter Quintus - Get Up Early
Argent - Argent
Tony Williams Lifetime - Turn It Over
Various - Island Presents Reggae Discomixes
Brian Eno - The Ship
Santana - Abraxas
Genesis - Platinum Collection
Laura Pausini - Platinum Collection
Rachmaninov - Symphonies ・ Orchestral Works ・ Concertos
Various - Dancing In The Streets - Motown's Greatest Hits
Krommer - Partitas For Wind Ensemble Op. 57, 71 & 78

After yesterday's shenanigans, today was a little flat...

Back to salad for lunch but last night kind of blew it for this week...

Not to mention the curry tonight - although I just did - albeit it was vegetables...

Lovely coffee...


Snoozing too due to overindulgence...

And forgot to mention I bought this yesterday for a quid after visiting the dentist first thing for a check on the new crown which was deemed fine and , indeed, dandy...


I do have a soft spot for the much maligned Coldplay...

"Big Bang" and "Brooklyn Nine Nine" entertained.  "Mum" did not and drove me upstairs...

That was about it I think...

lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Sid's posting of the lawnmower pic...