Tuesday, January 31, 2017

The thundering, rumbling, low frequencies of four decades are silenced...

Playlist
Various - Krautrock : Music for Your Brain
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - 4 Way Street
The Who - Endless Wire
Captain Beefheart - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
Ornette Coleman - Live In Paris 1971
Humble Pie - Rock On
Talking Heads - Little Creatures
The Who - Join Together (live)
Talking Heads - Naked
The Stranglers - Live X-Cert
Travor Rabin - Face To Face
Status Quo - Spare Parts
Captain Beefheart - Doc At The Radar Station
John Coltrane - Coltrane
Asia - Alpha
Asia - Asia
Mogul Thrash - Mogul Thrash
Bryan Ferry - Another Time, Another Place
Various Composers - Diverse Light Volume 2
Steve Hackett - The Tokyo Tapes
Ayreon - The Theory of Everything
Asia - XXX
King Crimson - Red

Very sad news filtered through today that bass hero John Wetton had left us in the early hours of the morning...


He had been ill for a long time but, you know, you always kind of hope things'll be ok...

I've been a fan since seeing him play bass with Uriah Heep in 1975...

I didn't know at the time, but it was his thumping, funky bass line which underpinned one of the best singles I bought in 1972, "Burlesque" by Family...

He played with Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music and, of course, King Crimson - but not on this LP which is an Italian pressing of an earlier line up of the band, using his photo to try and sell it...


This was the masterpiece, "Red"...


...which I only discovered in 1978, via the collection, "A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson", four years after the group had been broken up by Robert Fripp...

I was a young person and the double LP did guide me into the music of this mighty band...

Wetton joined Heep after Crimson and then founded UK...

They recorded what is, for me, one of the best prog rock albums ever...

I've always regretted giving up my tickets for their concert at the Edinburgh Odeon in May 1978 to sister Pam and her chum Janice so that I could go to a house party...

Pam did, very kindly, record the gig for me...

Not the same though...

Of course, looking back, I'd always thought I knew "Red" before I knew "UK" but, from my diares, that seems not to have been the case...

Funny how the mind plays tricks...

I finally got to see a reformed UK in 2012 and 2015...


And, of course there was Asia in the 80s and then, post their reformation over the past decade or so...

And a plethora of solo albums and collaborations across the years...

Mr Wetton was a fixture in my life for over 40 years...

Sad news indeed...

A tribute podcast planned...

Meanwhile, this arrived from the States after a few weeks' wait and it was worth said wait...


On telly, "Silrnt Witness"concluded and, no doubt, some other stuff was watched too...

Lowlight of the Day : Death of a four decade plus fixture in my life...

Monday, January 30, 2017

Sweet sweet potatoes...

Playlist
The Beach Boys – Surfin' USA
Albert Ayler – Holy Ghost
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra – American Adventure
Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny – Beyond The Missouri Sky (Short Stories)
Ornette Coleman – The 1987 Hamburg Concert
Jah Wobble – I Could Have Been A Contender
Various – Ten Years Of Phonica
The Jazz Crusaders – Freedom Sound
John Lewis – The Wonderful World Of Jazz
The Four Tops – Motown's Greatest Hits
Talking Heads – Fear Of Music
Various – Downtown Funk
Schumann – Piano Trios, Quartet & Quintet
Miles Davis – Olympia, Paris, Oct. 11th, 1960
Calvin Harris – 18 Months
Rijnvos – Block Beuys
The Staple Singers – The Best Of The Staple Singers
Various – Electric Blues
Miles Davis – All Of You : The Last Tour 1960
The Flower Kings – Flower Power
Miles Davis – Aura

Good skies again this morning...



Nothing to report other than a good seelction of music from CDs acquired between last September and now...

In the evening, Anne out at zumba with Teresa...

The opportunity was taken to watch "Agents of Shield" and "Timeless"...

On Anne's return, the best home made soup in the world was enjoyed while 60 points were scored on "University Challenge" as Bobby Seagull beat the girl who is obviously a boy...

"Panorama" on an American man, dumped by his wife and son in England (after which they holidayed in Europe) due to his having Alzheimer's...

"Silent Witness" reached new lows in preposterousness...

A listen through to the tracks for the upcoming podcast...

And let's just leave this here from June 1970...


Mr CBQ aged 11 yrs and 1 month...

Highlight of the Day : Anne's Sweet Potato Soup...

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Le baptiste de la salle on the system...

Playlist
The Heavenly Music Corporation - The Moveable Sky
Sombre Reptiles - Smalltalk
Sombre Reptiles - Sombre Reptiles 1980-1989
David Reilly - Twenty Twenty Vision (2000 Version)
Various - Angels In The Architecture
Brian Eno - 77 Million Paintings
Brian Eno - Head Candy
Brian Eno - Curiosities II
Brian Eno - Generative Music
Brian Eno - Mistaken Memories of Medieval Manhattan
Brian Eno - Contra 1.2
Brian Eno - More Music for Films
Brian Eno - Apollo
Brian Eno - Fractal Zoom
Fripp & Eno - Evening Star
Craig Armstrong - Plunkett & Macleane
Cheikha Rimitti feat. Robert Fripp & Flea - Cheikha
Brian Eno - Music for White Cube
Michael Brook, Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois - Hybrid

The view from the office this morning - and a big happy Birthday to the Exec Producer...


Some listening to my own music while Anne slept on, then some Brian Eno and Eno related stuff for the rest of the day...


...which included a goodly amount of downloading re slightly more rare items...


After last night's blow out, our plans for a breakfast out were postponed...

Cereal at home, with lashings of coffee was, instead, the order of the day...

Anne took a wee walk out in the morning sunshine, while I remained ensconced in Enoland...

A "Father Brown", the penultimate, enjoyed, before we headed out to my mum's for coffee, a cheeky wee custard cream and a bit of a chat...

Then, to Anne's mum's for the birthday tea...

With Keith & Maureen in London, Rafa was allowed to attend (Keith has dog-related allergies)...





Anne had chosen steak pie for tea - Yumtastic...





Later on, Kitty was striking some poses...


As were Olly...


..and Mary...


Jane...


Bobby...


...and the birthday girl...


Raspberry pavlova also enjoyed...






"Happy Birthday" sung...




...and then re-enacted for Anne's mum's camera...







A good night...

Helping Kitty with particularly hard for a 12 year old economics homework and Olly for his German prelim tomorrow...

Home for a 90 minute documentary on Texas by Rich hall...

Entertaining...

More Eno related music pre sack hitting...

Highlight of the Day : New Eno and birthday tea...

Saturday, January 28, 2017

A day pulled from the fire (FFS)...

Playlist
The KLF - Chill Out
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Sybarite - Nonument
Jah Wobble - I Could Have Been A Contender
Captain Beefheart - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
Captain Beefheart - At His Best
Sigur Rós - Svefn-G-Englar [EP]
A Silver Mt. Zion - Kollaps Tradixionales
David Guetta - Listen
Françoise Hardy - En anglais
The Butterfield Blues Band - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Dominic Waxing Lyrical - Woodland Casual
Captain Beefheart - Doc At The Radar Station
Bob Dylan - Hard Rain
Lou Reed - A Life In Music
Captain Beefheart - Ice Cream For Crow
Camilla Fuchs - Singing From Fixed Rung
Die Fantastischen Vier - Für Dich Immer Noch Fanta Sie
David Sylvian - Everything And Nothing
Metheny/Holland/Haynes - Question and Answer
King Crimson - The Elements 2016 Tour Box
Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
Tosca - Dehli 9
The Slits - Cut
Calvin Harris - 18 Months
Zahara - La Pareja Toxica
King Crimson - Radical Action To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind
Marillion - F. E. A. R.
ZZ Top - La Futura
Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Love Over and Over
Captain Beefheart - Clear Spot
Yello - Toy
Soft Cell - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye: Live
Justin Rutledge - The Early Widows
Christina Rosenvinge - Un Caso Sin Resolver
Various - Ten Years Of Phonica

Up early and a quick update of the "Red Book of CDs I Own"...



Over 50% of "The Shelf" now comprises discs received from brother-in-law Keith re his switch to streaming...

Note 1st cards re the EP's birthday tomorrow...


Out at 10:40...

A driech day indeed...


...for an eleven o'clock meet with Chris Andreas of Asylumpeace...


Interesting discussions re possible ambient/drone collaborations...

Initially, files will be swapped and experimented with...

The ultimate goal though, is to perform this music in a live setting...

A challenge indeed...

Wandering back and forth along the streets of Corstorphine in the rain ensued, seeking a suitable present for the EP...

Of course this necessitated a visit to GuitarGuitar...


No purchases...

After much searching in many an outlet of uninspiring content, including a chocolatier where the content of every hand made choc had to be enquired of some chocolate guru in the basement, each was advised as having content which I believed would not be deemed attractive to the EP...

I feared returning home empty-handed...

Of course, I found out later, having settled for Milk Tray and Maltesers from the local R S McColls, that this assertion on my part had been wrong - it appears I have less of a grasp on the EP's chocolate based likes than I hitherto believed...

A pretty miserable afternoon all told...

Cold, wet and unsuccessful - to top matters off, having put my specs back in their pouch after exiting the Milk Tray shop and then trying to re insert my headphones into my ears, it seems, unbeknownst to me, said specs had proceeded to fall out of said pouch...

They were now secreted somewhere along a 50 metre stretch of pavement - secreted from a man who did not have his glasses to search properly for his glasses...

The words "for fuck's sake" were uttered...

Many things which looked like dropped spectacles to me, turned out to be merely cracks in the pavement...

Finally, I found the offending ocular helpers nestling, lenses down, in a puddle next to a wall...

Then, as I tried to clean them, I dropped my cleaning cloth in a puddle...

The words "for fuck's sake" were uttered once again...

With specs finally replaced on my fat frustrated face, I finally made out the sign which advised no bus up the hill for another 15 minutes...

The words "for fuck's sake" were uttered for a third time...

And I trudged up the hill in the cold and rain...

Back home, Anne cheered me up with lashings of coffee - tasty sandwiches were also enjoyed and she liked her meerkat based card and chocolate based gifts...

She also very much enjoyed the above glasses-related story...

In footy, QoS put up a good show at home to Hibs and were unfortunate to go down 1-0 to a cruelly deflected shot - still fifth though as other results went our way...

In the evening, out to Haymarket to meet up with Lynn and Ross for a night of carousing in celebration of the EP's birthday...

For the first time in too long a time, to the Omar Khayam, drinks having been enjoyed beforehand at the Mercat Bar and the Haymarket Bar, where brother-in-law Bobby was chanced upon, he being out with chums and coincidentally also having a table booked at the Omar Khayam...

The unpictured fayre was superb - we must return soon...



More drinks at the Haymarket Bar and much setting of the world to rights, as is the wont, post considerable alcohol intake by a quartet of chums...

Then, a bus along the road around midnight...


...followed by yet another climb up the hill, this time no rain but freezing pavements to contend with...

A good night ending an interesting day...

Highlight of the Day : Return to the Omar Khayam...

Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2017 Vol 04


Another selection of music from across the spectrum. Something for everyone...

Featured LPs:-


Alison Balsom - Jubilo
Blue Moon - Matrix Spheres
Can - Can
Echo & The Bunnymen - Ballyhoo
Brian Eno - Drums Between The Bells
John Foxx - The Garden
Gentle Giant - In a Glass House
Gong - Camembert Electrique
The David Holland Quartet - Conference Of The Birds
Laraaji - Day Of Radiance
Metheny Holland Haynes - Question And Answer
Mott The Hoople - The Hoople
Mozart - Complete Works
David Reilly - Rubinmusik 1977-2017
The Roches - The Roches
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - American Adventure
Wayne Shorter - Without A Net
Slade - Slayed?
Various - Motown Meets The Beatles
Various - Night Fever
Various - Right On! Vol 1
Various - Some Scientific Abstract Type Shit
Various - Trojan Club Reggae Box Set
Various - The Trojan Story
Various Composers - Edition Zeitgenössische Musik Vol 2
Various Composers - Edition Zeitgenössische Musik Vol 3

Friday, January 27, 2017

Our brains are getting smaller as we specialise...

Playlist
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2017 Vol 3
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2017 Vol 4
Jethro Tull - A Passion Play (Steven Wilson Remix)
Harold Land - The Fox
Asylumpeace - Some Must Watch While Some Must Sleep
Asylumpeace - White Orchid (a Lovescape)
Asylumpeace - All The Ends of All the Roads
Asylumpeace - Perceptible Light (leaks into dark corridors)

More podcast recording both first and last thing...

Very cold this morning...


...with, again, good skies...



After Wednesday night's musing about possible drummer input re me and Keith, a text from drumming brother of Dr Prog out of the blue signals he's up for some playing...

An omen perhaps...

In the evening, an excellent Red Thai Chicken Curry from the EP and a cheeky wee "Father Brown" - not many left now to watch...

Podcast uploaded...

Listening to the very good indeed and much recommended music of about to be met for the first time tomorrow possible ambient collaborator, Asylumpeace...

We shall see...

Also enjoyed this Brian Eno lecture at Edinburgh University, for which we tried and failed to obtain tickets last May...


Brainy man...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : New music...