No one else is going to be my Louis Armstrong...

Playlist

Fehlfarben - Glücksmaschinen

Various Artists - Out Of The Blue

Various Artists - The Blue Box: Blue Note's Best

Various Artists - Smokin' Blue

Various Artists - Blue Juice Vol 2

Various Artists - Blue Note Nonstop 60 Trax

Various Artists - New Blue

Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby (RM)

Dave Edmunds - Subtle As A Flying Mallet

Alice Cooper - Collection (Germany 1982)

Frost - Through The Eyes Of Love

Lou Reed - NYC Man: The Ultimate Lou Reed Collection

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Twentynineteen

Uriah Heep - Sweet Freedom

Cockney Rebel - The Psychomodo

King Crimson - Red

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

Electric Light Orchestra - Face The Music

Fripp & Eno - Evening Star (Remaster)

King Crimson - Discipline

The Tubes - The Completion Backward Principle

The Cure - Pornography
Gracahn Moncur III - Mosaic Select

Automatic Man - Automatic Man

Genesis - A Trick Of The Tail (1994 Definitive Edition Remaster)

Budgie - If I Were Brittania I'd Waive The Rules

Rush - 2112

Alexisonfire - Old Crows Young Cardinals

Alpha Rev - Bloom

The Beatles - Abbey Road

Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Wild Life

The Beatles - Revolver

John Lennon - John Lennon

The Beatles - The Beatles Hits EP

The Beatles - Chronology

Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic: Highlights!

George Harrison - Living in the Material World

How can it be that July too, now, has gone?

Quite easily, apparently...

Started the day with some Twitter influenced Blue Note listening...

Soundtracked by Lou Reed and me mostly during the day...

To Fopp at lunchtime and a lack of enticement...

This evening, Anne was out so I cooked...

Sea bass and vegetables...

Actually pretty good - not that I'm one to blow my own trumpet - but, frankly, no one else is going to be my Louis Armstrong on the cooking front...

A Jack Reacher nonsense film watched, then dishes done, coffee made...

...and upstairs, ostensibly to work on this week's podcast but, as ever, got sucked into stuff on the internet...

A debate as to whether Al Stewart's LP "Year of the Cat" is "prog"...

Of course it's not...

But Alan Parsons was involved so that makes it prog apparently?

There's a guy on Twitter who calls himself "British Prog Rock" and gets extremely annoyed if anyone posts anything into his timeline which (a) isn't British and (b) doesn't fit in with what he, as sole arbiter of the subject, deems "prog"...

And then he posts up "Year of the Cat"?

LOL...

Anyway, here are some British LPs from 1976 which are more prog than "Year of the Cat"...

On Anne's return, "Gameface" entertained...

That was it..

Highlight of the Day : Successfully cooking...

Chance meeting...

Playlist

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selections 2018

Martha Argerich - Live From The Lugano Festival - Chamber Music

Poulenc - Piano Music, Vol. 1

The Meters - Fire On The Bayou

Various Composers - Wergo 50 Years : Music of Our Time

Daniel Smith - Bassoon Bon-Bons

Various Artists - Island Presents: Lovers Rock

Geminiani - Concerti Grossi, Vol. 1

Various Composers - 20th Century Classics

Alfred Brendel - Schumann: Fantasy In C, Symphonic Etudes

Boyce - The Eight Symphonies (Menihun)

Walter Gerwig - Music for Lute

Ben Frost - Super Dark Times

Starer - Excursions For A Pianist

Bridge - Phantasie Quartet, Novelletten

Locatelli - Concerti Grossi Op. 1/7-12

Paul Jones - Clean

Igor Levit - Bach, Beethoven, Rzewski

Die Ärzte - 5,6,7,8 Bullenstaat

Busoni - Late Piano Music

Le Poème Harmonique/Vincent Dumestre - Aux marches du palais: Romances & complaintes de la France d'autrefois

Dohnányi - Winterreigen, 6 Piano Pieces, 3 Singular Pieces

King Crimson - he Road To Red

Pierre-Laurent Aimard - Obouhow, Scriabin, Debussy, Chopin, Messiaen, Enescu

Various Artists - The Best Of British Folk

Heinichen - Concerti Grandi

Hindemith, R - Rudolf Hindemith, Vol. 2

Herbert Von Karajan - Karajan Orchestral Spectaculars 1949-1960

Bach, J S - Orchestral Suites & Concertos (Menuhin)

Max Emanuel Cenčić - Fantastic Cenčić

Nadine - oh my

Reitz - Heimat 3

Niklas Eklund - The Art Of The Baroque Trumpet, Vol. 1

Giustini - Sonate Da Cimbalo Di Piano E Forte

Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.

Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, L'Estro Armonico, Etc

Sun Ra - Supersonic Jazz

Schenck - Nymphs of the Rhine, Vol 1

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - 100 Jaar Concertgebouworkest

Jack Quartet - Ligeti / Pintscher / Cage / Xenakis - Wigmore Hall Live

Carmen Villain - Infinite Avenue

Itzhak Perlman - Violin Encores

The Scandinavian Wind Quartet - Nielsen, Holmboe, Nørgård, Abrahamsen

Neil Young & Promise of the Real - The Visitor

The Durutti Column - LC

Various Artists - Kehakuma

Illenium - Awake

Andrew Hill - Black Fire

Various Artists - Blue Note Trip - Saturday Night/Sunday Morning

The view from the office this morning...

Soundtracked for most of the day by last year's podcasts...

To Tollcross at lunchtime, no purchases...

On the way back, a chance meeting with old chum Eona Aitken, and fellow member of "The Metamorphosis Group" from 1993...

...purely because I decided to pop into Sainsbury which took me a on a slightly different route...

Looking well, having just turned 71 - long retired but as busy as a very busy person - not much with her art though - which still has pride of place here at Crispycat Towers...

In the evening, a very tasty unpictured omelette sustained, followed by music - mainly the shortest tracks featured over the years on the podcast of those which were showing up in iTunes as never having been played - while I continued to update the text of the German Trip entries - already six weeks ago...

Also played Andrew Hill's debut LP - just released on vinyl (again) by Blue Note - but without the two bonus tracks on my quite obviously better sounding CD...

Ended the day with "Holby" which was kind of up to the usual standards...

How did we ever get sucked in?

Highlight of the Day : Chance meeting...

And, all the way from Japan...

Playlist

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2019

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2018

Betts - Asahi

Betts - Asahi (Promo)

Various Composers - Piano Music of Our Century

Up reasonably early and some updating of the entries for the German trip - it's taking a long time to get that particular project finished off...

The beast was about its business...

Once again, as we breakfasted, Sid was stalking the feeding station...

Along to Dalry today but no purchases made...

However, this awaited my return home - a tasty ambient CD-R from that there Japan - the latest from Betts...

...which joins...

...the other two received earlier this year...

I had already downloaded the music from Bandcamp and it soundtracked my drive out to Loanhead to spend some time with my mum - who was very happy to finally receive her promised milk...

Home around 8:25, greeted by Fang the Black Cat, who is once again banned from the house for attacking Anne yesterday after she'd given him some goodies...

Accordingly, goodies enjoyed on the back step...

"University Challenge" was contested tonight between two teams with almost equally obnoxious captains - we came third with 110 points...

Late on, sampling this tasty box set, which entered the collection two years ago today...

...on the same day I taped up my mum's TV remote control into a Tupperware box to stop her from pressing the wrong buttons...

So it goes...

Highlight of the Day : New ambience...

Visitors but not Abba's final LP...

Playlist

Capital Models - 2019-07-21 (Plus Overdub)

Andrew Hill - Mosaic Select

Crazy Wisdom - The Reptile Tapes

Andrew Hill - One For One

The Rolling Stones - Through the Past Darkly

Various Composers - Wergo 40 Years : Music of Our Time

Duke Ellington - The Best Of Duke Ellington: Centennial Edition

The Adverts - Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts

Laura Pausini - In questa nostra casa nuova [Single]

The Upsetters - Build The Ark; With Lee Perry & Friends

Krzysztof Lenczowski - Internal Melody

Brian Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks [Extended Edition]

Andy MacKay - In Search Of Eddie Riff

Quiet Sun - Mainstream

Faust - Faust IV

Rod Stewart - Gasoline Alley

Fjieri - Words Are All We Have

Various Composers - Wergo 50 Years : Music of Our Time

Alice Cooper - Alice Cooper Goes To Hell

The Trio Of OZ - The Trio of OZ

Adrian Belew - Lone Rhino

Vanden Plas - The Epic Works 1991 - 2015

Glass - Glassmasters

Malcolm Galloway - Transitions

Zoot Sims - The Art of Jazz

Wire - Pink Flag

Various Artists - Island Presents: Lovers Rock

Yehudi Menuhin - Les Introuvables de Yehudi Menuhin

Procol Harum - The Best Of Procol Harum Halcyon Daze

King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King (40th Anniv)

T Rex - Electric Warrior

Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes

The Move - Message from the Country

Alice Cooper - School's Out

T Rex - The T Rex Wax Co. Singles - A's And B's, 1972-77

Wizzard - Wizzard Brew

David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

Lou Reed - Berlin

The Bryan Ferry Orchestra - The Jazz Age

Miles Davis - Conception

Miles Davis - Sorcerer

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

Electric Light Orchestra - Face The Music

Fripp & Eno - Evening Star (Remaster)

Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Zuma

Roy Harper - HQ

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Rainbow - Rainbow Rising

David Bowie - Low

Yes - Going For The One

David Bowie - Heroes

Michael Rother - Sterntaler

UK - UK

Pink Floyd - The Wall

Sparks - No 1 In Heaven

David Bowie - Scary Monsters and Super Creeps

Joy Division - Closer

Rush - Permanent Waves

Simple Minds - Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call

Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - Alles Ist Gut

John Cale - Honi Soit
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2019

First thing, prompted by the Twitter, created a 2LP set by Andrew Hill...

And gave it a listen...

Recompiled this week's podcast content, rejecting the playlist from yesterday yet keeping most of it and ending up with two hours...

Young Sid from a couple of doors along was stalking her, frankly unattainable, prey at the feeding station...

As with most cats, when such things went wrong, she pretended it hadn't happened and gave herself a clean...

Although she contemplated coming in, she did not - still a bit shy...

Started recording the podcast then Beau arrived with nephew Ali to do some final work in the attic...

Beau had a wee look around...

...and seemed well aware where her dad was...

Here he is Beau...

No showers for dogs...

The squirrel breakfasted, as did we, reasonably late on...

Good chat ensued - so much so that the 2 hour recording of the podcast ended up being almost 5, with great long gaps of silence thereafter having to be edited out before the eventual upload...

I did, however, leave in the inadvertent recording of a phone call from my mum asking that I bring her rolls and milk...

However, by the time everything had been done I did not have time and called back to advise I'd be out tomorrow...

Guests were arriving - today we were hosting the fortnightly Sunday tea - with Jane, Bob, Olly and Kitty in Spain, a smaller attendance, which was eminently manageable...

Sea Bass fillets with potatoes and veg, followed by a very nice indeed home made apple and blackberry crumble with custard were much enjoyed...

I almost forgot to take any pics and did indeed miss all the food but here are the guests, about to leave..

Mary...

Maureen...

Keith...

I gave them a lift into town, however, having run into the football tubes leaving Murrayfield following a "really don't know why this should be happening at Murrayfield" friendly, which saw Napoli trounce Liverpool 3-0, it took me some considerable time and quite the detour to get back home...

Ended the day listening back to the finalised podcast - quite liked the scope a two hour time slot gives, although, obviously, it's double the work...

We'll see...

Highlight of the Day : Visitors...

Tiles, mixing and slipping around in time...

Playlist

Various Composers - Wergo 40 Years : Music of Our Time

Various Composers - Wergo 50 Years : Music of Our Time

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Mother's Day

Roxy Music - Country Life

The Upsetters - Build The Ark; With Lee Perry & Friends

Krzysztof Lenczowski - Internal Melody

The Trio Of OZ - The Trio of OZ

Rare Earth - Get Ready

Caravan - Caravan

Taylor Swift - The Archer [Single]

Brian Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks [Extended Edition]

Capital Models - 2019-07-21 (Plus Overdub)

Out this morning in search of tiles...

Some scenes...

The beast was being reflected...

...and his not too outlandish choices were being rejected...

...in favour of things less outlandish...

Loadsa possibilities were looked at...

...and probably the final choice was made...

The afternoon was spent mixing the 22 tracks recorded last Sunday with my guitar parts, recorded during the week, and making the resulting tracks available to my bandmates via the internet...

In the evening, we watched "Slaughterhouse Five" which, as with most old films, was not quite as good as I recall it having been when I first saw it in the 1970's...

Oh well...

Highlight of the Day : Mixing...

Quite probably, it's possible to eat too many eggs in one day...

Playlist

Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby (RM)

Roxy Music - Country Life

David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees

The Damned - Damned Damned Damned

Joy Division - Still

Adrian Belew - Lone Rhino

King Crimson - In The Wake Of Poseidon - 40th Anniversary Series

Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention - Mother's Day

Various Artists - The Front Line

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire

Brian Eno - On Land

Françoise Hardy - Star

Gallagher And Lyle - Breakaway

Grand Funk Railroad - Live Album

Roger Hodgson - In The Eye Of The Storm

Brian Eno & Harold Budd - The Pearl

Talking Heads - Fear Of Music

The Damned - Music For Pleasure

Brian Eno - Music For Films

Can - Out Of Reach

Françoise Hardy - Golden Hour Presents the Best of Françoise Hardy

Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets

Roy Wood - Boulders

Bryan Ferry - Boys And Girls

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars

Françoise Hardy - La maison où j'ai grandi

Eric Clapton (with Michael Kamen) - Edge of Darkness

John Wetton - Caught in the Crossfire

Telex - Looking For Saint Tropez' 

Klaus Schulze - Mirage

Bruford - Feels Good To Me

Mertens - Struggle for Pleasure

Public Image Limited - Public Image

The Beatles - A Hard Days Night

Gentle Giant - Gentle Giant

John Foxx - The Garden

AC/DC - Let There Be Rock

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Love Beach

Propaganda - A Secret Wish

Hatfield & The North - Hatfield And The North

Roxy Music - Siren

The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground

Faust - Faust IV

Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives Of Henry VIII

Die Ärzte - Live: Nach Uns Die Sintflut

Emerson Berry & Palmer - ...To The Power Of Three

The Church - Seance

Wire - Pink Flag

Françoise Hardy - Françoise

Grauzone - Grauzone

Lili Drop - Monde Animal

Paul McCartney - McCartney

Quiet Sun - Mainstream

Various Artists - Fill Your Head With Rock

Yes - Time And A Word

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

The Rolling Stones - Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!

Geoff Love And His Orchestra - Your Favourite TV Themes

Caravan - Blind Dog At St.Dunstans

Status Quo - Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo

The Tubes - Now

Ideal - Ideal

The Church - Remote Luxury

Pilot - Second Flight

Asia - Then & Now

Zoot Sims - The Art of Jazz

Mozart - Le Nozze Di Figaro, K.492 Arr. For String Quartet (1799)/ Marcolini Quartett

Brian Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks [Extended Edition]

Moraz/Bruford - Flags

10cc - The Original Soundtrack

Brian Eno - More Blank Than Frank/Desert Island Selection

David Byrne - The Catherine Wheel

Udo Lindenberg - Radio Eriwahn

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Chocolate Kings

Alice Cooper - Alice Cooper Goes To Hell

Various Composers - Wergo 50 Years : Music of Our Time

Various Composers - Wergo 40 Years : Music of Our Time

The view from the office this morning, pre breakfast...

...which was this...

...and this...

...before setting off down the hill, by which point, things had deteriorated a little...

Once again soundtracked by my old LP collection...

Lunch comprised a salad, containing a couple of boiled eggs...

Late afternoon, picked up by the EP to make our way to Warriston Crematorium...



 ...to say farewell to Anne's Aunt Ellen - a larger than life character when I first knew her back in the early eighties, with a joie de vivre second to none...

Diagnosed with dementia not long after having retired around ten years ago though, she had been in a care home for the last five years, for the last four of which she had been unable to communicate or indeed do anything else...

Her husband, Bob, visited her there almost everyday, while Anne's mum made a weekly visit to her sister's bedside...

Relations from South Africa were over and took a large part in proceedings which told the tale of Ellen's earlier life before the dreadful disease took hold...

We took Anne's mum home, discovering a non-working oven - the solution to which we were to discover tomorrow was re-setting the clock post a power curt which had happened on Monday...

Meanwhile I undertook some cooking of my own...

Uh oh - more eggs...

..and a plethora of veg...

I also collected my second Wergo box of the week from a neighbour's house...

Weird and tasty, a bit like my omelette...

Highlight of the Day : New Wergo discs...