Wednesday, July 31, 2019

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...

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

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...

Monday, July 29, 2019

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...

Sunday, July 28, 2019

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...

Saturday, July 27, 2019

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...

Friday, July 26, 2019

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...