Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Honing...

Playlist
Various Artists - Spirit of Talk Talk
Edward Spark/Cloudland Blue Quartet - Fallen Remix EP
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Crack a Smile (Single)
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dissolution
Ireland - A Dowland Suite
Love Cars - I'm Friends With All Stars
Funkadelic - Tales of Kidd Funkadelic
Pierre Monteux - The Early Recordings 1945, Pt V
NASA - First Audio Recording of Sounds of Mars
Gordon - Sonatra
Valgeir Sigurðsson - Dissonance
Steely Dan - Katy Lied
Robert Görl - Dark Tool Symphony
Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders - Promises
Zelenka - Requiem and Miserere
Don Sebesky - Three Works for Jazz Soloists and Symphony Orchestra
Trevor Bolder - Sail the Rivers
Lee Kerslake - Eleventeen
Robert Fripp - Music For Quiet Moments
Bridge - Piano Quintet
The Lickerish Quartet - Threesome Vol 1 [EP]
Parliament - Trombipulation
Neil Cowley - Hall of Mirrors
Harmonia - Documents 1975
Kirchner - Complete String Quartets
Magnet Animals - Butterfly Killer
Comus - First Uttering
Valgeir Sigurðsson - The County
Clark - Playground In A Lake
Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy
Funkadelic - Hardcore Jollies
Venus - VENUSWORLD
Ingrid Michaelson - Alter Egos (EP)
Various Composers - Pale Hands I Loved
William Doyle - Great Spans of Muddy Time
UNKLE - Rōnin I [Non-Mixed]
Ingrid Michaelson - Stranger Songs
Nashville Ambient Ensemble - Cerulean
Suzi Quatro - The Devil In Me
Kansas - Leftoverture and Beyond
John Grant - The Boy From Michigan (Single)
John Grant - The Only Baby (Single)
John Grant - Preppy Boy (Single)
Jean-Michel Jarre - Electronica 1
Concord String Quartet - American String Quartets 1950-1970
Dead Kennedys - In God We Trust Inc
Dead Kennedys - Frankenchrist
Dead Kennedys - Bedtime for Democracy

End of March...


I recall on this day last year opining that that month, just ended, was the weirdest people would have recalled...

We've now had over a year of it...

Anyway, up and at 'em at 6:30...


Scenes...




Kitchen scenes...





Breakfast scenes...


Lunch scenes...


Tea scenes...


Late on, re 1981 albums, someone suggested the Dead Kennedys "In God We Trust Inc"...

I gave it a spin - it runs at 45RPM...


While it has enough tracks to be an LP, it only runs for 17 minutes - and so, it's not...

Listened to a couple of actual DK LPs though too...

Which was good...

Other listening today, comprised the proposed line up for the weekend's podcast...

My homing of said line up means I will probably end up changing it, re all the excellent new music which is coming in...

Other ongoing things : "Modern Family", "Breaking Bad", "The Mandalorian" (free subscription to Disney); the uploading of the new LP including bonus tracks...

Highlight of the Day : Music and food...I suppose...

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Listening, mostly, to 1981...

Playlist
Nico - Drama of Exile
John Foxx - The Garden
Gang Of Four - Solid Gold
Grauzone - Grauzone
Sparks - Whomp That Sucker
Scars - Author! Author!
Phil Collins - Face Value
Yello - Claro Que Si
The Durutti Column - LC
Tangerine Dream - Exit
The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You (Limited Edition)
Spandau Ballet - Journeys to Glory
Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
Simple Minds - Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call
Gil Scott-Heron - Reflections
Jean-Michel Jarre - Magnetic Fields
Michael Nyman - Michael Nyman
Skids - Joy
Funkadelic - The Electric Spanking of War Babies
The Buggles - Adventures In Modern Recording
Public Image Limited - Flowers Of Romance
Roedelius - Wenn der Sudwind Weht
Magazine - Magic, Murder and The Weather
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Architecture & Morality
The Who - Face Dances
Saga - Worlds Apart
Styx - Paradise Theatre
King Crimson - Discipline
Jon Hassell - Dream Theory In Malaya
The Tubes - The Completion Backward Principle
Cluster - Curiosum
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement (Special Edition)
Trevor Rabin - Wolf
Klaus Doldinger - Das Boot OST
Tangerine Dream - Thief OST (Deluxe 2020)
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft - Gold Und Liebe
The Associates - Fourth Drawer Down
Duran Duran - Duran Duran
Edikanfo - The Pace Setters
Echo & The Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
Françoise Hardy - À Suivre…
Kiss - Music From "The Elder"
The Church - Of Skin and Heart
William S.Burroughs - Nothing Here Now But The Recordings
Alice Cooper - Special Forces
Genesis - Abacab
Chic - Take It Off
David Byron - On The Rocks
Geisterfahrer - Fest Der Vielen Sinne
Palais Schaumburg - Palais Schaumburg (Deluxe Edition)
The Moody Blues - Long Distance Voyager
Ippu Do - Radio Fantasy
Lenny White - Just Like Dreamin'
Journey - Escape
Fela Kuti - Original Suffer Head
The Beat - Wha'ppen
Herman Van Veen - Die Anziehungskraft der Erde
David Byrne - The Catherine Wheel
Electric Light Orchestra - Time
ZZ Top - El Loco
Roedelius - Lustwandel
Holger Czukay, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit - Full Circle
Gleaming Spires - Songs of the Spires
Allan Holdsworth - Velvet Darkness
Allan Holdsworth - I.O.U.
The Cure - Faith
UNKLE - Rōnin I [Non-Mixed]
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Crack a Smile (Single)

Up late again and, again, WFH...


Again, the sun was not yet quite up, over the rooftop opposite-wise...


But, later on, it was...



The feeding station was re supplied by your correspondent...


...and CD shelf helper Blair's pencil was found under the sofa in the back room as it was moved slightly backwards - he will pop by on Friday for us to finish the CD shelf task...


These have proved slightly too small...


This one is slightly too big - the ones behind are just right...


It's a Goldilocks scenario...


Some nice things downloaded today including the new one from UNKLE...


...but most of the day was spent listening to my top 100 LPS of 1981 on shuffle - I will whittle them down to 5 by Saturday...

"Holby City" entertained on the telly...

Still bonkers...

Highlight of the Day : 1981...

Monday, March 29, 2021

Rainy Monday, not much doing...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - The Surrender of Barcelona (1934-1937) (EP)
Sloan - Commonwealth
Suckling - This Departing Landscape
Mogwai - As The Love Continues
Peter Gregson - Boundless
A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Invisible Cities OST
Ken Hensley - My Book of Answers
Vikingur Olafsson - Reflections
Valgeir Sigurðsson - Kvika
Katia Krow - I've Called Off The Search, I Know Exactly Where You Are
Arc of Life - Arc of Life
Transatlantic - Forevermore
William Ryan Fritch - Freeland OST
Lee Kerslake - Eleventeen
Arcade Fire & Owen Pallett - Her OST
Hedwig Mollestad Trio - Ding Dong You're Dead
Stephan Thelen - Fractal Guitar 2
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Piano Pieces (8 March 2021)
The Paper Kites - Roses
Clark - Playground In A Lake
Human League - Dare!
Scars - Author! Author!
John Foxx - The Garden
Grauzone - Grauzone
Echo & The Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here

Up late and back to WFH...


Raining...


The new "single" was good after a few hours away from it...


Later the sun came out...


Lunch...


Tea...


Another weak performance from Crispycat University on "University Challenge" was followed by the last of "Unforgotten" and a sad end to the programme...

One which means it most likely will not be back...

Oh well...

Onwards...

Highlight of the Day : Unforgotten...

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Taking something small and making it bigger...

Playlist
Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2021
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Ingrid Michaelson - Stranger Songs
Bach J S - Brandenberg Concertos
Fee Waybill - Fee Waybill Rides Again
Chausson - Opium
Schoenberg - Peter Serkin : Schoenberg Klavierwerke
Ciconia - Ciconia: The Complete Works
Christian Löffler - Parallels
Kraftwerk - The Mix (Deutsch) (Remastered)
Nielsen - The Four String Quartets
Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar
Tate McRae - Too Young to Be Sad
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Crack a Smile (Single)

Up early and working on a small but aggressive guitar piece mailed to me last night by Stu Cobley...


Anne's paints awaited her in the dining room...


...as did her latest test...


No action ended up being taken until a week form now...

Here's one I did (28 years) earlier...


Some chat on Twitter about CDs that won't fit on normal CD shelves - I have almost 2 shelves worth...


...and quashing some nonsense about David Bowie having ruined a band's career after they supposedly blew him offstage in 1969 - in fact a few months after that gig (in contemporary reports of which no mention was even made of this other band's performance on the day), he asked them to support him at the Purcell Rooms, an act which directly led said band to be offered a record deal - indeed the band acknowledge this on their own website...

Jeez, this is how real fake news starts - people just say utter pish without checking actual facts...

The concert in question is the subject of Bowie's track "Memory of a Free Festival" on the LP which came to be known as "Space Oddity" - the bonus versions on the Rykodisc issue of that album are even better perhaps, with their full band renditions...

Anyway, a big breakfast post mum-shopping...



Said mum, enjoying one of Anne's stories...


Back home and back to work on the Cobley track...


By the end of the day, a new single, "Crack a Smile"" with four mixes of the track sent to Stu...

No release plans as yet but, no doubt, this will see the light of day at some point...

Steak tea from Anne...


...and the second episode of "Line of Duty" as things start to move along nicely...

As I type, I am 56 minutes away from episode three, such has been my laxness in keeping this up to date...

Onwards!

Highlight of the Day : New track...

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Podcasting, uploading, westing, heartbreaking...

Playlist
Various  - 500 Singles from the 70s
Max Richter -Solo Piano Music
CBQ - Dissolution
Kraftwerk - The Mix
William Doyle - Great Spans of Muddy Time
Comus - First Uttering
Funkadelic - Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
Ingrid Michaelson - Stranger Songs
Ingrid Michaelson - Alter Egos (EP)
Ingrid Michaelson - Women to the Front (EP)
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dissolution
Funkadelic - America Eats Its Young
Funkadelic - Cosmic Slop
Funkadelic - Let's Take it to the Stage
Funkadelic - Hardcore Jollies
Funkadelic - Tales of Kidd Funkadelic
Funkadelic - Uncle Jam Wants You
Funkadelic - Connections and Disconnections
Funkadelic - The Electric Spanking of War Babies
Bootsy's Rubber Band - Stretchin' Out In Bootsy's Rubber Band
Bootsy's Rubber Band - This Boot Is Made For Fonk-N
Parliament - Chocolate City
Parliament - Up For The Down Stroke
Status Quo - Rockin' All Over The World
David Bowie - Heroes
Parliament - Osmium

Up pre six as I still had 90 minutes at least of the podcast to record...

I'd been listening to 70's singles overnight...


And so to the podcast...


..and the uploading of the new LP...


...including bonus tacks...


Podcast down and out...

A break in the LP upload...

A nice breakfast prepped by the EP..



...before we headed out and ended up at West Linton...

We took a walk around the village although everywhere bar the Co-op was shut...















We ended up at the Co-op, securing sandwiches and crisps for lunch plus a couple of small cakes to bring home, opting to eat the first two items in the car before heading back...

In the afternoon, I listened to music and watched the scores on the net re Hearts v Queen of the South - Anne, due to her being a JTs season ticket holder, was able to watch it on her iPad...

Queens scored in 2 mins and soon were 2-0 up, the second goal a particularly tasty chip of the, granted, well off his line, keeper...

Hearts pulled one back and then equalised - at that point I thought probably 4-2 Hearts - theyed thumped Queens at Tyncastle 6-1 last time...

But, a spectacularly bad own goal...


...put QoS back in front...

And then Hearts had a goal chalked off at the end for some unknown infringement...

So, it ended 3-2 for the Doonhamers and, for the first time since 1963, Queen of the South were victors over Heart of Midlothian...

Anne : not pleased...

Me: pleased...

A Chinese takeaway, the frankly unfathomable "Deutschland 89" and another good "Vera" entertained for the rest of the evening...

Highlight of the Day : Queens beat Hearts...