What. A. Miss...

Playlist

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Dissolution

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Haydn

Various - Classic Northern Soul

Joni Mitchell - Turbulent Indigo

John Grant - Boy From Michigan

Dio - Strange Highways

Autechre - Amber

Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman

John Gorka - Out of the Valley

Various - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2021

Finally back up to date after getting up early to get the entries for the Yorkshire trip written...

After yesterday's 1994 listening, I noted in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear", there are 30 entries from 1994...

 Only 5 of those are in my top 100...

The morning's listening, as I WFH'd, was the full 4 hours of "Haydn"...

I have realised there's little difference, apart from the timing, across the four versions of "Schröter" I've included, whereas with "4 May, 1795" and "Esterházy" each version (four of the former, two of the latter) the pieces are completely different from each other and do demonstrate how each of the tracks was honed to the final version on the first disc...

I could probably leave out the 1st and 2nd takes of "Schröter"...

We'll see...

Notes still to be written - as I write this I'm 48 hours away from release point...

The "Haydn" listening was broken off for breakfast, soundtracked by Northern Soul and Joni Mitchell...

Fang was an early visitor today...

...as was the squirrel, showing off as usual...

Fang was still here, settled in, as I retired upstairs to work (accompanied again by "Haydn")...

 ...and was still here when I descended for lunch and a "Better Call Saul"...

Back to work in the afternoon, taking in the new John Grant LP and a Dio album, suggested by someone else but which is from 1993 (although it was released in the States in 1994), followed by Autechre and Underworld, to new to the collection 1994 items...

This, the view from the office...

Post WFH, mucked about with the router connections...

Having speed tested Anne's iPad and her work set up, it seems there is something in my laptop which is holding the download speed back - the actual download speed for the house overall is almost 4 times what it was, while the laptop remains stubbornly around where it used to be - although, thankfully (and a boon to tasks like uploading "Haydn" to Bandcamp), upload speeds are around 8 times higher (Anne's work machine is 30 times faster re uploading - of which she does none, ironically)...

Then, watching England v Germany...

An even game - both sides had first half chances...

Second half, England made the breakthrough with just 15 minutes to go...

Germany ought to have equalised almost right away and, had they done so, may well have gone on to win...

But veteran striker Thomas Muller missed a chance he would normally have slotted home no bother - only for England then to get a second, with just 5 minutes to go...

And so England, in the very much weaker side of the draw, would be facing either Ukraine or Sweden in the quarters...

The "Holby City" from when we were away, featuring the departure of the likeable but drug addled Mr Medani, filled the gap between the Germany game and the last QF...

Ukraine won with a goal in injury time of the second half of extra time, post Sweden having had a man sent off for what looked like a complete accident...

If England can beat Ukraine, they will face either the Czech Republic (whom they've already beaten but who appear to be slightly improved since then) or Denmark in the Semi Final...

Meanwhile, on the other, very much stronger half of the draw, Belgium, Spain, Italy and outsiders Switzerland will leave one team standing...

Nervy times for any Scotsman...

A "Better Call Saul" rounded off the day...

Highlight of the Day : Verifying Internet speeds - as opposed to England beating Germany...