Twenty years in a box...

Playlist
The Soft Machine – Volume One
The Soft Machine – Volume Two
Soft Machine – Third
Soft Machine – Fourth
Soft Machine – Fifth
Various – From the Velvets to the Voidoids

First off, a couple of treated pics from yesterday that I was unable to upload due to the PC buggering me about...





Today, inspired by last night’s viewing of “Prog Britannia”, I was soundtracked by some top Soft Machine doodlinhgs...

A £3 purchase at Fopp of a 2CD set of US “punk” rock in the shape of “From the Velvets to the Voidoids” occurred...

Some cracking tunes from The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, MC5, Alice Cooper, The Modern lovers, Lou Reed, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Television, Ramones, Blondie, Dead Boys, The Dictators, The Heartbreakers, Suicide, Pere Ubu, Devo and Richard Hell and the Voidoids – what’s not to like?

And £3...

Tonight, Anne was out at “Slumdog Millionaire” with Lynn...

Took the opportunity to watch “Prog at the BBC” followed by Mark Lawson’s interview with Phil Collins...

Despite the differences in our earnings from our music, it appears we write in exactly the same way – bang a few chords together, sing whatever comes into our heads over that, write down what you’ve sung, sort it out a bit and Bob’s your uncle – like me, he appears to have little idea regarding what many of his songs are about...

Then, another very frustrating evening re problems with the PC – literally, hours of my life wasted...



Not to worry...

Late doors, Meg the Black cat was intrigued by a box containing the original cassette versions of my albums from 1977 to 1996...



Twenty years in a box...

Highlight of the Day : Great music to soothe my frustrations...

Mem'ries, da da da da da da da...

Playlist
Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes
Uriah Heep – The Magician’s Birthday
Alice Cooper – Love It To Death
Uriah Heep – Demons and Wizards
Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies
Black Widow – III
Hawkwind – Doremi Fasol Latido
Alice Cooper – School’s Out
Alice Cooper - Killer
Velvet Fogg - Velvet Fogg
Various – 1980 : The First Year (2CD-R)

A wee celebration this evening in the form of a classic Mr CBQ & The Exec Producer dish, Spaghetti Bolognese, first produced in 1980...

Today is the 29th anniversary of our first “date”...



We decided against radishes on toast, another staple of “the old days”...

Suffice to say, dinner was very tasty indeed and also featured a nice bottle of Chianti...

Other than that, the evening was much the same as any other - “Coronation St” etc – however, at 8pm I retired to the PC to watch the DVD of “Prog Britannia”, kindly burned for me by Dr Prog...

90 minutes later, I still hadn’t seen a single frame due to PC difficulties...

Finally I stumbled a cross a reference in a forum to the fact that you can use “DVD Shrink”, the DVD copying software I recently downloaded, to watch the not so shiny discs...

And so I finally got to see the programme and lo it was indeed good...

For more succinct reviews see here...

Happy anniversary...

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s (and my) Spag Bog (not Bol, Bog)...

Listing heavily...

Playlist
Pink Floyd – Animals
Wings – Band on the Run
The Beatles – Let It Be
Uriah Heep – Salisbury
Wings – Venus and Mars
Uriah Heep - Wonderworld
Enigma – Le Roi est mort...
Paganini – Violin Concertos
Jeff Beck Group – Truth
King Crimson – Best of (CD-R)
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Ersatzreal
Rheostatics – Best of (CD-R)
David Bowie – David Live
Michael Rother - Sterntaler
Michael Rother – Flammende Herzen
Michael Rother - Lust
Michael Rother – Katzenmuzic
Various – Albums Purchased 1972-1983 On Shuffleplay



Late rise today for a change – 8:45...

Updated this nonsense, then Anne and I went for a late breakfast at Patisserie Florentin...



...the weather had cleared up again after last night’s gales and rain...





Shopping then home...

To the attic – looking for the old charts I used to make up in the 70’s and 80’s to further update my list of LPs I used to have...

Still no sign of the 1979 diary though...

Brought down my fender acoustic and retuned it – new strings needed all round I think...

Spent the afternoon going back through all my old writings and typing up additions to the list of LPs...

After a tasty tea of haddock fillet with chorizo, I spent much of the evening doing this too – whilst listening to those albums which I still have – on shuffleplay...

Late on ripped some excellent Michael Rother music to the jukebox – conspicuous as it was by its absence...

“Match of the Day 2” then bed...

Highlight of the Day : Making a big list...

Education, education, ed...

Playlist
Yes – In the Present Live Nov ‘08
Steve Howe Trio – Live 2008
Jeff Beck – Truth
Billion Dollar Babies - Battle Axe
Steve Howe - Beginnings
ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Genesis - Foxtrot
Yes - Fragile
Gentle Giant - Free Hand
Wizzard - Eddy and the Falcons
Golden Earring - Moontan
Alice Cooper - Muscle of Love
The Tubes - Now
Wings - Red Rose Speedway
Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans
Mott The Hoople - The Hoople
Santana – Abraxas
Genesis - And Then There Were Three
Sparks - Big Beat
Wishbone Ash – Wishbone Ash
Gong – Camembert Electrique
Yes – XM Radio Acoustic
Girls Aloud – Out of Control
Enigma – MCMXC
Enigma – The Cross of Changes
Enigma - Le Roi est mort...

Up at 6am and finished off the list of albums bought between 1974 and 1983, almost 800, of which 350 remain in my collection – this excludes 1979 for which my diary evades me...

Using RPI Indexing, £1 spent in 1974 is the equivalent of spending £8.52 now - meaning a £1 purchase today is the equivalent of just 12p back then...

So FOPP, if it had existed in 1974, would be selling a shed load of back catalogue CDs at 60p each and some for as little as 24p...

Och aye...

Breakfast in house, then some music copying for Dr Prog and some guitar playing, then we drove over to The Great Grog and purchased a case of wine for future consumption...

Then into the town centre and a visit to Oxfam resulted in the purchase of Enigma’s “Trilogy”, comprising “MCMXC”, “The Cross of Changes” and “Le Roi est mort...”, all three of which work off the same template of a cross between T Dream and the Orb – plus Paganini’s Violin Concertos – all for £2.99 – but I didn’t buy them because they were cheap...

The weather was sunny but cold...



We browsed a couple of book shops and then met up with Dr and Mrs Prog at Mother India Café for lunch...

It’s tapas themed, so everyone ordered two dishes and I opted for the minced lamb dosa and a dish of spiced haddock(!!) – both of which received the accolade “tasty”...

The Exec Producer declared her lamb dish to be “the best she’d ever tasted” – high praise indeed...

We were entertained towards the end of our meal by the inhabitants of three police cars turning up outside to arrest a lone (suspected/alleged) shoplifter who appeared to have snaffled a pair of jeans from a nearby store...

Post meal and extended chinwag, we exited into the deteriorating weather...


...and Mrs Prog went off to do some shopping while the Doctor, the Exec Producer and your correspondent returned in the Cloudland Blue mobile to Crispycat Towers...

Some educating in the art of downloading albums for free via MP3 blogs was undertaken, while QoS slumped to yet another defeat (1-0 away at Ross County), Hearts won away at Kilmarnock 2-0 and the Doc’s team, Dunfermline Athletic, managed a 1-1 draw...

I gave Dr Prog a lift home while playing him the new Girls Aloud album - he cannot understand my liking for the group – but did concede he’d rather listen to them than Gong’s 1973 effort “Camembert Electrique” which was one of the example downloads we went through during our “session”...

No dinner required following the lunch and the evening was spent watching TV – “CSI : New York” was given another chance and again found to be wanting – while a taped first in a “new” series (from 2004) of “Law & Order” was up to its usual standard...

“Match of the Day” took us to bed time...

Highlight of the Day : Hanging out with the doc...

The date today is...

Playlist
Genesis – A Trick of the Tail
David Bowie – Aladdin Sane
Pink Floyd – Atom Heart Mother
Wings - Band on the Run
Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies
Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds of Fire
Roy Wood – Boulders
Supertramp – Crime of the Century
David Bowie – Diamond Dogs
Free – Free
Yes – Going For the One
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Brian Eno – Here Come the Warm Jets
David Bowie – Hunky Dory
The Beatles – Let It Be
The Tubes – Now
Roxy Music – Siren
Uriah Heep – Sweet Freedom
Brian Eno – Taking Tiger Mountain
Alice Cooper – Welcome to My Nightmare
David Bowie – Young Americans
ELP - From the Beginning
Trace - Trace

Ah - lovely red thai chicken curry from Anne tonight, only possible though, after your correspondent had visited Tesco for the forgotten ingredient, coconut milk...

The list of early albums continued, with 111 of them on shuffleplay having entertained today – of those 111, it appears only 21 actually featured on the soundtrack...

So, some pointless list-making was done and some TV was watched – a taped episode of “CSI:New York” the series opener – it’s getting to be as rubbish as “CSI”:Miami” we will only watch now if we’re in and have nothing better to do...

On the other hand, “Live at the Apollo” with Jo Brand and Russell Howard was entertaining as was the last in the repeated series of “Not Going Out”...

A substantial amount of white wine was consumed during the course of the evening – about the only concession to the concept of “It’s Friday!!!!!” really...

Photo of the day is the parade of ex-calenders in the music room...



Hmmm...

Highlight of the Day : Has to be Anne’s curry...

Don't look back - oh all right then, do...

Playlist
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
The National – Alligator
Mary Chapin-Carpenter – Between Here and Gone
Dido – Safe Trip Home
The Killers – Day and Age
Leonard Cohen – Various Positions
Masterplan – Masterplan
Ryan Adams – Cold Roses
Shawn Colvin – Holiday Songs and Lullabies
The Stooges – Fun House
Fripp & Eno – No Pussyfooting
Tangerine Dream - Hyperborea
Tangerine Dream – Exit
The Bad Plus – For All I Care
Neal Morse – Lifeline
Hawkwind – Doremi Fasol Latido

Playlist today was based on albums accrued since mid-October...

This evening I went through my recently rediscovered diaries for the years 1974 to 1977 (I have from 1974 to 1983 although I appear to have mislaid 1979, or am keeping it in a different place from all of the others discovered in a box in the music room)...



In those days, I recorded nothing much other than what records I bought (and sold) and so, I commenced a list of LPs bought from 1974-1983...

It appears from these records of a young man, that I bought 262 albums in the period concerned (and a great deal more singles)...

Of those titles recorded, 145 are present in my current collection...

Erm, that’s about it for today other than watching “My Name is Earl” which, this series, is back to it’s best, and a show by Derren Brown which was fascinating, entertaining and totally baffling as to how he does what he does...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Rediscovering old stuff...

Memory not quite full...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Acoustic Setlist 2008/09
Rieflin Fripp Gunn – Birth of a Giant
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
Paul McCartney – Memory Almost Full

A cold and frosty morning...



My dad’s birthday – he would have been 79 today...

When your dad's dead, you don't stop remembering him and missing him but you do that most on these days in the calendar...

And Crispy the Cat departed the world on this day in 2002 - so ditto for pie number one...

A rainy evening as I ventured forth to the 5-a-sides determined not to repeat last week’s shit performance...

Unfortunately, although I think I was slightly better, even though I didn’t score as I did last week, I was probably still pretty shit...

Our team, the lights, were nine goals behind at one point...

We pulled back to just four down by the end of the hour...

I made a few stops while in goal (but also let a good few in)...

Picked up a suspected broken toe whilst stopping a raker of a shot from youngster Gary, from whom I still bear a bruise on my calf after stopping another of his shots in the last game before Xmas...

Oh well...

I'm probably exagerating but it's pretty sore...

Back home we enjoyed some roast beef cooked lovingly by Anne and very tasty though she is hypercritical of her kitchen skills and pronounced it to be too chewy in places...

She was wrong, I believe...

We watched Evan Davies’ dissection of exactly what it is which has gone wrong in the world of banking to cause the current crisis – fascinating but infuriating at the same time...

We are in for years of “bad times” I feel...

So – being rubbish at football (after once being pretty good if I say so myself) might not be the worst thing to happen to me looking forward...

Late doors, Mr McCartney entertained as I wrote this drivel...

Highlight of the Day : Rockin with an ex-Beatle...

Seconds out...

Playlist
Various – Rock and Pop Jukebox on Shuffleplay
AC/DC – Highway to Hell
Pol Arida - Live on Second Life

A lovely moon this morning as I left Crispycat Towers to bring home the bacon...



Today, for a wee change, I didn’t walk along to FOPP at lunch time – instead, I walked down the 1 in 10 gradient hill to Stockbridge...



...and visited a few shops down there, including a reasonably regular weekend haunt, the Oxfam Music shop...

In the event they had nothing which took my fancy, however, along the road at the Shelter shop, a brand new copy of AC/DC’s classic, “Highway to Hell” in the window caught my eye and, following the exchange of three pounds sterling, it joined my collection...

Rockin’...

And indeed, AC/DC rocked the CBQ Mobile tonight as I headed out to Lasswade to the abode of Second Life musical star extraordinaire Pol Arida and his lovely assistant Sam (and their dog, Dave!)...

Pol has been performing on Second Life for around 11 months and has built up a considerable reputation there, not solely, but partly, because he performs original material...

Musicians are apparently amongst the highest “earners” in this virtual cyberspace world, performances are free to enter but audience members leave virtual money in virtual tip jars for both the performer and the venue...

This virtual money however has an exchange rate with real dollars and can be withdrawn into reality via Paypal...

Ingenious...

So, without leaving the comfort of his own home, Pol can perform to a room full of fans (most of whom live across in the USA where Second Life is seemingly a huge phenomenon)...

He plays in his studio and the performance is streamed into the bar where his avatar stands on a stage playing to a virtual room filled with the avatars of all the listeners who post their appreciation onto the screen...



Weird stuff but intriguing...

And of course Pol wants CBQ to enter this strange world to perform too...

So this will probably happen at some point in the reasonably near future...

Noted tonight a bit of gyp in my left knee which may mean a withdrawal from the footie tomorrow night...

We’ll see...

Highlight of the Day : An introduction to a weird new world...

Nice not nice...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Paul McCartney – Memory Almost Full
Paul McCartney – Ecce Cor Meum
Gentle Giant - Discography

Up early and remixed “We Drove” yet again and created a new mock up CD of the seven tracks with added EQ and sprinkles to make it nice then ripped this into MP3 mode to replace the previous version on the Jukebox...

Didn’t notice anything wrong with the computer...

Almost everyday, at lunchtime I walk along Rose Street from one end to the other to visit FOPP...


Rose St looking East


The side wall of FOPP


Rose St looking West

Today, with my 2009 CD duck having been broken on Saturday, I bought two Paul McCartney CDs for just £2 each – because I wanted them, not because they were £2 each...

I already have a dodgy download of “Memory Almost Full” and it was an ideal opportunity to upgrade – as for the classical disc, since McCartney is such a phenomenal tunesmith, it was bound to be some tip-top-in-the-tuneful-department stuff which, sometimes, is just what you need in those classical moments...

On listening to it (it’s a choral work), it’s only in certain places you realise the singing is in English – the voices meld into one big new musical instrument...

And, I can report, it is indeed tuneful...

Got a call from the Exec Producer later in the day advising the PC was “goosed”...

Back home it seemed to be true...

So, after an excellent dinner starring Anne’s lovely home made macaroni cheese with bacon, I set myself to the task of fixing it...

A problem with Zone Alarm – so I disabled it and switched on the Windows Firewall instead and that seemed to do the trick for now – we’ll see...

Buggering about trying to fix matters though took up most of the evening – which was annoying...

Finished off the day with another quick mix of “We Drove” as I detected a slight out of tuneness on just one word – which, luckily was used elsewhere and this latter usage was able to be doubled and pasted in...

Ah the wonders of technology...

Late on, a surfing of the BBC's Prog Rock archives re the recently shown on BBC4 programmes, revealed an unseen in the broadcasts interview with Gentle Giant - who looked like three wee old men sitting on a couch in a huge room, probably the Gentle Giant's sitting room...

This prompted me to fire up the jukebox and listen to their entire ouevre on shuffleplay...

Nice...

Not The Nice...

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s very tasty macaroni cheese – she should open a shop...

Frustration and rewards...

Playlist
Ian Hunter – All American Alien Boy
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Tangerine Dream – Cologne 25/11/72 Pt 1
Mercury Rev- Snowflake Midnight
Mercury Rev – Strange Attractor
Loose Change Trio – Unstruck Note
Mott the Hoople – The Anthology
Leonard Cohen – New Skin for the Old Ceremony

Started the day with another remix of “We Drove” whilst ripping new CDs to the external hard drive and downloading the companion Mercury Rev album...



Tried to recreate the painterly effects I did on Friday's pics but to no avail - damn it why don't I take notes?

I will persevere...

Spent almost the whole day working on “We Drove” and “The Fire in the Clearing” with much remixing of the former and moving around of snippets of recordings on the latter...



I also re-recorded various vocals on both tracks...

Anne went over to Fife to watch the Hibs v Hearts cup tie on TV and was, of course, delighted that Hearts won 2-0...

The fortnightly family tea went without event then, back home, I continued to work on the two songs, finishing in time to watch highlights of the Hearts game and “Match of the Day 2”...

An, at times, frustrating but, ultimately, rewarding day...

Highlight of the Day : The new versions of two new songs...

Off the wagon...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Lee Patterson – Stella Maris
King Crimson – The Acceptable Face of...
Loose Change Trio – Unstruck Note
Shawn Colvin – Polaroids : Greatest Hits
Ian Hunter – All American Alien Boy

A long but enjoyable day today...

Up at six and two hours spent remixing new CBQ song, “We Drove”...

Then burned a new master of the seven track demo-so-far of what’s currently called “Soundingfall”, including tweaked EQs and a small measure of slight delay...

Listened to this downstairs on the main sound system while we breakfasted – sounds better than the previously disappointing sound experienced when I played other new song “The Fire in the Clearing” to mum and sister Pam just after Xmas...

So that’s a wee step forward...

Although I think I need to re-record (again!) the lead vocal on “We Drove”...

Also developed a new technique for producing “paintings” from photos (see yesterday’s pic) but, unfortunately, I didn’t actually make a note of what I was doing – but I’m going to try and replicate it and kick start my “Artworks” blog with a pic a day for 2009 if I can be bothered...

Enjoyed Lee Patterson’s album as I pottered around in the CD/music room – understated but the odd wee surprise – nice...

A quick dash for some flowers for Moira and Lex – my mum and dad’s old friends in Bearsden, whom we were visiting today with my mum...

Mum arrived right on cue at 11:30 – in her new car, a silver Astra, which she went forth and bought, advised by sister Pam, during the latter’s Xmas visit...

Lovely...

Off to Glasgow, soundtracked by the acceptable face of King Crimson...

Mum asked “who’s that son?” (as she always does) and I replied “It’s King Crimson mum, you know, Robert Fripp?”...

To which she replied “Ah yes, Robert Fripp – of Fripp & Eno fame?”...

“Yes indeed” I replied, thinking my mum must be one of only a very few people who know Robert Fripp from Fripp & Eno rather than from King Crimson or his guitar escapades on David Bowie’s “Heroes”...

Arrived on time at Lex and Moira’s and some good banter ensued, including tales of their Xmas visit to their daughter and son-in-law Lindsay and Guy’s place in Provence...

A tasty lunch of home made vichyssoise and crusty bread followed and then Anne and I drove to the railway station and took the train into Glasgow...



...where some shopping took place including, for Anne, presents for Xmas, using funds provided by my mum, and a present from me for her upcoming birthday (21 again)...

For my own part, I broke my 2009 duck re CD buying, visiting Missing first of all...

You may recall my self imposed brief this year is not to buy CDs because they are cheap but rather because I actually want them...

In Missing, I noted a £2 CD by a trio from Vancouver but did not purchase – I rather pathetically filed it in my “self justification file” under “band from cities which I’ve recently visited”...

I left the rather dingy Missing...



For the bright lights of the HMV-owned FOPP...

I’d noticed in the Edinburgh store recently Ian Hunter’s “All American Alien Boy” for a measly £3 but I thought I already had it – on checking it turned out I didn’t – so that was partaken of today – however, upstairs, two albums by John Mayall, which I thought would be quite good to have in the collection, were put back in their places, purely because I realised I was only buying them because they were £3 each...

Back downstairs I allowed Leonard Cohen’s “New Skin for the Old Ceremony” to join the Ian Hunter album (on the recent recommendation of Crimson biographer Sid Smith)...

I also toyed with Mercury Rev and Secret Machine’s (£11 in FOPP, later spotted in HMV for £18 – remember HMV owns FOPP) new albums and the 2CD reissue of David Sylvian’s “Gone to Earth” but ended up leaving with just the Hunter and Cohen in my bag...

Back to Missing and I bought the £2 CD by Loose Change Trio, taking a chance on them due to their home town and the instrumentation listed on the sleeve...

Then, through the pouring rain, to HMV but I noticed Zavvi next door was still open and, due to their recent slip into administration, were selling everything with 20% off – so I had to take a look – and I found the Mercury Rev album (which I’m listening to as I type and which is quite superb) for a mere £6.99 less the discount, i.e. £5.60 – result...

And I’ve since downloaded the free companion album “Strange Attractor”...

Met up with Anne again in HMV and we made our way back to the station for the train back to Bearsden...



Driving back to the house I popped the Loose Change Trio into the player – Hmmm –reminded me bit of Family re the vocalist’s trembly exploits – bluesy and jazzy and indeed “quite good”...

More excellent chat at Lex and Moira’s including tales of problems with their computer and Lex’s attempts to scan his vast collection of slides (something which I need to do too)....

Dinner of chicken casserole with potatoes followed by apple pie and custard – Mmmm, mmm...

We set off home just before 10 and were back at Crispycat Towers by 10:45, in time to see Queen of the South’s Scottish Cup sojourn of season 09/10 end after just one game, as they went down 4-2 away to SPL club Falkirk (after leading 2-1)...

No trips to Hampden next year then...

Oh well, it’s only a game...

Probably not what Anne will be thinking tomorrow as Hearts face Hibs away at Easter Road in the same competition...

A good day....

Highlight of the Day : A visit to Bearsden...

Time travelling cat disaster...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Quiet Sun – Mainstream

Awoke after a strange dream...

It seemed our house was being attacked by some kind of robots or having some kind of surveillance technology applied to it and this, whatever it was, involved the making of a hole in the ceiling...

As I looked through the hole, I could see our house - but it was our house in the past...

I had an idea...

I called through the hole to Crispy, our previous, much loved and now dearly departed cat...



Sure enough, her wee face appeared at the hole and I was able to coax her forward into our time...

It was with some elation that I announced to Anne that Crispy was back but, just as I was wondering how Crispy would get on with Meg the Black Cat, Crispy keeled over and started convulsing and I realised the time travel experiment was killing her...

I shouted to Anne to quickly bring a ladder so I could get Crispy back up through the ceiling to her own time...

Then I woke up slightly distressed...

I felt good to have seen Crispy again but bad that I’d killed her by enticing her to time travel...

The rest of the day was less interesting...

Early evening I went for a drink with colleagues Kris-with-a-K, Sorcha, Gillian, Caroline and Tracey for Tracey’s birthday...

Here is a particularly arty collage of the quintet...


Top : Kris, Tracey, Sorcha; Bottom : Gillian, Caroline

Back home and the couple of pints had made me a bit woozy, so the half bottle of wine didn’t help – although it was very enjoyable...

Anne had made a Thai Red Chicken Curry and it was quite delicious...

Mmm, mmmm...

On telly we watched two episodes of “Coronation Street”, the first in a new series of “My Name is Earl” and “QI” and, later on, “Not Going Out” which I find to be particularly well written re its quick fire one-liners...

Later on I tried to watch the prog programmes on the BBC I-Player but it’s shit, stopping every few seconds, so I’ll wait for the DVD from Dr Prog...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s Thai Red Chicken Curry...

Concurrence signalled...

Playlist
Joni Mitchell – The Hissing of Summer Lawns
King Crimson – Lizard
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
Mott the Hoople – Mott
Neu – Neu ‘75
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Wings – Venus and Mars
Pink Floyd – Meddle

Struggled tonight with my decision, taken yesterday evening, following the disastrous football performance, to return to the fray at Out of the Bedroom, an Edinburgh songwriters’ club…



In January 2003, a visit to this night with Jim Park and James Jamieson led me to return to live performance after a period of around five years…

I ended up being on the committee and also produced a number of CDs featuring the best acts of the day…

In 2003 I played there almost every fortnight, in 2004 I averaged once every four weeks, in 2005 and 2006 my appearances halved again, while in 2007 it was once a quarter and last year I only played once…

The initial reduction in appearances coincided with increased gigging elsewhere but, over the last couple of years, what with the broken ankle and shoulder operations, I’ve generally pulled back a bit again from performing…

And so, tonight, it was with some trepidation that I set off around 7pm and drove over to the venue in the centre of town to play for the first time since last May...

And I’d decided to debut three of my new songs...

So I was rather nervous...

Compere Rob Sproul-Cran was top notch and the acts who managed to get a slot on this, the first night of the club in 2009, were, in the main, excellent – with almost a year having elapsed since my last visit, there were only a couple of the other players whom I’d seen before...

By pure coincidence old chum, sometime Tangerine Dream reviewer and fellow blogger, Martin Lennon was in the audience and he gave me some much needed encouragement...

As did music cohort Mr Pol, at whose house party I played a couple of years ago and who, tonight, promised to introduce me to a new way of performing via the web which could widen my audience considerably…

My slot was 10pm but the night was over-running so it was around twenty past by the time I was introduced as a stalwart of the “scene” in Edinburgh – which I thought was quite good considering in the last 18 months I’ve only played one gig and a couple of songs at open mics...

After some mucking about mic-ing up my trusty Cloudland Blue Guitar and then settling on a spot where my lyric sheets might go which would allow me to see them under the glare of the spotlight, I was off...

“We Drove” (most recent demo here) was my opener – obviously it didn’t sound as good as the current recording since tonight it was just me and the guitar and the song only has one chord sequence – but it seemed to go down well...

Then “Please Stay With Us” (most recent demo here) which is fine to play in my bedroom but, in front of an audience with the nerves kicking in, the falsetto parts were a bit wayward to say the least – I think I pulled it off though...

Last was “Blend” (most recent demo here) the song of the three with which I’m most familiar and I believe I sang it pretty well all told – the audience reaction seemed to signal concurrence with that view…

Afterwards, I was complimented by a few people (which always makes your day as a performer), including star turn of the night, Lee Patterson and his guest guitarist Dave Williams – who had put in a brilliant 30 minute set as the highlight of the evening...

To cap a great night, I ended up winning the raffle – as I stuck my hand into the famous “Silver Bag of Dreams”, I felt a familiar shape and pulled out the star prize, a copy of Lee’s brand new album...

Back home to Anne and ended the night with some classic Pet Shop Boys videos, borrowed by mistake from Chris-with-a-ch as he’d inadvertently put it in the case for the outtakes DVD from “Mock the Week”...

What a good day...

Highlight of the Day : Playing live again...

Shot...

Playlist
Golden Earring – To the Hilt
Grand Funk – Shinin’ On
Hawkwind – Doremi Fasol Latido
Various Composers – Harmonia Mundi 50th Anniversary Box Set
Pet Shop Boys – Cubism (Soundtrack)

To FOPP today and still managing to hang fire, knowing I have already so much music I’ve not listened to yet properly (if at all)....

Tonight the five a sides returned after the Xmas/New Year break and so my first game for three weeks - the same as everyone else...

However, me-wise it really showed...

Quite frankly I played worse than Mr Shit of FC Shit from the town Shit, capital of Shitland...

I knew this was going to happen, as I’ve noticed over the last few weeks that my knees appear to be shot – they seize up whenever I sit down for any length of time (which, most days, is quite a lot) and cause me extreme gyp whenever I am climbing or descending stairs...

Rather disappointingly, I am getting old. As I head for 50 in a few months time, I can no longer run to any great degree and, to make matters worse, while driving, I am beginning to notice the instruments on the dashboard in the car are all blurry...

What a bastard it is getting old...

I was so puggled when I got in, I was reduced to watching “Masterchef” and nearly sat through an episode of “Holby” before heading upstairs to start the task of copying the (worth over £60) Harmonia Mundi 29CD Box Set I borrowed from the library on Saturday for three weeks (for the princely sum of £1.20)...

The organ playing in the early volumes is superb...

Unlike my footballing skills – I did manage one goal, “pouncing” (the slowest pounce you’re ever likely to see) on a misplaced pass by a defender and slamming home from close range – but I also had to have around four “rests” in goal and I let in a barrel-load – we lost by around 8 or 9 goals...

Hopeless...

Highlight of the Day : Thank goodness for music...

Cut back or download frenzy...

Playlist
Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are
Electric Light Orchestra – A New World Record
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Emerson Lake & Palmer
Family – Bandstand
Focus – Hamburger Concerto
Various – Blue Note Years 1963-67 : The Avant Garde
Wishbone Ash – Wishbone Ash
Ken Hensley/John Wetton – More Than Conquerors
Ken Hensley/John Wetton – One Way or Another
Wishbone Ash – There’s The Rub
Pulsar - Pollen

Six days into 2009 and no new CDs purchased...

This is a good thing...

Today I thought to myself, “why don’t I just buy CDs I actually want rather than CDs that may be interesting and are cheap enough to take a chance on?”...

I’m sure I’d save a load of cash by doing this...

And so I decided to try it....

Yesterday I was in HMV and saw a Blue Note disc by trombonist Grachan Moncur III...

He’s involved in much of the music I like best on the label and so, tonight I resolved to go back and buy it, even though it was £11 as opposed to the usual £2, £3, £4 or £5 I like to pay for a disc...

Alas, it had already gone...

No wonder – on Amazon and e-bay his stuff’s going for crazy prices – oh well..

Back home I dug out my 2CD set "The Blue Note Years : The Avant Garde" and played the two Moncur tracks it contains - top stuff - all in all Mr M is featured on four tracks, including one from the album I was trying to buy...

After playing through three of my new songs on the old geetar, and another excellent tea from the fair hands of the Exec Producer, we watched “Oz and James Drinking Tour of Britain” before I headed back up to the PC with my favourite big cup containing some lovely coffee...



I was on a mission to download some Wishbone Ash, inspired as I was by their performance of “Vas Dis” on the “Prog Rock at the BBC” programme I tried to watch the other day (and again tonight, to no avail) on the BBC’s I-Player...

In a rather frustrating session of time outs, multi pop up annoyances etc etc, I managed to get their first album and their fifth, “There’s the Rub” which I remember buying along with Lou Reed’s “Berlin” and “Sally Can’t Dance” from Boots in 1975 (I remember too, prior to that, owning the single from the album, “Silver Shoes/Persephone”)...

Later I found an album (“Pollen”) by obscure French sub Pink Floyd proggers, Pulsar, which soon found it’s way too onto the external hard drive...

In my “My Received Files” there, I now have over 100 albums downloaded – I must also have around a further 500 or so albums copied either from Chris-with a -ch’s Mybook or German chum Jorg’s MP3 player during his visit last October...

So of course these and the myriad downloadable MP3s there are around the net ought now to take the place of all these daft cheap purchases which I listen to once and file away?

We’ll see...

Highlight of the Day : Rediscovering Wishbone Ash...

Sauteed...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
801 – Listen Now
Alice Cooper – School’s Out
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust

Very cold and wintry today but clear skies and no wind or precipitation – so – very cold and icy...

Nearly went arse over elbow as I walked down the road in the dark this morning...



At lunchtime a watch repair was carried out and the Xmas Tree in Charlotte Square was taken down...



So I reckoned today was the Twelfth day of Christmas (Epiphany) but of course it’s actually tomorrow (as the first day is Boxing day not Xmas Day – thank you Exec Producer)...

Here’s the same scene on my way home - the tree is gone...



In the evening, after some tasty lamb mince and mash with French beans, we ventured out into the cold again and picked up chums Lynn and Ross and drove into town to the Stand to see comedian Jim Park in a ten minute slot, along with around nine other comics...



This was the best I’ve seen Jim – he was confident and assured and won the audience over easily – his timing was spot on and the self deprecation element was just right to get the packed audience on his side....

The material, despite the fact this was the umpteenth time I’d heard some of the jokes, sounded fresh and original and his new pieces were excellent too...

Of the ten comics, he was up there in the top three along with, for me the best of the night, an Aussie whose name (like all the others) I was unable to catch...

A good night – ten comics for £2 and a couple of drinks – can’t say fairer than that for a Monday...

Didn’t have time to play my guitar today though...

Highlight of the Day : Night out to the comedy club...

Close to St John...

Playlist
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – From the Beginning
Various – The Best Prog Rock Album in the World...Ever
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Freddie Hubbard - Open Sesame
Freddie Hubbard - Hub Cap

Up late today – 8:15 am...

On the BBC’s I-Player, by way of a link from King Crimson’s site, I found the Prog Rock programmes shown recently on BBC4 and enjoyed the first of these, “Prog Rock at the BBC” – or at least half of it before Anne appeared, wanting to go out for breakfast...

Our first of the year then at Patisserie Florentin, where we’ve not been for quite a while...



The coffee’s so good, I had two cups as I read music chum Ian Sclater’s coffee house and art magazine, Instant and Anne read the sports reports...

Then some shopping and I procured a couple of jerseys before heading to Tesco for the week’s supplies...

Back home, as Anne watched Rangers thrash Inverness and Man Utd beat Southampton, I was upstairs reworking two songs – “We Drove”, for which I re-recorded the guitar parts and the lead vocal and remixed it and “My House Could Be Your Home” to which I added another guitar and judiciously edited and remixed the track...

Results available for download here in the folder marked “2009 Cloudland Blue Quartet Demos for New Album”...

I’ve also added the new version of “The Fire in the Clearing”, which I remixed last Sunday, and have removed previous versions of all the songs...

So those in the folder now are the most up to date versions of each of the seven songs being worked on at present...

I’ve not mentioned it, but I’ve been making sure I play my guitar at least once a day so far this year – I’m not getting any better though...

In the evening, a compilation of previously seen bits of “Harry Hill’s TV Burp” and "Top Gear" entertained followed by some jazz listening with the late Freddie Hubbard and some leafing through books on art, architecture and the Blue Note label...

Highlight of the Day : Breakfast at PF...

Grey, red, blue, yellow...

Playlist
Various – Rock and Pop Jukebox on Shuffleplay
Various – Jazz Jukebox on Shuffleplay
Uri Caine – Mozart
Various – Classical Jukebox on Shuffleplay
Django Bates – Spring Is Here
Wayne Shorter – Beyond the Sound Barrier

Up around 7:30 again and compiled an MP3 CD for Dr Prog featuring one track each from my top 100 albums of 2008...

After breakfast out and down to the bus for the trip to town to meet up with said Doc...

We met at the library, from where I borrowed the latest CD by Django Bates, a live set from 2004 by Wayne Shorter and a 29 disc box set of the history of the classical music label Harmonia Mundi...

We partook of some lunch at Café St Giles (formerly the other branch of Patisserie Florentin) and chewed the fat re prog rock with details of the programmes currently running on BBC 4 (which doesn’t work on our Freeview) which the doc is kindly recording for posterity and of which he has promised me a copy – in return for a copy of the recently purchased ELP box set – which he missed and which has now disappeared from Fopp...

I took some snaps throughout the day...



At the Docs behest, we visited Coda and Avalanche – no purchases for your correspondent but 5.1 Surround mixes of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and the last Dream Theater album for the progmeister...

Then a short walk through Princes St Gardens took us into the Gerhard Richter exhibition which ends tomorrow...

It was excellent and inspiring, though you won’t get the full effect from my pics below, you’ll get an idea...



At the time of writing, you can view 63 works included in the exhibition, here.

You can also read about him and view some pics here...

He is easily my favourite living painter...

Sitting in one of the rooms in a quiet moment, I suddenly remembered when I was in first year at Secondary School, in my German class we all had to choose a German name to be known by – I chose Gerhard...

By chance we met Bob Gillies my old music chum from twenty odd years ago when we played together in the Dancers of San Martino with Count Brodski and Peri Urban...

Bob and I recalled the last time we’d been in the gallery together was for an opening around 1992, at which we’d both got exceedingly drunk – he ended up being sick all over a children’s playground, and I fell down a flight of stairs while trying to eat a white pudding supper, before spending the night in our record shop and falling asleep with my face resting on a lit calor gas fire...

Happy days...

The Exec Producer was on holiday in London and unable to Executively Produce...

A quick visit to Fopp (nothing purchased) then I bade farewell to Dr Prog – here are the two protagonists...



...and caught the bus back to the bottom of the hill on top of which we live and walked up – arriving home just in time to see Morton score an injury time equaliser against Queen of the South, Queens having led 2-0 after 20 minutes – very disappointing...

Meanwhile Anne had enjoyed the latest Edinburgh derby which, despite Hearts’ dominance, had ended in a goalless draw...

In the evening, an Indian takeaway – I feel a new regime (another new regime) coming on as of Monday perhaps...

“Demons” started on ITV 1 and shows some promise but I think we need to watch it on tape to scan through the ads of which there appeared to be at least 10 during each break – very annoying...

Wrote up this while listening to the, too clever by half, Django Bates before disappointingly finding out there was to be no “Match of the Day” tonight...

So some Wayne Shorter filled the gap...

Highlight of the Day : The works of Gerhard Richter...

Frying tonight...

Playlist
Various – Best Albums of 2008
Japan – Gentlemen Take Polaroids
Kraftwerk – 2004 Tour Setlist
Various – Trojan Rare Groove Box Set
Haydn – Complete Piano Sonatas

A rare eight hour sleep before arising around 7:30am...

Woke Anne up by tidying out the little four drawer cabinet which sits next to the PC...

I didn’t know I was making any noise as I had the headphones on...

A couple of hours doing nothing while Anne was on a (what turned out to be fruitless) shopping trip...

Fell asleep whilst watching “Carry on Screaming”...

Over to Anne’s brothers for a wee get together arriving around 3:30 and bringing Anne’s mum home around nine...

Most of the attendees had been at Keith’s wedding in June and it was good to catch up again...

The children weren’t best behaved however – a pane of glass in the bathroom door was cracked, tinsel underwent a rather stupid attempted straightening with hair straighteners and beer was spilt on a new laptop...

Oops...

Hoping to attend the richter exhibition in town tomorrow – in light of which, here’s a couple of Richterised pics of the aforementioned badly behaved children...



...and of Anne and brother in law Bobby...



Highlight of the Day : New Year visit...

The first day...

Playlist
Alice Cooper – Billion Dollar Babies
Various – Top 22 Jazz Albums of 2008 on Shuffleplay
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling
Robert Fripp & King Crimson – Various DGM Downloads
Alice Cooper – Along Came a Spider
Various – Rock & Pop Albums of 2008 on Shuffleplay
Purcell – Instrumental Music
Girls Aloud – Tangled Up Live at O2 (DVD)
Various Composers – Top Classical Albums of 2008 on Shuffleplay
Pet Shop Boys - Concrete

Despite retiring after 2am, I was awake at 5:30 for an opening salvo of the Coop for 2009, then downstairs listening to my best jazz albums of 2008 whilst leafing through my Penguin Guide to Jazz to read any opinions thereon...

Then to the computer to write up last night and create some “Best of 2008” playlists on the various jukeboxes...

At midday, Anne finally emerged and we watched the second half of the New Year’s Day concert from Vienna...

Then, to combat my starting to fall asleep, we took a stroll for an hour in our “garden” – the wonderful space that is Corstorphine Hill...



Back home for coffee and to watch the Girls Aloud DVD I received from Anne for Xmas...

Excellent...

After tea some terrestrial telly – “Three Men in a Number of Boats” (or something) and “Jonathan Creek” – entertained...

To bed before midnight with the Pet Shop Boys at the end of the first day of the year...

Highlight of the Day : Girls Aloud and a nice walk...

The end...

Playlist
Various – My Best Albums of 2008 on Shuffleplay
Cheap Trick – The Very Best of
The National – Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
The National – Alligator
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Freddie Hubbard – Greatest Solos (CD-R)
Lou Reed – Live in Spain (DVD)
Lou Reed – Live Take No Prisoners
Lou Reed – NYC Man
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies

Just when I thought I’d finished with new acquisitions this year (after departing FOPP with a Lou Reed DVD and a Cheap trick compilation) I got home to find a package from Macclesfield Craig behind the door (or rather, on the settee, as Anne was in)...

It contained three more discs to add to the year’s haul, two by The National and “Oracular Spectacular” by MGMT (NME Album of the Year)...

Given that I only had a few hours to listen to these, it wouldn’t really be fair to insert them into my year end best of list (see separate entry) but, from what I’ve heard thus far, these are three cracking albums...

Cheers Craig!

On a sad note at the end of the year, I learned today of the death of legendary jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, of whose albums I own almost 20, not to mention the countless others by the likes of John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, Oliver Nelson etc etc with whom he appeared as a ”side-man”...

The Bad Plus blog, “Do the Math”, led me to an article by trumpeter Randy Brecker on 12 of Hubbard’s greatest solos, of which I have seven in my collection – and so I spent some time this afternoon compiling a 60 odd minute disc of wonderful jazz as my own wee tribute to Freddie...



We were snug as bugs in the proverbial rug this afternoon as we watched Harry Hill in “Hooves” a DVD of his live show from a couple of years ago – and very funny it was too...

I tuned into the New Year edition of “Top of the Pops” in time to see an excellent performance by Girls Aloud of their number one “The Promise” followed by Coldplay singing “Life in Technicolor II” from their new EP...

Lovely...

Not so lovely were X Factor karaoke versions of “Run” and, the now sadly ubiquitous, “Hallelujah” – see here for my choice of best version...

In the evening, we reckoned we were going to keep things fairly low key with a visit to The Chinese Manor House around just fifteen minutes or so walk from Crispycat Towers...

However, after arriving at 8:30 and subsequently enjoying one of the best Chinese meals we’ve had, we bought another bottle of wine and revelled into the night with all the other clients of the establishment (and some of the staff)...

It seems we were the only two in attendance who didn’t know there was a disco thrown in and the restaurant was open till 1 am...



A top night and one of our best Hogmanays for a while – mainly because it was just so unexpected – we’d thought we’d be back home by around 11 or so...

In the event we arrived back, a wee bit worse for wear, around 1am and watched the end of “Jools Holland’s Hootanany” which, in our state seemed to be quite good...

A wee bit of Elton John followed then off to bed around 2 am listening to “Billion Dollar Babies” (as is my wont at New Year)...

So the end of 2008 has come and, looking around my favourite blogs this afternoon for the first time in about a week or so, I enjoyed everyone’s year end tales and general summing up – it’s ended up being a pretty dismal year in the big scheme of things though and, sadly, I feel 2009’s going to be even worse...

But on a lighter note, highlights for me of 2008 were our brilliant Canadian trip to celebrate our 25th Anniversary, the stay at Culcreuch Castle on the actual date and our trips to Germany and France in the summer...

June also saw a very enjoyable wedding for Anne’s brother Keith and his new wife Maureen – at which I was “official photographer”...

Also enjoyed the two gigs I managed to play this year, one as CBQ and one playing bass for James Jamieson at very short notice – hopefully I’ll be able to do more next year...

Good too that I’ve managed to make a start on the next CBQ album with a few songs now “in the can” but still a lot of work to do – ditto with the recommenced painting scenario with two half finished canvasses languishing in the attic at present...

Also on the music front, it was good to finally get Creek creaking forward again, albeit at the pace of a snail crawling in slow motion...

Despite our difficulty in coping with a child in the house (“Stop making so much noise and touching everything!!), I did enjoy the visit from our Godson Ansem and his dad Jorg in the Autumn...

Of course the party at Impossible Songs in the summer was another highlight...

And, finally, I’ll never forget the feelings I experienced watching Queen of the South venture twice to Hampden, especially the first game and their unbelievable 4-3 victory over Aberdeen..

And the first 12 minutes of the second half of the final, when it seemed they might just overcome Glasgow Rangers...

And so that’s it all over for another year – Happy New Year to everyone from me, Anne and Meg the Black Cat - I will of course be back tomorrow with more drivel...

Happy New Year!!



Highlight of the Day : An unexpectedly enjoyable New Year celebration...

Top 100 Albums of 2008

In 2008, I bought/acquired over 350 albums...

Here's my top 100...

Released in 2008 (20)
Asia – Phoenix
James – Hey Ma
Udo Lindenberg – Stark Wie Zwei
Sparks – Exotic Creatures of the Night
Coldplay – Viva La Vida
Uriah Heep – Wake the Sleeper
The Violet Archers – Sunshine at Night
Alice Cooper – Along Came a Spider
No-Man – Schoolyard Ghosts
Glasvegas - Glasvegas
Neal Morse – Lifeline
The Bad Plus –For All I Care
Girls Aloud – Out of Control
Justin Rutledge – Man Descending
Esbjorn Svensson Trio – Leucocyte
The Killers – Day and Age
Dido – Safe Trip Home
Sigur Ros – I Eyrum Vit Spilum Endalaust
David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling

Recent Albums (20)
LCD Sound System – Sound of Silver
Sam Baker – Pretty World
Biffy Clyro - Puzzle
KD Lang – Hymns of the 49th Parallel
The Whitest Boy Alive – Dreams
Fripp & Eno – Beyond Even
Robert Fripp – At the End of Time
Neal Morse – Sola Scriptura
The Divine Comedy – Victory for the Common Muse
Secret Machines – Now Here is Nowhere
The National – Boxer
Sarah Harmer – You Were Here
City and Colour – Sometimes
Holy Fuck – LP
Pet Shop Boys – Disco 4
Dream Theater – Systematic Chaos
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Devics - Push the Heart
Ryan Adams – Cold Roses (2CD)
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Between Here and Gone

Reissues (10)
Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygene
Wizzard – Wizzard Brew
Francoise Hardy – If You Listen
Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth (3CD)
Roy Wood – Boulders
Skids – Scared to Dance
Hawkwind – Hall of the Mountain Grill
Tangerine Dream - Tangram
Fripp & Eno – No Pussyfooting
Fripp & Eno – Evening Star

Live Albums (5)
Sigur Ros – Heima (2CD)
Pet Shop Boys – Concrete (2CD)
Muse – HAARP (CD&DVD)
Rush – Snakes and Arrows Live (2CD)
King Crimson – Asbury Park 1974

Single Artist Compilations (10)
The Killers – Sawdust
Bob Dylan – Dylan (3CD)
Camel – Lunar Sea (2CD)
David Bowie – I Select
Mogwai – Government Commissions
Mercury Rev – Stillness Breathes (2CD)
Dream Theater – Greatest Hit (2CD)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer – From the Beginning (5CD+DVD)
Shawn Colvin – Polaroids: Greatest Hits
Girls Aloud – The Sound of Girls Aloud

Various Artists Compilations (5)
Various Artists - Invictus Club Classics Vol 1
Various Artists - Invictus Club Classics Vol 2
Various Artists - Classic Trance Nation (3CD)
Various Artists - Velvet Goldmine OST
Various Artists - Canadian Blast

Jazz (20)
Jaco Pastorius – Word of Mouth
Acoustic Ladyland – Skinny Grin
John McLaughlin – Floating Point
Chad Wackerman – Legs Eleven
Terje Rypdal – Skywards
Kenny Werner – Lawn Chair Society
Metheny Mehldau – Quartet
Bobby Hutcherson – Happenings
Wayne Shorter – Speak No Evil
Kenny Burrell – Midnight Blue
Chick Corea – Now He Sings Now He Sobs
Grant Green – Sunday Morning
Joe Henderson – Inner Urge
Art Blakey – Mosaic
Jackie McLean – New Soil
Andrew Hill – Andrew!!!
The Bad Plus – Blunt Object Live in Tokyo
Miles Davis – Live in Europe
Miles Davis – Just Squeeze Me (10CD)
Wayne Shorter – Footprints: The Life and Music of (2CD)

Classical (10)
Cimarosa –Overtures
Faure – Complete Piano Music (4CD)
Heinichen – Dresden Concerti (2CD)
Hasse – Salve Regina
Vivaldi – Variations on la Folia
Locke – The Broken Consort
Couperin – Concerts Royeaux
J S Bach – Die Kunst der Fuge
Haydn – Complete Piano Sonatas (10CD)
Various Composers - Concerto Koln Box Set (6CD)

Covered...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Between Here and Gone
Metallica – Death Magnetic
Mogwai – The Hawk Is Howling
Donovan – Fairytales and Colours
Various – The Tommy Boy Story Vol 1
Todd Rundgren – The Best of Todd Rundgren
Mathilde Santing - Discography

Home early again and spent much of the afternoon compiling my list of the best CDs I’ve acquired in 2008...

Listened also to the 2008 discs from Mogwai (they’re up there) and Metallica (erm, they’re not)...

Inspired by brother in law Keith’s recent conversion to the music of Todd Rundgren, I dug out my 2CD best of and gave it a spin – good – but I prefer his songs performed by the wonderful Dutch torch singer, Mathilde Santing...



Of course mentioning Mathilde sent me off to Youtube to watch some performances...

I discovered her first album (a 10” LP) on the same Amsterdam trip as the Man Parish album I mentioned yesterday – and have been collecting her recordings ever since...

Other than that a fairly low-key day as we head to the end of what has, on the whole, been an enjoyable year, during which my life hasn’t changed that much at all (indeed my life seems to have been on a fairly predictable even keel since I started this diary nearly four years ago)...

However, 2009 could well prove to be a traumatic year...

We’ll see...

Highlight of the Day : Busy doing nothing much...

Planet rock and trains...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Brian Eno & David Byrne – Everything That Happens...
Dido – Safe Trip Home
The Killers – Day and Age
Sigur Ros – I Eyrum Vir Spilum Endalaust
Donovan – Fairytales and Colours
Various – The Tommy Boy Story Vol 1

To FOPP at lunchtime and two discs for £5 purchased taking me to around 350 for the year (so far!!)...

A single disc compilation of Donovan’s first two albums for £2 and a 2CDset of 12” singles on the Tommy Boy label for £3 – bargain...

The latter brought back memories of our trip to Amsterdam around 1982 where I bought a superb album by Man Parish due to their use of Kraftwerk like rhythms which are much featured on this 2 disc set (although Man Parrish are not)....

Home early – not feeling great but ready to venture out again tonight for a few drinks and an Indian with Anne and chum Chris who had popped over from Fife...

We met in Tiles Bar in St Andrew Square which is housed in the same large room where Anne’s mum once worked for Prudential...

Then to Zest on the other side of the square where a very tasty meal was enjoyed before we headed to the Doric Bar over behind Waverley Station for a nightcap prior to Chris heading for his train home...

Speaking of which I gave him a book on trains for his Xmas with which, as a train freak, he was delighted...



Bus home and to bed...

Highlight of the Day : Indian...

Wrapped up...

Playlist
Wayne Shorter – Footprints : The Life and Music Of
Various- Trojan Dub Massive Chapter Two
Brian Eno – For All Mankind Soundtrack (CD-R)
The Killers – Day and Age
Cloudland Blue Quartet – Soundingfall
Brian Eno & David Byrne – Everything That Happens...
Various Composers – Mannheim:The Golden Age

Up at 4:30 – couldn’t sleep due to the cold I have at present...

Seems I have this every year at Xmas...

Listened to the Wayne Shorter anthology I bought yesterday – superb music...

Glancing at the bookshelf, the book "Full Moon" caught my eye and I took it from its place and looked through these awe inspiring images taken during NASA’s moon landing missions of 1968-1972...



This in turn lead me to creep upstairs and get the DVD of Al Reinert’s 1989 documentary “For All Mankind” and I watched this (with the sound down) whilst continuing to enjoy the music of Mr Shorter...



The credits then led me to go to the PC and compile a mock up of the soundtrack featuring pieces taken from two Eno-centric albums, “Apollo – Atmospheres and Soundtracks” and “Music For Films III”...

By the time I’d finished this, Anne was emerging from the Land of Nod and we breakfasted before I started working again on the new CBQ tunes...

With her Exec Producer hat on, Anne told me to lose the high vocals on “My House Could Be Your Home” – which resulted in several hours mucking about with this track, ending with a very different version from the original...

I also worked again on “The Fire in the Clearing” – to little or no avail...

All too soon sister Pam and Mum arrived for an afternoon’s entertainment and a dinner prepared by Anne...

We watched Pam’s DVD of the Pixar film “Wall E” which was very good indeed – I enjoy these films and, in this case, particularly the lack of dialogue for much of the opening 40 minutes...



Shortly afterwards, dinner was served and we tucked into salmon en croute with roast potatoes, sprouts in a sesame seed dressing and garden peas, followed by a choice of chocolate or syrup sponge pudding with tasty custard...



After dinner, we played a couple of rounds of an interactive pub quiz DVD game in both of which Anne triumphed – no doubt partly due to mum having no idea how to work the DVD remote control despite precise instructions from Pam...

And then they were away, with Pam set to return to England on Tuesday evening...

Good to see her again...

By this time I was feeling lousy with the cold and fell asleep on the settee before waking up and crawling off to bed shortly afterwards...

Highlight of the Day : Space, Wall E and salmon...