Friday, July 12, 2019

And on drums...

Playlist
10,000 Maniacs - Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure & Unknown Recordings
Luther Adams - In the White Silence
Tangerine Dream - Tangram
Soft Machine - Softs
Chic - Take It Off
Soft Machine - BBC Sessions (1971-1974)
Genesis - Platinum Collection
Sonny Rollins - The Blue Box: Blue Note's Best
Liza Minnelli - Results
The Who - My Generation
Brahms - Piano Works
Neal Morse - Momentum
Francis Dunnery - Let's Go Do What Happens
The Heavenly Music Corporation - Windfall Star
Capital Models - 2018-09-23 DR Covers Learning
Haydn - Complete String Quartets
Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood
Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room
Various - The Wire Tapper 04
Icehouse - Primitive Man
Phil Manzanera - Firebird V11
Anger 77 - Allein Im Flugzeug
Herman Van Veen - Signale
Hawkwind - Epocheclipse
Ry Cooder - Music By Ry Cooder
Laurie Anderson - Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology
Beethoven - Hommage
Keimzeit - Im Elektromagnetischen Feld
Julian Lennon - Help Yourself
Various Composers - Deutsche Grammophon : Original Masters : The Singles
Ligeti - Works
Catrin Finch - Crossing The Stone
Beardfish - Destined Solitaire 
Lee Hazlewood - Cake or Death
Johnny Cash - American Recordings
2ManyDJs - As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. 2
Pro Arte Trio - Arabesque
Creek - 2019
The Stylistics - The Best Of The Stylistics
Cocteau Twins - Stars & Topsoil: A Collection (1982-1990)

New flowers...


The view from the office this morning...


Soundtracked by the "Unplayed Yet" playlist on the phone...

The Hill I...


The Hill II...


A free bus journey - still getting used to the number of different buses I can use for nowt with the old codgers' bus pass...


Along to Dalry at lunchtime and, in the St Columba's Hospice shop they were selling their CDs for just 20 of your English New Pence each...

Accordingly, £1 was paid out...

Further old codgers - dead old codgers in fact...

This is really rather good...


This is sparse and better than I recall when Dr Prog played it to me and Anne at his flat over ten years ago and I slagged it off...


..and this includes a song to be played tonight, thanks to Mr Jamieson Frain of course...


...and, once, young whippersnappers...


And erm...


Come on, for 20p it's fine and dandy...

Further along, at the Cats' Protection League, this for £1.50 - listed on Amazon 2nd hand for £18...

Delightful...


Home this evening for super healthy fish, chips and peas from the fair hand of the EP, before she headed out to watch Hearts draw with lower league Dundee Utd in the League Cup - but win an extra point 5-3 on penalties - all accompanied by an ongoing torrential downpour...

The game was coincidentally showing at our venue this evening, The Beaton Docket (no idea what that means) in Portobello, for the first outing by the downsized Capital Models Trio, of me Stu and Keith...

Set up...


The night was opened by one of Keith's two other bands, in both of which he is the drummer as opposed to bassist - with us he is the once drummer now bassist...

They were top notch...


Then, "Frank", a man whom I would accompany later on, entertained for six or seven songs...


Your heroes then took to the (unpictured for their sets) stage and blasted through eleven of our twelve song pool for the evening - missing out only "Satellite of Love" as Keith couldn't remember how to play it (setlist below)...

This guy then played a selection of covers, including some Supertramp and a one man and his 12 string guitar version of "Mr Blue Sky"...

Impressive, if somewhat different...


He did not play the coda, advising there were too many instruments on it - erm, he'd just played the rest of "Mr Blue Sky"?

Then, a return for Alan, Ian and Keith (after a rendition of what I found out later was a Paul Weller song, with Alan on voice and guitar and Mr CBQ on the drums - for the first time in public since 1981)...

More rocking numbers from the trio, including cracking renditions of "Keep on Running" and a "Ziggy Stardust/Rebel Rebel" medley...


Every single song played tonight seemed to be being filmed by this young man down the front...


Turned out he was with Alan and Ian...


Our guitarist was also enjoying the night - although not sure if this pic illustrates that to the best effect...


And indeed Stu was our only guitarist for our second impromptu set, this time with me on the bass and Keith on drums - not too bad considering I'd not bassed for some considerable time and in fact, tonight was the first time I'd ever played it on "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"...

Finally, Frank returned to the stage with a rendition of "In the Air Tonight" - for which the Cloudland Blue Drummer accompanied, from the "do do, do do, do do, do do, do do do" drum break, mid song, onwards...

Ian then joined us on bass, for the apt "It's All Over Now"...


..and then it was, indeed, all over...

Take down...


Home at 1am, Anne up and waiting...

A very good night indeed...

Highlight of the Day : Drumming in public...

Capital Models Setlists

I
Virginia Plain
Folsom Prison Blues
Proud Mary
Rhinestone Cowboy
Perfect Day
Let's Stick Together
Starman
Suspicious Minds
Stuck in the Middle With You
Brown Eyed Girl
Mrs Robinson

II
A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall
Leavin' on a Jet Plane
Sweet Jane

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Home alone is sometimes not a recipe for disaster...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - No Last Tilt [Single]
The Beatles - Long Tall Sally EP
Fripp & Eno - No Pussyfooting
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Happy Is the Way (That Everyone Is Meant to Be) [Single]
Jon Anderson - 1000 Hands
Andy Williams - The Very Best Of Andy Williams
Opeth - Pale Communion
Little Feat - The Last Record Album
Rheostatics - Whale Music
r beny - echo's verse
Warmrain - Back Above The Clouds
Tangerine Dream - Encore (Remastered 2018 / Deluxe Version)
2raumwohnung - 2raumwohnung Singles
Bobbie Gentry - I'll Never Fall In Love Again: The Best Of
Alaska + Dinarama - Fan Fatal
Ry Cooder - Music By Ry Cooder
Luther Adams - In the White Silence

Up early and choosing the tracks for this week's podcast - which formed the soundtrack for most of the day...

The wee tail-less robin was back at the feeding station this morning...





As mentioned yesterday, I took a dreadful CD back to the BHF shop at lunchtime...

Uh oh - they had had an influx of new stuff...

And so, these, for a couple of quid each, were acquired...

Tasty film music by Ry Cooder...


...a chance to investigate a band I've never really rated...


...and a different collection of the Cocteau Twins from the one I already own, with just a couple of overlaps...


Nice...

Anne was off out on the ran-dan with Lynn, so I made my own, unpictured, tea, maintaining my new healthier stance - it had started off as a "sauce" for pasta but ended up as a "soup" with no pasta - onion, tomato, mushroom, celery, coriander, chives, barlotti beans, tinned toms, chili powder...

This was scoffed, whilst enjoying the hokum of "Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol" which had been languishing on the Tivo box for months...

Again, no rehearsing for tomorrow...

Oh well...

A recommendation from the Twitter, led to the downloading of a new to me piece by John Luther Adams...

Nice...

A call late on and a pick up for Anne from down the road...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Cooking...

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

It had to happen sometime...

Playlist
Capital Models - 2019-04-28
Capital Models - 2019-07-09 (Trio Open Mic Rehearsal)
Andy Williams - The Very Best Of Andy Williams
Tilman Robinson - Deer Heart
Little Feat - The Last Record Album
Cloudland Blue Quartet - No Last Tilt [Single]
Jon Anderson - Opus
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Happy Is the Way (That Everyone Is Meant to Be) [Single]

Accidental photographs can be made to look good...



At lunchtime today, to the BHF shop and these found in the 3 for £1 section...


This contains some absolute classics of course...

This Little Feat LP is full of the type of, for me, kind of uninspiring music which used to wow the likes of Whispering Bob Harris back in the 70's ("nice!") when I was enjoying the excellent sounds of Gary Glitter, T Rex and Alice Cooper...

Nowadays, well, it's ok and the playing is good - nice to have for 33p...


My third pick was a 40 track CD of TV themes - which were not the originals and, for the first time ever, I think anyway, I did not add it to the collection but, instead, actually took it back (tomorrow) for BHF to re-sell...

This evening, a tasty tea of Spaghetti Carbonara...


And no rehearsing for Friday...

Instead, a second "Holby" of the week was enjoyed... 

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Andy Williams - no, of course it has to be the Spaghetti...

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

No one wants a low pitched rumble Pt 2...

Playlist
Jon Anderson - 1,000 Hands
Tangerine Dream - Encore (Remastered 2018 / Deluxe Version)
Shostakovich - Shostakovich Chamber Symphonies
David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
Fripp & Eno - No Pussyfooting
King Crimson - Red
The Tubes - Young and Rich
Neu! - Neu! 75
Frank Zappa - Zappa In New York
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
Robert Fripp - Exposure
Oscar Peterson - Canadiana Suite
Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear
Tangerine Dream - The Virgin Years: 1974-1978
Status Quo - Picturesque Matchstickable Messages From The Status Quo
Status Quo - Status Quo - Gold
Capital Models - 2019-04-28
Various Artists - Natural Progression Vol 01 June 1967 - December 1968
Various Artists - On The Corner
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Roots And Herbs
Grachan Moncur III - Mosaic Select
Herbie Hancock - The Complete Blue Note 60's Sessions
Various Artists - Blue Big Bands
Thelonious Monk - Genius Of Modern Music: Vol. 1
Various Artists - Strut'n' Get Up: Funky Fat Slices Of Groove Cut From Blue Note
Bobby Hutcherson - Dialogue
Donald Byrd - Thank You...For F.U.M.L.
Various Artists - Blue Note Nonstop 60 Trax
The Beatles - The Beatles Hits EP
The Beatles - Twist and Shout EP
The Beatles - The Beatles EP
The Beatles - Long Tall Sally EP
The Beatles - The Beatles Primer
The Beatles - Love
r beny - echo's verse
Cloudland Blue Quatrte - Morphinecodex

Porridge and fruit for breakfast...


...and, what turned out to be a day at home...

I'd planned for just a morning but nephew Ali did not arrive to move the wayward boiler until just after 11 - and it then took him, non-stop mind you, until well after 6pm to complete the job...





Meanwhile, I did some work from home and some tidying and some mucking about...





...and got myself up to date with this and with "Agents of Shield"...

Work continued...


Finally, all was done...


Water pressure was sorted too...


...and the scene was set for tonight's Capital Models shenanigans...


We will play on Friday at a night in Portobello and ran through twenty songs, which we then whittled down to an acceptable pool, from which we can draw, depending on time allotted to us...

In attendance this evening, the trio format who will play...

Me, Stu...


...and Keith...


It was quite enjoyable...

We packed up after two hours and the boys headed off...

I edited the tapes and, before we knew it, it was time for "Holby"...

A good end to a good day, all told...

Highlight of the Day : Boiler noise removed...

Monday, July 08, 2019

Seemingly cloth ears can frustrate...

Playlist
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Demos
2raumwohnung - Nacht und Tag Remixes
loscil - Sketches from New Brighton
Creek - 2019
Cloudland Blue Quartet - SXTY (Latest Mix)
Tangerine Dream - Encore
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer
Tangerine Dream - Encore (Remastered 2018 / Deluxe Version)
Schneider - Preussens Hofkapellmeister
Jon Anderson - Opus 1& 2

A tasty breakfast this morning of scrambled egg and lean bacon...


Good start to the day...

Tomorrow will be chum Gina's 18th birthday but she will be spending it with her mum and dad so we had a presentation for her today - Mr CBQ made one of his stupid presentational speeches...


At lunctime, along to FOPP and they had all the newly remastered Tangerine Dream albums at £6 each...

I was swithering about buying the five "classics", "Phaedra", "Rubycon", "Ricochet", "Stratosfear" and "Encore" but, instead just took the last of these as a taster...


...to see if they really are going to be that much better than any of the various other versions I've owned...

The sound is much improved, although I noticed two small but very audible, on the headphones, clicks on the first track...

How did the remasterer not hear these?  They are not on my previous versions...

So frustrating...

A very tasty and healthy tea from Anne, chili bean cottage pie...

Yum...

Then, to resetting up the equipment in anticipation of tomorrow evening's visit from Stu and Keith to rehearse some songs for a fairly low-key performance on Friday...


Getting back to normal...


On TV, the superb "Year of the Rabbit" continued...

Highlight of the Day : "New" Tangs...

Sunday, July 07, 2019

New tracks, new fire...

Playlist
Mozart - Missa Longa, Inter Natos Mulierum, Etc.
Schütz - Psalmen Davids
Bach, J S - Suiten für Violincello solo
Händel - Concerti Grossi, Op. 3
Weiss - Lute Works, Vol.1 & 2
Beethoven - Trios for Violin, Viola And Violoncello, Op. 9, 1-3
Huelgas Ensemble - Gombert: Music from the Court of Charles V
Bach, J S - Works For Lute
Lutz Kirchhof - The Lute In Dance and Dream: Three Centuries of Lute Masterpieces
Huelgas Ensemble - Febus Avant
2raumwohnung - 36 Grad Remixes
Annette Humpe - Zeitgeschichte - Das Beste von und für Annette Humpe
Opeth - Heritage 
Opeth - Pale Communion
Warmrain - Back Above The Clouds
Uriah Heep - Magician's Birthday
T Rex - Ride A White Swan
Creek - 2019 Demos
Capital Models - 2019-04-28
Cloudland Blue Quartet - 2019 Demos
2raumwohnung - Nacht und Tag Remixes

Up early and spent a few hours working on the new CBQ track, "No Last Tilt" - now incorporating as little as possible of the new Creek track on which it's based...


Also mixed together a version which could indeed be a Creek track...

Good work...

Feeding station frenzy...


Out around midday with Anne and new fire secured at an inordinate cost once delivery, chimney preparation, installation etc etc were all factored in...


I should not allowed to be present when outgoing funds are being totted up...

To my mum's and returned the "repaired" hearing aids - whilst also finding the wee stick things she's supposed to have been using for the last two years...

Other than that, on good form as usual...

Enjoying her weekly trips to the lunch club - which can also, occasionally, give her something to complain about...

Which is what 88 year old ladies often need it seems...

Back home, good to see some bees in the garden...


In the evening, lovely minute steaks with mushrooms and potatoes for me, chips for Anne - as she is not a big fat fucker...

Enjoyed another preposterous "Midsomer Murders" after finding that both "Montalbano" episodes on the Tivo were repeats...

Oh well...

Highlight of the Day : New tracks, new fire...