An old haunt revisited...

Playlist
Various - 2014 Weekly Playlists
Various - 20th Anniversary Album
Various Composers - Konzerte der Mannheimer Shule
Various - Soul Jazz Records Singles 2008-2009 [Disc 3]
Goldstein - Cyclorama
Taketi Uloomu - The Fifth Season
Piano Interrupted - The Unified Field
Reimann - Piano Works (Complete)
Roger Eno - Little Things Left Behind 1988 - 1998 (2)
Justin Rutledge - No Never Alone
Various - Adventure Music: 10 Years (2)
David Rees-Williams Trio - Thinking Allowed
Various Composers - Baroque Bohemia & Beyond, Vol. 1
Mark Wingfield & Kevin Kastning - I Walked Into The Silver Darkness
Tippett - Piano Sonatas No. 1 - 3

Scenes from the house this morning...

...and on the way down the hill, while this bird was nicely soundtracking over and above the London acquisitions...

In the evening, on the lookout for a new rug for the dining room...

...and, having failed in that (although a cheeky wee sheepskin is now back behind the front door), a return to the venue of our first ever Indian meal, which we enjoyed back in around 1982 (latecomers) with our old chum Dave Wilkinson...

In those days, this was the Golden Bengal - now it's the Ghurka Brigade...

While the decor is a bit tired and the music (a live concert by Eric Clapton?) a bit weird, the food was very tasty and the company excellent...

Home for an evening of listening and watching, with "Person of Interest" being the highlight...

Some late night mucking about on the laptop lead to a post-midnight sack hitting scenario...

Highlight of the Day : Night out with the Exec Producer...

Attempting to shake a stick...

Playlist
Mark Wingfield & Kevin Kastning - I Walked Into The Silver Darkness
Various - Adventure Music: 10 Years
Roger Eno - Little Things Left Behind 1988 - 1998
Boyd Lee Dunlop - The Lake Reflections (Solo Piano Improvisations)
Justin Rutledge - The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park
Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By
Goldstein - Cyclorama
Keith Emerson - Emerson Plays Emerson
Taketi Uloomu - The Fifth Season
Carsten Dahl - Effata
David Rees-Williams Trio - Thinking Allowed
Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake & Nutcracker Suites
Various - Soul Jazz Records Singles 2008-2009
Scelsi - Chamber Works for Flute and Piano
Eyal Maoz's Edom - Hope And Destruction
Reimann - Piano Works (Complete)
The Samuel Jackson Five - The Samuel Jackson Five
Sophie Hunger - The Danger Of Light
Turina - Trios para piano, violin y cello y Circulo
Tippett - Piano Sonatas
Justin Rutledge - No Never Alone
Various Composers - Konzerte der Mannheimer Schule
Various - Weekly Playlist 16

Listening today continued to comprise the London Acquisitions...

In addition to this, there was the Reimann disc which arrived yesterday and discs by Tippett and composers of the Mannheim School (following the recent Richter splurge), which arrived today...

And, in the British Heart Foundation shop, a chance find was the debut album from fave Canadian singer Justin Rutledge - consequently added to the listening pile...

With Anne out at Zumba, I put together last weekend's Weekly Playlist and uploaded it for listening - almost half of which is classical this week and I think makes for an entertaining programme...

That was about it I think...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : Probably more new music than, at which, you could shake a stick...

Art and music and history, mostly...

Playlist

The Samuel Jackson Five - The Samuel Jackson Five

Scelsi - Giacinto Scelsi: Chamber Works for Flute and Piano

Thomas Köner - Zyklop

Keith Tippett - Keith Tippett at the London Jazz Festival

Machine Mass Trio - As Real As Thinking

Sophie Hunger - The Danger Of Light

Alexi Tuomarila Trio - Seven Hills

Taketi Uloomu - The Fifth Season

Bruno Heinen - Tierkreis

Piano Interrupted - The Unified Field

Frànçois And The Atlas Mountains - Piano Ombre

Jónsi - Go

Goldstein - Goldstein: Cyclorama

Reimann - Reimann: Piano Works (Complete)

Petrels - All Things In Common

Petrels - Haeligewielle

Various - Adventure Music: 10 Years

Roger Eno - Little Things Left Behind 1988 - 1998

Eyal Maoz's Edom - Hope And Destruction

Various - Soul Jazz Records Singles 2008-2009

Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By

Justin Rutledge - The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park

Keith Emerson - Emerson Plays Emerson

Boyd Lee Dunlop - The Lake Reflections (Solo Piano Improvisations)

Mark Wingfield & Kevin Kastning - I Walked Into The Silver Darkness

Carsten Dahl - Effata

David Rees-Williams Trio - Thinking Allowed

More of the new stuff ripped and into the playlist..

A visit to the RSA exhibition on the mound...

An overcast day...

Back home, the disc of Reimann's piano music had arrived...

Anne was out to see Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" once again, this time with chums Debbie and Teresa...

I spent the evening watching "Marvel Agents of Shield", getting this up to date and ripping and listening...

I also discovered cached pages on the net of the old Crispycat site and was able to reinstate all the "news" stories from 2002 to 2007 (with the exception of most of 2006 - which would be covered here in any case)...

Loads of stuff I'd completely forgotten about...

And good tales of me and Jamie musicking together back in the day...

A short role as taxi driver brought Anne up the hill - raving about a great night...

Which is how it should be...

Highlight of the Day : Art and music...

Discovering the undiscovered...

Playlist
The Samuel Jackson Five - The Samuel Jackson Five
Frànçois And The Atlas Mountains - Piano Ombre
Scelsi - Giacinto Scelsi: Chamber Works for Flute and Piano
Goldstein - Goldstein: Cyclorama
Sophie Hunger - The Danger Of Light
Various - Soul Jazz Records Singles 2008-2009
Alexi Tuomarila Trio - Seven Hills
Justin Rutledge - The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park
Machine Mass Trio - As Real As Thinking
Turina - Trios para piano, violin y cello y Circulo
Taketi Uloomu - The Fifth Season
Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains Passing By
Bruno Heinen - Tierkreis
Jónsi - Go
Keith Emerson - Emerson Plays Emerson
Carsten Dahl - Effata

Soundtracked today by the first batch of ripped new acquisitions from the weekend...

Some good stuff on there, much of it previously completely unknown to me and, so far, no real duds - though the Soul Jazz collection does seem to have a large number of annoying tracks but I suppose that goes with the territory...

Meanwhile spring continues...

In the evening, some catching up on Tivo with the Exec Producer, while this lot was relegated from the shelf by the new inlux of stuff...

Lights out...

Highlight of the day : New music...

Weekly Playlist No 16

Welcome to the Cloudland Blue Weekly Playlist No 16...

Sorry this has been temporarily removed to make way for Weekly Playlist No 21 but it will return shortly for streaming - watch this space...

This week, almost half the music is classical, with some outrageous piano work and some wonderful string quartet playing...

There are also a couple of blues numbers, a little out of the ordinary for Mr Quartet and, perhaps more par for the course, some cracking prog...

The jazz contingent is down to just two tracks this week but both are top notch...

And we've got some pop from Erasure, atmospherics from The Alvaret Ensemble, Mogwai, Laurie Anderson and CBQ (as always - hey, it's my show after all) and a couple of great songwriters called Paul...

Once again, no chat from me (other than the notes below), just the music - hope you enjoy it...

Golijov - Tenebrae - Sound and Silence : Remembering September 11 - 15:06
A beautiful piece by the Argentinian composer Golijev.  This recording is taken from the concert held in New York on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.  A long but rewarding listen to open this week's podcast...

Subsignal - Feeding Utopia - Touchstones - 5:24
All of the pieces in this edition have been selected from tracks which came up via shuffleplay during the week.  This is an album I've had for a while without ever having listened to it properly (like too many in the collection).  This is the opening track from the German band's 2011 album...

Adrian Belew - e2 - e - 7:57
The intricacies of this piece demonstrate just what Adrian Belew brought to King Crimson between 1981 and 2008.  He's not included in the new line up, due to debut later this year.  Time will tell if that's left a hole or not.  In the meantime, Mr Belew continues to wow the crowds with his Crimson ProjeKct outfit, which includes two members of the current KC line up in Tony Levin and Pat Mastellotto...

The Alvaret Ensemble - Eac - The Alvaret Ensemble - 4:20
Another gorgeous quiet piece by Berlin based improv outfit The Alvaret Ensemble, whose music turned me on to the output of the Denovali label, whose experimental music festival I am attending in London this weekend...

Thomas - Eagle at Sunrise - Ying Quartet: Life Music 2 - 6:18
Another album not properly listened to upon its acquisition.  This piece is by the American composer Augusta Read Thomas, whose works are championed by the likes of Barenboim, Rostropovich, Boulez and Knussen...

Mogwai - Eagle Tax - Les Revenants - 3:22
A short electric piano based piece from the Glasgow outfit's soundtrack to the hit French science fiction TV series Les Revenants...

Fernstrom - Strakkvartett #6, Op. 81B - 1. Allegro - Fernstrom String Quartets 3, 6 & 8 - 5:07
Fernström was one of the most productive Swedish composers of his generation. His composition is characterised by technical expertise, skilful counterpoint and instrumentation combined with fantasy and a rich inventiveness.   This is the opening movement from his 6th quartet, written in 1946...

Ginastera - Cello Concerto #1, Op. 36 - II. Presto sfumato - Ginastera Cello Concertos - 10:07
A long and fairly complex piece by another Argentinian composer, Alberto Ginastera, whose work was famously covered by Emerson, Lake and Palmer on their No 1 album from 1973, "Brain Salad Surgery"...

The Butterfield Blues Band - Work Song - East-West - 7:56
As is often the case on these podcasts, we go from the sublime to the ridiculous (but still good), with a track from one of Alice Cooper's favourite bands.  If I'm going to listen to the blues, this is one of my bands of choice.  Preceding the Doors' debut by around a year, the album was co-produced by Paul Rothchild, who produced the first five Doors albums - you can compare and contrast...

Hindemith - In Einer Nacht VI Sehr Lebhaft - Toros Con Piano - 0:53
A frenetic piece from the hands of Paul Hindemith, a recent favourite in my quest for ever more tuneless complex classical work...

Paul Simon - Leaves That Are Green - The Paul Simon Songbook – 2:34
Poignant lyrics from Paul Simon on a solo recording of a song later recorded by Simon & Garfunkel.  The inevitability of what waits us all is well related here...

Stockhausen - Stier R1 - Tierkreis – 3:58
A wonderful stately piece from Karl-Heinz Stockhausen's work based on the signs of the Zodiac.  This, my own star sign, Taurus.  I'm not even sure how some of these sounds are made...

Grachan Moncur III - The Reason Why - Mosaic Select – 6:53
One of my favourite Blue Note artists and avant garde wizard of the sixties is Grachan Moncur III.  This track comes from a quite excellent but pricey if you can find it, three disc compilation of previously released and previously unreleased works from the master of the trombone...

Ligeti – Premier Etudes #3 Touches Bloquees - Hommage à György Ligeti – 1:51
Another short piano piece, this time from György Ligeti, who's probably most famous for his choral work used so effectively on the soundtrack of the Kubrick classic “2001 A Space Odyssey”.  His piano music though is a whole different thing – wonderful stuff and I recommend searching out his books of Etudes, from which this piece comes...

Rubbra - String Quartet #2 Op.73: 3 Cavatina - Edmund Rubbra The Four String Quartets – 7:20
A new discovery this week was the work of British composer Edmund Rubbra, who died in the mid eighties.  He was composing at the same time as many of the so-called “Twelve Tone” composers but, rather than follow their example, he devised his own system.  This is the beautiful and desolate slow movement from his second string quartet, written in 1951...

Kurtág - String Quartet #1 con moto - Arditti String Quartet Kurtag Lutoslawski Gubaidulina – 1:49
A frantic short movement from Kurtag's 1st string quartet, expertly relayed by the Arditti's, from a disc featuring a further two favourite purveyors of tuneless wonder, Lutoslawski and Gubaidulina...

Graham Bond Organisation - What'd I Say? - There's A Bond Between Us – 4:17
...followed by some more blues based stuff, this time from the UK and Graham Bond's Organisation, featuring future members of Cream.  Let's party...

Laurie Anderson - Dark Time in the Revolution - Homeland – 5:15
And now some thought provoking work from the latest LP by probably my favourite performing artist of all time – I well remember travelling to London in 1982 with the Exec Producer to see the eight hour extravaganza that was the future Mrs Lou Reed's “United States Pts I-IV”.  Mesmerising inventiveness with what seems like a touch of Scotland thrown in at the close...

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Terminal IV - Twenty Four Paintings (Short Details) – 3:02
It wouldn't be a Cloudland Blue podcast without something from Cloudland Blue Quartet and this week's offering is a short edit from “Terminal IV”, a 33 minute track from the forthcoming “Twenty Four Paintings” project...

Paul Buchanan - Tuesday - Mid Air – 2:13
...which leads in nicely to a song from the Blue Nile songwriter's debut solo album, released in a special box set almost two years ago already.  Beautifully understated work indeed...

Erasure - A Little Respect - Total Pop – 3:32
Into the closing strait now with a wonderfully happy party song from electro favourites, Erasure.  It doesn't get much better than this...

Gary Husband - The Sixteen Men of Tain - The Things I See – 5:20
As I mentioned earlier, I'll be in London this weekend for the Denovali Swingfest.  I was down for the same fest this weekend last year and the first CD I bought on my travels was this, from drummer and pianist Gary Husband (whom I 'd seen the year before drumming for UK).  This is a solo piano album of Allan Holdsworth material.  Top stuff...

Rush - The Garden - Clockwork Angels – 7:00
And so the two hours has veritably flown past.  Old chum Paul Reynolds e-mailed me this week to advise this had turned up on his own shuffleplay - and he'd thought of our recent travails.  A wonderful piece from Canadian stars Rush, based on the writings of Voltaire and his classic “Candide”. “It is up to us to cultivate our garden”- it's Rush's very own "Comfortably Numb"...

Hope you enjoy the podcast and will pop by again next week...

A day spent wandering aimlessly in the rain...

Playlist
Various - iPod Shufflepay
Cloudland Blue Quartet - SS SQ XIX
Various Artists - Denovali Swingfest 2014 London (Festival Sampler)
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Anotherhappyday
The Samuel Jackson Five - The Samuel Jackson Five
Frànçois And The Atlas Mountains - Piano Ombre
Taketi Uloomu - The Fifth Season
Sophie Hunger - The Danger Of Light
Scelsi - Chamber Works for Flute and Piano
Goldstein - Cyclorama
Turina - Trios para piano, violin y cello y Circulo
Various - Soul Jazz Records Singles 2008-2009

Up and packed, breakfasted and out - carrying everything in my bag as I stepped into not such a nice day...

Decided to head to the Tate Modern...

...via London Bridge beneath the Shard...

As I looked over the river it was misty...

I noted I was going to miss the Shakespeare 450th birthday celebrations at the Globe...

Over the wall, the guide's remarks seemed to be causing some element of surprise with one particular audient...

On to the Tate...

As ever, there was an installation in the Turbine Hall...

I decided today to mostly record the environs rather than the art, nothing much having changed since we visited in January...

I did, of course, peruse some of the works on display...

...but did not enter either the Matisse...

..or Hamilton exhibitions - having spent most of my cash on new music...

I did however admire this Hamilton work which was situated outwith the paywall...

Into the small shop...

...and this Gerhard Richter item enticed...

It seems my nephew may have written a book on Mr Hamilton...

I think I probably know enough about Roxy Music...

A wee seat by the window was taken...

On the balcony, an interesting contraption was being used to make a selfie not look so much like a selfie...

Here's my own pathetic effort...

Back inside, a closer view of the Hamilton self-portrait...

...and the outsides of the not gone into exhibitions...

...as my recording of stuff which is not art but, in away, is art, continued...

To the larger shop...

...noting more stuff...

...and shoppers...

...and art stuff...

...and what many people probably think of "Modern" art...

One final pic before deciding to leave...

Alas, while I'd been pottering about inside, a downpour had ensued...

Back inside to wait out the storm...

..eventually donning my hat and heading out into the now not quite so pouring down downpour...

Back to London Bridge...

...and the Tube to Camden...

..which was, as ever, jammed with tourists...

Lunch by the big horse...

Then, to get out of the rain, a bus towards Trafalger Square...

...but alighting near Soho and one last visit to Berwick Street - once again not busy - some of the shops closed for Easter Monday...

I walked up to Oxford St, noting this discarded apple...

...then circled back round via Carnaby Street...

...in the vicinity of which, this wee man was spotted...

I decided I'd had enough of wandering around in the rain and would go to Fopp, buy a book and head to the airport ridiculously early...

However, when I got there, Fopp too was closed...

Back to Soho and one last look in the Record Exchange threw up a 2CD set of Thomas Koner which, of course, I had to shell out on...

Time to head - made my way to Piccadilly and caught the tube to Heathrow...

Checked in super early - frustratingly, the lady advised that, had I been there ten minutes earlier, she could have let me on the 16:25 flight which was just boarding...

In the departure lounge, I noted there were 34 flights ahead of mine...

Rather a lot of sitting around, listening to the iPod, ensued...

At 7:15 we boarded the supposed 7:40 flight...

We took off at 8:15...

...for what was a relaxing flight with free beer and crisps for your correspondent...

Despite the late take off, we landed earlier than scheduled...

A hassle free exit from the airport was followed by a bus to the foot of Crispycat Hill, where the Exec Producer picked me up in the Cloudland Blue mobile...

Home just after 9 or so and the listening and ripping began...

Good to be back after a long and exhausting weekend...

Highlight of the day : Finding an old Koner title...