Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vol 38

Two hours comprising 37 top tracks from recent acquisitions into the CBQ collection makes for another varied podcast of supreme eclecticity. Enjoy...

Featured Artists:-

Rheostatics, John Lewis, Frank Black, Acoustic Ladyland, Simon & Garfunkel, Scott Walker, Captain Beefheart, Count Basie & His Orchestra, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Fabulous Counts, Harlem Underground, Michael Gibbs, ZZ Top, Yello, Betty Davis, Philip Aaberg, Russ Ballard, Duke Ellington/Johnny Hodges, John Landis Fans, NRBQ, King Crimson, Standing In The Colour and DGM

Featured Composers:-

Susato, Rathgeber, Spohr, Lutoslawski, Prokofiev, Schumann, Nyman, Carter, Gubaidulina, Stöckigt and Kirchner

Hope you enjoy the selection and pop by again next week for more of the unexpected...

Music has a part to play in the art of modern dance...

Playlist
Jorn - Heavy Rock Radio
Brown - Abstract Sound Objects
Ligeti - György Ligeti Works
Various Artists - The Cream Of Funky Jams Vol. 1
The Velvet Underground - The Very Best Of The Velvet Underground
Various Artists - The Listening Room Volume II
Barber - The Songs
Susato - Dansereyre 1551
W F Bach - Three Fantasias, Three Fugues, Three Sonatas
ZZ Top - Deguello
Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
Tippett - A Tribute to Sir Michael Tippett
Various Artists - Electronic Music... It Started Here
Captain Beefheart - Unconditionally Guaranteed
Various Artists - Funk
Various Composers - Classically Chilled
Various Artists - The Cream Of Rare Groove Vol. 1
Simon & Garfunkel - Live From New York City, 1967
Adamus Trio - Works for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon
Bang on a Can - Industry
Scarlatti - Keyboard Sonatas

Out this evening with Anne and chum Teresa for some Modern Dance from the Richard Alston Company at the Festival Theatre...

Prior to that though, a top notch pasta based dinner with lashings if Vino Rosso at Gordon's Trattoria on the Royal Mile (or Roger's Trattoria as we call it)...

Out and a walk up the road to the theatre...

The view from the office this evening...

Excitement mounting...

We were to witness four pieces - music by Scarlatti, Wolfe, Chopin and Piazzolla...

The dancing was absolutely superb...

...but "Stronghold" was, for me, the best piece of the night by a long chalk...

The music is such an important part of the performance for me that, if it doesn't fit with me, it's not going to go well...

The exact same movements with a glitchy electronic soundtrack would probably have had me praising matters to the rooftops...

The Wolfe piece was danced to music composed for 8 double basses - and was top notch..

The first piece, to the music of Scarlatti, was "acceptable"...

The third, to various Mazurkas by Chopin (which makes me realise why I was listening to this last night) was disappointing but mainly as I didn't enjoy the music...

Another factor was that the piece involved a few solo dances whilst others looked on and it smacked too much to me of traditional ballet...

As for the Piazzolla piece - well, apart from one poignant and quite beautiful piece, I have no real truck with tango music...

All in all though, despite all of the above, an enjoyable evening - the Wolfe would be the only one I'd like to see again...

Here's a clip...

And here's a clip of the Scarlatti piece "Mazur : An Italian in Madrid"

 

A walk down to Princes St post the "gig"...

Back home, the first of the two history books had arrived...

Scarlatti and Wolfe enjoyed before "Red Dwarf XI" which appeared to be "up to the standards" as they say...

To bed...

Highlight of the Day : A night at the dancin'...

A new spark...

Playlist
Various Artists - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vols 1-52
Chopin - 200th Anniversary Edition The Complete Works
Creek - Creek 2015
Edward Spark - If You Were...
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Rubinmusik 1977-2016
Edward Spark - 1.9.7.FOUR
King Crimson - King Crimson 2016 Tour

The new podcast was issued this morning but the upload had already garnered a few listens overnight - which is nice...

In the evening, some time spent moving my vinyl, to the sounds of Chopin for no particular reason, as it seemed to be causing a little too much strain on the previous shelves...

New set up...

This will be revised too methinks...

In the inbox today - an excellent new track from Creek chum Edward Spark - top notch and I've arranged for it to be in next week's podcast...

Other than him, I'm currently the only other person to have heard it...

Prompted me to listen back to the last Creek sessions - which Craig (Ed) is supposed to be mixing to perfection...

And to one of  my own last things, recorded in March and using a vocal track rejected by Craig during the Creek sessions - now he likes it - go figure...

Late on, "This Week" returned but without Michael Portillo...

Hopefully he'll return...

Highlight of the Day : New Spark...

Everything's connected...

Playlist
The Four Tops - Motown's Greatest Hits
Ligeti - György Ligeti Works
Bliss - A Colour Symphony, Adam Zero
Various - The Mute Song Sampler
Various - Island Presents: Rock Steady
Schulhoff - Works for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon
Various - Sónar 2000
Slapp Happy - Casablanca Moon
The Kinks - The Singles Collection
Frank Black - Frank Black Francis
Barber - The Songs
Rheostatics - Starlight Social Club Waterloo ON April 24 2016
Kansas - Leftover The Airwaves
Klangforum Wien - Der Erste Bank Kompositionsauftrag 2002-2007
Brown - Abstract Sound Objects
The 16 Deadly Improvs - Semi Mobile Unit
Rihm - Violin & Piano
Count Basie & His Orchestra - Frankly Basie
The Velvet Underground - The Very Best Of The Velvet Underground
Clean Bandit - New Eyes
Various - The Cream Of Rare Groove Vol. 1
Captain Beefheart - At His Best
John Barry - Beat For Beatniks & Beat Girls
Captain Beefheart - The Best Of Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: The Virgin & Liberty Years
Pixies - Come On Pilgrim
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Various - Frontline Presents Roots
Herbie Mann - Stone Flute
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy
Franck - Music For Piano
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Burnin'
Susato - Dansereyre 1551
Lutoslawski - Symphony #4; Partita For Violin & Orchestra; Chain 2, Etc.
iLiKETRAiNS - Elegies To Lessons Learnt
Schnittke - Symphony No 5; Concerti Grossi No 3
Airbag - The Greatest Show On Earth
English Chamber Orchestra - Trumpet Concertos
Spohr - Clarinet Concertos #1 & 3; Potpourri, Op. 80
Prokofiev - Piano Concertos #2 & 5
Schumann - Violin Sonatas #1 & 2
Nyman - Piano Concerto; MGV
Uriah Heep - Look At Yourself
Pat Metheny - Orchestrion
Anton Nikkilä - White Nights
Jura Margulis - Plays Prokofiev, Ravel
Beethoven - Complete String Quartets

A lovely morning as I made my way down Crispycat Hill, accompanied by the Four Tops...

A chance meeting with old chum Jim Park at lunchtime as I took a walk..

He was on his way to Arthur's Seat for a walk up it so I accompanied him all the way along Princes St...

We rejoiced in the fact we were able to agree on something (despite having a degree in Economics, Jim seems to be a supporter of Scottish Independence and the SNP) - that companies sporting deficits in their Defined Benefit pension schemes ought to plug those holes before paying any dividends...

Of course, the downside is that many of those very pension schemes rely on those very dividends to try and secure the benefits of their members...

Everything's connected...

Farewell to Jim and a pop into Fopp but nothing enticed - a salad lunch at M&S and then more walking...

Home in the evening and Anne was out at Zumba - fine tuned this week's podcast and uploaded for tomorrow...

Watched an episode of "Supernatural" and cooked a not great chorizo and prawn spaghetti...

On Anne's return, we watched the second in a two parter of "DCI Banks" - Stephen Tompkinson is dreadful but it's enjoyable hokum...

Late on, the Twitter influenced me into listening to uriah Heep, Pat Metheny and some Beethoven which is included on the gold disc hurtling through space aboard Voyager...

Lights out...

highlight of the Day : Chance meeting...

Self convincer, or...

Playlist
Various Artists - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vols 1-52
Various Composers -20th Century Masterpieces
Dutilleux -Concertos for Violin and Cello
Ligeti -Atmospheres
Stevie Wonder -Innervisions (RM)
Henze -El Cimarrón
The Velvet Underground -The Very Best Of The Velvet Underground
Various Artists -Windows : Windham Hill 25 Years of Piano
Family 5 -Resistance

The view from the office this morning...

Changeable...

Dentist first thing - all clear...

Passing Fopp, I popped in thinking I'd properly checked these re having the repertoire already...

Turns out I have versions of everything on this...

...and there's just one piece on this I didn't have already...

Oh ewell, fair enough...

At lunchtime, a walk down to Stockbridge...

These for a quid each at the St Columba's Hospice shop...

I had this already too - jeez oh - but this is a considerably better sounding remaster with restored artwork (I convince myself)...

As a bonus this includes not just the Pixies' "Surfer Rosa" but their debut release too...

..and how can you go wrong with a disc of the Four Tops' Greatest Hits (even if you probably have them all spread over various Tamla compilations already in the collection)...

Home under threatening skies...

...which came to nothing...

The beast etc...

The view from the office this evening...

...as "Holby" was gotten back into...

Highlight of the Day : Convincing myself there's nothing wrong with buying so much music...

Challenging...

Playlist

Various Artists - Cloudland Blue Eclectic Selection 2016 Vols 1-52
The Beach Boys - Surfin' USA
The Beach boys - Surfin' Safari

Earthworks - The Sound Of Surprise

King Crimson - Aug 7, 2008 - Chicago - Park West

King Crimson - The Dream and the Illusion

Tangerine Dream - Quantum Key

The view from the office this morning...

Back in the old routine...

These purchased at the British Heart Foundation shop for a couple of quid at lunchtime...

Didn't get much of a chance to give them a listen - which is becoming more of a problem these days because I'm accruing so much music...

"University Challenge" was one of the best we've seen - a draw - "Steven!!"

Between us, we scored 125 points - not bad for a pair of old tubes...

Later on, listening to this King Crimson compilation put together back in 1998...

...which was nice...

Lights out...

Highlight of the Day : University Challenge...

Doing a lot which seemed like not much...

Playlist

John Lewis - The Wonderful World Of Jazz

Frank Black - Frank Black Francis

Simon & Garfunkel - Live From New York City, 1967

Acoustic Ladyland - Camouflage

Scott Walker - Scott 4

Captain Beefheart - Unconditionally Guaranteed

Count Basie & His Orchestra - Frankly Basie

Various Artists - The Cream Of Funky Jams Vol. 1

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Greatest Hits

Various Artists - The Cream Of Rare Groove Vol. 1

Various Artists - The Mute Song Sampler

ZZ Top - First Album

Carter - Symphonia; Clarinet Concerto, 

Gubaidulina - Offertorium

Yello - Hands On Yello

Betty Davis - Betty Davis

Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different

Betty Davis - Is It Love or Desire?

Various Artists - Windows : Windham Hill 25 Years of Piano

Russ Ballard - The Very Best Of Russ Ballard

Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges - Side By Side

Various Composers - Meisterwerke für Fagott

Faure Quartet - Kirchner; Schumann: Piano Quartets

Various Artists - Sónar 2000

NRBQ - NRBQ At Yankee Stadium

King Crimson - King Crimson 2016 Tour

NRBQ - Message For The Mess Age

Standing In The Colour - Singularity

DGM - The Passage

Various Artists - Tighten Up: The History Of Reggae In The UK

Cloudland Blue Quartet - Morphinecodex

Stravinsky - Stravinsky: Apollon musagete & Tippett: Concerto for Double String Orchestra

Gál - The Complete String Quartets Vol 2

Schulhoff - Musik Für Streichquartett (Schulhoff Quartett) Vol. II

Various Artists - Pure... Psychedelic Rock

A day spent on photos and catch up post holiday..

And on recording this week's podcast...

We probably also watched some telly...

Erm...

Highlight of the Day : Podcasting...

Back in the swing, kind of...

Playlist
NRBQ - NRBQ At Yankee Stadium
Morgaua Quartet - Progressive String Quartets
Nick Cave - The Mute Song Sampler
The Paragons - Island Presents: Rock Steady
Prokofiev - Jura Margulis Plays Prokofiev, Ravel
Ligeti - The Ligeti Project
Howling Bells - Howling Bells
Captain Beefheart - Unconditionally Guaranteed
Prokofiev - Piano Concertos #2 & 5
The Pineapple Thief - Your Wilderness
English Chamber Orchestra - Trumpet Concertos
ZZ Top - XXX
Betty Davis - Nasty Gal
NRBQ - Message For The Mess Age
Various - Sónar 2000
Standing In The Colour - Singularity
Lou Reed - Rock'n'Roll Animal

Up early and further work organising post holiday stuff...

The view from the office this morning...

Walked to the grocery store for provisions, noting these wee beasties on the way...

Back home, a visitor - Tiger the Cat...

...who exited into the garden and is seen here next door to an unsuspecting chihuahua...

The post brought another NRBQ disc...

...which soundtracked our drive over to the Steading to meet up with Lex...

...Moira and my mum for a tasty afternoon of eats and chat...

Back home, I'd noted in Madrid how much I'd either forgotten or didn't know about European history, so I dug these out of the attic...

A couple of missing titles were secured for just £2.81 each o that Amazon...

As we set off for an evening in Penicuik, Tiger popped by again...

Nephew Andy was up with great-nephew Wee Dougie - seen here with his brother Kerr and nephew Ali's lovely fiance, Julie...

Three baldies...

Sister Sheila was hostess with the mostest...

...and mum was also in attendance...

Ah the old "avoid getting peed in the face" scenario...

Great auntie Anne...

I regaled the boys with stories of time travel and put them on to an animation of the destruction of Pompeii...

As you do...

Home later than anticipated - Queens now top of the league, having beaten near rivals the Rovers of Raith 3-1 today in Dumfries while the Hibees slipped up against Ayr...

So, it's all good...

Highlight of the Day : Out and about...