The Afterword

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The Doors

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Year: 1991 Director: Oliver Stone

This isn’t so much a review of the film itself, but more just that I want to scribble down a few thoughts after watching this for the first time since I saw it 30 years ago in the cinema.

I’m interested in what people think of the film, and of The Doors themselves, and whether Oliver Stone does them justice here.

It’s pretty derided, isn’t it, this movie? The very model of how to make an overblown, ridiculous rock biopic, and taking itself far too seriously. And yet… It must have done something right because when I saw this as a teenager it absolutely blew me away and (along with Pink Floyd’s The Wall) solidified in my head the archetype of the alpha male rock star: that ‘elegantly wasted’ thing, an old head on young handsome shoulders (with leather trousers and a six pack) going on a voyage of self discovery and excess, too cool for the square that is trying to box them in. Is there any one among you who also saw this as a teenager and is going to deny the big effect it had on them?

As we get older, of » Continue Reading.

New Year resolutions for 2022 – go on, you know you want to

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I don’t think we’ve done this yet unless I missed the post. Anyone brave enough to commit to a resolution/resolutions for this year? Then you can laugh or cry (or make excuses) if/when you fail before the year is out…

Mine:

– I’m going to be NICER in my comments on here (and other social media – not that I really do much other at all). Sometimes I feel like I just poo-poo everything, and I need more joy in my life. If I don’t have anything nice to say, I will at least take a long look at myself before hitting the Submit button.

– Read Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past! Or rather, listen – I’m doing it as an audiobook. I’m about three hours into the first volume, Swann’s Way, right now, and so far I’m enjoying it. (Total for the whole series is about 140 hours). Far funnier than I expected.

– Start drawing again! I used to draw a lot, illustration type stuff, and I was actually a student at Glasgow School of Art for a couple of years before I dropped out. Haven’t drawn for coming on 15 years or so now, I just fell » Continue Reading.

Your album of the year (no, not what you think)

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Stolen from a reddit post I quite liked, but it’s and interesting question:

What has been the album you have listened to most this year? Doesn’t necessarily have to be a 2021 album.

Mine is maybe a slightly boring choice but it’s an album I’ve been obsessed with for about 30 years: Hergest Ridge, Mike Oldfield.

What’s yours?

The return of live classical music – I’ve had a magic night

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At some point last year there was a thread about classical music and, doom prophet that I am, I was bemoaning the fact that at it seemed that Covid was going to put paid to live classical music for good. Ironically just when I was starting to really get into it.

Well, I’m delighted to say I was wrong. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (and City Halls) has a rudely healthy season of prime classical concerts from now into next year. Tonight I was at the BBC SSO playing Beethoven’s Sixth, the Pastoral. Just had to post here to rave about it.

Reader, it was magical. This is a revelation to me. I’ve been at a couple of classical “gigs” in the past but in the last year or so something has definitely switched in my musical brain to make me appreciate this music more than before. And maybe something to do with the joy in a return to live music after the big plague. An absolutely beautiful, swirling sound… amazing players dedicated to their craft… and an attentive audience who dutifully remained silent (with no camera phones!)… I don’t think I’m inclined to ever go to a rock gig ever » Continue Reading.

Meaningless, inoffensive phrases and buzzwords to bulk up an end-of-year performance review

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Not really on-topic for this blog perhaps. But it’s that time of year when I (and a million billion other corporate drones) need to write up an annual Performance Review (ugh) and also give “360 degree feedback” to colleagues.

I always struggle with this.

So come on guys and gals, I need some help with this to make this process as painless as possible. I need some totally inoffensive, harmless phrases and feedback points that are utterly empty but (and this is very important) SOUND substantial and can be just cut and pasted in any context. There are a lot of clever wordsmiths on here so surely you have some suggestions? I don’t know, stuff about good forward vision and keen teamworking ability, etc etc.

I especially need good bland constructive criticism phrases. For myself (to show willingness to learn and adapt and all that nonsense) but also for my boss and colleagues, because in my work we are all encouraged to share feedback with each other. What feedback do you give a team-mate who you have no real opinion about, but to whom you at least want to pay lip service to the process of constructive criticism?

Cynical? Moi? » Continue Reading.

Your ‘to read’ pile

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I’m curious to ask everyone: how big is your ‘to read’ pile of books?

I ask because only recently have I become aware that in recent years I have started to drift into being a bit of a book-hoarder. Basically, buying books I never finish. Or in same cases I never even start. I’m sure many people on here have the same tendency, and possibly this is linked to the same collector traits that drive record collectors.

I’ve only just found out about a Japanese term which has become trendy: tsundoku. Which seems to mean exactly this, ie having a collection of books you never get round to reading. Only it is not meant as a derogatory term, more as a badge of intellectual curiosity.

Cheap, efficient second hand book shops online have helped drive my tendency to buy more books without thinking about it.

Anyway, I haven’t counted properly, but at a rough estimate : – I have about 15 books on my ‘active reading’ pile. That is, books that sit around the place and I have started and am convinced I am going to finish, and that I have at least visited in the last month or so. » Continue Reading.

Procrastination

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Who here is a procrastinator? Quite a few on this site I would expect…

How do you deal with it?

The attached video (if I’ve attached the link correctly) is an excellent little TED talk about procrastination by someone called Tim Urban. One of his main conclusions is that everyone is a procrastinator to some degree. For 10 minute or so it’s a funny, light-hearted talk, then in the last couple of minutes he expertly switches and starts talking about deeper stuff that I found quite touching.

I myself am a chronic procrastinator, and this video summarises it in a simple, humorous way. I instantly recognised myself. While watching it, I was craving a solution… and in the last minute or so of the video he KIND OF provides one. I thought it was a pretty good solution anyway.

NOT buying records out of sheer recalcitrance

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I thought Black Celebration’s thread deserved a little twin!

It’s more often that I will refuse to buy a record that had been raved about and had five star reviews. And I suppose a lot of the time I’m just being stubborn and wanting to be my own man (man).

Some that spring to mind for me are: – Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run – Oasis – any album! (and I think I was right with that, from the songs of theirs I know) – Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly – Joni MItchell – Blue (although I should really give that a go, to be fair).

Julian Cope – tips for where to start

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Never really given Julian Cope the time of day. But he popped up recently when I was browsing stuff about stone circles and his book The Modern Antiquarian was suggested. He seems an amiable nutter.

Anyway, the only album of his I ever listened to was Peggy Suicide. And I don’t really know The Teardrop Explodes. So, fans of Cope, what do you recommend if I want to get into more of his music?

Another Round (“Druk”)

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Year: 2021 Director: Thomas Vinterberg

This is a mighty, marvellous film starring the mighty, marvellous Mads Mikkelsen. I was going off movies a bit recently, with no real motivation to get back to the cinema, so I’m glad I made an exception for this.

Mr Mikkelsen stars as one of a group of four middle aged pals, all school teachers in Denmark, who decide (in the throes of a shared midlife crisis they only seem to be dimly aware of) to try out an experiment. The human man, the theory goes, has evolved with 0.05% too little alcohol in his bloodstream. So what would happen if you decided to constantly drink, just enough that you make up that 0.05% level, in your daily life?

The film then follows the ups and downs of this experiment as they start carrying around vodka to swig from in secret, and as the events play out it is as comical as it is touching.

It’s actually impressive just as much for what it avoids as what it includes. For a very bloke-y film, it’s admirably free of any real bawdiness (it’s a 12A) or leeriness. You can imagine that in a UK or » Continue Reading.

Quick straw poll RE the ethics of workplace zoom calls: to go on camera or not on camera?

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I just wondered what people’s thoughts were on this.

Since Covid struck last year I have changed job (same company, different department), and like many people now, most of my work interactions are via zoom meetings. (Actually a different brand, not zoom, but that’s not important). What I’ve really struggled with is the fact that I don’t have that face to face contact with my colleagues, and I didn’t realise how much I needed it until it was gone. Quite a few people I work with now I have actually no visual impression of, which makes me feel as if I don’t know them at all. I also rely on a lot of visual clues while talking to people (and am quite a physical/demonstrative speaker myself – I pause and think a lot) so it’s difficult to have that taken away.

The problem is few people in my firm likes putting their camera on during zoom calls. And I think it’s younger people who drive this trend. I’ve started pointedly putting mine on in meetings, but few people seem to follow suit.

To be honest, I was starting to think it was quite rude NOT to put your camera on, » Continue Reading.

The Electric Brae – free album on Soundcloud

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Apologies if this posts twice, but I just tried to post this about an hour ago and it doesn’t seem to have worked, so trying again.

I’ve made a wee album and posted it on Soundcloud. Link should be attached here. You can listen or download for free.

It’s very mellow, and I deliberately went for a pastoral, early 70s sound, like Hergest Ridge or Ummagumma. So if you like those you might like this. If you choose to listen, many thanks!

Ask the Massive – doing an Open University degree

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This probably won’t make much sense to anyone not in the UK, but here in the UK we have a long established distance learning organisation called the Open University. You can do genuine degrees, but at your own pace and at a lower cost than studying at a physical university.

I’m toying with the idea of doing an honours degree. Either music or literature, I think. (Ideally I would prefer film studies but there doesn’t seem to be any options for that). I’m the right side of 50 (just), but I work full time so it would have to be a part time thing over 6 years I’m thinking. I’ve had lots of experience of studying in the past, and I actually already have a degree in Philosophy and English from Glasgow uni, graduated 1995.

Why do it? I just miss studying and learning, and I want to give it a go now I am more mature and motivated. I feel I squandered my time at uni and just did the minimum for my 2:2 degree. It will be purely recreational, I’m not expecting any big career change or anything. I would just pay the fees monthly, which seems affordable.

» Continue Reading.

From The Manor Born – The Story

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Year: 2020 Director: Rob Reed and Paul Harris

Definitely not for everyone, this. But thought it was worth flagging here for people who are interested.

Basically, it’s a four hour (!) documentary about the making of Tubular Bells and the establishment of Virgin Records and their Manor Studio. You’ll know instantly if that’s something that appeals to you or not.

There was an excellent BBC documentary about six or seven years ago which told the story of the album very nicely. But it was only about fifty minutes long, and left the more rabid fans (like me) desperate for more detail and context. This new documentary, from de facto unofficial Mike Oldfield curators Rob Reed and Paul Harris, fills that gap very nicely.

There is nothing groundbreaking about the documentary style itself. It’s a perfectly efficient talking heads style piece, with just about every main character in the story giving lengthy and revealing interviews. The two most missed contributors are obviously Mike Oldfield and Richard Branson themselves, which is a shame, but would be too much to expect from an unofficial documentary like this.

But to be honest there is very little to distinguish this from a big budget BBC » Continue Reading.

Spring means rebirth

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I’m going to struggle to explain what I mean here… but I will give it a go…

I’ve always loved spring. Probably my favourite time of the year. There’s a lovely little article in the Guardian today (link below if I’ve attached it right) about the joy of birds, leaves, plants, daylight and flowers all returning, explicitly so at the moment as a symbol of hope after such a long, unpleasant Covid hibernation for most of us.

And I think my love of spring goes deeper than that. I love the feeling of rebirth, of something finding a new energy after seeming dormant. The most exciting and memorable times in my life have always been when I turned a corner and found a new focus, a new joy to put a (ahem) spring in my step. I love that sensation of feeling ten years younger and (in the words of Luke Skywalker) “ready to take on the whole Empire on my own”.

Right now I have a new job opportunity at work, a recent health scare which (paradoxically) has given me the focus to improve my diet and fitness massively, everything is clicking into place with a little music project » Continue Reading.

Recommended 5.1 surround sound albums?

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I posted just last summer (link attached) about the hassle of setting up a 5.1 surround system, and that I had chosen to knock together a guerilla “Brian Eno” 3-speaker method instead.

Well, here we are in 2021 and I have now set up a proper 5.1 system after all! It’s a little bit Heath Robinson at the moment as I am using an old amp I acquired, and I don’t have a subwoofer yet. But already the effect is very nice indeed. The end of Tubular Bells Part One is amazing with all the instruments coming in one at at time from all around you.

But the only 5.1 mixes I have at the moment are the Mike Oldfield ones (as all his reissue series came with 5.1 DVDs as standard).

So my question is: which 5.1 albums should I go for to start building a collection? There’s been a lot of chat on here about surround sound, but I can’t see a thread specifically discussing the merits of different albums.

I’m pretty vanilla and seventies-biased in my mainstream taste, so some 5.1 Pink Floyd and Yes is probably a good first step. I should clarify, I am talking » Continue Reading.

What’s the consensus on Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel?

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For no other reason than I have it on at the moment, I just wondered what people’s opinion of this album is.

My stock response is that it is a work of genius, and the crystallisation of S&G’s talent, in particular the first stratospheric leap by Paul Simon in sophisticated lyricism.

However, I’m in two minds and I’m now thinking I need to challenge my own opinion. The first side gives the illusion of a cohesive concept album of sorts, but overall it’s a mixed bag. America and Mrs Robinson might well be two of the crowning achievements in sixties pop, At The Zoo is infectious, Old Friends is beautiful, but otherwise there is a lot of filler for such a slight album.

It would have made a fantastic EP.

I’m not convinced the production is all it should be either -it sounds a bit “empty”. Most obviously in the big stagey numbers like Save The Life Of My Child and Fakin’ It, where they are trying to emulate the experimentation of Strawberry Fields and Sgt Pepper, but failing quite spectacularly to do so convincingly.

I love the cover. Clearly Bowie was trying to copy it with “Heroes”.

» Continue Reading.

Tubular Bells 2021 – when an artist makes a comeback in absentia…

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The Mike Oldfield fans on the internet have been in a bit of a buzz yesterday and today, with the announcement of what at first appeared from the teasers to be a comeback concert by the man himself. Turns out it is not – it’s a multimedia performance of Tubular Bells (sounds a bit like The Beatles Love or something) from which Oldfield himself will be absent.

(Let’s overlook the fact the album was released 48 years ago, not 50….)

It’s an official event though. It was launched via his official Facebook page and he is quoted in the blurb talking about it.

Is this the next step beyond artists re-touring old albums? Sending the album out on tour while the artist stays at home in the Bahamas?

https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/performance-dance/tubular-bells-live-concert?eventId=863459

The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You

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What does it sound like?:

It pains me to say this, as I have long championed this band, but this new album from the The Avalanches isn’t that good.

The Avalanches started as cheeky young upstarts at the end of the last millennium, joining a long list of hip hop and dance artists who worked with samples, weaving cut and paste collages into new material. They didn’t really fit into any genre, but created a happy-sad genre of their own, and their classic debut Since I Left You in 2000 was a glorious mashup of cheap charity shop records.

But with the advent on online music, obscure tunes became easier to find with just a click (undercutting the crate-diggers of the 80s and 90s) and the legal claws tightened around “stealing music”, so it became harder and harder to do this kind of thing. That it took 16 years to make a follow-up, Wildflower, was perhaps not surprising. But what WAS surprising was how good Wildflower actually was, smoothing out and subtly updating the Since I Left You sound and showing there was still life in the genre yet (a genre which, in the intervening years had acquired a » Continue Reading.

RIP Maradona

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I came on here thinking someone else would have posted this already. But as they haven’t, I’ll cheekily post it first. I just love the irony as I’m not in any way a football fan.

But in all seriousness, even though I’m not a fan, Maradona was one of the few (in fact maybe the only) football player I have ever seen where I was genuinely impressed and moved by his ability. At his peak he was like a ballet dancer on the pitch, truly astonishing.

Jimmy Shand

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I was thinking about what type of music isn’t generally represented on here, and (possibly inspired by the “parents and their musical taste” thread) I thought of accordionist Jimmy Shand, the undisputed daddy of Scottish country dance music.

Then I remembered an anecdote about Jimmy meeting the Beatles. Trying to remember the details, and wanting to check if it actually happened or not, I googled “jimmy shand beatles” and the only relevant thing I found was…

… a comment, on a thread, on here, four years ago, relating the very same anecdote…. by ME…

Another Great Beatle Loss – George Martin dead at 90

I’m not sure what my point is, but I think I’ve had enough to drink today.