We have Cirque du Soleil coming to Singapore later this year with their show “Kurios” and on seeing an advert for it on TV last night, I was telling my son about the French circus group “Archaos” from the early 90s.

Anyone else remember them ?

If I recall correctly, I saw them at the Edinburgh festival and in Manchester in the early 90s. A manic mix of Mad Max meets the circus with juggling chainsaws, flamethrowers, exploding vehicles, one side of the trapeze being a JCB…….and a live band playing throughout. Unfortunately they went bust in the mid 90s.

Whilst I have seen Cirque Du Soleil a few times and it’s always been good, it never seems to be a good as my memories of Archaos – or am I looking at it through the proverbial rose tinted glasses…..

With the juggling chainsaws etc, would they still be able to get away with such a show these days on health and safety grounds ?

https://youtu.be/DOiE-gGJLyk

Been listening to this for the past couple of days after it being recommended to me by a friend…. Stunningly beautiful album that would definitely been on my albums of 2018 list if I had heard it earlier.

Obvious reference point is Japan / David Sylvian / Rain Tree Crow (given the Steve Jansen connection), but should appeal to anyone who likes Talk Talk etc etc. Available on bandcamp and via the tax dodgers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAEF_EUVa90

I know there’s a post on what we are looking forward to in 2019, but this news is so amazing that I just had to create a new thread and post as soon as I found out……

Nickleback will be playing their first concert in Singapore in February. For a mere S$138 (about 80 of your UK pounds at present) I can be part of rock history.

https://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cnickelback0219

There’s been a lot of love / discussion about Charlie Brooker’s ‘Black Mirror” on here in the past, so with the latest episode arriving on Netflix yesterday…….

For those that aren’t aware, this episode is interactive, with choices to be made throughout and I believe five possible endings. Typical running times are about 90 minutes, with apparently 5 hours of material in total.

What were your thoughts ? What path / choices did you take ? What ending did you arrive at ? Did you go back and watch again with different choices ? etc etc.

Given the nature of this episode, this discussion is probably going to be very spoiler heavy and so if you haven’t watched yet…. look away now.

Assuming that Santa brings you a time machine (single use only – its made in China) and a ticketmaster gift card for Christmas, what historical concert would you use it for…… ?

Stones at Altamont, Beatles at Shea, Sex Pistols Free Trade Hall, Woodstock….. any concert, anywhere in the world, at anytime in history – the choice is yours. And why ?

On the track “Teardrops” from his new album “The Prophet Speaks”, Van Morrison sings “If I had $10 million, I would give her every dime….. just to hear her call my name out one more time”

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Van is worth $90 million. Does that mean that there are nine ladies out there who are about to become very rich just by giving him a call ? Maybe it’s to fund this that he’s put out so many albums lately.

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/rock-stars/van-morrison-net-worth/

Better start saving folks… 2019 will see a CD / Blu Ray box set of the classic Tangerine Dream Virgin years (1974 – 79) which have been remastered by none other that Steven Wilson.

No details yet – supposed to be out in April and rumours suggest in may be a 20 disc set that includes at least some of the albums in 5.1 surround. If it includes Phaedra and Stratosfear in 5.1, then its going to be difficult to resist for me……

http://www.musictap.com/2018/11/21/tangerine-dream-to-release-cd-bd-box-with-steven-wilson-remixes/

I had pre-ordered the Jimi Hendrix and Beatles box sets that were released last Friday from the tax dodgers over a month ago. Living in Singapore, I usually bank on a 1-2 week delivery time.

Come last Friday and then Saturday, neither had been despatched. Emails fired off with a (polite) rant informing them that one of the reasons I pre-ordered was to get ASAP and surely with a pre-order they should be able to plan their supply accordingly to ensure timely despatch etc etc.

The usual apologetic emails received very quickly informing me that it was being investigated and escalated at the fulfilment centre for immediate action. Come Sunday, still no despatch, so further (maybe a little less polite) emails sent. Promised it was being escalated and they would expedite shipment.

Finally received despatch notices for the Hendrix on Monday and the Beatles yesterday. Replied back thanking them but still questioning why a pre-order had been delayed.

Two results…. i) The Hendrix boxset received today – a mere 2 days after despatch and way before the usual 1-2 weeks if this had shipped normally (I reckon they used Jeff Bezos private spaceship thingy) ii) They gave me a £20 » Continue Reading.

After the extensive discussions on the recent Bowie / Loving the Alien boxset, I was a little surprised at the lack of comments on this Glastonbury performance…..

For those that missed, the hour long highlights were on BBC last Friday night and available on iPlayer at the below link. My understanding is that when this was originally broadcast in 2000, they only showed 4 or 5 songs.

The full 2 hour concert is out on DVD / CD on 30th November and available from your nearest tax dodger. After watching this hour of highlights, I’m very much looking forward the whole thing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bntp2p/bowie-at-glastonbury-2000

News item yesterday about Oxford University interview questions and how the obvious answer may be best. One of the questions was…..

“What are the different ways in which you listen to music ? How does that change the way in which you think about what you are listening to?”

Discuss……..

They may be accused of going through the motions and rattling out the old hits on their current tour, but you certainly can’t accuse them of not keeping us entertained in the soap opera that is Fleetwood Mac………

Has there ever been a more dysfunctional band ?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/lindsey-buckingham-sues-fleetwood-mac-over-dismissal-from-band-736063/

I know that this contains not just one, but two artists that folks love to hate – Muse with Jools on piano, but this version of Dig Down from last nights Later is rather good……

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6vNRx3it54

It’s the least you can do to honour the memory of Geoffrey Hayes who departed today aged 76…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgbcQIT7BMc

A lot of recent upheaval in the production of the next Bond film (cunningly titled Bond 25), with Daniel Craig being on board, but the loss of Danny Boyle as director.

I see now they have announce Cary Fukunaga as the replacement Director and the release date still down as November 2019.

I believe e that Cary Fukunaga was the director of the first season of True Detective, which was one of the best TV shows in recent years, so in my mind this looks promising…

So…. – Is Bond still relevant ? Has Mission Impossible stolen it’s thunder ? Any thoughts on this new director ? Who will be the next Bond ? Who is the best Bond ? Which was the best movie ?

Over to you lot……

For the record, I still love Bond films, so Yes, No, Promising, Idris Elba, Connery (with Craig just behind) and Goldfinger.

Only two listens in, but it’s a bit good isn’t it…..

Just received this via email…

Maybe too late to apply now, but just in case for those in London.

https://elviscostello.cmail20.com/t/ViewEmail/y/60D4D6E9A6BC8A0D/BE2B9B4681DAC9D7667CCDA886AB700A

This brought back memories…….

Obviously no Stuart Adamson, but a still pretty enjoyable 20 minutes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p06jp30y/the-quay-sessions-the-skids

In which our favourite Foo Fighter takes on the task of recording every instrument for a 23 minute long instrumental track and the ensuing video cleverly composites them together to make it look like there’s seven Dave Grohl’s in the room……

The whole video is available on youtube (and also on BBC iPlayer) with the first 10 minutes or so explaining the background of being inspired by kids learning music (they are American kids, so be warned).

Song is pretty good – very much in the Foo Fighters vein, but with plenty of quiet bits, funky bits and prog bits. Overall I think it works and doesn’t suffer from lack of vocals. Pretty impressive job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e05H80-k0mY

Starless – King Crimson.

Gorgeous opening riff, slow build to an epic finish. What’s not to like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfR6_V91fG8

The threads below on the new Springsteen live show download and the Allman’s live at the Filmore album, show the two different appraiches to live albums….

One is a straight ahead record of a single show, one a compilation of the best of a few nights.

I may be wrong here, but it appears that most “classic” live albums have been in the “compilation of best bits” camp and this release of complete shows has been a recent thing (another way to generate income in the days of decreasing album sales ?).

So what should a definitive live album be – is it a record of a show for folks who attended (or for those that couldn’t make) or a release of alternative versions of songs in a live context….. or am I just talking bollocks as usual.?

Thoughts……

I’ve just finished watching “Keeping Faith” (the English version downloaded from iPlayer a couple of months ago before it was shown on BBC).

Very enjoyable drama and I can see the comparisons with Broadchurch. I know that its currently halfway through and so don’t want to discuss the plot too much for fear of spoilers…..

One thing that has really stood out though are the songs by Amy Wadge that run through the series – they really get under the skin. Best being the track “We Fall Down”, but I can’t find a Youtube of that so you’ll have to make do with the main theme…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzZEtiusO4

We celebrated the 75th Birthday of Sir Mick of Jagger last week, so now it’s the turn of the incomparable Kate Bush, who turns 60 today…..

Your favourite Kate Bush track please…….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDWQs2mYG_E

Coming back on the ferry from the Indonesian island of Batam this afternoon, I was listening to “Schoolyard Ghosts” by No-Man – the joint project of Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness.

It struck me that with his work in Porcupine Tree, No-Man, Blackfield, solo, etc etc, he must be one of the most prolific artists out there.

So, question…… which artist has released the most albums in history (excluding various artist compilations) ? Not sure if we should limit this to just the artists work either solo or in band / project or include “significant guest appearances” – I’ll leave that to consensus…….

Fourth boxset announced……

Thoughts ?

https://www.davidbowie.com/blog/2018/7/18/david-bowie-loving-the-alien-1983-1988-due-october

Paging @niallb……

Gretchen Peters has done a BBC Scotland Quay Sessions – I believe these are only shown in Scotland, but its on iPlayer. Its only an about 30 min session, but very good,

(There’s also one by Emily Barker which is pretty good)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p069vtn3/the-quay-sessions-gretchen-peters