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Resurrection Shuffle

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The other day, I found my Creative Zen Touch MP3 player in a drawer. It must have been sitting there unused for at least 5 years, so I thought I’d spark it up to see if it still worked. Luckily, I still had the mains power cable.

I plugged it in and it whirred and clicked, whirred and clicked, whirred and clicked. I thought that it had given up the ghost. A Google search warned me of a failing hard drive. It also suggested poking a paperclip into a small hole to reboot it. Hey presto, after a few reboots, it started working after a fashion.

The battery is shot, so I have to keep it plugged in. It will not turn off unless I pull the power plug. The slide selection thing only works for a short while after a new reboot, so I cannot really choose what I listen to but random shuffle works fine.

So, as long as it’s plugged in, I hear a random selection of the 3,000-odd tracks that I must have loaded on it pre-2006 (I am pretty sure of this date). There are a lot of Word/Now Hear This CDs on it, » Continue Reading.

Will Sensicle – Hindsight

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Hindsight is Will Sensicle’s first solo single.

Poet William Blake had it spot on when he said “Hindsight is a wonderful thing … “. He obviously had the foresight to know.

Regardless of the fact that Will is the son of very good and long-standing friends, I think that this is a fantastic song that deserves exposure – even here! For me, it is redolent of bands like Prefab Sprout and Trash Can Sinatras, although I think it transcends its influences the more you hear it.

I have been listening to it again and again over the last 3 or 4 days and, in between times, I get phrases of the melody cropping up in my head.

Give it go – Tiggs’ regulation 6 listens, of course!

The passing of time….

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I am watching Al Green from Glastonbury now on BBC 4 and I am struck – not for the first time – about how strange the passing of time seems to be.

There is Al introducing songs by saying things like “Now we are going back to 1974…. “.

On the one hand, that doesn’t seem odd to me, even though – as a 10 year old – I wasn’t aware of Al Green at the time. What amazes me is that he is referring to a year that was, in 1999, almost as many years earlier than we are now from that 1999 concert.

I remember at being at school in 1981 and someone bringing in Desire, which seemed to be from a totally different era, but was recorded only 5 years earlier. If I think now about what was recorded 5 years ago, on the one hand it seems like yesterday but on the other hand, I might be pushed to actually identify what was out and about in 2016.

I’m not sure if any of that makes too much sense, but time does seem to have a weird telescoping effect, doesn’t it? Or, maybe I have » Continue Reading.

ATM – David Mitchell (the author)

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I know that reading is very much a personal thing, but has anyone got any thoughts on the books of David Mitchell?

Cloud Atlas has been sitting on one of my shelves for years, unread, as has (I think) The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, but I am preparing (mentally) to go through a (physical) clear-out of books and I’m not sure that I can bring myself to even make a start on either to find out if I might like them, preferring instead to go by the fact that “if you haven’t picked them up in the last five years, ….”.

Based on the review of Utopia Avenue in today’s Guardian, I am not tempted by what the reviewer calls Mitchell’s ongoing “metanovel” or by the following lines from the review:

“… the frustrating, elusive magic of wresting melody out of four strings and a pick-up is vividly evoked, as Jasper “slams into an amp-blowing, bent-string howl and fires off a scale of triads, sliding from high E, all the way down”.”

I am not sure what I find most remarkable about that: the possibility that Jasper (a lead guitarist) might find it a little less frustrating » Continue Reading.

I’ll name that genre in …

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Windows Media Player, or whoever supplies the autofill info for when you rip a CD, seems to have come up with some new ways to slice-and-dice music genres and some pretty idiosyncratic choices.

Up until now, I have usually left the information as suggested, but, if I do change it, I usually only use “Rock”, “Pop” or “Alternative”. This probably tells you more about my lack of concern for the too-exact categorisation of ripped CDs than the scope of what I choose to call my musical taste…. but not much more.

However, the other day I was offered “Singer/Songwriter” (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’s Shaved Fish); “Contemporary Pop” (Richard Hawley’s Coles Corner); “Classic Rock” (This Mortal Coil’s It’ll End In Tears) and … best and most weirdly of all … “Retrospective Pop” for discs 1 and 2 of The Rolling Stones’ Singles – The London Years and “Indie/Alternative” for disc 3.

I called the whole lot of them “Rock” and had done with it, but am still wondering quite what “Retrospective Pop” actually is: something you didn’t think was “pop” at the time, but now you come to look back at it…? Any better ideas?

I know this sounds ungrateful but…

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It was my birthday the other day and Mrs Pajp asked me what I wanted as a present.

Having heard Ezra Furman’s “Love You So Bad” on 6Music over the last few weeks and having subsequently spent far too much time watching him on YouTube, I told Mrs P that I would like an Ezra Furman CD (I had to spell the name out E-z-r-a-F- and so on) and I mentioned Perpetual Motion People, partly because of Body Was Made and Lousy Connection and partly because Transangelic Exodus was not then out.

Anyway, Mrs P bought me Day Of The Dog because – she said – she didn’t like the look of the others.

Now, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but despite my reasonably explicit request, I am getting a CD (it is on its way from Amazon) on the basis of what Mrs P (not ever likely to be, or want to be, an Afterworder) liked the look of.

Have I been hard done by?

Still, it doesn’t stop me buying the others for myself, does it?

Wonderful radio, marvellous radio

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I just came across the “First Time with …” on the iPlayer, a series of programmes that appeared (appear?) on 6Music in which musicians talk about their musical milestones. Is this only new to me? Clearly, I should have paid more attention as they are six series in.

There are 26 episodes still available to listen to on the iPlayer. I have just finished listening to the Loudon Wainwright prog (available for another 5 days only) and will follow up another day with Elvis Costello, Terry Hall, Peter Gabriel and others.

Is anyone else a fan of the “Soul Music” series? For those that don’t know, each episode is about a song or a piece of music and people talk about why the song or piece is important to them: it’s sometimes happy, sometimes sad, but – I think – never less than engaging. Last week was “Boys Don’t Cry” and included Lol Tolhurst talking about how the song was written. As is always the way, some episodes are better than others – the “The Way You Look Tonight” one sticks in mind – but, they are always worth a listen and there are plenty to choose from.

Finally, I » Continue Reading.

Opinions Found

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On the “What classic album have you only got round to hearing recently?” thread the other day @black-celebration posted a link about a Marvin Gaye album bought secondhand for 50c containing his (Marvin’s, not Black’s) passport.

While I can’t claim to have ever found anything that valuable or interesting, it reminded me of a note and a DVD-R disc that I found inside a copy of The Beach Boys’ “Today!/Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)” on CD that I bought a couple of years ago from a charity shop. The note read:

“This may elongate or widen your musical horizons. There may be something with which you resonate. Dad xxx”

I assume that the note referred to the DVD, on which there are a number of part or whole music programmes/documentaries recorded from BBC4 – Paul Simon at St. Luke’s with the LSO (the end of “How Can You Live In The Northeast?”, “Late In The Evening” and “The Boxer”); documentaries on Joe Zawinul and the Zawinul Syndicate, Brazilian music, the Brecon Jazz Festival, Edith Piaf and K.D. Lang (like Mr Simon) at St. Luke’s with the LSO.

I would have thought that there would be a » Continue Reading.

Too Many Books

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Waking up at about 4am the other morning and unable to get back to sleep, I went onto the radio iPlayer and scrolled through that day’s programmes and came across “Too Many Books”.

The title alone was enough to make me listen, but I also remembered reading @vulpes-vulpes thread about books to a good home not long before.

Anyway, listening to Too Many Books is a half hour worth spending. It has gentle humour, some pathos and a man that buys books (including a Smash Hits annual and one about Tim and Jeff Buckley) at car boots.

What’s not to like about that?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01351q2

Rock star name tweaks

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In today’s Telegraph there is a story about Rick Parfitt, which (if I have done this right) should be linked.

Towards the end, there is the following sentence: “Next year would mark Status Quo’s 50th anniversary; Parfitt joined singer Francis Rossiter and bassist Alan Lancaster in 1964 to form The Spectres, who began performing as Status Quo in 1967…”.

I was quite taken with the idea of “Francis Rossiter”: Reggie Perrin in denim? Or Rigsby rockin’ all over the world?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/status-quos-rick-parfitt-may-have-played-last-show/

Service

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The recent news of the retirement of Hannah and Tim as admins reminded me of a little nonsense I posted sometime ago that gave rise to the only time I ever had dealings with either of them. It was Hannah who helped me out.

I’d posted a photo, in which you could clearly see the name of a person and the address at which that person worked. Soon after posting it, it occurred to me there might be a data protection issue and I asked the admins to blitz the post, which Hannah kindly did.

However, as I continue to be amused by this very slight thing and, as I said, was reminded of it the other day, I have decided to resurrect it, but I have done some work on the image, so you can now only make out the name.

So, here goes ….

I went into a [….] shop in [….] and, having bought a number of [….]s, looked at the receipt (see illustration) and, noticing the name of the cashier, thought to myself, “Well, you gotta serve somebody.” and walked out.

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r674/Clennam/Dylan_zpsqrcfxnb2.jpg

ATM – Metal

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I keep seeing these bits of metal on the side of the road/in the gutter and cannot work out what they are or where they come from.

They are clearly made of steel because they are sometimes rusty. It is not hard steel because the strips can be easily bent. They are all the same width (about 2/3 mm) and roughly all the same length (about 20 cm).

Any ideas?

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r674/Clennam/IMG_20150726_1049390561_zpsh3jgqg6a.jpg

Near coffee-keyboard incident

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At lunchtime today, I read the obituary of Dame Marion Kettlewell in The Telegraph.

Dame Marion was a Wren and died on 11 April, aged 102. She joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1942 and in the years following 1947, she spent three years on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth and time as a Chief Officer in the Admiralty. In 1961 she was promoted to Superintendent, WRNS and later to Commandant, becoming the Director of the WRNS from 1967 to 1970.

What made me almost spit a mouthful of coffee onto my keyboard was this:

“By 1942 Marion Kettlewell … was selected to be commissioned and, after three weeks’ preparation at Greenwich, she was appointed as quarters officer in charge of the catering and accommodation at HMS Twatt….”

“HMS Twatt”? Sounds like something from the never-made RN caper “Carry on up Spithead”! The Navy Lark, eh?

NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

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I don’t know if anyone has come across these before, but I found an NPR Tiny Desk Concert on YouTube this evening and they are great.

They are just three or four song acoustic sets played in NPR’s offices. There are loads by people I have heard of (Pixies, Billy Bragg, Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie, Natalie Merchant) and many I haven’t.

If I’ve done this properly, this post should include Lyle Lovett, which IMO is sublime.

http://www.npr.org/event/music/166752674/lyle-lovett-tiny-desk-concert

Billy Sherrill

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I just saw that Billy Sherrill, who produced Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue, has passed away.

As a somewhat love-sick 17 year old, I was very taken with Mr Costello’s version of Sweet Dreams. As I recall, the single had a cover of Jack Kittel’s Psycho on the B-side. I liked that too, but not because I was love-sick.

Almost Blue was my gateway to Patsy Cline and Gram Parsons and it is still one of my favourite Elvis Costello albums. There’s a documentary (Edit: I see it’s the South Bank Show) about the making of Almost Blue, which I remember as being good. I see it’s on YouTube, so that’s my next hour sorted.

Billy Sherrill also co-wrote Stand By Your Man. I find Tammy Wynette’s version a bit cloying, but I like Lyle Lovett’s. I was going to pop that in here too, but I don’t know if I can, so I will (try to) be the first to comment on my own post and put it there.

Blue Aeroplanes klaxon

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I know that there are a few Blue Aeroplanes fans among the Afterworders so I thought I would let you know that Amazon has “Access All Areas”, a live CD + DVD of the Blue Aeroplanes at the Town & Country Club in 1992, at a pre-release price of £4.99 plus delivery. It is due for release on 29 June.

As the blurb says: “includes highlights from albums ‘Swagger’ and ‘Beatsongs’, a veritable cast of thousands on stage including ever-present dancer Wojtek Dmochowski.”

What the blurb does not say is that I was there. Mine is on order, so I will soon be scanning the DVD to see if I can see my younger self!