I like chilled Sundays. Today was one of them and accompanying a leisurely approach to the day I have been listening to:

Steve Mason – Monkey minds in the Devils Yard. Disc 3 of the Wilco Alpha Mike Foxtrot album Disc 2 of The Jimi Hendrix Experience box Martin Stephenson – Where the Pilgrims go (New release)

Is there an artist whose releases you buy upon release regardless of indifferent reviews? Are there artists you used to do this with but stopped?

Still buy: Elvis Costello Richard Thompson Martin Stephenson Eels Jackie Leven (until he passed) Paul Simon Tom Russell Lucinda Williams Hayes Carrl

Stopped: Nanci Griffith Neil Young – substandard recent releases Julian Cope – dip in and out now Father John Misty – bought first two and was set to by latest but heard songs and they were cack

One of my favourite Free songs is My Brother Jake. I recently bought all of their albums on CD to complete my collection. I didn’t remember that this song was never released on any album – what a great song not to find a home anywhere. I am sure there were many single only releases in the 60’s/70’s – what other examples are out there?

https://youtu.be/EEsd5ibmg5I

Used to be easy. I have sent 3 messages to the contact page and asked to send message to @Tiggerlion.

He obviously isn’t getting them – has something changed?

Occasionally I hear songs that have been around for ages, for the first time. I heard this on 6music this am and it floored me. Cant wait to hear what is in his famed vault:-

https://youtu.be/1nsYUXnOM0I

We all know that it is live where Bruce Springsteen comes into his element. This clip was posted on Facebook yesterday. I hadn’t seen it before but it is 8 minutes of joy I thought I really had to share:

Aside from DFB I doubt there are many torededicated followers of Costello on this site which makes me a reluctant poster of this but has Costello started to lose his muse? His last albums were National Ransom in 2010 and Wise up Ghost in 2013. The latter was new ideas of old songs framed in a more contemporary setting – some good stuff but the feeling of maybe treading water. National Ransom had some very good songs on it but this will be 7th year without a new Costello album of original material. Live he has toured quite prolifically but in ever diminishing circles despite playing a different setlist every night. Detour needs to be shelved now and he needs to record and tour in his best format which is as the leader of a Beat group. Fce in the Crowd is a musical that he is working on but doubt will enhance his reputation. So Elvis stop being contrary for the sake of it and get back in the saddle.

Apropos of nothing I started singing ‘what shall we do with the drunken sailor?’ yesterday. Then I started asking my colleagues if they could remember what they sang at school – by which I mean primary school not High School by which time I had learned lewd Rugby songs. Another one I recalled was ‘The big ship sails on the Ally Ally ho’. Apparently on the last day of September.

Unbelievably thick or just nervous? I can’t imagine being that nervous that you would lose all rational thinking but my wife was much more sympathetic:-

http://bbc.in/2ivuI54

Tonight we went shopping in the Bullring. Returning to the car park we needed to take the lift. My wife pressed the lift button. It seemed to be taking a long time so she pressed it again. Why? It doesn’t make the lift speed up. I have done it too as I expect many others on here but it is illogical.

Another one – I know drivers averse to putting their headlights on in dim light in the day time because it could wear their batteries out. What,more than at night time?

There must be countless other examples of daft things done for no reason.

I suspect this one might be suited to @duc01 but I could be wrong. Heard a rather splendid track from a recently released live album of this trumpeter. Don’t know anything about him other than what I have read since hearing that track. Amazon shows a fair number of albums, some of which are apparently hard to find. Can anyone make any recommendations?

This week I made a startling new discovery. Over the years I have tried and discarded most chocolate bars and for many a year my favourites have been Topic or Galaxy. I even tried a Yorkie bar on a couple of occasions but it was nothing special. However this week I discovered Yorkie bar Biscuit and Raisin. It is divine. Clearly not the Rolls Royce of chocolate bars, maybe more like the Austin Allegro but when you have a craving for chocolate and it was the only chocolate available my God did it do the trick. That combination of milk chocolate, biscuit and juicy raisins is a real temptress and I fell for her charms hook line and sinker. Now to get some stocks in for Christmas – forget the Celebrations or Quality Street this is the one for me this year.

Was watching No Direction Home last night and was particularly interested in the segment about the organ intro to Like a Rolling Stone. Arguably it makes a huge contribution to the song. Driving to the butchers this am the below song came on. It also has a simple Organ intro that makes it such an enduring record.There must be countless other examples:-

https://youtu.be/_nbqqoRx3r8

There are a couple of bands who have never officially split up yet have not released any albums for quite a while.

If I had a wish list for 2017 I would like to see new albums from: Guillemots – their last album Hello Land was their best and now complete silence and a moribund website. Was not was – Okay so Don Was is an in-demand producer but they never split up. New album please or better still some live shows? Fountains of Wayne – some new activity more than welcome guys.

Friday was a significant birthday for yours truly. My beloved Ness treated me with a long weekend in Moscow accompanied by our daughter and her boyfriend. As it was my special weekend I was determined to visit at least one record store in Moscow so on Sunday morning armed with Google maps we trundled from our hotel the mere 800 metres to where the store was located. Firstly let me say Google maps was as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike and my knowledge of the cyrillic alphabet was not any better. We reached the general vicinity but ended up going round in circles. Finally we found a very kind Russian young man who looked on his phone and spoke enough English to deliver us to the store with pinpoint accuracy.No wonder we couldn’t find it – it was tucked away in a courtyard off a main road and it was not near to any other stores. There was no visible signage other than a bat which was the sign for Transylvania Records. I walked inside and it was a labyrinth with the most amazing and extensive selection of vinyl and cd’s I have ever seen. Two things » Continue Reading.

Making a separate post to the Disciplne one because I have a genuine question that I didn’t want to get buried in that post- where do I start with King crimson? I am familiar with In then court of the Crimson King from way back and briefly familiar with Starless and Bible Black but that’s about it. Some help needed from you guys.

In a brief visit to that there London yesterday I paid a brief visit to their Broadwick Street store. I was in there for around 15 minutes and they took over £300 from 3 punters so I was quite surprised that their eclectic model seems to be thriving. Have been a fan of their compilations for a long time and yesterday IK took a punt on ‘Venezuela 70 – Cosmic visions of a Latin American Earth. Venezuelan experimental rock in the 1970’s’.

I have to say it is excellent and well worth the gamble. Now to the Nigerian one I bought at the same time. Long live the niche sellers I say.

One of my favourite current bands Thee Oh Sees are releasing their third album this year. The other two are very good and from what I have heard of the new one it is also on the money. What is too many and what is not enough?

A few years ago The Guillemots released their best album Hello land with the accompanying announcement that it was the first of 4 albums that year – one for each season. We are still waiting for the other 3 and it seems the band have split up.

According to Johnny C there are 102 Frank Zappa albums and Grateful Dead must be many times more.

On the other hand Blue Nile were hardly prolific yet always released quality and The Avalanches released a great album this year after a significant gap.

Does prolific always affect quality and conversely is a long wait always worth it?

So said Gail Platt to David in last nights Coronation Street. Aside from the fact that the chipmunk like features of Gail Platt irritate me and she should be written out of the series it made me think what a ridiculous saying that is. Regardless of whether you have one day left to live or 50 years it is all ahead of you – it cannot be in the past. Any other examples of sayings that make no sense whatsoever.