Roll up, roll up! It’s May! Here in Glasgow in recent weeks we have had false spring, summer, November again, and can-you-really-trust-that-this-is-spring-this-time. Rain is currently battering down.
So I am staying indoors listening to records and reading books – the garden can wait.
What have you all been listening to, reading, watching, or otherwise using to divert yourselves from THE STATE OF IT ALL ?
Been listening to the new deluxe edition of the Small Faces’ Autumn Stone album plus a whole load of 70s roots reggae, especially a Niney The Observer Doctor Bird comp, Jah Fire. Also liking the new album from The Horrors, Night Life.
Currently reading Lloyd Bradley’s masterful history of reggae, Bass Culture, hot on the heels of some Raymond Carver.
Enjoying Mobland on the telly. Tom Hardy underplays it while everyone else goes gloriously over the top, especially Dame Helen Mirren.
I have been on a bit of a run with audiobooks – currently halfway through John Cooper Clarke’s excellent autobiography, I Wanna Be Yours, which is sharp, sarcastic, and occasionally very stacatto. I also enjoyed Joel Morris – Be Funny or Die (How Comedy Works and Why It Matters).
Actual physical books have included the first in a new hard-boiled detective thriller, A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames. (More on his wonderful life here – https://crimereads.com/jonathan-ames-interview-tom-nolan/ ) and a re-read of Giles Brandreth’s book about poetry and the importance of reading it out loud, Dancing By The Light of the Moon, which I went back to because JCC said that the teacher who sparked his interest in poetry did so by reading it to the class, and explaining that good poetry wants to be heard.
I have been listening to quite a bit of classic reggae : Augustus Pablo – Original Rockers, Africa Must Be Free By 1983 Dub ( and the Hugh Mundell original), Linton Kwezi Johnson Bass Culture (double LP with LKJ in Dub), and Culture – Two Sevens Clash. I’ve also been enjoying re-visiting the Spiritual Jazz collections, especially the two volumes of Impulse and the one of the Steeplechase label.
I’ve not seen anything of note – although I do want to hunt down the David Johansen documentary – a warm, funny, sharp singer and a great frontman.
AOB – The Primevals are getting back in the van – London Hope & Anchor Fri June 27, Preston The Ferret Sat June 28, Glasgow The Rum Shack August 7 and Paisley Bungalow Bar August 29.
I love that Mundell/Pablo collection, along with the Jacob Miller set, Who Say Jah No Dread. Desert island stuff for me, absolutely crucial.
Busy month gig wise.
Down to Birmingham for the Ashley Hutchings’ 80th highlight was hearing John Tams sing Poor Old Horse which I’ve not heard live in nearly 50 years and of course meeting up with @retropath2 at it. Also went to Dudley Zoo to meet up with my 70th birthday camel a present from our ex neighbours (not allowed to keep it though). Back home and saw Plumhall at Black Dyke Mills the next day.
The Thursday after a visit to the Cat Club Pontefract to see John Altman whose ability to name drop was unsurpassable, Muddy Waters played at his 21st etc. All done matter of factly as these things just happened, his book Hidden Man is well worth a read. He did the orchestrations for the Rutles too, and film and adverts music. You may have not heard of him but you’ve heard his work.
The following weekend over to Stockport to stay with my son and visit Stockport’s Day of Dance. 100 morris teams out and about in the town finishing with select teams doing an hour and a half showcase at the end. I must admit to being morrised out at the end.
The next night on our return home I saw Home Service at Batley Town Hall (Batley Variety Club no longer in existence). I saw them last year in Balham on their inaugural gig with Bob Fox and they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Then a train to London to the Cutty Sark for Richard Thompson and a meet up with @Gatz we stayed a couple of nights had a boat trip up the Thames which my wife despite being born in London had never done.
RT on top form despite doing that song I never want to hear again, his backing choir leaving a lot to be desired a bit wooden I thought.
Must have done other stuff too.
I have twice been mistaken for John Altman while in the audience at jazz gigs. By jazz artists who know him. If only I had his talent (and money ..).
I think he looks a little more like my late brother than like me.
@hubert-rawlinson I can’t believe I overlooked that Ashley H birthday gig. Sounds like there was a mini “Rise Up Like The Sun” reunion.
Am going to catch up with Home Service in next few months, just need to decide which place I fancy having a couple of days to spend in.
Tam is also playing some gigs including Walthamstow Folk Club, I hope to be there.
The 80th was recorded and stuff from it will be released if POH isn’t on I’ll be very disappointed,
Both Home Service and Tam are both worth seeing of course.
Seen
A pretty quiet month for going out. We went to a couple of showings of horror films at the local arts centre which were a blast. The guy who presented them really threw himself into it, wearing a white lab coat while dry ice rolled around the feet of a huge inflatable Frankenstein as he introduced (with obvious love and deep knowledge of the genre) a classic Hammer Cushing/Lee presentation. There are themed cocktails (the ‘Frankie’, concocted to resemble the monster’s skin colour) too, and the arts centre is in a deconsecrated church which adds atmosphere.
The only gig was Richard Thompson at the Cutty Sark, just sneaking in on the last day of April (where we briefly got to say hello to Hubes, see above). The man is a phenomenon of course, playing with incredible energy and precision at the age of 76. In a setlist ranging from Fairport days to a new, as yet unreleased number, the obvious classics (WBL 1952, bright Lights and so on) we re covered but so too were some deep cuts. I enjoyed the reworked Hokey Pokey and was thrilled to hear When Love Whispers Your Name get an outing. Support act Danny Bradley, a Liverpool based singer songwriter and a bit of a guitar whizz, was excellent too. I liked his set enough to buy his CD in the interval.
As for the Cutty Sark itself, it’s an amazing space in the dry dock under the keel of the ship, but the low stage and flat floor mean that the view you’re most likely to get is the back of the head of the person in front of you. When I saw Show of Hands here a few years ago they played to her starboard side, with wide rows of seats but not many of them. Richard played at her prow in front of a backdrop of ships’ figureheads, which made for a wonderful backdrop when you could see him.
Read
I enjoyed Adrian Edmondson autobiography Berserker, which gives an honest account of his relationships with his family, The Young Ones, Rik Mayall and fame. There is quite a bit of self pity without acknowledgement that everyone else has their own burden but generally he come across as good company (don’t tell him that though. He doesn’t like being approached in public, which I guess I wouldn’t either.)
A.O.B.
We took a short trip to Gloucestershire, a part of the country I have never explored. We chose the destination because I have wanted to visit Littledean Jail ever since I first saw The House of Whipcord, an extraordinary 70s comedown spin on swinging 60s movies (it’s on YouTube if that sounds like your sort of thing). Littledean Jail was the main location, and in more recent years it has been the home of a huge collection, or collections, relating to true crime, the Holocaust, Quadrophenia, witchcraft … I could go on. It’s an extraordinary place, and certainly won’t be for everyone, but we spent about 3 hours there and left knowing that we had only really taken in a fraction of the items on display.
That figurehead backdrop.
Yes Danny was excellent we’d seen him earlier in the year at the Union Chapel supporting Fairport and looked forward to seeing him again. We’d luckily got front row seats as we were let in early as the lift wasn’t working so we had to go down the staff lift, the ‘advantages’ of having a disability.
Just remembered I saw the Lennon/Ono film I’d have liked a bit more of the concert but seeing it at the IMAX was excellent and the version of Mother was stunning..
I have some catching up to do as I have missed 2 maybe even 3 blog takeovers so forgive me if I go on a bit:
HEARD: Lots, just a few of which are
Land of Kinks – Jamaican Upsetters singles 1970
Melancholy Season – Belmont Tench
So Kono – Salif Keita
On Vine Street – ACE release of covers of early Randy Newman songs
Blow your Horn – Rico and the rude boys
Study of losses – Beirut (brilliant, a surprising contender for end of year list)
Paradise on the hold – Yazz Ahmed
Electric Junk – Cherry Red compilation of Krautrock (hit and miss)
Waterboys – Life and Death of Dennis Hopper – bonkers, brilliant (grows on you)
Les Ambassadeurs Into with Salif Keita- brilliant afrobeat (infectious)
Ry Cooder live at Main Point 1972 (RSD release)
Faded – Liminanas and More Faded (RSD release)
SEEN:
Chuck Prophet with Cumbia Shoes – Hare and Hounds – seen Chuck many many times, this was up there with his best.
superb.
Mary Chapin Carpenter/Julie Fowlis/Karine Polwart – London Palladium – transcendental.
Jah Wobble – Lichfield Guildhall – admired his music for quite a while – first time Ihad seen him live. Very tight playing – impressive.
Reg Meuros – Old Bell Hotel Derby – new to me – covered his new album which is a tribute to Woody Guthrie and some of his extensive back catalogue, Has a great voice and decent guitar picking.
Primal Scream/Baxter Dury – Nottingham Rock City. – awful gig. Firstly I hate the venue, secondly there was a 10pm curfew for a Saturday night – because they had a DJ set later. This meant I missed first 15 minutes of Baxter because this information was not relayed to us. He was very good but it put me in a bad mood and in truth Primal Scream were awful. Lumpen, no dynamics and Bobby Gillespie has a much higher opinion of himself than is deserved. He is not charismatic frontman.
Shame because I like the records (except the latest one)
ON TV we watched all seasons of White Lotus – first 2 great, last one disappointing.
The Ex Wife – same, disappointing second series.
Adolescence – brilliant and compelling.
Gone fishing – continues how has always been – Soothing and heart warming.
On the silver screen Penguin Lessons – lovely performance from Steve Coogan.
READ:
Have become addicted to the writing of Claire Keegan – her short story collection Antarctica
found a place in my heart and so too the stand alone short story The Foresters daughter.
Just about to start Heaterbreaker by Mike Campbell which I am looking forward to.
AOB:
We combined a trip to Krakow with a stay with the wife’s cousins in Berlin – Auschwitz was disturbing, The Salt mine which everyone had recommended in truth left me cold. Wwecwent to a set mine in Bavaria – you seen one salt mine, you seen them all.
Found a good record shop in centre of Berlin I had not visited before – picked up some decent well priced stuff – Serge Gainsbourg, Can and Paul Butterfield Blues band.
@stevet Reg Meuross is a lovely bloke and I’ve been lucky to see his career develop. He started in skiffle-billy duo The Panic Brothers where his songs punctuated the overall comedy mood. Then he became associated with Americana, particularly in a long association with Hank Wangford. Finally he evolved into a fine British folk singer/chronicler of the past. He is (was?) married to the daughter of John “Rabbit” Bundrick which got him into that Pete Townsend connection and the latest album.
@Kjwilly – didn’t know that – was impressed by him and will seek out more of his stuff. Any recommendations?
His catalogue is quite large
@stevet England Green & England Grey was a good one as I recall
@stevet : Stolen From God is excellent, as is Songs Of Love and Death, if each being far more anglo than the Fire and Dust Guthrie set.
Not much happened to me last month apart from being rushed to Emergency in an ambulance. Worse nosebleed ever, gushing out and just wouldn’t stop. I lost a lot of blood and thought I was going to die, I didn’t.
Thanks to the Ottawa medical professionals for sorting me out. It was a very scary experience
Oh and a wondrous Beth Gibbons gig which I wrote about here
I feel your pain. I rarely have nosebleeds now but when I do, it feels like my brains are going to come out of my nostrils. They’re a really good indicator of stress. I had one recently, after a week-long 60-plus-hour panic at work, and took my first day off sick since about 2017.
Nosebleeds! At last a subject I can engage with. I seem to have a hooter congenitally primed to bleed, with a family history including the apparent death, through epistaxis, of my uncle, when he was 6. This was probably in about 1919, but left, as it would, and indelible impression upon my pa, who shared a room with his elder brother. So, when I started gushing, as a child, he took it very very seriously. I have had so many cauteries inside by nose, I am surprised I have any blood supply at all. I also, as a last resort, had a bilateral sub mucous resection, when I was about 14, which, as it healed, effectively took away my septum with it. (I can recall when it shed, at the station in Uckfield, as I was heading back home from outpatients. I blew my nose and something stuck, needing, look away now, if nervous of constitution, a manual delivery of a great slab of matter.) I only realised what had happened, many years later, as we practised peering up each others noses at medical school, that I have a hole where my septum used to be. It has never bothered me much since, apart from when I had to get another ENT opinion, having to explain that, no, I was not in the habit of snorting cocaine, and never have, apart from a the ENT tutorials given, again at med school, by a jovial consultant, who insisted everyone have a squirt of the topical cocaine local anaesthetic spray, citing that “he always did!”
My nose rarely bleeds now.
I was a primary-school cricket wicket keeper and received a bat across the bridge of the nose aged 9 or 10. I had two reconstructive nosejobs in my early 20s and although it now looks alright from the outside, the septum is wonky, so I have one nostril three times bigger than the other.
I had photos in a medical text book, uncredited of course. I patiently await my royalties payment, or for some ENT specialist to say “I recognise your nostrils.”
I rarely if ever get nosebleeds however recently I am getting much more mucus in my nose and adding to Retro’s slabs of matter, almost daily crusty bogies.
@stevet Same here, if you find a remedy then please share
I have nose bleeds reasonably often, but normally they don’t last for more than 15 minutes. This one lasted off and (mainly) on for 6 hours. I now know what to do, put supplied clip on nose for an hour AND DON’T REMOVE IT not even for a second. When you saw people using clothes pegs in comics in the past this was the correct approach.
Coincidentally, I’ve had 3 random nosebleeds in the last month.
1 caused by sneezing, the other 2 just happened whilst sitting watching the telly.
The doctor put “packing” in my nose. I said what if I sneeze? She said “Don’t”
Seen: Series 2 of ‘Annika’ featuring Nicola Walker – great fun. Also enjoying the World Snooker Champs (halfway through as I type).
Read: Reading the latest ECR Lorac/Carol Carnac (neither of which was her real name) reprint in the British Library Crime Classics series. Lorac has been one of the stars of the BL’s series – books with tremendous characters, sense of place and plots, yet an author who was largely forgotten pre the series.
Also reading ‘A Northern Wind: Britain 1962-65’ by David Kynaston – a dense, fact-packed social history that comes with an endorsement from the master of this sort of thing, Dominic Sandbrook. DK is not as ‘readable’ as the Domster – indeed, at times – including not least the opening chapter – it is as if he is simply listing things. After a while, though, decent prose eventually emerges – though one suspects a 500,000 word book was ruthlessly edited down to a 300,000 word one by way of extreme sentence tightening/combining. Still, his sources are delightfully wide – not only the usual newspapers, etc but also a great number of ‘Joe Public’ diarists, the ‘Melody Maker’, sociological surveys, BBC audience report memos etc. It’s the sort of book where you’ll find the likes of Bert Jansch, David Frost, Harold Macmillan and Max Miller in the same paragraph.
Heard: As you might expect, I’m doing a lot of Dick Gaughan listening at the moment – preparing not only the recently crowdfunded (by 326% no less) 7CD+DVD ‘R/evolution: 1969-83’ box set but also several associated and forthcoming Gaughan releases, covering all periods of his 1966-2016 career. Exciting!
One thing I’ve been able to do, with Dick’s blessing, is to have the mighty Eroc remaster (from near-mint vinyl) Dick’s ‘lost’ albums ‘No More Forever’ (1972) and ‘Kist O’ Gold’ (rec 1975; rel 1977), with period rarities added, and the 1988 ‘lost’ album ‘Call It Freedom’ (with two magnificent extras from ‘Woody Lives!’ (1987)). These can’t be legitimately released – it’s a long and wearying story – but they’ve been out of print for decades and don’t exist in the digital sphere. Getting this music out there for free enjoyment is a service to Dick’s legacy and to posterity. Two are already on Soundcloud, and they’ll soon be on YouTube. Here’s the mighty ‘Call It Freedom’:
I’ve also been listening to the sensational new Tubby Hayes archive release from Jazz In Britain, ‘Antibes ’62’, and to the new Spear of Destiny 2CD ‘Janus’ – brutalist classic rock, demanding more listens – impossible to listen to while doing other things! – but immediately apparent that there are classics therein being re-recordings of music from two albums in the 80s or 90s, I believe. SOD do this sort of thing occasionally. I’ve not bought any of their re-recordings before, because I like Kirk Brandon’s more recent songwriting and sound, but I’m tempted to buy more now.
Sport:
Loads of it, none on TV. Isn’t the Premier League dull, and Man. City limping to the F.A. Cup Final has robbed the competition of a great game once again. Boy, it needs one.
Still, Newcastle winning the League Cup was a tonic.
I’m on 95 rugby/football matches for the season. 96 tomorrow, 97 Sunday.
Bizarrely – it’s 2nd May! – I’m set for at least another five visits to the rugby.
However, 95 is a miserly number compared to my nearest sparring partner; he’s on 110.
Cinema:
‘John & Yoko: One To One’.
Quite a useful film for picking out the various concerns/activities of the couple when they moved to New York in 1971. Lennon is magnetic onstage (he really had ‘it’), but 1972 has far too much horn section/saxophone stuff going on. The New York of the time is grey, very grey, and at least five times the 60s/flower power/counterculture is referenced favourable (usually by John) in comparison to the lack of colour and energy of the early 1970s. I agree.
Also, I do not envy him having had Hoffman, Rubin, Spector and Klein so close to hand.
Worth seeing, preferably at the cinema, and only once.
‘Flow’.
Worth seeing more than once. Incredible film, and even better on second viewing.
‘Penwith Gate’.
A comparative rarity (Mark Jenkin notwithstanding), a really great Cornish film, about… erm… gates. You know, those things between fields. I like gates, I like Penwith gates, although before this film I didn’t know that’s what they were, and I like this short film.
‘Holy Cow’.
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant French picture about a young man forced to run a farm following his father’s death. Has a real 60s vibe to it.
‘Julie Keeps Quiet’.
Another fab European film (Belgian) about abuse at a tennis club. Wears its’ subject lightly, it’s a gem. Also, although not its’ most important role, a rare example of sport being expertly dealt with at the cinema.
Music:
Why try to reinvent the wheel?
The Doors’ CD in Uncut… fantastic, and the second one on the trot to be so after the Small Faces.
Wouldn’t mind a Beatles’ one for the anniversary of ‘Rubber Soul’… two tracks from the five box sets (which hardly anyone has bought) + the 65 Xmas Flexi. Job done.
And WE HAVE A RECORD SHOP!!!
No, really, and the guy who runs it isn’t a po-faced git, stocking CDs and pitching those CDs, pretty much all of those CDs, at £3 a pop!
So, quite apart from a handful of £3 purchases, I bought The Yardbirds at the BBC 4-CD set (perfect, especially the Jeff Beck CDs, 1-3) from him and ordered something else for next month.
At this rate I’ll have a proper Top 10 at the end of the year for the first time since about 2009.
Heard:
* Nothing new yet, but lots of “old” – mostly The Men They Couldn’t Hang, Bellowhead, Judas Priest or Neil Young (upset a couple of work colleagues recommending they listen to Arc – not sure how many made it through the full 35 minutes)
* Waiting on pre-orders of Sparks & Pulp later this month.
* Mrs D-free weekend, so off for a long Record Shop mooch tomorrow
Read:
* Re-reading Dominic Sandbrook’s History of late 20th Century (from 1956) – easier going this time, and finding stuff my brain glossed over last time.
Seen:
* There has been a lot of talk about Adolesence being the best TV of the year so far.
Well, running it close (if not surpassing it) is Reunion. BBC Drama mixing a great story, dialogue, and British Sign Language. The storyline is as good as any drama.
* Grace on ITV provides 2 hours of police procedural escapism on a Sunday
* I, Jack Wright on UK & Alibi re-unites 2 of the cast mixing intrigue and disbelief as a Family descends into confusion when the Old Man’s will is changed, and looks like each descends down the pecking order of life.
* Secret Genius Of Modern Life returns – much enthusiasm about possibly dull things
AOB:
This might be an age thing, but I have recently been searching for a Tweed Jacket …
I wasn’t particularly enamoured with Reunion. A good idea in theory to use deaf actors and sign language, but I thought it made for boring telly at times. Plus, speaking as a deaf person, it annoys me when deafness is portrayed as though it’s a hardship. Being deaf is easy-peasy to cope with. Being illiterate, on the other hand (as the main character was), would be a much greater handicap, I reckon.
See I looked at it like they avoided the obvious cop out of making it about “the deaf have it tough” – as you note the story was more about his illiteracy (the fact he was deaf was secondary), and it was just a drama series that happened to have a deaf person it
(fair play to the other actors who leaned BSL, and then learned how to act emotion with BSL rather than just repeating the actions by rote)
I didn’t get why no one used a transcription app. Far easier than sign language! (But well boring from a televisual point of view, I suppose.)
I honestly believe that, were I to meet God, he would be wearing a 3 piece suit of Harris tweed.
Well I did my best with the three piece tweed suit at Hutchings’ 80th last month.
Ah yes, the Secret Genius of Modern Life with Professor Hannah Fry. That’s Professor Hannah Fry. She’s a professor you know. She hardly ever mentions it.
She went to the girls’ school across town from my comp, same place my mum did, and my cousin’s daughters do now. The school bus served four schools, which meant it took best part of an hour to do the journey. There was a lot of listening to Radio 1, except when Janet the driver played her Monkees 8-track tapes.
Hannah Fry’s mum would walk her to school and give her Maths challenges to solve on the way.
That’s why I’m on the AW, and Hannah Fry is not.
Read
Nothing, obviously
Seen
A stint on Disney+ to coincide with the new Daredevil (Alright, but we’re never getting back to the heights of Netflix series one again) brought me to Deli Boys (lively and funny sort-of-mafia comedy and elevated by the excellent chemistry of the leads) and the final series of vampire doc comedy What We Do In The Shadows (as good as ever).
Then, over to Netflix to coincide with Black Mirror (mostly terrific, with the Paul Giamatti episode a particular delight) where I took in The Residence (a modern take on an Agatha Christie whodunnit, complete with an everyone-gathered-together-while-the-sleuth-explains-it-all scene at the end. Stylish, well-played and fun, if not quite as good as it initially promises). And kudos to the AWer who recommended Mo, a comic drama about a Palestinian-American family which I would also recommend.
My aversion to people caused me to stop going to the cinema for the best part of twenty years, so it was a bit of a treat to find myself entirely alone at a showing of Flow (coincidentally a film with no people in it), which was worth watching on a big screen (although it does expose the limitations of the animation software employed). I enjoyed it a great deal, but I’m hearing “best thing in years” type reviews which, I think, are a bit over the top..
Heard
I’ve been listening to a selection of old John Peel shows taken from YouTube in my car. The illusion that you are actually “in” 1978 or ‘82 is strengthened by statements like “I’ve just got this tape from a new band called Killing Joke” and “I’m looking forward to seeing how the Jesus and Mary Chain follow up their smashing first single”.
I had a revelation listening to one of the all-time festive fifties, while Stairway To Heaven made its inevitable appearance. For years I’ve been quick to stick my shoe into Bohemian Rhapsody for its brainless bluster, but it suddenly became clear to me that Bo Rap has, effectively, taken the place of Ver Zep’s tiresome dirge as the civilian’s epic of choice and, for all its faults, I do much prefer Queen’s showstopper.
After a slow start to the year, there’s been a plethora of interesting releases of late, the most Afterword-friendly of which would be Audience With The Queen by Galactic and Irma Thomas where a soul legend teams up with a respected New Orleans band for a solid set of trad soul. Early days, but there’s much to love on the new albums from Femi Kuti, Skrillex, Real Lies, Jessie Reyez and Beirut.
This week alone has brought promising new releases by Samantha Crain, Esther Rose and Blondshell.
Alas, the high hopes I had for the new Japanese Breakfast and Self Esteem, thus far, at least, does not seem to have been fulfilled.
Oh yeah, and Rialto are back with a “there’s always been a disco element to our music” album..
The world is on fire but this morning I got to buy tickets to see Brigitte Calls Me Baby in a venue so small that the big hair favoured by the band members is likely to be in my eyes.
As my boy Deram observed elsewhere, Manchester City have punctured the ball in the FA Cup, but, by golly, those Champions League semi finals threw up some thrills. To adopt and adapt a popular expression: Football – it’s often hard to live with it but you wouldn’t want to live without it..
Interesting you should mention the Peel comments that send you back to an era.
The Yardbirds’ BBC set does exactly the same thing, making the eradication of all those charming and essential introductions (I presume they were originally there) in the Rolling Stones’ BBC set even more strange… and much less interesting. Indeed, almost pointless.
My chosen entertainment in April is that, every weekend, I take a train somewhere down the Welsh Marches, and just walk, relishing the unfolding of spring. For those unfamiliar, these rural counties are almost hobbitsome in their quaint bucolic nature. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what happens at this time of year, but, sing it all together, ‘It’s all too beautiful’. So, I’ve circumnavigated Powis Castle from Welshpool, walked drovers roads along ridges from Llangynllo back into Shropshire, and done a circuit from lovely Ludlow. I’ll snatch a bit of the Glyn Valley next Saturday before dancing.
Otherwise, all the culture came in a rush at the end of the month: three outstanding gigs in four days. Whoever tipped us all off about the band Hejira, thankyou very much. This was a much anticipated evening and didn’t disappoint. Hattie doesn’t/couldn’t sound like Joni, which actually makes it work better. They don’t feel like a tribute band, though they certainly do pay tribute. It is a matter of record on this site that Hejira is my favourite album of all time and, having never thought I would hear any of it live, it was emotional for me to hear five songs off the album. The only down side was that, while I didn’t mind The Blues Kitchen in Manchester, as a new venue to me, its nature meant that there were those there to whom the music was incidental to their night out and vocally catching up with their mates; notably, they usually got silenced by the performance.
Next up, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, solo, away from Granny’s Attic and his many other collaborations. Bloody hell, he can hold a stage on his own! It’s not just that he’s a phenomenal, powerful player of concertinas and melodeons, he’s also got one helluva set of pipes on him. It’s all delivered with such enthusiasm and assurance.
Finally, Karine Polwart at Buxton Pavilion Gardens, also on her own – no brother Stephen, no Inge Thomson. I’ve seen Karine so many times, I’ve watched her grow in stature. There she is, the epitome of the singer-songwriter exposing their emotions on stage, with no band or arrangements to hide behind. Her voice conveys frailty yet strength and defiance. Two sets covered the breadth of her career, including her most recent collaboration with Julie Fowlis and Mary Chapin Carpenter. She really does have a remarkable body of work by now, and I know how much depth there is in the material that didn’t even make the cut. For a folk artist, she is drawing a good crowd, selling out arts centres; she’s probably crossed over, I guess. She also seems to have sufficient career strength to step back from live material for a while, as she takes up a writing project in Edinburgh for a year – quite the polymath.
OK; third time lucky, I hope! My computer has been in a mood today, so my first two tries were lost into the ether. But it seems to be OK now, so I’d better get this done while I’m able to.
Read:
Not much to tell, because two of my longest reads in April were biographies by Swedish authors about Swedish historical persons. Both books very interesting and well written, about brilliant people during exciting times, but not something I can recommend to you lot! 🙂
But I also read the latest novel by Haruki Murakami; The City and its Uncertain Walls – with low expectations as I’d barely heard anyone mention it anywhere. Quite rightly so, it was slow and repetitive, with huge plotholes that made the story rather pointless in the end, even though parts of the way there were OK. I didn’t hate the experience, but none of it was very exciting and the story vanished into thin air, once read. A long novel about very little, I’m afraid. In his afterword he says that this is his third attempt to write this story in a way he would be pleased with, which makes it even more baffling that this is what he came up with. Oh well…
Finally, I quickly read the short Doris Lessing novel The Fifth Child and really enjoyed it. The first half is building up the tension like it’s a horror story, with almost a Rosemary’s Baby kind of vibe (minus Satan). The second half then turns into a psychological exploration of motherhood, and the blame attached to it – a very different vibe, but equally interesting. It sort of trickles out at the very end, which wasn’t quite to my liking, but the writing and the subject matter until then had been so good that I didn’t care. Also, I could see how that was a suitable ending in many ways, and much better than if she had given us a shock/horror ending, as many others would have. Recommended!
Heard:
I had more time to listen to albums, both last month’s buys and the ones I bought in April.
From the former, the lastest by Swedish singer-songwriter Sarah Klang, called Beautiful Woman, is growing on me. It’s lovely, but musically not quite as brilliant as some of her earlier albums (just very good). But an interesting lyrical exploration of the female experience, going from childhood over the insecurities of adolescence and first loves, body shame etc. and growing up, becoming an adult and a mother.
I can’t get along with the latest album from The Delines. I don’t know why, but it bores me to tears.
Mdou Moctar’s acoustic version of last year’s Funeral for Justice is called Tears of Injustice and I was unsure if I would enjoy it as much as the original, without the powerful electric guitars. I had no cause for hesitation, it’s great – on many tracks better than the original, IMO.
But I’m not yet in love with the new album from Songhoy Blues – Héritage. I like it, but it doesn’t stand out like some of their earlier albums did.
Swedish singer Sofia Karlsson continues to put music to the words of Swedish authors on the latest album En sång till Selma (“A Song for Selma”). It’s not as smooth a fit as it was on her album using the poetry of Dan Andersson, because Selma Lagerlöf, classic Swedish author and Nobel Prize winner for Litterature, isn’t known for writing poetry. I believe they have “interpreted” some of her prose, including letters, for most (if not all) of these songs, but perhaps one or two are from poetry (I’m unsure, because the album sleeve doesn’t give many clues). But when this works, it’s really good.
One of the albums I’ve enjoyed the most in April is the latest from Viagra Boys (the Swedish contemporary punk band), called Viagr aboys. As always it brings hard, fast explosive rock and random, funny lyrics. Great energy and lots of laughs, not their very best album yet, but still very good and the kind of energy I need right now.
Another favourite album at the moment is the new album from rock icon Billy Idol who I am unashamedly a huge fan of. And he doesn’t disappoint, his voice is older but still good, the energy is there and the songs make me smile, like his old albums always made me smile back in the day. To fans of Billy Idol this is catnip, to the rest of you…accept my condescending pity. 😉 It’s called Dream Into It and it’s FUN.
I unexpectedly took a chance on a new compilation called Swedish Rock & Pop + Alternative, 1970-1979, because it didn’t use the same old hits that usually end up on all of the compilations, and it had a very eclectic selection. I ended up recognizing most tracks anyway, getting Proustian rushes of childhood radio shows and singing along to the weirdest tracks…the 1970’s were strange. I don’t know why they use the word “alternative” in the title, because these songs are by big artists and belongs to big genres, stuff you’d always hear on the call-in radio shows. But for me it was a rush of nostalgia to hear even the really awful tracks!
I don’t often bother to play the free CDs from Mojo and Uncut, and when I do, I tend to end up disliking them. But the recent Mojo comp Songs from the County Hell got a listen, and reminded me of why I used to love music like this. So for once, I ripped it and have been listening to it every now and then.
Seen:
Once again, I bought some DVDs I was looking forward to watching, and haven’t watched any of them.
AOB:
Well, I had another month on sick leave, and at first I got better, but then worse again, better, then worse, and right now it’s not great, but some days are perfectly fine… Next Thursday I’m set to start working 50% again, I hope it will work better than last time, but I’m not very optimistic. Still, I won’t know unless I try. Almost done writing my novel, so that’s a plus.
Mum’s almost back to her old self again, post operation, which is lovely to see! Her depression is gone, she has more energy and can do more than before, but mainly it’s wonderful to see how much happier she is now when the pain is gone.
Dad’s still not great, but he loves to complain so it’s sometimes difficult to know how much of it is real and how much of it is his pessimism and need to gripe. I’m making the trip to see him on Tuesday, while I’m able to. When I see him in person, he always seems fine – certainly oozing much more vitality than most 98 year olds…and some 60 year olds as well.
Spring is being very coy this year in Sweden so far. Not that this is unusual behaviour…
Good luck for Thursday and beyond, Locust. 🙏
Thanks!
Hope things are going a bit better on the health front, Locust.
You’re a fan of the Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, aren’t you?
Have you seen he’s appearing live, being interviewed at Kulturhuset on Thursday, 23 October?
https://tix.kulturhusetstadsteatern.se/sv/buyingflow/seasonticket/1339/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Kampanj&utm_campaign=Kampanj%2025%20Litteraturslapp%20Presale%20V20&utm_term=2025-05-14
Kaisfatdad and I have seen him live once before, at Börshuset. He’s an interesting guy!
@duco01 – sorry, I didn’t see this comment until now! Must have lost track of it when the thread was pushed to the next page, I guess.
I am a bit of a fan of Gurnah, yes. There is nothing spectacular about his novels at first glance, but they build to a quiet brilliance.
I’m not a huge fan of these kinds of events however. The books are enough for me, I’m not really all that interested in the author behind them or how and why they wrote those stories.
But thank you for the heads-up anyway – there are, I guess, a handful of authors I’d make an exception for, but Gurnah is probably not one of them.
Have you read Gurnah’s new one, “Theft”?
I’m reading it for the book circle that Kaisfatdad and I are members of.
It’s a good’un. I like it.
Read
The Shame Archives by Oliver Harris
A cache of files incriminating evidence is being used to blackmail royals, politicians, and general ne’er do wells – and when the blackmail doesn’t work, the files are dumped onto the internet for general consumption. A tense spy thriller.
Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan
This is fanfared as a state of the nation novel and has drawn comparisons with Dickens. I had to call time on it about halfway through. I just didn’t believe the characters, least of all the younger group. There is some nice prose, but it is hard to feel much sympathy for anyone. I guess that’s partly the point – but I found it (and them) tiresome.
Seen
Better Call Saul
Late to the party – but finished Better Call Saul in April. What an astonishingly good show. I could wax rhapsodic, but I suspect it’s all been said before. Shout outs though to Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seeborn who were majestic. And to Tony Dalton, as perhaps the best big bad in either this or Breaking Bad.
Adolescence
Harrowing, heartbreaking, and bursting with wonderful performances. But there is a conversation to be had around how differently the media reacts to a show like this, and to events on which it is inspired.
Daredevil – Born again
After a hiatus of several years, we’re back in the gritty, dark, morally ambiguous (although still utterly preposterous) side of the MCU. I am very much enjoying this one.
The Royal Tenenbaums
The was released in 2001 and I hadn’t watched it since then. I know that Anderson can be seen as too mannered and an emotionless aesthete. But I’ve always found his films have quiet, touching moments. There is of course the melancholy of watching Hackman as a mischievous patriarch – and whose character’s death brings the narrative to a conclusion.
Don’t Worry Darling
It’s a sort of extended episode of Black Mirror, featuring a terrific performance from Florence Pugh. Looking at contemporaneous review I see it got a bit of a kicking, which was centred on a perceived insipid performance from co-star Harry Styles. I thought it was an engaging flick, and that the character Styles played was an insipid, inadequate little man who was resentful of his successful partner.
Sinners
Tremendous stuff from Ryan Coogler (Black Panther and Creed) who has created a rich, weird and wild ride of a movie.
@marwood
I’ve just discovered Oliver Harris. The first of 3 , ‘starring Elliot Kane,’ set in Kazakhstan was my favourite. The second, Ascension
(On an island …) was pretty good. Enjoyed the one you’ve just read too . He’s done a series with a maverick cop too which I’m just investigating…a bit far fetched but still quite gripping.
Yep – I’ve read all 3, and enjoyed them very much. I think my favourite was Ascension – it’s a tight combination of spy and detective thriller. Plus Ascension Island itself was a vivid and unusual backdrop.
I haven’t explored Harris’ crime fiction – but it is on my list.
Seen
Mrs F chooses what we watch – always something ‘blue light’ – and Black Snow on iPlayer was alright. A bug meant a day off work, watched the new series from Dave Gorman on U.
Read
Underscore, the latest Vinyl Detective paperback, which seemed less bloated than the previous one. There’s something of the Scooby Doo about the whole series – enjoyable nonsense, devoured in a weekend. I keep up with Mojo but have six unread Uncut in the pile.
Heard
Recent trips to Cromer, and an afternoon spent crate-digging on RSD, mean I’ve bought something like 50 LPs and 100 12″ singles, all of them S/H, all for a quid or two a pop. I’m working my way through them.
I bought the Sunhouse RSD vinyl (Gav is still much missed) and the Butler Blake & Grant LP (alright if you like that kind of thing).
AOB
I’ve presented two Listener’s Choice episodes of Charity Shop Classics with a third in the can.
Health is taking up a lot of bandwidth. I’ve been off my Crohn’s meds since the new year without much in the way of symptoms, thankfully. Bloods indicated liver strife so I had an UltraSound scan, but the US man asked “has anyone ever mentioned your left kidney?” so I’m off to see a Urologist. One of the skin rashes caused by the meds has flared up, so I’m off to Dermatology. Into my fifth month of “urgent” gastroenterology follow-up – they made an appointment but cancelled it on the same day, before they’d even posted the letter.
I wasn’t going to post this time for two reasons the first being that so very little of any note occurs in my small life and the second being my annual bout of Spring depression. Thankfully the latter has been milder than I have become accustomed to expect. Why the Spring? Why every year? Search me. It seems counterintuitive but nevertheless the black dog shows up, leash in mouth demanding to be walked.
Heard.
Lots and lots of ‘serious’ music. Well string quartets and symphonic tone poems and the like. A fair chunk of Mahler, mostly the recently recorded Sir Rattle attempts which are surprisingly pretty good. Third time must be the charm. Especially his 6th it chugs along very satisfyingly. I also have been hoovering up many versions of Dvořák’s Slavonic dances, can’t get enough of the blighters. I own six versions from various orchestras with various conductors. All from different time periods, the 1940’s through to the 1980’s and there is of course even more available to me via streaming. I can feel a bit of a trawl through my Stravinsky Rite of Spring discs coming on. I own a stupid amount of those beggars. I post a snapshot of my listening on the BlueSky, never all of it or people would think me barmy.
Apart from all of that stuff and nonsense it’s been the usual jazz, Charles lloyd, Sonny Stitt, Bill Evans etc. I almost forgot, I finally purchased a copy of The Nightfly Live album and it must be said that those voices raised on this very platform that sing it’s praises are completely correct. It’s choice.
Read.
I continued with my completely arbitrary selection from the Women’s Prize longlist with Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis, A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike and Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. Also read The Caretaker from Ron Rash and I finally made the time to read Shibumi by Trevanian which was utter nonsense but throughly entertaining nevertheless. A few short stories by Saki and the by now obligatory Maigret rounded out the month but the one book that made the biggest impression for all the wrong reasons was Sarah Wynn-Williams Careless People. I didn’t finish it, this is unusual for me. I very rarely put a book aside unfinished but I reached the two thirds point and I’d had enough of her. The subject being her time in the upper echelons of Facebook I knew going in would leave a bad taste but her endless excuses of it’s them not me finally sealed it’s fate. The book has a spine unlike Ms Wynn-Williams. I donated it to charity, it was the least I could do.
Seen.
I’ve been watching Euphoria on Now, kids today….etc. Very little else of note.
A.O.B.
I have an appointment in August for the preliminaries to finally getting my pesky cataract sorted out.
I’ve noticed that my sketchbook work has slowly become more written than drawn which has surprised me and I don’t really know how I feel about it. Even if I say so myself my sketchbooks are pretty things and the writing hasn’t diminished that so I guess I’ll just go with it and see what transpires. Only I ever see my sketchbooks. They are private objects. My diaries in pictorial and written form. Very personal, I shall destroy them before I depart if at all possible.
Really pleased you enjoyed The Nightfly Live and that your eyes are on the path to being fixed.
So much winning…
I watched two films that featured AI related stories this month.
Companion (2025) is a sort of slasher comedy movie. A weekend getaway with friends at a remote cabin turns into chaos. I thought it was great fun, but then I’m generally a big fan of the slasher comedy genre. Some nice twists.
The Artifice Girl (2023) is a far more serious and interesting film (but not as much fun as Companion) that explores the ethics of AI. A team out to catch pedophiles uses an AI bot to entrap them. The film is divided in three parts, the first part set in our recent past, where the team are wowed by the fact that an AI bot can actually have a seemingly interactive conversation. The second part is set pretty much where we are now, when the team find out that the AI bot is a lot more advanced and intelligent than previously thought. The third part is 50 years later, when the AI is now a fully functioning robot girl, who doesn’t much like spending all her time chatting to creepy pedos online. Like Ex- Macchina (which I loved) the film questions what it means to be human and how far the “feelings” of AI should be respected.
I also watched Louis Theroux’s documentary The Settlers. A good companion piece to the Oscar winning No Other Land. While No Other Land looked at the lives of a few Palestinians, Theroux’s documentary focusses on the lives of a few Israelis living in the illegal settlements. Theroux does his usual schtick of not saying much and letting his subjects hang themselves with their own words while he stands there looking bemused by their unapologetic candidness.
April, eh? Spent half of it on holiday, trying to find expenses of water to immerse in, with the destinations chosen accordingly. So week one was on the edges of Galloway Forest Park. I love SW Scotland and its empty landscapes, tourists tending to plug on northward, missing out this gem of an area, as they launch up the motorway to the central belt. The find of the week was Loch Clatteringshaws, an absolute beauty. So few come here that the visitor centre closed down in 2019, even ahead of covid. Castle Douglas and New Galloway were our nearest settlements, the former a small town, the latter a small street village. The Clachan Inn, in the former, has a cracking reputation for food, well deserved, and the latter has a bonny wee Cafe/Arts Centre that punches well above it’s weight, with that e likes of Cara Dillon booked for later in the year.
Week two meant moving south, to the Lake District, round the side of Bassenthwaite Lake, to be more exact. The weather had changed for the windier and damper, but we still managed a couple of gos in Bassenthwaite and one in Derwentwater. A planned wet in the awesome glory of Wastwater had to be aborted, it being too choppy to risk. But a fabulous drive to get there.
Oddly, despite taking the kindle, I seem to have lost, once more, my mojo around reading, a disappointing state of affairs that continues. Likewise bored with telly. Finding little of uplift in the new, a dip in the past series of Black Mirror and Inside Number Nine provided viewing sustenance. Plus, continuing as I write, the yearly excursion down under to the horrors of MAFS-AU, or Married at First Sight, Australia. They seem to have taken a leaf out of the inferior UK version, and gone “down-market” in their trawl for applicable victims. Or “boganic” as one contestant repeatedly accused her stablemates of being. A compulsive train wreck of a series, with lashings of cod-psychology to act as justification for, essentially, being a voyeur as lives unravel in public.
As @hubert-rawlinson above mentioned, the only live was for the Ashley Hutchings Million Dollar Bash, to celebrate the Guv’nor’s 80th birthday. A wonderful procession of Fairporters and Albioneers, Country, Dance and plain, together with some Morris Onners and one Spanner from (early) Steeleye. Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Martin Carthy, John Tams and John Kirkpatrick were the obvious catnip, but very many more were also in attendance, with as near as fun a roster of female singers, from various Albion Bands as were able to be there. (No Shirley Collins, mind, unsurprisingly) But, Lordy, ain’t they all getting old, something the audience wasn’t short of, either. Hubes, Mrs Hubes and I must have been the youngest there, given our flirtations with these bands must surely have been whilst wee were still suckling, unless we are in denial, which is possible.
Listening revolved around music I was reviewing, so the Paul Brady odds and sods retrospective, the new releases by Flook and by (Peter Knight’s) Gigspanner Big Band and Dr Strangely Strange (!!!!) The Brady is, frankly, disappointing, more money spent on the lavish coffee-table book than the music, 4 CDs of outtakes, live and demos. Some good stuff, for sure, but a lot of filler from his more recent Nashville songwriter for hire years. Flook and Gigspanner are each sound and solid examples of the varying paths that acoustic folk music can take. The Stranglies, the original line up, octogenarians all, offer a pleasant and gentle brew of nostalgia, and probably are now entirely normal in their musical direction, oddness largely gone with their hair. Other releases of note include number two release from Norwich’s kings (and queens) of country rock, Brown Horse. Called All the Right Weaknesses, a year or so of gigging has honed their style and strengths no end. A likely end of year top tenner.
April is the time of cherry blossom in the Bonn Altstadt, and along with hundreds of tourists, there’s a flea market across all that part of town. Quite a lot of children’s clothes and toys being put out and sold as the Altstadt is a bit of a staging post for young families. There aren’t so many old music collections being put out for inspection, but I did get an old Vangelis CD and 100 Hits of Funk collection, both of which are passable. John Grey’s Straw Dogs and a book on breathing were also picked up for a couple of Euros, but I haven’t dipped into those yet.
Easter saw the family in Essex and the inevitable trip to the bookshops of Chelmsford. Oxfam, Waterstones, Foyles and even WH Smiths (probably the last visit before it closes) all brought forth purchases on the Sykes-Pikot line, the future of farming, AI and the tree root network respectively. All more to add to my growing bookshelf of unread books…
While there I bought a V&A collection of ‘Art Deco’ music. Basically swing era jazz from the 20s and 30s, it’s a lot of fun, and goes well with the funk.
In other news, I found out I have high blood pressure (200+/100+). The doctor was alarmed and threw me into a regime of 4 assorted tablets daily, and twice- daily blood pressure readings. It’s down to 130/60 now, which I think he’s relieved about, and seems to have stopped the almost constant headaches and some of the tiredness, but otherwise I have no other health issues. Must strange.
Keep fit, everyone!
I saw the film Warfare yesterday. I was disappointed, after having read rave reviews everywhere. The Guardian gave it five stars and compared it to the beach landing scenes in Saving Private Ryan and to 2022’s All Quiet On The Western Front. Very high praise indeed, to me at least. Plus, I’ve enjoyed previous Alex Garland films. But Warfare has no story and no attempt whatsoever at characterization.
It depicts a true life, horrific skirmish between some Navy Seals and some unseen Iraqis in 2006. Lots of severed limbs and screaming and blood everywhere, but that’s all really. It reminded me of Michael Bay’s 2016 film 13 Hours, but I thought that was a more interesting watch.