Come away in out the cold, sit down and warm yourself by this roaring candle, and please tell us all – what have you been reading / listening/ watching / diverting yourself from the abyss with this month ?
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SEEN: ‘Blue Lights’ series 3 – brilliant. NI police drama, brilliantly written and acted. At the other end of the credibility scale, ‘Hope Street’ is back – a cosy police drama set in a fictional NI seaside town – actually Donaghadee – with one street and a lighthouse (they squeeze as much as they can out of drone shots of that lighthouse). I suppose it’s somewhere between ‘Midsommer Murders’ and ‘Balamory’ but it’s fun. And in between those two extremes on the NI police drama spectrum is ITV’s ‘Borderline’, which is an island of Ireland version of Scandinavian drama ‘The Bridge’, involving two very different detectives from North and South who seem to get thrown together to deal with various cross-border incidents. A bit implausible, and the two detectives are unlikely personalities, but it’s still fairly gripping.
HEARD: Right now, I’m listening to ‘Focus 50’ – the 2021 triple album from Focus. I didn’t care for their most recent studio album – very un-Focus-like and dull to my ears, yet previous albums by this rejuvenated 21st century incarnation have been splendid. Thijs van Leer was out of action for the past year with an illness – now back and currently touring the UK. In NI next year! (And ex-member Jan Akkerman has a new live album of Focus material out in December.)
The new Anthony Toner album ‘Long, Long Way’ is stunning. I’ll try and write a proper review of it in due course.
READ: Currently reading David Kynaston’s ‘Modernity Britain: 1957-62’, having already read the two 1960s volumes currently available. Also reading Samuel Johnson’s ‘A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland’. And being regularly distracted from reading either by catching up on selected past episodes of ‘The Rest is History’ podcast with Sandbrook & Holland. Amazing levels of research and entertainment.
AOB: My book (vol. 1) on Big Pete Deuchar came out a couple of weeks ago and I’m delighted with great reviews from ‘The Morning Star’, ‘BeBop Spoken Here’ and Chris Charlesworth’s ‘JustBackdated’ blog. Several other print reviews are coming. I wondered if such a marginal book would fall flat on its face but my hope that people would find it intriguing and entertaining seems to be the case.
Also, this week, I pressed ‘go’ on the manufacturing of ‘R/evolution: 1969/73’ – the 7CD+DVD+books box set of Dick Gaughan music, sensationally funded by crowdfunding, to address the absence of so much of his early music from current availability. Two Kickstarter ‘extra’ releases (limited to 500 each), ‘Live in Belfast: 1979-82’ and ‘Live in the 70s’ (two club gigs in full), have already been created and sent to pledgers and are getting great responses. A box set spin-off, ‘Live at the BBC: 1972-79’, is available in pre-orders to the general public on vinyl (via Last Night From Glasgow) and CD/DL (via Talking Elephant). The goodwill and support around the project has been incredible.
An Anthony Toner fan here Colin and the latest album is up to A.T.’s high standards and very enjoyable
Highly recommended to the folk fans who frequent this place
Quietly brilliant, indeed, Pyro.
I look forward to seeing the third season of “Blue Lights” when I can get hold of it on DVD. Maybe they could do a season that’s a prequel to Season 1, so that we could see some more GERRY before he gets killed?
Talking of dramas set in Northern Ireland, I see that the mini-series adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s “Trespasses” is starting soon, starring Gillian Anderson as Gina Lavery. I thought the book was superb.
I loved Trespasses as well and am looking forward to catching the tv series – hope it does the book justice.
The abundance of drone shots is something I’ve noticed of late in all kinds of TV programmes.
Nice and cheap to do ’em, these days.
Before they had drones with cameras, those panoramic shots of cars travelling along twisty roads would have to be done hellishly-expensively with helicopters. For big-budget productions only.
SEEN
House of Dynamite by Kathryn Bigelow – Loved it! 5 stars from me! There’s been a lot of talk about its accuracy, with defence boffins from the U.S. claiming they’re nowhere near as dangerously rubbish as portrayed. I didn’t care at all about any of that, I found the film really well structured and paced; a very intense, gripping evening’s entertainment. My only criticism is that I’d have preferred the POTUS to have been played by a believable unknown, rather than Idris Elba. Up until his appearance, I’d recognised a couple of faces but the only other actor whose name I knew was Jared Harris (who’s excellent in it and has the best line: “So it’s a fucking coin toss? That’s what 50 billion dollars buys us?”). I thought the sudden appearance of an A list Hollywood film star didn’t fit well.
The Long Walk by Francis Lawrence, based on a novel by Tim Earnshaw. All about a group of lads who are forced (by Luke Skywalker) to walk or die trying. In the post-apocalyptic future or something. I liked it. Good young actors portraying fun characters.
READ
A Theatre for Dreamers by Polly Samson. I’d been struggling with a crime fiction novel I’d begun to hate and finally picked this off the shelf on the off chance, turns out it’s excellent. Perfect summer beach reading (just as summer was ending). It reminded me of Jonathan Coe’s Mr Wilder & Me, both in that respect and also for its mix of real life characters and fictional, with a fictional naive young female protagonist at its heart. In Samson’s case, with the real life characters being Leonard Cohen and the writers and artists with him on Hydra, it was especially interesting. Made me watch the documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love again.
HEARD
Nothing that can be put into mere words.
I’ve read the Samson book…found it really evocative and intriguing, not just the Leonard/Marianne/Axel dynamic, but particularly the dominant presence of Charmaine Clift, who in reality had quite the life.
I don’t think Roger Waters will be a fan, though.
I made a conscious decision not to mention any Pink Floyd connection out of respect for the dignity and power of womanhood.
A.O.B.
I’ve ordered a pair of live-captioning smart glasses. What are live-captioning smartglasses? Only a revolution, that’s what! For deaf people, anyway. It’s estimated that somewhere between 0 and 8.142 billion human beings are deaf. This new technology could make their lives even more pleasant than they already are, doing away with any need for expensive hearing aids, boring sign-language boffins, weirdo attempts at lip-reading and phone-based transcription apps. Cool!
2 gigs. Elbow in Toronto were very good, I am not really a fan and did notice that pretty much all songs had the same tempo, all played extremely well though. Jeff Tweedy in Montreal in his other family orientated band was superb. A 2 hour show full of great material with no Wilco songs played. What a songwriter!
Likewise his excellent triple album Twilight Override has hardly been off my turntable. That together with the Springsteen Nebraska box set (see review elsewhere) made up most of my early autumn/fall listening.
Went to see Springsteen movie with my second cinema visit of the year, watched Celebrity Traitors at home (no spoilers please). Didn’t read much
Other stuff, it has cooled down considerably in Ottawa, winter coat is on and first significant snowfall is forecast for this weekend, weekly 5km park run could be challenging, then heading to West Yorkshire end of next week where hopefully the weather will be slightly warmer (and not too wet)
Moved house this month, actually the 30th of September but didn’t get fully into the house for a week.
Saw that Plumhall were playing somewhere called Hutton Rudby “wonder where that is” turns out it’s just up the road a way. So popped up there and had a very enjoyable evening.
I’d booked months ago for Plainsong lite Iain Matthews and Andy Roberts in Pontefract so a trip down to the Cat Club. On the way found I’d lost my wallet which rather put a damper on the day. As there was nothing I could do in the meantime I arrived at the Cat Club early as the intermission for the afternoon show was nearly over. Allowed in for the second half, wonderful playing from AR and Iain’s voice is as good as ever. Stayed for the evening concert I’d booked which varied from the one I’d seen previously.
Plumhall were putting Plainsong lite on at the Cruck Barn in Appletreewick which isn’t so far from where we live now so hied myself over there for a double dose. Stunning sky on the drive over, pouring with rain on the way back while listening to a vast amount of downloaded French songs on the way back.
Joined the library here, lost my library card with the wallet but having had so much to do not a lot of reading done.
Hopefully by the month’s end we’ll be able to settle in after all the work is done.
I’m looking forward to Plainsong Lite in Ireland/NI in May ’26. I may be unusual in being a great fan of Andy Roberts but not particularly of Plainsong. Still, Andy Roberts almost never performs solo outside of the ‘home counties’, so this will do.
I’m hoping the Cat Club might persuade him to do a solo concert, Clive Gregson was in the audience in the evening and he’s just been booked to play there.
They do get some good stuff on there, so despite moving away it still takes about the same time from here as from our previous home. Just to prove we’re in a completely different area we were in Sainsbury’s in Northallerton and their local MP came in one rishi sunak.
I’ll take your word for it, Hubes – I’m afraid I’ve no idea where either Pontefract or Northallerton are, let alone in relation to each other, so the resolve in your travelling is lost on me, alas.
My annual trip to the pretty Breton fishing port of Todmorden-sur-Mer brought the usual bounty of wonderful dancing to both homegrown Europhile bands (Oscina) and stars from the continent (War-Sav, Naragonia, Trio RoblainEvainBadeau). This is the high point of my dancing year, as I get closest to the immersive experience of a bal in a French town square, with the musicians playing amid the dancers. (The Festival des Panards also allows me to scratch my other artistic itch, in that the venue is Todmorden Town Hall, which is my favourite specimen of Northern civic pride.) Every one of these acts has brought out a new CD this year, clamouring for attention but, as is typical, it’s a previous release from Trio REB that is the greatest banger. Likewise, my attention has only just been drawn to last year’s re-release of Simon Care and Gareth Turner’s Two’s Up, which deserved an end of year poll positioning, but alas too late.
I’m also getting to know this year’s releases from joined-at-the-hip Boss Morris and Leveret, plus The Destroyers. The latter are a bit of a departure, introduced to me by the estimable monthly fRoots Podwireless from Ian A Anderson. They come across as a kind of Balkan Bellowhead (from Birmingham), yet with a shade of, could it be?, the Cardiacs.
I have mixed feelings about the new release from Scottish smallpiper, Brighde Chaimbeul. Now I bow to no-one on this blog, except possibly Retro, in my love for a good drone, and that’s how the album opens. For four-and-a half minutes. One note. Beautifully controlled, sustained, recorded and produced, no doubt, but one note nonetheless. When that four-and-a-half minutes is a goodly proportion of the overall playing time of 30 minutes, I feel a touch short-changed. Yet, despite that quibble, it may well be up there in my albums of the year.
I have been enjoying Where There’s Brass by folkie Tom Kitching – a memoir of life on a working narrowboat. He’s from just down the road in Macclesfield, so I’m the Cheshire Cat and he’s the Cheshire Fiddle, as it were. He even tours the book and has a CD with Marit Falt, tunes interspersed with spoken word.
Tomorrow, it’s Audlem Bagpipe and Hurdy Gurdy Day. Just sayin’.
That single drone may be more than 10% of the whole record, but it is so audacious as to get away with it, and is my favourite 5 minutes and 49 seconds (actually) of the whole set.
Can’t fault her for her opening statement of intent; she’s certainly not going for the Mercury, is she? I think it comes back to our conversation at Shrewsbury last year; I love texture, depth and all that, but I do like it to be in service of a melody.
I’m so intrigued by this description that I’ll have to seek it out and give it a listen! I hope it stays this austere and doesn’t suddenly morph into “a fusion of contemporary jazz with Scottish folk music”.
It’s certainly austere.
Oooh! Very LaMonte Young/Cale/Eno. The notes stay the same and the texture changes…only listened to the first track so far.
I notice that Qobuz lists this album under Free Jazz & Avant-Garde – and previous releases under Folk.
Read: This year the GLW suggested that we run our own Booker prize so when the shortlist was announced she bought all 6 (plus one of the long list that she really wanted but didn’t make the official shortlist) and we have been binge-reading them over the last few weeks. Having both read the 6 shortlist books we each came up with a winner. Overall I think it has been a pretty strong list this year and I can honestly say that I found something to enjoy in all six and I could have chosen any of my top 3 as the winner. Having not discussed any of them until we had read them all, MrsHoops and I both ended up with the same top two. On Monday the winner will be announced and I am curious to see if we got close. Our house winner btw was “Flashlight” by Susan Choi – highly recommended as is “The Land in Winter” by Andrew Miller which was a close second
I read The Land in Winter last week and enjoyed it greatly. I’ve read mostly every novel Andrew Miller has released into the wild and in my ever so ‘umble I believe this to be his finest to date. Beautiful writing. I’ve not read Flashlight yet but it is on my radar, hopefully I’ll get around to it before the month is out.
I’ve just bought “The Land in Winter”. The positive reviews by Messrs McCann and Squeezer have further whetted my appetite for it.
I really liked Andrew Miller’s “Now We Shall Be Entirely Free” (2018).
Cinema:
‘I Swear’ – Wonderful film. Not much to say really, wonderful film!
‘The Mastermind’ – Great looking, suspenseful heist film, the title of which is tongue-in-cheek. Really good for an hour and then rather falls off a cliff when the main protagonist goes on the run, thus moving away from the two most interesting characters in the film, namely his mother and his wife!
‘Sunlight’ – About a woman dressed in a monkey suit rescuing a man from hanging himself and both of them going on a road trip together. By the end of the film, he’s dressed himself up as a dog after digging up his dad’s grave to find a valuable watch, naturally. Seriously great cinema.
‘Bugonia’ – Shades of ‘Misery’, this sci-fi flick is exactly the kind of film I don’t go to see, but there was something intriguing about the trailer, and I went twice. Rather pleasingly, I guessed the ending before the end. Not bad for a sci-fi avoider.
‘Inter Alia’ – A theatre production shown at the cinema. More and more I’m going to these showings and this one, with Rosamund Pike, was fabulous. How on earth did she remember all the words?
TV:
Strictly on Saturday. No bad, it just reminds me of watching Saturday night telly as a kid, and I like that memory.
Sport:
Match 38 tomorrow, and October included a few trips on the team coach. The music played is more of a slog than the game or the long day itself. At least you know you can’t miss the kick-off. How can you, you’re sitting next to the goalkeeper!
Pop music
Bumper crop, you see I now have a record shop and a regular record fair on my doorstep.
Where to start?
Well, I’ve yet to open the Middle Earth 3-cd set on Cherry Red/Strawberry (I’ve been meaning to check out one of these releases and alighted on this one), but have devoured a Brixton Cat 3-cd set on Cherry Red/Doctor Bird. This was a 69 album with, to my ears anyway, barely any bass guitar on it and loads of organ… Paul was much closer to the sound of Jamaica (or at least Jamaica as recorded in London in 68/69) than anyone gives him credit for on Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da. Both Brixton Cat and Paul are fantastic.
Also, a £3 compilation of the Box Tops, a bizarre group (but give me them over Big Star any day) with three very definite hits, and a whole load of near misses either 1. not nearly as good or 2. probably better!
Still to open four MJQ albums (as quoted in Colin MacInnes’s Absolute Beginners in 59) as, following a thread on this site on documentaries, I’m having a Span weekend… namely the Mike Stuart Span… a much, much better group than that documentary lets on.
Next month… Test cricket on BBC Five Live Sports Extra and a new Beatles record. Major result.
The Span? Their manager really did come across as a berk in that docco, didn’t he?
Yep, I got the feeling he was ‘playing’ the part rather than being it. Mind you, I guess it was him who got the slot on the documentary.
Ironically their calling card now – Children of Tomorrow – had flopped a few months before, and they actually had an excellent career in terms of touring different countries and appearing on prestigious bills.
I’ve seen quite a few of these kind of programmes and does a DJ/promoter/plugger smoking a cigarette on a Monday morning listening to a disc ever look the ideal environment to listen to something?
Again, ironically, the 45 being promoted on the doc was their weakest by far, but it sounds fine on the CD, ‘never ever’ a hit, but fine.
Footnote: Two days before the broadcast, Abbey Road was released.
‘The Mike Stuart Span – the band the Beatles could have been’
We saw ‘Inter Alia’ at a cinema showing too. Remarkable indeed
It was essentially a two hour monologue even though two other actors were involved. What was incredible to watch was the constant motion of scene and costume changes.
The tail end of September and the whole of October was spent getting my right hip replaced and recovering from the op. That recovery is ongoing. It’s going well. After the first three to four weeks it’s been gathering pace. I can get around utilising just one crutch now and increasingly during the past two days using no support whatsoever. My hip is still sore which is of course completely unsurprising as it’s only just over six weeks since my hip was sliced and diced. Nevertheless the rapidity of my recovery has totally surprised me. I still have some way to go but I am pretty chuffed and looking forward to regaining freedom from the constant pain that’s blighted my life for the past two years. My recovery has been made immeasurably easier due to the kind assistance and company of two wonderful friends, one local to me and one known to everyone here. I cannot thank them enough. It’s meant the world to me. On top of this I’m getting cataract surgery on the 10th December so I’ll soon be able to see properly again too. I am feeling blessed. Thank the gods for our wonderful NHS.
Recuperation has been of course spent indulging in music, books and television.
I won’t bore you with the details.
Good to hear
Yes, indeed – you’ll be doing the “Funky Alfonzo” in no time…
Thanks both. I know not of this Alfonzo chap or his funkiness I will be more than up for a Galliard or a bit of a Volta though in due time.
But can you dance the Galliard to Slim Gaillard singing Cement Mixer, or La Volta to Volta Becker?
After enough beer I can dance to the sound of silence so that’s a yes.
Saw: Sleeper and The Lightning Seeds. Both good but Sleeper knocked it out of the park.
The Springsteen movie: a bit slow to start but enjoyable. I was familiar with quite a lot of it, having read his autobiography a few years ago.
Watched: The Springsteen movie: a bit slow to start but enjoyable. I was familiar with quite a lot of it, having read his autobiography a few years ago.
Slow Horses. Why can I never remember the previous series plots? Maybe I should read the books too.
AOB: Finally getting on top of my dad’s financial affairs now he’s in a care home. Multiple accounts with multiple institutions, all of which need different information. If he can keep going until end of January, he’ll be 97, but with no quality of life: bedridden, catheter, no prospect of improvement. I hope I don’t live that long.
My big van was broken into, nothing stolen, £5k worth of damage and Axa wrote it of because of its age. It was a thoroughly miserable and frustrating experience dealing with them and their agents so a big FUCK YOU to Axa and Co Parts. It would have been cheaper and less inconvenient to have not claimed and paid for the repair myself as I’ve had to find a new van and spend £14k on top of the payout.
Another FU to Axa. Years ago, my car (a Citroen ZX) was written off by a crazy Parcel Force van driver skidding on ice across the work’s car park. I had it on CCTV, I had a written admission of guilt from the van driver, and Axa washed their hands of it because it was not on the public highway.
Luckily I had paid the 20 quid legal cover, and when that kicked in a hire car was delivered. My car sat outside the office for six weeks, leaking all kinds of fluid, while the legal team took on Axa and PF, while the bill for the hire car exceeded the value of the ZX, and eventually I was given enough for a deposit for a new (ex-demo) Astra.
It was all a massive PITA. I feel you pain.
Moral of the story: always pay for the legal cover, and don’t touch Axa.
Heard:
* Len Price 3 – Misty Medway Magick
(13 tracks in 30 minutes, power pop bombs each and every one)
* Humdrum Express – Rastrophiliopustrocity Pomposity
(more big words and gentle skewering and cynicism from South West Midlands answer to Half Man Half Biscuit)
* Local indie record shop had a “All CDs a quid” sale, so why not fill many gaps – I have a pile of 30 discs to work through and find storage space for
(not all gap fillers – an Elkie Brooks compilation should probably be in every home – but at least now I have every REM album on CD)
Read:
* halfway through Dominic Sandbrook: Seasons In The Sun (The Battle For Britain 1974 to 79)
Seen:
* Blue Lights – this series was as good as all previous, and hoping there will be another along some time
* Lazarus – Harlen Coburn thing on Amazon Prime. Starts slowly but is as sticky and watchable as previous HC adaptations
(although this one is not on Netflix, and doesn’t feature James Nesbitt)
AOB: rumours are rife that redundancies may be coming at work.
Well, after 38 years service, and starting to think about retirement at 55/56 this might just land at a good time for me
(one can dream … but being a sad git, I was hoping to get to 40 years service. Then again previous redundancy terms offered would be too good to turn down)
On TV:
Blue Lights S3. Quality remains high and ends with an obvious pointer to the fourth series.
Shetland (a new series has just started)
Riot Women. Superb. Ends with a pointer to a possible second series.
Slow Horses S5. A bit of a disappointment compared to the previous 4 series. Plot has significant differences to the book London Rules, not all to the good IMO.
Down Cemetery Road (new adaptation). Quite a bit of the book plot and action omitted or changed completely. Not sure if I’m happy with it yet.
The Guest. I very nearly gave up on this after the second episode (just don’t like Eve Myles, for no reason I can really explain) but the twistiness of the plot and the revealed nuances within the main two characters motivations intrigued me. An unusual ending. This is another one that could well spawn a second series.
Reading:
Stuck currently on a book that I’m finding it hard to persevere with. Tokyo Station by Martin Cruz Smith. I normally enjoy his writing but I’m not sure I care very much about the main character.
Otherwise I’m reading bits and pieces from Private Eye as new issues arrive in my letterbox, trying not to get too angry or depressed about the fuckery that’s in progress here in the UK, in Gaza, in Ukraine and in the USA.
Out and About:
Not so much to report for October, because for the first couple of weeks I was without a car and watching the pennies as I looked for a replacement.
Managed to get to The Elephant in N. Finchley on the 5th to see South African chromatic harmonica whizz Adam Glasser plus band, which entailed a 3-bus public transport odyssey there and a 2-bus-plus-a-walk journey home after. It was worth the hassle but not something I’d choose to do again. Located a suitable replacement car at a price I could afford and trekked off (chauffeured by my sister) to buy it and get it home, which was a bit of an adventure.
With car taxed and insured I ventured to Karamel in Wood Green on the 16th to see saxophonist Karen Sharp with the Karamel house band Kaiyo 3 and to drink a couple of beers. It was a good evening out.
Back at The Elephant on the 19th to see Ollie Weston and band. Was supposed to be saxophonist Paul Booth but he couldn’t make it so Ollie depped for him at short notice. It was very good. 2 beers and some nice Thai food from the pub kitchen.
On the 26th I went to The B3 Lounge in N. Finchley to see The Pete Whittaker Organ Trio featuring guitarist Mike Outram. More jazz and a couple of beers. Another good night.
On the 30th I was back at Karamel for the Kate Williams Quartet. Kate is a fine pianist and she had a very good tenor sax player (whose name I can’t remember) with her. Mostly jazz standards with a couple of Kate’s compositions. A couple of beers and a nice blather with the barman/waiter at the end.
On the 31st I went to Foyles Bookshop Auditorium (Charing Cross Road) for an early-evening Tomorrows Warriors+1 session with saxophonist Camilla George and introducing the new all-female 8-piece Frontline band which was only formed 4 weeks previously. Very impressive.
The previous Frontline band (also an 8-piece) are now known as Ankora and are gigging in their own right as well as under the TW aegis.
Recorded and streamed music:
Lyle Mays – Lyle Mays (1985)
Cosmic Ear – Traces (2025)
Zoot Sims – Down Home (1960)
Jack DeJohnette – Special Edition (1980), Tin Can Alley (1981), Inflation Blues (1983), Album Album (1984)
Woody Shaw – Blackstone Legacy (1970)
Eddie Henderson – Heritage (1976)
Michel Benita – Looking At Sounds (2020)
Mujician – In Concerts (2025)
Denys Baptiste – Be Where You Are (2006)
Various – Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One Sound (2012)
Andrea Vicari – Lost In Dreams (2025)
Tom Skinner – Kaleidoscopic Visions (2025)
Klaus Doldinger – Shakin’ The Blues (2008)
Nigel Price Organ Trio – That’s It. Right There (2024)
Roy Hargrove Quintet – Earfood (2008)
Terry Gibbs Quartet – Take It From Me (1964)
Ruby Rushton – Legacy! (2025)
Nala Sinephro – The Smashing Machine (2025)
Michael Garrick Sextet – Prelude To Heart Is A Lotus (1968)
Alfa Mist – Roulette (2025)
Gordon Beck – Pay Now, Live Later: Live At The Bass Clef ’85 (2025)
The Utopia Strong – Doperider (2025)
Ralph Towner – Solstice (1975)
Andrew Hill – Compulsion (1965)
Nat Adderley Quartets – Naturally! (1961)
Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Plays Mulatu (2025)
Jim Watson – Calling You Home (2025)
Elvin Jones-Jimmy Garrison Sextet – Illumination! (1964)
John Taylor, Marc Johnson, Joey Baron – Tramonto (2025)
Cécile McLorin Salvant – Oh Snap (2025)
Frank Zappa – Cheaper Than Cheep: The Soundtrack (2025)
Other Business:
Covid and flu vaccines taken at the start of the month.
My old car was sent off to be scrapped. Sad to see it go but too many expensive things wrong with it. £182 received for it from the breakers, also got a refund of a few months road tax from the DVLA and a little refund from the insurers as well.
I’m currently doing an exercise programme for my shoulder, which was giving me some trouble before. A video consultation with a physiotherapist and two varied exercises every day for 12 weeks, via a phone app. As luck would have it, my shoulder stopped hurting of it’s own accord before I started the exercise programme but I’ve kept to it anyway. Had another video consultation call with the physio on the morning of the 31st.
Read:
I had a really bad month for reading, time-wise but mostly just not in the mood. Part of the problem was that I suddenly had acquired too many books that I wanted to read and whatever I picked up I felt that I had made the wrong decision…so I avoided having to choose by reading dull magazines and doing crosswords instead.
But I did finish last month’s read of Dusk by Robbie Arnott at the beginning of the month, and it was very good. Not as good as my favourite by him (The Rain Heron, brilliant), but very good. His writing is so beautiful and this story got more and more moving as it went.
Then I tried to read Days of Light by Megan Hunter, but although well written it just wasn’t my kind of story, so I DNF:ed it after 80+ pages.
Now I’m some way into the AW’s own Colin Harper’s new book Northumbrian Blues about Big Pete Deuchar, and I’m loving it so far. But this week was crazy and I didn’t get much time to read at all, so I’m on an involuntary break. Looking forward to having some peace and quiet to get on with it, as the subject is strangely captivating, and Colin’s writing style is as great as always, full of humour and interesting footnotes about things you didn’t know you wanted to know!
Seen:
Other than my usual YouTube entertainment, this month I actually watched a proper series on TV on demand…a rare event for me these days. I never watched the US version of The Office at the time, so when I saw it was available I gave it a shot and watched the first series. But I won’t go on, I found it to be much less funny than the original, as well as less “realistic” and, worst of all; too bloody long. Not a huge fan of Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson in their parts in particular. And I wasn’t looking forward to finding out how long they’re going to string along the Jim/whatshername saga either.
I also watched the UK Celebrity Traitors – but this one on YT via a reactor, to avoid all of the longeurs, pregnant pauses and repeats that such a format unfortunately brings. I just don’t have the patience for it, the speed-version is quite enough. Happy that Alan won – but how the hell did that happen?? The Faithfuls were strangely useless.
Heard:
Apart from repeated listens to last month’s favourites (Jeff Tweedy, Taylor Swift, Titiyo, Sabrina Carpenter) a handful of new albums arrived.
First off I have to mention everyone’s current obsession: Lily Allen’s absolutely brilliant West End Girl – the definitive divorce album where Allen reveals her ex-husband/Strange Thing and his BS in chronological order as it happened, making the album feel like a thriller of a tell-all memoir. Thankfully her humour is intact and the music is great, or it wouldn’t work for repeat listening. I love it.
The Swedish-Finn band that is Vasas Flora och Fauna has a new album out called Berg i dagen and it’s one of their best – probably their most musically diverse with everything from EDM to Arabic dance music over Swedish dansband, and fly-on-the-wall observational and conversational style lyrics (not unlike Lily Allen, actually) about sad, failed relationships and human beings who doesn’t quite fit in. It’s a little like a Swedish language version of The Delines, but better, IMO.
Next to the unexpected earworm of Allen’s chorus of “Pussy Palace, Pussy Palace…” etc, the most repeated lines from a song for me lately have been their “Nånting som en hund grävt upp, och katten släpa´ in” (“Something that a dog dug up, and the cat dragged in”), describing how they feel about themselves.
I haven’t had the time to listen to Tame Impala – Deadbeat enough times yet to know exactly what I think of it. My very first impression was quite bad, but the next time I tried I really liked it, so I guess it was just a mood thing. Also the first time I listened closely to the lyrics and got a bit depressed, but musically it’s really good so when I just had it on as a vibe and didn’t catch those, I got on better with it…some days you just don’t need any added bleak views!
I’m a fan of Anna Tivel, her albums aren’t very spectacular or unexpected, but they’re always lovely and sort of sneak their way into my affections in a quiet way. So also her latest album, Animal Poem.
I bought the 40th Anniversary Deluxe Reissue of OMD’s Crush, which has the remastered original album and a second disc of B-sides, demos, remixes and previously unreleased tracks, because it’s an old favourite album of mine, and I’ve only ever owned the LP. It sounds great of course, haven’t yet listened to all of the new stuff, but what I’ve heard is interesting.
And finally, a compilation from Habibi Funk – A Selection of Music from Libyan Tapes spanning between the 80’s and the 2000’s. A mixed bag, of course, but mostly delightful party music, with a surprising amount of reggae. Also a lot of straight up thefts…the track they say is “inspired by Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall” is that exact track but in another language…but no credits to the Floyds…and there’s definitely an uncredited Bob Marley song in here as well, and a few other tracks clearly just translations but nowhere credited to the original composers. I’m a bit baffled about how they get away with it? I mean; the composers don’t need the money, but still – a bit weird. But: mostly fun music!
AOB:
In Sweden everyone visit the cemeteries on All Saints/All Souls weekend to light candles on the graves of family and friends, and this was the first year we visited dad’s grave to decorate it. We – being me and my siblings and some added partners and children – also attended a memorial service where the names of all the parishioners who died since last year were read out, with ages, and we were all proudly noticing that dad “won” – he was the eldest person, in a pretty elderly bunch! 😉
Afterwards we went to my sister’s house to celebrate him and family ties with lots of food, wine and laughter. We agreed to make it a tradition.
Dentist’s appointments, vaccinations, fixing my bathroom drain, trying to get hold of a new key that’s inexplicably missing, the usual rehab for my knee (and lately also my back) and lots of cooking in October.
After months of first not being able to, and later not feeling keen on it, I’ve finally gotten back my love of cooking during the last month and a half, and Sundays are now dedicated to making good food for the upcoming week. It’s bringing me enormous amounts of joy, I think the break did me good because I’m more inspired now than ever.
Next month’s Blogger Takeover will be full of new albums (Friday was a HUGE albums drop, plenty of them on their way to me for the beginning of next week) and technically I shouldn’t mention the gig I went to yesterday until then…but WTH; I had a great time at the Frazey Ford gig at Nalen here in Stockholm. My legs and back were in pain afterwards, but very much worth it!
I’m starting work full time later in November, but I’ve decided to cut down on my work hours from now onward, and also use three saved holiday weeks over Christmas. My knee(s) aren’t great, my autoimmune disease is making me more tired, and as I have a few years left until I can retire I feel that I need to adjust my hours a bit to keep some balance. I’ll have to take a pay cut of course, but I’ve survived this year on sick pay/benefits, so I know I can live pretty cheap. And with my inheritance as a buffer for unexpected expenses, I can feel quite safe. I think it will be just what I need, and I’m happy with my decision.
You’re sounding much more upbeat this month, Locust – which is brilliant to hear. My fingers are crossed for you with the return to longer work hours. 🤞
‘Colin’s writing style is … full of humour and interesting footnotes about things you didn’t know you wanted to know!’
What an a fantastic compliment! 😃
Well, it’s true @Colin-H, and the reader is never far away from either a giggle or a lightbulb moment. If it wasn’t for this ability of yours I seriously doubt that I would have read a big book all about uilleann pipes! Or even the Mahavishnu Orchestra, despite enjoying their music… 😀
Tremendously kind words, Loki! 🙏
OK, you’ll probably initially get Westlife or be told that Stockport County are going to be at home to Leyton Orient in March 2008 but if you ask Alexa kindly, and very precisely, you can hear a significant chunk (post Beatlemania obviously) of Anthology 4 right now.
Heard:
Been catching up with a few recently released albums. The new ones from Neko Case and Alan Sparhawk sound promising on the first couple of listens.
Took delivery of the latest Dylan Bootleg Series (just the 2 CD edition) and I think it’s fabulous. Some of it has been put out before, but no matter – it’s gold and really conveys early Dylan’s charismatic mix of utter self belief and confidence with a degree of insecurity and eagerness to please which you hear in his live performances in that time.
Also been listening to quite a lot of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans (see ‘Read’ below). They’re quite good aren’t they?
Read
James Kaplan’s 3 Shades of Blue which has the recording of Kind of Blue as its centrepiece, and builds around it bios of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans. I suspect for people who know a lot about them and who know their music really well it might all be a bit superficial; I didn’t get the impression there is anything radically new here. But as someone who only really knows a few records of each, and relatively little about their lives, I found it a good and interesting read. Like Hepworth with pop music and 1971, he has a clear view of 1959, the year Kind of Blue was recorded, as the annus mirabilis of jazz and that it was largely all downhill from there (notwithstanding 1965’s Love Supreme). Not sure that holds up though it was certainly an extraordinary year for jazz.
Seen
We spent a few days in Wexford attending their annual Opera festival which is internationally known and fills the town for three weeks. Saw two excellent and one less good opera (they specialise in reviving little known pieces rather than the usual standards ). Had a great time – Wexford is an attractive and welcoming small town and there was a definite sense of festival in the air.
On TV saw the latest series of Blue Lights upon which I agree with others here – it’s an absolute gem and a welcome reminder that notwithstanding its budget constraints the BBC can still produce great drama and, unlike most things you see on Netflix, Sky Atlantic, Disney et al, drama that feels genuinely rooted in a place and not just a generic ‘could be anywhere’ thriller.
And another vote for House of Dynamite. Really well done and an intelligent and highly entertaining watch.
TV: Started everything and gave up on most, such is the attention span/tolerance chez nous these days. What did we finish, if allowing for the inevitable overlap into what is essentially next month’s agenda. Slow Horses, s.5, dissed at last month’s round up, picked up on revisiting the first episode, and prove reliable watching, if, as with the predecessor, dipping towards the end. I suspect there isn’t much new steam to be had, as it goes forward. Line of the whole franchise, mind, came as a noxious aroma filled Slough House. “Was that a fart?”, with the glorious response, from Lamb: “Mostly…….” Down Cemetery Road, by contrast, was too intent on showing off the characters involved, specifically an uncharacteristically unconvincing Emma Thompson, rather than allowing them to develop, um, organically.
Other viewing was mainly around the compulsive shitstorm of MAFS:UK, Married at first sight, the British version, and the joyous Celebrity Traitors. Like @vulpes-vulpes, anything with celebrity in the title is normally a kiss of death, but this was great fun, down to the end. The former is still running, with the latter only just concluded, so no spoilers for those late to either party.
Hi-Fi: Arf, as usually the car CD player, the laptop or, in the kitchen, the BOSE or a CD player. But a bumper month. A name new to me was Ruth Hazleton, an Aussie practitioner of what might best be called folktronica, with her “Heronbones” a decent spread of updated “favourites” from the tradition. Discovered by chance, on Bandcamp browse, she may appeal to several here. You can’t go wrong with Salt House, and, now, with a change of line-up, their stellar game is upped still a bit further, with “Scarrow”. Mellow autumnal acoustica. Realising I seem to listen to little outside folk these days, at least it is across the whole dynamic of the now extremely diverse genre. Staran offer a jazz tinged take on Scottish/Gaelic song, through the piano of John Lowrie, with fiddle, guitar and acoustic bass to round it out, topped by the vocals of the ever busy Kim Carnie, who has issued a solo album and one with her main day job, Mànran, al within 2 or 3 months.The Staran album is called ‘Gold From Ruins’. Finally, I can’t remember if I mentioned Katie Spencer last month, her album, ‘What Love Is’, released on October the 3rd. Sniffy about it, as some of the tracks were issued as singles, ahead of that, my view has change 360. It is a grand grand piece of work, full of space to absorb her lyrics and appreciate her guitar play. The additional clarinet, bass, drums and pedal steel, that initially I felt to be beautiful camouflage, for thinner material, well, I could not be more wrong, uncertain whether they are the gold or the lily.
LIVE: I think I had just returned from Hartlepool Folk Fest, by the time I wrote up last month. Great festival, musically, if a pretty dire experience otherwise. Storm Amy added to the organiser’s woes, rendering any outdoor activity impossible for the first couple of days. Moreover, with the main venue closed a week or two ahead the festival, this meant the whole festival became split in two, with small intimate gigs and sessions remaining at the Headland, buses ferrying then to the town centre for the bigger shows. I stayed in a wonderful old pub, the Commercial Hotel, if anyone knows the area, but nobody else seemed to be, there being very little sense of festival community, at least until the evenings. Concert highlights were Malin Lewis and their band, surpassing even the set at Shrewsbury, earlier in the year, a first taster of Goblin Band, The Rheingans Sisters, Iona Fyfe, John Tams, a solo Belinda O’Hooley and Kinnaris Quintet. My fix of bagpipes was further bolstered by, first, From The Ground, Ali Hutton’s latest project, and the Johnny Quinn Macs, with two sets of uilliean pipes and guitar, John McSherry being one of the pipers (and whistlers.) The evenings, as mentioned, all ended with endless singing sessions in the Headland’s Fisherman’s Arms, extending way into, at least, the early hours. Hosted by the Wilson’s, the four singing brothers from not far down the road. For the first time in my life I wished I could sing, as each song struck up, started off by any of the often ageing stalwarts, who live for such opportunity to, literally, keep the tradition alive. @thecheshirecat would have been in his heaven here, it smacking of an amalgam of the Volunteer at Sidmouth FF, and the Berwick Bar at Shrewsbury FF, but on steroids, strong ale and pies. (Maybe he will join me “there”, next year, although the festival is now actually moving, lock stock and barrel, to Durham, for a wider range of venues, all within walking distance, given the Hartlepool Borough Hall, at the Headland, is unlikely to ever have it’s roof repaired.
Mid-month, I also saw Katie Spencer live, at Brum’s wonderful Kitchen Garden Café. This cemented further my opinion of the songs and the singer. Plus, without their presence, the additional musicians showed themselves to have been the gilt, to Katie’s lily, the songs headier all the more in their absence.
Yes, one of my Volunteer compatriots told me about the move to Durham, which sounds appealing. It all depends on which weekend they pick ….
18-20 Sept. (Or, in the cheshorian calendar, week after Bromyard.)
Two cultural highlights for me last month:
Theatre: Cyrano de Bergerac at the RSC (Swan Theatre)
One of the outstanding theatre events of my twenties was Adrian Lester’s Rosalind in an all-male As You Like It by Cheek By Jowl. Saw it twice and it was a revelatory production. Now, time passes, Lester is the large-nosed wit in this excellent production. For those (like me) whose knowledge of Cyrano stops at the Steve Martin film the original C19 play is something else. It starts off as a meta-theatrical farce, with Christian arriving at the theatre to learn the name of Roxane, and Cyrano’s famous duelling while composing poetry moment. Christian, an excellent Levi Brown, has a broad Black Country accent which sounds gimmicky and patronising, but works wonderfully well in partnership with the well-spoken Lester. The heart of the play is its movement from comedy to tragedy, as the recruits are dispatched by cowardly De Guiche to their death in the during the siege of Arras. If the death of Christian, as Cyrano hides from Roxane the true author of the love letters , is not poignant enough, the whole final act is one long playing out of this decision. In Shakespeare comedy intrudes into tragedy via the sub-plots or minor characters (Rosencratz and Guilderstern, the Porter etc.). I’m struggling to think of another play that starts as farce and ends as sobbing your heart out tragedy. The cast are all excellent, Susannah Fielding manages the shift from sparky lover to bitter widow really well. The Swan itself lends itself perfectly to the meta-theatrics, and keeps the focus on the characters and the language. It’s a new translation and adaptation – it wears its verse lightly and wittily, while understanding that this is a play all about the power of language. If you get to see it in London or on tour then do go. Try not to google the ending. Suffice it to say it does not end in the same way as Martin’s film.
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Might write a review. wow.
SEEN: One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest masterpiece, a tremendous, counter-cultural action movie and strangely prescient, given it was completed before Trump’s re-election. Also, Katherine Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, which I liked, but saw in a tiny Curzon cinema that felt like the interior of a nuclear bunker — not ideal given the subject matter.
HEARD: I’m a bit of a latecomber to the music of Kevin Morby, but I’m catching up fast. City Music and Oh My God are both terrific.
READ: Just finishing Patrick Grant’s Less, Inspiring and worrying in equal measure.
Seen:
Sunday Driver at the Blue Moon, along with 25 other audience members (half of whom I knew personally). They’re hard to pigeon-hole, think a rocky Kate Bush with a sitar.
Of the usual blue light drama which Mrs F prefers, I enjoyed Thirteen on iPlayer.
Heard:
My deep dive in Shirley Bassey’s United Artists years continues. There’s so much of it, and it is all so cheap. And I picked up a copy of Two Bad D.J. by Clint Eastwood & General Saint in a Cotswolds charity shop, so some bonkers early-80s Greensleeves reggae.
Read:
The Simple Minds book (reviewed on here) and I’ve make a start on the Kindle backlog. Maconie’s Fabs book is done, currently half-way through Hep’s Abbey Road.
AOB:
We hired a 5.99m long campervan for five days, based upon one we saw at last October’s NEC show. Day one was enough to establish that (a) we preferred it to the van we hired in Scotland last summer (b) but we didn’t really like this one, either. Day two was spent at the NEC show, establishing that what we really want is a 3 or 4-seater. Trouble is, they 3/4 seaters are all 6.36m long, but our driveway is only 6.2m from garage door to pavement, so we need to think about parking arrangements. Days three, four and five we spent in the Cotswolds, which were lovely in the autumn colours. Sad to report that Evesham has really gone downhill since I spent weeks there attending BBC Wood Norton in the mid-90s, I hope it can regenerate.
watched : Plur1bus – only 2 episodes in and it’s pretty brilliant, looking forward to seeing where it goes. Black Bird – a serial killer series that came out a few years ago, hard going but deserved Golden Globe to the guy who played the murderer. Football – but my team Liverpool have not been doing so well unfortunately. The Sting, All The Presidents Men, Barefoot In The Park, Butch & Sundance and more – the wife and I went on a Redford binge after his passing. Other bits n bobs and Slow Horses and One Battle After Another were memorable.
listened : loads of old stuff for the Halloween 78’s mix I did a few weeks ago, all the goodies I have been picking up on my digging adventures (will post pics of finds when I sort myself out).
read : Dylan Jones 1975 book, loved it, lived it haha.
aob : done so much driving the past few weeks, Scotland > Wales, Scotland > London, and had a stall at the recent Groovy Record Fayre in the city, met lots of interesting folks, some I knew many I didn’t, a few I apparently should have! I took film of my walkabout and you’ll see what I mean.