Tom RRRRRRRRussell voice
IT’S ROCKTOBER!!
so, come and join me by the bonfire, help yourself to a dram or a hot chocolate, and while you are toasting your marshmallows please share with us whatever you have been listening to / watching / reading or otherwise getting up to.
and is there anything coming you would like to let us all know about ?
Watching / Listening: Got a copy of the Amazing Grace film, having failed to find a cinema screening within 30 miles when it came out a few months back. It is an incredible document of Aretha at her peak, with a fine backing band and choir. I watched the whole thing with a grin on my face, and will be watching it again very soon.
Read: Middle England, Jonathan Coe’s ‘Brexit novel’. Coe is always very readable, and creates characters you care about. Neatly captures the generational divides which have impacted so many families, including my own.
Heard: The Daisy Age. Easy-on-the-ear compilation of early 90s hip hop, before the genre gave itself over to endless oneupmanship. Yes I’m old. Although some British stuff I’ve heard lately gives me hope that kind of attitude could be returning.
“creates characters you care about”
– My criticism of Coe is always that I don’t care much about his characters. With the exception of Ben Trotter, I can’t remember who most of them are half the time. I thought Middle England was good on the politics, which I think is Coe’s strength, but typically weak on the characters.
I really like them. They feel to me like fully realised people, with types you recognise. It probably helps that I live in Birmingham and so would be passing these people in the street.
I look at life like this…
The newish Fionn Regan album Cala is terrific. The fact that it isn’t being hailed by all and sundry, including the AW, is I think entirely due to the fact that he’s not an American bloke with a preposterous beard.* If you own a record shop, just draw a beard on his face on the cover of Cala and stick an Import sticker on it, you’ll sell ’em like hot cakes.
(*although he does have a preposterous shirt, buttoned up to his apple in that very suspicious way adopted by bookish chaps)
SEEN
Midsommar. I enjoyed it. Very Wicker Man. As mentioned on another thread today, it is exactly as I have always imagined Sweden to be.
Yesterday. Ugh. Beyond awful, rubbish, pile o’shite cringefest. I hated it. Far more Richard Curtis than Danny Boyle.
HEARD
I’ve been listening a lot to two old albums.
Misty In Roots ‘Roots Controller’ and Laurie Anderson ‘Bright Red’.
I bought the 2002 album Roots Controller a couple of weeks ago and have been playing it non-stop. A mixture of old tracks and some that I’d never heard before. It’s utterly fantastic! What a band!
I bought Laurie Anderson’s ‘Big Science’ years back, on the strength of the O Superman single, and was disappointed to find I only really liked the title track. A friend was playing Bright Red recently and I thought it was so much better than Big Science. Quite beautiful.
READ
I’m still on Shantaram. Only a few hundred pages to go.
Hey, posts on this thread are all coming out in italics! How very trippy!
Hah, I really liked Yesterday in a It’s Thursday Night And I Just Want to Watch Something Pleasant kinda way.
ps I remember when reviewing The Fall for Bargie I italicised not just the AW but the whole internet for at least a day. I got an email from GCHQ asking me if I was interested in a job but I was too busy trying to remember where I had put my secateurs (in the fridge obviously)
If anyone else is leaning to the side – I tried to put a gag in italics in the original post. Looks like everything will be italicised from here on. Unless this spell works
Did the spell work ?
NO! IT DID NOT
It might not be you Hombre. There’s an occasional bug which ignores the italics off command.
I think that for the Rocktober updates we will all be slanted
Seen It was a quiet month for shows until the end, when I saw three last Saturday and a huge one on Monday. Saturday kicked off with Daylight Music at Union Chapel, curated by Kathryn Williams and based around her splendid Anthology box set. The three sections, consistently referred to as ‘halves’, started with Kathryn and guests, then performers from her song-writing camps, and a final section largely based around Kathryn playing with Romeo and Michele Stodart.
After a comedy show at the Bill Murray, a comedy club within walking distance of Union Chapel, we went to Sir Ian McKellen’s one man show at the Harold Pinter Theatre. It’s a triumph of energy, art and sheer charisma to celebrate his 80th birthday. The old boy seemed to be enjoying himself and overran by nearly half an hour. The first section is based around film, theatre and biographical anecdotes and post interval we got a run through of every Shakespeare play in an order suggested by shouts from the audience.
Ian and Kathryn are both touring and you should catch either if you possibly can. Monday of course was Richard Thompson’s 70th wonderful birthday bash at the Royal Albert Hall which I have written about at exhaustive length in Nights Out.
On television, Succession is as good as everyone says. It’s the tale of a media family, transparently based on the Murdochs, and how they use power to control people. Elsewhere, Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (BBC iPlayer) is Nick Broomfield’s documentary on Leonard Cohen. It is so named because Broomfield’s past acquaintance with Marianne is used as a motif, but it is really a more general documentary about Cohen and especially his life on Hydra. It is highly enlightening, in particular because of how it shows that the artist is a selfish, brutal, obsessive creature whose muse must sacrifice everything for them while never getting anything in return. The fallout from Cohen’s ego, and the massive damage done to the children involved, is heart-breaking. A surprising amount of drugs involved too.
Heard It’s all about the Kathryn Williams box-set at the moment and I’m trying to wallow in to without getting exhausted by its 20 discs. I’ve also been enjoying The Unthanks Lines albums, prior to seeing the Emily Bronte song cycle later his month.
Read Not so much. If you enjoyed Shaun Bythell’s Diary of a Bookseller you’ll enjoy Confessions of a Bookseller, which is more of the same. On various train journey’s this month I have been re-reading GK Chesterton’s The Blub of Queer Trades, grabbed from the shelf as it is such a small book to carry around. The stories are slight and typically come to the same conclusion (a confusion of identities has led someone into a situation which they can’t help but find baffling) but they are good humoured, with a vocabulary and syntax which demands that you hear them in your head read in Stephen Fry’s fruitiest tones.
No cinema trips to report this month but have been enjoying “captured” on the BBC and of course “State of the union” which if you haven’t seen it comes in ten minute chunks. Both Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd are brilliant in this.
A theatre trip in Ipswich last week to see a “One man and two guvnors” will be followed by a visit to the Watermill theatre in Newbury next week to see Stephen Sondheim’s little known musical “Assassins”
On the new listens front, I’m very impressed with the new album by Opeth (In Cauda Venenum). Their evolution from Death Metal to far out Prog is complete. (I’m ashamed of how wanky that statement sounds btw).
Read the Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray (for reasons discussed below in the abstinence thread).
Being an Essex boy the climax to an excellent cricket season was rather wonderful!
Just started watching State of the Union (and I mean we’re two minutes in). Can’t concentrate on what they’re saying because we’re fascinated with how Rosamund Pike’s wine glass leaps around the table between shots, like it’s inhabited by a Chardonnay poltergeist.
It’s refilling itself between shots now.
This month – in italics
Heard
Liam Gallagher – Why Me? Why Not?
Standard Gallagher the younger – stomps along nicely, some bad lyrics, but no real filler in evidence. Better/more rewarding than his previous solo effort.
It’s fill title should probably be: Why Me? Why Not? What Else Did You Expect?
A charity shop visit finally yielded something interesting:
both Cast albums
a Neil Diamond album (OK, it was “The Essential”)
Tom Lehrer
another copy of Tony Hancock’s Blood Donor and Radio Ham
and The Saw Doctors “If This Is Rock n Roll I Want My Old Job Back” (an album I’ve been looking for for ages at a suitable price)
all for 50p each.
Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen has also been on heavy rotation this month.
Read
A couple of Indian Restaurant Menus
Sturmey Archer Gear Hubs (wikipedia rabbit-hole)
Stuart Maconie – Adventures On The High Teas
Seen
Quadrophenia stuff on SkyArts – interesting, but I was hoping for “more”
More Grand Tour (Amazon) – I now have a desire to own a Mark 10 Jaguar, even if they are as reliable as the program suggested
Coming up:
The Wurzels (at Mrs D’s insistence, plus she’s roped me in for an 80s Weekender at Butlins next year)
From The Jam (Mrs D wanted to see The Vapors (who are supporting) – I didn’t tell her the From The Jam set is Setting Sons album, rather than the hits set.
Among all the Abbey Road furore, I’ve got the Mark Lewinsohn show at the end of this month – all I’ve heard so far suggest I will not be disappointed
Heard: More of Lana. Fantastic. Also Abbey Road the remix. I wholeheartedly approve of this venture.
Seen: Capernaum. A movie about a young boy surviving on the streets of Beirut. This is a great film in the main. We know life can be hell and there is much misery out there. Why do we need to sit through a depressing depiction of what we already know? It’s not likely to change anything much but it is more than a vision of despair. There is a compelling tale with moments of humour, great performances, especially by the boy who features. It’s brilliantly done as if a documentary. Manipulating a little toddler (who the boy who is the lead character looks after) to do as directed makes one wonder if that was entirely right and proper. Then a judge making his assessment of everything in a court hearing – a little contrived and unconvincing perhaps.
Green Book. This has had criticism which I understand but I didn’t have a problem with it. I thought it was a good tale well depicted.
Read: Am reading Zadie Smith Swing Time. Halfway through. I did wonder if the handling of the themes that are supposed to be covered could be heavy handed – race, gender, class, for example – but they are not. It’s convincing characters seemingly responding naturally to events in their lives. Critics may point to themes but I don’t think the author is so concered with them or chooses them, they emerge through the narrative and characters.
Before that was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young by Peter Doggett. I mentioned this last month. It’s a very good, entertaining read. More big bastards, thinking about what Lennon said about his own group.
Well I am doing something new as I miss contributing here because of health problems, so I’ve made a voice message review, in a Youtube video below. It’s a bit quiet so you may have to turn the volume up! Incidentally voice messages are all the rage in Argentina and Brazil, I learnt from the Radio 4 programme I mentioned,. The Dorothy Whipple book @rubyblue I think you would really like it. Thea is such a wonderful main character and writing fresh and modern.
Trailblazer indeed, what an excellent way of contributing! I must catch up with the Thom Yorke D.I.D.
Ooh, this thread is all in italics. Makes it read like everyone is quoting something.
That was very nice to listen to Caroline. Brief and interesting. Thanks.
That Bill Callahan is truly great.
Yes Retro, I am finally appreciating him!
Thanks, Gary. I wasn’t sure whether it would be a good idea to do it, but if at least a few people enjoy it I will do it again in future Bloggers, health permitting.
Excellent. Very nice cards. Where can I get some?
One thing, though. You say proNOWciation, I say proNUNciation. Let’s call the whole thing off. 😀
Many thanks. It is you who are right. (Bit ironic I mispronounced it). Cards will need a trek to the South of London which may not be cost-effective!
Nice idea for a post! @carolina
Hope you are doing ok and so sorry I’ve not been in touch- life stuff. 🙁 Thank you for the book recommendation!
@rubyblue
I’m sorry you’ve not been around much Rubes, I’ve always enjoyed your posts.
Aw, thank you, too kind!
I thought bringing up children would get easier, but it’s actually getting harder. It’s not really time that’s the issue but I’m finding that the emotional input needed increases. I don’t have much bandwidth for anything other than a bit of Netflix and some unchallenging books. Music has dwindled to the odd new track and that’s it. The result is I have no opinions (other than about Brexit, but let’s not…)
I expect to emerge in a few years. Then I’ll wang on about empty nest syndrome. 😁
Ah. I know what you mean sadly. Similar position here at Steady Mansions. Just so exhausting.
It’s good to pop in here though.
I think it’s the same for everyone. It’s just relentless.
I forget this though and always think other people have it easier. I had a coffee with a mother I had dismissed as PTA Queen Mean Girl Having-it-All woman (think ‘Motherland’) and she confided such a sad story of parental death, marriage breakup, career implosion , husband leaving, child’s SEN….good reminder to take the InstaMummy with a pinch of salt.
I checked my privilege. 😉 I do like a good moan though.
But yes this place is always fun. Or a minor diversion on the way to the grave, at least.
Right , off to look at another secondary school. The joys of the educational marketplace. Humnmph.
You (and other women of similar repute) are much missed on here. If my experience is anything to go by you only have another ten or fifteen years of turmoil and angst to go through. After that it’s plain sailing (apart from their traumatic breakups, financial woes etc etc etc)
Christ , I’ll be 65 by then!
Might go on a world cruise.
That was fab – what a good idea.
Well done – nice to hear. I must contribute to this thread. I always read it ( and listen now!) and take away nuggets to explore. Thanks all.
I’m detecting a general swing to the right here
Gigs: 2 at my local folk club. The Peterloo show by Pete Coe, Brian Peters & Laura Smith didn’t do it for me at all. I put that one down to “supporting the club”. By contrast I greatly enjoyed the set 2 weeks later by Caffrey McGurk and Madge who I reckon could hold their own at most Folk Festivals
Talking of which my GLW and I made our 3rd successive visit to Allen Valleys Folk Festival in that there Allendale Town and were not disappointed. We enjoyed an absolutely bonkers set from the Newcastle based band Diddley Squat playing in the bar of our hotel. They play reggae or ska riddims with a whole load of space invadery effects, both keyboard and voice activated including an occasional bit of throat singing, overtopped with reverb drenched hippy lyrics. People came and went during the set but I was amused that, to probably 100%, the blokes walked in whilst the ladies all danced in
Of the Festival proper I particularly enjoyed Kate & Raphael who don’t really sound like anybody else, and a gorgeous set from The Rheingans Sisters. Both gigs in St Cuthbert’s Church which has beautiful acoustics. In the Village Hall I enjoyed new-to-me bands Eabhan, and Me & My Friends. I was hoping to really like The Magpies, but didn’t. I thought they were, you know, all right
Sunday’s headliners were The Unthanks ladies trio singing unaccompanied. They delivered as expected and went down a storm. Their warm-up was an act that were billed to appear last year in the same slot – George Welch & Christine Jeans, but they pulled out at the eleventh hour as George ended up in A&E with cardiac problems. Having never seen or heard of them I didn’t realise what I’d missed. I do now, as this time round I loved them to bits. All covers, including some surprises, such as Looking For The Heart Of Saturday Night by Tom Waits. As well as their regular guitar / banjo line up, he and Christine were both deft uke players and played a ragtime piece with a bit of Mississippi John Hurt thrown in. But my favourite bit was when he was in midst of a long comic spiel and had to ask Christine what was next. “Hard Times” she replied. “Then can we do the big tune?” he asked, and she nodded and smiled beatifically. They played Stephen Foster’s Hard Times very nicely, and then with a little change of strum pattern George sang “There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow…” and we were off. About 250 people in the hall and we sang that from start to finish. Just lovely!
Heard: only one new one. The Wookalily album Everything Is Normal Except The Little Things Inside My Head came in unexpectedly about 2 years after I’d crowdfunded it. It’s a big step forward from their debut with much more instrumentation, but largely they continue to plough their own furrow. I’m glad they’re still out there doing it
Stuff: I have a little studio in the house, which in reality is a lap top with a Focusrite interface, some monitor speakers, a few mics and some self-taught knowhow. I’ve previously recorded and produced 4 albums, all for local folkies and have just (I hope) finished #5 which has taken almost a year. I was made at the request of a lady who has never sung in public and wanted to record some songs as a surprise for her grand-children. It has been a proper Journey, but we’ve ended up with something she can be very pleased with. It started out as acoustic guitar & vocals versions of children’s songs and ended up including a comic recitation, a couple of Lancashire worksongs with concertina backing, an acoustic reggae version of Three Little Birds, and a bluegrassy take on Richard Farina’s Pack Up Your Sorrows. I’m now having a lie down before Client #6 comes in
One other thing. Mrs B and I paid a quick visit to Northern Ireland to see a few elderly relatives, and also spent 2 nights in Enniskillen doing a bit of genealogy research. I found it to be a very attractive town, and I think the only Island town in the UK? We spent a happy hour watching some local guys ripping through traditional Irish tunes and songs in Blakes Of The Hollow on Church St. About 10 of us in a Snug that would comfortably fit 6. They play there most Friday Nights from about 10pm
Is an island town just a town which fills an island? if so Canvey Island and Portsmouth would both fit the bill. I’ve never been to Northern Island and have the feeling I definitely should!
I saw the Wookas last Sunday and will do so again at the ‘album launch’ in a obscure Belfast venue tomorrow. Own furrow, indeed!
Read:
The Paul Simon biography recommended here as a cheap Kindle download. Quite good, thought he came off as a self centred jerk at times though. His relationship with Art is like two 6 yr olds perpetually having tantrums (for 50 years!).
Live:
Thom Yorke. I am normally pretty good at getting good tickets for shows. Unfortunately for this one in Laval, Quebec (outskirts of Montreal) I managed to secure a pair in the very last row of an (ice) hockey arena. Great sound though, spectacular back projections and lighting. Thom sang well and was amazingly active for a 50 yr old. Only thing missing was tunes or maybe it was a lack of familiarity with his solo material (no Radiohead songs played as expected), liked about half of it.
Enjoyed Robert Plant at Ottawa Cityfolk more than I thought I would, not really a Led Zep fan but he played quite a few of their “numbers” and it was pretty exciting.
Lucinda Williams in contrast was a disappointment at same festival.
Films:
Ad Astra is a bit of a dud. Pain and Glory is a visually stunning, moving, near masterpiece.
Heard:
Abbey Road remix. Jury still out in my case. New Lana del Rey has some great songs (and a few mediocre ones).
Coming up:
New Wilco album today and then live in Toronto on Tues where they will play much of it.
I’m starting with what I have Watched [May contain spoilers]
Managed to catch up with Peaky Blinders in time to watch the final episode of season 5. Much better than season 4 is my review of that. Although, I was under the impression that it was to be the final season, so I was disappointed that it wasn’t.
Blitzed our way through Season 1 of Succession. If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should. It gets better as patriarch Logan Roy [Brian Cox] regains his strength, and the counterpoint of his son Kendal slipping inexorably into despair as all his plans crumble around him. In season 2, which I have just started, his complete collapse into a mere husk is painful to watch. Each time he acquiesces to his father with a mumbled ‘Sure, Dad’ is more pathetic than the last. Still, it’s hard to feel pity for him as they are all monsters in their own way. Any one of them could get out and do some good in the world, but for them it’s not about having money and enjoying life, as one sibling comments, any idiot can have a couple of million dollars, but not everyone has power. One final note, the sheer number of zingers in the script is impressive. It has to be the funniest drama on TV and is funnier than most comedies.
I got a pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones which are pretty good, they beat the Bose equivalent in the reviews I researched, but I’m not blown away by the sound performance, for £270 they are a little underwhelming. And then I bought a pair of Bauhn noise cancellers [no, I hadn’t heard of them either] They were on sale in Aldi. Reduced to £20, so I didn’t expect much and thought I would probably give them to one of the daughters. I spent an afternoon playing the same songs through each set in turn, becoming more and more impressed with the Bauhn. My conclusion is that although the Bauhn’s don’t cancel out as much noise as the Sony’s [they have smaller cups for a start, which is an instant disadvantage] they sound more pleasing than the Sony’s. So, why am I telling you all of this?
Well, it was interesting to me to spend a couple of hours actually ‘listening’ to music. Something I realised don’t really do any more, and in truth, haven’t done since I was a teenager. I’m always doing something else at the same time.
It made me realise that I have to start doing it more often.
Listened a lot to the BBC Sounds App recently. Most of all I was playing back Cillian Murphy’s shows. He has been sitting in for Guy Garvey on his Sunday afternoon slot. He has great taste in music and a lovely speaking voice and seems to be a very grounded and humble person, which makes for a very enjoyable two hours. I’ve discovered loads of great songs which is always nice.
Another recommendation from the BBC App is the podcast ‘The Missing Crypto Queen’ You can kind of get what it’s about from the title. Only on the fourth episode [of seven], but so far it’s intriguing stuff.
Not read much this last month, but I did read a couple of magazines that might interest some on here. I got the first two editions of the Dali speaker magazine ‘Be There’ edited by Afterword favourite Andrew Harrison. They are free, you just have to sign up on their website. Not a bad read to be honest, not something I would have paid to read [well. Maybe a pound, but only because it’s quite a slim read] and it reminded me that I much prefer to have an actual magazine in my hands than be reading on a device.
The best album I heard last month was the new one from Hiss Golden Messenger ’Terms of Surrender’ which, I am pleased to say continues his run of form, as I have tickets to see them in December.
https://www.dali-speakers.com/uk/music/music-magazine/be-there-issue-1/
A quiet month chez nous.
Watched: Nothing of note. Binging on old war movies, which are curiously comforting in their own way, and some great Australian crime shows.
Listened to: Find ipod. Hit random. Hit play.
Read: The Kate Bush biography, Under the Ivy, which is rather good. A bunch of comics via the Comixology app. I read 4 books of the “Ethan Gage” stories before I realized just how truly, awfully bd they were. Oh. joe Haldeman’s Future War, which is stellar defining, sci-fi
Seen:- Nothing special BUT ……
Read(ing):- The Anarchy by William Dalrymple. It’s a history of the East India Company. He’s such a good writer that, not only are the complexities understandable – but also it’s incredibly readable. Highly recommended
Heard:- Two great albums which I haven’t seen mentioned here.
Rush of Blood by Geraint Watkins – a lovely, quirky mish mash of things and full of romance.
Black Pumas by Black Pumas – a bit Curtis Mayfield, some Stax and a touch of Credence.
The Geraint Watkins album includes the great line:-
How could a Love Supreme leave me feeling Kind of Blue
His book From the Holy Mountain is one of my favourites, I’ll definitely look for this one. Thanks for the tip – I keep forgetting to find out if he’s published anything since that one!
Read:
Reading is the only thing I’ve had the energy to deal with this month, I’ve even changed my commute to/from work and the time when I get up just so I can have extra time to read on my way to work and home…!
I’ve grown up with the original Norse myths and retellings of them, but I was curious to see what Neil Gaiman would do in his retelling of the Norse Mythology. I liked it, it reminded me of meeting an old friend on the bus on Monday morning – that guy who’s always getting into trouble and likes to exaggerate stories for comical effect, and him saying: “Oh, you won’t believe what happened to me this weekend…”, and yes, you only believe half of it, but it’s a great story so you don’t mind.
I picked up The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern on a whim, a fantasy novel, but a bit too sweet and romance-y for my taste. Some cool ideas and with pageturning qualities, but not dark enough for me and tied up with a cute bow in the end. Also jumps back and forth in time in a way that was a bit pointless, in fact I didn’t really notice it until half-way through the book!
I was given The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell for my birthday. I wasn’t convinced at first, but the further in I got, when the memories of Esme and the Alzheimer stream-of-conciousness monologues of her sister got going, laying one piece of the puzzle after another, things got interesting and the ending came as a genuine surprise and shock! The only thing I wasn’t very keen on was the part with Iris and her step brother and her lover, all three of them just annoying people and bringing nothing to the story for me.
I also re-read a few books this month: David Niven’s The Moon’s A Balloon, Stephen King’s Cujo and a stack of Agatha Christie crime novels. Charity shop finds.
And I’m mid-way through The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco, and I wonder why I haven’t gotten around to it sooner, as it’s great! Well, I do know why; Foucault’s Pendulum was such a slog to get through that it made me suspicious of his novels after that experience…so I stuck to reading his brilliant essays and ignoring the rest. But reading about this one made me curious so I finally took the plunge and now I can barely put it down! It speaks to me as an avid book reader since early childhood, and an equally avid book collector for almost as long, and I would certainly recommend it to fellow book nerds, if you haven’t read it already. An antiquarian bookseller wakes up in hospital with retrograde amnesia, and in order to try to remember who he was/is he travels to his childhood home and unearths the books and magazines of his upbringing from its attic, reading them to puzzle together his memories, while listening to the records of the time on his grandfather’s old record player. He’d fit right in here in fact, quoting from books and old lyrics at every possible and impossible moment!
Seen:
I saw Courtney Marie Andrews at Bryggarsalen here in Stockholm, alone on stage with an acoustic guitar and a piano and her strong voice, and it was sensationally good! Playing old songs and trying out new ones for the upcoming album, and singing beautifully with guest Kristian Matsson (The Tallest Man On Earth) on “I Shall Be Released”. Then towards the end she walked into the audience with her guitar and no microphone, singing “May Your Kindness Remain” to us in a magical performance, with all of us joining in for the choruses, but due to the circumstances and atmosphere it was the softest, quietest singalong in the history of gig-singalongs, making it more intimate and goosebump-inducing than anything I’ve ever witnessed at a gig before. The venue was sold out this time (I saw her there once before, when it wasn’t), it was very hot but everyone was having a great time. I wanted to do a Nights Out, but I was too tired afterwards and didn’t have time later in the week.
Heard:
I haven’t had much time for music in September, but I’ve listened to Native Harrow – Happier Now, which is sort of reminiscent of 70s Laurel Canyon, singer-songwriter, folk-pop/rock, and her voice and expression at times reminding me of Laura Marling. I like it a lot, but it’s not super original, if that’s what you’re looking for.
The latest album from (almost too) productive King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is a bit too metal-infused for my complete liking. More than two tracks in a row and I get a headache…
And the latest from The Black Keys, “Let’s Rock”, is OK but I’m finding it a bit…dull.
I quite like the Peter Bruntnell album King of Madrid, at least parts of it. But the track “Memory Hood” really should have shared credits with Jeff Tweedy, as half of it is identical to a well-known Wilco song…(“Misunderstood”)! On the other hand, the song “Widows Walk” is really beautiful, making up for that slight annoyance.
And, speaking of Jeff Tweedy, I finally got hold of the Record Store Day released companion piece to Warm; Warmer, now released as a double album CD. Of course it’s absolutely lovely; I’m sure you didn’t expect me to dislike anything from the Tweedy/Wilco-verse! 🙂 New Wilco album on its way in the mail…can’t wait!
I really liked the previous Ezra Furman album, but this year’s Twelve Nudes have so far only managed to get on my nerves, but I’ll give it a few more chances. He’s shouting a LOT. Right now it’s making me tired…but it could be me just not in the mood for noisy guitars and shouty lyrics at the moment.
I really liked The Night Circus, to the extent that I have her new one (The Starless Sea) on pre-order. It gave me a similar feeling as Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and I’m wondering what you thought of that (if you’ve read it)?
I haven’t. I’ve looked at it in a bookshop and didn’t feel compelled to read it. I suspect I wouldn’t have bought The Night Circus either, had I found it in a shop, but I bought it online in a sale, just taking a punt with very little information.
It wasn’t badly written, and as I said, it had some cool ideas, but it was a bit too unsatisfactory for my current mood. It was like eating a cupcake when I was hungry for steak!
Warmer is great. Unfortunately Ode to Joy is not doing it for me. Be interested to hear your view @Locust
I’ll have to get back to you once my copy has been delivered…my online vendor isn’t very fast these days, “preorder” or not! I dislike using Spotify so I haven’t heard it at all yet.
It’s growing on me slowly, and the tracks came across really well live on Tues in Toronto. Superb show.
@dai I am loving Ode to Joy – it has a lovely warm vibe and to my ears not too dissimilar to Warm/Warmer in that it sounds quite like a Tweedy solo album compared to say Yankee Foxtrot Hotel or A Ghost is born.
That’s partially my problem. It sounds like the solo albums. I expect something else from Wilco, there are excellent songs, but pace is too samey and Jeff is whispering rather than singing @SteveT
Can’t edit? “Warmest” or “Hot” should be the title. I recognise Glenn Kotche’s thunderous contribution but in some ways it sounds like demos for a WIlco album rather than the actual album. All relative of course, they are arguably one of the most consistent bands ever.
Super Original @locust?
We don’t want anything Super Original around here…splutter.
Yeah…”of limited appeal here” as the tagline says below! But as a consumer guidance to the small contingent who sneer at the derivative, I thought it was best to add that caveat anyway! 😉
(Reading it back, that sentence sounded a bit lofty and pretentious! I clearly need some breakfast.)
Heard
Couple of listens of Angel Olsen’s new one suggest it’s a goodie but I’ll report back next month. But Creedence Clearwater Revivals Woodstock Live album, finally released after fifty years is sensational. What really comes across on covers like Night Time is the Right Time and Ninety Nine and a Half Won’t Do is what a great soul and blues shouter Fogerty is – influenced as much by Ray Charles and Otis Redding as Little Richard. And the band lay down a rock solid groove for him to work off.
Seen
The BBC’s The Capture is nonsense but it’s enjoyable nonsense. In its conspiracy theory vibe it reminds me of the wonderful Edge of Darkness back in the 80s.
Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has had mixed reviews but I loved it. Beautiful looking and always watchable, as ever, but maybe a little more reflective than some of his earlier films.
Read
Am reading Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House which is only reaffirming my view that Rushdie is like one of those bands or singers who did some great stuff in their early years but are now repeating and ripping off themselves to ever diminishing effect.
Just a short entry as on my holidays in Fife, but the 3 music discoveries I bought this month were:
More Rockingbirds by the Rockingbirds. Yes, they are still going, this now their 4th and the songs are as strong as ever.
Abundance Welcoming Ghosts by Red River Dialect, recommended by Folk Radio UK, an excellent site for new folk and americana fare. Said to pay debts to the Fairport/Steeleye axis, but, instrumentation aside, it reminded me more of Tindersticks, if with a Stuart Staples having had some some sinus work done.
Tairm by Whyte, more gaelictronica, vocals and keyboards. Terrific.
All bought direct from their websites or band camp, as the chances of these popping up in HMV are slight, and unlikely to be available on Amazon Prime.
Each are in the running for my topper most list for 2019.
I have also had links for Juliana Hatfield plays the Police and a Janiva Magness covers set of Creedence/John Fogarty songs, as I have to review ’em (elsewhere). The first is one of those that sounds good as you catch a single song, becoming swiftly unbearable, the other being variable, but with a terrific Have You Ever Seen the Rain, making the whole thing almost worthwhile.
Hmmm … yes, that “Abundance Welcoming Ghosts by Red River Dialect,” is on my “to buy” list.
I find I like almost everything that’s released on the Paradise of Bachelors label…
Seen – Went to watch Joker on Friday. A comic book movie that owed more to Scorsese’s early films than any Batman comic I’ve read, and I’ve read loads! There’s a hint of the flashback scenes from The Killing Joke, as well as a few other bits and pieces for fanboys to spot, but it could easily have sat in Scorsese’s canon, midway between Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. And it will surely win Phoenix a Best Actor Oscar. Not better than Heath Ledger’s portrayal, but very different and not a lot worse.
I also went to watch one of those National Theatre Live beambacks at the local cinema. Fleabag. It was excellent, just like the TV series is. Really enjoyed it. And I enjoyed watching the 70mm screening of Lawrence of Arabia on Thursday night in Barnsley. The owner claims that his is the only cinema in England outside London that has the equipment to show films in this format. I’ve certainly seen quite a few down there now, but none as good as this. It’s one of my favourite films anyway, and I saw it at the pictures in 1989 when it was restored. I’ve lost count of the different times I’ve bought it. I can recall at least 6, that were each upgrades on the previous package. 70mm on a big screen is the best way to see it though and it looked crazily good for a 57 year old film. And, good as Gregory Peck was in To Kill a Mockingbird, O’Toole was robbed at the Oscars.
Read – Loads of magazines, as usual, including a fab Roy of the Rovers anniversary magazine that took me back. I’ve managed to get all the 70s and 80s comics electronically and my son is now a devotee too. I’ve been re-reading the past 3 years worth of The Walking Dead compendiums, in preparation for the final book that has just come out. It’s a cliche to say this, I know, but the (comic) book is so much better than the TV series.
Heard – Jazz! Read a ‘40 best jazz albums’ thingy, so I’ve dipped my toes a little further in, having previously owned just the jazz albums that people who know nothing about jazz own (although I really like Chet Baker, so I have a fair bit of his music). I’m enjoying John Coltrane the most I think, and I risked the scorn of John Lennon and bought a Charles Mingus album. For a more modern take, Beautiful Vinyl Hunter by Ashley Henry, is a great new album. And reggae! I read a similar article about reggae albums and picked up a few of those. War Ina Babylon by Max Romeo and the Upsetters is my favourite.
Away from jazz and reggae, which haven’t taken that much of my month up really, I’ve picked up a few great hip hop albums that had passed me by, Yugen Blakrok’s and Neak’s albums are great, but my favourite is the album by Bobby J From Rockaway. My birthday brought albums by a couple of artists I’ve never heard of, but I’m really enjoying listening to – Nev Cottee and Destroyer. Destroyer sound, at various times, like Bill Pritchard, The Blow Monkeys and Stephen Duffy, amongst other things, which is fine by me.
Verb T & Pitch 92 have released their best collaboration yet, Pernice Brothers have released a long awaited new album that is rather good, and just today I have had my first listen of Nick Cave’s excellent new album and the remastered Swoon by Prefab Sprout, which is a big improvement on the disappointing CD I’ve listened to for years. Hopefully they’ll release the new version on CD, for those of us who still think CD is the future!
Paul, thanks for the heads up on the new Pernice Brothers album. As a by-product I discovered Joe’s Roger Lion album which had passed me by. Sounds great
The album was initially only released on vinyl or download, but after people (including me) got in touch with them to request it, they are now doing a very limited run of CDs, so if you want one you’d better nip in quick.
I was a little disappointed with the Roger Lion album, to be honest, but he’s back on form with the new album. It’s often difficult to keep on top of side projects of artists that aren’t that well known, and Joe has had a few – Chappaquiddick Skyline, The New Mendicants, Roger Lion. Stephen Duffy is another one that is difficult to keep track of, with The Hawks, Tin Tin, The Lilac Time, Me Me Me, The Devils and The Vanity Project, but you should try being an MF DOOM fan. Tracking down all of his projects was a job and a half.
Read: Not a lot. Flitting about between various books.
Seen: It’s been a really good month for telly and films. On TV, Unbelievable and Godless on Netflix are/were both excellent. The former is based on the investigation of a real-life serial rapist and works as a cracking procedural as well as an indictment of the treatment meted out to victims. Chief among its many pleasures is a brilliant performance from Merrit Wever who’s also (and also brilliant) in Godless, a violent but languorously mounted Western that over seven episodes builds towards a bloody climax. The other thing I really enjoyed was UnReal, a drama set on a fictional dating show. It’s definitely a show that started well and then lost its way, and by the end it was full-on guilty pleasure viewing. But still. Favourite film I saw this month was Mother! (wow) but mainly I’ve watched 1970’s Brit horror, most of them re-watches (Satan’s Slave, Terror, Inseminoid, House of Whipcord, House of Mortal Sin), and one that was new to me, The Shout, a Nic Roeg-esque arty old thing about Alan Bates inveigling his way into the home of Susannah York and John Hurt. Very good, as long as you’ve got the patience and you don’t mind the sight of Jim Broadbent smearing himself with cow dung.
Heard: Drum & Bass from Om Presents Cosmology and Hyroglifics, lots of dark Bristolish dub/dubstep from people like Bengal Sound, Dubkasm, Ishan Sound, Gorgon City, Kahn & Neek and affiliates, and The Ideal Condition, which turns out be a very good solo album from Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll, which in turn sent me back to listening to lots of Orbital.
The Ideal Condition’s great, isn’t it. I’d never heard of the rest of the artists you mentioned, but I’ve just had a listen to them and ended up downloading Rastrumentals by Dubkasm, as it sounds fab. I’ll give it a proper listen tomorrow, as the peaceful part of my day, where I get to listen to music, is about to end. I’ve put a Metallica album on, to try to ward away the remote control hogging family, but I fear that one of them is about to end my peace with a demand for the TV!
Excellent stuff. Also, the Cosmology album’s pretty good, Paul. I think you’d like it. Om Unit very much on a roll right now.
Yes, already have that one. And Rastrumentals is great. Listened to it properly this afternoon. I’ll be recommending that one to a couple of mates, as it will be right up their street.
I have been watching Unbelievable also, it is good, but wow is it stretched out. When I first saw it listed as a “limited series” I was expecting 2 or 3 episodes, not 9 or 10!
But it is the slowness that draws you in, or is it just me who likes that pace in a film/series
At times I sorta kinda felt it was was drawn out, but ultimately felt rewarded for my patience.
A slow burner. There are large parts where literally nothing happens though. It’s the same with most shows, I also just finished Trapped season 2, that again took 10 episodes to tell a story that would fit in 4 or 5 maximum.
Ok
Read:
Jenny Diski’s Rainforest. What a brillaint and neglected writer. She does psychological breakdown as well as anyone else.
Evelyn Waugh – Officers and Gentlemen. Not the freshness of part 1, though the scenes in Mull are pure Waugh farce. Am feeling that Anthony Powell’s Dance novels lay bare the heroic stupidity of army bureaucracy better than Waugh does. Still very readable.
Peter F Hamilton – book 2 of the Fallers, Night Without Stars. Ok Peter I am reaching the end of the road. This is going to Oxfam once I’ve finished. Will go back to the Nights Dawn and first Commonwealth sagas, but the Void trilogy and now these are just all the bad things about you without the wit and invention of the aforementioned.
Seen
Ad Astra (reviewed)
Full Metal Jacket – flawless first half, fatally flawed by not stopping there. Second half is a series of separate sequences that though great in themselves don’t hang together.
Heard
Not that much that’s new. Agree the Lana Del Rey is a collection of strong songs without anything much new. The Carter Tutti Void is great ambient/textural/industrial.
Rocktober? It’s Octoberfest at a local brewery here in southern California! My mate Dave likes a beer or five and loves live music, so last Saturday we went to see The Atomic Punks, a Van Halen tribute band, and drink a few craft beers. I guess if you’re a VH fan, you’d probably like ’em. I’m not a fan. This Friday, it’s Missus Jones, an Amy Winehouse tribute and Saturday night it’s a Motley Crue tribute band. Thank god they’re all free and the beer is good and plentiful.
TV-wise, I’m currently half way through the first series of the Australian show Rake.
Late to the party again.
Heard:
The favourite thing I heard this month is the Wilco covered CD with the current uncut magazine.There are some great interpretations of Wilco songs and it introduced me to Parquet Courts who really impressed me.to the extent I bought their last album It’s Wide awake which is fab.
FIrst couple of listens I am not too keen on the Sturgill Simpson album Fire and Fury which is too heavy – I guess the title should have been a clue.
Liking the Bethany Howard album Jaime which really showcases the range of her voice. Also Hiss Golden Mrssengers Terms of my surrender is just wonderful – his releases just get better.
Also picked up a 4cd collection of CTI label jazz including Esther Phillips, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine and Chet Baker – some very good tracks on this well priced compilation.
Also Massive Attack vs Mad Professor which is dark and moody and funky too – love it.
Read: About two thirds of the way through Mike Gayles The man I think I know. He is a good storyteller but it is about the 4th book of his I have read and they are notable for having no profanities at all. Admirable but is it the real wotld?
looking forward to reading Debbie Harry’s autobiography next.
Seen – No gigs at all but 5 lined up in next 6 weeks.
Peaky Blinders obviously – this last season was excellent with a very disturbing Oswald Moseley and the introduction of the Billy Boys.
Also Hairy Bikers on Route 66 – we are doing half of it from Oklahoma CIty to Los Angeles next year and are christening it Route 33.
With Brexit on my mind (Wait! Come back!), I’ve been pondering how quickly societies can collapse into chaos and disorder. Anthropologist Jared Diamond wrote a very good book on the subject – Collapse – but that is not why I’m here. My interest led me to somewhere close to home, to The Troubles and a pressing, urgent need to understand what went on there.
Read: Eoin McNamee’s Resurrection Man. From the 1990s comes a poetic novel of bleak human struggle and endurance in 1970s Belfast. McNamee tells the story of Victor Kelly, a loyalist paramilitary who quickly acquires a base logic of killing and survival. Ordinary folk attempt to go about their everyday lives, while atrocious acts of cruelty, murder, torture and revenge go on all around them. Belfast is depicted as a terrifying place of constant drizzle and sinister shadows. Only the thin threads of family and tradition seem to hold the society together. Grim, but essential.
Seen: The BBC are marking the 50th anniversary of The Troubles with a new seven part documentary series Spotlight on The Troubles: A Secret History. It is superb, and part presented by the extremely watchable Jennifer O’Leary. Not surprisingly (but why, exactly?), Gerry Adams has absented himself from the series, but there’s plenty of ex-IRA men, British/UDR soldiers and ex-RUC happy to talk to camera to reveal jaw dropping detail. Of course, it is all a horrible mess, with both sides playing dirty, and so many innocent lives lost. This is the UK we’re talking about.
Heard: Hurrah! Relief from The Troubles was found in the form of a newish blog from Farquhar Throckmorton III (the artist formally known as HP). There, I was turned onto the music of folk guitarist Shawn Phillips. I’d hardly heard of him, but it turns out that he was a quiet but significant presence in the 60s. He gave George Harrison his first primer on sitar, sang backing vocals on Lovely Rita, and roomed with Donovan (natch). But his own music really took off when he signed with A & M in the late 60s. I started with the Contribution/Second Contribution twofer CD and it is stunning. Phillips is an extraordinary singer and guitarist with an uncompromising style, and I’m hoovering up all his 70s A & M stuff.
I wonder if you’d like ‘Milkman’ by Anna Burns? It’s set in late 70s/early 80s Northern Ireland. It doesn’t say which city it’s set in but probably is in Belfast. It’s a novel of the Troubles seen through the eyes of a 17/18 year old girl. Funny, scary and ridiculous, all at the same time. I found it quite difficult to read because of the way it’s set out. There aren’t really any paragraphs, so it just seems to go on and on and on. It can be slightly hard to follow because none of the characters have proper names. If you can get over these things, it’s a good read.
Thanks. I’ll look out for it.
Seconded, the first 20 pages are challenging and you need to trust the writer, but thereafter it’s a blinder.
Late to the party. Any booze left?
Heard:
I’ve been listening to BBC Radio 3’s evening shows for a while now.
J to Z is their Saturday teatime Jazz slot and there’ve been some interesting sessions and album plays. A bit quiet in September as other programmes have knocked it off the schedule apart from 2 weeks. The presenter, Jumoké Fashola, is a bit gushy for my taste sometimes but the music is generally good.
Late Junction used to be a midweek favourite a good few years ago and I got back into the habit of listening in the Summer. It wasn’t as good as when I listened before, too wilfully obscure, and they have now given it just one (slightly longer) spot a week and this seems about right to me.
Jazz Now, usually presented by Soweto Kinch, played some good stuff from both live/archive sessions and from records and there were some good short interviews. The programme has now been cancelled, though. A new one “Freeness” is due to start soon on Saturday late nights.
The New Music Show, on Saturday late evenings showcases some interesting stuff in the modern Classical/Post Classical/Experimental genres. Giving it a try and the jury’s out. May or may not continue.
A couple of new late evening shows have just now started, Night Tracks and Unclassified. I shall see what they have to offer.
Apart from magazine discs from Mojo, Songlines and Uncut (a particularly interesting Wilco covers disc from Uncut), My CD aquisitions this past month have been very few. I was given a free copy of singer Jo Harrop’s trio album “Songs For the Late Hours” after saying to her I very much enjoyed her set at the pub jazz session she played on the 15th. Flattery does sometimes get results!
Of course I bought a copy of Kathryn Williams “Anthology” box at her excellent Daylight Music appearance. Special reduced price from £70 to £50 on the day. 20 CDs, a book of lyrics and another book of pictures and track listings etc., beautifully illustrated. All box sets should be this good and this value for money.
Movies:
None. Can’t remember the last time I was in a cinema.
TV:
Mostly I was watching the entirety of Farscape on Amazon Prime. Very enjoyable despite it’s many flaws. What We Do In the Shadows was a most enjoyable slice of dark & dirty comedy. The Capture was pretty ludicrous but very watchable. Good to see them swerve the happy ending for something more realistic but pretty disturbing.
My trash-tv watch of the month was some repeats of New Tricks, enjoyable with no guilt whatsoever but I had to remember to mute the sound for the theme song each time.
I watched the first couple of episodes of Danish subtitled drama Darkness: Those Who Kill, but found it a bit too unpleasant. I doubt I’ll return to it, especially as a new series of Spiral is starting.
Read:
Not much, mainly because I was using my Kindle to watch Farscape. Still have a good few unread on there and the biog. of Jazz junkie saxophonist Art Pepper still unfinished. I did get a hankering to re-read Terry Pratchett’s sub-series of books featuring trainee witch Tiffany Aching. Finished the third one “The Wintersmith” just last night.
Gigs:
Three Wednesday night jazz gigs at Mill Hill Jazz Club, which is a friendly place. The Martin Speake & Alyson Cawley Quartet on the 4th. Martin on alto sax, Alyson on tenor. Guitarist Giulio Romano Malaisi in his Quartet on the 11th were very good. Singer Kate Daniels and her Quartet on the 18th, featuring Graham Pike on trumpet, flugelhorn and harmonica were good too.
At the pub I saw Dex & Mercy’s Funk & Soul. A Fiver in the tin for a fine selection of funky tunes with two extremely good singers, Dexter Mosely and Jill Hunte. Alan Gruner on bass is worthy of mention too.
Also at the Pub, jazz singer Jo Harrop, backed by a piano/saxes/double bass/drums quartet. I never used to go much for jazz vocalists until fairly recently. Jo Harrop is one to see again.
At The Woodman pub at the top of Archway Road, I went to see The Small World Band, consisting of bassist Chris Dodd, keyboarist Sean Hargreaves, guitarist Bobby Quigley and drummer Richard Bailey. My interest was piqued when I saw Richard Bailey was playing. This is the man who played on Jeff Beck’s Blow By Blow at the age of just 18 and then reappeared drumming on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from Jeff Beck’s Wired. A superb jazz/blues/reggae/funk jam session was what we got.
On the 20th I went to see a four-piece ’60s-’80s cover band that a bass player friend is in. A well-chosen selection of crowd-pleasing rock/pop hits.
This year’s Autumn/Winter Daylight Music season has started up at the Union Chapel and three Saturday lunchtimes in, it’s been great so far. Another ten to go before they break for Xmas.
Coming Up:
A couple of very interesting Daylight Music shows.
This coming Saturday is a piano duo special. They’ve hired in a couple of baby grands and there will be three different duos, finishing with Keith Tippett and Matthew Bourne playing together.
On the 7th of December there’s a special concert of Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite interpretation, performed by the Tomorrow’s Warriors Soon Come Big Band. I’m sure that’ll be a good one.
November 10th at The Half Moon in Putney, my favourite 10-piece cover band Stanley Dee will be playing Steely Dan/Donald Fagen in their usual exemplary fashion. Also a couple of gigs after, in St. Albans and in Watford.
November 24th, Cassie Kinoshi’s marvellous Seed Ensemble are playing at The Jazz Café in up/downtown trendy Camden.
On December 15th excellent guitarist John Etheridge will be playing at The Chandos Arms in Colindale.