Boy, is winter here!
So – on this first Friday of the new month, please come and warm yourself by this roaring candle, share what you have been listening to / reading / watching or otherwise enjoying, and also let us know if there is anything coming up in March that we should be keeping an eye out for
The Good soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek. I noticed this book because I was searching in Prague a replacement for a novel by Ford Madox Ford, bought in saint Andrew and lost in Lisboa and a czech friend of mine recommanded it. This story of a czech man with adhd-like behavior (or is it on purpose?), surviving the “great” war is still adapted to modern times problems. To be called a “švejk” could be taken as an insult in Czech Republik, this character is the personification of the french expression “grève de zèle” or an unjust nazi german insult against the Czechoslovaquian behavior towards the occupant under the second world war (laughing beasts). I don’t know why, but some parts of this novel and some characters it reminds me of the “conspiracy of dunces”…
I saw the hommage to Bowie by swedish artists, there were some great performances by Ebbot from TSOOL or motoboy, some “performances” by some artists who discovered The Dame one hour before the show by reading Wikipedia and watching a dokumentär on YouTube and were doing mostly self-promotion, it seems that what swedish artists retains from Bowie’s fashion statements was glitter there was a Swedish Adèle dressed like a Lucia without a crown though.
I found in the återbruksrum a dvd of a comedy based on Nixon’s recordings of the events around his meeting with Elvis Presley to make of him an agent at large, that’s the end of part one, of the month’s discoveries…
Domestic and work circumstances continue to heap Pellion upon Ossa, and that along with the miserable weather, has made me think that the only good thing about this February just gone was its brevity.
I can’t think of any new music which caught my ear, with the exception of the welcome curated discs from tinysuns and Rigid Digit in the CD swap. The only event we went to was Tosca at Covent Garden, which was quite plainly staged, particularly in the third act, but beautifully sung. The orchestra was conducted by Placido Domingo, who got a huge ovation from the audience when he first entered and joined the cast on stage for the curtain call instead of taking his bow from the podium, the tart.
I’ve read a fair bit this month and the picks have probably been John Higgs’ Watling Street (recommended here last month) and Robert Webb’s How Not to be a Boy. Both books would have benefitted from a clearer idea of what they wanted to achieve to knock them into a more satisfying shape, but both also genuinely made me think about some everyday things in a new way, and you can’t really ask more from a book than that.
Read
The Nix is a huge fat juicy slab of a book. It deals with family dysfunction, military misadventure, traumatised childhoods, social media, on-line gaming and political spin. Funny, wise and wildly entertaining and written with a wonderfully loose-limbed verve. I devoured it.
Seen
There is much to admire about Birdman; the sinuous cinematography, Edward Norton’s conceited narcissist, Emma Stone working the cynical / vulnerable sides as a movie star’s daughter. But I was left a little underwhelmed. When it originally came out it received rave reviews and multiple awards – but the cynic in me wonders if it got so much attention within the film industry because it is all about actors, acting and the role of the critics.
The Monuments Men is a pleasant enough way to spend a couple of hours, but struggled to find a consistent tone. Always nice to see John Goodman on the screen, though.
Sorcerer is gritty, grimy, tactile and tense. Lots of manly men, getting sweaty and existential as they drive trucks filled with unstable explosives across uncertain terrain all to aid an unscrupulous company that is exploiting South American resources. Deeply cynical tale that has little good to say about masculinity, globalization, corporate greed and incompetence, political expedience and human frailty.
The Lobster is set in a dystopian future / parallel universe, where it is a crime to be single. The punishment for those not in a partnership is to be whisked away to a seaside hotel where they are giving 45 days to find a mate. If they fail they will be turned into an animal of their choice. An allegory for the tyranny of the couple, but also for the way that society sets out norms in behaviour and of being – and those that fail to meet these societal expectations are treated as Other. An intriguing film that perhaps loses a bit of focus when it moves from the confines of the hotel. Great, unnerving performances from Olivia Colemen, Ashley Jenson and Colin Farrell. Plus Keith from The Office is in it.
Rewatched Bladerunner 2049, and enjoyed once more this huge beast of a movie. There is something of the sublime about the film – thinking here of the Romantic view of sublime which equated to feelings of awe and danger and terror.
Heard
Bingeing on The Horror’s back catalogue. “So now you know’ is gorgeous.
A slow recovery from surgery has clipped my gig/cinema/etc. -going wings, for the last month and probably the next. There is still fun to be had though:
TV
I am probably the last person here to watch The Detectorists; it is as enjoyable as previously reported. Just about to finish series2 and looking forward to the final one – though slightly dreading it, because there will be none left to watch . Have been watching Rick & Morty, with Cakes Jnr. Laugh out loud SF dark comedy cartoon goodness.
Haven’t really been up to films except … The Foreigner. What can I say about this fabulous piece of hokum? Basically, Jackie Chan takes on the IRA. No spoilers as to who wins… In a refreshing change from other films dealing with NI, the Brits are the goodies. However the very best thing about this film is that a main character is a former IRA commander turned politician. Played by Pierce Brosnan, who turns in a note perfect impression of Gerry Adams. It’s so funny, it threatens to de-rail an already absurd film. It’s on Netflix and you can watch a trailer to give you a taste of it. Go on, watch the trailer at least. You’ll then want to watch the whole thing though.
Books
I have been almost entirely taken up with reading Robert Caro’s biography of Lyndon Johnson. Oft-times recommended here and rightly so. It’s a picture of a complex, insanely ambitious, man, wrapped up in a 20th century social history of the USA. I’m now on volume 3. Evan though I know how things turn out, Caro still succeeds in creating a sense of drama and suspense. Between volumes 2 and 3, I stopped for a palate cleanser of Fire and Fury. The comparison threw the absurdity of Trump into sharp relief.
Music
Very much enjoying the latest Dave’s Picks, which is a sublime slice of 1977 Grateful Dead. Delving into the Sun Ra singles comp., Super Black Market Clash, following a recommendation here, Man live at Greasy Truckers and Grace Jones’ Warm Leatherette re-issue. Is there such a thing as too many mixes of her version of Love is the Drug? On this showing, no.
Re: Dave’s Picks Vol. 25 (Binghamtpon, NY, November 6, 1977)
Yeah, the first set is absolutely outstanding, isn’t it?
Sometimes I think that the opening “Mississippi Half-Step” might be the greatest “Mississippi Half-Step” OF ALL TIME!
A Dave Lemieux impression could be your party piece. It would have to be a particularly select sort of party though.
Man – Greasy Truckers is just superb – got to be the best version of Spunk Rock on record….
Picked up the Original Album Series vol. 2 for a “would be rude not to” £2. Head and shoulders above vol. 1 – possibly because it seems to be almost all live albums.
Man’s studio albums never did quite capture the magic of the live experience, although once or twice they came close.
Books
Mostly due to eye strain I’ve been getting into audio books lately. It’s taken me a while to adapt but I’m now nicely up and running. Stephen Fry reading Sherlock Holmes is great fun. There are 72 hours of this, and all for just one audible credit. I’m juggling that with other books, currently Danny Bakers latest with Hepworth’s “Uncommon people” lined up ready to go next.
Cinema
Shape of Water, Darkest Hour and I Tonya have all been viewed lately but Three Billboards was far and away my favourite. (Cinema is cheap in Romford). Not quite so keen on I, Tonya but there is some great stuff out there at the moment.
TV
We watched season one of “Mum” staring Lesley Manville. Highly recommended and quite beautiful. That was all on iplayer. Season 2 is now up and running, but I’m less impressed with that. Finished “The Crown” and the New Star Trek on Netflix. Really enjoyed both of those.
Music
I discovered the Flower Kings recently and have bought the recent box set. A great introduction to them is via the album under the name Roine Stolt called “The Flower King”. Roine Stolt you might recall went on to make the “Invention of Knowledge” album with Jon Anderson in 2016.
Gigs
Zero I’m afraid. We are trying to move house and so I don’t want to book anything that I suddenly have to cancel at short notice.
Sporty stuff
I really enjoy waking early and listening to Test Match Special in bed. It is so relaxing! There’s been plenty of it from Australia and New Zealand over the winter with a some more to come.
I only discovered Mum last week and it’s terrific. Series 2 has turned up the volume on the characters’ eccentricities but is still excellent.
Another Mum fan here. Big sister put me onto it last week, and the episode last week had me laughing out loud, though I have a little trouble with believing that the son’s girlfriend can be so dim, though she is played brilliantly.
Listened: Nothing earth shattering. I’m listening to the new Retrosonic podcast featuring The Monotones, a new album by Damian O’Neill. It sounds excellent. Other than that, the new Calexico album – The thread that keeps us – reviewed here which I enjoyed. I bought an album called Music for ocean liners from the exhibition currently on at the Victoria & Albert museum. A bit of jazz, cabaret and lounge music and it just fitted my mood this past month. A bit of Cole Porter, the wonderful Charles Trent. It’s a nicely produced cd. The exhibition is worth going to, but £18 entrance fee, bloody hell.
Watched: I am halfway through Gomorrah series 3, started slowly and a nonsense episode with Ciro in Bulgaria, but has now hit its stride and is brutal & compelling. Genny & Ciro are now taking on the city gangs, and Naples features more.
Read: The highlight was being introduced to Donal Ryan. A spinning heart is a wonderful evocation of Irish small town life. His style reminds me a lot of Jennifer Johnston, a great ability to evoke a lot from a few well chosen phrases. Read the first two Jackson Lamb thrillers from Mick Herron – Slow Horses and Dead Lions. Great fun, well written and well plotted; reminds me of Len Deighton, very similar quality and can’t praise him more than that.
Saw this in the Updates and thought it was about the Yesterday Was Dramatic Today Is OK Hitmakers.
Or roll-on deodorant.
Heard
There are charms to be found in the new albums by The Orielles (loosely 80s style indie pop, although more ambitious than that sounds – still, could do with tightening up, and in that respect reminiscent of last year’s Earl Grey IMO), The Age Of L.U.N.A. (again, somewhat “old skool” U.K. hip hop with some lovely lady vocal stirred into the cocktail – gets me right in the soft spot), U.S. Girls (bit all over the place, this one, but essentially a box of pop chocs where you can’t expect to like them all) and Darlingside (American hippy folkicana strewn with sweet harmonies – like loads of other artistes you know, in other words – although better than several recentish underwhelming efforts by same), but nothing so far this year has taken my head off – I’m still more likely to get joy from the certain pleasures of my 35th favorite record of last year..
After some birthing pains, I am now hooked on the Chart Music podcast. Yes, they do go on a bit and I frequently groan over their musical taste, but they do have some tales to tell and a neat turn of phrase (notably the withering Taylor Parkes – he of the Tim Lovejoy piece on that thread over there->)
Seen
Despite being a bit “Dungeons and Dragons”, I enjoyed the second series of (nothing at all like the books) Dirk Gently quite a lot. Having said that, I can’t say I’m crushed that they’re not making any more.
Thanks to the snow I got to catch up on Thor: Ragnarock, Mute (Duncan Jones’ new one on Netflix) and, best of all, The Death Of Stalin , which I thought was superb with top notch performances from Palin and Buscemi (natch) but, at the toppermost, Simon Russell Beale. I’ve not seen Darkest Hour but I wonder is Gary Oldman’s performance really better, or is the old “well-regarded guy in a rubber suit in serious drama trumps less well-known geezer in a comedy” rule in play.
I’ve finally got to see that symbol on my car’s dashboard that tells you all the wheels have lost contact with the road light up.
Read
The only thing I read this month was a book detailing the major plane crashes that have happened in Ireland. Almost immediately after finishing, I found myself in a friend’s house while the “money shot” part of Sully was taking place.
Any Other Biz
I’m delighted that the remainder of series one of Peter Serafinowicz’s iteration of The Tick has dropped and series two of Sneaky Pete is imminent during my second (shhhh!) free trial of Amazon Video.
There’s a new Decemberists album on the way!
I note that Alice Clark’s fantastic album has become available on Emusic
(Hark at Mr Soul Guru! – the only reason I’m aware of this record’s existence is that I was led to it by Mr Tiggerlion). Highly recommended!
Yes, I myself finally got around to seeing The Death Of Stalin recently. Loved it. Let’s have a special hurrah for Jason Isaacs’ portrayal of Marshal Zhukov with a Yorkshire accent. Marvellous.
Indeed. Although, after watching the trailer, I though there’d be more of My J.I. Guy.
Also: meant to mention in AOB that, according to the wires, Victoria – a tour de force execution of one young lady’s night of poor decisions in Berlin which haunts you for some time after seeing it – will soon disappear from Netflix. If you’re a subscriber and have not seen it yet now is the time!
Heard: been enjoying the new First Aid Kit album. Having been sceptical after the first listen, I now think it may be their strongest record yet. Opener Rebel Heart is pure Fleetwood Mac.
Read: re-reading Francis Spufford’s Backroom Boys. If you enjoy derring-do tales of plucky British underdogs and their triumphs against the odds, you’ll enjoy this. Spufford makes stories of engineering feats read like a page-turning novel. And on a similar note…
Seen: nothing new outside of the Winter Olympics, but the current repeats of Ripping Yarns on Yesterday have been as fun as ever. The Golden Gordon episode is one of the finest half hours ever committed to television.
Did I ever mention that top Afterworder Kaisfatdad once hung out with Klara Söderberrg out of First Aid Kit at Slussen station in Stockholm. It’s true!
I passed them in the street in Stockholm 3 years back. My wife was there for an academic conference and I’d tagged along for a cheap holiday. On our first day as she was going out the hotel room door, I jokingly reeled off a list of famous Swedes I expected to meet while wandering around on my own – Bjorn Borg, the bloke out of Roxette etc. Top of said list was the Soderberg sisters – both of them.
A few hours later I’m walking down one of the main streets when out of a side street come… is it? Surely not! It is! And I watched the two of them mooch down the road and into some Swedish equivalent of Top Shop, leaving a trail of pointing teenagers and tourists in their wake. If I still had any doubts, I later found out they were in the city to perform at the Polar Music Prize which was taking place that night.
My opening words to my wife when she got back were “You’re not going to believe this…”
Just discovered First Aid Kit and am enjoying both ‘The Lion’s Roar’ and their new album ‘Ruins’. Superb songs and close harmony with a country vibe. Lovely stuff.
On TV, the new ‘Endeavour’ series is excellent (and bringing back memories of the period). Also enjoying ‘Civilisations’. Revisiting ‘Stargate SG-1’, one of my favourite series.
Reading Simon Callow’s excellent third volume of his biography of Orson Welles ‘One-Man Band’ (one more volume to come), as well as ploughing through the letters of Noel Coward (his diaries are also superb).
SEEN
Isn’t it great when you see a film you know nothing about, have no-to-low expectations for, and it turns out to be jolly good indeed? I happened to see Suburbicon yesterday. All I knew was it starred Matt Damon, which really put me off as the last Matt Damon film I saw was Downsizing, which is bloody awful. But I enjoyed Suburbicon from the off. I don’t want to give any spoilers at all, so I’ll just say there are basically two plots. A sub-plot about racial tension in 50’s America which I thought was completely unnecessary. Not that it spoilt the film, but it added nothing except unnecessary distraction. But the excellent, none-more-black main plot had me thinking throughout “this is SO Fargo-ish, it would have made a great third season”. Then the credits came and I saw it was in fact written by the Coen brothers (and directed by someone called George Clooney). Thoroughly recommended.
When I say “third” I mean “fourth”. Always.
I’ve thought of a “Heard”
Heard
Thanks to a recent and rather lovely post about an AWer’s daughter’s favourite Stones’ songs (many apologies – can’t remember who) I took a listen to Fingerprint File. I’m not a Stones fan, by any means. I have delved, but Forty Licks and Tattoo You (for the second side) have always been enough for me. But I either hadn’t come across Fingerprint File or hadn’t given it a proper listen. Absolutely brilliant. My hear of the month. Thanks to AWer and daughter and this place.
Personally I think the It’s Only Rock And Roll album is an under appreciated Stones gem – try Time Waits For No One!?
Short and busy month, so not that much to tell.
Read:
I bought The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead many months ago, but never got the impulse to pick it up and start to read, until some positive reviews appeared in last month’s Blogger Takeover and reminded me of it. So I finally read it, and yes, it’s very good, but it didn’t sweep me off my feet. I was able to go for days between reading, which is impossible with a book I truly love.
Seen:
Well, the ending of Season 4 – the very final series of The Bridge – was everything I hoped for, and more. Perfect ending. Great season. Wonderful drama, but I’m glad they decided to end it before it outstayed its welcome. And this was the right way to do it.
Saw It and was disappointed. Very bland. Didn’t like the child actors at all. The only element I approved of was the clown (and I’m not just saying that because he’s a Skarsgård), but they didn’t even use him as much as they should have. The film felt rushed and had no scary scenes at all. The trailer was a better movie than the movie itself… Bah, humbug.
Heard:
Lots of old, thanks to the AW swap, both in the making of and receiving compilations. Also finally finished my 2017 compilations for my sister, so lots of last year’s music as well. But I did finally get to some new albums as well:
Anna Ternheim – All the Way to Rio is very good, written and recorded over long time with a bunch of great musicians. Very smooth and laid back, full of melancholy, with tinges of jazz and faint echoes of Brazil. Night music.
First Aid Kit – Ruins: I can’t remember if I wrote about this in last month’s BT, but after having heard it more I can say that it’s definitely a grower. Never as magical on record as they are live; after the initial slight disappointment the songs slowly start to win you over.
Tune-Yards – I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life is a mixed bag. Some tracks are borderline annoying, others are quite brilliant (and some have elements of both…) Listening to an entire tune-yards album in one go can get a bit much, honestly, but heard one track at a time it seldom fails to be exhilarating.
The new Hollie Cook album, Vessel of Love is nice, but the tracks slightly blend together as they sound mostly the same. In a relaxing and pretty way, however.
H.C. McEntire – Lionheart is pretty good, but I haven’t had time to delve that deep yet. Same with another country album: Tyler Childers – Purgatory, which doesn’t sound anything like I imagined after reading about it, way more traditional, but on first listen still seems to have some pretty good tunes on it.
Only just started to listen to I’m With Her and Alela Diane but they both seem to be very good (but only one listen yet).
Listening –
Nothing much caught my ear this month, but Grant-Lee Phillips’s new album Widdershins is pretty good, and sent me scurrying through his back catalogue. I’ve always like Grant Lee Buffalo but found some of his solo work patchy, and gave up a few years ago. His last two albums before Widdershins are definitely worth a listen – The Narrows is a smoky, brooding affair, while Walking In The Green Corn is an acoustic pleasure that reminds me of Jeffrey Foucault.
Reading –
One of my current favourite writers is John Lewis Stempel, a modern farmer who writes beautifully about the countryside, and has also written about the First World War. The Running Hare is a book that captures a year in which he brought a field back to life by using organic farming methods and abandoning pesticides. The results are as startling as the facts about the decline in British wildlife are profoundly shocking. Depressing statistics on multiple bird species whose numbers have plummeted since the 1970s and the impact on mammals and plants of monoculture and pesticide use make you weep with despair at the shortsightedness of those in power.
On a different note I read Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange for the first time this month. It’s a novel whose fame (or notoriety) probably owes more to Stanley Kubrick’s film version than to its own intrinsic value, but I liked Burgess’s experimentation with language very much and may go on to read some more of his work.
I’ve also discovered the ‘Southern Gothic’ novels of Carson McCullers, which seem to owe quite a lot to Tennessee Williams. I started with the novellas as a taster and enjoyed The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe and Reflections In A Golden Eye – the latter was made into a film starring Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor, which I have yet to see. I’ve just started The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, which is probably her best known – also filmed, but quite hard to get hold of.
Watching –
The usual crop of films too numerous to mention, and not a lot of telly, although I did sit through the marathon 30th anniversary ‘one night only’ of The Old Grey Whistle Test. It was a strangely joyless and empty affair, which somehow seemed haunted by the many artists no longer with us rather than a celebration of those who still are, almost geriatric to a man. It was also very much the Whispering Bob show with only hints of a studio audience which were never quite confirmed by their presence. Oh, and Gary Numan was by far the best act on it – which probably says a fair bit about the remnants of rock music. The whole thing left me feeling quite sad.
As ever my brain is a soup made of all I have absorbed in the last 4 weeks, which turns into a broth of unremembered ingredients whenever this task comes around. This month the memories have been further hindered by the stroke sustained by my 24 year old stepdaughter, on the eve of that birthday. Praise be she has seemingly made, so far, a near full recovery but the inquisition and investigation of why is so far taxing better minds than mine, with CTs and MRIs aplenty. Her ma a mess, understandably, so I have been tending more to them than my muses. We have been, however, hoovering up tons of telly. Unlike most above, I am finding Save Me to be stunning work, with only the final debacle to unfold. We galloped through the latest series of Vikings, which after a difficult opener, introducing adult versions of cast previously seen as children. Terrific and clearly benefitting from the bigger budgets gifted by moving from National Geographic. Strike is proving to be good. Next of Kin either fizzled out or we just forgot to keep watching. Until Save Me, standout had to be Kiri, stunningly realistic of the damned if you do, damned if you don’t everyday experience of social workers.
Listening, apart from CD mixtape swapsies, has been varied and random. But it is mainly the classical/electronica/folk/jazz interface that has stuck.The new Nils Frahm (All Melody) will be an album of the year, and I am immersing in that never easily named genre, enjoying the recent introduction to Poppy Ackroyd (Resolve) enormously too. Another introduction, again via this site, are 3 Cane Whale, who annoyingly aren’t on the bill when I go see Spiro and Leveret. Yet another has been Ezra Collective, whose Juan Pablo etc is playing as I type. Hell, without coming here, i’d be solvent. Finally a huge up for whoever recommended Go Go Penguin ages ago. Ever late to the party I discovered their Neil Cowley-esque rhythmic piano trio ensemble to be most uplifting
Biggest disappointment was Santana 4, a crock of shit sufficient to make Abraxas Pool seem tolerable, which, in truth, it wasn’t. Pity, as I have had Abraxas and 3 playing in th car, both of which remain sparkling.
Live was solely as reported, the excellent False Lights.
Blimey Retro, hope your daughter’s okay
Thanks, chum.
Very good to hear that your stepdaughter is recovering well….my thoughts are also with you and Mrs R…
I’m sorry to hear about your stepdaughter, Retro. Best of health and good fortune to her.
Thank, both.
Best wishes to you all, especially your stepdaughter. Shocking news but it sounds like she is surrounded by people who care.
Well her mum is a Leedsgirl, or nearly, so clearly!!
Best wishes to you and your family, Retro…
Cheers
Here’s to a complete recovery and no recurrence. Best wishes to you and yours.
Here’s hoping. Tho’ Ehler-Danlos, paradoxically, may have allowed the recovery, bendy vasculature and all that…..
As important a reminder as anyone could need to familiarise themselves with the symptoms of a stroke and get the progfessionals in as soon as they suspect one. The Light works in a hospital pharmacy and the stroke ward is on her regular beat. She cannot stress enough how effective clot-busting drugs are on the appropriate type of stroke if they are administered quickly enough.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stroke/symptoms/
I’ve been listening to that new US Girls album on rotation. Quite throwback-y but also distinct in its melding of various genres. Probably the best use of turntable scratches on a non hip hop song I’ve heard in a while. Plus she has a lovely voice and some particularly biting lyrics.
Heard: Someone on here (Bargepole?) reviewed Jackson Browne’s ‘Late For The Sky’ LP remaster, when I checked I realised I didn’t have it so now I do and what a great album it is. One for fans of the ‘Laurel Canyon’ sound only I think. I got a copy of Air ’20 Years’ vinyl/CD box at a very good price thanks to the SDE site. I have always been intrigued by the French duo’s music and I’m now a fan. Pop✔️Prog✔️Electro✔️ What’s not to like.
Seen: Started watching The Expanse which is the finest TV Sci-Fi series ever, when after about a minute I realised it was based on a Sci-Fi book I had just started reading, ‘Leviathan Wakes’. If you like Sci-Fi I can recommend both. Very highly.
I’m watching ‘The Expanse’ as well, Baron. Pretty good once you get a grip on who’s who and what they’re doing…
SEEN: Black Panther – which I was persuaded by a work event to see past my anti-men in tights views – to see it as a culturally important movie. Which it is, and pretty good apart from the last 30 mins which is standard buffing.
Mcmafia – enjoyed by whole family, though for me got progressively less interesting, though always efficiently tense. It started by taking apart the complex web of dark money that underpins the global drugs trade, ended by people running around with guns. The girlfriend was also ridiculously underwritten.
READ: Re-red Generation X which is both incredibly slight and quite profound at the same time, a trick Coupland has never quite pulled off in the same way since.
HEARD: mix CDS from @locust and @metal-mickey, some Terry Riley and lots of early C20 classical like Berg, Schoenberg and Stravinsky as working my way through Alex Ross’ book The REst is Noise about classical in the C20. A really good book and may well write a post when I get to to the end.
SEEN – “Girl From the North Country.”
Was in London so, for £20, I thought I’d see this.
Good news – the cast, the group and the singing was excellent. The Noel Coward Theatre is wonderful with loads of original “Oliver” posters in the bar.
Bad news – too many characters to the tune of about eight, too long to the tune of at least 30 minutes, absolutely no tunes.
If you’ve got the whole of Dylan’s back catalogue to mine and you end up with 3 (“three!) songs from “Infidels” you’re doing something seriously wrong and I rather got the feeling the rest of the audience thought the same thing too. It was a cause for concern when on reading the programme we learnt the playwright’s favourite song was from “Saved.”
Maybe marrying Depression Era America with the 1980s was apt but I can’t think it’ll get any new converts to Dylan.
READ – Got the recent Byrds Uncut Special for £2 in Notting Hill Gate so …
HEARD – Going to dig out The Byrds’ CDs for the first time in yonks.
I got the Neil Young uncut special around xmas time. I decided to listen with fresh ears to all my Neil albums in order(about 30), whilst reading the old and more recent reviews of each. Great fun, but it’s going to take forever. I’m at ‘This Note’s For You’, and I have 10 still to go.
I baulked at paying 10 or 11 quid for the magazine/book but it’s been a great read and well worth it. Planning on doing Tom Waits next.
They are getting a bit pricey (£10.99?) but with limited shelf space they’re a very good one-stop reference point for the likes of Neil Young, David Bowie, Kinks etc.
I really want a Captain Beefheart issue and an updated one on Frank Zappa.
yeah but @deramdaze Infidels does contain my favourite Dylan song ‘Don’t fall apart on me tonight’.
New music:
Liminanas – French take on the Raveonettes/JAMC/Josefin Ohrn sound.
Django Django – solid new album, maybe more focused on songwriting than their second
Dream Wife – great sparky punky pop
Seen:
Corporate jolly to see England v Wales at Twickenham – great experience but still find rugby union really poor to watch compared to league. A couple of art galleries have reopened after major refurbs – London’s Hayward still has the brutalist charm of a midlands public library but the galleries look great with subtle ceiling lighting setting off the vast photography of Andreas Gursky beautifully.
Likewise, Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge has been transformed with new spaces without losing the charm of what are three old houses knocked into one. Absolutely rammed when we went – mainly with earnest Cambridge dads chasing after their Noahs and Evies that they let loose, like parents do these days in supermarkets – so will return when it’s quieter.
Heard:
Norma Winstone’s new album “Descansado” is a real beauty – setting her own lyrics to familiar film scores including a superb take on “Touch her sweet lips.”
Thought that when Melody Gardot came to do a live album it would be a small club set-up suitable for her intimate close-to-the-microphone style. Instead, it all sounds a little lost in a big concert hall, though she does mix it up nicely with a top notch band switching between ballads and rackety stuff.
Great Ace compilation just out celebrating the work of the late Robert Kirkby – best known for his bucolic string arrangements on Nick Drake’s albums. There’s some lovely music here – all very 70s folksy with Vashti Bunyan and Spriguns with some later work with Ian Matthews – but the standout is Keith Christmas’s “Forest and Shore”. I hadn’t heard this for decades since I lived in a house full of hippies – sounds wonderful:
Strings aplenty also on “Wants List 4” – Soul Brother Records’ latest compilation of forgotten, but now very expensive, soul gems. It’s superb – all killer no filler as they say – with stunners like Almeta Latimore’s “These Memories” and rounding off with probably the greatest 70s soul ballad of all time – Debbie Taylor’s “I don’t want to leave you” – here in extended Tom Moulton-remix version.
Also enjoyed the Reuben Fowler Big band – top British sessioners and Hamish Stuart struggling with the high notes on a great version of “Black Cow.”
Read:
Brian Lavery is carving out a niche as a chronicler of Hull’s trawler travails – first with his excellent “Headscarf Revolutionaries” covering the campaign by local women to improve safety on ships and now “The Luckiest Thirteen” – a tale of tragedy and heroism aboard a “super trawler” that foundered after dodgy wiring caused a huge fire. He writes well – with a style befitting an ex-journo – with a narrative blending fact and fiction. Highlights again the feudal system that operated in the industry with owners acting with callous disregard for the crews who were treated as casual labour despite often lengthy service.
Also, Craig Nova’s “Incandescence” – a lost “80s classic” according to the blurb – tautly written funny tale of a high flier plummeting to skid row in New York.
You have fabulous taste, Morrison, and a very discerning ear. However, Melody Gardot’s Live In Europe is something to savour. There is a lot of it and it takes a while to get a grip on it but I find it increasingly breath-taking.
Strange month February:
HEARD:
Best of there month is Ty Seagall’s Freedoms Goblin – it has lots of tunes and quite a bit of riffage.
The guy is very prolific so there will always be some misses but this albums very consistent.
I came across an Aussie fingerpicking guitarist called Tommy Emmanuel who I had never heard of. He did a duet with Mark Knopfler that appears on Knopfler’s website. Liked it a lot so invested in the album Accomplice One which features a string of duets with the likes of Jason Isbell, Jerry Douglas and Amanda Shires amongst others. The slower paced stuff is excellent, the faster bluegrass style stuff less so. There is however a magnificent cover of Madonna’s Borderline with Amanda Shires.
This year is the 50th anniversary of Trojan – lots of new stuff promised but I got the Trojan This is Ska 2cd set for £5.00 from the dodgers and very goodies too.
Also Joan as Police Woman Doomed devotion which I like very much and finally Richmond Fontaine released an instrumental album that accompanies Willy Vlautins new novel Don’t skip out on me.
Would appeal to any Calexico fans.
SEEN:
Also taken by Mum which has gentle humour.
Caught this is 40 on Netflix -had wanted watch this on release – fabulous film and great script.
At the cinema The Shape of Water – decent but best film? No chance.
On stage Penguin Cafe – good but this was second time of seeing them and no major surprises.
READ:
Nowt but mags. Will rectify this month.
AOB: My brother in law had major heart attack leading to quadruple by-pass. The NHS staff at Wolverhampton New Cross were first class.
Hope your brother-in-law is progressing Steve.
Round our place it’s all been a bit 1971 – saw ‘The Post’ – basically an interesting story, well told, with a group of actors who seem to be enjoying their roles – possibly a little too much. Apparently it was made in ultra-quick time and it is a little rough around the edges – nevertheless it’s a great way of spending a couple of hours. Also, like Morrison above, I’ve been listening to ‘When the day is done – the orchestrations of Robert Kirby’ – a compilation of his early 70’s stuff – think Follyfoot, misty days and kicking piles of Autumn leaves. It was put-together by Bob Stanley – I really enjoy his collections, in common with many of his others compilations he mixes familiar artists with the relatively obscure.
I bit more up-to-date I saw Get Out – bit difficult to describe insofar as it crosses a number of genres: a horror film that’s not too scary; a comedy with a serious edge. Whilst it is a pastiche of racial attitudes it is effective in this by being so funny and generally entertaining.