The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Forum / Blogger Takeover XXXXIII

Blogger Takeover XXXXIII

by 44 Comments

and now the leaves are turning … it is the first Friday of a new month, so please gather amongst these fallen leaves and share what you have been listening to / reading / watching or otherwise enjoying – and tell us if there is something new coming up that we should all be aware of

1

Comments

  1. I’ll go first and then the only way is up…

    Listened to – not much in the way of albums, it’s been a funny month with holiday and the Space CD swap. So a lot of space themed songs, a lot of Chillout choons and not much else.

    Read – again, not a lot. Finished the latest Lee Child paperback. Worth reading, if not one of his very best.

    Watched – New seasons of Better Call Saul, Ozark, and Glow have been good so far. The best thing I watched last month was Sharp Objects on Sky Atlantic. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and starring Amy Adams, with a fantastic supporting turn from Patricia Clarkson as Adora, her insidious mother.

    AOB – Winter is coming
    [I told you I was setting the bar low]

  2. Listened:

    Drum & Bass. I’ve been delving into the back catalogue of the label UVB-76, which means it’s dark atmospherics and horror film dialogue samples all the way. All of Them Witches by Overlook (below) is my pick of the month. You know, like if I was doing ‘A Month in Drum & Bass’, it would be that.

    Elsewhere, a new Ep by Special Request includes a hypnotic and very moreish remix by dance music’s most marmite figure, Nina Kraviz (I’m very much in the pro camp — think she’s great), while Calibre has released a new compilation, Shelflife 5 that’s typically brilliant. and there have been new albums by Skeptical and — arriving today — Friction. The Skeptical one’s good and I’ve got high hopes for Friction. I’m not usually a fan of d&b’s more junglistic outings, but that side of the scene is getting bigger and Rupture London’s Fifth Column compilation is a great place to start.

    Read.
    Enjoyed The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higishano, positively hated Snap by Belinda Bauer. What a pile of turd. Currently reading Doppelganger by Eric C Higgs, the author of A Happy Man. It’s good but not a patch on that one.

    Seen.
    Season two of Goliath is absolutely awesome. There’s one episode in particular. Goodness me. Also Bodyguard (obvs), while in a slightly random turn of events, we’re rewatching the entire run of Downton Abbey, a programme we were never especially fond of in the first place. Forgot about Ozark. Must watch. Loved the last series.

    • F*ck yeah! I assume you’re referrring to the “bottle” episode of Goliath, where Billy Bob wakes up in a house full of strangers. It’s often annoying the way American series, with their multiple writers and fixed season lengths have detour episodes to fill out the episode quota, but that Goliath episode was like a tense mini movie all on its own. I’m also almost alone in loving series two of Westworld, which also features a brilliant standalone episode about a Native American character.
      Tough month, Chez ‘Bot – but it did get me listening more closely to the Lost Brothers’ wonderful album from earlier this year:

      (Iron Road)

  3. I had a bit of a spree at the beginning of the month, catching up on stuff on my list. So, in no order:
    Passage: Ulrich Schnauss/Jonas Munk – delightfully ambient selection of tunes pastoral and electronic, organic and cerebral.
    Oh God Ma’am: Sons of Bill -bought entirely on spec from @Tiggerlions review. Lovely stuff, tho’ I couldn’t hear much of the supposed Beach Boys influence. And I liked the first track too.
    Singularity: Jon Hopkins – up there with Nils Frahm’s All Melody and in not dissimilar territory, albeit on a grander scale, with orchestra and choirs proving enormously uplifting as it all builds.
    All That Reckoning: Cowboy Junkies – Mostly excellent, let down by a couple of dull plodders.
    Back Roads & Abandoned Motels: Jayhawks – Wonderful scenescape songs for and from the desert. Like the CJs above, I have bought nothing of theirs this century, and a joy to pick up such form, by and large, later into their respectives.
    Out of the Blues: Boz Scaggs -yep, never said I didn’t like his new stuff, and this is the peak of his recent trio of records with a broad blues bent. Consummate playing and mouth harp, stellar cast. Occasionally dodgy vocal, but we knew that.
    Vanished Gardens: Charles Lloyd etc – Another corker, with, if anything, the instrumental tracks stronger and more lasting than those featuring a never more ravaged Lucinda.
    Finally a couple from Towersey Folk Festival, All We Have is Now: Elephant Sessions, who weren’t playing, and Capt. Glens Comfort: Pons Aelius, who were. Both bands arise from the Newcastle Folk degree discussed in the Towersey thread, and represent the cutting interfaces of folk. ES are a latter-day Shoogleniftalike, with more electronics and more youth, PA a sort of prog influenced english/scots version of a vocal free Bothy Band. Both superb.
    The new Niteworks also dropped onto the doormat, but you will have to wait until next weeks’ Night Out review, from sunny Shoreham on Sea, for that.
    Having resigned from e music, finding less and less, I thought I should try and duplicate my e music subscription, somehow spending 4 months in one go. Ooops.
    TV: Am Ozark-ing right now. A darker Breaking Bad, occupying similar territory of a nice guy, who happens to take part in criminal activity, and his family, at odds with even badder baddies than were ever facing Mr White. Gritty, gory (very) and laugh out loud.
    Sharp Things, as mentioned in an earlier post above, also terrific.
    Reading: At last I finished whatever it was that was slowing me down these past few months, now relishing the rollicking ride through the cerebral life and times of Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man by Sylvie Simmons. Paints a very thorough portrait of a man it would be easier to know than be. And I don’t think many knew him.
    Out: Off tonight to sample the new-to-me Digbeth Arena, a posh name for a walled off area of derelict post-industrial wasteland, tucked between a carpark and some railway arches. The The tonight and Garbage tomorrow. Of course it is outside. Of course the forecast is shite.

  4. Heard

    Lots and lots of albums from the 1980s as part of an ongoing project. Over the past four weeks, I have come to the conclusion that, amongst other things, I prefer 80’s Springsteen to 70’s Springsteen, Sonic Youth are better than I expected them to be and I don’t actually mind U2 or Prince.

    Watched

    We watched Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again over the summer and enjoyed it a lot. Another trip to the cinema was had a few weeks later to watch The Children Act.

    Read

    After deciding Middlemarch wasn’t for me, I read the first two novels from the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series. I am now reading Wolf Hall years after everyone else did.

    • And did you like The Children Act? I haven’t seen it, but I thought the book was really dull.
      A while ago, I read an article in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/24/good-books-bad-films-why-does-ian-mcewan-never-translate-on-screen) about why McEwan doesn’t translate well to screen. I thought this was really odd, as I’ve always thought he’s one of the few novelists whose work has been filmed rather well. The Cement Garden, The Comfort Of Strangers, Enduring Love, Last Day Of Summer and, especially, Atonement were all pretty decent adaptations. The Child In Time and On Chesil Beach weren’t bad. John Schlesinger’s The Innocent is the only example that I thought was really crap, but I thought the same of the novel.

  5. Listening –

    Paul McCartney’s Egypt Station is a bit of alright. His voice is sounding a bit fragile and quavering these days but he can still turn out a decent tune, and this album is much better than any pop record knocked out by a 76 year old has any right to be. It’s really nice. Likewise the other Paul to have an album out today, Paul Simon. In The Blue Light is by turns quirky, smooth and jazzy, and offers reinterpretations of some of Paul’s more neglected tracks. Best of all is Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War, which may well be better than the original version. Unlike the other Paul, Paul Simon’s voice shows no sign of losing its range, and sounds as strong as ever.

    I also enjoyed the new one by Great Lake Swimmers this month. The beardsome Canadian folksters have eschewed acoustic guitars on this album, and it is all the better for the new departure. Hearing it led me back to mainman Tony Dekker’s solo release from a few years back, Prayer of the Woods. It is an all acoustic affair, and may be a tad too polite for some tastes, but features some lovely songwriting. More tuneful beardiness this month in the form of an EP from Iron & Wine, Weed Garden, which contains a number of offcuts from their last full length album Beast Epic, but it’s still a decent listen.

    Eliza Gilkyson now has a lengthy back catalogue of fine albums, added to which is Secularia, out recently. It’s an album of non-religious spiritual songs featuring guest spots from Shawn Colvin and Jimmy LaFave whose final album Peace Town I have been playing on constant rotation over the last few weeks. It’s a fine piece of work. Finally, I invested in the 4CD Crosby Stills & Nash CSN boxset, which was selling at a knockdown price from the Dodgers. It’s the definitive CSN(Y) compilation, covering almost their entire career, with nary a duff track to be found, although CD4 strains that assertion a little. Well worth the dosh – even though I’ve probably got most of the tracks on individual albums.

    Watching –

    Fillums too many to mention. Had a bit of a 60s / 70s binge with the likes of Don’t Look Now, Robert Mitchum in The Friends Of Eddie Coyle and Lindsay Anderson’s If. I also saw Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, which I was expecting to hate, but didn’t. In fact I thought it was rather good. Also Darkest Hour (Gary Oldman was great) and Journey’s End, a decent attempt at filming R.C. Sherriff’s play.

    Also binge-watched BBC2’s The Repair Shop on the i-player. It’s such a feelgood show, without the need for gimmicks or celeb presenters. The addition of an extra 15 minutes to series 2 has benefitted the show enormously, giving a much greater sense of the detailed craftsmanship involved in repairing members of the public’s treasured possessions. It’s just the right tonic to unwind to after a depressing day at work.

    Reading –

    Have been ploughing through the Penguin Book of the British Short Story. At 700 pages long, it provides a decent selection of some quite obscure examples of the short story form in the 20th century, and includes selections by a number of neglected authors. Some of the stories are better than others, inevitably, but it’s a good book to dip in and out of as the mood dictates. (This is the Penguin Modern Classics volume – there is also a black classics volume featuring short stories from the Victorian era and before).

    I’ve also been reading Johnny Marr’s excellent autobiography Set The Boy Free. I like The Smiths, but have never been a huge fan, and some of Johnny Marr’s recent solo stuff, Call The Comet, and the excellent song New Town Velocity aside, sounds a bit plodding to me, but I do like Johnny Marr himself. Nothing in his autobio persuades me that he’s not a decent bloke, and he seems diplomatic enough to let Morrissey off very lightly. A highly enjoyable read.

  6. Heard
    New albums from Chris Pope / Chords UK (darn fine), and Glen Matlock (mixture of Skiffle and Rockabilly, and Glen seems to have developed an American accent in his singing voice).
    Re-listened to The Bonzos (because I can)
    Pick of the listening this mointh is undoubtedly:
    White Denim – Performance.
    Swampy boogie meets slight-Bolan-esque vocals, with a bit of Prog chucked in for good measure.

    Seen:
    Not a lot – mostly dull TV with few highlights. Re-runs of Filthy, Rich & Catflap and The Sweeney have filled the screen at times

    Read:
    Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Record Industry (Gareth Murphy)
    Does what it says on the cover – a history of records. Possibly a bit American-centric, but plenty interesting
    Creation Stories: Riots, Raves and Running a Label (Alan McGee) – he’s a bit full of himself at times, but I’m still wondering how he (they?) managed to “run” a label (huge dollops of luck?)

  7. Listened

    There is a great feature in the current Songlines in which various people recommend ‘World music’ records you may never have heard. Some real crackers in there and my real discovery is Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti and his album Solo, which was released on ECM in 1979 – along with Ry Cooder and Fatoumata Diawora, its been the soundtrack to our summer.

    Read
    I loved Jennifer Egans novel Manhattan Beach, about a range of characters in New York in the 30s and the war years – atmospheric, gripping, beautifully written. And Deborah Levy’s strange novel of a summer in Southern Spain, Hot Milk.

    Seen
    Enjoying The Bodyguard on the BBC – its nonsense but it’s very high class nonsense. Les Guardiennes is a beautiful French film set during World War One, and showing how the women left behind on a farm get on with managing things whilst the men are slaughtered on the front. Absolutely stunning and the fact that it stars the great Nathalie Baye, for whom I and many others had a major crush in the 80s (still do, to be honest) is an added bonus.

    Whilst in holiday went to the Saturday of the Sea Change festival in Totnes, run by Drift record shop. It took place in three venues, including a stunning church, on Totnes high street, and decamped in the evening to an open air stage at Dartington Hall. Very impressed by Daniel Blumberg, performing intense, uncompromising slow-core, and by Gwenno, a Welsh electropop singer/songwriter – a little bit Florence and the Machine, a little bit Goldfrapp. Less keen on Hookworms. Didn’t manage to get to see Liverpool’s Ex Easter Island Head sadly, but they’re great – the best band you will ever see who play electric guitars by lying them done and hitting the strings with percussion mallets.

  8. August was my holiday month, but fear not; although I had time to watch way more films than usual, I read slightly less and hardly bought any new music at all (I’ve certainly made up for that with my latest online order, but it won’t arrive until next week…)

    Read: Not the sort of book I usually read, but I really enjoyed American astronaut Scott Kelly’s book Endurance. He (and his ghostwriter) alternates chapters describing the preparation for, journey to, and daily life during a year on the International Space Station with autobiographical chapters describing his life leading up to that point. The ISS chapters are of course a lot more interesting than the others, but it all works well as a whole.
    I also read a couple of books by perennial favourite David Sedaris, his latest, Calypso and Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk which I hadn’t read before. The first one is more of his usual funny autobiographical/family fare, with extra emphasis on disease, aging and death; the second is a collection of amusing fables starring very antropomorphic animals.
    I started to read two books which I’m still in the process of finishing: Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo and a re-read; Good Behaviour by Molly Keane. Stay With Me was a bit dull in the beginning, but picked up speed and now I’m eagerly – but slowly – reading it on my (quite short) commute.

    Seen:
    I’d say that I usually watch 80% of my annual film consumption during the summer, and the hotter the summer, the more films I watch. A lot of them are old favourites, a lot of them are horror films (a very summer-y genre IMO) but some new (new to me I should say – I tend to wait a few years so I can buy the DVDs extremely cheap…)
    This August I saw: Mad Max – Fury Road (felt like one very long and silly action sequence, mostly an overloaded croquembouche of hypermasculinity), Trainwreck (funny, if conventional, comedy – LeBron James unexpectedly good), Wiener-Dog (a disappointing Todd Solondz film, containing slow-motion panoramic view of canine diarrhoea soundtracked by “Claire de Lune”; stilted “quirky” dialogue; a bizarre “intermission” featuring a wiener-dog country song/video; actors struggling to say their lines in a convincing way; clumsy storytelling; and the titular dog is actually more or less unnecessary but ends up as literal roadkill turned into art installation – the film only achieves the first part…) and (following a Shyamalan thread here) Split (which I really liked, interesting premise and well executed, looking forward to the third installment of this alternative superhero universe).
    Oh, and I also saw Carpenter’s The Thing for the very first time, great fun!
    Plus a bunch of rewatched oldies and some more horror of mostly B status.

    Heard:

    Lump and Israel Nash – Lifted, both quite lovely but at the same time they don’t really stick in my mind. Really enjoy listening to both albums, but as soon as I turn them off I couldn’t hum a note if my life depended on it. Not sure if it’s the fault of the albums or if I haven’t been able to focus on listening, too busy thinking about other things.
    Also swap-CDs of course (and lots of other songs about space while preparing to put together mine).

    For my birthday I did what I did last year; I went to Stockholm amusement park Gröna Lund that night to see a gig, last year it was Patti Smith, this year it was ace Swedish rapper Timbuktu, performing with his regular backing funk band Damn! and they were fantastic as usual. Had a wonderful time, singing/rapping along and dancing from start to finish.

    I had a wonderful holiday, if a tad too hot to get anything done! But am looking forward to autumn now…best time of the year!

  9. Listened mostly to Bingley Music Live. “Winners” in my view were PiL, followed probably by Blue Waves (young Manchester goths). Ride and Gomez were good but not transcendent. Noel was ok.
    Still since then mostly listening to Ride (and Tracey Thorn’s Record).

    Read The Right Stuff. I don’t think I need to tell people about that. And Stephen Moffat’s Day of the Doctor, which was self-indulgent and over pleased with itself. But otherwise fine.

    Watching The Bodyguard which is fine hockum. And features Keeley Haws and Gina McKee which obviously means I am part of the target demographic. Line of Duty added Thandie Newton so I knew they were thinking of me – let’s see what they do next.

  10. SEEN
    The return of Bakeoff. As ever within 20 mins completely hooked. Kim-Joy is either genius or completely unbearable etc etc. Like the entire country watching The Bodyguard. Utter nonsense as pointed out above, but beautifully acted, scripted and a complete hot button of a show. Son has proposed making a video where every time he says ‘Yes Maam’ the speed doubles (watch the B Movie version of this on Youtube, very funny).
    HEARD
    Well mainly prepping the space CD, and gearing up for the Hawkwind review.
    READ
    A Fatal Inversion by Barbera Vine/ruth Rendell. One of the most superb manipulations of memory and emotion I’ve read. God she’s good. No time for Wexford though.
    House of Suns – a definite upturn in Alistair Reynolds, set apart from the Revelation universe and very fresh as a result.

  11. Heard: Israel Nash: Lifted, been a fan of this guy for a long time, `Lifted` does what it says, melodious Americana at it`s best.

    Jimmy La Fave: Peace Town, this Jimmy`s last album is sublime. Since 2000, three of my favourite artists have passed, Jackie Leven, Tom Petty and now Jimmy. I miss them.

    TRY A LITTLE SUNSHINE ~ THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC SOUNDS OF 1969: what it says on the box. 3 CDs of Brit Psychedelia from the Golden Age. If you like this kind of this this set is recommended, as are the 2 previous sets from 1967 & 1968.

    Seen: nothing, not been watching much TV recently.

    Read: Frank Herbert`s Dune. The Baroness got me the Folio Society S.E., that someone recommended on here (thank you), for my birthday. I didn`t read that one, a paperback edition was my go to. Not putting my grubby hands all over the S.E. I`m now in double figures for the amount of time I`ve read this book and it`s as fresh and relevant as it`s always been.

    September begins what is a massive reissue campaign for lots of albums celebrating their 50th Anniversary over the last 4 months of 2018. The Doors `Waiting For The Sun`, The Band `Music From Big Pink`, Small Faces `ONGF`, Lennon`s `Imagine` and many more. This would have normally had me cherry picking these releases but I now practice a one in one out policy for LPs, lack of shelf space. I sold 85 albums I no longer play on Discogs & Ebay and have raised enough to buy whichever SE boxes I like. I must admit I was surprised to sell every one, did someone say a vinyl revival was taking place? This policy will be practiced henceforth.

    The John Lennon S.E. of `Imagine` will hopefully set the trend for other releases, let`s hope Apple have taken note for `The White Album 50th SE`. Yoko has really immersed herself and a host of sound engineers for the `Imagine SE` and to give the lady her due she has overseen JL`s archive releases, maintaining quality and content of interest to fans. Sgt. Pepper 50 sold by the bucketload, I can`t see `Imagine` doing 25% of the sales but if they only manufacture 25% of Pepper the release should be a success. I doubt if The White Album will match Pepper`s sales but the `Abbey Road 50th` is deep into preparation if insider reports are correct so Apple must be confident of a successful `WA 50` sales campaign.
    IMHO these physical sets will be non-existent in 10-15 years time and even now appeal only to long time fans of which I am one. Then there`s the fact that `Sgt. Pepper 50 SE` sold a great amount to young Beatles fans in the USA and the USA is where over 55% of physical music sales on the planet take place, so what do I know?

  12. SEEN

    Had a bit of a home viewing revamp, Sonos Beam soundbar and two Play Ones which have revolutionised our listening for TV and Music. We’ve also had Sky Q installed which was fairly painless, just needed a new dish. After having to learn some new menus and some different ways of doing things that you’ve been doing for years I can totally recommend it.

    So we’ve had a bit of a 4K binge. Die Hard and Predator were even better newly polished up. As for new stuff A Quiet Place and Ghost Stories were both brilliant in very different ways, if you are a horror fan both recommended.

    On actual broadcast telly, of course Bodyguard which is bonkers brilliant (who’s behind that bomb? My money is on the sneaky aide to the Home sec who excused himself out of the speech at the last minute) and a new series of, and don’t laugh Antiques Roadtrip which we both love.

    HEARD

    Toppermost of the poppermost this month has to be The Lemon Twigs new album Go To School. The everyday story of a couple (played by the Lemon Twigs Mum Susan Hall and Todd Rungren) who have a still born child and decide to adopt a chimp and send him to school. This musical is an album is the story of his adventures, falling in love and rejection, being bullied, setting fire to the school and finally returning to the jungle. it is stunning stuff, musically adventurous with silly/moving/thoughtful lyrics it is totally out of step with popular music of today which makes it even better. If you like Todd, Van Dyke Parks, The Beach Boys, early sixties musicals (Stop The World I Want to Get Off springs to mind) Glam and probably a thousand other things. Does it all work? No but in a way that makes it better. Highly recommended.

    Also a new (sort of) Residents album I Am A Resident in which fans recorded their versions of Residents songs and then on the second CD The Residents mash up those new versions into something even stranger. Not for the faint hearted or newbies it’s just as weird as normal but if you are on their wavelength there is some wonderful noise in here.

    Gryphon – Transatlantic Recordings 1973-75 is all the stuff you need from their best period, especially the masterpiece Midnight Mushrumps.

    Regal Worm-Pig Views is other treat. If your passion is Prog/Psych this definitely needs hearing. Hints of Jazz and perhaps a bit of Yes style funk its great from start to finish. Rose Parkington, They Would Not Let You Leave is one of the tracks of the year.

    And just a quick word about Anna Meridith’s new album Anno which I’m still getting to grips with. The first few listens have shown it to be up the the standard of the previous LP.

    READ

    Readly really fills my reading time, Mojo, Uncut, Empire, Total Film, T3, Stuff, Viz, Prog, Amateur Photographer, What Hi Fi, Rail, Country Walking & Electronic Sound. All for £7.99 per month, bargain of the century in my book.

  13. Whenever I make a trip over to the UK, I can’t help buying even !ore books to add to the shelves of unread texts I mean to read someday.

    This month I actually read Going South by Larry Elliott & Dan Atkinson (economic justifications for arguing the UK is a third world country) and The Suoerrich Shall Inherit The Earth by Simon Armstrong (a country-by-counry guide to how billionaires are taking over the economy wherever you look) – cheery reading, both.

    The haul from England this time included Brexit: No Exit by Denis McShane (a very readable analysis of the last two years plus of incompetence and chaos – I’m still reading it, but apparently there’s a silver lining).

    Other books purchased include
    * Years of Living Dangerously by David W. Orr (a hard look at the obstacles and possibilities in the long road to sustainability)
    * The Almighty Dollar by Dharshini David (how the global economy really works)
    * This Idea Is Brilliant, edited by John Brockman (the answers from nearly 200 scientists and thinkers to the question – what scientific term or concept out by tbto be more widely known?)
    * Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker (the science of sleep and dreams).

    A little collection to sink my teeth into. Apart from that, I got the chance to catch up with UK series I’d missed out on – the first two series of Endeavour (better than Lewis, and an entertaining complement to Morse), and the three series and first film of Inbetweeners (very good script and tremendously fun characters – I only cringed once – when Will was buying booze in the off licence).

    Musically, I trod water through my collection mainly. This month will be different though – I turn 50 and my spectacular friends from my uni days are meeting up in London with me and we’ll be going to see Zion Train, Dreadzone and… Kylie Minogue!

  14. Seen:
    Chic at Newmarket Races were superb – for sure, they’ve been doing the same set for years but great atmosphere even with the various pissed up punters squeezed into their suits and frocks being a right pain at times.

    Read:
    “Drunken Bakers” by Barney Farmer takes the Viz cartoon strip down a darker road with a sustained sweary piece of prose that’s both funny and sad. Raging against Aldi/Lidl and the 50p pie shop – in fact most things really – it’s a tale drawn from a fading fast northern town and another winner from the Wrecking Ball Press in Hull, where there’s a vague possibility it might be set. Then dipping in and out of John Lias’ “Spinning Round” – the second part of his epic trawl through his soul record collection following the publication of the first part five years ago. It’s part encyclopaedia, part rant – soul music died in 1982 he repeats ad nauseam – but there’s nothing else like it and he covers some amazing obscurities in depth. Also, Shopfront Elegy – a website of pictures of fading shop fronts taken over the last 30 years in grim suburbs everywhere.

    Heard:
    Great new blues and soul albums from the over-75s – Walter “Wolfman” Washington’s is a late night bluesy delight while Willie Hightower is top drawer southern soul. Thought Candi Staton’s new album suffered a little from a weirdly cool production – nice couple of tracks in “Revolution of Change” and a cover of Nick Lowe’s “What so funny…”

    Likewise, Kandace Spring’s latest suffers from a real mix of styles – sort of naff RnB in places, a decent jazz ballad and then the warmer soulful stylings of her first set towards the end. Needs more time probably.

    Enjoyed Olafur Arnalds last album immensely – all that stark Icelandic moodiness – but on his new one “Re-member” he seems to lean a little too heavily on familiar tropes of this kind of music. Much better for me is the soundtrack to “Valley of Shadows” – Zbigniew Preisner at his deepest and darkest on a slow moving hour with Lisa Gerrard swinging by for a couple of trademark vocal tracks.

    Jazz-wise – three new solid ECM releases: after dallying with sax players and vocalists for a few releases, Tord Gustavsen returns to his trio with a lovely stately set. Trygve Siem’s “Helsinki Songs” is a warm tuneful album of melodic sax playing. Ethan Iverson and Mark Turner’s piano/sax duet also worth more than the couple of listens I’ve given it.

  15. Books
    David Hepworth, 1971 – Never a Dull Moment . Really good holiday read. I’ve enjoyed both Hepworth’s books; I think Uncommon People has the edge insofar as each chapter was more self-contained and I think this type of writing plays to his strengths.

    Music
    Ivor Raymonde, Paradise -Compilation of Raymonde’s musical arrangements/productions compiled by Kieron Tyler and Ivor’s son, Simon. Goes from Billy Fury and Dusty through to Ian Dury. Great sleeve notes as well.

    Podcast
    The Bigmouth podcast with Anne Dudley is well worth a listen. Aside from the Art of Noise it’s amazing how many 80’s songs she was involved with. It was great the way everyone else on the podcast are clearly fans and gave her plenty of time to tell her stories.

    Film
    Black KkKlansman – well worth seeing. Fascinating film which slips between genres and has elements which are genuinely shocking.

Leave a Reply