He is sick, physically and mentally. Taking some “time out” to address it. Check the link. Hopefully he will make a full recovery and be back in business soon
Lloyd Cole
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Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope he makes a full recovery.
It seems The Magic Mountain is some kind of treatment facility for “Persian Rugs”.
It did make me think, though – Lloyd is 63 years of age. Does anybody over 30 regularly take recreational drugs? I don’t do anything stronger than tea and the very occasional glass of bubbly, although I am very dull.
“Does anybody over 30 regularly take recreational drugs?”
I’ve just done a fact check and it seems I do.
The class of what I considered to be recreational drugs when I was under 40 has narrowed significantly as I’ve aged.
While never a huge fan of coke, I was partial to the odd snort of speed of a weekend. Back in the day my default (albeit now greatly reduced) diet of hash and grass was occasionally leavened by various hallucinogenics – none of which I would go within a mile of nowadays.
The fate that befell John Entwistle is a salutary warning for anyone in their seventh decade tempted to pull out their senior travel card and start chopping up a gram of changa
Indeed. The odd cookie is about as recreational as I get these days, about once every two or three years.
My only drug consumption is marijuana. No other drug, including alcohol, interests me at all. Marijuana makes boring things less boring and fun things even more pleasant, plus it takes away headaches.
Does the use of imodium count as recreational?
I’m currently on Plenvu, so have a craving for Immodium.
@fentonsteve
Those unable to get into TMM for their “Persian Rugs” problems are apparently directed to its sister treatment facility, Greg Lake
Joking aside, get well soon Mr Cole
Strange question. Of course they do
I take the very occasional glass of wine. I make many cups of coffee during the day but hardly ever finish them.
Love to Lloyd. Come back soon. You still have new work to do…
I hope he gets well soon. I am rather partial to his stuff and Rattlesnakes is an album I wore out (and the tape I made of it for my Walkman the same).
I’m sorry to hear that he is unwell. I still remember a storming LA gig of his in 1991 (!). Given his fondness for literary references I suggest that the Magic Mountain is a nod to the Thomas Mann novel, set in a Swiss sanatorium rather than anything pharmaceutical.
That’s good to know. For the second-time today I have revealed myself to be low-brow.
In his “Time Out” message, Lloyd Cole mentions that he was sick on his Scandinavian tour at the start of the year. I was at the Stockholm gig (Göta Lejon, 13 January) on that tour. I thought Lloyd looked … okay, I suppose, but of course sometimes it’s pretty difficult to tell that a person’s sick.
It was a bit of a disastrous gig for me, but it wasn’t Lloyd’s fault at all.
Mrs duco and I were in row 13. The bloke in front of me was talking to his mate non-stop, so that we could hardly hear Lloyd. After about 30 minutes of this, the bloke in front of him asked him politely to keep quiet. He simply carried on. About 5 minutes later, a woman nearby asked him politely to keep quiet. After about 10 seconds, he carried on again. A huge barrage of words. Slightly emboldened, I also asked him to keep quiet, but he simply went on talking, on and on, to his mate – who never responded. After an hour of the gig, Lloyd announced that there would be a short interval. Mrs duco and I got up and went home – the first time in 47 years of gig-going that I have done this due to audience behaviour…. Sigh.
I hope that Lloyd gets the help and treatment that he needs. He’s a fine songwriter.
I had a similar experience in Dublin last year, but it wasn’t just one bloke. Lloyd and the band were pretty good, a little under rehearsed maybe, but the bulk of the audience were infuriating. Talking, constantly moving around, not one bit interested in any song that wasn’t from Rattlesnakes. Dickheads to a man (and woman).
I went to see Van Morrison play Astral Weeks in full in New York in 2009. A once in a lifetime experience I thought, which is so far still the case. Guy near me was talking to his mate, explaining what the lyrics were about, how it was recorded etc DURING THE SONGS! I went over to him and said I paid $150 to hear these songs sung by Van, shut the fuck up! (I had had a couple of beers), He apologised and did so. I am a big guy which probably helped.
Yoiks! I had quite a different mental image of you, Dai – more Micky Jones than Martin Ace…
The last few tours he’s been complaining about being ill. My guess is repeated covid infections and now he might have long covid. On his original tweet about this the only reply I saw him make was a thank you to some advice from a covid support group.
I really admire him as a songwriter and as a guy – he’s just wonderful. It must be pretty tough to have to constantly tour to smallish audiences just to make a living. The music industry, then and now, didn’t/ doesn’t exactly foster good health, be it mental or physical.
Doesn’t he try to organise his tours around great golf courses?
There are worse lifestyles.
Re “smallish” audiences.
I’d say that Lloyd still attracts decent-sized crowds in Stockholm, at least. When we saw him in January at the ill-fated gig mentioned above, he was playing the Göta Lejon Theatre. The capacity there is 1,100, and I’d say that it was at least 90% full.
One thing’s for certain, though. Lloyd didn’t play any of Sweden’s great golf courses in January. He would’ve needed a snow plough just to get to the first tee!
@duco01
The fact that his balls were blue would surely have helped
Speculation of course, but I suspect the stress of keeping a low-level career going for over 35 years since he was properly successful has taken its toll. He’s been very honest that he took some stupid decisions when he went solo which left him in a financial hole. And he’s also honest that he has to continue touring to pay the bills. At 62/63 with all the usual wear and tear that entails I imagine it’s a fairly stressful existence. As are many others of course. But I wish him well, apart from Bad Vibes he’s never released a poor album, and I hope for more.
Last time I saw him it felt perfunctory. Indeed , like he was paying those bills mentioned above.
LC was due to do a one-night stand in a tiny place in Connemara called Carna here in Ireland this Sept.
Total of 60 tickets for each of the 2 sets @ a ridiculously cheap E40 eac