Assault & Battery of the Human Anatomy

'The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys' and 'John Barleycorn' (Traffic) on the walk to work, which was splendid.

The tube train I'd just missed broke down, which meant 5 minutes of inaction on the next train.

Shuffle all (which produced a few songs I'd never heard before):

Knowledge Suspended - Mick Karn
Lilac Wine - Jeff Buckley
Singing Bridges - Matchbook Romance
With A Gun - Steely Dan
Episode - Pavlov's Dog
Valentine Melody - Tim Buckley
1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
Seekers Who Are Lover (an entirely pointless remix) - Cocteau Twins
Planet of Visions - Kraftwerk
Cinnamon Road - Tangerine Dream
Vanilla Sky - Paul McCartney
Dream Lover - Big Star
Macy's Day Parade - Green Day. God, what a boring song,
A Change of Seasons - Dream Theater

Far too much perfume/aftershave/fragrance being worn today. It just gives me headache. I had to get off the train and get the next it was so bad. Bastards. Just have a shower in the morning like everyone else.

T - 3; M - 4; D - 2

Tuesday

An early start again. Not sure what for, as I've very little to do other than apply for jobs. Must show willing, I suppose.

Filtered all songs 2:30 - 5 minutes, which provided:

We're Turning Again - Frank Zappa,
Up To Me - Jethro Tull,
Moribund the Burgermeister - Peter Gabriel,
The Devil's Own - David Sylvian,
Big Stripey Lie - Kate Bush,
We Never Change - Coldplay. Don't like the singer's tendency to drift into falsetto at every opportunity,
Ghosts (2000 Remix) - David Sylvian,
Journey to Love - Stanley Clarke. Great bass player, although his penchant for the higher end of the range doesn't come across so well on my 'phones,
Tranquil Eye - Cocteau Twins,
State of Mind - Fish,
Run Through the Night - Yes. The odd-one-out album, with Trevor Horn replacing Jon Anderson. Despite what I said earlier about falsetto, I think this album is one of Yes' best, with the rhythm section to the fore,
Rock & Roll Stew - Traffic,
Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead. More falsetto; a bit annoying,
Track 2 (!) - some Arabic music I found on a computer at work. From a compilation cross-over album with almost techno beats,
Voice of the Bama - Tjapukai, from my Australian music compilation,
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen.

Nice selection.

Bring Back The Good Old Days

More Mixing It revelations:

Muslimgauze, Boards of Canada, GYBE! and related, Four Tet, To Rococo Rot, Laurie Anderson (interview), Lou Reed (interview), Medeski Martin & Wood, The Mighty Strinth, The Notwist, Paddy McAloon (interview), Pan(a)Sonic, Stina Nordenstam, Tom Waits, Varttina (Finnish folk), Finitribe, Flaming Lips.

After Mark Kermode's podcast film review from Friday, an On-The-Go playlist:

The Noose - A Perfect Circle,
Shipbuilding - Robert Wyatt,
Squonk - Genesis,
Knights of Cydonia - Muse. The singer's voice, almost without fail, gives me headache, though,
To Be Over - Yes,
Hey Gyp - Donovan. My band, when I was 16 or so, did a great cover version of this with slightly altered lyrics. Must dig it out,
Midwestern Nights Dream - Pat Metheny, featuring Jaco,
Valkerie - Pavlov's Dog, featuring Bill Bruford.

T - 4, M - 4; D - 4, apart from the one woman who planted her full weight on my foot in an empty carriage (i.e. the foot was in full view).

RIP Mixing It

I've been vaguely aware of it for a while, but had it confirmed recently: Mixing It (Radio 3) will be finishing in February.

I've been a fan of this show since just after it started, when I first heard 'Porcupine Tree' on it. In the early '90s I slavishly taped most shows and made compilation tapes (I think I have 15 or so) and, in the late '90s moved on to MiniDiscs. I've followed it from Monday to Friday to Sunday and back to Friday with varying degrees of loyalty, but have always managed to come back to listening to it regularly.

It played a great mix of unusual music, or even just new music than you couldn't hear anywhere else (including Peel & Kershaw). I first heard the likes of PT, Squarepusher, PanSonic, Anti-Pop Consortium, Tom Waits, Raymond Scott, Karamasov... Hell, all kinds of stuff. Admittedly, I think it has become too reliant on laptop programmers splicing up sounds, but that's just a fad, IMO.

Apparently there's been a campaign against the likes of MI and Kershaw for a while now. Since I don't listen to much of Radio 3, I haven't caught any of this 'discussion', but there have been a few thoughts here, most of which I agree with.

I think the description of MI (by FoR3) as 'pop' is baffling. Surely Radio3 is about more than just classical? The Jazz (what little is played these days) will be next, to leave a competitor for Classic FM. Yippee. Jazz FM (although it hadn't played serious jazz for ages) has just become smooth fm. This must be what is called 'dumbing down' and I hate it.

There are rumours that Mark Russell and Robert Sandall will present Late Junction occasionally (however long that lasts), but that clashes with Mark Radcliffe's R2 programme, and I won't miss that.

Keep Your Head Down, While They’re Firing Low

Another early start, and the prospect of more news of my company's demise.

After finishing off the Doctor Who episode from Radio 7's series, I listened to David Sylvian and colleagues in the 'Nine Horses' project.

The album 'Snow Borne Sorrow' is very good, better than 'Dead Bees...'. I think it's the influence of Steve Jansen and the (unfortunate) fact that this is Sylvian's divorce album, which probably focused his mind.

I listened to the whole thing and then the 'Wonderful World' EP and bits of the 'Money For All' album. The newsagent at my Tube station was closed this morning, so no Independent for the CD and book reviews and the very good review of 'masterpiece' paintings that I find fascinating.

M - 4; T - 3, mainly for leaving us at Euston for 5 minutes for no reason; D - 4

Thursday

It looks as though my company might be limping on for a few months yet, which could be either a good or a bad thing. If I find another job I won't get redundancy money; if I stay and things really do crash, the pay-off will be low.

Shuffle 'Not Classical or Spoken' this morning:

Hoedown - ELP. Madness, but it woke me up,
Orion - Metallica, which really woke me up,
Approaching Silence - David Sylvian. At 30 minutes, this is a really pleasant piece of music, but not suitable for the noise of the tube, so I skipped to...
Life's What You Make It - Talk Talk. I discovered Talk Talk a couple of years back. It think I'd dismissed them as pop when the records first came out, but the last few records are great,
Miss Sun - Average White Band. Classic funk from a bunch of white Scottish guys. Groovy,
Bodhisattva - Steely Dan, not my favourite track, but there are interesting things going on with the rhythm,
Eden - Talk Talk, from Spirit of Eden. A beautiful, if strange, album. Must get Mark Hollis' solo record (records?),
Darshan (remix by The Grid) - Sylvian/Fripp,
Listen to the Band - The Monkees,
Arnold Layne - Pink Floyd,
Best I Can - Rush,
Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children - Roy Harper,
The Crying Tree of Mercury - Smashing Pumpkins. Another recent find. I'm fairly ambivalent about a lot of their stuff I've heard, but this is very good,
Scratching On The Bible Belt - Rain Tree Crow. My very first CD. My wife and I used to listen to it over and over, and tried to have a track played at our wedding; the DJ, however, just had a turntable, so we played Eno's 'By This River'.
Whalesong - Greenpeace CD. Hmmm, I thought I'd removed this from my iPod. Really rather annoying,
A Love You Can't Survive - Richard Thompson, from 'The Old Kit Bag',
A Passage Of Life - Kitaro. More New Age stuff, bought becasue of Jon Anderson's involvement on a few tracks,
Astral Weeks - Van Morrison.

T - 3; M - 4; D - 4

They Say A Snow Year's A Good Year

Overnight snow, but after yesterday's indolence, I bravely fought my through the inch-high drifts.

Time Stands Still - Robert Fripp; a soundscape recording which was available for free from the DGM site,
Glorious Fool - John Martyn, from the Andy Kershaw session the other night,
Little Brown Bag - Gentle Giant,
Sabre Dance - Radical Dance, from a DGM sampler CD,
Libertine Libretto - No Man, a Steve Wilson project,
Sheep - Pink Floyd,
Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys. I should have added this album to my best of '06 list,
Take The Time - Dream Theater,
Green Gang - The Legendary Pink Dots,
Charade - Sarah Vaughan,
C Moon - Paul McCartney. The horns on this track are excellent,
Fair and Tender Lovers - Jim Moray,
Blood Red Summer - Coheede and Cambria,
The Place of Dead Roads - Harold Budd,
I Wanna Be Adored - Stone Roses.

T - 4; M- 4; D - 4

Home

I like to be here when I can...

Woke up a splitting headache this morning, which I suspect is due to blocked sinuses and the remnants of my cold, so no commute and no tracklist today.

Listened to my 'Fivepenny Piece' LPs today. I used to play these a lot (on cassette) when I was growing up, as my parents were big fans. I found the three LPs in various charity shops over the last five years or so, and they're very good. They sometimes lapse into whimsical comedy, though, but the 'straight', folk songs are superb.

Drowning in the Liquid Seize on the Piccadilly Line, Rat Race

Great repeat session by John Martyn on Andy Kershaw last night, which I will attempt to save to my iPod sometime later today.

Mark Kermode's film review this morning. Haven't seen a decent film in ages. Actually, apart from 'Happy Feet' over xmas, I haven't seen any film at the cinema in ages.

Shuffle on 'Rock and Indie':

Survive - Daryl Hall. A collaboration with Robert Fripp, although this track is a bit disappointing,
We're Going Wrong - Cream,
Hero of the Day - Metallica,
Wild and Dizzy - Bill Nelson,
No Place to Go - Enuff Z'Nuff, from a 'Classic Rock' mag compilation CD
King For a Day - Cyclefly,
Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley,
Soft As A Dove - Yes, from 'Magnification',
Rollin' and Tumblin' - Cream,
Fugazi - Marillion. I really like Fugazi (the album) although I seem to alone in this opinion,
The Hand That Feeds - NIN,
Goodnight Cello Johnson - Karamasov. On the basis of this, I will have to dig this album out again. I bought this after having heard it on 'Mixing It' (I think), and only heard it a few times. Time for a re-assessment.

M - 4; T - 4; D - 4. Pretty good journey, although my cold is still lingering.

Several Feet Underground

More Doctor Who on my walk to the Tube - this time from the Paul McGann Radio Series that is currently being broadcast on Radio 7. In contrast to the reading by David Tennant, this is a dramatised version with great special effects.

For the train:

School - Supertramp
Angi - Davy Graham., from an acoustic compilation. Is this really called Angi, not Angie?
Hey You - Pink Floyd
Nine Feet Underground - Caravan. I have the original DECCA (DERAM?) LP of this excellent album, and downloaded the MP3s last year. This 20-minute piece is just great.
Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls - Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I loved GYBE when I first heard them (on Radio 3's Mixing It and then at a RFH gig with Sigur Ros), but their albums didn't really progress enough for me.
Planet of Visions - Kraftwerk,
It's Only Goodbye - Gentle Giant, from their rather poor Giant For A Day LP. If this was by anybody other than GG, then I'd find it decent enough pop/rock. However, given GG's track record, this album marks the beginning of the end (or maybe Side 1 of The Missing Piece?) aftee the glory days of the 70s.
Barbarism Begins At Home - The Smiths, with its simple but effective bass line,
Needles In The Camel's Eye - Brian Eno, from Here Come The Warm Jets,
Never Before - Deep Purple.

The problems caused by the gales last night (fallen trees, branches on the line) seem to have been cleared up this morning, although the Nothern Line didn't seem that affected anyway, at least not when I was on it...

M - 3.5; T - 4; D - 4

Stormwatch

Finally, a decent night's sleep, and my cold is improving. On the walk to the Tube, I finished listening to the freebie Doctor Who CD from the Radio Times over xmas. Pretty good, although it was a bit long at ~2 hours.

Given the weather, I turned to Jethro Tull's 'Stormwatch' album. A good album, especially the 'B-side' tracks. There were loads of delays today, so I had lots of time to listen to other JT music from the same period. Much of 'A', 'Broadsword' and 'Under Wraps'. Although I don't hate this period as much as some others, I do get irritated by the cold production and general lack of dynamic range.

1 hr 45 min this morning, mostly due to having to wait for the Piccadilly Line train for 10 minutes.


M - 4; T - 2; D - 3. Far too crowded.

I Want A Name When I Lose

I have a rotten cold, and my son kept me up for most of the night (again), so I was in an awful mood. I listened to my 'Blues, Folk, Jazz' filter:

Do It Again - Steely Dan,
Gebe Nibo - Eddy Prophete,
Cello Song - Nick Drake,
Sunny Goodge Street - Donovan,
Believe Me, Pretty Mama - Nick Drake,
Bird Flew By - Nick Drake,
Certain Surprise (live) - John Martyn,
Man In A Shed - Nick Drake,
Deacon Blues - Steely Dan,
The Girl From Back Then - Kings of Convenience,
Rhumboogie - Gene Krupa,
Referendum (Legend) - Roy Harper,
Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor,
Sign In Stranger - Steely Dan,
Groovin' - George Benson.

Pretty good selection, if a bit light on Jazz. I've been trying to find downloads of James Taylor's 'Mud Slide Slim', but no-one (not even the dodgy Russian sites I know) seems to have it.

Cattle Trucks

Severe delays on the Tube, and my patience is wearing thin. With the mess at work, these journeys are seeming more and more futile. However, I've probably got at least another 3 months of this, so I can't get too despondent.

On-The-Go:

Amor Real - Jon Anderson. I'm not a huge fan of his solo stuff (a bit too New-Age, especially post-Animation), but this is good, so good in fact that I bought this:
Amor Real (remix) - Global Communication,
Willing Well II - Coheed & Cambria. Fabulous band, a bit like Dream Theater were before they went all heavy on me,
The Collector - Twelfth Night. 20 minutes of prog from an overlooked 80s band,
In the Presence Of - Yes. Probably the best track from the Magnification album, and I just love Chris Squire's bass sound towards the end. Simple but effective,
Arriving Somewhere But Not Here - Porcupine Tree. After a few 'okay' album, Deadwing was a return to form, although I still prefer the early proggy stuff,
Low Pressure Phenomena - The Mile End Ladies' String Auxiliary. A GYBE! offshoot, with typical repetitive strings,
All My Love - Led Zep. In Through the Out Door isn't their best album, but I love the cheesy keyboard solo in this,
My Sweet Rose - Jim Moray. I was going to put this in my top 5 albums of last year, but it's just a bit too folky in places for me. This track, however, is just fantastic.

Just Another Chelsea Monday

After a good weekend, wherein I drew up a plan for future employment strategies, it was back to the grind...

'Shuffle all' produced:

All the Right Friends - REM, from the Vanilla Sky soundtrack. I don't know if this is from an album of theirs but, frankly, I gave up on REM a while ago,
These Days - REM, from the early, good, albums,
Gold Dust Woman (demo) - Fleetwood Mac: very interesting to hear the stripped-down versions of the 'Rumours' album,
Angels of Death - Hawkwind. I was almost tempted to sing along with this, until I realised where I was,
God Man - David Sylvian,
Pleasant Valley Sunday - The Monkees,
Over - Portishead. What happened to Portishead?
Down and Out - Genesis, from the first post-Hackett album,
If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You - Caravan. Just superb,
Taking Islands in Africa - Japan. Haven't heard this one in ages,
Tundra - Jethro Tull, from their 'Under Wraps' album. Although this album is dominated by synthetic drums and synths, it's pretty good. This is an extra track on a re-release CD,
Like Pictures Part #1 - Eno/Schwalm. Part #2 features Laurie Anderson, but this is just a short instrumental,
Cinderella Search - Marillion.
2112 - Rush, to accompany my walk to work. Fantastic. I first heard this in a pub in Bradford while I was playing pool. It was on the juke-box (!).

The Joe Boyd book is interesting, but it hasn't reached any kind of cross-over with music I'm familiar with (although it has mentioned, in passing, Miles Davis, Coltrane etc.), so I hope it'll pick up a bit soon.

Stay of Execution

The small company I work for has announced a load of redundancies. I'm okay for a while, but it's only a postponement.

I've been making this trip back and forth for over three years and am completely fed up of it, so, in many ways, it would be a chance to leave the tedium behind.

It would, of course, mean that this blog would come to an abrupt halt, but I think the human race can manage...

Jaco

I heard some Joni Mitchell on Mark Radcliffe's show last night, and thought a morning of her stuff would be good. Then I remembered all the fantastic contribution of Jaco Pastorius and decided on my Jaco filter - Weather Report, Joni, solo and Pat Metheny work and any music on the Punk Jazz compilation:

A Strange Boy - JM,
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - JM,
River People - WR (live),
Elegant People - WR,
Invitation - JP Big Band,
Barbary Coast - JP+WR,
Teen Town - WR (live),
The Dry Cleaner from De Moines - JM,
Black Market - WR.

We got to Euston, and then waited for 10 (!) minutes at the station for no apparent reason. Perhaps the driver was taking a nap.

At this point, I started to play through Joni Mitchell's 'Shadows and Light' live album. What a line-up, and what a great sound.

T-3, M-4, D-4: lots of people again. I guess this is 'normal' now.

Madness to the Method

So, the respite period is over. Infrequent and packed trains on both my lines today, together with closures of the District and Circle Lines. Welcome back, everybody.

Over christmas, the Radio Times produced a couple of free Doctor Who CDs, which I've put on my iPod. It's very good, and is excellent for my walk to the Tube Station.

'On The Go' this morning:

Spot the Pigeon - Genesis, from a 70s EP. Very very good, with shades of Yes' Gates of Delerium in the guitar work,
Dream Lover - Big Star, from Sisters Lovers,
Madness to the Method - Blue Oyster Cult, from the pop-orientated 'Club Ninja' LP. I've been looking for a CD or download for ages, and finally found one just before christmas on a Russian site,
Obsession - Siouxsie and the Banshees, another download I've been wanting for ages,
In The End - Rush, from the early 'Fly by Night' album. I just love the way this builds up,
Birds Sing For Their Lives - Nine Horses, with Stina Nordenstam, from a Japanese EP,
Fix You - Coldplay. I like some of their stuff, and this reminds me a lot of Porcupine Tree, but I can't for the life of me think of a particular song,
The Soul of Patrick Lee - John Cale and Terry Riley. An odd little song in the middle of a load of prog bombast, from the 'Church of Anthrax' CD,
I Am The Resurrection - The Stone Roses. I was about 20 when this came out and should probably have bought and listened to it at the time. I didn't, however, and only heard it for the first time at the end of last year. Very good, if a little too pop-leaning for me,
By The Light of a Magical Moon - T Rex. I have a few Radio 1 sessions on tape in my garage, which I've meaning to transfer to MP3 for ages now. Maybe I can do it with my christmas gadget,
The Stolen Silence - Epsilon Indi. An Italian band, who made 'New Age'-ish music. Some of their string arrangements, however, are fantastic, particularly on the rare 'Tra Terre E Mare' EP. I don't know if they're still producing music under this name, but I suspect the main composers are still making music,
The Gates of Delerium - Yes. See 'Spot the Pigeon'. This is a fabulous track, but you have to a) be in the right mood and b) have the right headphones on.

In the end, I arrived to work on time, but a bit stressed out by the over-crowding.

4AD

The tube's been remarkably well-behaved so far this year, which is a pleasant surprise.

I used my '4AD Groups' filter this morning:

Lots of Cocteau Twins, including from the recent rare 'Lullabies to Violaine' compilation, This Mortal Coil and Dead Can Dance, supplemented by solo Cocteau Twins' stuff (including Liz Fraser's version of Robert Wyatt's version of Chic's 'At Last I Am Free').

A Monday Morning Lunatic, Disturbed from Time to Time

A mellow start this morning, so I gave myself up to Shuffle - 'not Classical or Spoken'.

Amazingly, my iPod seemed to latch on to my brainwaves and matched my mood brilliantly:

Robin Guthrie - Falling From Grace, from his Imperial CD. I was a bit underwhelmed at first listen, but I can see its beauty now. I listened to a couple of Harold Budd LPs over the weekend, and this is very much in a similar vein (not surprisingly),
Gentle Giant - Timing, from the under-rated Interview album. I haven't heard this for a while, but enjoyed it in the comfort of my empty carriage,
Yes - You Can Be Saved, a demo from the Tormato sessions. Sounds a lot like Song of Seven, but it's not very good,
Dream Theater - Solitary Shell. Reminds me of something else, probably Yes, but I can't think what. Starts off interestingly, but meanders a bit,
Ash Dargan - Caravan of Traders, from an Australian 'Indigenous Rhythms' compilation,
Paul McCartney - Jet. I'm not a great fan of his solo stuff, but this is good pop. By now I was in danger of drifting off altogether into Radio 2-land, so what better than...
... Chris Rea - Sing A Song of Love to Me, to follow. Mmm, nice,
Miles Davis - John McLaughlin, from Bitches Brew,
Kraftwerk - Home Computer, a bit of a change from the previous, but very good,
The Notwist - Neon Golden. I loved this when it first came out, but I fear that I've become too familiar with it, so its impact is blunted,
Nirvana - Rape Me, then
The Offspring - Pay The Man, and finally,
Soft Machine - Hope for Happiness to finish.

Pretty good journey in today. The tube was still pretty empty - surely everyone should be back from holiday by now?

I finished 'Flowers for Algernon' last week. Very good, with a really sad ending. I recall the Radio dramatisation as being slightly different, in terms of the ordering of events, but that may have been based on the original short story. Recommended.

T - 4; M - 4.5; D - 4

Twelfth Night

For Christmas, I suggested to my wife that I might like to receive:

A picture frame for displaying LP covers - they were on Amazon, but I can't find them now,
A new shoulder bag for work, preferably leather or similar,
'White Bicycles' by Joe Boyd,
'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins,
Some funky new t-shirts.

Of these, I received nothing (although I bought 'WB' for myself later). Oh well. I did receive a gadget to download DVDs to my computer, but it relies on capturing a stream and my processor/RAM is too slow. I'll see if it works with audio only so I can copy some LPs.

Kind of Blue

Well, that's that. 5-0. I only hope that the Australian team is recognised by the Australian head of state in a similar manner to the England team in 2005. Especially Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

I noted this morning that Andrew Flintoff was interviewed wearing the proper England kit (whites and an England cap, rather than the usual pyjamas and baseball cap they're made to wear by Vodafone). Perhaps they didn't want to be associated with such an appalling spectacle.

My abiding memory of this series: waking up on the last day of the 2nd test with Australia batting at 60-3 or thereabouts with 2 hours to go. I assumed England, having been batting most of the day, had made 250 -300 and therefore ensured the draw. In fact they'd only made 130 or so to leave Australia to get 180. Rubbish. Every time England were x for 5, you could be certain they'd be all out for (x+30).

I wasn't really in the mood for anthing much, but my eyes fell on the Complete 'In A Silent Way' Sessions by Miles Davis. What a genius.

T-4 (wow, two days in a row it's worked well); M-4; D-3 (particularly for the guy who tried to get on the train by walking through me).

Bring an Instant Karma to Me

Good journey in today, accompanied by 'Shuffle All', which produced the consistently-good choices:

I guess it's my iPod, so I would expect stuff I like, but this was a great playlist.

Lucky (Rap) - Joni Mitchell, from the 'Mingus' album. Not really a song, just a three second clip of the great bass player talking/rapping,
Rondo (Playing the Game) - Gentle Giant. I don't have as much GG on my iPod as I should have, because 90% of it's on vinyl and downloads are hard to come by. This is from the fascinating 'Under Construction' box set, put together by some guys on the 'On Reflection' mail list,
Under My Skin - Haze, a Sheffield prog rock band I loved when I was at Uni. The records are let down by production, but they were (are?) great live. aka World Turtle.
Sailing - Stina Nordenstam, from the 'People are Strange' album of covers, which also features the Doors track and 'Purple Rain', amongst others,
Gesu Bambino - by Francesco de Gregori, an Italian singer/songwriter. I was tempted to skip this, but resisted,
String Quartet #4:VI - Michael Nyman from 'The Suit and the Photograph'. This music just sweeps me away. I'm not always in the mood for it, but it's great on headphones,
How To Be Invisible - the delicious Kate, from 'Aerial',
Lark's Tongues in Aspic (Part IV) - King Crimson. Is there any better sound than Robert Fripp in full flight, surrounded by the industrial noise of The Crimson King? Is this guy the best guitarist in the world?
Back Down The River - John Martyn, a change from the preceding battery, but great nonetheless,
Stay With Me - The Faces, from the John Peel tribute album. I'm not a great fan of Rod Stewart, but The Faces stuff is good rock 'n' roll,
Fiori Rosa, Fiori di Pesco - Lucio Battisti, another Italian singer: this is one of his archetypal '70s tracks,
I've Seen All Good People - Yes, from KtA2. If there is one better sound than Fripp in full flight, then it must be Squire, Howe and Anderson on top form. Alan White is doing some odd things here, which detract rather than add, and Rick Wakeman is largely absent, which doesn't help. Still, it's classic Yes,
Sleeping Jiva - Kula Shaker, Ok after Yes, but pales in comparison,
Selene - Gong, good stuff, from the Angel's Egg album,
and finally (and a great end for the walk to work) Earth to Calm - Scott Matthews. For the last two or three years, I've found very few new artists who maintain my interest for more than 6 months or so; this guy has produced a superb album and looks like having a good 2007. Good luck to him.

T - 4; M - 4; D - 4

If it wasn't for England going down with no guns blazing, I'd give everything 5. They'll be lucky to get nil in this series.

Back to the Old Routine

So, a fresh start, and the same old random crap on the Tube system.

A queue for Oyster updates was headed by a couple who wanted to go to some road or other. Not a tube station, a ROAD. They had the address, and a vague postcode. This meant the guy in the ticket office felt obliged to look it up in his A to Z and advise on the nearest Tube Station. Then explain in exquisite detail how to get there, where to change lines, which platform to stand on etc. etc. After all this, however, I did manage to top up my Oyster with £12 of refund vouchers (a small victory) and jump on the departing Southbound train via Charing X (another small victory).

No music today - a chance, instead, to catch up with some Podcasts. I listened to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's review of last year's films, which was entertaining.

Over christmas I saw 'Happy Feet' with the family. Far too long, and a really stupid ending. And surely someone should realise by now that the maximum Robin Williams threshold is about 20 minutes.

On the walk from the Tube to work, I listened to the excellent 'Wonderful World' EP by Nine Horses - a couple of tracks from the album but two new ones (OK, one is a remix). There's another EP out soon, with a great Stina Nordenstam track on, which I must buy.