Size of Sorrow

Some recent acquisitions from the dreaded W*ppit. Hell, I've stumped up my £50 for the cancelled ADBS, so I might as well go on a magpie-like trawl through the database of rather odd obscurities they have:

Piggy - Sigue Sigue Sputnik,
Blistered Heart - Badly Drawn Boy,
Ray Of Light - Sigue Sigue Sputnik,
Oceans - Gary Numan,
Don't Let Me In - Steely Dan, from something called 'Old Regime',
Pissing In The Wind - Badly Drawn Boy,
Size Of Sorrow - Tears For Fears,
Fall In A River - Badly Drawn Boy,
Metal - Gary Numan,
Everybody Loves A Happy Ending - Tears For Fears,
Asylum - Gary Numan.

A pretty uninspiring selection, I have to say, although it is my fault, of course. My mood was lightened by Episode 4 of the current series of Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show, broadcast last week and ripped with HiQ (see previous posts). If anyone wants some of these, leave a message here somewhere, and I'll get back to you somehow.

T - 3; M - 3; D - 3. Rather average day, really.

Industry Standard

Over my breakfast cornflakes, I was surprised, nay shocked, to see the host-cum-nemesis of the 'All Day Breakfast Show', Paul Myers, being interviewed on BBC Breakfast.

It was some article on the EMI meltdown and takeover by some Merchant Bankers, and explaining the difficulties of selling 'units' i.e. CDs in the face of downloads. Mr 'Wippit internet millionaire' was offering his opinion about their (EMI) having to get their act together to offer the public more of what they want.

Be any good!

That would include stuff like this, I guess:

Back Back Back!

Well, on the way back from my interview on the extreme edge of BBC London's broadcast reach, Danny Baker left more clues about the return of the 'All Day Breakfast Show'

There's some confirmation at the 'Treehouse' Forum, but I definitely heard him say he'd lost £100,000 recently (yikes!), and as a parting shot, compared the new studios favourably with the 'rat-hole' at Wippit. Could it be something to do with this development at Virgin? Watch the skies (although don't hold your breath)...

Yesterday's interview went well, although I misinterpreted the (vague) instructions and neglected to prepare a presentation. It's amazing what you can do with a pen and a whiteboard and your imagination, although it was pretty nerve-racking.

Some 'Blues, Folk and Jazz' today to relax me:

Colleen - Joanna Newsom,
Soldiers - James Taylor,
They're Leaving Me Behind - Nick Drake,
Goodbye And Hello - Tim Buckley, just divine,
Sea Of Madness - Crosby, Stills & Nash, maybe (& Young), I can't remember - they're all lumped together on my 'Pod,
Ri Na Cruinne - Clannad,
Poor Boy - Nick Drake,
Redwoods - Hayward Williams, possibly the first tme I've heard this after doing an internet trawl of free (i.e. sourced from the artists' websites) MP3s,
Dr. Jekyll - Miles Davis,

Reasonable journey in today, and the weekend's almost upon us,

A word of advice - if you arrive at a Northern Line platform between East Finchley and Totteridge to find the next train indicated as going via Charing Cross, it probably won't. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen CX trains altered and had to wait 10 minutes.

T - 3; M - 4; D - 3

Back Back Back?

A short note today, as I'm away at an interview, but heavy hints of the 'All Day Breakfast Show's return on Danny Baker's BBC London show yesterday.

I'll add the links later to on-line forums confirming what I heard, but suffice it to say 'keep watching the skies' and 'the internet has a new king' cropped up. Of course, we've heard it all before, and we know where that ended up, but there may be life in the old dog yet. Let's hope this particular dog is not a wippit.

No news on the ADBS website yet, although lack of communication to the hoi polloi seems to be the business model of choice for this particular venture.

Keep watching the skies...

HNY

And a Happy New Year to all...

My return to the commute was fairly unremarkable, although depressing all the same.

Over the festive period, I managed to catch up finally with all the 'All Day Breakfast Show' Podcasts from Danny Baker. From the last few 'casts, it looks as though the end came very quickly - the Thursday programme before the final weekend was very upbeat, with plenty of mentions of 'next week' and 'next year', with no hint of the gathering storm.

Dinosaur - King Crimson,
Dry Land (Live Hammersmith Odeon, London September 29, 1991) - Marillion,
The Maid On The Shore - John Renbourn,
Blackthorn Rose - Weather Report,
Maestro Mercy - Wigwam,
Amazing Grace - Yes,
Ring Out Solstice Bells - Jethro Tull,
Apocalypse (Detroit 1976) - Yes,
Summer (Chorus) (excerpt) - The Enid,
Be Kind To My Mistakes - Kate Bush,
Marijuana - Various Artists, from a Trojan Box Set,
Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood,
(Three Fingers of) Love - The Art Of Noise,
Sloop John B - The Beach Boys,
Drum Folk - Greenslade,
Bullet The Blue Sky - U2,
Animal - Def Leppard.

I saw 'Number 23' the other day, the Jim Carrey film. Mark Kermode's reviews (including his end of year review) made it sound like some preposterous sub-Da Vinci Code thing, but I found it an interesting and entertaining story of psychosis and paranoia. Okay, some bits were downright silly, but I think it made a lot of sense, in the context of the central character's delusions.

T - 4; M - 4; D - 3

Let Me Take You Down

Well, only four days to go, one of which I have off anyway, so just keeping my head down and turning up.

Captain Carter's Fathoms - Pepé Deluxe,
A Smart Kid - Porcupine Tree,
The Chant - Jelly Roll Morton,
Access Denied - Porcupine Tree,
Terminal Frost - Pink Floyd,
Winter Song - Chris Rea,
La Petite Fille De La Mer - Vangelis,
There Was Sun - Devendra Banhart,
Shrink - Notwist,
Cooltide - John Martyn,
When You`re In - Pink Floyd,
Café Europa - David Sylvian.

The Wippit/ADBS fallout continues, with the monorail salesman claiming contract exclusivity and DB just shrugging. A sad (although inevitable) end.

T - 4; M - 3.5; D - 2

ADBS Crash and Burn

OK, the central heating boiler packed in at the weekend, and, as my home computer is in a peripheral part of my house away from fires, I missed the breaking news of the Danny Baker and Wippit fall-out.

Turmoil indeed. "... and you're standing, crushed, on the sweaty Northern Line every day"

I've followed the genesis, initial euphoria, and stumbling first footsteps, then through delay and return, and then subscription and meltdown...

"Knowing my luck, it'll all go tits up in the New Year and I'll have paid a year's subs for nowt..."

Several problems:

1. Wippit is rubbish. Dreadful user interface, patronising tone, 'shiny new servers' dropping out regularly, useless support,

2. Danny was unaware that Wippit subscribers could get the ADBS for nowt,

3. Very poor feedback during the whole Autumn hiatus coupled with ridiculous comments from Paul Wippit on the Treehouse board. Danny's not above blame on this one, either,

4. The lack of the 'live' element definitely affected the ADBS and B/K, the latter more than the former, and the fact that DB was continuing the BBC London led to odd overlaps.

Fundamentally, though, it seems to me that the vast majority of the blame lies with Wippit.
It's all a bit late for this analysis, I know, and this blog isn't supposed to be about the ADBS at all - it just kind of happened...

I've blown £50 on a crappy service; Paul Wippit will become even more of an internet millionaire; DB will, in the short term at least, become increasingly bitter; and I'll have nothing to accompany my commute other than my fabulous music collection.

Disappointment Can Wear You Thin

I was away from my computer all weekend, so missed the 'All Day Breakfast Show' announcement HERE. And HERE.

FWIW, I'll add my thoughts in a later post, and just get the tracklist for this morning out of the way:

Telegraph Road - Dire Straits,
Got A Suitcase, Got Regrets - Tom McRae,
Let's Split - Syd Barrett,
Paperback Writer - The Beatles,
Sunny Goodge Street - Donovan,
Ring Out Solstice Bells - Jethro Tull,
Cry From The Street - David Gilmour,
Only Time Will Tell - Asia,
Jack Of Speed - Steely Dan, the best track from a pretty formulaic return album,
Hounds Of Love - Kate Bush,
Birth From Earth - Epsilon Indi,
Photos of Ghosts - Premiata Forneria Marconi. I'd forgotten just how great this is...
Trio And Group Dancers - Charles Mingus. I'd forgotten just how mad this is...

T - 3; M - 4; D - 3

Am I Still Ill?

Seemingly, yes.

Still, there's more chance to catch up with the ADBS and rip the latest Count Arthur Strong Show. That and copy a few of the ancient cassette tapes I re-found in the garage yesterday.

Ho hum. Or should that be ho-ho-ho hum?

Normal (grumpy) service to be resumed tomorrow, I hope.

Decrepitude

More illness. I can't remember the last time I 'worked' a full week, what with sickness and long weekends away.

Time to catch up on some All Day Breakfast Shows...

"Why, if they had one neck, you'd hack it through.."

Which is exactly what my mood was like yesterday.

Despite the downpour of rain, I'm in a much better mood today.

I'm currently working my way through the backlog of Dnny Baker's ADBS (sorry to keep going on, but Podcasts (ADBS, Thinking Allowed, Baker&Kelly, Now Show) and old 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue' MP3s are the only things keeping me going these days). New 'Count Arthur Strong' available today, so that'll be ripped...

Some 'Folk and guitarists' today:

Helping Hand - Pentangle,
Cracking - Suzanne Vega,
Pearl (2) - Judee Sill,
Donor (2) - Judee Sill,
Three Hours (Alternate Version) - Nick Drake,
Straight Lines - Suzanne Vega,
Crazy Face - Van Morrison,
Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright - strangely soul-less version of the classic - maybe I'm too used to the Jeff Buckley version,
Milky Way - Syd Barrett,
Winning A Battle, Losing The War (Andy Votel) - Kings Of Convenience,
Chorale - Richard & Danny Thompson,
I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain - Tim Buckley,
Baby Blue - Emiliana Torrini,
Tuulilta Tuleva - Värttinä,
Rainy Night House - Joni Mitchell,

T - 4; D - 3; M - 4

Descent into Hell

Where do I begin?

My wife crashed the car,
My weekend out of the country was marred by RyanAir's refusal to treat us as anything other than cattle,
My commute today was marred by incompetence and violence,
My boss has decided to work from home, despite the exhortation for the rest of us to come in in this crucial week.

I need to get out of this soon.

Music?

Well, Mono's 'Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky', plus a 'Not Classical or Spoken' mix of Bob Marley, Rush and Captain Beefheart, among others.

I did download a whole load of Danny Baker's 'All Day Breakfast Show', having taken the plunge to subscribe to Wippit. I must admit that the iTunes connection worked fine, although the retrieval of the first few (early Sep) issues turned into the usual Wippit-related madness. I got there eventually, but only after a lot of trouble.

T - 1; M - 3; D - 0.5

ADBS Turmoil

As my new friend Kim said below in her comment, "I bought my subscription at the end of October and I've been satisfied!".

Well, I still haven't got round to subbing to Wippit - I assume (?) I can pick up the backlog since September - but this comment on Tuesday's BBC London show made me sit up:

"I don't want to open up the phone lines to hobble-de-hoys - that's how we got involved with Wippit"

Yikes!

It Makes You Suffer And It Makes You Cry

But, unfortunately, it's not, as Mr Hogarth, suggests, all worthwhile,

After a couple of days off, a return to the daily commute:

06 - LOVE - 12/11/92 Lee & Herring, from the FistOfFun archive,
Surprise, Surprise - Caravan,
Way To Blue - Nick Drake. A demo, with piano which is even more fragile and ethereal than the final version,
Hotel Hobbies - Marillion,
Septembre: Heat Beat - Brian Eno, sounding a lot like Boards of Canada,
Hard As Love (Demo Version) - Marillion,
Beach Theme - Tangerine Dream,
Tunnel Of Love - Dire Straits,
Band On The Run - Paul McCartney & Wings,
Arthur - Rick Wakeman,
Eleanor Rigby Reggae MashUp - The Beatles. Danny Baker first played this on Monday's BBC London show, and I've found it on YouTube here and ripped it with my new HiQ software. Excellent - forget the short-lived 'Ladies' Bras' debacle, this is worth pushing.

T - 4; M - 4; D - 3

ADBS Update

After a lot of thought, and after lurking (perhaps unfairly) on The Treehouse and Cook'd and Bomb'd Forums for weeks, I have finally come, FWIW, to my decision re: 'The All-Day Breakfast Show In Color'

Although money's quite tight, what with all the 'TURMOIL' at work, I'm going to subscribe and see how it goes. As a contributor to the Treehouse said "... it seems to have become more about anti-Paul than pro-Dan (as in "I don't care if it is Dan, I'm not prepared to line Paul's pockets")".

My prevarication about this has been mainly around this anti-Wippit issue, although, as the product's very good, and seemingly becoming more stable and dependable, it's time to bite the bullet and stump up the cash.

Knowing my luck, it'll all go tits up in the New Year and I'll have paid a year's subs for nowt...

"This is my dressing-room; my inner scrotum"

A welcome return to Count Arthur Strong the other day. Splendid stuff, and made me laugh out loud half a dozen times. Great.

Today (Thursday), there's a Kraftwerk thing on Radio 4, and I need to catch up with the 'Days of Our Lives' Pink Floyd documentary on Radio 2. Plus, there's the Charles Hazlewood show from last night, which I fell asleep 10 minutes into.

I've now downloaded the full version of Hi-Q from here, as the 96 kbps on offer from the free version is becoming too restrictive. While I'm on this spending splurge, and as the 'All Day Breakfast Show' is reportedly becoming more reliable from Wippit (and iTunes), I think I'm going to subscribe to the annual thing and take it from there. Watch this space...

As work simply becomes a question of turning up and then leaving 5 hours later, I spent most of the early morning constructing plastic toys for my son on his birthday.

Ho hum.

Gone To Earth - David Sylvian & Robert Fripp, from the first, better, 'Damage' CD,
All Of My Mother's Names - DS,
Promise (The Cult Of Eurydice) - DS,
Weathered Wall - DS,
Waterfront - DS,
I Surrender (Single Edit) - DS,
Gone to Earth - DS,
Orpheus - DS,
Blinding Light Of Heaven - Sylvian/Fripp,
Pulling Punches - DS,
The Scent Of Magnolia (Edit) - DS, from the bonus disc from the 'Everything & Nothing' compilation.

This is my 300th post.

T - 4; M - 4; D - 2

Strange Feeling

... Oh, don't you need somebody to talk your troubles to,
Ah, lord I know I wanna catch the morning train, lord the first thing,
Oh, I wanna hear you say we're gonna take that strange feelin',
Oh, take it all away

So, the latest job thing turned up nothing again, and I'm rapidly running out of options. The monthly pay cheque helps, but it's all rather unfulfilling and unsatisfying.

To add insult to injury, the Tube was a nightmare. The platform at King's Cross reminded me of the events of 7/7/05. It was all rather spooky.

Shuffle 'Not Classical or Spoken':

Kind Hearted Woman Blues (Take 1) - Robert Johnson, from The Complete Recordings (Disc 1)
Entry Of The Crims - King Crimson, a freebie from DGM,
Go Through This (New York 1980) - Yes. The 'Drama' line-up and not their finest moment,
Taking Tiger Mountain - Brian Eno
Hibou, Anemone And Bear - Soft Machine. If music such as this didn't exist, I think I'd go mad,
Suckling The Mender - Cocteau Twins. Ditto,
This Heart Keeps Beating For Me - Captain,
The Three Shadows Part III - Bauhaus,
Come With Us - Brian Eno And David Byrne,
Astronomy - Jethro Tull,
Lo And Behold - James Taylor,
Deborah - Jon & Vangelis,
One Mile Below - Siouxsie. I still haven't got round to listening to this album in full, but the tracks I've heard are fantastic,
Sweetness - Yes,
The Marshall Plan - Blue Oyster Cult,
21st Century Schizoid Man (LP Version) - King Crimson, from the 'Dunlop' ad of ten years or so ago,
Strange Feelin' - Tim Buckley.

No 'All Day Breakfast Show' yesterday. They're going to be hard-pressed to keep up their latest 'guarantee' of 'at least three' a week. Hmmm. Turmoil.

T - 1; M - 4; D - 2

Wippit Woes

Ahead of any re-think of my previous post, I checked out Wippit's pages.

God, what a mess.

The search thing is far too blunt a tool.
The catalogue is poor to say the least, and the promise of '10,000 free tracks to subscribers' looks fairly hollow, given the number of non-free tracks and uninteresting (to me, at least) free catalogue.
Searching for obvious things such as 'Yes' or 'Jaco' came up with nothing useful.
The download thing, if my past experience (and more recent experience with the 'We're Back' ADBS file) is anything to go by, is still terrible and prone to error.

If (and it's a big if still) I go back, I'm just going to have to live with it.

All Day Breakfast Show

Well, it's back back back.

The Danny Baker All Day Breakfast Show on Wippit.

So now what do I do?

All the recent chaos, culminating in the excuse of parental illness, was really poor. Yes, his parents were ill, and he did the right thing in taking time off (IMO, FWIW).

But:

Why no news at all except cryptic messages on various Wippit and ADBS websites?
Why did Mr Baker continue the BBC London show without mention (although, to be fair he did miss a couple of shows)?
Why was the juvenile 'keep watching the skies' persisted with? We're not children,
Why, whenever Wippit's service was criticised, the excuse came back: well, 95% of thnigs are fine,
Why is the Wippit interface soooo poor?
Why, now that the ADBSiC is back, do we forget about the previous month as if nothing had happened?
Why is any criticism responded to with 'hey, the guy's parents were ill' (what you do mean Wippit's servers are down all the time and the download process is abysmal? - cut us some slack, his dad's been ill)?


So now what?

Stump up £50 and hope that Wippit improves and the ADBSiC continues with fewer breaks?

Also, the decision to drop from 5 shows a week to 'at least 3' is crap. He's obviously hedging his bets and continuing the BBC London show.


I've decided - if I get the new job, I'll subscribe to Wippit and the ADBSiC. If I don't, I won't. There, that'll show 'em.

Judging by some comments in the Treehouse and at Cook'd and Bomb'd I'm not alone...

Attack Ships On Fire Off The Shoulders of Orion

Ahead of tomorrow's interview and a life-line out of here:

Versatile Heart - Linda Thompson
Homesick - Kings Of Convenience
Somewhere Here On Earth - Prince
Anthem - Leonard Cohen
Lord Willoughby - Jim Moray
Tenemos Roads - National Health
Born To Run - Marillion
The Plum Blossom - Vangelis
Nine Cats - Porcupine Tree
Tears In Rain - Vangelis

Excellent Baker and Kelly Podcast last week. Things look to be happening with Danny Baker's BBC London thing, and possibly the ADBS, although there is still nothing concrete. Very frustrating.

I've found another bunch of Podcasts recently, including 'The News Quiz' and 'Thinking Allowed', which are filling the ADBS-shaped holes.

M - 3.5; T - 3; D - 4