Home Taping Is Killing Music

This Guardian blog caught my eye this morning, as I sit at home and avoid doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

"When's the last time you really listened to an album?"

LP - Back in January, either 'Twelfth Night' or Don Maclean 'Tapestry', found in a charity shop, on my Rega P3
CD - Genesis 'Wind and Wuthering' in the car (on my way to an interview), and Epsilon Indi 'Crystal Soup' at home on my home hi-fi at the weekend just gone
MP3s - Coheed & Cambria on my 'Pod, and Bert Jansch with 'Pod plugged into my home hi-fi

I tend to agree with this comment - ironically, given my recent posts - by 'bertjansch':

"I dont know how much of this is down to the digital age and how much is simply down to growing up and just not having the liberty to fart round staring at lyric sheets. For almost all of us over 25s, an appreciation of music began in early to mid-teens when lets face it, we had a hell of a lot more free time to sit around darkened rooms, smoking fattie boombatties and listening to 'Meddle' while staring at the cover. I know i tend to skip the crap tracks on my ipod, but im an impatient bugger and even on vinyl The Crunge never got too many spins! You have made me all nostalgic now im going to skive off home to sit on the floor with the curtains drawn watch Live at Pompeii while my partner and our daughter are out at playgroup, hurrah!"

Replace 'partner and daughter' with 'wife and son', and 'Live at Pompeii' with 'Yes: Symphonic Live' and you've pretty much described my (new) plan for this afternoon.

Perhaps the music-listening thing has turned full circle. Back in the 50s and 60s it was all singles and EPs, with albums only being established commercially in the 60s. Perhaps it's the fault of the computer-generated supermarket CDs, with 2 or 3 'decent' tracks and a dozen or so fillers, that are to blame for downloading of single tracks taking over. I'm not really sure it's that important, though. Some albums cry out for end-to-end listening, others don't.

My main problem is finding time, and sharing a house with others who don't share a lot of my musical taste.

Please Stop Staring At Me

OK, some self-regarding nonsense for a while...

Following the Comment on the previous post 'All The Best Freaks Are Here', by Stuart Maconie, here are some expanded thoughts on the edition of the 'Freak Zone' Podcast that I heard. Please feel free to scatter 'IMO' liberally throughout this...

I stumbled upon this 'cast on iTunes while looking for something else. As I said, I rarely listen to DAB radio (I only have one, and that's in the kitchen, and other family members don't share much of my music taste), so was pleased to see this on offer, particularly with the title of "FreakZone: Brazilian Grooves and Bert Jansch 24 Feb 08".

With a running time of 19:33, and with the music rights issue, it was fairly obvious that music would be presented in brief extracts (although I have heard full radio shows before as Podcasts, contrary to what Mr Maconie suggests - perhaps they simply stumped up the royalties).

My main problem was that the Podcast didn't stand up as a separate entity. It was clearly edited from the full show (which I haven't heard yet) and came across as confusing, repetitive and shallow, and, most importantly of all, didn't do justice to the album under consideration. Three 30 second bits of tracks linked by some (but not enough) biographical detail - why no mention of Danny Thompson, given the earlier mention of The Pentangle? - which was repetitive, and seemingly sourced exclusively from Wikipedia.

I didn't like the dedication of less than 5 minutes to this album, followed by 13 minutes of Professor Justin Spear (complete with comedy voice) and his thesis on Brazilian Bossa Nova - it just seemed unbalanced.

in brief:

00.00 - 00.20: intro, complete with scat,
00.20 - 00.25: "...we'll have three tracks from... Avocet. Enjoy"
00.25 - 01.05: confusingly, given the introduction, some 'retro-garage'
01.05 - 01.25: we learn it's BJ's favourite of his own albums, and was only released on CD 15 years after the vinyl release
01.25 - 02.00: (a bit of) Kingfisher
02.00 - 3.15: another mention of the delayed CD release and some (interesting) biographic detail, and some info on the nature and recording of the album
3.15 - 3.50: (a bit of) Avocet
3.45 - 4.40: repeated recording details, and another mention of it being BJ's favourite. A mention of Martin Jenkins, without context, and no mention of Mr Thompson. The tracks are apparently named after birds, based on birds and have an ornithological bent
4.40 - 5.20: (a bit of) Bittern, with an abrupt edit into Dick Dale
6.00 - 'witty banter', and stuff I'm not hugely interested in. Chacun a son goût, of course.

Now obviously, in a live radio show, if you're playing an 18 minute track, there's less talk to be edited in, and I have no other FZ 'casts to compare it with. A main issue with this particular one was the repetitive nature of the information, and the omission of important info (cue 'funny' nerdy voice: musicians, label, in/out of print, previous and subsequent albums for an idea of where it fits into the oeuvre). I have the album - vinyl - but I think I would be in the dark listening to the Podcast on its own.

Now Stuart, thanks again for your comment - I couldn't resist rising to the challenge to explain my thoughts beyond my brief sketch. The Podcast certainly provoked me to re-visit the album on my iPod, and I will try to remember about the existence of BBC 6Music in future, and maybe 'Listen Again'.

Keep up the good work, and keep playing those 18 minute songs.

Any job going at the BBC for a 40 y-o disillusioned scientist with a passion for music, and prog in particular?

Let N > 50

Since I've just swapped my iPod to allow me to carry my entire collection of music files, here's what's currently on it, with a filter of 50 tracks or more, as I did previously. Obviously, there'll be lots of duplicates, but a lot will be single/album/remix versions...

Marillion - 364
Yes - 286
Frank Zappa - 276
Jethro Tull - 261
Porcupine Tree - 236
Cocteau Twins - 235
Pink Floyd - 218
The Fall - 215
King Crimson - 193
Kate Bush - 176
Vangelis (solo) - 187
Genesis - 174
Gentle Giant - 171
Fleetwood Mac - 161
Rush - 157
Richard Wagner (mainly the Ring Cycle) - 148
Brian Eno (solo) - 145
David Sylvian (solo) - 126
Nick Drake - 124
Dream Theater - 98
Hawkwind - 97
Joni Mitchell - 97
John Martyn - 96
Robert Wyatt (solo) - 96
Steely Dan - 94
Peter Gabriel (solo) - 91
R.E.M. - 90
The Orb - 86
Caravan - 83
Asia - 82
The Beatles - 80
Kraftwerk - 79
Bauhaus - 76
Simon & Garfunkel - 75
Mike Oldfield - 74
Tangerine Dream - 73
Tim Buckley - 73
Tyrannosaurus Rex / T.Rex - 73
Sigur Ros - 71
Ozric Tentacles -69
Art of Noise - 69
David Bowie - 66
Suzanne Vega - 66
Jean-Michel Jarre - 66
Van Morrison - 65
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - 65
Robert Fripp (solo) - 65
James Taylor - 63
Jeff Buckley - 62
Led Zeppelin - 62
Rick Wakeman (solo) - 61
Lush - 60
Premiata Formeria Marconi / P.F.M. - 59
Coheed & Cambria - 59
This Mortal Coil - 59
Syd Barrett (solo) - 58
Talking Heads - 58
Pete Murphy (solo) - 57
Lucio Battisti - 57
Elton John - 56
Dead Can Dance - 55
Nine Inch Nails - 55
Miles Davis - 55
Supertramp - 54
Dire Straits - 54
The Enid - 53
Chris de Burgh - 53
Epsilon Indi - 52
Deep Purple - 52
The Who - 52
Sylvian/Fripp - 51

Plus, audiobooks (listed in 'Music') and the like, with tracks as either chapters or whole radio plays:

Agatha Christie - 247
I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - 217
Round the Horne (Series 3) - 169
Sherlock Holmes stories - 100
Just A Minute - 85
The Smoking Room (Series 1) - 80
Isaac Asimov (I, Robot) - 78
Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) - 67
The War of the Worlds (BBC) - 61
P.G. Wodehouse (Wooster) - 56

total tracks: 19584
total time: 78:21:08:12
total size: 118.57 Gbytes

(excluding Podcasts + Audiobooks)

Brooding on the Infinite

Well, my company limps on into oblivion. There is now a good chance of being paid my notice period and at least some redundancy at a 'future time', so I've still got to wander in occasionally.

This morning some recent downloads found on FreeAlbumsGalore, as mentioned the other day.

As my iPod is almost full (and my home library now extends to 120 Gb), I didn't have time for a drastic cull of it's contents, so just transferred a few albums:

Music for Elevators Vol. 1 - Various Artists,
Sun Ra and The Blues Project do Batman and Robin,
Early Japanese Electronic Music - Various Artists, from 1956, and
Stay EP - Wil Deynes.

oiece - skylined, from MfE
The Riddler's Retreat - Sun Ra and the Blues Project,
tram14 - popcrash, MfE,
Batman Theme - Sun Ra and the Blues Project,
Better Way - Wil Deynes,
Nervous - Wil Deynes,
Joker is Wild - Sun Ra and the Blues Project,
Stay - Wil Deynes,
Batman and Robin Swing - Sun Ra and the Blues Project,
Variations on numerical principle of 7 - Makoto Moroi+Toshiro Mayuzumi, from EJEM,
fahrstuhl zum schafott - tomoroh hidari, MfE,
Batman and Robin over the Roofs - Sun Ra and the Blues Project,
Works for musique concrete Y - Toshiro Mayuzumi, EJEM,
triangulo - mendigo, MfE.

All in all, very interesting. The 'Elevator Music' is very good, although it would cause me to linger in the lift, rather than use it simply as a means of transport. There are 2 other Volumes available through here.

The Sun-Ra music is good fun, although some pieces seem to be going through the motions. On balance, pretty good grooves.

The Japanese music is fascinating, sounding a lot like Vangelis's 'Beaubourg' twenty years later. Lots of bleep and buzzes, and sampled speech, with occasional rhythms trying (and failing) to break through.

The Wil Deynes is less interesting, being straight forward rock/pop in a James Blunt-ish vein. It'll probably sound better in Summer, but it didn't fit well in this morning's playlist.

Today's title comes from a Round the Horne CD set I found here. Whilst a lot of it has aged, especially the musical interludes, it still has its moments, particularly the Julian and Sandy sketches and the double entendre overload. "It's all that larver bread you've been eating...".

T - 4; M - 3.5; D - 3

Tomorrow's World

Got to go in today, to hear the denouement, although I did get Friday off...

I had a great weekend, with family, at the Chinese New Year thing in London. I also saw 'The 39 Steps' on Saturday - very funny, and great fun.

Bird Flew By - Nick Drake,
then, as my my iPod shuffled to the neglected new 'Coheed & Cambria' album, No World for Tomorrow, I decided to listen to it in full. Splendid, although I still think it could do with less singing and more instrumental passages.

T - 4; M - 4.5; D - 3

Working from Home

OK, the first day of this brave new world...

Working from home is pretty good - if only I was being paid for it...

I caught a bit of the Radcliffe & Maconie show last night for the first time in weeks and was impressed by the "A Toys Orchestra" track towards the end of the show. The track played - Invisible - was in the Pink Floyd mold and very good.

Their website - here - is rather Flash-heavy, and mostly in Italian, but there are full tracks available to sample, which is always a Good Thing. I detect bits of Porcupine Tree, Floyd and even Caravan in there, I think. The new CD is out soon, and might be worth investing in.

End of Year Report

Well, that's twelve full months for this blog, and here's a Report of the number of monthly 'hits' +/- SD. Not spectacular, but OK for a blog about nothing in particular...

Fiery The Angels Fell

A propos nothing, I finally got round to seeing 'Blade Runner - The Final Cut' last night. I really should have seen it at the cinema recently, but I didn't get round to it.

I didn't, without some sort of geeky side-to-side comparison, notice much difference between the Final Cut and the Director's Cut, so the obvious story differences from the Original Cut remain. What I did notice, was the shifting about of some of Vangelis' soundtrack, with more prominence been given to minor tracks - the Demis Roussos one in particular. The fabulous Love Theme and Memories of Green remain, however, and the whole thing still sounds so good.

It's this kind of thing that wants me to hook up my stereo (again) and buy a bigger, blacker, telly...

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

Music of the Year

As with last year, here are just a few thoughts on this year's releases:

Best New releases:

Fear of a Blank Planet - Porcupine Tree. Possibly my very favourite,
The King of Cards - Tom McRae. Not quite up there with 'Just Like Blood', but very good,
Snakes and Arrows - Rush, much better than 'Vapor Trials',
Comicopera- Robert Wyatt, certainly the first two 'movements',
Person Pitch - Panda Bear, first heard on Where's The Skill In That?,
Coheed & Cambria - No World for Tomorrow,

Honourable mentions too, for Cherry Ghost, Dream Theater, Bjork, Joanna Newsom and Siouxsie.

The Marillion album, although it pains me to say it, should have been better, although '08 promises a return to form.

Other albums I've bought that I've been underwhelmed by include the new Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse, and another White Stripes album that is just too bare for my liking,


Old releases bought this year are far too numerous to mention, as I've spent a large proprtion of my time at work downloading from a variety of sources.

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.

A Fool And His Money

After the recent 'Family Tree' release of Nick Drake (and family) Demoes, comes this:


















On vinyl...

The 180g albums have been available for a while, but very expensive (OK, £20 or so, not that expensive), but these apparently are 135g. Why?



This is weird (from NickDrake.com):

http://www.nickdrake.com/fruit-tree-news.html

Quote "The vinyl sounds great but we make no ludicrous claims to it being of 'audiophile' quality"

What??? Ludicrous? I just don't get it. Why not 'audiophile'? Why don't they just do it properly, including a 12" booklet, not just shoving the CD-sized booklet in the box?

I have so many Nick Drake CDs, but have resisted the vinyl. This now means (IMO) at some future point a boxed set of the 'audiophile' - remastered, 180g vinyl - LPs will be released together with booklet. Just get it over with...

Perfectly Safe; Feel Quite Well...

... Why Don't You Just Go To Hell?

Egg. There are many albums (i.e. vinyl) that have passed through my hands, and many that now reside in my living room. There are also many that I regret not buying. One is the original Buckingham/Nicks album - which was available to me for £50 - when I returned the next day it had gone. Another is the original 'Egg' LP for £15.

I've finally found some downloads and was listening to them at the weekend - Magnificent Prog.

As I fought for arm-rest room between two small, but clinically obese, woman, I listened to 'The Civil Surface' and 'Egg' this morning:

TCS:
Germ Patrol, Wind Quartet I, Enneagram, Prelude, Wring Out the Ground (Loosely Now), Nearch, Wind Quartet II,

E:
Bulb, While Growing My Hair, I Will Be Absorbed, Fugue in D Minor, They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano..., Song of McGillicudie the Pusillanimous (Or Don't Worry James, your Socks are Hanging in the Coal Cellar with Thomas), Boilk, Symphony No. 2.

A heady mix of the Canterbury scene - Caravan, Soft Machine - but similarities with Gentle Giant, Gryphon and even vocal elements of Philip Glass (see North Star). I love this stuff. I prefer 'Civil Surface', but the Symphony (told you it was prog rock) is great.

T - 4; M - 4.5; D - 1.5. The two fat women were only balanced by the approving glances - again! - from a young lady walking the other way. It must be my silk scarf...

Jean Genie

Well, the Charles Hazlewood Show last night was, as ever, interesting and annoying in just about equal measure.

The music mix wasn't eclectic as it has been previously, and I could have done without three of the last four tracks, but each to his own.

James Brown: Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved; Album: Revolution of the Mind
Jamie T: Calm Down Dearest; Album: Panic Prevention
Tom Waits: The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me); Album: Small Change
David Sylvian: Jean The Birdman; Album: God’s Monkey

- Hang on. This was introduced as Jean - to rhyme with Dean or Gene - despite the title being sung a dozen times or more. It was also described as recent. Well, if 1993 is recent then, yes, it's recent. Plus, it's from the Sylvian/Fripp album 'The First Day', not God's Monkey... Plus, it's hardly the best example of his 'husky voice'. How about something from 'Nine Horses' or 'Blemish'?

Vashti Bunyan Session:
Train Song
Winter is Blue

Maria Callas: Non Piu Mesta from La Cenerentola (Rossini)
Cecilia Bartoli: The Marriage Of Figaro - Giunsi Alfin Il Momento .... Al Desio (Mozart)

now you start to lose me...
Wyclef Jean: Where Fugees At; Album: The Ecleftic
Wyclef Jean: Diallo; Album: The Ecleftic
Youssou N’Dour: Birima; Album: Eyes Open / Joko From Village To Town / The Guide - Wommat (3 CD Set)
Pauline Malefane: Last Winter

Hmmm.... 7/10 for this show, I think.

The (Next) Release

Although I wasn't absolutely blown away by the last Marillion album (see my reviews here and here), there is a web-page for pre-orders for album #15. Another double, like Marbles, and another chance to see my name in print.

HERE:

http://www.marillion.com/preorder/

I'll be signing up. I suggest you do too. A Better Way Of Life.

It's A Beautiful Day For A Daring Raid

After one of those weekends where you feel like you need another to recover, a first listen to the new Robert Wyatt CD - Comicopera. I didn't get round to listening to it on my 'proper' hi-fi over the weekend.

Trademark multi-tracked vibrato-rich vocals, with loping jazz-blues and willfully amateurish trumpet playing. Splendid, although there isn't much variation towards the end. I can take or leave the Spanish-themed stuff, too. Not quite as immediate as 'Shleep', but good nontheless.

Stay Tuned - Robert Wyatt
Just as You Are - Robert Wyatt
You You - Robert Wyatt
A.W.O.L. - Robert Wyatt
Anachronist - Robert Wyatt
Beautiful Peace - Robert Wyatt
Be Serious - Robert Wyatt
On the Town Square - Robert Wyatt
Mob Rule - Robert Wyatt
Beautiful War - Robert Wyatt
Out of the Blue - Robert Wyatt
Del Mondo - Robert Wyatt
Cancion de Julieta - Robert Wyatt
Pastafari - Robert Wyatt
Fragment - Robert Wyatt

Plus, some recent downloads to replace my vinyl:

Here Comes The Feeling - Asia
After the War - Asia
Are You Big Enough? - Asia
2 H.B. - Roxy Music

T - 4; M - 4; D - 3

20 - 20 Blind Spot

So England were dumped out of the 20-20 'hit and run' contest in South Africa yesterday. Why are they so awful at limited overs stuff? OK, they're not unbeatable at Test Cricket, but they could at least try the other forms.

I've been to a couple of the 20-20s at the Oval and, although the atmosphere was enjoyable, it felt wrong, somehow.

Falling Down, Down, Down

Another miserable "Summer's" day. Still, I had my recent CDs to cheer me up.

Cherry Ghost's new one (I realise that ths is probably the latest review in the world) is very good, although there are a couple of odd Status-Quo/blues songs in the middle which I didn't like much. Strange that 'My God Betrays' isn't on there, too - it sounded great on the recent Janice Long session. Overall, a pretty decent 7/10 on first listen.

Nick Drake. Listen to Nick Drake always brings a tear to my eye. What was and what could have been are so difficult to think about. He'd be almost 60, now, and who knows...

Black Mountain Blues - Nick Drake
They're Leaving Me Behind - Nick Drake
Come In To The Garden - Nick Drake
They're Leaving Me Behind - Nick Drake
Time Piece - Nick Drake
Poor Mum - Nick Drake (actually, it's his mum, Molly)
Winter Is Gone - Nick Drake
All My Trials - Nick Drake (oh, man is this great - a duet with Gabrielle, his sister)
Kegelstatt Trio - Nick Drake

Then, as the background Tube noise became too much for the fragility of these recordings, a switch to my next recent purchase - Chris Squire's 'Fish out of Water'.

Hold Out Your Hand - Chris Squire
You By My Side - Chris Squire
Silently Falling - Chris Squire
Lucky Seven - Chris Squire
Safe - Chris Squire
Lucky Seven (US Single Edit) - Chris Squire. In these dumbed-down times, it's difficult to imagine anyone putting out a single in 7/4.

Fabulous jazz-tinged prog-rock by the master of the Rickenbacker. Such joy and exuberance.

Job interview tomorrow...

T - 3; M - 4.5; D - 4

I've Got My Guitar And My Music Too

The count of adult reading Harry Potter was surprisingly low - only 2. For the sake of the nation, this is probably a Good Thing.

A radical overhaul of my iPod this weekend resulted in only 3000 tracks being re-loaded: all recent acquisitions, all Prog Rock and all Reggae.

The first album was by a band I'd heard a lot of in relation to Van der Graaf Generator and Gentle Giant - Gnidrolog.

From Lady Lake:

I Could Never Be A Soldier - driven by vocals, but quite sparse with only bass and drums and the occasional flute/sax intrusion. Very subdued guitar.
Ship - excellent,
A Dog With No Collar,
Lady Lake,
Same Dreams,
Social Embarrassment.

A very nice album, redolent of VdGG and GG, but also Soft Machine (Robert Wyatt) and pastoral King Crimson.

To finish things off, early Elton John, from Madman Across the Water:

Levon,
Razor Face.

T- 4; M - 4; D - 3; Potterwatch - 2

Missing the Mark

I've just realised that this is the first week that I have missed the whole of the Mark Radcliffe/Stuart Maconie show on Radio 2 (8-10pm). It wasn't intentional, but the timing simply makes impossible (mealtime, young family etc.).

Instead we've got all the filler stuff in the 10-12 slot which would be my natural listening time. I usually end up listening to Radio 5 Live or simply going to sleep.

Bad move, Radio 2.