Departure lounge ramblings on music, places, climate change and stuff outdoors

Posts from the ‘Music’ category

Music

Indian Ocean – Album of the Week #11

There’s nothing better than the right song at the right time and so it was for me flying back home over the Indian Ocean, listening to Frazey Ford’s reflective song of the same name. The lyrics suggest a sleepless night mulling over the enormity of the world, which well-suited markontour’s restless mind as we traversed the globe at 35,000 feet, the Indian Ocean an unknown quantity in the blackness below and Ford’s voice simply a reminder of beauty in the world. Sleep came as the track faded out to a gentle trumpet.

The Welsh Sing Rugby Songs – Album of the Week #10

I thought I’d better do something Welsh for St David’s Day and what could be more Cymreig than an album of rugby songs? Released in 1968 by a presumably long-defunct record label, Sportsdisc, ‘The Welsh Sing Rugby Songs” was a gift from my wonderful cousin. According to Harry Morgan’s sleeve notes, the “intention all along has been to put on record Rugger songs exactly as they are sung by players the world over.”

Marc Riley’s tribute to David Bowie

Marc Riley’s heartfelt tribute to David Bowie on Monday night was incredibly powerful radio, and should be on the unmissable list for anyone fortunate enough to be in a country where you can access BBC i-player and listen again. The last half hour features archive recording of the equally lamented John Peel introducing a pre-Hunky Dory ‘Bowie and Friends’ concert in typical style, and is pure radio heaven.

Euros Childs’ Sweetheart – Album of the Week #9

A fellow punter at recent Lexington gig tweeted afterwards “I defy anyone to go to a Euros Childs gig and go home without a smile on their face”. That is generally true about any performance by the former Gorkys Zygotic Mynci frontman, but the back-in-love exuberance of Sweetheart means that this tour is likely to be particularly grin inducing.

The Stone Roses: War and Peace

Being a creature of habit, every year on our summer holiday I read a biography of a favourite band. It tends to drive my partner mad, because serial playing of their entire back catalogue accompanies the historical investigation. This year, I’m pleased to say, conflict was avoided, because while The Stone Roses: War and Peace was an engrossing read, the band only knocked out two albums, the first of which was of such sublime, epoch-defining quality that it is what the ‘Repeat All’ button was invented for.

Port Eliot 2015

A festival that I come home from feeling stimulated but relaxed. We were first attracted by the Caught By The River stage, and that is still the main draw, but there is also a cracking roster of book talks, great poets and comedians, the best festival food you are ever going to eat, beautiful grounds to enjoy, the Idler Academy for some casual education, and a bracing swim in the estuary to set yourself up for the day.

Wolf Alice – Album of the Week #8

Last night, thanks to Wolf Alice, I did something I haven’t done for a long time – sat down and listened to a new album all the way through, following the lyrics on the sleeve, and giving the songs my undivided attention. The much-missed DJ, John Peel, used to explain his undimmed enthusiasm for ploughing through the endless promo-tapes sent to him by hopeful aspiring bands with the thought that any one of them might just be the new Smiths. I don’t know if Wolf Alice are that, but I’m on my fifth listen in 24 hours..