Helpless

How can we accept the fact that American planes full of bombs, that were used to kill innocent children, 60+ this weekend in Qana, Lebanon, are landing at Prestwick Airport. This is shocking. Ireland would not let these war criminals use their air space. I want to do something about this, but I feel so powerless. If ever there was a reason for us having independence & our own country back, this & that illegal bombing of Iraq should have alerted the Scottish people to scream for independence from the rooftops.

How can we let George Bush & his puppydog of war, dictate what happens in Scotland. How can we let the Zionist war criminals continue with their ethnic cleansing.

Those who are about to die salute you or great undiscovered classics from the past

I decided to start this series of classic albums from the past as it has been a recent pursuit since I joined the download culture. I would love to understand the technology involved, so that I could host these albums zipped on a server somewhere. In the meantime I will give space to what is a very personal history of my favourite albums over the past c37 years. I will be glad of any comments/suggestions.

Ok lets begin. I have already by cunningly mentioning Colloseum’s masterpiece in the title of this post.

• Jack Bruce - Songs for a Tailor
• John Fahey – First 2 albums
• Donovan – Sunshine Superman & Hurdy Gurdy Man
• Chicago – Chicago Transit Authority
• Blood Sweat & Tears – First 2 albums
• Scott Walker – everything!
• Tyrannosaurus Rex – acoustic albums
• United States of America – USA
• Joe Byrd & Field Hippies – J. B. & F. H.
• Pearls Before Swine – Balaklava/Use of Ashes/One Nation Underground
• Captain Beefheart – Trout Mask Replica/Lick My Decals
• Can – almost everything
• Nick Drake – Five leaves left/Bryter Later/Pink Moon
• David Crosby – If Only I Could Remember my Name
• Quintessence - anything
• Red Krayola – God Bless/Parable of Arable
• Soft Machine – all early stuff
• Wild Man Fisher – An Evening with
• 13^th Floor Elevators – Anything
• This Heat – This Heat/Deceit
• White Noise – Electric Storm
• Santana – Caravanserai
• Caravan – In the Land of Grey & Pink
• John Wall – Fear of Gravity/Alterstill
• John Watermann – Calcutta Gas Chamber
• Strafe FR – everything
• Hafler Trio – everything
• Zoviet France – everything
• Justin Bennett – anything
• AMM – anything
• Tranquility Bass – Let the Freak Flag Fly
• Bernard Parmegiani – everything
• Third Ear Band – 1^st lp/Alchemy
• Stereolab – everything
• Broadcast - anything
• Muslimgauze – everything
• Chris Watson – everything
• David Axelrod – everything
• Basil Kirchin – everything
• Eugene Chadbourne – anything
• David Sylvian – everything
• Zappa/Mothers – Freak Out/Hot Rats/Uncle Meat
• Roberto Musci & G. Venosta – Messages & Portraits & anything else
• Sun Ra – anything
• Alice Coltrane – anything
• Miles Davis – almost anything
• Edgar Broughton Band – Wasa Wasa/Sing Brother Sing/Inside Out
• Traffic – Mr Fantasy/ Shoot out/On the road
• Occasional Word – Year of Great Leap Sideways
• Spirit – anything
• Pink Floyd – ‘More’
• Blodwyn Pig – Ahead Rings Out/Getting into This
• Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties
• Syd Barrett (R.I.P.) – Barrett/Madcap Laughs
• John Martyn – Tumbler/London Conversation/Solid Air
• Van Morrison – Astral Weeks/Its Too Late to Stop Now
• Tim Buckley – everything
• Harry Nilsson – ‘The Point’
• Holy Modal Rounders – Have Moicy & anything else
• MC5 – Kick out the Jams
• Doors – everything
• Groundhogs – Blues Obituary/Thank Christ for the Bomb/Split
• Michael Chapman – Early stuff
• Roy Harper – Early stuff
• Jerry Yester & Carolyn Hester – Farewell Alderbaran
• Ken Nordine – everything
• Sun City Girls – Carnival Folklore
• Pretty Things – anything
• Savoy Brown – anything
• Paul Giovanni – ‘Wicker Man’
• Peddlers – everything
• Comus – everything
• The Necks – everything
• Animal Collective – anything
• Books – everything
• Clogs – everything
• Laura Nyro – anything
• Bridget St John – Ask me no Questions/Songs for the Gentleman/Jumblequeen/Thank You For
• Moondog – everything
• Liverpool Scene – everything
• Carmen – Fandangos in Space
• Fire – the Magic Shoemaker
• Reality – Second Hand
• Beau –
• Marc Brierley – Hello
• Pete Brown & Piblokto – anything
• Trees – Garden of Jane Delawney everything else
• Graham Bond Organisation – everything
• Brian Auger Trinity – everything
• Clouds - island label – anything
• Nirvana (British- island label) – anything
• International Harvester – everything
• Kevin Ayers – early stuff
• Pentangle – everything
• Kevin Coyne – Marjory Razorblade
• Amon Duul – everything
• Nucleus – Elastic Rock/Belladonna
• Quicksilver Messenger Service – Happy Trails
• Fugs – everything
• Henry Cow – everything
• Matching Mole – everything
• Exuma – Exuma
• Giles, Giles & Fripp – Brondesbury Tapes/Cheerful Insanity
• Hatfield & North – Hatfield & North/Rotters Club
• Nico – Desertshore/Marble Index/Chelsea Girl
• Goblin – all soundtracks
• Peter Hammill – anything
• Cosmic Jokers – Galactic Supermarket
• Faust – everything
• Brainticket – everything
• Nicola Conte – everything
• Grateful Dead – early stuff
• Jefferson Airplane – early stuff
• Pere Ubu – everything
• Silver Mount Zion – everything
• Godspeed You Black Emperor – everything
• Devendra Banhart – everything
• Eden Ahbez – Eden’s island
• All Saved Silver Freak Band – For Christians, elves & lovers
• Jack Arel – everything
• Dorothy Ashby – Rubaiyat/In a Minor Groove
• Les Baxter – everything
• Beach Boys – Surfs up/Holland/Smile/Pet Sounds
• Chris Bell – I am the Cosmos
• Beta Band – 3 eps
• Biota – Bellowing room/Tinct
• Jane Birkin – everything
• Blind Faith – Blind Faith
• Country Joe & Fish – everything
• Disinformation – everything e.g. R & D 1 & 2
• John Duncan – everything
• Merzbow – everything
• Funki Porcini – everything
• Fila Brazilia – everything
• Heights of Abraham – everything
• Serge Gainsborough – everything
• Gotan Project – La Revancha del Tango/Lunatico
• Guru Guru – everything
• Jon Hassell – everything
• Brian Eno – everything
• Harold Budd – everything
• David Toop – everything
• Terry Riley – everything
• John Cale – Church of Anthrax
• Steve Reich – everything
• Richie Havens – almost everything
• Xhol Caravan – everything
• Incredible String Band – everything
• Jandek – everything
• Philip Jeck – everything
• Karminsky Experience – everything
• H. P. Lovecraft – II
• Love – Da Capo/Forever Changes
• Harvey Mandell – Righteous
• Shuggy Otis - everything
• Marr’ Del – Mystery of Love
• John Mayall – Early stuff
• Rapoon – everything
• Rare Bird – everything
• Tontos Expanding Head Band – everything
• Tom Rapp – Sunforest
• Arthur Russell – World of Echo/Another Thought
• Richard Scott & Rex Casswell – Magnificence of Stereo
• Slapp Happy – Casablanca Moon
• Skeleton Crew – Learn to Talk/Country of Blind
• Judee Sill – everything
• Skalpel – everything
• Stars of the Lid – everything
• Stock, Hausen & Waterman – everything
• Stephen Stills – I & II & Manassas
• Band – Music from Big Pink
• Spooky Tooth – everything
• Tortoise – everything
• Throbbing Gristle – everything
• Psychic TV – everything
• Ralf L. Wehowsky – Tulpas
• Ryoji Ikeda – everything
• Ya Ho Way 13 – everything
• Robert Wyatt – everything
• Ivor Cutler (R.I.P.) - everything

Radio

During these long summer days, I often wonder what possesses my neighbours, when they have their radios blaring at full volume. The sunshine makes them happy, so they want to share this happiness by forcing everyone to listen to the drivel that comes from most uk radio stations.

We could & should have decent radio in this country. Most other countries in the world have sensible broadcasts. The germans are a good example of what can be turned into an artform. i.e. horspiegal? Radio 3 does get close to this brilliance sometimes e.g. with ‘Between the Ears’ or ‘The wire’ or some of their excellent radio plays. Examples of the latter can be found on ubuweb (e.g. with Scanner & Ergo Phizmiz.

By selecting the best, from my point of view, my weekly digest consists of: Gilles Peterson (radio 1), planet latino (radio Scotland), alt 60s (radio 2), mixing it & jazz on 3 (radio 3) & various programmes from Resonance fm. This is enough for me to cope with at the moment, but I do feel that it is a medium that has been sidelined, because of television that has now become trash. Young people are returning to decent sensible radio i.e. radio Scotland & ignoring all that insane, dj talking garbage, that the radio stations think that the young want & what in effect is more of that reality tv crap candy for the ears.

http://www.ubu.com/

Droning on & on


Listening to Xhol Caravan’s ‘Motherfuckers’ from 1972: a krautrock masterpiece & thinking about the drone.
I mentioned in previous posts about the Scots fascination with latin music, but it is easier, historically to understand, why we enjoy the drone so much. Personally, I am in - deep. Yesterday lying on my hammock nodding to Terry Riley’s ‘Rainbow in Curved Air’ followed by his ‘In C’ & then Tony Conrad & Faust’s ‘Outside the Dream Syndicate’ shows where my head is at.

I have always been fond of Indian music since the 60s sitars & tablas etc & Bollywood epic soundtracks & I smile when I remember listening to live Afghani drones in Siggis, Kabul November 1973. Strange to think that music was forbidden in that country for so long after the rise of the Taliban.

Much of the music I enjoy listening to has a high drone content..e.g. krautrock, psychedelia, new psychedelic folk, old psychedelic folk (e.g. ISB). Likewise much of the electronica/glitch I enjoy has that constant buzz……….e.g. Hafler Trio, Zoviet France or the World musics that do it for me...e.g. Tibet, Morocco, Bali, so gamelan or gnawa or shaman or Buddhist chant……….chant brings me nicely to the chanter, not the singer, but the bagpipes & aside from the tartan shortbread image, bagpipes can also be ok…………I remember I used to think it was just homesickness that was calling me in Riyadh, when I kept thinking I was hearing the pipes, but I soon found out it was some kind of army base & they had Pakistani pipers.

Dont Try This At Home


Coffee crisis could not get that required early morning lift. Try to wake up to some decent music, however much my son & I enjoy Iron & Wine we both agreed that it was too soporific for this time of day & I chose to play Boris & Merzbow's combined efforts.

Too melodic I cried, Merzbow-lite. I prefer Masami Akita on his own with his banks of faulty overdriven guitar pedals that makes a unbearble noise like scree on Cairngorm during a harsh winter's day.

Actually the cd got better once the guitars drifted off into space echo reverb territory & Merzbow introduced some sweetness with his trickery.

Not for the faint - hearted & definitely not to be listened to without the java & the Gold Block.

Just Another Diamond Day

Hi just took a weeks holiday. It didn’t begin very well with cloudy skies for the first 4 days. Mostly dry therefore ideal weather for working in the garden. I had some heavy slabbing to undertake. I have to make my gardening life easier as the years go by.

In order to further this aim, I had bought, a state of the art, top of the range, hammock. This was how I would rather spend my days. Searching for those slow lazy days of summers past. At the end of the week they arrived. Intense heat, too hot to work. I just put some of my old half forgotten mixes onto the trusty minidisk player & drifted into another world. Sheer bliss. Lying on the hammock, there was no need to travel on a holiday, putting up with queues, screaming weans & all the rest of that stress. I could do all my travelling internally; eyes closed reliving all those crazy border crossings another lifetime ago. I was travelling through Afghanistan without the aid of a safety net and without bumping into all those British squaddies. What in heavens name are all those soldiers doing in Afghanistan. It makes no sense at all Mr Blair!

Trying to get any work done in the garden is a major task in itself. This is not because I am lazy, far from it, or because I set myself such tough objectives. It is because all my neighbours are so friendly and we all have time for each other. As soon as you try & start something, that would be completed in say, half an hour, they all drop by to chat. Maybe we are protecting each other from doing too much particularly on hot days. This phenomena reminds me of the street sweeper in that Jacques Tati film, where he sweeps the main square for a couple of seconds until someone stops to talk to him & it goes on & on.

Like the street sweeper, many of us have now lived in this street for a long time & this accounts for much of the chat. My sister-in-law is the latest arrival, but she knew most of the gossip already from my wife. There are 2 sisters & their mother all within whispering distance of ourselves & my sister-in-law. I actually find all this re-assuring and it is superb to live among people you can turn to, friends who will help you if they can, or tell you who else you can turn to, if they cannot help.

The hammock has been tried by just about all my neighbours, all shapes & sizes and there has been a lot of interest in obtaining one for themselves. I better climb back on before that sun disappears.

New College


I am looking forward to our move to a new building next summer. I have obtained some recent photos of its futuristic design.

Holy Mountain

The above photo shows me & my family in a state of shock & awe after borrowing a copy of 'Holy Mountain' from my friend, nick. I enjoyed 'El Topo', but I am sure some might find it a trifle odd? However in order to clear the room, I clicked the play button on the remote & by the time the Conquest of Mexico re-enacted by toads had began, I was all alone.

Utter madness, mayhem & to my scrabbled brain pure psychedelic pleasure.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky

Bossa Nova

Sitting here chilling after a hard graft in the garden and listening to my mate, Nick Peacock’s superb latin mix on Planet Latino. It started with a version of Mas Que Nada, I haven’t heard before and I have heard quite a few! Nice one. Then it just got better.

I began to wonder what is it with Scots and latin music. There is a high proportion of us that really obsess about latin music. It was always there when I was younger: the MPB sound of bossa nova & it was around in much of the jazz I listened to. Although it was only much later when I really got into that Blue Note groove. Also at that time I was more concerned with all things psychedelic.

Then there was a big push for the Buena Vista sound. I was so happy when the Happy Highlanders could not make the Buena Vista gig @ Kings Theatre a few years ago & myself & my youngest son went along & got totally blown away. He is more a Cuban music fan than I am, I am more enthralled with the Brazilian sound.

Anyway I would just like to state what a great programme this is on Radio Scotland, a radio station that has turned into something great over the last few years.

In A Minor Groove

Finally took a week off work & that means I can find time to listen to some lost sounds like Dorothy Ashby’s In a Minor Groove from 1958. I am doing so as I type this @ 7.30 a.m.

This is after a late night out @ another superb gig @ King Tuts Wah Wah Hut. I put myself in the mood by working with bamboo in the garden during the day. I am still worried about the water leak I have from the car. However driving into Glasgow as a double rainbow illuminated the Science Centre convinced me that the night was going to be special.

The support artists were odd I suppose. There was an Icelandic girl singer in the style of early Bjork or Joanna Newsome. She seemed totally unrehearsed, chaotic, lost, confused & crazy, but she charmed the crowd with her honesty & immense talent.

She was followed by a solo shahuhachi flute player, who was oblivious to the rising chatter and went on & on for what seemed like hours, but it may have only been about half an hour. He had a good sense of humour though, as he asked the appreciative audience, if they wanted him to go through his solo again. He only gave us short highlights as time was pressing.

All this meant the headliners: Animal Collective were late coming onto the stage. This was their second visit to Glasgow, the last time was @ the ABC, but as they had just come off the festival circuit, they were happy to play such a small intimate venue & it showed. They just created such a big, full, intense sound live. Once they hit a groove & stay on it is so hypnotic. It is difficult to describe their style of music. The King Tut flyer has them compared to Can, Amon Duul & Sun City Girls. I have seen the latter live @ Instal @ Arches & they blew me away. Animal Collective did the same last night. Krautrock for the 21^st century. They also include what seems to be some of Can or Holger Czukay ethnic forgery in a style just like Sun City Girls, where they got lost in Tibetan, African, Voodoo or Native American chanting & raised the roof & bent the bamboo.

Books, Clogs & the Penguin Café Orchestra

After a recent concert by the Books & Clogs @ the Arches, I realised I should go back & listen to the Penguin Café Orchestra as both of these bands reminded me so much of the latter. Yesterday I listened to PCO’s Union Café & it is so good. We are exposed to many of their earlier tracks e.g. Music for a Found Harmonium via adverts on tv. In fact, am I correct in suggesting that the music for adverts is getting better? Last week during the breaks in the football, I heard Donovan’s Sunshine Superman followed by Vashti Bunyans ‘Diamond Days’.

It is only natural that a Librarian would end up listening to a band called, The Books, but being a Librarian has its negative side. We always need to classify objects, items etc it come with the territory. This is why bands like the Books, Clogs, PCO & another band I saw @ the Arches a while ago: the Necks, fall between the cracks or should that be: between the stacks? 3 of these bands names also cause problems for Librarians as they all begin with ‘the’: the indefinite article an absolute nightmare for Classifiers!

Are the Necks jazz or minimalists? Are the Clogs the same? All I would suggest is that they are a combination, stylistically they cross borders. What they all have in common is that they all sound good to these tired ears.

Listening to a lot of the new folk or psychedelic folk artists these days, you soon realise how much cross pollination goes on. Many of these artists have included a range of ethnic nuances or glitchy bits in their sound. A recent discovery: Camille’s Le Fil has a whole range of unexpected colours in her sound.

Kon Tiki: or the Lures & the Dangers of the Exotic

I thought I would stay on this theme for a little while in order to counterbalance the space given to fitba.

I remember lying in a bed in St George’s Hospital, Hyde Park Corner then, I only mention the location as my friend Robbie, another Librarian, is starting work in the current Tooting location, (co-incidence??), & thinking to myself, I have done a fair bit of travelling, now is the time to settle down & get married.

I had just experienced a 4 month, mind – expanding, vacation on the old hippie trail. Maybe it was a moment of weakness or perhaps it was the fact that I had survived almost intact. I did have hep – b & I could have been delirious, but I did get engaged to my childhood sweetheart by phone from my hospital bed. This was a difficult process as no-one was brave enough to bring the phone into my isolation ward, except a chap, who had thwarted an armed robbery & had the back of his kneecap blown off as a result.

Anyway, I am well – pleased that my youngest son has proposed to his long - term girlfriend from an exotic location, Kos. This is their second visit to the island and I hope & trust that it will always be special to them. Might I suggest there is a pattern here? My son is deeply frightened that he will become anything like me. I was like this before I became just like my own father. It’s just something that happens. If Billy Preston was still alive (R.I.P.) he would sing, ‘That’s the Way God Planned It’: a great tune and a beautiful piece of work to leave the world.

On the garden front: we have a rose that usually blooms for the above mentioned sons’ birthday on 2^nd August, but I did use animal manure for the first time this year, and as a result, we have an early bloom. Incidentally, the other flowers, who usually struggle in this weak soil, are now thriving, so it has been a worthwhile exercise although it has been a little smelly at times.

Outside the Dream Syndicate

My earliest memories are of trying to escape from the mundane. As a child I would disappear after school into the hills. Most of the time I was on my own, but if I had company, then that was ok, too.

On the wild & wet & windy days, I would escape into the wonderful world of books. At this stage in my life, I loved travel & adventure, the more exotic the better. I loved reading & learning about faraway lands. ‘This Wonderful World’ with John Grierson was on tv and I had an uncle, who dropped off these magazines, who’s title eludes me, but it was the magazine equivalent of the exotica vinyl covers, that graced the record racks in shops. I have used a variety of the latter, in previous posts.

Shifting forward to the present day. Absolutely nothing has changed. I am listening to Ethiopiques, vol 4, Raymond Scott - Manhattan Research Project, John Cale’s - Church of Anthrax, Joe Meek & his Blue Men – I hear a New World, Elizabeth Waldo’s - Maracatu, Various – Café Samba & lastly, Dorothy Ashby’s - Rubaiyat: an extraordinary piece of jazzy exotica, like a female version of Sun Ra. I am not travelling to far off lands, but I am creating my own piece of those realms within my living room or garden space: an area of wild grasses & bamboo & my current escape route, (if only this rain would stop!).

Planet Latino


Talking to my friend/colleague Nick Peacock out in the sunshine yesterday. What an interesting chap! A photographer/dj & who is also well - travelled & another obsessive/compulsive music fan & he also shares a few friends & memories of the old days. We were on the same wavelengh right away chatting about Gilles Peterson/Simon Hodge/Latin music, especially Brazilian.

He mentioned the fact that Radio Scotland has started a new Wednesday night slot hosted by Simon Hodge over the summer on Latin music: Planet Latino:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/view/show.shtml?jazz

We had a rare chat about Ed Motta etc... but sadly I had to go back to work, but I am sure we will revisit this subject again, as the series continues.

Still Game


What a collective sigh of relief when the English finally got knocked out of the World Cup. This is a trophy they expected to win! They constantly told everyone they would lift that trophy. Get a reality check. They got the easiest games in the tournament.

Anyway, this is not an anti English rant. This is an anti- English media rant. We can enjoy the rest of the competition, although for this writer, I was shocked at the performance of Brazil & much as I did not rate France, they thoroughly deserved their place in the next round.

Its so difficult to find the time for my other pursuits, e.g. garden re-design, with all this football going on! I can only nip out between games & do a small amount.

On the musical front, I have been getting a lot of elusive cds finally. I am a big Dario Argento fan & I got the Goblin soundtracks to ‘Suspiria’, ‘Tenebre’, ‘Amo Non Amo’, ‘Zombi’, & Profondo Rosso’. I love the music when it is in the films. I will see how they sound without the visuals. If I can find the time to listen to them.

On a positive note: I admit I have been dismayed at the 5-0 whitewash of the English cricket team by Sri Lanka. As a sporting nation, they are not doing very well. I mean what was painted on the team coach, One Nation…..Does this mean that the Scots are different, that we should have some real power to secure oil wealth etc…& have a proper health service etc…like Norway??

Anyway, has anyone noticed the quiet progress of Andy Murray, who has made some stupid statements in his young life.