Long Weekend

Jour du Duodi, Mois de Germinal - Annee 217 de la Republique

Hello again - I haven't had much to post lately, so I apologise for the lack of content. My mate Singing Bear sent me a load of musical goodies, which I am currently listening to quite a bit. He sent two of the Esoteric Recordings Man re-issues I don't own--the 3-CD Back Into The Future album and the double-disc Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics. Both sound excellent and "Back Into.." includes an entire live set from the Roundhouse in London in June 1973, spread over two discs. The Harvest Records anthology A Breath Of Fresh Air was included. It's a 3-CD set of tracks spanning the label's heyday from 1969 to 1974. All the big names are there..Deep Purple, Kevin Ayers, Barclay James Harvest and, of course, the Floyd. There's also some obscuro-treats from Shirley & Dolly Collins, Pete Brown (in various combos) and Tea & Symphony. Well worth owning! I also got a copy of the Rhino re-issue of Yes' second full-length, Time And A Word. I used to have it on cassette a long time ago, but Rhino's remaster contains a few great bonus tracks, like the 1970 single Dear Father. The rest of the shipment was a copy of Uriah Heep's 1971 album Salisbury (the deluxe Sanctuary re-issue from 2006) and The Wailing Souls' At Channel One, which has some quality dub cuts. Phew - that's a lotta listening. Cheers, Bear! I'll have some stuff heading your way soon.

I bought a few more discs from Amazon as well--the Mark Hollis solo album, first released in 1998, Peter Hammill's A Black Box (the Virgin/Charisma re-issue from 2006) and The Moody Blues' 1970 Isle Of Wight set (released at the end of last year on Eagle Records). All seem excellent to me, but I'm especially liking the quiet textures of the Hollis record. It's almost a continuation of the softer bits on the last two Talk Talk albums, except the arrangements are very sparse. It turned out to be a fitting swansong, as Hollis has not released anything since. Pixie bought the new Doves CD, Kingdom Of Rust, last week and we've been spinning that lots too. My own verdict is that it's pretty good - some of it stretches back to their electro-incarnation as Sub Sub, the rest seems to be 'classic' Doves--ethereal but stepping up to the rock plate when needed. One of the best I've heard so far this year.

This month marks Pixie's and mine 5th wedding anniversary. Seems like only yesterday.... I want to thank her for agreeing to be my goodwyf and staying with me through the tough times and setbacks, as well as the during the fun and upswings. We'll be heading to Bournemouth on our anniversary day for a small getaway. It promises to be a lovely time.

I've held off on starting a new podcast episode 'till after we get a new PC. Yep, we've decided that the ol' Compaq is a bit knackered now--being 6 years old. I've been in touch with a consultant and he's going to try and put together a custom jobbie for us. The main things I wanted were a bunch more memory, a CD and DVD burner and an updated Photoshop program. Pixie wanted Microsoft Word and Excel. We've also entered the 'wireless' age and upgraded our broadband package to include a wireless modem. The intrawebnet does seem a tiny bit faster now--but I have a feeling we'll see a big change after we've got the new PC. We're looking to buy it in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.

That's my report on this extended holiday weekend--my mind is a bit scrambled from trying to remember what day it is. Hope you're enjoying yourselves...get out and enjoy the weather if it's nice.