He Was Born To Boogie

I couldn't let the month go by without paying tribute to the great bopping elf himself, Marc Bolan. Marc died 30 years ago this month when the car driven by his partner, Gloria Jones, hit a tree after they had been on the town for the night. He was a couple of weeks away from his 30th birthday. I often wonder what Marc would have gone on to achieve if this tragedy hadn't occured and it's odd to think of him as a 60 year old. How I wish he'd made it.

Marc was my first musical hero and has remained a hero through all other twists and turns in my musical tastes. I didn't notice him when T.Rex released 'Ride A White Swan' but once the follow-up single, 'Hot Love' hit the airwaves and stayed at number one for six weeks I fell in love with the music of this amazing man. I was ten years old and the world was just beginning to open up for me and the music of T.Rex would be the soundtrack of the next few years. I bought every single as soon as they were released, saving every penny of my pocket money and rushing into the centre of Bristol with my mate, Geoff Ford, so we could get our hands on the wax at the earliest possible moment. 'Get It On', 'Jeepster', 'Metal Guru', 'Telegram Sam', 'Children of the Revolution'....on and on and on. It's almost impossible to imagine now an artist having such an impact as Bolan and T.Rex did back then. Bolan invented Glam Rock. They were the new Beatles. It took a me while to get hold of an album because they were financially beyond my reach for a while but Geoff (who was a little more affluent than me) bought Electric Warrior and we played it on his little mono record player constantly. My own first T.Rex album was one of those budget MFP label things that actually featured the weirdo folk songs of Tyrannosaurus Rex plus 'Ride A White Swan'. I didn't care, it still sounded mad and wonderful! It wasn't until my 12th birthday that I actually got an up-to-date album, The Slider, which was also a gem.

To fast forward a little, by about 1974 we started to get into prog and heavy rock and Geoff decided he didn't care so much for Bolan anymore and I ended up with his original copy of Electric Warrior, which I still have today with the original poster inside and all. I'd never part with it. I wonder if Geoff regrets his haste now? So, we were digging Deep Purple, Sabbath and Yes but I was still secretly spinning 'Teenage Dream' and 'Truck On Tyke'. Slowly, Marc started to slip from the centre of the pop scene and even though I kept up with his singles I didn't buy any more albums after Tanx. I couldn't afford Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (Or A Cream Cage In August) AND Stormbringer! It was either/or in more ways than one.

Most of the pop press and the radio shows mainly ignored or scoffed at Marc by the mid-70's but in 1977, with punk rock taking over our lives (I went that-a-way too), he came back with a strong album, Dandy In The Underworld, and a tour with The Damned as support. Geoff and I couldn't resist the chance to see our old hero at Bristol's Colston Hall, so we got our tickets and I'm so glad we did. It was no longer the old T.Rex of Mickey Finn, Steve Curry and Bill Legend but Marc played a blinder even with his session muso pals. I believe this was in March of that year. A few months later, he was gone and we had lost a true star.

Over the years I have now collected all the albums on vinyl and CD (including the excellent pixie-folk with Steve Peregrine Took) and all the singles are stashed away safely in the attic and I'll not part with them. I still play the music of Marc Bolan and T.Rex regularly and I just want to thank him for all the pleasure he's given me and for starting a young lad off on a musical adventure that will never end. Wherever you are, Marc, thanks and keep on rockin'!

Keeping The House Warm

Whilst The Purple Gooroo and Pixie are off on their hols I thought I'd pop by and make sure the place is up together, open the windows, use the toilet and steal the biscuits! I certainly want to say how much I sympathize with The Gooroo and all that he says in his post below. Mr. Gooroo... I'm not sure why you think these are demons of your own creation, though. Don't blame yourself for feeling unwell just put your energy into getting better again. It's true what you say about being unwell making you selfish. I've been there, brother. When I suffered my own mental torments I was a pain in the backside to live with (and still am, from time to time). It's important to make the most of the times when you feel better and convey to those around you how much you appreciate their loyalty and support but don't beat yourself up too much because that won't help either! You know that those who love you understand. I've found it helpful to keep my radar open for the first signs that I might be getting into one of my 'pits' and try to either act quickly enough to head it off by doing something therapeutic or, if I'm already too far gone, then remove myself from the company of others for a while so at least they don't get hurt by metaphorical flying glass. Of course, I'm not saying it works all the time or for all people. Life can be tough! I agree that medication helps too but it just gives you the platform to change things for the better from within. I'll admit I'm still chewing on the things after countless years but they have certainly helped and there's no shame in needing them, especially if it gives you the chance to start really 'changing your mind'. I know, in my own case, this has been a very slow process.

That was a long and rather rambling paragraph but I hope it was okay to say these things. One final point regarding the above, I'm seeing a counsellor at the moment (mainly due to non 'head' related stuff) but she has asked me to try and write down all my current thoughts and feelings about things I'm going through. It's odd but although I can ramble on about all sorts of nonsense I find it really very difficult to write about my own truest feelings. I've never been able to keep a diary, not because I wouldn't want anyone else to read it but because I know I'd find it hard to be honest with myself in words. I'm not sure what this means. I think seeing my own deepest, sometimes most fearful, thoughts actually on paper, in words, would make some things too real. I'm almost phobic about it, which is probably why I enjoyed art therapy so much because I could get my feelings down in symbols (usually utterly abstract); with honest words (and there is no point to dishonest wordsmithery) you have nowhere to hide. Anyway, I'm going to try but I think it'll be hard even though it could be very helpful.

I've also been spending a fair bit of time reading and listening to music but in my case it's been re-reading books and listening to OLD music, much of it from my ancient vinyl collection. Actually, I'll have to admit that all the reading has been about music as well! I read Woody Guthrie's Bound For Glory again, followed up with a fine book on the musical roots of Bob Dylan (yawn...I can hear you!) by Wilfred Mellers called A Darker Shade of Pale. His analysis of Dylan himself is a bit of a drag but the first half of the book concentrates on Dylan's folk and blues influences and is a good primer for anyone who wants to get into the old stuff but isn't sure where to start. We all know about Son House, Robert Johnson, Woody and all but for anyone who hasn't heard Dock Boggs or Roscoe Holcomb or Gaelic Psalm singing....get some now! Ah, music. The cure for so many ills. I recommend the warm, heart massaging bass that comes with most great reggae, particularly dub or the works of Jah Wobble or the Bronx based sisters ESG. In the words of the great Smith and Mighty, 'Bass Is Maternal'.

I'm glad to have been able to get around to making this brief contribution to our blog and I hope to be back again soon with something more concrete to say or maybe I'll just ramble on as usual! Hope Pixie and The Gooroo's holiday is wonderful and we all are blessed with good health and happiness soon. Peace.

Escape From Chapel Perilous

2 Tishri - Year 5768

I apologise to you loyal readers (all three of you) for not posting much lately. I've been battling with the demons of my own creation, a classic case of what R.A.W. used to call Chapel Perilous. My visits only last a couple of months, thankfully, but they pack a wallop. I have been getting anxiety spells probably most of my life--but they only really made their presence known in 2001 (and no, they didn't have anything to do with the W.T.C. atrocity, as I was already in the midst of the Chapel when that happened, though that didn't help my state of mind at all, at all). It took me a few months and regular doctor visits to break out that time. I had to go on "the meds", which did help and I eventually stopped having panic attacks and insomnia. I thought I was finished with C.P...heh heh..little did I know....

I ended up on another tour two years later and again I got better and again thought I was "free" from it's doors..then again two years after that and this year I was confident I was going to break the cycle, but I wandered through the entrance yet again. I tried to go without the medication this time, but C.P. once again seemed too powerful and vast to attempt a quick exit. Ah well...so it goes. Last month was a blur of insomnia and strong emotion, but I'm feeling a bit better now.

The weird (and ironic) thing about the medication is that for the first week or two that I take it, it actually "spikes" the anxiety and I feel worse than before. That does seem to be a common side effect of an S.S.R.I. (that's a "selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor"--it's supposed to replace any depleted serotonin in the brain). It takes between 2 and 4 weeks to really start to work. I ended up being signed off of work for two weeks and was told to relax as much as possible. I mainly read quite a bit and went for walks in the fields nearby. I found that it helped, but it was still difficult during the days, due to restlessness. I read an ancient book of Mark Twain's short stories that I'd been meaning to get to for quite a while now. I also read Mike Oldfield's autobiography, Changeling, which, in a strange synchronicitous way--highlights Oldfield's own battle with anxiety throughout his life. Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye kept me occupied for a few days, as did James Joyce's A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, which I'd never read all the way through before. I'm reading David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (spoiler warning: the link is a review of the book) at the moment, which I borrowed from the local library. Another thing I was meaning to do was get a library card--and the time off afforded me the opportunity. I've since checked out Philip K. Dick's Confessions Of A Crap Artist and Luke Rhinehart's The Dice Man, which was the subject of a Maybe Logic Academy course. I'm looking forward to reading them.

I also delved into a lot of my classical CDs--as they've been neglected for some time now. I would play some Satie or Debussy to accompany my reading. I own a few classical guitar discs, so those were given a spin. Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis sets a mellow mood, as does Oregon's Music Of Another Present Era. I ordered the new Richard Hawley album, Lady's Bridge, from Amazon. It's quite good and fits in with all of the other stuff I chose. I bought the new Super Furry Animals CD, Hey Venus!, at the local Tesco, of all places--and while it's not exactly ambient, I gave it a couple of spins just to check it out. My initial thought is that it's good, but not extraordinary--just another S.F.A. album. I don't really like the cover art, either--I miss Pete Fowler's alien landscapes and weird creatures. Ah well, a new kinda-average S.F.A. album seems better than no new album to me.

I've returned to work since then and while it hasn't been completely smooth sailing--I've adjusted back into the daily grind better than I initially thought I would. I've also been getting a bit more sleep in the past couple of weeks, but I'm still battling with the anxiety, especially in the morning. Ah well, I feel like I'm closer to the exit of C.P. than I was a few weeks ago. Then the real work starts of trying to rid myself of the anxiety, or at the very least, learn to cope with it better.

R.A.W. mentions somewhere in the Maybe Logic DVD that one of the unfortunate things about having an illness is that it makes one very self-centred. I've been trying not to let that happen either (though it's very tough at times). Watching the news each night reminds me that I'm far more fortunate than many others on the planet today. I saw the announcements that both Luciano Pavarotti and Joe Zawinul have left the planet, in the same week. Sad. Along with the wars, floods, typhoons, earthquakes & other catastrophes that many are having to face each day--I feel fortunate, indeed.

Cropredy Capers 2007

Sweetmorn, Bureaucracy 7, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3173

We definitely got a vibe that this year was going to be a bit different when, not even halfway through the village of Cropredy on the way to the camping fields, we were caught in a traffic jam. That hadn't happened in the past couple of years. We weren't sure what was happening--only that we were crawling along slowly in the blazing afternoon sun. On the upside - the village looked splendid, all sun-drenched and pastoral. It turned out that since the festival was sold-out--the security and work crews were turning away the hopeful multitudes who had arrived on the day to try and score an elusive ticket. Eventually, they had to let some of them camp, because the traffic would have been even worse.

We set up our tent fairly rapidly and then scouted the field for any conveniences (Porta-Loos, coffee/food stands, etc.) . After a little while, it was time to brave the ticket/wristband swap queues. Pixie decided to go back to the tent to grab our chairs and water and snacks, so I stayed in the massive queue to hold our place. The wristband staff proved more efficient than we thought and soon I was almost at the entrance and Pixie hadn't arrived back. I asked the bloke just inside if I could wait a moment for her, so she wouldn't have to go to the back of the line--but he refused, as the punters were arriving fast. She showed up about two minutes after I had my band and then we trudged with the stuff back to the end of the queue. To make matters slightly worse (and somewhat comical), we were in front of a few grizzled rockers who could've been roadies for Spinal Tap. All we heard for 20 minutes were things like "Saxon, 1978" "Cor!..oh yeah, Iron Maiden, Donnington 1981"...and on and on. While we were in the queue - we heard a bit of Anthony John Clarke and most of Kerfuffle's sets. Clarke seemed just O.K., trad-folkie type stuff and Kerfuffle had the neo-Celtic groove covered. Wishbone Ash, who did seem a bit out of place with their guitar-driven rawk, delivered a decent set and wisely stuck to selections from their first three albums, especially their 1972 foray into prog-rock, Argus (though, having said that - the 15-minute version of Phoenix, from the debut record, did seem to drag on some). Seth Lakeman was up next. He's a rising star in the Brit-folkie world and he did bring a flash of youthfulness to the afternoon. He does appear to be a bit over-hyped, though. I did enjoy the tunes - but they sounded a bit same-y after a while. We didn't stay for the final act of the day, Jools Holland & His Super-Duper Rhythm & Classical Orchestra...er something like that. Pixie wanted to head back to the tent and I was feeling run-down from being in the sun most of the day, so I joined her. We could hear them from the tent anyway..and when they got to Lulu's version of Shout, I was hoping Otis Day & The Knights would show up instead.

The next day we walked into Cropredy village, amongst the throngs of other festival-goers. I visited the Talking Elephant tent and was tempted into buying a couple of over-priced discs yet again (I don't think I'll ever learn). At least the two I purchased seem kinda rare. Curved Air's 1972 record, Phantasmagoria and The Enid's Something Wicked This Way Comes. They had a DVD of Tangerine Dream's 1975 Coventry Cathedral performance - but I decided to hold off..I can probably get it cheaper on-line anyway. By the time we made it back to the arena (after stopping by the showers--we needed one at that point--and the tent for supplies), Hummingbird were finishing their set. The band features three women, one of whom, Edwina Hayes, we had seen as a solo act a couple of years ago. They get compared to Crosby, Stills & Nash quite a bit--but to me, they sounded like an English version of the Emmylou Harris/Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt "Trio" records...only not as harmonically rich. Mad Agnes, an American trio--were up next. I wasn't overly impressed with them, despite not sticking to "traditional" subject matter in their lyrics. I suppose it was a bit tough for them to connect with the crowd, talking about adopted kids growing up in New Jersey, to a field full of British folkies in the middle of Oxfordshire. The next two bands, The Demon Barbers Roadshow and Last Orders, seemed more inventive - the Demon Barbers incorporating near drum-and-bass rhythms into a couple of tunes and inviting Riverdance-esque clog-shufflers to hoof it during a few others. Last Orders are a promising young band who, while retaining the trad-folk sound, bend it a bit here and there. They didn't seem to be stunningly original, but they definitely put in a good performance. The 'classic-rock du jour' was provided by Viva Santana. You guessed it, they mimic Carlos and his ever-changing cast of cohorts. They played all the well-known ones, Oye Como Va....Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen...Evil Ways...even the annoying Smooth. They did a workmanlike job of cranking out the Santana sound and it went down well with the (mostly baby-boomer) crowd--though I bet there was some berk at the front yelling "Oi! Play summat off Moonflower!" Show Of Hands were up next and they performed a pleasant-enough set of singer-songwriter-type folk where a lot of the lyrics seemed to be about "What-happened-to-the-ways-of-rural-England?" Ummm....time, I guess? I dunno, guys. I noted that Phil Beer, who recorded the single Pass You By with Mike Oldfield, is part of Show Of Hands. Then--the magic moment everyone had waited for was happening. The fabled 1969 line-up of Fairport were going to perform Liege & Lief all the way through--minus Sandy Denny, of course. Chris While was on vocal duties and she was admirable filling in Sandy's folk-goddess shoes. The opening riff of Come All Ye pealed into the evening air and away they went. I, unfortunately, had an anxiety spell (possibly from the heat) just as they walked on-stage and we had to listen from the medical tent--the irony was not lost on me. Dave Swarbrick, who was pronounced dead some seven years ago, due to a debilitating illness--was up there sawing away on the fiddle--I think that obituary column is worth a lot to a Fairport fanatic. They sounded good, especially during the Matty Groves coda jam and Tam Lin. While did a nice vocal on Farewell Farewell--I think Sandy would've been proud. Then, 40 minutes after it started - it was over. I was advised to head back to the tent for the night--so we missed watching Richard Thompson and his band. I did hear the set, though, and he sounded great as well--performing Dad's Gonna Kill Me, from the new Sweet Warrior album and some old faves like I Want To See The Bright Lights..., Al Bowlly's In Heaven and Wall Of Death. He did play a surprise Tear-Stained Letter, which got loud cheers from the crowd. The applause died away and Friday was over.

For the final day, we headed into the village in the morning. Pixie wanted a paper to get caught up on the news--but when we got to the shop, the only papers left were tabloids. So much for the news, then. We did find out about Tony Wilson's untimely demise, fittingly at a music festival, so it wasn't a total loss. We arrived at the arena, while Richard Digance was finishing his usual trad-folk...er...'comedy' stylings. GiveWay was up next, but we were off to the showers again, so we missed most of their set--they seemed O.K., going by what we did hear. We missed most of The Bucket Boys as well--but despite their pristine classic-rock pedigree (Tim Renwick, who's guested on inummerable albums and tours--including the 80s/90s Pink Floyd--is in the band), they seemed sorta run-of-the-mill to me..good musicians with bog-standard tunes. I sifted through some more of the stalls and found one that was selling vinyl. I ended up buying Al Stewart's Past, Present & Future, Ravi Shankar's Homage To Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. John's Remedies. I've never owned any Stewart, and it was only about £5, so I took a chance...and the Dr. John LP was still shrink-wrapped, so I considered it a find. Iain Matthews, Fairport's other lead singer from 1967 and '68, took to the stage. His voice still seems pretty intact after all these years, with a slight bit of Marty Balin-twang to it. His tunes were mainly singer-songwriter fare--lost love, times gone by, etc. There was a nice surprise when Richard Thompson (near ubiquitous over the weekend) joined Matthews for the two final numbers. The set closer, Back Of The Bus, an anti-racism ditty, unfortunately didn't leave RT much to do except provide sparse, choppy chords and a half-decent solo toward the end. The re-formed Strawbs were up next and I was looking forward to seeing them. The band are mostly a trio nowadays - but the main three (Dave Cousins, Dave Lambert and Chas Cronk) have been joined by keyboardist John Hawken and drummer Rod Coombes, thereby completing the 1974 line-up of the band. That incarnation released possibly the best-known Strawbs record, Hero And Heroine. Like Wishbone Ash, they knew the crowd they were playing to and stuck to selections from the 'glory days'--like Benedictus, from Grave New World and Witchwood, from their 1971 album, From The Witchwood. "Hero..." also featured--they played the entire three-part opener, Autumn, as well as Out In The Cold, which segued neatly into Round And Round. A tune (or two, maybe) was played from the group's newest studio effort, Deja Fou--but I can't remember the track names. They sounded good--well-rehearsed and they seemed to enjoy playing to a receptive crowd. We headed back to the tent after Strawbs' set to get some rest after being in the sun for another long day. We missed Billy Mitchell & Bob Fox--but I gathered it was going to be more of the same trad-folkie stuff. I hadn't realised that Mitchell was part of Lindisfarne, during their late 80s/90s reunion--and Jack The Lad in the late 70s. Ah well..another time, maybe. Around 8 p.m. - Fairport began their 40th anniversary set. They played for nearly four hours--with R.T., Iain Matthews and original lead singer Judy Dyble all joining in. We took a bit of a stroll and watched for a little while, hearing Jewel In The Crown and a spirited Walk Awhile--then we headed back to the tent for the night. I listened as to as much as I could - but I fell asleep before the now-traditional closer, Meet On The Ledge, was played, ending another Cropredy.

We awoke the next morning, packed up our gear - and headed back to our "regular" 9-to-5 existence. Thankfully, there were no traffic jams on the way back out through the village.

Idees D'Aout

16 Shraban - Year 1414 (Bengali)

Time for an update, I suppose. Well, the flood waters have receded - not fast enough for people in Gloucestershire and Hull (even some parts of Oxfordshire). Luckily, our bit of Oxford escaped unscathed.

I watched Pan's Labyrinth last week and I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't really what I was expecting--but then I'm not quite sure what I was expecting. I suppose something a bit more "aerie-faerie" and other-worldly, but in Guillermo Del Toro's vision, even the dream-world the main protagonist "escapes" to contains it's own frights and dangers. The magical creatures contrast neatly with the "monsters" of Franco's fascist stormtroopers (the film is set in 1940s Spain), but there is more gruesome and brutal violence shown in the "real" world, especially by Captain Vidal, played as a flawed, but ultimately reprehensible tyrant, by a brilliant Sergi Lopez. I won't divulge the entire plot, so no spoiler warning is needed--but it follows a familiar device from several myths, Grimm's tales and even The Silence Of The Lambs. The ending seems a bit ambiguous--"is" it happy or sad? I don't really know--I suppose both. Not really one for the young'uns, but worth a look.

The not-so-beloved Rover Metro finally got to be more hassle than it was worth. We had the garage fix the clutch and the central locking...and then the speedometer went. So instead of throwing more money at it and hoping it would last a bit longer, we decided to finally opt for a new(er) set of wheels. We chose a 2004 Ford Ka. It has fairly low mileage and seems to be in pretty good shape. So that was settled, but unfortunately, all of our spare cash was put toward the auto, making it impossible for me to join the 2007 MLA Euro-Meet-up, but it looks like the guys had a great time, which is cool.

In other MLA news, the "Angel Tech" course finished a few weeks ago. I really liked it and definitely gained some insights into the "8-circuit brain" theory and my own relation to the circuits. Antero Alli, author of the "Angel tech" book and leader of the course, will be offering it again next February. I may take it again, as I didn't complete all of the tasks this time around. There's also an Angel Tech forum at Tribe.net , if you're interested. Another groovy thing starting up is self-directed courses--there's two offered so far, The Tale Of The Tribe, a sort-of extension of the course that R.A.W. himself ran a couple of years ago. The other is Meta-Magick, which was run by Philip H. Farber. I'm definitely going to check out the T.O.T.T. course - I regret not joining up at the MLA sooner and missing out on Pope Bob's instruction, but I've got a 'second chance' to at least go through the material. You can get a bit more info here (the Deepleaf Productions site and the MLA site seem to be down at the moment)--if something like that might interest you, then give it a go!

Pixie and I both received e-mails from Singing Bear this past week and it seems he's doing alright. He's been poorly lately and we have been worried about him. Good to know he received the discs we've sent him also. Here's to the Bear's improving health--hope he'll be able to post something soon!

Mark D., over at Cheek, luckily wasn't involved in the horrific bridge collapse that happened in Minneapolis this past week. Alycia N., another Minnesotan I know, wasn't there either--so that's good news in the midst of a serious tragedy. I suspect there'll be a lot of finger-pointing in the coming days about whose "fault" it was that the collapse happened and caused four (and possibly more) deaths.

I haven't had much in the way of new music in the past few months - but it looks like a new Super Furry Animals record is about to hit the street. We've got tickets to their gig at the "new & improved" Carling Academy Oxford (formerly The Zodiac) on October 26th. The previews of the new album seem good and they haven't let me down yet..even though I really only spun Love Kraft a few times (I'll have to listen to it again). We were watching the Newsnight Review last Friday and at the very end was Richard Hawley performing an acoustic version of one of his new tunes, Tonight The Streets Are Ours. He's still got his 50s-style quiff and Buddy Holly specs--but he can still reel 'em out in his Sheffield twang, so I think his new one might be added to the collection. I've been meaning to buy the new Psychic TV as well and Mark has recommended the Von Sudenfed album. I can't think of anything else I really want at the moment (besides various re-issues).

We're off to Cropredy on Thursday for the annual Fairport Fest. This year promises to be a good'un - with the '69 line-up performing Liege & Lief all the way through (minus the late Sandy Denny, of course - Chris While will be performing in her stead). Richard Thompson will be in full-band mode--promoting the excellent Sweet Warrior album. Seth Lakeman and the re-formed Strawbs (which comprises most of the 1974 Hero And Heroine line-up) promise to be pretty decent as well. I wasn't too impressed with some of the 'unknowns' last year, so there may be a few surprises of folky greatness here and there, too. I'll post a full report when we're back. 'Till then...

How High's The Water, Mama?

21 Kupris - 86 p.s.U.

"Sitting in an English garden, waiting for the sun/If the sun don't come you get a tan from standing in the English rain..."

~ John Lennon, 1967

The TSOG Mouthpiece

29 Tir - Year 1386

This is probably going to be a missive from the "Old News Dept.", but I watched the Robert Greenwald docu on Fox News, called Outfoxed, a couple of weeks ago. I had been meaning to since I heard it was released - but finally added it to the Amazon rental list.

"Outfoxed" chronicles the rise of right-wing mogul Rupert Murdoch and the network he founded to act as a counterpart to his other media ventures. His TV venture started out fairly innocuously--but suddenly ol' Rupert decided that he wasn't seeing quite enough Ronnie Ray-gun on the tube in the late 80s and started directing the programmers to cut over to speeches and appearances, sometimes in the middle of another broadcast.

This continued through the 90s - with Bill Clinton becoming the main target of Murdoch news' jibes and gentrified rancor, while pushing a conservative bias. The network came into it's own with two events, however--the hiring of Roger Ailes in the late 90s and the "election" of George W. Bush in 2000. Ailes, with his connections to Ronnie and his helping to get Rush Limbaugh's radio show started, ramped up the conservative bias and Fox News officially launched in 1996. When the TSOG installed itself in Washington D.C. in early 2001, Fox News almost immediately took a hushed, reverential tone toward Bush and his cronies. "Strong" right-wing types like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity were drafted in to act as bobble-head admirers of the TSOG and act belligerent toward those who weren't as accepting of the new regime.

Fox's tactics are shown as different segments in the docu, such as the fear-mongering pieces shown in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. I almost thought they were going to end one of their reports with "Stay inside!...and whatever you do...don't breathe!!" The smear campaigns seem pretty amusing as well--the diatribes about Richard Clarke after he announced that the administration had "failed the American people" with faulty intelligence about the W.T.C. bombings. Clarke is shown as merely "trying to sell his book" by Fox. The montage of clips denouncing 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry as a 'flip-flopper', while carefully edited, do show the automaton nature of the on-air 'personalities', though we really only get a glimpse of the puppet-masters.

The best moment (it seems to me, anyway), which epitomizes what Fox is really all about--comes from O'Reilly's show. A showdown of sorts between the "journalist" O'Reilly and Jeremy Glick, who's father had died during the September 11th atrocities. Glick had signed an anti-war petition and so was repeatedly invited onto O'Reilly's programme. Glick was smarter than O'Reilly in this instance..indeed, he seems smarter overall--though that doesn't necessarily seem like a mean feat to me. He calmly absorbs Bill's frantic attempts to goad him into a shouting match and gets his point across. At the end, O'Reilly orders Glick's mic to be cut--he's fuming becuase he (B.O.R.) doesn't know how to respond to someone not playing his mammalian-territorial game (which reaches a nadir by O'Reilly asking Glick "what would your mother say to this?" and then bringing up Glick's late father). You can watch the exchange here. The clip speaks for itself. Glick also states in "Outfoxed" that after their on-air debate, he was practically ordered to leave the building as O'Reilly "didn't want to break any laws", implying that he was going to physically assault Glick. Nice guy, eh?

Fox also plays the "happy days are here again" game with it's 'financial advice' shows - always showing the American economy (under the TSOG) as strong and on the upswing and if you believe that, well, I've got some stocks to sell you--they're legit, no really... and, of course, who could forget the Fox "news-babes"--those ever-chirpy, short-skirted mannequins happy to cheerlead their colleagues and keep the conservative libido stoked.

There do seem to be a couple of mis-steps with "Outfoxed", though. The title graphics have an almost low-budget appearance, which doesn't help the look of the film. I suppose maybe it was to underscore the typical over-crowded look of Fox's presentation, but as I say, it makes the film appear a bit cheap. The use of the coda of Layla by Derek & The Dominoes for the ending of the film seems a bit too clever for it's own good--and after you've seen Goodfellas, you never quite hear that part of that song the same way ever again. Every time I hear it - I see Frankie Carbone in the meat truck, frozen into a contorted Italian-American icicle..and Frenchy tumbling through the trash in the back of the garbage truck..but I digress...

The point of "Outfoxed" rings out loud and clear--media moguls with an ideology ("idiotology") to push and controlling large segments of the media doesn't seem to be a good thing for the rest of us, especially when they own news outlets, which one would think would be objective as possible. Not that Fox "is" a news network in any form - if you go by Claude Shannon's information theory, which states that the more unpredictability in a message, the more information is contained in the message. You know what messages the Fox News crowd are going to relay before it even leaves their mouths, so very little information is conveyed. The main problem I see, seems to be that the film mainly "preaches to the choir" and I think it's main audience is the usual round-up of die-hard lefties and Clinton-era liberals--plus a few anarcho-libertarians and cyber-freeks. The very scary thing seems to be those who like Fox News, know they're being propagandized to and watch it anyway, as it reinforces their ideological echo-chamber--I think George Orwell would recognise something in that scenario. I don't think "Outfoxed" will convert any Fox News zombies anytime soon, though I want to be optimistic about this film un-freezing a few minds that have had the Frankie Carbone treatment.

I haven't been subjected to Fox for a few years now--though I imagine they're still up to their old tricks. I just read today that O'Reilly recently promised to expose a "right-wing" hate-monger and who does he expose? That sad, senile "Christian" uber-bigot, Fred Phelps, who runs a hateful cult of X-tian nut-jobs in Kansas. I guess Phelps was chastising B.O.R. too, presumably for not (openly) advocating the killing of gays and the eating of Jewish and African-American children. Way to go, Bill, you sure scooped that one--though I'd hazard a guess that Phelps would be a bit beyond 'right-wing'. Just a hunch. Luckily, Fox News never really took off in the UK--it's probably available if you've got the Sky package of 400 channels--but I can't think of anyone I've met who bothers watching it. I suppose that "most watched news network" boast doesn't extend to England. In any case, it seems better to get your news from a few different sources--and keep your reality-tunnel as wide as possible. As Robert Anton Wilson used to say, "Certainty belongs to the person with one set of encyclopedias". If you're only watching Fox News, you don't even have one set.

They Don't Even Mention Kenneth Grahame!

23 Tammuz - Year 5767

EMI have announced the release of a 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's debut, The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Considered (by me, among others) to be the epitome of British psychedelia, I suppose I'll let it slide that this is yet another re-issue of this album, which follows the 1987 and 1994 re-releases.

Much like Capitol's various re-issue campaigns for The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (I think there's been about four different ones now - the latest is the green "fuzzy"-cased edition with the DVD, which was released last year), EMI know that Floyd die-hards will shell out more cash for every newly re-vamped "Piper" they wheel into the shops and internet sites.

This one seems O.K., with three discs in total - two are the stereo mix and the fabled (long-deleted) original mono mix. The third disc collects the '67 singles, with B-sides (though if you bought the Shine On boxed set - you've already got those with the "Early Singles" digipak), plus an out-take of Interstellar Overdrive (only released on a French EP previously) and a stereo mix of single Apples And Oranges. The cover art will resemble a "cloth-bound book" - which seems fine, as long as they don't get rid of the iconic cover art, by photographer Vic Singh (the back cover was designed by late Floyd guitarist and singer, Syd Barrett). It's out in North America on 28th August and Europe on 3rd September--which does make it appear to be even more of a cash cow--choosing to flog it to the lucrative American market first to please the accountants.

I dunno - I kinda hoped they'd have put maybe a bit more effort into it. How about a live show from that era - with the nascent Floyd in full freak-out flight? Surely there's a half-way decent tape from one of their UFO Club sets--though having said that, the couple of '67 boots I own have pretty dire sound quality. I suppose there weren't any studio out-takes besides the "Interstellar Overdrive", otherwise those may have been included on Disc 3. Maybe even an interview or two from the early part of that year, as Syd had started to tire of the pop-star life and began his famed "acid burnout" by the end of 1967. Ah well, it's still a re-mastered "Piper" after all.

Will I buy it? More than likely. I already own the Japanese mini-LP edition of "Piper" and before that I bought the 1994 re-issue (though sometimes I wish I had kept it for the Storm Thorgerson-designed booklet alone). I sold off my jewel-case Floyd when I replaced most of them with mini-LPs. Yeah, EMI will be hoovering up my cash once again--but I can't resist...the album to me is a gem and still one of my favourite records. After this, though, no more! 'Till the next tarted-up re-release, that is...

Blog Is Not One Year Old

Boomtime, Confusion 26, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3173

Has it been one revolution around the sun already? Dang! This here blog "is" one year old--and I've been blogging for seven years now. Seems like only yesterday...

The original objective was for this to be a group blog, sorta like Triptych Cryptic, where I cut my blogging teeth. I miss those guys - but I'd like to work with them on something new. Anyway, that's how I envisioned "Blog Is Not.." when I started it up last year. It seems to have dwindled down to Singing Bear and I--with Pixie preferring to stay in the comments section and Aloicious ramblin' and playing the Game Of Life (in the Leary sense, not the Hasbro board variety). I hope he'll eventually come round and post something, even if it's just to say "Hello - gotta run". It's alright, though, the Bear and I make a pretty good team, in my estimation (now if only we can score that radio show deal...). Sometimes it's felt a bit like a solo blog again, especially when Bear's been on sabbatical--which isn't so bad in itself--I just like it more when it's not only my voice echoing in the aether.

Thanks to those who've stopped by and read any of the posts--we appreciate it. I apologise for the comments being set to 'those with accounts-only can post'. We had a bit of trouble with spammers at the last blog ("Pond Of Tunes") and decided not to take any chances this time. Cheers to those of you who did leave a comment - even if it was to plug your book or whatever...oh well, onward and upward.

Today is also the summer solstice and the longest day of the (Gregorian) year. The usual gathering was held at Stonehenge, though I think the weather muted the celebration somewhat. Today was a fairly nice day around here. The forecast promised "sunny spells" and "rain showers", but once again showing meteorology appearing to be a less-than-exact science--the weather stayed pleasant with a few dark clouds passing overhead. I hope your solstice was just as pleasant.

I've been busy with the "Angel Tech" course, so I haven't had much time for posting, but I plan to pick up the pace a bit in a few weeks, when the course has finished. Hope to see you here!

Currently reading: "The Function Of The Orgasm" - Wilhelm Reich, "Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson" - G.I. Gurdjieff, "Principia Discordia" - Malaclypse The Younger (Greg Hill)

Currently listening to: "There's A Riot Goin' On" - Sly & The Family Stone (2007 re-issue), "Sweet Warrior" - Richard Thompson, E.L.O. - "ELO 2" (re-issue)

Happy Birthday Pixie!

....hope it's a great one!!

Love,

Husband

I'm not old, I'm 37...

Just like Dennis and it just happened today. It's strange--I remember watching that when I was 18 and thinking how "old" being 37 seemed to me at the time. Now it's here and well, it ain't that bad..

Richard Thompson: Sweet Warrior

Another year, another album from RT and how can we possibly complain? New tunes from the world's most underrated songwriter who just happens to be the world's finest guitarist (says me) will be forever welcome. Having said that, I have to admit to finding 2005's all acoustic affair, Front Parlour Ballads, a little disappointing. Many of Richard's fans will have been hyper-keen to hear the man alone with his guitar again but the songwriting, whilst good by most standards, struck me as being too 'Thompson-By-Numbers' and much of the album was too downbeat for even this most die-hard of RT fanatics. Does his new one, Sweet Warrior, provide sweet relief? I'm much relieved to report that, largely, it does.

The battleground of personal relationships has always provided Richard Thompson with plenty of food for thought and on Sweet Warrior we encounter dysfunctional marriages, dying love, regret and pain in torrents but there is also an enterwoven theme of those even bigger and even more dangerous battles that go on in the world of war and terrorism. RT has rarely been as overtly political as he is on the album's centre-piece, 'Dad's Gonna Kill Me'. For 'Dad' read US army slang for Baghdad and you get the picture. Written from the perspective of an ordinary soldier doing his duty in Iraq, 'DGKM' is a broodingly angry attack on those who send young people to war and happily see them home again in body bags. The song conveys great sympathy for the poor blokes on the frontline and none for the twats who send them there. Spot on, as usual, Mr.T. The other 'big song' on the album is called 'Guns Are The Tongues' and, whilst I can't be sure I'm reading it right, it seems to be about a woman who runs a cell of 'freedom fighters/terrorists/criminals' (take your pick) who recruits some poor sod called Little Joe to do her dirty work and take vengeance for the deaths of her father and brother. Needless to say, she uses her womanly wiles to pull Little Joe into her bloody world. Sorry for the over-literal interpretation here. At the end of the day what's really important is the wonderful tune and fine playing by RT and chums (he's joined by regular sidemen Danny Thompson and Michael Jerome for most of the album plus Michael Hays on second guitar).

Over the remainder of the album we get high quality songs and musicianship with Thompson letting loose with some wild electric passages that should be amazing in unedited form when he plays them live. The inclusion of sax and fiddle on songs such as 'Bad Monkey' , the reggae-tinged 'Francesca' and the wonderful shanty-like 'Johnny's Far Away' give the album the same kind of joie de vivre as his 80s classics Hand of Kindness and Daring Adventures. My only reservation about the album at the moment is that the slower, more acoustic-based numbers have yet to grab my attention and I may still be suffering from the ease with which RT appears to be able knock out such things. It's been a long time since 'Beeswing' and 'King of Bohemia' and perhaps I'm expecting too much to even hope that just one acoustic song as great as those could appear on the same album again. Still, RT is back on form and Sweet Warrior is a fine record that'll rock your socks off.

Way Back In The 1960s

1 Pepper - 40 p.r.S.P.

This week will see hundreds, if not thousands of words spilled over...well, I don't even need to name the record, do I? Unless you've been living a hermetic existence in a cave for the past forty years (in which case, you probably aren't reading this anyway), you know what I'm talking about. It probably has an almost equal number of praisers as it does detractors and seems to have nearly become a cultural phenomenon all on it's own, beyond that even of it's creators. Whatever you may think about it, the fact that it's being discussed fairly fervently 40 years after it's release seems to show it's inherent staying power. I like it so much, that as an exercise in breaking out of the Gregorian "time prison"--I created a calendar based around it.

Thing is, or seems to be--that it has over-shadowed a lot of other great albums from the same year, American and British. One that I really like, and admittedly has been getting a bit more press in the past decade or so, is The Incredible String Band's The 5,000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion. Created by two Scottish bohemian folkies, Robin Williamson and Mike Heron, plus guest spots by John "Hoppy" Hopkins, a figurehead in the London psychedelic/underground scene--as well as stand-up bass by Danny Thompson, later of Pentangle and his many collabs with John Martyn and Richard Thompson, "5,000 Spirits..." seems to capture that moment in 1967 when the positivity and spirituality (not religiousness) of the nascent counter-culture was going to waft everywhere and change the world. Naive? Yeah, probably--but I suppose it's the thought that counts.

Right from the opening track, Chinese White, you get the feeling you're in for something delightfully weird. While Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing At Baxter's and even Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn brought out the big guns of acid-fuelled studio trickery--Heron and Williamson manage to create an other-worldly playground with just a finger-picked acoustic guitar and "bowed gimbri", a sort-of African lute that Williamson had brought back with him from a journey to Morocco (he had left the UK with Clive Palmer, the I.S.B.'s founder, but had returned due to money problems--ain't it always the way..). With Williamson sawing away on the gimbri and Heron singing lyrics like "Climbing up these figures/the sun is tugging at my shoulder/and ev'ry step I take/I think my feet are getting older..", they're heralding in something, but what? I don't know--but it sounds ancient and yet contemporary (at least for 1967--hell, to me, it sounds contemporary in '07).

The rest of the record charts a "trip" (pun intended a bit) through their styles and lyrical matter which would crop up on subsequent records--Robin gets mystical on The Mad Hatter's Song, The Eyes OF Fate and My Name Is Death--while Mike ruminates on romance won and lost with The Hedgehog's Song, Gently Tender and Painting Box. They tip their caps to Mr. Bob Dylan, both musically (Blues For The Muse--all wheezing blues harp and ol' timey chorus) and lyrically--he gets a shout-out in Way Back In The 1960s, the album's humourous and deft closer. No Sleep Blues seems to be one of the funniest and spot-on accounts of the effects of insomnia (possibly through ingesting "Dr. Hoffman's Head Medicine"), while You Know What You Could Be definitely appears to be "of it's time" with lyrics about "crimson shapes and purple sounds" and "quartertones of lightning"--still, it hasn't aged that badly and could be considered a blue-print for 'psychedelic folk' (if you consider that a genre). There's a smattering of sitar on some of the tracks, but it fits in well and would become a staple on their next few albums. The drones compliment the songs and this is well before sitar would become an acid-rock/folk cliche.

Then there's that cover art. To me, it's still one of the most striking cover images I've seen. Some might call it "gaudy", but I think the use of colour enhances the whole. I like the hermaphroditic winged being with the Earth inside of it...rising out of the eye (the "I"?), as well. I used to think that the roots of the plants spelled out something in a nearly unreadable calligraphy and actually spent about an hour one day trying to decipher some 'secret message' possibly contained in it--to no avail. It is that kind of cover, though, that I end up studying for hours. The cover was designed and illustrated by Simon Posthuma and Marijke Kroger of the Dutch art group The Fool. They were responsible for "far-out" designs like the one on Eric Clapton's psychedelic SG guitar and The Beatles' Apple boutique mural. They themselves recorded a one-off album in 1968 and while it's definitely not a classic, it's lysergic whimsy (probably sounding a bit dated even in '68) makes for a nice curio. I'm not sure where the rest are now, but it appears that Marijke emigrated to the U.S. and she has a website with some of her more recent work displayed.

I'm aware of the charges against "5,000 Spirits.." as well. Yes, some of it does seem a bit too twee, as in bits of "The Hedgehog's Song" and especially Little Cloud, a Heron tune about a "little chick cloud" who visits him and promises to take him to "distant lands wondrous and fair", until the "chief cloud" makes her float away back up to the upper regions of the sky. I know - it probably belongs more on a children's record than on a "serious" album, but I think it's tunes like "Little Cloud" that give "5,000 Spirits.." it's unabashed child-like enthusiasm. It certainly doesn't happen on later, band (and world) weary records like Earthspan or Hard Rope & Silken Twine. The vocal "freak out" section near the end of "Gently Tender" does sound a bit forced, to my ears anyway. It doesn't really fit with the rest of the tune and seems almost an after-thought, tacked on in the studio. There's also the "music doesn't match the album cover" stigma - I must admit that the cover does (at first) make you think that this record will be as completely out-there as "Piper..." or "Baxter's", only to seem understated on first listen. To me, it's not really the music that matches the cover--but the lyrics--and those seem to be the most mind-blowing element of all.

So there you go - one of my picks for "overlooked" (not so much anymore - but still not afforded the praise it should have) "Summer Of Love" classics. While the I.S.B. would go from "5,000 Spirits..." to create their 'meisterwerk', The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (released in April 1968), expanding their sound and the group itself--I don't think they ever captured such a moment again as they did with this one.

Next week: Eric Burdon & The New Animals' Winds Of Change and Tyrannosaurus Rex's My People Were Fair, They Had Sky In Their Hair But Now They're Content To Wear Stars On Their Brows....jes' kiddin'

Angel Techin'/The Seven Ages Of Rawk

13 Jumada Al-'Awwal - Year 1428

I've started on my first official Maybe Logic Academy (and my first ever) on-line course last week. The course is based on the book, Angel Tech, written by Antero Alli and first published back in the "dark days", 1985. The course deals with the concept of the "8-circuit brain" theory, developed by Timothy Leary (supposedly after seeing an ancient illustrated Hindu manuscript he received from a Tantric adept, who visited Leary at Millbrook in 1963) and Robert Anton Wilson in the early-to-mid 70s.

Alli first developed his take on the 8 circuits in the late 70s and early 80s. Having a theatrical/paratheatrical interest, Alli seemed to feel that the Leary and Wilson approaches, while valuable, were geared toward the head/mind only and not much to do with the body. This seemed to cause a lot of "Space Cases" and "Kundalini Krack-Ups" to emerge from those experimenting with the circuits (especially the 'upper four').

He developed some physical rituals for some of the circuits--as well as other exercises to engage and integrate each circuit on it's own and in conjunction with other circuits--his theory being that each one from the "lower four" supports (makes possible) each from the upper. Each of the lower circuits must be integrated and stabilised before access to the upper circuits can begin. To confuse things a bit, he also states that each circuit is operating independantly all the time--we just don't have the ability to experience them all at once, so one circuit will dominate some of the time, then another, then another, etc.

The first week of the course was spent mainly in discussion--each of the participants was asked to define "intelligence" and then how to increase same. The answers varied a bit, but there did seem to be quite a few overlaps in the definitions, as well as in the method of increasing intelligence. We were than asked to "access our inner idiot" and list each circuit and how well we thought we understood and had intergrated and projected each. Finally, we had to write out what each one meant to us--what we thought each one represented to ourselves. Looking at mine--I definitely had some "Cosmic Schmuck" moments while thinking of my own answers--ah well, that seems to be the whole point. Finding definitions and replacing them over time.

This week we're getting into the "nitty-gritty" of the course, as it were. Antero has assigned some tasks to demonstrate Circuits 1 and 5. Some seem fairly easy, some not so (for me anyway)--but it'll be a good challenge and I'm looking forward to the rest of the course over the next six weeks. Ever onward!!

I suppose maybe you've caught the Seven Ages Of Rock programme on BBC2 the past couple of weeks. I've watched the first two--and while the archivists have done a credible job finding and dusting off rarely-seen film clips and Charles Shaar Murray lends a bit of "talking-head" credibility (though he did gaffe a couple of times during the first programme--like stating that Jim Morrison had died before Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin)--I dunno--it seems a bit...hollow. I realise that one would have create a sixty-plus hour docu to really cover all of the bases, but I imagine there would be a middle ground where the facts would be researched and a near-complete picture would be formed. Still, taken as pure entertainment, it ain't that bad.

The first episode centred around Hendrix - who I surmised was supposed to represent the epitome of rock's blues influence. It seemed a bit strange - as Hendrix's mutant psychedelic blues and elaborate studio creations bore little resemblance to the old masters' styles. Much like Hendrix's lyrical hero, Bob Dylan, who had transcended the narrow confines of folk to emerge with "a whole new thing"--Hendrix appeared tied to the blues by an ever-thinning thread. The classic Monterey Pop and Woodstock footage was wheeled out yet again--along with the 'eternal bum trip', Altamont and Jimi's uneven performance at the Isle Of Wight festival received about a minute or so. Hendrix's arrival on the scene in London was chronicled--and Ginger Baker got to pat himself on the back one more time for his work in Cream. They didn't cover much new ground with Jimi's career and insights into his inspiration seemed scant. The only story I hadn't heard was of Hendrix taking a copy of a Dylan album into a soul club and coercing the DJ to play Blowin' In The Wind, which got him chased from the club under physical threats. I can't verify it it's true--but for what I understand about the man--it certainly seems possible.

The second episode concerned "art rock" and the main protagonists were Pink Floyd, David Bowie and The Velvet Underground. Again, not much new, but a couple of nice surprises were a few snippets from the promotional clips for See Emily Play and Jugband Blues from the (Syd-era) Floyd and some grainy footage of various Velvets rehearsals. Also featured, with smaller time segments, were Genesis, mainly due to Peter Gabriel's theatricality--and Roxy Music. Roxy was featured for it's mash-up of art-school sensibility and glammy sensuality. They showed a clip of the band playing their debut (and classic) single, Virginia Plain and it was nice to see a young Eno boffining away on his synth. Progressive rock seemed to get glossed-over once again, for a programme dedicated to 'art-rock'. No Van Der Graaf Generator, Caravan or King Crimson anywhere. I guess the stigma about the genre still remains, even after 30 years of the punk "revolution". If I were a paranoid type, I would pronounce it a 'conspiracy'--but since I'm not, I'll just consider it an oversight on the show's producer's part.

Speaking of which, this week's episode concerns those spiky-haired, 'gobbing', pogo-ing folks. Expect to see a lotta Sex Pistols and Clash footage. Don't expect to see: any Wire, Pere Ubu, Adverts or Fall footage (O.K., maybe a bit of Fall footage)...

Record Review Corner: Porcupine Tree/Throbbing Gristle/The Arcade Fire

22 Vaisakha - Year 1929

I've taken a short break from buying various re-issues (Klaus Schulze, Steve Hillage, Peter Hammill, the Genesis SACD/DVD remasters, etc.) and d/l'ing rare and out-of-print prog from Soulseek, to actually purchase some new albums--here's a short review of a few of them:

Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet (Roadrunner/Atlantic Records): Steven Wilson and his merry band have returned after a nearly two-year break to follow up Deadwing, their last studio outing, released in 2005. I'll be honest, I only gave "Deadwing" a couple of spins and I thought it was just O.K.--the tunes seemed to go on and on in no direction--the sound of a band in search of some ideas. Not that it seemed to be complete crap to me--quality control on P.T. albums appears to be pretty tight and the production had the usual excellent sheen. "Fear Of A Blank Planet" (an obvious nod to Public Enemy's ground-breaking 1990 record), seems to have a clear 'concept' and features guest appearances from King Crimson mainman Robert Fripp and Alex Lifeson of Rush. Now, I seem to recall Wilson trying desparately to escape the "prog" tag a few years ago--but part of me thinks the man doth protest a bit too much on this one. The concept, such as it seems, revolves around the over-saturation of media and technology and anti-depressants on today's yoof. It also has something to do with Bret Easton Ellis' Lunar Park novel--but as I'm not much of a B.E.E. fan, I didn't read the book, so I couldn't tell you about that bit. The musicianship is on it's usual high standard--it weaves back and forth between gentle acoustic passages and probably the heaviest riffing Wilson's ever committed to tape...digital tape...hard drive...whatever. His hanging out with Opeth has definitely had an effect. The good news is that it's a much more cohesive album (or seems like it to me, anyway) than "Deadwing" (and even In Absentia--which I didn't think that much of either) and get this, only six tracks long--including the 17-minute Anesthetize (oop, seems like we're back in prog territory again). The sorta not-so-good news is that they still seem to be playing to their strengths and their audience's expectations, instead of becoming truly "progressive". It's alright, though--Wilson knows which side the bread's buttered on and I can't fault him too much for that. Having said that--"Fear Of A Blank Planet" still seems better to me than 95% of the garbage out there and you wouldn't be going too amiss by buying it. You could find far worse ways of polluting your album collection.

Throbbing Gristle - Part Two ~ The Endless Not (Industrial Records): With all of the "old band" reunions happening in the past few years, mostly to wallow in nostalgia--this one was beyond expectation and there's no sign of nostalgia. The first group to refer to themselves as "industrial" originally split in 1981, after making four of the most post-everything albums possible at the time. The personnel then went on to form new acts that, while broadening their musical dialogue somewhat, retained the underground spirit that bred T.G.--these being Coil, Psychic TV and Chris & Cosey/CTI. After a 25-year hiatus--T.G. decided to reform last year for a few one-off gigs (the main one being the All Tomorrow's Parties shows in London). An EP was sold at the A.T.P. gig, a taster for "Part Two". The full release hit the shops and Intraweb a couple of months ago--and the results seem....satisfying. The sound of the record isn't a huge surprise, they're still laying down the dark ambient grooves even after all this time--but you didn't expect them to get all X-Factor pop on you, did you? The thing that seems to have changed, to me anyway, is their command of the technology and the studio-as-instrument, like in the swampy rhythms of the opener, Vow Of Silence, or in the slow near-jazz of Rabbit Snare. As with D.O.A., their second full-length--first released in 1978, each member gets a "solo" track. I particularly like Peter Chrisopherson's contribution, After The Fall, which closes the album--it seems to be a fitting tribute to Christopherson's partner in Coil and life, Jhonn Balance. If you've been raised on a diet of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher, "Part Two" probably won't sound all that revolutionary to you--but when you factor in what these people were doing nearly 30 years ago and that they're all pushing their mid-50s now--well, 'nuff said. "Part Two" probably won't be selling in chart-numbers and probably won't make a lot of end-of-the-year Top Ten lists (except in uber-hip zines and muso-blogs)--but as a reunion memento and artistic endeavour, I think it's right on the money. If it comes down to spending your money on this or Lily Allen--I think you'll know what to do...

The Arcade Fire - The Neon Bible (Merge Records): Another band hitting the 'comeback' trail this year is Canada's own The Arcade Fire--following up their excellent (one of the best I've heard in recent years) debut album, Funeral and the self-titled EP (released in 2004 and 2005, respectively). I won't go near the words "sophomore slump"--'cos it certainly doesn't seem that way to me--it's just, well, only a few of the tracks are really hitting me on the first few listens. I suppose that's a minor complaint, as it took me a few listens to really get into "Funeral". I dunno, I guess I'm not hearing anything as powerful and tuneful as Wake Up or Neighborhood (7 Kettles). That being said, as with P. Tree, the quality control is very cranked up--and tunes like Keep The Car Running and Intervention have that vital spark that made the debut such a great record. (Antichrist Television Blues) has a folk-tinged, Springsteen vibe to it, only pepped up by a near-martial beat and it rollicks along at a nice pace. There's also a re-vamped version of No Cars Go, which appeared on the EP and various radio sessions--it isn't much improved here, but seems to fit in more with these songs than it does on the EP. Don't get me wrong on this one either--I do like it and I hope these guys & gals make a few more as good as this one seeme to be. I suppose I just had very high expectations of it and it didn't quite deliver. It's entirely possible that it'll be a 'grower' and the more I spin it, the more it'll reveal. Now, you may be thinking of ordering the Take That reunion album off of Amazon. Do yourself a huge favour and order "The Neon Bible" instead. In my view, the Arcade Fire need the bread more than Take That do and, in my current mix of musical education and musical ignorance--have created a far better album.

NOTE: This post should've been ready last weekend, but our hard drive crashed due to a virus--and we had to have the drive restored, so I apologise for it's delay.

Zen and the art of going for a walk...

As I explained in my post below, I've been doing very little of late but there comes a time when doing next to nothing becomes quite unbearable no matter what and something needs to be done. As things stand, I'm not able to run as running would not do my insides much of a favour and, besides, my knees don't seem to be up to it anymore. However, I have recently rediscovered the alternative to jogging down country lanes and along canal towpaths and am in the midst of a walking spree. I must explain when I say 'walking' I don't necessarily mean the type of walking where it is imperative that one dons stout boots from Millets and sturdy wet-weather gear whilst carrying a rucksack and map. This hardy form of walking is, no doubt, very good and maybe I'll come to it in time but what I really mean is 'going for a nice walk'. For this type of exercise one only needs to check the immediate weather conditions and put on an appropriate coat (or not). Naturally, shoes are important and it's probably wise to also wear trousers.

'Going for a nice walk' may mean a simple stroll around the block. My good pal Tony and his dear missus often have a stroll around their block and I'm sure it's a refreshing and meditative change. For myself, I'm in the fortunate position of having some lovely walks as soon as I leave my front door. I have a choice of hitting the mountains (every hill in Wales is called a mountain) behind the house or, if I want an easier stretch I can take to the towpath of the Brecon and Monmouth Canal. I can even mix the two up and do a bit of both. I find that many young people look on with horror if you suggest a nice walk as a way to pass the time but this was not the case for me when I was a younger man. As a student I would often make for the country lanes and hills around Bangor and have a stroll. At times this may have been done in the company of friends but I have often been a solitary walker and I feel there is a special magic to walking alone, especially when one can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. I believe it is a truly religious experience.

On occasions we like to have a little walk as a family but the cubs often protest about the duration of our hike or the steepness of the gradients we encounter. I must admit that this often detracts from the experience. Still, it's good to give them some idea of the pleasures to be had from a walk. The real thing for me is the loneliness of the long or short distance solitary walker but, strangely, it's not lonely at all. In recent days I have spent some excellent times with the trees and the birds, hardly seeing a soul. Occassionally, one comes across a cluster of mountain bikers but they are soon on their way and peace is restored. When you meet another solitary walker (which is rare) I find a nod and friendly 'good morning' or 'afternoon' is enough. None of us walkers seem to want to engage in chit-chat. Everyone, it seems, is out there for a deeper thing all together. Some walkers have dogs which is something I do wish I could add to my own walking experience but for now I'm content with just me, myself and I.

This morning I had intended to have an easy stroll as I have been walking rather a lot of late but my planned half an hour turned into an hour and a half as one previously undiscovered path turned into another and I found myself nearing the top of the highest point in the old county of Gwent. I decided against the final haul up to the top of Twmbarlwm as I really don't think I'm up to that yet but it's suprising how far you get when you are immersed in the walk. I've also started to really notice my environment a lot more. The flowers and the trees are amazing and this morning I had close encounters with a robin, a chaffinch and a great tit within five minutes of leaving my front door. Yes, it is all very 'hello sky, hello trees' but what's wrong with that (providing you don't start knitting your own muesli!)? The 'thing' about all this really is the way the mind begins to let go of all the rubbish as you go along. At times it is nice to ruminate on a particular topic but I find not thinking at all is best. Just let the mind flow into a state of 'no mind' and just hear the birds and see the trees and feel the breeze. Definitely superior to prozac.

For a successful walk I do recommend a sturdy stick to have as your sole companion. This needn't be something you keep at home as you are sure to find an appropriate fallen branch as you go along but sometimes you do find a stick that is 'just right' and you will want to keep this one with you for future excursions into the hills and vales (or park or even round the block).

Try it!

The Gooroo's On Holiday!

26 Tea - 39 p.r.S.P.

That's right, I've got a week off work (well, I'm in the midst of it now). What have I been doing, you ask...not much of anything, really. I've been creating CDs mainly--from the 30 or 40 or so albums I've acquired from Soulseek. I was hoping to take a big chunk out of the files I have saved--to make room on the hard drive--but it's a bit slow going. I have done about 8 so far..not too shabby, I suppose.

I was interrupted in my diligent musical mission yesterday by a scheduled visit to the dentist for a root canal. Yee-Haw! I was quite prepared for a bad experience, but it wasn't that unpleasant..other than the bit when the dentist seemed to be scraping my tooth with some sort of file. That was a weird sensation, even with half of my face novacain'ed up. It didn't even hurt that much when the novacaine wore off a couple of hours later. I think the low amount of pain may have had something to do with the nerves in the tooth having already "died" some time ago, due to the filling in the tooth coming loose a few years ago and me not having it replaced. Whatever, it was nearly a painless operation and I'm quite glad of that. I'm not clear yet, though, as I've got to go back in a few weeks for another filling...great.

What else is going on? Oh yeah--in case you hadn't already heard, Kurt Vonnegut died on April 12th. Another one to add to the role call of cool people who've passed on to the Great Beyond in the last couple of years. It seems as if most of the exemplary critters are jetting off to places unknown and most of the gits are living on--just gotta keep on keepin' on, I suppose.

Enough of that downer talk, it's Pixie's and mine 3rd Wedding Anniversary this week!! Tomorrow, to be exact--April 26th (Gregorian). What are we up to now? Coal? Quartz? Something like that...anyway, still the best times I've had, despite the occasional downs. It's also been my longest-lasting relationship. Hats off to my Dearest Pixie--you're the best, baby!

We're off to Lacock Abbey tomorrow, near Chippenham in Wiltshire. Apparently, some of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed there. There's a film crew in the nearby village while we will be there--I'm not sure what is being filmed, but we'll probably just check out the abbey anyway. If there's time, we'll stop by Avebury, to see the stone circle there--like the wacky pagans we are ;-) Should be a nice day out--seeing the sights, having a picnic lunch, breathing in some fresh air.

May 1st is coming up shortly--May Day and that. It's also my older sister's birthday, so a big B-Day shout-out to her. I hope she's well, I haven't been in touch with her or her family for quite some time.

That's all I've got for now, so I'll leave you with a joke:
At the end of the tax year, the Tax Office sent an inspector to audit the books of a synagogue. While he was checking the books he turned to the Rabbi and said: "I notice you buy a lot of candles. What do you do with the candle drippings?"
"Good question," noted the Rabbi. "We save them up and send them back to the candle makers, and every now and then they send us a free box of candles." "Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way: "What about all these biscuit purchases? What do you do with the crumbs?" "Ah, yes," replied the Rabbi, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We collect them and send them back to the manufacturers, and every now and then they send a free box of holy biscuits." "I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all Rabbi.
"Well, Rabbi," he went on, "what do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?" "Here, too, we do not waste," answered the Rabbi. "What we do is save up all the foreskins and send them to the Tax Office, and about once a year they send us a complete dick ".

Tomorrow Is A Long Time: On How It Goes and Missing Bob Dylan In Full-Flight

I've had another break from posting recently, mainly due to ill-health and attendant lethargy. This post is a kind of 'state of the union' address on how things are in Bear Land for the benefit of myself and any other interested parties.

Spring is well on its way but weirdly late in coming to the environs of Bear Valley. It's odd because, apart from one major cold-snap, we've hardly had a winter. So what we have here is plenty of greeness but late-budding trees and slow-to-come bluebells. Not being a true son-of -the-soil I can't account for it. Still, the apple tree in the garden is now in bud and I look forward to some blossom soon enough.

I haven't been in work now for a couple of months due to stomach pain and sickness and tomorrow I go for yet another test. This time it's a barium meal. The doc thinks I may have further problems inside that need a proper diagnosis. Needless to say, this is getting me down. I could go on about the terrible state of the NHS that has allowed me to continue without any real treatment since the middle of last year but what's the use? The Health Service is just another mess that our all too disappointing Government has failed to put right inspite of all the promises that Bliar (sic) made us all those years ago. On top of this we have the continuing evil of war in Iraq, rising violent crime and Lord knows what else to deal with. Roll on Brown... but you'll make no difference either. You've let the Tories back in. Thanks.

Where was I? Yes, I've been stuck at home for weeks, twiddling my thumbs and thinking too much. I have been trying to spend some of the time doing some reading and am currently in the middle of a biography of Robert Lowell. Why do I read such heavy stuff when I am in need of pleasant distraction? I don't know but I've always done it. I'm sure John Bunyan is just around the corner. I did read an excellent novel recently called The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson. It's the story of a vicar who doesn't really believe in God but who has an encounter with someone who seems to be The Devil. It's very poignant but rather uplifting as well. I recommend it. What else have I been up to? Naturally, I've been listening to loads of music. Here's a list of the most popular hits on the old hi-fi of late:

Fairport Convention (their 1968 debut with Judy Dyble on vocals)
(For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People :The Chi-Lites (brilliant psych-soul)
Marcus Garvey/Garvey's Ghost : Burning Spear (classic roots reggae with dub sides)
Open Road : Donovan (possibly my favourite Don album, with the lost classic 'Roots of Oak' on there)
Y : The Pop Group (awesome punk-funk from the original Bristol Beatniks)
The Projected Passion Revue : Dexys Midnight Runners (if only the best incarnation of this band had made a proper album)
The Doors, Morrison Hotel, LA Woman : All by The Doors (recent reissues and very nice too...first time I've listened to them for years and I now remember why I liked them!)

These are some of the goodies I've got stuck into of late. I've also had a big blues and soul kick as well, rediscovering the delights of Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Al Green, Candi Staton and loads more. This is very good for music for the heart. There's never enough time for great music.

I had the annual MOT disaster with the car, which ended up costing me £350. I could have been a lot worse but this bloody car has cost be thousands in the last couple of years and I'd not get £500 for it if I tried to sell it. If I could live without a car I really would. but how can you these days.?My job is nearly 20 miles away and the buses don't run back up the valley after 9pm. Not much use on a late shift! On top of this, you have to drive to the supermarket to do the weekly shopping now all our community shops have been destroyed by the likes of Tesco and Asda.

We're not sure if we will be able to go on holiday yet. We booked one of those cheapo holidays in The Sun : five days in Paignton (same as last year) but it's doubtful if I will be able to go. This means Mrs. Bear and the cubs may have to miss out because of me. I feel very, very bad about this but I might be able to get enough energy for the drive. The other problem is, I have an appointment with the consultant right in the middle of the week away. This means I'll have to drive back to Wales on the Wednesday and back down again on the Thursday to bring us all home again on the Friday! I just don't know.

Bob Dylan is back in town! I had a front-row, centre ticket for the Birmingham gig (last night). I couldn't go because I'm unwell so I gave my ticket to my eldest cub. She tells me it was FANTASTIC and all the reports I'm reading suggest he was on fire. Some are saying it was the BEST GIG IN YEARS. I missed it but at least my dear eldest had an incredibly Dylan-live induction. Count your blessings!

That's all for now. I'll be back when there's more to report.

Record Fayre Round-Up #84

19 Farvardin - Year 1386

Pixie and I had to head into town yesterday to pick up a few bits and get something for her mum's B-Day, which is rapidly approaching. Yesterday being the first Saturday of the month, the record fair was on at the town hall. We finished shopping for my mother-in-law and then I had exactly an hour to scout out the fair and procure whatever goodies I could in the process.

I paid the entrance fee, collected my little green ticket and headed in. The first table I stopped at was run by a German guy who appears every so often. He has a lot of good stuff...but it seems to be very over-priced to me. He carries a lot of Japanese imports and bootlegs. The coolest things I noted were the Japanese mini-LP CD editions for Popol Vuh, The Enid, E.L.O. and Man. I used to collect quite a few mini-LPs, but money and storage became a factor, so I stopped. I may be tempted to get a few of these new editions, as I also found out, via a website, that there are Incredible String Band mini-LP editions now, too. I looked over some of the bootlegs and there were a few nice ones--but again, over-priced (between £15-20 apiece), so I moved on to see what else was about--as I only had an hour.

There was a table tucked into the corner with used CDs crammed into ratty cardboard boxes, so I checked out one of the boxes and found the Essential/Castle Records re-issue of Hawkwind's 1992 album, Electric Tepee..for £3.99! Score. I also found Pulp's 1986 album, Freaks (the 1993 Fire Records re-issue) on disc for the same price. I promised Pixie I would pick up something for her while there, so I took 'em both. The seller had another box which had a Cosmic Jokers disc, Gilles Zeitschiff, and another item I was interested in, but can't recall it now. I figured they would be £3.99 as well--but I asked the seller and he said the ones in that box were between £10 and £12, so I passed. I'm sorta glad now, as reading some of the reviews for "Gilles..", it doesn't sound like an essential album to have. I had another quick look around his table and then moved on.



There were a couple of tables of vinyl, which seemed to contain a lot of cool psychedelic and prog treasures, but again--a lot of them just seemed far too expensive and I couldn't justify spending £15 on a single LP, especially if it was just to have in the collection. I did find Pekka Pohjola's The Mathematician's Air Display on LP for £7--so I took it. Pekka was the bass player in Finland's most well-known prog-rock band, Wigwam, but he went solo in the mid-70s. "The Mathematician's.." is his second solo record and as Virgin were handling production and distribution duties, they decided to hook Pekka up with Mike Oldfield to perhaps get a few UK and American punters to pay attention. Sally Oldfield also turns up on vocal duties. At another table, I found Tangerine Dream's Phaedra on LP for £10 - I hesitated - but then it is in really good condition and I've wanted to own this LP for quite some time, so I went for it. At the table next to the guy I bought the T.D. record from, there were hundreds of psych and prog discs. I started flipping through them and found many, many gems. I was starting to run low on kish-kash at this point. My time also ran out when Pixie showed up--so I had to make a choice. I chose Brainticket's Celestial Ocean, their 1973 record and one of the last ones I need to complete the catalogue and (found in the 'American Beat/Psychedelic' section), Tripsichord's one and only album, released in 1970. It's a bit country-psych, kinda Quicksliver Messenger Service mixed with the Jefferson Airplane's more country moments. I was expecting something really trippy, going by the cover art--maybe Aoxomoxoa meets After Bathing At Baxter's while in the same room as Forever Changes. Still, it's a cool addition to the collection and nice to hear one of the many over-looked 60s/early 70s San Francisco bands. Apparently, the lead singer and guitarist had a connection with the Mormon Church (!)--as some of the lyrics do seem to have a 'death and resurrection' theme going on.

At this point, Pixie was ready to go and I was almost out of money and getting hungry for some lunch. I had £15 left that I could spend--so I went back to the German geezer's table and grabbed the Man mini-LP for their 1970 self-titled album, which is my favourite. I've been looking to try and replace my Point Records copy with something that has a better re-master, particularly volume level. The Point version, at least the copy I own, seems very quiet and only really gets going during The Alchemist, the final track. The price for the mini-LP was listed at 25--but that price was in Euro, so it was actually £20. I tried to haggle him down to £15, but no go...he wouldn't budge. I'll have to wait a little while and try and score it off eBay or Amazon--same with the I.S.B. ones and maybe the Popol Vuh. Not a bad haul, though and this fair was better than the last few I've been to. I've got some listening to do now...