A Lark Ascending

Merci. Don't know this music at all though I've read lots about it. I'll experiment with one or two - probably that Monk/Nicholls as I might have something to hang on to. A more manageable way to listen to unfamiliar music than a huge box. Any must listen to records?

I have a Sept 1971 concert that came out shortly before 'Meddle' (titled 'Meddled' by whoever put this version together) - especially intriguing for me as I remember listening to it on the radio (and trying to record it on a cassette recorder with a mike up against the radio speaker! Gave up after several members of the family burst in the room and spoilt it!). I'm probably that very rare beast - someone who puts 'Atom Heart Mother' at the top of my personal list. They were still a very experimental band and I love the 'all-over-the-place' nature of the record - 'Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast' normally gets hammered by the critics but I really like the pastoralism of the piece. Some of Gilmour's guitar on the main 'suite' is the man at his poised best. I get the impression that that experimental side got pulled in after the experiment with the album played on domestic implements (!). DSotM was a much more conventional record. 'Meddle' is my other favourite. Had that pre-ordered in the record shop at the time. I was living in Cornwall at the time so the feedback sections on 'Echos' always remind me of the gulls wheeling and gliding over the local cliffs. It always gets a play on the iPod when I'm walking a beach on my annual trip down there (two more weeks!!!!). Not claiming they are the best; but they retain a nostalgic hold on me, as much for what they evoke in my brain as any musical merits.

Fascinating World Service documentary, if you can get it on the BBC iPlayer (28 mins): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02200hm

Saw her with Humph in the 90s. Very impressed. A trailblazer in a very male profession.

Found this a bit dull. The central story-line was a bit thin, padded out by joining the dots on as many key civil rights events as they could get the main characters involved in. I wish they'd put the 90s series 'I'll Fly Away' on DVD. Now that series had real depth.

This 'new' album does sound a bit like warmed-up left-overs; but Bubble and Squeak can be quite tasty. Pink Floyd are one of those bands that illustrate perfectly how impossible it is to make catch-all judgements on music - the context of your listening is everything. My 'classic' PF runs over 'Atom Heart Mother' and 'Meddle' (with 'Relics' and 'Umma Gumma' bought around the same time); I went back to the earlier records and came to really like them but more as run-ins. DSotM I enjoyed when it came out but I missed the more 'stretched', less song-centred music of the period I favoured. As a result I never heard the subsequent records till much later. I didn't get 'WYWH' until the 90s - have to admit that is as good as anything they did. Didn't hear 'Animals' until a year or so back (nice enough record). I've never heard 'The Wall' in its entirely or the last record. The things from the 90s pass the time but don't grab me by the throat. Yet someone who came up with them in their earlier days or someone who clued in with 'The Wall' (or the 90s things) is bound to hear it all very differently. I'd like to think Gilmour will come up with a compelling album; but, for my ears, I suspect rock musical practices have moved on too far to recapture that spacey pastoralism that hooked me in in the early 70s.

No, they'd be the:

Quite a few veterans have produced some really worthwhile records in their dotage after years at sea. Often this has involved reconnecting with their earlier sound rather than trying to update their sound to fit in with current trends. Maybe Gilmour can pull off the same. Like others, I've always loved his guitar style (Atom Heart Mother!!!!). We'll wait and see but if he can: a) Come up with some memorable songs; b) Avoid all that overproduction that is so common on post mid-70s music - turn down the drums, don't fill in all the spaces with synth washes; ...then we might have something. Calling it Pink Floyd will sell more units and get acres of publicity. But I imagine it will be a Gilmour record.

Even more addictive than the liquorice only variety.

Surprised they're keeping Tennant. He mumbles through the series. Maybe they'll retrain him to say things like 'Awesome'. Can't imagine the Dorset accents of the other characters would go down well in Fox-land. Though you'll miss the best part of the programme - the Dorset landscapes. Where is the USA's Jurassic Coast?

No bagpipes. It was just the thought of free jazz. The Freezone used to happen in a separate venue but there was always a Saturday afternoon spot for Evan in the main tent. The scramble for the cream teas always started the moment the last note of the previous set ended. You'd end up with just 20 or 30 people. I suspect its the same the same people. Look out for the 'Bird Lives' and 'Stan Kenton is better than Wagner' stickers on the frames. Having said that, I'll normally do a runner if the next act promises 'hip-hop attitude', 'contemporary beats' or 'punk sensibility'.

I love the sound of blues played by a skilled acoustic guitarist. Another excellent contemporary American - Kelly Joe Phelps. One of the 60s Brits who generally gets overlooked is Wizz Jones (though several of the big rock stars - Page, Clapton - credit him as an inspiration). Still playing today - saw him in spellbinding form last year. Stefan Grossman has explored a wide variety of blues and related musics on guitar (sometimes with John Renbourn).

The last time I saw Dunmall was with Grimes in the Pillar Room at Cheltenham - think we were all in the same room! Remember seeing him do the bagpipe thing on one of those Friday night for Radio 3 broadcasts (Alex H. was on the same bill...it was a bit like one of those early 60s multi-artist shows that used to tour the provinces). Along with Evan Parker, Tony Levin and Paul Rogers he cleared the main tent in double quick time at Appleby in the mid-noughties! Overturned mobility scooters, discarded zimmer frames everywhere.

"The Honourable Woman" A new BBC series - espionage, terrorism, a Middle Eastern dimension. Just watched episode 1. Very impressive. One of those complex, elusive things that has you guessing. Promising. I've also finally got round to: Which is engaging but I'd expected something more given all the excitement over it. Suffers from that ITV thing of being chunked down between adverts; even when there are no adverts the gaps show. Also all the suspects wander round looking like suspects!

I remember seeing him with a relatively conventional post-bop group, Spirit Level in the 80s. Seen him a number of times over the years, most impressively with Keith Tippett's Mujician band. Now that was special.

Rained heavily overnight and into the morning but sun appeared about lunchtime - glowing since then. Hopefully nice for the bikes.

You can watch someone opening his/her box here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PobZXbudoNY !

Well, under socialism the state would fix the price. Not saying that is good, bad or indifferent (suspect it would be highly inflexible). Just that in a capitalist state you get variations in price as you get variations of remuneration for the same labour. So it's hardly surprising that things cost different amounts in different places.

It's called capitalism. You charge what the market will pay.

After two weeks of dry weather we're needing water. Been glowering over the last few days but doing nothing. Has just started pouring down. Hooray!

Think how much mum and dad pay for their phone contracts!

Yes, very expensive. Has the advantage of just needing a pair of speakers. Not too bothered about wireless, except it might be nice for the kitchen - I currently have a pair of cheap (but effective) speakers wired to there. Don't need it upstairs. What I would like to do is experiment with playing straight off an external hard drive. At present I still burn discs. Hopefully this will also playback my iPod family in reasonable sound. I have a cheap think linked up to do this at present but even someone with my cloth-ears can hear the thinness of the sound. Will continue to ponder.

Me too. I find the thought of connecting everything up too frightening. So I work off a Heath Robinson arrangement. Keep looking at one of these:

This could well colour your whole attitude to music which becomes more casual. Are people who borrow books from the library more casual about reading than those who buy them? I like owning things - books, records, acres of moorland for grouse shooting. But I'd say that is a separate thing from the degree of enjoyment you get from the objects. I don't think the desire to own has changed much - our instinctive desire to own is put under too much pressure from highly sophisticated business techniques. What has changed from the 1970s is the range of things you can own. There's much more competition for our pennies. Those of us who have spent a lifetime building up a huge record collection are unlikely to change much. I'm retiring in a year. With a reduced income Spotify has come just in time to feed my 'must hear unfamiliar music' habit.

Haven't been since about 2007 - even then the record stores weren't much to get excited about. There were a couple specialising in Irish traditional music that were a delight to root round but nothing wonderful jazz wise. I suspect it can only have got worse.