A Lark Ascending

I suspect all of us who have amassed huge collections are perpetually rediscovering music buried within it. I have a habit of obsessing on an era or genre or musician and then moving on elsewhere. The obsession slips away. But then something triggers an interest again - a chance pulling from the shelf, hearing something on the radio, a post here - and off you go again. My listening has always been like that - periods of obsession, shuffled by chance/random stumblings. I have to be pretty systematic in my work life; music brings out the hippy in me.

The privileged position of the Church of England (well, we can hope...). Tax loop holes (ditto)

Finished...thank the lord. The last 200 pages were skim read. I'm none the wiser. Switched to a 100% ripping yarn: Think I first read this in 1968 or 9.

Very Naughty Boys.

The lark? The larch? People (dead) parroting Monty Python lines?

Humphrey Lyttleton (sounds like a 19thC Secretary of State for The Colonies) Wally Fawkes (sounds like an even more incompetent pyromaniac regicide).

The British National Health Service (see above) (aka 'that hotbed of socialism'). The BBC (see above) The concept that there is something wrong with those with wealth buying their sons and daughters to the front of the educational queue. Cylinder discs. Printed newspapers. Jazz critics. Beatles revivals.

The USA as 'the greatest country the world has ever seen' (a quote from these pages a few years back).

Britain's forests...well if Cameron hadn't been found out trying to flog them off to his Eton mates.

Hopefully, the exclamation 'Awesome!' Sadly, if this year is anything to go by, the sun.

Acker Bilk

So exactly how many begats are there?

'Ramblin'' (just the first phrase) My ringtone is from a John Cage piece.

Would that be the Kurt Vile who collaborated with Beastly Brecht?

Still trapped in this with 150 pages to go. Very little forward momentum. I suspect it's art.

Must try to catch it on the i-Player. Now listening. Humph's "Close Your Eyes" was a trip down memory lane - the B side of "Bad Penny Blues" which I once owned on 78! Yes, I liked that; and 'Bad Penny Blues' with its famous Lady Madonna feel (I know, I should reverse that).

This is another nice one: 1. Cherokee 2. Roses of Picardy 3. Just in Time 4. These Foolish Things 5. I Hadn't Anyone Till You 6. You're Blasé 7. Limehouse Blues 8. A Nightingale Sang in Berkely Square 9. Got a Date with an Angel 10. The Very Thought of You Not having grown up in the era when those were fresh there's only a couple I associate with Britain - the rest always seem like standard jazz vehicles. Remember it well. I'm in the car on the right. And he backed into you? Now I get it.

They call that 'a fishmonger's g'.

I really like Allen's playing as part of a broad, balanced diet. This record is gorgeous: I can see exactly where he's coming from in the red bit - I suspect he's come in from a fair bit of a hammering from critics who expect musicians to constantly remake the world. Thank the lord there are musicians who feel driven to constantly want to remake the world; but not everyone wants to hear that, certainly not all the time. People like Allen and Barnes provide a different experience. I find that just as pleasurable.

I'll have to play 'Fire Music' a bit later - forgot about that. Just got 'Release' on now - the opening of the album definitely shows the influence of the free music coming from the state - that ragged hymn/folk song thing that I associate with Ayler. The Ogun/Blue Note/Brotherhood axis went for that big time.

I'm sure he had. But I get the impression that 'The Girl' was really bugging him. It's played pure elevator.

There's a bit of a piss-take of TGFI on this 1968 Mike Westbrook record: Suspect he'd heard just one too many versions at that time, probably in tick-a-tick-a arrangements by foyer bands in Torquay hotels!

I'm not a great fan of 'rating' music - there's so much subjectivity involved and every listener comes from such a different context. Yet even knowing that, 4 or 5 stars perks my ears up, 1 or 2 has me cautious. I prefer places where you have to read the review to elicit how the reviewer feels. Having your ratings adjusted so they end up not matching what you wrote does seem bizarre. I have to deal with a rating system when being assessed as a teacher and when assessing others. I've no issue with commenting on a lesson where the myriad of things that go on, good and not so good, can be discussed with plenty of nuance and a general focus on how to get better (or even better). But I hate sticking the wretched 1-4 numbers on the end because they then become the label that the reviewed person takes away. "Gosh, I'm 'Outstanding' (1)" or "Drat, I'm just 'Satisfactory' (3)" or - worst of all - "They've just told me I'm 'Inadequate'(4)" when the reality is so much more complex. I read a comment on a classical site yesterday where a woman maintained that top ten lists were a male thing. I wonder if the need to 'rate' in categories might be too.

I like the look of that 'The Age of Insight'. You might enjoy this - I read it over 30 years ago and it made a huge impression on me. I was obsessed with Mahler at the time, just exploring Schoenberg and Berg and had recently been to Vienna and seen some of the Secession and Jugendstil places and galleries. Focuses on one year and all the political/cultural/social waves that were sweeping through the city and empire at the time. I notice he also has a volume centred round 1913/14.