A Lark Ascending

Some street fighting men (Keith appears to be admiring Vaclav's dashing suit). Who is that to the right of Keith? A politician (or musician) being endorsed by himself.

'a discussion of concert pianos' Never knew that was the collective noun.

Enjoyed his first two so much I've put off reading this for 18 monthseven though it's been on my shelves that long. Now the 1974-9 sequel is upon us + a TV documentary so I thought I'd better pull my finger out.: First 100 pages whizzed by. As always, he's very good at placing the politics in a social context; also at bringing out the continuities between eras where standard accounts tend to exaggerate change. He most definitely does not like Tony Benn (though generally quite detached, his right of centre sympathies seep through). A pity he's chosen one of the eras most annoying records to title the sequel:

A couple of playboys. Working class heroes at work.

Really? A highlight of the year (or any year) in my view, considering the last one here was 1949. Unmissable, whether or not you are watching the sailing from Weymouth, track events in the stadium (wish there had been more tickets on offer though) or just catching it all live 'on the box'. Never had the remotest interest in sport (if I want competition there's always 'who's the best alto sax player?' or 'is Haitink better than Karajan?'!). Don't begrudge it to anyone else and know that it will give oodles of pleasure both here and round the world. I quite like the sound of a cricket match as long as I don't have to watch it. Otherwise, 90 minutes watching sport is 90 minutes wasted when I could be listening to...er...'Tales of Topographic Oceans' perhaps?

Watching a doc the other night about Southern Rock and having recently read a book on music and politics in the 60s/70s I thought this might be an interesting idea for a thread: Jimmy Carter meets the Allman Brothers James Brown and Nixon Two guitarists having a chuckle over a particularly difficult chord sequence. Not shown with the Lord's anointed but just afterwards. Where's the beret?

Ah, but I won't be doing the Olympics or be anywhere near them. So they can send the good weather to me.

Having signed up to Sidmouth Folk Festival in the summer I've now also defected for May bank holiday. A few days of English cowpat classical in the Oxfordshire countryside: Hopefully something more interesting jazzwise will crop up next year. Edit: Really enjoyed this even though I found myself in amongst the gentry!

Clear blue skies down here. We had a bit of hail last week though. Was lovely yesterday afternoon. And it's light showering with lots of cloud at present. But last week.... Queues all day yesterday on the Worksop bypass (which I can see from my house) due to flooding on the next roundabout down. Forecast looks pretty wet for the near future. Don't mind it at this time of year as long as we get properly compensated in August!

Sheffield was the wettest place in Britain a few days back (it's usually Capel Curig in Wales). And Britain is currently very wet. Wimbeldon weather.

Great first two episodes. This will keep me going for the next few weeks! She is very strange. The Radio Times article alludes to autism/aspergers but says the film makers deliberately kept that vague. Apparently it has also been bought for a US remake. Intrigued as to where the international bridge will be. I assume there must be some state boundaries with a big bridge crossing them.

I suspect that has more to do with technology; it was harder to hear other versions 50+ years ago therefore orchestras were more likely to interpret with greater variation. I put the love of 'classic' classical recordings in the same bracket as 'classic' cars or classic 'railway' engines. Nothing wrong with that nostalgia; but the record companies know how to milk it just as well as they do when telling us that the latest bright young pianist or violinist or conductor is someone we 'must' hear. In fact sometimes they mix the two with claims that one of the latter is special because they have returned to the values of the former.

Yup. Never seen a Valkyrie before?

Mais, oui!

I watch programmes in English with the subtitles on so I don't miss the mumbling bits! Must be an age thing!

How do you get to see these so early? I thought 'The Killing II' was a bit slow to get going but by episode 4 I was utterly gripped. Sometimes you need to accept the slow burn; otherwise you get that whizz-bang thing every 2 minutes that is so common.

"Sweet Home Alabama" - BBC4 doc about the Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard etc. Never knew Jimmy Carter was an Allman Brothers fan!

After a genial (well as genial as murder can be) lolling in the Sicilian sunshine, the grim North returns tonight: The Bridge Promised in the next year - Lilyhammer (Norway), Sebastian Bergman (Sweden), The Killing III (the last series), The Killing for Americans II, Wallander for Brits Who Won't Read Subtitles (i.e. Branagh) and, next spring, Borgen II. Get out the smorgasbord.

Seems Lennon and Jagger were prima donnas from the start. I'm just getting to the end of this: Both come across as dabblers with 'revolution' in Doggett's interpretation. At least Dylan (mostly!) kept his distance.

Take care, Bill. They'll have you on one of these 'I Love The 60's' programmes before you know it!

As long as you enjoy them, nothing else matters.

Though I was aware of The Band in the 70s I only really got gripped by them in the early 90s. One of the really distinctive bands. RIP Levon Helm

I think the 'industry' is spitting out both 'historic' and contemporary 'ad infinitum' and cleverly marketing both - historic is always marketed 'for the more discerning listener'. They know the buttons to push. Which is no judgement at all on the quality of the music itself. That's quite separate from the marketing. Personally, I think there is a tendency to exaggerate the special qualities of the older recordings. I totally understand how someone who grew up with Furtwangler's recordings would still default to them. I default to Boult and Barbirolli in English music because that's where my view of the music was formed. I don't assume there is anything special about their recordings compared to more recent views. What the market does is tries to mythologise these older recordings for commercial reasons. And they do it by suggesting you are joining a club of particularly astute listeners by buying them. Which, of course, does not mean that are not very enjoyable recordings.