A Lark Ascending

It would appear the Sixties never happened. Be a man! Belgians have a national character linked to the murkier parts of their past! We're back to the world of 'Tull rule, Zeppelin are crap.' Opinions, strongly held. Though I have to admit I'm still chuckling over the strongly held opinion that Belgian middle-aged people seem to like each other and that some Belgians partake in legitimate forms of enjoyment.

That is well-worn Organissimo-board-speak for 'unsubstantiated assertion'. The strength tends to lie in the vigour (and sometimes the colourful language) with which the opinion is expressed rather than in how convincing the argument is.

I'm not. I'm looking at a internet image of the cover.

And I mention that too...but there's a major difference in the way we tell it. I always work on the assumption that there is a more than equal chance that they problem lies in my hearing, context or preconceptions rather than anything wrong with the music. I must admit I've now got visions of Brittany Spears making her next record and then having doubts prior to release: 'but does this music meet the standards of post-modern methods of critical analysis?'

This week's reading? I'm thinking of this:

If it's pompous and opinionated to feel that I only have a partial grasp on things and therefore fight shy of telling everybody what they ought to be listening to (and what they ought not to be listening to) or in making daft assertions about 'national character' based on a flying visit then I admit to pompous opinionated assholehood. Your right to say what you want goes unquestioned; but I reserve the right to question it if I think it's twaddle (which, to be fair, it is only sometimes). Come on. You Great Minds get endless amounts of supine deference. I'm sure you can put up with the odd poster who is not paralysed in the presence of minor celebrity.

As one of the Five Great Minds on this board who are endlessly telling people what to think I doubt if it would be beyond your capabilities to reverse your polarity (doing that always improves old Blue Note recordings) and write it yourself. Like your colleagues, you have the Old Testament certainty to be able to bring it off and convince the impressionable.

It's quite unnecessary. All it takes is an assumption that the place you are visiting is as multifaceted as the place you come from, and that you'll only see the tip of the iceberg. I visited New York in August 2001. I could write my 'impressions', full of portents of what was to come (the sudden rain storm that swept out of a blue sky on the Friday, wiping out the intense heat of the previous three days and replacing it with an oppressive gloom). That's the trouble with a lot of travel writing - it doesn't so much reflect what the visitor sees as organise what he or she sees according to a set of preconceptions. Replace 'see' with 'hear' and you've got a fair bit of jazz (and music in general) writing.

I'm not sure I'd describe bracketing the Belgian 'national character' (does that include both Flemish and Walloon?) with allusions to the Congo or the Dutroux affairs as fun. I can't claim to know any Belgians well, but I've spent a fair bit of time in and around Ostend, Menin, Ypres. Never struck me as remotely creepy, in spite of the ghosts that walk in those areas. Ypres is one of my favourite European towns. The ghosts of Ypres I carry with me are from my historical knowledge. It would be perfectly possible for a visitor unaware of its past to just see a charming European town (if they could avoid the memorials!).

Would it be fair to suggest that in the many times I've been in Germany, the jackboot has always been just below the surface? This sort of stereotyping is nonsense. It's reading into a situation things from our own patchy knowledge of a foreign place, often based on more sensationalist events we half-recall. The sort of thing I remember from the 60s and 70s when Brits first started going abroad (on holiday rather than as an invasion force) - my parent's friend's were always quick to make judgements about 'the nature of' 'the French', 'the Spanish' etc based on ten days in a hotel serving pie and chips and Watney's Red Barrel. I think I might have stereotyped the emergent British neo-middle class of the 60s and 70s there! I was in Cheltenham at the weekend. Didn't go to Gloucester - creepy place. Fred West lived there.

You'll have problems - it can't make it's mind up if it's part of Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire, a rural market town or an ex-coal mining town. However, like in Belgium, a fair number of the middle-aged couples obviously like each other (except on a Saturday night after ten pints and an evening of watching an Elvis tribute band).

What a bizarre collection of superficial assumptions, based on a flying visit! I imagine that the Belgians, like the rest of us, are a diverse people. "I saw a fair number of middle-aged couples who obviously liked each other" - astounding observation! What were you expecting? And: "the Belgians I saw en masse in bars and met individually seemed to give off a strong sense of legitimate enjoyment of life." My god, I bet they are grateful to know that the way they enjoy life has your validation. As for: "About Belgium, based on that one brief encounter, I wondered if there might also be a creepy side -- e.g. thoughts that the 19th Century imperial past in Africa must have drawn on something in the national character". I wouldn't dare assume the same about 'the American character' based on the Native American massacres of the 19thC (and I'd hope no-one would make similar assumptions about 'the British character' based on our awful imperialist record)! Dear, oh, dear! The arrogance of the intellectual tourist!

Tucked away in the depths of the current Jazzwise is mention of a May publication of an autobiography by Michael Garrick called "Dusk Fire: Jazz in English Hands". Should be interesting to Brit jazz lovers.

More to the point, they will never replace cylinder discs.

The second Bruno mystery - evokes a nice, fluffy France where devious things go on but the essential goodness of the community makes all right in the end. Has me itching to go to France. Read on the back of the first Bruno mystery. Wanted to know a bit more about wartime France. Somewhat timely, given our current woes and the threat of the barbarians taking over again on Friday. A nicely balanced view, showing the 70s not to have been all misery. Amazing what I have forgotten; also useful for putting a jumble of memories into some sort of order.

Yes, I tried to get an On the Corner last year but could find it nowhere. It seems that Columbia, the home of the 'Legacy Edition', is run by people with no idea of the legacy they have (though maybe they have more idea than I do of the most advantageous way to deal with the commercial parts of it). I'd far sooner the got the OTC box back out and some of the rumoured live Lost Quintet stuff. Though we've probably missed the chance on the latter as last year was the convenient anniversary. Wish they'd just set it up for downloads - bugger the bits of cardboard.

Packaging lunacy. Just say no!

Oh, wonderful! I've been waiting for this one for years! Recall it being released in the late 70s but never bought it at the time.

Another tip I was shown: Put in: +hampton +hawes +japanese +releases Now put in: +hampton +hawes +japanese +releases -CD It will exclude any links with CD in. Can be useful in narrowing down a search.

Thanks, Bill. I claim no photo skills, beyond selecting the scene to snap - it's all down to the camera and nature. My camera can do everything including make the tea but I still havn't got beyond the automatic stage, bar a few tricks. I had an SLR about 30 years ago that was easier to focus and get control over depth of field but I find that quite hard (my brain can't cope with remembering which way round f-stops go!). It might be that my eyesight has deteriorated and so I can't make out what is being shaped in the viewfinder. On the plus side far more photos come out as I want them; and there's no longer the huge cost of film and developing and the disappointment when the snaps come back and they are rubbish.

What a difference 3 months makes... My first proper wander this year, out in the hills around Holmfirth between Sheffield and Manchester: Driving back and forth to work I'd got the impression spring was more advanced than it proved to be. Most trees only just showing signs of life up on't moors.

When we've loved the music of a musician or group of musicians over a period of time we so want the magic to go on. I think the post-Beatles career of all of them has been sustained by that desire. In the end their achievement in the 60s dwarfs any disappointments subsequently.

I agree with you, JETman. The music of the 60s/early 70s suggested many directions. A listener may not like the ones (emphasis on the s) he chose, but they were as individual and legitimate as any of the other directions. Why didn't he follow the route "I" prefer? Well, other people did.

Interesting! If everything went up in smoke, at least I have a list of all my CDs (about half of yours), which would help prove their former existence. Fortunately, I've no experience of loss or claims of this sort. As for burglary, who'd want the stuff? Have to be a pretty cool burglar! I once left a bag of about a dozen jazz LPs (Blue Note, Riverside, etc) on a train which traveled a hundred miles to its terminus, where someone handed it in intact. As they say, you couldn't give it away! My thoughts too! I'd be mortified to lose my collection. But I never think of it in monetary value. It's never been a financial investment (just as well as I tend to dump unnecessary packaging and rely mainly on dl these days).

Not sure what the Chinese will make of all those bottoms from the office party.