A Lark Ascending

I saw Mahavishnu on that tour in June '73 too - at Bristol, Colston Hall. Not just loud but long! If my memory serves me correctly King Crimson at the same venue 3 months earlier were even louder. But I was sat at the front, right next to the right hand speakers.

A performance of John Cage's 4' 33" in a Sheffield steelworks.

I suspect it is the same version without some overdubs - noteably Richard Thompson's guitar that answers Donahue's. The Donahue lines are identical. Very useful as I was never completely sure which guitar was which...even though their styles are quite different (a problem I've also had with the final Sandy solo album which is so heavily produced that most of the instrumental playing comes across as quite anonymous).

Whisked this off e-music myself. Very nice indeed. The Lucas/Denny balance seems slightly more in the former's favour than the original album (he always sounds like Gordon Lightfoot to me...no criticism!). 'John the Gun' seems a bit overblown to me - I prefer the starker version that turned up on 'Northstar', and Barry Dransfield seems far more fitting than the sax on this version (Jerry's dad, swing star Sam Donahue, apparently!). I've known 'Gypsy Davy' and 'Two Weeks Last Summer' for some time as they were included on a 90s CD issue of 'Fotheringay' - both performances as good as anything on the first album. Nice to here the tracks that have never appeared before (or not in my hearing). A very worthwhile release, carefully compiled and engineered.

Just ordered a copy of 'Bessie' after reading the chapter of Humphrey Lyttelton's 'The Best of Jazz' on Bessie Smith (which praises the early version of the book on several occasions) and listening to the Naxos compilations of some of her music. Very much looking forward to it - will interest me as a music fan but also provide some anecdotes to tell my 16-17 year olds whilst studying Civil Rights.

I'm always looking for an excuse to throw in some historical background!

There have been some marvellous cross-Atlantic collaborations in recent years, but this one just left me cold. I bought it because of John Taylor but he seems to have little presence on what sounds like the jazz equivalent of a mid-Atlantic accent. I suspect a large number of 'summit' albums that throw together wonderful musicians for one-off projects might end up here!

Dagmar is out of the Lotte Lenya school of singing. She did two albums of Weill/Eisler songs in the 80s/90s. It's not a jazz voice (or even a rock voice) but owes more to German theatre music. The vocal sounds and lyrics of 'In Praise of Learning' sound dated now but evoke the era of 70s student protest, Baader-Meinhof etc when building a song around a Mao text seemed quite normal! 'Pierrot Lunaire' might be a better reference point than jazz or rock singing. 'Unrest' was recorded before she joined. There are actually long stretches without vocals on 'In Praise of Learning'. Steer clear of the 'Art Bears', however, if her voice bothers you!

Curiouser and curiouser! After putting up a bunch of discs in August and then deleting all but 7 (why that 7?) in September, ECM have just added another dozen of the Touchstones to e-music (UK). I can't understand their logic at all! Quickly swallowed AEC's 'Full Force' and 'the first 'Gateway' before they vanish!

And do not forget John Greaves... Some excellent song-based records with a Gallic feel. These are especially good: Interesting Wikipedia article on Georgie Born's later career: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgie_Born Cousin of Olivia Newton John! Wonder what a joint album there would sound like!

There's a marvellous account of Henry Cow by Chris Cutler here: http://www.ccutler.com/ccutler/

'Exposure' is a wonderful record. I bought it when it came out and it was something of an oasis in a musical world that the bottom had dropped out of. All was three cord punk and new wave and along came this record that still dared to be ambitious. There are tracks on the record that reflect the punk atmosphere of the times but also some gorgeous songs and haunting soundscapes. The use of voices predicting imminent cataclysm give it a real edge and set the performance of Peter Gabriel's 'Here Comes the Flood' in a perfect setting.

Troops have been deployed to protect Lindisfarne and Jarrow.

Oh, if only. But I fear Oxbridge still has its grip on the BBC. They understand 'high culture'; they understand 'market forces'. It's the world in between they are clueless about.

I've followed a fair bit of F-IRE and really enjoyed what they've done - great big band a couple of years back (which is doing a short tour soon). I'm especially fond of Oriole who do a beautiful melange of Brazil, Mediterranean and cinematic music. I've not taken to the punkish direction of Acoustic Ladyland of late - very well played and quite fun live but I've never returned to their last CD. Hope its getting interest in the 'indie' world but it's all too quick and condensed for my ears. I've not heard the new Polar Bear - when I last saw them live the electronics irritated me. Again, may be for a different audience. I've seen some of the bands from some of the other collectives live - Fraud, Outhouse - and enjoyed them but not enough to want to buy a CD. Outhouse did a great gig with a group of African drummers earlier this year; I wasn't captured enough by the band itself to want to hear more. But the percussion was fantastic. Ingrid Laubrock who plays with F-IRE but is more wide ranging is the one who interests me most. Her new album has taken her into completely free regions. Still absorbing that one.

Didn't Tori Amos run aground off Land's End in the sixties, coating the Cornish seagulls with tar?

I don't think a pure jazz station will ever succeed in the UK. After tuning in to a couple of programmes regularly at first I lost touch with The Jazz after a month or so. Far better would be for the BBC to use its public service remit to operate a station for non-classical, noncommercial music. Jazz could share with blues, folk, world, reggae etc. Each would get a greater range than is eked out over Radio 2/3 at present; and the dons could stop whinging that jazz gets in the way of the Haydn string quartets on Radio 3 as the existing programmes are transferred. I'm not bothered about 24 hour jazz streaming (which always tends to reduce to a limited number of genres). What I do like is hearing someone who cares playing music that enthuses them. Peter Clayton, Charles Fox, Humph in the olden days...Alyn Shipton at present. Just a few programmes like that would do me. I'd really like a jazz equivalent of Radio 3's 'CD Review' - Shipton does the 'Building a Library' element but the only new release programme is the occasional episode of Jazz on 3.

An excellent disc - quite short with mainly short songs. I got to know it through a friend's copy when it first came out ('74?, '75?), bought my own a few years later. It was originally pressed as a 45 rpm 12 inch! I'll look into the Frith Quartet disc - if he is playing guitar I'm interested. I'm not sure I want pure string quartet.

Thanks, bigtiny. I've noticed that disc with Glennie (yes, she is Scottish - amazing how she has become a top musician without being able to hear). Might be one to experiment with.

A parrot ('Bird lives, Bird lives, Bird lives....'). 38% will be above me.

Any recommendations for Fred's own records, 7/4? I have a few (Speechless, Gravity, Aliens, Traffic Continues + the Art Bears box). I don't care for the more 'noise' related things. Especially interested in hearing a disc of more recent music.

No, the 5X claim seemed unbelievable to me, even if he meant relative to population size. *************** I wonder what contitutes 'literacy'. A government can introduce a successful 'functional' literacy campaign that raises the percentage; but many (if not most) of those who acquire the functional skills may not have the interest, confidence or access to books to go any further into reading books. That's certainly my experience with a lot of UK kids and adults. Literacy is used as a tool to acquire information and communicate. but the idea of reading at length for pleasure not so common.