A Lark Ascending

Have a listen to some of those tracks, just listening to the bass. Lovely lines.

Bass player and songwriter with Free - one of my favourite of the more blues based English rock bands of the early 70s. They stood apart buecause of the song-writing skill that took them beyond the standard blues cliches and cock rock of their peers (though they did that too!). http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/18/andy-fraser R.I.P.

I loved Wilson's Spanish/Portuguese based novels. This is another superb, tense thriller set mainly in London but with the odd trip out to Mumbai and Dubai.

The problem that will emerge with lots of competing streaming systems is that they'll all have different content (probably with overlap). I'm not sure many customers are going to want to subscribe to several streaming sites to cover their interest. Back in the early days of online CD sites there were loads of small vendors - most have been swept away as a few successful giants (and one in particular) have eaten up the competition. Imagine the same will happen here. I can't imagine many people beyond a niche audience will be prepared to pay more for the sonic upgrade. I'm comfortable with mp3 quality and I probably play more music than most (members of this board excepted). Where music is something you like but not the centre of your entertainment world I somehow doubt the prospects for high definition this or that are going to mean a lot.

Hoping for a heatwave sometime into next week when this current system passes. We were promised a barbecue Easter by our oh-so-reliable press a few weeks back.

Gorgeous blossom their, kinuta. Amazing spring day today. Really stormy weather dashing between blue skies and hailstorms. On the way to work not just a double rainbow but a full half-circle a little later - you only usually see one leg here. This afternoon drove home through brilliant sunlight illuminating the trees superbly against a dark, thunderous sky ahead that I eventually drove into. Pheasants, magpies everywhere. Just had two power cuts within 30 minutes. The weather is clearly taxing the system.

Thanks for the help. I've e-mailed the Blue Note store direct to see if they know more. When you get reviews like this you'd have thought you'd want to stay in print a whole: Latin Side

I saw him (with seashells) with the Latin band McCoy Tyner had about 15-20 years back (there was a record). Kenny Garrett's band did the first half during his rapper phase. Think it was The Barbican.

This is the most popular beer in England:

There are clearly a range of contributory factors at work. I'd agree that the dominating one is the difficulty physical stores have competing with online retailing. However, there is a niche market in Britain for some stores stocking CDs and LPs - a fraction of what was once there, but still there. The situation in Bath is particular to up-market tourist towns. Bath is a rather 'posh' town with lots of added tourist trade. Exactly the sort of place that should be able to sustain a bijoux CD/record shop. But because the competition for premises in the central area is so intense the rents go up and a CD/record shop can't compete with an upmarket handbag shop or Jamie Oliver restaurant. ********************** I notice the equally posh Cheltenham is still sustaining a CD/record store: http://shop.badlands.co.uk/ Don't know if Sounds Good is still going. I remember it closing about ten years back but getting bought and relocated by a chap I used to see around the festival a lot. Seemed a bad bit of timing - just as downloading and online buying started to bite. He was quite adventurous with new releases in classical, jazz and folk/world. Can't find an online presence.

Thanks. Does seem odd. Maybe they had to withdraw it. Licencing problems, maybe?

Four of interest which I'm going to pounce on when my e-music account refreshes at any moment:

Record companies never struggle with 'Complete' sets that are incomplete so a 60 yr old Centennial should be no problem. On that logic I should get a telegram (maybe she sends e-mails now...or tweets?) from the Queen in the summer. Anyway, nearly everybody likely to want this will be at the great jam session in the sky by 2055 ('Frayed and Yellow'). Makes sense to bring it forward.

Bad news. http://ogunrecords.com/ is now active It is for a different Ogun Records: Well, you could hit the dance floor with some of the South African stuff, I suppose!

Anyone know the current state of play with this label? It appears to be connected with the Blue Note Jazz Club in NY. I've been trying to track down this release from last year: It's showing as not available already - though there are some expensive copies knocking around. Checking the label website gets the 'Website Coming Soon' window: http://www.halfnote.net/ Is it undergoing some sort of reorganisation? Or is it a dead parrot?

Interesting to read Renbourn's comment on the above (or the original version - that one has a few more tracks) in the Guardian article linked a few posts back: A victory for spontaneity?

'A Maid in Bedlam' is another good one from a similar line-up.

It's a beauty, isn't it?

Well, that and...

A classical shop but one I used to like visiting when I was a Bath jazz weekend regular: Now gorn.

Lovely Guardian piece here: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/27/john-renbourn-ceaseless-explorer-of-song-pentangle-folk-appreciation

Had to smile at that. Sounds so Californian from over here. I have a vision of someone with a million New Age and Self-Help recordings.

Yes, great player. Some fine later solo albums too. This one from 1980 is superb: ...especially the long Eastern-influence "Sidi Brahim". Pentangle were expiring when I first got interested in folky stuff and I've never been completely convinced. But there's lots of wonderful music there and Renbourn was a key part of that. Don't think I ever saw him live. RIP

The late Ed Dipple of Mole told me that one involved some very tough haggling over cash! I really like that one. Great guitar from Ray Russell on 'Little Wing'. And plenty of Surman throughout.

Some nice spring shots here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-31939757 Up here in the north Midlands the daffs are just appearing but the leaves are not yet out; yet I noticed around Watford yesterday the green was appearing. What a difference 120 miles or so can make!