I wrote about the second album by Liverpool band ‘The Open’ recently. They have produced two beautiful albums, and I was settling in to wait for great albums to come, but that has fallen away now.
Why? Because I have just read in the official forum that they have decided to split. That’s such a shame. If you are unfamiliar with the band, search out their two albums - The Silent Hours and Statues. To be totally blown away, try the first track of the second album, ‘Forever’, and see what you think. The title seems a bit ironic given the fate of the band, but it is a truly stunning piece of music.
Now we just have to wait and see what the members of the band will do next.
Wednesday, 21 June 2006
Tuesday, 20 June 2006
BlueWater Books - Series Two - Coming Soon
After nearly two years, I have decided that it is time to begin work on the second series of books from my poetry press. BlueWater Books was launched in 2004 with two books of poems - 'Zen Words' and 'Umbrian Images'.The second series will be available in the early autumn. More news of the titles that will be available will be posted on the blog soon.
Oh, and if you want copies of the first two booklets I still have a few left, so email me your details and I will send them to you.
Sunday, 18 June 2006
Spaces and Gaps
...two months pass. And then... a short posting.
As if nothing had happened!
And the transmissions begin again, from here.
Listening to Robert Fripp, and wondering whether the deep and mysterious messages which are so elusive in Gurdjieff's work are the reason that the 'work' is so resonant, so meaningful and so prolific.
As if nothing had happened!
And the transmissions begin again, from here.
Listening to Robert Fripp, and wondering whether the deep and mysterious messages which are so elusive in Gurdjieff's work are the reason that the 'work' is so resonant, so meaningful and so prolific.
Friday, 7 April 2006
The Friday Playlist 1
The Friday playlist:
The Open – Statues
The Liverpool band’s second album begins with a track recorded in deepest Wales – yearning trumpet and a voice that comes from god knows where. This is a classic track called ‘forever’ which is one of the best album openers I have heard in ages. The second track takes us into more familiar Liverpool music scene. But the rest of the album which was recorded in France, is full of surprises. There’s prog rock, radiohead, jazz and straight-ahead pop. It’s a great album which grows with each play. Their first album “The Silent hours” is one of the best first albums I have heard in years.
Doves – Lost Souls
I’ve spent the last few months working my way backwards through the Doves’ back catalogue. This, their first album from 2000, is fantastic.
Neil Young – Prairie Wind
This is taking a bit of playtime to get to – I have problems with the sound of country, and this album is full of steel guitar. Great songs, as you’d expect. Neil Young reacting to the health scare he experienced in the middle of working on the album. Sometimes the albums that stay on the playlist are the ones that aren’t instant –this could be one of those.
Robert Fripp – Love cannot bear
I love the soundscape albums of Fripp, and this one is the best yet. It gathers tracks from across the years, each a live track from the USA. The result is a journey of immense emotional intensity.
Nitin Sawhney – Philtre
World travelling from the UK – a stunning melding of influences. This is the fourth album by Sawhney that I have bought recently. I find his music fascinating. Sometimes you hear music and think that it sounds like a soundtrack and lacks the visuals of a film. With Sawhney it sounds like a soundtrack that doesn’t need a film.
Also listening to:
The Tears – Here come the tears
Morrissey – Vauxhall and I
Sigur Rós – Takk
The Jam – Snap!
Paul Weller – Stanley Road
The Open – Statues
The Liverpool band’s second album begins with a track recorded in deepest Wales – yearning trumpet and a voice that comes from god knows where. This is a classic track called ‘forever’ which is one of the best album openers I have heard in ages. The second track takes us into more familiar Liverpool music scene. But the rest of the album which was recorded in France, is full of surprises. There’s prog rock, radiohead, jazz and straight-ahead pop. It’s a great album which grows with each play. Their first album “The Silent hours” is one of the best first albums I have heard in years.
Doves – Lost Souls
I’ve spent the last few months working my way backwards through the Doves’ back catalogue. This, their first album from 2000, is fantastic.
Neil Young – Prairie Wind
This is taking a bit of playtime to get to – I have problems with the sound of country, and this album is full of steel guitar. Great songs, as you’d expect. Neil Young reacting to the health scare he experienced in the middle of working on the album. Sometimes the albums that stay on the playlist are the ones that aren’t instant –this could be one of those.
Robert Fripp – Love cannot bear
I love the soundscape albums of Fripp, and this one is the best yet. It gathers tracks from across the years, each a live track from the USA. The result is a journey of immense emotional intensity.
Nitin Sawhney – Philtre
World travelling from the UK – a stunning melding of influences. This is the fourth album by Sawhney that I have bought recently. I find his music fascinating. Sometimes you hear music and think that it sounds like a soundtrack and lacks the visuals of a film. With Sawhney it sounds like a soundtrack that doesn’t need a film.
Also listening to:
The Tears – Here come the tears
Morrissey – Vauxhall and I
Sigur Rós – Takk
The Jam – Snap!
Paul Weller – Stanley Road
Thursday, 6 April 2006
Setting goals
“The greatest danger for most of us
is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it”
is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it”
- Michelangelo
Monday, 13 March 2006
Monday, 6 March 2006
...another March fragment...
Three are the ways that I have seen you
Gliding across the sky like Jove awakening
Wondering why there are honeyed spaces between
Every field of your vision, every space kept unseen
Remember the secrets you told me, kept separate
Not available for decipher
Un-placed now, re-arranged as though you want
Some bespoke arrangement that only I will understand
Never have I left such distance between as the moments of now
And the time is moving fast and slow all at once
How strange! Take a madman and put him on show
Make him a leader and watch the world glow
Gliding across the sky like Jove awakening
Wondering why there are honeyed spaces between
Every field of your vision, every space kept unseen
Remember the secrets you told me, kept separate
Not available for decipher
Un-placed now, re-arranged as though you want
Some bespoke arrangement that only I will understand
Never have I left such distance between as the moments of now
And the time is moving fast and slow all at once
How strange! Take a madman and put him on show
Make him a leader and watch the world glow
Friday, 3 March 2006
RSS Feeds
Just a thought in passing really. It's so easy to assume that everyone knows what an RSS feed is and how to read blogs through a feed aggregator. It sounds mind-boggling. But essentially we are talking about a web-based service which captures updates to a blog and tells you when they are there for you to read. You can then read all of those updates through one browser.
The service I use is www.bloglines.com which is worth looking at. You can 'subscribe' to a blog by clicking on an RSS button on the page, or use a button in your browser which you can download, or within bloglines itself. It's a great way to keep up to date with your online reading!
The service I use is www.bloglines.com which is worth looking at. You can 'subscribe' to a blog by clicking on an RSS button on the page, or use a button in your browser which you can download, or within bloglines itself. It's a great way to keep up to date with your online reading!
Thursday, 2 March 2006
Austrian landscape
... and here is a photo, which is the working image for the cover of the work in progress mentioned in the previous post:
Out of Hibernation
Coming out of winter hibernation, I have begun a project for the month of March. 31 poems in 31 days. I'm also carrying a camera and capturing images as the month progresses which I may use to complement the poems. Here is the second poem - unedited or worked, just in its raw form:
Whenever she says she does she does
But the light never shines above her head
The way it should – like a veil
I watch the birds, 1028 of them, fly overhead
Like one organism, flexing and changing shape
Creating a mass of darkness in a blue sky surround
The sense of menace is as real as
The sense of plenty that sometimes comes through
Just when I worry about things too much
When the light shines above my own head
I can sometimes pull it down and through
Then the warmth of it all is palpable
Here comes the birds organism again, fifth time around
With each circle of the town, I can feel a little more sense
Understand the way 2056 wings can make a unified sound
Like fingers beating on a microphone as a test –
Pulling patterns together that would be meaningless
Sense, connections, lines between – where the ends meet the means.
Whenever she says she does she does
But the light never shines above her head
The way it should – like a veil
I watch the birds, 1028 of them, fly overhead
Like one organism, flexing and changing shape
Creating a mass of darkness in a blue sky surround
The sense of menace is as real as
The sense of plenty that sometimes comes through
Just when I worry about things too much
When the light shines above my own head
I can sometimes pull it down and through
Then the warmth of it all is palpable
Here comes the birds organism again, fifth time around
With each circle of the town, I can feel a little more sense
Understand the way 2056 wings can make a unified sound
Like fingers beating on a microphone as a test –
Pulling patterns together that would be meaningless
Sense, connections, lines between – where the ends meet the means.
Wednesday, 15 February 2006
Thursday, 26 January 2006
Running your own race
Robin's Blog: Blog Archive: "Robin, the most important thing in life is to run your own race." Never forgotten that one. Run your own race. Don't worry about what others are doing. Stick to your values and cling to your dreams.
This is a quote from the latest post on Robin Sharma's weblog. It is a really thought-provoking idea. I remember being really hopeless at sport at school - and I think that was because it was always someone else's race I was a part of, so I was always going to fail. It took a while into adulthood to realise that the way to progress was to compete with myself - to run my own race. Another way of looking at this is to see it as a process of continuing self-improvement.
This is a quote from the latest post on Robin Sharma's weblog. It is a really thought-provoking idea. I remember being really hopeless at sport at school - and I think that was because it was always someone else's race I was a part of, so I was always going to fail. It took a while into adulthood to realise that the way to progress was to compete with myself - to run my own race. Another way of looking at this is to see it as a process of continuing self-improvement.
Tuesday, 17 January 2006
Monday, 16 January 2006
Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room: Climate Of Hunter by Scott Walker
Sid Smith's Postcards From The Yellow Room: Climate Of Hunter by Scott Walker
The latest post on Sid Smith's marvellous blog is a review of Scott Walker's album 'Climate of Hunter'. When Sid likes something he has a way of writing about it which draws you into it, and makes you want to go out and buy it. Sid's book about King Crimson ('In the Court of King Crimson') achieves this with each of the albums over the band's 40 year history. It's a great read.
I wrote about the Scott Walker 5-CD set 'In Five Easy Pieces' ages ago, and also posted a link to an informative site about him. Thanks to Sid's review, I'll be diving back into that 5-CD set - as soon as I have finished listening to Robert Fripp's latest album 'Love Cannot Bear' which has been played at least once a day since I bought it just over a week ago. I know I referred to it on the last post, but it deserves another mention. Beautiful and serene soundscapes that touch something deep into the soul and leave the listener breathless. And there's even a track where Fripp 'sings' a poem - well, he does it through a heavily treated piece of electronics. It is very moving and unsettling in the way that Laurie Anderson can be.
Oh, and it's a great CD to play whilst working too!
The latest post on Sid Smith's marvellous blog is a review of Scott Walker's album 'Climate of Hunter'. When Sid likes something he has a way of writing about it which draws you into it, and makes you want to go out and buy it. Sid's book about King Crimson ('In the Court of King Crimson') achieves this with each of the albums over the band's 40 year history. It's a great read.
I wrote about the Scott Walker 5-CD set 'In Five Easy Pieces' ages ago, and also posted a link to an informative site about him. Thanks to Sid's review, I'll be diving back into that 5-CD set - as soon as I have finished listening to Robert Fripp's latest album 'Love Cannot Bear' which has been played at least once a day since I bought it just over a week ago. I know I referred to it on the last post, but it deserves another mention. Beautiful and serene soundscapes that touch something deep into the soul and leave the listener breathless. And there's even a track where Fripp 'sings' a poem - well, he does it through a heavily treated piece of electronics. It is very moving and unsettling in the way that Laurie Anderson can be.
Oh, and it's a great CD to play whilst working too!
Monday, 9 January 2006
Happy New Year ... at last
Happy New Year … at last
In spite of all the promises I stayed away from the computer for the whole of the festive season. There are times when it is important to have a break from the gadgets!
Three things preoccupied me over the festive season:
Music – I listened to a fantastic range of music. I now have two albums by Doves which are regularly on my CD player, especially in the car. The latest album ‘Some Cities’ is great, but I am also enjoying listening to ‘The Last Broadcast’ which is heavily influenced by King Crimson.
But the album which has really gripped me over the last couple of days is the latest album by Robert Fripp. Called ‘Love Cannot Bear: Soundscapes – Live in the USA’ it has taken me a few weeks to get hold of this one. I was pleasantly surprise to find that it was on sale in a local record shop (I thought it was internet sale only!). I love Fripp’s soundscape albums. My favourite is ‘A Blessing of Tears’ which I often play when I want a deeper level of concentration for some prolonged writing. This new album is stunningly serene. It draws out elongated emotional expressions, almost symphonic in its deliberations. If you have the chance to get hold of this CD, do so. If you want to hear some extracts you can go to Fripp’s latest site here.
Books – I’m in the middle of reading Robin Sharma’s ‘The monk who sold his Ferrari’. It is a really good read – lots of self development ideas. I recognise a few of them from writers like Tony Robbins, but the book has a real inspirational air to it. I like the Dan Millman style of story telling which is used. I recently subscribed to the Sharma podcast which is well worth a listen too.
Reiki – I am consolidating Reiki 2 and have begun to think about doing Reiki Masters. I will make decisions about this in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I am working with the energy and working through a few issues towards the right place to decide. If anyone finds their way to this writing through serendipity and has a useful comment or advice feel free to post something. I welcome your views as I move to the next stage in a spiritual journey.
In spite of all the promises I stayed away from the computer for the whole of the festive season. There are times when it is important to have a break from the gadgets!
Three things preoccupied me over the festive season:
Music – I listened to a fantastic range of music. I now have two albums by Doves which are regularly on my CD player, especially in the car. The latest album ‘Some Cities’ is great, but I am also enjoying listening to ‘The Last Broadcast’ which is heavily influenced by King Crimson.
But the album which has really gripped me over the last couple of days is the latest album by Robert Fripp. Called ‘Love Cannot Bear: Soundscapes – Live in the USA’ it has taken me a few weeks to get hold of this one. I was pleasantly surprise to find that it was on sale in a local record shop (I thought it was internet sale only!). I love Fripp’s soundscape albums. My favourite is ‘A Blessing of Tears’ which I often play when I want a deeper level of concentration for some prolonged writing. This new album is stunningly serene. It draws out elongated emotional expressions, almost symphonic in its deliberations. If you have the chance to get hold of this CD, do so. If you want to hear some extracts you can go to Fripp’s latest site here.
Books – I’m in the middle of reading Robin Sharma’s ‘The monk who sold his Ferrari’. It is a really good read – lots of self development ideas. I recognise a few of them from writers like Tony Robbins, but the book has a real inspirational air to it. I like the Dan Millman style of story telling which is used. I recently subscribed to the Sharma podcast which is well worth a listen too.
Reiki – I am consolidating Reiki 2 and have begun to think about doing Reiki Masters. I will make decisions about this in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I am working with the energy and working through a few issues towards the right place to decide. If anyone finds their way to this writing through serendipity and has a useful comment or advice feel free to post something. I welcome your views as I move to the next stage in a spiritual journey.
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