dag 1086: hope blisters eternal

This post was written sometime towards the end of last year but my old PowerBook died on me before I had the chance to tidy it up and publish it. You will see that the bit at the end has actually been superceded by my latest post.

I have been spending some of my down time over the last few weeks looking things up on wikipedia. I think the principle that anyone can create new articles or contribute to existing ones is great. Since I first heard about it I have wanted to contribute something, but haven't found the time or the right subject as yet. The things I have been reading about has included musicians and groups I like and I am amazed at the amount of information people have contributed. My wanderings have included Peter Hammill, Kent, Nick Drake, John Cale, Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil. I can still remember the very first time I heard This Mortal Coil, I was driving along Penny Pot Lane listening to the radio for a change when they played the Song of the Siren - a cover of the Tim Buckley original. I instantly recognised Elisabeth Fraser's distinctive voice when the song began and I initially thought it must be a Cocteau Twins track, although it was different from their normal stuff. It was only when it finished that I actually heard it was This mortal Coil, and I wondered if the Cocteau Twins have split up.

Fortunately they hadn't (though of course they did do so later on).
This Mortal Coil wasn't a band as such, but a collection of musicians (mainly from the 4AD record label) that got together to record cover versions with various original pieces thrown in for good measure. The whole project was conceived by Ivo Watts-Russell, the founder of 4AD, who liked melancholic music and put together a band to play original music as well as cover versions of some of his favourite songs.

That melancholic music will surely cheer you up.

I bought their first Album, It'll End in Tears, and was amazed by it. Although it featured different singers, musicians and instruments it definitely had a certain mood about it which I think pretty much matched the kind of mood I have always liked and wanted to create in my own music (though haven't really managed it as yet). I bought the next two This Mortal Coil albums (both double) as soon as each was released - Filigree and Shadow, and Blood. I thought they were both fantastic. It was great hearing their cover versions of songs I already knew, but it also introduced me to some songs that I had never heard the first time around.

I kept looking out for the next TMC release, but it looked like the project was over and I ended up rebuying the originals on cd or from iTunes (where I bought Blood and the Sixteen Days/Gathering Dust ep shortly before leaving my contract in Scotland). But while reading all about TMC on wiki I discovered a link to a small piece about a group called The Hope Blister.
It seems that there was another TMC album after all. Although the band name had changed and it was the same musicians playing on all tracks, this was essentially a TMC album. It featured a set of previous TMC musicians, it still featured cover versions and, as I discovered once my copy arrived from amazon, most importantly it sounded like a TMC album.

For me the stand out tracks are Spider and I and Hanky Panky Nohow.
These are the last 2 tracks and seem to flow together as if it was always intended that they be together. Spider and I was written by Eno and I have never heard the original. This version is very relaxing,
starting off with strings and exquiset vocals and gradually transforms itself into a cacophony of banging drums and feedback in such a way that you don't notice the transition. This flows seamlessly into Hanky Panky Nohow, which is written by John Cale and taken from his Paris 1919 album. This is a track I did already know and Paris 1919 is generally considered to be John Cales finest album. This version is great, but does seem to lose
itself a bit towards the end, but I think that is just that the first half of the track is so good that it is not possible to keep that going for the whole track. The lyrics to this song are amazing, yet I have no idea what they mean - they just seem to fit together really well.

Hearing this John Cale track reminded me that
a) I hadn't listened to any of his music for ages and
b) I still hadn't managed to see him live yet.

A quick scour of the web resolved both these situations as I ordered the newly remastered Paris 1919 cd and his latest CD Black Acetate (I had seen John Cale perform a couple of tracks from this on Jools Holland last year). I also spotted that he will be playing a few dates in January - the nearest to my current location was Sheffield, so after rallying round all my concert going buddies I ordered a single ticket.
So if you see a bloke looking sad and lonely hanging around near the front of the stage it'll probably be me so why not say hello.

Nothing frightens me more..........

Dag 1084: in the bag

Last night was my first gig since leaving my native Scotland - well ok slight exaggeration, it was my first gig since leaving my 4 year Scottish based contract. The last one was Gary Numan at Glasgow University and as I arrived so early I managed to get a place right at the front and took some pretty decent photos using my phone. The camera on my phone no longer works, but I now have a phone sized 5 mega pixel Canon Ixus so I thought if I can get to the front I will be able to get some even better quality photos. Some of the gigs I go to don't allow photos, but you can often get away with it if its is a big venue and/or large crowd to hide amongst. I thought I should be ok taking photos as I had noticed that the John Cale website had recently asked for people to send in photos they had taken at John Cale gigs so that some could be included in the packaging of the soon to be released live cd pack entitled "John Cale - Circus Live".

So I printed off the instructions on how to get to the leadmill from their website and set off down the M1 in search of junction 33. As I headed up to the roundabout at the end of the parkway I new my instructions. Take the 3rd exit, then turn left at the mini roundabout, then left again and then turn into Leadmill road and there the famous Leadmill will present itself in front of you by means of a glowing red sign - simple.

So I turned left and looked out for this mini roundabout. One didn't appear and After going through a couple of sets of traffic lights I got the feeling that I was heading out of town and had maybe missed it. I turned round and drove back looking for this mini roundabout, but still no joy. I began to think that maybe the directions were out of date. I had now driven past the station twice and the website had also provided instructions on how to get there from the station, but I hadn't bothered to print those out as I wasn't going by train.

So I ended up back at the big roundabout and wondered if maybe I should have taken the next exit which goes into the centre of Sheffield. As I waited at the traffic lights I already knew I was wrong and should have gone back towards the station, but I was committed so 10 minutes later I was back at the big roundabout and heading back to the station. It was now 15 minutes after the doors opened so I just thought I may as well park in the station car park and ask someone. I did this and was at the leadmill front door about 30 seconds later - why didn't I do that first time round?

I handed my ticket in and noticed a sign saying "The Artist has requested that no one smoke during the performance". I guessed Mr Cale must be thinking about his health and not wanting to go the way of Roy Castle. It also meant I had a chance of not going home with clothes stinking of smoke.

Once in the room I noticed that the stage only had a couple of people next to it and they were towards the left side so after depositing my coat I made a b line for the spot right in the middle. The layout seemed to consist of a back row for guitar, drums and bass and then a front spot on one side for when he was playing guitar and a front spot for when he was playing keyboard on the other side, so I was right between the 2 with the drums right in front of me. I had watched the John Cale performance on Jools Holland and had noted that the drummer was pretty good so all in all it was a good spot and I should get some great photos.

Just before 20:00 someone walked onstage to stick down the set lists. These were easily in view of the few people that had now claimed spaces at the front so he asked us not to look. We did as he said, until he had walked of and then all craned our necks to try and get a glimpse.

I couldn't read all the track titles as they were upside down, but I noted that heartbreak hotel was second on the list and quite a few old songs were scattered in there, though I couldn't see any tracks listed from Paris 1919, and a few others I thought he might do didn't seem to be their either.

At the end of the gig I could have got one of these set lists - they were handing them out, but I didn't see the point of getting one, but now I see that if I had got one I could have listed it here. So I'll try and do it from memory and list it further down. I did count them, though, and there were 20 (including 3 for encores).

It began to look like things might be about to start and I heard the sound guy telling the guy that stuck the set lists down that John had decided to swap the order of the first 2 songs. The other guy looked like he was about to go and rip up the first set of sheets, but the sound guy said to just leave it as it was. Then the background music faded and the heavily treated drone of a viola faded in. This went on for some time and then 4 guys walked on the stage and there was John Cale a foot or 2 in front of me. I had first attempted to see John Cale toward the end of the 1970s and although I had a ticket my parents didn't let me go. It had taken me about 25 years to finally get to a John Cale gig.

As soon as he was on stage I thought that he had a certain presence about him that is often present in successful musicians. It made me wonder a bit what it was like being as good as he is, yet be playing in small venues like the leadmill. I also wondered what it was like being in his band - whether he got really mad at them when they made mistakes or not.

They started off with Heartbreak Hotel, as expected, and it was pretty different from any other version I had heard. The vocals were heavily affected and the chorus had oooos instead of the "I could die" line. In al it was pretty tame compared to his original recording of it and very tame compared to the live video I saw where he was pulling up stage tiles as he was singing it.

Then came the second song (that should have been first) and I can't for the life of me remember what it was (why didn't I take one of those stupid set lists). I seem to remember that I enjoyed it more than heartbreak hotel though and thought swapping them round was probably not that good a move.

If I remember correctly it was Helen of Troy next and there followed a number of other tracks from that period.

There was also a selection from Black Acetate and by this point I was really enjoying the music. All the musicians were great, but the drummer was particularly good. I am definitely not a drummer, but there is a style of drumming that I prefer and would play if I could play the drums and John Cale's drummer matched that exactly. I found that even during songs that I didn't know or that were different arrangements I was tapping my hands in the way I would have been playing and it just seemed to match how the drummer was playing - it was quite amazing.

After great renditions of Outta the bag and Perfect there was an acoustic section during which we were invited to eat our sandwiches. For these track the bass player played an electric upright bas and the drummer fixed shakers to his feet and sat on, and played one of those boxes that I had seen used at the Paco De Lucia concert in Edinburgh.

All too soon they began singing choruses of "Goodnight goodnight" at the end of Pablo Picasso (if I remember correctly) and then left the stage.

They came back and plaid Dirty Ass Rock and Roll. This wasn't one of my favourite album tracks, but the live version was great. I expected them to go into the next of the 3 encore tracks (and I think the backing musicians also did), but John Cale signalled for them to leave and I though that might be it, but they did come back on and performed Hush (if I remember correctly) from Black Acetate followed by the song listed on the set list as Chorale. I had never heard this track before, but it was brilliant with some great singing from the whole band and it was a great song to end the show with.

All in all a thoroughly good gig and I ma sure my gig going buddies of the last few years would all have enjoyed it, even if they didn't know any of his stuff already.

So what of these stunning photos that I was expecting to take?

Mr John Cale has left the stage.

Well I usually wait for someone else to take a photo before I do just to see how the land lay first. Near the start of the gig John Cale seemed to have noticed something he didn't like in the audience and one of his security crew went over and made them put their cigarettes out. He then took up a position at the side of the stage and spent the rest of the gig scouring the audience. The first time a flash went off he shone a torch at the offending fan and told him not to do it again, so my camera remained in my pocket until just after the band left for the last time, when I took the above photo just before a heavy black curtain just about knocked me out as it fell to the ground blocking off the stage from view.

As far as the set list goes, so far I have remembered the following songs and they were roughly in this order. If you were there and can add any of the missing songs or correct the order please leave a comment.

The set list as far as I can remember:

Heartbreak Hotel
Can’t remember, but I think it is from Black Acetate
Helen of Troy
You know more that I know
Sold Motel
Big White Cloud
Outta the bag
Perfect
New Song

Ship of fools
Save us
Pablo Picasso

DirtyAss rock and roll
Hush
Chorale


The concert finished pretty early (around 21:45) so I had time to collect a chicken fried rice from Knaresborough on the way home. My plan was to have a vodka and sprite and eat it watching Jonathan Creek just like in the old days. It almost went to plan, but I had no sprite so I had to have my Absolut vodka with coke, and it just doesn't taste as good. Also the chicken fried rice wasn't very nice so I only ate half of it.

Dag 1076: äpple eller apelsin?

As this is the first post of the new year we'll start with a topical quiz which is open to non Swedish speakers only.

There is just one question and it is: "Which of the Swedish words in the title means apple (äpple or apelsin), and for a bonus what do you think the other word might mean?"

You may be thinking that äpple is the obvious answer as it looks most like apple, however if you heard them both spoken you may think apelsin sounds closest to apple (as the character 'ä' is pronounced 'e' (as in end) and the 'le' at the end is not pronounced as the 'le' at the end of apple. So äpple is pronounce a bit like 'epp lay' and apelsin is pronounce like 'apple sin'.

The correct answer is, in fact, äpple and apelsin is Swedish for orange.

One of the things a like about the Swedish language is that lots of words have origins that describe what the word is (i.e. it says it on the tin). Oranges originally come from South China and apelsin means apple from China.

OK, so how did we get onto the subject of apples?

Well, I am currently on the last day of a 3 day opsware course and am writing this during the breaks. The course is in a hotel near Leeds station so I have been travelling in by train. I have always considered myself to be quite a relaxed easy going sort of guy who doesn't get annoyed that often, but something went wrong this morning. There are a number of different carriage layouts in the ancient trains that are used on the Harogate to Leeds railway line. The best ones are the ones where you have 2 seats on each side of the aisle all facing the same way. The worst ones, which I hate with a vengeance, have seats in groups of 4 that face each other. Some carriages are like this and there is a table between the seats, but on these particularly crap trains there is no table, and the reason for this is that there is no room for a table. In fact the seats that face each other are so close together that it is difficult to sit in one when there is no one in the seat opposite you, but if there is you can forget trying to sit there unless the other person doesn't have any legs.

So, this morning I was waiting on the platform and up rolls the train (late as usual) and I notice it is one of the crap trains - so that sets the day off to a bad start straight away. I got in through the door and noticed there was a section at the end of the coach which had a rack for luggage and next to it was a double seat with its back to the window facing towards the middle of the carriage. To race down the carriage and plonk myself into this seat, was with me the work of a moment, and as the train set off I had my headphones on and was immersed in playing my PSP. Each time the train stopped no one sat down next to me as I think the fact I am playing on a PSP gives me the same status as a leper, so all was well - until we reached Burly Park station. Some bloke got on and sat down next to me. This in itself was not even close to being a problem. I don't mind one bit if someone sits next to me, and I was quite happy right up until I heard a crunch. The bloke had an apple and seemed determined to make as much noise as he could eating it. Even though I had my headphones on every last crunch of that apple seemed to force its way through to my bones in the same way that the noise people make with their finger nails on a blackboard does. And to make things worse this apple seemed to be never ending. Each bite of the apple made no impact on the amount left at all. That apple lasted all the way from Burly Park to Leeds including a long stop waiting for a platform to become free, and by the time we finally got there I was thinking pretty bad thoughts about that guy next to me. As I mentioned earlier, this sort of thing never used to bother me at all, so it must mean that I am officially becoming a grumpy old bloke.

And just to tie up any loose ends with the story I have just spilled my orange juice drink over my prized new Apple MacBook Pro.