Aug 22: My Desert Island Discs

A few months ago, I posted about Desert Island Discs and invited people to share their choices. One person has responded to the request so far - thanks!

I've been thinking of my music choices. These are subject to change of course, but at the time of posting, I reckon I would take the following:

Piece 1: Ommadawn Part One, Mike Oldfield - the GOAT 

Tubular Bells is the one that people always talk about when considering the work of Mike Oldfield, and his debut certainly had an impact, and launched the Virgin empire. This, his third album involved working with a wider range of musicians, and once again lots of overdubs and multi-instrumental virtuosity from Oldfield. There are also guests such as Paddy Moloney from the Chieftains who played the uillean pipes, and Les Penning.

There were some issues when recording. He faced a serious technical issue several months in: having almost finished recording side one, the recording tape started to shed its oxide layer, causing irreparable damage. Virgin delivered a machine so that copies of the master tape could be made and Oldfield could carry on working, but the same problem recurred, leaving him with no choice but to start again using a new brand of tape. Pierre Moerlen also played on this album.

Piece 2: Ará Batur - Sigur Rós

This is one of those pieces that builds and builds to a huge crescendo and I was fortunate to have been in the Royal Albert Hall when it was played live for only the 2nd time (the first time had been the night before...) There are several recordings of this moment online.

Piece 3: Headlights on the Parade - The Blue Nile

From the classic album 'Hats'. They remain one of my favourite live memories.

Piece 4: The Road not Taken - Bruce Hornsby

Unrequited love in the Appalachians, with a nod to Robert Frost's poem.

Piece 5: Close to Home - Lyle Mays

The final track from Lyle Mays' first solo album, released in 1986. 

Piece 6: Goodnight America - Mary Chapin Carpenter

An excellent version of this song from the 'Songs from the Movie' album which I first heard on the radio one evening driving back home. I saw Mary play this song live a few years after that.

Piece 7: The Lake - Mike Oldfield

No apologies for including a second long Mike Oldfield instrumental. This one was released in 1984, and later that year I made my first visit to Norway.

I had it on cassette on my Sony Walkman (remember those?), and listened to it while sat by a lake in the sun.

Piece 8: The Garden - Rush

The final track from their final album made with Neil Peart.

It's a perfect piece of music.

In terms of books, I am going to have to go with J. R. R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings'. I have a special Deluxe edition of the book which I was given for a birthday present over well over 40 years and is worth anything up to £2000 apparently.... it dates from 1979 and has gold leaf on the front cover and came in a special box.

And my luxury of course will be a stash of single malt whisky, specifically this one:

Please let me know your own Desert Island Discs.

I will share more contributions later in the year hopefully.

Aug 22: 2025

And sort of up to date with the music of last year.

My Spotify Wrapped was dominated by Bob Mould whose 'Here we go Crazy' album I played a lot during that year, and it was also stuck in my car CD player (sometimes literally) for weeks on end for my work commute.

Musical highlights included gigs from Tangerine Dream, Yann Tiersen, Public Service Broadcasting and Sigur Ros - the latter featuring a live debut for Ara Batur... I blogged about that separately.

It was an interesting musical year for releases. Crown Lands were a key one...

Alison Goldfrapp released Flux and an extended version which featured this song...

What are your musical favourites from last year...?

Aug 22: Cold War Steve's latest work

Cold War Steve has produced a cultural collage representing the West Midlands. He has previously created work specific to Birmingham (I have a framed and signed copy of that one). This covers a broader area. Slade in pride of place at the top there.

A list of the artists featured is on the web page if you want to test how many you can identify.

On his website he says:

‘I’m a Brummie and I’ve created Birmingham works before (although not solely concentrating on music) and I was always a bit frustrated by the strict parameters I’d set myself. They had to be from Birmingham – even if they were just down the road in Walsall or Coventry they didn’t make the cut – which I was able to do, because Birmingham has been blessed with such a rich history of creative artists. However, I wondered how even more magnificent it would be if I just widened the net a little. The joy with my Manchester piece was the prefix of ‘Greater’ – with ‘Greater’ Manchester I wasn’t restricted to a self-imposed rigid geographical area. I could encompass not just the actual city of Manchester, but also Salford, Oldham, Stockport, Bury etc. So now I present to you my WEST MIDLANDS MAGNUS OPUS!"

You can buy a copy of this, or some of his other work from the website.

Check out his Manchester version here too, which I'd missed seeing.

From 808 State to Herman’s Hermits, via Georgie Fame, Marcus Intalex, Happy Mondays, DJ Paulette, Mark E Smith, Mr Scruff, Lonelady, Space Afrika, the Bee Gees, Demdike Stare and so many more.

He's also worked on a similar collage for Sheffield. I see John Shuttleworth there....

It's called 'Sheffield - it's alright'.

The name of the piece comes from the late Steve Mackey of Pulp, who once described how people in Sheffield downplay things compared to those in other cities. To describe something, you really love can simply be reflected as "alright".

Aug 21: Face Value

Phil Collins' first solo album was released in 1981.

I saw a recent Classic Albums programme on Sky Arts where he talked through the process of making the album. 

The album features one of the most recognisable singles of the 1980s.

I hadn't realised (or had forgotten more likely) that L. Shankar played violin and added vocals to several tracks on the album. I saw him play live several times in Peter Gabriel's band and he has also worked with Jan Garbarek.

Here's a live performance from 1984 of 'Song for Everyone'.

Lakshminarayana Shankar - electric violin 

Jan Garbarek - saxophones 

Zakir Hussain - tabla, percussion 

Trilok Gurtu - drums, percussion

I've seen Trilok play with Jan many times in the years since.

Aug 21: 2024

From my Spotify Wrapped for this year, there were a few albums which I listened to the most during this year. I had a busy year working on writing projects, and other related consultancy work.

This was the album I listened to the most. The band has created the best option for anyone wanting to listen to the music of Yes.

There are some lovely instrumentatal moments on this album.

The final track is particularly good and is a love story to Jon's wife, who has been his supporter for decades.

Also in 2024, there was the release of new material from Clannad's 'Legend' album linked to the Robin of Sherwood TV series. I've blogged about that separately.

Public Service Broadcasting released 'The Last Flight': an album that ended on Howland Island - the final destination which Amelia Earhart was heading for when she disappeared. Here's a remix of that final track. It was particularly good when I saw it being performed live at the Barbican Hall, with an orchestra....

I also liked this album from 'The Cure' - not my usual music choice, but this has a good overall feel and got a lot of plays this year...

What were your favourite pieces of music from 2024?

Aug 21: Life during Wartime

Via Instagram I came across a piece in FarOut magazine investigating the song that Talking Heads released in 1979.

Aug 21: Bass Rock

I'm a fan of the composer Erland Cooper's music, which is often connected with particular places, and evokes those places... often in Scotland.

Their latest work has been released as an EP.

It features a piece of music themed around Bass Rock: a well known rock outcrop and seabird colony off the E coast of Scotland near Dunbar and North Berwick.

Here's my image taken in 2008 along the John Muir Way, with Bass Rock out to sea.

Image: Alan Parkinson

And here's the piece of music... relax and be carried along by it...

Aug 20: Tunisia and Anouar Brahem

For Tunisia, I am going to refer to the music of Anouar Brahem.

He is an oud player from Tunisia.

The oud is a stringed instrument which is a little like a mandolin or lute, but with a rounded back and a neck which includes an angled headstock.

Anouar has recorded a number of albums for ECM. Here's a live performance of a track from his latest album.

 

And here's a track called C'est Ailleurs from an earlier album...

 

Aug 20: 2023

One of the albums I listened to the most in 2023 was the album i/o by Peter Gabriel.

This was released one track at a time on the day of the full moon through the year, which guaranteed lots of listens to the earlier tracks in particular.

2026 has seen the same strategy used for the o/i album.

I was also able to get a ticket to see the concert on the i/o tour, which was the most I've paid (to date) for a concert.

My favourite track from the album perhaps is this one....

My Spotify Wrapped told me that I was also listening to a lot of varied music. 

Aug 20: Thought for the Day

Taken by my wife earlier today at the Royal Academy where the Summer Exhibition is on.

Image: Sally Parkinson

Aug 20: 'The Lark Ascending' #4: Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Richard King's 2019 book explores British music and its link with the landscape of Britain. Here's the 4th post connected with the book.

There is a chapter on the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

This is the track most people will associate with the band.

The album this was from was released in 1978, and called 'Music from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra'. Credit was given to Simon Jeffes. He was an acolyte of the composer John Cage.

The front cover of the album features a painting by Emily Young.

The follow up also featured Emily Young art work.

She was the inspiration for the early Pink Floyd song 'See Emily Play'.

The second album featured the track 'Telephone and Rubber Band', used in TV advertising.

The book explores the story of the "found harmonium". In 1982, Jeffes found it abandoned in a Kyoto side street while in Japan collaborating with Ryuichi Sakamoto. He picked it up the following day and took it to his apartment and then back home to London. It was then taken across the world. This piece was to do with found objects (objets trouvés).

There were connections with the new age music released by Windham Hill, and Brian Eno and Michael Nyman's music.

Aug 19: New World Man - Rush

I have a memory of purchasing this track when it came out in August 1982. This was the summer before I headed to start my undergraduate studies. The long summer when my future was ahead of me...

I brought it to 

He's got to make his own mistakes
And learn to mend the mess he makes
He's old enough to know what's right
And young enough not to choose it
He's noble enough to win the world
But weak enough to lose it

Aug 19: 2022

My Spotify Wrapped for the year 2022 had a lot of tracks from 'Urban Dreams' from Kebu

A Rura album was also heavily played that year, which had the theme of 'Home'.

I went to a number of concerts this year as well, which is always a highlight of my cultural year.

What were your favourite musical memories from 2022?

Here's my Spotify Wrapped

Aug 18: Frank Beard RIP

Frank Beard, drummer with ZZ Top has sadly passed away.

ZZ Top was founded in 1969 and the trio - Beard, Billy Gibbons and the late Dusty Hill - played their first live concert the following year. Together they released 15 studio and four live albums, with hit singles like Gimme All Your Lovin', Sleeping Bag, and Viva Las Vegas. When Hill died in 2021, the group carried on performing with Elwood Francis as its bassist.

They recorded various songs featuring their famous spinning furry guitars... and their custom car.

And of course ironically Frank's surname was Beard when the other two members were the ones with the famous beards.

Here's one of their classic hits:

Aug 18: 2021

2021 was five years ago, and the pandemic was still fresh in people's memory.

Crown Lands were the break out for me.

It was 2023 until this made it to an LP and was then turned into a CD which finally made it to the UK.

Very influenced by Rush, this Canadian two-piece has since released several albums and EPs.

Some splendid guitar work here.

Public Service Broadcasting released their 'Berlin' album: 'Bright Magic'. This had more tracks which were purely synthesiser driven. J Willgoose had obtained a 'Blade Runner' synthesiser.

This blog post outlines the process of creating the album:

Band leader J. Willgoose, Esq moved to the city in 2019 to begin both research and writing. As with all PSB full lengths, their fourth album tells a story, leaning even further into the projects cinematic nature. Split into three parts, ‘Bright Magic’ looks into Berlin’s past, present and future as we learn about the cities history and the characters that inhabit it.

 Here's 'Im Licht' from the album:

I saw the last date of their tour in support of this album, at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

Aimee Mann released her most recent album to date (we are overdue another one please, although she has been quite busy in the last year or two with other projects).

This is a short album (just 40 minutes) made of 15 exquisite short pieces which provide themes from a project which was derailed by COVID.

It was inspired by Susanna Kaysen's 1993 memoir Girl, Interrupted, about Kaysen's experience in McLean Hospital in the 1960s. This was set to be made into a musical. The title came from a poem by Anne Sexton. Another of her poems was adapted into 'Mercy Street' by Peter Gabriel.

Via Wikipedia

Mann spoke to Rolling Stone about the inspiration behind the first single, "Suicide Is Murder", explaining that the song grew from personal experience with people who had died by suicide and the guilt that survivors carry. She described the phrase "suicide is murder" as capturing the devastating aftermath for those left behind, who she said would spend the rest of their lives wondering whether they could have intervened.

This Guardian article explores more of the background to her work on this album, and her childhood.

Being on the road with ’Til Tuesday was so intense that she once contemplated cutting her hand – enough to wound, not maim – to enforce a break. In the mid-90s, Mann, now solo – and repeatedly battling label execs who said they “didn’t hear a single” on her albums – found herself on Geffen, also home to Nirvana. “I remember having a conversation with someone at Geffen [who was] very shocked that Kurt Cobain had killed himself. They had a minute where they were like, maybe we should consider the mental health of artists on the road because it’s very unnatural.”

What are your musical memories of this album?

Aug 18: 'The Lark Ascending' #3: The Sea, the sea...

Another post exploring some of the themes of Richard King's book 'The Lark Ascending'.

Chapter 9 of the book explores the sea, and starts by referencing Rachel Carson, author of 'Silent Spring' but who also wrote books on the oceans - copies of which sit on my book shelves - she was a marine biologist.

We are an island nation and the Territorial Waters and seabed surrounding us are owned and managed by The Crown Estate. The King owns a lot of the nation's coastlines and sea bed.

The Shipping Forecast on BBC Radio 4 has been going for over a century. It also offers familiarity and constancy for those who aren't at sea, perhaps lying awake at night.

The sea forms part of the English Hymnal...

We had this music as part of our wedding service.

There is also 'They that go down to the sea in ships' by Sumison.

This performance is by the Ely Cathedral Choir, with whom I am familiar as I teach at King's Ely.

The lyrics evoke the sea's power.

Gavin Bryars also drew on the sea for his more contemporary and experimental pieces including one called 'The Sinking of the Titanic', which was produced by Brian Eno.

Aug 17: Dungeness - on 12" shingle...

I've been planning to head for Dungeness for quite a while. I took this picture back in 2012, when flying over the cuspate foreland. I finally made it there in early August as part of a Kent road trip with my son.

Image: Alan Parkinson

I found there were a lot of musical connections with the place.

Source: Wikipedia page for Dungeness - selected examples.

Dungeness appears quite often in music videos, album covers and adverts. It featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1981 album A Collection of Great Dance Songs.

British band The Soup Dragons shot the videos for their top 5 1990 hit '"I'm Free", and follow-up top 20 1991 hit "Mother Universe" on Dungeness.

The shingle beach and fishermen's shacks feature extensively in the Lighthouse Family promotional video for their 1998 song "High".

The acoustic mirror at Dungeness is featured on the cover of the album Ether Song by the British indie band Turin Brakes. 

Dungeness appears on the covers of albums as diverse as So Much for the City by The Thrills and Aled by Aled Jones. 

The Prodigy's single "Invaders Must Die" video was filmed here and shows both the acoustic mirrors and the lighthouse. 

In 2011, the music video for the song Walk the River by British band Guillemots was filmed on the headland.

In 2012, Nicki Minaj's single Freedom was filmed on the beach and with the acoustic mirrors. It has rude words in it.

Athlete have a song on the album Vehicles and Animals called "Dungeness" which is about the area. 

Aug 17: 2020 - COVID year

We are getting close to the present day now and 2020 was a year when we saw the world change.

The UK's first national COVID-19 lockdown began on March 23, 2020. Boris Johnson ordered the public to "stay at home," only permitting residents to leave for essential shopping, medical needs, one form of daily exercise, and travelling to work if absolutely necessary. My school stayed open for essential workers' children and we had months of fine weather where we were confined to in and around the village apart from heading to queue to get into the supermarket to buy food (and hopefully some toilet roll). A local village shop in Castle Acre did a great job of supporting local people who were shielding and avoiding contact.

Music became important to many people... I listened to it while working from home, and while cooking, which became a bigger part of life. I got to know the local fields and woods around my village well and saw the full growing cycle of crops from sowing to harvest. Everyone was concerned for their health and the health of family.

Mary Chapin Carpenter released an album recorded live without an audience, but then shared this excellent track, which she hasn't bettered since...

Between the Dirt and the Stars. The guitar solo on this is excellent...

Produced by Ethan Johns (Ray LaMontagne, Paul McCartney, Kings of Leon) and recorded entirely live at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath, in southwest England, the album finds the 5-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter pondering life’s intimate, personal moments and exploring its most universally challenging questions at an unprecedented time. 

Written at her rural Virginia farmhouse before stay-at-home orders became the “new normal,” the songs celebrate invaluable experiences and irreplaceable wisdom, while also advocating exploration of the best in all of us.

Tangerine Dream released an excellent album at the end of 2020 capturing the sound of the original band, with three members who worked really well together...

Here's a 2016 version of the track 'Proton Bonfire' from this album.

Bob Mould closed out the year with 'American Crisis'.

What music kept you going through COVID? 

Please let me know...

Aug 16: Protest Songs #5: Trespassers

There is a long legacy of landowners fencing off their land, and preventing people from accessing open space.

The Young 'Uns have released 3 albums of songs.

The Kinder Trespass is one of the more famous events in gaining access to land to walk and overcome the power of landowners to prevent access to their land.

It took place in the Peak District near Glossop.

I've followed the route of the Trespassers numerous times up to the Kinder Downfall.

Aug 16: 'The Lark Ascending' #2: Elgar and the Malverns

The second in a series of posts linked to Richard King's book 'The Lark Ascending'.

The first chapter of the book mentions Edward Elgar's links to the Malvern Hills. He was born in Broadheath, in the Malvern Hills near Worcester.

The National Trust and other organisations refer to the area as 'Elgar Country' and the National Trust manages 'The Firs' - his birthplace, which can be visited.

As you step into the birthplace cottage of Sir Edward Elgar, in the heart of his ‘beloved country’ between Worcester and the Malvern Hills, you are stepping into a space that inspired and comforted him, his entire life. Stand within the four walls of the humble cottage where he was born and be immersed in a world that Elgar believed already contained music that was there for the taking.

He appeared on the UK £20 note for some years.

There are various walking routes that can be followed which trace walks Elgar himself took - where inspiration was provided for pieces such as 'Land of Hope and Glory'.

Aug 16: 2019

2019 saw some interesting albums released. Spotify Wrapped produced a summary of the year - always some tracks in there which make no sense.

IQ released 'Resistance'. This has some good tracks in typical IQ style - they have a very particular way of building their tracks, with the distinctive voice of Peter Nicholls.

Rymden features three Scandinavian jazz musicians.

I have several albums by two of the members of the group.

Bugge Wesseltoft is a really interesting musician and he has collaborated with musicians in very different styles. He is a Norwegian pianist and composer. The first album I have of his is called 'New Conceptions of Jazz'.

He has worked with a whole range of different musicians.

Magnus Östrom on drums has also released a couple of excellent albums.

Some tracks of his are similar in style to Nick Bärstch's Ronin.

Here's a set from a 2019 jazz festival...

Also in 2019 was Bob Mould's 'Sunshine Rock', Big Big Train's 'Grand Tour' and Nick Cave's 'Ghosteen'.

Rammstein also released 'Deutschland' - which has featured on the blog separately.

What were your favourite pieces of music from this year?

Aug 15: 2018

From my Spotify Wrapped, I can identify the tracks I played most through this year. 

They include the following albums:

'Remain' by Folly and the Hunter - this was their best album - more recent ones don't have the same atmosphere and songwriting.

'Severed' by The Decemberists - this introduced some different textures and timbres to their usual sounds. Still recognisable as the work of Meloy et al. 

Take a listen here....

Public Service Broadcasting released their Titanic EP, which had its premiere in Belfast. 

Here's the track 'White Star Liner' from their EP.

Bob Mould released 'Sunshine Rock'. 

This was the stand out track....

Here's 'Deep Blue' from the album 'Avalanche' from Imar.

What were your favourite musical memories from 2018?

Aug 15: Audio Atlas x 2

Via LinkedIn and Brendan Conway.

Audio Atlas is an exploration of musical genres and a natural music search.

This Audio Atlas website is a living atlas of the world's music.

Developed by Jed Anang and others.

• Spin the globe and click any country to discover its genres
• Search across cultures, eras, and continents
• Sign in to contribute genres and suggest edits

I tried Madagascar first...

It suggested a genre called Salegy.

An up-tempo 6/8 Malagasy popular music from the north, descending from antsa vocal tradition and popularized by Jaojoby. It features tight guitar riffs, accordion or keyboard, and driving percussion.

It also suggested a song in this genre.

Why not give the globe a spin?

From Norway's love of Death Metal to the Morenada of Peru, there's a whole world of music out there for you to explore... and contribute a guest post about if you have the time.

Aug 15: ECM Podcast

There are now 70 episodes of the ECM Podcast, which shares news of acts on the roster of this record label, which has helped determine my musical taste over the decades.

Aug 14: Shipbuilding

Public Service Broadcasting are a band that has featured on the blog a number of times. Their music is always interesting, with each successive album developing their sound a little, and being based around some historical period which allows the integration of sounds and speech from the time. I have also been able to see them bring their music to life many times.

They premiered their Titanic suite at an event in Belfast. The band wove together the voices of the Titanic's survivors in a special musical commission for BBC Music's Biggest Weekend in Belfast. 

The music was first performed at the Titanic Slipways in May 2018 - taking it back to where the "unsinkable ship" itself was constructed by thousands of people from the local community.

Southampton also has a strong connection to the ship as it is from here that the 

Here's a BBC recording of the first performance.

Aug 14: 2017

2017 was the year when Spotify started doing their Wrapped, which contains lots of statistics about your listening through the year.

Here's one of the songs in my Top 100 that year: 'Our New World' from the huge Dream Theater album 'The Astonishing'. They can be a bit 'speed for the sake of it' for my liking, but this is nice.

The Mute Gods also released a great track, with Nick Beggs on bass...'The Tardigrades will inherit the Earth'.

I saw a few concerts this year too.

The year started well. One winter's Friday morning, I listened to a new Mike Oldfield album for the first time on the way to work, after it had appeared overnight.

Return to Ommadawn ended up being the final album that Mike would release before his retirement.

Public Service Broadcasting released "Every Valley". I've mentioned this before several times already.

What was your favourite music from this year?

Aug 14: Celtic Connections

I often let Spotify follow on suggesting similar music once the music I listen to has finished. This sometimes leads me to make new discoveries.

A few days ago I started listening to some music by the French musician Gabriel Yacoub.

This led to further discoveries - as shown below...

Aug 14: Donn/Dubh

New from Real World Records and playing as I write this.

Donn/Dubh (Brown/Black) is a bold reimagining of Hebridean musical heritage, rooted in Arun Sood and Angeline Morrison’s shared connection to the islands. 

Inspired by 10th-century Celtic texts linking wind directions to colours, the album transforms traditional Gaelic melodies into expansive new compositions. 

Drones of Scottish folk instruments intertwine with bass-heavy rhythms, lush synths, abrasive guitars and immersive soundscapes, exploring questions of tradition, landscape, identity and belonging.

As this review in the Guardian says:

Morrison, co-founder of the Black British Folk Collective, has brilliantly brought forgotten Black histories into the folk canon for years, including on 2022’s The Sorrow Songs. That same year, Sood’s Searching Erskine used sonic collage and old recordings to conjure the lives of residents on his grandmother’s abandoned home island of Vallay. Their talents converge around Alastair Smith’s startling production: Morrison’s deep voice, ghostly one moment, lullaby-warm the next, inhabiting soundworlds recalling the shuddering shadows of late-90s Boards of Canada and Unkle.

In Gaelic, Donn means brown / dark, while Dubh is black.

Some elements remind me of Martyn Bennett's work.

Here's a sample track...

Aug 14: "The Lark Ascending" #1: Vaughan Williams & KES

"The art of music above all other arts is the expression of the soul of a nation"

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Richard King's 2019 book explores British music and its link with the landscape of Britain.

I have a copy of the book and enjoyed reading it when it first came out. I've mentioned it previously on the blog.

I've now revisited it for this blog and there is plenty of relevance to the blog's theme, so there will be a number of posts to follow through the next month or so.

Vaughan Williams is referenced in the prologue and his quote that "Folk music is not a cause of national music, it is a manifestation of it'.

He wrote 'The Lark Ascending' which was premiered in 1920 having been started at the outbreak of the Great War.

It was premiered near Bristol.

Vaughan Williams believed that music was a latent force in all people... "the only means of artistic expression which is natural to everybody."

The soundtrack to the Ken Loach film 'KES' (from Barry Hines' book) has a wonderful soundtrack by John Cameron.

"Kes flies higher" has a link to 'The Lark Ascending' in its structure and feel...

Chapter 1 of the book explores the piece in more detail.

It epitomises an idea of place, and because there are no lyrics it hasn't been (mis)interpreted as Blake's 'Jerusalem' has been.

It invokes a reverie: a country dance observed by a bird in flight, "a lyrical expression of grace and freedom".

King says that Vaughan Williams "achieves a synthesis of air and earth as the skylark shares in the merrymaking taking place below and the intoxicating sense of euphoria is absolute."

Vaughan Williams described folk songs as "an individual flowering on a common stem".

Aug 13: In the Pool

This is the 'B' side of a single released by Mike Oldfield.

It's an instrumental piece, and one that many people may not have heard...

Today was very much a day for being in the pool...

Aug 13: 500 posts

I've added my 500th post to this blog. 

Not bad since I started it on the 1st of January. Some of them were guest blog posts this time round. Thanks to Carl Lee, Brendan Conway and Sandra Patterson for their contributions, with more promised. 

Thanks to everyone who's visited and read a post too.

Please consider adding your own memories whether as a comment or via the Google Form. If you use that as a search phrase you can see all the posts where there's a chance for you to add your ideas as a Google Form.

Here's a song featuring the number 500.... sing along!

Aug 13: The Belfast Fleadh

I've been reading about the Fleadh which has recently finished.

Belfast hosted the Comhaltas Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, the world’s biggest celebration of Irish music and culture, for the first time in 2026. 

The city welcomed 1.65 million people between Sunday 2 August to Sunday 9 August 2026, more than doubling the estimated 800,000 visitors.

Aug 13: 2016

Up to 2016 now and just ten years ago.

Big Big Train released 'Folklore'. This was one of their best albums with some excellent tracks

The album really starts to pick up with the boisterous extravaganza that is “Winkie”, which tells the story of a carrier pigeon sent to relay a message of a stranded soldiers, not your average Prog story. The song swirls between various parts for what is one of the heaviest tracks the group has produced. The song also contains the best instrumental sections on the album, brimming with colorful keyboard parts at times recalling Tony Banks on Colony of Slipperman. This is one of the highlight tracks on the album. You will need to listen to the song to find out if the pigeon is successful.

Source: https://progreport.com/big-big-train-folklore-full-album-review/

Dream Theater released a double album called 'The Astonishing' which had its moments, including this appropriately geographical track.

What were your musical memories of 2016?

Aug 13: A Song for the Horses

As permafrost in Siberia continues to melt and the steppe in the Gobi turns to desert, people in Mongolia are faced with overlapping climate crises. Some nomadic herders describe climate change as the end of a world. They are quick to add that the world has ended before for Indigenous people in North Asia, as waves of colonialism have left the steppe with a complicated web of apocalypses. A Song for the Horses by K. G. Hutchins examines cases in which people respond to the pressures of climate change by drawing on cultural heritage to foster social resiliency.

Hutchins’s ethnographic research, spanning more than a decade, provides a vivid and intimate portrayal of Mongolian life. Musicians use the morin khuur, or ‘horse fiddle,’ to engage with the subjectivities and agencies of nonhuman animals and other beings. This work is a significant contribution to the posthuman turn in social sciences, engaging with theories from prominent scholars such as Donna Haraway and Anna Tsing .

As climate change continues to impact communities worldwide, this book offers a unique perspective on how cultural heritage can be mobilized to address environmental challenges, providing valuable lessons for global efforts to build sustainable and resilient futures. At the intersection of music, environment, and posthumanism, A Song for the Horses shows how Mongolian musicians use cultural traditions to imagine and build toward alternative futures beyond climate change and neoliberalism.

Aug 12: 2015

2015 saw the release of 'The Book of Souls' by Iron Maiden. This was another solid album from the band.

It featured on my listening that year.

Public Service Broadcasting released the wonderful 'The Race for Space'.

This had a space theme, featuring some of their most memorable songs. This is a live favourite.

Gagarin features the words of Yuri Gagarin himself as he did his first space walk and saw the Earth from space.

What beauty. I saw clouds and their light shadows on the distant dear earth.... The water looked like darkish, slightly gleaming spots.... When I watched the horizon, I saw the abrupt, contrasting transition from the earth's light-colored surface to the absolutely black sky. I enjoyed the rich color spectrum of the earth. It is surrounded by a light blue aureole that gradually darkens, becoming turquiose, dark blue, violet, and finally coal black.

This is the track named after him:

June saw the passing of the great Chris Squire. I had the pleasure of seeing him play live a number of times with Yes in various incarnations.... and his Rickenbacker tone was legendary.

Here's a classic bass line... from 1983 when Yes 'reinvented' themselves... 

I remember this playing in the Dickens Inn in Rotherham... a classic pub much missed... 

There were lots of musical myths about this place, but it also hosted some excellent musicians.
This was our pub of choice in the early 80s

The Dickens at Westgate was a popular meeting place in the 70s and 80s and attracted such legendary performers as Joe Cocker, Frank White, Def Leppard and Saxon.

Def Leppard played there in 1979 and were apparently paid £20.

What are your musical memories of 2015?

Aug 12: As seen in Canterbury

Earlier today...

All together...

In the deserts of Sudan 

And the gardens of Japan 

From Milan to Yucatán 

Every woman, every man

Aug 12: ...of the heart...

RIP Bonnie...

Or perhaps this...

Aug 11: Glen Hansard RIP

I wasn't very familiar with the music of Glen Hansard who sadly died last week in an accident, but it seems he meant a great deal to a great many people and lived a life steeped in music and live performance.

He was connected with 'The Commitments' and led a band called 'The Frames'.

In October 2022, Hansard recorded "Take Heart", featuring Irglová, and Ukrainian refugees, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.