Sep 21: Chris Watson

I have recently been exploring the work of Chris Watson. 

He is a sound recordist, who heads out and captures natural sounds and releases them using a range of additional sounds to produce something powerful.

Check out WEATHER REPORT.
This has 3, 18 minute tracks

• Ol-Olool-O: Kenyan savannah...
• The Laipach: a Scottish glen in all weathers
• Vatnajokull: a glacier sailing in Arctic waters

Chris says of this album:

The weather has created and shaped all our habitats. Clearly it also has a profound and dynamic effect upon our lives and that of other animals. The three locations featured here all have moods and characters which are made tangible by the elements, and these periodic events are represented within by a form of time compression. This is Chris's first foray into composition using his location recordings of wildlife and habitats -- previously he has been concerned with describing and revealing the special atmosphere of a place by site specific, untreated location recordings. For the first time here he constructs collages of sounds, which evolve from a series of recordings made at the specific locations over varying periods of time : namely Kenya's Masai Mara, Scottish highland glens and ancient ice formations lurking deep within the Norwegian sea.

Also check out "Outside the Circle of Fire" for more sounds...

His latest album is called 'Planet Ocean'.

Chris also worked on natural sounds with a range of musicians as well.

Sep 17: El Niño

This track from the Jethro Tull album J-Tull Dot Com (bad title - based on their website at the time) is relevant to the atmospheric phenomenon which threatened to lead to record temperatures in some parts of the world when it was seen to be developing earlier this year, and the predictions about its impacts are quite dire. Certainly sea surface temperatures in the Pacific are off the charts...

It unbalances the climate of Australia and South America.

Lyrics by Ian Anderson reference some of the major aspects of an El Niño....

Sep 12: Shamal

Shamal is the name of an album by Gong, and produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd.

The line-up included Pierre Moerlen, Steve Hillage and Mireille Bauer, plus Didier Malherbe and Mike Howlett as well as Patrice Lemoine. Some fine musicians there.

It was released in 1976, and re-released in 2018.

It's also the name of a desert wind.

The album cover features a dramatic image of sand dunes. Details of the album's recording and the band line-up are here.

A detailed track by track review can be found here.

The Shamal is a wind which blows through North Africa.

Here's the album.

Some albums and tracks have the word 'Wind' in their title... e.g. Bruce Hornsby's 'Mandolin Wind'....

Can you suggest other albums or songs named after winds...

Mar 12: Little Fluffy Clouds

A classic from 'The Orb'.... from 1990.... not that we had those today, and wind is currently roaring around the house and down the chimney...

"They went on forever — They — When I w— We lived in Arizona, and the skies always had little fluffy clouds in 'em, and, uh... they were long... and clear and... there were lots of stars at night. And, uh, when it would rain, it would all turn — it— They were beautiful, the most beautiful skies as a matter of fact. 

Um, the sunsets were purple and red and yellow and on fire, and the clouds would catch the colours everywhere. That's uh, neat 'cause I used to look at them all the time, when I was little. You don't see that. You might still see them in the desert."

Feb 5: Weather: Songs for a rainy day

The weather features in a number of songs. 

I'll do a few posts looking at different weather conditions as they appear in lyrics or song titles. Brendan Conway also has some forthcoming posts on a similar theme.

Here are a few on the theme of rain...

One of my favourites is 'Mandolin Rain' by Bruce Hornsby.

This version is from an album he made with Ricky Skaggs on a "bluegrass" album. The lyrics refer to a "bluegrass band".

Red Rain is the opening track on Peter Gabriel's 'So' which resulted in a massive change in public awareness of his work following four self titled albums and some soundtrack work. It's one of my favourite tracks of his with wonderful drumming from Manu Katché

.

And of course The Rain Song, from Led Zeppelin's album 'Houses of the Holy' (whose cover has been featured previously as the work of Hipgnosis.

What other rain or weather songs would you suggest?

Let me know in the comments?