Listening to.......

[GubGub (Al)]

Once I start a Decemberists' evening, nothing else can interrupt it.

They're so good. Thank you, Andy, for drawing my attention to them in the first place.

Jules

I have been listening to those three albums lately too. And also The Crane Wife.

[Will S]

Later today I will be taking a first listen to Fairport Convention Live At Rockpalast.

Nice to finally have an official release from this line up. The sound is great. The playing is mostly tight but the material is unfortunately not amongst their best, largely being taken from the Gottle O'Gear album, which is reflected in the muted response from the audience whose appreciation of Sir B McKenzie is significantly (and rightly) louder than for any other song.

Thanks for the review. The album is on my birthday list, so we'll see if anyone takes the hint...

[davidmjs]

Later today I will be taking a first listen to Fairport Convention Live At Rockpalast.

Nice to finally have an official release from this line up. The sound is great. The playing is mostly tight but the material is unfortunately not amongst their best, largely being taken from the Gottle O'Gear album, which is reflected in the muted response from the audience whose appreciation of Sir B McKenzie is significantly (and rightly) louder than for any other song.

Thanks for the review. The album is on my birthday list, so we'll see if anyone takes the hint...

It seems expensive for a double CD....or is it a CD/DVD?

[Will S]

Later today I will be taking a first listen to Fairport Convention Live At Rockpalast.

Nice to finally have an official release from this line up. The sound is great. The playing is mostly tight but the material is unfortunately not amongst their best, largely being taken from the Gottle O'Gear album, which is reflected in the muted response from the audience whose appreciation of Sir B McKenzie is significantly (and rightly) louder than for any other song.

Thanks for the review. The album is on my birthday list, so we'll see if anyone takes the hint...

It seems expensive for a double CD....or is it a CD/DVD?

The latter I believe

[bassline (Mike)]

Prologue/Ashes Are Burning and Turn of the Cards by Renaissance.

My only previous record was A Song for All Seasons due to the inclusion of Northern Lights and T'Paper Lads, but I've been meaning to check the earlier stuff for a while, largely due to the championing of ...Cards by a YouTuber I follow.

Wow ! There's a lot of stuff going on here. Listening to all three albums in a row was, perhaps, going to lead to me being a bit overwhelmed, but I'm liking what I hear, and Annie's vocals were obviously going to be impressive, but I wasn't expecting some of what she is doing over the music.

I'll be looking forward to absorbing these a bit more over the next few weeks..albeit in smaller chunks.

I have a question for anybody who may know, though..how do the the first two ex-Yardbirds albums compare to the rest of them ?

[Shane (Skirky)]

Later today I will be taking a first listen to Fairport Convention Live At Rockpalast.

Nice to finally have an official release from this line up. The sound is great. The playing is mostly tight but the material is unfortunately not amongst their best, largely being taken from the Gottle O'Gear album, which is reflected in the muted response from the audience whose appreciation of Sir B McKenzie is significantly (and rightly) louder than for any other song.

Thanks for the review. The album is on my birthday list, so we'll see if anyone takes the hint...

It seems expensive for a double CD....or is it a CD/DVD?

It’s a CD/DVD. The inclusion of “Dan’s Acoustic Thing” (actually ‘The Boys of Blue Hill’ on the finished article) suggests that they weren’t exactly overdoing it in terms of seeking out the back catalogue, and for an album that Dave Swarbrick swore was never supposed to be part of the Fairport canon, he seems to have been keen enough to go out and play it as such?
This is the original Rockpalast set list:
01  Come And Get It                            (3'20'')  
02  The Limey's Lament                         (5'05'')
03  Sir B. McKenzie                            (5'45'')
04  Dan's Acoustic Thing                       (1'40'')  
05  When First Into                            (2'30'')
06  Our Band                                   (2'05'')  
07  Lay Me Down Easy                           (5'30'')    
08  Cropredy Capers                            (6'45'')  
09  Dirty Linen                                (4'05'')
                              

[davidmjs]

It’s a CD/DVD. The inclusion of “Dan’s Acoustic Thing” (actually ‘The Boys of Blue Hill’ on the finished article) suggests that they weren’t exactly overdoing it in terms of seeking out the back catalogue, and for an album that Dave Swarbrick swore was never supposed to be part of the Fairport canon, he seems to have been keen enough to go out and play it as such?
This is the original Rockpalast set list:
01  Come And Get It                            (3'20'')  
02  The Limey's Lament                         (5'05'')
03  Sir B. McKenzie                            (5'45'')
04  Dan's Acoustic Thing                       (1'40'')  
05  When First Into                            (2'30'')
06  Our Band                                   (2'05'')  
07  Lay Me Down Easy                           (5'30'')    
08  Cropredy Capers                            (6'45'')  
09  Dirty Linen                                (4'05'')
                              

Hmmmm.  Ta.  I've spent my pennies, but we'll see how much use it gets....

[GubGub (Al)]

It’s a CD/DVD. The inclusion of “Dan’s Acoustic Thing” (actually ‘The Boys of Blue Hill’ on the finished article) suggests that they weren’t exactly overdoing it in terms of seeking out the back catalogue, and for an album that Dave Swarbrick swore was never supposed to be part of the Fairport canon, he seems to have been keen enough to go out and play it as such?
This is the original Rockpalast set list:
01  Come And Get It                            (3'20'')  
02  The Limey's Lament                         (5'05'')
03  Sir B. McKenzie                            (5'45'')
04  Dan's Acoustic Thing                       (1'40'')  
05  When First Into                            (2'30'')
06  Our Band                                   (2'05'')  
07  Lay Me Down Easy                           (5'30'')    
08  Cropredy Capers                            (6'45'')  
09  Dirty Linen                                (4'05'')
                              

Hmmmm.  Ta.  I've spent my pennies, but we'll see how much use it gets....

It is not going to be a frequent repeat listen. I wanted to hear it as a rare professional recording of this line up. It is a missing piece of the jigsaw. I also wanted to hear whether this material improved through live performance. It doesn't really and that is the problem with this set. It is historically important but is undermined by the songs just not being very good for the most part, though I have always liked Cropredy Capers/Frog Up The Pump.

[Col D]

I have a question for anybody who may know, though..how do the the first two ex-Yardbirds albums compare to the rest of them ?

Being a bit of a Yardbirds fan I think they're better but I reckon most would disagree. For me the original band were more adventurous and more experimental than the later band. I much prefer Jane Relf to Annie Haslam, no doubt Annie is technically better but I always felt her delivery was a bit too precise and lacked emotion in comparison.

The first is the one to go for but Illusion was a bit of a cobbled together effort, a contract fulfillment job. The original band started to fall apart when they were half way through recording it when Keith Relf and Jim McCarty decided to take a more back seat role writing and producing and bring in replacements. In the end they couldn't get a settled line-up together and four of the original five had to get back together to finish it. It has it's moments but it's not the place to start.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Listening to BBC Radio 4's Front Row from August which was about Ralph Vaughan Williams and features Paul Sartin.

[Alan2]

Prologue/Ashes Are Burning and Turn of the Cards by Renaissance.

My only previous record was A Song for All Seasons due to the inclusion of Northern Lights and T'Paper Lads, but I've been meaning to check the earlier stuff for a while, largely due to the championing of ...Cards by a YouTuber I follow.

Wow ! There's a lot of stuff going on here. Listening to all three albums in a row was, perhaps, going to lead to me being a bit overwhelmed, but I'm liking what I hear, and Annie's vocals were obviously going to be impressive, but I wasn't expecting some of what she is doing over the music.

I'll be looking forward to absorbing these a bit more over the next few weeks..albeit in smaller chunks.

I have a question for anybody who may know, though..how do the the first two ex-Yardbirds albums compare to the rest of them ?

If you get time etc. Check out Live At Carnegie Hall. Superb live double album.

[Nick]

CELEBRATE by Good Good Blood.

https://foxfoodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/celebrate

What's it like? Well, as I've got older, I find it harder and harder to describe/categorise what a band sound like. I have no idea how to describe them, or even how I actually came across Good Good Blood! I've accumulated lots of their stuff alongside other bands on the Fox Food Records label. Somehow, I heard something, liked it, and here I am with their latest. Anyway, I guess the best description of their sound is "something that David MJS and Ian would probably agree on."

Cheers

Nick
 

[davidmjs]

CELEBRATE by Good Good Blood.

https://foxfoodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/celebrate

What's it like? Well, as I've got older, I find it harder and harder to describe/categorise what a band sound like. I have no idea how to describe them, or even how I actually came across Good Good Blood! I've accumulated lots of their stuff alongside other bands on the Fox Food Records label. Somehow, I heard something, liked it, and here I am with their latest. Anyway, I guess the best description of their sound is "something that David MJS and Ian would probably agree on."

Cheers

Nick
 

Lol.  Good stuff...I best have a listen then

[Ian_]

CELEBRATE by Good Good Blood.

https://foxfoodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/celebrate

What's it like? Well, as I've got older, I find it harder and harder to describe/categorise what a band sound like. I have no idea how to describe them, or even how I actually came across Good Good Blood! I've accumulated lots of their stuff alongside other bands on the Fox Food Records label. Somehow, I heard something, liked it, and here I am with their latest. Anyway, I guess the best description of their sound is "something that David MJS and Ian would probably agree on."

Cheers

Nick
 

 This man has supernatural powers of prognostication!  

It IS rather good   ......Thanks so much Nick.

Meanwhile, I've been tucking into a mix put together by the webmaster of the 'Raven sings the blues' website - full of "cable knit riffs and soaring chamber melodies" :

https://www.mixcloud.com/RavenSingsTheBlues/way-behind-the-sun/

[bassline (Mike)]

Thank you Col and Alan, muchos apprecianes, or simla.

[davidmjs]

CELEBRATE by Good Good Blood.

https://foxfoodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/celebrate

What's it like? Well, as I've got older, I find it harder and harder to describe/categorise what a band sound like. I have no idea how to describe them, or even how I actually came across Good Good Blood! I've accumulated lots of their stuff alongside other bands on the Fox Food Records label. Somehow, I heard something, liked it, and here I am with their latest. Anyway, I guess the best description of their sound is "something that David MJS and Ian would probably agree on."

Cheers

Nick
 

Interesting!  It's far far too good to be released on a name your price digital only gig.  What do we know about Mr Smith, then?

[Nick]

CELEBRATE by Good Good Blood.

https://foxfoodrecords.bandcamp.com/album/celebrate

Interesting!  It's far far too good to be released on a name your price digital only gig.  What do we know about Mr Smith, then?

He is very prolific, both as a writer/recorder and as a producer. Some stuff he puts up for pay-what-you-want on the Fox Food site, other stuff has a minimum charge (such as on the bands' own sites, e.g. https://goodgoodblood-tl.bandcamp.com/)

Fox Food Records has a big catalogue of interesting artists. I particularly recommend Old Amica, Yani Martinelli, and Captain.

One thing that should appeal is that Fox Food specialise in limited edition cassettes. Unfortunately, every cassette on the Merch page is sold out at the moment - you'll have to keep eyes open...  

[davidmjs]

I'm not sure it's legal to admit this in public but, hey...Devolver, the new free download album from Ryan Adams

To my fans,
Today I want to say THANK YOU and I love you, in the language we speak to each other - with music. DEVOLVER is for you, please feel free to download for free - this is your party and this album is me celebrating you.
In my darkest moments you lifted me up, creatively and personally and that love was instrumental in how I got here today, to safety and in a place of healing - one year sober.
Please accept this album as token of my appreciation for all the love you have shown me through the years, for your encouragement to continue on when I didn’t think I could and for standing with me, rebuilding this dream house brick by brick.
Sometimes the trick is to strip it all back, to keep it so simple life has a way to throw you some curb balls - to devolve back into the apeman and embrace the wild spirit in our bones. This is that album and it has been my honor to have been given the chance to find myself and be myself fully - embracing my music and my life as it comes - in its own way - free of the patterns of the past.
So thank you. This one’s for you.
You are truly loved and appreciate with all that I am.
XO
DRA
DEVOLVER free download link: http://ryanadams.ffm.to/devolver.ofp
#RyanAdams #Devolver #Sober #Sobriety #NewMusicFriday

UPDATE: Some of it is dumb but catchy, some of it is just dumb.  Free is probably about the right price tbh.  Disappointing.

[Col D]

Catching up on a couple of new releases that dropped through the letter box yesterday

Ian McNabb - Nabby Road. Still a bit early to judge this, sounds pretty good on first listen if maybe not quite as exceptional as his previous two.

The House of Love - State of Grace. Probably more of a Guy Chadwick solo effort now that he's cut the rest of the band adrift and brought in three replacements. Still a very strong album, Guy reckons it's the best set of songs he's written for years and I wouldn't disagree but would prefer if the other guys were still around.

[Dan O.]

Ian McNabb - Nabby Road. Still a bit early to judge this, sounds pretty good on first listen if maybe not quite as exceptional as his previous two.

I got my copy of Nabby Road yesterday. Cut from the same cloth as his last trilogy of albums, Ian seems on a golden musical streak at the moment, long may it continue...