Getting Through With It
Having completed listening to ('THONNING!) my own REAL WORLD RECORDS collection, not to mention having compiled a fairly thorough spreadsheet documenting it all, I thought I'd pay a visit to their BANDCAMP facility to see/hear what else is 'out there'. Quite a few of their albums are no longer available as CDs and are 'download only' now. There are a few folky singer/songwriter releases that I didn't particularly care for, but there's still plenty of other unknowns to explore. A current favourite is a live improvised set by kamancheh fiddle player KAYHAN KALHOR and kora maestro TOUMANI DIABATE, called rather catchily "The Sky Is The Same Colour Everywhere". I also notice that there are recordings dating back to the very first WOMAD in 1982, which I'll be coming back to. If I have one criticism of their Bandcamp site, it's that their catalogue includes far too many releases by PETER GABRIEL, duplicating stuff that belongs and already exists on his own page.
Orf up the HOZZY on Saturday, to let HODU do their voodoo. There was a little bit of 'PATIENT WAITING' involved, but the NHS WI-FI was running ticketyboo, so I kept myself amused with a couple of episodes of "THE GOON SHOW" and a shortish GENTLE GIANT video. I let a nice trainee nurse practice her 'STICKING IN THINGS' on me...
I'm delighted with my "NON-SMART" JVC telly. There are some secret features that I'm never going to need, but it's a massive leap forward in both picture and sound quality, so less strain on the eyes and ears (especially compared to the one I've borrowed for the last week). I had no trouble 'plumbing it in' in the end, and it was up and running in no time.
1985/08/07... To think it is FORTY YEARS(!) to the day since TV BY TEARS (last?) played at the Salutation in Portsmouth. By this time, we'd been instructed by the landlord to put a sock in the 'theatricals' bit and "stick to the music" - This was, you may recall, the venue for the legendary JUMP "DIRTYSODRAPHENIA" show, earlier in February of that same year. But this show wasn't entirely free of theatrics, because it may well have been on this occasion that I dressed in a cast-off Gieves & Hawkes dress tunic and first performed my "EUROVISION SONG" in public... or maybe it was one of the "MILES DEVIANT" skits? I'm sure there's a tape somewhere...
Week from Monday 11th August 2025 - I've been catching up with of the BBC PROMS which I didn't get to hear 'in real time'. As usual, there have been some disappointing performances of MAHLER symphonies. My favourite adjective to describe the work of the BBC Orchestras is "PERFUNCTORY". They actually made the mighty THIRD SYMPHONY sound uninvolved. I also listened to some of the RAVEL/STRAVINSKY programme and wished I hadn't. Somehow they managed to make even "LE SACRE" sound mundane! I always try to read the 'listings' before I commit (to determine WHO is playing), but sometimes curiosity gets the better of me...
Also as usual, amidst all the standard (and tired) 'classical' repertoire, there have been far too many crowd-pleasing concerts of orchestrated 'popular' music, often involving the 'talents' of Jules Buckley. I don't expect to hear 'soul' music or cheesy-listening 'jazz' or TV themes at the Proms, but there we have it. The masses have spoken, or rather, the BBC have decided that's what the public want.
However, being PIERRE BOULEZ' hundredth birthday, there have been several performances of his music. Which is nice. I can't say for certain if they were accurate renditions or not (see previous, re: BBC Orchestras), but they were refreshing to listen to, and to hear ABOUT... GOOD RADIO!
I'm looking forward to hearing ANOUSHKA SHANKAR's concert, which takes place on Tuesday, but which I'll save for the weekend.
A late-night PROM of 'HIGHLIFE' music from Ghana promised to be either wonderful or excruciating, depending on the performance and presentation. As it happens, it wasn't 'excruciating', just a bit boring. But, by the sound of it, the crowd lapped it up, so I suppose "you had to be there"... NOT GOOD RADIO!
per-func-to-ry adj. a: Of a thing: Done or acting routinely and with little interest or care. Done merely for the sake of getting rid of the duty; done as a piece of routine or for form's sake only, and so without interest; formal, mechanical, superficial, trivial. b: Of a person: Acting merely by way of duty, lacking interest or zeal. (see synonyms at superficial) (Late Latin 'perfunctorius'; from Latin 'perfungi'; past participle 'perfunctus' = "To get through with.")
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