www.theblisspages.com - music
www.theblisspages.com - musicLinks on this page: music : dance : competition : live concerts : non-classical : classical : hardware : hi-fi : SKY+ : TV : DVD : accessories
other links on my site: Brighton Festival 2006 : Brighton Festival 2005 : Brighton Festival 2004 : Murray Lachlan Young
I love music and it's very important to me. I frequently have music going through my head for hours on end, but it's no substitute for hearing a good recording. I have to confess to still being a vinyl buff. Although CDs are much better than they used to be, they still don't sound the same as a good record. It's difficult to find time to listen to much music, with distractions like television, DVDs, computers books and children, but when I do get time, I really enjoy it, especially with good company and a nice glass of wine - but that's another page!
I have wide tastes; anything from Dire Straits to Devo, Saint-Saens to Stravinsky, Meat Loaf to Kate and Anna McGarrigle. I have catalogued my non-classical records and you can search them below. My classical albums will follow when I get the chance.
The AMG All Music Guide is a superb resource and I recommend it highly. Gracenote is the site of CDDB, the CD reference database used by many other programs. You can look up most CDs on this site. Other music-related sites you might like to check out include Sonic Infusion - Music CD Collection a music fanatic with over 400 hours of music listed, and Music Collector, a cataloging program.
I was also approached in March 2004 by the All Pink Floyd Fan Network. They said they were the largest and oldest Pink Floyd Fan community on the Internet, online since 1995 and with over 5,500 members. They also claim to feature the largest Pink Floyd guitar tablature collection, several exclusive wallpapers, extensive information on each of their albums, articles, interviews, and much more, including a very active and friendly community. I found the site interesting and useful.
When I saw Eminem's film, 8 Mile, I came away feeling a bit stunned. I found the emotional and physical poverty he went through all but incomprehensible. I can't get his music out of my head since the film, and I've been listening to The Eminem Show frequently. It's been an education. The lyrics are uncompromising, and I definitely couldn't put it on if the children were around. I must say that I'd never have thought of rhyming Tampax with Anthrax! I also bought Slim Shady, The Marshall Mathers LP, Encore, and the DVD of 8 Mile and it's great to be able to see that with subtitles, as some of the rap lyrics were too fast for me to catch.
Salsa dance has now moved to its own page. See my Salsa page.
Dayglo Pirates and Fake Bush: I've seen Jethro Tull live before, but I don't want to be Living in the Past. Today I probably couldn't afford tickets to a Tull concert and I don't want to be Too Old to Rock and Roll, too Young to Die, so I jumped at the chance to see the Dayglo Pirates. We all jumped into my ancient Astra on 13 October, and I unleashed the Heavy Horses en route to Lewes. I haven't been to the All Saint's Centre in Friar's Walk before, but we found it without too much trouble.
We arrived a little late but managed to get good seats at one of the round cabaret tables near the stage. I wasn't expecting support, so was delighted to see Fake Bush – aka Lucy Bundy - doing a set (See my review, Lucy Bundy is Fake Bush). As well as old favourites of mine like Keep Breathing and Wuthering Heights, she also sung from Kate's latest album, Ariel. After the set, it was great to see her in the audience and later on, dancing enthusiastically at the front of the stage.
The Dayglo Pirates were also great fun, performing a wide range of Tull music. I recognised most of the set, but then, I do have 26 of their albums (see my Jethro Tull albums). I enjoyed the early songs like A New Day Yesterday and Bourée, classics like Thick as a Brick and Aqualung, as well as less well-known songs from the Benefit album.
I am a little surprised that talented musicians would play covers rather than write original songs, but am really pleased that tribute bands keep so much music alive. Overall, it was a great evening.
no jacket required: It is often too expensive to go to big-name concerts, and if you are lucky enough to go, the performers might be small dots in the distance. Not so when we saw No Jacket Required, a Phil Collins tribute band. It was a real rush to get to this concert for 19:45 on 31 August, as I had to go home and meet up with Chris before driving to East Grinstead. We arrived about 15 minutes late, but only missed a couple of songs. I thought No Jacket Required were very good and especially enjoyed 'In the Air Tonight'. The only thing missing was the dynamics of the crescendo in the middle of the track – but maybe I'm spoiled by my Linn sound system at home (see my hi-fi), which does a magnificent job on this track.
Before the interval, they did a pastiche of several Genesis tracks, which was very well-received. After the break, there was an emphasis on dance tracks, and we all stood up and danced for the last half-an-hour or so. See nojacketrequired.co.uk for more details and videos.
I went to the The Australian Pink Floyd Show at the Brighton Centre on 22 April 2006, and it was great. Read my Australian Pink Floyd review, and see aussiefloyd.com for more details and videos. I got my tickets from ticketmaster.
I saw Kate and Anna McGarrigle at the Brighton Corn Exchange on 29 October. We were very lucky to get front-row seats as we only bought them the day before.
Joe Gallacher opened the show with Andy on bass and Lisa Lindley-Jones singing a few songs. It set the mood for the evening ahead. Joe is headlining a show at the Cella Bar at the Sanctuary Cafe on Friday 2nd December. I would have liked to have seen him at the Cella Bar, but wasn't free on that date.
After the interval, Kate and Anna came on, playing many of the songs I knew, and I few I didn't. I enjoyed the concert, and particularly, the interplay between Kate and Anna. Many of the songs they sang were in French, and on these especially, their voices seemed to soar, voices harmonising beautifully.
I saw Peter Gabriel in Wembley Arena on 07 June. Although I have seen Genesis several times, I've never seen Peter perform live before. See my full review of Peter Gabriel's Growing Up tour with pictures.
The Still Growing Up 2004 Tour follows on from the Growing Up Tour last year, which brought together Gabriel and theatrical director Robert Lepage who collaborated on the Secret World Tour in 1993. There waa new material and theatrics in the show. Staged in the round, we saw Peter suspended upside-down from the stage and performing inside a giant inflatable Zorb ball (which is on my to-do list). With balls and bicycles, but sadly no boats, it was a unique combination of sound and vision.
We heard songs from across his thirty-year career. New material such as Burn You Up, Burn You Down were performed as part of the tour for the first time, along with many of his biggest songs, including Sledgehammer, Solsbury Hill, and Red Rain. The show also featured songs from the 2000 OVO album. Peter teamed up again with guitarist David Rhodes, bass player Tony Levin, Richard Evans on guitars, mandolin and whistle, Ged Lynch on drums and Rachel Z on keyboards. His daughter Melanie helped out on vocals.
Lucy Bundy was Fake Bush at Joogleberry Playhouse on Mon 3 May. This was an affectionate comic salute to the high priestess of avant-garde pop, Kate Bush. National sound-alike winner supposedly as close as you'll get to the real thing. Wow wow wow ... unbelievable!! See my review, Lucy Bundy is Fake Bush.
I saw Mercury (a Queen tribute band) on 25 April 2003. They were good fun, and it was an enjoyable evening.
I went to see The Pretenders at the Scala on 29 April 2003. see my review of The Pretenders and the support act, Murray Lachlan Young.
I saw Laurie Anderson performing in her Happiness tour at the Barbican in London on 7th May. see my review of Laurie Anderson.
On 8 May, I saw Think Floyd (a Pink Floyd tribute band) at the Hawth in Crawley. They were excellent. see my report on Think Floyd.
On 17 June, again at the Hawth, I enjoyed the music of G2 (a Genesis tribute band). see my report on G2.
On 21 June, I saw Eminem in concert at Milton Keynes. see my report on the Anger Management tour.
I went to see the Acoustic Strawbs on June 22 at the Martlets in Burgess Hill, a small venue seating about 300. We were on the front row. see my report on the Acoustic Strawbs.
Overall, a pretty eclectic collection of artistes!
In December 2002 I went to see Steeleye Span, also at the Martlets. The advantage of such an intimate venue (which they could have filled several times over) is that the group isn't a small dot in the distance - we were within twenty feet of the singers. The concert was great fun, and concluded with the inevitable All around my Hat, which Maddy Prior sang with a touch of self-deprecating humour.
I'll add further details as I remember them!
The
first time I got any music played on the radio was Beep Beep by the
Playmates when I was about seven, and I subsequently spent years finding a copy
- good old Internet! My first profound musical influence - apart from childhood
memories of dancing around to the 'new' sound of the Beatles when 'She loves
me' first came out (see www.iamthebeatles.com),
was at boarding school - spending hours in the common room eating strawberry
jam on toast whilst listening to some really weird music. I loved it, but didn't
know what it was. After I left school, I'd spend more hours wandering round
record shops until, one day, I recognized the album! It was 'Saucerful of Secrets'
by Pink Floyd. That set the tone of my musical tastes. I devoured Pink Floyd,
Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull et al. I now have about 530 albums on vinyl and
210 CDs excluding classical music.
I watched a documentary about Syd Barrett a while ago and it rolled back time
for me. Further information about Pink Floyd, their albums and the history of
the band are available at Pink Floyd & Co., bomb.tripod.com
and support.uni-oldenburg.de/~floyd/english/.
I found a documentary on televison about Adam Ant very enlightening.
I didn't know he has battled manic depression all his life, which puts his recent troubles into perspective - for example when he stripped off in a pub.
I wish him the best. I am a great fan, although I can't now fit into the New Romantic gear I had at the time!
There's a huge amount of life, fun and energy in his music.
There's a good fan site at www.adam-ant.net.
I often wondered what years best matched my tastes. Well, below I show graphically when the (non-classical) albums I own were made.
I've moved the music search feature to its own page to speed up the site. search my music
I saw that 'The Rite of Spring' by Stravinsky with the
Ballet Preljocaj was on as part of the Brighton Festival in 2002. I was really
excited by this as although 'The Rite of Spring' is one of my favourite
pieces of music, I had never seen the ballet. I was gutted to find out that it
was full. However I found out that it was on at Sadlers Wells in London and
managed to get a good seat.
See the Sadlers Wells website for information about Ballet Preljocaj and the Ballet Preljocaj website, which has more information about the works I saw. I also saw them at the Brighton Festival 2004.
The first ballet at Sadlers Wells was 'Helicopter Quartet', by Karlheinz Stockhausen for four violins and four helicopter engines!
This was a true multimedia presentation. The projections onto the floor underneath the dancers were an intrinsic part of the performance, as was Sadler's Wells superb sound system. There was also an enormous mirror at 45% to provide an overhead view. The piece commenced with the helicopter engines starting, with lines moving along the floor as if it were a huge wind-tunnel. As the dancers each slowly walked onto the stage, so the lines under their feet were affected by turbulence. The effect was convincing, especially as the synchronisation remained perfect, no matter how fast their movements, how frantic their gyrations. The music slowly changed, with violins and German voices joining the rhythmic thrashing of the four helicopter blades. Particularly impressive was the water effect later in the piece where I almost expected the dancers to get wet as the ripples expanded around them as they danced. As the engines slowly came to rest, I felt emotionally and aurally shattered from my first experience of Stockhausen's music. As I tottered out to the bar in the interval, I felt truly at one with technology! I bought the piece on CD recorded with the Arditti string Quartet (MO 782097) and I've decided I definitely need a sub-woofer!
The
set for 'The Rite of Spring' was very different, but equally successful.
There were six blocks of undulating lawn, which were moved around, joined and
rejoined as appropriate. The music was as awesome as always (and if you don't
know it, I entreat you to immediately rush out and buy it). The choreography
was a bit of a curate's egg, with some electrifying movements, and some sadly
predictable. The pelvic thrusts timed to coincide with the Timpani's beat came
across as sad and sleazy rather than erotic and I won't delve into the removal
of the female dancers' knickers at the beginning of the piece. The solo at the
end, which aroused the prurient interest of the press, was beautiful and the
nudity essential.
My overall impressions of the evening were overwhelmingly positive. I felt humbled and inspired by the dancers' levels of fitness, I'd loved the music and the dancing, I was pleased that I've finally seen 'The Rite of Spring' as it should be seen, and I'd had a great evening out. It was a pity I was on my own as half the fun of doing something is having someone to discuss it with afterwards, whether it be a good meal, a bottle of fine wine or lovemaking!
For my news and views on Brighton Festival events this year, see Brighton Festival 2006.
For my reviews of Brighton Festival events in 2005, see Brighton Festival 2005.
For my reviews of Brighton Festival events in 2004, see Brighton Festival 2004.
I went to quite a few other outings in 2002, from an interesting audience with Terry Pratchett and Terry Jones, to walks round Brighton, and a very amusing play, Love and Other Fairytales, loosely based on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
I didn't get the chance to get to any of the events in 2003, but I'm looking forwards to doing more in 2004!
topThe last competition was solved by a friend and colleague, Terry Pyle, who won the Eurythmics Peace CD. Well done! I'll put another competition up as soon as I've thought of a good one.
Previous questions I've posed (and the answers) are shown below.
Question: What is the connection between Pink Floyd, Queen and Kate and Anna McGarrigle?
Answer: As Terry said, "The connection is Bicycles: Pink Floyd did Bike, Queen did Bicycle Race and Kate and Anna McGarringle did The Bike Song". Bike can be found on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Relics. It's a favourite of mine and here are the first three lines:
I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like
It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed itQueen's Bicycle Race is a classic. The slightly trickier one this time was Kate and Anna McGarrigle's The Bike Song on the Matapedia album, which I bought recently (as always, the answer is on the AMG All Music Guide).
Question: What is the connection between Genesis, Kate Bush and Bernard Herrmann?
Answer: I had a correct answer from Rachel Mills who said Wuthering (Heights) was the link! Genesis wrote Wind and Wuthering and Kate Bush wrote the song Wuthering Heights. The slightly trickier one was Bernard Herrmann who wrote an opera in four acts called 'Wuthering Heights' in 1966 (but, as hinted, he could be found on the AMG All Music Guide)!
Question: What is the connection between Michelle Shocked, Jethro Tull and Ewan MacColl?
Answer: The connection was trains! Michelle Shocked's album Short, Sharp, Shocked has several tracks about trains: If Love Was a Train and L and N Don't Stop Here Anymore, to name but two. Jethro Tull released the famous track Locomotive Breath on Aqualung and Ewan MacColl's The Ballad of John Axon commemorates a railwayman who died trying to stop his runaway train. Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions.
Question: What's the connection between As Good as it Gets, Life of Brian and Heaven's Gate?
Answer: I had one really close answer from Terry that linked As Good as it Gets and Life of Brian, but not Heaven's Gate. That was the tricky one as I was thinking of the rock group, not the film. Heaven's Gate recorded an album called Hell for Sale in 1998 and on it was a song, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, which, of course, also featured on As Good as it Gets and Life of Brian!
I bought my first serious Hi-Fi system in the early eighties. I shortlisted my preferred system in the hi-fi magazines and went to Photocraft Hi-fi in Ashford to hear it. It was a Rega 3 turntable, a Nytech receiver and Mission 710 speakers. The system sounded OK, but nothing special, and I was a little disappointed. I'd been reading loads of hype in the press about Linn turntables, remained unconvinced, but suggested that they could put it on if they wished. To say it was a revelation would be an understatement - five seconds of 'Dark Side of the Moon' was enough to convince me to completely blow my budget! I was tempted by Mission 770 speakers too, but finances did not permit.
Over the last couple of decades, I have continued to upgrade the system and my current setup is listed below. You will notice it is all British - Linn is based in Glasgow, Kinshaw (now defunct) was in Cambridge, and Exposure is from Southwick in Sussex. I've also gone active. This means that the bass unit, midrange and woofer are each powered by their own amplifier, and instead of a crossover in the speaker, there's an active crossover between the pre-amp and the amplifiers.
I managed to get hold of a Rega Planet at a good price and am pleased with it - but it's still nowhere near the sound quality of my record deck...
I was also tempted to get a sub-woofer for really deep bass, but the ones I shortlisted, the REL Stentor III (300 watts RMS, 600 watts peak) and the Linn Melodik (200 Watts RMS) and Sizmik 12.45 (500 Watts RMS, 1,000 Watts Peak), are pretty expensive, so I would have had some saving up (and auditioning) to do. When my wife and I separated, I downsized my accomodation, so I am not in a detached house any more. Therefore, a sub-woofer is unlikely for the foreseeable future.
My Arkiv cartridge is now over twelve years old, and sounded like it needed replacement. A new Linn cartridge, the Akiva, costs a mind-numbing £1800 (minus £500 part exchange on the Arkiv), which is out of question at the moment. I've found it can be re-tipped (not by Linn) for £200, so thought that was my next move, but when I sent the Linn to Audio T they found the Ekos tracking device didn't, so the arm needed rebuilding. The rebuild makes a substantial improvement to the sound as Linn have improved the bearing design. It cost £500, which I couldn't really afford, but it's done now. I have got the hi-fi working again and I'm enjoying listening to music properly.
I know most of my system is getting a bit old now, but it sounds great (and yes, I do have a good burglar alarm!).
| Item |
Make |
Model |
 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record deck | Linn | LP 12 | |
| Turntable power supply | Linn | Lingo | |
| Arm | Linn | Ekos | |
| Cartridge | Linn | Arkiv | |
| CD player | Rega | Planet | |
| Phono pre-amplifier | Kinshaw | Perception | |
| Preamplifier | Exposure | XI | |
| Power amplifier (x 3) | Exposure | Super VIII | |
| Power supply | Exposure | IX | |
| Active Crossover | Exposure | V | |
| Speakers | Linn | Isobarik |
I had a lot of problems with the picture on SKY a while ago in my old house. I found that this was due to the minidish being mounted on the aerial mast, allowing it to move about. As I needed to get someone in to adjust it, I thought I might as well get SKY+ as the minidish would be readjusted as part of the installation procedure. All went well and I was blown away by the picture and the new facilities! The main advantages are being able to pause live programmes, setting recordings and reminders from the SKY Guide and the picture quality - there is no difference between a live broadcast and a recording. You can even record two programs at once. When I moved, SKY handled the re-installation of the dish quickly and efficiently.
I found some interesting information about putting larger hard disks into the Pace Sky+ (which will of course invalidate the warranty) but the site has now gone. However, it is cached on the excellent wayback machine at Everything Sky+. Any use you make of this information is of course at your own peril! I planned to replace the existing 40GB disk with a 120GB drive, which would have tripled the potential recording time to about 45-60 hours - but the day before I planned to install it, the disk failed, losing everything I had recorded.
Unfortunately, the power supply also failed. After a frustrating hour or so on the SKY helpline on Friday evening, I found out I could get it repaired for £65, and booked the call for Sunday. The engineer arrived, and as a routine precaution, checked my signal. Finding it low, he changed the LNB - the signal converter on the arm of the satellite dish. This improved the signal and picture quality. He then looked at my Pace box and decided to swap it out. The replacement was a much more modern Thomson PVR3 SKY+ box with a claimed 80GB disk (although I believe it has a Seagate U series 160GB drive with only 80GB available - presumably the rest will be used for pre-loading SKY Box Office movies). The signal and picture quality was much improved - particularly due to the LNB. I have heard that people have already experimented with Maxtor 300GB drives in the Thomson.
At the time I booked the repair, I amended my SKY package, and by removing Film Four and adding SKY movies, I saved a couple of pounds a month (if you have SKY Movies or Sports, you don't have to pay ten pounds extra for SKY+). Overall, I lost two channels and gained about a dozen, and am very happy with the change.
I wasn't happy with SKY's inadequate testing and release procedures, as they released a software update which made the entire disk available, then rolled it back a couple of days later, erasing several films I had recorded. Gross incompetence, and no apology was forthcoming.
I also now have a spare 120GB disk I have just put into my computer, which was getting very short of space.
More news about Satellite services in general can be found at Digital Spy.
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My
TV is a Hitachi 36 inch widescreen with DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (model C36WF810N), and I'm very impressed both by the picture and the sound quality.
I have to admit it is fairly obtrusive domestically, but the sacrifice is worth it!
Beware of the weight if you get a similar set - it's over 75KG!
If you get a widescreen TV, you really need to think about getting digital services, otherwise all your broadcasts will be in the normal 4:3 ratio.
The improvement in sound quality that DTS gives over Dolby Digital 5.1 is substantial; better bass, better treble - just a more believable and involving sound.
My first DVD player was a very cheap model from Scan, but it gave good results. It lasted over five years but eventually gave up the ghost, so I had to buy a replacement.
I was hoping to get a DVD Recorder, but found a Limit DVDA900SE player reduced from two hundred pounds to under fifty. It plays DVD-Audio disks as well as CD and DVD, is multi-region (important if you ever want to play DVDs from the States), supports DTS, and has an optical optput.
The audio circuits were tuned by Cyrus Electronics. It looks solid, with a brushed aliminium front.
It has played everything I've thrown at it, including East is East (which has proved problematic on several players), region 1 and 2 DVDs, a DVD-Audio sampler, and music CDs. The picture quality is excellent, and I am also pleased with the sound.
topIf you need scart or TosLink cable, you may like to try www.lektropacks.co.uk.
Another source of electronic goodies is www.keene.co.uk.
The Cambridge Audio M1+ Enhanced Multimedia Controller from www.cambridgeaudio.com looks like a versatile device that could remove the need for up to eight other remotes. It looks good too.
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: © Mike Bliss 2008