Sam and I visited Dudley a week or so ago. Our Premier Inn was evacuated on the penultimate day of our stay due to a brush fire on land behind the hotel. Fortunately, the fire brigade got the blaze under control and we were able to return to our room at night.
Next week, the whole family is away in Pickering, one of our favourite holiday destinations, though I'm unsure whether we'll get to see the steam trains. Last time we visited, there were only diesel locomotives running due to the danger of sparks causing fires on the train line.
Considering the wildfire situation in Europe at the moment, missing the sound of the steam train firing up seems a small price to pay. Still, The Orange Idiot assures us that global warming is a "con job", so nothing to worry about there.
Former Go-Between Robert Forster's solo output is a continuing joy to me, even if some people get frustrated he won't revisit his old glories anymore...
That track is taken from last year's album Strawberries, an excellent collection of songs, my favourite of which is Breakfast On The Train, an 8 minute story song written during a train journey from London to Glasgow.
There was a family in the room next door
They were woken by the banging and the roar
They phoned Reception to complain
Reception said, "Over the volume of love we have no claim"
You can pretty much tell AI didn't come up with that image, can't you? What can I say, I'm an old-fashioned guy, and I wanted a picture of a square dude holding a camera. Unlike yesterday when I showed you one of the residents of Albert's Square holding a camera.
All in aid of - with great thanks to our resident Maths teacher, George, for suggesting the theme and many of the tunes - songs about Square Numbers. Working our way from the square of 15... down to the square of 1.
23 words describing each of my Top Ten albums of 2023. Because I use far too many words the rest of the year...
10. Whitehorse - I'm Not Crying, You're Crying
Husband and wife Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland join forces for their 8th album, venturing further into Canadian Americana territory than ever before.
I went down division five local RCMP to file a missing persons report.
Well, they looked me up and down then their eyes went to the ground
They burst out laughing and they showed me the door
Said, "We ain't never seen nobody so lost before."
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage's latest band might come with the subtitle "For English Teachers Only"... but they deserve wider recognition. Poetry in emotion.
A slow-burner, with only one track representing his piano-stomping past; otherwise this is a reflective post-fame record to be relished by middle-aged musos.
Just another great Jason Isbell record. The quality never dips. If Laura is the First Lady of Americana, this guy is the President...
Are you looking for something easy?
Do you need to feel alive?
Do you crave a love that tears through your life like a Category Five?
My momma spent every day alone
In a house of noise and names
She got so tired of putting out fires
She just laid down in the flames
We're running out of options
I've told you all my jokes
If you insist on being lonely
Can you leave a couple smokes?
2. BC Camplight - The Last Rotation Of The Earth
Supposedly his final record (let’s hope not!), this sees Brian waiting for the Tesco man and dreading the future. Brutally honest and life-affirming.
"Oh, what a bеautiful morning"
I say to the Tesco guy
"I've seen my fair sharе
But there's something about this one"
He goes, "Are you okay?"
I look him in the eye
We both smile
1. Jenny Lewis - Joy'all
Wry melancholia, world-weary romance, exuberant self-sufficiency... it’s another flawless set from the former Rilo Kiley chanteuse - like the Carpenters but more kick-ass!
My forties are kicking my ass
And handing 'em to me in a margarita glass
I was infatuated with an older man
And then I dated a psychopath
So I'm 44 in 2020 and thank God I saved up some money
If you look closely at the picture above, you might be able to make out a flock of geese flying south for the winter in V formation. My camera wasn't really up to capturing it, but whenever I see a migration such as this, I feel rather humbled. Kind of puts my daily commute into perspective, much as I like to grumble about it.
A number of my fellow bloggers have waxed lyrical about the latest long player by former Go-Between Robert Forster.
I've a feeling someone else has also sung its praises, but aging memory, etc. etc. Apologies if it was you.
Anyway, it's a great record. Deeply personal, largely dealing with his wife Karin's battle with ovarian cancer and how that affected them both, but the gentlemen above have covered this much better than I could.
The closing track is the one I keep coming back to though, as the perfect Mid-Life Crisis tune. It's about looking back on your life without regret, only contentment. That's what I'm trying for.
As a fervent believer that you shouldn't play Christmas songs after December 25th, I wanted to get something new up on the blog today, but as I've not quite completed my compilation of the year's best albums... here's the first half*, which I managed to complete last week.
For someone who professes to not know much about new music and is always whinging on about how the charts mean nothing to me after the 20th Century... I don't half find a load of records to listen to. I'm kind of glad that chart music largely leaves me cold these days, because if it didn't I'd never find the time to keep up with all that AND all the nonsense below.
As in previous years, I've limited my Best Of list to the big number on the calendar, hence 19 albums in 2019. But I could easily have done 30, like Brian. (Always ahead of the crowd.)
I won't bore you with the runners-up. Regular readers will have heard me going on about most of them already, and as usual there will be a few stragglers that stretch out into the new year.
This list is only a snapshot anyway. The Top 3 are pretty much set in stone, but the rest could move up and down a bit depending my my mood. There are some fine records here though, and though they won't all be to your taste, I hope you find something among them that tickles your fancy.
19. Better Oblivion Community Centre - Better Oblivion Community Centre
Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst. Not sure what brought them together, but it works.
"And if I bust out and the highway is really the key
Everyone can follow, everyone can overtake me"
*Keen mathematicians among you will already have worked out that that's not quite half of 19... but it's as far as I got before the lurgy struck me down.
As I've been listening to a lot of old Go-Betweens records lately, I was tempted to check out the latest solo offering from surviving founder member Robert Forster. Pretty damned good it is too.
Here's a couple of fine tunes from it, firstly this upbeat offering which reminds me of Talking Heads... although perhaps that's just Robert's performance in the video.
Then, slower and more atmospheric, but with that very distinct Go-Betweens guitar sound... hell, fellow Aussie Nick Cave would be proud of this one as well, I reckon...
