Leaf & Flower : Casio Exilim EX-P700

 July 2023.

3072 x 2304 Fine

ISO 160    F4.0   1/40 sec

3072 x 2304 Fine

ISO 160    F2.8     1/100 sec

 

Casio Exilim EX-P700   (2004)

  

Kevin Ayers ..... Galen Ayers .... Paul Simonon

 Kevin Ayers, from 1970, a tribute to Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.

 

 'May I' (1972).... ( Mike Oldfield, pre 'Tubular Bells', on bass ). 

 

Daughter, Galen Ayers with Paul Simonon ... 2023

Organ by 1960's Farfisa, dug out from his collection of instruments by Damon Albarn. Albarn played occasional melodica on the album.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

As a student in 1971, I bought Neil Young's album After The Gold Rush.  And later, the cassette tape. The album disappeared along the way, and the cassette lay in the depths of my forgotten about.

One of the tracks was this.... 

 

Fast forward 20 years to 1991. At the wheel of my car, sat in heavy traffic in Wimbledon, South London..., rain pouring down as I headed for home in Hampshire after a day's work. Then this came on the radio. Such a brilliant version of Neil Young's song.  Completely transformed my day. Still love it. 

When you were young

And on your own
How did it feel to be alone?
I was always thinking of games
That I was playing
Trying to make the best of my time

 

  

 

PS. The player of the melodica is Debsey Wykes, who 40+ years ago was a member of a band called Dolly Mixture. Round about then they did a tour as support to Bad Manners. I was really into ska, and 2-Tone back then, and made sure to obtain a ticket when Bad Manners played at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.  Dolly Mixture, as support, were on stage first, and it soon became obvious that there was a bit of a problem. They were attired in Doc Martens boots, as were the skinheads up front, just under the stage. And there was lots of gobbing, the skins spitting at the band. 

Eventually, after quite a while of putting up with this shit, the band stopped playing, and one of them stepped forward and said either the spitting ceased, or they'd walk.   The spitting ceased. 

Anyway, a little while later, Dolly Mixture did backing vocals on the No 1 hit.. " Happy Talk ".....

 

Stereotypes That Are True

How are you feeling ? 

Americans: Awesome! 

Mainland Europeans: Good. 

Scots: Not bad. 

Scandinavians: I'm well, thank you. Although you seem to have gained weight since we last met, and are still with that awful girlfriend.

Ikebe Shakedown - Road Song

Nouvelle Vague - Guns of Brixton

 The Clash song, covered by Nouvelle Vague.

 

Summer in England ..... [ Modern Edition ]

 

The Surfrajettes - Diamond Head

On bass.., Via Mardot ( aka Olivia Mainville ) subbing for regular bassist Sarah Butler.

The Specials - Stereotype

Long ago I worked in Dublin.  While there I went to see Madness perform at the Olympic Ballroom. The band were high in the UK charts, previously with My Girl, and then Night Boat to Cairo.  To say that they and the audience were fueled up that night is an understatement.  Best gig of my life. 

I did eventually see most of the other bands of 2-Tone, and ska, but not the Specials.

Here's their performance of Stereotype from about that time. I'd love to have been there. 

.

.

The Surfrajettes - I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night...., + Cha Cha Heels

Well. 

What a fresh, and distinctive version of the song originally done by the Electric Prunes. 

Briliant.

 

 

And the Surfrajettes' own composition.., Cha Cha Heels...

No Hangovers In Heaven - Simon Linsteadt

 

Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter

 

 

And the writer of the words and the music.

Trevor Peacock.

1931 - 2021.

Observatory Crest

 I've just been watching the film "La La Land". The night scene where Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling drive up to the Griffith Observatory..., reminded me of something.

Same Observatory.

'Observatory Crest' - from the album 'Bluejeans & Moonbeams'. (1974).

by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.

Marine Girls - A Place in the Sun

Working the remote this evening, I happened upon a BBC Four programme..., 

More Punk and New Wave Compiled .

At the time, I was reasonably aware of what was around, but both this song, and the band...., new to me.  As yet another Covid-19 lockdown gathers pace, a bit of cheer.....

Imagine a sunny holiday

A parasolled cafe

Corner table for two
And that is me and you

 

Barefoot by the shore
A drink with ice and two straws
Sun in the cloudless sky
You wave as the girls go by

 

Take a boat out for a while
You row and I lie back in style
We'll reach the other side, you say
But we never get halfway

 

When the evening comes around
We'll stroll through a lamp-lit little town
Miles and miles from home
Happy to be on our own

Nothing I would rather do
All I want is a place in the sun, and you
Nothing I would rather do
All I want is a place in the sun, and you… 

The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel

At home, on the radio, I listen mostly to R6 Music. In my car, I hardly ever listen to my own music.  I'll listen to BBC R4, and when that tends towards the tedious, I'll switch over to R3 for some culture. But mostly.., I just drive.

However, when Covid-19 got going, I felt the urge to listen to some stuff.  Pulled out a long unplayed CD.  This track I first heard, as a teen,  when I went to see the 1967 film 'The Graduate'.

Originally released in 1964 on the album 'Wednesday Morning 3am', the whole album was a commercial failure.  Simon and Garfunkel split up and went their separate ways, Paul Simon to England. A couple of years later, radio stations picked up a remixed version of  the song, and it rose in the charts.  At this, Simon returned to the US to make a new album with Garfunkel.

Simon's recall of the day Sound of Silence reached No 1.

".... I had come back to New York, and I was staying in my old room at my parents' house. Artie was living at his parents' house, too. I remember Artie and I were sitting there in my car one night, parked on a street in Queens, and the announcer [on the radio] said, "Number one, Simon & Garfunkel." And Artie said to me, "That Simon & Garfunkel, they must be having a great time." Because there we were on a street corner, in my car in Queens, smoking a joint. We didn't know what to do with ourselves.... "

Here's the original version...

Something Dreamy Spacy.

Barack Obama - On Woke Culture

"I get a sense among certain young people on social media that the way of making change is to be as judgemental as possible about other people. If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn't do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because 'Man did you see how woke I was? I called you out!' But if all you're doing is casting stones, you are probably not going to get that far. The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws."

The Definitive Halloween Song

The Model - Performed by Triology

All Along The Watchtower - Bob Dylan ( The Original Version )

The most famous version of this song is, of course, that by Jimi Hendrix. I was long unaware that Dylan had written it. When I did hear the original, I preferred it. The spare production allows the lyrics to come through. The steady, relentless drum beat becomes the sound of galloping hooves. 

The song is not just a protest song, of its time...., nor particularly rooted in folk song traditions. The influences are said to come from biblical scriptures.
[ Isaiah, Ch 21, verses 5–9 ]

"There must be some kind of way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited,"
The thief, he kindly spoke.
"There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late."