Singers and Songwriters

I've been listening to three compilation albums by singer-songwriters which I bought using a works thank-you voucher for actions above and beyond the call of bedtime. The ones I went for were by Joni Mitchell, Billy Bragg and Bob Dylan.

Joni Mitchell's Hits was released in 1996 along with a companion album, Misses, which contained her worthy but less well known tunes. I think the odd thing about Hits is that I didn't know as many of her songs as I thought I did. Aside from Both Sides Now, Big Yellow Taxi and River, quite a few of the songs sound vaguely familiar without being the instantly recognisable "hits" of the title. However, that's not to say that they aren't worthy of being here and all of the songs are beautifully performed even compared to fantastic covers by the likes of Judy Collins.

Must I Paint You a Picture? is described as "The Essential Billy Bragg" although, at 40 tracks, this is actually quite an in-depth introduction to Bragg's works up to 2003. I was quite familiar with his early albums - mainly because I bought a book called Back To Basics when I was learning guitar in the mid-1980s. The problem with the book was that I didn't have much trouble with the guitar bits (I was actually quite good) but I couldn't sing to save my life. In fact, Bragg's voice isn't what I would really describe as "beautiful", in the way I would with Joni Mitchell's, but it is brash, confident and strident. He uses his Essex accent unashamedly and belts the tunes out in a manner that would be more at home on the football terrace than the local folk club and this actually works to his favour. Of the three albums I bought, this is the one that I really wanted (and could) make out the lyrical content and it's well worth listening to.



The songs vary between tales of unrequited love, Socialist anthems and protest songs. It kicks off with New England which was wonderfully covered by Kirsty McColl and contains one of my favourite ever daft lyrics: "I saw two shooting stars last night /I wished on them but they were only satellites/Is it wrong to wish on space hardware /I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care". The first disk continues with such classics as Between the Wars, Levi Stubbs' Tears and Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards. The second side starts with Sexuality, one of his best known songs, but then strays into (for me) unfamiliar territory; but it's a journey worth taking - the lyrical content is as strong as anything he did in the 1980s and the tunes and production values get progressively stronger; presumably he could afford more studio time as he went on. Brickbat and Boy Done Good are standout tracks as well as the album closer: Take Down the Union Jack - which is Bragg's lament of fallen empires and a call for English independence. He sounded angrier in the 1980s as he opposed Thatcher's government but given the antics of our current crowd he is a voice worth hearing again.

Bob Dylan is one of those oddities: a great songwriter who I have never rated as a singer buy whose style several generations have chosen to copy. I usually don't like cover versions as much as the originals but with Dylan the opposite seems true. The Essential Bob Dylan covers Bob's career from the early 60s through to 2000 but with a concentration on the 1960s when he was at his song writing peak. There isn't anything from his first album as this was mainly arrangements of traditional tunes which have been done better by others such as House of the Rising Sun (The Animals) and In My Time Of Dying (Led Zeppelin). Instead it kicks off with the seminal Blowing In The Wind (Peter, Paul and Mary) and includes most of his famous tunes such as The Times They Are a-Changin' (Simon and Garfunkel), Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds), It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Van Morrison), All Along the Watchtower (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), The Mighty Quinn (Manfred Mann), Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Eric Clapton) and Subterranean Homesick Blues which must have one of the most influential videos of all time.

The second disk contains his later work including a couple of tracks from Blood on the Tracks, the epic Hurricane and the achingly beautiful Blind Willie McTell - a track that Dylan does wonderfully and which inexplicably lay in a cupboard unreleased for nearly ten years. This later work is much more professionally produced but maybe lacks the bite of his earlier compositions. It's still worth listening to and although my previous comments may sound like I don't like Dylan, I do - but I rate him primarily as a songwriter. This album gives a great introduction to his work and provides the moment of birth for many great tunes which were to meet their maturity with other artists. It's essential listening to anyone with an interest in the music of the 20th Century.

Mementos

Football memorabilia is big business. From replica kits and scarves, through signed shirts and footballs, all the way up to the actual medals and caps that the players received; football mementos can trade for thousands of pounds. The problem is that most of these have no personal relevance for those buying them unless, of course, they actually met the players involved. There is one exception to this: something tangible that can be kept as a personal memory and which says that "I was there" - the humble football programme.

I've always tended to go to the extra expense of buying the match programme. Mostly they are full of the manager's meaningless drivel (probably ghost-written), a few news features, a page on the day's opposition, some stats, the team list and an advert for the local Volkswagen dealership; but they are there: frozen in time and a reminder of an afternoon spent on the terraces and one which will stay with you much longer than the weak cup of tea and indigestible mystery-meat pie. A case in point was a programme I picked up on 30th April 1988 for the Newport County vs. Tranmere Rovers match. Why should a Forth Division match from 22 years ago suddenly come to my attention? Well, for no other reason than the fact I just found the programme in a box of junk.

As far as important fixtures go it really doesn't feature very highly. I have been to matches where major trophies were won or futures secured but this match was between a mid-table Tranmere and a Newport County side who were destined for relegation from the league and would have ceased trading altogether within a year. It was a sad end for a club who were founder members of the League's Third Division and who had even made it to the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winner's Cup on the back of a Welsh Cup victory. The only reason I went to this match was that I was living in Cardiff at the time and my flatmate noticed that Tranmere were playing and that I "used to live somewhere near that neck of the woods". So, we push started his old Vauxhall Viva and made our way over.

The match itself wasn't that memorable. Tranmere won 3-0 but they had little to play for with a comfortable mid-table position and the Newport players had only pride and the hope of an attractive transfer offer to play for. In fact, due to Newport's perilous financial position, they had had to sell or release most of their first team regulars and were left with mainly journeymen or young hopefuls with a chance of playing senior football and trying to impress passing scouts from more financially secure clubs. I'd like to think they would go on to greater and grander things. I've had a look up based on the team sheet on the programme and the results are mixed and sometimes surprising. I'm assuming this was the team fielded but there may have been changes.

I couldn't find any details on Kevin Hamer, Glynne Millett, Robbie Taylor, Sean Bennett, Norman Parselle or Anthony Hopkins - I would hope that they were successful in what ever they went on to. David Abruzzese would end up playing with Welsh sides Merthyr Tydfil and Barry Town as did Richard Jones after a spell with Hereford. Richard Thompson would play for a variety of part-timers before becoming the long time and reasonably successful manager of Yate Town. Captain Steve Tupling would have some success with Hartlepool before becoming a teacher in the North-East. Andy Thackeray would go on to regular football at Wrexham and Rochdale. Goalkeeper Paul Bradshaw was one of the more experienced players and was coming to the end of his career but had been a regular at Wolves in the late 70s and early 80s winning the League Cup with them. Darren Peacock was the one big success of this makeshift Newport side. He would move on to QPR where he was picked up by Kevin Keegan's Newcastle and became a regular central defender in his successful mid-90s side (yes - it surprised me that Keegan had defenders in that team).

This Tranmere side had only narrowly escaped a similar fate to Newport in the previous season - in fact I had been at Prenton Park when they scored a vital goal against Exeter to avoid dropping out of the league. The 1987/88 season had seen them hover in mid-table but they had gained quite a few friends nationally following the leagues centenary tournament at Wembley and had a cult following due to über-fans and college favourites Half Man Half Biscuit. The team sheet has quite a few familiar names in it: Eric Nixon, Dave Higgins, Mark McCarrick, Dave Martindale, Ronnie Moore, Steve Vickers, John Morrissey, Jimmy Harvey, Jim Steel, Ian Muir, Steve Mungall, Eddie Murray, Gary Williams. At least half those names seem very familiar and in the next few years they would climb to the top of what was, by then, called Division One with the backbone of that side and the addition of some handy international players in the form of John Aldridge (himself a former Newport player) and Pat Nevin.

Time moves on and Tranmere are currently mid-table in League One (the old Division Three) although maybe starting to pull things together despite their cash-strapped state. Newport County went bankrupt in 1989 and a phoenix club was founded in the lowly Hellenic league. They have gradually climbed their way through the leagues and are currently 4th in the Conference - two divisions below Tranmere. It's a long and slow climb back from bankruptcy but, if they keep progressing, the Newport vs. Tranmere match may be in the programme's fixture list again.

The College Boy, The Angry Man and The Duke

I've made a few more Jazz purchases recently. For the most part these are recordings that piqued my interest from other CDs I've bought. As a result I've gone for Dave Brubeck's Time Further Out, Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, and a collection of Duke Ellington's works.

Time Further Out is a "sort of" sequel to Brubeck's Time Out album and contains the same experiments in weird time signatures. In fact, it's probably more experimental than the first album but that doesn't mean it is any less accessible. In fact it has two very familiar tunes in Kathy's Waltz and Unsquare Dance - one of those tunes that absolutely everyone knows: you may not recognise the title but you do know the tune... just believe me, you do. Aside from those there are various compositions which can be seen as a follow on to the earlier album including two in 5/4 time, Far More Blue and Far More Drums, which are like variations on a theme of Take Five.



The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is regarded as one of Mingus' masterpieces. I didn't find it to be as instantly catchy as Pithecanthropus Erectus or Mingus Ah Um but it's worth sticking with. After a couple of listens it becomes much less of a sprawling mess and works better as a whole. It's not background music, mind, and needs to be heard as a single dance suite - a jazz ballet, possibly. Also, the sleeve notes are extensive and contain both Mingus' thoughts and interpretations from his psychotherapist - of all people. He was known as The Angry Man of Jazz and sounded a complete psychopath by all accounts - he received a suspended sentence for punching trombonist Jimmy Knepper at the time this album was recorded. I wonder if the recording was intended as therapy?

The Final CD was The Essential Duke Ellington. This is part of Sony music's "Essentials" series which are remastered releases offering a considered selection of an artists entire career. I was actually torn between this and the recording of the classic Newport concert but I think this offers a better overall picture of his recordings from the 1920s through to 1960 with a concentration of the early Jazz of the 20s and 30s. The problem with recordings this old is that the old acetates and 78rpm records are very fragile and have usually degraded to some point. This does mean that some of the original sound will, inevitably, be lost but nowhere on this collection does background noise interfere with the music - although a couple of tracks sound like they are composites from several sources. The result is a historical record of one of America's greatest 20th Century composers. I have heard quite a few of these songs performed by other artists so it's interesting to hear the originals. Some songs are new to me but this does backfill quite a few holes in my knowledge of Jazz.

The Time Machine

I was looking for HG Wells' The First Men in the Moon after watching the Mark Gatiss adaptation on BBC Four. It wasn't on the shelf at my local library but I did find The Time Machine, a book which I first read when I was about eight years old. I thought it would be worth another read with older eyes. I suppose the first thing that surprised me is how slight a volume it actually was. When I read it at eight years old it seemed like a weighty tome but the version from the library was a slim 115 pages long. The other interesting thing is to compare it to the film versions.

There have been two major film adaptations of The Time Machine. One in 1960 with Rod Taylor in the lead and the second in 2002 starring Guy Pearce. Having re-read the book it's interesting how close to the original text the 1960 film was - although with some interesting embellishments. The 2002 remake wasn't bad either, and was actually directed by HG Wells great-grandson, but it did take some surprising liberties with the original - rather like George Pal did with his 1953 War of the Worlds film - maybe he learnt that lesson when he came to direct The Time Machine?

As for the book, it's interesting how Wells tries to use scientific ideas in his story. He makes reference to four dimensional time and space some ten years before Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity, but his concept of the lifespan and destiny of the sun still seems to be bedded to Lord Kelvin's predictions of a chemical furnace. They would need Einstein's theories to show how much potential energy the Sun really has at its disposal. However, the one scientific theory that pervades the book is that of evolution, bonded with Wells' own interest in socialist politics producing a horrific welding of the two. The chapters are nicely paced and quite episodic. I'm not sure whether this was to allow for magazine publication in the manner of Charles Dickens' major works but it frames each development of the plot well. I seem to recall that I struggled with the Victorian phrases when I first read this but it's actually fairly straight forward language. Maybe I've just read more Victorian literature since then.

I said that the 1960 film had some embellishments and these actually improve the story to my mind. The first, and most obvious, is that they actually give the Time Traveller a name: George. This is later revealed to be "H George Wells" which I thought was a nice touch. The second embellishment is that, as he travels forwards from the 19th century, we see the two world wars and a predicted third (in 1966 - possibly a warning from the film's producers). This hindsight adds to the believability of Well's steam-punk contraption. The film does miss out on the book's journey to the end of the world but the final additional touch is that, after the Time Traveller heads off back into the future, one of his friends notices that he has taken three books with him. We are not told which three books these are but it leaves the film on a rather philosophical note compared to the book.

Which three books would you have taken? If it was Desert Island Disks it would have been The Bible, The Complete Works of Shakespeare and AN Other. I'm wondering if this may have been what the film's producers had in mind; but if it was Wells himself I suspect that he would have taken Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, Karl Marx's Das Kapital and Thomas More's Utopia - the ideal society that is no place.

Thin Lizzy

I've never been much in the habit of replacing old vinyl recordings with CD unless I have to - it just seems like an unnecessary expense although I'm often quite surprised by how much the old LPs have degraded when listening to a newly remastered disk. However, this means that there are large swathes of music in my collection that I rarely listen to as I can't play records in the car. A case in point is Thin Lizzy - a band I really liked and listened to regularly - of which I have one solitary CD, Jailbreak, which I bought because the old album was broken. This changed a fortnight ago when I noticed that their first 3 albums had been re-released - not just in a remastered form but a vastly expanded one with additional tracks and extra material.

Lizzy were probably best known as a hard rock act with the success of Jailbreak and subsequent albums. However, that was their sixth album and their early career is often overlooked. Their initial sound was inspired in a large part by late 1960s power trios such as Cream and, particularly, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. However, this was not the whole story and there is a great influence from Phil Lynott's love of Irish Folk, Celtic Mythology and a general Joycean romanticism of life in working class Dublin. The mix is both intriguing and unique. Their debut album, Thin Lizzy, is a case in point although the influences had yet to meld together; hence we get the very Hendrix influenced Ray-Gun, the more Cream-like Return of the Farmer's Son and the folksy Éire. Only on the closing track, Remembering Pt. 1, do we really hear the whole thing come together into something that might be called Lizzy-esque. The additional tracks on the new CD include the "New Day" EP which I had never heard before: Remembering Pt. 2 and Things Ain't Workin' Out Down at the Farm are probably the most memorable of these. Additionally, there are four tracks which were overdubbed in the late 1970s by their then lead guitarists: Gary Moore and Midge Ure.

I was never that bothered with Lizzy's second album, Shades of a Blue Orphanage, but their third album, Vagabonds of the Western World, is a real surprise classic and the re-released version has lots of worthwhile extras. This was the album where their rock and Irish influences really melded into a coherent whole. Mama Nature Said, The Rocker, Vagabonds of the Western World, Little Girl in Bloom and A Song for While I'm Away are all worthy of a wider audience on their own but it is the bonus material which really stands out here. I've never been able to get a copy of these tracks before and have only ever had them as a taped version of a German-only released EP. Here I Go Again is a laid-back folky-blues, Cruising in the Lizzymobile is a daft funky song whereas Little Darling and Sitamoia are out and out rockers. Sitamoia, in particular, could have been a big hit in its own right; it's very Celtic influenced - somewhat like Emerald from Jailbreak: the track which provided the blueprint for Iron Maiden's twin guitar sound. The album finishes with the single version of Whiskey in the Jar which was a top 10 hit in the UK although disliked by the band - in fairness it was more of a B-side as it is a rocked up version of a traditional Irish drinking song. The second disk on the Vagabonds re-release contains recordings made for the BBC: a mix of John Peel and Bob Harris sessions and live performances for a Radio One concert.



Feeling inspired by these two albums (and needing another disk to fill out the order) I bought Lizzy's Greatest Hits album which was released in 2004. This is actually a very comprehensive collection of Lizzy's more commercial material but still misses some notable tracks from their earlier albums. In fact only The Rocker is featured from the first three albums and the Johnny the Fox album is only represented by Don't Believe a Word. This does mean that some really outstanding tracks are missed such as For Those Who Love to Live from Fighting, Sha La La from Nightlife and most of the Johnny album. Still, they make a good crack of the rest with a brilliant live version of Emerald (see the video above) but it is noticeable that the Irish influences drop off as time progresses until the tracks from the final Thunder and Lightning album are totally Metalled-out. They aren't bad tracks by any means but they do lose their distinctive Irish feel. However, I thought the inclusion of Black Rose from the album of the same title was a nice touch and shows the combination of Irish and Rock traditions perfectly.

It's almost 25 years since Phil Lynott died so it's nice to see that such a unique performer hasn't been forgotten. I'm hoping that they will do justice to the later albums next year.

Winter Tyres

I bought new tyres for my Yaris last week and, for the first time in years, I've gone for a set of Winter tyres. I've bought them before for our bigger cars when we have driven to Germany for Christmas (it's sort-of, but not actually, a legal requirement there). The last time I had them for a small car was on an old Mk2 Golf which ended up as shredded rubber when we were late for the ferry terminal in the Netherlands. I've needed to get new tyres for a while as the handling has felt increasingly tetchy but, as the tread depth has remained perfectly legal, I just kept putting off the decision.

I finally made the effort of buying them after I had to brake hard when a young man stepped out in front of the car in Airdrie. I stopped in time - although the ABS was thundering through my right foot. With my heart trying to exit though my chest for a good half hour afterwards, I checked out the local Kwik Fit for tyres and was surprised to see that they were stocking Continental TS800 Winter tyres in my size. These are actually meant for any cold weather - not just snow and ice - and the difference they have made in handling is like night and day. Cornering, acceleration and braking are all very assured, it feels very stable and sure footed at speed, and when a grouse ran in front of the car I came to a smooth halt with just a couple of minor ABS clicks. So, no-brainer then: Winter tyres are better. Well, yes - but it's not that straight forward.

During last Winter's heavy snow I didn't have any problems driving on it, but since then the Continental EcoContact3 tyres have become quite worn (down to 3mm) and the Goodyear GT2 tyres, although still with lots of tread, have started to perish with age (and I suspect they were a piece of rubbish 6 years ago when they were new). Had I simply swapped the tyres for a new set of quality all-weather tyres (Michelin and Continental are my usual favourites) I suspect that the handling would have been equally improved merely by having some decent new rubber.

That's not to say that the Winter tyres are not worth it. I have to drive to work over some variable quality roads including the A801 Avon Gorge: a laughably poor section of A road consisting of a 15% hill with a sharp right angled bend. It scares the Hell out of me in the best of weather so what it's like when there's a bit of snow and ice doesn't bare thinking about. But Winter tyres do have their downside. Apart from having to change them over in the spring, they are typically noisier, have higher rolling resistance and wear faster than standard tyres. In terms of noise, I haven't noticed much difference - if anything it seems quieter. That's not to say that they are silent as the Yaris isn't exactly the quietest of interiors at the best of times (I usually have the CD player on loud enough not to notice) but there isn't anything new noise-wise that is now bothering me.

In terms of rolling resistance, I've based this on my journey to work. This is a mixture of A and B roads, a stretch of motorway and some urban roads with roundabouts but not much in the way of stop-start traffic. Typically, I get mid 50s mpg but the biggest factor is seasonal as the consumption can vary as much as 20% between mid-summer and mid-winter. The last full tank with the old tyres measured just over 54 mpg. With the new tyres I just about got 53mpg. It's not much difference but it does mean it costs slightly more to run. Of course, this is not a strictly scientific test - the weather conditions were worse with the new tyres and I filled the car with ASDA fuel this time rather than Shell (do you believe their marketing?), so it's possible that the old tyres would have returned the same in the conditions I tested them in.

In terms of tyre wear, I won't be able to tell until the spring when they have had a bit of use. It does, however, present the other cost which is whether to get the tyres changed over or to invest in a second set of rims and swap the wheels myself. At the moment, the Winter tyres are on the original alloys and I don't mind having a set of steel wheels in their place. The only problem is that the conventional wisdom is to use steel wheels on the Winter tyres and alloys on the Summer. Of course, I could always go for some cheap (and not as tatty) alloys but that is another expense in itself. If I just get the tyres swapped over it would cost about £40 including balancing at the local fitters - so £80 per year to change in Spring and Autumn. It's not an insubstantial cost but it is good value for the additional safety it provides.

Overall, I'd say I was very happy with the Winter tyres and it is worth going for if you can afford the extra expense. If we do get heavy snow, the cost will be recouped immediately.

Graphic Novels

I've recently finished reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust. It's a fantasy story which was deliberately written in a pre-Tolkein style more reminiscent of Victorian fantasy literature with huge dollops of Gainman's humour and social satire. It's very enjoyable and there was a film version a couple of years ago which was just as much fun. It's only the second Gaiman book I've read, following Good Omens which he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett. I really enjoyed that one as well which raises the question of why I haven't read more Gaiman; and the answer is that most of his stories are graphic novels.

Graphic novels, and the greater comic book genre in general, is one that I've never been able to get to grips with. It's not that I don't regard them as worthy of reading - far from it; I've always found the genre to be intriguing and of high artistic merit. It's just that it strikes me as a very disjointed way of reading a story. I'm happy enough when it's an illustrated novel with pictures interspersed with narrative text but when it gets down to individual frames with speech and thought bubbles I start to lose the plot.

I have had a try at graphic novels. A friend lent me a couple and I was very taken with one of them, Watchmen, which falls into the alternate history genre. I have also tried a couple from the library - one of which was a graphic biography of Friedrich Nietzsche! However, I still find the same problem in that I can read through a whole chapter, put the book down and find I have no idea of what has just gone on.

It's a pity because there are graphic novels I would like to read, such as Gainman's The Sandman and Art Spiegelman's Maus as well as whole swathes of works by Frank Miller and Alan Moore. Really, I should just raid the library's graphic novel section and dive in as, like any other art form, the conventions and techniques need to be learnt and appreciated to actually get the most out of the genre.

However, I may be my own worst enemy. I've been trying to encourage my oldest son to try and read a biography to little avail and I think his resistance to that is the same as my resistance to graphic novels.

Burke and Hare

Last night, we went to see Simon Pegg's latest movie outing: Burke and Hare. This is a black comedy based around the notorious 19th Century Edinburgh serial killers who bumped off their victims to supply cadavers for the capital's anatomists. I thought it was very funny and it really appealed to my sense of the macabre but, judging from on-line reviews, I seem to be in a minority on this. I'm wondering if they actually saw the same film as me?

Black comedy works best when the subject matter is really beyond the scope of polite conversation - let alone joking. The murders committed by Burke and Hare are really up there, although I suspect that a comedy about the Yorkshire Ripper is still a good few years away. However, in Burke and Hare much of the humour is actually physical and slapstick in nature, rather than being simply morbid, and this is surprisingly effective. The other thing that works well is portraying Burke and Hare as likeable chancers rather then the evil monsters that they really were - this deflects the real blame on to the anatomists who were more than happy to pay for the bodies without asking any questions of where they came from. It makes a good point of their hypocrisy and the fact that Burke alone took the sole responsibility for the whole affair.

If I would have one complaint about the film it is the lack of Scottish actors. None of the leads were Scottish and of the supporting cast only David Hayman and Ronnie Corbett were from Scotland with a few familiar faces from BBC Scotland comedies in cameo roles - including a brilliant turn from Tom Urie as one of the victims. Burke and Hare were actually Irish immigrants but judging from many scenes you would think that the whole film is set in Ireland.

So, why the bad reviews? Maybe modern audiences are too familiar with brutal gore-fests like the Saw series to appreciate the physical side of the humour? Possibly, they were expecting something along the lines of TV black comedies like Dexter or Six Feet Under? Maybe if it doesn't come in as a 4 hour 3-D spectacular they do not regard it as cinema fodder - in fairness I do think this film would work just as well on DVD. I'm not sure, but the cinema in Stirling was quite full for a miserable Wednesday night and the audience seemed to have a good chuckle all the way though. Anyway, I liked it, so sod them.