TO WHERE I AM NOW

It doesn’t matter if you are wrong when you are in power. The interpretation of right and wrong is yours and power means you can manipulate things to your own design. Just once Twitter challenged Trump’s misinformation and he’s on them suggesting that his falsehoods are censorship. They didn’t censor him, they just said check the facts. Dominic Cummings breaks every rule he helped create and when he breaks them de Pfeffel says he’s done nothing wrong. No checks in Northern Ireland, NHS gets £350,000,000 a week when the UK leaves the EU. When will these liars be held to account by the people who voted for them? It’s not up to those that oppose them, it’s up to those that voted for them, where are you?

Have times changed? Ask Roy Harper, here’s the first lines of Kangaroo Blues from the double live album, Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion, released in 1974:

“Hey Mr. Nixon, hey Mr. Heath, can’t you pull your pants up boys I’m standing underneath”. “Feeling jumpy about society”.

A quick trip down to the sea today and Olivia and I sat on the stones for a short while leaning against the sea wall. There were half a dozen people sitting on the stones, some had ventured into the sea. The water was a deep green with little white tufts flicked off the surface by an almost gusty wind. On any trip between the studio and the sea, there’s spots where the wind rushes towards you, finding channels in the streets and alleyways and then you turn the corner and it’s completely still. You wind your way to the main road and the breeze is there again waiting for you.

The recycling bin for the tin and plastic was full again today so you’re trying to push plastic bottles in through the small, round, rusty rubber flaps, covering portholes in what is actually a giant skip. You try not to touch the sides as you insert your recycling in amongst everybody else’s. There’s not much worse than other people’s garbage. Then, if it is full, brimming over with uncollected recycling, then most people just leave their stuff on the ground. People are trying to help by bringing their recycling to this place, surely the council can get it together to collect it.

Olivia left the beach before me, she had a call to make with her friend Tina in Bochum in Germany. Tina is training to be a midwife (wonderful people). I stayed and talked to Boydy on the phone about music and the nutters in charge, the virus and the error on the latest version of Gentle Giant’s Octopus, just released, that credits Steven Wilson for remixes that he didn’t do – can’t get the staff. I’m convinced that Olivia is the world’s greatest proofreader, this would never have got past her. Boydy told me that Brewdog brewery and pub chain have released a new beer called “Barnard Castle Eye Test” and are promoting it as “Short-sighted beer for tall stories”. We talked about next year and the possibilities of available dates to tour, it might be 12-18 months before we can find dates due to the circumstances for all the tours lost this year. What a mess, nearly as big a mess as the challenges Olivia and I have to find a domicile where we can both live without all the fees for applying for citizenship in each other’s country. Portugal? We’ll see, we don’t know if that will work till we get there. Why Portugal? Germany and England are going to be very hard and very expensive, especially when you don’t fit into what they consider normal, no normal job, no consistent income, they don’t like people whose future is a mystery.

The other day I saw The White Album 7 disc set on eBay, so I bid for it and miraculously won, picking it up for 50 quid less than retail price. It arrived today, perfect condition and a beautiful presentation. I can’t wait to get into it, hear all those outtakes that us Beatles nerds love. When we were in Liverpool in 2018 seeing Paul McCartney and meeting Paul Simpson from The Wild Swans we went on the Magical Mystery Tour which was a bus that took us around the key locations of the birth of The Beatles, their houses, where John met Paul, Strawberry Field (no ‘s’) and of course Penny Lane. We all got off the bus to take photos by the street sign. As we stood there a white van came by with a bunch of lads inside and as they turned around the corner they all shouted “Beatles wankers”. Ha ha, love it.

I really try to concentrate on my interests, the archive and creating music, writing and playing live, travelling, teaching, friends, but what is happening in the world makes it difficult. It seems you have to learn to ignore other people’s pain. What a terrible realization, not a shock but there’s always another thing, today it’s the coming locust plagues. Does it ever end? As far as the media and as far as my desire to read books, somewhere in between this busy life Oscar Wilde said, “The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read”. I feel really sorry for those journalists that are trying to tell the truth and can’t penetrate the haze and the victims of an unsympathetic world.

Music today has been chosen by Trevor Boyd, mad music fan with a particular like for British Folk music. We started with a classic, No Roses (1971) by Shirley Collins And The Albion Country Band. It’s some kind of who’s who of Folk luminaries from the era, too many to mention here, but there’s always Wikipedia. Shirley Collins released her first album in 1959 and is considered a dame in British Folk. This album is a classic in its genre.

The next album lives in a similar world with Bert Jansch’s debut from 1965. If you wonder where Jimmy Page found some of his ideas, look no further. A great debut that features Needle Of Death and other classics. Jansch of course went on to form Pentangle, who, with Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention, have become Folk Rock legends.

One of my favourite albums from 1970 (also Dare’s and Boydy’s) is Jethro Tull’s Benefit. A whole lot of great songs, great sounds and nicely remixed on this version by Steven Wilson. It’s a different album to what precedes it (Stand Up, 1969) and a different album to what follows it (Aqualung, 1971). It has all the best things about them in one album, melody, real songs, good lyrics, interesting instrumentation and arrangements, riffs, folky, progressive. An essential record for any collection.

Last but not least is Roy Harper’s double live album, Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion, released in 1974. (You’ve seen the previous quote.) The inimitable Roy Harper never fails to impress with his lovely voice, acerbic or beautiful songs and his heavy friends, you want to know which albums to buy by Roy, there’s at least ten you have to have – Stormcock, Valentine, HQ, Once, Folkjokeopus, Lifemask, Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion, Flat Baroque And Berserk, Bullinamingvase, The Unknown Soldier – start there.

Thanks Boydy for today’s recommendations. If you would like to help me choose records on any given day, contact me via the contact page on this website with your choices. I usually play at least four albums, if I have them I’ll play them at some point. A longer list is better as it gives me some other choices if there’s something I don’t have.

Song Of The Day is How Come They Don’t Touch The Ground from In Reflection (1987). Seems to fit after Roy.

 

How Come They Don’t Touch The Ground

Even yesterday has gone away
Has tomorrow ever come
Will next week last forever
How come it’s funny but it’s not fun

Have the fingers slipped, has time been cut
Has the face misled the eye
Break the glass let me out of here
Why doesn’t six come after five

Turning, turning round and round
My feet are burning
How come they don’t touch the ground

I play a game on the paving stones
The cracks seem so small to me
I suddenly shrink and meet some insect friends
And need binoculars to see across what now is wide to me

They close the doors on another train
The windows dirty as the floor
You can play games with your reflections
But I don’t do that anymore

Turning, turning round and round
My feet are burning
How come they don’t touch the ground
How come they don’t touch the ground

I got up to leave
But something I couldn’t see stopped me, stopped me

Turning, turning round and round
My feet are burning
How come they don’t touch the ground

(Willson-Piper)
In Reflection (1987)