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Walking past the pub today there was a message written by the publican in pink writing on the blackboard outside. Usually it would say free pool, or something about football. Today it said “We are closed and refurbishing, so stop calling the police and wasting their valuable time.”. It was a nice touch that it was in pink. People don’t walk past you anymore, they circle around you like a lion, except they won’t be doing any pouncing. I wonder if muggers are keeping their distance? This is the fifth week of lockdown and the cabin fever has begun to hit. Even I feel it and my life hasn’t changed that much from studio, sessions, writing, but for me it’s not the now as much as the unknown future that is causing the anxiety, not having an approximation of what’s happening eight weeks from now, the uncertainty is hard to deal with for everyone.

I would have been due to leave Penzance soon to go to Stockholm to rehearse with Anekdoten before we flew to Canada for the festival shows in Quebec. I probably would have spent my birthday in London (May 7th, hint) with Olivia flying to Germany the next day, with us meeting in Canada a couple of days later, where we would also do some duo shows. Can we re-book shows? Well, it seems everyone that had their shows cancelled now is booking for next year which means that those of us that were supposed to tour at the end of this year can’t just move it forwards a few months because there is so much traffic. It might be autumn 2021 before we can tour in America.

The finished or almost finished records are starting to catch up with each other. But the delay is also creating uncertainty. Salim Nourallah still has to mix in Texas, Paul Simpson still has to sing and mix on the new Wild Swans album in Liverpool, Jerome Froese is working on our collaboration in Berlin. Just the talk of all these locations is reminding me of life before the lockdown. Space Summit, which has been made in Minneapolis, Penzance, Borneo and Bristol, plus all the places Jed and I worked together on the songs before we even got to the studio, it makes you realize how small the world – was. At this stage we are three mixes from being done with perhaps an added acoustic song should we come up with one. Nightjar is hoping that the postponed Record Store Day date is going to really happen on June 20th. But will people be able to queue by then? Last but not least and perhaps most frustratingly, MOAT’s new album Poison Stream is done, but because of the uncertainty we can’t commit to a release date and therefore can’t get a crowdfunding campaign started for all those back bills for making it and all those future bills for manufacturing it.

In the news there’s lots of talk of easing lockdowns as they talk of needing one in Stockholm. How is it that there are so many opinions about the cause, the solution and the truth about all this? Wouldn’t something like this clearly be based on fact? But then there’s the “alternative facts” (ha ha, the best phrase from the legacy of the Trumpers). Can’t we ever just have the complete truth, a truth that everyone sees to be the truth without doubt, suspicion or blame. A truth where people own up to their mistakes instead of hiding them, a truth where provocation or taking advantage of the situation isn’t even considered. Are we doomed to disagree about the colour of the sky or the scent of a rose? Does our right to opinion defy our right to the truth? It’s complicated and yet it seems like it should be very simple.

Music today has been all about Japanese late sixties and early seventies CDs that live in the archive. In the sixties and seventies the Japanese were seriously influenced by Western sixties Pop and seventies Rock and out of that came some fascinating albums. (They often covered songs by their influences.) One of the better known legends is guitarist Shinki Chen who recorded with Powerhouse, Food Brain and Speed, Glue & Shinki. There are two albums by the latter, but Eve (1971) is the only one made when they were still together as a band. The second is mainly an album by Joey Smith, their crazy Filipino drummer and singer that he put together using Shinki’s guitar bits long after he left the band. Shinki left due to Smith’s antics – drug related of course. Their name comes from Smith’s love of speed, bass player Masayoshi Kabe’s penchant for sniffing glue and simply Shinki’s name – was it ever going to last? Smith went on to be a legend in his own right in the Philippines with the Juan de la Cruz band. Before all this Shinki was in lots of bands (Powerhouse and Food Brain also included Kabe) and also made a self-titled solo album (1971). He (like everybody) was influenced by Jimi Hendrix and the sound coming out of Western amps and guitars, his playing reminds me of the first Blue Cheer guitarist Leigh Stephens. If you would like to read all about it you could buy Julian Cope’s book Japrocksampler where you’ll find all the important details.

There was Yuya Uchida And The Flowers’ Challenge (1969) and Carmen Maki, whose second album Adam And Eve released as the sixties became the seventies has influences of both eras. Born to a Japanese mother and an American father she is some kind of Japanese sixties Psyche chanteuse. She went on to make the influential album Carmen Maki & Blues Creation (1971) with important Japanese guitar player Kazuo Takeda. There is so much to discover about Japanese guitar music, but I’ll have to leave it for now with an introduction to Flower Travellin’ Band, Far Out, and the Far East Family Band for a Japanese vinyl sesh sometime in the future via Yonin Bayashi, whose album Ishoku-Sokuhatsu signals an era of more restraint. Final mention for Yuya Uchida and Joey Smith, who both died in 2019. I can’t find anything out about Shinki Chen except that he tired of making records and just became a live player. Arigatou.

Tora Tora Tora from Noctorum’s third album Honey Mink Forever (2011) is probably as far away as you can possibly get from the Japanese music that features here today as it invokes the famous war film. But the song is more about simple entertainment and relaxing on a Sunday afternoon with the tele on in the innocent seventies more than anything else, so forgive me if this song choice feels inappropriate.

Tora, Tora, Tora

It’s noon, no rush
No bus, no boss
No shower, no suit
No shoes, no queues

I’m going to ring you up
And have you come on down
And lie here next to me
We’re not going to need the sattelite
‘Cause we’ve got ITV

Tora Tora Tora
Women In Love
Tora Tora Tora
On this Sunday afternoon

It’s three, it’s free
The Great Escape
Planet Of The Apes

If you press the eject
Then we can both reflect
On what the best scenes did for you
We’ll be Glenda Jackson & Oliver Reed
In this epic bedsit room

Tora Tora Tora
Women In Love
Tora Tora Tora
On this Sunday afternoon

[TV Announcer]
It’s just coming up to 3 o’clock here on ITV. Time for your afternoon movie.

[Movie dialog]
Tarry no longer.
This is no drill.
[…Japanese dialog…] Tora! Tora! Tora! Huh!

Brush away the crumbs from the bottom sheet
Waiting for the break
And you can hit the kitchen at lightning speed
For another piece of cake

And while you’re there put the kettle on
And try to get back in time
‘Cause this is the part that you knew from the start
And it has your favourite line

(Willson-Piper / Mason)
Noctorum – Honey Mink Forever (2011)

The picturesque splendour of Mount’s Bay, an expansive body of deep blue and shaded green translucent water full of life, incessantly driving towards a semi-circle of land that hosts Penzance, a deserted town that looks out in awe towards the horizon. Today whilst seagazing, a seagull, red legs stretched backwards tucked into its body behind the belly, streamlined and floating on the air current, swooped down onto the surface of the water and took a small unsuspecting silver fish straight up into the air and swallowed it whole. The brutality of nature in a backdrop of absolute beauty. (I was reading somewhere that in the present crisis, a zoo is contemplating feeding the animals to each other.) Is every beautiful thing at the expense of some violent action? The magnificent mountains exploding out of the Earth spitting lava and stone, the rivers cutting through the land, flooding the valleys, the gradual erosion of weather shaping the landscape, destructive storms creating desolation until life comes bouncing back. Beyond natural things, the pyramids that cost the lives of thousands, palaces, aqueducts, temples and fortresses, churches, bridges, railway lines, all these things built through toil and hardship. Sometimes slave labour, sometimes low paid workers, all for awe-inspiring beauteous edifices or magnificent feats of engineering, that conveniently connect people to each other across gorges and through the mountains.

I wonder if those workers that were still alive when the pyramids were completed were proud of the results? Did they look on the Taj Mahal, The Vatican, The Houses Of Parliament and think, good job! Ha ha. And when they were finished were they suddenly unemployed? Or were they on the ‘palace workers list’ for the next monuments project?

But although the digging of the ditches and the carrying of the stones and the removing of the rubble might be executed by the low paid workers, the craftsmen, those that decorate and design must always have been treated better by the planners, the architects, the foremen and the team leaders. How do you coordinate all those hands? Who even has a vision of building a structure that’s completion isn’t even feasible in multiple life times? How could their work be so successfully completed. I wonder what do we not know about the mentality of people in history? Ingenious skills and the commitment to see their visions through to the end, across centuries. Who were these sophisticated and learned superhumans from a time before industrialization or before the Renaissance. People who could dream and create the fantastic whilst coldly disregarding the human cost. I also wonder what other superstitions there were that were not handed down, simply because times passed and people began to understand what was true. And also what knowledge has been lost over the centuries, knowledge that we would benefit from now?

On this crazy planet with too many people I wonder about the future, a hundred years from now. It will surely be a bigger dilemma unless some huge wake up call makes us change our ways, maybe a destructive war or a plague beyond the virus, something much worse. Or simple slow destruction at our own hand through pollution or the general collapse of society. I always thought that I lived in an amazing era. Born in the fifties, the revolution of the sixties, the luxury of growing up in the seventies, being able to choose to make music to a willing audience throughout the eighties and into the nineties. But now we’re in the computer age and something has changed. With all the convenience there is, there is the loss of a personal touch, with all the ease of communication something is lost. With all the availability of information, there’s the mire of distraction. My goal is to focus.

Music today started with an exploration with that incredible and terrible tool Spotify. The beast that leads me to artists that I may never have discovered. In my case when I can afford it, I use Spotify to seek out the artists whose records I would like to buy. So today I explored Danish singer Agnes Obel and listened to her latest album Myopia. It was beautiful and I put in some bids on eBay for two of her albums on CD. She has four albums, how can I buy them all, especially on vinyl? This led me to my own collection and I realized I was craving Juana Molina. If you don’t know her she comes from Argentina and started as a successful actress before changing paths and making, to date, six captivating albums. I have four of them on CD, one rather tragically warped and damaged on one track on Side 1. It’s called Segundo and I found it very cheap somewhere with its water damaged buckled cover, but overall it plays ok. What kind of music is it? I’m not sure, that’s why you have Spotify, go see.

How do you follow Agnes Obel and Juana Molina? Easy, listen to Yasmine Hamdan. One of my great more recent finds. She was born in Beirut and lives in Paris. She was part of the influential Soapkills (first release 1999) and is an important voice in introducing contemporary Arabic music to the world, but also with references to the past, a forgotten Arab world. One of her favourite singers is Syrian vocalist Asmahan. I have Ya Nass (2013) (“Hey People”), which includes the song Hal which was featured in Jim Jarmusch’s film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). In 2017 she released Al Jamilat (“The Beautiful Ones”). There’s a selection below to see her intoxicating performances. The first is Beirut from Ya Nass, then Live At KEXP on her Al Jamilat tour. Next is the Jarmusch film scene and then an amazing video from what I presume is the thirties with Asmahan. Don’t get too picky about lip-syncing. Listen to the voice, look at her clothes, check out the people, hear the song.

Song Of The Day today is the moody Watching Us from Hanging Out In Heaven (2000):

Watching Us

On this walk
Interlocking fingers
On this day
The devil cringes

Death is crying
He can’t have us
Pity him
Angels gather
Watching us

The bride of the light
Trailing petals and passion
This gigantic bite
Of peace and compassion
Delirious beckoning
The soft and bejeweled
The breeze in the heat
First cooled then fueled
A necklace of grace
‘Round the heart of your face
All commotion and fuss
And they’re watching us

Up in heaven
Silhouettes of gods
In butterflies wings
Delicate nods

As we touch
Near the jaws of envy
As we sway
To the dance you send me
Watching us

In a goblet of wine
Sipping mutual pleasure
And the gold of the rim
Frames our endeavor
At the foot of the throne
With its flowers and fruits
Like a pack of cards
That only has suits
A tremor of tears
From a satisfied heart
All commotion and fuss
And they’re watching us

(Willson-Piper)
Hanging Out In Heaven (2000)

Nooooooooooooo! I caught the lead that was going from my laptop into the stereo and knocked my laptop onto the floor. It all happened in a second but now 24 hours later the truth has sunk in, I broke my computer. I still have my old one that I’m using now, but the computer I do everything on is damaged beyond use. (I knew there was a reason to keep my old heavy MacBook 17 inch.) My super cool computer guy Mohamad is in London, is he around? I’ll try him tomorrow, but it means I have not only the cost of fixing it, but also the cost sending it to him and him sending it back – should he be able to fix it. What can I learn from this? Don’t have black leads in a dark room? I was just thinking recently how wonderfully efficient my computer had been the last year and then this happened, you never know what’s around the corner, death or glory.

Of all the times for this to happen, we recently had purchased an interface that will work on the damaged computer, but so far not this one as it is older, an antique by computer standards. Any live streaming plans are herewith (barrister’s voice) postponed. We were at an early stage of considering the possibilities, but if we did it we wanted it to be of a decent sonic quality with proper equipment, proper mic, camera and violin and acoustic with microphones, not direct into the interface with that horrible tinny sound. If you look at old footage of singer-songwriters with acoustic guitars there are no direct lines, they are playing into microphones (they are mic’d up) which means that they have to be careful not to move the guitar too much as you’ll lose the sound of the guitar in the PA system. Next time you watch the Woodstock movie, check out Ritchie Havens or Melanie. As I remember Tim Hardin (who I love) isn’t in the original film (he is in the extra footage version). He is having trouble with feedback, probably because he is swaying too far away from his vocal mic and the sound man is trying to turn the mic up so he can pick up the sound of the voice. Consequently he didn’t make the film. When you see the footage, it looks like the vocal mic is too far away and he can’t get closer to it because he is hindered by the position of the guitar mic. Can you imagine playing at Woodstock and not making it into the film? How disappointed you would be, I was there, I played there, but the world never knew.

 
I’m not sure how many people are aware of this fact but Woodstock was not held in Woodstock. What? No, it was held in Bethel which is 60 miles away. I know, because I’ve been there, I danced around the field. One thing that struck me about the location was how small it was. A slope and a dip, one hill. It’s hard to believe that this legendary event unfolded in this quiet little place. Why was it called Woodstock when it was held in Bethel? The annual Woodstock Music And Arts Festival site wasn’t deemed big enough for the expected 100,000 people plus they didn’t get site approval. Farmer Max Yasgur offered his 600 acre alfalfa farm, 500,000 people showed up, but the stage and location was way smaller than you could ever imagine. There must have been tens of thousands of people out of earshot and/or stuck on the road.

While we are on the subject of mislabelling the tin, you’ve probably heard of the famous Battle Of Hastings fought in 1066 between the Normans and the English in which King Harold was allegedly struck down with an arrow in his eye. Well, the Battle Of Hastings wasn’t in Hastings, it was in Battle. I know this, I’ve been there. You could say the village was called Battle after the battle, that might be true, but it wasn’t in Hastings. Hastings is 8 miles from Battle, granted it was close and probably the nearest town. Other fantastic facts about Hastings: One day I was visiting my friend and ex band mate Andy Cousin from All About Eve (he lives along the coast in Folkestone) and we decided to go on a lovely day trip to Hastings. There we found a record shop, where I found a vinyl copy of the All About Eve album Ultraviolet which I’d been looking for for years. The shop owner was quite amused to see the excitement over our own record and was especially excited when he saw the gorgeous picture of Andy and I inside.

I had two sessions today, one with Eric and his talented daughter Ava in Minneapolis and Doug in Wappingers Falls. Dare was in the studio control room mixing another Space Summit track and I also managed to watch a whole episode of Elvis Costello’s Spectacle from the Apollo Theater on 125th St, NYC. This week’s guests were Richard Thompson, Allen Toussaint, Nick Lowe and Levon Helm. I like this show, music and talk, check it out (Toussaint and Helm have since sadly died):

 
Music today has been exclusively John Martyn. Bless The Weather from 1971, Solid Air from 1973, Inside Out from 1973 and Sunday’s Child from 1975. Little known facts about John Martyn: His real name was Iain McGeachy and both of his parents were opera singers, it explains a lot. A terrible drunk and an amazing singer-songwriter and innovator, who straddled Folk, Blues Rock and Jazz, he died at the age of 60 in 2009.

Last thought – the first track on Bless The Weather, Go Easy, has the lyric “Life, go easy on me”.

Song Of The Day has to be You Bring Your Love To Me from Hanging Out In Heaven, dreamy Floydy Folkiness, probably thanks to John Martyn and of course Roy Harper.

You Bring Your Love To Me

Diamonds and snow
And crystals that grow
A tune in the trees
That hangs on the breeze
And you bring my love to me
You bring my love to me

If I had a choice of an angel’s voice
If I could empower
For one single hour
Then you’d bring your love to me
You’d bring your love to me
And we’d kiss and entwine
For all time

Garlands of flowers
And sweet springtime showers
Your hair in the clouds
Your tresses unwound
And you bring your love to me
You bring your love to me

The patterns and shapes
That fall into place
The light of the moon
That shows me your face
And you bring my love to me
You bring my love to me
And we’d kiss and entwine
For all time

(Willson-Piper)
Hanging Out In Heaven (2000)

Dare wasn’t coming into the studio today till after 4PM so Olivia and I made our joyous pilgrimage to the recycling and the supermarket which although necessary is really just an excuse to go and be with the sea. In fact feeding off the sea air might be healthier than anything we buy. All that oxygen and that salty breeze are just a delight. I read somewhere (unsubstantiated) that as well as breathing all that beautiful fresh air in, you might want to start by breathing out all the old air that’s sitting in the secret corners of your lungs. (Yes, Unsubstantiated and Secret Corners are ex band songs.) Olivia’s eyes started to water in the wind, but I just couldn’t drag myself away, this mesmerising toing and froing of the waves, the purity of the air, the expanse of the bay, the moving clouds and the sun disappearing and sporadically reappearing, is the antidote to the lockdown.

On the way back up to the studio I decided to take some pictures of the hairdresser’s menu. One of the dishes was “Skin Fade”. I said to Olivia, “What is skin fade?”. Just then our friend and resident Reggae expert, DJ and professional Liverpudlian, Indian Billy came by and between Olivia and him, they explained what it was. Only now have I really understood – it’s footballer’s haircut. Billy and I briefly exchanged memories of being chased around Liverpool by ‘skinheads’, Billy putting up with a lot more than me. I left the scary hairdresser’s thinking it’s only people with short hair that have their hair shortened.

In the park the exotic plants are bravely coming out despite the lockdown. I must find out what some of them are called and write something about this place as plants grow here that don’t grow in the rest of England (it’s a milder climate down here), there’s even bamboo! Walking back through the park Billy and his friend were sitting on one of the benches taking in the beauty of it all. We became aware of the birdsong all around us. I asked does anybody actually know which birds sing what songs? Billy said there’s an app! Of course there is.

Just out of the park we met Steve, the sound engineer from the Acorn Theatre opposite the studio and archive. He’s obviously had nothing to do for the last month with all the concerts postponed. Dare saw us on his way to the studio and he came and joined in the conversation. It was then that I noticed we were all standing farther apart than we normally do. I’d noticed earlier that although couples must touch, that you don’t see any public human contact (even from the couples). Is the handshake dead? The continental cheek kiss, the hug? Can people really be scared of touching their own partners?

In the studio it was straight into guitar ideas with Space Summit. What does this track need? We spent a good hour experimenting with the wah-wah pedal, different guitars, Jazzmaster, Strat, Les Paul, different amps, AC30, JC120. It was all a bit too funky for the song, a bit too “Shaft”. We spent a couple of hours working on the track till I had a sesh with Marc in Annapolis. Did I read there were anti-lockdown protests there and in other places where there are Democrat governors blaming them for doing what the government (with medical advice) has been telling everyone to do and whilst Republican governors are also enforcing lockdowns? Worst of all during these protests, they bring their guns – you know that essential business that must stay open through it all, but you must close the bookshops, I mean they are always so packed with people. All I know is that Stockholm is not in lockdown and that’s where my eyes are focussed for obvious reasons.

After the Marc sesh, dinner, an episode of Star Trek, interestingly it was the episode about ‘Kodos’ who had executed 4,000 people on a colony when they ran out of food to save another 4,000 from starvation. The moral dilemma of it all – the food arrived earlier than expected, just after he held the execution, and by the way the executed were chosen by him. I read that one of the Republican governors stated that it’s best for the vulnerable to die and save the American lifestyle. Also there’s the potential scenario that although the lockdown might slow down the virus and the hospitals will be able to cope more easily with the lockdown in force, that ultimately the virus will infect beyond the easing of the lockdown anyway and all we’ll have is even more death, but with a shattered economy. This potential scenario doesn’t make the most vulnerable and the sick and their families want to be sacrificed now for the so-called greater good. Everyone needs help, everyone wants to live. Then there’s the people out there that think that the whole thing is a great big lie. My view on all this is that hopefully at some point in the future we will all be able to see what should have happened, who was right, who was wrong and how can we avoid it all happening again.

Music today was a journey back to obscure bands that all the collectors know and the public at large don’t. May Blitz s/t and The 2nd Of May were released on Vertigo in 1970 and 1971. They were not successful and consequently the band broke up. The singer and guitarist James Black and the bass player Reid Hudson were both Canadian and returned to Canada. I haven’t been able to trace what happened to them next. The drummer Tony Newman went on to play with Three Man Army and was recruited to play on David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs. He continued to play with Bowie live and also appears on David Live, released in 1974, Newman has quite a resumé. May Blitz are a mixture of early Progressive and Blues Rock. What I like the most about music like this is all the instrumental passages, the jamming. I listen for amazing songs in other music. I only have reissues of most of this type of album, in the case of May Blitz originals sell for around the £500 mark.

Staying in the same approximate universe, I listened to Three Man Army’s three seventies released albums. The instrumental passages are still there but it’s more song orientated. The Gurvitz Brothers Adrian and Paul, formed the band after Gun split up in 1970. You might remember Gun’s 1968 hit, Race With The Devil. Three Man Army’s last seventies album was unreleased till 2005. Prior to Three Man Army, Paul Gurvitz joined Parrish & Gurvitz for one album produced by George Martin and Adrian, after starting work on the first Three Man Army album originally planned as a solo album, joined Buddy Miles’ band before the brothers found themselves playing with Ginger Baker for three albums in Baker Gurvitz Army and then two albums with The Graeme Edge band (Moody Blues drummer). Then, and although it seems like a lot of people don’t actually know who the prolific Adrian Gurvitz is, his huge long list of successes is for you to research yourself should you wish to.

Song Of The Day today is the riffy Let Me Tell You A Secret from Noctorum’s Offer The Light:

Let Me Tell You A Secret

The Venus de Milo
The Shroud of Turin
The Mona Lisa
Ho Chi Minh

Leonardo da Vinci
The Eiffel Tower
The Sahara Desert
General Eisenhower

All this information
Too many things to know
It’s like dehydration
And so nothing grows

Coca Cola
Calvin Klein
Starbucks and Nike
ICI
You turn on the TV
Too many things on show
Too much information
Ooh too much food to grow

Let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
I’m as crazy as you are
Living with these ghosts

And so we’re in it together
With our big ideas
Changing the system
In these coming years

But it’s like climbing a mountain
Without any clothes
All this running in circles
You gotta keep on your toes

Well let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
If it’s the last thing I do here
Put an end to these jokes

Let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
Well I’m as crazy as you are
Living with these ghosts

Well let me tell you a secret
Come and sit close
If it’s the last thing I do here
Put an end to these jokes

(Willson-Piper / Mason)
Noctorum – Offer The Light (2006)

Today in the strange and spooky mists of antiquity, Penzance opened a doorway to the past and let us see some wonderful things from the forties, the fifties and the seventies. But first we went up to Dare’s house today and took some pictures out of his moody bathroom window that shows the growing part of Penzance that was built in the 19th and 20th century. The supernatural surprises began on the walk back down the hill to the archive. There, in the bay, a ghost ship, a triple masted schooner anchored in the middle of the bay. One wondered whether the crew were spectres, drowned sailors returning to the location and the day of their sinking. Although I’d love to continue this Gothic fantasy the truth of the matter is that the ship, the Pelican Of London, was built in 1946, originally an Arctic trawler and renovated with added masts later. According to the net, the ship is on route to Sharpness further up the English West coast in Gloucestershire, anchoring in Mount’s Bay one presumes because of the stormy weather.

Further down the hill, glorious in its simplicity we experienced the orange splendour of a 1975 Dutch DAF 46. Strange little 850cc cars, that you don’t see much anymore. The car is famous for its Variomatic gearbox which allows the car to drive forwards and backwards at equal speed, making the car unbeatable in the former Dutch Annual Driving Backward Car Championships. Truth is most certainly stranger than fiction. Staying on cars, driving down the promenade today was a late fifties Standard 10 which I managed to get a snap of as it drove by. You very rarely see this car anymore, Standard stopped production under that name in England in 1963. The past seemed to follow us everywhere today as we had leftovers for dinner.

Out in the bay in the mist you could see the outline of St. Michael’s Mount. It really felt that we were in another age with fewer people on the streets, a cold wind, a low sky about to rain and hazy images on the horizon. The coming darkness was threatening, it made you want to get inside and lock the doors, so we did just that and watched The Menagerie, the double episode of Star Trek based on the pilot episode The Cage (cleverly using the old footage). There’s nothing like a little original Star Trek to warm your soul.

It was another day off from the studio today, a catch up day that never seems to happen. Emails to answer, comments and questions on the pages. I really need to figure out how to make the most of the time that I get. Olivia too is working on something all the time. I guess the main problem is that I’m too interested in too many things! Just the archive can keep me busy all day everyday. So if you ever send me a note and you don’t hear back I just didn’t get to it. The inbox is always so full, but I do try.

Music today has been interesting voices day. Starting with Lene Lovich who had hits in the New Wave seventies with more than one song, but mostly she is remembered for Lucky Number. She actually grew up in Detroit, but moved to England when she was 13 where she met her partner and co-writer Les Chappell. She was signed to Stiff Records and made Stateless in 1978 and then Flex in 1979 (CDs have extra tracks). No Man’s Land appeared in 1982 as she ended her relationship with Stiff. It was seven years until the independently released March (1989) on Pathfinder Records. It seems quite hard to find (I have it). But it was another 16 years till Shadows And Dust came out in 2005 and it’s now another 15 years since. Dear Lene, please make another record.

In honour of DAF, I quickly went backwards to Fox, the brainchild of Brill Building songwriter Kenny Young. He most famously co-wrote Under The Boardwalk as well as songs for Herman’s Hermits, The Searchers and more. He also discovered and wrote Come Back And Shake Me for Clodagh Rogers. His secret weapon in the seventies was Noosha Fox, real name, Susan Traynor, an Australian with an unusual voice allegedly an inspiration for Kate Bush. Only You Can and Imagine Me Imagine You were both hits from the debut album, but success eluded them completely on the second album as Kenny Young decided he wanted to sing some of his own songs, plus drummer Jim Frank sang two songs, why? It was like a Kate Bush album where five of the songs are sung by someone else. But they came storming back with their third album Blue Hotel where Noosha sang all the songs (they learned) including their most famous song, S-S-S-Single Bed in 1976, the album coming out in 1977. Then what the hell happened? Noosha had a brief low key solo career and then disappeared. Kenny Young went on to form Yellow Dog and had a hit with Just One More Night. Guitarist Herbie Armstrong went on to work with Van Morrison, keyboard player Pete Solley joined Procol Harum. But Noosha, where are you?

Song Of The Day today is in honour of artists that have hits and then don’t make any more records. Noctorum’s catchy Pop tune Stop Cryin’ Your Eyes Out isn’t exactly about that, in fact it’s not about that at all. But perhaps once in a parallel universe it could have been a hit for an artist that disappeared.

Stop Cryin’ Your Eyes Out

At last my relief
Now I’ve subscribed to this peace
Turn all the lights out but please
Stop cryin’ your eyes out

My skin has gone cold
Now that everything’s been sold
All of the secrets been told
Stop cryin’ your eyes out

Send me away with a wave and a tear
But now you don’t need to be scared of being near
How do you feel now I’m never coming back
All dressed in black

Humility is strong
When your faith lasts so long
But if I did nothing wrong
Stop cryin’ your eyes out

And as I disappear from view
All that’s left of me is you
And if there’s nothing you can do
Stop cryin’ your eyes out

You can lean on the glass leave a mark from your cheek
But you’ll lose all sense of who I was in a week
I’ll be a memory before the flowers die
So let’s say goodbye

On this last farewell
There is no-one left to tell
And all has ended well
Stop cryin’ your eyes out

And with everything you get
There isn’t time for your regret
So light up another cigarette
Stop cryin’ your eyes out
Stop
Stop cryin’ your eyes out
Stop
Stop cryin’ your eyes out

(Willson-Piper / Mason)
Noctorum – Offer The Light (2006)