Well I've been so quiet for the past few weeks, you may know I've been building things... OK I am nowhere near finished yet, but like Dr Frank'n'furter in the Rocky Horror Show, I do so love it when a plan comes together...
But this week I've sparked into life (maybe like the creation) as it's MUSE week. Thursday I am off to London to see them at the O2. Thursdays ticket is one of the second chance ones and as far as i can gather it I will be so high that I will be in danger of being sucked into the aircon... or maybe trepanned by passing planes, but what the hell I shall be THERE.
Fridays ticket looks sensible and a good one (should be it cost a fortune) but again what the hell
Also this time I have sorted accommodation, more or less picked with a pin, have you any idea how many hotels there are in London?! And I would have got a train ticket, but frankly the website got me so confused I gave up.
This might give you some idea....
Monday, 9 November 2009
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Oz TV
There are several things I never really understood (well OK there are countless things, but this is a couple of them)
First this desire for massive plasma and tft televisions. For the life of me I could not see why anyone would want some 60" monster dominating their living space.
The other and perhaps more mystifying is the rise of unreality talentless TV, the likes of X factor, Strictly come dancing and all those endless looky likeys.
Now I think I have finally got it. After my surprise going away do at St Audries, My girls Heather and Rachel together with Paul retired to his place for a cup of tea and 'wind down'. The girls wanted to see the X factor semi (or some such) finals recorded earlier.
Paul and I actually had great fun bitching about the various contestants and ripping them to shreds, but actually there was something more then that. Everything was so brightly coloured, the locations were exotic and sunny, the settings were so carefully staged and frankly sumptuous and I have to say the whole thing was alluring and seeing it on this massive high definition screen just emphasized the lushness.
OK The late teenage girls with two colour nails screaming at each other I can well do without, and I hope never again as long as I live to witness anything as vomit inducing as grown men throwing themselves to their knees in front of a 'throned' Simon Cowell.
But I got it, this is OZ TV, this is where reality Kansas is dreary and black and white but the land of Oz is in dazzling vibrant colour. This is a window into another world (OK as fake as the land of Oz, maybe more so) but nonetheless a glimpse of a world totally unlike the continuing car crash we all seem to be living through.
I don't think it's good, or even good for us, but I do at least get it now and maybe the next TV will be a 35 or 40"...
First this desire for massive plasma and tft televisions. For the life of me I could not see why anyone would want some 60" monster dominating their living space.
The other and perhaps more mystifying is the rise of unreality talentless TV, the likes of X factor, Strictly come dancing and all those endless looky likeys.
Now I think I have finally got it. After my surprise going away do at St Audries, My girls Heather and Rachel together with Paul retired to his place for a cup of tea and 'wind down'. The girls wanted to see the X factor semi (or some such) finals recorded earlier.
Paul and I actually had great fun bitching about the various contestants and ripping them to shreds, but actually there was something more then that. Everything was so brightly coloured, the locations were exotic and sunny, the settings were so carefully staged and frankly sumptuous and I have to say the whole thing was alluring and seeing it on this massive high definition screen just emphasized the lushness.
OK The late teenage girls with two colour nails screaming at each other I can well do without, and I hope never again as long as I live to witness anything as vomit inducing as grown men throwing themselves to their knees in front of a 'throned' Simon Cowell.
But I got it, this is OZ TV, this is where reality Kansas is dreary and black and white but the land of Oz is in dazzling vibrant colour. This is a window into another world (OK as fake as the land of Oz, maybe more so) but nonetheless a glimpse of a world totally unlike the continuing car crash we all seem to be living through.
I don't think it's good, or even good for us, but I do at least get it now and maybe the next TV will be a 35 or 40"...
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
I'm Baaack!
It's strange being home again, strange but good (obviously) it's all the same but very slightly different, a bit like a dream, but it's amazing just how quickly you fall back into the routines as if you have never been away.
Oh but the garden... don't get me started, that will have to be tackled and soon, well when it stops raining. Makes me realise there is nothing like proper Welsh rain, it's wetter then anywhere else..
I'm almost unpacked, now I know you would think that's no big deal, but that usually involves a couple of suitcases which you dump in the dirty laundry hamper and voila! you're done.
But I of course had to have what looked like an (admittedly small) house's worth complete with a full 70's hi fi system ( on which more sometime no doubt) and more cushions then you can shake a stick at. I have a problem..
I have also had to do some cupboard spring cleaning, and rearranging of the loft... like I said I have a problem :-)
I am sure I have learned a lot this summer, though now I think of it nothing much comes to mind other then again emphasizing the value of friends, just how dreadful many 'holiday makers' can be and of course a deep abiding love for Muse, who have got me through most of it. Like most men I have limited processing power so all the time I am obsessing over them I'm not over something else. I hope they'd be happy with that.
Now the laundry basket is about to split it's seams...
Oh but the garden... don't get me started, that will have to be tackled and soon, well when it stops raining. Makes me realise there is nothing like proper Welsh rain, it's wetter then anywhere else..
I'm almost unpacked, now I know you would think that's no big deal, but that usually involves a couple of suitcases which you dump in the dirty laundry hamper and voila! you're done.
But I of course had to have what looked like an (admittedly small) house's worth complete with a full 70's hi fi system ( on which more sometime no doubt) and more cushions then you can shake a stick at. I have a problem..
I have also had to do some cupboard spring cleaning, and rearranging of the loft... like I said I have a problem :-)
I am sure I have learned a lot this summer, though now I think of it nothing much comes to mind other then again emphasizing the value of friends, just how dreadful many 'holiday makers' can be and of course a deep abiding love for Muse, who have got me through most of it. Like most men I have limited processing power so all the time I am obsessing over them I'm not over something else. I hope they'd be happy with that.
Now the laundry basket is about to split it's seams...
Saturday, 26 September 2009
coming soon
The last week has begun, shame it has to be trannies..
However then normal service will return, I might even mention MUSE...
However then normal service will return, I might even mention MUSE...
Monday, 14 September 2009
The Resistance
Never let it be said Muse are afraid to tackle the big BIG subjects. But just where exactly do you go after a revelatory experience with Absolution and Supermassive black holes?
Back to Earth. Origin of Symmetry was Muse embarking on their space rock odyssey, The Resistance is them returning home, mature, concentrated and intent on doing some serious damage.
No more angst and insular self-obsession, grown up, no longer playing games, they have landed back HARD and they don’t like what they see.
The manifesto is laid out good and strong for all to understand in Uprising (also opening in a sleepy Devon town called Teignmouth, I may have mentioned it...) Dr Who and disco,the agenda is set – rise up and take the power back...
Next, Resistance, a gentle synth intro, ominous kettle drums, simple piano hook and disco beat, but its soon obvious the answer (love is our Resistance) isn't going to be enough, the Thought Police are on to us.
Punchy stabs of synth and plucked strings usher in ‘Undisclosed Desires’, 'Map of the Problematique’ gone romantic. “I want to exorcise demons from the past/ I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart”. A sexy declaration of devotion and building a future together backed by slapped bass from Chris.
United States of Eurasia, gentle piano ballad and symphonic backdrop erupting to Arabian piano and layered chanting nodding in Queen's direction. We are called on to unite our land masses to equal the might of America, tongue is firmly in cheek (or is it?) this is the onslaught of MUSE manifesto. On my first ever listen, THIS was the track that most stuck in my head.
This dissolves into Matt's gorgeous rendition of Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major, but this is sinister, underneath there is half heard tanks planes and children culminating in a full jet flyby and what sounds disturbingly like the bass rumble of a nuclear explosion. Something is very wrong.
Straight into ‘Guiding Light’ - an Ultravox style heartbeat rhythm overlaid with clean guitar and triumphant vocals will certainly be a ‘lighter (or these days, mobile phone) waving’ gig moment. A slow and gentle lament, its clear stakes are about to be raised. We’re about to start a riot. Lines will be crossed, lives may be lost – but this is revolution.
‘Unnatural Selection’ is the Molotov cocktail, a pounding guitar riff and unrelenting bass, "pushing us beyond peaceful protest, I want to speak in a language you'll understand" . A middle eight section with plodding bass and a filthy dirty blues solo gives brief respite to ponder the destruction and recoup your energy before a return to full on Muse riff and the cry "I want the truth". UTTERLY orgasmic.
There's no relaxing though ‘Mk Ultra'. relentless fast synthesiser cuts and thumping bass warn us that “they’re breaking through”. retribution for rebellion. It’s fast paced, frantic and exciting, interspersed with heavy riffs “we’re falling…losing control” The Resistance is failing, the fight is fixed...
The 'wake' is 'I belong to you you', surprisingly jaunty, yearning yet upbeat and maybe just more then a bit inebriated, this is Matt at the piano, a basement dive, cigarette smoke fills the air, the structure changes dramatically and he gets all Edith Piaf and breaks into Mon Coer s'ouvre a ta voix from Samson and Delilah before returning to the I belong to you refrain.
The party is over, it's time to accept defeat.
Lush gorgeous spiralling strings and the Exogenesis symphony has begun.
Part one, overture, sparse falsetto lyrics and we are in trouble, "who are we / where are we / when are we?, heavily distorted guitar and vibrato strings, we are doomed
Part 2 ‘Cross Pollination’. An intense piano solo, starkly the realisation hits, it is time to abandon this condemned planet. There is no hope - except....
We must “wade through the toxic clouds / breach the atmosphere / the edge of all our fears / spread our code to the stars, its time to rescue us all/we know you can never return/tell us your final wish / we’ll tell it to the world"says Matt. We may be doomed but maybe part of us can live on
Part 3 ‘Redemption’ builds from a simple, repetitive melody reminiscent of ‘Blackout’ into the yearning euphoric refrain of “let’s start over again/this time we'll get it right/it's time to forgive ourselves”.....a gentle piano drifts to silence...
Assuming you have not already heard it, DO NOT listen to this album while washing the dog, or waiting for a bus, or cooking dinner, sit down and give it your FULL attention, it's exhausting, utterly moving and if you don't have tears in your eyes and a strange unexplained catch in your throat when it's over then you're not the person I think you are.
This is a concept on the grandest scale, an album of sheer genius and utter beauty. Not since Ziggy has there been anything like this, forget downloads and shuffle modes, this album has to be heard beginning to end in order and in it's entirety.
It'll never work live..... OH.. I was forgetting Teignmouth.... My God these three guys are clever... Imagine what it will be like with floating cubes, plasma backdrops and lasers... Roll on November..
MUSE
DREAM AND FATE
I BELIEVE
Back to Earth. Origin of Symmetry was Muse embarking on their space rock odyssey, The Resistance is them returning home, mature, concentrated and intent on doing some serious damage.
No more angst and insular self-obsession, grown up, no longer playing games, they have landed back HARD and they don’t like what they see.
The manifesto is laid out good and strong for all to understand in Uprising (also opening in a sleepy Devon town called Teignmouth, I may have mentioned it...) Dr Who and disco,the agenda is set – rise up and take the power back...
Next, Resistance, a gentle synth intro, ominous kettle drums, simple piano hook and disco beat, but its soon obvious the answer (love is our Resistance) isn't going to be enough, the Thought Police are on to us.
Punchy stabs of synth and plucked strings usher in ‘Undisclosed Desires’, 'Map of the Problematique’ gone romantic. “I want to exorcise demons from the past/ I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart”. A sexy declaration of devotion and building a future together backed by slapped bass from Chris.
United States of Eurasia, gentle piano ballad and symphonic backdrop erupting to Arabian piano and layered chanting nodding in Queen's direction. We are called on to unite our land masses to equal the might of America, tongue is firmly in cheek (or is it?) this is the onslaught of MUSE manifesto. On my first ever listen, THIS was the track that most stuck in my head.
This dissolves into Matt's gorgeous rendition of Chopin's Nocturne in E flat major, but this is sinister, underneath there is half heard tanks planes and children culminating in a full jet flyby and what sounds disturbingly like the bass rumble of a nuclear explosion. Something is very wrong.
Straight into ‘Guiding Light’ - an Ultravox style heartbeat rhythm overlaid with clean guitar and triumphant vocals will certainly be a ‘lighter (or these days, mobile phone) waving’ gig moment. A slow and gentle lament, its clear stakes are about to be raised. We’re about to start a riot. Lines will be crossed, lives may be lost – but this is revolution.
‘Unnatural Selection’ is the Molotov cocktail, a pounding guitar riff and unrelenting bass, "pushing us beyond peaceful protest, I want to speak in a language you'll understand" . A middle eight section with plodding bass and a filthy dirty blues solo gives brief respite to ponder the destruction and recoup your energy before a return to full on Muse riff and the cry "I want the truth". UTTERLY orgasmic.
There's no relaxing though ‘Mk Ultra'. relentless fast synthesiser cuts and thumping bass warn us that “they’re breaking through”. retribution for rebellion. It’s fast paced, frantic and exciting, interspersed with heavy riffs “we’re falling…losing control” The Resistance is failing, the fight is fixed...
The 'wake' is 'I belong to you you', surprisingly jaunty, yearning yet upbeat and maybe just more then a bit inebriated, this is Matt at the piano, a basement dive, cigarette smoke fills the air, the structure changes dramatically and he gets all Edith Piaf and breaks into Mon Coer s'ouvre a ta voix from Samson and Delilah before returning to the I belong to you refrain.
The party is over, it's time to accept defeat.
Lush gorgeous spiralling strings and the Exogenesis symphony has begun.
Part one, overture, sparse falsetto lyrics and we are in trouble, "who are we / where are we / when are we?, heavily distorted guitar and vibrato strings, we are doomed
Part 2 ‘Cross Pollination’. An intense piano solo, starkly the realisation hits, it is time to abandon this condemned planet. There is no hope - except....
We must “wade through the toxic clouds / breach the atmosphere / the edge of all our fears / spread our code to the stars, its time to rescue us all/we know you can never return/tell us your final wish / we’ll tell it to the world"says Matt. We may be doomed but maybe part of us can live on
Part 3 ‘Redemption’ builds from a simple, repetitive melody reminiscent of ‘Blackout’ into the yearning euphoric refrain of “let’s start over again/this time we'll get it right/it's time to forgive ourselves”.....a gentle piano drifts to silence...
Assuming you have not already heard it, DO NOT listen to this album while washing the dog, or waiting for a bus, or cooking dinner, sit down and give it your FULL attention, it's exhausting, utterly moving and if you don't have tears in your eyes and a strange unexplained catch in your throat when it's over then you're not the person I think you are.
This is a concept on the grandest scale, an album of sheer genius and utter beauty. Not since Ziggy has there been anything like this, forget downloads and shuffle modes, this album has to be heard beginning to end in order and in it's entirety.
It'll never work live..... OH.. I was forgetting Teignmouth.... My God these three guys are clever... Imagine what it will be like with floating cubes, plasma backdrops and lasers... Roll on November..
MUSE
DREAM AND FATE
I BELIEVE
Friday, 11 September 2009
Download, the first
Today, well early hours of this morning I did my first 'download'. Something I have avoided for all I was worth, I guess I have now joined the 21st century and it was horribly beguilingly easy.
You may have guessed, the downfall was MUSE. While Uprising was released on Monday and I bought a conventional CD, Uprising live from Teignmouth was released as a download in the early hours, recorded one week ago today and I was there, and I play it over my iPod and I am there again, yes it is that good. I may not be having my organs rearranged by the bass line but I still want to cry, and punch the air, to scream along with the lyrics.
And I've upgraded iTunes so I can download albums, The Resistance out on Monday will be one of the first so released, and my ultra deluxe box set (CD, multiple DVD, 180g vinyl and memory stick version) will be going home, and I wont for a couple more weeks yet.
Its the start of a slippery slope..
You can get the download from Teignmouth on www.muse.mu and you can maybe really see what I am going on about here. Somewhere in that seething crowd is me, losing it....
You may have guessed, the downfall was MUSE. While Uprising was released on Monday and I bought a conventional CD, Uprising live from Teignmouth was released as a download in the early hours, recorded one week ago today and I was there, and I play it over my iPod and I am there again, yes it is that good. I may not be having my organs rearranged by the bass line but I still want to cry, and punch the air, to scream along with the lyrics.
And I've upgraded iTunes so I can download albums, The Resistance out on Monday will be one of the first so released, and my ultra deluxe box set (CD, multiple DVD, 180g vinyl and memory stick version) will be going home, and I wont for a couple more weeks yet.
Its the start of a slippery slope..
You can get the download from Teignmouth on www.muse.mu and you can maybe really see what I am going on about
Monday, 7 September 2009
I like Mondays.
Mondays are my day off.
So it'll usually follow the pattern of going out (via Trish the taxi and a bus from Wiliton) to Taunton where I'll have a bucket of coffee in Starbucks, a look around HMV and Primark (I do NOT need any more cheap shirts!) a quick nip into Sainsbury's for something nice for dinner then home.
After a nap I'll do my cleaning (not that that takes long, I'm not here much) change the bed then settle in front of the TV with an Alfred Hitchcock DVD, a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc and then something Italian to eat. An early night then I'm as ready as I'll ever be for the next week.
My Mother is staying at the park right now (she always 'sandwiches' the season), so Nadine took us into Taunton and while I did my bits they went shopping for earrings and a mooch around marks and spencer. Nadine is going on na cruise next month and like I said to her they would tend to frown on St Audries Bay polo shirts..
Oh and yes, Muse's single The Uprising was released. I didn't even know HMV sold singles any more, and to be honest there weren't many left.. I've heard it many times online, on the radio you may even have gathered I heard it live (!) but this is the first instalment of The Resistance - out next Monday. EEK! :-)
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