Schnee

8.00 am, Stormy with heavy rain, moderate S wind.

On the drive north, Saturday Classics is playing on the car stereo. Tansy Davies did a selected playlist of Contemporary Classical music in a show broadcast on 2nd Jan. 2016.

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Tansy Davies (photo: BBC)

One piece in particular caught my ear: Hans Abrahamsen: Schnee.
http://bbc.in/MjILVs

Inevitably, a selection contains pieces that vary in their appeal. Some don’t work their magic, some are stunning. Ironically, Davies included one of her own compositions which I would put near to the stunning end of the scale.
At the time, in the car, it seemed a bit odd for a presenter to include some of her own work. That doubt evaporated when the piece started. There is already one T. Davies CD in my collection, and some Ligeti (which is also wonderful).

At another time of day, the drive would have been difficult. Heavy rain glazed the road so markings were more difficult to see. Many drivers don’t sense the risk and drive well over the speed limit regardless. I thought: I want to buy winter tyres soon.

Gorgeous!

Found ‘Fourth’

Icy start, 3°C, wind building.
Found: Soft Machine ‘Fourth’ album. It has no cover but the disc is in excellent condition. It’s the 1971 CBS pressing. There are hand-written notes on the cardboard sleeve; not my hand. It only cost £2.60 whenever I bought it, probably 20 years ago.

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Soft Machine 4

Review: Finisterre.

12°C, wet start and strong wind building.
Ted Baker Finisterre is a digital radio and Blutooth speaker..

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Ted Baker are a fashion house, why they sell radios is anybody’s guess. Whatever the reason, they have designed a gem.
It looks great, stylish and well made. But even better, the sound is as sweet as a nut. Straight out of the box, the music is smooth and detailed. Overall there is a healthy balance between bass and treble with a tonal range extending widely enough to do justice to most types of music.
The product is better than radios made by Pure or Roberts. It’s probably about level with Bose. I may add a comparison in a later section.
They’ve obviously decided to use a good quality driver mono-player instead of placing a pair of stereo-looking speakers immediately adjacently. There’s never been any point attempting stereo unless the speakers are at least a metre apart. An astute decision it turns out.
After some shopping round, I have a few opinions on where this radio is in the marketplace. It beats the Pure brand, it makes Roberts sound dull and restricted and it is probably best compared with Bose. In which case, price may make the decision for you. I got a bargain at a quarter of the list price in Ted Baker’s catalogue.
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There are no equaliser controls, or bass boost or anything like that. Like genuine hifi, TB seem to have decided that the sound is correct so why adjust it.
DAB reception is good enough to sound clear from stations that care about sound quality, most notably BBC Radio 3. Bluetooth reception works well with decent recordings saved at higher bitrates.
The whole unit looks great in my opinion. At 2.4 Kg, you get an immediate impression of quality. There is no attempt to resemble wood with vernier, the metal grille really is metal and the switchgear offers a quality sensation in use.

Even the user manual is a conscious reflection of the ‘retro’ theme- it looks like a 7″ Single. There is no laughable translation inside, just a clear set of hints written in plain English.
Negatives? It’s a kitchen radio, so although it has a carry handle, this is no portable radio. There is no battery, rechargeable or replaceable. You won’t be taking this out to the garden while trimming the roses. You do get tonal enhancements to play with, there is a set of acoustics to select. In my opinion, there is no need, the sound is already right. If you get any bloom or reedy thinness, then try re-position the unit. Solid surfaces sound best but it is quite tolerant of a site in a room’s corner.
Opera, even for a non-opera fan, is listenable. You probably won’t get that warbling shrill sound on massed highs.
You’ll enjoy it, I say.

It was all a gorgeous mistake.

11°C, white cloud add calm. Earl early.
New lodger, talking about music, Portishead played out from the IPod dock at the time. His favourite track is ‘Sure’. Blimey, don’t know that one.
Well, I should have. It’s there is my collection.

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It turned up on this LP, of the same name.
It’s too easy to buy things and not listen to them sufficiently closely.

Saturday vinyl.

14°C, rain clearing later.
Vinyl.
This Mortal Coil: It Will End In Tears.

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Saturday morning music time. Seems like the best time for vinyl for me.
The album sounds a bit dated to be honest, but it did lead me towards buying some of the finer examples in my collection: Lisa Gerrard and others.
Some listening sessions follow a path through the collection. While listening to an album, other records spring to mind and they land on the platter next. From a given starting record, there are paths through the collection that form naturally each day. From a starting album, the path is often very alike.

LPs while wrapping.

10°C, windy with a dose of sun.
Feeling ill can make us feel inadequate sometimes, as though we have failed somehow. I failed to cycle this week. There was nothing I could put a finger on, just that latent cold feeling.
What must it be like for those with serious, or chronic illnesses?
Anyway, today I wrap. The room is filled with the smell of fresh coffee and milky golden winter sun filters through the skeleton trees.
Playing music to give my ears something to do.

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This is a double by Tricky. Too often, I forget how clear this stereo sounds. That record player is thirty years old!
It wasn’t the technology that killed off vinyl, nor the sound quality.
The next album I put on was Led Zeppelin. The sound was clear but noticeably compressed. Producers used to do that so the disc would sound acceptable on cheaper record players. That meant the sound was worse for all of us. Then, along came CD which promised clarity of sound and ease of use. It delivered on the latter. Now, thirty years later, LP sales have risen slightly and occupy a clear place in the market. Modern records, like the one by Tricky, sound better than ever. Producers no long have to cater for the mass market. The sound quality is better though the technology is the same (at our end).

Tindersticks: Ypres.

8°C, rain later.
Get home and chop wood for the fire. The only exercise I had all day. That long latent cold has lifted without really doing more than sapping my energy. Oh well, that’s gone.
Before bed, I relaxed with some music, played on the proper stereo.
On first impression, Tindersticks’ album, Ypres doesn’t include much action. There are some broad key changes, large slow sounds that move up and down the scales.
There is more, however. Some filigree textures and quivering tremolo strings. An inner tension resides there. To my surprise, I was intensely moved, speechless in fact.
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Cover art.

Got it back.

Unexpected frost.2C
It’s home- after a service. After many years, the record deck did not need that much work during the service. It had the usual replacement springs and grommits, but not much else was necessary. I have always looked after it.
Sound Cynergy in Aldridge did a nice job, I’m listening as I write.

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In Hifi terms, the sound is sharper, more vivid and focussed. Perhaps I will feel encouraged to play more LPs in future instead of CDs. A lot of modern releases are on heavy, good quality vinyl. But view cost more, often £20 for a single album.

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Posted from a mobile.

Skyphone.

15°C, wet morning, sun afternoon. Shorts weather.
CD, Skyphone I confess, at the start, that I don’t really know how to review a CD. So all I can do, is make a recommendation. Currently, there only exist two CDs from this Danish trio; Avellaneda and the one currently in my CD player- Fabula.
The sound is woven from interlocking synths and percussion things to make complex of sweet harmonies and little sounds. The little sounds have caught me. It reminds me of the ever wonderful Fred Frith. This adds harmony and rhythm to Frith’s sometimes dissonant layering.
Music like this I can work to and listen to exclusively. In other words, it works in the back-ground and bears close listening while doing nothing else.
Would you like to know what category to put this CD in? I don’t know- that seems to be a question that youngsters are more concerned with than I am.. Look under S then.

Fabula

Fabula

Will this do as a music review?

Posted from a phone.