November 2011
7 posts
3 tags
A Storm of Swords (vol 2), by George R. R. Martin
Fourth (or the third) book in A Song of Ice and Fire series.Volume 2 of A Storm of Swords, called Blood and Gold.
And holy fuck, shit got serious. This one could have been sub-title ‘Everyone Dies’.
3 tags
A Storm of Swords (vol 1), by George R. R. Martin
(2000)
Third instalment in the Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. The book turned out to be two long, so it was split into two volumes (in the UK at least). This was volume 1, Steel and Snow.
3 tags
A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin
(1996)
A Game of Thrones was on the telly recently. So I thought I would give the book a go. The first book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire (currently up to five books), Thrones introduces the feudal empire of Westeros, made up of the Seven Kingdoms. This is fantasy on a epic scale, but the sorcery and fantastic elements, that you come to expect, are actually kept to a minimum, and...
3 tags
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
(1890)
The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only thing I’ve read by Wilde, which, I guess isn’t surprising as it is his only novel (I didn’t realise that The Importance of Being Earnest was actually a play). Highly entertaining faustian melodrama. The language is over the top, but that’s what I was expecting.
Freely available from Project Gutenberg
3 tags
Revival, by Gillian Welch
(1996)
I like Revelator so much I went and bought Welch’s first album, Revival, from way back in 1996, when I was listening to Pulp and dancing to Black Grape at the local indie disco. The instruments are still simple, and the songs are still traditional country folk. Lovely stuff.
Found a rather good review on the album’s Amazon page.
Released in 1996, four years before O...
3 tags
Glasshouse, by Charlie Stross
2006
Glasshouse is far-future, fantastic sci-fi with strong (I was going to say feminist, but it goes far beyond that) political themes.
3 tags
A Clash of Kings, by George R. R. Martin
1998
The second in the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. Politics is still rife, but the magic and fantasy elements, that were missing from the first novel (due to lack of Dragons it seems) are also starting to assert themselves.
Loving this series.
August 2011
5 posts
3 tags
Heavy Ghost, by DM Stith
(2009)
Recently came across David Michael Stith on a Bob Dylan covers album, where he covered Gates of Eden and on the strength of that, bought this album.
Still not sure if I like it though.
Kinda operatic, with lots of weirdness makes it a difficult listen, definitely not driving music. But I think it might be his voice putting me off. But the songs are good.
3 tags
Hard Grind, by Little Axe
(2002)
Christ knows where I found this.
According to la wik:
Little Axe is the stage name of Skip McDonald (born Bernard Alexander, 1949, Dayton, Ohio[1]) an American blues musician. McDonald played jazz, doo-wop, and gospel when young, and moved to New York as a teenager with his band of friends, called The Entertainers. In the 1990s McDonald took the name Little Axe and began recording...
3 tags
On Time Travel and Romance, by Agent Ribbons
(2007)
Fun, but fairly staid rock, from 3-piece sacramento band.
4 tags
Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch
(2001)
Bought on the strength of the opening track Revelator, a sprawling, low key, late-night, drinking whisky in the dark kind of song.
This was Welch’s third album, the first release on her own Acony label. Working with just Dave Rawlings and a few instruments, it has a simple (‘stripped down’ the reviewers like to say) but polished feel.
3 tags
The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe
First published in 1980, The Shadow of the Torturer is the first book in the Book of the New Sun series.
The titular torturer is called Severian a Journeyman with the Guild of Torturers who (this is high fantasy here) is apparently “destined to revitalize the Sun and save the Earth while at the same time destroying it”. Despite the high aims, this first book is relatively small in...
July 2011
1 post
1 tag
Flashman on the March, by George McDonald Fraser
(2005)
Dived in right at the end of the Series, the last of around twelve Flashman novels). Found it at this great little secondhand shop down Leith Walk - Elvis Shakespeare.
From the Wikipedias:
Sir Harry Paget Flashman VC KCB KCIE was based on the character “Flashman” in Tom Brown’s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes.
In Hughes’ book, Flashman is the notorious bully...
June 2011
5 posts
4 tags
Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
No, not that David Mitchell.
This David Mitchell is an English author, and Cloud Atlas is his third novel.
It’s a big beast and it took me a while to get through it, which I wouldn’t recommend. It is actually six (loosely) connected stories, nested within one another like Russian Dolls. You read the first half of each story, moving forward in time, then read back through the second...
4 tags
Into The Wild (Movie 2007)
Two really good films in two nights. Unusual.
This one is the real-life story of Christopher McCandless, an American college graduate who ‘reject[ed] a materialist and conventional life’ and became a tramp. After a few years travelling across the US, McCandless’ final adventure took him to Alaska. A serious of disasters ended with him eating poisonous berries. He died, trapped...
3 tags
Crome Yellow, by Aldous Huxley
Published in 1921, Crome Yellow is Huxley’s first novel. A tale about a group of characters meeting up in a country house, the titular ‘Crome’, for a party and to discuss their artsy interests.
The main character is Denis Stone, a young and self-conscious writer with only a book of poetry to his name. I did groan at the thought of a young, struggling writer, writing about the...
3 tags
Chrome Dreams
(1977)
For some reason, this album was never released, but can be got, thanks to the internet. This is Young in the late 70s, all growling guitars and melancholy. Just gorgeous.
5 tags
Crazy Heart (Movie 2009)
Caught Crazy Heart last night.
A country music biopic that isn’t really a biopic since, apparently, “writer-director Cooper initially wanted to do a biopic on [Merle] Haggard but found the rights to his life story were too difficult to obtain”, and therefore based the film on a fictional novel instead.
The main character, Bad Blake is meant to be based on Waylon Jennings,...
April 2011
4 posts
4 tags
Closing In On The Fire, by Waylon Jennings
(1998)
Shelton Hank Williams has a song about Country Heroes.
I’m drinkin’ some George Jones,
and a little bit of Coe
Haggard’s easin’ my misery
and Waylon’s keepin’ me from home
Hank’s givin’ me those high times
Cash is gonna sing it low
I’m here gettin’ wasted
here with my country heroes
I feel like I’m...
4 tags
When The Devil's Loose, by A.A. Bondy
(2009)
Now this is good. Auguste Arthur Bondy’s second album has country and folk roots and a pleasant, melancholy atmosphere. It vibrates at just the right pitch; would love to hear this live and loud enough to feel it through my boots.
4 tags
Retriever, by Ron Sexsmith
(2004)
Whimsical, folky pop. Should really like Ron Sexsmith, but can’t help but find (this album at least) it all rather boring. I do appreciate the prosaically normal lyrical style though. “I’m a bit rundown, but I’m okay.” is a pleasant relief from the hysterics of other songwriters. Maybe it’s a slow burner, or maybe the slew of similar songwriters that...
4 tags
King of Limbs, by Radiohead
(2011)
The latest Radiohead album fails to catch fire somehow. Pleasant background music.
March 2011
6 posts
4 tags
Yield, by Pearl Jam
(1998)
Pearl Jam’s fifth album. Think their popularity was waning at the time, I certainly don’t remember hearing much about them post 1995, but this is a cracking album.
4 tags
Sun Battle Soul, by Kinisi
(2011)
Don’t know anything about this, can’t even remember where I found it, but their Bandcamp site is here. Rather pretty electronic beats, despite the wanky concept:
‘Sun Battle Soul’ is a concept album that explores the harmony and disharmony that results from the interaction of the physical world and the mental consciousness we experience and questions where/how...
4 tags
1975 The Boarding House, by Willie Nelson
This is Willie Nelson in his prime.
K101-FM radio broadcast.
Got album here. Found via Country and Western.
4 tags
Rubber Factory, by The Black Keys
(2004)
The third album by Ohio band The Black Keys. Lots of growling guitars and blues licks.
4 tags
The Kraken Wakes, by John Wyndham
1953 classic British sf by Day of the Triffids writer, John Wyndham.
The Kraken Wakes tells of the invasion of earth by some alien species. There is a lot of speculation but very few facts about these aliens. They take up residence in deep water, and explode violently when attacked, suggesting they are only able to tolerate very high pressure environments. That’s about it.
Along the...
3 tags
New Boots and Panties, by Ian Dury
Ian Dury’s first album release in that fabulous year 1977 a few months before the band had become Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Apparently named for the fact that Dury bought all his clothes second hand, except his shoes and underwear. Every song on here is a cracker. Love it.
Tracklist for this version:
Wake Up And Make Love With Me
Sweet Gene Vincent
I’m Partial To Your Abracadabra
...
February 2011
1 post
3 tags
The Deep Field, by Joan as Policewoman
Loved her last album Cover. It was one of those impulse buys - associating a name on a website with a vague memory from 6Music, coinciding with a few spare token for emusic. So when it turned out to be a brilliant album, it was a delight.
The Deep Field ain’t so good. It is pleasant you know, but doesn’t grab me by the balls. But that isn’t a criticism.
January 2011
4 posts
5 tags
Ultra Sonic Boogie, by Cactus
Late 60s rock & roll. According to the wikipedia:
“Cactus was initially conceived as early as late 1969 by the Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice with guitarist Jeff Beck and singer Rod Stewart. However, Beck had an automobile accident and was out of the music scene for over a year and Stewart joined Ronnie Wood in Faces.
By 1971 the...
2 tags
Rock & Roll, by Frank Turner
Bit of an impulse download this. I like the gist of the shouty-folk, opening track, I Still Believe.
Who’d have thought after all,
Something as simple as rock & roll would save us all.
The rest of the album is a bit ‘emo’ boy band-y. But not complaining.
3 tags
The Strange Boys and Girls Club, by The Strange...
The Strange Boys, from Austin, Texas, go for that regressive, fuzzy garage-rock thing. Shades of Hank Marvin even. It’s swinging man.
3 tags
Mouthful, by The Dø
‘Eclectic’ is probably the word. Mouthful swings from breezy, soulful pop (e.g. At Last) to mega shouty, pop rapping.
All pretty good so far. And the lass has a gorgeous voice.