The state of the scroll

 Month is coming to a close, some topics purposely left off the blog  cos they take me to places that are not good and while of that was going on, we find more than enough to post about.

Social media often feels that way -it can be bad enough for your processor to get through a forest of big size pictures and gifs without failing to load any- never mind all that scrolling  to get to the stuff you really want.

You might think to just see things on accounts you have chosen to follow would be such a great experience to offer but how many times do you find "Posts you might like" added in or promoted posts?

Often and that is what can make doing social media such a energy sapping time consuming business just because they want more click through's cos that's potentially more revenue for them or the people they promote.

I do think a basic charter of rights for the end user is needed.

The Stones at the El Mocambo

 This week we are going back in time with a two cd set that came out on April 29 this year.

Live At The El Mocambo marks the first official appearance of the group's two famous secret concerts at the 300-capacity Toronto club in March 1977. 

This double cd set features their full set from the March 5 show, plus three bonus tracks from the March 4 gig, all of which have been newly mixed by Bob Clearmountain. 

Although all of performances were available at the time, only four found their way onto the Love You Live album that followed in September 1977, that I bought at the time which was dominated by tracks captured on the band's 1975 and '76 tours in Paris, with the full set having never been heard before. 

As the Stones took residency that year punk and disco were both rearing into full view, supposedly ready to see off a band who had already been at the top of their game for 15 years. Over two nights, in an intimate space in one of their favourite cities, they showed they still had it.

For reasons best known to themselves over recent years their artwork on new projects has been somewhat uninspired and this is a good example with just the Tongue logo and title where a band photo on stage would of been more eye catching.

The card sleeve has pockets for the discs which are not in protective sleeves to avoid damage scratches so I had to line them myself.

The set includes songs from Black And Blue, their then current album such as Crazy Mama and Fool To Cry coupled with songs from It's Only Rock And Roll, the previous album of 1974 followed by a mixture of classic 60's and  early 70's sings plus blues covers such as Mannish Boy.

For me the smaller setting helped take the Stones' back to their roots leading to their inspired Some Girls album which mixed the energy of punk and interest in disco sounds while still being true to themselves showing they were still relevant.

It's good to have this set of live recordings out.

Raymond Briggs: a reflection

 

One Wednesday it was announced the story-writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs died.

He was born in 1934 in Wimbledon, Surrey and later moved to Sussex, making his own difference in story telling for being less inclined to write sweet happy ending stories for children for more gritter stuff and writing things also for adults but in form of a comic book.

 

Ethel and Ernest was a looking back of his own upbringing based around his aspirational parents, working to bring in the money, keeping a nice well kept house, helping to ensure their children got a decent education.

Raymond had his views, a life long Labour supporter although no fan at all of the Corbyn era he championed unilateral Nuclear Disarmament which found support during the tensions of the Cold War in the early 1980's taking part in protests.

He wrote the highly influential When The Wind Blows which saw the following of government advice in publications such as Protect And Survive by an elderly couple who'd lived through WW2 exposed for the load of absolute piffle it was (and I favour the deterrent generally speaking) 

The book end on a blank page. The inference was they died from radiation sickness as the measures they followed could never protect them (but made people think everything would be okay).

Christmas was tackled twice by Raymond originally in a story that looked at the challenges of Santa Claus (aka Little Saint Nick) delivering a multitude of presents from Santa's point of view, cursing as things went adrift.

The Snowman is a ritual in our country, every Christmas we all gather to watch this moving tale of the boy who plays in the snow building a Snowman who becomes alive forming a friendship that sees the boy  being taken on a voyage of discovery only to melt the next day with him being mourned by the boy.

The Sinfonia of London play a score for the duration of the cartoon and famously "walking through The Air is song as the boy is flying with the snowman looking in wonder at the world.

Summer is here

Start of Summer proper here with a fair bit of sun although it was rather drizzly over Tuesday so it's time to read the Summer Specials and make the most of the season.

Well you might as well take off the layers and let the fresh air and sun in trading sweaters, long pants or skirts for something much much lighter.

In world of big cats wouldn't you rather be a kitten?

Music I associate with summer does include this offering by the Jazz-rock group Santana who at the time included some tremendously talented musicians that originally came out in 1970 and spawned the single Black Magic Woman of which I still have the Columbia 45.

This is the super audio cd version of what was in that infamous one step double 45 rpm record set sounding better than ever for a good deal less.

Now to read the final edition of this, ghoulies!