Mostly Oldies to Start the Week

here is a playlist to start the week...(click on the link to hear sample) - lots of oldies this week!

1) Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
This sounds great through my new speakers!
2) Nobody Told Me - John Lennon
I've always had a soft spot for John and this is a great track.
3) Baby Come Home - John Martyn
from the album "On the Cobbles" Hunchermuncher played this to me a year or two ago and I was less than impressed, he put it on last week though and it was like hearing it through fresh ears. Suddenly I liked it - maybe girls come to the more bluesy stuff later, who knows.
4) As Tears Go By - Marianne Faithfull
thsi is a real oldie but a definite goodie - I am surprise this hasn't been used on any adverts yet.
5) The Dress Looks Nice on You - Sufjan Stevens
discovered Sufjan via someone elses blog - lovely!
6) Whistle Down The Wind - Nick Heywood
very old - I think I hated it at the time. Saw it on someone elses playlist a few weeks ago and have enjoyed hearing it again.
7) Falling Down - Muse
Yummy!
8) I Just Don' t Think I'll Ever Get Over You - Colin Hay
another track from the soundtrack of the excellent film Garden State
9) O Cara Linda (Mr Gorgeous) - Smoke City
10) Garota de Ipanema - Nara Leao & Elis Regina
a Lovely version of the Girl from Ipanema

Pjotro The Man with The Musical Suit

Just time for a quick post before I brave the pouring rain to go to my reflexology client. I came across the most brilliant musical blog this morning called Musical From Russia click the link to visit him. Pjotro has a musical suit and you can make your own song and dance. He also has some great little movies from his childhood. I have never seen a blog quite like this one!

Depressed Poetry?

I wrote this poem this week, it probably still needs a bit of work but I was quite pleased with it. N said it is depressing and H said that it sounded like the person who wrote it was depressed - I don't think I was depressed at the time I wrote it - maybe more alarmed at what is going on in the world. Anyway thought I would put it in my blog to see what other people think - comments gratefully received!


Not so distant future

Gandalf’s in an Elfin fog,
Bond defies the reaper,
L.A.’s swamped in urban smog
And useless things get cheaper.

Sunny days are bad for you
And rain can’t give us water,
The Internet will damn our souls
And steal our sons and daughters.

Now every trip is plagued by fear
And everyone’s suspicious,
And kids don’t know their nursery rhymes,
Or tales about three wishes.

Now all the land is tarmac black,
And all that’s left is vehicles
And Barrett homes and Burger bars
And rivers black as treacle.

And fishes are only a memory
And happiness is fleeting,
And all that’s left of arts by now
Are tiers of plastic seating.

CD Buying Frenzy

In honour of my new stereo I have had a cd buying frenzy this week - on eby of course! The prices ranged from 99p to £5.99.
So far I have
Pure - The Lightning Seeds - this has to be the bargain of the week coming in at the massive price of 99p plus £1.00 postage! Who's Next - The Who - I had to get this after listening to "Won't Get Fooled Again" in the car last week.
Queen - Sheer Heart Attack - a great big blast from the past.
Led Zeppelin III - imagine my horror, I had just got the new stereo set up and I was desperate to listen to immigrant song - then I discovered I only had it on vinyl or mp3!
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Jethro Tull - Heavy Horses - I only ever had these two albums on tape. They have survived the test of time very well - takes me back a few years - this is proper music - they don't make em like this any more!
Invisible Touch - Genesis - this uses to be one of my favourite albums in my commune days. I bought Genesis Geatest Hits a couple of years ago, which is really good, but this is one of the few albums of theirs that is good the whole way through and I found myself hankering after tracks like "The Brazilian" that aren't on Greatest Hits.
Mike Oldfield - Five Miles Out - I always liked this alot more than Tubular Bells, but then I never was one to run with the pack. This arrived this morning so haven't managed to listen to it yet. It will be interesting to see how they have remastered it.

Pure Magic - Lightning Seeds

Today I was listening to the cd "Pure" by The Lightning Seeds. I had forgotten just how much I like it. I used to have the album on a pre-recorded tape but had found it hard to find on cd. I was lucky this week though, I managed to pick up a second hand copy from ebay for 99p (in great condition too) what a bargain, it is worth every penny and more.

Pure is a compilation with an impressive 18 poppy tracks. There is a very optimistic feel to this album. It has some great vocal harmonies, some jaunty synth and catchy guitar riffs, couple that with great production and you have the perfect recipe for a great album. Collaboraters include Terry Hall (of The Specials and The Fun Boy Three). Some of the lyrics may seem a little naive and twee by today's standards but somehow that just adds to the charm and appeal of the album.

Pure has a real feel good vibe, it was made before the Lightning Seeds hit the mega big time, so before Ian Broudie became cynical and jaded by the cult of celebrity and the music industry (listen to the track "Brain Drain" on the "Like You Do" album for an example of this!) Ian Broudie was a reluctant star at the best of times, but this album is a reminder that he is a musical force to be reckoned with. Maybe not a a star guitarist like Clapton or Blackmore. But he certainly has his own brand of musical magic.

High Points:

Love Explosion - this is best listened to on headphones, in bed in the dark, it's amazing - all girls wish that someone would write them a song like this.

Sense - co-written by Terry Hall who also sings on the track. This is a brilliant track and leaves me wishing that a) Broudie and Hall would write/perform together more and b) That Hall would make some kind of musical come back. Anything he was involved in was always innovative and well worth listening to.

Thirteen Jobs

Thirteen Jobs that I have had 1…. Office Work - when I was 16 I worked in the Sales Office at a company called Camvac, I did typing, sending telexes (remember those), filing, shredding etc. It was one of the most boring jobs that I have ever had and the lowest paid as it was part of a government thing called the Youth Opportunity scheme - I got £25 a week, £15 of which I gave to my mum! 2....Asparagus picking - I did this a few times, hard on your back. In the afternoon we would be inside an old airforce hut bunching it up. It is a short season about 4 weeks a year. Highlight being out in the fields at 6.30 am seeing deer, rabbits and pheasents in the mist. 3....Reflexology - this is what I do now, although I don't have many clients at the moment. It is a type of foot massage, very gentle working on pressure points in the feet. These pressure points correspond with different parts of the body. 4....Apple Picking - I did this for one season and it was really enjoyable. The trees were small, we only needed step ladders to reach the tops. 5....Warehouse work - in my 20s I worked for a large book wholesaler, going round a big warehouse with a shopping trolley picking orders, if you were lucky you might get to pack boxes. Highlights getting cheap books - I often got told off for looking at books whilst I was working. 6....Sandwich Bar - I did this job at the same time as the warehouse job (they were both part time). I waited tables, served at the counter and made sandwiches, plus washing up. Very stressful at times especially when you had a queue of customers out the door waiting for sandwiches and a bunch of customers in the cafe and only you to do it all. The cafe has gone now - it was called Pumpkin Crunch and the owner was an eccentric lady with green hair. 7....Cleaning - I have had various cleaning jobs over the years when I have needed extra cash. Most memorable was a elderly female osteopath who had lived in India with servants and liked the socks to be ironed with a nice crease in them. While I cleaned her house she went and cleaned the house of her grown up son. 8.... running a second hand clothes stall with a friend. We would pick up clothes in jumble sales, wash and iron them and then go to a little alternative market once a week. We also did a couple of hippy fairs. Most memorable occasion, stopping at the local skip on the way to a hippy fair and finding two hideous suede afghan coats. At the fair the weather was terrible and I sold them for £15 each! 9....Nursery Nurse/playgroup assistant - for several years I worked in preschools. I like kids, studied for several qualifications and it fitted in around my son's school hours. Left a couple of years ago when it became very stressful. Highlights - the kids. messy art and craft projects. Low points - poor pay, employees who don't like children and aren't professional, children with severe behavioural problems. 10.... Daffodil Picking - I lasted a day at this, it is absolutely back breaking. We were working in boiling hot polytunnels and the daffodils have a very acidic sap that damages your skin. 11....Carrot grading - I managed six months at this - largely because all my friends said that I wouldn't stick it out so I had a point to prove. It was awful on a noisy production line, carrots came out of a bif washer onto rollers and we quickly had to grab off all bad and mishapen ones before they went down into a bit where they were putinto sacks. For variety we went into the field occasionally. Picking up parsnips in the snow, and in summer we pulled seedy beet out of suger beet fields and wild oats out of barley. Low points - when frogs and little creatures cale in with the carrot harvest, also the shocking amount of waste. 12....Barmaid - I hated this, I worked in a very busy pub where a lot of farmers drank. They were constantly either making lewd remarks or trying to catch you out on the amount you charged for each round. 13...Strawberry Picking... I did this every year when I lived in the countryside. It was piece work so terribly paid. My friend and I used it as a social time picking slowly, chatting up the young man weighing the berries and of course eating tons of strawberries.Grape Picking - I did this for a few years. There aren't many vineyards in the Uk but I was lucky enough to live near one. A nice easy job. Highlights - the owners took us all to their manor house for a buffet lunch with wine every day. Have put these two together as they are similar. I realise that I have actually done more than 13 jobs! I have also done babysitting, a day peeling onions in a pickled onion factory (smelly), blackberry picking, working for Oxfam dlivering and collecting plastic clothing sacks and running a second hand clothes Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. Something's Missing 2. Benson659 3. Carmen 4. My Two Cents 5. Ghost 6. Zeus 7. Factor 10

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Cheap versus Expensive Turntables

The stereo saga continues - we took the cd player and amplifier back to the shop today and after thorough tests (and much huffing and puffing) they declared that one of the channels wasn't working on the cd player (we knew that already!) and they swapped it for another one - hooray. Watch this place to see if this one is still working on three days time!

I had decided that I would finally buy the turntable at the same time and Hunchermuncher and the sales guy spents ages explaining to me why I should buy the more expensive sturdy model over the cosiderably cheaper flimsy one. When I was finally convinced the sales assistant went upstairs only to come back empty handed - after all that they didn't have one in stock. So the long and the short of it is that for now at least I still don't have a turntable and I have a bit of time to decide if I want to pay over £100 for one!