Back to the well...

Like a boxer who doesn't know when to quit, I've gone back to some more glorious music from David Gilmour, this time from the final show of his 2006 On An Island solo tour. Featuring the late-and truly great-Richard Wright where he belongs (to the left of Big Dave), this version of A Great Day For Freedom is quite possibly the best ever recorded (and I've heard most of them). Featuring the talents of the Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, this concert took place on the Gdansk Shipyards to mark the anniversary of the Solidarity Trade Union Movement, and is all the better for being the only performance of the song from the tour. Gilmour is a guitarist who never ever sounds off colour, and with the adrenalin of playing underrehearsed (although you'd never tell) coursing through the veins, he takes the solo off into the (ahem) STRATosphere. Lyrically, the song title references an Evening Standard headline from 1990 on the fall of the Berlin Wall, but as always with the Floyd there is a layer of personal meaning in there as well.

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What's not to like?

People often ask me about my musical tastes. Basically, I like -strongly- music that is good and dislike -strongly- music that is bad. This, a professionally-edited 'bootleg' of a 1994 performance of the Division Bell's Poles Apart, is good. But then, if you've listened to it, you already know that. No room for 'subjectivity' at Not On My Watch towers, no sir.

For those who are interested in lyrics, the first verse relates to Syd Barrett, the second Roger Waters, and as it's Floyd I'll leave you to fill in the interpretive blanks for yourself. For those of you interested in music, the guitar tuning for this track is DADGAD.

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A Revelation

Denzel Washington is my favourite actor. I could talk about him and his films all day (honestly, I could). If you take Dolph 'Missionary Man' Lundgren out of the equation, no one carries off the Bible in one hand, sawn-off shotgun in the other combination better than Denzel. His new film, The Book Of Eli, carries on that fine tradition as we follow what is possibly Hollywood's most overtly Christian hero ever as he journeys west in his quest to take the only existing copy of the Bible to where he believes God wants it to go.

Now of course, it could be argued that, post the mega-successful Narnia and Gibson's Passion, Hollywood has cottoned on to the might of the Christian dollar, and with a tagline like 'Deliver Us', the marketing men aren't exactly hiding the fact. But that doesn't seem to concern the Christian Denzel who co-produced Eli and helped with some Bible-inspired script re-writes. Whether a believer or not, it's a film which has much to commend it (Gary Oldman is sensational in full-on ham mode, and Michael Gambon (another of my personal faves) has a cracking, if somewhat macabre, cameo. I enjoyed it so much I've totally lost track of my commas. Go see.

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Stinkin' Up The Great Outdoors

Late afternoon in the open air
A human sea made out of mud and hair
Ain't nothing like a festival crowd
There's too many people so we play too loud

Smalls, St Hubbins, Tufnell: Break Like The Wind (1992)

I think Spinal Tap had it right. Music festivals are a nightmare. A urine-soaked, drug-ridden nightmare. And if Roger Waters isn't bringing in his own quad stacks, the sound is as muddy as the field the orc-like masses have to camp in. But I'm being sucked into one, nonetheless. It's drawing me in like a progrock magnet. If the 1990 Monsters Of Rock Festival marked the end of 80s Rock (and it did); and the 1990 Nordoff Robbins Silver Clef Awards concert was maligned as a tribute to the dinosaurs of rock (and it was), then the 2010 inaugural Classic Rock High Voltage Festival, taking place July 24-25 in London's Victoria Park, promises to be just as fantastic as they were. It's the Isle of Wight 1971, with a classic car exhibition. It's going to be hard to resist. Just look who's headlining...

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It's uncanny

Avatar eh? What makes you of it? I thought it was alright, but probably the worst film ol' King Of The World's ever popped out (I was pining for True Lies 2). If you compare it to the Abyss (which is kind of similar), it's a no contest. But I'm starting to doubt myself. Was it really just the lazy, uninspired plotting, AWOL editing, drab characterisation and a blink-and-you-already-missed-it opening setting of scene that left me a bit underwhelmed? Or something more?

Ever heard of the uncanny valley?

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Car shopping

Lots to consider when unpacking your stuff into a new house. Should you put On Her Majesty's Secret Service between You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever, or keep the Connery's together? Do you include the works of Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe as part of the wider Yes cannon or keep them seperate?

Lots to consider when buying a car too. Comfort. Economy. Reliability. Kudos. It's important when making big decisions I think to consult older, wiser heads, so I've been mulling over this quote from Clarkson:

Speed is useful. Speed means we can get where we're going quicker, which means we can see more, do more and learn more. Speed makes us cleverer.

Speed also means we can leave work later and get home sooner so it makes us richer, and our families more stable.

Speed means we can have a more varied diet because we can have fresher produce from further afield every day in our local shop. Speed therefore makes us healthier.

Speed means we can expand our horizons. It means we can explore strange new worlds and new civilisations, like Cheshire and Norfolk. And Wales. This gives us a better understanding of the world and its peoples, and that makes us more tolerant. Speed brings peace.

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Still So Serious?

http://indexing.blogspot.com/2006/10/tempus-fugit-part-2-elderly_30.html

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Holy... Fright?

Yes, that's right, you've got it. Pretty funny, no? Well if Meatloaf can apply for a 'license to thrill' then I can give good ol' Curd Jurgens a holy fright.

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Why So Serious?

Do you remember much about 2006? Me neither (unless you're a Channel 4 researcher looking for talking heads for a new I Love 2006 show you're commissioning, in which case I can remember lots of things in literally nauseating detail).

I do know that I wrote some possibly interesting, and definitely long, blog posts for my church youth fellowship blog, which no one read. Anyway, in the current climate, it's only appropriate that NOMW engage in some recycling.

http://indexing.blogspot.com/2006/10/tempus-fugit-part-1-hospitals.html

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