Wow, I got so stressed today I really thought I was going to lose it. But, no thanks to a certain travel agent, I didn’t, and am going to London tomorrow for a week. I might update this site. But I might start working out and eating meat, so I wouldn’t hold your breath. I’ll be back on Tuesday 9th July.

In the meantime, I have some news: it looks as if I have joined a band, as lead guitarist, possibly playing a bit of sax as well. It’s a dark, twangy, nicely retro sounding band, and I’m rather excited about the whole thing. Nice one.

I’ve also bought quite a few new records recently. No time to properly log them in, but if anyone else has the new Belle & Sebastian single, did you notice how the second track completely rips off a Lee Hazlewood song from ‘requiem for an almost lady’. It’s odd – it’s not even a very special melody which they steal, but it’s distinctive enough that I’m pretty sure they lifted it. They should stick to ripping off their own melodies – they do it so well!

I also made a very funky compilation for my friend Dan, who I’ll be seeing in London. I’ve added it to my compilations page. Cheers!

Scott Walker: 'Scott' (CD; Fontana; 1967)
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This is a pretty incredible album, full of strong emotions and dense orchestrations. I am utterly enamoured with Scott, yet there are definitely sides to his work which I greatly prefer over others. For example, this opens with 'Mathilde', one of his Brel covers, sung in a flamboyant, caberet style (he also does Brel's 'my death' and 'amsterdam' on this album). It's brilliant, and extremely fun when you're in the mood for it, but for me at least, that's not every day. However, I could listen to 'Montague Terrace in Blue', and especially 'Angelica', every day. Scott's croony, Sinatra-esque side comes out on great tracks like 'When Joanna Loved me' and 'You're gonna hear from me', while 'lady came from Baltimore' has a more folky, country-ish feel. Aside from 'Angelica', my favorites on this album are all written by Scott himself - the superb 'Such a small love' and the truly incredible 'always coming back to you', in which Scott mourns an old love with incredible lucidity and elegance.

note: the orchestrations on this album are by Wally Stott and Peter Knight. Peter Knight went on to orchestrate Elis Regina's 'Elis Regina in London' album, while Wally Stott went on to become a woman.