Friday night, written early Saturday morning...

I wandered into the West End on my way home ostensibly to pop into Forbidden Planet to check out the comics and some WoW figures (for once not for me). I left disappointed on both counts.

Not to be thwarted, I wandered back to Leicester Square tube via one of the few remaining branches of Fopp to be still trading after the "rescue" buyout by HMV a couple of months back. I rather regret never getting to the big Fopp on Tottenham Court Road, now closed (the shop, not the street), but the (smaller) branch on Shaftsbury Avenue is always quite fun and has the feel of a small local shop even though it isn't really.

I spent a fair old while mooching and just enjoying myself doing something I used to do a great deal more often; purchases are almost secondary to the process of wandering around a record store browsing, even these days when I haven't got a clue about most of the releases on offer.

Anyway, I found a selection that has belatedly now made its way into my CD collection:

The Last Waltz by the Band. I swear that I have no idea how its taken 29 years to add this to my collection. For that matter, I have no idea why it's close on 25 since I last listened to it (actually, moving to London and losing touch with the friend who had a copy answers that part of the conundrum). I guess it's my slowly growing interest in their sometime employer and occasional mentor, Bob Dylan that brought them back to the edge of my consciousness and to find their final¹ album for a fiver...

Anthem of the Sun and the eponymous Grateful Dead for a fiver each. A band I've intended to find out more about for around 20 years. These were picked up on pure speculation. In the 80s I knew a Kiwi, whose name now escapes me, but he was a great fan of the Griteful Deed as he would have it and he was always on at me to check them out. I finally crumbled. I am also intrigued by the thought that their late founder and leader has an ice cream flavour named after him...

Eyes of the Universe by Barclay James Harvest. Issued in 1979 their first, I think, as a trio and before they descended briefly into a sub Kraut Rock style and possibly the last of their classic period before their recording success depended mainly on Germany, Austria and Scandinavia. A bit more expensive at £7 but good value nonetheless².

I spent a good while wandering around clutching a couple of CDs by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention before deciding against them. Purchases for another day, I think.

¹Well, not strictly as they reformed in the 80s and issued 3 additional albums in the 90s, but to me and I suspect many others, it will always be their final album.

²Having split in the early 90s, or rather having decided to take a "sabbatical" because of "musical differences", the classic line up never played together again. There are now two versions of the band around: John Lees' Barclay James Harvest with original members John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme, and Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd, which before his death also included Mel Pritchard, the fourth founder of original group. Both versions of the band are popular in Europe and still touring and recording and all surviving band members are performing in one of the incarnations.

Friday night, written early Saturday morning...

I wandered into the West End on my way home ostensibly to pop into Forbidden Planet to check out the comics and some WoW figures (for once not for me). I left disappointed on both counts.

Not to be thwarted, I wandered back to Leicester Square tube via one of the few remaining branches of Fopp to be still trading after the "rescue" buyout by HMV a couple of months back. I rather regret never getting to the big Fopp on Tottenham Court Road, now closed (the shop, not the street), but the (smaller) branch on Shaftsbury Avenue is always quite fun and has the feel of a small local shop even though it isn't really.

I spent a fair old while mooching and just enjoying myself doing something I used to do a great deal more often; purchases are almost secondary to the process of wandering around a record store browsing, even these days when I haven't got a clue about most of the releases on offer.

Anyway, I found a selection that has belatedly now made its way into my CD collection:

The Last Waltz by the Band. I swear that I have no idea how its taken 29 years to add this to my collection. For that matter, I have no idea why it's close on 25 since I last listened to it (actually, moving to London and losing touch with the friend who had a copy answers that part of the conundrum). I guess it's my slowly growing interest in their sometime employer and occasional mentor, Bob Dylan that brought them back to the edge of my consciousness and to find their final¹ album for a fiver...

Anthem of the Sun and the eponymous Grateful Dead for a fiver each. A band I've intended to find out more about for around 20 years. These were picked up on pure speculation. In the 80s I knew a Kiwi, whose name now escapes me, but he was a great fan of the Griteful Deed as he would have it and he was always on at me to check them out. I finally crumbled. I am also intrigued by the thought that their late founder and leader has an ice cream flavour named after him...

Eyes of the Universe by Barclay James Harvest. Issued in 1979 their first, I think, as a trio and before they descended briefly into a sub Kraut Rock style and possibly the last of their classic period before their recording success depended mainly on Germany, Austria and Scandinavia. A bit more expensive at £7 but good value nonetheless².

I spent a good while wandering around clutching a couple of CDs by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention before deciding against them. Purchases for another day, I think.

¹Well, not strictly as they reformed in the 80s and issued 3 additional albums in the 90s, but to me and I suspect many others, it will always be their final album.

²Having split in the early 90s, or rather having decided to take a "sabbatical" because of "musical differences", the classic line up never played together again. There are now two versions of the band around: John Lees' Barclay James Harvest with original members John Lees and Woolly Wolstenholme, and Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd, which before his death also included Mel Pritchard, the fourth founder of original group. Both versions of the band are popular in Europe and still touring and recording and all surviving band members are performing in one of the incarnations.

Sturdy

I am a little full.

Furtle has been cooking again; this time it was apple crumble. It took a little longer to cook than the recipe suggested by about an hour and that was with the gas at a much higher setting for the additional sixty minutes. In the end, however, it was baked and was tasty enough for me to go back for a second helping.

We have not yet worked out what the unexpected aroma issuing from it is, or what caused it. We do have our suspicions about the cause behind the carbonised pyroclastic sugar flows, which tasted a little like sweet charcoal.

Next time, we think, more granulated brown Demerara sugar and less Muscovado. That should do the trick.

And a higher gas setting. For a shorter period.

Sturdy

I am a little full.

Furtle has been cooking again; this time it was apple crumble. It took a little longer to cook than the recipe suggested by about an hour and that was with the gas at a much higher setting for the additional sixty minutes. In the end, however, it was baked and was tasty enough for me to go back for a second helping.

We have not yet worked out what the unexpected aroma issuing from it is, or what caused it. We do have our suspicions about the cause behind the carbonised pyroclastic sugar flows, which tasted a little like sweet charcoal.

Next time, we think, more granulated brown Demerara sugar and less Muscovado. That should do the trick.

And a higher gas setting. For a shorter period.