Friday 23 October 2009

EVENSONG. A STRANGE AFFAIR

28 comments:

mrs narcolept said...

I keep getting An Error Occurred when I try to play your music videos. I'm not complaining, just saying.

I hope Mr Stan's dog, Buster, is properly better now. Another picture of him in his vest (Buster I mean, not Mr S) would be nice, if he doesn't mind.

call me ishmael said...

I am sorry - are others having this problem ? - that's a shame, you'd like A Strange Affair, maybe you can google youtube, "june tabor and martin simpson, a strange affair."

Buster is recovering nicely from his surgery, thank you but he has developed a ruptured cruciate ligament in his rear offside leg. The vet says he is too senior to have the necessary operation and that, in any event, smaller dogs can cope quite well hopping about on three legs and this is what he is doing with no apparent ill effects, although it grieves my heart to see him so, brave and determined. I will arrange a photo or two, everybody loves Buster.

mongoose said...

Into the fold at last, Mr Ishmael.

call me ishmael said...

Whatever do you mean, mr mongoose, I have been in this fold these thirty years, is it a personal revelation you allude to?

La Tabor went to school just down the road from you at The King's High, Warwick and improves with age.

Song by Richard Thompson, strings by Martin Simpson, singing by June Tabor; how could this not be pure Ishmaelia?

mongoose said...

I meant no disrespect. I have been listening to Saint June Tabor for decades. And the BBC concert Youtubed series - of which your clip is but a part - is an absolutely masterful exposition of English folk music. I listened, indeed, to the whole 6 of them but last night as the shame and horror of QT kept me sleepless. June is a treasure and gathers around her some fine musicians. If I could play the guitar like that lad I would die happy. Simple, spare, accurate, perfect. June though is the gold, a wonderful English voice.

call me ishmael said...

The English or the British, but mainly the English, do this so well - these odd tunings, these sudden percussive stops, these crammed clusters of grace notes; I can play but a tiny hint of it and even so it always degenerates into a twelve-bar but while it lasts it is so gloriously English, precise, mannered, crisp and well turned-out - such a shame that we are renowned for Robbie Williams and Boyzone rather than Nic Jones and John Renbourn.

call me ishmael said...

Mrs Narcolept, blogger forbids me, I cannot post any Buster snaps just now. Perhaps it will relent tomorrow.

mongoose said...

And the violinist, Mr I. Oh, to be that old, grey man too.

You are there - a savage engineer, my musical education is insufficient to comment accurately - it is the English noise that joins Sandy Denny, Fairport, Thompson, Saint June, Kate Rusby... English noise. And God knows I have ear enough for the Celtic stuff too but it is different. Spare, clashing/clanging almost. (Sorry, you said it better.) And I love the squeaking of the fingers on the strings that one can hear when a couple of metres away.

"Where are the dreams I dreamed in the days of my youth?" Still here it seems.

mrs narcolept said...

Thank you Mr Ishmael, I shall visit again.

The video is working now. I grew up with Fairport and Pentangle, sang a little and played a little; how did I manage never to hear this lovely voice before?

call me ishmael said...

Ah now, Mrs Narcolept, we, all of us, miss the treasures obscured by dross. Stick with me, babe, I'll turn your money green.

mongoose said...

Wonderful green, Mr ishmael.

call me ishmael said...

You must have missed it but the definitive, later McG's ensemble version of this is here, back in June,DESERT ISLAND DISCS, THE WHITE MAN'S PRE-IMPERIAL BLUES.

Have a look, mr mongoose.

mongoose said...

Indeed, very lovely, Mr Ishmael.

Bon nuit.

mongoose said...

BTW if you don't know of the long dead Kate Wolf.

And I think that should have been Bonbon Nuit... Beer. Terrible stuff.

Elby the Beserk said...

Mr. Smith sir, Pig sends a hearty get better woof to Buster. He has a slightly compromised cruciate, I suspect as a result of his habit of springing high in the air on occasion (he has thighs like drumsticks, and is a very powerful beast altogether). Occasionally he favours it.

Sorry :-) Have to relate - our college band, Mistral (terrible name, yes), whose bass player has gone to write famous sea-faring novels, one Sam Llewellyn, nice bloke, used to play in the JCR quite often, and ms. Tabor who knew one of them would often turn up and sing with them. Even - 1970ish - you could see she was destined for fame. She had and has a wonderful voice.

Sr. Mongoose. Very fine. The human voice is in the end, the finest voice of all. Even St. Jerry of the croaky fag-ridden throat said as much.

Thank you for posting that. Very fine indeed.

peng said...
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so excited by a fruitcake in a tv studio that i don't know whati'll do if something really exciting happens said...

19:21

...but that's all right, coz everyone's doing it.

mongoose said...

It is very fine indeed, Mr Elby. And then there is this lady whom my nephew referred to as "Oh yeah, the dead girl."

mongoose said...

And this is even better.

Must go to bed.

Elby the Beserk said...

Tried Ms. Cassidy a while back and find her a tad anodyne. My loss I suspect. This lady however I adore The gorgeous Laura Cantrell to the extent of having fluttered eyelashes at each other; much to Lilith's annoyance :-) She's drop dead gorgeous, writes ans sing wonderful songs. John Peel a huge fan

mongoose said...

Yes, Eva had a very clean and tidy voice - not to everyone's taste, I suppose. Saint Joni has too. Ms Cantrell btw is very fine. Heard of but not heard before. (Ghastly frock - something out my old gran's wardrobe.)

Elby the Beserk said...

Mr. Mongoose,

Can do Joni, no problem. Ms. Cantrell is a Tennessee girl - may explain the bas couture :-) I like it. She has a radio show in NY playing lots of fine music. Check out her website - www.lauracantrell.com

call me ishmael said...

We need a few By Your Leave, Mr Ishmaels in here or With Mr Smith's Indulgences, whaddayathink this place is, Q Magazine?

peng said...
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mongoose said...

Ah, come on, come on, Mr Ishmael. By your leave, Sir, one last tune.

call me ishmael said...

Thanks, mr mongoose, I can't take Griffith and these girly ensembles work only sometimes, although anything with dolly parton in the line-up is off to a good start.

It has become de rigeur hasn't it, this combining of often disparate talents; I blame that fat fucker, pavarotti.

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