Jam packed two days

This last Saturday and Sunday has been jam packed and would normally take up at least five posts in their own right so what I'll do is give you the highlights and then we'll see what else I get round to doing.

Saturday began nice and early with a trip to Tesco's for breakfast items. Five of us gathered in the chapel at 8.30 am for a men's breakfast and a discussion of Chapter 6 of Disciplines of a godly man by Kent Hughes. It was good to discuss reading and related issues.

My wife then gave me a lift over to Highgate Road Chapel for their day conference on singleness. Some 90 people were there for what was a useful day of teaching and sharing.

That finished around 4 and I was back for tea around 5. I then headed into town and meandered through the rain to a the home of a good ministerial friend in Soho. Providentially I arrived just as the Wales match was coming to a close and so I saw Australia draw level with a kick and then Wales take them in the end with a final penalty. So 9-6 and o far so good for Wales. The game I think was a tense but grim battle.

We then headed out the the 100 Club on Oxford Street. There we heard a Finnish vocalist and blues guitarist Erja Lyytinen who was worth hearing but nothing compared with the mighty Focus who once again blew us all away (including my friend who I was glad to see suitably impressed).

Seeing Focus is always a joy but as an added bonus they also chose to release their new album that day and so I now have a signed copy (the first really in six years).

It was midnight before I was home but I got off to sleep quickly enough. I don't like late Saturday nights as I am always afraid it will interfere with the Lord's Day but I had prepared well in the week and things went fine - although I did doze in the afternoon. It was Remembrance Day, of course, and we had lunch in the church - more on that anon.

I kept the new Fous album for today. It's sounding very good.

Retro Album of the week 2 - The Slider

The Slider by T Rex, 1972

"flawlessly executed, and every bit the classic that its predecessor is." (Steve Huey)

"I like my songs to be durable to the ear and exciting to the mind. My lyrics always come before the music. Repetition comes into my songs a lot because I think my lyrics are so obscure that they need to be hammered home. You need to hear them eight or nine times before they start to make sense. I don't see anything wrong with that" – Marc Bolan, interview, 1972.

 

Retro Album of the Week 1 - Rubber Soul

1965, one of my favourite Beatles albums.

 

The lyrics were disastrous and I knew it. Often you just block songs out and words just come into your mind and when they do it's hard to get rid of them. You often quote other songs too and you know you've got to get rid of them, but sometimes it's very difficult to find a more suitable phrase than the one that has insinuated itself into your consciousness. This is one of the songs where John and I came nearest to having a dry session. The lyrics I brought in were something to do with golden rings, which are always fatal. 'Rings' is fatal anyway, 'rings' always rhymes with things and I knew it was a bad idea. I came in and I said, 'These aren't good lyrics but it's a good tune.' Well, we tried, and John couldn't think of anything, and we tried, and eventually it was, 'Oh let's leave it, let's get off this one.' 'No, no. We can do it, we can do it.' So we had a break ... then we came back to it, and somehow it became 'drive-my-car' instead of 'gol-den-rings,' and then it was wonderful because this nice tongue-in-cheek idea came and suddenly there was a girl there, the heroine of the story, and the story developed and had a little sting in the tail like 'Norwegian Wood' had, which was 'I actually haven't got a car, but when I get one you'll be a terrific chauffeur.' So to me it was LA chicks, 'You can be my chauffeur', and it also meant 'you can be my lover.' 'Drive my car' was an old blues euphemism for sex, so in the end all is revealed. ... So that was my idea and John and I wrote the words, so I'd go 70-30 on that to me. Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, p 269-70, 1994

 

George had just got the sitar, and I said, 'Can you play this piece?' We went through many different sorts of versions of the song, but it was never right, and I was getting angry about it. It wasn't coming out like I said. They said, 'We'll just do it how you want to do it.' And I said, 'Well, I just want to do it like this.' They let me go and I did the guitar very loudly into the mike and sang it at the same time. John Lennon, The Beatles Off The Record, p 190, 2000

 

'The Word' could be a Salvation Army song. The word is 'love' but it could be 'Jesus' (It isn't, mind you, but it could be.) Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology, 2000 

Obscure LP

When I was a teenager in the seventies a hip thing to do was to walk around with an obscure LP under your arm. I have several obscure albums in my collection. This must be one of the obscurest. I can find no reference to it anywhere on the net. I bought my copy in Amsterdam in the early eighties. It's a great album. Below are the track listing and sleeve notes:

Side 1
1. SICILIANA 5 :14
(Johann Sebastian Bach)
THIJS VAN LEER, flute with Orchestra
Arranged & Conducted by ROGIER VAN OTTERLOO
2. PRELUDE 5:00
from ‘Prelude, Fugue et Variation’, Op. 18 (César Franck - Arr: Louis van Dyke)
THE LOUIS VAN DYKE TRIO
Louis van Dyke, piano - Jacques Schols, bass - John Engels, drums
3. ALLA BREVE 5:25
from Sonata in G minor (“Sonatas and Pieces for Flute and Continuo”)
(Georg Philipp Telemann-Arr.: Chris Hinze & Henk Alkema)
CHRIS HINZE, flute with Henk Alkema, piano & spinet Harro
Ruysenaars, ‘cello - Rob Langereis, bass - Peter Ypma, drums
4. VALSE 6:19
(based on a theme by Johann Sebastian Bach - Arr: Louis van Dyke)
THE LOUIS VAN DYKE TRIO
Louis van Dyke, piano - Jacques Schols, bass - John Engels, drums
Side 2
1. LARGO 4:39
from Concerto in C Major for 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, Bassoon, 2 Violins,
Strings and Harpsichord F XII No. 17
(Antonio Vivaldi Arr. & Adap: Chris Hinze)
CHRIS HINZE. flute with Hutyra Ferenc, flute - Wouter Möller, ‘cello
- Henk Alkema, piano - Rob Langereis, bass - Peter Ypma, drums
2. PAVANE 4:35
(based on a theme by Gabriel Fauré - Arr.: Louis van Dyke)
THE LOUIS VAN DYKE TRIO
Louis van Dyke, piano - Jacques Schols, bass - John Engels, drums
3. QUI TOLLIS PECCATA 3:47
from Mass in B minor, BWV 232 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
THIJS VAN LEER, flute with Orchestra
Arranged & Conducted by ROGIER VAN OTTERLOO
4. SICILIANA 3: 58
from Sonata in A minor (“Sonatas and Pieces for Flute and Continuo’)
(Georg Philipp Teleman-Arr.: Chris Hinze & Henk Alkema)
CHRIS HINZE, flute with Henk Alkema, piano - Rob Langereis, bass - Peter Ypma, drums
5. AGNUS DEI 4:57
from Mass in B minor, BWV232 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
THIJS VAN LEER, flute with Orchestra
Arranged & Conducted by ROGIER VAN OTTERLOO
Voice: Letty de Jong
Great themes from some of the world’s most beloved classical masterpieces are expertly performed here by a group of prominent European artists: pianist Louis van Dyke, arranger-conductor Rogier van Otterloo, and flautists Chris Hinze and Thijs van Leer. Four musicians who happen to have a great deal in common. Although they have become highly successful in the popular and jazz fields they were all trained in classical music, taking their conservatory degrees. All have recorded extensively for CBS, and are winners of the coveted Edison award; the yearly Dutch prize for the best recording released in each musical category. Besides, all are leaders of their own group with which they have become popular all over Europe: Louis van Dyke with his own trio. Rogier van Otterloo with an orchestra which has accompanied several bestselling vocal recordings on CBS, Chris Hinze with his Combination, and, last but not least, Thijs van Leer with Focus.
This album, compiled especially for the sophisticated listener, presents seven choice selections from previously released CBS recordings. In addition, however, there are two tracks that were specially recorded for this release by Thijs van Leer. Both his interpretations of Bach’s ‘Siciliana’ and ‘Qui Tollis Peccata’ are in a vein similar to his excellent work on the ‘Introspection’ album, which, at the time of this writing, has almost earned him his first gold record as a soloist. In general, these unique translations of classical themes into contemporary music, without obscuring a single line of the original music, are characterized by a truly marvelous feeling for the material. As you listen you will rediscover these well-known melodies and appreciate the fresh manner in which they have been interpreted.

Produced by John J. Vis & Ruud Jacobs, Recording Engineer Luc Ludolph, Photography Kees de Jong. Frits van Swoll, Cover Design CBS Studio, Holland, Liner Notes Pete Venudor