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.

Akkerman at the Stables

Out at The Stables Milton Keynes last night to see Jan Akkerman and his band put in a sterling performance. I thought we'd get more of the new album but although he began with three numbers from it (Freewheelin', Minor Details and Blind baby - ie blues, jazz, bluies) and opened the second half with the superb Mena Muria (the Moluccan anthem) it was mostly the old stuff that we got and that was probably wisely judged.

So in the first half we had a curious version of the Zebra, a realtively short version of Tranquiliser and the well loved Paul Weller number You do something to me. The second half was pretty much given over to old Focus numbers - Answers Questions, Focus 2 (superb), Anonymous and a long version of Tommy, finishing off with the obligatory Hocus Pocus (still able to squeeze new life out of that somehow) and Sylvia. For the encore we had fine versions of Streetwalker and Pietons.

There is something slightly sterile about the Stables venue but this highly competent performance won through and certainly left the audience of around 250 very pleased. Copies of the new CD were available and, as you can see, the big man was obliging with his autograph. He was in hospital with a stroke recently and has finally given up tobacco after many warnings. Hopefully that will keep him perfroming into his seventies.

New Akkerman Album

I've been trying to find time to listen to the new Akkerman CD and am slowly getting to know it. The first thing that strikes you about the album is the quality of the guitar sound. The high standard of the equipment, the way it is recorded and above all the skill of the guitarist himself combine to make it quite a striking thing. It is also good to have a real band playing real instruments. Akkerman has produced a lot of unreleased tracks using his computer to back him, there is something slighlty unsatisfying about it. No such danger here. Joy and The Arrogant Frogs feature smokey trumpeter Eric Vloeimanns.

I did see one review complaining about the way the guitar is recorded. I don't think this is a mistake but something deliberate. This is Jan Akkerman and Band not two or even four musicians collaborating. Much as we may long for the Focus days, they are pretty much gone (certainly as far as Akkerman is concerned).

Because it is an instrumental album and chiefly blues and jazz on a first listen I thought the tracks sounded quite similar to each other in some ways and nothing really moved me. I have learned, however, with Akkerman not to go on first impressions. Part of the problem, I'm sure, is that I listen to so much pop music that I'm quite lazy. A little more effort had me drawn first to the closing track Mena Muria and then Kharmah Chantallah, both possessing the sort of lyrical quality I like best in Akkerman. Next it was As Long as you're near and then the subtle Love Train, a simply amazing track that really does grow on you. I'm currently getting into Searching for Angela. The opener Free Wheeling does what it says on the tin and is excellent as is Minor Details. Joy threw me at first as I expected something different but that one is a grower too.

So even at this stage we can see we have an album well worth hearing, even if it takes a little while to appreciate.