Tales From The Crypt - Saturday 21st August 2021
'I write this sitting in the kitchen sink': obviously I don't, but it's a great opening line - full marks if you know which novel this is the opening sentence of.
Sink notwithstanding, a pretty mundane start to the day; I really do need to do something about this.
Son #1 and I sat and ate breakfast together, shopping all put away, and had a long discussion about Afghanistan, Zoroastrianism, Islam, Buddhism and the general success (or not) of intervention in the Middle East. When I get time with my sons (when they aren't asleep, chirpsing, or on video calls with their gfs) we do have interesting discussions about all sorts of things with son #1 having a much a broad knowledge of pre-modern civilisations and religions which put mine to shame. Afterwards I always think I really need to learn more about some of these things, but there's only so much time, or at least there is while I'm working.
I made lunch, read the papers and then finally found the time to unbox 'Who Do You Think We Are?', the career-spanning Caravan box set. I'm afraid things are about to go all music fan crazy for a bit. The box, unopened...
[Warning: Music-Nerd section begins; feel free to skip to the end marker!]
So, Caravan, why on earth do I want all of their albums, and more, in such a format? Good question. Caravan are one of my favourite bands, and they are still going (releasing a new album in October), still gigging with one founding member, Pye Hastings, another who's been in the band since 1973 (the new 'boy', Geoffrey Richardson) and the keyboard player, Jan Schelhaas, who's been a member since the mid-1970's, off and on. Of the remaining founder members the drummer, Richard Coughlan, died in 2013 and the Sinclair cousins, Dave and Richard, who've been in and out of the band over the years, both have their own solo careers.
Ultimately, as always, it's about the music, and Caravan have been with me since I first heard them, surviving the punk era in my affections, while many of their contemporaries fell by the wayside (though I still like some things by most of them) or at least went through searching re-appraisals. Nevertheless, and this applies to all the bands and artists I like the most, they have produced some stuff over the years that really doesn't hit the mark for me. This box set gives me a chance to re-appraise some of the later stuff amongst the best albums from their first five or six years and also live performances over the entire span of their existence. One thing I am certain about, 'Paradise Filter' (which I helped crowdfund, for my sins), their most recent album, is largely dull and uninteresting. Avoid it! Nothing could convince me otherwise as it seems to contain nothing or almost nothing that makes Caravan, Caravan. As I listen to the albums post-'Better By Far', which itself doesn't contain much that's worth repeated listens, I will report back on my discoveries. It'll be fun exploring, if nothing else!
[Music-Nerd section ends]
Late afternoon I decided it was time for exercise, beginning with weights, then press ups and culminating in an early evening walk under a threatening sky.
Oddly, though I'd poured a nice glass of red wine, I couldn't find the focus to listen to music, instead getting dinner on with son #3, after he returned home from a day out at Crystal Palace with his gf.
Film night again and, for a change we're all together for a film and son #2 chooses 'Sicario', a film I've seen before, but one I'm happy to watch again. It's about the US-Mexico drugs war, which is a theme that my sons often pick up on, and is an enjoyable action film with some darker characters who are at least morally ambiguous if not actually bankrupt. I don't know how much truth there is in it, particularly the 'black ops' nature of some of it, but it makes for a thought-provoking story.
Naturally sleep follows...
Tuath / 'Left Hand Path' / 'Research And Development EP'
[[This track is a strange one. The song never takes the path you think it will, which is always a good thing, and has a strange structure. The vocals are reminiscent of Cathal Coughlan's early Microdisney explorations. Love it.]]
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