Lush pasture, Bare tree

Down by the river
Where the lush pasture grows sweet
Bare tree bears witness

John Barleycorn Must Die by Traffic

Steve Winwood was one of the most prolific musicians of the late 60s and 70s, working with many respected artists (and Eric Clapton). However, for this album he reunited with Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi to reform their old band Traffic for another spin around the musical block.

The result is a wild mix of folk, jazz and prog, reworking an old English folk song for the title track with the flute playing of Wood giving it a jaunty air. Given that there were only three of them playing on this, there is a fair amount of studio multitracking at work here but it all sounds fine to me. The overall result is an example of three talented musicians at the top of their game playing something of a mixed bag of musical genres.

Sunflower

Sunflower standing
Holding her face to the sun
Summer sentinel

Dirt by Alice In Chains

Alice In Chains got lumped in with the grunge scene of the early 90s but strictly speaking they were considerably heavier and more metal than their fellow Seattle cob-nobblers. They have satisfyingly huge and grinding guitars and only a couple of tracks on this album approach the grimier end of the musical spectrum.

However, the glaring floppy haired elephant in the room is that lead singer Layne Staley was a hopeless junkie. Seriously, if you are in a band and one of your bandmates starts writing songs titled “Junkhead”, and lyrics about “losing my soul, down in a hole” and “walking through the valley of rape and despair” please stop the recording and get them some professional help as soon as possible.

It was tragically inevitable that he would end up dying of an overdose aged just 34 on the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.

What a lamestain.

Tuesday Night Music Club by Sheryl Crow

Another laid back chill out album, perfect for kicking back in a bar, enjoying the buzz and having some fun before the sun goes down over Santa Monica Boulevard. According to wiki, this grew out of a casual musical collaboration between friends that Sheryl Crow wrangled into a breezy and confident debut album but lead to her relationship with Kevin Gilbert, co writer and boyfriend at the time, being strained.

As well as the best known track “All I Wanna Do” which was inspired by a poem by Wyn Cooper, the highlight for me was the jazzy “We Do What We Can”.

I Swear

 Few people knew about Tourette's syndrome before the BBC documentary "John's Not Mad" was broadcast in 1989, and even now it is sometimes treated as something of a joke with the idea of swearing inappropriately being treated a funny rather than a crippling disability. John Davidson developed a severe form of the condition in his early teens and it blighted his life, with tics, involuntary muscle spasms, obsessive behaviour and swearing. He had little sympathy from teachers at school, and his parents evidently struggled to cope too, and it was only the friendship of  a schoolfriend's mother who happened to be a mental health nurse that started to give him strategies for coping.

This biopic film opens with Davidson about to receive an MBE from the Queen at Holyrood Palace before going back to show his life as a cheeky and confident 11 year about to start high school with the prospect of being scouted by a football team. His first tics are shocking and distressing - swearing and spitting food at both parents and teachers, and earning him a cruel taste of the leather strap from an unsympathetic head master. 

The story jumps forward to his life as a young man, where his involuntary muscle spasms land him in trouble for starting a fight in a nightclub but two people turn his life around - his friend Dottie who treats him with sympathy and Tommy, who offers him a job as an assistant caretaker at a community centre and acts as a character witness for him in court.

The film is sensitively done, with the portrayal of Tourette's as being a frightening and isolating condition but one that can be managed with understanding and coping strategies. There are moments of laughter, but it is the laughter of recognition at all of those moments where we have felt like shouting the most inappropriate thing possible. 

Meadow, Hibernate

Trip to Meadowhall 

Needs must but now feel like I 

Want to hibernate