This year seems to be moving at breakneck speed, and we’re already in October. Having just added another increment to my age counter I’m feeling it! But on the bright side, it does mean that it is time for me to give you my monthly reminder of all the goodies I bestowed on you during September, in what is now the third of my new(ish)ly revised format for these, which I have imaginatively titled New Monthly Reviews. I was up all night thinking of that. Or maybe not.
September was a typical month for me. I posted thirteen times and they all contained some music in one way or another. One of them was, of course, the previous review, which in my new style had several tunes for you to enjoy as reminders of the previous month – just the six! It was My August – another piece of genius in the choice of title…
My two regulars were, of course, a large part of last month, beginning with
Tuesday Tunes
There were five of these last month, and they were:
And in keeping with my new format, here’s a reminder of one of the songs I played in those five sets. It is from the first of the month, when I played a full set of tracks by English folk musicians, and closed with this as a tribute to one of my favourite bands, who have just retired from touring after 49 years together:
There were four Sundays last month, and of course I marked them all with my contributions to
Song Lyric Sunday
Jim Adams does a sterling job running this each week, and I really enjoy taking part. Last month’s offerings from me were:
It’s a hard choice for me to play just one song from those as a reminder, but I’m going with this, which again is from the first of the month:
That just leaves my three midweek posts. No particular theme for these – just what came into my mind at the time. The first of them was my debut in Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag. For this we are invited to play a song which has the name of the month in its title or lyrics, and I dredged the depths of my brain cells to come up with a suitable title for:
Where do I get them from !
The following week saw one of my obituary posts, in the shape of
which was for Rick Davies of Supertramp and Mark Volman of The Turtles, Flo and Eddie, etc. These are always tinged with sadness, but there were some nice tunes in there.
For the final September Thursday I resurrected a mini-theme I began five years ago. Two previous posts on art and, in one case, music were joined by
which was, of course, about Van Gogh’s famous painting and Don McLean’s lovely homage to it and to Vincent.
There can only be one song for me to offer as a reminder from those three posts, and it is this absolutely beautiful gem:
I mentioned obituaries just now, and as I have previously done I am marking the passing of another in this review. Last week saw the passing of Danny Thompson, at the age of 86. I first came across him as a member of Pentangle back in the late sixties, and he went on to play with a huge range of musicians, in particular Richard Thompson (no relation), and in the wonderful tv series Transatlantic Sessions, where he was the double bass player for the session band. I tried counting the number of times he had been part of shows I attended, but gave up: far too many! As a tribute it isn’t easy playing something to highlight his talents, as his instrument isn’t usually to the fore, but I’ve chosen one from the Transatlantic Sessions, as it is both my favourite John Martyn song and shows Danny’s joy in making music with his friends, which is what it really should be about. Stick with it to the end to see exactly what I mean:
And as your reward for getting this far, I thought I’d close with the song whose title I have borrowed for today. I used it in my original reviews series, but that was four years ago and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of recycling, is there:
I absolutely love this song, and I think Frazey Ford has the most amazing voice. She is Canadian, and originally came to my notice by being a founder member of the folk/Americana band The Be Good Tanyas, of which she is still a part, though she has now released three solo albums too. This was on the second of those, Indian Ocean, released in 2014, which was recorded in Memphis with Al Green’s backing band, as you saw in the video: it has that feel, doesn’t it. And it is another good example of how music brings joy to our lives, something we should never forget.
That’s a wrap for September, and I hope you enjoyed the reminders. I’ll see you again on Sunday: it’s a big, important theme this week, so don’t miss it! 😊
Take It Easy 