Barely about books at all. Or music.

Why do I never ever start my packing with plenty of time to spare? Why am I always rushing around like a blue arsed fly at the last minute? Why do I always forget to pack the books I intend to take with me and to update my ipod? Answers on a postcard................

Autumn Ayres

A Recorder Revelry

I see not my hinny..................

I think the key thing we have to concentrate on here is celebrating the fact that I got to the party at all, while ignoring the fact that I'm a year late.

I've always been partial to a bit of folk music - Sandy Denny is one of my all time favourite female singers, and I spent many happy days attending Jungr & Parker gigs in the 80s and early 90s. It's inevitable I'd have an interest in folk really - an Irish traveller heritage, flute and recorder player, singer.....yep, I tick a lot of the boxes. And yet - until fairly recently, although I played a lot of folk music, I was always more about the classical music and the jazz (mmmmmmm - Jazz. Love the lovely Jazz). Primarily because while I'm extremely partial to glum music (possibly more so than chirpy music. Actually - definitely more so than chirpy music) I like my music rich, and dense. Preferably with an overabundance of diminished 7ths, too. And, as it turns out mistakenly, I had a perception that a lot of vocal folk music, anyway, was characterised by bleak, very open chords. Sparse would have been one adjective I might have dredged up if asked to describe folk music.

Mea Culpa.

In recent months - thanks mainly to my dear friend Howie, I have been introduced to a variety of folk acts with which I wasn't previously familiar, principally the Waterson-Carthy mob and Bellowhead. I have also become very fond of Kate Rusby (we can give Jennifer Saunders the credit for that). And I love all of it. The album that has made me cross over from love to adore though is The Bairns, by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, which came out, um.....last year. :o

And it is sublime.

A lot has (probably) been written about this record, because it was nominated for the Mercury prize. Bizarrely, it didn't win, something else did. The Bairns is the most beautifully constructed and performed record I have had the pleasure to listen to (on constant repeat in my ipod) for years. The vocal work is stunning - clear, tuneful, raw, full of emotion........a joy to listen to. Some of the songs (most of the songd) are desperately sad (even tragic) but despite that, the settings are in the main so lush, so tuneful and so vibrant that they are almost uplifting. It is particularly disconcerting listening to 'Felton Lonnin' and thinking 'I love this! I SO love this!' And getting that rush to the heart, and the soul, that a fabulous piece of music can give....and then remembering it is the song of a mother who has lost her child.................A similar thing happens for me with 'Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk' - a fabulous rollicking sing along number about....domestic abuse. Although actually of course its about surviving domestic abuse, and sticking two fingers up at the abuser (I'd still advocate getting the hell out of there rather than getting pissed, but anyway.........). not all the songs are sad - Blackbird is one of the most joyous and uplifting songs I have ever heard, and I love it to bits.

So - in a nutshell - what do I love about this record, and why do I so strongly recommend it to anyone who has a soul and an ear that isn't made of tin........

1. The vocals. I've not heard better singing in a long time.
2. The harmonies.
3. The lushness of the sound.
4. The fusion with jazz and classical styles to produce something which may not be unique (if it isn't please do point me in the direction of anything similar) but which certainly stands out as something extra special

The Bairns really is something very rare, and very wonderful. Give yourself a treat - get hold of a copy and listen.

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey British Summertime

Why can't all books be like Paul Cornell's British Summertime?

Slightly wierd reading it, of course.....so many ideas taken from old doctor Who, so many concepts used by new Doctor Who (especially the circular timey wimey scripted conversation........). Should a book I'd never read before have felt so incredibly comfortable? Or is that just a sign it truly is a work of brilliance (well, when aimed at a 'me'-ish market, anyway? I'm pretty certain that it is indeed brilliant.

There is very little point in me recommending a book which has gushing quotes from RTD and Moff on the front page but.....I'll do it anyway. This is a superb book. The only thing wrong with it is the gratuitous sex with a timerift alien interlude - and I'm choosing to assume that the publishers made him out that bit in. Anyway, I doubt we'll see that bit turning up in Doctor Who any time soon. Which is probably for the best.