Ageing (dis)gracefully!
Music
Music Of 2009
Jan 3rd
2009 was a mixed bag for me musically speaking. Here’s a rundown…
Album of the year: Porcupine Tree – ‘The Incident’
I initally despised this album. My hatred for it was so strong that I even got angry when thinking about it….yet a few weeks later I had completely reversed my opinion. Saw the band live in Bristol in October and they played this album in it’s entirety. As usual I had to pick my jaw up off the floor several times. Superb!
Other notably good albums this year have been (in no particular order!):
- dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
- Muse – The Resistance
- The Wishing Tree – Ostara
- Devin Townsend – Ki
- Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
- Abigail’s Ghost – D_Letion
- Creed – Full Circle
- Gazpacho – Tick Tock
- Transatlantic – The Whirlwind
- Riverside – Anno Domino High Definition
- Tilt – Million Dollar Wound
Biggest letdown of the year: Marillion – Less Is More
Ok, this wasn’t really a letdown as I thought it would be crap before i’d even heard it. An acoustic reworking of a select few songs from the Marillion back catalogue with added (yet silent) sound effects of an empty barrel being scraped. It’s not that any of the tracks are bad per se, it’s just that they all sound better in their original full electric form. The album was described as ‘reworkings’ of the originals too, yet to my ears too much of the content sounds very much like it’s original countepart. There is one big tell tale sign that I don’t care for this album very much, I have had it since October, and it’s still in it’s shrinkwrap! (The band made it available digitally on release date aswell as sending the CD’s out). For me not to open a Marillion album is like an alcoholic not having a drink!
Discoveries of 2009: Due to the magic that is last.fm and the insight of some like minded friends, I have discovered the following artists this year:
- Joe Bonamassa
- Pendragon
- IQ
- Demians
- Nosound
- Switchfoot
Re-discoveries of 2009: On occasion, I found myself listening to the odd album I hadn’t touched in years. Highlights include:
And finally, my Top 10 most listened to albums of 2009 (as logged by last.fm):
- Alter Bridge – Blackbird
- Porcupine Tree – The Incident
- Marillion – Essence (Happiness Is The Road Vol.1)
- The Wishing Tree – Ostara
- Radiohead – In Rainbows
- Alter Bridge - One Day Remains
- Sine Star Project – Building Humans
- Marillion - The Hard Shoulder (Happiness Is The Road Vol.2)
- Manic Street Preachers – Forever Delayed
- Oceansize – Everyone Into Position
Neverland
Dec 12th
I took a flip HD camcorder to the Marillion Weekend in Holland earlier this year. I filmed most of the Sunday night gig without even realising it! I spent the gig next to one of the bars, drinking copious amounts of a beer called ‘Jupiler’. Most of the footage is through my drunken eyes …sadly, it also has some of my very own backing vocals!
The original plan was to put all of this (plus other weekend footage) onto a DVD and distribute it to the guys I spent the weekend with. I have been incredibly tardy with this though (6 month old baby, thats my excuse!), so have uploaded another clip to youtube.
This is the last 6 or so minutes of Neverland, complete with one of the best audience appreciations to a song I have ever witnessed. The hairs were stood up on the back of my neck at the time! My friend Leigh sums it up very well in the last 30 or so seconds of the video!
Marillion Weekend – Day 2
Nov 7th
I woke up in a grotty hotel in Amsterdam after approximately five hours of sleep/drunken unconsciousness. As I opened my eyes my thoughts immediately turned to how I was feeling. I had drunk a heck of a lot the night before and not had my traditional pre-emptive hangover cure (food!) at the end of the night. Surely I would be hanging?
However, I sat up and felt fine. I got up and felt fine. I took a shower, I felt fine! It was bloody brilliant!
Leigh, also as unaffected by last nights antics as myself, helped me rearrange the room back into it’s original ‘twin’ layout and we then met Ian & John downstairs for breakfast. When I say breakfast, I had a bread roll, some cold meat and a bit of cheese. I ended up slapping it all together and eating it like a sandwich. I hate continental breakfasts! I’d have a good old English fry up any day of the week!
We then sat around for about 30 minutes, drinking Orange Juice and Coffee, discussing the night before and deciding a plan of action for the coming day. We knew we had to be back at the airport to catch our bus for around midday, so decided we would take a tram into central Amsterdam and wander around.
Wandering around the murky backstreets was quite fun. We walked past lots of the establishments you would expect to find in Amsterdam such as the sex shops, cafes with the distinct smell of cannabis emanating from them, X rated cinemas, and Leigh’s personal favourite, a Pizza shop that miraculously had a smell of pizza coming from it! 
weddingmorning.txt
Jul 17th
Am sorting out my documents folder on this computer and came across a text file called ‘weddingmorning.txt’. I opened it up and it appears to be a list of the music I was listening to while getting ready for my wedding!
OSI – OSI 12 Apr 2008, 11:12
Jimmy Eat World – Feeling Lucky 12 Apr 2008, 11:10
Marillion – Beyond You 12 Apr 2008, 11:04
Live – The Sanctity of Dreams 12 Apr 2008, 11:00
Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 12 Apr 2008, 10:50
Chroma Key – When You Drive 12 Apr 2008, 10:45
Audioslave – Gasoline 12 Apr 2008, 10:40
Kingmaker – Stay Free 12 Apr 2008, 10:37
Evergrey – The Encounter 12 Apr 2008, 10:32
Mogwai – Radar Maker 12 Apr 2008, 10:31
Suede – Picnic by the Motorway 12 Apr 2008, 10:26
RPWL – i don’t know 12 Apr 2008, 10:22
David Gilmour – Smile 12 Apr 2008, 10:17
The Twang – Either Way 12 Apr 2008, 10:12
Muse – Butterflies & Hurricanes 12 Apr 2008, 10:07
Kingmaker – Two Headed Yellow Bellied Hole Digger 12 Apr 2008, 10:03
Thunder – Like A Satellite 12 Apr 2008, 09:58
Syd Barrett – Let’s Split 12 Apr 2008, 09:56
Biffy Clyro – Questions And Answers 12 Apr 2008, 09:52
Pink Floyd – See Emily Play 12 Apr 2008, 09:49
Marillion – Script for a Jester’s Tear 12 Apr 2008, 09:39
Live – Lakini’s Juice 12 Apr 2008, 09:34
Live – Top 12 Apr 2008, 09:31
Thunder – Can’t Get by on Love 12 Apr 2008, 09:27
Huey Lewis & the News – Whole Lotta Lovin’ 12 Apr 2008, 09:23
Anathema – 2000 & Gone 12 Apr 2008, 09:18
Marillion – Somewhere Else 12 Apr 2008, 09:10
Guns N’ Roses – Yesterdays 12 Apr 2008, 09:00
XTC – Frost Circus 12 Apr 2008, 07:58
Iron Maiden – To Tame a Land 12 Apr 2008, 07:51
Europe – Rock the Night 12 Apr 2008, 07:47
Marillion – Hollow Man 12 Apr 2008, 07:42
Sonic Youth – Cinderella’s Big Score 12 Apr 2008, 07:35
HIM – Dark Sekret Love 12 Apr 2008, 07:30
Pink Floyd – Green Is the Colour 12 Apr 2008, 07:27
No-Man – Wild Opera 12 Apr 2008, 07:24
David Gilmour – Where we start 12 Apr 2008, 07:17
Rammstein – Nebel 12 Apr 2008, 07:12
Savage Garden – Universe 12 Apr 2008, 07:08
Pink Floyd – Set the Controls For the Heart 12 Apr 2008, 06:59
Keane – Sunshine 12 Apr 2008, 06:55
Sonic Youth – Brother James 12 Apr 2008, 06:51
Steve Hogarth – Kingdom Come 12 Apr 2008, 06:46
There is a gap between 7am and 9am as me and Leigh went for a fryup in Wetherspoons! 
Interesting to look back at those song choices as I know I wouldn’t have knowingly chosen some of them. I think I was listening to my last.fm library radio station. Good to see nonetheless, and thought I would blog the list incase it ever gets lost/deleted. Saved here for posterity!
Am now going to create the same playlist in iTunes!
Off To Holland!
Mar 19th
I’m off to Holland in the morning … Amsterdam for one night and then onto Ouddorp for the 2009 Marillion Weekend.
I’ll be posting the occasional Facebook update and also twittering and twitpiccing!
- Facebook – if you’re my friend, you’ll see my updates & photo’s
- Twitter – http://twitter.com/BinarySlave – anyone is free to follow me!
- Twitpic – http://www.twitpic.com/photos/BinarySlave – again, anyone can view this .. all photo’s will also appear on Twitter simultaneously
So .. bring on the beer!!! 
Fully Paid Up
Feb 14th
Just checked my online banking and am pleased to see that I am now fully paid up for the Marillion Weekend in March!
The last payment (coach transfer from the airport to the weekend site and back) went out yesterday. All thats left now is spending/beer money, and I did a few overtime shifts last month which should cover that nicely.
We are going out to Holland a day early and staying in Amsterdam for the night, flights were cheaper on the Thursday and the difference in price to flights on a the Friday was about the same as a night in a cheap hotel over there! There is also a Marillion tribute band playing in Amsterdam that night, so am sure we will end up at that gig!
I really can’t wait! Not quite sure how my liver is going to cope with 4 nights in a row of heavy drinking though!
I know, I could not drink ….. but where would be the fun in that? 
Winners!!
Oct 15th
It’s only gone and happened again – I’ve only gone and won another flippin’ competition for Marillion gig tickets! However, this time Leigh entered aswell to increase our odds of winning, and he’s flippin’ well won tickets too!
So – we are going to Bristol (Colston Hall) and Dudley (JB’s) courtesy of the competition!!
I am already going to see them in Bournemouth on the 15th of November (Lucys first Marillion gig!), which makes it 3 Marillion gigs in one week for me! … F*cking awesome!!!
To top all that off, I just received an email saying the new album is being posted out as of today!!!! (I pre ordered it last year).
I am presently as happy as a pig in shit!
