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Listen to This

On the other hand, I heart my sound & vision system. My new DVD/CD player came today from Richer Sounds. Like the amp/decoder (also from Mr. Richer’s emporium), it’s a Sony model. The whole system, including speakers, as it stands, cost 240 quid, which is a good deal.

Sony’s name speaks for itself, but what I like about their gear is that they’re so user-friendly, and the manuals (for once) are really comprehensive and helpful (rather than the usual badly-written sketches in several languages). For instance, the player was not automatically sending a 5.1 signal to my amp, but the manual pointed the way in seconds. I have so many issues with instruction manuals that this makes a big difference to me.

The new player is impressing me a fair bit. While the old player was perfectly acceptable, the Sony’s sound output has a definite edge. I am hearing things on my CDs I hadn’t heard before. The amp is not a powerful one (you couldn’t shake the walls with it, but in a residential setting, this isn’t a great idea anyway), but I love the complete ‘wall of sound’ I can get from the set-up, which includes a cheap-but-effective sub-woofer.
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A Strange Hobby

In case you didn’t know: the live recording of Arnold Layne (Pink Floyd’s first single, about some creepy guy who steals knickers off washing lines!), from the May 30th ’06 David Gilmour concert at the Albert Hall, came out as a single on Dec 26th.

‘So what?’ you ask. Okay. The show coincided with Mr. D. Bowie’s visit to the UK to film his cameo in Extras. He was asked to perform lead vocals. And he did a fabulous job.
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Random Music Comments

Still on music: finally picked up the last Blur album, Think Tank, the other day. Blur used to be my fave band a few years ago, but the fact that it took me almost a year—and HMV selling it off for £7.99—to get this one says a lot for my expectations. I wish I could say I was wrong; three listens later, I’m still waiting for one of the tunes to stay in my head. This, from a band whose melodies were always so memorable.

I will persist, though, and give it a few more tries. So far, it seems a huge disappointment.
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He Ain’t No Human Being

I have to say that John Lydon is tremendously entertaining on the latest I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, in what is otherwise a pretty tired lineup. This, from someone who never liked the Sex Pistols. Then again, I had few thoughts about anarchy when I was seven or eight years old; the attitude probably seems more relevant today. Maybe I should go buy a copy of Never Mind the Bollocks…
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Ho Ho Ho

The Christmas display in Birmingham is well up to its usual unimpressive standards. Tourists are flocking from yards around to see the spectacle. Hm. Yes. Well, actually, I’ve just found that taking a snap of part of it while walking makes it almost look interesting…

Ho Ho Ho

Psychedelic! Well, kinda.
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Best of Bowie

Well, not really. I was thinking about the patently impossible task (suggested by David [dead link]) of making a Bowie Top Ten (see my general Favourite Sounds list here). Can’t be done! But I’ll grab ten songs anyway and refuse to stand by them tomorrow, okay?

But first…

Best of Bowie

Older and craggier, but still a God! Sorry, just wanted to include a photo. Right, here’s my carelessly compiled list…
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It’s Curtains

At least the flat’s taking shape. I got curtains in my bedroom yesterday. A room that catches all the daylight sun (through full-width windows) can be tremendously unpleasant without curtains. Since the computer’s in here, that problem needed fixing badly.

I picked up a battery charger and a pack of rechargeable AAA batteries. I have the impression a digicam without rechargeable batteries might be an incredible pain. Not that I’m apt to use it incessantly, but it seemed a good idea.
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Not a Starman

I made another Bowie purchase. HMV has a lot of Bowie on sale at the moment, so what the hell. 1997’s Earthling is that rare Bowie oddity: an album I’ve never heard before. Well, now I have.

Before I get on to that: yes, I did really enjoy the new Bowie album, Reality. It seems to me it’s a notch or two better than Heathen, which I liked a lot, but felt was a little flaky around the edges. I appreciated the way most of it had a much harder, colder edge, which recalled Scary Monsters at times. No, I don’t think it’s that good; but it’s closer than most of Bowie’s recent work.

Not a Starman

I need a few more listens to decide for sure how well I rate it. So far, very positive.
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