22441. (Badly Drawn Boy) About a Boy
22442. (Guillaume de Machaut) Qui n’aroit autre deport, lai for voice
22443. (Guillaume de Machaut) Liement me deport par samblant, virelai for voice Read more »
First-time listening for August, 2010
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 31, 2010
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READING – AUGUST 2010
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 31, 2010
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18957. (Ronald Firbank) Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli
18958. (Vernon L. Scarborough) The Flow of Power ― Ancient Water Systems and
. . . . . Landscapes
18959. (Jason Peters) [in blog Front Porch Republic] Beer. It’s What’s For Dinner [article] Read more »
(Flinth 2007 & 2008) Arn the Knight Templar [and it’s Sequel]
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 31, 2010
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This is an entertaining, but not overwhelming historical epic set in 12th Century Sweden, with some scenes in the Holy Land. It’s reputedly the most expensive Swedish film ever made, though it’s hard to see why.
Monday, August 30, 2010 — The Game’s Afoot
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 30, 2010
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There’s a rather long list of places I consider high priorities to visit. Near the top of that list is the Orkney Islands. Thanks to some fortuitous circumstances, I’ll be going there at the end of this month. The principle expense is covered, so I will now only have to deal with the loss of income while I’m gone and costs while travelling. It will mean, no doubt, a few cold nights in my backpacking tent, and some creative skimping, but I’m quite used to that sort of thing. My step already has a jaunty skip to it, like my cat does in anticipation of tuna. I know exactly the feeling I’ll have when the plane moves out onto the runway: I’m On the Road Again. This is when I’m happiest, when the game’s afoot, and unguessable adventures lie before me. Read more »
Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes”
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 28, 2010
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This is one of my favourite albums from the glam rock era of the early seventies. Mott the Hoople was an ill-starred band from Herefordshire that was saved from obscurity by the timely gift of a song, “All the Young Dudes” by David Bowie, who also produced the album. It’s a solid play, through and through. As well as the fine title song, it has one of the three best versions of “Sweet Jane,” the band’s own “One of the Boys,” “Sea Driver,” and “Ready for Love,” all satisfying songs. At heart, the band was a low-key R&B combo that did not fit comfortably into the heavily arranged glam style. I don’t know if this album has any status as an official rock “classic”, but it has always remained in my pleasure playing repertoire. I’ve just acquired the 2006 remastered reissue, with seven bonus tracks.
Burial ― elegant dubstep
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 19, 2010
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I only feel the urge to listen to dubstep occasionally. A lot of the stuff out there seems to be assembled from instructions, like Ikea furniture ―“lockstep” sometime seems a more appropriate genre name. Nobody can say that about the two albums by Burial (aka William Bevin): Burial(2006) and Untrue (2007). The rythms don’t feel mathematically locked in. They have a little bit of wiggle room. While I prefer Untrue, of the two, either one would be suitable to demonstrate to a doubter that dubstep can be emotionally satisfying.
18976. (Peter M. Edwell) Between Rome and Persia
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 14, 2010
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This is a straightforward history, largely military and administrative in orientation, of two cities, Palmyra and Dura Europus, which acted as buffer states and trading centers between the Roman and Parthian empires. Both flourished in the second and third centuries A.D., growing wealthy on trade between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. The Palmyrenes maintained a crack army of archers, who specialized in protecting caravans. The safety they provided made their city extremely wealthy. What interests me is that Palmyra had a fully operational bouleand demoson the classical Greek model. Read more »
Howard Hanson’s “Nordic” Symphony
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 14, 2010
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Howard Hanson’s symphonies languished in relative obscurity until, shortly before he died, a movement of his second symphony was used by Ridley Scott for the closing credits of the film Alien. Since then, his music has been in demand. This shows just how accidental the rise and fall of musical reputations can be. A Swedish-American from Nebraska, Hanson composed in a relatively traditional style, little influenced by the academic trends of the 20th century. Musical sophisticates wrote him off as an anachronism. A recent book by Walter Simmons that discusses his work, as well as that of other “Neo-Romantic” Americans like Ernst Bloch, Samuel Barber, and Paul Creston, is aptly entitled Voice in the Wilderness. Read more »
Sunday, August 1, 2010 — New Site, Old Me
Posted by Phil Paine
on August 1, 2010
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Welcome to the new version of PhilPaine.com. A new site and format are long overdue. The old site, constructed with a now out-dated program, was labour intensive, cluttered, and vulnerable to cyber-sabotage. The new one corrects these ills. Most of the material from the old site has been transferred, at least in rough form, and it will all gradually be retro-fitted with graphics and consistent formatting.
It’s been an exhausting year, so far. I’ve been juggling difficult personal matters, as well as trying to do some serious work. Sometimes, it has seemed to have the emotional texture of this picture taken on the Dempster Highway, near the border of the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
