Always make time for music. When you鈥檙e young 鈥� and I mean in your teens or early twenties (I confess those days are beyond even me now) 鈥� the road seems endless: a constant stretch of musical landmarks laid out before you, in the buildings and on the side streets, down the main pathways and off the beaten track, all ripe for discovery. Hours and days are lost to adventure. For me, it feels like whole weeks and infinite summers were spent as a young man in the company of travelling companions like , , , and . When you get older, however, things start to get in the way; the road gets busier.听There鈥檚 more traffic. You lose sight of what it is to be curious about what might exist around you, and instead start to think about the horizon ahead.听To quote bartender Benny in Francis Ford Coppola鈥檚 Rumblefish, 鈥渢ime is a very peculiar item.鈥�
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I haven鈥檛 had much time to listen to music over the last few weeks, and it鈥檚 been getting to me. It鈥檚 peculiar too, because although life can be understandably hectic for all of us, my life revolves around music and all its heavenly pursuits. I鈥檓 lucky enough to have my , and in my other job I鈥檓 in a band, and so we are constantly rehearsing and gigging. But the past few weeks have been pretty chaotic for a number of reasons, and although I have been keeping up to date with all the new music filtering in to the radio show (such is my sworn oath and duty to you, my dear listener), I haven鈥檛 had a chance to pause and catch my breath.听It made me wonder: sure, I鈥檝e heard music of late, but have I really been listening? Music is all around us after all, and I suppose sometimes this can be the problem: so bombarded are we by TV shows, adverts, and Internet postings, that what we hear can become a sort of white noise. It鈥檚 no damn good for your wellbeing if you don鈥檛 take the time to stop and listen.
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This general malaise was cured recently, and in stunning fashion, by the songwriter and her new record 鈥淎bout Farewell鈥�. The album was sent to me last week, and although I had a cursory listen (and indeed played a track on last week鈥檚 show), I got distracted by other matters and didn鈥檛 have time to make it through the whole thing. More fool me. This week whilst working on bits and pieces 鈥� including prep for some delightful depping on over the next four Fridays 鈥� I put the album on, and it stopped me in my tracks. Delicate, refined, articulate, sparse, raw and emotive, it is an album that deserves your full attention.
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So on the show this week, is my Record Of Note, and we鈥檒l be talking the great break up albums and tracks of all time. Add to that as our Undercover Writer and some Live on Arrival from the
The boys decide to go professional and arrange their first audition - for their parents.