Senses on Fire

Distance - 13.1 Miles (The Great North Run). Time 1 hr 57 mins 27 secs!

So I did it. I didn't drink alcohol for a week before the race and actually managed to get some sleep in the last few days (I'm trying not to acknowledge that the two facts might be related). Woke up pretty fresh on Sunday 16th September and was on the road to Newcastle by 8am. Was surprised how little traffic there was and got parked easily at Heworth to catch the Metro into town. Had to wait a while for a train we could actually squeeze onto but made it to the start in plenty of time. I even got into the spirit of things and joined in the warm up and the 40,000 strong mexican wave. Mo Farrar, Kat Copeland and other Olympians were there high-5-ing the crowd as they slowly passed the gate. It took close to 25 minutes just to cross the start line but I was up to pace within a few strides, keeping a close eye on the Garmin.
The conditions couldn't have been better. A light rain from the start which didn't get to heavy at any point. I felt cool, calm and steady throughout the whole race. The only real period of anything approaching strain was around 9-11 miles which was a steady uphill stretch but even that was fine as I knew it was close to the finish.
The crowd along the way were great and the final straight to the finish, along the coast was fantastic with thousands there to cheer us on.
What have I learnt? The main thing I guess I've come away with is that the training paid off. I had doubts about cooling down through the week to a 1 mile run the day before but I genuinely found the race easy and enjoyable. I cracked a smile a good few times which is not like me (or many other runners to be honest). If I keep my fitness up (I went for a 4kish run today which was tough at first) then I reckon I could shave a fair bit off the time as I still had a good sprint in me for the end.
Next big one? Manchester Marathon next April.

Soundtrack - various

I won't go into detail of each one but this playlist worked pretty well. I deliberately paced it for easy start, highs, lows and times when I thought I'd need a bit of a boost and it didn't dissapoint. The iPod played up a bit at the halfway point but didn't make a huge difference although I missed hearing The Wedding Present, which was a shame. Came in to the final straight with a repeat play of Daft Punk but the sound from the crowd drowned it out really. I've noted a few memories against the tracks that really hit home.

In the Morning - Graham Coxon
Come on over (Turn me on) - Isobell Campbell and Mark Lanegan
Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (running under the flyover shouting with the crowds)
4 A.M - Cherry Ghost (Tyne bridge!)
Life's Too Long - Earl Brutus (First upward section - Gateshead - a good ploddy glam-stomp)
Light & Day - The Polyphonic Spree (just the best running music really)
Summer Wine - Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood
Theme from "Which Way Is Up" - Stargard (Still one of my favourite disco tunes and a nice groove to settle into)
Folk Singer - Brendan Benson (Nice bit of crunchy guitar)
Music Is My Radar - Blur (Blur do Can. Didn't quite work as well as I'd hoped)
You + Me = Love - The Undisputed Truth (Ten minutes or so of funky disco heaven)
Aerodynamic - Daft Punk (remix)
Let's make Love and Listen to Death From Above - CSS (nice groove)
Dry The Rain - The Beta Band (the sun didn't come out but it's a great record)
Keep On Burning - Edwyn Collins
Julianne - Ben Folds Five ("I met a girl, she looked like Axl Rose" - great lyrics)
Tropicalia - Beck
Suburban War - Arcade Fire (Great track- a bit mellow/morose for this point though)
Little Eyes - Yo La Tengo (continuing on a mellow vein. Could probably have done with some punkier stuff here)
Gravity's Bringing us Down - Beulah (getting there now)
Senses on Fire - Mercury Rev (from the widely ignored but utterly superb "Snowflake Midnight" album. A real boost at about 9 miles from this)
Add it Up - The Violent Femmes (Ahhh)
Young Scene - Keith Mansfield (The theme from "The Big Match" - brilliantly produced "easy listening" track)
I Can't Get Next To You - The Temptations (From my favourite period of their's - Psychedelic Soul! Just great funky grooves)

The iPod stopped at this point. I can't really remember how long it took before I turned it back on but I was close to the finish when I just bashed the buttons and these came on at the end.

Funky Nassau Pt. 1 - The Beginning of The End. (Kind of the blueprint for Jamiroquai's musical career)
Aerodynamic - Daft Punk - Again. But it's Daft Punk so worth it.

How does it feel?

Distance 1 mile. Time 7 mins 6 secs.

Last run before the race tomorrow (Race? Ha!). Starting to get a bit nervous now. Had a bit of a twinge in my left knee for the past couple of days and it's still there but not really affecting me when running. Over 13.1 miles though it might be a different story. I'm determined to finish no matter what. Had a great response to the fundraising so far and have already exceeded the official target for Mind of £300. Thanks to all who have given so far.
1 mile today (walked a couple earlier too just to try and ease the knee off a bit). I thought I'd go for a fast-ish pace. Was hoping for about 6 minutes but once I started the reality of maintaining that pace over a mile soon became clear. It's many years since I've been able to do anything close to that but in the end 7 minutes or thereabouts is pretty respectable. Wish I'd chosen some drum 'n' bass, as suggested, though as the soundtrack!

Soundtrack - Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan (and a bit of Tombstone Blues)

I've been re-reading Greil Marcus' book about the above song lately. It's a social history of the early/mid 1960s as much as anything although it really does go into detail and off at tangents about the song, its various interpretations and possible meanings. Whilst there has of course been excellent music made outside of this period it was at this time that pop-music kind of grew up a bit and began to look much more outside of the simple "boy meets girl - music as a soundtrack to dancing and shagging". Nothing wrong with that simplistic view also (maybe pop music should always be about that really) and most of the stuff I write tends to fall broadly into that category although I'm getting a bit old for dancing...
Bob Dylan came to me late really. I was into my 30s when my wife played me Highway 61 Revisited for the first time. She's not a massive Dylan fan but had chosen one of his best to add to her collection. Being a bit of an obsessive I started plundering his back catalogue from the early folk albums up to the mid 70s Blood on the Tracks and Desire. I've yet to really give his later stuff a chance although I do quite like the way his voice has changed. A lot of people are quite lazy with Dylan and roll out the "He can't sing" - "I hate his voice" etc but his early records , once you acquire the taste, are so rich and his vocals although understandably not to everyone's taste are rarely out of tune (if only because he slides the notes so much!) and he has a great toolbag of tricks that he relies on to either deliberately highlight or overcome his shortcomings. Bent notes, accenting, expression and unique phrasing. Oh and he can write songs. You only have to hear what people draw out of his writing, from The Byrds to Ray Charles, Adele to Stevie Wonder to recognise what great source material they have been working with. Adele trotted out the "can't sing for toffee" line once before admitting "he can't half write a tune". We all have our hang-ups Adele. Should we start on yours? How about singing a consonant once in a while?
Like a Rolling Stone saw Dylan stepping into the rock/pop "mainstream" with an electrified sound and a lyric that whilst never clear in its meaning uses imagery from the streets and the "there and then" rather than the more timeless folk songs of just a few years previously. He'd recorded "rock'n'roll" before of course with his breakthrough record Subterranean Homesick Blues which had an equally surrealistic lyric and other songs on the album Bringing it All Back Home but Like a Rolling Stone, perhaps because he'd laid some kind of foundation already or built enough of an audience by the point of release that it brought him success on a global scale, was the song he would consider as the turning point. He dismissed a great deal of his earlier work as immature. Listening to those stripped back acoustic folk albums still gives a punch in the face though and much of the sentiment, like all good folk music, rings true through the years but a great deal of it is highly derivative, filled with platitudes and his Woody Guthrie-esque delivery is hardly original by its very nature.
On Like A Rolling Stone his increasingly idiosyncratic vocal style comes to the fore. Stretched out notes, sneered and scorning whilst also holding great joy and release from the music, ride the groove of the song much like the musicians who floated over the changes with expertise. An interesting sidenote is that the recorded version is the only full take they managed to capture. The earlier ones bare little resemblance to the finished piece as Dylan and the band struggled to get to grips with the song which ran to pages and pages of lyrics originally.
As a piece of semi-sprinting running music it didn't really work and when Tombstone Blues kicked in straight after I was relieved at the skiffle backbeat and energy. Rolling Stone is a rambling, laid back affair. I'm pretty sure Bob had no intention of it being used for "keep fit" anyway.
If you're not really a fan of Dylan then I'd recommend Highway 61 Revisited as a starting point. If you want to hear him acquit himself vocally then Desire is up there. For an insight into why the folk world mourned his loss listen to "Masters of War" or pretty much anything from his first three albums.
His new single is pretty darn tootin' too.

Nina, push me a little bit more...

Distance 13.1 miles. Time (first 10k 52:54) 1 hr 56 minutes.

Felt pretty rough this morning. No beer last night so before you start... Felt a bit of a cold or something coming on and really didn't feel up to the Middlesbrough 10k. Sharon and the kids ran the 3k fun run and I got a little bit more in the mood seeing Donovan cross the line in his new trainers (Apparently he had to be carried most of the rest of the way though).
A short warm up run had me feeling a little more sprightly and I placed myself in the sub 1 hour section of the start group. In the back of my mind I was figuring out ways to get out of running the extra 6/7 miles that my training schedule said I needed to do. In the end I was pretty comfortable running the 10k. the last couple of kilometres were tough coming up Acklam Road in the blazing sun and the lead up to the finish on Hall Drive is always at least twice as long as you think.
Confession time. I stopped running for a good forty minutes or so after the 10k, collected my goody bag (no sweets!) and sat with Donovan for a bit listening to a half-decent rock covers band called, wait for it...Under Cover. They played She Sells Sanctuary and some Billy Idol so it could have been worse although they bottled it halfway through Whole Lotta Love when they realised they hadn't quite figured out their self-imposed tempo changes.

Soundtrack - 10k - Polyphonic Spree (assorted). The rest - The Cardigans - Long Gone Before Daylight.

Chose some uplifting and, surprisingly, motivating Polyphonic tracks to start with. The sun was out and they were singing about it and the hope it can bring so it really helped get me started on the 10k and I picked off a good few people I knew which satisfied my dormant competitive streak. No matter how gently I say I'm going to take these runs I still usually hit a decent pace and my finish time was close, if not quicker than my personal best (I don't really keep that close an eye on it but my wife reckons it was). iPod played up a bit and skipped a few tracks I wouldn't have minded hearing but I got round with a bit of a burst of speed at the end.
For the second part of the run I needed something gentle, mellow and, if anything, demotivating. In a previous blog I talked a bit about my love of The Cardigans early material and that I should really give their other stuff a chance. Well, I've bought them all now and can report back that, while they never return to their earlier 60s pop sound, they still wrote some bloody good stuff. I'm not 100% with all of it and Gran Turismo, the album they went truly global with is probably my least favourite and sounds the most "of its time" in terms of production. A slow burner though is "Long Gone Before Daylight" the follow up to Gran Turismo but a noticeable departure for them in pretty much all they had done before. It makes everything they had previously recorded sound like they were just playing around (not an entirely bad thing). It's a big, lush, mature but strangely intimate set of songs about broken relationships delivered with a country rock feel, mostly down-tempo, the linked "For What It's Worth" is about as upbeat as it gets, and with Nina Persson's voice never sounding sweeter or more fragile. She had, by this point, taken over pretty much all of the lyric writing too so there's some genuine soul there, although she says she bases her lyrics more on the lives of others or her distant than anything she may be going through there and then.
I won't give the best song, in my opinion, away (possibly / probably the best thing they have ever done, though they failed to include it on their best of compilation) but there are some real gems on here. It's got a big orchestral sound at times but is very honest otherwise with some fairly basic instrumentation but exceptionally written songs and playing. I fall a little bit more in love with this album every time I hear it. Maybe I'm getting old now and wanting some of that smoothness, which it has in spades, but I still listen to The Clash too...shit I really am getting old. Country music, like Bob Dylan and Radio 2, comes to us all in the end but it's worth it if this is what you end up with. In some ways their most commercial album except nobody really bought it. It will still sound brilliant in 30 years though so no mad rush. But do buy it.

Rings around the world (well, the park)

Distance approx 8 miles. Time approx 1.2 hours

A heavy weekend of gigs (all with various permutations of The Southmartins. Pubs, Big festival spots, weddings, WMCs - what a life) and calorie consumption (Burgers and beers mostly) has left me a bit knackered and a slight sense of failure at my last run didn't bode well for getting back into my stride. I attempted 12 miles on Saturday but could only manage 5 due to three layers of blisters from previous runs. I was determined (once I'd started at least) to do a decent length run tonight. Sticking to laps of the local park meant I could pull up at any point and not have far to walk home if the blisters became unbearable again. I couldn't quite remember how far one lap of the park perimeter was so kept going for six, convinced it was at least 10k (approx 6 miles). Turns out it was a fair bit longer.
I've ordered some new trainers in the hope I can solve the blister problem, which I haven't suffered at all from until now, but its not advised to try and wear a new pair in less than a month to go so I'll just have to see how that goes.

Soundtrack - Super Furry Animals Songbook.

There's been a bit of 90s thread running through these blogs in hindsight. Having lived through it, it's not a decade I thought had the most to offer in terms of pop/rock music but I'm starting to change my mind a bit and remember or discover some great stuff. The Charlatans had a "best of" called Melting Pot but it may as well have been called Magpie's Nest as they plucked from a fairly small pool of influences and although they made some great records (One To Another, How High era) they didn't always have brilliant songs but were, in my opinion, as much a triumph of production as much as anything. If any band could genuinely be said to be all-welcoming in terms of what they would consider using in their sound then Super Furry Animals would be up there in the running. I didn't listen to SFA a huge amount when they first broke through with songs such as Something For The Weekend and Hermann Loves Pauline but I've since bought a lot of their albums and they're always diverting if not always classic. Super Furry Animals are a Welsh "Acid Rock" band. Psychedelic but in a fairly modern way. They came out of Acid House into indie-rock rather than the other way round like Stone Roses or others. The eternal "problem" with experimental bands is that they miss the mark as often as they hit it but as long as the quality of what they produce when they do succeed is of this kind of standard you can forgive them their indulgences and explorations as they're all part of the same process. There's a real outsider quality to their music and lyrics they don't really fit anywhere and although they don't have a signature sound they always manage to sound like themselves.
This collection gathers together their better known work and singles and jumbles it around in a non-chronological order which I'm not sure works and I think there's something to be said for a linear retrospective of a band's work as it shows their development. That said, the stuff on here is great. They sometime sound a bit like Blur if Blur genuinely been into dance music and hadn't used the indie/dance crossover as a stepping stone to fame (something I'm sure, and the evidence suggests, they regret) but there's also a little bit of Ray Davies in Gruff Rhys' delivery and perceptions. Occasionally they seem to stray into dad-rock with songs like Rings Around the World with its Quo-esque riff but they're probably more similar to Hawkwind's space rock. There's a fair bit of low-tempo songs where the songwriting skills of the band shine through (Demons is a personal favourite).
They have enjoyed cult success and acclaim for the best part of 20 years now and although they used to really push the boundaries of what a rock-band could be and do they have, perhaps thankfully, never quite stood in the same spotlight as Oasis, Blur and other contemporaries. Maybe that's why they've kept going so strong. They make as big a deal in promoting their albums about the cover art now as the music which is a shame but it's reassuring to know they're still out on the outer reaches of the solar system heading to galaxies unknown.

Oh and I think I've entered the wrong race...

The 5 minute beer mile.

Breathless

Distance 11 miles. Time 1 hr 50 mins 52 secs. Calories burnt 1289!!!

Castle Eden walkway is a nice place to go on a summer's day for a stroll along the old railway track and for a coffee and a cake in the cafe at the old station. Castle Eden walkway is not a nice place to go out in the blazing sun and attempt to run further than you ever have before. Alone. The first 5 miles to, the somewhat unimaginatively named, Station Town was a killer. Not much in the way of hills or anything but not much in the way of shelter from the midday sun either. I tried to keep my pace steady, using my wife's Garmin gadget thingy, but had to pull back from my usual 9 minute-ish/mile pace as the heat took its toll. I seriously considered refilling my water bottle from a puddle as I realised I wasn't going to have enough for the journey back. There's also a lake I was tempted to dive head first into. Turned out that the return leg wasn't quite so bad as it became more and more overcast the further along I got and even a slight breeze picked up, kicking the wind turbines into action on the hills. It is a pleasant route, if a little dull at times with long, flat stretches of nothing more than hedgerows and fields. 12 miles needed next Sunday. Might have to be a bit more creative with the route. I was in a very ploddy mode by the end but could probably have pushed it on for a couple more miles if needed so the basic training is pretty much done I reckon. Need to knock the booze on the head before these long ones though. Also probably need to get out a bit earlier although, ironically, it started to rain a bit as we ventured home which would have been ideal for this run. Maybe I should train more in Manchester for guaranteed precipitation.

Soundtrack - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Lyre of Orpheus / Abattoir Blues & Murder Ballads.

Occasionally Australia's Nick Cave steps out of his darkest of shadows and snatches a few more, soon-to-be devoted fans from a more mainstream audience. He has managed to do this on several occasions over his lengthy career but still plough his own very singular furrow of folk/punk/blues/gospel. Perhaps he could be compared to Tom Waits in this respect. His clever use of Kylie Minogue for the song "Where The Wild Roses Grow" from the brilliantly morbid "Murder Ballads"    album secured them both new admirers from across the board. This album made up the final leg of my run and the juicy, bluesy, sweary stories kept my attention well and truly off the blisters for the final few miles. I once wrote and produced a play with my students based on the song "The Curse of Millhaven" from the same album which I keep meaning to return to for a polish up/reworking. Not that Nick Cave's work benefits from any kind of polish (or half-baked theatrical adaptation!). The Bad Seeds play and sound best when dirty, sloppy and almost as if they're all playing different songs. They don't quite build grooves in the traditional funky sense but can capture a vaguely discordant feel that both borrows heavily from blues riffs but sounds avant garde and experimental in equal measures. Lyre of Orpheus, both song and album present this notion excellently and also highlight the intellect and literary nature of much of Cave's lyrics. Biblical/mythical references all add to the fire and brimstone delivery in Cave's tales of apocalyptic love and death. "Lyre" is the mellower of the two albums released as a single package. "Abattoir Blues", as the title would suggest, is a darker, heavier affair though not without soulful moments. These two albums marked another moment when Cave enjoyed some mainstream success with critical acclaim for the work drawing in new fans. Strange for what amounts to a double album to do that. It's the stories at the heart of the best of Nick Cave's work that keep you hooked and live he is a mesmerising figure; part preacher, part pimp, part vampire, part Vic Reeves. It's not surprising that he has also moved into writing novels and screenplays although I reckon the best is yet to come in those fields, as good as his first forays have been.

Stupidity Tries

Distance 5km ish - Time 22:53

Felt really strong on this run today. Had been really muggy all day with the clouds and rain finally drifting in around tea-time making me not particularly want to go out. Set off at a pace that I thought I'd regret but stayed steady on it throughout the run, save for a sprint at the end. Thought I might slow down for the second lap of Albert Park but my body just kept going. Happy with the time too. A bit of short of 5km I think but probably still an improvement on recent runs of the same distance. Could probably do with some new trainers soon for the Great North Run in time to wear them in. Always a gamble with me as I struggle to find trainers and shoes that are comfortable anyway. Lack of funds doesn't help either although I'm chuffed that I've met my initial target in the fundraising before the first deadline. Thanks to all who have so far donated.

If you still want to donate (I'm running for Mind - The Mental Health Charity) then you can text ANDJ71 £(amount) to 70070. The number you put in the amount will be for the full run, not per mile etc.

Soundtrack - Elliot Smith - Figure 8

I came to Elliot Smith very late, through a song by Ben Folds called, ironically, It's Too Late. Elliot died in a pretty gruesome and mysterious manner in 2003. You get that feeling that he's one of those people you could stick any instrument in his hand and he'd come up with something musical in moments. Playing a good deal of the instruments on most of his albums he crafted a distinctive, idiosyncratic and beguiling soundscape. Use of multi-tracked vocals, intricately picked guitar and harmonies were key elements. There's a flavour of The Beatles more melancholy moments in his songs and melodies and his songs tend to drift in and out without much bluster or overt dynamic. These aren't criticisms. His recordings always "sound right". The feel of the work was just as important as the playing. I can identify with this in my own recordings where the playing is, usually, secondary (not always through choice!) but I'm happy if I capture the right feel or something approaching the sound in my head.
I can't imagine really listening to Elliot Smith with others. I can't really imagine anyone else going running to it either! It's lonely music but, again, in a good way. You can get lost in it. It's something you might put on late at night if you're writing a dissertation or have a load of organising to do, maybe a big pile of ironing. This sounds like damning with faint praise but I don't mean to. Elliot Smith, will, no doubt be held in a similar light as Nick Drake (with whom he shares some musical similarities) has been, given time and there's a wealth of unreleased material too. Figure 8 and XO are good places to start for the newcomer, although more richly arranged than some of his earlier work.
Almost forgot to mention that Elliot had a number of mental health issues to live with (and ultimately die in no small part because of as the available evidence would suggest - Depression, psychosis and paranoia leading to suicidal tendencies and multiple attempts). So he may not be the ideal running music (although I enjoyed it) but he's possibly the most appropriate for the cause I'm running for.

It's a young man's game

There's been a bit of a recurring theme through this blog/training; Heavy drinking followed by a run the next day (or a run followed by heavy drinking, can't remember which came first.). This blog is a tale of two runs. One preceded by a heroic drinking session, the other by a quiet, if somewhat sleepless night stone cold-sober (the two latter facts might be related).

Sunday 8 Miles - 1 Hr 10 Mins

Kirklevington / Picton loop. I ran this a couple of times as a teenager in my slimmer, fitter days. the time hasn't changed a great deal though so perhaps not that much fitter if definitely slimmer. A decent run with a few undulations to keep me occupied. Not much traffic and I got more of a shock when a cyclist rode past close. Might have been Paul Heaton on his way to a gig...

Soundtrack - Paul Heaton - The Cross Eyed Rambler / Acid Country

The Beautiful South's swansong full-length recording was the aptly named "Superbi". I didn't buy it at the time. I'd long since strayed from their gravitational pull but would return with force when setting up The Southmartins. Superbi is a real grower of an album with an edgier, countrified production. It sounds pretty "live" compared to a lot of their earlier stuff and particularly the preceding two albums Gaze and Painting It Red (Neither of which have yet to float my boat fully). Paul's first Solo album after the split followed a similar vein to my ears but was noticably more edgy in production, performance and its overtly politically charged lyrics. Somewhere between The Housemartins (Mermaids and Slaves), The Strokes (I Do) and the countrified rock of Superbi (God Bless Texas) it is choc-full of musical and lyrical hooks. The writing on Superbi was watertight and gone were the recent clumsy lyrical scans and attempts to sound too modern and "groovy". Cross Eyed Rambler, although somewhat conservative some might say in its rock rich palette has a great deal to offer upon repeated listens and it's the songs that maybe don't grab you first time amid the bluster of the punkier moments that reward in the long term. Deckchair Collapsed and Little Red Rooster with their tempo / rhythm shifts and bouncy choruses are two such highlights. The closing song; Everything is Everything; is, perhaps, the defining song of Paul's solo career so far though. It's a state of the nation address which points a  magnifying glass at the current culture of 24 hour media, social networking and gossip-mongering. It set the lyrical template for the centrepiece of his next album "Acid Country" and preceded his long-song cycle "The 8th" with its expansive narrative. Modern folk music indeed. With the iPod skipping a few tracks I had to move onto Acid Country, a slightly more subdued affair with a definite lean towards country-rock. Just what I needed to be honest for the last couple of miles, rather than a boost of testosterone and I finished on the beautiful This House, contemplating whether to include it in the next live set. I guess Paul doesn't wholeheartedly approve of tribute acts (neither do I to be fair) but his canon of work certainly deserves more credit than it's received.

Tuesday - Distance 6 miles. Time 54 mins

6 miles. Easy enough after the 8 on Sunday. I picked the route from walkjogrun.net and, yes, I sa it had Ormesby Bank on it. Ormesby Bank, for those outside of Teesside (or those who never stray from Yarm!) is about a mile or so of gradually increasing incline heading out towards Nunthorpe and Guisborough. No beer last night so I was fairly well primed. Turning onto the bank I looked ahead and could see the summit and thought "actually, that's not as bad as I thought. Let's go" or something similar. Halfway up this bank I remembered that the road dips slightly at the top to pass over the Parkway and then begins to climb again...steeper. I didn't stop though for the full 6 miles. With a mantra of "Gary Barlow! Gary Barlow!" in my head I made it to the top. Slowly. The beauty of such a hill is that it's mostly downhill from there. My only real worry was could my legs hold out after that prolonged climb? Eddie Izzard, on running his ridiculous amount of marathons said he got to a point and his body just said "right this is what I'm doing now. I'm running" and there's a sense of that coming over me now. I'm actually being quite disciplined (apart from the drinking) in my approach to this and making sure I get out and cover the distances. I'm also trying to teach myself some traditional Irish tunes on the guitar so that if by chance I end up at Sidmouth again next year I can hold my own next to the Kitts sisters (that sounds very wrong). Failing that I'll have to bother the local pubs with some diddly-iddly-aye. The point that links the two is that, just like running, if you repeatedly perform a task (playing intricate patterns on the guitar over and over, running for prolonged periods, regulalry) your body begins to do it as a matter of course. I've learned one song so far "John Ryan's Polka" and I'm working on another, "Paddy Doory's Jig" with my aim being to make it to "The Rocky Road to Dublin" by next summer. Again, it's taken determination, discipline and patience. I struggle with all of these things but there seems to be something to be said for them as they're paying off.

Soundtrack - The Coral - Butterfly House / Invisible Invasion

There are a few bands that we, the British, take for granted. Supergrass were one of them. They wrote and recorded some classic and classy indie-rock-pop tunes in their time to diminishing public response ending in a quiet demise. The Coral are another band that, like Supergrass, eschew contemporary influences in favour of music from the past to create timeless sounds. Butterfly House is the Coral's latest album and, sonically, something of a departure. John Leckie, who produced The Stone Roses classic debut, was at the helm and he has washed their previously crystal clear sound with reverb and fairy dust to create something approaching the atmosphere in a hot, steamy, psychedelic greenhouse. Where the vocals were always to the fore he has pulled them back into the swamp of the mix and, although a shock to the system to fans on first hearing, he has breathed new life into their tight bag of influences. The Byrds / Crosby Still & Nash are key touchstones on this albums with the close, folk-rock harmonies and jangling guitars but they still end up sounding like The Coral. Their increasingly dour sound has developed since the bouncy, breakthrough single "Dreaming of You" ten or so years ago (yes, really). Where the influence of Madness often punched through, now the details and dynamics are more subtle and there is always an air of it being the end of summer in their songs. My favourite album of theirs would still probably be The Invisible Invasion, produced by Portishead team Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley. There's a touch of Can about the opener She Sings The Mourning and a darkness throughout the album that hints at ghosts outside your tent at night. Hopefully the success of Butterfly House in re-establishing them as a vital force will give them the momentum to carry on slightly under the radar.

Hannah and her sisters

Distance - 4.3km - Time 22mins

Needed to do 4 miles really but will add to tomorrow's to make that up. Felt strong running today and think my general fitness has improved, thanks to keeping it up over the holiday in Devon and despite the daily drinking during said holiday. Just over a month now until the run so need to get more longer runs under my belt. 8 miles on Sunday. Finally got to watch some Olympics too after listening all week on 5 Live, which was perfectly nice and evocative. As was this...

Soundtrack - The Pogues

Two reasons for this selection today. One, while I was away The Pogues played at Stockton Weekender so was a bit gutted to miss that and watching the video back it looked decent with MacGowan on surprisingly good form. Wouldn't expect anything less than brilliance from the rest of the band really. Like a lot of English people I consider The Pogues to be Irish music but it's not really and borrows from a lot of different genres as the album "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" highlights. There's a decidedly "global" feel to the songs with middle-eastern, tex/mex and even swing filtered through an admittedly celtic sieve. I attended a day at Sidmouth Folk festival on Wednesday and saw Eliza and Martin Carthy perform which was great but the highlight for me was when I wandered into The Anchor Inn to see something a bit less formal. a group of, mostly bearded, musicians sat in a corner jamming through traditional folk tunes of a mostly Irish provenance on a variety of instruments.I say "jammed" but they knew what they were doing really and sat out of tunes they were unfamiliar with. I was dying to join in but wouldn't know where to begin without adding a decidedly cacophonous element to the proceedings. I toyed with the idea of playing/singing some pop/neo-folk stuff but wasn't convinced they would stray from what appeared to be a very strict repertoire and I would have probably gone down like a lead balloon with my clumsily played simplistic nonsense. I didn't have an instrument with me either which was possibly a bonus in hindsight.
A few younger, mostly beardless, musicians drifted in and joined in. Three sisters, one of whom was definitely called Hannah (hence the blog title) brought a bit of a looser energy to the table, two of them played fine fiddle and two (does that make four?) even did a bit of traditional Irish dancing which seemed to involve holding their skirts down whilst stamping out an imaginary fire in a highly synchronised manner. It was marvellous of course and I bloody loved it.
Coincidentally I was just about to have a conversation with Hannah about running (she is also doing a half-marathon later in the year) when a salty old sea-dog cornered her and scared her back off into the musical pit so if by some strange quirk of fate you are reading this Hannah then good luck. If an old codger like me can manage it then I'm sure a young slip of a thing like you will have no problems ;)

I chose the Pogues song because one of the only things I recognised them playing at the session was Rocky Road To Dublin which forms the central section of the medley. I'm determined to learn it but it's trickier than it sounds and that's without the lyrics! Check out The Dubliners' version for a lesson in breath control.

The Beautiful South (west)

Distances - 3miles / 3 miles / 4 miles / 8.1 miles

Been away to Devon for ten days or so but managed to get a few runs in, including the aptly named Killerton Park run. Arrived late and had to sprint up a ridiculously steep hill causing me to stop...at the start. I managed to crack on though through hills and dales, puddles and mudbaths. Managed a reasonably respectable 27 mins ish although the official time was 29 something due to me arriving/starting late. Didn't stop all the way round though which, bearing in mind some of the hills, was an achievement in itself.
Stayed at the Forest Glade campsite near Cullompton, camping in a tent for the first time in about thirty years. It rained pretty much every day and night but we travelled about a bit so chased the sun around where possible and still had a good time. Other runs were up and down the roads near the site and the long run was mostly downhill so not too strenuous although the stamina side of it was tough after a few nights of Sheppy's 7.4% Oak Matured cider. Couple of days off until today. Need to work off a couple of bacon sandwiches, plenty of folk-fuelled Guinness (more later) and another night of Sheppy's last night. All part of the training though!

Soundtracks

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Rattlesnakes album.

A kind of older, U.S. influenced brother to The Smiths, the Commotions released a couple of great albums in Rattlesnakes and the follow up Easy Pieces, a patchy third before Lloyd Cole embarked on a solo career which, after the tuneless first album (called X - maybe he wanted to cross it out immediately after making it) I failed to follow. Rattlesnakes is a kind of soulful, country, bluesier pop version of the gentler moments of The Velvet Underground with some great, intelligent but still playful lyrics. It's aged pretty well and compares favourably to The Smiths first, poorly produced debut.

Can - Future Days

Aaah. Can. Fell in love with them back in the early 1990s after picking up a copy of the "greatest hits" compilation Opener (Can - Opener. geddit?) for a couple of quid. Still sounding fresh, funky and unique 40ish years after its release, Future Days is, perhaps, their most accessible album. Only four songs, three of which clock in at about 9 mins each. The title track, with its one note bassline, builds to a spacey, almost drum'n'bass crescendo with whispered vocals from Damo Suzuki (I've played two gigs in his band and he stayed at my house!). The equally hypnotic Spray genuinely helped me up a hill I would ordinarily have capitulated to.

Cardigans - best of (again)

Woof! Used this, partly due to length, for the long run of 8.1 miles. Still a bit obsessed with them and their lovely chord progressions amongst other things. I had a bit of time to listen closer to some of the later stuff and I'm finding myself drawn in. More rock/country than the earlier, jazzier, pop but still really well written and lyrically quite skewed too.

Never felt like this...

Distance 7 miles-ish. Time 1 hr 1 min

Supposed to have done 8 miles today but planned the route wrong (that's my excuse anyway). A steady run though and feeling pretty strong at the end. Took a while to get up to a comfortable pace and the sun was beating down on Ladgate Lane. Just like yesterday the rain came down but, thankfully, towards the end of the run so was pretty welcome by then.

Soundtrack - Edwyn Collins/Orange Juice.

Those of you who know me will, more than likely, know my connection to the music of Paul Heaton (those that don't can check it out here). Another, near-contemporary, writer and performer with similar influences to Mr Heaton is Edwyn Collins. Country, Blues, Gospel, Soul and funk all find their way into his mix and with that half-crooned vocal delivery (an acquired taste for some but worth acquiring) he has produced some of the best alt-pop/proto-indie music there has been. Most people know one Orange Juice song (Rip It Up) and one solo Edwyn Collins song (A Girl Like You) but there's a wealth of material easily as good as both of those, sometimes better,  if you dig into his back catalogue. Orange Juice were something of a reaction to the shouty, luddite strain of punk that followed in the Sex Pistols wake. They took a cue from the more songwriterly Buzzcocks (Rip It Up references their song Boredom in the lyric and that great, simple guitar solo). They weren't afraid of using language and vocabulary the likes of which hadn't really been heard in pop, certainly for a long time if it had. Their music also celebrated at least the attempt at adeptness and they threw more ideas into their songs than most bands had on entire albums, or careers. What they ended up with was a dizzying soup of sounds that rarely came across as one thing or the other yet still captivated. The Smiths, both Johnny Marr and Morrissey owe O.J's early work a huge debt and if you get hold of either version of their first album "You Can't Hide Your Love Forever" (or Ostrich Churchyard as it is sometimes packaged) you will hear the jangly guitars and plaintive, soulful vocals that Moz claimed as his own a couple of years later (to be fair there is a huge dollop of Billy McKenzie in there with Mozza too).
Orange Juice split after a few albums and Edwyn began ploughing a furrow of his own straight away, maintaining the same sense of fun and love of musical history in his solo work. At times he sounds a little like Bing Crosby singing over Al Green tracks, slow, crooning and funky (Johnny Teardrop and the rest of the excellent Doctor Syntax album) and other tracks, such as Girl Like You, Adidas World and Keep on Burnin' are fuzzed out Northern Soul. Rock rarely gets a look in, although his post-stroke album Losing Sleep had a decidedly punkier feel due to the collaborators; Franz Ferdinand, The Cribs, Johnny Marr (ah!)
And that's another thing. He had a massive, life-threatening stroke and worked his arse off to get back to writing, recording and performing over a matter of a few years. Stubborn sod.

As a running soundtrack it's great, varied and not full of testosterone so perfect for longer runs when your mind can wander. Cheers Edwyn. More please.

Please sponsor me (I'm running for MIND) - Just Giving

You could always say that summer had its charm...

Distance 5km. Time 25 mins???

Bit of a daytime drinking session on Friday so missed out on the planned 4 miles. Back on track with a 3 mile-ish run today. Two laps of Albert Park perimeter. Got a few hundred yards and then the skies opened up with a biblical scale downpour of rain and hail! Sheltered under a tree (not the safest place in a storm of course) looking like a drowned black cat in my fetching lycra 3/4 leggings and "borrowed" 100 Parkrun top. Once the sky almost immediately cleared I set off again, acutely aware of the huge puddles on the road and passing cars. I was already soaked but didn't fancy giving any drivers the satisfaction of a double drenching. Decent run and the rain certainly helped keep me cool. Managed to dry off a bit by the end too so must have been working up a bit of heat. Also managed a prolonged sprint finish down the bottom end of the park without getting too much out of breath so my general fitness (if not my liver) must be improving.

Soundtrack - Best of The Cardigans

A bit obsessed with the early-era Cardigans at the moment. Woke up with a song about Nina Persson, the be-dimpled, cherubic lead singer in my head a couple of days ago, which will surface as a Cherry Head, Cherry heart recording soon (I reckon Naomi sounds a good deal like her anyway). I used to play the first couple of albums to death back when they were released and mourned them a touch when I heard Lovefool on the First Band on The Moon Album and knew they would have to be relinquished to the general population. Their output from then on, although still great songs, did less and less for me as Nina ditched the kitsch 60s bubblegum image and started wearing leather trousers (never a good thing on anyone really. Surely incredibly sweaty?). She started looking generally more vampish and the music slowed down from the easy, up-tempo sunshine beats to a more ploddy rock pace (as was the wont of many 1990s bands post-Oasis. In the Cardigans defence though they did cover Black Sabbath songs on their early albums so had some form), albeit of a more inventive and genuinely melodic strain. Most bands that go on to the greater success their early fans wish for have that key moment when you know they've gone to a different world. Pulp had Common People, The Verve (formerly just Verve when they were really good) had Bittersweet Symphony and The Barron Knights had Taste of Aggro. Pulp clawed back some credibility with the excellently dark and fractured This is Harcore but The Verve imploded almost as soon as they broke through and the less said about The Barron Knights the better. When I get on a bit of an obsessive streak with a band I tend to buy up their entire catalogue, DVDs etc so maybe I'll warm to the later era Cardigans. Reviews of their post-Gran Turismo stuff are pretty good so who knows maybe I'll embrace them fully with my heart again. Until then the first 3 albums will do just fine.

Fearless Freaks (Genius Playlist)

Distance - Approx 4.5miles Time - 37:12

https://www.justgiving.com/Andy-Johnson71

Three laps of Albert Park (round the outside - as Malcolm MacLaren might say). Surprisingly few other runners out but the heat today might be a clue to that. I'm sitting here drenched. Managed pretty well, took it easy and didn't give up after 2 laps which is often what I've done lately. I reckon, strangely, the music may have played a part...

Soundtrack - iPod genius playlist

Pressed Shuffle on the newly restored iPod and up came No Complaints by Beck. Then pressed Genius to create a playlist of related/similar stuff and what follows is the playlist it came up with. All these artists have an experimental streak so there were a few moments when I was tempted to skip extended intros but all were sonically interesting and diverting on a longer run. Might be the way forward.

No Complaints - Beck - Later era Beck after he had something of an identity crisis, releasing a career high in the soulful country of the Sea Change album which, typically, failed to set the world alight. He returned to the sugar rush of samples and funky beats for The Information and Guero / Guerolito albums which never quite captured the wonderfully playful Odelay. Decent stuff though still. If you're going to buy an album by him then Odelay or the beautiful and ageless Mutations are my recommendations.

Store Bought Bone - The Raconteurs. Jack White and Brendan Benson team up to make gnat's chuff tight bluesey alt-rock. Not quite as good as the sum of its parts.

Catch Hell Blues - The White Stripes. This took a while to kick in but it was all blood and thunder from then on. Many criticise Meg White's drumming but it suits perfectly. If it were any more complex I think we'd miss the bass guitar more but she holds the songs down around Jack's slacker-virtuoso riffing.

One More Robot - Flaming Lips. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is far from my favourite Lips album but it has its charms. They seemed to be trying to mesh together their acid-dripped Americana with modern tech-based beats and blips. it occasionally triumphed and this is almost there. A heartfelt. surprisingly well constructed song about a robot dreaming of being human.

New Genious - Gorillaz. The first curveball of the playlist really. I had expected solely US based alt-rock from the first few tracks but this dubby number fitted well. Gorillaz, for all their commerciality in terms of image, present an image of a dirty, dystopian world and Damon Albarn's childish, wistful vocals set a melancholic tone.

It Beats 4 U - My Morning Jacket. From their, again slightly dubby, album Z this track reminded me of why they are such a great band. The first album I bought was At Dawn which is very much a precursor to Fleet Foxes reverb drenched sound but Z is an altogether more modern affair. Ironic since Fleet Foxes essentially regurgitated their earlier sound to global acclaim and success whilst My Morning Jacket drifted into. arguably, less effective sonic territory from here. Here's a great acoustic version of this otherwise beat-driven song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DEsEHoWC60

Black Wave/Bad Vibrations - Arcade Fire. From their zeitgeist capturing second album Neon Bible. Less satisfying, for me, than their epochal first "Funeral" but very much with its own charms. It's a dark mood throughout, with the exception perhaps of No Cars Go which was a much earlier song anyway. Neon Bible captures the world in division and despair and America in particular at a gloomy crossroad.

Electioneering - Radiohead. Another surprise. I was just into the third lap when this existential glam-stomper came on and it really lifted my energy. I've never fully leapt into the world of Radiohead but their a band I really like when I hear them. Probably go on one of my fixated "absorb the whole back-catalogue" sprees one day.

Queen Bitch - David Bowie. As much as I love Bowie this is, in some ways, a case for the opposition. A great seedy proto-glam rock track that essentially tries to out-reed Lou Reed. One of my favourite early Reed tracks is Wild Child from his hit and miss first solo album and this is clearly from a similar template. The problem with it is, I suppose, the lack of sincerity. It's clearly trying to work some of Reed's street mojo. It is, however, from my favourite Bowie album Hunky Dory. Not entirely indicative of the overall sound on the album though, which includes Life On Mars, Changes and Kooks. It did help keep the energy up though!

Une Anne Sans Lumiere - Arcade Fire. A solemn moment from their classic first album "Funeral". I co-directed a production of The Crucible when this came out and used the "quieter" tracks to soundtrack the pre-show as the young cast lay "asleep" on stage as the audience entered. It worked a treat and the cast were curious as to the origins of the music. Funeral evokes beautiful souls lost in the world. As the track works it way towards the end a punkish, upbeat section kicks in and this led me to a sprint finish, ending precisely on the final chord. Always a treat when the playlist soundtracks the run so perfectly.

What's my scene?

Maltby - 7 miles (ish). Time - 1 hour (ish)

No beer last night! Pretty much due to me emptying the intake from the night before down the toilet on Saturday morning amongst other things. So, despite a poor night's sleep, I was reasonably fresh and willing to get up and get back on track with the training. I'd missed a couple of 3 and 4 mile runs from the schedule so felt I had to really make the effort to attempt the suggested 7 miles today. Took it steady and it wasn't too tough. I even managed the stupidly steep hill at the end into the village.

Soundtrack - Hoodoo Gurus - Dig It Up! (own playlist)

Leilani
Tojo
(Let's all) Turn On
Dig It Up
Bittersweet
Like Wow Wipeout!
Death Defying
What's My Scene?
Good Times
1000 Miles Away
Miss Freelove '69
Castles in the Air
Dressed in Black
Less Than a Feeling
Crackin' Up
I Hope You're Happy


Loosely based on their new "best of" collection Gold Watch, I cobbled this playlist together of singles and favourites from one of Australia's best kept secrets. Huge, in their time, in their native country and now deservedly sitting amongst the elder statesmen of Aussie Rock, Hoodoo Gurus are a band I've followed for the past 25 years or so, ever since seeing the video for "What's My Scene?" on the Chart Show back in 1987/88 ish. I thought they were like an Australian Housemartins. With long hair (that didn't last!). I bought the accompanying album Blow Your Cool, discovered some earlier stuff through a friend, Pete Farrage, and was a fan from then on. They're one of those bands that, with all the factors in place, should have been much bigger. They were as big as you could get on the college radio circuit America (where they were considered in a similar vein to early REM and even had a, then in the ascendant, girl group called The Bangles appear on their records) but not much beyond that and enjoyed middling success elsewhere.
Starting life as a post-punk/surf/power-pop outfit Le Hoodoo Gurus, they wrote and played about all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff:- Kamikaze Pilots (Tojo and I was a Kamikaze Pilot), Necrophilia (Dig it Up!) and erm, questionable relationships with dogs (My Girl). Dave Faulkner, lead songwriter/singer, developed a more mature style for later work, although they occasionally returned to songs that were just about being a great party songs. And this is why I always thought they should have had more mainstream success. Some of their records drift, sonically, into AOR territory, which can be a criticism, but they did it as well, if not better and ballsier, as anyone else at the time yet didn't receive the return in sales or raised profile globally.
"What's My Scene?" is their signature tune, although any of the songs on this collection are rightly considered classics in their output. It is a textbook example of how to write a great pop/rock single. Iconic guitar intro, anticipatory first verse, stomping, anthemic chorus, impassioned middle eight, faultless guitar solo, more shouty anthemic choruses and semi-improvised ending. I would put money on this song making its way onto an advert, film or TV show eventually in the UK and the band finally being granted well deserved success here. I'll certainly keep spreading the word.
As a running soundtrack the playlist was great, despite continuing issues with my ipod (I need to dig out my cassette walkman I think). The later stuff was surprisingly effective at keeping me going in the final couple of miles with its classic, rockier drive. Their latest studio album "Purity of Essence" is packed with quality songs and the band sound as fresh as ever. On their album Magnum Cum Louder they sang of the pressure of coming up with the goods on "Where's that hit?". They all sound like hits to me.

There are a few gaping holes in the playlist as my iTunes is playing up too so a couple of albums - In Blue Cave and Mach Schau aren't represented here. Not a comment on their quality of course!


Buy this... 
Gold Watch by Hoodoo Gurus

Oh Darling...ton!

Distance - Approx 7km time Approx 31mins

Dropped my wife, Sharon, off at a clinic on the outskirts of Darlington to get her sinuses checked. Teesside is not a great place to live if you already have trouble breathing, what with the smog and all that. I headed off for a run while she was taking it wheezy (I'll stop the puns). My iPod has been playing up loads lately so it needs a good looking at / bang on the table. the run was a bit of a struggle as the sun has finally decided to wake up for the summer. I ran to the town and back (with a bit of a strategic "sort the iPod out" walk thrown in)
Went to see Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros last night at Leeds Irish Centre, which a great medium sized venue although the lead singer Alexander (Why not Edward Sharpe? Who knows/cares?) initially said it was like playing at a Bar Mitzvah. Sound problems dogged the gig but the sheer joy that they brought to proceedings more than made up for it. I can trace a pretty clear route to how I came about them. Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips, Polyphonic Spree, Arcade Fire, Phenomenal Handclap Band and then these who have buckets of the Spree's hopeful outlook but sonically resemble a sunnier, hippie-er version of Arcade Fire. The lack of any set list left the moodswings in the lap of the gods, or rather the audience as Alex asked the crowd for requests which they, pretty much without exception, duly played. It was only the call from a band member to play "Black Water" that sullied the mood mid-set after a rollicking country-hoedown heavy first half hour or so. Alex questioned the request at first but magnanimously called for the band to play it. Democracy is not always the best way. The sound continued to deteriorate with feedback from vocals and I suspect the overhead drum mics but just about recovered, if a little quiet, for the finale of "Home", one of their better known songs. The crowd sang, danced and just let it all out throughout the show and one of the highlights was when Alex took a short break as another member led a slow but funky song which I'd never heard, delivered in falsetto a la Justin Timberlake. Much better than that might sound though. Alex jumped into the crowd to sing at one point, hugging and kissing the, predominantly young student crowd. If I did that at work I'd be done for sexual harrassment and I doubt I'd receive the level of reciprocation he did or it might be worth the risk.
There's only so many bands that can get away with such a loose approach to what they do but still retain great musicality, spirit and joy whilst soldiering on with a smile through the shortcomings and niggles with the sound.
Anyway, the idea was that I would revisit their first album on my run today. It would be perfectly timed for the distance I wanted and definitely helped me along for the first four songs that played but I ended up fiddling away as songs skipped and disappeared. Any tips on how to sort that would be appreciated.

Buy this...

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Watch this...

40 Day Dream - Live

Sponsor me!

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Made of Stone

7ish km - 39:38

Not going to write a great deal about running as I started writing this in my head on the way round...

The Stone Roses achieved something possibly never done before when they took to the stage at Heaton Park on Friday to a crowd of 75,000 of which I was one. A band from a previous generation had returned and changed the game. Everybody interested in music has an opinion pretty much either for or against the band and their return. The reviews have, overwhelmingly but not entirely, been positive by those who were there and the criticisms from those who weren't (why would you go if you didn't like them anyway?) were of the usual variety - "Ian Brown can't sing", "I watched it on youtube and it sounded terrible" etc. The key to this, of course, is that if you were there, at that LIVE event you experienced something pretty special.
I was there. It was special. I didn't get all emotional and nostalgic as I maybe had expected to. I cried when Brian Wilson took to the stage a couple of years back so I do have those kind of moments, trust me. It was special for many reasons. The Stone Roses were my absolute heroes, musically and sartorially, back from late 1989 to1995 and the release of Second Coming, which formed the soundtrack to my run today. I, like a lot of people, had initially been disappointed with the album although it undeniably had its moments. It seemed at the time like they'd missed the boat with their comeback and music and times had moved on. They looked and sounded a bit ordinary or predictable compared to the "four teenage Jesus Christs" of 1990. Seeing them at the T&C in Leeds, on the Second Coming tour was, surprisingly, amazingly good though. Reni had departed but Robbie Maddix seemed to be filling in fine and the sound was big, loud, rocky and tight. It is still in my top ten gigs of all time. I was a little, but not overly, heartbroken when it continued to fall apart though and John Squire left soon after. The notorious Reading Festival appearance may as well have been a different band. I'd lost faith before then anyway.

I did get a few palpitations as Stoned Love by The Supremes played at Heaton Park on Friday and it was obvious they were about to take to the stage. The big question was always going to be "will it be Reni?". A much publicised event from a few days previously had left the future of the tour and the band in doubt. They had played gigs since though so it seemed at least on the surface that it was all a storm in a teacup. The huge screens flashed an image of the man himself with his odd new headgear - a cloth dreadlock wig - backstage about to step on. They did. They played. The sound was pretty dodgy from the start and in the rare moments I wasn't singing along it was clear Ian was struggling to himself. No change there then. To be fair the previous times I'd seen them this hadn't even been raised as an issue in any media. He didn't sound like the records on which his voice was often little more than a whisper and had a fairly boomy, sometimes atonal sound but I always put it down to monitor issues or having to fight over the sound of the band. What the haters can't grasp though or refuse to accept is that for some reason he transcends all of his shortcomings. Like Lennon before him, who by many accounts was a pretty nasty piece of work but was able to still create something people connected with. If anything the criticism of Ian's voice has only caused fans to rally around him more and help him out.
They took about half an hour to warm up, sort the sound out and find a groove but when they did it was like the years fell away. Reni was astoundingly good and, although Robbie had done what now seemed a workman like job of filling in this was a completely different feel. Every song was loose and funky in places. John faced him regularly to bounce off him and he was just a whirl of arms and complex driving rhythms. I got into the band Can off the back of a review of Fools Gold that referenced them and there was definitely a healthy dollop of motorik incessance about the rhythm section but within the structure of pop and rock songs.
John had been my second guitar hero after Johnny Marr although even I had to admit his overstating of everrything on Second Coming fell well short of the subtle and intricate work on their classic debut. Constant soloing or flashy technique does not make sophistication. The band have quite possibly agreed on this point as, although there were plenty of extended "jams" at the gig there were only two songs from Second Coming - "Ten Storey Love Song" - a tightly structured pop/rock ballad and "Love Spreads" a dirty, Zep-esque, bluesy funk number on which, remarkably and brilliantly, Ian rapped over the end of. His voice never sounded better throughout the gig without the pressure of a tune!
As I began writing this I, perhaps somewhat bombastically, stated that they had changed the game. When they first broke through in 1989 it was the tail end of a decade of either shiny aspirational pop a la Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet etc or increasingly twee indie music which lacked any real courage. The Smiths had broken up in 1987 but there was enough of their sound in The Roses debut to bring a lot of their fans into the fold. When I first saw and heard the paint spattered first album I was reminded of not only bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Smiths but also stuff I had grown up listening to - Simon and Garfunkel, Beatles, Byrds etc. It was a distillation of the past 30 years of guitar pop. And there was an arty backwards track on it. People now say they are and always were conservative and safe but, come on, a backwards song on an album of guitar pop? Not an obvious pitch for the charts is it? The crowd that followed them back then were not of the laddish shape that came through under the influence of Oasis (and who were, surprisingly, but thankfully absent at Heaton Park) but art students, first wave indie kids  and intelligent folk with an increasing number of rave fans. They were not overtly laddish in their behaviour and espoused for want of a better phrase "Peace and Love". You did get the feeling they might pin you down with a gun to your head to get it though and the first album is peppered with an undercurrent of threatened violence but it's mostly politically charged. The front cover references the Paris student riots of 1968, Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns and the moddish styling of the 1960s in the black and white photos within. It is of the streets yes but let's face it the vast majority of "lads" don't spend the equivalent of a full time job every week writing and rehearsing songs which reference the bible and call for The Queen to be decapitated. The Gallagher brothers were/are pulling our legs. The Roses, on their return have, again moved the goalposts in terms of what a reunion is or can be. It does, beyond the scrutiny of the press, seem genuine. Ian and Reni, far from having fallen out, left the stage wrapped around each other in a brotherly hug. That was the moment I nearly cried. The music industry has changed a huge amount since 1990. Festivals that sprang up or grew in the wake of the independently organised Spike Island have now become overly-corporate and bloated with soulless "entertainment" acts. The decline of the record industry has left us with nothing new to shout about. It should really have been a much younger band creating the buzz these gigs did and, yes, dividing opinion as these have. Everything will now, in some small way or other, be a reaction to the return of The Stone Roses. They may well fall apart and never record a note but their eschewing of the vast majority of Second Coming and constructing a sprawling set around earlier material suggests they are aiming to recapture some of that original alchemy. They were much more than the sum of their parts at this gig and that is why they were special to begin with. There is a band that sounds like them and plays better live and has a singer that can hold a tune. They're called The Bluetones. Are they a better band? Would people get this worked up about them? No. I like The Bluetones. I love The Roses.

Oh and Second Coming. It does have its moments. "Begging You", their last single, is a beast of a record. The Prodigy playing Fools Gold in Hell. Not sure about the video though. Think they must have all given up by this point.

Begging You - The Stone Roses

Sister Mermaid...

Albert Park 5km 19/05/2012. 25:07mins
6 mile run 20/05/2012 51:38mins


Light drizzle at the start of the Albert Park run was a bit of a boost and I felt pretty strong going round. In my head when I started I had the time of 25:07 and, bizarrely, that was the official time. Managed a reasonably prolonged "sprint" at the end but I'm now acutely aware of my, less-than-attractive, 'sprint-face' after seeing the pictures of me finishing the Riverside Stadium run. I literally look dead. The beard didn't help so that had to go.

Ran the Middlesbrough 10k route today (or thereabouts - think I was a few hundred metres short but stopped at 6 miles so still a distance best so far this year). Started nice and steady. I used Sharon's Garmin thing to help pace and it was pretty useful. I haven't been clock-watching so far during runs in my training as I'm aware of needing to get up to some kind of fitness first and making that the priority (although my competitive streak still kicks in now and then as I pick people off in the park runs.). Average pace was 8:30ish per mile. Pretty pleased for a first longer run. Next challenge is the 8 miles loop at Kirklevington, where I grew up. Think my best is about 1hr 10ish so well within reach.

Soundtrack - no ipod! Didn't take it at Albert Park as one of the headphones tends to conk out in the lightest of rains and it becomes a pain. Don't know how people can listen to only one side. Got to be full on stereo for me! Went to get it for the 6 miles run but had left it in my bag at a gig last night and the drummer took it home. Naomi has asked me to help write a motivational song for her sister, Jemma Lowe, who is competing in the Olympics swimming team so I started getting ideas for that as I went round. Stuff about Mermaids and dolphins and being a fish from the knees down etc. Not sure she'll find it that inspirational but it's a start. I'll have to go out again and find the same pace to get the right tempo for the song though!

Billy's Boots...

Albert Park 5km - 25.20mins

I half-remember there being a comic strip in The Beano or Dandy called Billy's Boots about a footballer who had some magic boots but they didn't work very well in the rain (high concept stuff). Felt a bit like this might happen today. An early, frosty downpour threatened to scupper my plans for getting out every other day but passed and I headed over to the park. Sometimes a bit of fresh drizzle can boost you by cooling you down mid run and other times, if heavy enough it makes you feel like Billy's Boots.
I felt pretty strong coming off the back of a PB (this year anyway) from the Riverside 5k and started well. A little too well it turns out. The second full lap was a struggle and even though I managed to prolong my sprint at the end a touch I was disappointed not to get closer to the previous time. It felt faster overall. I refuse to blame the music...

Soundtrack - Cherry Head, Cherry Heart Demos

With an impending gig this Sunday and our last one being a couple of months ago I needed to do some swotting up on my own songs. Over the past ten years or so years I've written hundreds, to the point where they don't really commit to my memory (well, lyrically anyway). Of all the stuff I've written these are some that I am most pleased with in terms of them sounding well structured and work well live. The majority of them were written for and are sung by Naomi from The Southmartins so it's not entirely egotistical to listen back. There's a heavy Paul Heaton influence in the writing but we've started moving away from that a touch and into something I describe as Teesside Tijuana. Mariachi style trumpets (well, synthesised ones for now - there is a paucity of real trumpets on Teesside so maybe this was not such a good idea), jazzy chords (but not flashy - I struggle to play most of them) and Bacharach-esque melodies are the order of the day. This is not "Rock 'n' Roll" although the lyrics are quite cutting I like to think. My favourite song - The Illusionist - is pretty laid back and started just as I began my sprint, which was odd but I feel a little more prepared for the gig if not the Great North Run.

Stadium Rock!

Middlesbrough 5k - 24.47mins!

Hot on the heels of yesterday's park run, I was up and about early after a fitful night's sleep (four pints at the Boo Hewerdine gig. Very good on all accounts really). A slight twinge in my left knee from yesterday threatened to flare up a bit as I warmed up and a brisk start to proceedings in the run was probably not the best strategy. I'd put myself in the sub-30 minutes range at the start but soon found myself picking off lots of people. Rob Nichols passed me early on but I had him in my sight for most of the run so I knew I was probably doing ok. At the 1km flag I was at 5:09 and at 2km I was under 10 minutes. Alarms bells rang that I was probably going a bit too fast and sure enough by about 3km, despite not being able to see the flag anywhere I was certainly feeling "the flag" (see what I did there?). A steadier pace to the end saw me good though and it did feel great running into the Riverside Stadium to finish. I managed a decent sprint down the home straight too and by my watch it was sub 25 minutes. A minute off my current best.

Soundtrack: God knows...

Decided not to take the iPod along. Not as a punishment for it not having any charge when I needed it yesterday but because I reckoned I'd have nowhere to put it if I stripped down to just my running top. There was, however, a band playing outside the Lord Byron pub. Lively, bluesy pub stuff played by beardy old men, one with a cowboy hat on. A sure sign of something. I vaguely recognised them from playing at The Sessions in Doc Brown's a few months back but may be mistaken. Coming back past the pub at about 3.5km they were murdering Proud Mary, originally brought to life by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Music was fine but the vocal was neither harmony nor melody. It was comedy. It sounded like someone was holding a gun to his head to sing when they might have been better asking him not to. Fair play though, they were decent musicians and probably playing for (dry roasted) peanuts if not for free.

I am not a number!

Albert Park Run 5km - 25.51mins

Felt pretty terrible starting this. Nothing to do with the bottle of wine last night of course but just very lacking in energy. Didn't have time for breakfast so that might not have helped. Still managed to chip a little off my current time. Not having an iPod probably added to the frustration too. Was planning on a bit of Ed Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros after hearing their new song last night. Might be running the Middlesbrough 5k tomorrow anyway so I'll review it then! The sun was pretty glorious from the off today which, as most runners will tell you, is a bloody pain in the neck. Too warm too soon. Managed a bit of a sprint by the end so not all bad but after tonight at the Boo Hewerdine gig I'm going to knock beer etc on the head until after my own gig next Saturday. See how it feels.

Soundtrack: None! (bloody iPod ran out of charge)

High five!

7.4km (ish) 40:06 mins. 665 KCalories burned (apparently)


The aim was to do 7/8 km so not far off and, without measuring a route, I decided 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back would be about right. Not too bad in the old predicting stakes if a little short on the distance. A steadily increasing rain helped a good deal and I even shook a few branches along the way for a good soaking to cool down. Set off at a fair pace but felt it may have been a bit too fast as I hit about 15 minutes and nearly gave up. I have never been great at pacing myself but it has got better since running more. SLight incline up Acklam road (oh by the way, what the hell is Acklam Garden City? A club? A erm gardening centre? saw a couple coming out of there on my way down Burlham Road and had never actually thought about it.). Rain got in my headphones 30 minutes in so one ear conked out which was a bugger but I was well in my stride by that point and had a little sprint at the end too. Getting better.

Soundtrack: De La Soul "Buhloone Mindstate" 8/10 (10/10 for the album though!)

"It might blow up but it won't go pop". So begins De La Soul's third album and it's my favourite of theirs and, having listened again after a fair absence up in my top ten easily of all. It's my favourite jazz album too  (I have a very short list of those to be fair). De La Soul? Jazz? Surely they are purveyors of hip-hop or even "hippie" hop as they were originally labelled. Buhloone Mindstate sees them wilfully heading underground and along a more Afro-centric route musically and lyrically. A creeping cynicism and negativity is there in the increasingly foul-mouthed lyrics (certainly never on a par with Gangster-rap in those stakes though). The music is deceptively deeply textured. Blue note jazz samples and live brass (courtesy of Maceo Parker) provide sophisticated melodies and harmonies whilst the beats become, if anything, more primitive and simple so it was great for pushing me along on the run. There's a slight Middle-Eastern flavour to a handful of the songs too which is deliciously effective and exotic. The tune-free, beat heavy "Stakes is High" came next but this, for me was the high watermark for them and doesn't feel like a nostalgia trip despite the occasional reference to '93. Was it really that long ago?

This Stevie Wonder sampling "Breakadawn" single was about as pop as they could muster for the album. Great groove and feel though. £3.99 for the album. Don't hesitate!

May the fourth be...sorry, the eighth...erm

6Km - Albert Park. 32:52mins

Not sure I can say I woke up feeling terrible as I barely slept and had feverish hallucinations all night. I've had swollen glands in my neck for the past three days which have been pretty painful although, even with the accompanying sore throat my voice has barely been affected and I managed to soldier through a gig yesterday. Anyway, for arguments sake, I "woke up" and didn't think I'd be able to complete the planned run today but after a quick splash I felt so-so and trundled Donovan off to the park to meet his nana. He insists on bringing his scooter along and then insists on me carrying it 95% of the way. It's a warm-up of sorts I suppose. 

The run started slowly and I had no idea how I would feel after a lap but wasn't achy so just kept going. I feel, generally and despite the current illness, fitter than a couple of weeks ago and I'm glad I pushed myself to get out the house this morning. It would have been very easy to just say no and curl up in front of CBeebies under the Hello Kitty blanket. It started raining a bit at the end of the second lap which spurred me on to do another and, although I was feeling a bit weak (some breakfast might have helped that), I didn't really struggle to get round and managed to pick off a fellow runner who was kitted out in jeans and Adidas Sambas so maybe not a huge victory there.

The Great North Run is equivalent to about 4 or 5 of what I just ran. 

Soundtrack: Sly & The Family Stone "Dance To The Music". One of my favourite bands but not my favourite album. I chose it because it pretty much pumps out soul beats for its short duration so thought it would help me in my slightly fragile state. It did, to an extent, but the vintage mix is a bit odd in these circumstances when you need something a bit more "widescreen". Great band though. The album finished with a couple of minutes of the run to go (I don't have the repackaged, deluxe-"extra track and a tacky badge version" that I've linked to although their reviews are fair enough, the album is essentially one idea played out over 30 minutes) so I fumbled about with my ipod and ended up, firstly, with the theme tune to Charlie's Angels and then The Winner Takes It All by Abba. there are some dark, yet strangely sequinned corners of my music collection.

Difficult Third

5th May 2012

Albert Park Run 5km – 25:57mins. 9am

Managed to keep the Friday night drinking session down to a very respectable 5 pints and home for tea which I'm sure surprised Sharon. She got her own back in the surprise stakes though by nudging me awake every so often last night as I guess I must have been snoring. Up early to drop Erin at her friends for a sleepover and then down to the Park. Even managed a bit of a warm up, which I don't usually bother too much with but the aches needed stretching. Looked like rain for a bit which would have been reasonably welcome but then the sun turned on after the first bend and the first lap was a it of a struggle. I didn't get lapped though, which has happened the last few times I've done the timed run so a bit of a boost heading into the final lap. Didn't have much left by the end but finished reasonably strong despite being overtaken by one of Isaac's 12 year old friends on the final bend #shakesfistand growls but managed to achieve my target of sub 26 mins (by my watch anyway - the slight stagger at the start probably lost me a few seconds on the official time). Still got a fair way to catch up with Mr Nicholls though who I used to be on a par with so plenty of work to do. Next target -7/8km

Soundtrack – Beastie Boys - Ill Communication. Saddened by the premature death of Adam Yauch (MCA - 47!) it could only be this to soundtrack the run this morning. Beastie Boys have long been a favourite of mine, from the snotty debut "Licensed to Ill" to the seminal "Paul's Boutique" and then their equally genre-busting albums "Check Your Head" and this they blazed a trail through the 90s with a funky blend of erm... funk, hip-hop and hardcore punk. Their crowning glory, in no small part thanks to the video, is often considered to be Sabotage from this album but the whole thing is a rip-roaring collage of cool. Your work is done Adam.

Second run - A bit of spree

3^rd May 2012

Just short of 5Km – 24.46mins. Started approx 4.30pm

Quick run before picking the kids up from a variety of charitable friends (except Donovan who attends a nursery which, if you saw the fees, is less than charitable!) Jogged to the Albert Park Run start line as a warm-up. Tough going first lap and seriously considered just doing the one but felt decent by the time I got round so carried on. Stopped just short of the finish (near the gate) so estimated the time would have been about the same, if not a little faster than Tuesday. Didn’t really feel it though, felt slower as my legs had not quite recovered from the first run. I guess I could apply this estimating to all my training and just not run at all. “If I’d only made it to the park and ran ten laps I estimate I would have done it in…a new record!”. Hoping, Friday’s drinking session pending, to run park run this Saturday still. Aim for 26mins. I am also determined to reduce my use of exclamation marks in these posts.

Soundtrack – The Polyphonic Spree “The Fragile Army” 7/10. A heavier sound, ironically, than the classic “Together We’re Heavy” but actually a bit more successful for a quick run – when the iPod isn’t playing up and skipping half the album. 


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