Roundabout

Lockdown 3.0 and I thought I'd write pieces about bits of music that inspire me and that others might enjoy as we all muddle along together.

"Roundabout" first appeared on the Yes album "Fragile" and was released in 1971. That was the second album they released that year ,Taylor Swift isn't unique! They also toured extensively as well, they had no lock down! The song soon became a firm fan favourite and has become the last song they play as an encore. If they haven't played Roundabout, they haven't finished! It was one of two songs they performed when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (the other was "Owner of a Lonely Heart").

While there have been many many versions of the band (including a couple of time when there has been 2 versions touring at the same time!), the musicians on this song (and album) were what became known as the "classic" line up. Led by singer/lyricist Jon Anderson, who sings like an angel but whose lyrics made little sense, "purple headed wolfhounds" being an example, (but there are many others).  Steve Howe plays guitar etc, Chris Squire bass, Rick Wakeman is on keyboards and Bill Bruford plays drums. They are each regarded as amongst the best players in their field. Squire is regularly cited as being the bass player that inspired other bass players, Wakeman is regarded as probably the best keyboard player of the 70's (he played on many other records including Cat Stevens, Black Sabbath and most famously David Bowie). Bill Bruford is seen as one of the very best "jazz" drummers of his age and Steve Howe as a guitarist has few peers. (He also has collection of instruments that must be worth thousands). It's that unique blend of skills that won me over in the mid 1970's. 

This is not my favourite Yes song but it's one of the most accessible and it shows both the musicianship of a band at their best and Andersons singing is great and the words sort of make sense. At the bottom I've put a link to a YouTube video by Rick Beato that breaks the song down part by part and it's that complexity that shows how good there are as musicians. I've also put a link to "Lost in Vegas"  hearing it for the first time. Chris Squire died in 2015 (Geddy Lee from Rush played bass on this song at the Hall of fame induction) but it's significant that both videos point out his bass playing that underpins this song. 

The version on my Facebook page that goes with this post (and is linked below too) is the Steve Wilson remix, which I think is the best version of this song now available. There are also lots of live versions!!

Rick Beato - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFisOTDzGuE

Lost in Vegas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw7n4aG0wcw

Steve Wilson remix  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pREDMwfF-kw

The Walk

Last News Year’s Eve, I was at a party at some friend’s of mine from church when their daughter, Abi, asked me what was my New Year’s resolution. Now Abi is one of the nicest, kind and funny people you could meet, but she has a way of asking such a question, which comes with appropriate body language, that says “I haven’t really made any” is not going to be an appropriate answer!

Anyway 2 minutes later after trying to fudge the answer I’d agreed that I would walk 10k steps every day for a year.

Now that’s not quite as mad as it seems as in both 2016 and  2017 my employers has entered the “Global Challenge” where teams of 7 staff agree to walk 10k steps for 100 days. When in May 2016 my boss (who’s big on Well being) had suggested that we enter a team, I signed up and much to my amazement completed the task. To be honest, I had no real idea what 10k steps was and more importantly what 100 days amounted to and it was only well into June that I realised that it meant walking until early September!  It was, however, therapeutic and by using various techniques, quite achievable. The downside was that once I finished the challenge, I stopped the walking and the weight I’d lost started to return. Thus the 2017 sign up! Which again was achieved.

Since then, however, no real walking, the odd 10k day and the weight had returned. So the challenge was one that I knew was both potentially achievable and more importantly would be good for me.

It started well as I’d walked to the party and therefore the walk home put 2k on my Fitbit in the early hours of January 1st. The first few days were the vital ones as any slip up then and I’m pretty sure as with most New Year resolutions, I’d have given up. But the experience of the previous challenges stood me in good stead as I remembered to walk the long way to lunch, park as far away as is practical from your destination and especially walk to all services/meetings at church. (The last one also helps the climate challenge as is does away with a stupid 5 minute car journey).

The truth is the walking became a habit very quickly and achieving 10k each day was a state of mind rather than a challenge. The year has had it’s challenges in other directions, however, as for example,  my Mum had a month in hospital in May/June. Nothing overly serious, but the daily visits meant that walking had to be adapted. Firstly it’s a big hospital, so everywhere is a good distance apart! Then there were errands to be run to the shops there for all sorts of things and finally you can be creative in walking back to the car park.

Other factors have been the weather, too hot or too cold/wet mean either more or less clothing or find some where in doors with large spaces and air con/heating to walk. The West Quay shopping centre has been a regular haunt!! Ditto M&S/Sainsbury’s at Hedge End and Asda just over the road from my office.

Least steps in a day 10067, the most 18468 (at Greenbelt Festival), about 3.8m steps or c1825 miles over the year. Weight loss of over one stone, healthier mental attitude and two pairs of trainers worn out!

Music and podcasts kept me good company. Music is dangerous though as suddenly something funky comes on and it’s hard not to strut! (Walk the Dinosaur by Was not Was is particularly fun in that respect). Podcasts roll call, Wittertainment (hello to Jason Isaac’s!), The Totally Football Show Podcast, Total Saints Podcast, BBC Radio 4 Friday Night comedy podcast, Brexitcast, Football, Feminism and everything in between and “How to Fail” podcast.

So what’s next.... well more steps I guess? Let’s see how many days 10k steps per day can go on for? Another walk home from last nights party means there’s 2760 steps recorded today at 9.35am and Saints are playing this afternoon so that’s a walk to and from the stadium......

Gone but not forgotten

Hi, remember me?

Well I'm back (but I've said that before!!)

I recently bought a Mac Mini so now have a fully functioning home office, so the chances are higher that I will blog more frequently (but I've said that before too!!) I love all Apple products and the Mac Mini is another piece of awesomeness (which probably isn't a proper English word but who cares). I already had a monitor, and an Apple mouse and also invested in a wired keyboard, which has a numeric keyboard which will help with work. I needed speakers as the one in the Mac Mini is not its best feature and having researched extensively on Amazon, I then saw an old pair on the top of a wardrobe and they are just fine and dandy. I do now, however,  keep getting "speaker suggestions" popping up on Facebook and the like!!

Let's see how long this ride lasts!!

Friends will be friends

Yesterday I saw a record set that may never be broken!! 

Through a set of circumstances that started with old friends getting together for a coffee, I ended up going to the last game of the season at St Mary's. 

Saints were playing Aston Villa with both teams needing three points. Saints are hoping to finish in the top 6 (just writing that feels so good!) and despite having reached the FA cup final in a couple of weeks, Aston Villa could still be relegated to the Championship. 

Saints have suffered a dip in form recently and Villa have been on a good run following the appointment of Tim Sherwood as manager, so a tough game for Saints was likely. 

Well how wrong was that! Saints started very well and had a goal disallowed (incorrectly) for offside in the first 5 minutes. Then Graziano Pellè was through with only, Shay Given,  the Villa goal keeper to beat, but Given stopped his shot. 

After a warning that Villa could be dangerous on the break. Saints took the lead when Sadio Manė took a headed pass into the Villa area, he rode one tackle, held off another and shot at the keeper, who saved the shot. The ball however, bounced behind the keeper into an empty space and Manè was able to tap the ball into the goal, 1-0!! 

A minute later, Manè broke down the right wing and played a lovely through ball to Shane Long, who was in on the Villa keeper. As Given dived at Long's feet and appeared to foul Long, the ball was diverted sideways and Manè was quickest to fire the ball into an unguarded goal for 2-0! 

Another minute later, the Saints worked a flowing series of passes down the left side of the Villa defence which ended with Shane Long clear on the left side of the penalty area. He looked up, saw Manè on the right side of the box and squared the ball across for Manè to volley the ball past Shay Given, 3-0!!!! 

All of which means that Sadio Manè scored a hat-trick in 2 minutes 57 seconds, which is the fastest hat trick ever in the Premier league. The previous one was 4 minutes 22 seconds by Liverpool's Robbie Fowler, a record which most pundits and players thought would never be broken! Well they didn't reckon on Sadio!

For the record Shane Long scored two more in the first half, the second of which was a 35 yard volley! Villa scored right before half time, so it was 5-1 at half time! 

With all that excitement in the first half, it was likely that the second half would struggle to match the first and that proved to be the case.  Saints did score one more goal through a great finish by Graziano Pellé so the game ended 6-1 to the home side. Europe looks more likely for Saints and despite this result Villa are safe from relegation as other results went in their favour. 

Finally a big thank you to my friend Dawn, without whom I wouldn't have been there to witness a football record being set that should stand for a long time. 

London calling

For what it's worth, here are my Premier league predictions!

Champions - Chelsea (defence will win it) 

2nd - Man City

3rd - Arsenal

4th- United.

Spurs - 7th

Saints - 10th

Relegated (all will change Managers at crucial ill thought out times)

Villa

Palace (see above!)

WBA

Everything Changes but You

So it is two days before the start of the new Premier league season. It's fair to say that preseason at St Mary's has been anything but quiet!

The Saints have sold Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Callum Chambers, Dejan Lovren and Dani Osvaldo has gone to Inter Milan on a Season long loan. Or other words we've lost our main striker, main playmaker, three of our starting back four and a lunatic who we were happy to see the back of. That three of those players have gone to Liverpool is also unusual and of course our first game is away to Liverpool!  But it has to be said that Liverpool have paid well over th odds for both Lovren and Lallana. In addition the money that Arsenal played for Callum Chambers was also ridiculous.

At one point it looked like it was going to be worse as Tottenham wanted to buy both Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez, but the club drew a line over that deal and said that they would not be sold. (Schneiderlin was deeply unhappy about that decision and it still remains to be seen, with two weeks of the transfer window left to go, whether he will still leave the club.)

To replace these players the club have used the knowledge of new manager Ronald Koeman and bought in Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic from Dutch football as replacements for Lambert and Lallana. From preseason matches both look like adequate replacements. We've also bought Shane Long from Hull City to play off Pelle and hopefully they will quickly form a free scoring striking partnership. 

In defence we bought new goalkeeper Fraser Forster from Celtic. At six foot seven and an England international he appears to be a good buy. We've also taken Ryan Bertrand on a season loan from Chelsea and today have bought Florin Gardos from Steaua Bucharest who is an international centre back. Finally as part of the deal that took Osvaldo to Milan we've taken a defensive midfielder Saphir Taider on loan to St Mary's. Both of the loan deals mentioned are believed to have clauses which allow us to make the loans permanent transfers at the end of the season.

So on paper we seem to have replaced all the players that left with equivalent replacements. We also have more players coming through from our wonderful Academy, so the season ahead, which could have been a complete disaster, at least now looks like it will be ok.

Where do I think we will finish? Somewhere between 10th and 13th. If Koeman gets the team playing as a team sooner rather than later we could even match last years eighth. But equally if the team doesn't gel quickly enough then below 13th could be the alternative. These may be famous last words but I don't see us being in the relegation battle. That's especially true after Crystal Palace let Tony Pulis leave today! 

A good start would be three points at Anfield!

Heaven and hell

I first got into listening to the music of the progressive rock band "Yes", when my friend Nigel played me Yessongs (probably while we were playing "Risk"!).

Since then their music has seen me through good times and bad & given me some of the most exhilarating musical experiences of my life. When they're on form there are not many other bands who can touch them. I've seen them live four times, all were really good concerts.

To most Yes fans the classic lineup (Anderson, Howe, Wakeman, Squire and White) is the one that  most of us wish was still talking to each other and therefore still touring together. Sadly it appears those days are past, with Anderson touring on his own and Wakeman putting on lavish productions of his previous solo albums. Indeed Anderson & Wakeman will probably work together in the future.

The current live incarnation of Yes incorporates Howe, Squire and White, with Geoff Downes who played in an earlier version of the band (when Anderson and Wakelman left previously- but subsequently returned) and Jon Davidson, who like his predecessor was in a tribute version of the band.

This version has been touring extensively, the last tour  incorporating the playing of Close to the Edge, the Yes album and Going for the One in their entirety. As Yes fans will know the key feature of the live performance was Jon Anderson's vocals, he sings in a distinct falsetto. Jon Davidson has a similar voice and the live versions of these albums were to most Yes fans an authentic rendering of the original material.

Now they have gone into the studio to record their new album "Heaven and Earth", this being the first one with Davidson on vocals. Snippets of tracks have been released via Facebook and SoundCloud and in a mixup with iTunes if you preordered the album you got a two tracks free but in fact you seemed to be able to just buy the two tracks without pre-ordering the album! This campaign I think did the band a disservice. I remarked to one of my friends recently that I didn't think I was going to buy the album as what I had heard sounded awful.

In fact that wasn't correct. It's not a great album, but it has its moments (Subway Walls is a good addition to the Yes catalogue) most of it is ok and there is only one track that really makes me cringe. As ever with Yes albums, Steve Howe's guitar playing is exemplary and takes some mediocre tracks into okay status just by his playing alone. Davidson's vocals are again okay though his lower register is a little bit iffy in places. The rest of the band do what the rest of the band do to an acceptable standard although I could have done with a bit more keyboards on some tracks, or at least with what was there being a bit higher in the mix.

The album is produced by Roy Thomas Baker, best known for his work with Queen. To be honest I expected more from the production than is on display here. It doesn't jump out of the speakers at you, which is what you normally get from his productions. 

The album was recorded and produced fairly quickly, and I have to say it does sound a bit like that too. It was recorded between gaps in tours and that's never a good basis for a new album.

Am I glad they recorded it, not really! Will I play it again and again… probably not. Should they stop making music? No, they should probably just take more time and pay more attention when they sit down to record the next one. They remain fine musicians, the live tours prove that. It's just a shame that what could've been a really good album ended up just okay and that's being a bit generous!