Jah Live

This shows just how easily I am distracted. I switched on the radio this morning and Mary Ann Hobbs was playing Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier". This threw my mind back to the mid seventies, when after getting into Bob Marley and The Wailers through seeing their performances of "Stir It Up" and "I Shot The Sheriff" on The Old Grey Whistle Test and buying the absolutely sublime live single "No Woman, No Cry" I must have heard on John Peel, there were few other music sources at the time though Johnny Walker and Alan Freeman played good stuff, put he played "Jah Live" which I had to have.

The 'B' side was "Concrete" , "Jah Live" in Dub so I've included that as well.

This was fairly difficult to track down though my DJ friend John Allan who had a record shop at Lane Ends, Preston managed to source me a copy. He was an absolutely top man but I believe died in a road accident. Any I used to often exasperate him with hard to get singles that I'd heard and maybe I might try and get a copy on vinyl as reggae and ska do lend themselves to playing on vinyl.

I know this is a short post, and if Mary Ann hand't played that song I wouldn't have written it, but it is a chance to hear a Bob Marley song that you have probably never heard.

I have a walk to Wylam to do, you enjoy your Sunday my good friends.

Walking Through Treacle (Again)

Although I don't really have to do many steps, today has been difficult, feeling like I'm walking through treacle. I don't feel bad in myself but it's just that having to walk any distance I feel I am pushing against something, like wading through treacle.

Also I'm coming to the conclusion that Firefox is becoming very slow to becoming almost unusable. Microsoft Edge is definitely unusable and Internet Explorer is not very good either. At the moment Chrome seems to be the most reliable browser.

It has been raining but today has been made enjoyable by the amount of ska and reggae being played to celebrate Trojan's 50th anniversary, but I didn't realise that many of the Trojan singles were "enhanced" strings for the UK market, a prime example being Nicky Thomas' "Love of The Common People", although the youth of the time rebelled against this touching up preferring the original raw sound. I've included both so you can hear what they did.

Enjoy both.

Aprés

This morning is the first time since Wednesday that I've put in contact lenses. My walking target is is actually growing by the day but actually even if I didn't do any walking til Monday I ,in theory,, could walk far enough to get me back on target.

Although still a bit sore this weekend is more about still doing nothing to ensure there's no internal bleeding which could be caused by any undue straining so it really is an excuse to do nothing, so a lot of reading (Matt Haig's "How To Stop Time") , listening to vinyl and digital,  as I write this I'm listening to Trojan X-Rated Box set Wreck A Buddy by the Soul Sisters, a totally X-Rated take on "Little Drummer Boy"  from probably the late sixties . The box set is available on Amazon for a mere £180!!

It is quite amazing how puritanical the west is at times, while at the same time using women's bodies in provocative poses to sell the most banal of things. Though having said that misogyny is still prevalent in a hell of a lot of music, not just ska and reggae.

Today is the first day of the new football season, and of course Preston North End have just lost two of their best attacking players to injury, although the squad is far stronger than last season so it isn't bothering me too much.

So this is a day of making sure I am fit to get back into normal life, ie not lying around reading and watching telly.

As the new season as started we can have"The Referees' Alphabet" by Half Man Half Biscuit. Have a great Saturday everyone.

Wexford - Some Good Bits

Just back from a week in Dublin , and took a day trip out to Wexford. Didnt know what to expect but generally Wexford has some excellent places to go.

Trie a pub which may have been called The Undertakers , and Maggie Mays , both of which had good atmosphere, drink and service.

Sampled a couple of restaurants , the excellent italian "La Dolce Vita" which had brilliant food and atmosphere . Also the excellent "Jacques" at Green Acres (website here) which again had excellent food , and atmosphere.

The day was made by finding a branch of BPM Records (website here) from which I purchased a couple of "Tighten Up" compilations at a bargain €10!!!