Clearing out my attic I found this:



Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf' from Britten's series of guides to the orchestra for young people.


A gem from my childhood. Awesome music and David Bowie narrating. I think the Wolf's theme is my favourite - the opening to St Vincent's "Paris is Burning' sounds a lot like it - but I don't think the similarity is deliberate. This is actually what made me think of digging out the tape and listening to it, but when I went to my tape drawer it was gone. Only on Tuesday as I was sorting through some boxes to make some loft space, did I find it.

Happy New Year / 2007 Look Back

Happy new year.
Yanu's year has started off quietly, but we will be getting the audio from our Louisiana gig online soon.

Meanwhile, we thought we would let you know what we thought the highlights of 2007 were.

Ben:

Michael Brecker - Pilgrimage
Pinch - Underwater Dancehall
Burial - Untrue
Steve Swallow/Robert Creeley - So There
Roots and Echoes - The Coral
Philip Glass - Violin Concerto

Simon:

Iron and Wine - Shepherds Dog
Big Business - Here Come The Waterworks
The Radioheads - In Rainbows
Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
Soulsavers - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land
Queens Of The Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound


Ali:

Kings of Leon - Because of the times
Bonobo - Days to come
Fink - Distance and Time
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
Feist - The Reminder

James:

Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Grinderman - Grinderman
Radiohead - In Rainbows
St Vincent - Marry Me
PJ Harvey - White Chalk

The big disappointment for me was The Good The Bad And The Queen - but then this 'super-group' only had two great musicians in it, Damon and Tony. Tony was woefully under-used, and Damon sounded like he was stuk in a rut. I was also left feeling deflated by Portishead's comeback - which I totally didn't expect. Given that they've never made a song I don't really like, I'd have thought that gig would be one of the best of the year - it ended up being the worst (for me, but loads of people loved it and Simon thought they were brilliant at ATP).

I also wondered if I was missing something by quite liking, but not loving MIA and Clark's albums, which the rest of the world seems to have gone absolutely spazzy over this year. But then wouldn't it be boring it we all liked yadda yadda yadda...

The highlights for YANU:

Playing our first gig
Supporting Qui
Buying more toys than we needed or could afford
Playing the Louisiana