On The Player Now III

Introduction

This is now a sporadic series of the music that I listen to while on my computer or listening to my record collection. This was the last one:

I share the songs on Instagram with the hashtag #OnthePlayerNow, and you can follow this link. I think I am the only person using that hashtag and have shared over 850 on Instagram/Facebook with 90 seconds of a song from the album on the Instagram post.

So I will share a few of my current posts with links to the songs and albums that they are from. These are just things that I have picked out of the CD pile, although some are CD boxed sets.

Try ans listen to some and you may find something new to explore.

Horslips - "King of Morning, Queen of Day" from "The Tain"

I love this album. When I first bought it, it never left the turntable for two weeks, and now I also have it on CD, so I can listen on my record player and CD player. I love every song, and this one is particularly beautiful.

The Byrds - "Chestnut Mare" from "Untitled"

When they were young, Juliet and Kirsty took horse riding lessons, and this is a favourite of mine and Juliet's, although I love so much of The Byrds' music.

Gentle Giant - "On Reflection" from "Free Hand" and "I Lost My Head"

Every time I listen to this, I am astounded by the vocal acrobatics of the first two minutes before the song becomes an almost medieval piece. This is still an incredible piece of music, and I am always tempted to replay this as soon as it finishes.

The Beatles - "The Inner Light" from "Past Masters"

This was the "B" side of "Lady Madonna" and shows what a brilliant writer George Harrison was.

PAUL MCCARTNEY said:

"George wrote this. Forget the Indian music and listen to the melody. Don't you think it's a beautiful melody? It's really lovely."

Pink Floyd - "Wot's... Uh the Deal?" from "Obscured By Clouds"

"Obscured by Clouds" is the seventh studio album by Pink Floyd. It serves as the soundtrack for the French film La Vallée, by Barbet Schroeder.

I wasn't sure which song to choose, I was tempted by the title track (a darkly brooding instrumental) or "Free Four", but this is probably my favourite with that wonderful descending acoustic intro.

Echo & the Bunnymen - "The Cutter" from "Porcupine" and every Bunnymen compilation

Will Sergeant explained the origin of the band's name:

We had this mate who kept suggesting all these names like the Daz Men or Glisserol and the Fan Extractors. Echo and the Bunnymen was one of them. I thought it was just as stupid as the rest.

I just love the sound of this, I still don't know what that instrument is, and never understood why these were not as big as U2.

Tangerine Dream - "Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares" from "Phaedra" and "The Virgin Years"

How to describe this? An amazing soundscape that takes you to another world. It's not a song or even a tune but waves of amazing sound that wash over you for ten brilliant minutes.

Penguin Café - "[The Roaring of A] Silent Sun" from "The Red Book"

I will close the playlist with this beauty from the Penguin Café.

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra (PCO) was an avant-pop band led by English guitarist Simon Jeffes. Co-founded with cellist Helen Liebmann. The band's sound is not easily categorised, having elements of exuberant folk music and a minimalist aesthetic occasionally reminiscent of composers such as Philip Glass.

The group recorded and performed for 24 years until Jeffes died of an inoperable brain tumour in 1997. Jeffes' son, Arthur, founded a successor band simply called Penguin Cafe. Although it includes no original PCO members, the band features many PCO pieces in its live repertoire, and records and performs new music written by Arthur.