suddenly I'm unsure where do I call home

A rare night out without the girls for Lorna and myself as we went to see Jane Birkin at the Roundhouse - a suitably iconic venue for a 60's icon - a national treasure indeed, as someone shouted from the crowd. Although which nation was far from clear. She spoke in French at least as much as English; I did reflect at one point whether this was quite possibly the most ridiculously pretentious gig I could ever go to. But then, she is far more French than English these days, and whilst most of the set was drawn from her two most recent albums of collaborations and songs written for her by other writers, she will be forever associated with Gainsbourg and the songs that he wrote for her. She acknowledged the presence of his ghost at one point, and whilst Lorna and I were both sorry she didn't include our favourite Gainsbourg songs - Couleur Café and Comment te dire Adieu - many of the highlights were Gainsbourg compositions - Le moi et le je, Je m'appelle Jane (sung in duet with the soundman from the circle and ending with a kazoo solo by Birkin) and Ballade de Johnny Jane.
Her voice has never been strong - the breathlessness of Je T'aime (Moi Non Plus) is present in many of her songs - and there were times when the band seemed to overwhelm her. But her presence - her use of space, particularly when she left the stage, moved through the main space and ended up almost within touching distance of our seats in the circle - was captivating. A 61 year old grandmother, but there were plenty of flashes of the sex kitten first seen in Blow Up.
Some of the new material worked better than others - Neil Hannon's Home and Beth Gibbons' Strange Melody came to life, and Tom Waits' Alice could have been written for her. She played one new song - a sung/spoken tribute to Aung San Su Kyi, which could have been excruciatingly worthy, but was an unexpected highlight.
Performing for almost two hours, with no support, two standing ovations and encores of Ex-Fan des Sixties and L'Aquoiboniste, the evening never flagged, and we walked back to the car through the ashes of Camden Town with a smile on our faces.
The temptation to illustrate this post with one of the famous old photos we could not help but recall is strong, but instead, a lovely clip of her singing Di Doo Dah on the Russell Harty Show in 1973:

strong and warm and wild and free

It may have the most ridiculously pervy/sexist cover since The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, but I'm enjoying the lush electro sounds of the new Sebastien Tellier album



...and, talking of Sexuality, I'm looking forward to Monday. As well as the new Billy Bragg, the new Nick Cave album sounds great, and I'll probably get hold of Malcolm Middleton and Duffy as well. Before that, I've got Jane Birkin for a bit more anglo-gallic loveliness, tomorrow night in Camden.

not solid enough for the office

Listening to Martin Simpson being interviewed and playing on Simon Mayo's show this afternoon, and looking back on the Radio Two Folk Awards last week, I'm left thinking what a great year for folk music 2007 was. I went on at length at how great Cambridge was - given that I saw Lau, Bellowhead, the Winterset, Martin Simpson, John Tams and Julie Fowlis (albeit the last two as part of the Under One Sky collective), of the major winners only The Imagined Village was absent (it was being launched under two feet of mud at Womad that weekend). Some of the choices were close to impossible - how to pick between Lau, The Winterset and Bellowhead for band of the year, but, sticking to the nominated artists, this would have been my choice:
FOLK SINGER OF THE YEAR: Julie Fowlis (no argument there)
BEST DUO: Show of Hands. The bridesmaids again; their two cd retrospective was one of the releases of last year.
BEST GROUP: Rachel Unthank & The Winterset. Impossible choice. Lau are probably better live (though not as good as Bellowhead).
BEST ALBUM: The Bairns (no surprises at all).
BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Never Any Good - Martin Simpson. Bitter Boy is also good, but Kate Rusby's nod is yet to come.
BEST TRADITIONAL TRACK: John Barbury - Kate Rusby. Awkward Annie is Kate's best album for a very long time, and this was a delight.
HORIZON AWARD: Bella Hardy. The worst decision of the night. They had to give Rachel an award, but how can you give a newcomers award to someone whose debut album was Mojo's folk album of 2005? And I really like Bella.
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR: Martin Simpson. A great album, including a couple of really outstanding songs from one of the country's great guitarists.
BEST LIVE ACT: Bellowhead. Can't disagree at all, though again a great shortlist.

I've been haunted in my sleep, you've been starring in my dreams

Couple of nods towards free music - The Fabric podcast invites producers, record label owners and the like to put together music that has inspired them. Five sessions so far - I particularly enjoyed the Andy Weatherall and Doc Scott mixes. And whilst I should maybe be irritated that Erol Alkan has made freely available an album I hunted down and paid well over the odds for, his Bugged In remix is now available for download. As I said...gosh,is it really three months since I posted here....and I've picked up a lot of music since then...that is one of my favourite compilations. Highly recommended.

y va pas partout y marche pas au soda

I'm a well known sucker for Gallic pop, so without further ado, here's the best track from Vanessa Paradis' new album, which has dominated the French charts for the last couple of months:



It's not a bad album, not up there with Variations Sur Le Meme T'Aime, and certainly no contest with Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55 for my favourite French album in recent years, but worth a listen.

there is only feeling in this world of love and death

Erol Alkan has been behind much that I have enjoyed over the last couple of years; his Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Monkees remix was my track of 2005; I also liked his Franz Ferdinand remix on the 2006 Rough Trade compilation, and his own Bugged In selection, which introduced me to Passing Through by Rare Bird as well as the Concretes' version of the Stones' Miss You (and which was possibly playing in the background if you've drank coffee chez Tan Ward in the last two years).
He did a 6 Mix for BBC 6 Music last month, which is now available as a podcast at www.erolalkan.co.uk and on itunes. I love the Broadcast track; I will have to look out more of their stuff. From the obscure - Holger Czukay, Wobble, Liebezeit to the better known - Madness and Glen Campbell - this works really well.

our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope..

Just when I found something nice to say about the Roman Catholic church, Mad Priest tells me this.
I love the quote from lapinbizarre

"He wasn't a Nazi, he was just a Bavarian Catholic"

it's that look in your eyes, telling me lies

Recent purchases include: Comicopera - Robert Wyatt has certainly been one of my artists of the year. This is a beautiful album - Just As You Are is just as honest a love song as Sea Song, and very likely to sit alongside Becky Unthank on my end of year pick.
Late Night Tales - Fat Boy Slim. One of the best compilations you will hear in a while - some great funk, dub, and general freakiness (including Kenny Roger's stoner track from the Big Lebowski, and Kraftwerk in a Northern Soul style - inspired). Even some Charlie Brown Music. And mentioning Kraftwerk, both the Hot Chip remixes of a couple of the Tour de France tracks, and the soundtrack to Control (which includes Autobahn) are worth a listen.
The Very Best of Ethiopiques - worth it for the Mulatu Astatke tracks alone. I've wanted to get hold of his stuff since watching Broken Flowers.
Lots of Alabama 3 - MOR is growing on me, especially since seeing them live yet again (and the Astoria have just emailed me to let me know that they found the wallet I lost at the gig), but I'm also enjoying the gig only Drive Time remix, and a bootleg of the Cambridge acoustic set (here's another sad song...).
I'm looking forward to the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album released next week, and I should also get hold of the new Teddy Thompson, which Tom is raving about.
And here's Bill Bailey restored:

To provide meaningful architecture is not to parody history but to articulate it

I've just come back from three days in Berlin, where I was able to find time before coming home to visit the Jüdisches Museum. Having seen an excellent documentary about the architect Daniel Libeskind on BBC Four last week (still available for download) and with the museum itself featured in the Guardian's Great Modern Buildings series, it was a building and a museum that I very much wanted to visit. It didn't disappoint - whilst the design is deliberately disorienting, particularly with the entrance through the intersecting axes of Holocaust, Exile and Continuity, the wonderful use of space and light means this complements rather than detracts from the museum's main collection. Highly recommended.


I've also noted that the Vatican is tomorrow, at the behest of a German Pope, beatifying Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian peasant who refused to fight for the Third Reich in an unjust war. He knew that the penalty was death. An inspiring story.


Finally, a quick plug for Of Course, I Could Be Wrong. The Mad Priest is one of the more entertaining bloggers I've read in recent months (and the man does have a very good taste in music). I just wonder, given the frequency with which he posts, how much his parishioners actually see him.

I never felt so wicked as when I wished our love to die

Thanks to a mislaid driving license, I did not as planned spend my Saturday evening in Milwaukee watching baseball, but instead saw Rilo Kiley on the Chicago leg of their current US tour. Despite many trips to the US over the last 5 years, this was the first time I've seen a gig in the US since...erm...Sting...a long time ago.
The venue was the Riviera Theater in Uptown; not a neighbourhood I'd been to before, and I liked it. Having picked up my ticket for $23.50 on the door, I knew I had a couple of hours to kill before Rilo Kiley came on stage. So rather than listen to a support act I'd never heard of and drink over-priced Miller, I headed to the nearest sports bar. Now maybe I was tired, but I swear it was a good 10-15 minutes before I realised I was in a gay sports bar (the I Love Tight Ends t-shirt being worn by one of the barmen should have been a dead giveaway). The beer was good, the food was fine, and it was one of the friendliest places I've drunk in for a while.
As for the gig itself; I was in a pretty good spot, towards the back of the lower level of the main floor, but in the middle. I did feel old - most of the crowd were early-mid 20's, and loud - it really was an adoring crowd. I realised that in spite of More Adventurous being one of my favourite albums of the last few years, I was surrounded by people who knew way more of the lyrics - and from the moment the band opened with It's a Hit, they sang them loudly. The set was a very good mix of old and new; whilst the real crowd pleasers came from the last album, Under the Blacklight is a real grower, and some of the new songs worked really well live. They were a lot louder, a lot less acoustic, than I'd expected - and maybe did justify the Fleetwood Mac comparisons made in Spin magazine this month. Jenny Lewis is a really charismatic (and gorgeous) front woman, but it was very apparant that - in spite of the geeky waistcoat and bow-tie - Blake Sennett is at least as much the creative force in the band.

The highlight for me was inevitably Portions for Foxes - which they sensibly got out of the way very early in the set - although Silver Lining came very close, and is very much one of my tracks of the year.

Setlist (thanks to Sound on the Sound - strictly speaking this is the set list from Seattle last week, but it looks identical):

It’s A Hit
Close Call
Portions for Foxes
Paint’s Peeling
Breaking Up
Dreamworld
Money Maker
Wires and Waves
Rip Chord
With Arms Outstretched
Silver Lining
I Never
Smoke Detector
15
Rise Up with Fists
Spectacular Views

Encore:
Give A Little Love
Does He Love You?

we're on the verge of becoming Kathleen Turner Overdrive

Obviously, High Fidelity is one of my favourite films; it's also one of my favourite books. It's remarkable not just because the film is just as touching and thought provoking as the book, but also because the story translates so well from North London to Chicago. Despite only being 7 years old, it seems a period piece in many ways - perhaps because the only record shops which specialise in vinyl in 2007 tend to be selling dance music. But it still speaks to the heart of masculine obsessive behaviour in a way which I would guess most blokes of a certain age would identify with (even blokes who haven't been dumped by 5 women - and certainly not by Catherine Zeta Jones).
So in honour of the BBC keeping me up way after midnight last night, here are my 10 all time favourite quotes from High Fidelity (leaving aside the obvious one).

Barry: Holy shite. What the fuck is that?
Dick: It's the new Belle and Sebastian...
Rob: It's a record we've been listening to and enjoying, Barry.
Barry: Well, that's unfortunate, because it sucks ass.

Rob: Liking both Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel is like supporting both the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Laura: No, it's really not, Rob. You know why? Because Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel make pop records.
Rob: Made. Made. Marvin Gaye is dead. His father shot him.

Barry's Customer: Hi, do you have the song "I Just Called To Say I Love You?" It's for my daughter's birthday.
Barry: Yea we have it.
Barry's Customer: Great, Great, can I have it?
Barry: No, no, you can't.
Barry's Customer: Why not?
Barry: Well, it's sentimental tacky crap. Do we look like the kind of store that sells I Just Called to Say I Love You? Go to the mall.

Barry: Rob, I'm telling you this for your own good, that's the worst fuckin' sweater I've ever seen, that's a Cosby sweater. A Cosssssssby sweater. Did Laura let you leave the house like that?

Barry: Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the 80s and 90s? Go... sub-question... is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?

Rob: Where's Ian? Or Ray, or... what is his fucking name, anyway? What do you call him, Ian or Ray?
Laura: Ray. I hate Ian.
Rob: I hate him too.
Laura: Yeah... I'm sure.

Dick: I guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?
Rob: No...
Dick: Not alphabetical...
Rob: Nope...
Dick: What?
Rob: Autobiographical.
Dick: No fucking way.

Dick: Marie de Salle's playing. You remember I told you about her. I like her. She's kind of Sheryl Crow-ish crossed with a post-Partridge Family pre-L.A. Law Susan Dey kind of thing, but, you know, uh, black.

Rob: Should I bolt every time I get that feeling in my gut when I meet someone new? Well, I've been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I've come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.

Barry: How about the Jesus and Mary Chain?
Barry's Customer: They always seemed...
Barry: They always seemed what? They always seemed really great is what they always seemed. They picked up where your precious Echo left off, and you're sitting around complaining about no more Echo albums. I can't believe you don't own this fucking record. (tosses the record to the customer and walks away) That's insane. Jesus.

...and I've got Personal Services on the Sky box for later.

friend of the stars

First I'm exchanging emails with Alabama 3's Devlin on Facebook, next Stuart Braithwaite is personally responding to my trivia question on the Mogwai unofficial message board (and even having the good grace not to point out that I named the wrong track). OK, maybe not household names - but personal contact with members of arguably my two favourite bands of the moment in the same week? I'm happy.
I'm enjoying the 1975 Richard & Linda Thompson live album, and the unofficial Mogwai Government Commissions vol 2 (i.e. the Peel Sessions that didn't make the official Government Commissions release).

partly fish, partly porpoise, partly baby sperm whale

I know that I'll stop obsessing over the Winterset at some point over the next few days. But until then, here's Robert Wyatt.

you come home late and you come home early

What a weekend; probably the best festival I've been to. It was a really good atmosphere; very friendly vibe - smoke-free stages were pleasant - and there seemed to be fewer turf wars than usual between the sitters and the standers as the larger pieces of camping furniture stayed outside. Very good weather too. A bit muddy underfoot yesterday after a downpour on Saturday night, but very little rain during the music.

Friday: Under One Sky (John McCusker and Friends. "These aren't my real friends. My real friends sell toasters and play football. Which makes for a crap gig."), Show of Hands, Steve Earle, Waterboys. A great night. Especilly when you consider that, between a broken bass string, a flat guitar, a self-unplugging mandolin ("the son-of-a-bitch wasn't plugged into the mother-fucker"), and a forgotten lyric (I'm sure that Yeats' The Stolen Child doesn't start with the word "Shit"), something went wrong for every artist. As it turned out, the broken bass - and the run-around to replace it, allowed McCusker time to include an impromptu accapella interlude from John Tams and Julie Fowlis. Under One Sky was breath-taking in it's ambition - which it just about reached. Highlight of the night was undoubtedly the Waterboys. As brilliant as they were disappointing the last time I saw them. I had to wipe away a tear during The Whole of the Moon. Wonderful.

Saturday: First Rachel Unthank set of the weekend. I'd bought the new album on Friday night - even better than their debut - so I knew it would be good. But not quite how good. The best folk album I've bought this year, a certainty for my best of 2007 (it's s toss-up between Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk and their version of Robert Wyatt's Sea Song for my favourite track); they are a superb live act. The between-song humour gives their set a real folk club feel, but the musicianship - especially the sisters' harmonies, but also the piano and fiddle arrangements - set this act apart. And I never thought that I would find clog dancing sexy...
The rest of the day didn't quite hit the heights of Friday - plus I was knackered and voiceless. Like many around the field, I was sat back reading Harry Potter whilst listening to Show of Hands and Kate Rusby (there are worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon). The spirits were lifted no end by Bellowhead - the first time I've seen them live, every bit as good as I'd hoped. Still, I got signed copies of Kate's and the Winterset's new albums.
Saturday evening was eclectic - Kate was followed on stage by Fanfare Ciocarlia - the Romanian band best known for their version of Wild Thing in Borat. I enjoyed them more than I did Taraf de Haidouks a few years back. Then Joan Baez - stateswomanlike - but not the most likely warmup act in the world for Toots and the Maytals. Who blew the roof off. A really exciting set to end the night.

Sunday: Martin Simpson with Andy Cutting and Danny Thompson. Great guitar work, a lovely cover of Thommo's Strange Affair, and a gorgeous duet with Kate Rusby. Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, Rachel Unthank in the club tent, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder - lightning speed bluegrass, Lau, Rachel Unthank again, Toumani Diabate - a great show, Nanci Griffith and finally Bellowhead on stage 2 before heading for home.

So good I saw them twice: Bellowhead, Show of Hands, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset (who I saw three times).

Lowlights: I just don't get the Oysterband, I'm sorry. Dull. Joan Baez ruining a good set by ending with the interminable Imagine.

Unexpected Treats: Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain. Especially Anarchy in the UK in the style of Simon and Garfunkel and Life on Mars, Lau.

Sorry I Missed: Not much really. There was so much good stuff on the main stages that I didn't go to any of the showcase artists in the club tent - which I will probably regret if they become famous. Shooglenifty (clashes with Toots and the Maytals and Bellowhead); C J Chenier (same time as Waterboys); only saw half of Ruthie Foster's set, ditto Bruce Cockburn (though I did see Wondering Where the Lions Are); missed Sharon Shannon on main stage with Steve Earle guesting on Galway Girl. In fact, main stage Friday was pretty incestuous, with Steve and Alison Moorer guesting in each others sets, Sharon Shannon with the Waterboys, and John McCusker, Steve, Mike McGoldrick and Sharon all joining the Waterboys in a rousing This Land is Your Land to close out one of the best nights of music I will ever see.

The weekend seemed to go on forever; hearing Ruthie Foster singing Up Above My Head and Nanci Griffith singing Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, it seemed an age since I'd heard the Alabamas sing them on Thursday.

And maybe I wimped out by not camping - especially since the weather was remarkably well behaved - but it was nice to sleep in a warm bed, wear clean clothes, have a hot bath and stock up on better than average picnic grub, and bottle conditioned City of Cambridge Brewery beers from Waitrose each morning.

The only regret is the feeling that next year's festival can't come close to this. Not much does.

it's been so damned long since we sung this song

Back from the first night of the Cambridge Folk Festival. That's the first time I've done the Thursday night - the low-key night before the festival proper. But, as part of what is a very strong lineup this year, there were couple of acts playing tonight who I really wanted to see.
I was a bit late getting there - though a beautiful rainbow over Shelford told of a weekend of sunshine and showers to come - so missed the start of "the brilliant, the unique" Seasick Steve. And even though I was stuck outside the tent in the mud and the drizzle, I knew I was listening to a great blues guitarist. Foregoing the chance to pick up a signed copy of his album, I pushed down to the front for Kris Drever; another from the Rusby/McCusker stable - a good guitarist, but not where I needed to be tonight. I needed to get back to church, and the Alabama 3 Acoustic set didn't disappoint. I was up front and in centre as Larry, Devlin, Rock Freebase and Harpo Strangelove took the stage. A very different set from St Albans - and perfect for a festival crowd. A lot of Exile - Converted, Woke Up, Tekno, Speed and ending with a great version of Peace - together with Johnny Cash, Two Heads, Folsom Prison Blues and Up Above My Head. It was nice to be part of the crowd down the front singing along; there's something special about being in a festival crowd listening to one of your favourite bands. A great start to the weekend; looking forward to Steve Earle and Sharon Shannon tomorrow. I'll probably try to catch Bruce Cockburn too. Not sure about the Waterboys; Mike Scott was so disappointing last time he was at Cambridge. And there's Zydeco on stage two at the same time.
Now to get some sleep in a nice warm bed.

your biggest blunder's that you all look the fucking same

Everyone seems to be falling over themselves to be amongst the first to discover Poppy and the Jezebels. So I'll confess to the middle-aged, middle-class route buying the mini-album (with a free signed print no less) after the rave review in the Guardian last week. Alex Petridis is wrong when he says "it doesn't really sound like anything else" - because it does. It all sounds brilliantly trashy and naive, and could have been on the CD86 compilation that I copied for Tom last week. Basic drumming, fuzzy guitars, and vocals straight off an early Creation release; kudos to Reveal Records for discovering them, and to Kramer for his production. The Lips of Cleopatra is on repeat at this very moment.

when you love someone but the thrill is gone

The Mercury Music Awards shortlist announced this week showed an all-time low score of two in albums I own; Arctic Monkeys - OK, but does nothing their debut failed to achieve (and I was tired of that by this time last year), and Amy Winehouse - a really enjoyable album - but not as enjoyable as the Lily Allen album the Arctics beat last year. Much of the rest, I'd either never heard of or wasn't interested by. The exception was Bat for Lashes - I'd at least heard a track of theirs (or, more correctly, hers) on a Mojo freebie a couple of months back. I thought she was an OK female singer song-writer; nothing remarkable, and recording under a really bad name - so looked no further. But since the critics say Ms. Khan (related to the Pakistani squash-playing dynasty) is the artist most likely to "do an Anthony", and having heard comparisons with Bjork and Kate Bush, I gave her another listen. And I have to say, I like it. Trophy, The Wizard, and Horse & I are all good tracks, but I'm particularly enjoying What's A Girl To Do?, with it's spoken lyric, reminiscent of Black Box Recorder, and it's totally insane video. Could be a winner.

"ever feel like you've been cheated?"

I've cautiously welcomed the return of the Jesus and Mary Chain - although I find it hard to think if there is any difference between me going to watch Pixies, the Pogues etc and blokes in their 40's heading off to watch the Shadows and Marty Wilde during the 1980's - and I know how tragic I thought that was.
The picture in this month's OMM of Jarvis Cocker alone on the front row of the Festival Hall during Meltdown, watching the Mary Chain whilst his wife takes photos of the band, is just a great fan image. But having missed the boat for Meltdown, and being in the wrong country for Connect, I've been looking out for any more dates this autumn. And now they're playing Brixton Academy - one of my favourite venues - in September.
So far so good. But I'm left resenting the use of an Agency who charge a £2.75 booking fee for a £25 ticket - and a further fiver to post it to me - a 31% mark up. Yes, I'll probably end up paying up. Reviews of their shows this year have been universally strong. But it's still a rip-off.
And on the subject of being cheated, is there any difference between Things Change "the long awaited debut album from soul duo Fried" - and Fried the 2004 "eponymous debut...a rare gem of an album"? I liked the first album; When You Get Out of Jail was one of my songs of the year in 2004 (although the rest of the album struggled to match it). But why does it seem that no reviewer has even heard of the earlier release?

it's been a while since I saw your ultra-violet smile

I'm still on a buzz from Alabama 3 at the Alban Arena last week. A really good night. It was far from a full house - and the crowd had a large proportion of 40-ish blokes (well that described the six of us pretty well). The crowd seemed to take a little while to get going; the mix at the back of the hall was very bass-heavy, making a lot of what D Wayne was saying indecipherable. And I think a lot of us were just astounded that a band this good was playing a half empty hall in our home town. It got a lot better when Jon and I followed Tom & Jim (who took the pictures) and got down to the front. But the band looked great and sounded even better.

Some great versions of old songs, and I really liked the new stuff they played in the encore. Larry Love and Devlin have a great stage presence together; I really enjoyed the version of Up Above My Head from Outlaw with Devlin on vocals (closer to The Last Train to Mashville Vol 1 version I purchased on the night). The St Albans Chapter of The First Presleyterian Church Of Elvis The Divine (UK) will testify again in October - although I'm seeing the acoustic lineup in Cambridge at the end of the month.

miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam

We got hold of the Tallis Scholars' new recording of Allegri's Miserere last week, after seeing a local choral society performing it in the chapel of All Saints Pastoral Centre at London Colney (see the photo on the website, and you'll realise what a great setting it is). Miserere is very possibly my favourite piece of music, sacred or secular. The mythology and mystery which surround it, the beauty of the music, the feelings evoked as the soloist repeatedly hits top C (remarkably not part of the original setting). It is also one of the few pieces of music that could be claimed to have changed my life - or at least my perspective of music. A friend of my father gave me an original copy of the - arguably definitive - Kings College Cambridge recording from 1963 when I passed the voice trial to get into the Minster Choir when I was 10 (unfortunately, if you give a potential collectors item to a 10 year old, it may not retain it's value. I still own it, but it's been fairly well trashed). I recall the shiver down my spine as I listened to it - I came close to tears as I often have done since. This is the point at which I fell in love with sacred music and began to understand the feelings of transcendence which it can induce. No wonder the Pope tried to keep it for himself. The Devil doesn't always have the best tunes.