shylustig

The Week Ahead / Christmas Albums – Jamie Cullum- “The Pianoman at Christmas” – 2020

This, released late last year, when he also made a delightful visit to Saturday Kitchen on the BBC to plug it; is the best Christmas album to show for some very long time.

Many are self-penned and are of a trad-jazz meets pop – The Jolly Fatman, meets swing – Hang your Lights (being a standout track), and all contain a huge feelgood factor.

There are too many to pick from, but I still don’t know why the first single, Turn on the Lights, was not a smash hit?

Turn on the Lights – Jamie Cullum

For the week that comes, will finish my report to Ardrossan, and also report on the latest in Glasgow’s Christmas illuminations in George Square.

Christmas Albums – Johnny Mathis – “Merry Christmas” – 1958

A standard album, that may be one of the biggest selling Christmas albums of all time.

There are all of the usual ones here, and of course he covers “The Christmas Song” by Mel Torme, as so many did and continue to do.

Interesting, that some of his most played songs on Spotify, are from his various Christmas albums (I believe that it is five in total?); in this case, Sleigh Ride is included here, with almost 30,000,000 streams!

Ardrossan, Scotland – Part 1

I went to meet an old friend in the very cold and wet, coastal town of Ardrossan, on the West Coast of Scotland – It was even colder than I thought it would be.

Ardrossan Marina, Scotland (west coast of)

You have to understand the weather in this part of the world, physically and technically, it is not REALLY that cold, but when it’s 7 celsius (42 f), and is humid, and has a 20+ mph wind in your face – it goes down to your bones.

Equally, it’s a rather strange, small place, with three to four train stations! Surely some kind of record for such a low population of about 10,000+?

We ate at the delightful and functional (excellent, friendly service!), Cecchinis, at the marina. It’s a modern Italian place, and is swift, clean and quality – quite full at this time (and weather) and place.

Afterwards, we hiked about the high street, and promenade (more tomorrow), but lastly, there’s palm trees there!

A palm tree in Scotland, a regular appearance on the West Coast

Christmas Albums – Frank Sinatra – “The Classic Christmas Album” – 1948, 1957, 1963, etc

This seems to me, to be one of the go to albums, though will have to listen to again as it was with Spotify, and was a combination of several of FS’s CDs.

A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra – 1957

Some were from the 50s / 60s (he did make an album with Bing Crosby in 1963 with a Christmas theme), which is in my opinion when he did his best stuff ever; swing, collaborations with Nelson Riddle and Quincy Jones, but others seemed to me, to be from his early period, where the arrangements were a wee bit schlocky and had a post-war naivete to them. I believe it is his Christmas Album, from 1948, “Christmas Songs by Sinatra”.

Though it must be said, that something as good as his interpretation of Mel Torme’s, The Christmas Song, is irresistible.

Christmas Albums – Willie Nelson – “The Classic Christmas Album” – 2012

Did a search for this on Spotify, and this showed up; pure class, and his phrasing is spot on as well.

Some are “sophisticated” and some are just plain, old Willie with a guitar.

Personal faves were Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and just like REO Speedwagon yesterday, he for some reason includes Blue Christmas – and nails it!

Willie being Willie

The final entry, What a Wonderful World, is here for some reason? Though I’ve never understood why. It was released in September 1967 originally (by Louis Armstrong), but somehow actually fits here.

4/5

Christmas Albums – REO Speedwagon – “Not So Silent Night . . . Christmas with REO Speedwagon” – 2009

Why not do this, listen to a different Christmas album each day of this Yuletide season?

And why not start with some of the more obscure ones, as the above certainly is. In addition, it is actually the last album (to date?) from the boys from Champagne, Illinois.

The album, including bonus tracks, has 18 tracks on it, and should really be listened to, to be believed! At times, I literally didn’t know that Kevin Cronin was still in the band and singing; his once bright voice is simply gone, but then again, they all must be pushing 180 years of age, so give then an A+ for effort.

The problem, and hopefully will not rear its ugly head in the coming weeks, is that there is nothing really “REO” about the album, and is distinctly regular at times. Though an original, the downbeat, adult contemporary, “I Believe in Santa Claus”, by Cronin and Hall, is a very passable new song.

C’mon lads, you are a very talented group of musicians, and some of the arrangements should have been more diverse and unique. Though at the end, God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen and Blue Christmas make the album very enjoyable at times.

3/5

More street art from Glasgow – Interesting

Another walk in the West End (I really need to go to the city centre more often, and I did, last Friday to see the illuminations in George Square, report to follow), and I came across a couple of new works, apparently from the same street artist, “Silva”?

Silva’s Work

Not really sure what to make of it, though there has been a glut of this during the recent lockdowns, but have been unable to ascertain just who they are? Though to the left, there appears to be some address; @silva.project, which is apparently their Instagram account; worth a look.

Though they do, apparently, like the female form.

Killearn, Stirlingshire, Scotland – Part 2

Closing my review of the delightful (to me at least!), we look at the southern or eastern part of the village (I think?) and a few titbits of trivia.

After the “central” part of the village, said with a cheek, looked at the “residential” area of the village; which ranged from a new development of luxury flats, only 4 in total, which seems to be about the right number (not too many that is) and replaces the old Black Bull hotel, which sadly was sold?:

Old Black Bull hotel, sadly demolished for new flats

To the oldest part of town:

To a very small gallery, the Panik Gallery:

To maybe the most exact hedge trimming I’ve ever seen; a “shopping arcade?” and delightful callbox / library.

The Week Ahead – No blogging recently, we’ve been in Hospital! / Killearn, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Now that things are a wee bit more healthy, we will start to write a little bit more here; but thanks again to our NHS, and in particular, in the speed of their service, that I thought was an oxymoron due to the pandemic – I was wrong, they have been superb!

Killearn – Part 1

But first, finally had a wee trip away from Glasgow, first time in a long time that is, to a lovely village called Killearn.

I always had a memory of the last 10 years, where I was in a small village, with two churches opposite a narrow group of old one floor cottages; this was it.

The instant that I was here on a Saturday lunchtime, I immediately noticed the two churches, one has since been turned into a village hall / cafe / church, with stunning views westward.

What struck me, at least in a way that it appealed to me, was that there was everything you wanted; school, church, village hall, two cafes, pub / restaurant (the Old Mill), and even a “luxury” food shop (below):

Speaking of the café, we did lunch at the Town & Country Designs shop / cafe – very nice food and cake.

More on Killearn later and more blogging during the upcoming week.

Cafe Andaluz – Forgotten gem in Glasgow

I hadn’t been here for a few years, when all of a sudden I wanted to go out last night.

I must say, that the prices are high, and certainly higher than the last time that I was here; regardless, I thought it was a world class meal.

_{Albondigas (meat balls), Pollo rebozados (battered chicken), Queso (cheese), Croquetas (croquettes)}

I also noticed that the red wine we chose, Cal y Canto, I thought I had seen before in “fine” supermarkets, but it still tasted quite nice (superb even!).

This raises the question, why does this happen? Why is it, if I had bought the wine and taken it home to consume, it would not have been so good?