Bigbulkyanglican

Morcheeba

There is no logical reason why in this digital age anyone should buy a greatest hits CD when the tracks are already concluded in previously bought CDs - except perhaps time or laziness in creating a compilation on a CD - BUT i can't resist a good one and The Platinum Collection by Morecheeba is one those in my estimation.

Perhaps they are not up with the very best but the Godfrey brothers conjure a mean grove and successive vocalists Skye Edwards ( till album 5) and then Daisy Martey and successor Jody Sternberg produce a mean grove between them which is ideally suited to hot summers and yes I have all their CDs I now have a hits collection at a bargain £4-97 at Amazon

Rob Dougan -who?

Rob who? is the most common reaction that I get when I introduce people to the music of Rob Dougan through his album Furious Angels. An aussie who was discovered by Rollo from Faithless he  has created a style of music that can't be neatly pigeonholed and packaged and marketed.

Its almost formulaic modern film music - but the best possible most forced formulaic - and if you think that you have heard it before then chances are that you have cos his music has been featured in films scores from The Matrix to current release Hard Candy via Andro, One Perfect Day, A Cold Summer, and LAw and Order - Criminal Intent

It's not dance music, although there are infectious ( sometimes a little repetitive?) drum loops. It's not classical, despite the frequent presence of an 80 piece string section and then there's a voice which could be compared to Chris Rea or Leonard Cohen and lyrics which major on menace and depression

Musically, most tracks feature massive orchestral washes of strings, sometimes soaring and sometimes resonantly deep in a Massive Attack type way. John Barry would appear to be a big influence on  hisorchestration - which is no bad thing.

So you may not of heard of him - but artists are diverse as Kylie Minogue, US, Eno, and U2 have heard his skills as a producer, arranger and remixer.

Tthere is some samples at Last FM here - see an Amazon review below

Clergy Discipline Measure

Went to the kind of slighty surreal meeting which only the Church of England can plan this afternoon on clergy discipline  - concerned you understand with what happens when we misbehave rather than any deliberate misbehaviour of a sexual kind.

The Church of England now has in place new arrangements for how it will respond when some-one makes a formal complaint about behavior of clergy, and maybe 40 clergy in my Diocese gathered this afternoon to hear from the Bishop and the Diocesan legal officer explain what will now happen.

Some reflections are contained below: - I can see Union membership becoming an attractive proposition for many clergy - if nothing else it would offer legal support.

Concern was also expressed at the new and different position which Bishop's now find themselves - especially in a single Bishop Diocese - Tom Butler who was subject to a ruling on a technicality recently in his own Diocese of Southwark has shared some of these concerns read here

Gomez - new album

Have never really been able to explain why I love Gomez so much - much of their work is patchy and their songs have a frustratingly unfinished feel to them which leaves me feeling that a little more attention and work could transform them into something really magical.

Guess its the combination of slightly rough guitar work - some excellent guitars sounds and a lead voice to murder for. Its a little sad that "to do a Gomez" is now reagraded as being one notch up from being a "one hit wonder" since the critics claim that they have never matched the success of their debut album.

Their latest release "How we operate" has recieved some fairly ropey reviews - but its worth a listen and perhaps a buy- and I have had it running in the car for two days now and it grows on you. YOu can hear some samples at their myspace site here

Emerging Music

Good post from Kester here about music and how it creates space for imagination and worship - and wheretherefore some more obviously Christian music ( does it have Christian words etc?) misses the point.

When using so-called Christian contemporary music it is important to ask who is being addressed by the words - is it written from the perspective of teaching or worship and therefore is more appropriately sung congregationally or for a congregation - I detect that much of the material which is made available from the big worship events is actually more affirmation/teaching than addressing God

A similar connection can me made with much classical Christian music - it is often written by composers with no direct Christian faith ( particularly among contemporary classical choral writers) and owes its power much more to the ambience which is created than the words which are communicated.

I also plead guilty to Kesters charge that I don't often listen to music directly - indeed it is a pleasure when I have the time simply to do that as I did recently during a 1/2 term break - and I really listened to Radiohead for example for the first time in ages.

Israeli Academic Boycott

The Guardian has an interesting article on the Israeli Academic boycott - or more precisely how so-called pro-Israel lobby groups have over-egged their response to it - and in particular how they totally misjudge key players within the debate alienating potential supporters in the process.

The Guardian sums up the experience of Paul Mackney the General Secretary as follows:

Mackney was sent over 15,000 messages from boycott opponents. At least 50,000 more were sent to other leaders of Natfhe and the Association of University Teachers, which passed a similar motion last year. Petitions with more than 17,000 signatories were sent to the union. While much of the criticism was well formulated and respectful, there was something troubling about the massive international campaign.

Mackney's family gave shelter to Jewish refugees during the second world war. He has campaigned on behalf of Jewish members for policies for those who do not want to work on the Jewish Sabbath. He opposed the boycott, speaking out passionately against it just before the votes were counted at the conference late last month.

But, he said, a reasoned debate was made extraordinarily difficult by an aggressive campaign involving tens of thousands of activists. "The ironic thing," Mackney said despondently after the motion was passed, "is if we had put this to delegates a couple of weeks ago, before the international pro-Israeli lobby started this massive campaign emailing delegates and trying to deny us our democratic right to discuss whatever we like, it probably wouldn't have passed. People feel bullied, and what we have seen is a hardening of attitudes. All they achieved was making the delegates determined to debate and pass the motion."

It is sadly yet another example of how it is virtually impossible to offer a critical defence of Israel's political actions without being accused by a right-wing pro Israel lobby of being "anti-semitic" - often to the despair of mainstream Jewish leaders and to the devaluing of the phrase.

One of the journalists who contributed the article works for Ha'aritz the more liberal of Israeli daily papers which can be read here

Archbishops' Dispute

With all the ( totally unwarranted) focus on American Anglicanism at the moment a much more fundamental dispute has already emerged between the new Archbishop of York and his more left-wing colleague at Canterbury which should concern all members of the Church of England and others concerned with real faith in the UK.

To try to get a proper Anglican perspective on the real matters of faith then see here

On prayer and dying

Not sure that I am keeping Father's Day - is it not another yuccy US invention - and the family haven't noticed - but others clearly are using it to good purpose

"What happens when the words run out"
Wonderful post Father's day post  here ( but its not a permalink so you may need to move down the page from Sam about the death of his Father - go read

Fun or surreal anglicanism

Stumbled on this link today while looking for a link about The Trinity - what does it say about anglicanism that so much time and energy should go into the detail of being "Anglican" is it fun or surreal? see here!!

Head Automatica

Sharing a label with Joan Wasser but little else are Head Automatic - a power pop band fronted by Daryl Palumbo singer formely with the hardcore band Glassjaw - and they have released a rather special new album called - Popoganda.

Taking a simple formula of 1980s power pop (think Elvis Costello and the Attractions in their glory days) they sound like every band of that era which you have ever had a light headed bob to, - but modern dance pop with a difference as twist through modern production techniques and keep it fresh with the unique vocal melodies, crisp delivery and superb musicianship

Buy it. Enjoy it, then bob away every time their first single "Graduation Day" comes on the radio - and have a listen and get a taste of the music here (and you can select tracks in the green header just to the left of the Get Updates text - clever design which is not immediately obvious)