The Meaning of Life (Universe Song by Eric Idle)

 . . . maybe for some perspective! 

Monty Python’s Universe Song [from The Meaning of Life]

(John Cleese’s favourite song of Eric’s)

Night all . . . . and sweet dreams!

Julia Westlin - “Haunted”

 JULIA WESTLIN - HAUNTED

I don’t know how or where I found this haunting (sic) vocal  and song but we will sign off the day and wish you a restful night 

❤ DONATIONS: https://www.paypal.me/JuliaWestlinMusic ★ PATREON:   / juliawestlin   ★ WEBSITE: http://www.juliawestlin.com ★ FACEBOOK:   / juliawestlin   ★ MERCH: https://teespring.com/stores/juliawes... Julia Westlin P.O Box 767 J0A 1M0 Warwick, QC, Canada

Check her out here . . . . . :

Julia Westlin

Richard Thompson - 1000 Years of Popular Music - Third Version (2008-2009) | Albums That Should Exist

 Richard Thompson - 1000 Years of Popular Music - Third Version (2008-2009)

Paul notes: From about 2001 to 2009, Richard Thompson occasionally put on a special type of concert, called "1000 Years of Popular Music." The idea started for him around the year 2000, when Playboy Magazine asked him and a bunch of other famous musicians to list what they considered to be the best songs of the millennium. Thompson alone took them literally and gave them a list that genuinely covered 1000 years, whereas everyone else made lists just of the last century. That inspired him to perform this concerts where he played some of his favorite songs of the last 1000 years, with many going back centuries. 

In 2021, I compiled and posted two versions of these kinds of concerts. Those mostly were sourced from concerts between 2001 and 2004. At that time, I also made a third version, mostly consisting of concerts from 2008. But I never felt ready to post it until now. The reason was sound quality. Most of the songs from the first two versions came from soundboard bootlegs or a DVD video. But this one pretty much entirely comes from unreleased audience bootlegs. (As usual, you can find sourcing details in the mp3 tags.) I felt that didn't meet the sound quality standards I'd set for my music blog. I waited, hoping either better sources would be found, or audio editing technology would improve enough for me to make this sound worthy of posting.

Well, better sources never were found, but audio editing technology did improve. Now, in January 2026, I feel this one sounds nearly as good as the first two. I just recently discovered a relatively new filter the MVSEP program has called "denoise." It's great for getting rid of hiss. So I used that on all the songs. I also ran all the songs through MVSEP's reverb reduction. And I additionally ran all the talking tracks through Adobe's vocal enhancer, which does wonders adding clarity to talking.

I know a couple of commenters have been asking for this ever since I mentioned a third version back in 2021. Thanks for your patience! Sorry it took so long. 

Speaking about that Adobe vocal enhancer, since that works so well, I recently used that on many of the talking tracks in the first two versions. Many of those talking bits were from audience boots instead of soundboard boots, so they needed help too. They sound much better now. So I strongly recommend you redownload those albums, if you'd downloaded them before.

Here's the link to the first version:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2021/05/richard-thompson-1000-years-of-popular.html

And the link to the second version:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2021/06/richard-thompson-1000-years-of-popular.html

I was very careful to avoid duplicating any songs from version to version. Luckily, Thompson kept changing the songs on his different "1000 Years" tours. So this should be just as entertaining as the other two versions. Also, like those versions, I've included sourcing information in brackets in the song titles. That includes the songwriter or writers, when known, and the year the song was written, if known.

Actually, I believe the last time Thompson toured with this theme was 2008. I have one song here from 2009, "Substitute," that came from a different kind of concert. But it was done in acoustic mode, like all the songs here, and I thought it fit in nicely, so I included it. Let's hope he comes back to this tour concept someday, because it's a fun way to learn musical history. (Besides, I'd love to see what songs he would deem worthy from the 2010s and 2020s.)  

This album is an hour and 26 minutes long. 

01 Edi Beo Thu Hevene Quene [Praise to You, Queen of Heaven] [1200s] 
02 talk 
03 The Three Ravens [1400s or earlier] 
04 talk 
05 Ja Nus Hons Pris [King Richard, 1192] 
06 talk 
07 Cutty Wren [1300s] 
08 talk 
09 False Knight on the Road [1820s or earlier]
10 talk 
11 Pipe, Shepherd's Pipe [unknown] 
12 talk
13 A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid [Gilbert and Sullivan, 1888] 
14 talk 
15 Down by the Salley Gardens [William Butler Yeats, 1889, set to music in 1909] 
16 talk
17 Rigs of the Time [1905 or earlier] 
18 talk 
19 Brother, Can You Spare a Dime [Bing Crosby, 1932]
20 talk 
21 Strange Fruit [Abel Meeropol, 1937]
22 talk 
23 Parchman Farm [Mose Allison, 1957]
24 talk 
25 Little Boxes [Malvina Reynolds, 1962] 
26 Hold Me Tight - There's a Place - I Want to Hold Your Hand [Beatles, 1963] 
27 talk 
28 All Right [I'll Sign the Papers] [Ray Price, 1964] 
29 Substitute [Who, 1966] 
30 talk 
31 Workin' Man Blues [Merle Haggard, 1969] 
32 talk 
33 Get Up, Stand Up [Bob Marley & the Wailers, 1973] 
34 talk 
35 Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime [Korgis, 1980] 
36 talk 
37 Beds Are Burning [Midnight Oil, 1987]
38 talk (

39 Maneater [Nelly Furtado, 2006]

 

1000 Years of Popular Music - Richard Thompson album here

Richard Thompson - A Hunting The Wren - 2008

Robyn Hitchcock - Robyn Hitchcock Plays 1967 The Chapel San Francisco CA USA 2025 | Albums That Should Exist

 Let years Robyn covers a classic years music featuring work by  The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, The Doors, Country Joe and The Fish,  Love, Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, The Velvet Underground and back to the Beatles to finish with a Day In The Life a la Neil Young!

Robyn Hitchcock - Robyn Hitchcock Plays 1967, The Chapel, San Francisco, CA, 5-22-2025

Paul says: Robyn Hitchcock has always been fascinated by the rock music of the 1960s, even though he was born too late to be part of the music scene then. (His first band was formed in 1976.) In 2024, he released a studio album consisting entirely of covers of songs from the year 1967, called "1967: Vacations in the Past." That was a companion to a book he wrote, called "1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left." I just recently discovered that in May 2025, he performed a unique concert which consisted entirely of cover songs from 1967. So here it is.

I first discovered this concert about a week ago (as I write this in January 2026). When I gave it a listen, my initial thought was that it wasn't worthy of being posted here, due to sound quality issues. The recording I found was an audience bootleg with mere middling sound quality. But it's fortunate I discovered this when I did, and not earlier, because in recent weeks I've learned some audio editing techniques to improve problematic recordings like this one. 

The first thing I did was use MVSEP to separate the vocals from the instruments. Then I ran just the vocals through MVSEP's "reverb removal" feature. I've discovered that doesn't do much to the instruments, but it can really improve the vocals if they're separated out first. That got rid of a lot of echo and murkiness on the vocals. But the sound of his talking between songs was still problematic. So I additionally ran all of those tracks through Adobe's vocal enhancer. It only works on talking, not singing, but it does wonders it enhancing vocal clarity.

Doing all that took a lot of work. But I think it made a big difference. This recording still has some issues, but I think it sounds pretty close to a soundboard-level bootleg now. 

Note that the previous year, Hitchcock did a special concert at the same venue, which consisted entirely of covers of Syd Barrett songs. I've posted that here as well. He made a comment in this concert that he's already thinking about doing another theme type show in 2026. Let's hope this becomes a new yearly tradition for him.

Curiously, even though he played virtually all 1967 songs, there wasn't much overlap with the songs from his "1967: Vacations in the Past" album. The only songs from that one were "Waterloo Sunset," "See Emily Play," "No Face, No Name, No Number," and "A Day in the Life." And by the way, a couple of the songs were actually first released in 1966: "Sunshine Superman" and "Rain." And "Only a Northern Song" by the Beatles wasn't released until 1969. But I could see why he included it, because it actually was recorded by the Beatles in February 1967. It was considered for inclusion on their "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album but didn't make the cut, so it didn't come out until the "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack.

Hitchcock was supported by a small band, with a few guests coming and going. The last song, "A Day in the Life," sounds a bit different because he got off the stage and performed it in the middle of the audience, with the crowd singing along.  

This album is an hour and 33 minutes long. 

01 Baby, You're a Rich Man 
02 Only a Northern Song
03 talk 
04 Astronomy Domine 
05 Lucifer Sam
06 talk
07 See Emily 
08 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
09 Waterloo Sunset 
10 talk 
11 Soul Kitchen 
15 talk 
12 The Crystal Ship
13 No Face, No Name, No Number
14 Andmoreagain 
19 talk 
16 Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine - Sunshine Superman 
17 talk
18 Electricity 
20 Zig Zag Wanderer 
21 talk 
22 I'm Waiting for the Man 
23 The End 
24 talk 
25 I Am the Walrus 
26 talk 
27 Rain 
28 talk 
29 A Day in the Life 
30 talk 

Stephen Stills - 1976-01-25 - Houston, TV (TV SBD) | So Many Roads

 Stephen Stills - 1976-01-25 - Houston, TV (TV SBD)

Stephen Stills

1976-01-25

Night Of The Hurricane II

Houston Astrodome

Houston, TX

TV Soundboard recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Change Partners

02. Know You Got To Run

03. Treetop Flyer

04. Myth Of Sisyphus

05. Crossroads >You Can't Catch Me

06. 4 + 20

07. Word Game

xx. Black Queen (missing)

08. Find The Cost Of Freedom

Stephen Stills - 1976-01-25 - Houston, TV (TV SBD) 

1970s - #4: On December 8, 1975, Bob Dylan brought the Rolling Thunder review to New York's Madison Square Garden for the final concert of that triumphant tour. The concert was also a benefit for boxer Rueben "Hurricane" Carter, who Dylan had written about in his song Hurricane. That tune alleged that Carter had been the victim of racism, leading to a unfair trial that convicted him of a murder he did not commit. The concert raised over $100,000 for Carter's legal expenses. The on January 25, 1976, 5 decades ago today, Dylan held a second benefit for Carter, this time in Houston. Also on the bill were Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes, Dr. John, Shawn Phillips, along with special guests Ringo Starr, Stephen Stills, Richie Havens, and Carlos Santana. Thanks to the public attention brought to the case by the concerts and the song, Carter eventually won the right to a new trial, but was again convicted. Finally, in 1985, that conviction was overturned, with the US District Court in NJ stating that the case had been "based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure." This TV soundboard recordimng captures Stephen Stills at that 2nd benefit for Carter in the Astrodome.

Sounds like Speedy is snowed in but that hasn’t stopped him posting and apart from his re-posting several collections there is this . . . . . I’ll keep me mouth shut as I got into trouble going banging on about Stills t’other day

George at Friar Park | The History Drop (Facebook)

 

1970. George Harrison stands at the gates of Friar Park, staring at what everyone else calls a catastrophe.

The Victorian mansion is rotting. Grass pushes through floorboards inside. The estate's gardens, once the pride of England, have gone feral. Collapsed greenhouses. Buried grottoes. Pathways strangled by decades of neglect.

He's 27 years old. The Beatles just ended. He could go anywhere, do anything. The world is waiting for his next move.

He buys the wreck and decides to dig in the dirt.

Not as a weekend hobby. As a life. He hires ten gardeners and works alongside them, dawn to midnight, covered in soil. His sister-in-law takes one look at the estate and asks what he's thinking. George doesn't try to explain. He just keeps digging.

His son Dhani grows up watching his father work by moonlight, squinting in the shadows because darkness hides the imperfections that would bother him during the day. The music industry keeps calling. They want albums. Tours. More of George Harrison the Beatle.

He wants to plant trees.

Friar Park isn't just a garden. It's an eccentric's fever dream from the 1890s. Caves. Underground tunnels. A four-acre Alpine rock garden with a scale Matterhorn on top. Garden gnomes everywhere. He photographs himself among them for All Things Must Pass, then goes back to pruning.

When a nurseryman mentions slow sales, George buys one of everything in the shop. When someone offers 800 varieties of maples, he takes them all. His wife Olivia remembers him saying, "It's not my garden, Liv." He sees himself as a custodian. The garden doesn't belong to him. He belongs to it.

By 1980, he publishes his autobiography and dedicates it "to gardeners everywhere." He writes that he's simple. Doesn't want the business full-time. He's a gardener. He plants flowers and watches them grow.

Journalists visit and call it un-rock-star-ish. George doesn't flinch. He'd lived through Beatlemania, screamed into stadiums, changed culture. He found it hollow compared to restoring topiary.

After John Lennon's murder, the gates lock forever. George and Olivia keep working. Not for visitors. For the work itself.

He dies in 2001. The gardens are now considered masterpieces of Victorian landscaping. Olivia still tends them at Friar Park. The estate stays private.

George Harrison chose dirt under his fingernails over applause. And in that choice, he found something the stadiums never gave him. Freedom.

The History Drop

who also added 

George's brothers Peter and Harry actually worked as groundskeepers at Friar Park. His son Dhani thought his father was a professional gardener, not a musician. Getting George into the studio became nearly impossible. He'd rather work slowly in the soil than record another album. 

The estate's original designer, Sir Frank Crisp, was an eccentric Victorian lawyer who filled the grounds with philosophical inscriptions and visual puns. One grotto featured the Latin phrase "Two Bishops Once Saw Here," referencing a visit by church officials. George preserved all of Crisp's quirky touches during the restoration.

After George's death, the Chelsea Flower Show created a memorial garden in 2008 with four sections representing different stages of his life. A separate "Garden for George" was established on property he donated to the Hare Krishna movement, continuing his legacy of finding spirituality in cultivation. 

Sources: I Me Mine by George Harrison, Rolling Stone magazine interviews, Dhani Harrison interviews, Chelsea Flower Show archives, Friar Park historical records.

 

Swans - Love Will Tear Us Apart [Various Failures| | jt1674

 

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/806731716978950144/swans-love-will-tear-us-apart

The White Stripes - Ball & Biscuit

 The White Stripes - Ball & Biscuit

Julia Minamata

"Beginnings and Endings: Jack White". For the book "A Circus Mind". >Process Work Prints and more for sale on Society6. American Illustration Chosen Image.

https://www.juliaminamata.com/jm_mainframe_arts.html

Rory Gallagher Live in Paris 1975 |Heavybootz

 

Rory Gallagher - 1975-05-12 - Paris, France

Rory Gallagher
Gare De La Bastille, Paris, France
1975-05-12

sbd (w/ aud* patches > remaster)
mp3 @ 320 [180 mb]
sq: EX-

01 Messin' With The Kid
02 Tattoo'd Lady
03 Garbage Man
04 CradleRock
05 I Take What I Want
06 A Million Miles Away
07 Walk On Hot Coals
08 Out on the Western Plain*
09 Too Much Alcohol
10 Pistol Slapper Blues
11 Going to My Home Town*
12 All Around Man 

tt: 1:18:37

Post Modern Jukebox covers Barracuda - Heart (1970s James Bond Style Cover) ft. Kyndle Wylde

 Barracuda - Heart (1970s James Bond Style Cover) ft. Kyndle Wylde