A few excellent shows within walking distance of home, over the last few weeks:

1. Lindisfarne were fantastic . Nicely balanced setlist. All the songs you'd expect but plenty of strong album tracks from across their/Alan's career too. Also good to see Nineties touring bassist, Steve Cunningham, back in the fold.

2. Dark And Twisties, a new-ish Swansea-based contemporary folk band, featuring former members of The Rag Foundation and Lost Tuesday Society. They managed to easily replicate the intricate arrangements and sublime harmonies of their debut album, Ungrateful Women and also threw in an invigorated version of CSNY's Our House, for good measure. Brecon's own premier folk-rockers, Enw, played a terrific opening set too.

3. Liz Jones & The Broken Windows, from Edinburgh had a great rapport with the crowd and if I wasn't as sold on the sonwriting as most of the atendees, I still had an enjoyable evening.

4. Nadav Tabak, a New Zealander now based in France, on his first UK tour. He uses guitar, electronic percussion and looping pedals to creat amient/trance soundscapes. I would have told you that wasn't my bag but I had a splendid evening.

Andy Clark, lead singer of Clark Hutchinson.  As reported on FB by Mick Hutchinson.

A mostly Irish lineup this week on Off The Beaten Tracks following the death of Moya Brennan with music from...

The Pogues, The Dubliners, Polly Barrett, Cara Dillon, Van Morrison, Nuala Kennedy, The Alt, Clannad, Karan Casey, Oisin Leech, Kate Bush, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Simon Murphy, Grainne Duffy and McGoldrick McCusker Doyle w/ Heidi Talbot

Tune in at 8pm on https://www.internet-radio.com/station/gingerfeatherfm/

Steeleye in the Lowther Pavilion in Lytham. Good solid set, mixture from throughout the band’s catalogue. Only knew Maddy P and Julian L, but rest of the band fitted in well. (Liam apparently recovering from an op so new drummer sitting in). Missed Thomas the Rhymer but enjoyed Cold Haily Windy Night and an excellent Tam Lin, so overall a very enjoyable evening.

Yes that"s true.

Another major factor is the way the phenomenon  dubbed 'the loudness wars'   is also prevalent  on vinyl  records  , having been  waged on new and reissued CDs  for some years. LPs are commonly  mastered from a digital source. This needn"t be so bad   but extreme compression is used, and the overall  volume is jacked up. This foregrounsds some information, and the initial effect on the listener is impressive. But after a few minutes it"s dreadful- fatiguing  and depressing. There's no real nuance or contrast. EVERYTHING  sounds  TOO LOUD.
This sound is designed for  earbuds , blue tooth , etc. -  short term listening.  For people who want to  sit and enjoy the richness and detail of an album on at least a half decent system, it's  audio death.

Fairport in the magnificent Guildhall in Derry last night. As good as ever. I was only disappointed after reading on here and expecting it that there was no Sloth or Flowers of the Forest...but hey, there was more than enough there for me. (Oh, and no support - I was looking forward to Jen.)

No harm on Peggy, but from the hundreds of instrumental sets at their disposal, I don't understand why they keep doing Bankruptured for so long...It's beyond time for a change. But hey, minor quibbles, a great night. WKWTTG got a standing ovation of it own...

I took a friend with no real knowledge but an open mind and he gave them 8 out of 10, which if you knew him really translates as an 11. Proper order

Not to mention that a lot of the "remastered" reissues aren't from first generation recordings and suffer as a result. Several of the remastered reissues are reportedly quite dire, with dropouts and inconsistent volumes of instrumentation, as I've discovered very recently.

Interesting.

Actually i read a good thing on a fbk page today and fleetingly considered  forwarding it to you but  it was long and i wasn't sure it'd be.of interest. It could have been titled  'why so many vinyl re issues sound ****' but it wasn't.   And the problem isn't confined to reissues.

Online today, in fact.  £60 or so.  Depends how much value you put on the time you spent queueing I guess.  

Fwiw, I actually bought my first vinyl in years the other day (because the band I wanted to hear/own don't have product in any other form - Fflaps, a Cymraeg band)

I got my Strawbs LP, but  this year that was the only thing i succeeded in purchasing on the day.  Online tomorrow, then.

Did anyone else- gasp -  buy a record?  I still find it fun.