Back Catalogue

It’s a while since I went into a record shop and bought anything. so I’m driven back to the shelves of ffmailiar CDs and yes, now I think about it there are quite a lot of them. So one of the pleasures of lockdown is to follow the impulse provided by stuff I read and watch. The Guardian has a double-page spread in which a wide range of musical names look back over 50 years of Carol King’s Tapestry - so that gets played. I listen to the brilliant Malaika Kegade on a zoom poetry night, send off for he book, and re-eread her wonderful poem Music. that includes the line “Winehouse - that voice could fix anything.” Of course it could, so she goes onn the player as well. As does Keith Jarrett, subject of a stunning portrait by the film-maker Mike Dibb (on Whitechapel Gallery’s website - see my blog entry for Jan 23). I read a book review, where they’ve republished Jackie Kay’s portrait of Bessie Smith, so I remind myself of exactly how good she is. I like this game. It could go on a while.