Here's a playlist of all 40 versions of the classic garage song Louie Louie that I could find in Spotify, after removing a few duplicates. It makes for great listening while training. The original version (or as close to it as makes no difference) is in numbers 9 and 10 on this list, while the version that really got the ball rolling is by The Kingsmen, number 3 in this playlist.[embed size="compact"]http://open.spotify.com/user/therealgrumpybob/playlist/3YIE7t3XjYcgAR0x1hE9kO>[/embed]Astonishingly, this song was the subject of a 31 month FBI investigation into supposedly obscene lyrics. The FBI concluded that the lyrical content couldn't be divined from listening to the song. More at Wikipedia's page on Louie Louie, and the web page devoted to Louie Louie.

So I finally shook off the post-viral fatigue and began the slow haul back to form.The good news is that by mid February I was back where I was before falling ill on 22nd December - at least as judged by the critical mean power data I was collecting via the Polar computer on my turbo bike. I'm presently focussed on regaining as much form as possible prior to my first open event, the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25' on 17th March. Fortunately this event is unusually late this year (by about two weeks). But on the downside, my 2-up partner has suffered the same illness as I have, but running a week or so behind me. It's generally felt that a Team Grumpy Omnishambles beckons.In preparation for the opening of my racing season (on 9th March with a club event) I've cleaned up my time trial bike, which has hung unloved since returning from the 2012 Duo Normand. I've scraped off the mould growing on spilt energy drink, and I've replaced the bar end levers that got damaged in the September crash. As far as I can see, the bike is in better shape than I am. I'm overweight and undertrained, after all.The turbo trainer bike, an old 531 frame from Ribble with miscellaneous parts sourced from the parts bin, has finally given up the ghost after about 15 years mounted on the turbo. It is very rusty and irreparable. As a stopgap measure, I've put my old summer bike on the turbo. On the upside, it's lovely and smooth compared with it's predecessor. On the downside, I'm not happy with a Record-equipped custom built 753 frame going the same way as the Ribble. So I'm in the market for a second had or otherwise cheap 23.5 inch road frame for turbo use.

Way back in my late teens when I was first exploring the world of music, the usual way I would choose LPs would be browsing the inky music papers and by judging an LP by its cover. Shallow perhaps, but both avenues left me liable to be misled by the general scorched earth policy of punk and post-punk, particularly when informed by the NME. I particularly recall seeing albums by the three bands below in the racks at the Ezy Ryder record exchange in Greyfriars Market.The first of these, by the then London-based Ghanaian/Caribbean band Osibisa, was characterised by a Roger Dean cover, which naturally (if unfairly) led me to think this was some kind of ghastly Yes style prog rock. I say unfairly because, as the Wikipedia page on Osibisa observes, these covers predated Dean's work with Yes. I took advantage of my explorations on Spotify to have a listen to Osibisa's eponymous first album. I think I can safely say my younger self would have hated it (though partly to keep up with the prevailing taste of the era). Now, being a bit more broad-minded I actually quite like the record - at least enough to give it further listens (but probably not enough to buy it).[embed size="compact"]Osibisa – Osibisa (Digitally Remastered Version)[/embed]Van Der Graaf Generator are one of those bands which one definitely couldn't like by the time 1977 rolled round. Unfortunately, one of the things that determines whether or not I like something is the vocal. And I must say I didn't much care for this record too much.[embed size="compact"]Van Der Graaf Generator[/embed]Punishment of Luxury's Laugh Academy is an LP I definitely recall from EzyRyder's racks. Goodness knows why I never gave it a blast at the time. Listening in 2013 (34 years after its original release!), it's definitely a record of its period. But given that's an era I am particularly fond of, it's perhaps no surprise I rather like it. More listens forthcoming.[embed size="compact"]Punilux[/embed]

I caught some of this when it was broadcast live yesterday (at 5am!). Here's the video...[youtube fymChgeO00g]

I have decided to try a 30 day trial of Spotify premium. This is kind of alien to me, really, as my whole music listening past has been focussed on collecting music - mostly in album form - and the concept of merely accessing music from the web is anathema.I've installed the Mac app, the iPad app and the Logitech Media Server plugin.Actually, though, I can see this being an avenue to listen to music before buying it in a higher resolution format (I usually go for flac). I will give Spotify a month (i.e. the trial), then decide whether I'm really going to be getting £9.99 (per month) of value from it. Even the Premium account delivers pretty lo-res music.

Here's a digest of recent music added to my collection.Black Pus - This came across my radar via the music site The Quietus which featured a track (1000 Years) from an upcoming album.[soundcloud id='70726224' color='#ff7700']There area  few Black Pus albums available on Bandcamp - I bought Pus Mortem. I kind of like the stripped down clatter of Black Pus and find it unaccountably invigorating.[bandcamp album=408643617 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=fa1520 size=grande]Cyclopean is a collaboration that includes a couple of founder members of Can. They have a four track EP out on Mute. You can get flac downloads, but not I think from the Mute shop. It's pretty straightforward electronica, but nonetheless enjoyable for that. Here's an edit from one of the four tracks on the EP.[soundcloud id='77259492' color='#ff7700']Fire! Orchestra - Exit! Slightly unusually for me, I added a free jazz album this month - Fire! Orchestra's album of late 2012, Fire! I've kind of been inveigled into Gustafsson sax jazz via Neneh Cherry and The Thing - see their cover of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream. Despite being live, this is quite laid back a lot of the time. Two tracks - here's an edit of one of them[soundcloud id='76288623' color='#ff7700']Merzbow Pandi Gustafsson Cuts A rather noiser outing for Gustafsson, this time in the company of Hungarian drummer Pandi and Japanese noise artist Merzbow. Bought as flac download. Here's a snippet:[soundcloud id='72072638' color='#ff7700']This I rather like. There's a general thread in my listening these days, to include sound textures as much as music, hence my liking for both the introspective analogue bleeps and gurgles of Pan Sonic and wilder noise.My Bloody Valentine mbv.  This caused something of an interweb sensation when released - the website crashed due to all the hits. I'm not a major MBV fan, but I bought it in part to see what the fuss was all about. To be honest, I wouldn't rave about it ... yet, but it's definitely growing on me. It's really a bit of an old-fashioned shoegaze type album, and I'd have to leave it to the MBV fans to identify whether it represents a significant advance over previous MBV offerings.Finally, today's the release date of the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album, Push The Sky Away. Keenly awaited, the download link is still not active - I ordered the super deluxe edition to be released in April, so all I'll get at the moment is an mp3 download. I am sure it will repay the patience. More on that later.

This has quite frankly been the worst start to a cycling year since I took up cycling seriously about 20 years ago. In the last instalment of My month in cycling, for December, I noted that I'd been quite ill over Christmas. I don't know what that was that afflicted me so badly for a few weeks with heavy coughing and fevers, but it left me with persistent fatigue. My resting pulse rate has risen and fallen from day to day, and on some days the slightest exertion causes my heart rate to rocket.So, it's not been good. Having lost weight over Xmas, I'm now piling the pounds on as I was unable to take serious exercise for 5 weeks.From about 26th January, this began to change, and I have not only begun training again, but I have started cycling to work again. Turbo training has never seemed to attractive! I use a Polar power meter on the turbo - it may be at the less sophisticated end of the power meter market, but at least it can give me a useful estimate of where my fitness is at. And it's rather clear that this extended illness has cost me dear. It will be interesting to see if I bounce back, or grovel back.

Pere Ubu - Lady from Shanghai. (Bought as flac download) David Thomas and Co are still at it, with another good album. From the website, it would seem that an accompanying paperback book is available outlining the way the album was constructed. This may seem a bit over the top, but note the extra special limited edition of Nick Cave's new album - perhaps this is a trend!The Haxan Cloak - I bought the eponymous first Haxan Cloak album, again as a flac download), after hearing one of the tracks (The Mirror Reflecting (Part 2)) from the forthcoming second album on Soundcloud, which I found via Cosey Fanni Tutti's Twitter. I suspect the new album, due in April, is likely to present a more atmospheric sound.Todd Snow - Emergence - This is something I also noted from Cosey's tweets. Quite atmospheric and almost ambient, it's available on Bandcamp in any format (of course, I chose flac).Magazine - Live and Intermittent - Bought on CD via the wire-sound website. Bit of a nostalgia trip for me. Magazine always were one of my favourite bands of the late 70s/early 80s. Their post-reform album No Thyself (it's on sale at the moment, good value at £5) is better than I expected and a worthy addition to their discography. Anyway, back to the live Magazine CD - it's a bit lo-fi in places, but if you were there back in the day a nice reminder. I also picked up Dave Formula's CD Satellite Sweetheart, but haven't  had a chance to listen to it much so far.

My last post, on the first records I bought, reminded me of the days in which I used to spend time rootling through racks of LPs. I was something of a late starter in music buying, not acquiring any kind of record player until I left home for university. In my case, this was a 'music centre' - it was several years before I obtained components that might reasonably be termed 'HiFi'.  In any case, I enthusiastically explored many genres of rock and pop before moving off down a direction informed by punk and its sequelae of post-punk and industrial genres.Anyway, in those days record buying was a far more satisfying business. One hung on the words of the inky music papers, alerted to upcoming releases, deciding whether to believe Paul Morley's review which seemed to feature his grey socks, picking out what one should be seen to like, etc. Of course, the inky rag of choice both reflected and directed one's taste - in my case I favoured the NME. Down in the record shops, we leafed with great dedication through the racks of greasy plastic covered sleeves trying to divine from the graphic design what might be within.But back to record shops. It's always seemed to me, looking back, that we've moved from smaller local shops (staffed by people with a real interest) to a more supermarket approach (Virgin Megastore, HMV), and now to a general disappearance of record shops from the high street (presumably as we move to online shopping and buying music via downloads). I did a quick google search for one or two of the shops I frequented and came across this serious nostalgia-fest: Record Shops (at the Edinburgh Gig Guide website).Thing is, I can recall both the circumstances of the purchase, and the shop in which I bought almost all of the vinyl LPs in my collection. These LPs are really a series of hooks into the memories I have of being a student.  Also I have a better memory for individual tracks on these LPs than those bought on CD or as download. I think this is at least partly due to the punctuation of turning the record over halfway, but also to the element of scrutinising the record sleeve and I suppose the sheer dedication of my listening in those days. There are very few CD sleeves I've ever spent much time with, and of course the lack of decent artwork and sleeve notes is a major let-down of download purchases.I find myself in an era where - probably as a result of my age and lifestyle - music listening and discovery has become a very solitary activity, though much, much easier. I'm not a luddite: the majority of my music these days is obtained online, and I enjoy Last.fm, Soundcloud and Bandcamp as avenues to find music, but I have to confess to moments of nostalgia for the days of leafing endlessly and greasily through racks. 

There's a news story over at the BBC website, First records, and where you bought them, which made me think. So, confession time.My first single was Roadrunner, by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.The first LP I bought was Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd.Both were, I think bought on the same shopping trip in late 1977 at a rather ace record shop in Edinburgh called Phoenix Records. Located on the High Street, it is sadly no more. These were the days when browsing for LPs was a process of leafing through racks of sleeves covered with clear plastic jackets, all greasy from other people's  fingers. It may be that my ageing memory is at fault, but I am sure I recall the LPs being arranged by Record Label rather than artist.Shortly after, I got caught up in the Year Zero of punk/post-punk (you can see my current tastes in this graphic representation of my last.fm scrobbles). The Pink Floyd disappeared, but more mysteriously (given the cultural circumstances), so did Roadrunner. Both are now present in my digital and digitised collection. Here's a YouTube video: