Friday 4 November 2011

"Now it is the Fifth of November"

Down in the park
In the last of the light
Among the stray dogs and families
I smell the bonfires and 
Watch the bombs
Fireworks burst above the trees
Into pillows of white cloud
And another year has gone
Now it is the fifth of November

The Bluebell - Patrick Wolf

Bluebells - Patrick Wolf
from the album, The Magic Position (2007)

Hurrah!  Guy Fawkes Night tomorrow!  Hope everyone has a cracker of a weekend!  (Excuse the pun...)

And, actually, let's have a little more Patrick Wolf while I'm here:

The Libertine - Patrick Wolf
from the album, Wind in the Wire (2005)

I love androgynous, violin-playing, modern-Victorian-street-urchin Patrick Wolf, with his songs based in ancient mythology, the Cornish wilds and the literature of Virginia Woolf.  So beautiful, so unique, so exhilarating.  And perfect for this season - as the nights grow longer and the frosts set in, his first four albums go onto heavy rotation, particularly Wind in the Wires and Lycanthropy.  But it continues to deeply upset me that his most recent album is complete and utter pants.  I'll just have to go back to pretending that it never happened and that we're back in 2003:

To The Lighthouse - Patrick Wolf
from the album Lycanthropy (2003)

2 comments:

  1. Funnily enough, when I woke up yesterday morning, Patrick Wolf's saxophonist was asleep on the sofa..! I really loved Lycanthropy and Wind in the Wires, but sort of got bored by the time The Magic Position came round. I haven't listened to the lastest album, so can't pass comment but I fear that it's not as good as his earlier output. Pumpkin Soup, A Boy Like Me and The Libertine are just perfection (and the former is very event-appropriate right now!) xxx

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  2. Funny coincidence! But don't tell the saxophonist I was saying nasty things about the latest output!

    To be honest, I've not listened to the whole of the new album but I thought the singles and new songs that were played at a gig late last year were rubbish, enough so to put me off listening to the rest of it. There could be some hidden gems on there but I do think his best days are sadly behind us.

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