Alongside regular collaborators (Mark Fletcher, Jez Salmon and Ian Burrage), guests include Steve Bingham (no-man) on violin and viola, Chris Lee (Pigbag) on Trumpet and Flugel Horn and the human orchestra that is Brian Gulland (Gryphon) on lots of other things.
Signed copies available on request
A Curator writes:
This is not the future we expected or were promised. In 1969 when I watched the moon-landings (with hundreds of millions of others) it seemed that my life would span an unprecedented era of change. Even as a 9 year old, watching the old films and hearing about the changes my parents and grandparents had lived through, I had a sense of the world (and The Beatles) changing before my very eyes. I don’t suppose my grandmother (who was born when Victoria was on the throne) had even thought about man going to the Moon until a few months before she watched it unfolding in the middle of that July night. I wondered then what the world would be like when I was 20 or 30. I knew it was going to be unimaginable.
But that - at least to me - was not how it turned out. Instead by my early 20s it had seemed that change had slowed to a crawl: commercialism and the straightjacket of economic fashion had made the world smaller and slower; the counter-culture changing into the shop-counter culture. Only a fraction of what was predicted in films and books, in the late 60s and 70s, seemed to have come about. The things that technology had brought us were somehow idiot offspring of television; social media, sat-nav, childish ideology and division. I had been left holding a lost future, a-might-have-been, a-should-have-been, an only-wish-it-could-have-been. The only echo of it left, down the years was in the music that remained ever present 50 years later, unlike Al Jolson who was lost and gone long before 1977, the 50th anniversary of The Jazz Singer.
Includes unlimited streaming of Living Space
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
...more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Living Space - a lament for a lost future.
Alongside regular collaborators (Mark Fletcher, Jez Salmon and Ian Burrage), guests include Steve Bingham (no-man) on violin and viola, Chris Lee (Pigbag) on Trumpet and Flugel Horn and the human orchestra that is Brian Gulland (Gryphon) on lots of other things.
Signed copies available on request
A Curator writes:
This is not the future we expected or were promised. In 1969 when I watched the moon-landings (with hundreds of millions of others) it seemed that my life would span an unprecedented era of change. Even as a 9 year old, watching the old films and hearing about the changes my parents and grandparents had lived through, I had a sense of the world (and The Beatles) changing before my very eyes. I don’t suppose my grandmother (who was born when Victoria was on the throne) had even thought about man going to the Moon until a few months before she watched it unfolding in the middle of that July night. I wondered then what the world would be like when I was 20 or 30. I knew it was going to be unimaginable.
But that - at least to me - was not how it turned out. Instead by my early 20s it had seemed that change had slowed to a crawl: commercialism and the straightjacket of economic fashion had made the world smaller and slower; the counter-culture changing into the shop-counter culture. Only a fraction of what was predicted in films and books, in the late 60s and 70s, seemed to have come about. The things that technology had brought us were somehow idiot offspring of television; social media, sat-nav, childish ideology and division. I had been left holding a lost future, a-might-have-been, a-should-have-been, an only-wish-it-could-have-been. The only echo of it left, down the years was in the music that remained ever present 50 years later, unlike Al Jolson who was lost and gone long before 1977, the 50th anniversary of The Jazz Singer.
Includes unlimited streaming of Living Space
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
...more
ships out within 3 days
£10.99GBPor more
Book/Magazine
A Fool's Errand is an Alistair Murphy novel partly designed as a literary accompaniment to his 2023 studio album, Living Space (as The Curator).
A picaresque adventure of an idealistic young man, now grown jaded and old, looking back on his life; trying to make sense of himself, the world he inhabits, and the other worlds that lie beyond in the heavens, spinning through time, space and eternity, to which he dreams of visiting and visits in his dreams. The fables of the Hawker, the Astronomer, Senator, Stockman and Soldier; Boat-Builder, and Advocate, Lounger, and Hermit, unfold, abrade, conflict and collide to provide amusement and understanding as the old man grapples with comprehension of his own futile earthly life in a senseless, uncaring universe; aided and abetted by his unforgettable guide, Earth-Beater, (which, like the book itself, is not an easy ride for it is both ship of the desert and vehicle to the stars. The old man identifies a key moment in his life, which occurred as a child, many moons ago, perhaps in 1969... he projects this significant instant into another time, another past and another world, where he is further enlightened by an encounter with the female spirit of another world. Sci-fi novel; discussion on the meaning of life; flight of fancy; religious examination; magi-like quest, philosophical tract or merely an entertaining diversion from the ennui of the everyday? Let the reader be the judge - the goal, the object, the inner core of the novel open to the subjective interpretation of those who care to turn its pages.
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lyrics
I look into the children's eyes
Tell them stories told to me
And in their day, they'll realise
Why we, somedays look up and close our eyes
Dreaming of home
We're dreaming of home
Maybe as it's been it will be, may be it’ll be that way
Looking ever up and outwards, vain hopes of holding sway
The reich and the ruin, the rumour of war
A flavour of musk that hangs in the air
The lost and the found, the bruised and the sore
Crouched down in the glare
Ever reaching out and onwards, evolution's tireless plan
With the universe expanding, we’re stretching out our hand
The light and the dark, the night and the day
The earth and the moon, the sea and sky
A sign in the stars, pointing the way
We’ll fall but we’ll fly
I’m walking through this world but dreaming of the Universe
And all that I can see, I will hold within my arms
From the surface of the Earth, to the centre of the Galaxy
And outwards to its rim, into eternity
If I choose to wish upon a star
To place my faith upon its light
And when dawn arrives I will walk from my doorway,
Knowing as I do so
All that may ensue
For now I'll lay me down to die
credits
from Living Space,
released August 27, 2023
Ian Burrage: Drums & Percussion
Mark Fletcher: Shuker Bass, Electric Upright Bass, Vocals
Steve Bingham: Violin, Viola
Chris Lee: Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Murf: Acoustic and Electric Guitar, Korg BX3 Organ, Wurlitzer EP200a
Alistair Murphy: Acoustic, Electric and Slide Guitar, Grand Piano, Organ, Mellotron, Roland 700sx, Vocals
Alistair Murphy is a British songwriter, record producer and musician.
He has released
four albums with his band The Half Life as well as solo albums under his own name and his stage name The Curator.
As well as recording and producing a host of his own albums under various names he has produced four albums by Judy Dyble and two by Terry Stamp of the cult proto-punk band Third World War....more
supported by 5 fans who also own “9. In The Glare (We Fall But We Fly)”
They played a wonderful set at Summer’s End in October 2018 which was based around this album . For me it was one of the sets of the weekend. The record is a wonderful permanent reminder of the show. Tony Honour
supported by 5 fans who also own “9. In The Glare (We Fall But We Fly)”
BBT are standard bearers for modern prog, with a sound that evokes the spirit of those legendary 70s bands whilst managing to also be thoroughly contemporary. It's astonishing that over 30 minutes of music of this quality, with such high production values, is being made available for free - and their full albums are also very reasonably priced... Eleventh Earl of Blah
A compilation of rollicking cuts from this Australian post-punk band that plays like a hybrid of the Velvets and the Stooges. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 3, 2017
supported by 4 fans who also own “9. In The Glare (We Fall But We Fly)”
More or less I should text a praise quite similar to that for 'The Divine Abstract’. Well, here no multi-ethno insruments are listed; with exception of bodhran. But this album is as colorful as its precursor and i.m.o. reveals even more shrewdly balanced complexities, which again lead to feel peacefully perplexed or exited or (please don't laugh) "healed"; while & after listening. Fans of e.g. Oregon, M. Oldfield, yMusic or Bang on a Can's melodic works should check Charlie Cawoods marvels. ROWIAL
