Xmas Mix on Ginger Feather FM 2024

Some Christmas tunes and other winter-related music for my final Off The Beaten Tracks show/mix of this year. You can listen to it now on Mixcloud or on Ginger Feather from Monday. 

*** Happy Holidays to one and all ***

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Deck The Hall With Boughs Of Holly
Emily Smith - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen 
Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken 
Faustus - Oh To Be A King 
Skipinnish - December 
Seth Lakeman - Garden of Grace 
Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Simon & Garfunkel - Seven O'Clock News \ Silent Night 
Ben Nicholls w/ Martin Simpson - Flash Company 
Emily Smith - Heard From Heaven Today 
Kathryn Tickell - Carols 
Cara - The Spell of Winter 
Richard Thompson - Happy Days and Auld Lang Syne 
Breabach - Winter Winds 
Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden - Fairytale of New York 
John Lennon - Imagine 
Ukulele Orchestra of GB - We Wish You A Merry Christmas 

The Stranglers - MenInBlack

This album would sit nicely in whatever the opposite of Easy Listening is. I first bought this on vinyl after seeing The Stranglers on the Feline tour. In the years leading up to that I had bought Rattus and a compilation called The Collection along with the Feline album, but nothing prepared me for the post-punk of the MenInBlack album. The only track I knew was Waltzinblack. I gave it a couple of listens but decided that this was not for me and took it to a second-hand record shop on Cockburn Street in Edinburgh. Shame, as it was in a nice gatefold sleeve. If I'd heard the preceding albums - Black and White and The Raven - then this might not have been such a challenging listen but most of the MIB album seemed a world away from Duchess and the like.

As I then worked my way backwards buying the earlier Stranglers albums, as well as subsequent releases like Aural Sculpture, I came to realise that maybe I should have kept hold of the MIB album. I did buy it again, this time on tape, and then when the band released The Old Testament boxed set, I also had it on CD. 

As I type this I am playing the cassette and it is an essential part of the Hugh Cornwell era Stranglers back catalogue. 

I didn't get to see the band on their 50th anniversary tour but saw that they started their sets with two song from the MenInBlack album. Despite the sad passings of Dave Greenfield and Jet Black it was good to see JJ Burnel and, now long time guitarist, Baz Warne carrying on the unpredictable nature of the Stranglers. Come to hear the hits? You'll have to f--king wait!

Off The Beaten Tracks 16 December 2024

Some seasonal songs on this week's show including three from the new album by Janice Burns and John Doran. Listen now on Mixcloud or from Monday at 1pm or 8pm on Ginger Feather FM.

Janice Burns & Jon Doran - Derby Ram 
Pentangle - Sally Go Round The Roses
Tom Kitching - A Long Time Between Sunsets 
Katherine Priddy - Third House on the Left 
The Young 'Uns - Ghafoor's Bus 
Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden - In The Bleak Midwinter 
Lindisfarne - Lady Eleanor 
Linda Thompson - Weary Life 
Janice Burns & Jon Doran - The Trees Are All Bare 
Peter Knight & Jon Spiers - Isadora's Reel 
Banter - Eve Of New Year Merry 
The Albion Christmas Band - Winter Song 
Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies - The Ex-Pitmen's Pot-Holing Pub Quiz Team 
Kate Bush - Under The Ivy 
Janice Burns & Jon Doran - Green Grows The Holly  
John Renbourn - Judy 

Recommended releases 2024

Another year of presenting my Off The Beaten Tracks show on Ginger Feather FM and another list of new music released since January. Thanks as ever to Citizen K at GF FM for uploading our shows so they can be broadcast on an unsuspecting public on internet-radio.com. A mostly folk music Top 15 but some other stuff by the likes of Pokey LaFarge, Errol Linton and The Staves all of whom I saw at the last ever Towersey Festival back in August. 

So thanks for listening or just checking out the playlists posted on here. Here are the albums I've most enjoyed listening to this year, in alphabetic order.

Wishing you all a Merry Festive Season and a Happy New Year!

Colin 

https://www.mixcloud.com/cmbertram/ 

Jack Badcock - Cosmography 

Banter - Heroes 

Janice Burns & Jon Doran - Great Joy to the New 

Charlotte Carrivick - Sensible or Otherwise 

Jake Xerxes Fussell - When I'm Called 

Tom Kitching w/ Marit Falt - Where There's Brass 

Pokey LaFarge - Rhumba Country 

Errol Linton - Love Gone Cold 

Lassi Logrén - Jouhikko 

Ben Nicholls - Duets 

Grace Petrie - Build Something Better 

Katherine Priddy - The Pendulum Swing 

The Staves - All Now 

Miranda Sykes - Out of the Woods 

Linda Thompson - Proxy Music 

Off The Beaten Tracks 9 December 2024

You can listen to this week's show on Mixcloud or on Ginger Feather FM from Monday.

Simon and Garfunkel - Hazy Shade of Winter
Cat Stevens - Wild World
Luke Jackson - Who Knows Where The Time Goes
Grace Petrie - Tom Paine's Bones
Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas - Emerson
The Proclaimers - Cap in Hand (live)
Claire Hastings - Let Ramensky Go
Gilmore & Roberts - Fleetwood Fair (live)
Steeleye Span - All Around My Hat
The Carrivick Sisters - Sweet Baby James
James Taylor - Sunny Skies
Errol Linton - Bo Diddit
Jerry Lee Lewis - House of Blue Lights
Rosanne Cash - My Baby Thinks He's A Train
Hayseed Dixie - Summer of 69
The Proclaimers - Sky Takes the Soul (live) 

The Ups and Downs of Mental Health

Today has been a day of fluctuating emotions and feelings. At my last therapy session I was told that getting more involved with activities, be they social or exercise or whatever, would be good for me which I kind of knew already but it helps to hear this from a qualified person. I was told that you can use the Five Minute rule. Go along to something and stay there for at least 5 minutes. If your anxiety is too severe or you're just not enjoying it, then leave but at least you'll be able to say I went there and did it for 5 minutes and that in itself is a positive thing to build on.

So today I was intending to go to an afternoon music session in town and thought I could put this rule into practice. But as the morning went on my anxiety got worse. In the past I might have given in to the call of the wine bottle but today I stayed sober, had an early lunch and set off into town. As I walked and got nearer to the venue, which was familiar to me, the anxiety didn't let up. I knew I'd get there after the session had started but thought that wouldn't be a problem as it seemed like the sort of thing where you wouldn't be expected to be there for the full two hours.

I stopped briefly at the door but only saw one or two people as presumably the music was being played in a different room. But I couldn't go in. If depression has the black dog, anxiety must have a different animal, maybe a cat as they do not like going anywhere, preferring the safety of their home. 

So I walked on. I had other things to do in town so used that as an excuse to not go into that potentially dangerous place (as the cat would see it) and stayed outside going from shop to shop pausing only for a while in a cafe for a cup of tea and a snack. 

I then walked home but was anxious about how my wife would react to me not going to the music session. I knew she would ask about it, which she did, and I mumbled some excuse about not getting there for the start and my anxiety being bad. 

After going through some post that had arrived and looking through my purchases from town I headed up to the bedroom. I lay down and put on some calming music. But while lying on the bed my mind grew dark and thoughts of self harm went through my head. Our black cat was on the bed with me but she was not the cat of anxiety. She could sense that all was not well with me and kept me company until the darkness lifted. 

When the music ended I put a light on and picked up my phone. Someone had made an amusing comment about the new Paddington film which made me laugh and I felt ready to face the world again. 

It is scary having thoughts about possibly ending your life but I had enough positives to keep those thoughts at bay and I'll live to fight another day. And remember, there are people out there who can help. 

Mental Health Helplines.