GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: MW (music)
Date: 19 Apr 10 - 03:30 PM

Yes I'm thinking of doing that already - however as the CD would be a present for a hobby-gardener, before purchasing the song/CD for them, I want to be sure the song/lyrics is/are suited to a die-hard gardener (although he has a great sense of humour of course!)

Since hearing the song this morning, I have Googled like crazy for the lyrics, but with no success so far!

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks

M.W.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Apr 10 - 01:52 PM

As Guide Cats is sold for Charity , can I suggest you buy the CD ?

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: MW (music)
Date: 19 Apr 10 - 01:18 PM

Does anyone know where I can get - online - the lyrics to 'Non Sequiturs" (performed by Roger Lloyd Pack on this particular album) written by Les Barker.

I heard this for the 1st time today! LOL!

Thanks

M.W.

Subject: RE: Guide Cats on Mike Harding Show (UK)
From: breezy
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 02:34 PM

and with Chris Flegg on BBC 2 counties radio as well on the same day!

Subject: Guide Cats on Mike Harding Show (UK)
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 02:15 PM

AT LAST!

Finally, three years after the arrival on the scene of Guide Cats for the Blind, Mike Harding aired a selection on his show last night, apparently in a section on humour in folk.

As a direct result, sales of the CDs took a sudden jump today, proving that there are still customers to be found.

It would be of immense assistance if some of us were to follow this up with requests to our local DJs, and to MH (BBC website), for more airplay.

With Vol. 3. (all poetry) coming up soon, and the possibility of an all song Vol. 4. (song parodies as yet little known), this is a good time to rekindle interest in the series.

Your help will be greatly appreciated by all concerned.

Many thanks
Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Mar 06 - 02:18 PM

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,wildrover
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 06:17 PM

Hi all,

this is to let you know that:
1. The project for which the Guide Cats CD's are raising funds will launch in April, and will then start to benefit blind people for which the vetnure was aimed.

2. We are planning to target Sarah Kennedy with requests to play "My Snails Have Not Yet Arrived" by Timothy West/Prunella scales, so please email [e-mail] or write to her at radio 2.

3. BBC Shropshire's Genevieve Tudor, herself a performer on each album, will interview Les on her Sunday Night programme of the 15th January. This can be heard via "Listen again" on the BBC website.

4. If you're still hoping to get copies of the CD, I'm still here, so please visit the British Computer Association of the Blind website and follow up from there.

5. Don't forget to tell all your friends about the albums.

Best,
Clive

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: lamarca
Date: 04 Nov 05 - 04:17 PM

How would those of us Mrs. Akroyd fans who live across the pond go about ordering copies of both vol. 1 and vol. 2? Are they available on-line or through PayPal?

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 02 Nov 05 - 04:10 AM

She-who-must-be-obeyed picked up on my hints and so this came among my other birthday CDs (mostly blues). The book theft song is one I'll have to learn.

RtS

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: My guru always said
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 03:54 PM

Got mine a couple of weeks ago when Les was at a local club - brilliant as usual!!!

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 01 Nov 05 - 03:49 PM

Frank Hennessy played 2 of the cuts - a song and a poem - on his Celtic Heartbeats show 10/30 that is archived on Radio Wales and the BBC folk radio list. Very funny, for sure.
Hoping that Frank will play his cut next week.
Les' funniest - to me at least - is the weather report that Frank plays a lot from the first volume.
Chris in Wheaton

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,wildrover
Date: 07 Oct 05 - 06:57 PM

Les is back in Britain after his American tour and you can check out where on his site. Radio interviews are also being lined up for him. If you hear any of them, why not report back to the list the date, time, presenter and station. It'll also help the cause if you email the presenter with listener feedback after the interviews.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: alanabit
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 05:10 PM

I was listening to mine today, Clive, and yes it is bloody funny. Thank you.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,wildrover
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 04:46 PM

Hi all,

just to let you know that tomorrow is National Poetry day, so why not badger your BBC local radio station to play a Barker track. Best of all, hassle them to play a track from the new Persians album.

Best,
WR

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Sep 05 - 08:21 PM

Just got mine today on mail order from Virgin: it goes in the car stereo tomorrow, but as I was advised before with Vol1 it's not a good idea to listen in the car in case you become helpless with laughter!!
TB

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 14 Sep 05 - 02:40 PM

Many happies Liz, hope you get your wish.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Sep 05 - 05:44 AM

Good for you Clive, if I lived in Kent, I'd vote for you!

Well, it's my birthday today and so far, no Guide Cats for the Blind vol II......still, it's early yet!

LTS

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 13 Sep 05 - 08:13 PM

For those who prefer to do their purchasing in person, Clive is doing some research into High Street outlets, and reports that HMV have the CD, and can turn it up instantly by name or number. They are the best THUS FAR. More as it comes in on this.

For the visually impaired, HMV also seem to have a readily accessible website.

One last item of interest:- Clive would never tell, but he has been nominated for a Kent County Council Volunteer award 2005, for his instigation of the Guide Cats project. I have my fingers crossed (makes typing very dickyfelt) that he will be a winner. It would be well deserved IMO. We'll have to wait till November to find out.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 13 Sep 05 - 05:19 AM

Volume two seems to be regarded as even stronger, and better, than Vol 1, by almost all who have heard it.

It is now selling very well, and should continue to do so for a long time.

About one third of the tracks for Volume 3 are already in the can. Production of a third volume was requested by the record company, who have shown a great deal of enthusiasm for the project, and complete faith in our ability to produce.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 07:48 PM

Did I mention it was my birthday soon?!!!

: )

LTS

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 07:37 PM

I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS EVER SINCE I GOT THE FIRST ONE: have (switched caps lock off!) and taken note of the web address if i can't get it in HMV here.
Good luck, Clive, and nice to speak to you and Don.
TB

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,wildrover
Date: 03 Sep 05 - 06:49 PM

Hi all,

the posts so far on this thread have bproved interesting and enlightening thus far. I think the best way to answer the comment that this is all B S and should have no place here because it has nothing to do with music, is to throw hard evidence at it. The title track was composed especially for the album, lyrics Les Barker, music Harvey Andrews; The Ackroyd band appear, as do Steve Tilston, as do I in duo with Wysiwig. But the musical piece de resistance has to be Will The Turtle Be Unbroken, especially recorded for the album by none other than Tom Paxton...so, Mr Grumbling Gargoyle, are you going away with no word of farewell? Will there be not a trace left behind? One can but hope.

Enough of this light-hearted shilly-shallying, as Dan Rowan and Dick Martin would say, and on to business. As has been reported here already, the official release date for the CD is this coming Monday, 5 September. Google searches reveal that it should be available from HMV as well as Amazon. However, if you go into a branch to order it, don't confuse them by asking for it as a Les Barker album. Instead, quote the title, and catalogue number, osmocd032.

In some parts of the country, you may already have heard tracks. Contributor and Shropshire presenter Genevieve Tudor has played Tom Paxton on at least one occasion, and BBC radio Nottingham played three tracks within one Hour last Thursday. Desmond Carrington will play his own track on his radio 2 programme, between 7 and 8 PM on Tuesday, the day after its release. Apparently requests for information are coming in from Ireland, a country to which Les seldom if ever goes to tour. He recently said to Richard Ellin, the Osmosys label owner that since Guide Cats 1 came out, Les now sees on average about 20 people per concert that he reckons he wouldn't have seen without the CD. He's currently touring America, and we can expect loads of radio interviews when he returns in early October. And the more he benefits from the exposure the CD's give him, the happier I am. He deserves it, on account of his genius and generosity.

All the best,
Clive
Co-producer and instigator of
Guide Cats for the Blind/Missing Persians File

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 28 Aug 05 - 07:48 PM

Guide cats Volume 2 "The Missing Persians File" will be available at the Open House Acoustic session at our temporary venue, The Pilot, Upper Stone Street, Maidstone, on Monday 5th September.

Why not kill two birds with one stone, and enjoy our session, as well as picking up your copy of the CD?

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Aug 05 - 06:34 PM

"Official" release date is 5 September. Will be available from Amazon.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 08:37 PM

Why Yes Limpit... I really would like this CD for my birthday next month.....

(If this hint were any bigger I'd need a truck to post it....)

LTS

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 07:56 PM

Hi Girl Friday, and other buyers.

Guide cats vol 2 "The Missing Persian Files" is available NOW from:-

http://www.bcab.org.uk/cd/guide-cats-info.htm Price £10 + p&p

Concession for those who have not yet bought Vol 1:- Vol 1 + Vol 2 Price £15 + p&p from the address above.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 07:49 PM

Kitty,

If you bought it at the A de la Z, my guess would be that you bought it from Clive. If so I will ask him about a replacement.

Please PM me your home address and I'll ask him to send one. Then, you can send back the offending one, if the new one confirms that your player is not at fault.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Girl Friday
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 05:14 PM

Sounds excellent Don. put me down for one please.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 03:39 PM

Don

I bought mine at the Ashby de la Zouch session on the first Friday of Sidmouth - had I known about the special offer for Vols 1 and 2, I might have waited a bit....

I suppose it's just possible that it's a problem on my CD player rather than the CD.

Highly recommended listening, anyway! Brian Perkins and Charlotte Green are a particular treat. Although, I thought the late night rendition of "Iceberg" in the Scout Hut at Grove over last weekend was even more poignant than Terry Wogan's!

Kitty

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Limpit
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 05:28 AM

I think my mummy wants this for her birthday next month.

Limpit

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 04:45 AM

freersh

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 06:51 AM

I think it must be just that one Kitty, as I've heard no similar comment over the last two years. Where did you buy it, and is it possible to return it for replacement?

If not, I will see what I can do to arrange a replacement for you, tho' I can't promise anything at this time.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 13 Aug 05 - 02:44 AM

I've been playing the volume 1 I bought at Sidmouth, and there's a dud track on the 2nd CD - something very nasty has happened to Martin Carty singing "Hard Cheese of Old England". Probably just this particular CD?

Kitty

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Aug 05 - 12:58 AM

September 5th eh?

Just in time FOR MY BIRTHDAY 9 DAYS LATER..

(Sublte hint there......)

LTS

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: mooman
Date: 11 Aug 05 - 11:13 AM

Many thanks Don!

Power to yer elbow!

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 10 Aug 05 - 08:51 PM

Official release date is September 5th 2005.

The CD will be available for purchase at the opening of Open house acoustic on August 15th, and also direct from BCAB online at http://www.bcab.org.uk/cd/guide-cats-info.htm.

Purchase price £10 + p&p(where applicable).

Concession for those who have not yet bought a copy of Guide Cats for the Blind Vol 1.

Buy both from BCAB at £15 + p&p.

Can't say fairer than that.

Mooman and Lanfranc, I'll be in touch by PM as soon as I have them in my hand.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 01 Jul 05 - 10:01 AM

A lawyer working for free !! Now there's a first!

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,Don(Wyziwyg)T (by the postern)
Date: 30 Jun 05 - 07:54 PM

Did I say it was?

If anything the reverse is the case. The lawyer in question, a very good friend of mine, is absolutely NOT responsible for any delay, and has been pushingvery hard for contracts to be finalised.

I should also point out that this very fine gentleman donated his time and effort FOC for Guide Cats Vol. 1.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jun 05 - 05:15 PM

The contract delay is NOT the fault of the lawyer.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 30 Jun 05 - 06:16 AM

Keep an eye out on the Cat Jacqui. I will update when it is released, and I'll check out the situation re. Stateside sales. I would be very surprised if US sales were neglected, given that Tom Paxton is one of the artists on the CD.

Worst case scenario, I may well be able to get one to you direct.

Contracts are being sorted out at this time, and pressing and release should quickly follow.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,jacqui.c
Date: 29 Jun 05 - 11:35 PM

I would love to get hold of a copy. I'm pretty sure it would go down big in Maine, at least.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: mooman
Date: 29 Jun 05 - 05:02 AM

Thanks for your help again Don!

Well a friend of mine, Mr John, got to number one in the Belgian charts with his humourous song (in English) called Potverdekke...It's Great to be a Belgian

Expurgated lyrics here ...minus the live verses about working in the black and avoiding paying tax!

so perhaps there's a chance for Les here if I drop some hints in the right ears!

Liz ...I can give Les the name of the main folk CD importer and distributor here if he wants.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 07:01 PM

'Salright Liz,

I'm going to sort out Mooman's CDs personally.

Don T.

P.S. If they get played enough, we might even create a Belgian following.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 06:04 PM

Les says there's not been any demand for distribution in Belgium up til now....

LTS

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: mooman
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 04:10 AM

Not saying it would be formally required Liz ...just that someone might unwittingly call the EHO because of the funny squeaking coming from somewhere...!(;>)

I was wondering where that crap came from!

moo

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Jun 05 - 01:39 AM

Moo - if you look at Les' website (www.mrsackroyd.com - for some reason my blickifier isn't working today... or it could be me}, it gives you a web address to go to for GCFTB1.

You might be able to get them from Les direct and I've sent him an Email asking for European contacts.

I resent the inference that my presence at a Les Barker session would require the services of the Environmental Health Office... I am a fully trained risk assessor with several years experience.. I am quite capable of assessing myself and the risk I pose to others. Them bloody parakeets are worse than me.. at least I don't fly over and crap on your washing!

LTS

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: mooman
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 05:49 AM

Hi Don,

I live in Belgium and would like to get a copy of both Volumes of Guide Cats.

Perhaps you (or somebody) could PM me and tell me how I can order from outside the UK?

Many thanks in advance!

...and Peace

moo

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 27 Jun 05 - 04:34 AM

"Poetry is music to your ears", now dont start people off on that one again!

Just saw Les at Four Fools, still aching.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Lanfranc
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 07:21 PM

Yes, please, Don!

ASAP

Alan

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: My guru always said
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 04:56 PM

Oh I'm really looking forward to getting hold of one of these, loved Guide Cats 1. Les is superb!!

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Dead Horse
Date: 26 Jun 05 - 04:12 AM

B.S. Definately B.S.
Bloody Superb!
Les Barkers poetry is music to my ears. (but not to be listened to for the first time with a pint at your lips. It can get very messy, all that spluttering!)

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 25 Jun 05 - 12:36 PM

Ain't that the truth, Jenny.

It's not widely known, but for months after the release of Guide Cats 1, Les promoted it ahead of his own merchandise, although he never earned one penny from it, even telling one audience "You can buy my books and CDs, if you show me a copy of Guide Cats you have purchased".

I think he was HALF joking.

How nice a man is that? One of the very best, IMO.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: JennyO
Date: 25 Jun 05 - 10:51 AM

Definitely a big following here in Oz. His concerts are always packed. People go to see him again and again. He was at my folk club in April and we had a full house. Everybody loved him. He's a lovely bloke to talk to as well.

Jenny

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 25 Jun 05 - 04:49 AM

Christ, that Speckled Hen plays hob with yer typing.

He has a big etc........

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,Don(Wyziwyg)T (by the postern)
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 01:20 PM

True,

He gas abig following stateside, and also in Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Probably many other places too.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 09:26 AM

Quite a few Americans love Les, Strollin'. jaqui for a start (joke) but others too. He goes down big there, I believe.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 08:00 AM

I'm with George! Les is a genius and pretty much the funniest guy on the planet. Americans like Gargle wouln't understand his humour, they haven't the mental capacity - they think Bob Hope was funny.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,noddy
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 06:32 AM

I just cannot get enough of Les Barker.
Cannot wait for a copy.
GIVE IT ME NOW!!!

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 06:19 AM

Thanks George, it's always nice to hear from positive people.

Dave, the fire brigade may be more appropriate.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 06:04 AM

Can't wait to buy it... Don't worry about Gargles, arses and elbows come to mind, anyone can criticise what they don't know, it takes no intellectual strength.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: mooman
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 05:23 AM

More like the local EHO Dave!!!

Richard

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 05:00 AM

Cheers Don, we'll make sure it goes home with you. Of course if Liz the Squeak is here, you'll all get a chance to hear just how she got her Mudcat name. I just hope that none of the neighbours call the police !

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Crystal
Date: 24 Jun 05 - 03:39 AM

Fantastic!
I hope my grant comes through in time for me to buy it.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 23 Jun 05 - 07:23 PM

Yes Dave,

Although the pressing hasn't started yet, I do have my first draft copy, and will bring it with me.

Please make sure I recover it at the end (especially if bladdered), as it is the only one.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 23 Jun 05 - 07:16 AM

Any chance of bringing a copy to our BBQ on Sunday. If I play bits of it throughout the afternoon, you might get some advance orders.

BTW Gargoyle (aren't they disgusting and revolting faces which get rid of waste effluent from ancient piles) I think that you will find that some of the items are of musical nature. The first CD contained musical offering from Martin Carthy and the late Cyril Tawney among others.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 23 Jun 05 - 07:05 AM

LOL. I thought this thread was about the basketball game between the young players at Kentucky and Tennessee! UK CATS, VOLS, etc. (UK won!)

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 23 Jun 05 - 06:20 AM

Thankyou Manitas,

The above posting fits perfectly into what I've come to expect when I see the name Gargoyle. I'll tell you a secret Gargoyle. You don't have to buy it. You don't even have to read this thread. It isn't compulsory. Feel better now/

Back on topic, the CD is about 25% music and 75% poetry (music in any case is poetry with a tune, IMHO).

It's for a good cause, it's very funny, and it belongs right here with people who know and appreciate the very talented, and generous, Les Barker, who has once again given us free rein with his material.

Don T.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 23 Jun 05 - 01:57 AM

I thought the Mrs Ackroyd Band were pretty musical!

It includes music, some using traditional tunes, some parodying traditional ( and other) tunes. Many of Les's poems have their rhythms inspired by Gaelic airs.

The thread should stay above the line.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jun 05 - 12:11 AM

And we your obnoxious tripe thrown before ours.

Subject: RE: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 23 Jun 05 - 12:08 AM

hhhmmmmm....appears similar to hacker's handbook, "Old Possum's Book of Particle....Cracks"

POETRY - is not/are not MUSIC.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

aside from CD or the word FOLK this has nothing to do with "music threads - above the line".... I swore-off reading/posting B.S. (for a spell) and now the obnoxious is trype is thrown before my eyes.

Subject: GUIDE CATS VOL. 2 UK release
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 22 Jun 05 - 06:37 PM

The "Guide Cats for the Blind" CD, of chosen celebrities reading Les Barker poems eventually raised well over £20,000, and is still selling.

The coming month (July, probably about the middle of the month) sees the release of:-

"GUIDE CATS VOLUME 2, The Missing Persian Files".

I think the best way to give you an idea of the new CD is to quote the sleeve notes, by Paul Donovan the Sunday Times Radio Columnist.

I have a confession. I never thought Guide Cats for the Blind would be a great success. A mixed bag of radio folk reading strange poems by a relatively unknown Mancunian called Les Barker? Happily I was quite wrong. The combination of his extraordinarily clever wordplay, his stature on the folk circuit - even if the London-dominated literary and media worlds have yet to discover him - and the presence of names like Terry Wogan and Charlotte Green, was such to ensure healthy sales. That double CD has now raised over £21,000 for the British Computer Association of the Blind, a charity that helps people across a whole range of visual impairments to get the most out of their computers. In my experience this community, if it can be called that, contains the most erudite and enthusiastic radio listeners anywhere.

That was two years ago. The Missing Persians File is the sequel, again created by Clive Lever. It follows the same successful format: surreal and funny verse from the prolific Les Barker read (or sung) by stars of music and broadcasting. I'm not a member of the BCAB, just a maverick critic, and my personal view is that it's rather better than Volume 1 - the imagery sharper, the music more tuneful, the puns more inventive.

JOHN HUMPHRYS begins it, just as he so often begins the day for Radio 4 listeners. His reading of The Stealth Comma reflects both his own keen interest in punctuation and Barker's hostility to "smart" bombs. Today's senior presenter might also approve of the second poem, If, read by JOSS ACKLAND, which is as savage about lying politicians as it is faithful to Kipling's great work on which it is based.

HARVEY ANDREWS and JOHN SHEPHERD come next, using vocals, jazz piano and whistling to render the title track, and they're followed by the first of two appearances from PRUNELLA SCALES, adopting her best Morningside accent to engage in A Crufts Conversation about dogs. LES BARKER himself follows, regaling for an appreciative live audience the saga of Cosmo, The Fairly Accurate Knife-Thrower in the style of Marriott Edgar's lugubrious classic Albert And The Lion. EMMA CHAMBERS, best known as the dim blonde verger from The Vicar of Dibley, continues in comic vein with I Don't Like My Boomerang, before American folk legend TOM PAXTON sings - in his beautiful mellow voice and with marvellous string accompaniment - Will The Turtle Be Unbroken.

PRUNELLA SCALES now returns to partner her husband TIMOTHY WEST, she as a French waitress and he as a remarkably patient man who spends his entire life in a restaurant because, as he says, My Snails Have Not Yet Arrived. JEREMY VINE reveals in Napoleon's Circular Retreat From Reading that it was in fact the county town of Berkshire rather than the capital of Russia that engaged Bonaparte's attentions in 1812 - when its hellish one-way system prevented him from getting out of it. NONNY JAMES, presenter of the blues and folk show, Fretwork, on BBC Radio Shropshire and BBC Hereford and Worcester, paints a sensual portrait of Lorna The Library Book Burglar, a well-read kleptomaniac "who hides James Joyce in the place of his choice", and then her BBC Radio Shropshire colleague GENEVIEVE TUDOR recalls a wandering Travel Iron - again in front of a live audience in Birmingham.

In Spot Was Not Like the Rest, ED STEWART chronicles the travails of an unusual zebra called Spot, a full-stop among barcodes. Folk guitarist STEVE TILSTON nods affectionately towards those who love messing about with rusty old motors in Dipsticks and Seals, FRANK HENNESSY spoofs one of Wordsworth's most celebrated ballads in Death By Daffodils, and RYAN KELLY, the blind actor who plays sighted Jazzer in The Archers, ponders Self-Knowledge.

ROGER LLOYD PACK who, like Emma, is best known for The Vicar of Dibley, has a pair of Non Sequiturs, which he uses for not pruning the roses; RODNEY BEWES lives in a once pleasant road that is now, sadly, a One Way Cul-de-sac; and SIC TRANSIT, the Kent folk duo consisting of Clive Lever and Don Thompson, sing, unaccompanied, the saga of The King Of Rome, who is not a potentate but a pigeon. The avian theme is maintained by DESMOND CARRINGTON in The Undead Parrot, though this particular bird is one to be avoided, since it comes from Transylvania and eats sparrows by the score.

The partially-sighted actor GERARD McDERMOTT, in the last of the recordings in front of an audience in Birmingham, offers the fascinating but little-known fact that King Harold Was A Ventriloquist and met not only the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 but also Cosmo the dodgy knife-thrower. That's one in the eye for you, Harold! TREVOR PEACOCK, the third member of the Vicar of Dibley cast to appear, recalls a clifftop picnic interrupted by a man who falls over the edge - in a very English way, of course. The final track is Les's own MRS ACKROYD BAND singing The Lemmings' [PLEASE NOTE PUNCTUATION] Reunion, a somewhat sparsely attended event. It's a poignant, harmonious and in its own way rather lovely end to a delightful album.


Well, there you have it folks. Hopefully another much needed boost for BCAB, and a very entertaining experience for the discerning listener.

Do watch out for this one, it's even better than Volume 1.

I should have details of price and availability shortly, and will then update.

Don Thompson
Co-Producer