I got some mail from Paul Wheeler today � the new novel �Luckyono� and 6 tracks from the new CD �Red Blues�. I will probably have to load the novel on my old PC � I can�t remember where I put the detachable drive for the PC. The image of confusion will be reinforced by the admission that I left my portable PC at home this morning by mistake � so I drove home at lunchtime to collect it. By this time Paul�s package had arrived and so I was able to listen to Red Blues all the way through a couple of times. Boy is it good! You might expect me to say that � but really it is quite something. Technically it his best yet and his producer Chris has done an incredible job. I thought on the last one � Seachanges � that the production was strong but I wasn�t sure always how it had tied into the reading of the songs. I mainly put that down to the fact that I had produced demos of some of the songs and so I wasn�t hearing them clearly. That issue doesn�t arise here.

But I do know two of the songs � Blue Grey Uniform and Ghosts � especially the latter which I have had several goes at. The former has been recorded by Phil Manzanera of Roxy and I think I did it with Paul absolutely ages ago. Anyway they are both really good versions � and then there is very clever/funny novelty piece about living the New Age life-style � and a very romantic blues. This includes some very fine flute playing � made me think that I must get a good quality condenser mike � well that�s my excuse. The flute production slightly reminded me of something Sue had done on the Capitol session with Pete Proud � but that might just be my passing fancy. I had better not say any more until I have listened through some more but it is great stuff it really is. Oh � I can say that I think it�s very humanistic - think of Donatello.

Just as I write I am checking through a copy of Serious Music. I promised to send copies to Alan and Stephen from Selwyn. I had one spare copy which is part of a batch Peter C made and I have loaded that into Clean and burnt from there � without using any of the processing power of the software. I don�t think I have heard it through on this rig either. And I have Chris�s amazing work on Red Blues in mind too, of course, as I check it over.

Serious Music is a kind of recap � as indeed was Paul�s first CD � Rain Over the Island. SM includes one Ghosts track, one of the demos from Seachanges and what I consider to be Chris�s best production from Rain Over the Island � a song which dates from the early 70s . Besides that it contains six songs from my Airburst Suite which was the thing that really got me going again in the 1990s � Cathy sings four of these. On top of that there are a couple of pieces that which look towards the kind of material I am producing at the moment � kind of self consciously recent newish music influenced. Do I still like it? Yes � its as simple as that otherwise I wouldn�t give it to people I haven�t seen for a few decades. Why do I like it? Well that�s probably not a question to answer here and now � the short answer would be because it covers a lot of ground and its my best seller.

Shifting focus � I mailed Gilbert to ask him if he was up for 20 minutes of pretty new music � post NYC/Detroit music � thumbs up from Brugge.

There is a kind of daily methodology that emerged during the 10 Short Stories � basically it involves falling out of bed and switching the gear on and getting stuck in and getting something down in a sweaty encrusted state before you have a chance to realise what you are doing. Then spending a fair amount of time listening to it before I decide whether I am going to let it escape. Well I have listened to these 20 minutes a few times through and I have decided that we ought to see what Gilbert can do with them. Next stop is to load them up into Cubase and see whether any little production ploys occurs to me.

They are done on the Cz101 � on one take � although it has a really good control interface and quite good programmability so you can change things on the fly and programme in a degree of �tail� or aftertouch. It has two oscillators and you can control the pitch between them to a sixtieth of a semitone. I know how to get a Pythagorean ratio into the machine on this basis.

Anyway the first piece now has added percussion, piz violin, Hammond and Fr Horn. If I am honest I would say that it bares the imprint of Cage and Feldman � possibly I have stumbled into one of their working methods. Anyway I have just tried it as a backing for a kind of John Tchicai version of A Foggy Day in London Town � something that has been in my guitar repertoire for literally decades. Maybe that�s the lest for a Cage-Feldman derived piece � you have to see if you can busk a Foggy Day � if not then it is definitely too New York.

O by the way � you can read the Claire Short interview at www.kwase-kwaza.org