An Evening With Eckhart Tolle In London 2023.

I haven’t been inspired to write anything on my blog page for a while, but I had a very enjoyable visit to London yesterday which I thought I would tell you about. This is what happened. I caught the 10.47 train from Westbury to Paddington which was at least 45 minutes late by the time we arrived in London, but no matter, I had plenty of time on my hands so decided to saunter through Hyde Park to my hotel in South Kensington. It wasn’t sunny but quite warm and very pleasant looking at the birds on the Serpentine and the squirrels scampering about among the autumnal trees. I emerged from the park at the Albert Memorial and walked up Queensgate where I found my hotel. It is the same hotel I stayed at when we saw Van Morrison at the Teenage Cancer Trust concert quite a few years ago. After I checked in, I had a nice nap for the rest of the afternoon. When I woke up at about 6.00 I had intended walking the short distance to the Royal Albert Hall but it was raining, so I hailed a cab and arrived about an hour early. 

The rain eased off and I hung about outside for a while chatting to people. It was nice talking to people who had the same interest in Eckart Tolle. Finally, I entered the historic building. At the merchandise stall I bought a couple of Eckhart’s books that I hadn’t seen before, Oneness With All Life and Practicing The Power of Now which is a collection of passages from his writings. Then I bought a glass of lemonade which lasted me all evening and took my seat. I was right up in the top circle but that didn’t matter because you got a great view, and they had big screens as well.

Eckhart was introduced and he sat on a chair with just a small table next to him and spoke seemingly without any notes to 5,000 people for two hours. That is the length of a football game with extra time. It didn’t seem like two hours though. The time flew by because he is such a great speaker. One thing I like about Eckhart as well as his wisdom is that he has a great sense of humour, so his talk was punctuated by intermittent laughter from the audience. At other times you could almost hear a pin drop in the huge hall in the stillness between his words. I remember seeing Krishnamurti talk in the 80s at Brockwood Park and he was very serious, also I didn’t understand half of what he was saying, you had to concentrate really hard to try and grasp his message. With Eckhart though he says very deep and intellectual truths in a straightforward way which anyone can understand. 

In case you don’t know anything about Eckhart this is what it says on his website.  ‘Eckhart Tolle is widely recognized as one of the most inspiring and visionary spiritual teachers in the world today. With his international bestsellers, The Power of Now and A New Earth—translated into 52 languages—he has introduced millions to the joy and freedom of living life in the present moment. The New York Times has described him as “the most popular spiritual author in the United States”, and Watkins Review named him “the most spiritually influential person in the world”. Eckhart’s profound, yet simple teachings have helped countless people around the globe experience a state of vibrantly alive inner peace in their daily lives. His teachings focus on the significance and power of Presence, the awakened state of consciousness, which transcends ego and discursive thinking. Eckhart sees this awakening as the essential next step in human evolution’.

I don’t think anything Eckhart said last night was particularly new to me because I have read The Power Of Now, Stillness Speaks and A New Earth and watched his videos on almost a daily basis on YouTube for the last three years or so. However, when I saw that he was speaking in London I knew it would probably be the only time in my life when I would have the opportunity to be in his presence, so I am very glad I bought a ticket. Among other things, he has taught me that we are not our thoughts. There is a much deeper consciousness than that. We all have to think obviously, but our thoughts are mainly just the product of the conditioned egoic mind. Most thinking is just a lot of mumbo jumbo that comes into your head uninvited and is usually negative and a waste of energy. 

The only time that exists is Now, yet most people waste their lives mulling over the past or thinking about hypothetical situations that might or might not happen in the future. How great it is to be able to turn off the constant commentary that is going on in your head. It is much nicer to just accept the present moment for what it is, relax, be aware of your breathing, and watch the world go by. Going for a nice walk every day and getting in touch with nature is the perfect antidote to the modern world. Anyway, I won’t bang on because Eckhart is far more articulate at expressing these things than me. There are lots of books and videos out there if you want to learn more. I think you should because the world is in a right mess at the moment, run by unconscious lunatics, and the only hope of A New Earth is a spiritual revolution. I’m not talking about organised religion which has done untold damage in the past, but an awakening to the universal consciousness which we all share. Thank you very much Eckhart Tolle for a wonderful evening.

 

Meditation: Eckhart Tolle

Review: Beyond Words: Instrumental by Van Morrison.

Van Morrison will be celebrating his 78^th birthday in a few days’ time, but the Celtic soul brother is showing no sign of slowing down. Van has just created a new label called Orangefield Records for the purpose of releasing archive recordings from his long career. The first release on the new label is Beyond Words: Instrumental. It is a compilation of seventeen previously unreleased instrumental tracks from the 1970s, 80s, 90s & 2000s. It is only available on CD via Van’s own website. My copy arrived on Friday 25^th August, the day of release, and I have been playing it ever since. It is a most enjoyable album indeed.  I’m guessing the first three tracks Beyond Words, Jammin’ With Eddie & Driving On A Country Road would have been recorded in the early 70s when Van was living in the Bay area of California. The other musicians might have known each other from playing in Jesse Colin Young’s band. 

Bass player David Hayes has played live with Van more times than any other musician and appears on all but two of the tracks on this album. The title track Beyond Words is well named because Van seeks to go beyond words and into the pure emotional abstraction of guttural noises, happily scatting away and improvising to his hearts content, with lots of da, da, das, oohs and aarhs. It reminds me of the live version of Listen To The Lion. Jammin’ With Eddie refers to the guitar player Eddie Ottenstein. On this track and Driving On A Country Road Van on acoustic guitar trades licks with Eddie on electric to great effect. Van plays alto sax on the following very rhythmical danceable track called Breadwinner. Jim Rothermel plays tenor sax, James Trumbo is on keyboards and Dahaud Shaar features on drums. Some of the musicians were members of Van’s great Caledonia Soul Orchestra so I think this track must date from that period.

David Hayes, Van.

After the demise of the Caledonia Soul Orchestra Van assembled a small four-piece band of himself, Pete Wingfield, Jerome Rimson & Peter Van Hooke, so I’m guessing that Cool For Cats and Parisian Walkabout would date from about 1974. On Cool For Cats Van shows his skill on harmonica and Parisian Walkabout has Van on alto sax and Pete excelling himself on piano. The great Mick Green plays guitar on So Complicated and the traditional folk tune Kerry Dancing which is jazzed up by Van. Martin Winning appears on tenor sax and Bobby Irwin on drums. Jef Labes piano playing and string arrangements graced several of Van’s albums in the 70’s & 80s and Jeff appears on three wonderful tracks on this album, All Saints Beneficial, Celtic Voices and Mountains, Fields, Rivers & Streams. I also love the contribution of harpist Nadine Cox on two of these tracks. Nadine & Jef both played on Van’s album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher so I think these tracks must date from that era. 

Pee Wee.

My favourite track of all on this album is The Street which features the unmistakeable tenor sax sound of the late great Pee Wee Ellis. Another aspect of this piece is the ethereal backing vocals of Stephanie & Mihr Un Nisa Douglass. I have also always enjoyed the ambient, meditative sound of the keyboards, trumpet and synthesiser playing of Mark Isham on Van’s albums between 1979 and 1985. Mark plays on this track and three others Far North, Time To Get Ready and Song Of Home. I think any of these tracks would have fitted perfectly into Van’s albums of the 80s and early 90s. Before I had heard this album I thought Far North might be an alternative take of Scandinavia from the Beautiful Vision album. It isn’t, but my guess wasn’t that far wrong. They both have an Autumnal mellow quality, perfect for a Sunday afternoon in late August.

Neil Drinkwater plays keyboards on 12 Bar Celtic and Martin Drover is on trumpet with Steve Pearce bass and Roy Jones drums, so I think this track must be from the late 1980s. The final track is Greenwood Tree where Van is joined by his old friends from The Chieftains the much-missed Derek Bell and Paddy Moloney on harp and whistle. A joyful tune to bring this most enjoyable album to a close. If Van has more music of this quality in the archive, then I am certainly looking forward to hearing future releases from Orangefield Records.

Van Morrison - Scandinavia

Van Morrison's Instrumental Music.

Next week I’m looking forward to hearing Van Morrison’s new album which is called Beyond Words. A collection of 17 previously unreleased instrumental tracks from the archives. Although I haven’t heard any of the tracks yet, I think hopefully it might turn out to be Van’s most satisfying album since Three Chords & The Truth in 2019. The news of the impending release seems to have been welcomed positively by most fans, but I have noticed that some people have reacted by saying things like, “If there are no vocals I’m not interested, it isn’t Van if he doesn’t sing”, and things like that. That surprised me because I think they are forgetting that Van has released some wonderful instrumental music in the past.

This was most true in the 1980s when Van’s spiritual quest was at its height and he became interested in ‘New Age’ music and didn’t see music as mere entertainment, but more as a way of raising consciousness in the listener. We got the first hint of where Van’s music was heading with such tracks as When Heart Is Open on the Common One album. Although it isn’t an instrumental, the sparse lyrics and the music were aimed at creating a meditative mood. This was continued in 1982 when Beautiful Vision was released. The song Across The Bridge Where Angels Dwell gently leads the listener into the meditation of Scandinavia. Van was so keen on this instrumental track himself it was actually issued as a single. How many other great singers with distinctive voices have released instrumental singles?

Inarticulate Speech of the Heart was released in 1983, and Van said he arrived at the title from a Shavian saying: "that idea of communicating with as little articulation as possible, at the same time being emotionally articulate".  As he explained in 1984, "Sometimes when I'm playing something, I'm just sort of humming along with it, and that's got a different vibration than an actual song. So, the instrumentals just come from trying to get that form of expression, which is not the same as writing a song”. Instrumental tracks included Connswater, Celtic Swing, and Inarticulate Speech of the Heart No. 2 which isn’t really a song at all but repetitive simple phrases which lull the listener into September Night. Let’s not forget also that Van is a multi-instrumentalist himself, so its not surprising that he likes to show off his skills on saxophone and many other instruments. A Sense Of Wonder in 1985 contained Evening Meditation and Boffyblow & Spike.

When Poetic Champions Compose was released in 1987 Van originally intended the album to consist wholly of jazz instrumental works, but later said that "when I did three numbers I thought, 'No, I don't wanna do that,' and changed my mind." The three tracks are Spanish Steps, Celtic Excavation, and Allow Me. There is no way that these three tracks could be described as ‘filler’. They are an integral part of the overall feeling of peace and stillness which the album conveys. As we entered the 90s this feeling continues on tracks such as the hypnotic Hymns to the silence which isn’t a song in the conventional sense, and I think of it as almost instrumental. Another great almost instrumental track I would recommend is Instrumental/ Tell Me What You Want from Too Long In Exile which has some wonderful vibraphone playing by Teena Lyle. Close Enough For Jazz also began life as an instrumental. Caledonia Soul Music an early outtake from the Street Choir album is basically a wonderful improvised instrumental jam session. If you haven’t heard it before I also recommend you go on youtube and listen to Daring Night 1 from Beautiful Vision Outtakes which includes about ten minutes of instrumental bliss.

Although I haven’t heard any track from the new album yet, some of the titles intrigue me, such as Driving On A Country Road, Parisian Walkabout, Celtic Voices, Mountains, Fields, Rivers & Streams, and Far North. If a few of these tracks turn out to be as good as Scandinavia, Allow Me or Spanish Steps then I will be well pleased. I’ll let you know what I think in about nine days’ time. If you know any great instrumental tracks by Van that I have overlooked let me know and I'll add them in. Cheers.

 

Van Morrison - Celtic Ray - Instrumental

Review: Petrichor by The Lost Trades.

I won’t be going out anywhere today, so I thought I’d pass the time by telling you about an album I bought recently. It is called Petrichor by The Lost Trades. I saw this group play at The Laverton Hall in Westbury  and was so impressed that I bought their CD. Also, I like to support local musicians if I can. They are a three-piece acoustic folk band from Wiltshire consisting of Tamsin Quin, Phil Cooper and Jamie R Hawkins. You might recall that I saw Tamsin a few years ago when she supported Beth Orton at The Cheese & Grain in Frome and I wrote a review of her album Gypsy Blood. It’s good to see how her career has progressed since she teamed up with Phil and Jamie. What I really like about this group is their wonderful harmonies. A lot of the songs I would describe as Americana, and I think on some songs I can detect the influence of bands such as Crosby, Stills & Nash or The Eagles in their sound. I didn’t know the meaning of the albums title Petrichor so I looked it up on the internet. It said Petrichor is a distinctive, earthy, usually pleasant odour that is associated with rainfall especially when following a warm, dry period and that arises from a combination of volatile plant oils and geosmin released from the soil into the air and by ozone carried by downdrafts. That seems very appropriate to this rainy summer we have been having, and this album is certainly a breath of fresh air.

The opening track is called Old Man Of The Sea which reminds me of an Ernest Hemingway book with a similar title, but I think Jamie wrote the song inspired by the loss of his father. Coming to terms with the loss of a friend or family member seems to be the theme of at least three songs on this album. It is a great song to open the album with. Tamsin takes the lead vocals on Keep My Feet Dry, and I think it is Phil who is the lead vocalist on the jolly, catchy and sometimes humorous Atlas. Long Since Gone is a very personal poignant song by Phil and the others bring their voices to the table. Daffodils is a catchy upbeat life-affirming song about the joys of friendship. (See video below, which has some nice views of Bradford On Avon!) 

Under The Hornbeam sung by Tamsin is a nature inspired song. Reading the lyrics to these songs shows that this group is very close to nature which is another theme of the album. There are birds, insects, forests, trees, leaves and rivers in abundance. It might be because they live in rural Wiltshire. In case you don’t know what a hornbeam is, Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus Carpinus in the family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. (I just looked it up!) 

Fireflies is one of the standout tracks for me. As well as the vocal harmonies of this album I love the instrumentation, but I’m not sure who plays what instrument. The sleeve notes tell us that Lorna Fisher guests on mandolin on this song. Little Blackbird is another nature song. Ash trees appear here, oak trees and sycamores appear in other songs. Best Foot Forward is an optimistic positive song about overcoming adversity. The title track Petrichor follows and to my ears has the most English sound of all these songs. The sound of thunder tells us that rain is on the way. All the group share vocal duties on The Dark Forest before the final track Valhalla. In Norse mythology Valhalla is a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. It is where those who are slain in battle spend their time feasting. This was my favourite song when I saw them recently. A powerful song about loss and rebirth. Tamsin’s excellent vocals are accompanied by the eerie sound of a simple drumbeat. That brings this most enjoyable album to a close. Well done The Lost Trades. If you get the chance to see them live, I urge you to do so.