From my 600 + CD's I selected my favourite 10
"What is the story behind this one Mr P?"
" Well, Mr G, it was like this:
I was typing blogs and I noticed the a key was sticking _ either I got aaaa or f*ck all! Then the 1 went and the ! Of course, this makes it very hard to write blogs and finally it got so bad I could not log on to my laptop! Without giving too much away my password has 11a! in it! I went to a new computer shop that opened up near me and they ordered a new keypad for my laptop (my second new keyboard, shows how much I type!). Many thanks to FEJ IT and Computer Centre for getting me back in working order. They used to work in Saudi Arabia as OFW and now set up here in Palawan. Really pleasant couple and helped answer a lot of my IT questions.
The last time I had the laptop repaired was just before I left Bahrain and I wrote about that in a rare blog about Good Customer Service in Bahrain ( https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-best-customer-service-in-bahrain.html ). Let us hope my luck continues with IT service providers here in Palawan. I am having a run of bad luck with my purchases currently. Two desk chairs have broken (they keep going down to the floor when I sit on them. One has been repaired once and is now in for its second repair in 5 months. I dropped my camera which had to go to Manila for repair, my kettle broke, and my glasses got scratched and needed new lenses. Oh, and 2 of Chesters harnesses broke as he grew so fast, number 3 arrives tomorrow, Thanks Jhoanna!)
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The confirmation email from FEJ- nice touch
Having had the same problem before I knew the pack drill. You take your laptop to the shop, they record the serial number, then you pay a deposit (1000 peso here), and they order the part and confirm the delivery date. Initially they said it would be 3 weeks, and then their confirmation email said 2 weeks, nice Suprise. I was explaining this under Promise and overdeliver technique to Frythy the other day. He arrived 30 mins late for work because when I asked what time he would be here he said 8 am and then he did not turn up to 8.15. I explained if he had said 830 and then turned up at 8.15, I would have been impressed. But saying 8 and then turning up 8.30 I was annoyed as I had his breakfast ready at 8 am!
Next you need an external keyboard so you can use the laptop for the next two weeks, which Jhoanna purchased, and Elay delivered two days later. Then you need a big table to work at as the laptop and external keyboard take up more room! Then you have to back everything on your laptop just in case they lose the data (like Computer world in Bahrain with my Asus laptop). If you missed it check out my Blog about the worst customer service in Bahrain ( https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2020/05/customer-service-in-bahrain.html)
"Excuse me, Mr P, what has this to do with CD's?"
" Well, no laptop, no TV, what to do Yanni?"
So, while I was waiting one day for my new keyboard so I could log onto my laptop again and then one more day after my internet ran out of credit (or load as they say here) I decided to go through my 600 CD's and select my 10 favourites to write about in a blog.
"How did you write a Blog without a laptop or Internet Mr P?"
"The old-fashioned way, Mr G, with pen and paper!"
" Well get on with it, Mr P, what's the top 10 from the 600 CD's you have bought over the last 20 years?"
I bought Andrea Bocelli- Si, in Muscat in 2019 and was fortunate to see him perform Live in Bahrain at the National Museum back in 2012 ( Andrea Bocelli Live in Bahrain ). As a 64-year-old blind man he has captivated a worldwide audience and now his son, Matteo, is following in his footsteps. According to Wikipedia:
"Keane are an English alternative rock band from East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met while at Tonbridge School together. The band currently comprises Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice-Oxley, Richard Hughes, and Jesse Quin. Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001"
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keane_(band) (accessed 6.10.22)
One of our teachers from Epsom College, Russel Tillson, went on to teach at Tonbridge!
"Keane achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK charts, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the second best-selling British album of 2004.[5] It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.[6]
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keane_(band) (accessed 6.10.22)
" I thought you were going to tell lots of personal stories and interact with your readers about your favourite CD's Mr P, rather than just quote from Wikipedia"
"Well, Mr G let me tell you about "Once in a lifetime" by Runrig!"
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-45195120
I bought many CD's while traveling the UK with work between 1986 and 2009. My various jobs there involved running training courses across the UK and I was away 4 nights a week and driving for 2 to 4 hours a day. I got bored with all the driving and so would stop at Motorway Service areas and buy new CDs to listen to in the car and I became a big fan of Runrig on my many trips to Scotland (7-hour drive from where I lived). I also spent a lot of time in Ireland and bought many CD's featuring Irish Artists like Enya, The Coors, Christy Moore etc.
"Once in a lifetime" was recorded live in Scotland by a local Radio station (Radio Clyde) and featured the band playing live in Scotland. I just wish I had been there to see it. Sadly, the band broke up in 2018, after 45 years performing live, and this album was voted as one of the Best live albums ever.
If you have never heard of Runrig watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaIjhZ-Ltzs
Now for the interactive bit- what language did Runrig sing in?
There is a CD for the first to give the correct answer by email to thebritishkabayan@gmail.com
CLUE- answer contained in the blog!
As the comedy DJ's in the UK, Smashey and Nicey, used to say " IN AT NUMBER FOUR ARE THE LIGHTHOUSE FAMILY WITH THEIR SMASH HIT CD "Postcards from Heaven"
I bought this CD in 1999 and was a big fan of the band before they split up, seeing them play live in the UK and having a signed CD from Lead singer Tunde. You can read more about that in an earlier blog by clicking the link below:
In 1995 George Michael released "Listen without Prejudice, Volume 1". However just like GBBF1 there never was a Volume 2!
My 6th choice in my Top 10 CD's is by Elton John.
Just some of the artwork in " Captain Fantastic ad the Brown Dirt Cowboy"
| Born | Reginald Kenneth Dwight 25 March 1947 |
|---|
If I said "Eagles" to you then you would probably think I chose "Hotel California" which sold 32 million copies worldwide. However, I choose "Long rod out of Eden " in 1997 in Glasgow. Back then I was running Training courses all over the UK for a company called Business Post (parcel delivery in the UK- now UK Mail) and driving up and down the UK motorway network daily. I would often stop in Motorway Service Areas to buy new CD's to keep boredom at bay, and this double CD was one of them!
It stands to reason that as I was born in 1960 and have George Michael and Elton John in my top ten that I would also have Freddie Mercury. I probably should not admit that I have all Queen's albums and have played them so often that I know most of the words to Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody. However, I have chosen the two CD set which he renamed simply, "Freddy Mercury" just before it was released. He was the consummate showman but, like George Michael, led a very troubled life.
Born in 1946 in Zanzibar to Parsi-Indian parents, Mercury attended English-style boarding schools in India from the age of eight and returned to Zanzibar after secondary school. In 1964, his family fled the Zanzibar Revolution, moving to Middlesex, England. Having studied and written music for years, he formed Queen in 1970 with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Somebody to Love", "We Are the Champions", "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". His charismatic stage performances often saw him interact with the audience, as displayed at the 1985 Live Aid concert. He also led a solo career and was a producer and guest musician for other artists.
Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. He continued to record with Queen, and posthumously featured on their final album, Made in Heaven (1995). He announced his diagnosis the day before his death, from complications from the disease, in 1991 at the age of 45. In 1992, a concert in tribute to him was held at Wembley Stadium, in benefit of AIDS awareness. His career with Queen was dramatised in the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
As a member of Queen, Mercury was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. In 1990, he and the other Queen members were awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and one year after his death, Mercury was awarded it individually. In 2005, Queen were awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. In 2002, Mercury was voted number 58 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elton_John accessed 8.10.22)
Nearly there- 2 more CDs to go. Next up is an artist my brother Richard introduced me to many years ago when I was having dinner at his house and this CD was playing.
This was a Christmas gift from Jane Frost in 2011 when she first visited me in Bahrain. It was my 6th Eva Cassidy CD (there are only 11 as she died very young aged 33 in 1996). She was a white American who worked as a gardener and sang as a hobby. Her boyfriend, a record producer, persuaded her to record some tracks. She died from Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer but her boyfriend, a record Producer, persuaded her parents to let him release the tracks posthumously. They were picked up by a popular DJ on Radio Two in the UK, who also, sadly, since died, Terry Wogan, and they became very popular. I rushed to my then local music store in Mere Green and asked if he had any Eva Cassidy CD's. Spookily the guy in the shop was a fan and showed me 5 of the 11 Eva Cassidy CDs which I bought.
The last CD I chose is on display in my window where I have a small Christmas display. Christmas starts in the Philippines om 1st September (the BER months). It was another gift from Janer Frost back in 2015 on her second visit to Bahrain.
It is the biggest and best-selling Christmas Album in the world (according to the blurb on the CD!) including such classics as "Santa Claus is coming to Town". "White Christmas". "Jingle Bells" and "All I want for Christmas is you!"
On that happy note I shall end. Thanks, Jane, for all your great choices of CDs over the years.
Let me end by wishing you all a very happy Christmas, or, as we say here in the Philippines, Malygiang Paskao
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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