"But there is also much here which, in its own way, is rather remarkable."

Especially anabase.

Particularly ...anabase*. `Les Plages En Hiver' is a lovely song.

That and "My Castle's Down" are prolly my two faves of theirs, but I don't think any of their songs are less than Pretty Damn' Fine.

And here's another thing about ...anabase* wot you most probably don't know.

I work out each day (sometimes twice) on an elliptical machine, for cardio-pulmonary reasons. (I got the machine for $10 at a yard sale -- eat yer heart out, if you're into such stuff.) One of these days I'll have six-pack abs, you'll see . . . assuming they ever become visible.

I exercise to music, so that I don't find the time dragging too much, and find it interesting that some artistes are far better than others for the purpose -- and by no means always the ones you'd think. For example, an experiment with Mylene Farmer (no sniggering please), normally a fave, fell flat. Dido, another fave, was okay, but not wondrous (though I've not yet tried the new album, which I LOVE). And so on. Then there's In Flight Radio, whose stuff I like but who aren't in my top rank: they're definitely a good big cut above the herd in the best-for-me-to-exercise-to stakes, and edge out Tom Petty, who's also pretty good.

But Bob Seger is a knockout for this. I can go 25% longer for the same boredom/fatigue factors on Bob Seger than I can on Tom Petty. Even better, though just a bit, is Italian croaker Loredana Berté (think Marianne Faithfull, sort of [and MF's soon on the list to try]).

But this evening, inspired by our exchange, I tried ...anabase*.

Golly!

All previous time and distance records shattered. In the end, though definitely getting tired, I had to make myself stop. I'm supposed to do 15 minutes at a session; I was nearing 26. The distance meter on the machine seems not to relate to anything in the real world; but I'd exceeded my previous best by 50%.

And when I got back upstairs Pam remarked on how much less I was puffing and gasping than usual.

Whodathunkit?

It's weird how accompaniment helps, isn't it? So long as it's the right accompaniment. I wrote pretty much the whole of The Villages to the background of James Whale on...whatever radio station he was ranting on at the time. I find he winds me up something terrible, but it seemed to help me write. Well, it helped me finish the damn thing, which amounts to the same thing.

My Dad went to Poland (3 times, I think) in 1957 & 1958 to help set up the TV station there. He brought back some records of Polish Folk Music (10" 33 r.p.m. - remember those?) of the Mazowse and Slask song and dance companies. We got to see/hear them once at the London Coliseum. I loved thier music. Such rich harmonies. Your post brings back some happy memories of enjoyable listening! Thank you!

If your Dad helped set up a TV station in Poland at the end of the 50s, there's every chance that Bogna grew up watching television thanks to his handiwork. But there's an intriguing story - how come your Dad was in Poland setting up television stations?
Slask - Silesia - is where Bogna grew up, but I've never heard any of their folk music. Most of the stuff I've heard is from the Tatras in the south and some stuff from Malopolska. Oh, and some magnificent klezmer music from Krakow.
I not only remember 33s, I used to have some 78s.

"I not only remember 33s"

teacherbear was talking about the rarer 10in variety, not the commonasmuck 12in ones.

Ah, I see. No, I don't remember them.

You'll pobably now see three of them in the next week!

Bogna will prolly remember them. Although they were issued in the UK and not all that rarely in the US, it was really from Russia that I recall seeing lots of them, imported into the UK because Eastern Europe issued lots of fab classical recordings that were far cheaper and often better (think Supraphon) than their US equivalents because the Communists didn't have to pay their musicians the megabucks people like Bernstein and Stokowski commanded.

If a symphony was too long to fit comfortably on one side of a 12in but not really long enough to fill both sides, the 10in LP was a happy solution (and in my opinion a better one than the Western practice of filling up space with some effing overture you'd already got several times over on other LPs of shortish symphonies . . .).

But, as I say, the West released 10in LPs too.

I'll have to ask Bogna about the 10in 33s - she brought a bunch of Polish and Russian LPs with her when we got married, and though a lot of them are quite old they're all conventional-sized.
That practice of filling up space continues with CDs, I've noticed. A lot of the Vaughan Williams CDs I bought last year were bulked out with different versions of `The Lark Ascending' or `Variations on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.' It's irritating.

You can still occasionally find 10in LPs at library sales and the like, and often enough of things like Polish folk music. I buy 'em if they look interesting (they're generally v. cheap) and make MP3s out of them.

"He brought back some records of Polish Folk Music"

If you still have those and would like them digitized and burnt onto CDs, I Have The Technology.

Here's another place...
http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/media

Many thanks for that; that looks worth an evening or two's investigation.
BTW, the series of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' started on Sunday.

And are you putting it on CD for me?

I missed last week's, but I'll try and record this Sunday's. I should warn you, though, our DVD recorder is notoriously incompatible with other DVD players.

Thanks!