The Moorglade, she will sail to the north

Today was brought to you by much music.  I woke early with my back muscles stiff as anything and frankly I was relieved to stand up.  I also woke with my head well and truly over the precipice, and not even a huge bowl of porridge with extra ginger helped.  In the end I felt so rotten that I took my business-as-usual pain meds and flopped on the settee for as long as it would take to feel better.

This was A While.

It gave me a chance to spin my new Rick Wakeman album though.  Not published new as it's been out for four or five years.  It was a good listen, too.  I would definitely put it in my top five RW albums.  My head wasn't much better though so I put on the debut solo album from Rick's partner in crime in Yes, the angelic voiced singer Jon Anderson.  Olias of Sunhillow is just an incredibly beautiful work, ethereal and lush and dense; it's a story told with layered harmonies, gently strummed acoustic guitar and his beloved harp, and lashings of Vangelis-style synth.  Jon conceived the whole thing, invented four languages and played all of the instruments.  They must have had some good pot in 1976.

It took until late afternoon, including a trip to the chemist, to feel mostly normal.  After a quick tea of mostly veg, Mum and Dad came round with some more shopping for me, and we caught up on our news.