Neil Ardley's album Harmony of the Spheres received its first official UK re-issue on CD. (There was a Japanese CD release earlier on but that one is hard to get.) Featuring Ian Carr, Barbara Thompson, Tony Coe, Geoff Castle, Bill Kristian, Trevor Tomkins, and Richard Burgess (Landscape) with Norma Winstone and Pepi Lemer on wordless vocals. Another remarkable feature of the album was provided by some excellent electric guitar work from folk star John Martyn.

Harmony of the Spheres was Ardley's last recorded work for a major record label. The original cover artwork was designed by Storm Thorgerson. The album was recorded in London in 1978. Available on Esoteric Recordings eclec2096. More details in the Collaborations section.

I decided to upgrade this site to the latest version of Drupal (6.6). This went rather well, as far as I can tell. During the operation though I had to rewrite all custom code, rebuild most database queries and upgrade the template manually.

In the future I will try to add some new functionality but the main goal at this point was to present you all the stuff you are familiar with in the usual form.

Looks like we are having a fine fall considering the following scheduled tourdates:

The winning of the Lifetime Achievement Award led to two elaborate cover stories in music magazines. First of all, Acoustic had an exclusive interview with the big man. It was held between sessions for Willing To Work and Spencer Cozens and Alan Thomson also get to speak a few words. It was published in the June/ July issue; several of the photographs look familiar...

The BBC have announced that John will receive the Radio 2 Lifetime Achievement Award. This will happen during the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2008 Show, on Monday 4 February 2008. John is expected to perform on the occasion. Martin Simpson will also be present as he is nominated in five categories.

2007 has been a difficult year for many of us and Big John in particular. Nevertheless we say the release of several interesting albums and DVDs. And John Neil Munro's biography Some People Are Crazy proves a well written and researched piece of work.

Let's hope that we can enjoy much more of John's music in 2008, either live or on record.