It's quiet here in Bahrain at the moment. AM is asleep on the bed - the consequence of an Imigran tablet a little earlier today. The light has subsided outside and what traffic there is on the corniche has slowed to a crawl. Not exactly fertile material to blog about. What then to offer you today?

How about if I give you some music to go take a listen to. I'll do five albums that I think are worth a place in anyone's collection:

1. Pearl Jam - Ten: As debut albums go, this one is hard to follow. I'd go as far as to say this was their finest hour and something they've yet to match. For your consideration, I give you "Jeremy", a fine song regardless of the rather dark subject matter.
2. Rush - Signals: Rush are a band whose early material I found a bit of a tough listen, primarily due to Geddy Lee's vocal style. It wasn't until I shared a room with a Rush fanatic, when in the RAF and I heard "Exit... Stage Left" that I caught onto their undoubtable musicianship, from where on in all else was history. I had the pleasure of seeing them live 3 times on their 30th Anniversary tour and would love the opportunity to see them again, should it arise. The song presented here tells of the pain of loss through the ageing process. It's not something they've ever performed live due to the need for Ben Mink's violin part - "Losing It".
3. A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms: When Maynard James Keenan decided to step outside the confines of Tool, he couldn't have done so in better company than with Billy Howerdel. The result was A Perfect Circle. APC are far from your standard rock act and should be required listening on anyone's' play list. Here is a track called "Breña". Enjoy!
4. Smashing Pumpkins - Machina/The Machines of God: Smashing Pumpkins had their coming of age with Siamese Dream and a hard to beat high point with Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness, but here I've gone for one of their less well known albums with Machina, a piece of work that I suspect is badly underrated. This is my favourite track from it "Stand Inside Your Love", which always reminds me of AM.
5. Biffy Clyro* - Puzzle: I know next to nothing about Biffy Clyro, except that they're from Ayeshire (there are worse places). Here I've picked "Folding Stars" for you to listen to, a truly beautiful love song that can easily bring a tear to the eye. Not sure who Eleanor is, but it sounds like she's worth writing songs about.

Perhaps nothing there that's too far from the mainstream, stuff you may well have heard of in all likelihood, but did you buy them (does anyone still do that? You should)? Give the links above a try and see what you think.

Postscript: Just been to the excellent Margarita Mexican at The Gulf hotel. It's a new undertaking for them, but on the strength of this evenings meal, they should be kept busy for some time to come. If you get there, the chocolate pudding is a must - chilli infused chocolate mousse, with a raspberry coulis and a little whipped cream to top it off; absolutely to die for.

* Talking over the subject of todays' post in the restaurant, AM enquired as to who "Billy Clitoris" was - kind of hard to explain that one really. You had to be there...