belladonnaleaves

Craigtoun hospital :Craigtoun hospital, Feb 2008 - Derelict Places In st andrews i think. I also knew some folk who'd gone up to Kingseat hospital a few times back in the late 90s though i never did. There are pics here Kingseat Mental Hospital, Aberdeenshire - Report - UK Urban Exploration Forums and a view of what it looked like before the development started :Flash Earth ...satellite and aerial imagery of the Earth in Flash I certainly haven't heard of many more similar buildings in this area though. Would be interesting to know if there were.

St Kevins Lunatic Asylum, Cork, May 08 (report) - UK Urban Exploration Forums Unbelievable. And the G.k Chesterton poem is a nice (though chilling) touch.

My own favourites are the aforementioned "aye aye"(http://www.messengermods.com/data/media/4/Aye-Aye.jpg), the goblin shark(http://www.greengoblin.com/internal/corner/shark.jpg) the oarfish (Google Image Result for http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/attachments/baja-mexico-fishing-reports-discussion/74523d1189207871-isla-san-marcos-sea-story-09-01-07-oarfish-oarfishdockhor_03.jpg) the vampire squid (http://www.mbari.org/twenty/images/vamp.jpg) and the colossal squid (Google Image Result for http://www.sgisland.org/images/main/news_07_05/GiantSquid2w.jpg) The oarfish being especially remarkable seeing as it may grow to lengths esceeding 60 or so feet. Making it a contender for sightings of the so-called "sea serpent". The colossal squid is bulkier than your usual "giant" squid and has revolving hooks on it's suckers making it a real nasty beast.

I don't really believe in the whole ghost thing. Seems to me our own psyches have ghosts enough of their own. I thought i saw a kid my own age (when i was about 6) sitting on the edge of my bookcase in my room. I remember seeing him and being scared to properly breathe for ages. I mean then i thought it was a ghost, but now i'm sure it was a dream. Reminds me of my cousin staying over and telling me wasps would fly in and sting me if i didn't keep my mouth shut when i was asleep. She was evil. On the other hand my mother's great uncle and aunt lived in an ancient farmhouse in the highlands about 50 miles or so from Aberdeen. On some nights when all the family where around, they swear to this day they heard something. Apparently they would hear the latch in the side door go, someone shuffle in noisily (as though tired after a long day in the fields) He or she would sit down on a stool (that was in the hall) and yank their boots off before (i assume) disappearing. It's great to hear stories like that with your grandfolks and aunties etc around you. Especially when it's a dark winter night outside with cold and rain. I remember talking excitedly about "supernatural echoes" on those occasions, which i'm sure was something i heard on the cartoon version of "Ghostbusters" Campfires are another good occasion. But to me, stories are enough. The imagination is enough. I don't need these things to be what we discern as "tangible". I just love the feeling of fear, the tingle and the adventure. Ghosts really are there. The imagination is a powerful being all of its own. If you've tried any hallucinogenic then you know how it is possible to see things that aren't really "there" but in that situation you believe them to be. Surely it's possible that anxiety, lonliness and and (slight?)hysteria might produce the same effect. I've used the ouija board over a crypt once in Peterculter and we recieved the text "sight unseen" But the situation and the presence of a particular essence of mind were probably to blame. Certain folks covet that experience, wish of it and experience something. I wonder how we did cope before the invention of fire for instance. Perhaps that presence of all encompassing darkness with no hope of solution produced the experiences now told in our "modern" selves.

I saw her at the green man festival. She saved the longer numbers for the end and we decided to get closer to the stage. I was really moved and emotional after it. Her voice has really gotten much better i think. Although i always liked it anyway. People were leaving during the longer songs but i was totally hypnotized. And i remember smog singing during "only skin" and thinking how intimate it all seemed. An enormous gig, 10 thousand people. But i felt as though she was singing just for me. I know it's a cliche' but until then i'd never experienced that. She's clearly at the peak of her powers. Long may it continue. (i should also note. I think her lyrics are excellent.)

Wonderful band. The new album "in stormy nights" is great. And i'd recommend most of their earlier work, but in particular their self titled debut, "second time around" and "lama rabi rabi" As has already been mentioned they're very varied, and often quite extreme. The acoustic element seems always to be at their heart though. I also love Masaki Batoh's vocals. I'm unsure if anyone else would agree but he helps the band achieve an endearing quality.

I was mesmerized from the off with his "how does it feel" It was the first ever time i'd seen him and i hope not the last. So, yeh, i was blown away. I felt matt chamberlin's guitarwork was slightly overwrought on "don't you grieve" although his earlier solo set was beautiful (especially the piece inspired by lapping tidal waters) One of Roy's new songs (the rude one) was also excellent.

Hmm, just for this moment, probably this.(http://youtube.com/watch?v=VolB2wK3tt4) It's addictive this song, especially playing it on the old acoustic guitar. It's blended with my brains for sure. (oh, and i love the melancholy vibe it has to it)

Alright then. File it as you will. I understand the type of thing you mean though. And i like a lot of it too.

The Beatles thread got me thinking of old psych stuff of yesteryear and since i've dug around myself looking for the better obscure "psychedelic" type groups from that era i thought i'd see what other folk's own favourites might be. Some i thought of: west coast pop art experimental band - a child's guide to good and evil (not for everyone but totally wonderous title track and "as the world rises and falls" , "eighteen is over the hill") kinks - see my friend (ok not obscure but it's 1965 /fancy - (another early "psych" sounding song.) skip spence - oar (it's celebrated now, but wasn't always so, "little hands" , "cripple creek" , "war in peace" , "grey/afro/this time he has come" - still totally fried.) amon duul - paradiewarts duul ("love is peace" in particular.) david crosby - if i could only remember my name ( "music is love", "laughing" , "traction in the rain" - gorgeous and unrepeatable.) essra mohawk - primordial lovers (try the first song "i am the breeze") That's all i've thought of for now. (Oh and i've just realised the title of this thread reads "favourite songs" but albums or whatever will do too seeing as i've already messed that up myself.)

It's always songs rather than full albums for me, since there were 3 full songwriting talents in the beatles picking one album is really a bit impossible. Revolver is perhaps the best overall album in terms of consistency of mood and songwriting, sergeant peppers feels random but takes you on a "trip" through moods and stylings but there's something about the white album. I think it's a childhood thing for me. Songs like "happiness is a warm gun" and "julia" are just so vivid in feeling and put me in a surreal place with the lucid imagery etc. Aside from that abbey road is still a great album and send-off (to the sixties as well as to the beatles) and earlier albums like a hard days night are much simpler, and maybe easier to take in. I'll say the strawberry fields/penny lane single does it for me. It's them at their peak. I don't think strawberry fields will ever lose its ability to affect the listener in slightly disturbing ways, and penny lane it's poignancy and imagination.

1)Naked City - Leng tch'e (Google Image it) I can only think of the beatles "butcher" sleeve for the "yesterday and today" compilation to go with this, but the story behind the naked city photo is horrific. I read that H.R Giger saw pictures from the execution of an assassin in china who killed the emperor in 1904. Apparently he couldn't sleep for weeks. I believe the naked city cover is from a japanese execution, but is no less horrible.

Seeing The Beta Band at sunset at T In The Park 2002, then having to miss the rest of their set to go and see Sonic Youth. Queuing to take a dump and hoping the guy in front of you at least had decent aim. Having awful hayfever while watching the Dandy Warhols at 11 in the morning. Sitting with various friends and being accosted by half-dead neds cradling Irn Bru bottles filled with vodka. Watching a half-arsed Ian Brown in a sweltering tent and missing the Chemical brothers to do so. Seeing friends i hadn't seen in ages randomly, arranging to meet them at some obscure place and then forgetting all about it. Listening to folks pull the campsite to pieces as you drop off to sleep.Wishing i'd seen Dot Allison instead of Biffy Clyro. Skiving off my crap job for two days then coming in on the Monday with a suntan and no convenient excuse. I had a great time needless to say. Slightly surreal and totally disorganized, but that was always the general idea.

Spin Doctors - Two Princes