Not so much manufacturing tunes, or even self-assembling songs, but songs which build from a small beginning to a huge finish. To a greater or lesser extent they all start softly and keep building and building to some kind of climactic resolution.

Here are some examples. The links go to the Amazon MP3 store, where most of the tracks can be had for 89p each. Bargain!

‘Biding my time’ by Pink Floyd on Relics.

Probably the best example in the list. It starts off as a very sedate and genteel arrangement with just a guitar and a voice, but it soon starts adding instruments and volume until by the end it’s a stonking great big tune with almost a whole orchestra joining in. I love it! Biding My Time (1996 Digital Remaster)

‘One of these days’ by Pink Floyd on Meddle.

An excellent tune to play loud, although be warned, it does build in volume The distorted voice in the middle actually says ‘One of these days I’m going to cut you into little pieces’. So that’s nice. One Of These Days (1992 Digital Remaster)

‘On the run’ by Pink Floyd on The Dark Side of the Moon.

Can you see a pattern here? Pink Floyd feature rather prominently on this list. As Nick Mason said, “We discovered that rather than starting loud and staying the same volume all the way through like everyone else, we could be radical and start softly and build up to get a much more interesting track.” Or something like that, anyway – it’s probably in his autobiography somewhere if you’re keen. The Dark Side of the Moon is my all-time favourite album. Everything about it is fabulous, including the legendary album cover. On The Run

‘This is tomorrow’ by Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music on the Ultimate Collection.

This is my favourite track on this album, although having said that, the entire album is pretty megalicious and also includes Avalon, Angel Eyes, Dance Away and Tokyo Joe. There’s only one naff track which is ‘Help me’. Yes, I even like ‘He’ll have to go’, despite the fact that Bryan sings part of it an octave higher than it should be. This Is Tomorrow

‘Sympathy for the Devil’ by The Rolling Stones on Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (disc 2).

My favourite Rolling Stones track. It may be more famous for the backing track, which basically consists of the phrase ‘woo-woo’ sung over and over. Another excellent album (especially disc 2 which is so good all the way through that it’s almost always in the multi-changer in the car). Sympathy For The Devil

‘You can’t always get what you want’ by The Rolling Stones on Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (disc 2).

More classic Stonage from the same disc. It starts with what sounds like an acapello male-voice choir and builds from there to in to a huge tune, complete with choir. You Can’t Always Get What You Want

‘The Beat Goes On’ by Buddy Rich.

Just an excellent tune from start to finish. The Beat Goes On (Live)

‘Marcia Funebre’

The second movement of Beethoven’s third symphony, about 7 minutes in (it depends on the tempo used – on one recording I have, the good stuff starts at about 7 minutes, but on another it’s at about 7 minutes and 20 seconds). Symphony No.3 in E flat, Op.55 -”Eroica” – 2. Marcia funebre (Adagio assai)

The exception which proves the rule is the ‘Theme from Shaft’ (Theme From Shaft),
which starts small and builds very well, but which completely fails to arrive at any satisfactory resolution. It just sort of fizzles out rather lamely at the end. Of course, what it should do is end up having a spectacular finish.

I’m sure there are many others which I’ve forgotten or don’t know about. What are your favourite Building Songs?

In my defence, I have been rather busy

I married the very lovely Ruth on October 21st last year. In the Las Vegas Hilton. And oh my goodness, it was fabulous.

We stayed at the Luxor the first week we were away. Dr Jan’s Tip From The Top – don’t. The Luxor was a really depressing place OK, the pyramid is a fantastic building, and inside it’s an enormous atrium – all the rooms are around the outside. There are many buildings within the pyramid, which look good when you’re down on the floor walking around. However, when you are walking to your room along a long balcony overlooking them, all you can see is the dirty, scuzzy back walls which are not even clean, let alone decorated.

There are no elevators, they have ‘Inclinators’ instead, which slide up and down the inclined walls in the corners of the pyramid. Unfortunately the inclinators look exactly like elevators when you’re in them and I can’t help feeling they missed a trick by not building windows in to the cars and shafts.

We flew down to San Diego for the weekend and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, which was completely marvellous in all respects The main thing it did was make me realise how depressed I had become staying at the Luxor.

We flew back to Vegas on Sunday and saw the Jersey Boys show, which we both enjoyed a huge amount. Then we checked in to the Las Vegas Hilton. Due to a cock-up with our booking we had been upgraded for our entire stay to a suite. Except that actually it was two suites in one We were on the 25th floor, right at the end of a corridor. We had a suite on each side of the passageway, but there were double doors which could be closed across the end of the corridor, effectively making the last 10 feet of the corridor our entrance hall

We’d seen my parents before we went to San Diego, but most people started arriving on Monday, which was a really exciting moment for me. Suddenly everything stopped being a never ending list of things to be done and started being a fabulous time with fabulous people.

Tuesday we had arranged a limo trip of the strip for everyone. Given that there were 16 of us altogether, we had 2 limos. So, naturally, there was a Boys limo and a Girls limo The trip was surprisingly good – we stopped off to see the erupting volcano at the Mirage, the “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” sign as you enter Las Vegas (where we saw Elvis) and then the dancing fountains at the Bellagio. We ended up at the Freemont Street Experience, which was excellent.

Wednesday we got married (Email me if you want links to the photos)

Thursday we were taken on a surprise trip in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely magical and we all had a fabulous time. Even though I’d flown over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter on a previous trip, this one was made special by the people I was with and the fact that we stopped for a champagne picnic near the bottom of the canyon.

Friday we flew to San Francisco for a week’s honeymoon. We stayed at the Sofitel San Francisco Bay, which is nice, just not anywhere near San Francisco

We flew to and from America with Virgin Atlantic on their Premium Economy service. Well worth the extra money, and a fabulous experience.

Since then we decided to move house (to High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire), and we’re still in the middle of packing, moving and unpacking more stuff than you can reasonably shake a stick at.

Everything about the show was completely fabulous! I haven’t had such a good time for ages

Of course I loved the outrageous costumes, the fantastic footwear and the marvellous men, but for me, the star of the show was the bus. When the three main characters paint the bus, it becomes pink by virtue of a huge matrix of pink LEDs (Little Electric Doobreys) lighting up as the brushes pass over the surface. And this is just one of the amazing things which happen to the bus

The show follows the story of the film fairly closely, which is quite an impressive feat given that the film is essentially a road-movie.

If you get the chance, go and see this show. It’s fun, the outfits are incredible, and the songs are predominantly well-known disco classics. Chaps, get in touch with your feminine side and strut your funky stuff – and if you forget your feather boa you can get one in the foyer!

I haven’t just topped up my Fabulousness Quotient for the year, I’ve got enough in stock for the next ten years

Previously on Twin Peaks, the battery had become completely flat, mainly due to a complete lack of driving activity. I have been in the habit of taking it out for a drive every month or so to keep everything in working order and the battery topped up. Unfortunately, it was a bit longer than usual between drives, and when I went to open the car recently the battery was completely exhausted.

On the C43 AMG the battery is in the boot, partly to improve the balance of the car, but mainly because there’s no room left under the bonnet once you’ve squeezed a 4.3 litre V8 in there. Normally in this situation I’d pop open the boot using the special button on the key-fob and attach the battery charging device directly to the battery, leave overnight and try again in the morning.

However, in this instance, because the battery was completely without life, none of the buttons on the key-fob were functioning. I reverted to backup manual procedures and used the key to open the driver’s door. There is a switch on the centre console which opens the boot remotely, but unfortunately it’s electrically operated. It is at this point that I discovered that the manual lock on the boot lid was corroded beyond the point where it could be operated. Boo!

I spoke to the always excellent George Fraser, who revealed that under the bonnet on the passenger side, near the bonnet hinge there is a small black plastic cover which, when opened, reveals a fairly substantial electrical connection to the battery. Hurrah!

I connected the battery charger and was then able to use the interior switch to open the boot. Unfortunately, the alarm siren was also activated, so I removed the charger. Now the boot was open, I re-attached the charger directly to the battery and turned it on. Although the alarm siren was re-activated, I was assured by the owners handbook that opening the car using the key-fob control would silence it. That turned out to be a lie. The handbook also mentions that putting the key in the ignition and turning the ignition on will silence the alarm. That also turned out to be a lie.

So, with desperate measures called for, I jump started the Beast from the Xantia. I’m extremely pleased (as are my neighbours) to say that the alarm eventually fell silent. In retrospect, I suspect that the alarm sounds for 30 seconds and then resets, and until I started the car it hadn’t been on for 30 seconds consecutively.

Having successfully started the Beast, the only thing to do then was take it out for a drive. So, just a quickie, about 30 miles or so. Now I’ve re-attached the charger and will try it again tomorrow.

Later…

I drove the Beast in to work today and it was fine. I pumped up the tyres (the fronts were down about 5 pounds, the rears somewhat more) and filled up with fuel. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to drive! You can fairly fling it around corners with no problem. And there is always a mountain of torque on hand. Driving at 70 in the Beast feels like 40 in most other cars. 70 is not even half v_max (it’s electronically limited to 155mph or 250kph) and it feels like it just wants to leap ahead all the time. You have to be very restrained to keep at 70

So, now I need to get it serviced and MOT’d (what a strange expression – “I’d like a Ministry Of Transport for my car please”). Then it’s ready for a new owner

I’ve been very impressed. There is an “Environmental Statement” 12-page booklet in your room which tells you how much the hotel has done to help the environment. So I can tell you that, for example, energy consumption in 2005 fell to 78% of the amount used in 2003. Similarly, water consumption in 2005 was only 70% of the amount used in 2003. Since they started “sorting waste” (that’s recycling to you and me) in mid-1997 they have reduced waste by 76%.

Having said all that, the thing which impressed me most was the room key. In most hotels this is a credit-card size plastic card with a magnetic strip down one side. The Hilton have something similar, but it’s made from “Nordic birch”:

And here’s the back:

The room itself is quite woody:

And the bathroom is simply marvellous:

Gosh, how cool is Flickr?

One evening I ended up at a busy restaurant (the Restaurang Aktiebolaget Kvarnen) looking for a table for one. After a few minutes at the bar, the waiter asked me and another chap at the bar if we’d mind sharing at table. So I had a pleasant evening chatting to a Swedish man. The food was excellent. I had “SOS” to start, which was 4 different kinds of herring with boiled potatoes and 2 kinds of cheese. The main course was almost like a reindeer stew, it’s on the bill as “Renskavspanna”. It was all excellent and I heartily recommend it

So, to sum up, I really like Stockholm. It’s a really interesting place composed mainly of lots of islands, the people are really friendly and speak good English too. The only snag is that everything is expensive. Thank goodness I’m on expenses

I attended the London episode of the FogBugz World Tour (more details on Dr Jan’s Tips From The Top).

If you look at Joel’s recent How To Demo Software post, there’s a photo of the audience at The British Library. Those 6 yellow pixels in the middle will be me then

3. The Savoy

2. Fortnum and Mason’s

1. The Dorchester

You can see all my articles about tea here

Check it out here:

http://www.dr-jan.com/tips

As it’s a blog there are RSS feeds of the content and the comments that you can subscribe to. Check the Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS) links at the bottom of the page.

I think the first time I went there was a school trip when I was about 9 or 10, and I’ve been quite a few times between now and then, but not recently.

It’s fantastic!

It starts off well – there’s one side of the undercarriage from an Airbus A340 in the entrance hall. It’s huge and an impressive piece of engineering. My Dad and I just walked in and said ‘Wow!’.

There’s an Imax cinema in the new Wellcome Wing which seems to show a constant stream of 3D features. The galleries we visited were interesting and fun!

My Dad was keen to see the flight gallery, and in addition to various aircraft suspended from the ceiling there were lots of aircraft engines mounted in racks, each with a plastic tag attached telling you all about it. They had everything from very early radial engines to an enormous diesel behemouth used to power airships. Fascinating.

There is also a section cut from a decommissioned JAL 747 Jumbo, which is very interesting. It’s about 1 or 2 feet thick (along the length of the fuselage) and it’s taken from the front of the plane so it includes the ‘hump’. It’s been repainted in BA colours, which I thought was a bit cheeky

We particularly enjoyed the Secret Life of the Home in the basement, where hi-fi, kitchen appliances, home security and lots of other things were shown. The hi-fi section started with wind up gramophones and moved on to the first ever CD player. There’s an excellent model of a huge spinning CD with a laser shining on it so you can see how it works. The video section has a model of the heads inside a modern VHS machine.

On the ground floor, behind the steam engines and the space gallery is an excellent exhibition of Modern Life. They have one of the original Ampex video recording machines, which uses 2-inch wide tape on huge 10-inch diameter reels. I saw a whole room of descendants of this machine when I visited the CBS facility in New York when I was a child. They still used 2″ tape and were huge floor-standing machines. Everyone was getting excited about the new Sony machines they had which used 1″ tape, were more reliable and gave a higher picture quality.

There’s just so much fab, interesting stuff to see that I’m planning to return real soon now

So, the Science Museum, just go there!

If you have paper you need to recycle, tear it in half first. Then do the same thing again. Repeat until you get bored or the pile of paper is too thick to tear.

This works for any kind of single sheets, but also junk mail, empty envelopes, even newspapers and magazines.

I find this far more therapeutic than screwing paper up in to balls, and you’ll find the resultant little bits of paper fit in to the bin much more easily. Plus, your hand strength will increase over time