She is looking good, for beauty we will pay

Our lovely new Aubrieta "Gracea"

We had a lovely (if busy) day today in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers. The straggly Salvia "Nachtvlinder" has had its Spring prune, I dug out what I thought was a dead Salvia patens, only to find that there were several solid tubers among the frost-damaged mush so that's in another pot and we keep our fingers crossed it'll grow. In its original spot I put a new Campanula glomerata "Superba", and we have high hopes for that. I just hope it's slug and snail-proof, as those slimy bastards have been playing havoc with loads of our prettiest specimens already!

l-r: S. "Nachtvlinder"; S. patens "Deep Blue"; C. glomerata "Superba" - roll on summer!

We were accompanied all day by BBC Radio 2 (of course), but here for your delectation, dear reader is something rather more esoteric to serve as a fine complement to a sunny Sunday:

Balanescu Quartet - The Model

Sublime.

Sie hat hier schon alle Männer abgecheckt

As the fantastically eclectic Dangerous Minds says...

"...here’s that amazing klezmer cover of Kraftwerk you needed in your life!"

Das Model by the Knoblauch Klezmer Band (and their rather cute singer):

Knoblauch Klezmer Band - Das Model

L'Chayim!

For beauty we will pay

Time-slip moment...

There has been a lot of coverage in the media - not least the BBC - lately about the fact it is thirty years since Kraftwerk's The Model, a song from five years earlier and originally released as the B-side to Computer Love, hit the top of the UK charts in February 1982.

It is impossible to adequately capture in mere words the incredible influence Kraftwerk's cold, robotic musical style had upon the world since their emergence in the mid-70s. Without them, there would undoubtedly be no John Foxx and Ultravox, no Gary Numan, no OMD, no Spandau Ballet, no Duran Duran and inevitably the era of the Futurists/New Romantics that formed the background of the early 80s might not have happened (or at least happened differently). Truly amazing pioneers!

Here's that fabulous breakthrough hit...

Kraftwerk - The Model

She's a model and she's looking good
I'd like to take her home that's understood
She plays hard to get, she smiles from time to time
It only takes a camera to change her mind

She's going out to nightclubs drinking just champagne
And she has been checking nearly all the men
She's playing her game and you can hear them say
She's looking good for beauty we will pay

She's posing for consumer products now and then
For every camera she gives the best she can
I saw her on the cover of a magazine
Now she's a big success, I want to meet her again

---

STOP PRESS

Just for the delectation of the lovely Henry, who would like to hear more Kraftwerk...

Kraftwerk - The Robots

Kraftwerk - Autobahn

Kraftwerk - Neon Lights

Enjoy!