Get all 25 Bob Drake releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Room in the Tower, There Was Once a Road (two minimalist pieces), Legendary Lore Of The Holy Wells Of England, Planets and Animals, Two Tales of Uncanny Visitations, Suite for Notation Software, What Day Is It? (Expanded Edition), 2 Improvisations dans une Eglise, and 17 more.
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The reason why some places produce stones
and others do not
greatly interested Albertus Magnus
and so he wrote a book, “The Book of Minerals”,
from which I shall now quote:
Let us now consider the places
stones are always or frequently produced
take into account that
many stones are found upon the banks of perennial streams
from this we know that these particular spots
are in possession of a special stone-producing property.
We must investigate the power of places,
some bring forth stones swiftly, others slow.
On the banks of the Oxis this requires thirty-three years.
So once again let’s consider the places
rocks are always or frequently produced
and how the power of the place
acts upon matter there.
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2. |
Pangea
01:44
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Laurentia and Gondwana began to fuse
at the start of the Permain age
290 million years ago
resulting in Pangea.
Now this stupendous landmass was absurdly huge
and generally warm and dry
terrestrial lifeforms found it perfect
for expansion and evolution
until the mass extinctions which
mark the boundary of the Permian and Triassic.
70 percent of species disappeared (quite abruptly)
Between the Permian and the Triassic.
Then came the dinosaurs and early mammals.
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3. |
Dogstar
01:04
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First the paw reaches over (Mirzam)
then the nose which is older (Theta)
and its chest is a bright blue star.
Sirius flying high
brightest star in our nighttime sky.
No ordinary dog, it’s double
one big and blue
the other small and white
the name means “to scorch or shine”
and they decidedly do.
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4. |
Old Sundial Mottoes
02:43
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Let others tell of showers
I only count your sunny hours
SOL MINISTRAT UMBRAM
Observe how the time hurries past
and use every hour within your power.
Festinat suprema
Today is yesterday's tomorrow
SOL MINISTRAT UMBRAM
And if without sunlight you come
with no reply shall you go away.
The shadow of my gnomon
marks the movement of the world.
SOL MINISTRAT UMBRAM
Elusive shadow so fast
unstoppable yet
too slow for those who wait
but too fast for those who fear
too long for those stricken with grief
too short for those who wish to rejoice.
Cum tempus non existet tunc morior.
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5. |
Subjective Haloes
02:19
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Haloes may be divided
into subjective and objective
the latter distinguished from the former
by the circumstance of their vanishing when
the source of light that produces them
on the retina
is covered or removed
though this effect is not at an end here
not confined to the impression of the image
That a nimbus of this kind is produced
round the luminous image in the eye
may best be observed in a darkened room
if we look towards a moderately large opening
in a window shutter
if we do this the image is surrounded
by a circular misty light.
Subjective haloes may be considered the result
of a conflict between light and a living surface.
Many cases seem to indicate
a circular action in the retina
whether owing to the round form of the eye itself
and its different parts
or perhaps to some other cause.
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6. |
Redshift
02:47
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In the beginning
a seed one thousand billion times smaller
than a proton
began to expand
very smoothly
though faster than its escape velocity
even faster than the speed of light.
For one tenth of a second
the temperature was so high there were no atoms
just a plasma of electrons and nuclei
there was no difference between matter and radiation
for the next half a million years
until they decoupled
And the light streamed out and spread through the darkness
broke out from the cooling mass of plasma
stars began to form.
And just before expansion began
a quantum fluctuation
imprinted a pattern on the structure
of the resulting expanding space.
You and I, every atom of every star,
every thing, are all a part of that pattern.
And so as space continues expanding
faster and faster do not forget
you’re a part of it.
Yeah the Universe is flat and expanding
faster than its escape velocity
yeah it’s space itself what’s expanding faster all the time
you and I and every atom inside every star
are part of the pattern
printed by a quantum fluctuation
on that tiny seed
just before it started to spread out
14 billion years ago.
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7. |
Railway Crocodiles
01:39
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Next time you're on a train
keep an eye out for crocodiles
sleeping between the rails
like an enormous log with lots of pointy teeth.
'Cause when there's a train approaching
they got a job to do
signal the station master
telling them that the train is drawing near
so there won't be an accident.
They may be frightnin'
but they don't be bitin' anyone.
So next time you ride a train
keep an eye out for crocodiles
loitering on the tracks
'cause they got a very special job to do
so there won't be an accident.
and they can't help it
if they look like saurians sleeping on the line
it's alright
they don't bite
it's alright
and they're made of steel.
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8. |
Mystery Wolf
01:47
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Shaggy mystic and grey in the fog, sun, or rain
Mycroft the Wolf in a trench coat and shades
affecting a fedora or deerstalker hat
despite his wolfish pelt not necessitating that.
Sporting dark shades whether it's night or day
jotting observations in a pocket cahier
if spoken to he'll bark some ambiguous remark
Why do he linger long after dark
in a closed park or a churchyard
he'll only bark aphorisms of
vaguely cabalistic intrigue.
Poking around the gardens of haunted houses
only arouses suggestions of abtruse intrigue.
Ears like radar flicking this way and that
protruding from strategically placed slits in his hat
Mycroft the Wolf in a trench coat and shades
Shaggy mystic and grey in the fog, sun, or rain.
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9. |
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The sea is all wet and it's very big
and so deep and uncanny.
a vessel may find itself discommoded
or be lost with no hope.
That's when someplace secret in the ocean
Snaggy gets the desperate message
dashing into action
with a baggy of contraptions.
Displaying no lack of alacrity
as he flies to their aid.
Righting a ship that's tipped,
another one frozen in ice chipped out and thawed.
Repairing a pontoon punctured by spiny urchins.
Not doing it for the fame or the glory
certainly not for the good of his health or fitness.
Fangy black and green and some say kind of stupid
but none would contest his knowledge and experience
in the realm of nautical emancipations.
"Yes captain I can see the bloody maelstrom thank you very much,
what I don't see is the bloody Rescue Serpent!"
I'M COMIN'!!!!!!
Fangy long and black and green
and some say kind of stupid
dashing into action with a baggy of contraptions,
Rescue Serpent!
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10. |
Planets And Animals
02:51
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Hundreds of light-years in circumference
vast clouds containing building-blocks of life
where new planets and stars eventuate
and the ancient ones are evolving still.
There must be a lot.
Planets are not so rare is it was once imagined,
they're very common.
And the whole Universe is saturated with
the stuff needed for organic life.
Giant clouds of these molecules
are commonplace throughout space.
These clouds are all blasted continuously
by the emanations of stars, cooking up
all sorts of interesting chemical reactions
some of which may lead to materials
which begin to behave like life.
In gigantic clouds where stars and planets are formed
and primordial ice frozen into comets and asteroids
which may fall upon the surfaces of
any nearby planet and start to react
with what's already there
and if conditions are right may
spawn some kind of life.
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11. |
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Haematopus ostralegos
Sterna albifrons
Lanius collurio
Fringilla
Platalea leucorodia
Vombatidae
Asio flammeus
Nycticorax nycticorax
Grus
Crex crex
Glareola pratincola
Cetacea
Locustella luscinoides
Picus viridis
Hilonachus pugnax
Bucephala icelandica
Lanius senator
Lanius excubitor
Recuvirostra avosetta
Saxicola rubetra
Pterocles alchata
Upupa epops
Anomalocaris
Arundinaceus
Tachybaptus ruficolis
Charadrius hiaticula
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12. |
The Table Of Isis
00:59
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Though probably Roman,
the Table of Isis
is made in the ancient Egyptian style.
Strictly decorative, or key to a mystery?
Depicted are fourty-five figures divided
into fifteen triads:
Mendesian, Ammonian, Momphtean,
Omphtaean, Isiac, Hecatine, Ibimorphous,
Ophionic, Nepthaean,
Serapaean, Osirian (not shown), Horaean,
Pandochean, Thaustic, Aeleuristic,
and other figures which might represent
plants or animals.
Strictly decorative or key to a mystery?
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13. |
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Me and Apocalypse Fox
In that infamous year 2020, deadly phosphine gas was detected in the already poisonous atmosphere
of the planet Venus, on whose hellish surface no known life form could survive.
Who could possibly be stu...brave enough to go there to investigate?
Apocalypse Fox landed the dilapidated ship
(crashed it is more like it)
in the backyard, shambled in
and flopped upon the couch
where I helped unzip his spacesuit
oh so slowly
(didn't wanna catch any fur in the zip)
Upon conclusion we returned to the ship
and blasted off to investigate
the phosphine gas in Venus' atmosphere.
The voyage was long, but soon they felt the ship
caught in the inexorable pull of the planet named for the goddess of love.
"It's takin' a while isn't it."
"Yeah, it's kindof a long way to Venus."
"We're speedin' up a bit..."
"Yeah that's normal, as we get nearer the planet."
"I dunno...I think we're goin' a little fast."
"Aw it's alright, calm down! Have a beer..."
"Um..I'm not so sure about this."
"Look, trust me! I'm a fox! OK lemme check the manual. Uh yeah: 'Prepare landing procedures".
"WHAT? I can't hear ya!"
"No...make it..CRASHING PROCEDURES!"
(Two Earth years later:)
Yeah Irm sure we can fix it if we can just find the pliers...i'm sure I saw 'em somewhere here under all this rubbish"
"Yeah that was like two months ago"
"Yeah I know, but..;OW"
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14. |
Whole Lotta Planets
02:36
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In our little galaxy
there are an estimated three hundred billion stars.
It’s also believed that
every one of them has at least
one or more planets 'round it.
Our little galaxy
may have 100 thousand million
so-called exoplanets.
Multiply by the estimated number of galaxies
which is about two trillion,
that’s a whole lotta planets.
These are given quite pragmatic names
like 55CNCD, C.O.R.O.T. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etcetera.
Our little species, man it’s in a sorry state right now,
but we can make
it into a better world
through knowledge and love.
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