|
Post by carllove on Mar 3, 2023 16:50:54 GMT
My obsession continues. Love this take on “Peg” by The Professor of Rock.
|
|
|
Post by jk on Mar 13, 2023 22:57:32 GMT
I've been listening to this. Endlessly.
The first time I heard Umbra's "Veröld fláa" I was flummoxed by its arcane time signature. I was determined to nail it and eventually I did, or at least I hope so! Assuming I've got it right, it alternates bars in 13/8 and 15/8. In the shorthand I've used as notation, a Capital X stands for a crotchet and a lower-case x for a quaver. The third crotchet of every bar is accentuated with a rim shot:
Intro: XXXxXXX | XXXxXXX
Verse 1: XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX | XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX
Solo 1: XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX | XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX
Verse 2: XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX | XXXxXXXX
Solo 2: XXXxXXX | XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX Verse 3: XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX | XXXxXXX
Solo 3: XXXxXXX [11 times]
Verse 4: XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX | XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX
Verse 5: XXXxXXXX | XXXxXXX | XXXxXXX | XXXxXXX
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Mar 18, 2023 15:12:35 GMT
This being St. Patrick's Day weekend, our local public radio music station had an all-Irish show going this morning. As you'd expect, there has been some U2, some Thin Lizzy, some Van Morrison, some Pogues. You can see the playlist here, with the Irish show beginning at 8 a.m. A couple of things jumped out at me, though--both of which reminding me of someone else. One, "She's So Modern" by the Boomtown Rats. I actually think "I Don't Like Mondays" is more or less all I've ever known by them, aside from that Bob Geldof was central to Band Aid and Live Aid. But this tune really struck me as cool! Two, Gilbert O'Sullivan has literally never been anything but a name to me, and barely that. But I heard this unknown McCartney song come on, and thought, "oh, are they playing him because he's of Irish descent? That's kind of stretching it..." before thinking, wait, this isn't McCartney. It's just McCartneyesque. Turns out--as the clever among you will have guessed by now--it was O'Sullivan. Very cool song, and it makes me want to investigate his work more.
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 18, 2023 16:18:44 GMT
Ah, "Alone Again (Naturally)"...In the summer of 1972, you couldn't go anywhere without hearing that song on AM radio. Gilbert followed that up with a couple more hits including "Clair" and "Get Down" (which I liked a lot; many thought it was about a dog!). Then he kind of faded away. You'd read about attempted comebacks every few years, but I never heard him again on the radio.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Mar 18, 2023 19:51:42 GMT
It turns out Gilbert O'Sullivan is still at it ... and check this out from his mid-2022 album Driven. "Let Me Know": it's really quite good (not to mention well recorded and mixed ... listen in headphones. Fantastic sound.)
And another good one from the same album, this feat. KT Tunstall.
Honestly, I am consistently amazed at how many great artists are out there that somehow I've failed to notice. There is so much more good music than anyone could possibly listen to...
|
|
|
Post by jk on Apr 2, 2023 14:09:47 GMT
During the extended tag of Mott the Hoople's 1972 hit version of Bowie's "All The Young Dudes", Ian Hunter's shouted monologue includes the curious line "Hey you there, with the glasses!" I've never seen it pointed out before, but that line began life back in the late 1950s on The Billy Cotton Bandshow, which generally ended with a skit that began with Londoner Billy asking for his hat ("Gimme me 'at!") so he can leave. On his way out he gets harangued by a man (Clem Bernard?) whose first words are "Hey, you down there – you with the glasses!" I've looked everywhere (there are videos of a show or two on YouTube) but this exchange seems to have been lost for ever. Well... it's been pointed out now.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on May 14, 2023 16:22:38 GMT
Yesterday I went to my hometown to visit my parents for a day-early Mother's Day lunch. As usual, my car having its old CD player, I brought along a few albums I don't listen to much these days. Without further ado:
- Living Colour, Stain. This 1993 album came five years and two albums after their 1988, double-platinum megahit debut, Vivid. It might as well have been a lifetime after. The debut bounced between metal, rock, funk, noise, (almost) free jazz, and pop. Stain is mostly a heavy, dark, sludgy funk-rock. (Does that even make sense? I need to add "-core" to the name, like Pitchfork. Gotta be a subgenre...) While there are cool riffs and as-usual brilliant solos, the songs are much weaker than on the debut, which was lightning in a bottle for the band. Honestly I think they should've kept some of the poppier side of things, but the year being 1993 says a lot... This is also the band's last album before reforming a decade later.
- Traffic, Traffic. I hadn't listened to this 1968 album in a LONG time. I had actually forgotten almost everything about it other than the obvious standout, "Feelin' Alright?" But this time through, I was shocked and a little disturbed at a song I'd never even really paid the slightest attention to before, "Vagabond Virgin," with lyrics like "you were barely thirteen ... so fresh" with someone taking her to bed. Um, wow. It reminded me of the Blind Faith album cover from one year later (with Steve Winwood and Rick Grech in common). What was it with the late '60s and into the '70s with rock stars and very, very underage girls? But musically I was thinking how much Traffic reminded me of Hendrix.
- Elvis Costello, Spike. I love "Veronica," and there's plenty else here that struck me as cool. But this album has never sunk in, and it still doesn't. It has moments of cool things, but it's not a particularly good album (despite not being either bad or mediocre, either. Figure that one out.)
- Wings, Venus and Mars. Prior to our ratings exercise, I'd never spent much time with Wings other than Band on the Run. In fact, I'd more or less avoided them as a bit of a lame, commercial sell-out joke. But that exercise set me straight, and I loved this album again. It has all the flaws you expect from McCartney, from corny showtune vibes to god-awful lyrics to silly story ideas. But if this guy isn't among the greatest composers, arrangers, and performers of his time... So talented.
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 13, 2023 12:32:38 GMT
A while ago I decided to explore the formative years of funk, a genre that has alway been on the edge of my radar. I compiled a tape of stuff by the likes of The Blackbyrds, The Fatback Band and even Kool & The Gang, before they became purveyors of schlock. (Side two was given over to the James Brown album The Payback.) The tape, which I labelled Dinosaur Funk, kicked off with this one, "Movin'" by Brass Construction: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_Construction
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jun 26, 2023 10:55:56 GMT
A good friend is currently obsessed with the 2023 film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and sent me some links to songs and YouTube clips. "Hummingbird" by Metro Boomin ft. James Blake has a BW connection. The sample heard at the start is from the 1956 Patience and Prudence song "Tonight You Belong To Me", which was covered years later by American Spring: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Across_the_Spider-Verse
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jul 8, 2023 17:55:48 GMT
Dark Side of the Moog IX (Peter Namlook and Klaus Schulze):
Neon Bible (Arcade Fire):
A Saucerful of Secrets (Pink Floyd):
"Remember A Day" and "See-Saw" are the most convincing tracks. The rest sound a bit desperate, although in my opinion they never did the title track better...
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jul 15, 2023 12:16:08 GMT
Rick Astley is more than just a pretty face and a megahit (to say nothing of the "Rickrolling" phenomenon). My brother saw a televised version of his Glastonbury show this year and was blown away. Check out Rick's version of "Cry Me A River" from his 2005 album Portrait. Love that rising bass line later on in the song. "My" blues/soul band used to perform this with a singer who not long after tragically succumbed to cancer. This is for Bob. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Astley
|
|
|
Post by jk on Dec 19, 2023 12:08:04 GMT
Let me officially introduce you to the extraordinary British musician and media personality Anna Lapwood. Although the organ is her instrument of choice these days, and the one that has brought her international fame, she was principal harpist in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain a decade or so ago. These days she is also Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After hearing her magical rendition on the organ of the Debussy piano classic "Clair de lune", I looked further and was bowled over when I discovered this. Read Anna's YouTube blurb first: "I often do middle-of-the-night practice sessions at the [Royal Albert Hall], and have grown rather fond of hall staff calling up to the organ with requests. At 1am on Friday 20th [2022], someone called up asking me to play Bach's Toccata in D minor. It turned out it was Bonobo's band. 12 hours later they had written me an organ part, and 18 hours later I was helping them close their show to an audience of 5000. This was, undoubtedly, the best moment of my life so far...!" Then watch this "short": I love this quip by commenter toomanytoyz5367 (scroll down here): Sound Engineer: "We've got 25000 watts on the main speaker arrays" Pipe Organ: "Hold my beer" I don't know exactly how I got here but once I did, I was sold hook, line and sinker. It's ironic that a seriously non-social media person like myself got hooked by the "TikTok organist"! And now, enjoy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Lapwood
|
|
|
Post by jk on Jan 1, 2024 13:51:53 GMT
|
|
|
Post by jk on Feb 12, 2024 14:31:51 GMT
"Am I Normal?", a question I occasionally ask myself (and wisely refrain from answering), began life in the 1980 version by Eye to Eye. In 1983 it was covered by David (first name Virginia), who takes it to another level of offbeatness. (See the link below for a description.) This is in fact the extended version on the B-side as uploaded by the mighty PigFluSneeza. (Maybe PFS's A-side was buggered.) I love this track! meaninglessinsights.blogspot.com/2014/03/lost-80s-gems-1-am-i-normal-david.html
|
|
|
Post by jk on Feb 17, 2024 19:32:32 GMT
The founding members of Genesis were Peter Gabriel (vocals), Tony Banks (keyboards), Anthony Phillips (guitar), Mike Rutherford (bass) -- and drummer Chris Stewart, whose presence in a TV show as an author living in Andalusia is what prompted this post. This 1968 B-side, "That's Me", dates from their early pre-Jonathan King days, before King foolishly tried to steer them towards more commercial pop (as reflected in the A-side, "The Silent Sun"): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Stewart_(author)
|
|