One of the things about music that I love is its ability to transform "the time and the place" that you're in.
I had such an experience this week.
Wednesday morning, while getting ready for work, I happened across a TV interview with Tom Smith from the Editors and Andy Burrows who used to be in Razorlight. They were discussing their "Christmas" album, Funny Looking Angels, which has just been released and they played parts of the video for the main single "When the Thames Froze".
I was amazed. This is a genuine new Christmas hit single and deserves to be the Christmas No 1 (except I also want the Army wives to be No 1 too). It evokes modern day images of Britain but with a nod and a wink to Victorian Christmas scenes and finishes with a wonderful refrain about having "hope in your heart" and telling everyone if you have. The music is piano driven with a brass arrangement and thus has a hint of "Fairytale of New York" to it. It builds majestically and the ending should have you singing along, particularly if in a party/friends environment. A new Christmas classic, just when you thought all we had to look forward to was the X Factor winner's latest cover version.
The even better news is that the album is as good. This too has a strong Christmas theme, starting with a beautiful stripped back version of "In the bleak mid-winter", which is followed by "When the Thames Froze".
Next up is "As the snowflakes fall" an Andy Burrows written pop song, piano and drums based, with a sixties feel to it and is fun. This is then followed by a cover of a song by indie band Delta, which is the title track. This is an upbeat sing along version, backed by sax and Phil Spector big but not deafening drums. It reminds me of "Never let her slip away" by Andrew Gold for feel.
Two more well known covers follow. Firstly "Wonderful Life" the Black song. A little more up beat than the original but faithful to it and it uses, acoustic guitar, violins and a background drum/hand-clap rhythm. Tom Smith's voice is perfect for this song. The play on words with the title and the Christmas film of the same name means it fits the overall mood superbly.
The second cover is "Only You" a Christmas Number one for The Flying Pickets and originally by Yazoo. This version has a "we will rock you" drum hand clap backing too (Burrows is after all a drummer!) but takes the best bits the two other versions to create a worthy version in its own right.
With both these covers versions, if you had never heard the originals they would be great tracks in their own right.
The final cover is of the Longpigs "On and on", which I didn't know, but is again a great song well produced, again piano, brass and harmonies to the fore.
The last three tracks bring us back to Christmas again. First up is "Rosslyn" an instrumental that at one point had vocals and lyrics, but was felt best left without either. Piano and orchestra based it'll be on an advert soon!
The last original song is "This ain't New Jersey" which doffs it's cap very firmly at Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is coming to Town". It's a conversation between a couple arguing over Christmas, who are snowed in and fall out over whether "Santa Claus" or "Father Christmas" is coming to town. The dialogue also has a touch of Meat Loaf to it, the music drives along with again Phil Spector drums and as an added Christmas bonus, tubular bells!
The album finishes with a cover of "The Christmas Song" which Tom Smith starts and then leads into a beautiful version when he is joined by by Danish singer Agnes Obel. It ends the album with that warm glow with which a Christmas album should leave you.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
Sunday, 6 November 2011
The Masterplan
And we're back!
In the interim period, in terms of my football club Southampton F C (the Saints), life could not be better.
You'll remember that at the end of last season, Saints were promoted from League One as runners up so this season we embarked, nervously, on a new life in The Championship.
Well as I write this we are currently top of the league, five points clear of the second place team and our home record reads played eight, won eight! Away from St Mary's we have not fared quite as well but we have still scored 16 goals and only let in 12. Overall we have a positive goal difference of +20, +5 better than anyone else in the league.
As we are now one third of the way through the season, we are starting to begin to think about the possibility of maybe playing Premier League football next season.
It could all go horribly wrong but at present, we are the team that everybody else is talking about.
In the interim period, in terms of my football club Southampton F C (the Saints), life could not be better.
You'll remember that at the end of last season, Saints were promoted from League One as runners up so this season we embarked, nervously, on a new life in The Championship.
Well as I write this we are currently top of the league, five points clear of the second place team and our home record reads played eight, won eight! Away from St Mary's we have not fared quite as well but we have still scored 16 goals and only let in 12. Overall we have a positive goal difference of +20, +5 better than anyone else in the league.
As we are now one third of the way through the season, we are starting to begin to think about the possibility of maybe playing Premier League football next season.
It could all go horribly wrong but at present, we are the team that everybody else is talking about.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Awaken
And so, dear reader, our journey through my top 8 songs (as per the Desert Island Disc format) comes to a close, with 15 minutes and 31 seconds of prog rock joy courtesy of Yes. You can listen to the song here.
I've blogged previously about my thoughts on both the soap opera that is the regular changes in the Yes line-up here and what I think of their last album here.
In the same way that much of my affection for 1970's music was acquired, by listening to albums over and over again at a friends house, I first remember listening to Yes following my friend Nigel having a Damascus Road type conversion to their music. This was after "The Old Grey Whistle Test" (a British rock show) broadcast a 1975 concert. The gig was live at QPR's football stadium and Nigel went straight out and bought "Yessongs" the band's triple live album from a previous tour and played it to us at every opportunity. As it was six sides of music, there was always a side to listen to, that we hadn't heard for a couple of days!
Awaken comes from the band's 1977 album "Going for the one" (GFTO), which was the band's first new release since I became a "fan" and it was issued on 7/7/77 which was just before I started work! This meant that I had money and could actually buy the album some weeks later rather tape someone else's. In fact I could also go and buy the two 12" singles released at the same time, which still have pride of place in my vinyl collection.
GTFO was very much a re-launch for Yes, as it marked the return to the line-up of keyboard player, Rick Wakeman, who had found the excesses of Tales of Topographic Oceans, too much. but when he heard the working demo's for this album, returned reinvigorated! It was also the first album for five plus years not produced by Eddie Offord (the band produced it themselves) and the album cover was by design company Hipnosis (best known for their work with Pink Floyd), not long time album artist, Roger Dean. It was also recorded in Montreux, at Mountain Studios, which Queen would later use to record among other songs, Under Pressure, with local resident David Bowie!
GFTO is a fairly short (39 minutes) five track album, but in my view, it is the high point in the Yes canon. I will never tire of listening to it and Awaken as the last track brings the album to a stunning climax.
If someone asked me to play them a song that for me defined "prog rock", I would be hard pressed to play them a better example than Awaken. For a start is effectively two pieces of music, moulded together with an introductory and end section that bookend the piece superbly. The song starts with Wakeman on the piano showing off and then leads into Anderson singing about "high vibrations" over ethereal keyboards and guitar. This then leads to a guitar track that starts the the first half of the song which is a rock workout with Steve Howe's guitar work showing what a great player he is. Over the top Jon Anderson sings about "the workings of man" and bass and drums thunder around with a church organ in the mix as well!
It's the second half of the song, however, that takes it to epic proportions. In the mix, Yes add, timbrels and harp, with the church organ now quietly over the top. This church organ part builds as Rick Wakeman puts the organ at Eglise des Planches, Montreux through it's paces. Added to this then comes Howe with some beautifully fluid guitar soloing. The rest of band join in, with again some great soloing from Howe and Anderson's voice adds his falsetto/angelic magic (including the lyric from which this blog gets its name!) and then the church choir (yes really) put a choral harmony over the top to which Wakeman now playing thunderous organ takes the whole experience to a truly spiritual level. Howe then solos for his country and the songs just builds and builds until THE chord change at 12' 48" just makes you punch the air. The track finishes with the choir and Anderson reprising the beginning of the song in a gentle angelic way that finishes the track and album off perfectly.
Music like this just makes the world a wonderful place.
I've blogged previously about my thoughts on both the soap opera that is the regular changes in the Yes line-up here and what I think of their last album here.
In the same way that much of my affection for 1970's music was acquired, by listening to albums over and over again at a friends house, I first remember listening to Yes following my friend Nigel having a Damascus Road type conversion to their music. This was after "The Old Grey Whistle Test" (a British rock show) broadcast a 1975 concert. The gig was live at QPR's football stadium and Nigel went straight out and bought "Yessongs" the band's triple live album from a previous tour and played it to us at every opportunity. As it was six sides of music, there was always a side to listen to, that we hadn't heard for a couple of days!
Awaken comes from the band's 1977 album "Going for the one" (GFTO), which was the band's first new release since I became a "fan" and it was issued on 7/7/77 which was just before I started work! This meant that I had money and could actually buy the album some weeks later rather tape someone else's. In fact I could also go and buy the two 12" singles released at the same time, which still have pride of place in my vinyl collection.
GTFO was very much a re-launch for Yes, as it marked the return to the line-up of keyboard player, Rick Wakeman, who had found the excesses of Tales of Topographic Oceans, too much. but when he heard the working demo's for this album, returned reinvigorated! It was also the first album for five plus years not produced by Eddie Offord (the band produced it themselves) and the album cover was by design company Hipnosis (best known for their work with Pink Floyd), not long time album artist, Roger Dean. It was also recorded in Montreux, at Mountain Studios, which Queen would later use to record among other songs, Under Pressure, with local resident David Bowie!
GFTO is a fairly short (39 minutes) five track album, but in my view, it is the high point in the Yes canon. I will never tire of listening to it and Awaken as the last track brings the album to a stunning climax.
If someone asked me to play them a song that for me defined "prog rock", I would be hard pressed to play them a better example than Awaken. For a start is effectively two pieces of music, moulded together with an introductory and end section that bookend the piece superbly. The song starts with Wakeman on the piano showing off and then leads into Anderson singing about "high vibrations" over ethereal keyboards and guitar. This then leads to a guitar track that starts the the first half of the song which is a rock workout with Steve Howe's guitar work showing what a great player he is. Over the top Jon Anderson sings about "the workings of man" and bass and drums thunder around with a church organ in the mix as well!
It's the second half of the song, however, that takes it to epic proportions. In the mix, Yes add, timbrels and harp, with the church organ now quietly over the top. This church organ part builds as Rick Wakeman puts the organ at Eglise des Planches, Montreux through it's paces. Added to this then comes Howe with some beautifully fluid guitar soloing. The rest of band join in, with again some great soloing from Howe and Anderson's voice adds his falsetto/angelic magic (including the lyric from which this blog gets its name!) and then the church choir (yes really) put a choral harmony over the top to which Wakeman now playing thunderous organ takes the whole experience to a truly spiritual level. Howe then solos for his country and the songs just builds and builds until THE chord change at 12' 48" just makes you punch the air. The track finishes with the choir and Anderson reprising the beginning of the song in a gentle angelic way that finishes the track and album off perfectly.
Music like this just makes the world a wonderful place.
Monday, 22 August 2011
The Prophet's song
There's a theory regularly expressed on the excellent Word podcast that you develop your taste in music by the time that you're in your late teens. These last two entries in my Desert Island Disc series confirm that that was indeed the case for me.
The penultimate entry comes from Queen's 1975 magnum opus, "A Night at the Opera". On the back of a career defining single, Bohemian Rhapsody, ANATO (as it is known by Queen fans) lifted the band several levels in rocks hierarchy and for me this was the stand out track on it.
Before, however, I talk about this song, I feel that I should explain exactly how important Queen were to me as I navigated my way through my mid-teens.
I first really became aware of them, when they performed Seven Seas of Rhye on Top of the Pops. I think my mate Gray bought that single and then Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack were bought by school mates, sorry I can't remember who had what and as one did, we hung out and played them to death. Very soon Queen were my favourite band and any edition of Sounds, Melody Maker or NME (1970's music papers that had any article or interview was purchased and read and re-read. Similarly any appearance on Top of the Pops was to be watched and the sheer joy of the bands live performance, even in the TOTP studio, kept me going for weeks. My best mate Gray and I would discuss them for hours, what songs meant, what they were wearing and why Freddie wearing black nail polish didn't mean that he was gay!
Then one Sunday afternoon while writing an essay for my homework and listening to Annie Nightingale (I think), she played the new Queen single. Didn't catch the title and wasn't listening properly so actually thought that she had messed up and played two album tracks! That was of course "Bo Rhap" and when the album came out, my friend Ian bought it and we listened to it over and over while playing Risk and Colditz.
I distinctly remember their 1975 Christmas concert being broadcast live on BBC2 and a bank of cassette players being set up in front of Gray's parents TV while we tried to record it for prosperity. Even now any clip of that great concert brings that night in his lounge back to me like it was yesterday!
The Prophet's Song opens side 2 of the album and you can listen to it here if you have Spotify. At 8 minutes 21 seconds it is the longest studio song that the band recorded and to me it sums up why I love Queen. Firstly it has a great guitar work, it has great lyrics (biblical references always a good thing), Freddie sings his heart out, the choral bit is exactly right for the song and the end is a stunning climax, including a stereo effect that bounced across the speakers. Very lame in these days of 5.1 surround sound, but at the time, to my teenage ears, it was the very cutting edge of audio technology. It is probably the closest to prog rock that the band came, which also explains my love for this song!
The first 5 Queen albums are faultless in my view and I will never tire of hearing any of them, but this track is, to me, the high water mark.
The penultimate entry comes from Queen's 1975 magnum opus, "A Night at the Opera". On the back of a career defining single, Bohemian Rhapsody, ANATO (as it is known by Queen fans) lifted the band several levels in rocks hierarchy and for me this was the stand out track on it.
Before, however, I talk about this song, I feel that I should explain exactly how important Queen were to me as I navigated my way through my mid-teens.
I first really became aware of them, when they performed Seven Seas of Rhye on Top of the Pops. I think my mate Gray bought that single and then Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack were bought by school mates, sorry I can't remember who had what and as one did, we hung out and played them to death. Very soon Queen were my favourite band and any edition of Sounds, Melody Maker or NME (1970's music papers that had any article or interview was purchased and read and re-read. Similarly any appearance on Top of the Pops was to be watched and the sheer joy of the bands live performance, even in the TOTP studio, kept me going for weeks. My best mate Gray and I would discuss them for hours, what songs meant, what they were wearing and why Freddie wearing black nail polish didn't mean that he was gay!
Then one Sunday afternoon while writing an essay for my homework and listening to Annie Nightingale (I think), she played the new Queen single. Didn't catch the title and wasn't listening properly so actually thought that she had messed up and played two album tracks! That was of course "Bo Rhap" and when the album came out, my friend Ian bought it and we listened to it over and over while playing Risk and Colditz.
I distinctly remember their 1975 Christmas concert being broadcast live on BBC2 and a bank of cassette players being set up in front of Gray's parents TV while we tried to record it for prosperity. Even now any clip of that great concert brings that night in his lounge back to me like it was yesterday!
The Prophet's Song opens side 2 of the album and you can listen to it here if you have Spotify. At 8 minutes 21 seconds it is the longest studio song that the band recorded and to me it sums up why I love Queen. Firstly it has a great guitar work, it has great lyrics (biblical references always a good thing), Freddie sings his heart out, the choral bit is exactly right for the song and the end is a stunning climax, including a stereo effect that bounced across the speakers. Very lame in these days of 5.1 surround sound, but at the time, to my teenage ears, it was the very cutting edge of audio technology. It is probably the closest to prog rock that the band came, which also explains my love for this song!
The first 5 Queen albums are faultless in my view and I will never tire of hearing any of them, but this track is, to me, the high water mark.
Saturday, 13 August 2011
Ára bátur
My sixth track for Desert Island Discs comes from what may prove to be the last album by Sigur Rós, the fabulously named "Meõ suõ í eyrum viõ spilum endalaust"! In English it means, "With a buzz in our ears we play Endlessly" I say last as the band are on a "hiatus" so who knows if they'll record together again?
The title to the song means "Row boat" and you can listen to it here. It is as glorious a 9 minutes of music to which you can hope to listen.
The album came out in June 2008 and I bought it and listened to it first in around November that year. This co-incided with my Dad being in hospital and one night I hit play on my iPod in the car after I had dropped my Mum off home. She lives about 10 minutes from my house with quiet roads. I was a bit emotional as Dad was fairly poorly and slowly as the song built on the journey home so did my spirits. At the final crescendo when Orchestra and Choir go into overdrive, I was driving down the slip road to the motorway with the most wonderful sunset view across Hampshire in front of me and the meeting of sound and vision was just heart stopping.
The song now always reminds me of my Dad, who died the following February, but as a result of that journey home, in a good, uplifting way.
The title to the song means "Row boat" and you can listen to it here. It is as glorious a 9 minutes of music to which you can hope to listen.
The album came out in June 2008 and I bought it and listened to it first in around November that year. This co-incided with my Dad being in hospital and one night I hit play on my iPod in the car after I had dropped my Mum off home. She lives about 10 minutes from my house with quiet roads. I was a bit emotional as Dad was fairly poorly and slowly as the song built on the journey home so did my spirits. At the final crescendo when Orchestra and Choir go into overdrive, I was driving down the slip road to the motorway with the most wonderful sunset view across Hampshire in front of me and the meeting of sound and vision was just heart stopping.
The song now always reminds me of my Dad, who died the following February, but as a result of that journey home, in a good, uplifting way.
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Miserere mei, Deus
This is D I D track 5 and you can listen to it here.
I don't listen to enough classical music, but this is a piece that always gives me goosebumps listening to it.
It's for that reason alone that it's included.
Enjoy.
I don't listen to enough classical music, but this is a piece that always gives me goosebumps listening to it.
It's for that reason alone that it's included.
Enjoy.
Sunday, 31 July 2011
The same old scene
So the Npower Championship starts next Saturday and the excellent news is that this season it includes the Saints!
So how do I feel about this season? Will we be this seasons Norwich (who achieved back to back promotions so start this season in the Premier League) or will we be Scunthorpe (who went up then back to League 1)? Or more likely, will this be a season of acclimatisation?
Well we have a squad with depth in it, so much so, that (as I write this) we have only made two pre-season signings, Jack Cork and Steve de Ridder. Cork was on loan from Chelsea the last time that we were in the Championship and looked good. Last season he played at Burnley and fans were sad to see him go. We've now bought him so let's hope the good signs seen in pre-season games continue. De Ridder is a right winger, looks good and seems to have genuine pace. That seems a great piece of business as, if as expected, Alex Chamberlain does go on a big money move. then we've avoided being asked for silly money when we have to go and buy a replacement.
I don't see any obvious weaknesses in the team, in fact we appear to have a series good problems in that we have 4 quality central midfielders vying for 2 places. We also have 5 strikers in competition for 2 places and again 4 central defenders fighting over 2 more spaces. As long as Adkins can keep everybody happy then we start from a good settled place.
So where do I think that we will finish? If we have a good start then promotion could be achievable, but I expect mid-table to be where we end up.
Let's hope I'm wrong!
So how do I feel about this season? Will we be this seasons Norwich (who achieved back to back promotions so start this season in the Premier League) or will we be Scunthorpe (who went up then back to League 1)? Or more likely, will this be a season of acclimatisation?
Well we have a squad with depth in it, so much so, that (as I write this) we have only made two pre-season signings, Jack Cork and Steve de Ridder. Cork was on loan from Chelsea the last time that we were in the Championship and looked good. Last season he played at Burnley and fans were sad to see him go. We've now bought him so let's hope the good signs seen in pre-season games continue. De Ridder is a right winger, looks good and seems to have genuine pace. That seems a great piece of business as, if as expected, Alex Chamberlain does go on a big money move. then we've avoided being asked for silly money when we have to go and buy a replacement.
I don't see any obvious weaknesses in the team, in fact we appear to have a series good problems in that we have 4 quality central midfielders vying for 2 places. We also have 5 strikers in competition for 2 places and again 4 central defenders fighting over 2 more spaces. As long as Adkins can keep everybody happy then we start from a good settled place.
So where do I think that we will finish? If we have a good start then promotion could be achievable, but I expect mid-table to be where we end up.
Let's hope I'm wrong!
The Chain
On Friday morning, at silly o'clock (5.50am) I caught the last 10 minutes of BBC Radio Five Live's "Wake up to money". This included a discussion on the profits that BSkyB were expected to announce later that morning. They correctly summised that this would be in the order of c£1 billion and that following the withdrawal of the News International takeover bid (Hackgate etc...) they didn't actually have anything on which to spend the profits. In fact the profit announcement included a share buy back of c£750 million which seems to underline the point!
Then at 7 am (at the same time as the profits were announced) Sky Sports revealed that from the 2012 season, they would be taking over the exclusive broadcasting of Formula One motor racing, in partnership with the BBC. The BBC will continue to show selected live races (including the British GP) and highlights of the ones of which they don't carry live coverage.
I have two areas of thought on this. Firstly the addition of F1 to the long list of sports that have moved from "free to air" broadcasting to "subscription" broadcasting brought about the usual "it's the end of the world" comments in the media (including Twitter). Comments along the lines of "I'm not paying to watch something that should be free" abounded. Well firstly you do pay, it's called the license fee. Furthermore, frankly the time for that argument was years ago, around the time that Test cricket was lost to the skies. Sky have an additional c£1 billion per annum of profit, over and above what they already spend on sports rights, that they could spend on sport so they can pick and choose what else they buy up and we have to accept that. If you're a Sports fan you have to have Sky Sports, it's as simple as that. Even if ESPN decided to extend their portfolio, I suspect that the platform used to watch it would still be Sky!
Secondly, then, how do the BBC come out of this deal? Quite well I think! BBC budgets are being cut (slashed?) across the Corporation. In the Sports department I guess that a long hard look at continuing with the F1 coverage had already been undertaken. Having worked so hard to win the coverage back from ITV and
to have done such a good job with the resultant production, losing it would have been a potentially huge body blow. This deal is perfect for the BBC of the future. It keeps the "best bits" (i.e. the races that we would want to see) probably at 1 pm on a Sunday, to minimise the impact on scheduling. It enables the terrific investment in the "red button" and online proposition, which F1 has really benefited from, to continue as the end users remain. It accepts however that the days of a British "terrestrial" broadcaster being able to afford exclusive Sports rights is finally behind us. I don't therefore expect Six nations rugby to remain solely on the BBC beyond this contract.
After all the BBC did a similar deal earlier in the year on the Masters golf, when the whole tournament was on Sky, with the BBC just covering the last two rounds on it's multi-platforms. The golf fans that I work with seemed happy enough!
Then at 7 am (at the same time as the profits were announced) Sky Sports revealed that from the 2012 season, they would be taking over the exclusive broadcasting of Formula One motor racing, in partnership with the BBC. The BBC will continue to show selected live races (including the British GP) and highlights of the ones of which they don't carry live coverage.
I have two areas of thought on this. Firstly the addition of F1 to the long list of sports that have moved from "free to air" broadcasting to "subscription" broadcasting brought about the usual "it's the end of the world" comments in the media (including Twitter). Comments along the lines of "I'm not paying to watch something that should be free" abounded. Well firstly you do pay, it's called the license fee. Furthermore, frankly the time for that argument was years ago, around the time that Test cricket was lost to the skies. Sky have an additional c£1 billion per annum of profit, over and above what they already spend on sports rights, that they could spend on sport so they can pick and choose what else they buy up and we have to accept that. If you're a Sports fan you have to have Sky Sports, it's as simple as that. Even if ESPN decided to extend their portfolio, I suspect that the platform used to watch it would still be Sky!
Secondly, then, how do the BBC come out of this deal? Quite well I think! BBC budgets are being cut (slashed?) across the Corporation. In the Sports department I guess that a long hard look at continuing with the F1 coverage had already been undertaken. Having worked so hard to win the coverage back from ITV and
to have done such a good job with the resultant production, losing it would have been a potentially huge body blow. This deal is perfect for the BBC of the future. It keeps the "best bits" (i.e. the races that we would want to see) probably at 1 pm on a Sunday, to minimise the impact on scheduling. It enables the terrific investment in the "red button" and online proposition, which F1 has really benefited from, to continue as the end users remain. It accepts however that the days of a British "terrestrial" broadcaster being able to afford exclusive Sports rights is finally behind us. I don't therefore expect Six nations rugby to remain solely on the BBC beyond this contract.
After all the BBC did a similar deal earlier in the year on the Masters golf, when the whole tournament was on Sky, with the BBC just covering the last two rounds on it's multi-platforms. The golf fans that I work with seemed happy enough!
Sunday, 17 July 2011
Changes
I have just, for the first time. been back to a recent blog and updated it.
I read a couple of articles yesterday about the new Yes album and discovered that actually three of the tracks were written back 1980, not just one, so my blog was incorrect. It is not now!
I read a couple of articles yesterday about the new Yes album and discovered that actually three of the tracks were written back 1980, not just one, so my blog was incorrect. It is not now!
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Knights of Cydonia
Half way through the eight tracks for my Desert Island Discs and this one is a family entry, as it would probably be in the final eight for both my sons as well as me.
The song is by Muse, an English (prog) rock band from Teignmouth in Devon. It appears on their fourth (and big league breakthrough album), Black Holes and Revelations. The album marked a step change in the "sound" of Muse in that it introduced differing musical styles while remaining true to their rock roots. This resulted in two hit singles before this track, at 6 minutes and 7 seconds was the unlikely, but popular, third choice. It is the band's "Bohemian Rhapsody" albeit , it didn't stay at number one for nine weeks!
The songs starts with a driving rock instrumental section. which owes a debt of gratitude to "Telstar" by The Tornados, before the vocals kick in (after 2 minutes). This leads to an acapella vocal section around the lyrics "no one gonna take me alive" which has swirling keyboards in the background, these are added to with bass and drums which slowly builds to "the heads down no nonsense head banging riff".
In the film Mike Myers film "Wayne's World", there is classic scene, where Wayne & Garth and two friends are driving in a car all listening to Bohemian Rhapsody. When the the heavy rock end section of the song kicks in, they all "headbang" in unison. The final section of this song has the same effect on me! It is a glorious heavy rock ending to a great track, albeit if you listen to "Emerald" by Thin Lizzy it does again bear a passing resemblance.
On the original album this track was the final one and it ended the album on a real high ( sadly, a Japanese bonus track now appears at the end of most versions of the Album) It also ended the subsequent live shows when Muse toured and the sight of the whole of Wembley stadium rocking in unison at the end of the song is a sight to behold!
It's a song that I never tire of hearing and if comes on the radio, you have to turn it up! You can listen to it here
The song is by Muse, an English (prog) rock band from Teignmouth in Devon. It appears on their fourth (and big league breakthrough album), Black Holes and Revelations. The album marked a step change in the "sound" of Muse in that it introduced differing musical styles while remaining true to their rock roots. This resulted in two hit singles before this track, at 6 minutes and 7 seconds was the unlikely, but popular, third choice. It is the band's "Bohemian Rhapsody" albeit , it didn't stay at number one for nine weeks!
The songs starts with a driving rock instrumental section. which owes a debt of gratitude to "Telstar" by The Tornados, before the vocals kick in (after 2 minutes). This leads to an acapella vocal section around the lyrics "no one gonna take me alive" which has swirling keyboards in the background, these are added to with bass and drums which slowly builds to "the heads down no nonsense head banging riff".
In the film Mike Myers film "Wayne's World", there is classic scene, where Wayne & Garth and two friends are driving in a car all listening to Bohemian Rhapsody. When the the heavy rock end section of the song kicks in, they all "headbang" in unison. The final section of this song has the same effect on me! It is a glorious heavy rock ending to a great track, albeit if you listen to "Emerald" by Thin Lizzy it does again bear a passing resemblance.
On the original album this track was the final one and it ended the album on a real high ( sadly, a Japanese bonus track now appears at the end of most versions of the Album) It also ended the subsequent live shows when Muse toured and the sight of the whole of Wembley stadium rocking in unison at the end of the song is a sight to behold!
It's a song that I never tire of hearing and if comes on the radio, you have to turn it up! You can listen to it here
Saturday, 9 July 2011
This woman's work
The third of my "Desert Island Disc's" comes from Kate Bush's sixth album "The Sensual world". It's included for two main reasons, firstly it's a wonderfully emotive song and secondly I wanted to represent the music of Kate Bush in my list.
The song was originally written for the 1988 John Hughes film, "She's having a baby" which starred Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. Hughes wanted a song to accompany the scene in the film where McGovern gives birth to Bacon's child.. The birth is difficult and the song reflects the thoughts of Bacon outside the maternity suite, while his wife and unborn baby are in danger during the birth. Kate is quoted as saying that it was a simple song to write once she'd seen the scene. The lyrics reflect the husbands guilt at not being able to help, regret at what he's not done and a hope that she'll have the strength to see it through. He also cries in anguish "to make it go away".
Musically it's mainly Kate on the piano with some atmospheric keyboards to give the piece dynamics. You can listen to it here
In the busy lives that we lead it's easy to miss great songs and I have to admit that this song did partly pass me by when the album was released. In fact it took an advert in 2006 by the British charity the National Society for the Protection of Children to remind me of it and for me to fall in love with it. The advert featured a toddler in a cot under threat from a violent parent with the "make it go away" refrain playing over the top. Very powerful imagery to which the emotion of the song adds that final element.
I first discovered the music of Kate Bush, like most of teenage boys of my age, with the release of the "Wuthering Heights" single in 1978. She was, to say the least, different musically and also gorgeous. While her music was more aimed at girls, boys were attracted both by her looks but also the fact that she was discovered by Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd. This gave her credibility and when she toured in 1979, there were as many male fans ( including me) in the audiences as women. The tour was a show with dancers and acting as well as a rock band and received great critical acclaim. The experience was for her, however, fairly traumatic, so much so that sadly she has never toured again
She further developed musical credibility by duetting with Peter Gabriel on a 1979 Christmas show covering Roy Harper's "Another Day". It's wonderful version and a real shame that although they discussed recording it properly, they never did & the grainy version on You tube remains the only version of it. She did however work again with Gabriel on his third solo album adding backing vocals to his "Jeux Sans Frontiers" single and through that collaboration she discovered the ground breaking Fairlight computer. This sampled sounds (very ground breaking for the 1980's) and thus both changed her music as she increasing used the effects and sounds that computers could add and opened it up to a whole new audience.
Her seminal album followed in 1985, the double platinum "Hounds of Love", which is a glorious coming together of her voice, modern music making and song writing of the highest standard. It remains my favourite of all her albums.
Subsequent albums have never quite hit the same high water mark, but they continue to push and stretch the boundaries of her music. As she has matured she her demand for perfection has meant longer gaps between albums, (she has also married and had a son) but the release of a Kate Bush album remains an event.
The song was originally written for the 1988 John Hughes film, "She's having a baby" which starred Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. Hughes wanted a song to accompany the scene in the film where McGovern gives birth to Bacon's child.. The birth is difficult and the song reflects the thoughts of Bacon outside the maternity suite, while his wife and unborn baby are in danger during the birth. Kate is quoted as saying that it was a simple song to write once she'd seen the scene. The lyrics reflect the husbands guilt at not being able to help, regret at what he's not done and a hope that she'll have the strength to see it through. He also cries in anguish "to make it go away".
Musically it's mainly Kate on the piano with some atmospheric keyboards to give the piece dynamics. You can listen to it here
In the busy lives that we lead it's easy to miss great songs and I have to admit that this song did partly pass me by when the album was released. In fact it took an advert in 2006 by the British charity the National Society for the Protection of Children to remind me of it and for me to fall in love with it. The advert featured a toddler in a cot under threat from a violent parent with the "make it go away" refrain playing over the top. Very powerful imagery to which the emotion of the song adds that final element.
I first discovered the music of Kate Bush, like most of teenage boys of my age, with the release of the "Wuthering Heights" single in 1978. She was, to say the least, different musically and also gorgeous. While her music was more aimed at girls, boys were attracted both by her looks but also the fact that she was discovered by Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd. This gave her credibility and when she toured in 1979, there were as many male fans ( including me) in the audiences as women. The tour was a show with dancers and acting as well as a rock band and received great critical acclaim. The experience was for her, however, fairly traumatic, so much so that sadly she has never toured again
She further developed musical credibility by duetting with Peter Gabriel on a 1979 Christmas show covering Roy Harper's "Another Day". It's wonderful version and a real shame that although they discussed recording it properly, they never did & the grainy version on You tube remains the only version of it. She did however work again with Gabriel on his third solo album adding backing vocals to his "Jeux Sans Frontiers" single and through that collaboration she discovered the ground breaking Fairlight computer. This sampled sounds (very ground breaking for the 1980's) and thus both changed her music as she increasing used the effects and sounds that computers could add and opened it up to a whole new audience.
Her seminal album followed in 1985, the double platinum "Hounds of Love", which is a glorious coming together of her voice, modern music making and song writing of the highest standard. It remains my favourite of all her albums.
Subsequent albums have never quite hit the same high water mark, but they continue to push and stretch the boundaries of her music. As she has matured she her demand for perfection has meant longer gaps between albums, (she has also married and had a son) but the release of a Kate Bush album remains an event.
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Fly from here Part II - we can fly.
Sorry but this is not a D I D post, but those who know me, will know, that I'm a big Yes fan and the new album came out yesterday, so here's my thoughts. (actually if you don't know me I'm still a big Yes fan!)
I set out here my thoughts on the soap opera that is, and has been, Yes. The album has been available as a pre-order on iTunes for a couple of weeks and having listened to the previews, it didn't sound that great. I also found a stream of the track that heads this post and that sounded better, but I was familiar with it as it was the song that the Drama period Yes played live but never recorded and it appears on "The Word is Live" boxed set.
So here's the thing that I suspected, that was proven last night, be very careful with iTunes previews, they can distort an album. Last night I listened to the album on Spotify (here) and frankly I'm impressed! In short, it rocks, in both meanings of that phrase. So much so that I bought it and have played it twice since!
The trio of Steve Howe (guitar) Chris Squire (bass) and Alan White (drums) always were a tight rock unit at the heart of the band and that shows on this album. Keyboards from Geoff Downes (best known for his work with Howe in Asia) add to this and Benoit David's vocals are close enough to Jon Anderson's to keep the "Yes" sound without sounding like an impersonation.
The main piece on the album is a five part suite "Fly from Here" which is based on the "we can fly" segment but adds to it so that across the different parts various themes and melodies appear and reappear but each part remains it's own. The other tracks are better than I thought they would be (i.e. not filler), particularly "Into the storm" and "Life on a film set". There's also the obligatory Steve Howe acoustic guitar workout, a Chris Squire song and a potential single in "Hour of Need"
Steve Howe's son Dylan (an accomplished jazz drummer in his own right) tweeted recently, that having listened to an advance copy, that he though that it was a bit like "Drama" part 2, referring back to the Yes album from 1980. Indeed it is. Firstly it is produced by Trevor Horn, who sang on Drama and 4/5th's of the band that performed on Drama appear on this album too . Furthermore three of the tracks, were written by Trevor Horn & Geoff Downes as demo's for their next Buggles release, around the time of Drama's recording. They are available as a bonus tracks on the recent reissue of the subsequent "Adventures in Modern Recording" album. If CD's had been around at that time, "Fly from here" might have made the "Drama album, but the restrictions of vinyl meant that there simply wasn't space for it. They did however add it to the live set for the Drama tour and a live version of "Fly from here part 1" appears on the 2007 live boxed set "The Word is live"
Now I might just have get a ticket to see them in Brighton in November.
I set out here my thoughts on the soap opera that is, and has been, Yes. The album has been available as a pre-order on iTunes for a couple of weeks and having listened to the previews, it didn't sound that great. I also found a stream of the track that heads this post and that sounded better, but I was familiar with it as it was the song that the Drama period Yes played live but never recorded and it appears on "The Word is Live" boxed set.
So here's the thing that I suspected, that was proven last night, be very careful with iTunes previews, they can distort an album. Last night I listened to the album on Spotify (here) and frankly I'm impressed! In short, it rocks, in both meanings of that phrase. So much so that I bought it and have played it twice since!
The trio of Steve Howe (guitar) Chris Squire (bass) and Alan White (drums) always were a tight rock unit at the heart of the band and that shows on this album. Keyboards from Geoff Downes (best known for his work with Howe in Asia) add to this and Benoit David's vocals are close enough to Jon Anderson's to keep the "Yes" sound without sounding like an impersonation.
The main piece on the album is a five part suite "Fly from Here" which is based on the "we can fly" segment but adds to it so that across the different parts various themes and melodies appear and reappear but each part remains it's own. The other tracks are better than I thought they would be (i.e. not filler), particularly "Into the storm" and "Life on a film set". There's also the obligatory Steve Howe acoustic guitar workout, a Chris Squire song and a potential single in "Hour of Need"
Steve Howe's son Dylan (an accomplished jazz drummer in his own right) tweeted recently, that having listened to an advance copy, that he though that it was a bit like "Drama" part 2, referring back to the Yes album from 1980. Indeed it is. Firstly it is produced by Trevor Horn, who sang on Drama and 4/5th's of the band that performed on Drama appear on this album too . Furthermore three of the tracks, were written by Trevor Horn & Geoff Downes as demo's for their next Buggles release, around the time of Drama's recording. They are available as a bonus tracks on the recent reissue of the subsequent "Adventures in Modern Recording" album. If CD's had been around at that time, "Fly from here" might have made the "Drama album, but the restrictions of vinyl meant that there simply wasn't space for it. They did however add it to the live set for the Drama tour and a live version of "Fly from here part 1" appears on the 2007 live boxed set "The Word is live"
Now I might just have get a ticket to see them in Brighton in November.
Saturday, 25 June 2011
In the presence of enemies (Part 1)
So here's the second of my "Desert Island discs" and it's probably a song, with which you won't be familiar, unless you happen to spend time either in my car, house or next to me when my phone rings as the beginning is my ringtone!
The song is by American "prog-metal" band Dream Theater (DT) and is the first track on their "Systematic Chaos" album released in 2007. In true prog style the song is 9 minutes long and is also only the first part of the piece, the second part ends the album, similar to Pink Floyd's Shine on you Crazy Diamond on their "Wish you were here" album. When DT toured the album, they played the whole piece as one and there is a full version of it the subsequent live album "Chaos in motion". The live version is a true prog track as it weighs in at 26 minutes long!
Why do I love this song? Well the answer to that is June 13th 2009, which is the night that I saw DT play live in my home city, Southampton. DT were due to play the Download Festival the following weekend and so arranged two "warm up" gigs, one in Leeds and the other (for some unknown but very welcome reason) in The Guildhall in Southampton. My friend John, who lives in Jersey, and who is also a huge DT fan, arranged to fly over and his daughter (who was on the way home from Manchester University) and my sons made up the front row of the balcony that night.
DT started the show with this song and sat where we were, it was an amazing experience. The beginning is an instrumental workout and they gave it everything, it was one of those moments for me when everything just works. You can't really put it into words but the fact that Southampton Guildhall is a fairly small venue in which to see a full on rock show and that we had the perfect view of everything certainly played a part. It was the best start to a concert I can remember.
After the show, I revisited the album to discover that the version that I bought also had a 5.1 surround sound copy of the album and I had never played that, as when purchased I had nothing to play it on. As I had updated my DVD player with a cheap surround sound system, guess what, I gave it a blast and the surround sound brings out all the true glory of what is going on! DT use lots of very modern technology in recording their albums and keyboard player, Jordan Rudess, in particular has lots going on which this song brings out. DT drummer, Mike Portnoy, is also a fantastic user of all of his kit and cymbals and again this track is a great example of his art.
I liked the song when it first came out, but the live and surround sound experiences took it to a new place in my affection from which it has not strayed, hence it's inclusion.
I have updated the Spotify playlist that goes with these blogs so you can hear what I'm going on about here.
PLAY IT LOUD!
The song is by American "prog-metal" band Dream Theater (DT) and is the first track on their "Systematic Chaos" album released in 2007. In true prog style the song is 9 minutes long and is also only the first part of the piece, the second part ends the album, similar to Pink Floyd's Shine on you Crazy Diamond on their "Wish you were here" album. When DT toured the album, they played the whole piece as one and there is a full version of it the subsequent live album "Chaos in motion". The live version is a true prog track as it weighs in at 26 minutes long!
Why do I love this song? Well the answer to that is June 13th 2009, which is the night that I saw DT play live in my home city, Southampton. DT were due to play the Download Festival the following weekend and so arranged two "warm up" gigs, one in Leeds and the other (for some unknown but very welcome reason) in The Guildhall in Southampton. My friend John, who lives in Jersey, and who is also a huge DT fan, arranged to fly over and his daughter (who was on the way home from Manchester University) and my sons made up the front row of the balcony that night.
DT started the show with this song and sat where we were, it was an amazing experience. The beginning is an instrumental workout and they gave it everything, it was one of those moments for me when everything just works. You can't really put it into words but the fact that Southampton Guildhall is a fairly small venue in which to see a full on rock show and that we had the perfect view of everything certainly played a part. It was the best start to a concert I can remember.
After the show, I revisited the album to discover that the version that I bought also had a 5.1 surround sound copy of the album and I had never played that, as when purchased I had nothing to play it on. As I had updated my DVD player with a cheap surround sound system, guess what, I gave it a blast and the surround sound brings out all the true glory of what is going on! DT use lots of very modern technology in recording their albums and keyboard player, Jordan Rudess, in particular has lots going on which this song brings out. DT drummer, Mike Portnoy, is also a fantastic user of all of his kit and cymbals and again this track is a great example of his art.
I liked the song when it first came out, but the live and surround sound experiences took it to a new place in my affection from which it has not strayed, hence it's inclusion.
I have updated the Spotify playlist that goes with these blogs so you can hear what I'm going on about here.
PLAY IT LOUD!
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Landed
So I've reduced the 42 down to 8!
First up is "Landed", a comparatively "new" song from Ben Fold's 2005 album Songs for Silverman.
I had flirted with his music when he was in the Ben Folds Five (the joke being that there were only three of them).While, therefore, I had the odd track from magazine freebies, it wasn't until he appeared on "Friday night with Jonathan Ross" playing a live version of this song that I sat up and paid attention. His appearance on the show was to promote the album and it worked as I went out and bought the "deluxe CD version" of the album, which contains the CD, and a "making of DVD" all beautifully bound in a 40 page booklet!
It's a song that firstly shows off Folds piano playing skills. In that respect he's got the ability of Elton John, Jamie Cullum or Billy Joel, all great songwriters who are also fantastic musicians, which some times gets overlooked until you see them play live.
Folds is also a great lyricist, which can range from well thought out stories to love songs via angry break up songs to comedy, but they always either make you think, want to hug someone or laugh!. In this case it's a story of a man leaving a love, that has run it's course and more, to fly back "home" to an unnamed past love (?) who may have written the writer off and asking to be picked up as he's "landed".
I've linked this blog to the Spotify play list which will eventually have all 8 songs on it. This version is the album version, which is also called the "new" version, it is piano, bass and drums. I can't find an old version, but there is a video version of the song on iTunes, which I also own, and that has strings on it and actually it's that version to which the Jonathan Ross version was closer! Doesn't matter both are great.
There is one final aspect to my love for this song that earns it's place in my final eight and that is that it is one of the first songs that I liked and both my sons liked when I played it to them. In fact, Matt my eldest son is probably a bigger fan now than me and went to see him live this February when he played in Southampton. I would have gone but he was treated by his girlfriend, she's a fan too, and there are sometimes you just have to understand that three's a crowd!
You can find the playlist on Spotify here
First up is "Landed", a comparatively "new" song from Ben Fold's 2005 album Songs for Silverman.
I had flirted with his music when he was in the Ben Folds Five (the joke being that there were only three of them).While, therefore, I had the odd track from magazine freebies, it wasn't until he appeared on "Friday night with Jonathan Ross" playing a live version of this song that I sat up and paid attention. His appearance on the show was to promote the album and it worked as I went out and bought the "deluxe CD version" of the album, which contains the CD, and a "making of DVD" all beautifully bound in a 40 page booklet!
It's a song that firstly shows off Folds piano playing skills. In that respect he's got the ability of Elton John, Jamie Cullum or Billy Joel, all great songwriters who are also fantastic musicians, which some times gets overlooked until you see them play live.
Folds is also a great lyricist, which can range from well thought out stories to love songs via angry break up songs to comedy, but they always either make you think, want to hug someone or laugh!. In this case it's a story of a man leaving a love, that has run it's course and more, to fly back "home" to an unnamed past love (?) who may have written the writer off and asking to be picked up as he's "landed".
I've linked this blog to the Spotify play list which will eventually have all 8 songs on it. This version is the album version, which is also called the "new" version, it is piano, bass and drums. I can't find an old version, but there is a video version of the song on iTunes, which I also own, and that has strings on it and actually it's that version to which the Jonathan Ross version was closer! Doesn't matter both are great.
There is one final aspect to my love for this song that earns it's place in my final eight and that is that it is one of the first songs that I liked and both my sons liked when I played it to them. In fact, Matt my eldest son is probably a bigger fan now than me and went to see him live this February when he played in Southampton. I would have gone but he was treated by his girlfriend, she's a fan too, and there are sometimes you just have to understand that three's a crowd!
You can find the playlist on Spotify here
Friday, 17 June 2011
Choices
I plan to write a series(?) of blogs around the songs that I would choose, if I were on "Desert Island Discs and link it to a playlist on Spotify.
First task, reduce my initial list of songs down from 42 to 8!
First task, reduce my initial list of songs down from 42 to 8!
Monday, 2 May 2011
Moving on up.
So a season that started with Saints losing at home to Plymouth, finishes with us winning the return fixture (delayed through international call ups for Plymouth) and effectively winning promotion back to the Championship.
This season is our 125th anniversary and we lost our owner Marcus Liebherr when he died at the beginning of the season, which is the sad part of the promotion as no one would have been happier to see us promoted than he would have been. The pictures of him taking photos of the players with the trophy at Wembley last season, when we won the Football League trophy, will always be treasured by Saints fans. Although he was only with us for a season, he was much loved in that short time.
Anyway, a fantastic achievement and who knows this time next year we could be celebrating our return to the Premier League.
This season is our 125th anniversary and we lost our owner Marcus Liebherr when he died at the beginning of the season, which is the sad part of the promotion as no one would have been happier to see us promoted than he would have been. The pictures of him taking photos of the players with the trophy at Wembley last season, when we won the Football League trophy, will always be treasured by Saints fans. Although he was only with us for a season, he was much loved in that short time.
Anyway, a fantastic achievement and who knows this time next year we could be celebrating our return to the Premier League.
Aisle of plenty
Advertising has always fascinated me. Over the years it has changed considerably from print media and ITV, to the web site and more TV channels than you can ever watch.
Most advertising is wall paper, there but not seen in any detail. Occasionally a TV advert would strike a chord and some brands (e.g. Heineken, Mars bars, Coke, Gocompare.com and comparethe market.com ) are known by their adverts or strap lines. TV adverts are designed sometimes to be so bad that you remember them for that reason.
While they always try to sell you their product or service, some advertising now appears to have a second aim, that is to get you to go to their website or Facebook page. Which is pretty obvious as that has a much better chance of closing the deal as you can study the target detail.
It's the change of website to Facebook page as the targeted destination that I find most interesting. Some firms are now actively seeking you to go to a page on a corporate website to find their page. That firstly puts Facebook in a position of strength as in part "the web" is becoming Facebook. Secondly it means that once you go to that Facebook page all it seems to do is direct you back to the company website!
What I actually think it means is that advertisers understand that increasingly we are all watching adverts with one eye while reading Twitter or Facebook with the other and it's far easier to get some one to go to part of the website that you're already on, than come off of it (or open a new tab).
Most advertising is wall paper, there but not seen in any detail. Occasionally a TV advert would strike a chord and some brands (e.g. Heineken, Mars bars, Coke, Gocompare.com and comparethe market.com ) are known by their adverts or strap lines. TV adverts are designed sometimes to be so bad that you remember them for that reason.
While they always try to sell you their product or service, some advertising now appears to have a second aim, that is to get you to go to their website or Facebook page. Which is pretty obvious as that has a much better chance of closing the deal as you can study the target detail.
It's the change of website to Facebook page as the targeted destination that I find most interesting. Some firms are now actively seeking you to go to a page on a corporate website to find their page. That firstly puts Facebook in a position of strength as in part "the web" is becoming Facebook. Secondly it means that once you go to that Facebook page all it seems to do is direct you back to the company website!
What I actually think it means is that advertisers understand that increasingly we are all watching adverts with one eye while reading Twitter or Facebook with the other and it's far easier to get some one to go to part of the website that you're already on, than come off of it (or open a new tab).
Sunday, 1 May 2011
The final countdown
So here we go, two games left, four points to be certain of promotion back to the Championship. In fact because our goal difference is so much better than our only challengers, Huddersfield, then actually three points should be enough.
We have played very well of late winning our last three games but so have Huddersfield so we remain locked on the same number of points.
We have one advantage however, we have a vital game in hand, which we play tomorrow afternoon against Plymouth Argyle at their ground. If we win we are effectively promoted, if Plymouth lose they are relegated, so it's a real "six pointer".
If we do lose then, our last game is at home against Walsall, who also can still be relegated, so they will also have everything to play for. We never do it the easy way!
It's been a good season but for it to be a great season, we need those three points.
We have played very well of late winning our last three games but so have Huddersfield so we remain locked on the same number of points.
We have one advantage however, we have a vital game in hand, which we play tomorrow afternoon against Plymouth Argyle at their ground. If we win we are effectively promoted, if Plymouth lose they are relegated, so it's a real "six pointer".
If we do lose then, our last game is at home against Walsall, who also can still be relegated, so they will also have everything to play for. We never do it the easy way!
It's been a good season but for it to be a great season, we need those three points.
Sunday, 10 April 2011
The Gates of Delirium
As you would expect with a group of such talented creative types, there has been a number of falling outs over the years. To be a Yes fan means that you also have to put up with the soap opera which has been the line up changes that have dogged the band.
Yes first hit album was "The Yes album" which was recorded by Jon Anderson (vocals), Chris Squire (bass), Steve Howe (guitar), Bill Bruford (drums) & Tony Kaye( piano and Hammond organ). They had recorded two previous albums with guitar played by Peter Banks, but it was the introduction of Howe that took the band to the all important level of musicianship that would be the hallmark of their sound.
As the band toured the album, they introduced a synthesizer and to accommodate that sound into the studio Kaye left (was he pushed or did he jump?) and "keyboard wizard" Rick Wakeman joined. This line up produced the albums "Fragile" and "Close to the Edge" to critical acclaim. Just as the band was about to tour the second album Bruford announced that he was leaving and the band recruited drummer Alan White, who had played with John Lennon's band. These five became known as the "classic " line-up.
They actually only recorded one studio album, however, (The double concept album, Tales of Topographic Oceans) before Wakeman left as his solo career took off . He was replaced by Patrick Moraz for one album, before he left and Wakeman returned for two more studio albums.
Then came the first real jaw dropping line up change when Anderson and Wakeman both left to be replaced by Trevor Horn (vocals) and Geoff Downes (keyboards), who were better known as The Buggles best known for their pop single "Video killed the radio star". An album "Drama" followed which rocked a bit more than previous albums and they toured including 3 nights at Madison Square Garden. Horn however was more a producer than a singer and the band dis-integrated, with Howe and Downes leaving to form "Asia" and Squire and White originally looking to do something with Jimmy Page. When that didn't happen they met up with South African multi-instrumentalist Trevor Rabin and started a new band "Cinema" produced by Trevor Horn! (Hope you're keeping up!!). Technically at this point "Yes" no longer existed, but Anderson heard the recordings and with Tony Kaye coming in to play keyboards the only logic was to call the band "Yes" especially as Squire "owned" the name!
What followed was period of popular success during the 80's, built on a chart hit "Owner of a lonely heart" and two albums were recorded which brought particular success in the USA.
Then Anderson left to join with Bruford, Wakeman and Howe in ABWH , which was "Yes" but as Squire owned the name they couldn't use it so there were now two versions of the band. As the official one wasn't doing anything, however, that could last for long. Indeed it didn't as the next "Yes" album "Union" (1991) was as the name suggests a joining of the two factions with Anderson singing for both parties! They also toured with as many as eight musicians on a circular stage!
The "Owner of a lonely Heart" version then went on to record a studio album "Talk" (1994) which they toured but it didn't really have any commercial success.
In 1996 therefore the "classic" line up kissed and made up and recorded a series of live dates and6 new studio tracks which were added to the two live albums rather than as a studio album. Wakeman then left again and the remaining four with additional keyboard and guitar support released three new studio recordings and toured. In 2003 (the band's 35th anniversary) again the classic line up got together and they toured and released live DVDs and live albums but produced no new studio material.
In 2008 Jon Anderson suffered a serious respiratory disease than meant that he couldn't do the planned tour and Wakeman also bailed out (again). Rather than wait for Anderson to recover, however, the band took the strange decision to recruit a new singer (Benoit David) from a Yes tribute band and Wakeman's son Oliver was recruited to take over his dad;'s role! They have toured since 2008 and I have not wanted to see them as as Anderson is now recovered and he should be restored as singer?
Now the latest twist. The band have recorded a new studio album "We can fly from here" which gets it's name from an old track written at the time of Drama but not recorded but played on the accompanying tour. Yes have now recorded it and it was produced by Trevor Horn, who got the Drama era keyboard player Geoff Downes to play on it. Now Wakeman junior is out and Downes has rejoined the band, so that Yes now are the Drama era band with a decent singer.
Meanwhile, Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin are working on some tracks so we could yet again have two versions of the band!
2013 sees the 45th anniversary, I still think that the classic line up has one tour left in it but who knows. We could yet see a tour with upwards of 10 members on stage!
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Meeting Mr Miandad
Half term coincides with the start of the Cricket World Cup in India/Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This means that I shall get to watch a bit this week, (am sat watching England play the Netherlands as write this).
The thing that has so far made me laugh out loud on occasions is the music being played at the stadiums over the public address system.
Twenty/20 cricket has changed cricket in many ways, some good, some bad. One of the first changes was that batsmen couldn't walk to the crease only to the sound of generous applause from the crowd. No, now there had to be loud, at times deafening, music played, initially when batsmen were out ( and therefore the new one came in|). That soon changed to playing the music whenever there was a gap in play, i.e.at the end of the over, a drinks break or the aforementioned wicket falling. Then some bright spark had the idea of letting the incoming batsmen choose what music was blasted at the unsuspecting public while there hero walked to face his first ball.
It's fairly well known that footballers have fairly dodgy taste in music and cricketers are not far behind!! This therefore led to all sorts of RAP, R"n"B and dances tunes making octogenarian members of the home club spill large quantities of gin and tonic as for example The Black Eyed Peas let everyone know "tonight's gonna be a good night".
The 2011 Cricket world cup is taking this use of loud music to a new and all together confusing area. This I shall call "Bollyrock" Imagine the Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water" sampled to just the main riff (beloved by aspiring guitarist's) mixed with a "Bollywood" style" dance background! Or try Queens "We will rock you" with the main chant repeated ad nauseum, with the guitar riff then sampled in to give light and shade!!!
Yesterdays game between Kenya and Australia had a medieval flute interlude, which sounded like Robin Hood was about to appear, followed by live Indian drumming, which on occasions sounds like someone has dropped the drums down a long flight of stairs.
I never thought that I would look back fondly at 10cc's Dreadlock Holiday being used in cricket coverage, but it appears that I do!
The thing that has so far made me laugh out loud on occasions is the music being played at the stadiums over the public address system.
Twenty/20 cricket has changed cricket in many ways, some good, some bad. One of the first changes was that batsmen couldn't walk to the crease only to the sound of generous applause from the crowd. No, now there had to be loud, at times deafening, music played, initially when batsmen were out ( and therefore the new one came in|). That soon changed to playing the music whenever there was a gap in play, i.e.at the end of the over, a drinks break or the aforementioned wicket falling. Then some bright spark had the idea of letting the incoming batsmen choose what music was blasted at the unsuspecting public while there hero walked to face his first ball.
It's fairly well known that footballers have fairly dodgy taste in music and cricketers are not far behind!! This therefore led to all sorts of RAP, R"n"B and dances tunes making octogenarian members of the home club spill large quantities of gin and tonic as for example The Black Eyed Peas let everyone know "tonight's gonna be a good night".
The 2011 Cricket world cup is taking this use of loud music to a new and all together confusing area. This I shall call "Bollyrock" Imagine the Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water" sampled to just the main riff (beloved by aspiring guitarist's) mixed with a "Bollywood" style" dance background! Or try Queens "We will rock you" with the main chant repeated ad nauseum, with the guitar riff then sampled in to give light and shade!!!
Yesterdays game between Kenya and Australia had a medieval flute interlude, which sounded like Robin Hood was about to appear, followed by live Indian drumming, which on occasions sounds like someone has dropped the drums down a long flight of stairs.
I never thought that I would look back fondly at 10cc's Dreadlock Holiday being used in cricket coverage, but it appears that I do!
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Return of the Mack
My last blog post was about a "comedy" series with which I was less than impressed. This one is about one which I find really funny.
"Not going out" is now in its fourth series and it is an oddity in that after series three it was cancelled, only for it to be re-commissioned a while later.
The show stars two stand up comedians, Lee Mack & Tim Vine (brother of Radio 2 DJ, Jeremy Vine), they play best mates, who first met at a party in the 80's. In the first series Lee Mack shared a flat with Tim Vine's ex girlfriend, played by the American actress Megan Dodds (who had previously starred in Spooks).She's very attractive and Lee Mack tries to juggle, fancying her, not wishing to annoy her (she owns the flat) and taking every opportunity to wind up Tim Vine that he is sharing a flat with someone who dumped him. As in all good comedies most of the action either takes place in the flat or their local pub/wine bar. Clever plots and excellent scripts made a good first 6 episodes.
At the end of series one, Megan Dodds left the show which gave the writers and producers a challenge as the "will they/won't they" tension between her and Lee Mack had been the cornerstone of the first series. Their solution was to say that she had gone back to the USA & introduce Tim Vine's younger, equally attractive sister Lucy to the story and make her Lee's new flat mate. To play Lucy they chose Sally Bretton who had some comedy interspersed with more serious parts and she quickly restored the underlying sexual tension with Lee Mack only this time Tim is trying to defend his sisters honour. Just to screw with Lee's mind a bit more Lucy finds a boyfriend who is older then Lee (who is already 10 years or so older then Lucy) with Lucy announcing that she likes "older men". Series 2 found plenty in the various relationships to keep us laughing and entertained. Along the way series 2 also introduced Barbara the clumsy cleaner, played wonderfully by Miranda Hart.
Series 3 continued the Lee/Lucy story to no great conclusion, although by then she had dumped the older boyfriend, with the main development being Tim getting a "nice but dim"girlfriend, Daisy. played by Katy Wix, to add to the ensemble. Barbara, the cleaner, had a bigger role and her clumsiness became an art form and one of the features of series 3. The scripts remained well written and it was with some disappointment that I learned shortly after series 3 finished that that it had been cancelled. when one of the writers, Andrew Collins tweeted to that effect.
That was reversed however and series 4 is now with us. Sadly Miranda Hart has left as she now has her own self named "sit com" (and very good it is too) so Daisy now has a bigger role. Lee Mack continues to play his "lovable Northerner"( who still fancies Lucy) to great effect and Tim remains the repressed accountant.
I will continue to look forward to 9.30 pm on a Thursday for at least four more weeks.
"Not going out" is now in its fourth series and it is an oddity in that after series three it was cancelled, only for it to be re-commissioned a while later.
The show stars two stand up comedians, Lee Mack & Tim Vine (brother of Radio 2 DJ, Jeremy Vine), they play best mates, who first met at a party in the 80's. In the first series Lee Mack shared a flat with Tim Vine's ex girlfriend, played by the American actress Megan Dodds (who had previously starred in Spooks).She's very attractive and Lee Mack tries to juggle, fancying her, not wishing to annoy her (she owns the flat) and taking every opportunity to wind up Tim Vine that he is sharing a flat with someone who dumped him. As in all good comedies most of the action either takes place in the flat or their local pub/wine bar. Clever plots and excellent scripts made a good first 6 episodes.
At the end of series one, Megan Dodds left the show which gave the writers and producers a challenge as the "will they/won't they" tension between her and Lee Mack had been the cornerstone of the first series. Their solution was to say that she had gone back to the USA & introduce Tim Vine's younger, equally attractive sister Lucy to the story and make her Lee's new flat mate. To play Lucy they chose Sally Bretton who had some comedy interspersed with more serious parts and she quickly restored the underlying sexual tension with Lee Mack only this time Tim is trying to defend his sisters honour. Just to screw with Lee's mind a bit more Lucy finds a boyfriend who is older then Lee (who is already 10 years or so older then Lucy) with Lucy announcing that she likes "older men". Series 2 found plenty in the various relationships to keep us laughing and entertained. Along the way series 2 also introduced Barbara the clumsy cleaner, played wonderfully by Miranda Hart.
Series 3 continued the Lee/Lucy story to no great conclusion, although by then she had dumped the older boyfriend, with the main development being Tim getting a "nice but dim"girlfriend, Daisy. played by Katy Wix, to add to the ensemble. Barbara, the cleaner, had a bigger role and her clumsiness became an art form and one of the features of series 3. The scripts remained well written and it was with some disappointment that I learned shortly after series 3 finished that that it had been cancelled. when one of the writers, Andrew Collins tweeted to that effect.
That was reversed however and series 4 is now with us. Sadly Miranda Hart has left as she now has her own self named "sit com" (and very good it is too) so Daisy now has a bigger role. Lee Mack continues to play his "lovable Northerner"( who still fancies Lucy) to great effect and Tim remains the repressed accountant.
I will continue to look forward to 9.30 pm on a Thursday for at least four more weeks.
Thursday, 13 January 2011
I'm Mandy fly me
I never found "Little Britain" hilariously funny, so I guess that I shouldn't me surprised that David Walliams & Matt Lucas' new show "come fly with me" leaves me cold.
The concept is good, a "mockumentory" about the airline industry, based on the various programmes made about airports, airlines and the various other industries that depend on flight. Lucas & Walliams play various "colour full characters" both male and female, old and young and of various ethnic backgrounds. Some are funny, like the really thick teenager (Lucas) who dreams of being a pilot but can't understand how to serve on the counter in a fast food restaurant. Some make you smile, like the 1st class flight attendant who doesn't think that a couple are "worthy" to be in 1st class. The majority however range from not funny to insensitive. I don't see that making fun of a boy in a wheelchair or excessive drug taking by customs officers is "funny". That was the two worst examples and there were plenty more. Some sketches clearly tried to shock but that is a poor substitute for a joke that makes you laugh.
As the journalist David Hepworth wrote on Twitter "Re: Come Fly With Me: at what point did they convince themselves it was going to be funny? When they banked the cheque?"
Fortunately the BBC scheduled "Not going out" straight afterwards and that was funny with jokes and everything.
The concept is good, a "mockumentory" about the airline industry, based on the various programmes made about airports, airlines and the various other industries that depend on flight. Lucas & Walliams play various "colour full characters" both male and female, old and young and of various ethnic backgrounds. Some are funny, like the really thick teenager (Lucas) who dreams of being a pilot but can't understand how to serve on the counter in a fast food restaurant. Some make you smile, like the 1st class flight attendant who doesn't think that a couple are "worthy" to be in 1st class. The majority however range from not funny to insensitive. I don't see that making fun of a boy in a wheelchair or excessive drug taking by customs officers is "funny". That was the two worst examples and there were plenty more. Some sketches clearly tried to shock but that is a poor substitute for a joke that makes you laugh.
As the journalist David Hepworth wrote on Twitter "Re: Come Fly With Me: at what point did they convince themselves it was going to be funny? When they banked the cheque?"
Fortunately the BBC scheduled "Not going out" straight afterwards and that was funny with jokes and everything.
Saturday, 1 January 2011
New Years Day
So what do I hope for in 2011, besides the obvious stuff of health, happiness and wealth?
1) Saints to end the year top of the Championship.
2) the "classic" line up of Yes to get together and play while they are all still alive.
3) England to win the Cricket world cup.
4) Arsenal to win the Premier League and Blackpool get into Europe.
5) new series of Sherlock, Dr Who, Not Going Out, Modern Family and Downton Abbey.
6) Prog to continue it's resurgence.
7) play lots more golf!
Happy New Year!
-- Post From My iPhone
1) Saints to end the year top of the Championship.
2) the "classic" line up of Yes to get together and play while they are all still alive.
3) England to win the Cricket world cup.
4) Arsenal to win the Premier League and Blackpool get into Europe.
5) new series of Sherlock, Dr Who, Not Going Out, Modern Family and Downton Abbey.
6) Prog to continue it's resurgence.
7) play lots more golf!
Happy New Year!
-- Post From My iPhone
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