I always liked ‘Psycho Killer’ and ‘Once In A Lifetime’, probably Talking Head’s signature tunes. Being into Bowie, and especially his “Berlin trilogy”, I was bound to check out Brian Eno. While I can take or leave Eno, his production touches on Talking Heads’ Remain In Light album is something else. I was going to write about the album opener, ‘Born Under Punches’, but my brother recently got me into ‘The Great Curve’, which is even more danceable.

Remain In Light has been called a “white funk” or a “minimalist funk” album, and a lot of it was very out of step with what the new wave and post-punk groups were doing in 1980. Wikipedia refers to “funky African polyrhythms”, which to me is an extremely pretentious way of describing it. Either way, it’s a very dance-friendly album, but in a very arty, self-conscious way.

This affected, ironic knowingness is abetted by David Byrne’s lyrics, which throughout the album conjure up images of distance, ill communication, powerlessness in the face of grand schemes, systems out of sync…in short, a world that isn’t working quite right, with ghosts in the machine.

‘The Great Curve’ is a great example of Byrne’s worldview circa 1980:

“The world is here but it’s out of reach
Some people touch it…but they can’t hold on”

Behind lyrics that describe one woman’s effect on this esoteric world – the gyration of her hips causes it to spin on its orbit – is some of the best late-70s/early-80s music you’ll ever hear. With lots of “mickey guitar” (def: very low-slung, with chords played at the higher end of the register, in a very funky way), a propelling tribal drumbeat, and lots of shouting and harmonising.

Yes, another one of those tracks that are better heard than read about. Here’s the studio verion on YouTube and here’s a blistering live version from 1980, also on YouTube. If you like it, check out the Remain In Light album – a really good listen.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

For a long time I used to think that this song was written by Jagger and the Rolling Stones because if you listen much to the early music by the band then you couldn’t help but hear this song as it’s probably one of their most successful hits during their years with Decca Records, all before that the infamous cocksucker blues song. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that a friend enlightened me as to who done the original.

To me, the song represents what early rock and roll was all about with the rhythm dominating the song from start to finish with little emphasis on chord changes or chord progressions. The song stands the test of time and is as good today as it ever was back in the day. If you ever get the chance please, please check out Buddy Holly you won’t regret it – the man’s a complete legend.

Here’s a link to the song to get you started. This song is probably the most covered song by any rock artist in the 60’s and 70’s .

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

This is a music blog, and The Godfather is the best film ever, and one of the best things about it is the music. The ‘Love Theme From The Godfather’ is a recurring motif in the trilogy. My favourite of the three is Godfather Part II – indeed, it is my favourite film, full stop. Al Pacino’s performance as the doomed Michael Corleone is something to behold, up there with Olivier, Brando and whomever else you care to mention.

The opening chords (every note seemingly on a minor chord, played on Dm) instantly evoke Sicilian assassinations, intrigue on Lake Tahoe, Michael shouting “Appolonia! No!” in vain, De Niro disposing of the weapon after the murder of Fanucci, Frankie’s defiant last stand in the packed courtroom, Sonny’s grim end out on the Causeway, etc.

Probably my favourite scene in the trilogy is in part II. Vito (De Niro) has just ‘made his bones’ by murdering local enforcer Fanucci, and broken up and dispatched of the murder weapon in the chimneystacks over Mulberry Street. The deed done, he walks back down the street, and sits down on a step where his wife and children sit. The future Padrone picks up his youngers and says, in subtitled Italian:

“Michael, your father loves you very much…very much.”
“Michael, tu padre voglio bene sai…bene sai.”

If you have never seen The Godfather or Part II, shame on you, beg, borrow or steal a copy now. That aside, listen here on YouTube to ‘The Love Theme of Godfather’. This looks like it’s filmed in Palermo.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

Now that I’ve finally got mobile broadband in my apartment in Dublin, I can write some posts in the evening, as opposed to just lunchtime. ‘Computer World’ seems an apt choice. Taken from the Computer World album (or, as we Kraftwerk fanatics like to call it, Computerwelt, before slugging down a stein of Paulaner), this song is eerily prophetic and great music to robot-dance to (I’m just assuming).

In any case, need I say it one more time? Okay. Kraftwerk at Electric Picnic 2005 was my. Favourite. Gig. Ever.

The song kicks in with a driving, insistent drumpad percussion, as synthetic as you like. All sounds are made by plugged-in things, and the melody instantly makes an entrance. Kraftwerk songs are built like lab creations, a product of the very best German engineering, an ironic take on the creative songwriting process. While all of this is true, they also make, in their own scientific way, timeless melodies.

After the music has set the scene, the lead singer drily intones, in an extremely efficient voice:

“Interpol and Deutsche Bank, FBI and Scotland Yard”
“Business, numbers, money, people”

For anything even pretending to be a pop song, these lyrics break all convention, reading like a cross between Forbes and a business motivational speech. But the lyrics are, retrospectively, disingenuous. Kraftwerk are presaging the Internet, and the “computer world” is a logged-in network to which all of the above agencies subscribed back in 1981.

“Time, travel, communication, entertainment”

The internet has freed up time for many people (it’s also a bit of a time-waster sometimes, let’s face it); booking online is now an integral part of travel; e-mail has revolutionised communication; and anyone can find entertainment in any form on the Web.

Here’s a great user-generated (cheers ‘Dosswerks’!) video of the song here. If you like it, check out probably their best albums, The Man Machine and Trans Europe Express. There’s another thishereboogie post by another classic Kraftwerk song here.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

Between playing Latka on Taxi, sending up Italian stereotypes with his hideous Tony Clifton persona, wrestling women and getting slapped on the face by a famous wrestler on Letterman, Kaufman divided audiences across America. Those who got it thought of him as a genius of improvisational comedy, a Lenny Bruce for the ’70s and ’80s. Those who didn’t get it thought he was a dangerous nut.

‘I Trusted You’ is the best example of this comedy (although check out his famous ‘Mighty Mouse’ song, which is done very well by Jim Carrey in the Man On The Moon biopic). Set over an imbecilically simple guitar riff (A-Ab-G-Ab-A) and a bass line that echoes the main riff, Kaufman repeats the words over and over: “I trusted you, I trusted you/I trusted you, I trusted you” to the excited amusement of the crowd.

After about a minute of this comes the chorus, with the same “I trusted you” lines, this time shouted and screamed. It’s a tough one to describe how this comes across as funny – best just watch the video. If you don’t crack a grin, it’s time to have a little talk with yourself My favourite part is when he gets out into the crowd, shouting “I trusted you” and pointing at individual members of the audience. And what a great dance.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

Another anti-war song today. I do like songs that have a protest theme especially if it relates closely to how I feel about the particular topic as anyone will know if they read or have been following this blog for any length of time. Be it war , social injustice or any other relevant topic then I’m all over it like a bee to honey. Although a lot of these songs are relatively old, they nearly always seem to appear on the setlists for live music shows by various artists, when the topics are current as the Iraqi war is in this case.

There is nothing else I really know about Edwin Starr apart form the fact that he sang this song and was signed to the famous Motown Records. If your curious about the guy then you can always head over to the the ubiquitous wikipedia and look him up for yourself. Keeping with Motown tradition, Starr gives a powerful, soulful rendition with a healthy dose of horns, guitar and backing singers to assist him. The lyrics themselves are pretty straightforward but it’s how they are delievered that really sets this song apart from other anti-war songs for me. I especially love the line

“It ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker, a friend only to the undertaker”

Also for those of you into the whole Civilisation genre of games, in particular, will recognise the following quote when a society has been in a war for a long time: ‘War..Uuh..What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!‘ which is the main line of the chorus in the song. Check out a live version of the song as played on Jools Holland a number of years ago.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

Go on, admit it. Pete Townshend’s a legend. I mean, you only need look at the photo below to know that.

Sure, Roger Daltrey may be lead singer of The Who, but Townshend’s the main man. He wrote all the songs, handled all the interviews, and took centre stage (with Keith Moon) in his instrument destruction while Daltrey and the imperceptible Entwistle (Des has a post of one of his songs here) looked on, almost aghast.

‘Keep On Working’ is one of the songs taken from Pete’s 1979 album Empty Glass. Apparently he was going through a rough time (as the video will show), questioning his relevance in the current generation of punksters, grieving over the recently-deceased Moon, and with a heroin and alcohol problem going on too.

In the current climate (current favourite phrase on thishereboogie and the rest of Ireland) ‘Keep On Working’ is a humourous take on the British stiff upper lip and work ethic. The video shows Townshend looking terribly dishevelled in some decrepid old house, writing on a chalkboard, singing songs, trying to be productive.

The rest of this album is nothing to write home about – ‘Rough Boys’ should be heard if only out of morbid curiousity, and the rest of it can be left to gather dust. But ‘Keep On Working’ is a great tune, showing that Townshend could write winsome little-Englandness as well as any young upstart named Paul Weller. Here’s the video.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

There’s just something about Eddie Vedder’s voice that I absolutely love but then again anyone with a deep, gravelly voice I like, is that what’s called a Baritone voice? I’m thinking Mic Christopher, Tom Waits, Nick Cave here. As a kid I grew up in the whole grunge era listening to Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, The Screaming Trees and Nirvana. I also recall the amount of arguments/disputes I had between friends and foes about who was the best band, that was before I came to the conclusion that all music is good no matter what the opinion is. Nowadays if anyone asks me who my favourite band is I say Pearl Jam and people respond by saying ‘Ten’ is a good album at which point I say (to myself) ‘Fuck sake they do have more than one album’ but thats because personally I’m not a big fan of the first album and think the albums that came out since are better but that’s just me.

Todays song is not a product of any studio album by Pearl Jam but is song that is part of the soundtrack to the film Big Fish that was directed by Tim Burton. In fact Burton approached the band and asked them to contribute a song for the film. The band then went and watched a preview of the film, went home and within a few days had the song recorded. The film itself revolves around the intricate relationship between a father and son that we all have and really gets the emotions feuled up when you watch it. I think the song really captures the essence of what the film is about as can be seen from the following lyrics

‘Nature has its own religion, a gospel from the land
Father ruled by long division, young men they pretend
Old men comprehend.’

which to me basically means that you can’t put an old had on young shoulders so when kids disagree with parents, its the parents that are usually right and as you grow older you realise and appreciate that, even though you didn’t see it at the time. Also the film and song is also about the father’s time being nearly up in this world and that throughout his life, all he wanted to do was teach and love his son which he done in his own way but again the son wouldn’t have always seen it that way, but as the father is on his deathbed, the son thinks about their relationship more and realises that is what his father was trying to do. It’s a lesson all sons could learn from.

‘And the road The old man paved
The broken seems along the way
The rusted signs, left just for me
He was guiding me, love, his own way
Now the man of the hour is taking his final bow
As the curtain comes down
I feel that this is just goodbye for now’

For those who only know Pearl Jam’s earlier recordings, they would immediately recognise that the song, with a few exceptions (better man etc), is not of the usual Pearl Jam variety. Those that have listened to all their albums, and indeed even more so in their last two albums, would realise that the band have progressed big time since their first couple of albums and have grown into a really tight and gifted set of musicians. An extremely mellow song with no distortion, feedback or angry lyrics, this is a beautiful song and I hope this post encourages people to try and check out the bands more recent offerings if you only know of the band because the first few albums. You can check out the song here .

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

I’m not sure why I haven’t yet blogged about ‘New Grass’, currently my favourite song of all time. I’ve got a draft written somewhere about ‘I Believe in You’, another Talk Talk classic. This band really were something else – from humble synth-based Duran Duran beginnings, they evolved into a group whose later output accumulates more praise and accolades by the year.

Starting with the beautiful Spirit of Eden album, completely out of time and step in 1988, Talk Talk basically redefined progressive rock and actually made it likeable. Marrying a pastoral, country feel to Satie- and Debussy-influenced minimalism, crossed with a bit of Velvet Underground noise, Talk Talk created an album that is a strong contender for best British album of the last 20 years. It got them dropped by their label, who wanted a new Colour of Spring, with its ‘Life’s What You Make It’ standard of poppiness. Instead, they were treated to an LP that didn’t kick off until well into the second minute, and then had as its first side over 20 minutes of music…

But I digress. Talk Talk made two of my favourite albums, and I knew I would write too much about them. To the ear that really listens, ‘New Grass’ can be appreciated as one of the nicest pieces of music ever committed to tape, and to me ranks up there with Beethoven, Lennon/McCartney, you name it. It’s that good.

The fact that it seems to be about God, “Christendom”, ascension to heaven, and other weighty concepts does not bother this here agnostic. Whether or not Hollis found God is immaterial – that he left us with this piece of music is. Hollis is retired now, but there is a growing legion of fans of Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock that wish he would come back and reprise, and maybe conclude these classics. He went some with with this solo Mark Hollis album, but that was back in 1998. Plus, he’s a fellow Tottenham supporter. Really, what more could you ask? Here’s the link to the song on YouTube. No need to look at anything – just sit back and listen.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites

With Des off ogling the young ladies in college today, the onus is on me to provide a song for the day. And what better song, in “the current climate”, than this melancholy little chestnut from Shakey himself? The opener from the startlingly good (given his later output) album Rust Never Sleeps, ‘My My Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue And Into The Black)’ is as good an opener as you’d find in the ’70’s.

Opening with a neat little Am-G-F figure on the acoustic, and obviously live with most of the audience noise removed, Neil Young manages to sum up the by now obvious decline in quality of the aging ’60s generation, and their replacement by the younger, more energetic punks. The almost simplistic first verse hits the nail on the head, while one single line cut right to the core: “It’s better to burn out, than it is to rust”. Kurt Cobain quoted from this song in his suicide note, possibly without realising the ironic gesture Young intended to pass on to the young punks.

The line “The King is gone but he’s not forgotten, This is the story of Johnny Rotten” is a playful comment on the changing-of-the-guard-nature of rock ‘n’ roll, as Elvis passes the mantle onto ‘this year’s model’. The punks and new-wavers who all in turn professed their love of Young hardly realised that they in turn would have to pass it on some day.

A very simple song to sing and play, with a harmonica break in the middle so plaintive that it underlines the riddles being spun by Young. The whole Rust Never Sleeps album is a classic, probably the last really good thing Neil Young did, and it closes with a grungy, feedback-drenched version of the appositely titled ‘Hey Hey, My My’. You’d be hard pushed to find a song that describes the meaningful yet transient nature of rock ‘n’ roll. One day you’re young, the next you’re wondering what the hell the kids are wearing. Here’s a good live version. Gotta love the way he says “Thank you, friends” at the start.

Add to Digg, del.icio.us, etc.

Hide Sites