General Music thread 2

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@purofilion I actually was a bit of a closet ABBA fan because I was afraid that people might think I was gay if they knew, not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just that at school some people assumed I was when I’m not and I didn’t want to give them more wood to throw on the fire. Then I realised there’s nothing gay about liking a band fronted by two attractive women.

Anyway here’s a song about a transvestite

[Anonymous @]

@thekrynoidman

Then I realised there’s nothing gay about liking a band fronted by two attractive women.

Anyway here’s a song about a transvestite

Coffee, keyboard – you know the rest 😆

I must be the only gay man in the world who hates ABBA. Actually disco and HiNRG in general annoy the hell out of me.

Growing up, my friends/family never suspected a thing which is odd considering my fondness for big, sweaty, hairy men running around the stage thrashing their axes 😉

Here’s an Iron Maiden track about a mysterious desert dweller. The start of the song is typical heavy metal but there’s a nice change of pace halfway through.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@KrynoidMan @fatmaninabox
<splutters…coffee… keyboard… that’s TWICE this morning! 😆 >
(HiFives @fatmaninabox from a closet nonABBA fan 😉 (not that I have anything against them, it’s just that you’re supposed to like them (in a non liking sort of way!))

Little known facts about Lola (the Kinks) – BBC insisted on censoring the track before they would play it. Coca Cola was substituted by the less offensive cherry cola. The rest of the song, like Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, passed them by 😉

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@scaryb You’re right, in fact Ray Davies had to fly back to England in the middle of an American tour just to change that one line. The same thing happened again to the song Apeman because when he sang “a-foggin’ up my eyes” it sound like something else.

Btw, they didn’t change Coca-Cola because it was offensive, they changed it because the BBC wasn’t allowed to advertise products.

[ScaryB @scaryb]

@thekrynoidman
(and apologies for mis-tagging you in my last post).

Re BBC censorship – haha, yes I know, but I just like the idea that “coca cola” is the most offensive thing in the lyrics to BBC ears!

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

I first discovered this band after hearing this song in the Alan Partridge film. Their fast becoming one of my favourites.

[Anonymous @]

@thekrynoidman

Ah, Sparks! Love ’em.

Daleks & Cybermen never had me hiding behind the sofa but Ron Mael’s scowling face scared the do-dah out of me and frequently had me running for cover whenever they were on Top of The Pops.

This is probably one of their most popular songs and they’re joined in this version by former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler.

[Anonymous @]

Sparks!  @fatmaninabox and @thekrynoidman great addition to my play list. Is Mael the one playing ‘boards in ‘the Number 1 Song in Heaven’ (I guess he’d have to be!) who looks like a cross ‘tween Hitler, Charles Chaplin and Roberto Benigni?? In the track above, the voice, is well, marvellous. I didn’t expect that at all before my head hit the pillow. I think the dreams will be good in a spacey cosmic/70s way….

G’night, purofilion

[Anonymous @]

@purofilion – Yes, that’s Ron. The vocalist is his brother Russell.

Despite Ron looking quite scary (well, I was only 7), in the few interviews I’ve seen he’s actually really funny. He’s got quite a mischievous sense of humour.

One of their albums deserves an award for the best title ever – the wonderfully named ‘Gratuitous Sax and Violins’ 🙂

[Anonymous @]

@fatmaninabox well clearly not!  No dreams!  In fact I’ve picked up the lurgy -as we say in QLD -and am lurched out on sofa with hot toddy and a fever brewing -or is that the tea brewing….clearly not thinking straight. It’s a damn quiet night that’s for sure. Times like this I want to run ’round the house and the neighbourhood (coz why stop at the house?) and wake everyone up! I’d like to share my misery and gloom with one and all! 🙁  I shall content myself with playing ‘This Town ain’t Big Enough’ which sounds just about right! And be doomy about why spellcheck does not recognise the word ‘ain’t’: you idiot squiggly red line!

Kindest in feeling utterly miserable, puro (but without the fire, this evening)

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@purofilion

You have my sympathies, my friend. Not only do you have the lurgy, but you have the lurgy in Queensland! I always felt that simply living there was a form of the lurgy.

I tried to find some music that captured the sophistication that is Queensland. I offer you this:

 

[Whisht @whisht]

ooh – @purofilion not feeling well. Sorry to hear that – maybe this will help (a bit).

It’s something that hopefully is quite soothing (in an odd way), that is film music and a cover version (so tying up some loose threads above).

Its a cover of the blues song Dark was The Night, Cold was the Ground by Blind Willie Johnson, but that version is not soothing at all – very mournful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9TB0b9XGp4

[weird – not sure why that’s not embedding – essentially its Paris Texas by Ry Cooder]

[Whisht @whisht]

Inspired by @thekrynoidman and @fatmaninabox above, the brilliant Spark’s song that I’d not heard before (“No 1 Song in Heaven”) with its Moroder-esque synths, made me think of this.

Here’s something for all you lovers out there.

ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah.

[well that seemed to embed… speaking of which, hope Puro doesn’t go to bed listening to this – she said she was getting feverish enough….]

[Anonymous @]

heheheh Oh yes I did @whisht. I was looking cross eyed at the album cover and I swear it said:  “bonky beat” or better yet: “bonk and bed”. Grief!  Blush, stammer….aaaand pour a teeny bit more scotch into the mug of tea. Maybe, something’s in the tea?

Can’t stand it when people at work all a-sniffle and blocked up, say “Oh I dimply daff to be dere, I’m deally deeded. Can’t diss a mday. Big deadmines”. Greeeeat, then we all go down together….now, that sounds like a potentially good song!

Is that tremendous voice of  Blind Willie related to Robert Johnson at all? I wasn’t sure if he’d had any children… but the voice is uncanny and actually you’re right: it’s  mournful, but quite calming and spiritual. Which is good as I’ve been blaspheming  the damned night away.

@blenkinsopthebrave   Thank you for your kind words and …Tiny Tim! What a great head voice. And apt of course!  Nearly May -approaching Winter basically-  and it was still just over 3o degrees . Everything I plant, I do so in Winter (which every other sane place does in Spring/Summer). The Tasmanian climate is looking nicer each year. But, what would I do there?  Anyway, when I’m down to discussing the lurgy and the weather, then I must be feverish. On the upside of missing work, there are plenty of amusing things to keep me absolutely welded to this thread: my first full day off this year.  Some, due to the boss man, would call it a ‘mental health day’ 🙂

Kindest to you, puro

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

Here’s a parody of electronic synth music before electronic synth music was even invented.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@purofilion

You really are suffering. Not only the lurgy, but still over 30 degrees at the end of April! That is really unfair. You could always rely on the summer heat to end by Easter.

What one needs to cope with the lurgy is something really silly and they don’t come much more silly than this (and it is, I confess, an old Blenkinsop guilty pleasure). And it comes from rage. Now rage is one thing from the 90s that I do miss about Australia. Watching rage late at night after a very long day at work was one of the things that kept me sane.

 

[Arbutus @arbutus]

I’ve fallen behind again, sorry! Couldn’t agree more with @scaryb and @purofilion’s thoughts on the amazing stuff to be found here. So lots of posts to follow.

@phaseshift  Educated again. I was so puzzled by those Frank Skinner clips, because he talked about the ukulele but seemed to be playing a banjo! So upon looking him up, I learned about the banjolele (banjo-uke). This is a completely new instrument to me, very cool! Siouxsie and the Banshees, not heard for ages. Takes me back a bit. As for the “gothic squaredance” label, maybe it’s really one of those “-billy” genres that came up awhile back. Gothabilly?

Agree with puro that that punk Ballroom Blitz is great, never heard it before.

 

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@whisht  Can Halleluwah, way to subvert the topic!  🙂

@wolfweed   I howled at the angsty Arthur Darvill tune. (Fortunately no tea in hand or mouth at the time!)

I think @thekrynoidman has to win the Monty Python award (and now for something completely different) for his moving personal tale about teen challenges, followed by “Anyway here’s a song about a transvestite”.   I quite enjoyed ABBA back in the day, but I have always had a weakness for catchy tunes!  🙂

 

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@scaryb @thekrynoidman   My son went through a Kinks phase about a year ago, and we listened to a lot of them while I shared trivia. When I told him the stories about the coke reference (and the Apeman thing, which I still think is just bizarre, because I certainly never heard anything wrong with that line!) what caught his attention and puzzled him was the notion that there was only one radio station playing the music. If you couldn’t make the BBC, you couldn’t make it, period. This led to a whole conversation about pirate radio and so on. Because of course it’s not like that now, and in fact, was never like that in North America.

(You know, I’d actually never considered the irony of a song about a transvestite being acceptable, but not a reference to Coke!)

@scaryb   Lou Reed, yum yum!

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@purofilion

I’m so sorry you’re not feeling well. I hope you’re sleeping now, and here’s my addition to your collection of get-well cards. This is one of the pieces we arrived at this weekend during our year-long Bach cantata marathon, a very early cantata for the first Sunday after Easter. I thought it was a fascinating collection of styles, with a chaconne at the end (I love a chaconne!).

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@whisht    Paris, Texas!    Oh, I loved everything about that film, and the music was just simply gorgeous. And for some reason, that Bronski Beat track really made me smile.  OMG @purofilion, more tea-spilling amusement at “bonk and bed”. And as for discussing the weather, that’s Canada’s national pastime… they say it’s hockey, but it ain’t so! (Oh, look, you’re right about the spell-check!)

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@thekrynoidman   Bedazzled, that video is hilarious,  “You fill me with inertia!”  And @blenksinsopthebrave, Oh, yes, Bananarama. How fun is that? Funny video, is it really from the nineties? I would have put it earlier.

I think I’m caught up now? Except I will have to go and listen to the Sparks some more later on. Should probably consider getting some actual work done now. (And I still haven’t watched this week’s “Mind Robber” episode, either!)

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@arbutus

You are right, it was the late 80s. How time flies.

[Anonymous @]

@arbutus thank you for the gorgeous piece -drawing me towards to sleep  (but not because I was bored!). @blenkinsopthebrave you are man of great knowledge (she bows and doffs Australia’s cork hat): bananarama!!  And Rage, yes still going on ABC1. Late nights involve Rage and a shandy or in ‘Winter’, a hot chocolate with added alcohol -whatever’s on hand. My brother, in Sydney, is finding the gruelling heat has died down so he’s adding to his cellar. This is a cupboard (once containing the wife’s clothes) now retrofitted with perfectly cut pieces of fibreglass plumbing tubes which hold bottles. Quite odd to open this and see no blouses and suits, just endless wine. Anyway…..You are a person of many travels…England, Canada, Australia…exciting!

And indeed I feel better now..thank you…but there will be many nonsensical bits of junk in my in-box mostly from people who sit 6 feet from me! Why do people feel the need to email when an actual conversation is possible! As we say, ‘it freaks me out’.

Kindest, purofilion

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@purofilion

Your brother sounds like a man with very civilised interior design skills. I must have a word with Mrs Blenkinsop about the necessity to move her clothes.

And speaking of wine, I believe the time has arrived in the Canadian colonies for a glass of Australian shiraz. I shall toast ABC1 and my fond memories of rage.

[Anonymous @]

@arbutus  with the inability to have music aired, I think it did happen that it was difficult in North America? At least I recall one song, ‘The Eve of Destruction’ (I think it was that one) not being given air time and so they went out on a boat near New Zealand where they were able to play the song. Knowing Chinese Whispers, I probably have that totally wrong, but I do remember something like this being talked about. Kindest, puro.

[Anonymous @]

On the note about the Eve of Destruction I couldn’t find anything on Google to confirm the fact about playing the song from a boat near NZ. I’m sure something like this was the case, though. What I didn’t know was that McGuire, as a born again Christian, wouldn’t sing the song again for many years but referred to it on a great show in Aus called ‘Spicks and Specks’ (the original show has closed, sadly). Even when he re-did it, McGuire changed some of the better lyrics. I also found the ‘response’, Dawn of Correction quite interesting-  though awfully fascist IMHO. Kindest, puro.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@purofilion

Such a fabulous song, Eve of Destruction. It may well have had problems with airplay, being so overtly antiwar during the Vietnam years. It was probably seen as very anti-American. I always found it haunting, with its very stark lyrics, simple tune, and passionate delivery.

But the difference would have been that, with privatized radio, someone somewhere would have played it (in fact, they must have done, because it charted on Billboard). But you’re right that there were always stories about certain songs not getting played in certain places, and so on. I spent my last two years of high school in Calgary, and on a clear winter evening, you could just get the signal from one of the big rock stations in Vancouver. The differences between top 40 in Calgary and top 40 in Vancouver was striking. I remember that that was the only time I ever heard the Police until I moved back to the coast in 1980.

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

This song was nominated for an Oscar (warning there is some swearing)

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@thekrynoidman

I love that song from South Park! And you have provided a meta-dimension to the humour, because when I click on the link, it tells me that the video is not available in my country. And my country is…Canada!

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

[Whisht @whisht]

that’s interesting @blenkinsopthebrave – I can’t see Krynoid Man’s ACDC song.

But then again, I live in Hell.

[btw tip o’ the hat to @thekrynoidman ‘s avatar – nice touch]

[wolfweed @wolfweed]

I dun a viddy-o…

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@whisht
Thanks, I’ve always liked Brosnan as an actor (although I find his bond a bit bland). I actually just watched Long Good Friday for the first time today, eerily I bought my copy on Tuesday, the day Bob Hoskins died.

[Whisht @whisht]

@thekrynoidman – ooh that is a bit eerie. Hope you enjoyed it.

I love The Long Good Friday.
Its one of the great gangster films (was gonna say “British gangster film” but that’s too limiting).

My hunch is most other actors would just have played the hard man, ratcheting up the terror, but somehow its Shand’s (Hoskin’s) loss of control and lack of comprehension and frustration that make it for me.

Though some may dislike the violence and genre, which is why I mentioned Mona Lisa, as for me its just one of the greatest films. Haven’t seen it in years but can still see and feel scenes from it.

[Anonymous @]

@wolfweed that was a fantastic montage to wake up to . I loved the sections (no other way to describe them properly without coffee yet) where you used the different credit rolls, faces of the Doctor and the kaleidoscopic  buttons of the TARDIS at the beginning -very retro and it worked perfectly with the music. Looking at Peter Capaldi’s features, I can see how …well…aged he seems? Should I say less young?  But he’s definitely suave, dignified and totally attractive to me! The ABC showed repeats of The Thick of It and in the first series, he has a slightly (and I mean just slightly) plumper face . When I watched Series 2 of The Hour, produced about two years ago (?), he was even skinnier than Tennant’s Number 10 who was likened by Catherine Tate to a “long blue skinny bit of nothing” (I’ve got the lines all wrong I’m sure!). Mind you, Capaldi was playing a taciturn figure, quite static and immobile, so that may have dictated a darker persona.

Kindest, purofilion

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@whisht @Purofilion

Glad you enjoyed “Burn Up” even though you were burning up with illness Purofilion. Whisht – Peepshow, the album with Peek-a-boo and Burn up is well worth investigating. I think it sees them at their most dramatic, adventurous and experimental. It ends with Rhapsody, which is about the Soviet suppression of the Polish and East European rebels, but I’ll always love the album because me and MrsPhaseshift bonded over this track. We’ve been together 24 years and counting.

@thekrynoidman @fatmaninabox @purofilion

Is there anyone who listens to Sparks who can’t be entranced by their peculiar worldview?

Just to echo @fatmaninabox , Ron scared the life out of me when I first saw him, but when I heard him talk, he was hilarious.

The BBC did a live one-off called “Words and Music” which featured bands talking about famous tracks of theirs, and performing acoustic versions of them. I still love their contribution, because it gave Ron an unparalleled platform to give his philosophy in life. It reminded me of Tom Lehrer (and he could still do the “glare” to camera).

@arbutus

Apologies for that clip. I just wanted to point out the prog, which featured a couple of the Ukulele orchestras, and a mass competition for amateurs in Blackpool. A genuinely fond look at the phenomenon based around George Formby. It was called Frank Skinner on George Formby and a casual google search of that term may yield beneficial results!

As we’re looking at movie music, I’ve always admired Lise Gerrard’s contributions to film scores (Gladiator, et al). Mad Cellist from the Banshees (in the Burn Up segment), Martin McCarrick, worked with her in Dead Can Dance. So here they are:

[Anonymous @]

Ay ay ya  @phaseshift respect to you.  I played that song with a student who was a budding counter tenor at age 14 about 2o years ago I think: possibly more recent than that. I’m speaking of “This Town aint Big enough” and honestly it is so incredibly difficult to sing. The quicker the better as you can get thru each phrase without going into V-Tach and having an MI. Honestly, maintaining the piano line without stopping or losing it is also deceptive.  As for Lehrer, my bro bought me his entire musical collection & at a little school fete 10 years ago, I picked up, for mere pennies, the piano score and lyrics for about 30 of his songs.  One of my favourites was his version of the Tango?  I performed this yrs ago with a few staff at a fundraiser and some parents complained about the lyrics. Ah, the ’90s when one could get away with a bit of non PC behaviour. Kindest, purofilion

[Anonymous @]

 

thought I’d add this little Lehrer favourite; “fiddle with your rosary genuflect genuflect….Ave Maria and gee it’s good to see ya, doin’ the Vatican Rag”

[Anonymous @]

and the Masochism Tango….. enjoy:   “you caught my nose in your left castanet, love…. take your cigarette from its holder and burn your initials in my shoulder”

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

[Anonymous @]

@phaseshift – Nice version of This Town etc…

Ron still scares me but not as much as these guys did. America gave us The Banana Splits and Britain’s answer was Animal Kwackers 😮

[Anonymous @]

If, like me, you’re all worried about having nightmares after watching Animal Kwackers then worry not. Here’s ‘Happy Thing’ by Talking Heads featuring Crystal Tipps and Alistair 😀

[Anonymous @]

@fatmaninabox  I loved Talking Heads a lot: that distinctive voice was hard to miss & the genre, difficult to pin down. I don’t know why I need to classify bands, music and even books (some latent OCD I suspect; well, not that latent). But like Devo (I know: no real comparison) it just has that 80s sound. New Wave?  Rock and post-punk Fusion? Post -punk, a name I thought I made up & found that it, like everything else, is all over the ‘nitwitnet’ anyway! A good song and embarrassingly, one I’m not sure I ever heard -not sober anyway.

BTW @blenkinsopthebrave the weather has changed!  Oh joy. One day it was 32 degrees and the next day 20 degrees -which to me is perfect, but everyone else, determined to prove how cold they actually were, showed up in long fleecy jackets and mittens. For me, it’s time for that nice Jacob Creek shiraz. Nutty and ambivalent. I know nothing about wine. But nutty and ambivalent was on the ‘net somewhere written by a sommelier no doubt. Everyone sits straighter, attempting a studious demeanour with an appropriately sombre cast when the sommelier reaches the table. It’s like exam time. Not that I’d know: no exams for me in a long while.

Kindest, puro.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Anonymous @]

@thekrynoidman thank you for Kiki Dee. Long time no hear. Great voice-that really deep, diaphragm pushing vocal. A real treat.

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

As it’s May the 4th, here’s the main theme from Star Wars preformed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
I found it on a CD that came with a newspaper many moons ago.

[Anonymous @]

@thekrynoidman

I found it on a CD that came with a newspaper many moons ago.

They were no moons, they were Space Stations 😆 (Sorry, couldn’t resist it)

And for those of us who prefer the Dark Side

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@purofilion  Glad to hear you are now temperate. When I lived in Calgary, the opposite applied there. In winter, after a cold spell, as soon as the temperature got up above zero people started stripping down to their tee shirts. I thought they were insane.

Not sure you should be drinking ambivalent wine. Enjoyed an absolutely killer South African malbec last night, it was quite decisive! So for you and @blenkinsopthebrave, and everyone else who enjoys a glass of red, here is my musical contribution for the day. Not very imaginative, I’m afraid, but I expect others can run with this theme, if they want to!

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@phaseshift   That clip is brilliant. I love the absolutely unyielding expression of the songerwriter’s philosphy. Interesting, as it comes up frequently with performers of classical music, that the composer writes with no concern for the human mechanics of the performance! (Bach was often guilty of this: Breathe? Who needs to breathe? 🙂 ) And wow, as @purofilion says, that song would certainly have been hard to sing!

And thanks, @purofilion, for the Lehrer. I was introduced to him by my husband, who grew up in the Boston area and whose father went to Harvard. My father-in-law is not a music fan, being tone-deaf, but he liked Lehrer for the lyrics, and so my husband grew up with his recordings. My father-in-law, being a prof, was fond of New Math, while one of my husband’s faves was Be Prepared.

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