General Music thread 2

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@thekrynoidman   I’m really enjoying your inspired, wildly varying selections. Kiki Dee takes me right back to the time when I was just being exposed to contemporary pop music, there was some great stuff on the radio back then. Also, Gene Wilder, wow. Such a talented, funny man, and in my view, hugely underrated.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@fatmaninabox  @purofilion   Yes, I’m fond of Talking Heads also. I would have called them New Wave back in the day, but as I have said before, times have moved on and gotten much more complex. For instance, I’m pretty sure that it would no longer be possible to have “invented” any category with the word “post” in it! Someone will have been there and done that.

And FatMan, in view of some of yesterday’s contributions, I would like to know what wine you have been drinking, so I can get some, too!  😀

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@arbutus
I will think about some fine wine related music clips to accompany your clip, but in the meantime, what was the killer South African malbec? Mrs Blenkinsop and I are in Vancouver for a few days (hurrah!) and, unlike dour presbyterian Ontario, Vancouver is home to many purveyors of fine wines!

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@arbutus

[Anonymous @]

@arbutus oh yes “New Math” and ALL those others. Wonderful songs with great piano accompaniments. Strangely, that’s the first CD in the car for Road Trips which bothers my bro who will go for something truly loud and outlandish. In Sydney at the University of NSW, there’s a tiny radiostation which broadcasts in a 6 km radius. That’s what’s on bros radio most days and in the car. Some of it is the most intriguing jazz, which, unless you’re a  hardened jazz lover, is ‘unreadable’. Thank you also for the UB40, I did/do love that song. Very relaxing and not a dated piece, really.

Now, @thekrynoidman why is May 4 important? Clearly something I’ve missed that is of enormous significance and I shall come out looking foolish. That’s OK, I’m used to that!

We had Parent Teacher Night last Thursday, and, after some meetings, whereupon I explained to the Deputy that sitting for 6 hours straight was not good for the Crohns, I ended up having the ambulance arrive with the precious penthrane (that recorder like thing which contains an instant pain reliever) exactly 4 hours into the whole thing (a problem I predicted). The awful part was being taken out in a gurney in front of about 500 staring people by a paramedic who, 3 years ago, I used to teach (Naturally he had to reach inside my clothes to attach EKGs .iiiiiiiiick). Oh, the random misery. Nope, not really, I think the Deputy is feeling more foolish and the ambulance did arrive within 15 min so all good! Kindest, puro.

[Anonymous @]

@blenkinsopthebrave apparently it’s not cool to like Mr Joel anymore!  Ha, I say to that. I love him and I do love that song. The opening is gorgeous: the ‘middle 8’ is so unexpected and his great voice: veering between ballad and throaty rocker. Then that carnival clarinet before the simple piano solo turns upscale with some gentle strings at the end. Super. Thank you! puro.

[Anonymous @]

@purofilion

May 4th is a Star Wars ‘in joke’ – ‘May the 4th be with you’ 😀

[Anonymous @]

@fatmaninabox thanks for that!  Cripes, If I’d said it aloud a  few times, I might have worked that out 🙂 puro.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@blenkinsopthebrave    The wine was Annex Kloof 2009 Malbec. It was a bit pricier than our usual Saturday night chug, but not by much. It was divine! It was purchased not at the government monopoly but at Marquis Wine Cellar, an excellent private store downtown in the West End. I hope the weather here cooperates for your visit. Last week was gorgeous, felt like June, but this weekend has been pretty wet and gloomy.

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, lovely. I always loved that song, vintage Billy Joel. Some of his earlier songs are among my favourites. An excellent choice, monsieur, salut!  🙂

@purofilion     I’m so sorry about your unfortunately public episode, so unpleasant for you. Glad to hear that you have rebounded.   “May the Fourth be with you.”  😎

[Arbutus @arbutus]

By the way, @wolfweed, I somehow missed congratulating you on the great vid. Really nicely done. A great way of pulling all the Doctors together into one magnificent entity!

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

What who!?

@purofilion – respects for your student for attempting that Sparks track – I can’t comprehend the control necessary to pull that off.

@arbutus – My favourite quote on Bach was by all-round-genius Carl Sagan. When preparing to etch a disk for the “Sounds of Earth” on one of the exporer probes, one of the Scientists asked Mr. Sagen, “What about some Bach?”

Sagen replied: “Wouldn’t that be showing off?”

This week, I seem to have been mostly revelling in a 70s nostalgia fest in music.This one is apt as I’ve come back to find innumerable posts through the door regarding the European Elections. As I’ve studied the calls for me to vote UKIP I’ve remembered:

By the same writer, can I suggest this. The “Big Band“ philosophy in this song is fantastic.

I was energised by a lot of the metal during that period, and I thought this track absorbed some key aspects of disco during the 70s.

@thekrynoidman posted a track by AC/DC earlier. Good, but I think this is the best track under Bon Scott.

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

I know someone already posted The Shat’s cover of Common People but this is one of the best fan videos ever.

But for the sake of originality, here’s a song that hasn’t already been posted

[Anonymous @]

@thekrynoidman  Ok….I have never ever heard that song; I didn’t know therefore there was a fanvid of this amazing…thing…whatever one calls it but oh, what a honey Shat was. Before I had a crush on Mike Douglas in Streets of San Francisco, I definitely crushed on The Shat. That smile.    aaaaah. Thank you.

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@purofilion Are you talking about Common People? I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it. Here in Britain the original version by Pulp is considered a classic, although Shatners is more well known in the US.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@phaseshift    And that is just one more reason why Carl Sagan was the Greatest.  🙂

While I was never really a metalhead myself, The Seventies was my era and as such receives great love from me. Under My Wheels is great, and the guitar playing in that AC DC track is pretty sweet.

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@thekrynoidman   That fan video is amazing, impossible to watch without wearing a big grin. The song is great all on its own, but that video! (And seeing all those clips lined up brings home for one thing, how much goofiness went on in that show, and for another, how much time Captain JT Kirk spent wearing a look of completely bemusement.

Oh, @purofilion, I too had a love-on for Michael Douglas as a teenager!   😉

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@arbutus, @phaseshift

The Seventies. Definitely my period as well. Not sure if you know “Detectives on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown” from The Comic Strip Presents; about a group of 70s TV detectives brought back to solve a crime, but it is brilliant. The music number start at about 1 minute 30 in…

 

[Arbutus @arbutus]

@blenkinsopthebrave    I had to watch that twice. Then I had to go to YouTube and watch the whole thing. It was awesome. I don’t think you could write a grad thesis that would do such a great job of parsing out the changes in detective show style between the seventies and the nineties. Really brilliant. Bonehead and Foyle brought back fond memories of my forays into the genre in my early teens, watching Starsky and Hutch on American TV, lots of guns and fast cars, and “cover me”! I pretty much gave up on cop TV in the nineties, because it just stopped being fun.

[Anonymous @]

Sad to hear about the death of Nash The Slash. Not really known in the UK but I’m sure our Canadian members will have heard of him.

He came to my attention in the early 80’s when he supported Gary Numan on tour as well as playing violin on Numan’s ‘Dance’ album in 1981.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m229hY3Onak

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@fatmaninabox Well certainly was interesting. I’ve never heard of him before, but your post has gotten me interested.

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

Here’s the rejected theme for the James Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun by Alice Cooper. I can see why they picked Lulu’s, this doesn’t sound anything like a Bond theme.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@thekrynoidman

Wow. That Alice Cooper James Bond track was really bad! Let’s face it, Conchita Wurst’s “Rise like a Penis” (that was the title wasn’t it?) would make a really good James Bond theme.

(Sorry, on an iPad, otherwise I would provide a link.)

Surely someone could provide a link…

[ScaryB @scaryb]

This thread is a  joy that constantly surprises. Thanks everyone for great postings, inc Sparks (I’d forgotten how downright creepy they were 🙂 ), Tom Lehrer, Alice Cooper and AC/DC… (@Phaseshift – nothing like a bit of HM to get you rho the days of teenage angst 🙂 )

@Purofilion Hope you’re feeling better again  (poor you).

@wolfweed – great “Twelve” vid… and the others – you’ve been busy 😎

Now going off to have nightmares after viewing @fatmaninabox‘s Animal Kwackers and Crystal Tipps… agh! 😯 the other side of the 70s! (Well, I s’pose you did put a warning on it)

G’night

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@blenkinsopthebrave are you being sarcastic?

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@thekrynoidman

Absolutely not! Alice Cooper doesn’t work at all as a James Bond song. Working as a James Bond song has got nothing to do with being good music, but everything to do with capturing the essential silliness of the James Bond product. Conchita Wurst captures it in a pitch perfect way, and understands what makes James Bond, well…James Bond.

A good James Bond song (to work as a James Bond song), is much closer to the Eurovision song contest than it is to actual music.

[Anonymous @]

@blenkinsopthebrave

“Rise like a Penis”

Naughty! (but funny 😀 )

I think Garbage’s ‘The World Is Not Enough’ would’ve made a brilliant Eurovision song (if there is such a thing 😉 ). It may even have won it.

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@fatmaninabox

Exactly!

And here is the evidence of the essential compatibility of Eurovision with James Bond :

 

[Whisht @whisht]

blimey – sorry, not been around much and lots to catch up on!

@phaseshift – well I must absolutely shake you by the metaphorical hand for some great tracks!
Aside from sharing the Siouxie track The Last Beat of My Heart – didn’t know of it so thank you – I also loved the great acoustic version of This Town Ain’t Big enough… which made me hear it as a ‘chanson’ (I know that’s the wrong word – someone may be able to read my mind and get the right song-type I’m thinking of!).

Also, I’ve known of Dead Can Dance for years, but always assumed they did something completely other than the track you linked!
Incredible – really lovely and made me think that Baraka might actually be worth watching! (I have a stoopid aversion to it as I think it might be trying to beautify poverty – which is similar to me keeping away from “favela drive-throughs” as well, but that’s my hang-ups and actually I probably should get over them…).
(btw at ~4.20 there’s a shot of a family on a moped and the nonchalant way that the mother sits and holds the baby while hurtling along a busy road, brings back fond-if-startling memories of my trip to Vietnam where this was a common sight).

@thekrynoidman – excellent clips-to-music for Shatner! laughed me head off at some of the choices!
and redd kross isn’t something I’ve come across so cheers – great ping-pong (stylistically etc) to @phaseshift ‘s Alice Cooper.

and @purofilion – if you’d not heard that version of Common People before, it means you didn’t listen to it when I posted it (but without the great video) – obviously I’m upset. Tears will fall (Silence is unlikely to fall unless I post some Cage).
However, you posted Tom Lehrer and… you’re forgiven 😉

And @fatmaninabox – Animal Kwackers!!???!!! and then Crystal Tips!!”?!
jeezus. Though its perhaps good to see where Noel Fielding is drawing his insipiration from.
Mind you, that 70’s tip has made my YT suggestions blow up (not had the Dubliners next to Potty Time before now).

@blenkinsopthebrave – actually it was only because you linked, but that’s the first time I’ve heard the Wurst track and you are absolutely right. If someone had said its the new Bond theme I’d have gone “yeah, bit like that other one that I can’t think of… [in fact the Garbage one! – well done pair of you!]
Basically tender close to mike vocals, strings and horns, then doom-doom-dum-dum-dum “words-that-are-the-title” sung gloriously ever louder. [puro and Arbutus and maybe others can give that drivel its proper musical names so others may know what the bloody hell I’m on about! 🙂 ]

Basically – Muse (but please don’t take that as an excuse to link to them!)

Now that I’ve caught up (a bit), what was it that I was going to post…?

[Whisht @whisht]

This is sooo not the right track to play after Conchita!

However, I’ve been meaning to post this as we’ve been talking about Film Music and I’ve been listening to this album by Boards of Canada a lot (usually while reading).
They’re Scottish and they’ve got “Canada” in their name – I’m surprised this blog isn’t seeped in them.

Its not necessarily their best album, but its deliberately very filmic.
Although they could have elaborated on any of them, the tracks actually sound like the curated ‘single interesting track’ from the soundtrack albums of a bunch of different 80’s sci-fi movies.

If I might be so bold, I’d avoid watching the video and just having the music play in the background and wait for it to arrest you (or not). Other albums are a bit more dance-y and immediate (and well worth your ear-time!).

Anyway, music that isn’t in a film (yet) for our ‘music from films’ series:

[Anonymous @]

@whisht  Yes, you’re right I must have …skipped over it: I’m all black and brown and covered in …misery for such wrong doing….speaking in the language of Andals: I’m truly sorry, so I’ll add this. Kindest, puro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nOcdvjmiT4&list=RD4nOcdvjmiT4&feature=player_detailpage

 

[Anonymous @]

@whisht  great post above  (Boards of Canada) -reminds of very very early Mike Oldfield and also an Aus band/group (super nerds) called Typology.

Also, there was a track that didn’t quite make it to an album by the Byrds that this really reminds of? Can’t think what it is!! eerr. Hate it when that happens…. ! This is very evocative stuff -there’s music par excellence: “stuff”. As well as the always-said (by me) “evocative”. Well of course it’s evocative!  It’s not music otherwise. Also, a chanson was something special once: but really it just means ‘song’, now. @arbutus any ideas about ‘chansons’?  I think the ‘s’ is a mistake on my part?  Bahaha ‘part’  geddit?? Oh God. I’ll go bag my head as my fine brother used to say!

[Whisht @whisht]

Hi @purofilion – he he, yes be all brown and covered in… hold on – does that mean I’m a fair maid with honey up in my hair??

erm…. moving swiftly (and baldly) on, yes only just come across Typology when looking for BoC videos. Interesting.

Don’t worry about me not knowing what word to use to describe the kin of torchsong/ballad singers next to pianos sing (which is where my head was going on hearing that version of This Town…

anyhoo, don’t bag your head (or put it in a box) (and I really should just go and get the boxset of GoT as I haven’t seen any yet – I know I know….. it took me 10 years to get Battlestar Galactica…)

🙂

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

Here’s two diffrent songs that have the same title

[Whisht @whisht]

@thekrynoidman – holy cow! Are you snooping on my hard drive??!??!!?!?

When we were linking to cover versions, I created a long list of songs which begins:

“btw how about “songs with the same name that aren’t covers”, like…”

I never posted it as I thought it a tad… tangential?

Faint heart and all that – thank you for the shot in the arm!

so, to begin such a this-list-is-only-gonna-be-me-adding-to-it list, (and because its you) how about this disparate group of takes on a single title:

(am not including either other versions of the one I linked by Little Richard or this beloved cover of Yazoo’s. As you said, just different songs with the same name).

[Anonymous @]

@thekrynoidman – great theme for a topic 🙂

Here’s my offering of The Thin Line Between Love And Hate.

First, the Pretenders cover of an old soul classic…

and then the mighty Iron Maiden…

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

Here’s two more

[Whisht @whisht]

ok, ok, more legs than I thought (and thankfully no one’s said “I’ve got twenty links to different songs called the Power of Love – all of which are crap”).

So, instead of tracks that sound nothing like each other, here’s some similarly powerful guitary tracks all called Fortune Teller.

hm, next will be… one title – 4 romantic songs by wimmin as a bit of balance.

[Anonymous @]

grief: the knowledge!  I bow. I had also a list like that when I was about 21. it had about 3 songs  times 3 ( and then I gave up). Obviously I didn’t have enough repertoire. Or is it repertory?  I was listening to a guy who was quite creepy on the ABC radio classical channel who kept introducing the “beautiful Liola with her viola da gamba’ and the ‘beautiful Antoinette who plays this particular do da that no-one else plays in Australia’. I could imagine him with all his “beautifuls and lovelies”  thinking “I’m going to play you all tonight…Arggh” It was awful. Some formal classical music is  just classical porn really. God awful.

Buffalo Tom -amazing. So was The Who -I remember seeing that (F Teller)on YTube (I think) some yrs ago. Then again… Iron Maiden the same: Good stuff….sorry @whisht I just love the ‘bear song’ -I don’t really listen to the words. I just bash my head about in rhythm. Fine stuff. 4 tracks by wimmin.  I remember designing a unit on protest songs -Dylan, Ochs, and on & on and there weren’t enough wimmin in it! Not by far: we had Janis and even Carpenter Chick (though not protest at all) and ..and.. Big Silence.

[Anonymous @]

well when I meant ‘amazing’ about Buffalo Tom, I mean amazing to find it,  to know it?  It’s …I’m gonna say it, OK? It’s AWFUL.

Also, kick me, but I always thought The Doors were over-rated? No?  IMHO and all, What do I know? I speak Bach and others La Bamba. I say Schubert and you say The Stooges…like ’em anyway, actually.

[Anonymous @]

@thekrynoidman  I’ve seen bits of the Waterman film before, but I didn’t realise who actually composed the score!  God, he looks so young; but that voice and that great little machine….I mean the scooter. 🙂

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@purofilion Actually the two Up the Junction songs are somewhat related. The Waterman film was based on a book, which was also adapted as a BBC play by Ken Loach, which is what inspired Squeeze to write their song.

[Whisht @whisht]

ah @Purofilion – he he, yes Buffalo Tom. I have an affection for them due to seeing them when they played support for The Wedding Present (Leeds Poly ’92?). I’d not heard of them and we wandered in from the bar to see who was supporting and they were terrific.
Then the Weddoes came on to this causing everyone to laugh and bounce and they then launched into this. They were incredible! Probably the best gig I’ve ever been to – very sweaty!

And agree – The Doors are loved for their impact methinks rather than the quality of all the songs. Some are good but many are a bit pony.

anyway, as a bit of balance to the boy-rawk I promised a list of 4 romantic songs by wimmin with the same title.

[PhaseShift @phaseshift Time Lord]

@purofilion – love Tom Lehrer. I was introduced to him by a science teacher through the Element Song, but it was his deadpan delivery of some hilarious material in his audience interaction that won me over and made me think of Ron in that Sparks video. Would I have gone on to study Chemistry at University without people like Toms Baker and Lehrer in my young life? I doubt it. I saw this on the Graham Norton show a few years ago, Harry Potter himself doing his party piece in tribute to Lehrer. The saga continues. 😀

@arbutus – Glad you enjoyed Under My wheels. Alice himself was a bit surprised by his popularity in the late 70s, but when you hear that sound it’s both timeless and contemporary. The ACDC track I love unconditionally. I find the lyrical performance by Bon Scott haunting.

@blenkinsopthebrave – The Comic strip was variable, but that was a standout episode, as was the earlier “The Bullshitters” which featured the same characters.

@whisht – Dead Can Dance are endlessly surprising to me, and are well worth seeking out. Glad you enjoyed Last Beat of my Heart as well. I think that was the track that made me and MrsPhaseShift understand each other.

As we’ve been talking about Frank Skinner on other issues (and I’ve already posted a link to his Ukulele stuff) I was thinking about fans in music.

I’ve already confessed to being an old goth, and I’ll further confess to being a member of the Sisters of Mercy fan club. Mainly because it was the easiest way to find out what the hell they were doing. Andrew Eldritch, who effectively was the Sisters used to write some blistering articles for their newsletters. It came as a big surprise to find out he was a Who fan. He wrote an article after a tour suggesting he felt a bit hollow – a bit empty. He made a comparison to Omega in the Three Doctors. Which therefore required him to explain who Omega was, the plot of the Three Doctors and, for his international audience, just what the f— Doctor Who was. The entire article seemed to be a thinly veiled excuse to promote Doctor Who to his fandom, and therefore very funny. If I ever find that copy of Under the Rock in my attic, I’ll transcribe it, because it was hilarious. Here is Andrew doing his stuff –

[Anonymous @]

@phaseshift honestly!  Those uncultured vipers 🙂 not knowing the Elements Song nor even Tom Lehrer? Cripes!  I think Radcliffe (of whom I’ve never been a great fan) did a bloomin good job of that performance. What a terrific party trick. He should tour!

[Anonymous @]

Some nice relaxing Dalek music…

[Whisht @whisht]

I’ll admit I don’t know the history of this cover track very well (and I’ve googled a bit) but here’s a track (itself a cover version) from a film, that was used with overlaid guitar on an album by The Durutti Column – where both the film and Durutti version make me cry (no pun).

and give yourself a minute or so to listen to the version from the film

Other tracks on said album also make me cry. Honestly, I can’t listen to this track about losing a mother without welling up. As I should.

This, more dramatic from the same album is also brilliant but being more ‘dramatic’ merely makes me maudlin rather than instantly cry.

Apologies if this instills same tears in you that it does in me, but they’re good tears.

[Whisht @whisht]

hm. a bit Lachrymose. ok the next two you may have to give a bit of space/volume to.

From the same Durutti album as the above is this stellar quiet track:

And here is its angrybastard brother. Born decades before but somehow of the same regret-for-death.

same same but different

ok, happier stuff from now on…

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

Here’s one of the greatest musical numbers of all time

And here’s the song it’s parodying

We’ve done songs with the same title here’s two songs with the same riff

[blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave]

@thekrynoidman

You are right. It is one of the greatest musical numbers of all time.

And a brilliant parody of something that so deserved being sent up.

[The Krynoid Man @thekrynoidman]

@blenkinsopthebrave South Park Bigger, Longer and Uncut is actually my favourite musical.

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