Mr. Tyndall, not really my subject, but didn't lots of black rock and roll get basically stolen and repackaged by white Americans in the 1950s? Pretty sure Rock Around The Clock was a black guy's hit, with Haley and the Comets just 'covering' it and getting more coverage.
Alot of covers are more famous than the original.
A lot of covers are better than the original too. Bette Davis Eyes and The Only Way Is Up being two examples where most people don't realise they're covers in the first place.
Mr. Tyndall, not really my subject, but didn't lots of black rock and roll get basically stolen and repackaged by white Americans in the 1950s? Pretty sure Rock Around The Clock was a black guy's hit, with Haley and the Comets just 'covering' it and getting more coverage.
Elvis was a propaganda tool in the late 50s wasnt he?
Had to get a white guy to sing these songs before the nations teenagers started hero worshipping "the wrong people"
Fleetwood Mac were (and are) my favourite band I saw live. Lindsey on the guitar - phenomenal talent. Mick on the drums - immense. Stevie's vocals, as powerful as ever. Not to overlook John McVie , the stalwart of the band over many decades and a great bass guitarist.
Incidentally, I shall try to poke my head around the door of Dirty Dicks on 2 May. I don't really have much excuse, since I live within 400 yards of it and I walk past it at least four times a week.
Over the years the Pet Shop Boys have captured the Zeitgeist - 'Opportunities" in the eighties, "Shameless" in the nineties and "Integral" in the noughties.....
Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.
Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.
It's worth watching, just for that.
It's amazing just how many great artists have come out of the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland compared to the garbage that continental Europe churns out. If the pinnacle of an entire subcontinent over 50 years is Abba and Rammstein, you need to worry.
Miss DiCanio, it's fair enough to dislike Shakespeare. People are entitled to an opinion.
I need to return (one day) to his Complete Works. Being older (than when I read his stuff at school) and having better general knowledge makes it much easier to read. No musician or writer should be above criticism.
Mr. Corporeal, that's an interesting suggestion. The problems I can see are: covers tend to be a different version, so it's not trying to measure up to the original so much as change it some tracks (choosing Queen examples: Bohemian Rhapsody, The Prophet's Song, March of the Black Queen) might be unperformable live
It is difficult to underestimate the influence of the Beatles on modern music.
100% agree. To support your point, I remember the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson talking about the huge impact 'Rubber Soul' made on him when it came out.
Criticizing The Beatles is like criticizing Shakespeare. It's the mark of an idiot.
The Beatles produced quite a lot of rubbish and quite a lot of mundane music. But they also produced quite a lot of utterly sublime music too. Ticket To Ride is quite possibly the greatest record of all time, being an immaculate fusion of perfect pop and the foundation of heavy metal.
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.
Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.
It's worth watching, just for that.
It's amazing just how many great artists have come out of the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland compared to the garbage that continental Europe churns out. If the pinnacle of an entire subcontinent over 50 years is Abba and Rammstein, you need to worry.
..er . Kraftwerk? And I might add, a band who arguably have been at least as influential as the Beatles.
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Amy Winehouse had a great voice but mostly crap material. Aside from Valerie, another cover version.
I'm always sceptical when I hear rock concerts were 'amazing'.
Come off it. After a three hour trek and ages standing in a cold field you got jostled by smelly drunken idiots whilst watching a few tiny specks play a furry version of some music you quite like. You got charged 100 quid for the privilege, plus a tenner a go for crap lager and fifteen quid for a lentil burger.
You really do need to go to a Springsteen concert if that is what you think. Of course being a fan in the first place helps.
I was taken to see Springsteen, against my better judgement, in St James Park - and thoroughly enjoyed it - at the back of the terraces the hinnies were fighting over the binoculars - especially when he turned his back so they could admire his bum!
It is difficult to underestimate the influence of the Beatles on modern music.
100% agree. To support your point, I remember the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson talking about the huge impact 'Rubber Soul' made on him when it came out.
Criticizing The Beatles is like criticizing Shakespeare. It's the mark of an idiot.
The Beatles produced quite a lot of rubbish and quite a lot of mundane music. But they also produced quite a lot of utterly sublime music too. Ticket To Ride is quite possibly the greatest record of all time, being an immaculate fusion of perfect pop and the foundation of heavy metal.
"Help" is the ultimate singalong to a tale of woe
Lennon wrote it about struggling with fame I think
The lyrics of 'Liar's Bar' are quite poignant, especially when being sung by an alcoholic: [snip social commentary]
That's why I like them: they are really thoughtful words set to upbeat music - works on so many levels (the US version of Don't Marry Her, used the word "kiss" which had less impact!)
Little Blue was always one of may favorites - reminded me of a girl I knew at the time.
You can't write a novel from a briefcase You can write a poem from a trench You can dream a dream from A to B But you can't catch a bus from a bench You don't back a horse called Striding Snail You don't name your boat Titanic II So why when I see your happy smiling face Do I always end up singing Little Blue Little Blue, how do you do Your smile looks like heaven But your eyes hold a storm about to brew Little Blue How can a flower so pretty Be so laden down with dew Little Blue How can a flower so beautiful Be so laden down with dew Little Blue You can't build a brewery on a cemetery You can build a pub on a church And people fall quicker than buildings do You have to decide what comes first You don't call a plane the Flying Roman 'Cause the Romans always walked and never flew So why when I see your happy smiling face Do I always end up singing Little Blue Little Blue, how do you do Your smile looks like heaven But your eyes hold a storm about to brew Little Blue How can a flower so pretty Be so laden down with dew Little Blue Well Bukowski wrote a story from a barstool And Keats from the top of a hill So I'm going to save my special song for you From a grave where it's quiet and it's chill 'Cause there's a queue of clouds assembled On the horizon of your smile When most think that you're holding back I know you're holding bile Little Blue, how do you do Your smile looks like heaven But your eyes hold a storm about to brew Little Blue How can a flower so pretty Be so laden down with dew Little Blue How can a flower so beautiful Be so laden down with dew Little Blue
Ticket To Ride is quite possibly the greatest record of all time, being an immaculate fusion of perfect pop and the foundation of heavy metal.
Ticket to Ride's theme is also very important. It portrays a modern, free, independent woman making her own decisions and calling the shots in a relationship.
Worst gig ever. Chesney Hawkes, I got dumped during the gig.
Best gig ever, The Rolling Stones, Twickenham, Bank Holiday weekend in 2003, close second Girls Aloud final gig last year, the end of an era. Their cover of Call Me Maybe, I can still hear that.
Forgot to say, The Amazing Spiderman 2 one of the better super hero movies and you get to see Emma Stone in glorious IMAX 3D.
The one disappointment, because of rights, we won't get to see Spidey with the rest of the Avengers on the big screen.
Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.
Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.
It's worth watching, just for that.
It's amazing just how many great artists have come out of the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland compared to the garbage that continental Europe churns out. If the pinnacle of an entire subcontinent over 50 years is Abba and Rammstein, you need to worry.
Socrates, can I suggest it's not a coincidence that the countries you praise are predominantly English language speaking. How many songs in French have a chance of impacting the Anglo-saxon musical consciousness?
Also Daft Punk, and Kraftwerk both surely outstrip Rammstein to say the least.
Just catching up on the thread and find you are talking about late 20th century music. I have no idea what constitutes Britpop and have never heard of half the bands/groups mentioned though I do have most of the Queen albums through to A Day At The Races.
Incidentally, it's interesting to consider which musicians will still be played in centuries, much as Beethoven is today.
I think the Beatles are overrated. I'm not knocking them, and I do like them, but I think a large part of their popularity is simply that they coincided with the birth of rock and roll (well, nearly) and, more importantly, the baby boomers who became lifelong fans.
They'll still be played in a century, though. Likewise Queen.
What I'll be interested to see Mr Dancer is whether playing covers spreads to become more of a thing.
In classical music there's an expectation to aspiring to performers to tackle the great works of history. There's a similar more communal attitude in blues (although there many of the songs have unknown authors so less ownership) in popular music almost the opposite.
Obviously we don't have the recordings of Beethoven etc, but it'll be interesting to see if rock music does go that way somewhat in the future when it's a more distant past.
Not just in classical music either. Both Blues and Jazz are heavily driven by covers and most of the great Blues Songs we know are actually covers of earlier rather more raw versions. Clapton pretty much made a whole career out of covers (and I don't mean that as a criticism either)
Fleetwood Mac were (and are) my favourite band I saw live. Lindsey on the guitar - phenomenal talent. Mick on the drums - immense. Stevie's vocals, as powerful as ever. Not to overlook John McVie , the stalwart of the band over many decades and a great bass guitarist.
Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads are probably the two bands I most regret not getting to see live.
Clapton pretty much made a whole career out of covers (and I don't mean that as a criticism either) I went to an interesting gig at the albert hall where Eric went through his catalogue of blues influences. Of course some philistines kept shouting for Layla etc.
I only learnt a couple of years ago that the part of The Chain (by Fleetwood Mac) used as the BBC F1 theme tune is actually the end, not the intro. Good song beforehand too.
Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.
Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.
It's worth watching, just for that.
It's amazing just how many great artists have come out of the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland compared to the garbage that continental Europe churns out. If the pinnacle of an entire subcontinent over 50 years is Abba and Rammstein, you need to worry.
There is some great European music, it just isn't all that well known in the UK. The German band Can from the late 60s and early 70s are probably one of the most influential bands of the last 40 years due to their use of electronic music which drove the development of the popular electronic wave a decade later.
22Pistepirkko from Finland are well worth listening to.
Also for some great modern blues I would strongly recommend the Wanton Bishops from Lebanon.
I only learnt a couple of years ago that the part of The Chain (by Fleetwood Mac) used as the BBC F1 theme tune is actually the end, not the intro. Good song beforehand too.
The relationships that influenced the Rumours album are amazing.. talk about airing your dirty laundry in public!
Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.
Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.
It's worth watching, just for that.
It's amazing just how many great artists have come out of the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland compared to the garbage that continental Europe churns out. If the pinnacle of an entire subcontinent over 50 years is Abba and Rammstein, you need to worry.
There is some great European music, it just isn't all that well known in the UK. The German band Can from the late 60s and early 70s are probably one of the most influential bands of the last 40 years due to their use of electronic music which drove the development of the popular electronic wave a decade later.
22Pistepirkko from Finland are well worth listening to.
Also for some great modern blues I would strongly recommend the Wanton Bishops from Lebanon.
On a foreign language note, Bombino is a Tuareg musician starting to really break out.
Eleanor Rigby's a marvellous song. My favourite of the Beatles.
Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been, Lives in a dream ... Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name Nobody came Father Mckenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave No one was saved
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Amy Winehouse had a great voice but mostly crap material. Aside from Valerie, another cover version.
Do you think so? Her "Back to Black" album is one of my all time favs
Fleetwood Mac were (and are) my favourite band I saw live. Lindsey on the guitar - phenomenal talent. Mick on the drums - immense. Stevie's vocals, as powerful as ever. Not to overlook John McVie , the stalwart of the band over many decades and a great bass guitarist.
Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads are probably the two bands I most regret not getting to see live.
I saw Talking Heads supported by Dire Straits at Soton Uni.
Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.
Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.
It's worth watching, just for that.
It's amazing just how many great artists have come out of the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland compared to the garbage that continental Europe churns out. If the pinnacle of an entire subcontinent over 50 years is Abba and Rammstein, you need to worry.
There is some great European music, it just isn't all that well known in the UK. The German band Can from the late 60s and early 70s are probably one of the most influential bands of the last 40 years due to their use of electronic music which drove the development of the popular electronic wave a decade later.
22Pistepirkko from Finland are well worth listening to.
Also for some great modern blues I would strongly recommend the Wanton Bishops from Lebanon.
On a foreign language note, Bombino is a Tuareg musician starting to really break out.
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Amy Winehouse had a great voice but mostly crap material. Aside from Valerie, another cover version.
Do you think so? Her "Back to Black" album is one of my all time favs
It's bollocks, she had a phenomenal talent as a singer AND songwriter. Which is probably why she won more grammys in a single night than any female performer before or since.
She has an incredible CV given that she died at 27:
Nobody repackaged African American music for a white audience more clearly than British bands, the Rolling Stones being the prime example.
Every year, Eurovision does us the immense favour of reminding us where we would be musically without the amazing influences of black music.
It's worth watching, just for that.
It's amazing just how many great artists have come out of the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland compared to the garbage that continental Europe churns out. If the pinnacle of an entire subcontinent over 50 years is Abba and Rammstein, you need to worry.
There is some great European music, it just isn't all that well known in the UK. The German band Can from the late 60s and early 70s are probably one of the most influential bands of the last 40 years due to their use of electronic music which drove the development of the popular electronic wave a decade later.
22Pistepirkko from Finland are well worth listening to.
Also for some great modern blues I would strongly recommend the Wanton Bishops from Lebanon.
Best gig I ever went to was on my birthday two years ago to see Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings at the Shepherds Bush Empire, my avatar is of me with Ms Jones afterwards. I'm not much of a dancer but my companions for the evening (4 very hot singers) somehow encouraged me up on stage to dance with her in front of several hundd people (I say dance, was more of a nervous shuffle, hopefully in time with the music!) They're the best soul band on the planet, if you're into that so of music well worth checking them out and seeing them live if you get the chance. Good vid of a whole gig of theirs here http://youtu.be/wh7YPJpA68Y
A few others that stick out were Allen Toussaint (legendary New Orleans pianist, writer and producer) at the Jazz Cafe in Camden and a couple at Ronnie Scott's; The Family Stone (minus Sly), I got to chat with with Cynthia Robinson the trumpet player who screamed "Get on up and dance to the music" at the beginning of Dance To The Music and the drummer Greg Errico who I talked to about playing Woodstock when he was 19, and PeeWee Ellis, sax player and musical director to James Brown and credited as the inventor of funk music, who I also got to chat to after.
The gigs attended by the posters totally dominates current political betting activity with virtually no interest in the Boring Politics
Even that tells a tale though, the politics at the moment is not the most interesting. Right on cue we have Norman Tebbit's article today about 'the politics of the trenches' with no side making much progress in months....the tories stuck on 32/34, labour on 36/38.
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Amy Winehouse had a great voice but mostly crap material. Aside from Valerie, another cover version.
Do you think so? Her "Back to Black" album is one of my all time favs
It's bollocks, she had a phenomenal talent as a singer AND songwriter. Which is probably why she won more grammys in a single night than any female performer before or since.
She has an incredible CV given that she died at 27:
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Amy Winehouse had a great voice but mostly crap material. Aside from Valerie, another cover version.
Do you think so? Her "Back to Black" album is one of my all time favs
It's bollocks, she had a phenomenal talent as a singer AND songwriter. Which is probably why she won more grammys in a single night than any female performer before or since.
She has an incredible CV given that she died at 27:
Btw - my Gf thinks that a) not everyone will know who Kay is (Sky, sigh, she's basically forcing me to type all this) and b) she's enjoying the music and wants more.
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Amy Winehouse had a great voice but mostly crap material. Aside from Valerie, another cover version.
Do you think so? Her "Back to Black" album is one of my all time favs
It's bollocks, she had a phenomenal talent as a singer AND songwriter. Which is probably why she won more grammys in a single night than any female performer before or since.
She has an incredible CV given that she died at 27:
Worst gig - The Temptations at the Hammersmith Odeon. I'd been looking forward to it so much as they are an all time favourite band of mine, but the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and kept forgetting the words and wandering off stage. He died a few weeks later.
I saw Prince at Wembley back in the day. He just did endless boring guitar solos, and he is so small he is invisible from more than about five yards away.
Another gig disaster of mine was getting tickets to see Prince about 7 years ago play Koko in Camden, and having to go to a work Poker do beforehand... useless poker player that I am, I got through to the last 10 trying to lose, and missed all but the last half hour...
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Amy Winehouse had a great voice but mostly crap material. Aside from Valerie, another cover version.
Do you think so? Her "Back to Black" album is one of my all time favs
It's bollocks, she had a phenomenal talent as a singer AND songwriter. Which is probably why she won more grammys in a single night than any female performer before or since.
She has an incredible CV given that she died at 27:
I think it is a mistake for Better Together to be making specific promises about devolution. The important thing to remember about BT is that it is not a political party and it is not standing for office. It is comprised of members of a range of political parties and probably more who are not members of any. These groupings (and even that might be a generous term) may well have different views about where we go from a no vote.
I might point out that the Yes campaign is similar in that it is broader and more varied than the SNP (which itself has an unusually broad range of views within it come together for the sake of nationalism). A mistake made by the SNP in the early stages of the campaign was to assume the campaign was the SNP. The laughable White Paper was a good example of that sort of thinking. I think Salmond was trying to correct that mistake in Aberdeen at the weekend with his "it's not about me" speech. Old habits die hard however.
What BT should be saying in my opinion is that the path of devolution in the future will be dependent upon the views of the Scottish and rUK peoples and who they vote for. It is a journey, not a fixed point and there is no quid pro quo for a no vote in terms of powers. All that can be said with confidence is that the direction of that journey since 1997 has been increased powers for the Scottish Parliament and it is likely that trend will continue.
David, they are promising nothing. If you read the small print they are talking about teh piddling changes already due from Calman, ie airgun licences and some bric-a-brac, absolutely pointless crap.
@SeanT – ‘I saw one of the best gigs of my life about 2 years ago. A nu-folk band called spiro’
Cheers for the link – I just love that kinda music playing to a packed out pub – may sound daft, but a full brass New Orleans jazz band also hits the spot. ‘Britpop dross’ - not so much!
Fleetwood Mac were (and are) my favourite band I saw live. Lindsey on the guitar - phenomenal talent. Mick on the drums - immense. Stevie's vocals, as powerful as ever. Not to overlook John McVie , the stalwart of the band over many decades and a great bass guitarist.
Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads are probably the two bands I most regret not getting to see live.
I saw Talking Heads supported by Dire Straits at Soton Uni.
I saw Talking heads supported by the B 52s at Astbury Park New Jersey in 1980
Psycho Killer and Rock Lobster were the only tracks I can recall oh and Life During Wartime...epic
Comments
Most covers are somewhere between bad and dire (Madonna's American Pie), but the Pet Shop Boys' Always On My Mind was rather good.
Had to get a white guy to sing these songs before the nations teenagers started hero worshipping "the wrong people"
If you want repackaged African American music for a white audience, see jazz in 1920s Berlin.
And for the Old Age Rockers, ZZ Top can pull off a live set whereas Motorhead were awful when I saw Lemmy.
Kiss are superb live from all reports as well, though I've never seen them.
Rap, same thing.
I need to return (one day) to his Complete Works. Being older (than when I read his stuff at school) and having better general knowledge makes it much easier to read. No musician or writer should be above criticism.
Mr. Corporeal, that's an interesting suggestion. The problems I can see are:
covers tend to be a different version, so it's not trying to measure up to the original so much as change it
some tracks (choosing Queen examples: Bohemian Rhapsody, The Prophet's Song, March of the Black Queen) might be unperformable live
He covered Amy Winehouse's "Love Is A losing Game" while I was there though, and did his "Nothing Compares 2 U" too.. it was cool to see such a big star in a small venue
Saw Winehouse at V festival in 2008, but she was all over the oche, and it was quite painful
Lennon wrote it about struggling with fame I think
Little Blue was always one of may favorites - reminded me of a girl I knew at the time.
You can't write a novel from a briefcase
You can write a poem from a trench
You can dream a dream from A to B
But you can't catch a bus from a bench
You don't back a horse called Striding Snail
You don't name your boat Titanic II
So why when I see your happy smiling face
Do I always end up singing Little Blue
Little Blue, how do you do
Your smile looks like heaven
But your eyes hold a storm about to brew
Little Blue
How can a flower so pretty
Be so laden down with dew
Little Blue
How can a flower so beautiful
Be so laden down with dew
Little Blue
You can't build a brewery on a cemetery
You can build a pub on a church
And people fall quicker than buildings do
You have to decide what comes first
You don't call a plane the Flying Roman
'Cause the Romans always walked and never flew
So why when I see your happy smiling face
Do I always end up singing Little Blue
Little Blue, how do you do
Your smile looks like heaven
But your eyes hold a storm about to brew
Little Blue
How can a flower so pretty
Be so laden down with dew
Little Blue
Well Bukowski wrote a story from a barstool
And Keats from the top of a hill
So I'm going to save my special song for you
From a grave where it's quiet and it's chill
'Cause there's a queue of clouds assembled
On the horizon of your smile
When most think that you're holding back
I know you're holding bile
Little Blue, how do you do
Your smile looks like heaven
But your eyes hold a storm about to brew
Little Blue
How can a flower so pretty
Be so laden down with dew
Little Blue
How can a flower so beautiful
Be so laden down with dew
Little Blue
Ticket to Ride's theme is also very important. It portrays a modern, free, independent woman making her own decisions and calling the shots in a relationship.
Worst gig ever. Chesney Hawkes, I got dumped during the gig.
Best gig ever, The Rolling Stones, Twickenham, Bank Holiday weekend in 2003, close second Girls Aloud final gig last year, the end of an era. Their cover of Call Me Maybe, I can still hear that.
Forgot to say, The Amazing Spiderman 2 one of the better super hero movies and you get to see Emma Stone in glorious IMAX 3D.
The one disappointment, because of rights, we won't get to see Spidey with the rest of the Avengers on the big screen.
Sort it out Marvel and Sony.
Also Daft Punk, and Kraftwerk both surely outstrip Rammstein to say the least.
http://www.localis.org.uk/article/1656/Public-trust-councils-twice-as-much-as-Westminster-IPPR-poll-shows.htm
Grateful Dead,European Tour,Wembley. 1990.Last time I saw Jerry Garcia alive.The Dead will never die.
I went to an interesting gig at the albert hall where Eric went through his catalogue of blues influences. Of course some philistines kept shouting for Layla etc.
Luckily I was in a box...
22Pistepirkko from Finland are well worth listening to.
Also for some great modern blues I would strongly recommend the Wanton Bishops from Lebanon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwV5LfxFMxU
Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been,
Lives in a dream
...
Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father Mckenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved
Yep. If Philip Larkin had written a song, that' the kind of thing he might have written.
153 days, 14 hours, 31 mins:
http://www.scotreferendum.com/2013/09/countdown-to-referendum/
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbtgsdGQNtE
Some things were better before the wall came down.
A few others that stick out were Allen Toussaint (legendary New Orleans pianist, writer and producer) at the Jazz Cafe in Camden and a couple at Ronnie Scott's; The Family Stone (minus Sly), I got to chat with with Cynthia Robinson the trumpet player who screamed "Get on up and dance to the music" at the beginning of Dance To The Music and the drummer Greg Errico who I talked to about playing Woodstock when he was 19, and PeeWee Ellis, sax player and musical director to James Brown and credited as the inventor of funk music, who I also got to chat to after.
Even that tells a tale though, the politics at the moment is not the most interesting. Right on cue we have Norman Tebbit's article today about 'the politics of the trenches' with no side making much progress in months....the tories stuck on 32/34, labour on 36/38.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-26936703
I really liked the giant horse-head statues anyway, but they look perhaps even better illuminated at night.
"You Know I'm No Good", "Back To Black", "He Can Only Hold Her" "Love Is A Losing Game" "Wake Up Alone" "Tears Dry On Their Own"
One of the best albums of all time IMO
Jimi's guitar playing is the best the school has seen or heard, but he gets easily distracted and his lyrics suffer as a consequence
The retort being:
"Ma'am, the Mona Lisa has stood the test of time. When you stand before her, it is you, not she, who is being judged."
Cheers for the link – I just love that kinda music playing to a packed out pub – may sound daft, but a full brass New Orleans jazz band also hits the spot. ‘Britpop dross’ - not so much!
Psycho Killer and Rock Lobster were the only tracks I can recall oh and Life During Wartime...epic