See my 2012 songs of the week on my newfangled thisismyjam page.
More musings to follow here soon I don't doubt...
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
song of the week 40: frank sinatra - have yourself a merry little christmas
I've heard a few grim old versions of this song in the last week or so.
First up against the wall is My Morning Jacket whose half-soaked wheeze sounds like they didn't even get out of bed to record it. Chris Martin has learnt a couple of new jazzy chords which he can't really shoe-horn into the usual Coldplay oeuvre but which godammit he's going to bang out here even if they don't quite fit in. We wouldn't expect much of Kenny G but his version is perhaps not as bad as it might be. Michael Bublé over-eggs it a bit with those gushing strings but then we never did like him. And Lord save us from Christina Aguilera whose yelpy melismania is almost the polar opposite of the My Morning Jacket version but just as unlistenable.
First up against the wall is My Morning Jacket whose half-soaked wheeze sounds like they didn't even get out of bed to record it. Chris Martin has learnt a couple of new jazzy chords which he can't really shoe-horn into the usual Coldplay oeuvre but which godammit he's going to bang out here even if they don't quite fit in. We wouldn't expect much of Kenny G but his version is perhaps not as bad as it might be. Michael Bublé over-eggs it a bit with those gushing strings but then we never did like him. And Lord save us from Christina Aguilera whose yelpy melismania is almost the polar opposite of the My Morning Jacket version but just as unlistenable.
Why not just content ourselves with this more thoughtful version from a bloke from New Jersey who could carry a tune or two and from a time (1957) when the song's overfamiliarity hadn't yet bred contempt:
Saturday, December 10, 2011
gongs
Another year over and what have we done?
Well, we've listened to a lot of music. Time well spent? Think so...
Here's a playlist of some decent tracks which have seen the light of day in 2011, courtesy of our favourite music streaming service. It's in no way authoritative, being largely dependent on hastily scribbled post-it notes after 6Music--usually Gideon Coe--has make my ears prick up with something.
And these, in rough order, are my top 20 albums of the year, chosen with slightly more consideration:
P.S. The High Llamas record is excluded from my playlist but you can buy it (shock horror) here.
Well, we've listened to a lot of music. Time well spent? Think so...
Here's a playlist of some decent tracks which have seen the light of day in 2011, courtesy of our favourite music streaming service. It's in no way authoritative, being largely dependent on hastily scribbled post-it notes after 6Music--usually Gideon Coe--has make my ears prick up with something.
And these, in rough order, are my top 20 albums of the year, chosen with slightly more consideration:
- Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
- High Llamas – Talahomi Way
- Hong Kong in the 60s – My Fantoms
- Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow
- Cornershop – Cornershop and the Double “O” Groove
- Leisure Society – Into The Murky Water
- King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
- Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
- Nick Lowe – The Old Magic
- Hollie Cook – Hollie Cook
- Low – C’Mon
- SBTRKT – SBTRKT
- Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys!
- Silver Seas – Chateau Revenge
- Modular - Sinfonias Para Terricolas
- Cecil Sharp Project – Cecil Sharp Project
- Gruff Rhys – Hotel Shampoo
- James Blake – James Blake
- The Unthanks – Last
- Jonny – Jonny
P.S. The High Llamas record is excluded from my playlist but you can buy it (shock horror) here.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
song of the week 39: hong kong in the 60s - footsteps
Here's a song from a band on my Best Albums of the Year list (full run-down coming soon, and I don't doubt that a nation waits with bated breath). Just to prove that their excellent 2011 offering My Phantoms isn't just a flash in the pan affair, this is a track from their Willow Pattern Songs EP of a couple of years ago. Very fine it is too.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
song of the week 38: kate bush - symphony in blue
Here's something from a lady of a certain age who's been in the news lately:
I've been reading such good things about her new 50 Words for Snow record that I've been fair enthused to dig out some of her old stuff--which I'm not that familiar with to be honest--and see what I've been missing.
My brother used to have a copy of the Lionheart album and I reckon I haven't heard it since about 1982. I've just dug it out on Spotify though and it's better than I remember it. I'm afraid I've always found some of her piercing vocal pyrotechnics a bit too much but there are some tracks here which don't offend too much on this score (see above).
She's well known of course for her imaginative subject matter and I do like some of her flights of fancy ("Oh England My Lionheart" and "In the Warm Room" in particular). There doesn't seem to be very much dead wood in terms of lyrical content. Many a perfectly decent pop song can disappoint when you pick through the lyrics but I reckon these words could be read aloud and still tell a pretty good tale.
She tinkles a pleasing ivory or two an' all.
I've been reading such good things about her new 50 Words for Snow record that I've been fair enthused to dig out some of her old stuff--which I'm not that familiar with to be honest--and see what I've been missing.
My brother used to have a copy of the Lionheart album and I reckon I haven't heard it since about 1982. I've just dug it out on Spotify though and it's better than I remember it. I'm afraid I've always found some of her piercing vocal pyrotechnics a bit too much but there are some tracks here which don't offend too much on this score (see above).
She's well known of course for her imaginative subject matter and I do like some of her flights of fancy ("Oh England My Lionheart" and "In the Warm Room" in particular). There doesn't seem to be very much dead wood in terms of lyrical content. Many a perfectly decent pop song can disappoint when you pick through the lyrics but I reckon these words could be read aloud and still tell a pretty good tale.
She tinkles a pleasing ivory or two an' all.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
song of the week 37: christine hanson and dave formula - mistaken for a dream
Here's a broody slow-burner from erstwhile Magazine keyboarder Mr Dave Formula (possibly a made-up name) and cellist/composer/singer/sound designer Christine Hanson (no relation).
I reckon it's worth five minutes of your time:
More than a hint of a latter-day Joni Mitchell I would say, vocals-wise. And who doesn't like a good flugelhorn solo?
Reminds me a bit of this from a few years ago, although it's not that jazzy and there are no flugelhorns...
I reckon it's worth five minutes of your time:
More than a hint of a latter-day Joni Mitchell I would say, vocals-wise. And who doesn't like a good flugelhorn solo?
Reminds me a bit of this from a few years ago, although it's not that jazzy and there are no flugelhorns...
Friday, October 28, 2011
song of the week 36: felt - sunlight bathed the golden glow
Last night I went to the BFI to see Paul Kelly's new documentary "Lawrence of Belgravia".
The eponymous Lawrence (his surname is never used) is difficult to pin down: certainly eccentric, sometimes funny (wittingly or unwittingly), generally not particularly likeable though endearing on occasions, above all optimistically single-minded in a search for pop stardom which, to those looking on, seems doomed to failure.
Erstwhile lead singer of eighties jangly indie darlings Felt and nineties glam rockers Denim, these days Lawrence fronts the novelty synth-pop outfit Go Kart Mozart. In one of a series of interviews shown during the film, he claims that he's now "legally bonkers". Fleeting shots of methadone prescriptions and arrest warrants in his name suggest he might be right.
If he seems a bit at sea these days, that doesn't mean that some of the music he made all those years ago wasn't pretty fine:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)