cover versions

Had a post-work CD shopping binge this evening at the excellent Flashback Records in Essex Road. You know how it is on a Friday.

Pretty pleased with my haul, which included the following two fine examples of Brazilian cover art:

They'd look even better on those big record sleeves we used to get...

test match special

Recently I've been watching the excellent BBC series "Empire of Cricket". The episode about the history of the game in the West Indies the other day was particularly fine and had a tremendous musical soundtrack with a song to illustrate almost every stage of the story. Unfortunately there seems to be a large Kensington Oval-sized hole in the internet where youtube videos of--indeed any reference to--many of these songs ought to be, so instead I humbly offer my top five cricket songs...

5. Cod reggae and dodgy Jamaican accents from Stockport-based MOR seventies hitmongers: yes it's Dreadlock Holiday by 10CC
4. Tortuous-cricketing-metaphors-R-Us from 10CC-era Aussie one-hit wonders Sherbet: Howzat
3. Yet another one from the seventies: the rambling but rather fine When an Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease by Roy Harper.
2. Top calypsonian Lord Kitchener tells the tale of the Windies landmark test series victory in post-Windrush England: Cricket Lovely Cricket
1. It could only be our favourite TV sport theme tune from a group of musicians whose combined understanding of the laws of cricket probably won't be troubling the scorers...


P.S.: I notice that erstwhile Divine Comedian Neil Hannon is making a move towards the barely mined seam (ahem) of cricket in pop music with his new combo the Duckworth Lewis Method. Sounds promising...

more than just rugby songs

London Community Gospel Choir @ Millfield Theatre, 2nd February

Not everybody's cup of tea maybe but I don't think you have to believe that every word they sing is true to appreciate the emotional investment that these singers make in their music. Not to mention the actual power of some of the singing. There are some great voices here. For me a gospel choir at full throttle is a thing of beauty and, yes, power.

Some songs tonight I don't recognise (including a particularly funky "Happy Are The People"--I looked it up on youtube when I got home). Some I'm more familiar with (I've had a 12" copy of the Winans' version of "Let My People Go" since the eighties). And there are some all-too-familiar songs ("Kum Ba Yah" and "Amazing Grace") although the arrangements were a good deal more sophisticated than our primary school versions where out-of-tune recorders always featured prominently.

And no way would I consider joining in with "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" under normal circumstances but somehow, with the Welsh rugby team turning over the English at Twickenham this afternoon for the first time in twenty years, it somehow felt right...

Usual web links: Wikipedia, youtube, myspace

...and more generally: historical background of Gospel music, some Gospel radio stations