Music

[JR8]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUnTqMUYmwo
Van der Graaf Generator- Reunion Concert 2005
(2+hrs)

[JR8]

'THERE'S a new baa-r of musical success —

[Brah]

MGMT - TIME TO PRETEND - LIVE ON ABBEY ROAD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qq8MBQ--UA

Er, 'synth-alt'. I like 'em....

Never heard of 'em, an interesting mix of old and new, I hear 3 decades at simultaneously in that. Pretty cool.

[JR8]

Yes, I was watching a set they did at Glastonbury. And curiously the album 'Better living through chemistry' by Fatboy Slim came to mind; focusing on the meaning of the title, not the musical style, they appear 'well assisted' if you catch my drift.

I hear many influences too, and I'm half killing myself who the vocal style reminds me of... something from the early 70s I think...

[JR8]

Green Day - Basket Case [Official Music Video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUTGr5t3MoY

Green Day - American Idiot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI

Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tijW_SrCoxs


I've a lot of time for Green Day. They started out raw and punk, but later they they became smoother and arguably 'commercial punk-lite' IMHO.

I once sent in a duo of images to Private Eye's [UK news and satirical magazine] 'Look-alike' column, as their drummer Tre Cool, looks so like the British Prime-minister David Cameron.



vs



(The point with that column, is that you, a reader/contributor notice a similarity between two people, but you then maybe wait a year or more until you have 'perfect' twinned images*. In this case I've taken just 3 minutes, but you should get the point none the less.)



* As I did with Peter Mandelson, gay, disgraced UK 'Business Secretary' (minister). And David Byrne, allegedly gay, lead of the band Talking Heads, who penned the song 'Big Business', amongst others.



p.s. Lots of terribly silly public-school type in-jokes, many of which have run for decades. So in the below, anything signed off 'Ena. B', or 'Ena. B Sharples' is a code for something contributed by a member of their own staff.

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.p ... lookalikes

But then in this case, you'll have readers who parody it, as here (apparently). Oh.... it's complicated... like really getting Monty Python!


To add to the schoolboy humour, they always flip the names on the pictures too...
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=privat ... 58&bih=779

[x9200]

JR8, I wonder how Kate Bush was perceived at her popularity climax, end of 70s/beginning of 80s I guess. What kind of popularity was it, something ABBA alike or she was regarded mostly for the artistic content? Could you tell me please how did it look from the UK insider's perspective?

[JR8]

JR8, I wonder how Kate Bush was perceived at her popularity climax, end of 70s/beginning of 80s I guess. What kind of popularity was it, something ABBA alike or she was regarded mostly for the artistic content? Could you tell me please how did it look from the UK insider's perspective?

Interesting question!

In the case of Abba, who I liked back in the day, they were IMHO bubble-gum pop. Very commercial, often up-beat, and so on. I think this was a reflection of how winning The Eurovision Song Contest moulded/framed their style.
Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FsVeMz1F5c
ABBA Waterloo Eurovision 1974 (High Quality)

Kate Bush was a different kettle of fish. Her music is a lot more mystical and deep. Her image to me (well, at least early on) verged on rather witch-like. She wrote her own songs (Wiki says she had a demo tape of 50 of her own compositions, and that was before she'd left school!). She often did ballet in her videos. All in all, clearly a heck of a talent. Wiki suggests her style was Art-rock, and Baroque-pop, which sounds a reasonable summation to me.
Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW3gKKiTvjs
Kate Bush Wuthering Heights.
[I have to laugh at the vid, but hey it was low budget ]
or:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM
Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill - Official Music Video

[x9200]

ABBA was IMHO popular because they played easy music. Many many songs like this if not all of them. Kate Bush, not that many. Wuthering Heights this is one of a few or even the only one? Not sure. I listened to Kate Bush a lot in the eighties and got all her records except the last one but I don't see this music as very easy so I was wondering what was the phenomenon behind.

[JR8]

ABBA was IMHO popular because they played easy music. Many many songs like this if not all of them. Kate Bush, not that many. Wuthering Heights this is one of a few or even the only one? Not sure. I listened to Kate Bush a lot in the eighties and got all her records except the last one but I don't see this music as very easy so I was wondering what was the phenomenon behind.

ABBA were a synthetic group (like a put-together boy-band) that existed solely to sell records, i.e. appeal to the widest possible market via catchy but unchallenging music.

Kate Bush was the precise opposite (IMHO).


p.s. I was never 'into her' really; it was more a case of her being something different and talented, that I respected.

[Mi Amigo]

My honourable friend makes many good points, although I wouldn't put ABBA in the same 'synthetic' class as the 'New Back Street Boyzone On The Block' products that came along later. AFAIK, they wrote their own songs and many were (IMO) superb examples of the art of the pop single, such as:

ABBA - SOS

I always admired Kate Bush, even if I didn't always like her records. I also admired EMI for signing her at a young age and then giving her a lot of time to experiment and develop, before expecting a hit single and/or album. Hard to imagine that happening nowadays, although new artists now have much more resources available at their fingertips to try out, produce and then sell their music.

I thought her Hounds of Love album was very good, including...

Kate Bush Cloudbusting

[Mi Amigo]

One of my favourite music DVDs is A Concert For George (it would have been his 70th birthday recently). But this later rendition of one of his classics ain't too shabby either:

Rock legends perform "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

That geezer in the red hat is quite a showman; I predict he'll go far

[Brah]

I will check out that concert. The HBO (I think) 2-part special on George, Living In The Material World, was excellent.

Meanwhile, while at a cafe this weekend, I heard a live Clapton song. It was probably from a 90s or '00s concert, doing Cocaine, with the character-less Nathan East on bass, judging by the trademark blandness of his playing, and the whole thing just sounded awful - trite, formulaic, pandering-to-the-crowd syndicated regurgitation. I personally think he peaked at 461 and went downhill from there, but then again I'm an opinionated PITA.

Edit: what^while

[JR8]

Tips hat to Mi Amigo.

It is a good point you make there. I suppose that I am so used to manufactured bands these days, that I assumed it was always thus.

It transpires Abba did chart in Australia and UK before winning Eurovision (with 'Ring Ring' in 1972), which I would never have imagined.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABBA_discography

Can anyone comment; these days, assuming Eurovision still runs, are bands fabricated for the event, or does it include some bands who've had some success already? I only ask as I can't say I've ever heard of any band that has participated on Eurovision, at the time of it's screening.

[JR8]

One of my favourite music DVDs is A Concert For George (it would have been his 70th birthday recently). But this later rendition of one of his classics ain't too shabby either:

Rock legends perform "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

That geezer in the red hat is quite a showman; I predict he'll go far

Yeah... puts the rest in the shade, if he's lucky he could even become a household name one day*

I like the song. But I don't like the concept of '12 A-list celebs on stage, doing a tribute concert to someone they likely never met (and the profits are hardly going to go to Harrison's family)'.

JAN AKKERMAN PLAYS " WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32X_vMgloow

The Confucianists have a belief that it is more noble to give without being thanked, than give and wish for or expect gratitude in some kind of return 'deal'. (For example: Monks do not thank you for or acknowledge the giving of alms).

I think Jan's version is a truer, more honest act of giving and remembering. You come away from it understanding more about Harrison as a man and musician.


*Tom Petty does not look particularly happy at having this 'young upstart' steal the limelight...

[JR8]

I will check out that concert. The HBO (I think) 2-part special on George, Living In The Material World, was excellent.

Meanwhile, what at a cafe this weekend, I heard a live Clapton song. It was probably from a 90s or '00s concert, doing Cocaine, with the character-less Nathan East on bass, judging by the trademark blandness of his playing, and the whole thing just sounded awful - trite, formulaic, pandering-to-the-crowd syndicated regurgitation. I personally think he peaked at 461 and went downhill from there, but then again I'm an opinionated PITA.

Clapton is arguably well Clapped-out. Has he even released any new material these past 20 years? ..

p.s. I always though JJ Cale's version of that song was way better. He wrote it, Clapton covered it (and that simple cover became Clapton's biggest hit....ha ha ha [ironic]). No surprise there then... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_(song)

Don't think I'm completely anti-Clapton, I'm not. Just I think his best days ended when he left the band Cream.