Dave Amitri on Ricky Wilde and Nina: Scala Hearts

So far in 2024 my search for new music has lead me to the heartfelt, Gen X Americana of Noah Kahan and the theatrical, music hall pop of Barbara. While both are great they are ultimately updated versions of what I already know and love. With that in mind when I saw a tweet from Ricky Wilde, brother of the timeless pop goddess Kim, talking about his new music with someone called Nina I hesitated but somewhere in my subconscious I felt a calling. So my research began.

Ricky as I’m sure you know was the writer of many of Kim’s songs including the brilliant Cambodia and is a highly regarded musician. From Wikipedia I discovered that Nina is

Nina Boldt known mononymously and professionally as NINA (born 29 September 1983) is a German singer-songwriter based in London and Berlin. Her music is a fusion of Pop, New Wave, and Electronic music.

Ricky and Nina have made an album called Scala Hearts. A quick look on Spotify and ss soon as I saw that the album opened with a cover of Dollar’s Videotheque let me tell you dear reader there was no going back. It’s immense. » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Noah Kahan – Stick Season

My pre Christmas Del Amitri Advent while lovely got me thinking about how deep my musical rut is. It’s Grand Canyonesque as I continue to just switch between the same bands and albums. So not as a resolution just an acceptance that if I’m lucky enough to get another 20 or 30 years on this planet I’m going to need something else to listen to. It’s no secret I enjoy the process of listening and sharing so here we are.

I decided to listen to Radio 1 on my 30 minute journey to work. It worked for me before, why not now. So Tuesday morning I dived into to a world designed for those 30 – 40 years younger than me. First song out of the 8.30 news was Stick Season by Noah Kahan, nope me neither. Anyway it was clearly by one of those earnest male singer songwriters but it had enough for me to decide, right, I’m in. There was a line in the song referencing covid on planes which piqued my interest further.

There he was on Spotify looking like an extra from Deliverance with his gorgeous German » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Episode 180 – Paul Weller

About 3 years ago during lockdown one time DJ Dan Jennings started a podcast trying to fulfill his wish to finally interview Paul Weller. Much like our friends Jason and Steven’s Nothing Is Real, Desperately Seeking Paul grew from humble beginnings to be essential listening for thousands of music fans. 179 guests all with connections to Paul Weller. Friends, family, collaborators, journalists and fans sharing their stories, connections to the great man as well as what his music has meant to them. My favourites among many Nick Heyward, Dr Robert and Pete Paphides.

Dan’s style has always been a major part in why it was so listenable. Always allowing guests to tell their stories and giving them plenty of air time. This was Dan’s podcast but it was never about Dan. I’ll admit when I heard that Weller was to be the last episode I was worried how Dan would cope being such a huge fan. I shouldn’t have. This episode is without doubt the best interview I’ve heard with Paul Weller. He’s relaxed, open and clearly, as we were to discover, more content than he’s ever been in his life. » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on With The Beatles

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the release of With The Beatles just eight months after Please Please Me I’ve been listening to not only the album for the first time but also some of the music that came before. Trying to get myself in the mind of a music fan in 1963 which requires me to dismiss everything released in my lifetime and more. As luck would have it our dear friends at Nothing Is Real have a two part podcast looking back, just at November 1963 in Beatles world and it has provided the kind of history lesson I could only dreamed of having at school. It has also helped me understand the unique madness of the original and biggest pop mania. So before I get to the album let me try and set the scene as I see it with absolute acknowledgment that these gems are Steven’s and Jason’s as they microscopically followed a month in the life of The Beatles where they were touring the country in front of 120000 fans, an ever voracious press desperate for any snippet of information and increasing interest from the US.

How can » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on Wham!

I watched the Wham! documentary on Netflix last night. It’s a remarkable tale brilliantly told. The use of George’s voice as co narrator is a stroke of genius by producer Simon Halfon.

You forget for a moment that he’s gone and imagine it’s him speaking in 2023. Even if you’re not a fan of Wham! (how that can be I’ll never understand but I’ll never judge either) but you do love music and the industry it’s a fantastic insight into how a band could make it big in the 80s but remain skint.

While it was all a laugh for the uber confident Andrew. It was very different for George. It’s still remarkable to watch him transforming before our very eyes physically and emotionally while trying to hide his sexuality from his fans and the press. Something he clearly struggled with wanting to be honest with his fans but fully understanding the consequences. Different times indeed, thank God we’ve moved on.

Both Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael had a dream and chased it. Wham! was enough for Andrew. George clearly wanted more. While they were active Wham! were and remain a joyous explosion of » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on For Your Pleasure

I was reminded recently that I was going to write about Roxy Music’s second album For Your Pleasure Having written about their eponymous first album in April last year . I got side-tracked by solo McCartney and never got back to Roxy Music despite listening to For Your Pleasure a lot. So here we are.

I re-read the Roxy Music review and it appears I was really very excited by the album, even for me. It remains a remarkable album that I return to often. For Your Pleasure had its work cut out to match it so let’s find out if there is something in it or if it’s just a remake / remodel with a bitters end. (Enough now Dave, get on with it).

It opens with Do The Strand which is a hell of a start. It must have influenced Sparks and absolutely maintains the standard set by the first album. It’s a romp of a song with Ferry’s warble spitting out some surreal lyrics while competing with an angry sax and manic keyboards for top billing.

There’s a new sensation A fabulous creation A danceable solution To » Continue Reading.

Dave Amitri on The Hurting

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were born two months apart in 1961. They met by chance as teenagers in Bath, began writing music together, formed a mod band who were huge in Spain and then thanks to a shared interest in the work of American psychologist Arthur Janov and his Primal Therapy, settled on the name Tears For Fears and set about making their debut album The Hurting, combining their childhood experiences with the theories of Janov. All before their 21st birthdays. Nothing new there, great music has always come from young artists. The subject matter however was unusual, especially in the heady, radio, TV and video friendly early 80s. Smith was the only one who went along with Orzabal’s Janov theories. That belief in him gave Orzabal the confidence to use what he’d read and expose his deepest, darkest thoughts on his unusual childhood in an incredibly personal collection of songs. The Hurting was originally released in 1983 (the first single Suffer The Children was released in October 1981)

On 12th May 2023 to celebrate its 40th anniversary, it will be reissued as an Abbey Road Half Speed Mastered vinyl and as a » Continue Reading.