Musings on the byways of popular culture
Or artists whose sole representation in your and your friends’ record collections seems to be a “Greatest Hits” or “Best Of” compilation
Off the top of my head, I can think of
Abba
Eurthymics
Madonna
Sorry if this sounds snobby, it’s not meant to.
I’m sure I’;m not alone here in having loads of those GHs, BOs or those “Essential” one and two CD collections I use in the car – some of them from artists who have a healthy presence on my actual shelves
Longtime fan of all things Alan. Sadly, aside from the mighty “Come Out Ye Black and Tans!” episode was distinctly underwhelmed by S1 and very surprised SC brought the character back for another go-round.
Like all classic UK comic TV characters – think Tony Hancock, ‘Arold Steptoe, Basil Fawlty, Captain Manwairing and Rupert Rigsby – AP at his best is equal parts social climbing hubris and doomed-to-be-thwarted pathos. As indeed was Alan himself in the first and to a lesser extent the second series/season of I’m Alan Partridge.
In reviving and modifying the KMKY format in which Alan made his solo TV debut all those years ago, SC seems to have forgotten to remove the pathos that made AP such a wonderful grotesque to begin with. He’s also largely replaced his interactions with Felicity Montague’s magnificent Lynn in favour of the unfunny Tim Key’s Sidekick Simon.
While love the books and the various one-offs (Scissored Isle. etc), think SC really should have retired the character in series form after the excellent Mid Morning Matters.
Am sure there’ll be others here who differ…
Whistling
Was driving along in the car and listening to XTC’s Fossil Fuel when Generals and Majors came on, at which point it struck me that you just don’t seem to hear anyone whistling in songs any more.
While the art form undoubtedly reached its peak with Brian Ferry’s nonchalant pursing of the lips in Roxy’s cover of Jealous Guy some 40 years ago, surely the rest of the world can’t have given up.
Anyone think of more recent examples or perhaps foolish enough to argue that Whistling Jack Smith’s I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman is somehow superior to RM’s Lennon tribute?
As I’ve generally forgotten about who won what by the day after I don’t normally give a toss about the Oscars.
Having spent many years in HK I hope and pray this stunning 30-minute film about the China’s ruthless crushing of the democracy protests in 2019 wins the Short Doc category this time around though. Would ultimately be great to see a win motivate even more people worldwide to tune into YT and see Xi and his mates in the Chinazi party for the brutal thugs they really are.
Though much longer and not free to watch (it costs £4.99 to rent and a little bit more to buy), Ai Weiwei’s Cockroach on Vimeo on Demand is every bit as good.
One of the most consistently excellent shows on UK TV these last few years
Teaser now up on YT.
Anyone here looking forward to this as much as I am?
Suggest you keep the hankies handy for Chris Stapleton’s Maagie Run; a song in which he says more about love and loss in three and a bit minutes than many songwriters manage in their lifetimes.
Thanks to Retropath2 for inspiring this thread with his posting of Henry Gross’s Shannon in Mr B’s post about the loss of his dog.
Let’s hear it for the animals who bring so many of us here so much joy! If these guys don’t deserve their own thread then what does?
Taste being a personal thing, this question is about your deciding something just isn’t for you rather than slagging off others’ faves as being of little or no artistic merit (aka a load of old bollocks as it’s known in the trade). One man’s meat and all that…
Reason why the question came to me was the recent Crowded House thread when I thought that as I’d always been quite fond of Split Enz, I’d never really got deeper into the Finn’s more recent band than the better known songs (Weather, Dream, Cake, etc).
Subsequently bought the 2 CD Gold collection and got six songs in before deciding that myself and messers Finn et al weren’t – and were never likely to become – BFFs.
If I don’t really enjoy a book, I’ll generally chuck it within the first 50-pages.
While TV series rarely last more than one or two episodes, I did make a notable exception in the form of Peaky Blinders which I got four episodes into twice before deciding it wasn’t for me. Some stuff I just know I’m not going to like so don’t even bother to start (those US sitcoms where they » Continue Reading.
Always remember this picking up a lot of plays on Kenny Everett sometime in the early-.mid-70s, but while it was a huge hit in NZ, didn’t seem to gain any traction in the UK or US
Kudos (and possible hampers to) Sitheref2409 who commented on the disappearance of an earlier thread about this on the ongoing Sky Arts thread.
Suggest refrain from goiing into too much detail until after 12 noon (UK time) so as not to spoil the fun for everyone else.
Saw one good one in The Times.
Only likely candidate in the Gruan is about China’s relentless persecution of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. Not nearly as funny as their late 1970s championing of San Serif
Jaygee’s Immutable First Law of TV states that nearly all great long-running shows either start to repeat themselves or just get more and more absurdly convoluted in terms of their plots.
Dexter with Michael C Hall would be an excellent example of a once-promising series from the US that did both. From what the one episode I’ve seen of Line of Duty S6, the same seems to be happening to Line of Duty. Having set the bar for UK cop shows in the Tweenies (or whatever the fuck the years after 2010 are called). the show should have pulled the plug at the end of its fourth season when it was at the top of its game.
While I will binge the remainder of LofD S6, I’ll do so with a far lower expectations than before. For me, the best thing that the underwhelming first episode did was to motivate me to dig out my DVDs of GF Newman’s superb Between The Lines. An early 90s successor to the same writer’s earlier Law and Order, BTL starred – among others – the excellent Neil Pearson and the late Tony (none more slimy) Doyle.
If you’ve not seen it, the » Continue Reading.
Since it’s my idea, I’ll take A and go for
Albuquerque (Neil Young)
Alabama (Neil Young)
Doesn’t have to be the same artist (reason why I thought of the thread is that I’ve been listening to Archives II)
Anyone got more A ideas or shall we move to B?
As not all of us live in the UK, might be interesting to hear how COVID is going in your home country.
I’m in Ireland where despite the EU medical big wigs declaring the AZ vaccine safe, the government is claiming it still needs more time to weigh up whether or not to approve the drug or not.
In December last year, our R rate was pretty much the lowest in Europe. Then came the government’s craven capitulation to the “We have to save Xmas” lobby and the rate shot up faster than Piers Morgan’s blood pressure after a Megan Markle TV interview.
Having brought the rate back down with another lockdown only to see infections start to rise again, the government now seems to be considering extending restrictions until June – and possibly even July. All of which is not proving terribly popular.
Given that there are many more cars on the roads than there were during Lockdown !.0 and shops that are anything but vital are trading quite openly, flouting of the rules now seems to be worryingly widespread. This does not bode terribly well.
How are things shaping up where you live?
Foolishly suggested doing this on the New Van album thread.
FWIW, having bought too many lazy, half-baked releases and seen one too many let’s-wind-the-show up-in-time-for-last-orders-at-the-pub in about 2015, I used to be a massive Van fan. Believe me when I say that nothing would give me more pleasure than to see him do something that would persuade me to become one again.
My love for the Man and his output began waning with 2001’s What’s Wrong with This Picture, the first of a now sizeable pile of Van releases I refused to fork out for. While I continued to cherry-pick albums up to 2015’s Duets, I slavishly perserved with him live until seeing him do a couldn’t-give-a -shit show in Cork about five years back.
Below is the list of the 15 (count em!) albums the Vanster has released between between 1998 and 2019 – An astonishing seven of those records have come out in the last five years – and that does not include the tripe (sic) album he’s releasing in May.
Don’t think even the hardiest Vanatic amongst the ATM would argue that Van’s quality control standards have plummeted off a cliff since his release schedule has » Continue Reading.
For me would probably be Norman Greenbaum’s
Spirit in the Sky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cXrEPNvRO8
followed by
Zager and Evans In the Year 2525
Our Norm’s song wins my vote by virtue of its being a one-hit wonder I think three times while poor old Zager and Evans ran out of rhymes for five sometime in the 94th century
Remember hearing DP a lot on – I think – Bob Harris’ old Sounds of the Seventies shows in the, er, 1970s.
Only one of her albums I’ve got – and it’s been years and years since ,I played it or indeed thought of the late Ms Previn – was Mary C Brown and the Hollywood Sign. From what – admittedly little – I recall, a lot of her songs (e.g Beware of Young Girls) were brimming over with hatred for her ex-husband, Andre, who of course, dimpled her to take up with Mia Farrow. She in turn eventually dumped him to take up with Woody Allen
Interesting to see that following the airing of the first of a four part HBO series, about the allegations against him, Woody A is now citing one of DP’s songs (With My Daddy in the Attic) to try and “prove” his innocence.
Anyone else here remember DP or got any of her records? Or indeed any opinions re the ongoing Allen?Farrow shitshow – now in its 29th big year!
https://www.moviemaker.com/the-song-that-woody-allen-says-proves-his-innocence/
El Raya Theatre, LA, Dec 17, 1997 (around the time of Time Out of Mind)
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hear-bob-dylans-greatest-never-ending-tour-concerts-1129170/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/features/searching-for-shelley-duvall-the-reclusive-icon-on-fleeing-hollywood-and-the-scars-of-making-the-shining (link included here as otherwise will get lost at bottom of page)
Last time I thought about Shelley Duvall was when I went to see the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at London’s Design Museum a couple of years back. One of the finest actors of “Easy Rider, Raging Bulls” era Hollywood, she’d pretty much dropped off everyone else’s radar in the mid-90s.
Until a few weeks back, the most (only?) recent sighting of Ms D was the ill-advised car crash interview she did the odious Dr Phil in 2016. When the Hollywood’s Seth Aramovitz tracked her down to Texas, she gave a fascinating interview. She not only shared insights into the films she made with Robert Altman but also talked surprisingly graciously about the trials and tribulations she underwent during Kubrick’s notorious year-plus shooting of The Shining. Incredibly, the 126 takes it took for SK to be happy with the film’s staircase scene (YouTube link below) don’t the world record for the most number of takes on a major film. That record goes to the 148 takes it took to shoot the scene in which Scatman Crothers chef explains the shining to Duvall’s son Danny (Danny Lloyd).
» Continue Reading.
Born to Rum
70% Proof it all Night
Adam Raised a Glass
Book of Drams
Absolutely love TP and the chance to revisit the old and largely forgotten films and TV shows it resurrects from the 50s, 60s and 70s – often ever earlier.
While attitudes have changed quite radically since then, the Watford-based station – pretty much a family affair ran by a dad and his daughter – goes to great pains to put a warning at the start of each film/show it runs. Annoyingly, the caveats re potentially offensive content and language don’t seem to be enough for the busy bodies at Ofcom.
Any particular treasures from the channel you’d like to recommend?
FWIW, while there was a thread a few years back (llink below) am sure the ranks of the ATM have swelled since 2018
Inspired by Lucinda W sings Tom Petty post
Apart from LW herself (daughter of a well known American poet), I can think of
James McMurtry, acid-penned Americana singer/songwriter and son of Larry McM – probably best known for writing the Last Picture Show, Texasville and Lonesome Dove
Paul Kossoff – son of 50s and 60s actor David who gave up the.latter half of his career to educate kids about the dangers of the drug addiction that cost his son his life
Robin LeMesurier – son of the wonderfully insouciant, John – instantly recognisable in just about every British comedy of the 1950s before going on to achieve immortality as Sergeant Wilson in Dad’s Army
Sure there must be loads more so over to the ATM (no Googling, please!)
Entitled Johnny’s Garden, this was the album David Geffen (!) apparently urged NY to scrap in favour of carrying on with Trans – ironic since he later sued NY for being willfully uncommercial/unrepresentative
Given that there’s a live Ragged Glory-era double coming out on Feb 28, the second run of Archives 2 a week later, plus scheduled releases like the expanded RG2 that have never arrived, the Greedy Hand icon from Neil’s website is beginning to look rather apt.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-young-johnnys-island-1121757/
Given that there are not many – if any at all – post Healing Game albums on there, maybe we should do an informal (no points awarded) worst – OK then, “worthy of reappraisal” – five Van M album poll.
Logical cut off point would seem to be 2000 after which everything seems – to these ears anyway – just lame cocktail noodling
In no particular order, I’d go for
Hard Nose Period of Transition Too Long in Exile Back on Top His Band and the Street Choir*
* Narrowly beats out Wavelengh on the basis that I dig out the latter far more often (i.e. very rarely) than Street Choir (i.e. hardly ever – maybe I should give it a spin)
Just noticed that of about 20 CDs reviewed on the first three pages of the Uncut website’s review section, only one has less than 4 stars; and that one, Sufjan Stevens, got three and a half.
Given that every new release by a wrinkly whose records stopped being “must-buys” 10 or 20 years back is hailed as being a “return to form”, I take what reviews I read nowadays with a backload of Saxa.
FWIW, if you held a gun to my head and asked me to itemize my music buying patterns, roughly 80% of the CDs I buy nowadays is back catalogue, with around 10% by new artists and 10% by old farts (sorry cultural touchstones).
How about you? Is there a writer of publication that has you hitting the record racks as quickly as say, Nick Kent’s wonderful Marquee Moon review in the NME did backj40-odd years ago?
