Brrrrup-bap-bap-bap, bap bap Bap-bap

He’s coming back to stay for good this time.

https://www.thsh.co.uk/event/paul-young-35-years-of-no-parlez

First up, this is not a depressive post.

I have a confession to make. I don’t care about music anymore. I probably stopped anything approaching obsessive fandom 10 years ago. I come here to remember what it was like, and can still muster an opinion- but it’s not real. I don’t care if I never hear my old favourites again.

But… I love music more than ever. I’m just incredibly non-partisan. I can & do enjoy almost anything I listen to. Without especially caring who or what it is.

I bet I’m not alone in this. Lots of posts here indicating a drift away from patterns formed in childhood, but nobody is talking about the reality. We’re the first generation to live into middle age with rock and roll. Nobody is letting us let go of the attachments, and embracing the new world of it not really mattering.

I prefer it this way. I think music is amazing, but not any particular kind or artist.

Thoughts?

Peaks? All bands and artists have them. Santana were in decline in 1983; they had tried every trick in the book to get into the charts. Suddenly they gave up, and released a fantastic record, Havana Moon. It combined the current formidable band lineup, with previous lead singer Greg Walked, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Booker T, Willie Nelson, Tower of Power, Flaco Jimenez… sometimes all at once. Some tracks were outtakes from previous records. It was released as a solo record to lower expectations.

And yet… this is so alive! Listen to Watch Your Step. Santana and Jimmie Vaughan on guitar. Tower of Power horns. Graham Lear on the tightest drums ever, with Latin superhero Armando Peraza on congas, his understudy Raul Rekow, and the flamboyant timbales of Orestes Vilato. Soulful vocals, totally live, a wall of sound in 1983 when only shit records were being made. All because nobody was listening and there was a contract in place.

There must be others.

https://youtu.be/seBM9ZSIzzc

“Hold On” has to be the most generic, bland and over-used song title. Pretty much everyone who makes more than five albums has a song called this (slight exaggeration). If you search on Apple Music or Spotify there are hundreds of them. Many of the usual suspects for generic blandness turn up – Razorlight, Take That, Richard Ashcroft…

Artists that I really like have done a terribly bland song of this title… Steve Winwood, Los Lobos (hard to distinguish).

What is it about this title? Any good ones?

Add your favourite pop tool here! (Dappy from N-Dubz in case you aren’t familiar with his work)

https://goo.gl/photos/3NEYz57UXWEgKuHw6

I have noticed lately that I like pretty much everything musical to a certain extent. When I was younger, I had very strict ideas of what was good and what was not.

What is this? Was the scarcity of music in the 70s and 80s the thing that made a lot of us form a taste – in order to simplify the landscape and create a roadmap? Is the oversupply of music now the reason that I flit from song to song just like a butterfly? (speaking as an early adopter of streaming)

Is taste in music ever really fixed? Or is it like being a member of a religion or a political party?

In all honesty I have no idea what my taste in music actually is these days.

Answered Question: What did you do there? I got high

Unanswered Question: How many roads must a man walk down

Your turn