Musings on the byways of popular culture
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Obituary
Aged 75. Soul singer-songwriter and prolific duettist, perhaps most famously with Roberta Flack (“Tonight I Celebrate My Love”), but also with Celine Dion on “Beauty and the Beast”, and Regina Belle on “A Whole New World”.
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Obituary
Only 53, sadly, which is no age. Think I was an angry rock fan when his most famous singles were out (Sunchyme and Carnival de Paris) but, as is often the case, they’ve aged much better than anything else I was listening to at the time. I actually stuck Sunchyme on having heard the news, and it really is a great uplifting tune. Mind you, Life in a Northern Town is a good place to start.
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I’ll just leave this here.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-guitarists-1234814010/
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Obituary
Guitarist of Pilot and The Alan Parsons Project as well as the player of the wonderful solo at the end of Kate Bush’s (wonderful anyway) Wuthering Heights.
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Afterword was a word on the second Only Connect wall last night! I’ll not give away what link it was part of, but it did make me grin.
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Interesting list of the top 100 musical performances on the Beeb, as chosen by Guardian music. I’m sure there will be some alternative opinions on here, so fill yer boots!
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/oct/06/the-100-greatest-bbc-music-performances-ranked
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Yes, Madonna celebrates a big birthday today. Dunno what the general opinion of her music is on here, but I’ve always liked her (she was the first pop star I had on my wall at the age of 7 or so; I think I thought she was “pretty” which I guess when you’re 7 is as far as it goes) and you can’t deny she’s had some excellent records.
Over on the Twitts there is a top 5 thing going on; I’m not suggesting we do that here (it’s an interesting read, mind), but it’s certainly worth some celebration.
Here’s probably my favourite (from around the time I put the poster up). A fantastic record, with some fantastically unsubtle innuendo.
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Not sure how many of you are football fans, let alone how many like cartoons. One of the most consistent things I’ve found recently (from the recommendation of friends) is the David Squires cartoon column in the Guardian. Brilliantly drawn, very funny, and full of references not only to footy, but also to various bits of pop culture. This week’s (about West Ham, which is quite a depressing situation) is superb and well worth a look.
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This is a very interesting article shared by a chum on Facebook the other day. A clever idea, well executed. Slightly put me off wasting my time trying to win money on HQ Trivia, anyway…
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The attached came on my headphones this morning. It’s an excellent track, but it also has an terrific coda at the end of it (which lasts for almost as long as the song itself). Much is made of good introductions, but I’m not sure how much the other end of songs is appreciated. Does anyone have any other examples to share (I can think of one, but I won’t reply straight away).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsT_7is7CnM
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My wife left for work this morning and said “I’ve got to leave a bit earlier so I can scrape the car…”
Winter seems to be upon us in the UK – it’s certainly more taters outside than it has been. How about some warming tunes to ward off the chill? And no, I’m not posting Big Shaq, someone else can do that.
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Heard some Depeche Mode on the walk in this morning and it got me thinking that when I was small their name was often pronounced “Depechay Mode” by some folk (often DJs on Top of the Pops). I can’t remember when that went away, but it has always stuck.
Anyone got any other examples of this? For example, did anyone else (like me) erroneously call Kanye West “Kayne West” when he first popped up 10-15 years ago?
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Hi all. I’m trying to get rid of some old kit from the Hospital Radio station I help at. I know the above is an XLR male/female cable, but it’s a bit unusual, and I wondered what it could be used for. Any ideas would be gratefully received (would help me write an ebay listing for it at the very least).
Thanks in advance!
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Probably regarded as a one hit wonder here, but what a hit (see below). Sadly fell on hard times in recent years, and passed away late last week.
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What’s Engelbert Humperdinck’s favourite Olympic sport?
Tai Quando Quando Quando
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“Silence, something about silence makes me sick, ‘Cos silence can be violent sorta like a slit wrist…”
So sang Zack de La Rocha of Rage Against the Machine. I can’t say I agree. Having spent most of my adult life wanting to listen to music or the radio or to at least have some sort of background hum recently I’ve started appreciating peace and quiet, and even silence.
We live on a fairly quiet suburban street on the edge of a reasonably sized town – but it ‘s surprising how quiet it can be. It struck me once when in the garden a few years back. I stopped for a second and could hear pretty much nothing. No road noise, no trains (we’ve a line across the bottom of the garden, but it’s not a busy one) and just the occasional snatch of birdsong. It was quite calming and I almost felt.. relaxed.
Having small children means silence is a luxury – I tend only to get it now just after I’ve woken up, and just before the little ones do. But are there any other fans of silence on here? And do you find it calming or irritating?
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Anyone been watching James May’s Reassembler programmes the last couple of nights on BBC4? If you have, you’ll probably be aware of this, but if not, then tonight, at 9, he’s putting an electric guitar back together again. Looks like a Strat.
The last two episodes have been great – a Suffolk Colt on Monday (which I’m sure my Dad had – sometime in the late 80s) and a Bakelite telephone last night. It comes under that slightly annoyingly named category of “slow TV” – but it’s fascinating stuff.
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Recently, our kids have rather fallen for the charms of Wallace and Gromit, and particularly (in my son’s case anyway) The Wrong Trousers. I think I’ve seen the sequence below more times than I care to mention over the past few weeks, but without tiring of it. It’s probably my favourite piece of animation. It’s got humour, drama, action and is so beautifully paced and timed that it grabs you from start to finish. Add to that the wonderful piece of music behind it and you can see how it won the awards it did.
So – here’s a weekend challenge. What’s your favourite piece of animation? It could be from a film, a music video or a cartoon.
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Recently I’ve heard two or three records (one of which I’ve posted below) which contain that fantastic “peeeoww” noise a guitarist makes by running a finger rapidly along one of their lower, coiled strings. It’s only a little thing, but it is such an exciting sound. Does anyone have any other good examples? And are there any other sounds in music that have the same effect as this?
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This is brilliant – particularly the selfie.
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There was an excellent documentary on Radio 4 this Saturday just gone about TV themes. Alan Hawkshaw was interviewed and he mentioned how a (still) much heard piece of music he wrote appeared on a trailer for the 1985 Clint Eastwood film Pale Rider.
Have a look at the video attached and see what you think.
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Just a quickie. If you didn’t see Inside No 9 tonight it’s well worth watching on iPlayer. Brilliantly acted, spooky and, well, just fantastic all round.
