OK, we, mostly, “know” each other, back to front and side to side, a 20 year shared history, our peccadilloes and our prejudices all well aired.. But, we pretend, sure, we pretend, still to be cutting at that harsh edge of modernity, be it popular, populist or preposterous. Or not, many still chowing down on heritage gruel, Merseyside or Mekong adjacent, but, here’s a thing. Who would be the single artist, band or conceptual consequence you could not live without?
I’m going to say R.E.M.
You.
(Don’t all say Beatles band.)
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Beatles band
The Waterboys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRVOWAy3qrUNo other band has bought more joy in my 58 years on this planet than them.
One … only one? Eschewing the obvious response from me:
Paul Weller
Taylor Swift
I’ve just read that the second biggest-selling act in the world today after Taylor is Seventeen. They sold 10 million albums last year and will be playing Glastonbury. I’ve noticed you very rarely talk about K-pop boy bands with any great affection.
1. I’m impressed you “read”
2. What is this K-Pop of which you speak?
Yeah, right. Like you don’t have a poster of Jungkook out of BTS on your bedroom wall.
I’m liking these early responses, apart from, clearly, @dai, who, had he said the Stones or Springsteen might have got away with it. But fair play, no snarks here, just interested and intrigued.
And I believe Lodey too, appreciative the effect of Lannguedoc’s best on his critical faculties. (And I speak as a closet Swiftie, but keep that to yourselves.)
Wasn’t to annoy you, I truly believe they were Toppermost of the Poppermost, they may occasionally have drifted from my current playlists, but they have been my favourite musical act since about 1976. If we exclude them I might have said one of the ones you mentioned, 2 or 3 other candidates too
And me, neither, you. I just have a blind spot for the mop tops. I’m seeking honesty; you gave it.
XTC.
Honest answer there is no one artist that if they disappeared I would shrivel up and die over. But if pressed today I would say New Order.
Can I choose a classical composer and still be within your parameters, retro?
If yes, I’ll choose Sibelius.
If no, I’ll choose Van der Graaf Generator.
Whomsoever.
Splendid. Based on some of the responses below, I have no shame in taking both,
Yes, that VdG cover of Finland Awakes is quite spesh.
Nah, nah, Gawd bless yah, nah…
Too cheery! If they covered the 4th symphony, that would be a proper meeting of minds.
I was tempted by New Order, but as moselymoles has taken that one, I will go for Laurie Anderson. She is almost the definition of a conceptual consequence.
I could spend many pleasant hours pondering over this to get the most accurate answer possible. I probably will do anyway.
But just to keep your thread zipping nicely along I am going to answer Ella Fitzgerald.
I’m sure I could live without any of it but I’d probably have to go with Ian Hunter both as solo artist and with Mott, as I have bought pretty much everything of his since 1972.
In the long run the depths of JS Bach might be more rewarding, but I’ll put my towel on Richard Thompson before anyone else does (and before he wakes up and notices).
It’s too obvious in my case and if I can’t have the BOJAYHMs, so I will say OMD.
Steely Dan
Seconded! (Along with Donald and Walter’s solo efforts, if allowed.)
As I can’t have them, I’ll have Todd Zappa or Frank Rundgren.
Why can’t you have them? Plenty of duplication on this thread…
Thirded
Absolutely; any act can have as many AWista’s in their thrall as they can muster!!
Me too.
Avoiding conceptual consequences – it’s just me, I know, I curse myself each day about what I’m missing out on – I’d say The Beach Boys.
The whitest, dumbest, most inconsequential (see above) group, has also, contrived to produce possibly the greatest 45, possibly the greatest LP, and definitely the greatest unreleased LP ever, and the fall-out from all that is as astoundingly awful as the worst TV soap plotline known to man.
That said, it is June and around December I’ll want little to do with them.
I fear the fun would be in rubbishing other people’s choices and trundling out my prejudices. But as that’s against the spirit of playing nicely I won’t. So I won’t say the obvious choice (as they may not chime with to OP remit and they permanently reside in my head) so I’ll say David Sylvian (and adjacent).
The Church or The Chameleons. Sorry to be do obvious. And unsure.
Just one? Would have to be Dylan.
Thelonious Monk
Bubbling under…
Frank Zappa
The Beatles
Steely Dan
Erik Satie
Little Feat
Monk is on my shortlist, for sure ….
The ‘Vish
The Beach Boys. My ears first pricked up hearing California Girls on the radio back in (it says here) ’65. It sounded like nothing else I’d ever heard – that stunning intro, the harmonies (turns out that the chords are way more complex than I could have imagined, even if I’d known what chords were), and the world it conjured up, all swept me up and away. It still does. I’m aware of all the seamy stuff, the behind-the-scenes drama, and it has never touched the music, never diminished its power. Consider the lotus, as Buddha so sagely enjoins us. That beautiful flowering is rooted in mud and filth and draws its sustenance from it, and so it is with this extraordinary band – creations of stunning beauty arose from the poisoned well of L.A.
Good Vibrations was the game-changer, the life-changer. I’ve listened to it countless thousands of times and each and every time it does what it says on the tin. The combination of the ethereal (the very first note from Carl, that heavenly “ahh …”) and the beat, the heart throb, coupled with a construction and arrangement that fully justify the word genius results in a spiritual invocation unmatched in music.
Music is the best, as Zappa said, and he might have added “and the Beach Boys are the best music.” Springsteen said “There’s no greater world created in rock and roll than the Beach Boys; the level of musicianship, I don’t think anybody’s touched it yet.”
Dae Lims (an anonymous L.A. producer and songwriter) recently woke up SMiLE like no fan mix ever did, making it not only complete but new. Ethical arguments about AI aside, his achievement is nothing but human, and the result is, at last, the full lotus flower that was planted all those years ago.
Endless harmony? Oh yeah.
Yes, pretty close to being mine too.
Hearing Brian and his extraordinary band doing Pet Sounds in full in 2000 in Saratoga winery in Northern California remains one of the musical experiences of my life. I had saddled myself with low expectations, but it was transcendent, glorious venue, glorious weather, glorious music.
* Also saw the first live performance of SMiLE in London.
I agree: The Beach Boys. In my case, however, it is simply for my favourite song of all time – God Only Knows. As well as still getting a thrill hearing it every time, I have also used this song as a way of ‘christening’ any new device capable of playing music, whether that be hi-fi bits, iPods, tablets, laptops, in-car CD players (and yes, I still have them fitted to any vehicle I own), phones, etc, and will continue to do so.
My second favourite song of all time is Surf’s Up. The line about a broken man too tough to cry always produces a little tear. One of my lovely sisters died young back in the mid 1970s. I didn’t cry at the time, but did one night while playing this song a few months later. Fast forward half a century and little has changed.
Despite the above, my fave rave of all time, based on their complete body of work, is King Crimson closely followed by VDGG… but perhaps that’s not answering the original question precisely as posed.
Well if stuck on a desert island I dunno whether all those paeans to surf would comfort me or rile me.
Desert island?
At the time of posting I was going to type , i know the OP doesn’t require that the music be one’ sole artist/ band on a desert island, but it is that sort of thing. But I couldn’t be bothered typing it.
But here I am.
Nothing in the OP about a desert island…
He said “paeans”. I’m tellin’.
My immediate answer would be Kate Bush, but given that she only puts out an album every 20 years or so, I’ve pretty much gotten used to living without her anyway……
A very close backup would be XTC. My “clever’ answer would be Steven Wilson – that way I get all his solo stuff, all his Porcupine Tree stuff and all the remix stuff (XTC, Yes, King Crimson…..) – sorted.
Kate close to mine too, there’s about 20 others probably
I’d take Miles, cos in taking Mr. D I’d also get Coltrane, Bill Evans, Herbie, Wayne, Ron and Tony, Joe Z, Chick and Jarrett, McLaughlin and Cobham, Holland and DeJohnette, Marcus Miller, Cyndi Lauper and Scritti Politti. That would do me just fine.
I agree with Nick.
Like the reference.
I’m glad someone noticed….
I had to search it, Clegg right?
I agree with Nick too. Couldn’t live without Miles.
I am leaning towards Miles – so many highlights, and Kind Of Blue is probably my most-listened to album … but what about John Coltrane ? And Alice ?
As Nick points out, with Miles you get so much more. So many different styles and so many top class musicians, starting with Bird and Dizzy. Coltrane is my favourite ever musician. He played with Miles for a considerable period and they get pretty wild in the last European tour. In the end, for me, Trane’s great quartet just misses out to two great Miles quintets.
Maybe it’s better with an act where there are you know less well. When you’ve only got one artist you need a large oeuvre to get stuck into which will reward relistening. So many acts have limited back catalogues, and you know how they go. Miles is a smart move.
Where there are albums you know less well, it should say.
Thin Lizzy
My favourite act is the Swedish neo-medieval band Arcana. Assuming that you’re unfamiliar with them (a pretty safe assumption, sadly), here’s their Innocent Child (one of their most beautiful tracks) as an introduction:
However, their discography is fairly small, so I might feel a bit limited if they were the only band I had to listen to forever. So, I turn to my Plan B act: Marillion.
They’re the first act I ever saw live (Birmingham NEC, Clutching at Straws tour, since you ask), the act I’ve seen more than any other, and the act taking up the most space in my record collection.
I climbed aboard the Marillion bus with Misplaced Childhood, and love them still, despite the occasional wrong move (the last few tracks on Radiation, the odd bit of dub and reggae elsewhere, etc.). There’s enough variety in their work that I could listen to them forever.
Enjoying these answers. Some expected, others less so. Only a few more hundred of you left to respond, so get cracking.
CSN§Y as it would mean I also received all of their various solo albums and side projects.
On a hotter, sunnier day I’d probably go for The Beach Boys – so many joyous songs and almost every one enriched with a wonderful memory
David Bowie would be my choice.
Incidentally I went to the new KEF London showroom yesterday to listen to the new Ziggy Stardust Dolby Atmos mix by Ken Scott. It was an aural delight. The whole set up was very impressive. If you happen to be near 38 Great Portland Street there’s a coffee room(which is open to the public) filled with Ziggy era pics by Mick Rock including a lovely coffee table book of his to peruse with comfortable seating to sit and sup while listening to the very many KEF LS50 surrounding you. The listening rooms need to be booked via their website.
Ooooh. I’m proper jealous.
@retropath2 I am pretty sure you would think I would say Elvis Costello but I am going to surprise you and say Paul Simon and hope that it will allow me to include the work he did with his guitar tuner.
Closely behind would be Leonard Cohen. Or the Kinks. Or The Waterboys.
I had you down for someone more left field, like Tom Russell, but it is interesting, already, to see how our favourites are (largely) the big hitters who extend beyond cult listening and into the collections of the civilian masses.
@retropath2 Tom Russell was considered and so too. Bobby Charles who is even more leftield.
Tom Russell seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth for some reason
Neil Finn. Which is cheating a little as it includes Crowded House, Split Enz and the Finn Brothers. Lovely melodic, harmony-drenched pop songs that don’t give themselves away at first listen.
Hmmm, this angle, of including any and every collaboration, sails a little close to AW overly literal over-inclusiveness, rallying against the spirit of the piece. So, Mr Undercrackers, mon capitain, who is it to be: Crowded House, Split Enz, The Finn Bros (or even Pajama Club)?
And, @jaygee, yours would not include the solo albums of the anglo-american foursome chosen. So there!
Harsh, referee! Surely Chiz can nominate the career of Neil Finn and have that cover his various bands and collaborations?
Hmmm back attcha. The same two people wrote and recorded Whispers and Moans, She Will Have Her Way, Strangeness and Charm and I Got You, but I can only have one of those? You’re a tough taskmaster Retro.
Given the howling from the ramparts, I will allow this dilution of intent, ONLY if said individual has a retrospective set, live or otherwise, that might, coincidentally, include some work from different periods. Given that many mentioned thus far are of a certain vintage, record companies are good at milking their assets in this way.
(Sputtering with feigned outrage)
Retroactive changing of the rules?
But this…this is the Afterword!
So by the original rubric my nomination of Richard Thompson wouldn’t include his Fairport albums, but a nomination of Fairport in all its multi-foliate guises would be valid?
Yup. Life is ‘ard.
Dylan predictably and for jazz Duke Ellington.
I haven’t yet come down definitively on Duke Ellington, but he’s my front runner.
Later (maybe).
The Rutles.
A cheeky assault from the niche. (With a reminder that this shouldn’t leak out into the works of Patto or the Beach Boys.)
Les Garçons de la Plage.
Patteau.
…et Roger vont bavarder 😜
Well okay, I would probably say Cowboy Junkies, a band who have never released a duff album and whose songwriting and creativity hasn’t diminished as they’ve got older. And Margo Timmins’ voice is to die for.
I’m going to go with The National. It was love at first sight when I heard Fake Empire. I went backwards from there and found their earlier releases to be equally good. All the releases since then have added something to the care National recipe. They haven’t released a thing that I haven’t loved. And they’re a bit miserable but with tunes which is right up my straße.
Blimey , a desert island with nothing but the National to listen too. I’d be walking out to sea on about day 4. But, hey ho, each to their own.
It would be blissful. I’d sneak this on as well. It has added Booker T as well. Just beautiful.
“Certain restrictions apply” (but that Berninger solo album IS strikingly good!)
It really is a cracker.
Gatz (above) mentions J.S. Bach, and that’s certainly a good shout. His body of work is so huge and so brilliant that one could never tire of it.
Junior Wells (above) mentions Duke Ellington, and he’d be my choice for jazz.
But one artist, in the popular music genre?
Just one?
Oh, all right:
Declan P. MacManus
I’m going to use this opportunity to express my admiration for Pink Floyd, as it seems no one else here has heard of them. As I become deafer and deafer, theirs is the music I miss most. Especially Shine On. With a spliff, at the beach. I miss The Köln Concert too. And Junior Murvin’s Police & Thieves. Whereas, with the exception of Bowie, I’m quite looking forward to never hearing anything by any of the above mentioned acts ever again.
There is no single band I would really pine for. I think I would be regretful if any genre of music ( without getting too niche, e.g death metal, or dril), were to disappear, without the possible exception of jazz. Even then jazz influenced much 30s and 40s music I like.
I’m stuck choosing between Wilco, Marc Almond, Taj Mahal and Bob Dylan.
The OP asks for the one I “can’t live without”, later in this thread we end up on a desert island. Which is it? Because that’s very different to me and will influence my choice.
“Can’t live without” means (to me) that I can still listen to everything else, but if I couldn’t hear this artist my life would still feel empty and joyless. Desert island choice means that’s all I’ll ever hear for the rest of my life (which may be quite short: I’ve never been a scout, am squeamish about what I eat and about killing animals, and if said island has snakes or big spiders, I’d probably die of fear…)
But yeah; one of those four, thanks.
Almost wilfully eclectic, so respect. But one means one. I’ll choose Taj for you.
I asked the snake and he said “actually, I tasssssste jussst like chicken” (I don’t eat chicken as a rule, but needs must). I spoke to the biggest spider and she said she’d keep me company as long as I tossed her pieces of snake.
I can’t conceive of never hearing any more “new”, so I will be deserted on condition my artist of choice is still recording and I continue to receive packages. Wire would be a good choice with that back catalogue, but I think I’ll plump for Lana..
Remember when we (was it at the Word blog or the first version of this place?) chose one artist each to be the…what did we call it now…not champion of, not caretaker, the word eludes me. But the one we promised to bring up in conversations on the blog, praise, educate about etc; to ensure they weren’t forgotten, that sort of thing.
Anyway, the one I chose then was indeed Taj Mahal, so it’s only fitting that he’s my choice for this…
Yes I remember that – Keeper of the flame was it? Not sure. Anyway, my choice was John Fogerty I think.
Original Word blog, I think: memory i’nt what it used to be, tho’…
First I took Manhattan Transfer then I took Berlin. Actually it was Nico, because should not be forgotten. One of a kind. The other thing is what you could live with, happy to listen to always, exclusively. Not Nico in that case.
Neil Young
Tough to come up with something different now that Miles and Steely Dan are already ‘taken’, so how about Tom Waits? Nothing new for quite a while but a back catalogue that’s always changing, always nothing less than interesting, often startling!
Why the need to come up with something different? Plenty of duplicate choices above!
Dylan, but if I’m allowed a second then Fleetwood Mac, as you’d get a lot of bang for your buck there.
Imagine, if you will, an AW plane crashing on a desert island and almost everyone survives (or appears to, cf. “Lost”).
We all have our portable music players with us, but each one of them features just one artist/band/musical combo and everyone considers their musical choice to be completely indispensible.
The island has abundant food and fresh water and a power generator and shelter materials can be got together from the wrecked plane, so no worries on those fronts.
A carefully-negotiated truce or all-out civil war?
It would be Lord of the Flies – lots of peace love and harmony early on eventually degenerating into carnage as Lodes tries get his Taylor albums onto the turntable, the Steely Dan cohort try to take over and the rest of us just wail ineffectually ‘Guys, guys – we can all compromise with the Beatles or the Beach Boys can’t we?’
What’s “crashing on a desert island” got to do with the OP? Are we playing Desert Island Discs now? I want my book and my luxury item!
My head says Bob Dylan, my heart says Van Morrison. I’ll go with Van.
If we are taking the question as written, i.e. considering removal of an artist rather than a desert island scenario, then it’s Van for me too. Those early albums have been a salve for me many times. “If I venture in the slipstream, between the viaducts of your dream” are the words I want to hear as I exit this world.
Springsteen
When I was 20 years old in around June ’71 I borrowed the “Byrdmaniax” LP from a friend. I liked the Byrds but didn’t much like this album, didn’t like most of the songs, didn’t like the sound / production. But I listened to both sides till the end, as you did in those days, and there was something about the final track that really clicked; the performance was half-hearted, the sound was dreadful, but the song was something else. So I made a mental note of the songwriter’s name and gave the LP back to my pal.
A few months later I was browsing the racks in Durrants’ record shop in my lunch hour and saw an interesting looking album seemingly called “Saturate Before Using” . The artist’s name rang a bell so I looked closer at the credits and there it was, side 1, track 1: “Jamaica Say You Will”, dimly remembered from that Byrds LP.
So I bought it, took it home on the bus and after dinner listened to it on our stereogram with my grandma. And that was it, Jackson Browne’s music became the soundtrack of my life.
It’s always been For Everyman for me, although the consensus seems to favour The Pretender. Perfect, perfect album.
Late for the Sky for me but quite the run of albums , coming to a jarring halt with The Hold Out.
Late For the Sky for me too, but I do have a soft spot for Hold Out as well. It has the beautiful Call It a Loan.
Yep, lovely song, co-written with David Lindley.
The album has a couple of clunkers which rightly sour its reputation, but it does also include “Of Missing Persons”, written for his (I think) god-daughter Inara “The Bird and the Bee” George after the death of Lowell. The final track “Hold On Hold Out” has its moments too, but it is far from his best album.
Next up was “Lawyers In Love” in ’83. Well. His first 4 albums were perfect, his fifth was nearly perfect. Lawyers in Love was the one that tested my patience. I bought it on the day of release of course and I persuaded myself to like it, sort of – “Downtown” actually reminds me of Peter Noone’s Tremblers which is not a compliment! It was the first album since his debut not to feature David Lindley who was a tough act for Rick Vito and Danny Kootch to follow. They didn’t quite succeed, but the songs and the production didn’t do them any favours.
Jackson Browne will never match the glory of the early albums of course, but he got back on track with “Lives In The Balance” and every album since has been consistently enjoyable, throwing up some real beauts along the way, not least this:
And this, his cover of a song by Carlos Varela . . . firstly with Greg Leisz:
And then with Val McCallum:
https://youtu.be/slZwbpiCWOY?feature=shared
The one good track Peanuts. Where you tried to like LIL , I tried to like Hold Out. I failed.
There is the awful possibility, hinted at by Gary, that we’re all going to become stone deaf on our desert islands. So after trying and failing for two days to come up with an answer to the OP that doesn’t involve at least half a dozen artists, I’m just going to say: the music in my head.
Yeah, but suppose you didn’t? And where is this desert island of which you speak? With your one artist/band, you can be anywhere in the world. And electricity, batteries and players are available. (They have that in Woolamoolu, yes?)
Intermittently in Wooloomaloo, I suspect. All right then: Little Feat. No, Tom Waits. Leonard Cohen. Actually, I’m going to say Ludwig van.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (I am also very cheekily adding in Grinderman to this).
If that back catalogue did not exist I would miss it a lot.
I dare say you’d want The Birthday Party too?! If you just said Nick Cave, my deaf mute assistants would probably throw in his soundtrack work as well.
Yes, I didn’t want to be greedy, but i would appreciate The Birthday Party too….. & the soundtracks, especially The Proposition which is excellent
If we aren’t allowed the Fabs, then another vote here for the Beach Boys.
Some others that were considered..
Bob
Bruce
Everlys
Eric
Jimi
Fairport
Warren Zevon
You’re “allowed” them, I just hoped for the greater variety that has actually come to pass. Quite refreshing, really, if still little to disturb the Mojo/Uncut toolsetters.
Only two albums apiece, but probably The Bible or The Fat Lady Sings. Or maybe Furniture or The Blue Nile, who managed four each.
Or, New Order. Who knows, I might even come to enjoy Republic and the 99% of everything post-1993 I see as pointless.
Or, Talking Heads or Blondie.
This game is too difficult.
The Bible is a great shout. Top band with two great albums full of sing along tunes.
Can dai run an algorithm and tabulate the results in spreadsheet form? Future generations run the risk of losing a valuable resource else.
A second Thin Lizzy fan, I only found this place when Google pointed to a discussion of the band. Confession time; I have never read The Word, I did used to get Melody Maker and then Sounds when Gary Bushell was livening up the music press.
I wouldn’t worry about that @kalamo.
The Word lasted from 2003 to August 2012.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Word_(UK_magazine)
The Afterword was established in 2012.
I am sure that by now we are recruiting new contributors who were not even born in the heyday of the magazine.
Teenagers? Yoiks! What are the odds?
Not good. Let’s face it, we’re all circling the drain here.
Changed my mind I’d like John Cage’s 4′ 33″
I had the 12″ extended mix of that.
I have* this 58-track cover version compilation. No chance of getting bored by hearing the same artist over and over again:
https://www.discogs.com/release/15003073-Various-STUMM433
(*) don’t have
But this seems exactly like the kind of thing you would have. To play at parties for your imaginary friends.
Finally an album where Mrs F won’t tell me to turn that racket off.
Compilations by various artists don’t count, regardless of spousal approval. In fact, spousal approval is a debit, generally, oui?
There’s an in-joke there, STUMM is the Swedish for Mute or Silent, (I’m sure you all knew that!)
Also the Yiddish shtum.
I always assumed that schtum, as in ‘keep schtum’, was Yiddish in origin.
Via the German stum.
Mute records use STUMM for all their catalogue numbers for LPs. Depeche Mode’s first one was STUMM5.
I’d buy that for a dollar!
If I’m choosing one artist and that’s they only artist I’m ever going to hear again, I guess my answer would be Sparks largely because of the different styles and, of course, the vast catalogue. If I was picking one band that I could always go back to, but I can listen to other music then I think I would go for Fountains of Wayne.
The shortlist was all jazz – Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington. All thrilling, all deep, all of them have made some of my very favourite albums.
I am picking Alice Coltrane, because of the transcendental beauty of her Impulse! albums.
The Fall
“Look, mummy, what’s that man doing?”
“Shh, honey, turn away, he’s the man that has to listen to Mark E. Smith every day……”
Harsh! Some of my best nights out have been watching the Fall. Plus, now I think about it, I only started listening to them circa Shiftwork and that period remains my favourite. I’ve never really investigated the really early stuff so there would be that to look forward to.
You guys.
»Who would be the single artist, band or conceptual consequence you could not live without?«
Although my first thoughts were Frank Zappa (for the depth of his catalogue – there’s always something new to discover) or Phish (for the sheer musicality and melodious improvisations in their always rewarding concerts) I’m going for JOHN PRINE. His songs and recordings have the storytelling, the poetic writing, and heartfelt empathy and sarcastic wit (and an abundance of silliness) all at the same time. Where else do you get »Angel Of Montgomery«, »Lake Marie«, »In Spite Of Ourselves« and »You Got Gold«?
Good choice.
Superb choice @fatimaXberg, And very well argued too.
Glad to see Jackie making an appearance too @Bogart, Another marvelous choice.
Jackie Leven…
Why the 3 full stops? Serious question. It’s a fine choice.
I’ve never had a double hamper post. Just sayin’.
And you never will …. merde.
I realise I’ve just added to your tally, merde and treble merde.
Every little helps. Merde in and merde out, as Johnny Corsica says. Or did as he watched me apply more of his exotic “cheese” to bread….
Anyone tasted dog’s milk? I am sure there’s a market, with cheese here made from cows, sheep and goats udders.
There’s a camel cheese, I’ll let you guess the name.
Camelbert? It’s Camelbert, isn’t it.
Drome Dairy?
I suspect my answer’s right, but yours is better
Correct oh @Chiz
That sounds like the next line, or part of it, of @thecheshirecat ‘s lyrical tone poem about supping ale with his flueologist.
Maybe not the chiz bit, uncertain if that was a word in the parlance of child and roud compilations.
It should have been correcto but spellcheck decided otherwise.
So would you like us all the state our back up artists in case our favoured choice decides to play the Gruinard Island outdoor festival and be wiped out by stray anthrax spores ?
Such is my hunger for Corsair…….
And to discover dogs cheese.
Jackie Leven would be my back up.
What, no John Martyn? There is now.
Is @kaisfatdad getting all this down, for a Spotify playlist? Of course, he would then need to accede the favourite song by each of these solitary artists. (Shall we help him, children?)
Green Grow the Rushes-O (REM)
Sorry, Retro! I’ve been rather Lost in Space for the past few days.
But I will be delighted to produce a playlist for us all to enjoy. But would be grateful for some song suggestions.
Here’s mine!
Yikes! I’m so middle of the road I make Val Doonican look like Captain Beefheart!
Well, in support of your quest for a double hamper, I start off ‘Gloves Off part deux’ with a desert island-themed song from my artiste
Favourite song by my selected artist, Kate Bush….. an impossible ask.
However, at this moment in time, I will go with Sunset from Aerial
A favourite song for a classic KFD playlist? Like Chrisf above, that’s a hard ask – I can narrow it down to about 14. So let’s go with this one, since I’ve been playing the parent album today…
…and, since a whole symphony would be inappropriate, can I also suggest the following tone poem:
I would choose Shine On (both sections) cos it’s so beautiful and perfect and anyone who can’t see that was probably dropped on their head as an infant, but it’s so very well known and even though I’m somewhat sceptical as regards the depth of focus that will be allotted to these videos or the subsequent playlist by their intended audience, I’d rather choose a far less well known song than have anyone suspect me of not being uniquely interesting. So I’ll choose their song Love. I say “song” but I just listened to it and it sounds more like bits of noise to me. Could be cos my ears are somewhat demented or could be cos it’s just bits of noise. Anyway, I’d never heard it or heard of it before so it can’t be that well known, I wouldn’t have thought. I’m not even sure it’s Pink Floyd, frankly. So I’m going to claim it as my favourite and my choice for the playlist. As one of the more than a dozen comments on the YouTube video says “Who are the people in the picture- anyone know?”.
Sounds like a live precursor to Fat Old Sun…
I enjoyed that very much, Gary.
Damn, I’m going to have to get the headphones out now and plug them in and everything. And they’re upstairs, I think. Bloody palaver.
The picture, taken in Novgorod, 1962, shows Avvakir Magomedov with his son (left) and daughter. Magomedov, an electrical engineer, defected to the west in the late sixties and was recruited by MI5 to infiltrate Communist groups at that time active in the UK. He met Roger Waters at a Workers Revolutionary Party demonstration and was taken on by the band as an electronics engineer, designing their live amplification, including an early mixing “desk” (actually a suitcase-sized box). He died in “mysterious circumstances” in early 1970. He is commemorated by his first name being chanted during the choral section of Atom Hear Mother.
@retropath2 I was going to write something why the choice of Jackie for me was inevitable, but the words wouldn’t come. So the 3 full stops were added in an attempt to convey that inevitability, the deep well of emotional attachment and profound affect that JL had on the course of my life.
Or it could be that I have a dodgy keyboard…
I’ve already posted a video above for what is perhaps my favourite song by my favourite band, Arcana.
For my other favourite band, Mariilion, I have a difficult choice as they’ve got so many albums.
From the early, Fish days: Grendel (all 17 over-the-top minutes of it) and Incubus. From the Hogarth era: The Space (especially live, where it seems to gain added energy), The Invisible Man, and The New Kings. Prog dramatics, atmosphere, and an emotional voice – what more could you want?
Thanks for the prompt, @captain-darling , as I was trying to recall, without scrolling back, now such a long way, who had supplied the obscurest solitary vice. So Arcana, then. Not to be confused with Arcana?
No, that’s just Arcana, sadly. I like (with emphasis) Arcana. You know, Arcana.
Here’s “My Cold Sea” with, as Smash Hits used to say, drums ahoy.
Your Arcana is the one with (checks Wikipedia) Bill Laswell, mine is the one led by Peter Bjargo, who has now put the band to bed and pursues a solo career. But I love them still (and I am one of a very small number, unfortunately). They cover the bases from neo-medieval and a bit Dead Can Dance-y to Middle Eastern to neofolk and back to, erm, neo-medieval.
Arcana, pop kids! Tell your friends! (No, seriously, tell your friends.)
Elvis Costello (and Steve Nieve) – Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No.4 (performed off-mic)
“…So toll the bell or rock the cradle
Please don’t let me fear anything I cannot explain
I can’t believe, I’ll never believe in anything again…”
That was a superb clip – I enjoyed that very much.
Thanks @duco01
More to be admired than enjoyed, really. I saw similar at Symphony Hall, Brum, again very impressed. However, revisiting, via your clip, shows how hideously overwrought is his phrasing and projection. All he needs is a thin wiggly line moustache, extending out from his cheeks.
Speak for yourself!
(Oh, you were…)
You’ll have to expand on that. (Over about 17 posts should do it.)
Eh?
15 now. Or 14, with this one. And pithier than that one. Put some brio into it.
He lost his brio down the back of the sofa.
All together, to the tune of Walking on the Moon:
“Brio-yo-yo-yo-yo…”
As requested, Retro, here is my progress report on the Gloves Off Playlist. Things are going rather slowly..
But it will excellent if I can include from all the artists mentioned on this thread.
But I will definitely benefit from some song suggestions. I do not want to rely on Spotify to make the choice. According to them She is Elvis Costello’s most popular song!
Personally I’d be quite happy to “do a Fatima” and include several songs from the same artist.
Taj Mahal – You Ain’t No Street Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff (but it must be the version from the best ever live album The Real Thing)
If you prefer a shorter track than 18:56, I’d say choose Stealin’ from the album Happy Just To Be Like I Am…
Grand!!! Let’s go with the 18.56.
Good man. Alternatively we call upon those who merely submitted a name, ahead of appreciating my latterly enhanced tinned alektorophilia. So @dai : best Beatles band, @uncle-wheaty : best Waterboys, @rigid-digit : best Weller etc etc. Heck, even @lodestone-of-wrongness : best Tay Tay, @trypf XTC, @moseleymoles New Order and even old chums @deramdaze and @h-p-saucecraft and their Beach Boys. I’m ignoring @duco01 and that hooting man selling car insurance, because he knows he can do better.
(That should do it.)
Typical! Bloody lodestone hides his handle under a bushel! And where’s bloody @thecheshirecat ? They have electric in Brittany, c/o the WhatsApp about Breton bagpipes, available on request.
Sorry, been asleep in front of the TdF
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc0sEMYv620&feature=shared
(What a sterling example to our youngsters: unprompted, yet he still checks in, with a sense of duty many could take note of. TdF? Toni does Florac?)
Much as it irks to help your alektorophilia the for the pre-fab four the magnificent Rutles I suggest I Must Be in Love.
Well, I’m with @moseleymoles and @ernietothecentreoftheearth
Life is sufficiently eclectic that it would carry on with riches, even if a big significant artist was knocked out of it. The closest I get is that Hejira allows me to relive a massive chunk of joyous life, so to lose that would be to lose more than the music. I’ll take Coyote for the playlist, KFD.
(I am slightly concerned. My phone now autocorrects words to ‘KFD’. Am I spending too long on here?)
Not enough.
Nearly.
Where is Chickenn and Chircenh on supremakte shlef in Snaisyburs? Chbka great delicacy! Aslo, Chilen. Both available in ADSA!
Uundre het ccouuntre
Aandd haerti cconngartolatoinns tto Rrertopthath onn iss wnni.
Can’t remember the whole line from ‘Letter to Brezhnev’, about nicking chicken portions from the processors, but it finished ‘Tell your mother I couldn’t get the whole bird’…
Thanks @thecheshirecat! That remark amused me to end. I am flattered to have made such an impression on your spell check programme.
I do hope I don’t cause you too many problems when ordering some delicious fried chicken from Colonel Sanders.
One track you say. @retropath2 I guess the one I would miss the most would be…World In Motion. Not really….it would be True Faith.
One track for Paul Weller – might be an obvious choice, and I don’t think it’s his best but The Changingman would be a starter for ten
(The Jam = Man In The Cornershop, Style Council = Solid Bond In Your Heart, and I could – if requested – pick one from each solo elpee)
I’ll have Duke Ellington & Mahalia Jackson – Come Sunday, from “Black, Brown & Beige” for my selection.
Who cares anymore, the chances of a triple are nil. My first double, four legs, four wings,, towheads and as many cloacae as they can fit in the tin.
My chosen Miles Davis recording would be ‘On Green Dolphin Street’.
It’s the Kind Of Blue quintet with Bill Evans on piano. I had the tune for many years as the first track on the ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ CD. A while back I bought the 60th anniversary edition of KOB on vinyl, with a bonus disc that has OGDS on one side. Took it round to my mate and his 50 grand hi-fi. Blew us both away.
Amusing scene at a gig last night where my jazz singer pal introduced On Green Dolphin Street by rambling on about it being the title song from a rather poor movie and then gave us a plot synopsis:
“Basically, a naval officer gets drunk and marries the wrong sister. It’s set in New Zealand. Oh, and there’s an earthquake.”
“Get on with it!” said singer’s wife was heard to say.
Never heard of that movie @Mike_H. All rather fascinating.
Quite a blockbuster back in 1947!
A tale and a half!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Dolphin_Street_(film)
A proper soap-opera of a plot!
Mistaken identity, unrequited love, shipwreck, earthquake, native uprising, nuns! Blimey!
And a good tune.
The high-pitched ka-mate ka-mates at the end of that movie clip are a world away from the chest-thumping throat-slitting war dance of the modern era.
Fascinating stuff @Mike_H.
I’ve never heard of Elizabeth Goudge but clearly the book was a big seller in Post-War Britain. Based on a true story, or so this article claims.
https://www.elizabethgoudge.org/index.php/2017/01/22/green-dolphin-country/
Very popular in her time. As a child, the Harry Potter Hitmaker was very keen on another of Goudge’s books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Goudge
“J. K. Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, has recalled that The Little White Horse was her favourite book as a child. She has also identified it as one of very few with “direct influence on the Harry Potter books. The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that. You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts.”
The film won an Oscar for special effects:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039437/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_green%2520dol%25C3%25A5
“A Fiery Girl Who Dares The Dangers Of The Sea And A Savage Land… Fighting For The Love Of A Bold Adventurer!”
The music was by Bronislau Kaper-
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006147/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr
He scored several major films of this era, including Mutiny on the Bounty.