More Music - Karen Souza

If you watch ITV over her you can't have failed to notice the fairytale-themed Summer of Soaps trailer promotes Coronation Street and Emmerdale under the tagline “Once Upon A Weatherfield… Happily Emmerdale After”. It features the song tainted love being sung by , a slower version of the famous cover of the song by Soft Cell which was composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of The Four Preps back in the 1960's.

 

The Hannah Peel version of the song was also used as the trailer for "American Horror Story" on US television. It is amazing about this cover of the song is the musical accompaniment is provided by a mechanical music box with the music being feed into the machine on a large paper tape and the music box being turned by hand. It is the primitive nature of the music box that makes the track seem so haunting.It is well worth looking up on by following this link to YouTube.

This all lead me to a search of YouTube of the music of Karen Souza after I found here name linked to the Hannah Peel version of the song and this version of the song. Which is part of a longer set done with the Cooltrane Quartet for Sunday Night Live. Karen Souza is a is an Argentine JAaz singer who was a strong fan base in South America but deserve, in my opinion a break in Europe. I would love to see her being accompanied by the Jools Holland Band on "Later... with Jools Holland". It would be an ideal showcase to show off her talent.

Over the years I have grown to love lots of different types of music and I would love to see her sing in a club in London while enjoying a quite drink and a lovely meal. It would just be a perfect way to spend a relaxing evening. If you get a chance on a warm evening, turn the lights low and follow a few of the links and have a listen for yourself.

Daivd Boiwe the Brits

David Bowie last won a Brit award back in 1984, when the awards were called the BPI awards, some 30 years ago. That was until he one a a Brit at this years awards at the age of 67 fighting off he commentaries for the best male artist. He is now the oldest ever winner of a Brit a award and for good reason.

What David Bowie has always brought to the industry, even in his advancing years is, is artistic daring, intellectual brilliance, sexual allure, emotional punch, crowd-pleasing appeal and simple musical genius.None of this has left him as the years have gone on. He is everything a popular music artist should be and he have combined that with longevity.

I have always loved his music and saw him live many years ago in an incredible concert that blew me away at the time and left me with memories that have never faded. On of my all time favorite songs goes back to his first album and is a song called "Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud". The lyrics are below rather than a video because YouTube always decide to stop sharing the videos after awhile.

"Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud"

Solemn faced

The village settles down

Undetected by the stars

And the hangman plays the mandolin before he goes to sleep

And the last thing on his mind

Is the Wild Eyed Boy imprisoned

'Neath the covered wooden shaft

Folds the rope

Into its bag

Blows his pipe of smolders

Blankets smoke into the room

And the day will end for some

As the night begins for one

Staring through the message in his eyes

Lies a solitary son

From the mountain called Freecloud

Where the eagle dare not fly

And the patience in his sigh

Gives no indication

For the townsmen to decide

So the village Dreadful yawns

Pronouncing gross diversion

As the label for the dog

Oh "It's the madness in his eyes"

As he breaks the night to cry:

"It's really Me

Really You

And really Me

It's so hard for us to really be

Really You

And really Me

You'll lose me though I'm always

really free"

And the mountain moved its eyes

To the world of realize

Where the snow had saved a place

For the Wild Eyed Boy

from Freecloud

And the village Dreadful cried

As the rope began to rise

For the smile stayed on the face

Of the Wild Eyed Boy

from Freecloud

And the women once proud

Clutched the heart of the crowd

As the boulders smashed down from the mountain's hand

And the Magic in the stare

Of the Wild Eyed Boy said

"Stop, Freecloud

They won't think to cut me down"

But the cottages fell

Like a playing card hell

And the tears on the face

Of the Wise Boy

Came tumbling down

To the rumbling ground

And the missionary mystic of peace/love

Stumbled to cry among the clouds

Kicking back the pebbles

From the Freecloud mountain

It was great to see him win something again and it is only right. Popular muisic is just that music that is popular with a majority of the public and not exclusive to the younger generations. Awards are about good music and should be given on artistic merit. David Boiwe ticks all the boxes and it is nice to see someone in the music business for so long winning an award again.

RIP Lou Reed

An icon of the music industry that has died today, the legendry front man of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed passed age 71.  Probably one of the most influential artists of his generation who together with his band had a influence on the punk, glam and alternative rock movements of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. His songs were covered by the likes of REM, David Bowie, Nirvana, Patti Smith and many others.

 
He loss will be a great lost to the music industry, but he has left us amazing legacy for future generations in the form of his recordings, both studio and live, and in the countless interviews and documentaries about himself, the band and the music of his time. As a solo artist he recorded 20 studio albums along and will be remembered for songs like Perfect Day, Walk on the Wild Side, Sweet jane and many more, as well as the singer of the Velvet Underground.

Haunting Songs

There are some songs that are turely haunting and that stick with you through life and when you hear them one such song is Michel Legrand's "Les Moulins de Mon Coeur".

Here are the lyrics the lyrics in french of course but you might know the song better in it english version wich is called "Windmills of the Mind" and was sung orginally by Noel Harrison.

Comme une pierre que l'on jette dans l'eau vive d'un ruisseau
Et qui laisse derrière elle des milliers de ronds dans l'eau
Comme un manège de lune avec ses chevaux d'étoiles
Comme un anneau de Saturne, un ballon de carnaval,
Comme le chemin de ronde que font sans cesse les heures
Le voyage autour du monde d'un tournesol dans sa fleur
Tu fais tourner de ton nom tous les moulins de mon coeur

Comme un écheveau de laine entre les mains d'un enfant
Ou les mots d'une rengaine pris dans les harpes du vent
Comme un tourbillon de neige, comme un vol de goélands,
Sur des forêts de Norvège, sur des moutons d'océan,
Comme le chemin de ronde que font sans cesse les heures
Le voyage autour du monde d'un tournesol dans sa fleur
Tu fais tourner de ton nom tous les moulins de mon coeur

Ce jour-là près de la source Dieu sait ce que tu m'as dit
Mais l'été finit sa course, l'oiseau tomba de son nid
Et voilà que sur le sable nos pas s'effacent déjà
Et je suis seul à la table qui résonne sous mes doigts
Comme un tambourin qui pleure sous les gouttes de la pluie
Comme les chansons qui meurent aussitôt qu'on les oublie
Et les feuilles de l'automne rencontrent des ciels moins bleus
Et ton absence leur donne la couleur de tes cheveux

Comme une pierre que l'on jette dans l'eau vive d'un ruisseau
Et qui laisse derrière elle des milliers de ronds dans l'eau
Aux vents des quatre saisons, tu fais tourner de ton nom
Tous les moulins de mon coeur

Although I know it better in in it English version there is something about the song in French that just makes it that much more special. It is just the way the words bend is better and it has more feeling. Either way it is a haunting song in French or English and it is about something we have all experianced in life.

Later with Jools Holland

It is so nice t see the return of "Later with Jools Holland" on BBC2. I love live music and the show features plenty of that and new acts that make you go wow.

In tonights episode we were treated to the Muse, Public Image Ltd, The Beachboys, The XX and Natalie Duncan to get the show off to a great start. The show, which is nearly twenty years old hasn't lost any of it's drive and still feels fresh despite the passage of time. For me the act of the night was Natalie Duncan with her beautiful voice.

It is nice to have something that is musical on the televeision again that is worth watching. The X-factor this year looks once again like being a dud.

Free Music

It has been ages since I posted a like to any free music. I just haven't been on the look out for it for some reason. I guess, stuff gets in the way, and there has been a lot of that recently.

Now I have a chance to rectify that with a lovely song by Barnaby Brightcall called "Made Up Of", which you can download by following this link. You can added it to iPod collection and if you like it then why not look out for her album. I think it is a rather lovely song that we can all connect to at sometime in or lives and she has a beautiful voice.

A Lost Weekend - Cancelled

Ironically the "A Lost Weekend" music festival planned for the coming weekend has become a real lost weekend for music lovers in Rutland. The event has been canceled by the organisers on safety grounds because of the wet weather and the threat of further wet weather making the site unsafe.

I can understand the organisers safely fears with a waterlogged and unproven site next to such a large expanse of water as Rutland Water. The ground in the area is saturated after the rain fall we have had and you just have to look at the reservoir and wonder if it's not the end of winter given the water levels. It seems to be full compared to what it was like three months ago when hose pipe bans were introduced. 

Despite having lost out on the festival itself, and all the fun that goes with it, those people with ticket look likely to lose money on the whole event too. There are no details yet on the festivals website about refunds for ticket holders. My opinion is people might receive something back but not all of their money unless the organisers insured against bad weather.

The reasons for being only able to offer part of the ticket price back is simple and logical. The organisers will incurred  expenses on setting up the festival in terms of administration, ticket printing, retainers for the bands and so forth. These are all part of the cost of the festival which they will have reasonably expected to get back from ticket sales. So simply giving back all the money will be impossible as some of the money has already been spent.

Of course there are alternatives like making the tickets valid for next years festival and offering part refunding to others. Hopefully the organisers will come up with something that means people with tickets are happy and we have something like this in Rutland next year. 

Although I think it is right people should get all their money back, and I would expect this to be case, the fact is that is the first year the festival has run and the organisers have no pot of money from pervious years to draw on for full refunds. I hope I'm wrong but I fear I might be right on this one. 

The organisers now face a problem. If they go bust then that is the end of the festival and best people can expect people is part of their tickets refunded. If they try and carry on then they have a massive public relations job on their hands and people will still probably get only part of their tickets refunded. It will be interesting to see how this pans out but unfortunately for the festival the easiest option is the former.

UPDATE 18th JULY - It has seems that the organisers all giving all ticket holders full refunds. Details can be found here. This is great news for the public. I hope this experience doesn't put of the organisers off and mean we won't have a festival next year. It is such a great idea and set in a beautiful part of Rutland.

Britain Gone Wrong

In one of the local Blogs I can across this song written back in 1985 and found it's haunting message the same as the plight many today. It just sums up where we are at and how many feel about the life in Britain for the poor now.

The common link is of a Conservative Government cutting away at basic public services, giving to the rich and taking away from those in need. You just have to read the lyrics of the sing to understand the similarities between then and now:

This is Breadline Britain
This free and promised land
Where the rich don't give a damn
Poeple getting hungry and people getting poor
People getting destitute and more
This is Breadline Britain

Oh you've got to understand
Where evil's in command
Where money buys onli pipedreams
and a worker's life is damned
Democracy and freedom are a
Far off foreign land.

Where the sick don't stand a chance
Where fascism leads a new dance
Where they'd privatise your mother
If given half a chance
This is Breadline Britain
You've got to make a stand

Breadline, breadline, breadline Britain
Breadline breadline, breadline Britain
This free and promised land

Just is in the nineteen eighties people are being push into poverty and forgotten. Even middle Britain are being made to pay for the mistakes of the past this time caused by the greed of the banking system. The only people that seem to be suffering less pain are the rich and the bankers and company directors with their huge bonus

What Britain needs now is a Government that listens to the people and that is ready to make society fairer. What we don't need is a Government ruled by the rich and greedy that wants to take control and erode our rights to privacy and employment. It is time for change.

M is for Music - David Bowie

Continuing the theme of live music from last week we have another of the artists I have seen live over the years that were as good in person as they are on record we have David Bowie. Now past his peak but when I saw him he was still in prime.

I saw him at the old Sunderland Football ground, before they built the new Stadium of Light. It was an amazing show and the atmosphere was simply fantastic. After a couple of supporting acts David came on and the place became alive. It was just amazing to be there and to here him sing and perform classics as well as newer songs from more recent albums. 

Now his voice like many of his generation has lost that edge and power it once had, but all the same, I would love to see him perform again in a smaller venue, and for those big numbers we have loads of live recordings of his shows.

Live Music

With the better weather to come some of the local pubs are starting to offer live bands to get us out and about and into the land of music. Even the local village pub is doing it's bit with live bands every friday. This week for example "The Skunk Boy Project" from Cardiff is appearing at the local pub.

Hopefully with a bit of saving of pennies here and there it might just be possible to buy a pint and take in some live music when the girls are away. I must it will be good to see what the local and emerging music scene is like and just to enjoy live music again. So much better than just watching shows like the X Factor which became a bit of a joke this year. Finally if you miss the "The Skunk Boy" in the village he is playing at Soundhouse Leicester on Tuesday evening.

Musically Different

If you look back at recent posts you will read about how I have been listening to the Radio, and in particular BBC Radio 6 Music, but that is not all I listen to. Sometimes I listen to music some might consider old fashioned in some kind of way. To me it is not old at all, as great music is just that, great music. There is more than what is in the charts and different kinds of music can grab you in a different way. Let me introduce you to Secret Garden, a group that you just have to listen to and let soak into your mind, and let it take you were it will.

I feel we don't have the time to listen to music like we did in the past although it there in our lives all the time, sometimes without us noticing. I know when I start the car the radio comes on for example, but sometimes I play no attention to the music that might be playing. The same can be said in shops which often play popular music that we just take in on a sub concuss level but rarely listen to. It even happens in our living rooms as we watch television or a film on a DVD. There is music all around us, but we are normally to busy just to listen and do nothing else.

The music of Secret Garden, and music like it, is different, in that it really demands you to take time to just listen to it while not doing anything else. It is not really classical and it not really easy listening, it is somewhere in the space between which has lead to the label "New Age" being applied to it. It use modern instruments and classical instruments to create a sound that will become the classical music of the future, carrying on the creative art of the composers of old.

It is sort of music I like to listen to if I just want to escape the modern world and all the problems I face. It is often beautiful, sometimes happy, maybe sad and always relaxing which gives it the power clam and take your troubles away, but in order to do that you have to let it become part of you. I often listening to it in times of stress and I know it helps me relax, and from that state I can see the natural beauty in the world and the beauty in the people in I know and care about, and that brings a warm glow to my mind.

Don't dismiss it as not being modern, for it is, but it just doesn't sound like it. Give it a go and sink into the music a let it take you where it wants. I recommend it for calming those hectic days we all have in this modern busy world. Take yourself some place and just listen to music.

Saint Patricks Day Music

This is the last of the posts on the week long celebrations of BBC Radio 6 Muisc's tenth birthday and it falls on Saint Patrick Day so it is only fitting I feature a Irish Band I have taken liking too. The band in question has been around for years and they are called "The Waterboy's" and the song in the video is called "Stolen Child".

BBC Radio 6 Music are rounding off the celebrations tonight with a special show called 6 Music At The Southbank, which will be broadcast at ten this evening. Gideon Coe will be playing a selection of live sessions recorded last night at London's Southbank Centre. These will include sessions by artists like Laura Marling who was featured on Wednesday's post, Public Image Ltd, Anna Calvi and many more artists who appear on the station. If you are out tonight, then don't worry, you can listen to the show on BBC iPlayer later in the in the early hours of Sunday morning, or watch the sessions on digital television by pressing the red button from Monday.

I have had a great time listening to the radio over the last week or so. It is something that I have missed and having music in my life is more important than I have realised. I will be dusting off the old iPod over the coming weeks and loading it up with music to enjoy and thanking my lucky stars that I have rediscovered BBC Radio 6 Music and some great shows again.

Finally whatever you are doing tonight I hope you all have a great Saint Patricks Day, a day that over recent years which has been embraced by the whole of the country to celebrate all that is good about Ireland. One thing is for sure they have produced some wonderful music over the years.

Fridays Musical Friends

Carrying on the theme from Wednesday of groups and bands that I have been introduced to through BBC Radio 6 Music, we have the now critically acclaimed band Elbow. It is a band I came across back in the mid to late summer of 2009 when I use to fill my evenings with music.

It is a band with strong connections to the station. Not only do they play their music but the lead singer Guy Garvey has his own show on Sunday Evenings.The track I have picked for the video clip is from a live performance they did for the BBC that was filmed in Manchester Cathedral singing the song "Starlings". In fact if you would like to see the whole of this concert you can follow this link - Elbow at Manchester Cathedral. What is interesting the show was originally recorded for BBC Radio 2 and features one of the few times I know of the station has broadcast a questionable word, but then I don't listen to BBC Radio 2, so I could be wrong. To be honest I'm not sure if they fit the BBC Radio 2 mould, but they probably wouldn't have got the exposure playing the BBC Radio 6 Music card where they fit so well.

If you have never heard of the band you are sure to have heard their music on various television programmes as background music. Have a listen, they are really good and deserve the success they are currently having. They might not be chart toppers, but they are special, and they will grow on you as they did on me back in 2009 when I heard "Station Approach" for the first time.

Thursdays Music

Once again I have been listening to BBC Radio 6 Music during my free time. I really warming to Gideon Coe's show late in the evening on the station. What is even better is I am discovering new artists that I like and want to hear more of in the future. Some hardly known others from the past and well know in the music world but who have been forgotten and who are still recording.

Tonight their was a group on the show called "Soap and Skin" performing a song called "Wonder". The group is lead by the Austrian artist Anja Plaschg who describes her work as an experimental musical project. All the songs are her own arrangements and feature, in the words of a NME review, icily rolling piano, violin and sudden, jarring fizzes of electronics which tell tales of crushed love and innocence. What she creates is a haunting melodies which she combines with thoughtful lyrics to which she adds the beauty of her voice.

She recorded her first album at the age of eighteen, achieving top ten sucess in her native land and making the charts in Germany, Belgium and France. Many critics have already tipped her to be the next big success to come out of Australia, and I can understand why. I know I want to hear more of her music. So once again thanks to this wonderful station I have someone new to listen too.

Happy Birthday BBC 6 Music

Having stopped listening to BBC Radio 6 Music daily when it appeared it was slowly being over taken over by BBC Radio 2, I almost missed the fact that today the station is 10 years old. It was only by chance I was in the kitchen and turned on the radio to hear the start of a weeks long celebration.

Two or three years ago I use to listen to the station almost non stop during the evenings. as well as when I could during the day. The music it features and introduced me to was simply amazing. Like many other listeners I joined the campaign to keep the station n the air when it was announced that the station might close. The station seemed to important to close and it was playing great muisc the main stream stations wouldn't touch, including music from many of independent lables. With the station playing music and live sessions from the last ten years I think I will be listening for the coming week, when I can. Hopefully listening again will bring music with a difference back into the house. Something that has been missing recently. As part of the celebrations for the next week I will write posts on some of the artists I have heard and like on the station past and present.

Christina Perri

One of the things that the blog has been lacking of late is music. Well with a wonderful live performance on Dancing on Ice tonight she is worthy of a post. The feeling in the song was so complete it made it an emotional and magical performance. It was simply spine tingling. The song was "jar of hearts" by Christina Perri. It is a song a lot of us relate too.

It is a song we have heard a lot of around the house, mainly because Catherine loves it. It just a shame she sometimes sings along. Even she will admit she doesn't have the best of singing voices. All the same she is right to like it, because it is a lovely song sung by a very talented singer which tonights performance showed.

So What Happened to...

So what happens to the old X Factor hopefuls when there dreams are crushed? Do they give up or do they carry on with the dream? The answer is here. If they belive in what they are doing is right then they carry on battling to achieve that dream.

The proof is in Jammie Archer's video for a recent single release. He was the man with the big hair who rocked the second audition of the X-Factor two years ago with "Sex on Fire" by the Kings of Leon and he is still out there trying to make his dream come true. Still touring smaller venues and woking in the studio and he still hopes one day he can make it, despite being knocked out of the X-Factor.

The Music Slot

I have had a few people contact me recently and ask me what happened to the artist of the week spot on the blog and when is it going to start again. For those that are new it was a sort regular feature, for lack of better word, posted on a Monday's that stopped a few months back.

The answer is simple as to why it stopped, I'm not driving as much when I use to listen to the artistists I featured. It is something I miss because I love the music I listen too, but it a situation that will continue for a while. Not by choice I might add. It is a shame really because it was a post I always looked forward to writhing each week.

Amy Winehouse Dies

The trouble singer and talent Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home according to press reports. It would appear that the London Ambulance Service had been called to the flat at 1554 today. They sent two vehicles but they were to late and she died at her home.

Although the singer cause of death is unknown at the moment it seems likely that she lost her long battle with drink and drugs and it is this that finally took her life. In recent years this overshadowed her musical career with her appearing drunk on stage and mumbling through parts of her songs. It so sad to lose someone so young and so talented. Clearly she was a tortured and troubled soul. She will be missed by many including me.

Artist of the Week - Paolo Nutini

This weeks artist of the week is a Scottish singer with a not so scottish name who I rediscovered when looking through my iTunes for something to play recently, it is Paolo Nutini.

I came across Paolo Nutini shortly after the release of his first album back in 2006. In particular the song the song "Last Request" sticks with me from that time when I heard it again. It is just one of those songs that starys with you and that is the mark of a good singer and songwriter, better still if they can repeat the process and Paolo Nutini has done that. His first album was a big hit with me, but somehow I missed the second album although I do know some of the songs for it.

Paolo Nutini is a singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley in Scotland. He was encouraged to sing by his music-loving grandfather, a teacher, who recognised his talent and rather than going into the family fish and chip shop this is the route he took. Starting out in the music business as a roadie and a studio hand gave him the chance to study music and the business. In 2003 he got his big break in his home town when a local radio station organised a concert and one of the acts failed to turn up and he took their place. Impressed by the crowds reaction to this unknown singer a record manager at the concert signed him and Nutini  moved to London. Nutini's debut album was called These Streets and it was released by Atlantic Records back in July 2006 and it was in the charts for a record breaking 196 Weeks. Three years later in May 2009 Nutini released his second album, Sunny Side Up, which debuted at number one in the UK and it went on later to win the award for "Best International Album" at the 2010 Meteor Awards. Currently he is recording a new album.

Well I hope you like and enjoy listening to Paolo Nutini if you join me and listen to some of his work. If you really like him then can always go and listen to him live, he is currently on tour and details of the dates are on his website. I think it is always nice to listen to music from the past and it sometimes can just surprise you like next weeks Artist.