Gave the kids a laugh by showing them the state-of-the-art (for 1985) 3-D computer graphics in the Dire Straits: Money For Nothing video clip. Also good, the Calling Elvis clip, featuring the band as Thunderbirds… and the actual Thunderbirds too. All this was sparked by picking up Brothers In Arms the other week on CD, ... [More]
Fantastic: Atomic Tom performing Take me out, live on a NYC subway train using just iPhones. NB. Please don’t try this unless you are actually talented. According to the New York Daily News, the intro text about their instruments being stolen is fictitious. (via Eva Blanda)
Last night’s talk between Paul Kelly and Robert Forster appeared to be a sell-out. (Marita managed to get last minute tickets.) They chatted for quite a while about Paul’s new book, he sang a couple of songs (Sweet Guy, and You Broke A Beautiful Thing), and answered questions. The best question: What ever happened to ... [More]
These songs are on one of my iPod playlists. Can you figure out what distinguishes them? Del Amitri — Be My Downfall Jellyfish — I Wanna Stay Home Weddings Parties Anything — Roaring Days Ocean Colour Scene — Mechanical Wonder Paul Kelly — Love Never Runs On Time Corduroy — Mini Loudon Wainwright III — ... [More]
Some songs evoke a particular memory, of either a specific event or a period of my life. So it is with Paul Carrack’s version of Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk In The Room“, from 1987. I bought the 45 (rpm, single) of it, primarily because the (quite amusing) video clip included all of the cast ... [More]
In the history of recorded music, given the choice, there are few tunes I would be less inclined to listen to than “Careless Whisper” (perhaps better known by the lyric “Never gonna dance again”) by George Michael. Yet a lady on the train on Wednesday morning was listening to it on her iPod. All the ... [More]
At work I have a “Loud” play list, for when things are noisy in the office and I need to concentrate on something. Loudness helps, but an all-encompassing sound is even better for when I need to drown out other noise. Most artists in my collection have at least a few loud songs, but some ... [More]
One of the things I sometimes do is put the iPod on random play shuffle while I do the dishes (that is, the dishes that can’t be efficiently washed in the dishwasher). I find that because I can’t readily skip to the next track, I end up hearing stuff from my music collection that I’d ... [More]
I’m only doing this ‘cos (a) Rae tagged me (a while back) and (b) I had a smartarse answer for the first question. The ONE ARTIST Challenge ! Choosing only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people you like and include me. You can’t use the band ... [More]
I was reading my old copy of The Beatles Recording Sessions the other day, in particular about the creation of A Day In The Life — which recently was voted number 24 in Triple J’s Hottest 100 of All Time. I was interested in the orchestral crescendo of sound halfway through the song and again ... [More]
When I was younger I used to focus on a fairly narrow range of music, heavily influenced by what my peers had introduced me to. One day circa 1988 Raoul brought over a VHS tape of some band he liked called The Who. It was a compilation called Who’s Better Who’s Best. I remember I ... [More]
Last night I found myself watching some of the Concert For NYC, in particular The Who’s performance. I’m still not going to splurge out on their forthcoming concert (dubbed rather cruelly by one friend as “Who’s left?”). But this four song performance from 2001 is great music. And remembering it in context, very moving, a ... [More]