TheMusicBlog

What? Why?

... because music musings sat uncomfortably in my other blog.

These are the music posts from that other place over the last two years. Henceforth it'll be music here and digital doodlings and journalism there....oh, and photographs here.

Jumping off a cliff

David Hepworth's bog has a great paragraph in relation to new band, Department of Eagles:

Like so many bands of today they met at university. Actually they're not really a band. If they were a band then one of them would not also be a member of another group at the same time. This is now standard for bands, particularly American ones. It's like in the Championship where half the players are on loan from over-resourced Premiership clubs. It's confusing. They have day jobs, which we should applaud, I suppose, but it does mean that they don't have that edge of guys who've held hands, closed their eyes and jumped off the cliff.

I agree. It is very confusing for those of whose understanding of what it meant to be in a band was forged in the 70s. My son keeps telling me he's in three bands and I keep telling him he can't be. Whatever happened to commitment? Another manifestation of the music industry atomising?

Cover up

Those who know me, know my passion for cover versions. A great cover is like a great photograph or painting, showing the familiar in a new light and revealing what you never previously noticed or adding a new twist.

Current favourites:

Tumbling Dice - Dew & Scubba
Try a Little Tenderness - Etta James
I Think it's Going to Rain Today - Norah Jones
A Case of You - Prince
Sweet Thing - The Waterboys

Vampire Weekend

Call it synchronicity, but when a father and his 16 year old son buy the same album on the same day without ever having discussed the band, they must be good as well as cross-generational. Vampire Weekend are also muticultural, and multi talented. Joyful african guitar mixed with Indie and an occasional punk spirit. The sound of summer 08.

My My, Hey Hey....

You know how it is. You listen to someone's music for 35 years without having the chance to see them - and then get to watch them twice in four months. Neil Young played the first Hop Farm Festival in my home stamping ground of Kent last night - and was, of course, magnificent. Which is more than could be said for the weather. We stood in horizontal rain for four hours through Everest, Laura Marlin, The Guillemots and only when Rufus Wainwright came out was there an almost magical moment as the clouds parted during his version of Hallelujah. My Morning Jacket, Supergrass and Primal Scream raised the temperature enought for most of us to thaw out, but there was only one person we were gathered to see. As the Uncut Magazine blog puts it:

His grey hair blows wildly in the breeze. His dishevelled clothing suggests an eccentric who’s been around a very long time. There’s a determined expression on his face which suggests he may be old, but he’s not going anywhere soon…But enough about the average Hop Farm punter – this, after all, is a day dominated by Neil Young.

Unlike his Hammersmith gigs, he opened with plenty of feedback from Old Black with Love and Only Love and My My Hey Hey, Everybody Knows this is nowhere, Spirit Road ("This is a new one. You may think it sounds like the old ones") and Fuckin' Up.
We had an acoustic interlude with Old Man, Heart of Gold, Needle and the Damage Done, Oh Lonesome Me. We also had Mother Earth on the Harmonium, especially for the rural audience I suppose (or perhaps he thought it was a British Farm Aid), before the feedback returned for an extended version of Words and an encore of the Beatles Day in The Life. I probably missed a couple out there.

His guitar playing and voice were great, plenty of energy and he predictably and effortlessly lifted the event beyond anything which preceded him. With Neil, what you see is what you get - and it's blistering.

Someone called Pete has lots more pictures here.
And more comments and information at Thrashers Wheat.

Heads Hands and Feet - Interactive

I left a comment on YouTube ( I think the only one I ever have) saying how much I loved this song and in particular the guitar solo two thirds through by Albert Lee. I believe I saw them once. But as it would have been in the early 70s I can't be sure...!
Anyway, blow me down, Ray from the group replies that they are getting together and joining the reunion bandwagon. But sadly, I think, without the legendary Albert Lee who's busy with his band Hogan's Heroes....

"Ray Smith here from Heads Hands and Feet. Thank you for your comment on A song for Suzie.The band has now reformed with Tony Colton still on lead vocals,but a new line up. I will be joining them again in the new year.Thanks again for the comment. Ray."

Antony and the Johnsons

I didnt get it when he first appeared. It took this version of a much covered classic for the light to dawn...

No pictures, but with a voice and interpretation like this, who needs them:

Scott McKeon Band

The sound of young British Blues. Catch them if you can...

Paul Weller

Just downloaded his new "double album" 22 Dreams. He's grown on me over the years. The Jam were great, but then totally reinventing himself with The Style Council was extraordinary. And his solo career has been consistently fertile. Even his covers album was a cut above most with some great interpretations. Thirty years on, the new album is rich with material that shows his creative edge is as sharp as ever. I prefer the material thats closer to The Style Council (being a white soul boy at heart) - try Have you made up your mind, Cold Moments or Invisible. He's evolved into a modern British musical icon - and good on him. Great voice, great guitar, great tunes and hooks....

I downloaded 22 dreams onto my iPod which was set on shuffle. After a few tracks I turned off shuffle and listened again from the beginning (as you would with vinyl or a cd.)  It was a much better experience. For all the advantages of disaggregation, you lose something for sure....

Rolling mashups

Mark Vidler of Go Home productions, produces mash-ups - which he prefers to call bootlegs - of surprising combinations. Available from his website. Try this one:

Pendulum's Day

Went to Radio 1"s Big Weekend in Maidstone (my hometown). In spite of The Zutons (love Abi on sax), The Wombats, and The Kooks among many others on the bill the day was stolen by Pendulum who lifted the roof off and then repeated it with a DJ set a couple of hours later.

The word among the 15 years olds is Indie is dead - give us those beats.

Oh and Newton Faulkner ended his set with an astonishing cover of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody delivered with just an acoustic guitar and a twinkle in his eye (and a lot of help from the crowd...)