Showing posts with label Sparks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sparks. Show all posts

Thursday 11 June 2020

I Now Have A Top Three


I am always positive, looking for positives in any situation. As I was make breakfast , porridge and coffee, I ran out of milk. This meant I had to go to my local shop to get more milk, but in the process added 600 steps to my daily sep count , which is always good.

Anyway back to the point of the post.

On my morning walk I decided to listen to "Dirty Computer" by Janelle Monae, which I was so impressed with that I posted this two years ago. and every time I listen I am floored by the album. It now joins "Future Games" by Spirit and "El Dorado" by The Electric Light Orchestra in my top three albums ever. I do like music and have eclectic taste and if I were to choose top artists it would probably be David Bowie and Bob Dylan.

I have included the Emotion Picture that contains most of the album , and is a great piece of science fiction music culminating in th ewonderful "Amercans" . The album has lost none of it's joy and power since I first heard it , and it's so good I never skip a song , similar to the other two albums in my top three.

It is an amazing , joyful and thought provoking piece of work and is always great to listen to and always lift my spirits.

This also shows that there is always great music being produced, and while often it's cited that the music you hear between the ages of 14 and 16 shapes your whole future tastes , I think that you have to keep an open mind and listen to everything.

Also you don't have to be yound to produce great music , age can educate you and I thing that Sparks are  still one of the most at the edge original band still going.

So keep a very open mind and let the good stuff flow into you.

Thursday 18 April 2019

#AprilSongs #18 Thursday


Next in the #AprilSongs sequence is "Thursday" by The Pet Shop Boys ft Example. While I'm all for collaborations (check out FFS) sometimes it just seems to be about making the product more marketable to consumers rather than any artistic exploration and adventure.

I'm surprised The Pet Shop Boys have not appeared in the blog before as they are relatively local to me, and the finest purveyors of sequencer / arpeggiator based tunes probably ever , with a dry sense of humour and a sense of occasion. Example is the stage name of Elliot Gleave who extrapolated his name from his initials E.G. (exempli gratia ("for example")) so obviously more than a little intelligence on both sides.

So just a short post on this beautiful looking day (or it will be when the cloud completely burns off)

Enjoy your Thursday everybody.

Friday 12 April 2019

#TenAlbumsInTenDays #4 - 4,5,6 and Record Store Day 2019


The last three I've posted on here I haven't recorded on the blog, although it is really a Facebook thing, but I do like to remember stuff that I've done. Someone asked me recently what my first #TenAlbumsInTenDays post was and thanks to this blog I could tell them fairly quickly it was "MAn In The Hills" by Burning Spear.

The last three posts have been FFS (the Franz Ferdinand / Sparks collaboration, an odd pairing at first sight but a brilliant album) , the "Dirty Computer" by Janelle Monae, my favourite album of last year, and "Catching A Tiger" by Lissie which I posted today.

It is good to think about albums that you have maybe not played in a while, and the Facebook sequence allows you to hopefully share albums new to friends and friends of friends on Facebook. All these albums are worth your time and thanks to Social Media and streaming platforms you can often listen almost immediately. I remember having to order imported records from Germany or wherever and then wait two weeks for it to be delivered.

Tomorrow is World Record Store Day 2019 when lots of limited edition vinyl and in Newcastle we have lots of Record Shops  that will be stocked up for the day, as well as hosting many live bands on the day.

Here's a list of local record shops I'm aware of in the town centre:


plus special mention to Oxfam at Jesmond ( I used to work there briefly and the manager Katie knows her stuff , Pop Recs in Sunderland and there are record shops in Durham, Hexham and Gosforth,  and if you are pushed HMV is not bad for a high street shop.

So enjoy your weekend.

Monday 10 December 2018

Back


Looking outside the cars are frozen up. I don't have a car, so I don't go through the harassment of scraping the ice off the windscreen in a morning, but it does make it cold going for the bus or walking in. This is where my full ear Emopeak headphones come into their own, as well as providing great sound, they keep your ears warm.

Christmas decorations are up and I do have one or two presents to sort out, but Amazon Wish lists are a great convenience.

Last few days I've not really felt like writing anything although I did want to write something to mark the Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley's passing and finally did that last night here.

This morning 6Music reminded me of the excellent "Thank God It's Not Christmas" from "Kimono My House" by Sparks so I'll share that with you before I trip off to work.

Tuesday 28 August 2018

Fifty Up


This is my fiftieth post this month. I suppose the quality of a lot of these posts has not been up to my usual standard, though that's not very high anyway. I know a lot of my friends read the posts but find it odd and virtually no one leaves any comments . positive or negative on the blog, although my friend Julie leaves a lot on Facebook.

Still the main point of this blog is to keep a diary and store memories for myself, it is a fairly selfish endeavour and therefore by extension is fairly selfish to expect people to leave comments. Life does take it's toll and even leaving a short comment can sometimes take a lot longer than you think it will.

When I share these posts on Facebook (where most of my interactions come from) I tend to give a short resumé of wat's in the post, I don't know if that puts people off.

Given that each post will be around 200-250 words this month has seen me put down 10K-12K which is enough for a short novel, although this will be short on interesting narrative but high on  interesting music content.

I am wondering if I can hit 300 posts this year, which should only require twenty posts a month, which is obviously more than feasible given that that has been my lowest monthly total this month (in June) and this is post 221 this year.

My next project will be #SongsYouveNeverHeard which I will start with this post and continue til the end of September, I would love you to leave a comment letting me know if you have heard the song, if you like it and any other thing you like.

So how do we start this .. Earle Mankey's "Mau Mau" which I heard once on John Peel and then never again. I tracked down a vinyl copy on Ebay about fifteen years back, and still love the record. I wrote about it here, and also created a Youtube slideshow featuring among other thing my dog as a teenager Simba and my first dog when I left home Jasper.

Earle Makey was a guitarist with Sparks but that about as much as I know about him. Also don't you think Russel Mael looks like Freddie Mercury on the cover of "A Woofer In Tweeters Clothing" ? Enjoy.


Friday 19 May 2017

After All ... How Good Is The Man Who Sold The World?


One of the good things about walking and having mobile music and random play technology is that as well as hearing tracks from albums that hadn't caught your attention the first time round (Sparks and XTC are currently doing this for me) you are also thrown stuff that you haven't heard in ages because you haven't played the album and it doesn't get radio play.

If you analogised David Bowie's album output to a terrestrial mountain range it would be The Himalayas and in my opinion "Station To Station" would be Everest, and "The Man Who Sold The World" would be K2. Like Station to Station every song is amazing and it has a no skip factor from the eight minute opener "Width of a Circle". Everyone knows the brooding title song covered by Lulu, Nirvana and many others, but a few weeks ago "All The Madmen" came on to my player, which made start to remember how good the album.

The yesterday "After All" came on , an almost twisted Victorian music hall piece that could have come from some Neil Gaiman / Salvador Dali scripted take on Oliver.

Every collect should have a copy of  "The Man Who Sold The World" and "After All" is just another amazing piece of that wonderful musical jigsaw that fits together so perfectly. I was unaware that Tori Amos had also covered it , she makes it a Tori Amos song but for me it loses the sinister aspect of the Bowie version but it made me think I would love to hear a Joanna Newsome take on it.

I spent yesterday afternoon fight with my Windows roaming profile, therefor not actually getting any work done. The positives is that it gave me a reason to speak with the support guys and girls. I am hoping it's sorted this morning, but we shall see.

It's Friday, so have a great day.

Thursday 23 March 2017

23:29


Why 23:29? The figure just came to me. I don't know why, but I am still reading "Tom Waits on Tom Waits" so maybe that has something to do with it.

Anyway on Monday I finished the Step Challenge and decided I wanted to keep up ten thousand steps a day. The weather has been against me but I have hit more than ten thousand three days running and I am sure I can do it over the next three days.

Tonight I met Kirsty and Mark and Fiona in Bohemian for Kirsty's birthday tea. We had some amazing food and enjoyed company and the excellent atmosphere. We talked TV, film and music and Sparks' "Number 1 Song In Heaven" came on, (the music in Bohemian is always excellent) and Kirsty said she had never heard of Sparks , and it was my fault , cos I am her dad, I mentioned some classic Sparks songs to no avail, but they are now another band for her to discover. I had said that in my opinion they are probably the most innovative and excellent band going, and have put out some amazing music including collaborations with Franz Ferdinand (FFS) and Faith No More.

Then I found out that The Coyotemen are active once more and playing Think Tank? tomorrow night, so that means one last gig night before the end of March.

This means I have been quite active for the last few weeks and intend to keep up the pace. I will find a reason to walk at the weekend, and I will leave you with another Sparks song , "The Rhythm Thief" from "Li'l Beethoven"

Enjoy and sleep well my friends.

It's 21:04

Wednesday 22 March 2017

... And Then It Rained


I'm looking out of the window at pouring rain. It held off while I finished the Step Challenge and got my fence and decking fixed, so I am happy about that, but when you have to go to work, or even just go out, seeing the rain come down like this is not incredibly appealing. We were told that we would have snow, and given how cold it was yesterday , I was not to surprised about that, or wouldn't be surprised if it did happen.

The sky is a uniform grey and the rain is falling in a heavy drizzle, you need a decent umbrella or a waterproof hat or hood. It's not blowing too much which is a small mercy, but I was hoping to walk into work but give the state of the weather it may be a bus journey today.

I'm just listening to 6Music and they're telling me about this year's 6Music Festival  and you can watch the live stream featuring among others, Depeche Mode and Sparks (two of my favourite bands)  on your big telly if you are not actually there.

So basically that's more semi sedentary action for me this weekend , while it might not improve my health it will definitely improve my well being.

OK I shall set off to get to work by fair means or foul and leave you with some Sparks from the time they met Giorgio Moroder ... The No 1 Song In Heaven , have a good day and stay dry my friends.

Saturday 3 September 2016

#LikeNoOther #3 Peek-A-Boo - Siouxsie And The Banshees


Siouxsie And The Banshees were never your average sounding Rock, Goth or Punk band and their canon is littered with some amazing out there sounds. The only standard instrument used in Peek-A-Boo barring Siouxsie's voice is the dragging bass and that is not played like any that I have heard before or since, then the almost military drum beat and accordion / melodian driven complex riff sonding like something gestated from Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper).

Another you can't dance to, well not any normal dance, but there are no guitars or pop sensibilities here, in an almost nightmare sequence that implies horrors lurking at the edge of our sensibilities although you feel safe because you know Siouxsie of old. It is similar to Sparks' This Town in the "can't dance" stakes although this does explore a much stranger furrow.

The video is wonderful and this still sounds as fresh today as when it was first unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

Enjoy the video and if it's not in your collection , why not?

Friday 26 August 2016

#LikeNoOther #2 This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us - Sparks


Although the first two songs may seem to have a vague glam rock connection , there's going to be a lot of different stuff on this.  I first saw Sparks performing on The Old Grey Whistle Test  performing "No More Mister Nice Guy" from A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing which was OK , the most striking thing was Ron Mael's Chaplinesque looks and I liked the album title. More androgynous American rock but nothing special.

Then they signed to Island and gave us Kimono My House , more plays on words and phrases , but the lead single "This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us" was totally amazing.

From the opening piano motif you are hit with Russel Mael's falsetto , the a stop with a heavy stop start four note single heavy guitar riff before launching in a streamrollering you in almost Wagnerian style a song that still stands today as  one of the most amazing three minutes you will ever hear.

Everytime I listen to it, I don't want it to stop, there's always a change round the corner, and while it may be generally in 4/4 time it's hardly easy to dance to like your normal pop song should be, but it never loses your attention.

Plagiarists
You can see it's influence in things like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and since then Sparks have continued to expand their musical envelops , collaborating with Giorgio Moroder on No 1 In Heaven and are still producing amazing music. Li'l Beethoven is an wonderful album.

This Town was when I though Sparks were special and was revisited on their collaborations album Plagiarism as a duet with Faith No More,  Mike Patton providing an amazing foil for Russel Mael. See the video at the end.




Recently they collaborated with Franz Ferdinand as FFS , a major success but you feel the Mael's were in the driving seat, but Franz Ferdinand's angular rock proved a brilliant vehicle for more Mael exploration and play.

So that's my thoughts on this great song.


Sunday 18 October 2015

Hold Someones Hand This Sunday - #18 - 1974 - Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us


This Sunday Hold somebody's hand and make them feel loved and wanted. It may seem like a little gesture but human contact is actually a very good thing. I know we all need personal space and if you walked up to a stranger and took their hand it may not be wanted , but then again it could be just what that person needs. We should all be closer , and care for each other , and look out for each other and be there for each other. That should be what we are aiming for . Compassion , Love and the enjoyment of life that those qualities bring. So try and take someone's hand today.

If I get arrested today you know why

Anyway 1974  was my eighteenth year and I celebrated my 17th birthday . I think my mum bought me a car , a mini for £50. I had my first real girlfriend Anne , and the music was still very good although there was quite a lot of dross in the charts for that year but when you had Sparks release This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us , with its operatic melodrama and surely an influence on Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody , but Sparks is my choice.:
Stampede

"Zoo time is she and you time
The mammals are your favourite type, and you want her tonight
Heartbeat, increasing heartbeat
You hear the thunder of stampeding rhinos, elephants and tacky tigers
This town ain't big enough for both of us
And it ain't me who's gonna leave"



Sohave a great Sunday , Hold someone's hand .. for me ... my friend

Sunday 26 October 2014

Beat The Clock, An Urge For Offal and THAT Goal




Some of My Watches
Chose the title from a brilliant Sparks and Giorgio Moroder collaboration from their album Number One Song In Heaven. In our fantastic digital age all of the clock resetting is done for us apart from the odd analogue device (like my Beuchat and iToc watches, wall clocks, heating clock) plus the digital cooker clock and the wall timer for the living room main light.

Many years ago I went a whole day without realising the clocks had changed, luckily I switched on the TV in the evening , thought there's something very amiss here, then realised what had actually happened.


New Album
Today sounds and looks very windy and I'm not looking forward to the fact that it's going to be darker an hour earlier but that's just the nature of the beast. I'm not sure daylight saving actually saves anything much anymore in the 24/7 world that we live in, although in a bit of good news Fiona's friend Tim informed me he'd heard a new Half Man Half Biscuit album, "Urge For Offal" on Spotify so that is about to be ordered when I've posted this. I I listen to it on Spotify the band will probably get paid about 0.0001p per track. The mega selling Daft Punk album Random Access Memory resulted in a payment of £13K from Spotify which might have paid the tea bill!


 I've nothing against the Spotify model , but it's pay per play model just doesn't work in favour of the artist. Apparently Spotify plays have generate me 1p in the last 12 months on a piece I did for the artist Rebecca Cother for the slideshow below, but I didn't do it to make money , just to see how easy it was to do.




Oh another good thing is that Preston's Joe Garnerweighed in with hat trick to give us victory against Fleetwood Town yesterday and put us second in the table, so it's an excuse to include THAT goal:




Anyway I hope you enjoyed your extra hour in bed and enjoy the rest of the day.