How not to plan a festival schedule?

Having just concluded that perhaps I should have chosen to go to Glastonbury, I've just been looking at the latest list of performers at Latitude 2008 with an eye to trying to work out my preliminary schedule. Last year I didn't even attempt it until the Thursday evening, by which time I was in my tent and armed with the festival program. This year, despite the fact that I've thought about it at the point when last year I had just decided to get a ticket and go, the situation looks more problematic! I suspect that I'll end up making some decisions on the fly but at least I'll have considered the possibilities that will give rise to the greatest conflicts.

As it happens I don't have to wait until Latitude for some live music, although of a somewhat different slant. My longstanding liking for folk-influenced music has probably already become apparent on at least a few occasions in this blog and I've got a ticket to see Seth Lakeman live at the "Cheese and Grain" on 9th July, as part of the 2008 Frome Festival. While Latitude 2008 will involve a round trip of almost 500 miles, this is about as convenient as it could get; I can be at the venue twenty minutes after leaving home and that is on foot!
His latest album Poor Man's Heaven (his fourth) was released today.

The one I want to hear first however is 'Kitty Jay' (2004), his first album. The title track is a telling of a well known, although very indistinctly chronicled, Dartmoor story (probably dating from the 17th or 18th century) thus making it good for elaboration.
Kitty Jay apparently killed herself due to the infidelity of her lover and was buried at a remote crossroads, lying on the boundary of parishes and remote from any settlements, because suicides could not be buried in consecrated ground. That much is, in so far as it is possible to say, fact.
That the grave remains to this day, at the crossing of a minor road and a bridleway, still remote from any settlement but always with fresh flowers, is really quite surprising. The fact that this is the second, completely distinct song, attempting to tell the tale is remarkable. The other song I am aware of is 'Lady Jay', which was on the fifth album by Wishbone Ash (another band with Devon roots) There's The Rub (1974).

That it is the last day of the first half of 2008 has reminded me that no-one has asked about my favourite albums of 2008 yet, which is good, but I will say that I'm not anticipating having any shortage to choose from come the appropriate time. It does however prompt me to consider what I would like on my listening list in the next month or so. I've just been thinking while writing this and I'm a bit lost, which has much to do with my comment above concerning the amount of new music I already have.
I have had to single out one album completely unheard (well sort of, but I'll try to add more later in the week) based on their first album and seeing them live last summer, it would have to be 'Donkey' by CSS:

It is not going to sound like their first, Cansei De Ser Sexy, but if it is anywhere near as catchy it will be a winner and, given the reports from Glastonbury 2008 it most probably is. The latest release date that I am aware of is 21st July in the UK.

Glastonbury 2008 - at arm's length.

They said that it would be a disaster, whether that was due to the choice of Jay-Z as the Saturday headline act, the assertion that Amy Winehouse would most likely be a no-show, or simply that the foul weather that has afflicted the last two events would return yet again, to the point that some said it would be the end of the road. It was, after all, the first Glastonbury since 1992 to not sell-out and that perhaps this is more important than it might appear to be.

I think that they were wrong on all counts. I, for one, would not have bought a ticket because I wanted to see Jay-Z perform live, or indeed any another headline act. I wouldn't go to a festival merely on the promise of the headline acts, however appealing they might be. Maybe that is just me, being the awkward one, but you would have been far more likely to find me at either the 'John Peel Stage' or the 'Park Stage'.
I could go and probably never much bother myself with the 'Pyramid Stage' which, by virtue of its variety and diversity, is how Glastonbury wins hands-down. Sometimes however it takes a modal shift to alter the dynamics of a festival and Glastonbury 2008 might just have done that.

Anyone for a 1970-1990 heavy rock restrospective?

I've been asked about this a few times and so far I have resisted. Two decades before blogging even existed we used to talk about doing it, when we were at college, but in those days cassette tapes were the epitome of home recording and so it never got very far.

I'm not suggesting anything illegal here (the above would have been illegal too), rather what do we think are the best heavy rock albums or songs and why? In that there is a further problem: who are we anyway - clearly we are going to be of various ages and, even if not, have various tastes and so if we agree, even in general terms, what constitutes heavy rock we'll be doing pretty well!

My inclination is that we shouldn't agonise too much about the exact genre (who knows them anyway?) or date of release; if you think it might fit, or something should be considered in another context, then feel free to suggest it. If you disagree with something posted please say so in a reasoned, and if necessary forceful, way.

I moderate this blog and I want it to be diverse, so dissent is tolerated, but abuse is NOT AN OPTION and will not be posted. Extreme cases will be reported without warning. I hope I never have to do this but, if necessary, I will do so immediately.

I have a fair few albums in this general category, including plenty that you would probably regard as quite embarrassing, so please don't feel shy to mention your favourites even if you think them unusual. I'll be sympathetic but, likewise, trying to claim one artist/band is the only one worth listening to simply won't wash with me. There are other forums for the likes of you and I'd far rather you also admitted that you like Girls Aloud, Sugababes, or whatever else...
I simply don't have a problem with that.

Long time, no post...

It is true that I haven't added a post since the middle of last week but I haven't been particularly idle either. I've been busy trying to persuade my parents that music has not changed that much!

Amy Winehouse is very doubtful for Glastonbury 2008, so it seemed a good excuse to play 'Back To Black' in full and from original vinyl.

Amy Millan has also recorded an album, released in 2006, that fits the theme of love and loss perfectly...

Catastrophe does not, however, become her.

It wasn't very well received critically but then it is not her day job; that is female vocalist in Stars. Neither is it her second job, which is as a member of Broken Social Scene. I, however, really like 'Honey from the Tombs' and not least for its surprises!
Yet another part of the great Canadian experiment...

Ferranti Mark 1: the real iPod precursor?

Here is something that for those who now regard computers and music as inseparable - in creation, production and delivery - and a fascinating article from the BBC.
The oldest music "sung" by a computer and of which a recording survives is, owing to a total lack of digital means to do otherwise, an acetate 12" recorded by the BBC Outside Broadcast unit at Manchester University in 1951.
The equipment was rather different to an iPod but it was at least programmable, within its very limited ability, and without physical re-wiring too. It had a 1024-bit memory unless it failed (it often did), or the power went off, or was deliberately turned off for any reason. It had no hard (permanent) memory at all so if any of these things happened absolutely everything had to be reloaded from scratch.
The picture below is merely a fraction of the whole machine; just what we might now regard as the 'user interface'!

It's highlight was a rendition of Baa, baa black sheep, for which this is the link.

Festival weather - come rain or shine?

This seems to be what everyone going to a festival, or other outdoor event this summer, wants to know right now. I'm no weather expert but I certainly know what a difference it makes!
For UK event forecasts here is a general link. If the one you are planning to visit is not listed then either type in the nearest town to it here, or ask for it to be added to the list.
The one most sought now is Glastonbury 2008.

The one I'm more interested in is Latitude 2008 as that is where I'm headed in mid-July!

Let's all hope for the best, wherever we are going!

The single is dead, long live the single

Much has been made of the fact that chain-store Woolworth recently announced that, from August 2008, it would no longer stock CD singles. The reason given was, unsurprisingly, that the rise of downloading meant that the format was in terminal decline. In a sense that is not too surprising but then again perhaps it is.

If you really wanted a single on a physical format would you look for it in Woolworths? Would you even buy it on CD, assuming that there was an alternative?
The single, as a physical format, is now a niche market and that is hard to deny but, I suspect, not one that is going to disappear any time soon. The core market for CD singles, once fuelled by young teens who made the majority of Woolworth's sales of singles, may be vanishing fast but that doesn't mean the whole format is doomed per se.
If that were true radio, cinema and, on the music front, vinyl should all have long since vanished. That none of them have done so is ample testament to the resilience of certain technologies. Not much beats a 7" single when it comes to new music and of course you can listen to it, just like any other format, but its nature is the real appeal.

This is my newest acquisition and the first from a band, The Clik Clik, that I mentioned as likely to make waves in 2008.

The Clik Clik - Did You Wrong. Only available on 7" lemon-lime vinyl.

Held to a promise...

Earlier this week I said I would complete the lyrics of 'Sunday at Devil Dirt' sooner rather than later. Today I was held to my promise and issued with a challenge.
The source was http://www.alwaysontherun.net/ and, while this kind of thing may not always be possible in such a short time frame, here they are.

Piano Tango

This has no lyric, it is an instrumental track.


The Flame That Burns

The flame that burns
Flame that burns
The flame that burns
Flame that burns

The flame that burns
Flame that burns
The flame that burns
Flame that burns

Takes you through the years
Takes you through the pain
Can't stop the tears when they fall like rain
For the flame that burns
Flame that burns

Beware my child
Beware
Take care my friend
Got to take care

You don't know who to love
Don't know who to trust
When it hurts so bad blood flows where it must
For the flame that burns
Flame that burns

Unto eternity
One day we shall
We shall be free
When stars rain down like dust

Have heart my child
Oh but you must
Don't you hang your head
Don't you feel no shame

If I were with you now
I would do the same
For the flame that burns
Flame that burns


Shotgun Blues

Oooh daddy layin' on my bed
Oooh daddy layin' on my bed
You'd better take that shotgun
And fill it full of lead

Oooh daddy love to hear you moan, low
Oooh daddy love to hear you moan
I know the night's for rambling
But baby come on home

Oooh daddy climbing on your knee
Oooh daddy climbing on your knee
Got an itch needs scratching
You take good care of me


Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart

If you ever find that you've fallen behind
Please keep me in mind sweetheart
If your love is true then the money's on you
And you'll know what to do sweetheart

Summer was high when you caught my eye
Though I was pledged to another
The feeling was strong when you came along
Now Lord only knows how I suffer

Oh I hope you change your mind
Leave that old love behind
Just keep me in mind sweetheart
Please keep me in mind sweetheart

If it's part of God's plan
Then you'll find where I am
Just keep me in mind sweetheart
Please keep me in mind sweetheart


Something To Believe

There's a mocking bird
Singing in the tree
Outside my window
Looking down on me
Give me a reason
Something to believe
Another season
I will sit and grieve

That bad old sun
Forever shining on
The world keeps turning
Though my hope is gone
I close my eyes
And when the day is done
I hang my head
And dream about no one

Show me direction
And I'm good to go
I'm trying hard
Always fall so low
And when I fall
There'll be another star
I'm chasing my tail
Always running

Oh it is so hard
With the answers I find
Weary of heart
Weary soul
Weak of mind
Oh it is so hard

Now you heard my song
Will you turn and go?
Give me a reason
And I'll say it's so
If you stand by me
I could never leave.

You'd be the reason
Something to believe.

Something to believe.
Something to believe.
Something to believe.


Trouble

Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day
Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day

When the neon lights that find you
Leave our memory far behind you
Down the line I will remind you
Listen how I love you

Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day
Trouble, oh trouble haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day in years
Haven't slipped a day

When the world steals all hope from you
Woder where you dreams have gone to
You're the one I still belong to
Listen why I love you


Sally Don't You Cry

Oh Sally don't you cry
Oh Sally don't you cry
A man's a man
Does the best he can
Oh Sally don't you cry

Oh Sally don't you moan
Oh Sally don't you moan
Go hang up the phone
Give the dog a bone
Oh Sally don't you moan

Sally it ain't so bad
Sally it ain't so bad
I see you are mad
But he's the best you've had
Sally it ain't so bad

Oh Sally sail on by
Sweet Sally sail on by
Oh the times are hard when you question why
Oh Sally sail on by
Oh Sally sail on by
Oh Sally sail on by

Music and the new politics...

Music has for many decades been intertwined with politics and in 2008, given the rather different and yet complementary situations in the UK and the USA, I reckon it looks like being a splendid year.
We know in rough terms what Gordon Brown and David Cameron like, in music at least, because they have said as much in radio interviews. We know that Tony Blair played guitar and that Bill Clinton played saxophone, but as far as I know we know little about the music preferences of either John McCain or Barack Obama.
Music is very unlikely to directly influence national politics, but it is not to be disregarded. The opposite assertion is not however quite so obvious. Political change, or even a sense of disaffection, can easily do that. One could argue that the rise of punk, at least in the UK, was equally symptom and phenomenon. The payback came a few years later, with a rising resentment at having our lives dictated by government, which is somehow becoming resonant once again. I don't smoke, I never have, and I don't like being in a smoke filled space. I'm not given to playing card games either. If I lack one vice it is gambling - not for reasons of morality but simply because it holds no appeal for me. That doesn't mean I'm averse to making predictions and I can fully appreciate the sentiment that was captured on this album cover in 1980.

Sometimes rebellion is important...

The sentiment reappeared, with a different focus, some years later in northwestern America and Canada, but also elsewhere and certainly not least in Britain. When it comes to it these days few acts have the vision, but then they never did, and fewer still are able to take the risk even in a democracy, when it comes to setting themselves against the political establishment. Here are two that, despite some tough times, have done America proud.

They were no longer angry young men, rather seasoned veterans, and in 2004 this album was to prove a defining moment, not only for Green Day, but also for north American music.

In fact the reverberations went back further than that.

In 2005 they played two concerts in Milton Keynes Bowl, England, on successive nights and the 72000 tickets for each show all sold within two hours; these remain the fastest selling UK single-artist concerts to date.
A little earlier, in 2003, another rather different act was to court controversy, while touring in the UK, and with alarming results back home.

They were starting a live gig in London when Natalie Maines suddenly made that infamous announcement, just after the beginning of the second Iraq war. It was the start of troubled times but, once the tide had changed, they returned triumphant with the utterly uncompromising and unrepentant album 'Taking The Long Way'. That they wiped the floor at the 2007 Grammy Awards, winning five, and in doing so were also the first act to win 'Best Album' and 'Best Country Album' simultaneously, says a great deal.

Sunday at Devil Dirt

To whoever asked here today about the lyrics to 'Sunday at Devil Dirt' here are those for the first side of the 12" LP and I'll try to add the rest in the next couple of days. They are taken from the inner sleeve of that release.

Seafaring Song

I travelled the world around
Wandered far from home
Sailed the ocean 'neath foreign skies
Still further to roam
Back into my baby's arms
Safe from this world of woe
That was such a long, long time ago.

Captain hollered
The cabin boy stared into the sun
Shadows waltzing so close behind
Ever far I run
Back into my baby's arms
Safe from this world of woe
That was such a long, long time ago.

Sirens capture my trembling heart
What's to be will be
Moon is hidden
The deal is done
Spread her wings o'er me
Back into my baby's arms
Rising soft and low
That was such a long, long time ago.


The Raven

And in the dawning of a day in late September
There came a weeping from outside my chamber door
Weary from fever I rose up, looked out, beheld her
A raven with a broken wing yet nothing more.

I turned my head but once and bird became a damsel
With lips of cherry, ivory skin and lustrous hair
Opened the doorway wide and smiled for her to enter
None in my lifetime ever seen a beast so rare.

Sweet thighs of ruin how I loved her and I loved her
She muttered low and held me to her infant breast
Deliverance was long and strong as god's my witness
Babylon burning, sorrow numbed with each caress

You came (and let the night in)
You came (for you were broken)
To hold, to heal, to touch
You needed me too much

And with the meadowlark when all had done their duty
The morning glory vine awoke with dew below
I breathed my last the day the warning bell as knelling
She smoothed her feathers down flew back out my window.

You came (and let the night in)
You came (for you were broken)
To hold, to heal, to touch
You needed me too much.
(repeat x 3)


Salvation

Salvation salvation
I never really wanted to believe
I always thought you flattered to deceive
Salvation salvation
My blood is flowing slowly like the tide
And blood is thick and so's my old grey hide

Gotta get up and moan (x4)

And I went out in that bad old world to roam
And I was like a stranger coming home

Salvation salvation
I'm fortune's son and I took what I could get
I loved you dear and I never will forget
Salvation salvation
When my bridges burned all I saw was you
On the other side too good to be true.

Gotta get up and moan (x4)

And I went out in that bad old world to roam
And I was like a stranger coming home
And I went out in that bad old world to roam
And I was like a stranger coming home


Who Built The Road

Who built the road that led to my self esteem?
Twisted and crushed black metal and bones
Who passed the buck who pressed my flesh to yours
Spilling like wine and sweeter than tears?

Oh I hope we more than survive
With trembling visions that terrify
So who built the road, who turned it all around?
Pick though the wreck scramble in the dust

Who built the road, who was the foolish one?
Step at a time two hearts in the fire
Who lit the touch? Who fanned the flames
With sparks in the dust-spent rivers of desire?

Oh why don't we learn from mistakes
We stumble along with so many more to make
So who built the road? Who could foresee
That the answers we sought were many miles to go?

We were so lonely at times
Fading away, sitting side by side
And we built the road, we were the chain gang
The cross that I bore the devil at my side
Dark angel within the everlasting fire.


Come On Over (Turn Me On)

Like a thief crawling through the night
Like a drunk brawling in a fight
How should I know what is right from wrong?
Come on over, turn me on.

Sunday best, you're my favourite suit
You make the team, you're no substitute
I know baby I'm your favourite song
Listen up and come on over, turn me on

Is it any wonder?
Is it any wonder how we lay awake all night?
Is it any wonder?
Hoping one day I see the light.



Tell me baby, tell me pretty lies
See the spider been out catching flies
When you leave me I know it won't be long
Before you come on over, turn me on.

Is it any wonder?
Is it any wonder how we lay awake all night?
Is it any wonder?
Hoping one day I see the light.

Like a blind man driving at the wheel
Like a hound dog scratching out a meal
You and I both know where you belong
Come on over, turn me on.


Backburner

Put it on the back burn momma
I ain't gonna let you down
Put it on the back burn momma
Promise you I'll stick around

Everyone up and hidin'
Bump and grindin'
I ain't gonna let you down
Promise you I'll stick around

Put it on the back burn momma
I ain't gonna let you down
Put it on the back burn momma
Promise you I'll stick around

Everybody up and hiding
No back sliding
I ain't gonna let you down
Promise you I'll stick around

Put it on the back burn momma
I ain't gonna let you down
Put it on the back burn momma
Promise you I'll stick around

Little Voice - 'Love Song' lyrics

This album has not had a UK release yet, but that is what the internet there for! I expect I could have downloaded it from any number of sites, legally or otherwise. I am however, and rather more pleasingly, listening to the US vinyl 12" as I write about it and furthermore the vinyl version comes with the facility to download the all tracks on mp3 too - legally and totally free! What is more you get the full LP artwork, including an inner sleeve which includes full lyrics to all the songs.

There are plenty of them too; she is a prolific lyricist.

LOVE SONG

Head under water
And they tell me to breath easy for a while.
The breathing gets harder even I know that.
You made room for me but it's too soon to see
If I'm happy in your hands
I'm unusually hard to hold on to.
Blank stares at blank pages
You mean well, but you make this hard on me
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'Cause you asked for it
'Cause you need one, you see
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'Cause you tell me it's
Make or breaking this
If you're on you way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If all you have is leaving I need a better reason to write you a love song today
I learned the hard way
That they all say things you want to hear
And my heavy heart sinks deep down under you
And your twisted words, your help just hurts.
You are not what I thought you were
Hello to high and dry
Convinced me to please you
Made me think that I need this too
I'm trying to let you hear me as I am
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'Cause you asked for it
'Cause you need one, you see
'Cause you tell me it's
Make or breaking this
If you're on you way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If all you have is leaving I'm gonna need a better reason to write you a love song today
Promise me that you'll leave the light on
To help me see with daylight, my guide, gone
'Cause I believe there's a way you can love me because I say
I won't write you a love song
'Cause you asked for it
'Cause you need one you see
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this
Is that why you wanted a love song?
'Cause you asked for it
'Cause you need one you see
I'm not gonna write you a love song
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this.
If you're on your way
I'm not gonna write you to stay
If your heart is nowhere in it
I don't want it for a minute
Babe, I'll walk the seven seas when I believe that there's a reason to
Write you a love song.

If you want the lyrics to any of the other songs on the album then please ask and I'll try to add them as soon as I can.

Remixes, covers and coincidences...

The last year or two have thrown up a selection of cover versions and remixes, and some of them have been as successful as they seemed unlikely. The cover of The Zutons' 'Valerie', produced by Mark Ronson with Amy Winehouse on vocals, is probably the best known in the UK. Others turn up in less obvious places, b-sides and also in live sets. You can find such things such as The Manic Street Preachers covering Rihanna's 'Umbrella' (live) and also Lily Allen singing Keane's 'Everything's Changing' - it is the b-side to the 7" of 'Littlest Things'. The CD single had a new song 'U Killed It' as the (so called) flip-side!
'Littlest Things' fits well here too - it was largely written by Santi White, who has worked in major-label A&R, as a producer and also as a freelance songwriter. Now better known as Santogold she sings her new, often rather challenging, songs herself...

Santogold - Santogold (Warners, 2008)

The TV contest coincidence is this:
Earlier this year Duffy hit the big time in the UK with her début album Rockferry. She had however made a couple of fleeting appearances before. The first was as the runner up in Waw Ffactor 2003, the Welsh language version of Pop Idol. The next was a CD single, Aimée Duffy in 2004, which you can still buy new.

In 2005 she sung vocals on two tracks on the album See You In The Morning, the third album from Manchester based dance-pop act Mint Royale and this is where the coincidence factor plays. Another track from this album looks odds-on to be the UK #1 single this week. It is a cover/remix of 'Singing In The Rain' that was originally used in a VW Golf advert in 2005! That it has suddenly shot to prominence some three years later is due the fact that the winner of Britain's Got Talent, break-dancer George Sampson, used it as the backing for his final performance!
This will be a very good example of just how the weekly singles charts in even the countries of Western Europe can be incredibly different, which is not even a remotely unusual event.

Split indecision - Love To Hate or Hate To Love?

It always comes to the fore when someone well known for music, such as Madonna, attempts a transition to film or indeed vice versa, although Ne-Yo is currently saying how good Lindsay Lohan was in handling the track 'Bossy' that he has recently written and produced for her!
He is not one to court disaster. He has written two global chart hits for Rihanna (including the current UK #1), plus a few more for himself and others, so that is hardly an assertion open to much doubt. Then again he professes a wish to work with Amy Winehouse, so trouble makers and jail-birds are clearly not an issue as such, and also Duffy who like Rihanna is generally held to be squeaky clean. So are Alicia Keys and Jordin Sparks, with whom he is currently touring America. He can certainly spot talented artists when he hears them but that is merely a digression.

There is one album, in the genre actress-turned-singer, that is currently testing all sorts of preconceptions at least here in the UK. The lines along which opinions are drawn are the predictable ones but the sides taken by various parties are however not and it seems able to divide even apparently kindred reviewers, resulting in something approaching civil war.
This is all the more surprising for the fact that it has been precipitated by a seemingly rather harmless project that might very easily have been largely ignored on this side of the Atlantic.

Scarlett Johansson is the unlikely revolutionary. This has, on the face of it, everything that says £2.99 in the bargain bin in Woolworths come August. That could still be true but the thing is that this is an album that incites writers in the music press to go to battle in a manner that few albums do.
The album Anywhere I Lay My Head consists of ten cover versions of songs by Tom Waits and also a new one too. On two tracks she shares vocal duties with David Bowie and the album was produced by David Sitek (Yeah, Yeah Yeahs, etc.) and none of them are known either for their unwillingness to push boundaries or an inclination to back a losing horse.
This is certainly something unusual and, if you feel the way that I do, it makes me want to listen to it too. I will have to buy it and, if enough people feel the same, the bargain bin scenario recedes.

America just won't go away, thank goodness.

I rarely mention singles, unless in the context of albums, but this one - (Not a) Love Song - has caught my attention good and proper. I'm not quite sure why but clearly UK radio feels much the same as it is getting prodigious airplay.
It is taken from the forthcoming album, Little Voice, which is never mentioned on the radio but clearly should be, so here is the track list:

• 1. Love Song
• 2. Vegas
• 3. Bottle It Up
• 4. One Sweet Love
• 5. Come Round Soon
• 6. Morningside
• 7. Between The Lines
• 8. Love On The Rocks
• 9. City
• 10. Many The Miles
• 11. Fairytale
• 12. Gravity

If you don't like Love Song I suspect that, come the end of this summer, you will be mighty sick of this, which is actually her second album...

It is not currently released in the UK so I've ordered it from the US instead. There is nothing unusual in that and, because you probably understand my predilection by now, on 12" vinyl.