Today is the start of a new series which features songs by singers that I’m not a fan of being sung by people I do like. The original artists are often successful and far more well known than those I’ve chosen, though they’re also performers that I wouldn’t usually admit to liking. I had planned to feature Whitney Houston at a later date, but her untimely death over the weekend has pushed her to the front of the queue. Her first appearances on the musical scene in the eighties coincided with my own introduction to music during that decade, first through music videos, then the radio and finally the humble cassette tape. I remember being particularly struck by the 1987 single from her second album, I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), possibly her finest performance
I finally got my hair cut last week after many months of humming and hawing about it. This big leap has also inspired me to give a bit of a makeover to Town Full of Losers. I blog with WordPress and they offer dozens of free themes to suit all sorts of needs. I’ve used three or four in the past and, as it’s been over a year since the last change, I decided to go with a new one today. It’s called Quintus and here’s what the good folks at WordPress have to say about it:
I’ve been meaning to put up a list of my favourite albums of 2011 for a while now, but I’ve only gotten around to it this week. I didn’t think 2011 was one of the best in recent years for new releases, though I did have a few dozen worthy efforts on my final list. When I narrowed it down to ten I noticed that it was evenly split along gender lines, so I’m going to present it in two parts
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of Ireland’s national television broadcaster this year and amidst all the backslapping I’m sure there’ll be one or two shows worth checking out. One of the highlights so far was a tribite to one of Ireland’s first and finest rock stars. The Phil Lynott Archive was produced and directed by David Heffernan and featured already existing footage of the former Thin Lizzy frontman as well as new interviews and film. The near hour long programme didn’t contribute anything too new to his already well-documented story but it was wonderful to relive some of his finest moments again. We got to see clips of Phil’s early days with Taste, Lizzy’s heyday in the seventies and his solo work in the eighties. It was also interesting to compare the less coherent interview of a stoned Lynott backstage with the more gregarious fella on The Late Late Show with Gay Byrne. The interviews with the great and the good were mostly padding but I quite enjoyed the discussion of Lynott’s songwriting abilities by contemporary musicians. Even though Lizzy were lumped in with the hard rock and heavy metal crowds, Phil was equally at home writing a melodic ballad like Sarah or Dancing in the Moonlight. I had a look through my collection to see what if I had any versions of Phil’s songs by other artists and I was pleasantly surprised to find I had a few
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2012 will a better one for you than 2011. Here are a few tunes that cover most of the bases for tonight and tomorrow. Bill Janovitz does a nice acoustic version of the oft-covered Frank Loesser classic and even throws in a bit of Auld Lang Syne. So does Tom Waits on the closing track from his latest release, Bad as Me. Like most of us, I’m sure Tom’s night will be a lot quieter than the ones in his youth. It looks like Bonnie Prince Billy & The Trembling Bells will also be having a quiet night in and this one goes out to anyone who finds themselves in the same boat. New Year’s Day remains one of my favourite U2 songs and it always evokes memories of this time of year. Here’s an electronic version of the song by a band called Electron Love Theory that appears on a tribute called Blue Sky Vertigo. Abba’s Happy New Year is another popular song at this time of year & is given the acoustic treatment below by Lightspeed Champion. One of the bands that Abba influenced was Camera Obscura from Scotland. Their song shares the Swedish outfit’s knack for a decent tune and has the same title, but it’s an original song. The last track is from Sophie Madeleine, who whips out her ukulele whenever the New Year comes around. Hopefully, you’ll be able to identify with one or more of these songs as 2011 gives way to 2012. My apologies for not posting here over the last few weeks, but I resolve to blog more frequently next year. Have a good one
George Harrison: Living in the Material World is a return to form for director Martin Scorsese following the 2008 release of Shine a Light, his rather lacklustre concert film about The Rolling Stones. Fortunately, his depiction of the Beatle known as The Quiet One has more in common with Scorsese’s 2005 film about Bob Dylan. No Direction Home was over 200 minutes long and in two parts, but still managed to only cover Dylan’s career up to 1966. Living in the Material World is also a two-parter and is similar in length to the Dylan one, but manages to cover the whole of Harrison’s life up to his death on November 29th, 2001. A major strength of No Direction Home was its newly-recorded interviews with an extremely open and talkative Dylan. Living in the Material World makes up for the loss of its protagonist by drawing on a range of interviews with Harrison at various points in his career. It opens by chatting to two of his uncles who talk about the younger George growing up in Liverpool and also draws upon letters written by George to his parents. These are voiced by an actor and would have been more effective if he sounded like Harrison or, at least, adopted a Scouse accent. Visually, the lack of film footage from this period is nicely balanced by a simple but effective use of black & white photographs. Many of these appeared to be newly discovered and we also get to see a lot of unseen footage from his days with The Beatles
It’s the final episode of the current season of Later with Jools Holland this week and it features another half dozen artists from around the world. The Red Hot Chili Peppers put out their tenth studio album (and their first in five years) in August. It’s called I’m With You and sees lead guitarist John Frusciante being replaced by Josh Klinghoffer. Frusciante did play on the band’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground on 1989′s Mother’s Milk album. It’s been four years since Bjork released her previous studio album and Biophilia is her eight and most recent one. Ruby Baby was written by Leiber and Stoller, was first a hit for The Drifters in 1956 and again six years later for Dion. It’s been three years since Oasis released their sixth (and possibly final) album. Guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher has just released his first solo record and it’s called Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, which is also the name of his band. He draws on his Irish and Mancunian heritage on his live version of the classic from The Smiths. Gillian Welch is an American singer-songwriter who performs within the country and bluegrass genres. She makes music with her partner David Rawlings and they released their first album since 2003 earlier this year. She might not be an obvious choice to sing a Radiohead tune, but her take on Black Star doesn’t seem out of place in her repertoire. Michael Kiwanuka is a British songwriter of Ugandan parentage who grew up in London. You can hear soul and jazz influences in Tell Me a Tale, the title track of one of two EPs he’s released this year. Spector are a five-piece from London and the indie sound of What You Wanted is nothing new, but worth a listen. This season’s final instalment of Later goes out tonight and Friday on BBC Two
Today’s post is brought to you by the number eleven and is just one tune shy of a dozen tracks. Each song contains the fifth prime number in its title, though I don’t know if any of the songs feature an eleventh chord. I had to leave a few songs off the first eleven, but I’ve included a couple of instrumental pieces and also two spoken word selections. You can listen to them in whatever order you like and at whatever volume you find comfortable. Just remember that all these songs go up to eleven
Today is also the day that eleven Irish footballers will line up in the first of two games against Estonia to see who’ll go through to the European Championships next year. I’ll be watching that first leg in my local in Galbally, Co Limerick, and I’ll actually be at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to watch the second tie. Most people are quite optimistic about Ireland’s chances of getting through, though it may go right down to the eleventh hour. We don’t really mind as long as we don’t go out in similar circumstances to that night in Paris nearly two years ago. Good luck, Ireland
