| Author | Message | ||
     Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1879 Registered: 10-2006 |
David Bowie – Survive A Bowie song I’ve never heard before, I think, always a figure I admired rather than loved. He hits the London vowels hard here, as perhaps befits the nostalgic lyrics, both straightforward and enigmatic. What were passion pants? Who were the snowy-white Beatle boys? https://www.davidbowienews.com/2017/06/d avid-bowie-mark-lard-show-maida-vale-stu dios-london-25-10-99-audio/ (song starts about 17.40, also nice version of Drive-in Saturday at around 53.58, as refused by Mott the Hoople). | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1408 Registered: 04-2005 |
Hmm...think I might be a bit like you Stuart when it comes to Bowie. He wrote some great songs, but I was completely surprised by the reaction to his death. And there was an article in the Guardian recently where you would almost believe that the world has gone to pot in the last 5 years because he is no longer with us. But what do I know ? My younger sister was grooving on down to Starman on TOTP at the time that I was listening to nothing else but The Seekers. But I'll still take "I'll never find another you" over anything by Bowie ! Song of the Day cabane "now, winter comes" feat. Kate Stables https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35KIO63d tIQ With Françoiz Breut sitting on the left | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1880 Registered: 10-2006 |
That's beautiful, Andrew, that is. Good to see Francoise back. Yeah, I was strutting around school with Focus & Yes albums under my arm, but it was the guys who went out and got a Bowie feather cut the day after Starman aired on TOTP that had all the girls cooing softly. His death was the politically correct version of Princess Di's perhaps, but, I have to say, "Nothing in his life/Became him like the leaving it; he died/ As one that had been studied in his death" - it really was done with a great sense of art and knowingness, and Blackstar is a thrilling thing to leave us with. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4554 Registered: 03-2005 |
I should revisit "Blackstar." I heard it once and couldn't find my entry into it and never tried again. With Bowie I always loved his early work, that of the cool introverted Mod. In its way and its time it was also difficult, with unusual song and verse structures. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo2w4SlT 13c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-b57Y3s GZI And then there was his time when he might have become a show music writer, here with a song that's so thoroughly naff you recoil but if you stay with it by the time it's over he's melted your protective crust and won you over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwAkV5z_ cW8 It's interesting how many other versions of the song can be found now but I still prefer the one I listened to for years especially for the timbre of his voice in the final section. And then when we get into the Mick Ronson period I zero in on this almost elegiac failed single: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16A1bxJs PNY | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 355 Registered: 05-2005 |
Listened to a terrific Podcast over the weekend that gave me a newfound appreciation for the depth of Bowie's songwriting talent. The podcast is called Strong Songs and each episode does a deep dive into a song with particular focus on the musical rather than lyrical elements. This episode featured two Bowie songs, Space Oddity and Starman. Interesting what you say Randy because the host (Kirk Hamilton) highlights both the unusual structure of Bowie's songs and the strong influence of show music. I'd never noticed striking similarity between the chorus of 'Starman' and 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' until it was pointed out in the podcast! https://strongsongspodcast.com/space-odd ity-and-starman-by-david-bowie | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 475 Registered: 02-2007 |
Spectral Mornings - Steve Hackett. Great instrumental piece with astonishing guitar that closes the 1979 album of the same name. I'm deep in Prog at the moment. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4555 Registered: 03-2005 |
Mark, thanks for the link to the Strong Song podcast. It was fun to listen to. Hamilton makes a lot of good observations especially about the chord changes. I'm not convinced the original glissando on "Space Oddity" was inspired by the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" though, but that's the sort of thing people can argue about forever. At the time I first heard the song--in 1972 when it was re-released in the U.S.--I thought of it as a spoof of the Bee Gees' disaster ballads, "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" and to a lesser extent a lot of other Bee Gees songs from 1967 to 1969. For a while the Bee Gees made this into a rather blatant formula for themselves. Bowie's melodramatic two-part harmony and lines like "tell my wife I love her very much" are tip-offs to this. And rather than "A Day in the Life" I think Bowie was inspired by the Rolling Stones' "2000 Light Years from Home" for the concept of being marooned in outer space with the wheezy mellotron conjuring a sonic impression of bitter cold and vacuum. I'm also inclined to reference Bowie's lyrical syllable distortion ("and I'm floating in a most-a pecu-lee-ar wahay") to a favorite comedic trick employed by Ray Davies ("he's a session man, a chord progresshian, a top muzisshian"), though I suspect if I were sufficiently musically erudite I'd find the real roots of this practice back at Gilbert & Sullivan or even earlier. (Stuart? Hugh?). I've always considered "Space Oddity" a total masterpiece and wish its corresponding album was remotely equal to it. Typically for me, I kind of jumped off the train at the more popular "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust." I thought Bowie was playing too hard to entertain the dumber elements of the audience but that just says a lot about my own snobbery. I should undoubtedly revisit the record but the only song that I truly loved at the time was "Ziggy Stardust" with its very Dave Daviesesque jangle pop hook, though Ronson's version is probably not nearly as chiming as it would have been in Davies' hands. I definitely see the similarity between the melody of the chorus to "Starman" and "Over the Rainbow." I certainly did not notice it at the time! That's a great bit of spotting by Hamilton. His analysis of "Starman" is altogether very persuasive. I really appreciate his highlight of the theatrical aspects of Bowie's writing and how he segues from a classic pre-rock Tin Pan Alley type of chord sequence into a chunky but still melodic Chuck Berry-on-barbiturates section at the end of the verse. It's generally assumed that Bowie adopted his show tune element during his Ken Pitt period and that's probably true, but it seems to me that Bowie always had an instinct for stage characterization all the way back to "Take My Tip" and "I Pity the Fool." One very minor point, Hamilton expresses uncertainty whether the acoustic guitar on "Starman" is played by Bowie. As old early Bowie TV appearances reveal, Bowie was pretty attached to his 12 string acoustic guitar. It's what underpins both "Space Oddity" and "Starman" and because of that I'm pretty confident it's the instrument on which Bowie wrote his songs during those years. I'd be willing to bet that Bowie himself played this trusty instrument on the recordings of both of those songs. One nice thing about a 12 string acoustic--if it's set up properly--is that it's actually easier on the player's hands than a typical acoustic 6 string. Pushing down on a pair of strings spreads the pressure across the fingertip and is thus less likely to make the fingertip hurt. And most of the time 12 string acoustics will use a lighter gauge of string because you aren't normally going to be doing something likely to snap the strings on a 12 string acoustic such as bending notes (unless you're Roger McGuinn anyway) and those 12 strings make quite enough of a racket together without any need for them to be thicker and thus individually louder. Really fun podcast. | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 356 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cheers Randy. Glad you enjoyed it. A fun listen as you say. I like the audible chuckle from Hamilton each time he plays a snippet featuring one of Bowie's audacious musical tricks. I'm a Ronson fan but hadn't realised he was responsible for the string arrangements on Starman as well as the glammed-up guitar riff. Thanks for the link to the original version of Prettiest Star which I'd not heard before. Quite beautiful. With Bowie's restrained vocal and Bolan's low-key guitar it's like a completely different song from the doo-wop version that subsequently showed up on Aladdin Sane. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1881 Registered: 10-2006 |
I didn’t know the Bolan version of Prettiest Star, and thought at first the lyrics might also be addressed to him, “I moved up to take a place, near you…/One day though it might as well be someday/You and I will rise up all the way…” But they say it was for Angie, apparently. Having seen some John’s Children pics, however, it does seem pretty clear who those “snowy-white Beatle boys” are on Survive, making it, perhaps, an elegy for Bolan then? “I never lied to you, I hated when you lied.” One fun fact from reading about MB: “While at school, he played guitar in "Susie and the Hula Hoops", a trio whose vocalist was a 12-year-old Helen Shapiro.” | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1882 Registered: 10-2006 |
Randy I reckon that sort of over-emphatic syllabising for comic effect could go back to music hall and its many oom-pah, oompah comedy songs, often slightly naughty, more of an influence on the slightly older Ray Davies than Bowie, but still a popular source of material back in the 1960s, look at Herman's Hermits with Oh Mr Porter and 'Enery the 8th, I am. A Cockney accent was de rigueur, perfect for the two London boys. There used to be a long-running programme on British TV that celebrated music hall and made the whole thing seem pretty hellish, but T S Eliot was apparently a fan in his day. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1345 Registered: 03-2007 |
Stuart, Was that 'The Good Old Days' presented by Leonard Sachs? If so, I remember it well but it was not a programme I ever enjoyed. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1883 Registered: 10-2006 |
Ah, indeed it was, Hugh. A programme that often used to be on in my house with no good reason, as far as I could see, a bit like Come dancing, though who knew that that would metamorphosise into the megahit its modern version is today? While The Good Old Days, thank goodness, faded gently away, never to return. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1346 Registered: 03-2007 |
What made it even worse was that, back in the early days of the show, we only had two TV channels to choose from!!! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1884 Registered: 10-2006 |
So there must have been something even more awful on ITV. Beggars the imagination. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4556 Registered: 03-2005 |
I did not know Marc Bolan played on that earlier version of "The Prettiest Star." I rather lazily attributed any of the post-"Space Oddity" recordings featuring a fat-toned guitar lead to Ronson. I had "The Prettiest Star" on a crappy little 7 inch 45rpm single until I was able to get a proper-sounding copy on a Bowie comp, "The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974." I loved albums like "The Man Who Sold the World" and "Hunky Dory" but bypassed the commercially big ones including "Aladdin Sane" and thus didn't hear the doowop version of "The Prettiest Star" until I was looking for a youtube link for the original version. For me, that later version is rather horrible and illustrates why I ran from Bowie during those years. I returned to the fold with the Berlin albums. At the risk of starting a mass gagging session among the U.K. denizens of this board I have a huge soft spot for Helen Shapiro. I didn't hear anything of hers until Greg Shaw compiled an anthology for Sire Records in the 1970s called "The Roots of British Rock." That collection included the unfortunate "Walkin' Back to Happiness" but once I'd heard "Please Don't Treat Me Like a Child" and "You Don't Know" I was sold. The one album of hers I can recommend to just about everyone is "Helen in Nashville." It is a countrypolitan classic dating from 1963 indeed recorded in Nashville with Grady Martin on guitar, Boots Randolph on wind instruments and the Jordanaires singing backup. The song selection is excellent including the original version of "It's My Party" and what must be among the earlier Jackie DeShannon/Sharon Sheeley songs covered by anybody, "Woe Is Me." It might have further propelled her career had there not been an interruption by a certain quartet of Merseysiders. It's too bad she didn't continue with Bolan! Here's one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb7AS1Sr RZk Ok, two examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmvCwjvW z8c "Helen in Nashville" is a great example of the countrypolitan genre. Amazing she was only 16. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1347 Registered: 03-2007 |
Randy, I did not dislike Helen Shapiro but, even as a youngster, my preference was always for artists / bands who wrote their own material. Song of the day is 'Hierro y Metal' by Madbil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_bP-U0A d_Y | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1885 Registered: 10-2006 |
She had a dark tone to her voice which was quite unique in female singers back then, I think, especially one so young, so that's probably why I liked her. Never heard "in Nashville", though. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 662 Registered: 08-2005 |
Sister Morphine – the Rolling Stones This is in homage to the fact that I spent last night on morphine after getting a chicken bone stuck in my throat! All's well in the end, the bone shifted but it has left my throat scratched, though this will clear. It was, however, a less than pleasant night at our local NHS hospital, involving three nasal swabs and a throat swab for Covid and an endoscopy this morning. And due to a longstanding allergy to virtually all of the usual painkillers I was put on morphine! The nasal swabs were truly horrible, like having a toothbrush stuffed up your nose for a scrape of the brain. By comparison, the endoscopy was a breeze! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4559 Registered: 03-2005 |
Last great song by the Stones as far as I'm concerned. What a horrible story Simon! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4560 Registered: 03-2005 |
In the meantime, my song of the day: Bitter Seal -- The Palace of Light https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOGJ7IR5 XQI From 1987, a band fronted by a Scott Walker-smitten folkie singer/songwriter type enters the crowded U.K. musical arena. I actually wanted to post a link to their song "Catherine" but I couldn't find it. This will serve. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10011 Registered: 05-2005 |
Morphine - Cure For Pain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kWryRdJ MOA Inspired by Simon's night at her majesty's pleasure. Get well soon, Simon. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 524 Registered: 05-2005 |
Julian Cope - Sunspot. Since one week again and again... | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1890 Registered: 10-2006 |
The Bluebells - Cath An oldie but such a goodie, it would have to squeeze into my top 10 favourite songs of all time. The slightly preferable version which holds off on the chorus. Ah, the sound of young Scotland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pdQloms nLE | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1894 Registered: 10-2006 |
Philippe Cohen Solal/Henry Darger/Hannah Peel/ Adam Glover – Who will follow Angelinia? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQvrxKoV zu8 Rather lush, haunting ballad, setting the words of “outsider” artist Henry Darger, with dark, musical vocals from Glover. Especially lovely finale. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4562 Registered: 03-2005 |
A voice heard too seldom, and only now to help raise funds to save a beloved recording studio: James King & the Lonewolves -- Bottom of the Sea https://savecarltonstudios.bandcamp.com/ track/bottom-of-the-sea I hope James might be inspired to record another album. | ||
| David Unregistered guest |
Medicaly for pain, i was in about 15 year ago for investagtion. Scary word. The unforgettable part was tying me to be a flat bed thing, putting a baloon up my my arse and blowing it up while they rotated me..for about 30 mins or maye a day Felt like latter. Stuart - cath is great, saw them sing it in a local scchool early 80s, under rated band | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 1412 Registered: 04-2005 |
The Weather Station - Parking Lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDcxg56n ZAo The album "Ignorance" is mighty fine. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10019 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Bathers - Yellow Buskin | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4566 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Leontini Vernacular -- Anthropause https://shorediverecords.bandcamp.com/al bum/anthropause-ep | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10020 Registered: 05-2005 |
Katie Shorr - Amy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI6Jn4_l cos&feature=youtu.be | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10021 Registered: 05-2005 |
That should say Kalie, damn autocorrect. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 1352 Registered: 03-2007 |
Randy, What a coincidence. I picked up a copy of the following CD from the same stable ( Shore Drive Records ) before it sold out and I have a CD copy of Anthropause by Leontini Vernacular on route. Limited editions of 15 in both cases. If you have ordered a copy of the Leontini Vernacular CD then be advised that it is a very DIY package. Flu Flu - Mi Mundo Interior https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhq-Eg05 pns | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 4567 Registered: 03-2005 |
Hugh, I think there is a connection between Leontini Vernacular and the Mooncreatures and that's how I got to the former. Sorry to have missed the Flu Flu one but I do have to draw the brakes somewhere. It seems Shore Dive do limited editions of 15 CDr's as a normal thing, so yes they are pretty primitive. One of the problems--for me--with Bandcamp is that I get onto a label's page and then I'm in serious trouble. Yesterday I poked around Lima, Peru's Buh Records. Most of their releases are vinyl now but they do still have some CDs. What led me to Buh Records in the first place was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSv4cygN 9JU You can buy the CD of the album from the band's Bandcamp page as they apparently released it themselves. Their later albums are on Buh Records. I am very impressed by Sexores. https://sexores.bandcamp.com/album/histo rias-de-fr-o I never thought I'd say this but there is too much music! | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 2028 Registered: 08-2006 |
Padraig, that Kalie Shorr album, "Open Book," made my top 10 last year. It's terrific all the way through. Girl can write a lyric. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10022 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'll check it out Rob. I saw that song recommended in The Guardian by Alexis Petridis and loved it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 10023 Registered: 05-2005 |
Blur - Go Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBnNSzy ZSE I've spent the last hour hour or so streaming Blur songs on random. Pure genius. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1895 Registered: 10-2006 |
The GBs - The Statue Turned up on this morning's radio write-in competition, but the charming aspect was that neither presenter knew the song and both were clearly blown away by how gorgeous it is. And quite right too. |