Mr Blue Sky

One of my fave tunes of all time, Mr Blue Sky by ELO. I think I was 7 years old - watching this on Top Of The Pops - absolutely amazed at how they got the guitars to say "Mr Blue Sky" (go to 2:14 to see what I mean!) -

Girls and Philosophical Musings

Another gem, yanked into life from the deepest depths of my memory (when I was 5!) by YouTube...



It's wonderful that the internet now contains so much that you can find just about anything, but at the same time I can't help feeling that having my minds own patchy recollection of this song in my head for years and years was more satisfying than finally hearing the real thing. Somehow the mystery has now disappeared.

That reminds me of the famous philosopher Kriss Angel who said, when asked about how much he loves his selection of super-expensive cars, that the journey towards being able to afford them was much more satisfying than actually owning them.

AV Feast

My ongoing "retirement" has resulted in having a bit more sofa time, so here's some movie reviews...

American Gangster - 7/10. Tries hard to be an epic in the Godfather mould, but Denzel is not convincing enough as a real BAD guy.

Juno - 1/10. I gave up after 10mins without giving it much of a chance. Not interesting, despite the claims of its "intelligent humour".

No Country For Old Men - 8/10. Good acting, but some seemingly pointless scenes with Tommy Lee Jones. Violent. Excellent tense scene where the psychopathic assassin forces an elderly petrol station owner to put his life on the toss of a coin. No typical Hollywood ending.

Michael Clayton - Better than average legal drama. Clooney pretty good as usual. Tilda is good as the conglomerate's chief legal counsel.

Alvin & The Chipmunks - 0/10 (if you're over 12), 9/10 (under 12's)

All DVD's RM10 from Digital Mall in PJ! - and they are cinema quality.

On another subject, I recently discovered tuneid.com (to help one identify unknown songs) and posted a message that went something like "1990 House tune with James Brown sample and some trumpets and bleeps" and within 12hours I had a link to the song on YouTube - wow! Here it is...my current favourite track (notice I don't call it a "song") -

Night Of The Living...

In about 1991, a friend lent me a generic music cassette with "Mundo Musique" handwritten on the label. It contained a number of wonderful early techno/acid tracks - a genre of music completely unfamiliar to me at the time. I was hooked and have been a big fan of techno ever since (amongst many other styles).

The tape is long gone, and I had no idea of any of the artists or titles. The handwritten title gave me a clue that led me to discover one track a few years ago...



but another favourite track remained elusive - a complete mystery - until yesterday!!! With a little help from the internet - YouTube (which I only "discovered" this year) - and some educated guesswork - I managed to find this little minimalistic gem from 1991.

Embedding is disabled, so you have to click here to sample the wonderful "Night Of The Living E-Heads" by The Hypnotist.

I must finish by saying that I am quite embarrassed that I love a track with a title like that!

Common

A musical theme for a change...

When I happen to flick on to MTV, or Channel V, both of which claim to be "music" channels, 99 times out of 100 I am faced with a prolonged network identity video, which I guess is just something "cool" to make everyone who watches those channels think that they are also "cool"...

Anyway....a few weeks ago I flicked onto MTV and they were actually playing a song - Common feat. Lily Allen - Drivin' Me Wild. A rap with a catchy chorus, and unusual in that it's a distinctly American tune but featuring young Londoner Lily Allen on vocals.

Common - he likes caps.

Fast forward to last week. Amazingly, I again flick on to MTV and they're actually playing a song! This time it's Mr Common again, with new single I Want You, with the lovely Alicia Keys and Kerry Washington in the video.

So there you go...that's my new favourite tune.

On the subject of good rap music (it does exist)...I also thoroughly reccommend Jurassic 5...

You Tubeauty!

I have only recently discovered the attraction of YouTube, and how to post videos on a blog.

I came across this gem yesterday. It is an early 1990/1 track from the wonderful London-based Shut Up & Dance (SUAD) label. I only selected this video as I am quite a fan of several other SUAD records, and had no idea what it sounded like. It turns out to be a fantastic tune - one which I think I last heard 16 or 17 years ago - probably on a John Peel show.

This is the kind of dance music that evolved into what was known as "Hardcore" and then further into Drum 'N Bass.

I do cringe sometimes when I hear dance tracks with silly samples, but even though this one is a good example of that, I love it anyway. Enjoy...early 90's British dance music with attitude (i.e. fast and without pianos or lovey-dovey female vocals)...

"Wicked" by Rum and Black...



A great up-tempo track for running to!

The Pixies

My love of The Pixies is in the middle of a revival, with the best of their Doolittle and Surfer Rosa album tracks accompanying me on my journey home each day at very loud volume. My favourite tracks are..

There Goes My Gun
Broken Face
Crackity Jones
River Euphrates
No. 13 Baby
La La Love You
Dead
Wave Of Mutilation
Cactus
Mr Grieves
Where Is My Mind

The Pixies are an alternative rock band from Boston and heavily influenced by punk. I saw them live once on 8 June 1991 at Crystal Palace Bowl in London but didn't appreciate their greatness then. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana said that he was basically trying to rip-off the Pixies when Nirvana did their Nevermind album.

"Vegemite Sandwich" of course!!

After 26 years of wondering I have finally found out what the Men At Work are really saying when the man in Brazil offers them some food. (I am talking about the lyrics to "Down Under")

I always thought it sounded like "...a bitch of my sandwich." but that didn't make much sense. Today I found out it is "...a Vegemite sandwich"!

My life is now complete!!!!