Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Live]

Ryuichi Sakamoto composed & performed this moving theme song to the movie "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence". There is also a song sung by Sylvian set to this piece, its titled Forbidden Colours.

Genesis - Carpet Crawl

Then:

Bearded chap singing is Phil Collins!

Now:

This clip has annoying audience voices in it, but the quality of sound is pretty good. You can see the cops standinng guard in the front. It must be cool to be a cop at concerts from a voyeur POV. This a reunion tour of sorts, why can't these chaps come to B'lore?

Genesis - No Reply At All

I just love the keyboard & brass theme that keeps rolling from the start this song. This one is yet another eel of a song.

MacArthur Park

Recently I listened to a version of ' MacArthur Park' by Beggars Opera, on their Pathfinder album. ' MacArthur Park' is one of those songs that begs to be covered (with one exception of course, I'll come to that in a bit). The song was written by Jimmy Webb , who also wrote ' Witchita Lineman'. Jimmy Webb, in my opinion is a great songwriter with an amazing knack for writing haunting songs. Only problem is that his songs largely depend on a singer with a certain je ne sais quoi to bring out the song's phantasmagorical essence. For ' Witchita Lineman' it was Glen Campbell; ' MacArthur Park' had Richard Harris. The song was released in 1978. The Richard Harris version sounds like an ancient Vampire (probably royalty) reminiscing about a delicious meal, in the form of a comely human female, he had ages ago. Unfortunately this rendition gets a tad melodramatic when these lines come around:

MacArthur Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no!

The music is haunting and the song is long (over seven minutes). Nevertheless a gem. The Beggars Opera version is bit longer than the original with an extended intro. The mournful quality a la Richard Harris has been diluted to 50% and the lyrics are slightly different. According to Jimmy Webb, Richard Harris could never remember the right lyrics and it was a bother trying to correct him. Now the exception: Watch out for a shorter version of the same song by Donna Summers. A disco disaster that killed this delicate long suffering song.

NB - The song in this Youtube video is the Richard Harris version.

The Geese & The Ghost

Genesis - Land of Confusion

An old favourite with wonderful lyrics. Puppets in the video were created by the guys behind the show Spitting Image .

Sour Girl

Love the band, love the song and love the twisted teletubbyesque woodland creatures.

Cornelius - Fit Song

Porque te vas

A lively pop song 'Porque te vas' by Jeanette featured in a 70s Spanish movie. The horn section is just amazing.

Sweet Victory

From the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon. Premise: Squidward's cousin, turns up in Bikini Bottom (the town the cartoon is set in). There is this one-upmanship thing going on between the two. The cousin challenges Squidward to lead his own music band. Squidward tries desperately to teach his band (comprising of local idiots) to play and he finally gives up. After a dejected Squidward leaves the scene, Spongebob pep talks the group & they practise all night long. Next day at the arena:



Don't forget to keep an eye out for two emotional guys in the audience (timestamp: 1:01).

Music Over-Compression

Informative video about something that I have never even heard off - Link

Folk for Reader Folk

Last year around June and through to August I was lucky to find some really old folk albums on torrent sites. Torrent sites are like mana from heaven. If you are music lover like me and have trawled the various 'music' shops in B'lore for good ear-food, you'd die of malnutrition. Synthetic pop sludge packaged as high art sit like colourful toads on shelves mocking human evolution & intelligence. Whats more the FM channels blare singles from these albums at rate of a single twice in three hours. Chirpy DJs must be shot as a rule of thumb. So torrent sites along with internet radio (ahem!) come as salvation in these desperate times.

My first noteworthy discovery was Bert Jansch's self titled debut album. Bert Jansch is a Scottish bluesman. He was also a member of the folk group - The Pentangle. A song and an instumental piece caught my ear. The Instrumental piece was called 'Angie' and was originally played by Davy Graham. The song was called 'The Needle of Death' and was about Bert's friend who ODed and died. In an interview, Bert said that he has not played this song in 30 something years. I've found a neat version of this song on youtube by a chap who goes by monicker TheDruidKing (what a voice, man!).
Another artist I've been listening to for a long time is Donovan. His debut album 'What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid' (1965) had this wonderful song 'Catch the Wind'. Most compilation albums have a live version of him singing the song. The vocals on the live version tend to soar as the song progresses. However the album version is much more comatose or dreamy if you like. Unfotunately I can't find the dreamy version. As a consolation I've found a version that lies somewhere between the two versions.

Like all good songs and slippery eels, their tough to pin down and analyse. One starts of following the sheer poetry of folk songs only to get lost forming images in one's mind. When you come to your senses, the song is over and you need to hear it again. Enjoy maadi... there is no rehab for this kind of wholesome addiction.

Bunnies Dance and Sing

Groove Armada - Get Down

Skittles Ad - Opera Bunny

Cyberpunk & Riddim

In September 2006, I managed to read William Gibson's Neuromancer (thanks to Mridul). A down right propah cyberpunk novel. I usually can't read cyberpunk novels because cutting through all the technobabble is tedious. Neuromancer is supposed to be the grand daddy of cyberpunk, written in 1984 and Its influence on movies, books, comics and video games cannot be overlooked today. The novel is about a bionic cracker who is on a contract to infiltrate some top security organization and in the process steal some important data. At least that is what the book was to me. The cracker has a super-sexy-martial-arts-expert for a bodyguard. In the end the nature of the object of their goal is something that came as a surprise to me. Read and experience it for yourself.

The density of technobabble was just right for me. Gibson does a commendable job of visualizing future technology. Something along the lines of Virtual reality meets Darwinia and the visualizer in your media player. -100 points if you are a fan of VRML. In the novel our cracker has to collaborate with a bunch of Rastafarians residing on a space station called Zion. This bit was the coolest thing to happen to sci-fi in years. Imagine a culture spaced out on marijuana living in space! As I read, I could imagine myself floating about this space station with blocked ears listening to dull throbbing of Dub music. Riddim fueled mellowness.

Which brings me to my most recent discovery, an album by Easy Star All-stars titled Dub Side of the Moon. I'm convinced that this album is nothing but a soundtrack to Neuromancer. This album is a dub version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon album. What-ifs like what if Pink Floyd was a roots reggae outfit get answered on this album. No shrieking in Patois like in todays dancehall numbers, just beautiful vocals in English (except for one track). The first track starts of with sounds of bubbling bongs, tchk sounds of a lighter and coughs. The ringing counter part on Pink Floyd's album starts with heart beats, ticking clocks and ringing cash registers. The reverb, echo and other feedback effects are not overdone. This dub album is not too abstract and sounds more like a reggae-fied cover of Pink Floyd than a pucca dub album.

Flashy Sites & Funny Songs

Stumbled across these 2 sites:

1h05
tokyoplastic

You'll need a flash plugin to view these sites & don't forget to switch on your speakers or connect your headphones.

3 Funny Songs:

1> Friday Night (by The Darkness)
2> Rubber Bullets ( 10cc)
3> Doll-Dagga Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag ( Marilyn Manson)

Now to catch a few ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ22222222----........

The Radio Lobe

I'm convinced that I'm a mutant. My mutation being an extra lobe of the brain which I dub as the 'radio' lobe. Just as the rays of the early morning sun stimulates the pituitary gland, this lobe too, tunes into some obscure radio station or your old playlist (which no longer exists). The radio lobe just about defines your day. It may play an irritating song & make you feel helpless or stud music.

Today I woke up feeling like a Decadent, 70-year old Drag Queen. Yes! I woke up with 'Diamonds are Forever'-Shirley Bassey, ringing melodramatically in my head. FYI:its the title song to a James Bond flick of the same title.

Bad news.... Good News... & later a foursome D&D(Dinner & Drinks) ritual. High. Sleep.....ZZZ

A Rocking Playlist (Whats Good About It)

In no particular order:
song (artist)

1> Sex Type Thing (Stone Temple Pilots); The unplugged version of this song is great too. Loud & great.

2> Mother[Live] (Danzig); Live version is the best & its best sung to, when the gangs' drunk

3> In a Gadda Da Vida(Iron butterfly); Psychedellic rock at its best with a wicked riff (step aside prog rock!)

4> Starfuckers, Inc.(Nine Inch Nails); Nobody can program a pounding & crunching beat like NIN or Rob Zombie.

5> Wells Fargo(Babe Ruth); Initially it sounds like the music from a '70s porno flick, then it sounds like the soundtrack to a car chase scene from a '70s movie.

6> Blue Monday (Orgy); A nice hard cover of a song by 'New Order'. Sounds better than the original.

7> Inertiatic ESP [Live](The Mars Volta); A fresh sound. But It'd sound a lot less fresher if I told you that it reminds me of Led Zep.

8> Moonchild (King Crimson); Acid rock classic.

Whats good about it? well you've got to listen to it first. Adieu

Being Boring

I have this peculiar thing going on. Whenever I listen to a good song & 'connect with it', the hair on the back of my head stands up, or I get goose bumps followed by going numb for 3 seconds. This is something I haven’t been able to explain. By ‘connect with it’ I’m referring to the phenomenon wherein music & lyrics go hand in hand with mood I’m in, and I experience some weird kind of epiphany. Quite a lot of Pet Shop Boys songs have had this effect on me.



I am a Pethead and for the uninitiated that’s a fan of the duo Pet Shop Boys. The following – powerfully orchestrated, pop, dance, witty, wry, absurd, profound, ironic, melodramatic at times, are some of the tags I would attach to their music. I ‘ve listened to most of their albums & can’t quite tell which one I’d swear by. Every album is as good as the other except for their first release (‘Please’). 'Please' sounds kind of dated, but the songs still retain their je ne sais quoi.

So its 4am & I just woke up with the strains of ‘Being Boring’ in my head. I still can’t put a finger on this one. I can’t figure out what these guys are talking about. It’s a haunting song. Got online to check out what it’s all about & then came across this very beautiful & minimal site. This site does a good job of trying to disect the song down but is still unsuccessful. The Black Holes of the Universe can be explained in time. But 'Being Boring' is as elusive as an intergalactic outlaw's cruiser that has managed to perfect the science of travelling through wormholes of the universe.

The uninitiated might wan't to buy a Pet Shop Boy's latest 2 CD compilation album called 'Pop Art'. You don't know what your missing out on.

Songs of Fela Anikulapo Kuti

The Devil only knew how many songs were being mixed into old school rap songs in the 80s. One fine day a singer decided to sue rapper Biz Markie. The sueing later screwed Biz Markie through & through. Since then then record labels have been scrupulous when it came to acknowledging artistes who were being sampled. Tapes & CDs came with inlay sleeves that were a mile long & contained crap loads of fine-print. Most people tend to overlook this part of the album. I personally found it to be a gold mine of info like no other. Using these sleeves I've been able to find unheard of (at least by me) sounds,singers & bands. Some of them suck & most don't.

One such artist I came across was Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela is to Nigeria what Bob Marley was to Jamaica. Together with his band - Africa 70, he generated hard hitting music which could be best defined as drum & horn driven jazz-funk explosions. It kind of sounds like a military band got a snort of coke & let lose their fury. It also reminded me of Eddy Grants own brand of reggae - Ringbang. In short its funk drenched with syncopated rythms, lavished horn blasts. Songs are sung by Fela in pidgin english and are all about military oppression of Nigerians & other Afrocentric issues. But like most good music about serious issues, the issues take a back seat when u listen to them.

Some must listen numbers include:

1>Zombie
2>Lady
3>Confusion
4>No Agreement
5>Original Suffer Head
--------------------------

I'm not crazy about winamp skins. But this has me blown away. Try it, the graphic equalizer rocks.

An Evening with Skinny Alley

Yesterday I had a Great evening at shitty Zero-G (decor sucks). If u r into 60’s pop, 70’s rock (& R&B) & yet don’t have a favorite genre- if u love Steely Dan- if u like virtuoso guitaring a la Santana, jam bands & live music; Then Skinny Alley is a home-grown band for u. Calcutta based musicians have been doing the scene way before I was born. They had released an album ‘Escape the Roar’ last year. A video of the song ‘Fence’ can be still be sighted, from time to time, on the Zee MGM channel.

They kicked off w/ a song called ‘Hey, Hey’. Describing the show & how the band played is well, pointless as it is one of those should’ve-been-there affairs. Highlights:
They did 3 Steely Dan numbers- Cousin Dupree, Green Earrings & Reelin’ in the Years. The latter was rendered much more up-tempo than usual with an unheard of guitar solo. The Drummer who looked like Sylvester Stallone in the ‘70s flick ‘Serpico’ sang a few songs too. The vocalist sang w/ gusto & engaged the crowd w/ good humor. The band also did a version of Hendrix’s Voodoo Child & a Flora Purim song. They also covered Audioslave's 'Light My Way" & a song by John Mayall. At the end of the evening they had gone through a gamut – Indigo Blues, Delta Blues, Jazz, Funk and so on. The guitar solos where MUCHO AWESOME!

Mostly they stuck to their stuff which was like a mixed bag. Their songs had some really wicked riffs & had that I'm-a-stud-in-a-muscle-car feel. They had a few a songs abt social issues like relegious strife & children giving birth. But those songs r the last thing u ought to perform at a night club & they smoothly (yet sadly) glided over most aerodynamically shapped heads, including mine. YAWWWNNN. Also there was a very pyschadelic pop number which they said is going into their second album. The singer sang w/ feeling & the band was one cohesive unit - all very seasoned & professional. The guy in charge of the sound system & mixer did a great job too. Overall it was 3 hrs of sound entertainment. Music was mature & devoid of punk-rock droppings. BUY THE ALBUM!

If u guys missed it & still want to see them in B'lore- They r playing at Landmark, The Forum (Koramangala) today (26th April) at 6:30pm.