Following on from "Annoying Music From TV Adverts Part 1", this piece of "music" has been polluting my ears for about two years now. One can only imagine the amount of money that Lloyds TSB have spent on this advertising campaign. I for one do not bank with this company, but if I did, I would have transferred my meager savings elsewhere by now, quite simply because of the aural assault on my ears on a regular basis. "Why not just turn it off?" - I hear you cry? This does not work, even if I hear one note of this, it is as bad as hearing the full tune and the damage is already done. It hasn't gone unnoticed that there are many variations of this tune popping up now and again.
A Soviet-born Austrian named Elena Kats-Chernin is responsible and the track is called`Eliza's Aria' from a ballet named `Wild Swans', so you know what section of HMV you need to take your sledgehammer to on your next visit.
Hazem Shaheen is an Egyptian Oud teacher and player as well as being a member of both the Eskenderella and Masar groups. `Things That I Miss (Hagaat Wahshany)' is his first solo outing on disc. This set concentrates on some satisfying solo pieces by Hazem, but the tracks that really stand out are on the two tracks in which he is joined by piano, double bass and percussion - `Problem' and `Things That I Miss'.
Albums like this don't really offer the listener anything particularly exciting or new, but are still well worth a listen. This album doesn't seem to be readily available outside Egypt at the moment, but until it such time you can listen to clips here
Here is an audio clip of Hazeem, albeit not a track from the reviewed album.
Quite simply, Talk Talk's `It's My Life' is one of the best pop records ever recorded. It sounds better today than it did when it was first released in 1984. An attempt of a cover version by No Doubt could only be described as laughable. The only good thing about that version was that hopefully it steered some folk into sourcing the original, so they could then throw Gwen and co's effort into the bin.
Also, my wife and I chose this song as our "wedding dance tune" when we got married a couple of years back. She danced, I wobbled.
You might have noticed that all of my "Pop Classics" selections so far have been from the 1980's. This is a reflection of the period of time that I was first exposed to pop music to any real extent. nothing to do with some rose-tinted view of this decade that seems to be in fashion right now. There was a lot of great music during the 1980's, but of course a lot of rubbish as well.
If you're looking for those big Alborosie tunes from over the past three years or so like:`Kingston Town', `Rastafari Anthem', `Herbalist', `Sound Killa' and `Waan The Herb' you're in the wrong place. Alborosie's first album `Soul Pirate' came out quietly last year when his management had a huge price tag on his head, and no record label rose to the bait - or so I've heard, and they ended up having to release it themselves in limited quantities
So most reggae folk know the story by now. Alborosie, a Sicilian-born reggae artist who moved to Jamaica to be close the roots of his beloved reggae music and the vibes of rastafari. This makes him an easy target to ridicule but he carries it off well and has a lot more credence that some of his Jamaican-born peers. Some have called him a one trick pony, sounding like he is stuck in a 1980's Black Uhuru time warp, with lots of comparisons to Michael Rose, the former front-man of Black Uhuru. Alborosie can put those criticisms to rest now, as they don't really apply to many of the songs on `Escape From Babylon'. However, our man does borrow styles left right and centre. There is something very Bob Marley about the sound of `America' and something very Eek-a-Mouse about `Real Story'. Saying that, he has created his own style and it's that he have to concentrate on.
With a lot of these songs the delivery, melody and phrasing are good enough even if the lyrics are somewhat uninspiring or lacking. For instance on the chorus of `No Cocaine' Alborosie recycles lyrics we have heard a hundred times before. But maybe I am just nit-picking? If people like that style, then more power to him. Gramps Morgan from the now defunkt Morgan Heritage pops up on `One Sound', which sounds like a hit, but is it just me or we have heard this song a few times before? The late Dennis Brown is resurrected on `Can't Stand It', originally a vintage Joe Gibbs production, whilst Horace Andy's vocals are borrowed on `Money' which is of course a revamp of Andy's classic `Money Money'. You also get the obligatory `"girl tune" in the shape of `Good Woman' and customary "binghi" tune `Likkle Africa'.
There are some very good tunes on here and my personal pick of the bunch, I have included audio youtube links below.
Like Sizzla's latest release on Greensleeves, Tony McDermott has had his pencils out once more, which makes this album a more attractive proposition.
