Eleni Karaindrou is a Greek composer who has scored many films by her countryman and filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos. I recently encountered her work and was quite intrigued by it, as I have, in recent years become very fond of music of with a cinematic slant by artists such as Rodrigo Leao, Yann Tiersen and Michael Nyman.
I haven't seen the film `The Weeping Meadow' - or indeed any film by Angelopoulos, but judging by this soundtrack I can't imagine it would be a barrel of laughs.
This soundtrack from 2004 consists of pretty much one theme and a few variations, with the instrumentation predominantly consisting of a string orchestra, accordion, double bass, harp and piano. The result is that of a mournful nature, but there are a few moments where the sound elevates into something more joyous.
This is very effecting music and and I am already investigating further recordings by this artist.
What is with reggae artists having to see their face on the front of sleeve? Usually in some kind of righteous pose with fingers glued together, or sitting on a throne? I personally think it's 50% vanity and 50% laziness on both the artist and the record label's part. I mean, how tedious and predictable.
Tedious and predictable are words that can be used to describe most of the content of `Contagious' . If I hear another female backing singer going "ooh ooh" I won't be responsible for my actions. Is it always the same female singers? Do they keep them in the studio in a cupboard along with the triangles and the tambourines? In fact a lot of these songs would sound by far, so much better without any backing singer.
OK, so maybe I am exaggerating a bit. `Stop Watch' is a killer roots tune, but that's the best it gets. `Young Heart' rides a vintage Treasure Isle rhythm and is more than acceptable, the cover of MJ's `Human Nature' is curiously satisfying. A handful of other tunes are OK, but just go through the motions, including combinations with Vybes Kartel, Demarco and Duane Stephenson. But it's the Etana tune with Tarrus `Let Peace Reign' that had me reaching for the sick bucket. Just think of `We Are The World' meets and aforementioned Michael Jackson's `Heal The World'. Nice sentiments but please, no.
Maybe I am just looking for something within the current reggae scene that isn't there, like something to actually get excited about. But it sll seems to have gone a bit static and stale and anything but "Contagious".
Also, 18 tracks is way too much. I know record labels have to make a product worth buying and more appealing to the consumer, but I miss the days of 10 track albums weighing in at under 45 minutes.
Here is some audio from the album out now on VP Records.
One of my favourite reggae tunes of all time, and featuring some of the most miserable lyrics ever to grace vinyl. But in a good way.
Taken from Roy Cousins and The Royals classic 1977 album "Pick Up The Pieces", this is killer roots of the highest order and almost enough to make a grown man cry.
"When you see a big man cry, then you know something is wrong"
If my memory serves me right, I picked up this at Kilburn market at the time of its release in 1984, on the strength that for some reason I thought it looked "interesting". I took it home, loved it and then played it to death. I awaited its arrival in the top 40 and an imminent Vicious Pink performance on Top Of The Pops. Later research told me that the record reached #67 in the charts. A year later it was re-released, remixed and then reached #97. This was their biggest hit. It took me twenty two years to discover another person who actually heard of the song or the group.
I bought two other singles by the band `Je T'aime' (released a year before `Cccan't You See' when the band were known as Vicious Pink Phenomenon) and `Fetish' (released a year after their "big hit"). Both of them were crap.
A nice slice of tech-disco pop that has weathered fairly well over the years. Not really a "classic" as such but it still gives me a warm glow. So for that reason alone, it qualifies as such.
For me this is easily one of New Order's best songs, but widely unknown due it's lowly status as a b-side of `True Faith'. Both tracks were released in 1987 and were produced by Stephen Hague. If `1963' had been released as a single, it would have been a huge hit, but alas that never happened.
New Order occasionally included it in their live repertoire, but it never got the airing it deserved.
Here is a audio clip of the original and a live clip from US during the 1989 `Technique' tour.
This is a classic clip of Bim Sherman, Bonjo Nyabinghi (African Head Charge) and Skip McDonald at Southern Studios in 1990 with a stunning acoustic reading of Bim's classic `Tribulation'.
The late Bim Sherman is one of my favourite reggae singers, and this is a rare clip of the man in action performing live.
Last weekend the Japanese edition of the Durutti Column's latest album `Love In The Time Of Recession' (released in the UK, March 2009) landed in my hallway. Well, not quite. I had a customs fee to pay, so had to collect it from the post office - £13.12 to be exact and that was on top of what I had to pay for the actual CD (£17.00)and the shipping cost (£4.00)from Japan. All for 3 bonus tracks. A bargain! At least it would be if any of them were any good.
Out of the three bonus tracks, it's hard to pick anything positive. `Duet For Piano and Guitar' (mis-titled as `The Secret Between The Blade And Me') is just a variant of `Painting', a track already on the album. `The Secret Between The Blade And Me' (mis-titled as `Duet For Piano and Guitar') carries on in a similar minimal vein, and sounds a bit like a C90 tape being mangled and features Vini Reilly's laziest vocal for sometime. The last bonus track `Everybody's Laughing (I Don't Care)' is not too bad at all, but is a filler for sure.
The album as a whole is excellent which some great tracks on there. `In Memory of Anthony' is a heartfelt ode to Vini's good friend and mentor, the late Tony Wilson, `Rant', `Loser' and `I'm Alive' are more traditional style Durutti tunes with drummer Bruce Mitchell in full effect. Which leads on neatly to the albums highlight, an instrumental piece entitled `For Bruce' with beautiful guitar playing and a very effective sample from an unknown source. Another highlight is `Lock Down' featuring a sample from the reggae dancehall artist Movado, which might seem a strange choice of sample for the Durutti Column, but it isn't the fist time they have used reggae as a source of sample. Other tracks are guitar and piano piece accompanied by Poppy Morgan, Reilly's current girlfriend, on piano. The results are varied. `Wild Beast Tamed' is an instrumental masterpiece whilst the aforementioned `Painting' and `My Poppy' have their merits but would have been more enjoyable to me as instrumentals. I have nothing against Vini's vocals, especially on tracks like `Gun' and `Big Hole' from the album 2006 `Keep Breathing', for example, but the vocals here just don't stand up.
Was it worth the money and the effort? Yes, but for the life of me I don't know why.
1. In Memory of Anthony 2. Rant 3. More Rainbows 4. I'm Alive 5. For Bruce 6. Painting 7. Wild Beast Tamed 8. Rainbow Maker 9. My Poppy 10. Loser 11. Lock-Down 12. The Secret Between The Blade And Me 13. Duet For Piano And Guitar 14. Everybody's Laughing (I Don't Care)
Here is a clip of The Durutti Column on BBC2's Culture Show, featuring an interview with the band and footage of one of their recent "Paean To Tony Wilson" shows in Manchester.
`For Your Lover Give Some Time' is business as usual for Richard Hawley. A beautifully crafted ballad with lush strings which leaves you wanting more. Excellent stuff that bodes well for the forthcoming album `Truelove's Gutter', Hawley's 6th, due for release in September. This is the first single to be taken from it.
`For Your Lover Give Some Time' is currently available for download on itunes and amazon.
This is a very interesting and worthwhile read for anyone with a passing interest in the current state of the music business, in particular record shops, or lack of them. When I first started buying records in the early 1980's, my trips to Spin It in Willesden were the highlights of the month. Nowadays I am still unable to walk past a record shop without having to enter. Of course, I use the term "record shop" loosely in today's terms, as you would be hard pushed to find any vinyl lurking alongside the CDs, DVDs, video games and books on any high street store you might enter. However if you look hard enough, scattered across the county there are record and CD shops who are struggling to survive and are now thinking of inventive and varied ways of surviving in these days of file sharing, downloading, both legally and illegally, as well as the simple fact that the majority of the public, especially youngsters have little or no interest in owning music, and not certainly not in a physical form.
Graham Jones tackles the subject with obvious enthusiasm, which is unsurprising as his "day job" is visiting record shops and selling stock to them. In this book "Last Shop Standing - Whatever Happened to Record Shops?", Jones encounters some of the store owners and staff he has met up and down the country over the years and has many an anecdote to tell. He discovers how these shops are continuing to trade, as well sharing his story of how he got started in the music business in the first place.
Jones is no writer, and that is obvious, with quite a few grammatical errors (like this blog!) and sometimes schoolboy essay-style writing (like this blog!) but in this case, it is not that important because the tales he tells are compelling, funny and moving.
Last week I witnessed Graham doing a reading from the book in Broadway Books, Broadway Market, Hackney and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Released in 2006, this is a very enjoyable album of what you could loosely call "Oriental Jazz", although it's really more oriental than jazz, it has to be said. For me, just the right balance and it hits the right spot.
Masar Group are four very talented musicians, three of which are Egyptians - Hazem Shaheen, Nawar Abbessi and Hani Bdei playing oud, piano and percussion respectively. They are joined by the very able Miles Jay, an American gentleman on contrabass, a type of double bass apparently.
The musicianship on this set is excellent, especially when the piano takes the lead on the tracks `Remal' and `Eh el Ibara'. The latter I am sure I have heard before somewhere, but I may be wrong.
Another trip down memory lane into the 1980's for some of you folk, but not for me. I only really fell for this song a year or so ago when I heard it by accident coming out of an ex-work colleague's PC speakers.
I have absolutely no interest in Marc Almond or Soft Cell and would pay hard cash never to hear their version of `Tainted Love' ever again, but this track`Say `Hello, Wave Goodbye' from 1982 is genius.
`Maktub' by Orquestra Arab De Barcelona has been out for a few months, but I have just stumbled this album and and I'm glad that I did, for it is very enjoyable and well worth a punt.
As made quite clear by the name of the band, they are indeed an arab music-orientated band based in Barcelona, with musicians made up of players from Morocco, Catalonia and Greece with a rich mixture of violin, oud and piano dominating the sound. Stand out tracks for me are `El Viaje De La Verdad', `Sufi'. `Gloria A TI' and `Mi Tierra'. For sound clips check here.
The sound is never boring, fusing mainly arab musical and vocal influences with a mizture subtle Catalan and Spanish styles, as well as jazz flavours, but on the whole sticking to the roots
I was never really a fan of Killing Joke to any real extent, but the superb single `Love Like Blood' made a huge impact with me when it was released in 1985.
Killing Joke were fronted by the charismatic and scary looking Jaz Coleman who has had a very interesting career, not only in the music business, but within literature and as an environmental campaigner . Folk who only associate Mr Coleman with Killing Joke should do well to read here.
This is a clip `Love Like Blood' from the Channel 4 show The Tube circa 1985.
