This was exactly the Monday antidote I required.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIoG4PlEPtY]
I eagerly await the news show that’s a combination of auto-tuned stories and those fantastic Tawainese digital re-creations of vaguely true events.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLFRtleBAlo]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cjORoHfTcg]
When I was a youth, I loved to be buried in a wall of bass and guitar. In truth, even today, when I’m out on the road with my tongue wagging from heat and effort, there are few things that will rouse me quite like a fast beat and shouted lyrics.
Still, in the moments that I need strength – and not just adrenaline – there is little in the world that compares to the above live performance by The National. It is one of those videos I return to every few months, with a sudden craving, especially when I need to grab hold of something larger than myself.
I’m not sure if it strikes at the ridge of memory that holds my childhood experiences of watching my family, and extended family, gathering up their strings and bows to make music together in the front-room of my grandparent’s farmhouse, but there’s something in the imperfections and improvised instrumentation that makes this recording greater to me than any clean-cut album version could ever be.
With the publicity generated from Hair, Meat Loaf was invited to record with Motown. They suggested he do a duet with Stoney Murphy, who had performed with him in Hair, to which he agreed. The Motown production team in charge of the album wrote and selected the songs while Meat Loaf and Stoney came in only to lay down their vocals.
[…]
Meat Loaf left soon after Motown replaced his and Stoney’s vocals from the one song he liked, “Who Is the Leader of the People?” with new vocals by Edwin Starr. The album has been re-released after Meat Loaf’s success, with Stoney’s vocals removed from all songs from the original Stoney and Meatloaf album.
Listen – I’m not the kind of fellow to have a lot of patience for Meat Loaf, at least post-Eddie The Ex-Delivery Boy, but the person behind this mix of the two versions of “Who Is The Leader Of The People?” deserves a career.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAR3tTZ470I]
Last night I had my mind blown when I stumbled across a stage version of H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds.
A MUSICAL version.
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIqLqUenz0]
I got a request to clarify the name of one of the theme songs we’ve been using – so, I thought, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing. Here’s a complete list of themes we’ve used, with links to downloads where available:
FlashPulp Theme: Paul Whiteman With Johnny Hauser – Gloomy Sunday
Mother Gran: Dock Boggs – Pretty Polly (From Wikipedia: The song is a murder ballad, telling of a young woman lured into the forest where she is killed and buried in a shallow grave. Many variants [Mostly those that stick closer to the traditional British tune – JRD] of the story have the villain as a ship’s carpenter who promises to marry Polly but murders her when she becomes pregnant. When he goes back to sea, he is haunted by her ghost, confesses to the murder, goes mad and dies.)
Mulligan Smith: Harry A. Yerkes Dance Orchestra – Mystery
Thomas Blackhall: Hanafins – Bantry Bay (Hornpipe) (The Wikipedia: The [Irish] town of Bantry, at the head of the bay, is associated with the Irish Rebellion of 1798 as being the place where an earlier attempt to land launch a rebellion was made by a French fleet, including Wolfe Tone in December 1796.)
Joe Monk: The Edison Concert Band – Hot Time March
Fictional Science: Elektro\Ulysses Vibraphonic – Moebius March
Chiller: Berkes Bela – Hej Cigany Hallod E
Ray Charles’
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8xImJxG9gA]
Sarah McLachlan’s
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbsg_lqqKxk]
Bjork’s
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr7PtJAesA8]
Heather Nova’s
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUh8VCDOt2Y]
Here’s Steeleye Span’s version of The Fause Knight Upon the Road, the Child Ballad that played an integral role in last night’s episode.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHqFyRT1AhU]
It creeps up on me, shaking me awake well before I’m rested. It looms just beyond the bed, impending and unstoppable.
I’ve discovered a solution however; a weapon strong enough to defeat even this hell beast.
So – Eat it, Monday:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wLWhSZ1Uvo]
It’s already been a long Tuesday, so I needed something to spice things up:
I understand why it’s easy to confuse the two:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqcEo5CNTQ]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S90z0jJDAQ]
Both were written by the same fellow, Jesse Fredrick.
Jesse Frederick is a film and television composer best known for writing the themes to television shows such as Perfect Strangers, Full House, Family Matters, and Step By Step. – Wikipedia
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puYjGU27eo0]
Man, The Guess Who were a weird and fantastic band.
I don’t really enjoy the stadium style of BTO anymore – it certainly held a fascination for me when I was twelve – but Randy Bachman is one of the CBC’s greatest assets at the moment.
Er, while this began as a ridiculous Friday night music post, ten minutes of wikipedia has me thinking I may be returning to this topic. Is there a quality book on 1960s & ’70s Canadian rock music?