RIP Thread!!

I'm a casual Lightfoot fan, with a few of his early albums on vinyl and a best of on CD. He wrote some great songs. Some are at a personal level, e.g., If You Could Read My Mind or Carefree Highway. Some are great takes on Canadian history, e.g., The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Canadian Railroad Trilogy. For the uninitiated, here's a sampling:

He was a brilliant songwriter. Edmund Fitzgerald & Sundown are two of THE great songs.

Quote from FeelItComing

He was a brilliant songwriter. Edmund Fitzgerald & Sundown are two of THE great songs.

Along with "If you could read my mind", absolutely!

Very sad. Great songwriter.

RIP post concerning John Giblin here. Very sad news.

Just seen that Francis Monkman (founder member of Curved Air and Sky, and composer of the soundtrack for The Long Good Friday) passed away last week. Curved Air's Phantasmagoria was one of the first albums I ever bought.

RIP Tina Turner

Quote from Backdrifter

RIP Tina Turner

That's a big one. What a voice she had, and a tumultuous life by all accounts. RIP.

Quote from thewatcher

That's a big one. What a voice she had, and a tumultuous life by all accounts. RIP.

I was never a fan but had great respect for her. She survived horrendous physical and mental abuse in her marriage then relaunched her career wholesale with the help of Heaven 17, to whom she was publicly thankful.

I wasn't a fan either but in the same way I respected her for being a great artist. My dad has always been a huge fan though. Me being an 80's kid I was used to her being quite a name alongside other giants of pop music such as Michael Jackson, Prince or Madonna. I always struggled with her voice which I found a matter of taste despite her undoubted artistry. I changed my mind however when I heard earlier recordings from the 60's and 70's - River Deep Mountain High is my dad's fave. Tina Turner has already been a top artist in my parents' youth, she still was during my childhood, and finally in my teen years, in the 90's, she would still pop up every now and then with a James Bond song or something else, always one of those great artists that don't seem to age. It is weird she passed now, having survived younger pop giants such as Whitney Houston, George Michael and Prince.

Last night I found myself browsing through youtube and when I saw this video I was like oh my sweet god, what a fantastic performer she was. She is incredible in this recording, really giving all her heart and soul.

As people might expect it's the Mark Knopfler connection (he wrote Private Dancer) that is important to me, but I went to see her in 1985 and she was stunning. She was much loved here for doing a commercial for Rugby League which was credited with revitalising the sport.

Unfortunately my beloved Sydney Roosters are only in for a millisecond of someone's shorts. She did another one featuring The Best, but the YouTube quality is dreadful.

My favourite song by her was always Nutbush City Limits. But her performance of Acid Queen in Tommy - Wow!

RIP Tina

Quote from thewatcher

Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer songwriter. I never got into him, but I remember my parents going to see him a few times, and after the last one a few years ago they said his voice had faded badly. Reading of his death causes me to reflect on the fact that they are getting older.

Also this week: Jerry Springer.

1972 Gordon Lightfoot concert on BBC4 tonight. I'll be recording it, so if anyone would like a copy, let me know.

R.I.P

Glenda Jackson.

A great actor and someone who clearly thought that she try and make the world a better place.

Great sense of humour. I'll never forget the laughs my family had watching her play Cleopatra in The Morcombe & Wise show.

Oh man... RIP Alan Arkin. One of the greats and a favourite of mine 😪

Quote from Backdrifter

RIP Alan Arkin

Sorry to hear about that. As it happens, I mainly know him from INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU, a film (and a performance) that was inevitably going to be criticized no matter how good it was. (And it was good, though not great.)

Quote from DecomposingMan

Sorry to hear about that. As it happens, I mainly know him from INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU, a film (and a performance) that was inevitably going to be criticized no matter how good it was. (And it was good, though not great.)

If you get a chance, see him as a rather nervous salesman in the gripping film version of Glengarry Glen Ross, and the hilariously irascible grandfather in the excellent Little Miss Sunshine. Possibly most famously he was the lead in the controversial film version of Catch 22. In the 1960s he played some quite edgy roles. He was one of those steady, reliable actors such that when they go it feels we've lost a fixture. I liked his work very much.

Quote from Backdrifter

Oh man... RIP Alan Arkin. One of the greats and a favourite of mine 😪

Oh that's such a shame.

This thread informs us Mo Foster has died. What an extraordinary life and career he had. The range of session work and film scores he worked on is rich and varied. He also worked with the Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras as well as working in a range of other genres. He made solo albums, and was a producer, author, presenter and archivist. So many in the music industry, as well as listeners and readers, will have been touched by his work and will feel saddened to learn of his death.