Posts by boredatwork

Quote from Backdrifter

I don't agree the singles themselves became patchy. If that's how you're describing Beauty and the Beast then I'm afraid I'm going to have to fight you.

You often see the same archive clips appear over and over. Don't forget that rock music shows were extremely sparse on tv during the 70s so when they featured big names those clips will be endlessly recycled. As you say, it's nevertheless good to see them. One show ran the superb TOTP clip of Jean Genie thought lost until rediscovered 10 years ago.

That would be a pointless fight - Beauty & the Beast was from the late 70s. I maintain the 80s were patchy, as he released some very good singles then, but none after Absolute Beginners, & some before that weren’t up to the standard of the 1970s unbroken good run that lasted from Changes until Scary Monsters in 1980.

Re the clips, yes it’s a shame the BBC don’t have any contemporary film of Genesis with sound or vision half as good as their Bowie handful from 1972, leaving us with only those few clips from the early 70s on Youtube that have been immaculately refurbished by devoted fans.

Quote from Backdrifter

"Flop" might be a tad harsh, it was top 30 in a period when his singles performed quite patchily anyway for whatever reason. That lull lifted come the 80s.

....when unfortunately his singles became quite patchy!

I've seen/heard plenty of Bowie commemorations over this weekend, now it’s been Five Years since his death. 3 consecutive programmes on BBC4 on Friday all showed the same 3 tracks (Queen Bitch, Oh You Pretty Things & Starman) from the 1972 BBC archives. Admittedly all 3 are excellent & bear repeated watching, but it was interesting to see & hear some lesser known songs & clips too on other channels.

Due to the adverse conditions this year, lots of musicians have decided to use their enforced spare time to release Xmas singles or - worse still - whole albums that are now cluttering up the playlists of some radio stations & crowding out those few old Xmas records I actually like such as Greg Lake, Jonah Lewie, Mike Oldfield & the Waitresses. I haven’t heard a single one of these new offerings that deserves to get airplay next Xmas, let alone in decades to come, especially the ones that rub in what a horrible year it’s been & how we all have to use Zoom (thanks Robbie Williams!)

Quote from Backdrifter

FFS, is it the mid 1970s already? There's no room for this on this board, or at least I'd have hoped but it's being liked so perhaps I'm in a minority.

You’ve missed the difference between UK & North American terminology. To the latter, poof means a theatrical or flamboyant person. We discovered this on the previous Genesis fanboard years ago when a North American member posted a comment about Nad Sylvan’s poofy hair, meaning his extravagant coiffure!

Quote from FeelItComing

I've Never Been To Me by Charlene, the ultimate anti-feminist song. You silly woman, you go on home to your hubby and don't be like poor me who 'moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo where I sipped champagne on a yacht' and was 'undressed by kings and seen some things that a woman ain't supposed to see'. I am ashamed I can still remember those lyrics.

If you think that’s bad, you might also dislike “One day at a time” by Lena Martell. 40(?) years after it topped the UK charts, I still can't stand it!

Quote from Backdrifter

Sadly this is true, and equally sadly the exact same is true of many on the right who despise everyone who don't share their views, and automatically dismiss them as 'woke' or 'libtards', 'luvvies' etc. This is all too often the level to which so much discourse has sunk, with each side dug in deep and refusing to give any ground as they shriek insults at each other.

On social media I sometimes engage with people of opposing views, which tend to be right-wing as I identify as liberal. It's rare that I can have a reasoned discussion as often even the initially most reasonable people quickly resort to insults and condemn me as a loony leftie. I'm know I'm far from alone in this, and equally I try to discourage those who share my views from doing the same in the opposite direction.

Both in the UK and the USA there has grown a huge division in society. I don't see any hint of those schisms being healed in the foreseeable future, especially with leaders who choose to deepen those divisions.

Yes unfortunately some on both sides take a positive pride in not even trying to understand their opponent’s viewpoint, as if that was a virtue. The mutual hatred & polarisation predated Trump’s election, but of course he’s emphasized it for his own benefit. Although Biden himself won’t do that, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to prevent his followers from continuing the antagonism, so I can’t see matters improving with Trump’s departure

Quote from Schrottrocker

All good songs you list up there, just overplayed I would say.

That’s a good point. I hate most records that are played incessantly as you can’t escape them for a period, although sometimes you look back later & think maybe they weren’t too bad after all. So now I quite like Le Freak by Chic although I hated it when it came out, but I still hate Happy by Pharrell & almost everything by Adele!

Quote from thewatcher

I think the 'left' for lack of a better term, at least in the US it seems to me, view themselves as inherently pure and correct. I agree much more with their policies but really dislike the moral posturing and all this woke bullshit going around. Neither side owns common sense or decency.

You’re absolutely right, & it’s not just in the US. Many on the left in the US & the UK despise anyone who disagrees with them for whatever reason, & simply brand them as stupid or racist. It makes you wonder how many ordinary Republican & uncommitted voters chose to vote for Trump, or Boris in the UK, because they were sick of being the butt of this dismissive, patronising attitude from those who consider they have a right to rule because of their moral superiority.

“Mystify” a documentary about Michael Hutchence of INXS, re-shown on BBC4. An odd combination: it was overlong & the first part dragged, but the second part was the proverbial slow-motion car-crash footage where you know what’s coming but you can’t stop watching.

Quote from foxfeeder

Steve is the latest artist to be made a subject of one of these books, details here: https://burningshed.com/store/…eve-hackett-on-track_book though that link is for the hardback (and signed by the author).

The author is Geoffrey Feakes, whose other books in this series are the Moody Blues (I have that one) and the Who.

That looks ideal for the completist.

Presumably you’ll be getting a copy as a Xmas present?

I’ll add the late, great Rutger Hauer.

Also Colin Firth, John Cusack, & for comedies Hugh Grant.

Quote from Backdrifter

Yeah the 'yah' song is (I think) Digital Witness which I like but totally get why the yahs might annoy some people. I don't recall her lying on her back on the show though, but anyway. As a fan I was going to say it's a pity if that alone put you off but then I thought there's so much stuff out there it can take just one annoying thing to consign an act to the bin - I'm sure I've done it myself. Stilted, mannered movements certainly form a big part of her live act for sure but I don't think of it as attempted coolness rather than an artifice in the same way flower masks and surreal stories are.

By the way we seem to have assumed that Later has some sort of "cool ethos". Has it? Really? I can't say I've ever spotted it myself!

Thanks for the LTs pointers, I'll check them out. But if any of them have annoyingly mannered quirks of any kind I'll be straight back to let you know about it!

Sorry, I should clarify I don’t think 'Later' is cool - the “cool” ethos mentioned was something foxfeeder pointed out:

"Referring back to the thread title, keeping it real and musical snobbery, I tend to find Jools Holland's show on BBC2 is a bit too "cool", ie/ if you aren't one of "us" you won't be on this show." (NB I've just found out this site gets confused if you try to quote something from a previous page in mid-reply!)

Hence it seems to me that some of the non-top-billed acts try to act “cool” to justify their place on the show, & end up being irritating.

Since the non-top-billed acts only get one song apiece per episode, if you don’t much like that particular song you’re more likely to notice annoying mannerisms or appearance & be put off the act. But then a 1973 film clip of an oddly-dressed man pretending to be a lawnmower on stage might annoy people who don’t like the accompanying song, while the others end up on this fansite

Anyway, after finding “Digital Witness” on Youtube now I know the title, it’s better than I remembered & those irritating “yahs” seem quieter. So yes, negative impressions based solely on 'Later' performances can be misleading.

Quote from Backdrifter

I absolutely love St Vincent. She doesn't particularly come across to me as trying to look cool but even if she is I'm not bothered as I find her one of the most consistently interesting acts at the moment.

Yeah Bunnymen were not good. Sad when you think back to that deep sonorous voice back in the Ocean Rain days. I'll have to investigate Lemon Twigs, recommended anything in particular?

St Vincent was lying on her back & saying “Yaaah!” a lot in an extremely mannered way. Perhaps she was trying to fit in with the “cool” ethos of Later but I’d never seen her before & it really put me off.

Echo & the Bunnymen were terrific around 1980 but frighteningly, that’s 40 years ago(!) & Ian McCulloch has obviously been taking huge quantities of drugs ever since, which probably hasn’t helped!

As for the Lemon Twigs I can honestly say I’ve loved almost everything they’ve done since the official debut album “Do Hollywood” in 2016. Nearly all of it can be found free on Youtube. “These Words” is a good accessible starter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LncJE2otRVA ), or any live version of “Small Victories” (such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ5-M-RY2Sw ) or “The Fire”. From the current album “Songs for the General Public”, try “Live in Favor of Tomorrow”, “Hog”, “The One”, “Why do lovers own each other?”. “Tailor Made” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd5yGb1A8ac ) from 2018 is perfect for driving fast along winding country lanes. And their lovely 2-minute version of “The Coventry Carol” is worth much more than the 99p it cost on Amazon Music. Currently 23 & 21, they’re still in that early top-of-their-game period that Genesis were in from Nursery Cryme through Trick of the Tail. As with Genesis, it won’t last forever - but most bands never experience it at all!

Sorry that went really off topic, but I don't need much of an invitation to plug them!

Quote from Backdrifter

Interesting, I don't really get that from it, I usually find it has quite a good range of acts and at times appreciated their showcasing of interesting new acts or ones unknown to me which have led me to delve into their work. Not that I've been a regular viewer in recent years, I should add. The things I tend not to like are JH's appalling amateurish interview style, being able to see grinning audience members clustered around the acts, and the occasional tendency to bring on some revered act from the 60s who gets treated like royalty but sadly is simply unable to cut it anymore.

An example of this was Martha Reeves. I'm not a Motown fan but appreciate its impact and importance for many fans, and that she was one of its popular exponents. But when she appeared on Later a few years ago, in all honesty her voice was like a frog complaining hoarsely as it tried to force its way through a sandpaper tunnel. Yet JH was practically bowing before her and a friend of mine was outraged when I dared to say MR's voice was wrecked, which it so blatantly was.

And the annual 'Hootenanny' shows have long since been an extended excercise in cringe-inducingness mixed with tedium.

Quote from foxfeeder

Didn't see Martha Reeves, but I think it was Jools shows where both Chrissie Hynde and Ray Davies both demonstrated that their singing careers were effectively over.

I tend to agree with all of this. Jools’ banal interviewing technique is cringeworthy, & the Hootenanny thing has gone way beyond its sell-by date.

But Later’s strength is in bringing a range of disparate acts together in the same programme so each episode usually has at least one act worth watching like Interpol or Marc Almond to compensate for the several others that aren’t. Also as foxfeeder said, some of them try so hard to look cool it’s embarrassing, witness Serge Pizzorno prancing around in pyjamas, & as for St Vincent....

The top-billed acts are often disappointing: I didn’t see Martha Reeves, or Chrissie Hynde & Ray Davies (were those two on the same episode?!), but the once great Echo & the Bunnymen were clearly past their best. However if I hadn’t switched on that particular episode to witness their decline I’d never have stumbled across the Lemon Twigs, & for that I’ll forgive Jools anything

Quote from genesis1964

At last, someone else!

Pre-ordered it in March & it finally arrived on Saturday.

What did you think of it?

Quote from thefarmer

Just heard to Dancing Queen by Abba on the radio. Whenever I hear it I get a strong visualisation of 3 or 4 women dancing somewhat awkwardly in circle around their handbags early on at a wedding reception!

You’re lucky then! Some of us still can’t escape the image of the wretched Theresa May woodenly shuffling across the stage to it, desperately trying to look popular. I’d much rather visualise the handbag dancers

Most fans seem to be rather sniffy about You Can’t Hurry Love, but it’s one of my favourite solo Phil tracks.

Quote from Backdrifter

Already obvious of course. But now it begins in earnest. Confirmation  that Trump will refuse to accept a defeat (though would no doubt be fine if it's a victory).

Unfortunately Trump won in 2016 because his opponents underestimated him & couldn’t believe he had any skills. But one thing he’s very good at is sowing doubt & uncertainty. So here he’s priming voters either to accept delaying the election or to expect gerrymandering & vote-rigging beforehand, in case it’s a close result. He's behind in the polls, so it’s a tactic worth trying.

If Biden wins a decisive victory, Trump will probably concede & leave, albeit with a bad grace. If not, surely he can be politely but firmly removed.

Quote from foxfeeder

I did notice that on the Sky listings for BBC Alba. Let's hope this programme about Peat is no Dud!

It’s depressing that most people under about 45-50(?) won’t get that one

Slightly surprised no one else has voted for any of the Jackson Tapes tracks yet.