Lovely write up of a concert Brett Anderson of Suede did with an orchestra of disabled musicians, called Paraorchestra. They covered songs about death by Echo and the Bunnymen, David Bowie, Depeche Mode and others. I just received the release in the post but haven't had a chance to listen, and based on this review I'm really, really looking forward to it.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/concerts/paraorchestra-with-brett-anderson-and-charles-hazlewood/
From Taylor Swift's new album, a song with Florence called Florida. Really love it. This one is good too. I couldn't not listen to at least a couple of songs since my oldest daughter would have it on repeat and discussing endlessly with her friends. Of the other songs - I still don't get how her lyrics uniquely are almost given the status of prophecy, or like a living Shakespeare, and the music in general just doesn't sound to my ears so noteworthy that it should sweep all before it. I find it generally good with some highlights.
But what do I know?! It's all a matter of opinion and like many other massively popular artists before her (like Coldplay for example), everyone else can hear something I can't. Except with her it's somehow much different, she crosses age/gender/style boundaries and captures fans like no other monster star before her has. Maybe Elvis? Or Michael Jackson?
Anyway, good for her and her fans.
I'd gently suggest this is one of the best songs of all time. A young man mourning his mother.
Randomly I heard the title track in a grocery store yesterday. I could tell it was Phil but not which track for a while. I hadn't heard it in years and it was a pleasant surprise.
I echo pretty much every comment above and also agree with the list of "good" songs on the album. He was very good at the grittier, darker side when he wanted to (Mama was peak, Tonight Tonight Tonight was also excellent), he just did very little of it solo after Hello... 13 for this track.
Partial eclipses suck.
It didn't suck, it was quite exciting for the kids which was nice and the experience itself, while underwhelming, wasn't bad. A 12 hour traffic jam and arriving home at 3am would have been bad. Very, very bad. If there were a total eclipse happening outside my window, I'm sure I'd love it. If I knew I could drive an hour or two there and back I'd *maybe* do it. Would I fly somewhere to see one, or risk getting trapped in a car for a day? Not for a large casket of diamonds and gold ingots.
I feel like the Curb Your Enthusiasm guy over here! Not intentionally.
Undeterred by the bah humbug mode above, we had a great eclipse, driving frantically around the Niagara Escarpment until we found an open patch of sky just minutes before totality. Seeing the sun getting fully blocked out with the surrounding corona, seeing sunset effects on every horizon, feeling the temperature fall and the birds suddenly quiet, and then experiencing everything reawaken minutes later was magical.
That does sound lovely.
To add to my somewhat miserable commentary above though, a couple of people I work with had stories of driving to the path of totality, which sounded fine, the totality itself which sounded amazing, and then driving back which sounded nightmarish. 12 hours to cover a 3-4 hour distance, 4+ hours of not moving at all on an interstate where the exits have all been blocked off to prevent detours through little towns. People wandering into the woods to relieve themselves. Sounds kind of dangerous actually. I'm profoundly grateful I didn't chance it with the kids, it would have been disastrous. I wonder if any Teslas died halfway home!
was it in the running for TLD?
I'm fairly certain it was. Didn't one of them make a comment to effect of "we know how to play it" during an interview or promo of some sort? It's a hazy memory so I can't pull up a reference but it gave me the distinct impression they had rehearsed it and until late in the game was a contender for making the setlist. Actually it's one I've heard on the radio and in bars in the US here, so I was convinced they'd swap it in for the US leg of the tour, and specifically avoided the set list discussions after the European leg was over.
Edit: we had a discussion about it before!
Edit 2: I just read through it, and it devolves into a dirgey thread with little to recommend it 😃. Best avoided
Be forewarned: bah humbug mode has been activated.
So the eclipse. We had 92% of it where I am. In keeping with my tendency to be naturally repelled by things that hordes of people flock to, I found it extraordinarily over rated. The initial glimpse of it through those glasses you wear was mildly exciting, and the quality of the ambient light as it neared its peak was vaguely interesting in the way the first third of a horror movie can interesting - before anything really scary happens and they're dutifully putting all the pieces in place. It got cold.
Maybe in the path of totality it's different (for four minutes, the excitement increases from mild to mild-moderate, and it gets colder), but if I live to the heat death of the universe I will not understand the people who spend their time and money traveling the world hunting that brief pulse of interest.
<bah humbug mode off>
I love the immediacy of the opening bit, the urgency in the chorus and then the way it kind of devolves into an instrumental section that is atypical for Genesis in feeling very formless. It's also one of those "all change" songs for the band, like Follow You Follow Me. As a nod to the other thread about Banks keyboard, I like the somewhat crystalline character his sound has in this track. The short chords that swell before Phil's vocal in the final chorus is a nice embellishment that stood out to me as I was discovering the band. I really like this song. 14.
This is a really cool idea, and gives a little flavor I think of the potential impact of AI in the arts. Would be interested to watch the Eno film twice back to back and see how different they are, how seamless the different transitions are etc.
Speculating further... Wearable sensors are getting more and more sophisticated, measuring heart rate, O2 sats, temperature, even cardiac output. Could a generative AI based film integrate this data and adapt to changes in your physiology, making a personalized movie? You could start by telling it "I want to be scared" or "I want to laugh".
Nice piece about knopfler in the Irish times. He is a fan of James Joyce! Impressed he read Finnegan's wake.
YES!!!!!! Yes yes yes fucking yes.
Protomartyr are playing near me in June and I got a ticket.
IMHO the best kept secret in American rock music today. Fucking love these guys. The lead singer is an insanely well-read, self-effacing rotund guy who drinks beer on stage and somewhat atonally shouts vicious and often insightful lyrics with an inventive guitarist playing angular riffs and a (to my ears) very good drummer driving the whole thing along, going from menacing atmospheric to loud aggression with moments of delicate beauty sprinkled throughout.
So stoked. It's not for everyone but it's definitely for me!
Lead track on their most recent album, "Make Way"
I love the positivity of the thread. And I agree with the highlights listed above.
I'd add the ambience he created with his sound in Heathaze. And the middle section of One for the Vine.
Q: was the flute in The Knife from Tony's keyboard or was it Peter?
For me it feels like he's done a lovely painting in cool understated tones then painted a primary-colour stick figure over it.
This description is just brilliant and spot on. I love the song though, stick figure and all!
In a more general sense, I think TB was at his best - and one of the best - when his playing blended in with the stellar rhythm section of Mike and Phil, and occasionally as a soloist when the solo felt like it was naturally riding a rollercoaster provided by the band. Think the likes of In The Cage or Home By The Sea. Less so when he played in a busy, brassy style that felt like he was trampling on a stick house. Think the likes of Slippermen and to a certain extent Dreaming While You Sleep.
I think I may have just stumbled on the worst name for a band I've ever seen: Leftover Salmon. Out of morbid curiosity I might investigate just to see what type of music lurks behind.
It's almost as bad as Steve's title for his memoir.
Edit: very tough band to Google haha. They seem to be a bluegrass Americana band of some sort. Into their 4th decade apparently
Very interesting. Are there any recordings of the few post-Phillips pre-Hackett gigs? Sounds like they were a bunch of experimental lineups.
I think the issue was that they thought We Can't Dance would be a too long album if they included these two. In fact Genesis recorded in '91 enough songs to make 2 albums the length of We Can't Dance. It is known that We Can't Dance 2 is kept within The Farm's vaults. What is more, it was considered at the time the possibility of releasing it as a follow-up afterwards.
It can't be. We Can't Dance 2 is too bad of a name. They would have gone with something quippy like, We Still Can't, or Well, We Tried...
I got to use the confused emoji 😃
And what is undeniable is that Mr Collins has been a far more important and emblematic than Sheeran, Bieber, the Spice Girls and Swift together (both solo and with Genesis).
I don't wish to become embroiled in whatever is going on here but wanted to comment on Swift, seeing as my daughters and all their friends are completely obsessed. I've therefore listened to an awful lot of her music without seeking it out. I openly confess I don't fully get it, but I totally respect her. She's an absolute phenom. She's in her 30s, a completely self-made billionaire who's released 11 albums I believe, including rerecordings of several of them to overcome some copyright issue? Say what you want but I don't think Collins is "more important" or emblematic, whatever that means. I don't think she is either. I think they both worked incredibly hard and are both incredibly talented and have had massive success, his 30-40 years ago, hers now. I think any attempt at making a hierarchy is pure fabrication. Including Sheeran, Bieber, spice girls or anyone else you want to throw into the mix.
