Playlist
These songs are on one of my iPod playlists. Can you figure out what distinguishes them?
- Del Amitri — Be My Downfall
- Jellyfish — I Wanna Stay Home
- Weddings Parties Anything — Roaring Days
- Ocean Colour Scene — Mechanical
- Paul Kelly — Love Never Runs On Time
- Corduroy — Mini
- Loudon Wainwright III — Grey In L.A.
- Weddings Parties Anything — Under The Clocks
- Jimi Hendrix — Hear My Train A Comin’
- The Beatles — One After 909
- Billy Bragg — Upfield
- The Badloves — Green Limousine
- The Who — 5:15
- The Beatles — Magical Mystery Tour
- Paul Kelly — Last Train To Heaven
- Queen — Bicycle Race
- The Who — Magic Bus
- Del Amitri — Sometimes I Just Have To Say Your Name
- Hoodoo Gurus — 1000 Miles Away
- Jimi Hendrix — Crosstown Traffic
- The Beatles — Ticket To Ride
- Billy Bragg — A13, Trunk Road To The Sea
- Jimi Hendrix — Day Tripper
- Lenny Kravitz — Mr. Cab Driver
- Paul Kelly — From St Kilda To King’s Cross
- Powderfinger — Passenger
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers — Runaway Trains
- Traveling Wilburys — End Of The Line
- Oasis — D’You Know What I Mean?
- Missy Higgins — Don’t Ever
- Urthboy — We Get Around
- Spiderbait — By the Time I Get to Howlong
And once that’s been answered, what others should I seek out and add?
Tags: iPod, music
25 comments
When You Walk In The Room
Some songs evoke a particular memory, of either a specific event or a period of my life.
So it is with Paul Carrack’s version of Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk In The Room“, from 1987.
I bought the 45 (rpm, single) of it, primarily because the (quite amusing) video clip included all of the cast of Who Dares Wins — a sketch show of the time that I absolutely loved that included Tony Robinson (better known as Baldrick in Blackadder), Rory McGrath (who you still see pop up on QI and other shows) and some others who were very talented but have mostly disappeared into obscurity (at least from an Australian point of view).
I suspect the video clip’s high school crush theme also resonated at the time.
I’m not sure what happened to the record; it probably got chucked out years ago. I didn’t think I’d ever hear it, let alone see the video clip, again. But here it is, thanks to YouTube.
(Unfortunately the first and last few seconds/lyrics of the song are missing. Ah well.)
Right now
Right now I’ve got no blog post written for today, so here instead is Van Halen’s Right Now (1992) — one of my most favourite ever music videos.
I wouldn’t like the song half as much if it wasn’t for the video.
(Better quality copy here which can’t be embedded.)
Here’s another old music video that I like which also tries to do something a little deep with its imagery: Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s Jammin’ Me. (Note the visuals referencing Apartheid, now happily long gone, graphics from the old Amiga computer, and the Apple/Steve Jobs reference in the lyrics.)
Diversity of culture
In the history of recorded music, given the choice, there are few tunes I would be less inclined to listen to than “Careless Whisper” (perhaps better known by the lyric “Never gonna dance again”) by George Michael.
Yet a lady on the train on Wednesday morning was listening to it on her iPod. All the sappy saxophone, every moaning lyric, loudly enough for me to hear it nearby — and for it to subsequently burrow its way into my brain.
Perhaps she had been prepping herself for Wednesday night’s concert.
One could take the piss out of her for having such a taste in music, but perhaps it just underscores the diversity of culture in the human race.
It reminds me of the time I was at the station reading Brian Bagnall’s “On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore”. I was utterly rivetted to it — it’s excellent (though sloppily written) for geeks who had a Commodore computer back in the day.
The station host lady asked me what it was, and upon telling her, paused, and then remarked “We really are all different, aren’t we.”
Yep.
Meanwhile, I’m off to place something off my Loud list. Some Spiderbait might get rid of Mr Michael.
Tags: George Michael, music, Spiderbait
8 comments
Quick reviews
A few quick reviews of things I’ve read or watched recently…
(The DVDs fall into the category of “I’ve been meaning to watch that; I’ll buy that if it’s less than $10. Ooh, there it is!” One book was borrowed, the other I got for Christmas.)
A Hard Day’s Night — got this cheap on Amazon, and thought the kids would enjoy it, which they did. Occasionally the accents are a tad hard to follow, but the antics of the Beatles, together with Paul’s “very clean” grandfather got some laughs. And because it’s based loosely on the real life experiences of The Beatles, it’s also a view into life in 1960s Britain.
Tron — found this cheap in JB Hifi. It smells a bit of 80s computer-age wonder cash-in, with users having real beings inside the computer who run all their jobs. But it was quite enjoyable, and very interesting graphics for a 1982 film.
A Nest of Occasionals, Tony Martin — very funny stuff, particularly the tales of writing radio adverts, which had me in stitches at one point. I’m going to have to check out his other book, Lolly Scramble.
Jasper Jones (by Craig Silvey)– Superb, a real page turner, really enjoyed it. And again, fully intending to get hold of his other novel, Rhubarb.
(Currently reading Shane Maloney: “Stiff”.)
The Loud list
At work I have a “Loud” play list, for when things are noisy in the office and I need to concentrate on something.
Loudness helps, but an all-encompassing sound is even better for when I need to drown out other noise.
Most artists in my collection have at least a few loud songs, but some which have more than others and are more prominent on the list, such as:
The Living End
Led Zeppelin
Powderfinger
Hendrix
Spiderbait, obviously
Hoodoo Gurus, especially their live album
Ocean Colour Scene
Green Day
Who else would be good?
Tags: music, work
17 comments
Abbey Road remastered
My old school friend Raoul used to say he went into Brashs in Elizabeth Street sometime in the 80s and asked for Abbey Road and was told they didn’t stock reggae. I asked Raoul last week about the new remixed Beatles CDs, and he reckoned don’t bother unless you have a high-end stereo system — which I don’t.
On the other hand, as one of the iPod masses, I listen to a reasonable proportion of my music through earphones, which leaves you hearing more detail.
Anyway… I’m a sucker. When I saw it in JB Hifi for $19.99, I bought the new version of the Abbey Road CD — an album I’ve already owned in two formats (cassette and CD — unlike some other Beatles albums I never bought it on vinyl).
Unlike the old one it comes in one of those awkward cardboard things which makes it so difficult to get the disc out in comparison with the jewel cases that it’s like they’re begging you to put it on your iPod and forget about the CD.
There’s a nice booklet in there.
And the sound? Via headphones at least, it does sound more crisp, really great for a forty-year-old album. You can hear some of the detail of the individual instruments that couldn’t be heard before, such as Ringo’s tambourine on Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. And the spread of instruments between left and right seems more pleasing. I like it.
Some noticeable things on specific tracks:
Come Together — doesn’t sound much different to start with, but the heavy guitar is more heavy.
Oh Darling — a lot more detail from the guitar in the right speaker, and you can hear Paul’s worn-out voice much better.
Octopus’s Garden — this is a long way from being my favourite track, but I’m hearing little flourishes I never noticed before.
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) — the repeating bit at the end seems way “heavier” — dense with sound.
Here Comes The Sun — some interesting synthesiser notes and other sounds that have probably always been there, but are now nicely separated out and distinguishable.
Golden Slumbers — you can hear a lot more feeling in Paul’s voice, particularly in the lines “Golden slumbers fill your eyes / smiles await you when you rise”
The End — lots more detail here, love it. The sudden noise-to-silence cut-off at the end flies from right to left. (OK I checked the old version and it does that too.)
Admittedly some of the difference here will be from intently listening to new version, on the lookout for differences. As well as doing the MP3s from the CD at the highest bitrate possible to make the most of the remastering, rather than the 192 Kbps I usually use.
Will I buy more of them? Probably not — Raoul was right. Mind you, it was enjoyable listening out for all the “new” things I could hear, and I wouldn’t be disappointed if Sgt Pepper or the White Album shows up under the Christmas tree this year.
Tags: Abbey Road, Beatles
2 comments
It’s the Beatles!
Today’s release of The Beatles Rock Band video-game and the remastered CDs is enough to get me excited about the band all over again.
Not that I’ll rush out and replace my collection of CDs with these new ones, but it’s sorely tempting to buy my the new versions of a few favourites, such as Sgt Pepper, The White Album and Abbey Road, which were the first three I bought on CD, back in the late-80s. [Extensive review of the remastered versions].
I just love the opening animation from Rock Band.
(Watch it here to see it without the added intro bit, and in better quality.)
Even the commercial is cool.
I only just got around to getting Guitar Hero, so I won’t rush to get Beatles Rock Band, and I’d want to make sure the guitar is compatible — apparently it is. I’ll keep playing through GH and look at BRB at some stage later when it’s dropped in price.
Daniel’s Beatle Trivia#1: Favourite Beatle song of the moment: Paperback Writer. Love that riff.
Daniel’s Beatle Trivia#1 2: About halfway through The Inner Light I always expect it to start repeating itself, because that’s what the first copy I had of it (a secondhand LP of The Beatles Rarities) did.
Tags: Beatles
5 comments
