Happy Australia Day (and make sure you have a ticket)
The words on the left are from I Am Australian, by Bruce Woodley:
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream, and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
Wikipedia says the song was written in 1987. I’m pretty sure either that year or the year after, we sung it at Speech Night at Melbourne High School. (Woodley, like his fellow seekers Athol Guy and Keith Potger, went to Melbourne High.)
Records, cassettes, CDs, iTunes
Back in 1995, I wrote as part of my History Of The World:
1964
Beatlemania sweeps the world. Shortly afterwards, electronics companies devise a fifty year plan to get people to buy all their favourite music many times over, by introducing new recorded music technology every decade. This works until the 1990s, when, due to a tactical miscalculation, everyone is perfectly happy with their CDs.
I guess the joke’s on me.
Love the advert, by the way… but I’m resisting. My CDs, some going back to the late-80s, all still work (though I admit getting suckered into upgrading to the remastered Abbey Road a couple of years back).
Tags: iTunes, The Beatles
5 comments
Get well soon, Molly
Music industry legend Molly Meldrum has undergone surgery overnight to relieve swelling on his brain after he fell from the roof while putting up Christmas decorations at his Richmond home.
I reckon for most Australian Gen-Xers with an interest in music, Molly Meldrum is just someone who’s always been there, as host of Countdown, then later on Hey Hey.
As a kid I used to regularly watch Countdown on a Sunday afternoon, always keen to see what had made it into the top ten. I can’t claim I liked all the music, but was fascinated by the music videos and live performances.
I remember watching the psychedelic music video to Ashes To Ashes. (Released August 1980, so I must have been about 10.) My mum looked at the TV and made some remark along the lines of how strange it was. I recall getting all self-righteous and saying back “you wouldn’t understand” — as if I had some deep, knowing connection with it.
Despite for a while living a short distance from the ABC’s Ripponlea studios, I never actually went along to a recording of Countdown, though my sister did once. She came home with a freebie LP of Cyndi Lauper.
Molly popped up on the Queen documentary recently aired by the ABC, in archival footage, interviewing Freddie Mercury. I know he’s still active as well, so his influence is still felt in the music industry, and I’m sure many will be wishing him a full and speedy recovery.
Tags: Countdown, Molly Meldrum, music
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Old man music
Happy Fathers Day.
As I recall it, there’s a scene in one episode of Frontline where Mike Moore is driving along listening happily to the radio, singing along to “We Built This City”. When the DJ comes on he derides it as “one for the oldies” and then throws to something newer, a heavy rock number which Mike thoroughly dislikes, leaving him shouting at the radio, demanding to know “Where’s the music??”
I was sitting in a cafe the other day where they play Mix FM when they had an 80s Flashback — 1927‘s “That’s When I Think Of You.”
To be honest I don’t know how much I like 1927′s other songs, but I really like this one — always have.
Mix FM went back to their usual fare, which made it pretty obvious that I am not the demographic that they are looking for.
There’s something I find very unappealing about the vocals in most of the songs — they seem to be produced to be deliberately distorted, and/or sounding like wailing, warbling, or seemingly out-of-tune (such as a cover-version of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” where all the vocal bits from the original sounded off-key).
It’s just my opinion of course. Someone must like it I suppose.
Tags: 1927, Mix FM, music
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Tonight I’m going to see Pulp
…along with all the GenXers Common People.
Festival Hall tonight, and part of Marita’s birthday present. In the all-ages (alcohol-free) section, because that’s where the best seats were! Apparently that’s just how Festival Hall works; I wouldn’t expect a large number of youngsters attending for this old person music.
Looking forward to it immensely. If the buzz (well, okay, the bloke in the CD shop and the lady in the ticket office) is right, it should be a great show.
- The official video has better sound and interesting visuals, but the word “screw” is censored
- The William Shatner version (arranged by Ben Folds) is not as bad as you might first think
Update Saturday morning: After an incredibly long wait for dinner at a nearby pub, which meant we missed the entire support act, it was a great, great show from Pulp. Jarvis was in fine form, as was the crowd.
We surprised Marita by having Tony show up and sit next to us.
If you have the chance to see Pulp in concert, then do so. Highly recommended.
Update Age review of the concert. The Vine review.
Tags: Festival Hall, Pulp
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The Long And Winding Road
Call me slow, but I just figured out why I never used to be that keen on The Long And Winding Road but how recently I’ve come to like it — and even find it quite emotional.
It’s not just because I’m getting old.
It’s because for years all I had was the original version from Let It Be, and now I have the revised Let It Be — Naked version (as well as a similar version from Anthology 3).
What’s the difference? The originally released one, as much as any song on the album, has Phil Spector’s “Wall Of Sound” thing happening, with loads of noise piled on top of the band… choir, harp, brass, orchestra, the full bit.
And it ruins it. Any emotion in Paul McCartney’s vocals is completely lost. It sounds like some dull cabaret jingle or something.
In fact I see now, this text on Wikipedia:
Paul McCartney in particular was always dissatisfied with the “Wall of Sound” production style of the Phil Spector remixes, especially for his song “The Long and Winding Road”, which he believed was ruined by the process.
Yep.
Some songs need a certain rawness for the emotion to come out properly. The live version of WPA’s For A Short Time is another that springs to mind. Cover it up too much, and the performance loses its impact. (That song tugs at the heart strings for other reasons.)
If you’ve only heard the Spector version of Long And Winding Road, I highly recommend you check out the stripped-down one if you get the chance. (Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be available on iTunes.)
Update: Ah, found it:
Someone else has uploaded the Spector version too.
Tags: music, The Beatles
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Butterfly ball (Love is all)
My recollection is this clip used to pop up on the ABC when they had five minutes to fill.
Nowadays they’d probably just run a bunch of promos and adverts for the ABC Shop.
The song is actually called “Love Is All”, from The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast.
I can’t make it along, but I believe Clare and Fahad’s wedding this weekend will use the music during the service — they were looking for some cheery music for the recessional. Very catchy. Almost appallingly catchy. Hope the wedding goes well guys, congratulations!
Tags: Butterfly Ball, friends, weddings
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Happy Gravy Day
(There are several versions of this song on Youtube. I like the versions with his full band, but this one — which appears to be with Uncle Bill — is excellent.)
Tags:
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