Friday, 6 May 2011
In your eyes the light the heat In your eyes I am complete In your eyes I see the doorway to a thousand churches
From the Sappy Song Department
“In Your Eyes”, Peter Gabriel, (1986)
I remember wearing the cassette tape out of this album in my knock-off ‘walkman’ tape player. I played the crap out of the “So” album. I loved “Red Rain”, “Sledgehammer”, “Don’t Give Up”, and “Mercy Street”. The one that struck me the deepest was “In Your Eyes”. I played this tape walking, doing my laundry, washing my dishes, driving my car, in a plane, on a train. I believe I liked it Sam-I-Am!
Peter Gabriel, (already hugely famous in Genesis1), left the band to pursue his own projects in 1975. His wife had a very difficult pregnancy and he opted to stay home with his subsequently sick daughter and wife. The rest of the band resented it, but that was the end of Genesis. The song “Salisbury Hill”, his first solo single is about leaving Genesis. It seems to me that Gabriel made the right call.
Gabriel used to recite dream-like stories before songs on stage with Genesis. His work is deeply emotional and symbolic, even spiritual. The sound darkly engineered at times – he worked with Robert Fripp, who was highly experimental with the production of sound. Add some Afro-World percussion and the soulful Senegalese Youssou N'Dour, and you have a monumental, unforgettable song.
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble Can't be too careful with your company I can feel the devil walking next to me
Quick Hit
“One Night in Bangkok”, Murray Head (1984)
Clearly he was Björn again, when former the Abba member Björn Ulvaeus wrote this song - cynical and jaded even. Originally from the theatrical musical “Chess:” the lyrics were written with Tim Rice, and the music composed with Abba buddy Benny Andersson. Murray Head sang the lead in the Theatrical version of this which ran successfully in the U.K. till 1989, whilst the single was a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Well the rain exploded with a mighty crash As we fell into the sun And the first one said to the second one there I hope you’re having fun
70's Pick of the Week
“Band on the Run”, Wings (1973)
Of all the post-Beatles stuff, this album is my favourite. It seemed to just fall together well with an unintended grace that is beautiful and simple.
When the needle hits the record we heard ‘Band on the Run’, transition to ‘Jet’ and then into the mellow ‘Bluebird’, ‘Mrs. Vanderbilt”, and finally “Let Me Roll It’.
Side 2 kicks it up a bit with the hit “Helen Wheels” (not in the U.K. version), “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty five”, and “Picasso’s Last Word’s’ (with a little help from his friend Ginger Baker at his studio).
Bored with recording in the U.K., McCartney asked EMI for a list of recording studios in the world. Intrigued by Lagos in Nigeria, off they went – without taking time to check it out.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
I'm not in love So don't forget it It's just a silly phase I'm going through And just because I call you up Don't get me wrong, don't think you've got it made
Hip to be Square
“I’m Not in Love”, 10cc (1975)
Not sure if you have heard of ‘Godley and Creme’. They were kind of an experimental art rock song writing team who did some great work after the breakup of 10cc. The song “Cry” is an engineered piece of genius. Well worth a listen.
Kevin Godley and Lol Crème were the ‘Art’, while Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart were the “Pop” in the seventies band ‘10cc’ started in the late ‘60s but thus named in 1972.
Although everyone in the band wrote songs, it was Gouldman and Stewart numbers that gave 10cc its commercial approach. That is not to say that Godley and Crème did not have a huge impact on the experimentation and ultimate sound of 10cc, with such funky inventions as the ‘gyzmotron’, which made some seriously unique guitar sounds, such as unlimited sustain.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
The time to hesitate is through No time to wallow in the mire Try now we can only lose And our love become a funeral pyre
Shaman or Fool? I am the Lizard King I can Do Anything: The Doors Part I.
Do people need to understand us for us to be free?
Is there freedom without self sacrifice? How about with self distruction?
Is there freedom only in death? Are we truly free only when we fully express who we are?
Is it freedom if it hurts others around us? Is it freedom if it sets everyone free around us?
I think these are some of the questions Jim Morrison struggled with in his rather brief but irreverent life. He was said to be a genius; but was he a Shaman or a fool?
The Doors gave birth to a strange and unique sound. It came of jazz and blues and flamenco guitar. It came of beach sounds, hallucinogens and deserts. It came of smoky bars, beat poets and French novelists. It burned the brightest when the creativity was turned up and left to go where it wanted. It waned and crashed when it was out of control and too self-aware.
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