Speaking of Eurovision...

The following song was The Netherlands entry in this year's Eurovision held over the weekend. I was saddened when it didn't make it past the second semi-final. (What were you thinking, Eurovision people?)

The song is called "Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-La-Lie)". It was written by Pierre Kartner, the chap who wrote the music for The Smurfs.

"Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-La-Lie)" reminds me of ABBA at their cheesiest, and it reminds me of why Eurovision is a whole heap o' fun:



The above helps to explain why I love ABBA. It also explains why I love The Smurfs.



Pierre Kartner as Father Abraham:

Song of the day: The Master's Apprentices - "Living In A Child's Dream"

Here are the The Master's Apprentices, one of Australia's heaviest 60's rock bands, going all hippy in the late 60's (didn't everyone?) with a trippin'-on-childhood song:

The Master's Apprentices - "Living In A Child's Dream" (1967)

Link

A lot of rock bands went hippy in the late 60's and The Master's Apprentices were no exception, no doubt influenced by their time spent in England recording their first album whilst soaking up the local atmosphere ("Look! There's John and Paul! There's Mick! There's Keith! Wow!" etc) and listening to every single British band going hippy. Speaking of influences, "Living In A Child's Dream" reminds me of The Kinks when they went hippy. "Living In A Child's Dream" probably doesn't sound like The Kinks (you may be able to discern other influences), but that's who I think of whenever I listen to the Apprentices' ode to trippin' out on acid and imaging you're a kiddy playing with imaginary psychedelic toys.

By the way, I have a grammatical admendment to make:

In my previous post about the band, I called them "Master's Apprentices" (no "The") because that's how they were billed on their 1970 album, Masterpiece. However, their self-titled debut album from 1967 looks like this:

Despite the blinding clarity of that cover, on subsequent single and album releases the band (or their record company, or their management, or their publicists, or someone) called them "Master's Apprentices" or "Masters Apprentices" (without the apostrophe) or "The Masters Apprentices" (still without the apostrophe). Boy, rock music history can be confusing.

Despite the frequent slight but annoying (to me) name changes, I'm going with "The Master's Apprentices". It makes the most sense to me, so I'm sticking with it. That's the name I'll be using from now on if I post another one of their songs. And anyone who wants to "correct" me about that spelling will find themselves corresponding with an argumentative Peter. Full stop. (Or, as Americans say: Period.)

Official website (where they call themselves "Masters Apprentices" – why?)

Song of the day: Charlotte Hatherley - "Kim Wilde"

Do you have an album that you treasure and think is the bee's knees, but whenever you mention it to other people they give you a puzzled look and say "Who's that? Never heard of 'em. Are they any good?" which leaves you crestfallen, as you wonder how on Earth it could be possible for other people not to know about such a fabulous album?

I'm sure you have plenty of them, all holding a special place in your heart (or, if you don't have a heart, somewhere else). One of mine is English musician Charlotte Hatherley's debut album from 2004, Grey Will Fade. I love it, and if I was the kind of person who makes lists I'd probably put it in my Top 20 of all-time favourite power pop albums.

But back to Grey Will Fade. Here's the opening track, "Kim Wilde". For the most effective listening experience, may I suggest that before you press "play" please find your volume control and move it to the maximum position. Thank you. Now you can press "play":

Charlotte Hatherley - "Kim Wilde" (2004)

Link

Here's another track:

Charlotte Hatherley - "Summer" (2004)

Link

I love this album.

Official website
MySpace
Facebook

Song of the day: Flying Circus - "La La"

Australian band Flying Circus's first three singles were excellent pieces of bubblegum – sweet and chewy – until the band decided they wanted to be taken seriously by renaming themselves The Flying Circus and morphing into an earnest country-rock outfit that attempted to make worthy political and universal statements. (Why, Flying Circus? Why?)

I've already played you their first single (the splendid "Hayride"), so here's their second:

Flying Circus - "La La" (1969)

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And here's their third:

Flying Circus - "Run, Run, Run" (1969)

Link

And so concludes Flying Circus's contribution to the world of bubblegum.

If you really want to hear what Flying Circus – sorry, The Flying Circus – ended up sounding like after abandoning bubblegum (take it from me: you don't), just let me know (really: don't) and I'll play you some watered-down country-rock.

Incidentally, Milesago has a comprehensive history of the band if you want to know more about them.

Frank's Faves on Fridays

Bubblegum Edition!

The Montanas - "You've Got To Be Loved" (1968)

Link

I hadn't heard this before, and now that I have I must admit "You've Gotta Be Loved" is probably the first bubblegum song that I'd call 'dull'. The only thing remotely of interest for me was the little trumpet lick (0:21-0:24) which reminds me of something, but I can't think of what it is at the moment. (I really hope I'm not going to spend a sleepless night wracking my brain trying to think of what it reminds me of...)



Keith - "Ain't Gonna Lie" (1966)

Link

I didn't think much of this, either - but I did like the wrong note from the bass player at 0:53. (Yay, another bass mistake!) But I preferred it to The Montanas' "You Gotta Be Loved" which did nothing for me (see above). I like the touches of soul in "Ain't Gonna Lie". And I like how Wikipedia lists him as "Keith (singer)".



Crazy Elephant - "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'" (1969)

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I'm pretty familiar with this (it's on a bubblegum compilation I have). It's Booker T. and The M.G.'s meets The Archies. I've always thought of this song as a not-too-distant cousin of ZZ Top's "Gimme All Your Lovin'".



The Yellow Balloon - "Yellow Balloon" (1967)

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Now you're talkin'! I've never heard this before, but when it was playing my jaw dropped at how much The Beach Boys are all over the song. Mighty good.



The Cuff Links - "Tracy" (1969)

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Believe it or not, this song was also suggested by regular commenter Col. (Col also helped figure out the lyrics of a weird bubblegum song some time ago.) "Tracy" is a perfect example of bubblegum, as it has all the necessary ingredients:

1. Ultra-catchy tunes (love those ba-ba-ba-ba's);
2. Wonderfully brainless lyrics ("Tracy, you're gonna be / happy with me / I'll build a world around you" – yeah!);
3. It sounds like Tony Burrows singing (which, for me, automatically gives it a stamp of approval);
4. And there's not a bad vibe in sight (there's nothing quite as cheerful as a bubblegum song).

This would be my pick of this week's suggestions – with "Yellow Balloon" coming a close second.

Song of the day: Rick Springfield - "What's Victoria's Secret?"

Here's everyone's favourite singing-and-guitar-playing-ex-TV-doctor with "Jessie's Girl Revisited" his 2008* single that may or may not be about a lady and her undergarments:

Rick Springfield - "What's Victoria's Secret?" (2008)

Link

As a bonus – and for reference – here's an earlier song of Rick's that was possibly the inspiration for the newer song:

Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl" (1981)

Link

Great song.

(*As opposed to his 2,008th single.)

Official website
Rick Springfield on MySpace
Rick Springfield on Facebook

Song of the day: Stuart Smith - "Better Off In Front"

An Australian chap by the name of Stuart Smith emailed me a couple of days ago and asked if I could give his song a bit of a plug. Now, I'm happy to give anyone's song a plug (the more the merrier's my motto), so...

Here's an Australian chap by the name of Stuart Smith (I think I've already said that) with "Better Off In Front":

Stuart Smith - "Better Off In Front" (2010)

Link


Stuart has embarked on a project in which he says:

"I'm ... 3 months in to a 'single per month' project which will eventually turn into a custom-built album."

"Better Off In Front" is Stuart's song for the month of May. As for the project itself, I was intrigued that Stuart used the word "eventually" – it makes me wonder if he'll just keep going and going, year in year out, and end up making the longest album in the history of music. (For example, in five years Stuart releases his 60-track album.)

Although Stuart is the only Australian artist I know of to engage in this song-a-month caper, I think there's a power pop artist in the US who's doing something similar. I've forgotten who it is (or I could just be making it up, being the result of a faulty imagination), but I'm fairly sure that there's some American dude who's set himself the challenge of releasing a song a week – possibly until someone tells him to stop. Unless you're Ryan Adams, I don't quite know why you'd want to do that.

Anyway, Stuart's much more realistic goal of one song per month is something I can cope with, although I guess it's more important that Stuart can cope with it. (He'll have to write and record the songs – all I have to do is listen to them.)

By the way, this is a message specifically for Stuart:

Hey, Stuart, have you thought about changing your name to something more exotic? I don't know exactly how much the "Stuart Smith" moniker would get you noticed in the music biz. If you do think about changing your name, how about changing it to something like Lombardo De Terrapin III, or maybe Senegal Zimpopo, or how about Righteous E. Slinky? Alternatively, if you want to give off a blues vibe you might want to consider calling yourself Trainwreck Jenkins, or Whistlin' Bob Stomper, or perhaps Misery McPherson and the Lowdowners. Feel free to email me for more potential rock star names.

And a suggestion for you, too:

Hey, Stuart, you mentioned in your email that you're a powerpop/rock artist. In that case, you might want to get a photo of yourself holding an electric guitar, not an acoustic. An artist holding an acoustic guitar in a photo screams out "singer-songwriter" (or, worse, "country singer-songwriter"). If you want to appeal to the power pop crowd, make it an electric guitar. And if you really want to appeal to the power pop crowd, make sure it's a 12-string electric guitar:

Now, that says power pop.

Stuart Smith's Lombardo De Terrapin III's blog

Song of the day: The Wellingtons - "Goodbye Heartbreaker"

A new addition to the small but cosy family of commenters here is Patrick (Hi, Patrick!) who recently asked for The Wellingtons. I'm very pleased to say that it doesn't take much for me to play you a Wellingtons song...

The Wellingtons - "Goodbye Heartbreaker" (2007)

Link

As a bonus (in my book*, it would be inexcusable to not play you another track by The Wellingtons when I had the chance), here's another one:

The Wellingtons - "The Nice One" (2007)

Link

Official website
The Wellingtons on MySpace

(*It's a book filled with pictures of The Wellingtons.)

Song of the day: Adrian Legg - "Pass The Valium"

I first heard today's performer on a radio station around 1983. I was in a car driving somewhere (probably to a music shop to buy guitar strings) when a track came on. When it finished, I thought "Wow! Who was that?". I had to wait a couple more songs before I found out: it was an English guitarist called Adrian Legg and the track was "Pass The Valium":

Adrian Legg - "Pass The Valium" (1983)

Link

"Pass The Valium" appeared on Adrian's 1983 album Technopicker which is now apparently very rare, although I'm sure you could buy it somewhere. (Someone's selling the LP on eBay for about 3 bucks. Bargain!)

As a bonus, here's another track from Technopicker, with Adrian in classical guitarist mode:

Adrian Legg - "Gebrauschmusik II" (1983)

Link

And as an extra bonus, here's Adrian with "Cajun Interlude". Apart from showing you how he does impossible things on an acoustic guitar, this video has Adrian looking like everyone's favourite English uncle:

Adrian Legg - "Cajun Interlude" (1983)

Link


Wouldn't you have loved to have an uncle like Adrian when you were growing up? ("Uncle Adrian's here! And he brought his guitar!")

Official website
Adrian Legg on MySpace

Song of the day: Megaphone Ou La Mort - "La Poésie Du Travail"

It's been ages since a band contacted me and asked if I'd mention their music here, so I was thrilled when I received an email last week by a band asking me to mention them. Thrilled!

The band is Megaphone Ou La Mort and they're from Spain. I was going to mention how unbelievably cosmopolitan they are (they're based in Spain but the band members are from different European countries) and try to describe their music, but they've done it for me with their comprehensive blurb.

One comprehensive blurb comin' up...

How do two Argentinians, two Spaniards and a French-English bloke team up in Valencia to create this compendium for the darkly inclined?

Well, we could start with influences, couldn't we?

The list is endless: New York's new wave punk scene (Television, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Richard Hell), Jean-Pierre Léaud's aloofness, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh's kitchen sink dramas, Marlon Brando, The Fall, Mr. Mojo Rising, Charles Bukowski, Happy Mondays, New York's urban subculture in the 1980s seen through the eyes of Jean-Pierre Basquiat, French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, The Smiths, William S. Burroughs, Robert Bresson's minimalism, tango, the angelic whispering voice of Chet Baker, Montgomery Clift's sad eyes, The Clash, Alain Delon's savage beauty in the seventies, Michel Houellebecq's nihilism etc. Artists that have considerably inspired and shaped MEGAPHONE OU LA MORT's sound and vision.

But there might be other motives behind such an unusual union, another necessity at stake. A common disgust, misanthropy perhaps? This world's cold apathy, grotesqueness or simply man's obsession with technology and materialism? There's no bitter resignation here but a real need to spit "it" out.

Two demos (2006's self-titled "MEGAPHONE OU LA MORT" and 2007's "THE TEARS, THE HANGOVER, THE FEAR") gained them rave reviews nationally and coupled with intense, chaotic live gigs eventually led to the recording of their debut CD, Camarade Coma, released in November 2008 and produced by JOSÉ LUIS MACIAS.

If you had already seen MEGAPHONE OU LA MORT in concert, you were in for a treat. The record managed to capture the crude live sound of the band while incorporating sophisticated arrangements. Camarade Coma contains 12 beautifully crafted pop-rock songs, including "Chérie", with its irresistible bass riff and lyrics full of sexual desperation and chemical decay, and "Le Garçon Rêvé", a late night lullaby haunted by Paris' backstreets and dreamy melancholy.

Critically acclaimed musician and author Anthony Reynolds summed it up best: "FEARLESS!" he said after MEGAPHONE OU LA MORT's 2009 fierce live set at the FNAC record store in Valencia.

(I liked how they were influenced by Montgomery Clift's sad eyes. There aren't too many bands around nowadays that are influenced by people's eyes.)

The band sent me a link to their debut album, 2008's Camarade Coma, and when I started listening to it I wondered if the guys in the band had chosen the wrong blogger. For example, as I listened to the opening track I was thinking "This is power pop?".

See what you think:

1. "La Poésie Du Travail" (2008)


As far as I'm concerned, that ain't power pop.

So they're not a power pop band. Fair enough. I was thinking that maybe they sounded more like a moody rock band.

Enter track 2:

2. "Pina Pellicer" (2008)


Yep. They're moody alright.

More mood:

3. (2008)


By the way, although the blurb above mentioned that the band was influenced by all those impossibly cool people, I reckon Megaphone Ou La Mort can add one more influence to their list. This song reminded me of The Cure:

Megaphone Ou La Mort - "Chérie" (2008)


Things got really continental on "Le Garçon Rêvé", with pizzicato violins and acoustic guitars playing minor chords:

Megaphone Ou La Mort - "Le Garçon Rêvé" (2008)


As I listened to more of the album, I kept thinking "Hmm, this sure is moody"...

Megaphone Ou La Mort - "Sunday Kid" (2008)


And:

Megaphone Ou La Mort - "Party Doll" (2008)

Actually, "Party Doll" is probably the poppiest song on the album.

There was one song that I flat-out didn't like ("Dolce Vita"), but that was only because of the drum beat in the verses. It's a beat that I've always detested, because every time I hear it I'm reminded of those dreary English bands from the late 70's like Joy Division, New Order, Echo And The Bunnymen et al, with their "life is too painful and what's the point of anything" sentiments. I loathe that drum beat:

Megaphone Ou La Mort - "Dolce Vita" (2008)


But I thought "Esquisse D'un Homme Précaire" was alright, although I'm not entirely sure what it means:

Megaphone Ou La Mort - "Esquisse D'un Homme Précaire" (2008)


Maybe it translates as "exquisite man in a precarious position". (Note to self: Just get out of your chair, Peter, go to the bookshelf, and grab that French-English dictionary...)

The last song on the album, "Lutter", started off unpromisingly for me with some unpleasant sound effects for the first 19 seconds but then it settled down into a regular song:

Megaphone Ou La Mort - "Lutter" (2008)


I've listened to the album five times now (I have a policy of listening to something at least three times before I make up my mind, and here it took me 'til the third listen before I 'got' the music), and I've come to the conclusion that it's a bit too arty and "cool" for my liking. (I am one uncool listener.) Nevertheless, I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to listen to it (thanks, guys!) because I'm always keen on hearing music I haven't heard before. And I can honestly say that I haven't heard this music before. (Trust me: I've never heard a multicultural band based in Spain and singing in French before. Ever.) You might respond to it more than I did. If you did, then I have some good news and bad news... The good news: because the band is currently label-less, the chaps/gents/lads/hombres/hommes wanted me to let you know that they don't mind at all if you download the entire album for free. You can't argue with a 100% discount*. The bad news: The band is currently label-less. Now, I don't know the inner workings of the modern music industry, but I can't see how being without a label can be terribly helpful to a band. I suppose it could mean that the band might not get the chance to make another record. I hope that Megaphone Ou La Mort do get themselves a label, if only to make poppier songs than the ones they've already made. (Yes, I'm fully aware that bands don't make records just for me, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the band said something along the lines of: "Get over yourself, Peter. We make songs for ourselves, not for some blogging fool down in Australia.") But anyway, that's Megaphone Ou La Mort. Official website Megaphone Ou La Mort on MySpace Megaphone Ou La Mort on Facebook Megaphone Ou La Mort's channel on YouTube Megaphone Ou La Mort on Fotolog (*Well, I guess you can argue with a 100% discount if you: a] thoroughly loathe the songs; or b] simply refuse to listen to rock songs sung in French; or even c] have a twisted personal policy on paying for music: "I won't listen to music I haven't paid for. No way! You can't make me!")

Song of the day: Johnny Chester And Jigsaw - "Shame And Scandal In The Family"

Before I play you today's shameful and scandalous song, I'd like to let you know that:

Last Week's Songs Were Brought To You By The Letter "I" – And By My Friend Col*.

Today's song is the perpetually jolly country artist Johnny Chester with his backing band Jigsaw and their take on a jolly (but lyrically dubious) ditty:

Johnny Chester And Jigsaw - "Shame And Scandal In The Family" (1971)

Link

I thought that the lyrics to this song were highly distasteful, thinking they were incestuous (or something – I couldn't quite figure out what made me feel uneasy about those lyrics) until Wikipedia clarified things:

The story follows a young Trinidadian man in search of a wife. In each of the verses, the young man asks his father for permission to marry a different woman, only to be told he can't marry the girl as "The girl is your sister but your mamma don't know". However, the tables are turned during the last verse, where the young man's mother tells him that "Your daddy ain't your daddy, but your daddy don't know", clearing the path for him to marry any of the girls.

I guess that makes it a bit more palatable. Sort of.

(The lyrics are still highly dubious to me. I can't get over all that "Your father's your mother but your uncle don't know" stuff, and how the boy doesn't realise that all those girls are his sisters. I mean, how would you not know? And how would you feel being told that a girl you hit on was your sister? and then to find out that another girl you're interested in is your sister? And then another? Ewww. Talk about messing with your mind in a major way. I'm afraid it still leaves me very queasy...)

The history of the song is even weirder (but at least it doesn't involve amorous family members). It was originally performed by someone called Sir Lancelot for the 1943 horror movie I Walked With A Zombie (I told you it was weird). But it first appeared on record in 1965:

Lance Percival - "Shame And Scandal In The Family" (1965)

Link

And then Peter Tosh recorded a version the same year:

Peter Tosh - "Shame And Scandal" (1965)

Link

And then, for some reason, Madness decided to record it in 2005:

Madness - "Shame And Scandal" (2005)

Link


If you felt as uneasy with the lyrical content of this song as I did, then I'm terribly sorry that I inflicted four versions of the song upon you. Many apologies.

Johnny Chester official website

(*Col suggested every song last week except for Tuesday which featured King Crimson. Tuesdays are currently reserved for hotshot instrumentalists, and King Crimson is full of hotshot instrumentalists.)

Song of the day: A band - "Those Eyes"

I know I played you a song by this band just last week, but this particular song was recommended to me (Hi, Col!), and it's a good'un, and I can't resist this band, so...

A band - "Those Eyes" (2007)

Link

Frank's Faves on Fridays

Bobby Sherman – "Easy Come, Easy Go" (1970)

Link

I don't remember hearing this before. I don't think Bobby Sherman was big here when I was growing up (I think the girls in Australia went more for David Cassidy in the early 70's). The only song of Bobby Sherman's that I was familiar with is "Julie (Do Ya Love Me)" which I really like. But now I've heard "Easy Come, Easy Go" and like it a lot, too. (It's good bubblegum – what's not to like?) I also like the wrong note the bass player plays at 1:06. I love little things like that. They're the kinds of things that add personality to some songs. Mistakes are taken out of most songs nowadays, and I miss them.



Edison Lighthouse – "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" (1970)

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I've always adored this song. It's quite possibly my all-time favourite bubblegum song. It's definitely one of my favourite songs ever. Love, love, love this song. And I won't hear anyone say a bad word about it. I've put two videos of it here because as far as I'm concerned there's no such thing as too much of this song.



Blue Angel – "Maybe He'll Know" (1980)

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Liked it. It sounded similar to what Kelly Jones was probably aiming for with her album SheBANG! ("Maybe He'll Know" reminds me a lot of Kelly's "There Goes My Baby" which has been mentioned elsewhere on this blog.) I'd never heard this song before, and I thought I'd never heard of Blue Angel before until the song had been going a minute-and-a-half and I realised who was singing – and then I remembered that she was in a band called Blue Angel. Ain't trivia grand?

And the artiste in question re-recorded the song for her debut album:

Cyndi Lauper - "Maybe He'll Know" (1986)

Link



Boz Scaggs – "A Clue" (1977)

Link
Smoooooth. I don't remember any of the tunes, I just remember it was smoooooth. (I've heard it about five times now, and I still can't remember any of the tunes.)



The Valentinos - "It's All Over Now" (1964)

Link
This is the original version of the song, and I'd never heard it before. I much prefer it to The Rolling Stones remake because it has more of a New Orleans, gumbo ya-ya flavour to it. It's more Professor Longhair than Muddy Waters, and I like that.

Song of the day: Jimmy And The Boys - "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk To Me"

Here are Jimmy And The Boys with "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk To Me" (1981):


Link

Jimmy And The Boys were a sort of Australian version of The Tubes, with very theatrical and provocative stage shows. I don't know why I'm telling you this, because you can't actually tell how depraved or controversial they were just by listening to the song.

Maybe the video will help:



Nope. Not terribly outrageous there, either. (I guess it wouldn't be, considering it's a video from 1981.)

Anyway, "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk To Me" was the band's biggest hit, reaching the Australian Top 10 in 1981.

I'd always wondered why the song sounded a lot like Split Enz to me until I found out only recently* that the song was written by Tim Finn. (Well, that would certainly explain the, er, "influence" there.)

(*This is a song from 1981, and I found out who wrote it in 2010. Talk about coming late to the party...)

Song of the day: Johnny Diesel And The Injectors - "Don't Need Love"

Today's song is what I'd call a pub rock song, and what you'd probably call a bar band song.

Either way, you'll need to grab a beer, roll up your sleeves, wipe the grease from your forehead, and get back to that carburettor you're flushing out:

Johnny Diesel And The Injectors - "Don't Need Love" (1989)

Link

Song of the day: Loaded Dice - "Telephone"

It's skinny-tie time again.

Here's Loaded Dice with the infernally catchy "Telephone" (1979):


Link

"Telephone" is just one of approximately 11 other horrendously catchy songs on Loaded Dice's "No Sweat". If you're not much of a skinny-tie music fan (like me) but buy the album anyway, you might be surprised at how much of it will make you say to yourself "Hey, that's not horrible. Actually, it's pretty catchy..."

Song of the day: King Crimson - "Frame By Frame"

These Tuesday posts devoted to hotshot instrumentalists have been getting out of hand (no pun intended) lately, so it's time to prune them back a little. (I'm sure you don't want to read a 10,000-word discourse on the intricacies of a musician's technical abilities presented in excruciating detail.)

Here's King Crimson with the astonishing "Frame By Frame" (1981):

King Crimson - "Frame By Frame" (1981)

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Apart from wanting to play you some King Crimson for quite some time (they're my favourite prog rock band), I wanted to play you this particular track specifically for Robert Fripp's superhuman effort playing that guitar riff – it's both frighteningly fast and accurate (that's some mighty impressive hand-eye coordination you've got there, Robert), and for Adrian Belew's magnificent background guitar textures, and for Tony Levin's superbly tasteful bass playing, and for Bill Bruford's excellent drum work, and for... Oh, just listen to it already.

"Frame By Frame" appears on King Crimson's 1981 album, Discipline (Wikipedia).

I honestly don't know how anyone can play that riff. I had originally thought that it may have been studio trickery, but no, Robert plays it live, too:

King Crimson - "Frame By Frame" (live) (1984)

Link

How does he do that?

Official website
King Crimson on MySpace

Song of the day: Deborah Conway - "It's Only The Beginning"

Here's Deborah Conway with "It's Only The Beginning" (1991):


Link


When this song was released, a big deal was made out of how Deborah went over to England to record it, and how Pete Townshend contributed to it (it's Pete Townshend!). I have no idea how or why The Greatest Living Rhythm Guitarist* got roped into playing guitar on a song by an Australian artist he'd probably never heard of. The weird thing is that I can't tell it's him at all – and neither can my friend Col, who suggested the song in the first place. ("Could've been anyone," he opined.)

Update: I've just read this on Wikipedia:

"When Do-Ré-Mi were working in England in 1988, Conway became involved in Pete Townshend's project The Iron Man."

(I find it slightly odd that Wikipedia supplied a link to England but not to Deborah's previous band Do-Ré-Mi.)

Well, that would explain how Pete Townshend ended up on a Deborah Conway record, but I still can't get my head around the idea that Mr. Townshend is (apparently) in there. Somewhere. Where?

"It's Only The Beginning" did pretty well in Australia (it was Deborah's biggest solo hit), but I don't know how well it did in the US and UK. (If you live in either of those areas you'd probably have a better idea than me.)

Still, Col likes the song, I like it – and there's a possibility that you'll like it, too.

Official website
Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier on MySpace

(*That's possibly a contentious statement, and one that I'm happy to dispute. For my money, it would actually be a tie between Pete Townshend and Malcolm Young.)

Song of the day: Sherbet - "Can I Drive You Home"

Some time ago I played you a song that had what I thought was the worst electric guitar sound ever recorded. I was wrong.

Here is Sherbet with a song that contains the worst-recorded electric guitar sound I have ever heard*:

Sherbet - "Can I Drive You Home" (1973)

Link

(*It's the guitar solo at 1:46.)

Song of the day: Field Music - "Them That Do Nothing"

I've resisted mentioning this band for quite a while because they're: a) not especially power pop; and b) not especially Australian. There's also the chance that you might find them a bit precious (there are plenty of people who do).

The band is Field Music and they're from the UK. The creative engine of the group is the songwriting duo of brothers David and Peter Brewis. There are two other chaps in the band (Ian Black and Kevin Dosdale) who, as far as I can tell, aren't related to each other (or to the Brewis brothers*). The band's 2006 release Tones Of Town was my favourite album of that year. It was one of those albums that grew on me – and kept on growing**. The first time I heard Tones Of Town I thought, "That's interesting. Not great, but interesting." Then I listened to it again, and liked it a bit more. Listened to it again, liked it a bit more. With every listen i liked it more and more. I ended up liking the album so much that at one stage I listened to it first thing in the morning every day a month. I now absolutely adore Tones Of Town, and won't hear a bad word about it. (My media player tells me that I've listened to it 42 times. That's 42.)

For today's song I was thinking about playing you one of the tracks from Tones Of Town but I just can't bring myself to do it. For me, it's one of those very rare things nowadays: it's an album. It isn't just a couple of hits and filler. And it isn't just a collection of unrelated songs. As far as I'm concered, it's a unified whole that must be listened to in one go. I can't listen to it any other way. Once it starts I don't go anywhere until it's finished. By the way, listening to Tones Of Town is not as tiresome as you may imagine, because it's only 30 minutes long.

Anyway, Tones Of Town was Field Music's second album (I don't recommend the self-titled debut album from 2005 as it's the sound of a band finding its sound – which they perfected on Tones Of Town). After it was released, the band stated that they had nothing else to add to their sound and that everyone should get used to the idea that two Field Music albums will be your lot. Upon hearing this news, there were sighs of disappointment from cardigan-wearing music fans everywhere (well, anywhere where there's cardigan-wearing music fans).

However, the chaps in Field Music weren't about to stop making music altogether. The Brewis brothers each had a burst of creativity and created two separate albums that displayed two different aspects of the Field Music style (I was going to type "sound" again but I've done that too many times on this post already – see previous paragraph); the poppy The Week That Was; and the arty School Of Language.

And then, to the joy and jubilation of Field Music fans (including an excited me), the Brewis brothers announced that they were making another Field Music album.

(Personal sidenote: the announcement of a new Field Music album led me to do something I hadn't done since getting connected to the Internet: I pre-ordered it. In other words, I bought an album I hadn't heard.)

The new Field Music album is called Measure and, possibly in response to people complaining that Tones Of Town was too short (31:39), it's a 20-track monster (71:58). Those Brewis boys sure are productive.

Right, now that I've bored you senseless with prattling on about Field Music, here (finally) is the Song of the day which will give you a much better idea of who Field Music are than the 734 paragraphs you just read:

Field Music - "Them That Do Nothing" (2009)

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Now, one song won't tell you everything about Field Music so here are two more tracks from Measure:

Field Music - "Each Time Is A New Time" (2009)

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Field Music - "Measure" (2009)

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Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to Measure again. I've only heard it 9 times so far. Listen number 10 coming up...

(*You never know, it's possible that they're all related but the other two changed their names so the band wouldn't be compared to The Osmond Brothers.)

(**It's what I call the Odessey and Oracle Effect™, named in honour of The Zombies' 1968 album of the same name that I found underwhelming the first time I heard it, but the more I listened to it the more I liked it until it got to the stage where I now can't live without it.)

Frank's Faves on Fridays

Big Star - "Back Of A Car" (1974)

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My thoughts on Big Star have already been mentioned on the blog. I'm not a fan:

"Unfortunately, during those formative years I never heard - or even knew about - Big Star until years afterward. (Countdown didn't played them, and neither did any of the radio stations I listened to.) As a result, the Holy Trinity of power pop (The Raspberries/Big Star/Cheap Trick) was incomplete for me because I hadn't bonded with Big Star as a teenager (i.e., the music becoming virtually a part of your DNA as your personality forms) as I did with the other bands. I have to admit, though, that even after becoming well acquainted with Big Star, I'm still not much of a fan. This'll probably sound like sacrilege, and instantly revoke any power pop credentials I may have had up until now, but… I generally find a lot of their lyrics a bit too maudlin (e.g., "Thirteen"), their musicianship painfully sloppy (e.g., "Don't Lie To Me"), and their melodies not terribly strong (e.g., "Stroke It Noel"), to fully enjoy them. You can call me a heretic now if you like. Maybe I needed to have been an American teenager when I was growing up."

As you can see, I'm not the ideal guy to give an appraisal of a Big Star song. But "Back Of A Car" sounds like a typical Big Star song to me: lots of treble on the Stratocaster; high tenor singing; sounds like The Byrds playing rock songs etc.



The Beach Boys - "Keep An Eye On Summer" (1964)

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I'm actually thinking about putting this one on the blog*, but it's not Australian and it's not power pop. (I know, I know: that's never stopped me before.) However, if I do put it on the blog (I probably will), I'll mention how sublime the harmonies are, and how the guitar part is incredibly similar to the guitar part in "This Boy".

(*Note to self: it's on the blog now.)

Incidentally, apart from not knowing this song, I also didn't know that Brian Wilson re-recorded it for his 1998 album, Imagination:

Brian Wilson - "Keep An Eye On Summer" (1998)

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But back to your suggestions, Frank...



Brinsley Schwarz - "The Ugly Things" (1974)

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I received this with the artist listed as Nick Lowe. Nick is singing on it but it ain't a Nick Lowe song. I'd never heard the song before so it took a little while to find out that the artist was actually Brinsley Schwarz (the band Nick was in). With that akwardness out of the way, I had another listen to the song and came to the conclusion that it was nice. A little Beatle-y and pleasant, but not much more. The first time I listened to the song (thinking it was Nick), I had rather hoped to get more out of the song than I did. I'm used to the Nick Lowe of Jesus Of Cool. (Which reminds me to listen to it again sometime. I haven't heard it in ages.) That album has so much variety on it that I think of it as Nick Lowe's Revolver, where every song is completely different but each song is highly enjoyable. The second time I listened to "The Ugly Things" (knowing it was Brinsley Schwarz), I had pretty much the same reaction as the first time: a little Beatle-y and pleasant, but not much more. For me, "The Ugly Things" is the sound of Nick Lowe as a budding songwriter.



Billy Satellite - "Satisfy Me" (1984)

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This came on after I'd heard the other three songs, and it was a shock. This is the kind of 80's rock that, whenever I heard it, was one big generic blur to me. There was so much of it around at the time, and it all sounded so similar, that my ears couldn't tell who was playing what. Was it Ratt, Poison, Warrant, Cinderella? My ears weren't attuned enough to the subtleties of differences in any of those bands, so back then it felt like I was being inundated by what sounded like one band releasing way too many records. Nevertheless, I duly listened to "Satisfy Me", and the only thing I enjoyed was the singer's yelp at 3:18. I thought it was hilarious. Incidentally, I just found out (courtesy of the Wikipedia link) that Billy Satellite is a band, not a person. Who knew? (Not me.)