29 posts tagged “music”
I don't really have the words to describe how lucky and awed I felt to see Neil Young at the Hammersmith Apollo, twice in the last week.
I was there for his first London date of the tour on Wednesday, about twelve rows back from the stage with a walkway beside me and therefore an uninterrupted view of the stage. He was extraordinary. I had actual tears in my eyes when he played one of my favourite songs "Ambulance Blues" as the second song of his acoustic set. The hour-long set touched on all parts of his long career, and he was in perfect voice throughout. His demeanour was that of a slightly grumpy old man, with occasional stories thrown in, in that slow, droll way of his that manages to be so funny.
Then he returned for a blistering 90 minute electric set, and the one drawback was that the venue was a seated one. He returned for an encore - "Cinnamon Girl", and was just launching into "Like A Hurricane" when I realised it was about 11.40 and reluctantly I had to take my leave in order to trek back to Walthamstow.
On Saturday I returned and this time I had a front row seat. The setlist was very slightly different, and this time I was about ten feet from my hero. There's no gap between the seats and the stage at the Hammersmith Apollo. For such a big venue it has a very intimate feel. This time the encore was much shorter - no "Cinnamon Girl" or "Like A Hurricane", just a down-and-dirty "Roll Another Number For The Road". But by this time I was standing, with my hands resting on the stage where Neil Young stood, so I was in heaven.
There was a little disabled boy two seats away from me - his father said he'd been listening to Neil Young since he was a baby. He was in raptures throughout, and at the end Neil came over and gave him a plectrum and a drumstick, and he was just inches away from me. That was a thrill. He's not the kind of artist who shakes hands with his crazy front row fans, but I put my hand up in a salute and he returned it, then gravely ambled off. Magnificent.
Photos taken on phone, so blurred and shakey ("shakey"... see what I did there?).
Show us your favorite album cover.
What were your top 10 favorite songs or albums of 2007?
This was the year when I lost track of current pop music completely. I spent twenty years working in pop music radio, and thus my whole working life was lived to a soundtrack of pop. And this year, I barely listened to any pop radio. Therefore, while I know Rihanna had a song called "Umbrella" that drove everyone crazy, and I know Leona Lewis had a big hit called "Bleeding Love" and I know there were lots of wimpy blokes trying to be the new James Blunt (not that anyone wanted one) I couldn't hum a note from any of these artists and songs. Therefore my list of favourite albums is deeply old-fashioned and hairy and really show my age, and I don't care. These are in no particular order.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Live at the Fillmore East 1970
The first in a series of archive live recordings, my only - tiny - criticism of this album is that it's too short. Live at Massey Hall was also wonderful, but I prefer noisy Neil.
Lucinda Williams - West
A grower. Nothing particularly new from Lucinda, just more of the same good stuff. "Are You Alright", "Come On" and the title track were standouts for me. Tough and tender, as always.
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Another grower. I've loved watching Wilco move from alt country to become one of the most daring and exciting bands in the world. This was - in part - a return to mellower sounds. But what's wrong with that, I concluded after a few listens. And seeing them live at Shepherd's Bush Empire was a highlight of the year - even the mellow songs rocked. Nels Cline is a guitar god.
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
I've mentioned this one before, and I think it actually came out in 2006. Prog rocky in the best way - melodic and strange and a bit Fleetwood Mac-y. I know almost nothing about this band except apparently they're from small town Texas. They sound like they're from the olden days.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Every middle-aged muso's favourite album of the year, I think. Way more daring and interesting than you'd imagine.
That's just five, and that's all you're getting unless I think of some more. An honourable mention to Neil Young's Chrome Dreams II, which was best mixed but does have the stand-out 18-minute epic song "Ordinary People".
By the way, none of these was my most-played album of the year. That honour is shared by two Josh Rouse albums, 1972 and Nashville, which proved perfect listening while writing Can't Let Go.
I went to see this guy last night.
Andy Irvine is apparently a legendary Irish folk musician who has played with Planxty. I'd heard of them but not of him, because I really just don't know much about folk music at all. I went to the gig at the Cellars in Eastney to meet up with a friend of mine from Lincolnshire and also to see the ever-brilliant Jackie Leven, who was supporting. I was completely won over by Andy Irvine, especially when he did this song. The Cellars is a very small venue, basically just a neighbourhood pub with a great reputation for live music. I suspect I was very lucky to see Andy Irvine play in such a tiny, intimate venue, because he was seriously awesome.
Oh, and here's some Jackie Leven. I've seen him live three times now, and never failed to enjoy myself.
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)
- Scott Walker - The War Is Over (Sleepers)
- Ian Shaw - A Case Of You
- Kathryn Williams - Easy & Me
- Paul Burch - Montreal
- Neil Young - Roll Another Number (For The Road)
- Wilco - Someone Else's Song
- Shirley Collins & Davy Graham - Proud Maisrie
- Bobby Womack - Where Do We Go From Here?
- Teenage Fanclub - Hardcore/Ballad
- Aimee Mann - You Do
Music-wise, what was the first 45, single or download you bought?
Submitted by Paddy Melt Wagon.
I never bought singles, because I worked out that if you listened to Radio One all the time, you'd hear your favourite single just enough times before you grew tired of it. The first single I listened to Radio One specifically to hear was Andrew Gold's "Never Let Her Slip Away", which I adored.
I moved straight on to buying albums (more music for your money) but not until I was about eighteen. Two of the first albums I bought were Sulk by the Scottish band Associates and Remain in Light by Talking Heads, because they contained these perfect singles:
Audio/Video: Share a great use of a song in a commercial.
Black Keys - "Girl Is On My Mind". One of those great times when you're watching the ads, and you suddenly hear one of your favourite songs.
I thought I knew a lot about Jacques Brel, ever since I bought a cassette of Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel from a bargain bin when I was a student. I could bore for Britain about all the songs he wrote, and how Rod McKuen and Mort Shuman variously translated his lyrics, and all the amazing and varied cover versions there are out there. But until last night, when I watched a profile of Brel on BBC4, I can honestly say that I had never seen the man himself. And, I'm embarrassed to say, until last night I had always somehow conflated Jacques Brel with Serge Gainsbourg in my mind's eye. Anyway, suffice it to say the two are nothing like each other. And Brel turns out to have been charming, very funny and an extraordinary performer of his own songs. Watch this - you'll know this song:
Dusty Springfield and Scott Walker both recorded excellent versions of this song as If You Go Away, with translated and somewhat changed lyrics by the poet Rod McKuen:
If you go away on this summer day,
Then you might as well take the sun away;
All the birds that flew in the summer sky,
When our love was new and our hearts were high;
When the day was young and the night was long,
And the moon stood still for the night bird's song.
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.
But if you stay, I'll make you a day
Like no day has been, or will be again;
We'll sail the sun, we'll ride on the rain,
We'll talk to the trees and worship the wind.
Then if you go, I'll understand,
Leave me just enough love to fill up my hand,
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.
If you go, as I know you will, you must tell the world to stop turning
Till you return again, if you ever do, for what good is love without loving you,
Can I tell you now, as you turn to go, I'll be dying slowly till the next hello,
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.
But if you stay, I'll make you a night
Like no night has been, or will be again.
I'll sail on your smile, I'll ride on your touch,
I'll talk to your eyes that I love so much.
But if you go, go, I won't cry,
Though the good is gone from the word goodbye,
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.
If you go away, as I know you must,
There'll be nothing left in the world to trust,
Just an empty room, full of empty space,
Like the empty look I see on your face.
I'd have been the shadow of your shadow
If I thought it might have kept me by your side.
If you go away, if you go away, if you go away.
But don't go thinking that Jacques Brel was some sentimental Frenchman. For one thing, he was Belgian. And for another thing, he wrote earthy songs about sex. Like this one, performed brilliantly on The Old Grey Whistle Test by Alex Harvey, in one of the all-time most memorable musical performances on telly:
What's the best music documentary or concert film you've seen?
The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese's lovingly-directed film of The Band's last gig. Notable for its multitude of guest stars, including Bob Dylan (of course), Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and (weirdly) Neil Diamond. Plus, my favourite Neil, Neil Young. I struggled to choose a clip as the whole film is amazingly good - if you love music, watch it now - but here's a sample:
Show us the last album you listened to.
This was in my car CD player and so I was listening to it today while running errands. I bought this album when it first came out, and it still sounds really fresh. Except I'd like someone to declare a moratorium on using "Hallelujah" for moving montages at the end of US TV shows.
