Billy Joel , Billy Schmoel. New Jersey legend Dean Friedman is where it’s at, kids. Too funky to be a crooner, too silly to be MOR, he occupied a strange position in the rock music galaxy in the seventies. Some of his music was confessional singer -songwriter, a la Elton John; some was like aContinue reading “Just Step Sideways: Dean Friedman – “Well,Well”, Said the Rocking Chair”
Category Archives: Music
Film Review : Pavements
When is a biopic about Pavement not a biopic about Pavement? When it’s Pavements. This film, written and directed by Alex Ross Perry eschews a linear rock doc narrative, exactly as you’d expect for an American indie band who are a mass of contradictions: with a sound forever torn between sleepy and frenetic; loose andContinue reading “Film Review : Pavements”
Theatre In Pop Is Back
Back in the seventies, decent pop leaned into the avant-garde, with artists transcending mere gigs. This was pop as theatre. Bowie, Kate Bush and even prog rock charlatans like Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Genesis could be found using stage craft, props and exquisite scenography to boost their strange and otherworldly music. This elevated itContinue reading “Theatre In Pop Is Back”
Lost In Music:Prince- The Beautiful Ones
There are many songs I could have picked as a tribute: obvious anthems (‘Purple Rain’, ‘Little Red Corvette ‘, ‘Raspberry Beret’, etc) or the more lascivious songs (‘Get Off’, ‘Cream’, ‘Sister’, ‘Darling Nikki’, ‘Kiss’, ‘Sexy MF’ etc) even his big conceptual songs from the Sign O’The Times era or featuring his Camille alter -ego. ButContinue reading “Lost In Music:Prince- The Beautiful Ones”
Lost In Music: Prince- Controversy
It’s, almost ridiculously, a decade since we lost the visionary Prince. So, with no fanfare at all, here’s one of the earliest hits which put him on the musical firmament. Drink a purple coloured beverage to him and his legacy tonight. He was the full package, a total visionary, a funky one-off.
Hold Music
I call my doctor, and am subsequently third in the queue. I’m mesmerized by the hold music, reassuring warm piano ostinatos that go on and on till the point of tedium. I imagine it’s the theme to a sitcom. The sitcom is American, as is so often the case. We open on a bunch ofContinue reading “Hold Music”
A Kathy Acker Playlist
I’ve been reading the great Kathy Acker again, someone whose blunt, unvarnished prose is like steel and concrete. She’s timeless because Americans are, as we are in the UK too, struggling to make ends meet. Her books represent the desperation, the lost love, family stress, romantic disappointments and the defiance of those who slipped throughContinue reading “A Kathy Acker Playlist”
Lost In Music: The Shamen- Jesus Loves Amerika
And lo! Trump did heal the sick, the poor, the needy and the liberal… Anyone else enjoying the mass trolling Donald Jesus Trump is getting right now? ” I wasn’t Jesus, I was a doctor”, he insisted, and the world collectively guffawed in response. Which doctor are we talking here? Who? Zhivago? Pepper? Beat? Finally,Continue reading “Lost In Music: The Shamen- Jesus Loves Amerika”
Overlooked Classics: Cocteau Twins -Lullabies
2 Alas Dies Laughing 3. It’s All But An Ark Lark Cocteau Twins’ first EP, released after the debut studio album Garlands,still has some of the early spikiness, but fuses it with the ethereal sonics that became the band’s trademark. On production duty was 4AD label founder Ivo Watts-Rizsell. Elizabeth Fraser’s swooning, impenetrable voice andContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Cocteau Twins -Lullabies”
Lost In Music: ESG- UFO (1980)
The three sisters – Emerald, Sapphire and Gold- aka the Scroggins sisters (there were actually five initially) made minimal music for the dancefloor, which wasn’t concerned with melody, but rhythm. ‘UFO’ really broke the mould though, with its disturbing space age noise, eerie scraping sonics juxtaposed with a killer funk bass line. It was excessivelyContinue reading “Lost In Music: ESG- UFO (1980)”
Hit The North 