Sweet Things

I think I'm perilously close to reprising the recent 'sexy songs' theme, but promise to keep the double entendres to a minimum.

The Heathers Question

Okay, one of the best films of all time is "Heathers" (FACT!)

And because I put the word fact in capitals in brackets after makes it indisputable.

In "Heathers", the horrific clique of girls would do their awful polls at lunchtime, which for some reason just sprung into my head - and has made me want to ask a similarly styled question...

So, my question to you all is this: 

Aliens land, and threaten to blow up the planet, unless you can convince them that Earth is worth saving by showing them one piece of art (a song, a painting, a poem, a 7" record, a pottery, whatever) that they can take away for further consideration - WHAT DO YOU GIVE THEM? 

Sweets

Here are some of my sweet songs. You might remember Drink Me from such playlists as Trains, when I couldn't shut up about their song Train to Chicago.

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Corn on the cob

An alternative to popcorn... sweet things on the Romanian Black sea coast include Papanasi, sort of a whipped cream filled, semolina bun topped with cherry jam, and very large, juicy Bulgarian peaches. Add yoghurt and coffee, stretch yourself out on the sand...

This week's soundtrack has some tenous connections to the sweet food theme:
Herbie Hancock's original recording of Cantaloupe Island, for anyone wondering where US3 pinched it from.
Mongo Santamarias version of Hancock's Watermelon man, from the Out of Sight soundtrack.
The wonderful Gingerbread boy. The Miles Davis quintet fooling around.

I posted a Youtube clip of Lime in da coconut on RR. Two further tracks off the Cobblestone Jazz album 23 Seconds, a Canadian dance-techno-jazz combo with a knack for irresistible beats- the title track, and Saturday night.

Lastly, in the separate podbean package, Quincy Jones' version of A taste of honey. Roland Kirk on saxophone.

Player removed.

Made it, Ma!

Competition time!

It's Design-a-new-'Spill-logo competition time!

Entries are accepted in two ways:

1. Either a jpeg sent via the sidebar email

2. A good idea in the comments section of this post

Winner gets their logo on the blog, to be seen by thousands! 

Talking of grandpas

Here's mine...(one of 'em, anyway) Pipe Major William Murray Taylor of the Seaforth Highlanders. He was a composer also but none of his tunes have appeared on iTunes (yet).

The best slightly leftfield pop gem of the year (so far) - part one

Pop Gem Checklist:

1. Leftfield instrumentation and fresh rhythms
2. Slightly perverse and saucy lyrics
3. Sticks in your head like a beautiful axe

Check, check, and check: 

Who Sampled This?

I can't remember who sampled this, can anybody remember? That verse is so groovy indeed!

Just when I thought I had it all....

Holy cow! The awesome blog Dead Flowers has unearthed a "new" Velvet Underground song from '67!  

This is just a test transmission to find out if I've arrived and can post here. Now, if I can just think of something intelligent and thought- provoking to say about contemporary music I'll have cracked it.
That Matt Monro's pretty good innit?
Will this do? Be fair - it's me first post.

Convergence

Tired of waiting for a new Panda Bear record? 

Try some El Guincho! 

Nothing Like This by J Dilla

A blog on the Guardian reminded me of this:

RIP Teo Macero

I only found out this morning. This man has been essential to my musical education.

Oh how strange to be anything at all

Of the 22 votes cast in the Spill Poll, fourteen folk had never heard of "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" - and seven declared it hands down one of the best albums ever.  

Personally I view it as a staggeringly beautiful work of heart-breaking genius, something intangible and impossible to describe, so I'm here's a summation from Pitchfork's top 100 albums of the 90s list, where this was number four (ok computer, loveless, and the soft bulletin occupy the three spaces above, which speaks volumes);

"There are very few albums that resist categorization quite so effortlessly as In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. For forty staggering minutes, Jeff Mangum short-circuits all conventional modes of expression, forging a private language that is endlessly intriguing and haunting in the truest sense of the word. Mangum sings as if possessed, painfully conveying fractured and moving tales with the imagistic skill of a brilliant novelist. He gnashes his teeth at the fabric of time, then wraps himself in it like a blanket, channeling the violence of his personal past through a claustrophobic frustration with his dejected present. His band, whose contributions to Aeroplaneremain criminally underappreciated, elevate Mangum's songs from chilling sketches into vibrant opuses, fully realizing the antique otherworldliness of Mangum's storytelling.

Opening with the achingly gorgeous nostalgia of "The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1",Aeroplane immediately plays upon a potent conflation of cultural and personal past. The world of Aeroplane is haunted by Anne Frank-- the specter of childhood's unimpeachable innocence amidst the unfathomable horror of the holocaust. In the feverish "Oh Comely", Mangum longs to save her in "some sort of time machine." By "Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2", the album's indelible and heartbreaking closing track, he seems to have resigned himself to loving a ghost, singing with a thoroughly unnerving blend of heartbreak and exhaustion: "In my dreams you're alive, and you're crying/ As your mouth moves in mine, soft and sweet." The way people have been affected byAeroplane is ample proof of its power and uniqueness. Like all classic art, it is widely misunderstood; yet to some, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has become a riddle the likes of The Wasteland-- an impossibly rich text that begs to be deciphered, yet continually evades any singular interpretation."

*

It took me years to click with Neutral Milk Hotel, as Jeff Mangum's voice can sound awful in passing, but when it did click - my god! It was like like the clouds parted and angels in party hats slid down a huge slide from the heavens, made out of rainbows and joy. 

I'm also finding it hard to choose a song to post, as there's no official youtubes for any of them - so I've gone for the simple option:

Amazingly you can get the LP on ebay right now for £2.50! if you're quick!

This one fits under my ongoing heading "JUST A THOUGHT"

What with this book business and all would it be a good idea to have an open post here where random thoughts and ideas might be collected. A couple occur to me, This party/event definitely needs to be documented, both photos and video, huge potential for after the fact creative editing etc.
I've always HATED nametags at social functions, we always started off by exchanging them with the most unlikely person present, but here, given the nom de plume business, I think a case could be made. We'd all like to see what lurks behind those shields and we are family after all.

"What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet."

I like this

At this very instant, I like this, let's see if it lasts.



P.S. Blimpy, do youtube clips count as pictures?

Talking of those USB-turntable type thingies...

... I got one for Christmas and I've begun the long slow process of converting my LPs, 12" and 7" singles into mp3s - twenty or so down, a thousand or so to go!

I suspect there are other 'spillers out there who are undergoing or have already undergone the same process and no doubt, like me, you'll have come across a huge pile of dross up in the attic. But in amongst it all there are some long-forgotten gems. I thought it might make an interesting diversion from mental illness to share a few of these here. I'll start the ball rolling with a few of my own favourite recent rediscoveries:

Therese by The Bodines (single)
Texas Fever by Orange Juice
Crooked Mile and 39 Minutes by Microdisney
Volume, Control, Brilliance by the Monochrome Set
Signing Off by UB40

So what have you found in your attics?

DIGITISING TAPES, OR ANYTHING ELSE FOR THAT MATTER.

There was a question here this week from Steenbeck re. how to digitise tapes, I think it was Mnemonic who suggested the ongoing item that's advertised in the G. [which I seem to recall costs 100 quid plus] There's a very simple and free way to do it, if you're a Mac user which I know she is. I've mentioned the free version of Wiretap, install that on your desktop, with a stereo miniplug to miniplug cable connect your cassette deck to your computer at the 'line in' port on the back, go to the Apple icon, top left, open 'System Preferences' and click on the 'Sound' icon. A window will open that has 3 options, sound effects, output and input, choose input. You have 3 more options, line in, digital in, USB, choose line in. Start your cassette and adjust the input volume and when it's set click record on the Wiretap and that's all there is to it; I'll be doing some today. You can also input your turntable or minidisc deck or whatever, it'll work. The one thing to remember is that if you can hear it on your computer, then Wiretap can record it.
One detail: Wiretap has 3 small windows on the front, click the centre one, that opens 'Preferences', You'll see 'Format' which will let you select which format to record in, I suggest MP3, but read the specs of the others, if you're recording for CD you'll probably want AIFF.
For PC users there are desktop recorders available, I'm not familiar with them but the procedure would be identical to the foregoing

Looney Tunes

The Brian Jonestown Massacre are one of my favourite bands. 

Their frontman Anton Newcombe is notoriously unstable, and if anyone's seen the documentary "Dig!" about him and The Dandy Warhols, they'll know what I'm talking about. Anton does indeed have "Kangeroos In The Top Paddock" and once released an album called "Thank God For Mental Illness". 

Here's a clip from "Dig!" where Anton f*cks up an gig that was supposed to get him a huge record contract. Amazing stuff, especially the quote at the end "They broke my sitar, motherf*cker"

Anton is a very prolific musician, and the "Tepid Peppermint Wonderland" compilations are a good place to start. 

He also gives all his albums away free on his website, here. 

If you haven't seen "Dig!" - I would recommend it as one of the best rock n roll movies ever. 

Please Listen To My Demo (or not).

Here's my special "Friday night Garage Band oeuvre":

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Nilpferd will have spotted the reference at the very beginning, it's all downhill after that.

A Dame Insane

At Blimpy's behest, and a mere 2 hours since I first alighted upon this particular study-distraction, here's a snap I took last weekend, a short(ish) walk from the scaryhouse. That's scarytown in the centre.





















Insomnia-induced playlist, courtesy of Brixton's finest.

I hate Poppy.

Last night I went to see the new Mike Leigh, showing as part of the Dublin International Film Festival. Mr. Leigh and Ms. Hawkins were in attendance, and Mr. Leigh was his usual hilarious gnome of a self. However, after 30 seconds, I knew I would dislike the main character, and with only 117 minutes to go too. I've ranted to various friends in the past 24 hours, but I'm not finished. If you're looking forward to it, don't mind me. Otherwise . . . gaaaahhhh!!!!

Two stops short of Dagenham - FP's mental illness playlist

What I'm interested in this week are the various colourful expressions for madness in the languages we all speak between us. I'll kick off with my favourite "two prawns short of a cocktail". Got any others....?

Built to spill

Anybody know anything about this US band, which we clearly ought to sponsor? They sound pretty good in the mp3 stream on their website at http://www.builttospill.com/ - I'm currently listening to 'Goin' against your mind', which nearly qualifies for this week's theme...and is triffic
They even sell buttons to save us making our own (see above)!

Unashamed plugging

Hi guys: this is a song that's PERFECT for this week's theme - it's about mental illness; it describes symptoms and treatment; the narrator speaks of his fear and ambivalence about coping with a loved one's illness...and yet it won't get picked unless at least one person donds it.

Give it a listen, eh?

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'Grey Walls' by Richard Thompson

Please feel free to ignore this...

I'm feeling very ambivalent about this week's topic, aware of a temptation to start getting possessive or proprietorial. It's strange - maybe this is just me - but it seems to be easy to accept that everyone will have their different experiences of love, sex, family etc., and so easy to accept that they'll have different soundtracks for them (still can't get my head round some people's idea of 'sexy', but I don't take it personally). However, because mental illness isn't a universal experience in the same way, it's almost harder to accept that other people's perspectives are equally valid. The fact that I was worrying on the blog about people trying to privilege their choice of songs by referring to their own experiences is obviously because I'm struggling not to do exactly the same thing...

This also gets entangled with ambivalent feelings about the songs themselves. We can get embroiled very easily in arguments about authenticity, heroising the sickness of individuals like Cobain and Richie Edwards and condemning the less convincing or artistically persuasive pain of, I dunno, Alice in Chains. We can equally well get tied up in guilt about voyeurism and Schadenfreude. My mention of Charlie Parker's shambolic 'Lover Man' brought to mind the comment of the jazz critic Gary Giddens on the subject: "Does it appeal only to the voyeur in us, or is it musically valid? Why did so many musicians memorize the solo down to the last painful misstep?" Put another way, isn't the Manics' 'The Holy Bible' equally problematic if we enjoy it or identify with it, or both?

I like a good wallow as much as the next person, when I'm feeling reasonably up. When really down, I can't listen to anything. Oddly enough, when teetering on the brink - have we had a list of 'Songs that Saved My Life', or was that one of the suggestions when Dorian hinted that he was running out of ideas? - my customary recourse was to Kraftwerk, especially 'The Mix', which somehow seemed the most human and humane music in the world, bringing calm and order and peace without ever seeming trite or alienating.

Sorry about this; it's been a long week, but I feel better for this ramble...

IF YOU WANT TO SING THE PHONEBOOK, LOOK NO FURTHER

It is truly difficult to write a review for this album without using superlatives (or expletives, for that matter). You are combining the great John Coltrane Quartet with a man whose voice was seemingly made to play duets with Coltrane. Johnny Hartman's smoky, dark baritone voice perfectly complements Coltrane's sound.
To add to this, McCoy Tyner provides a beautiful, airy piano accompaniment without being even remotely saccharine or cliched. Garrison and Jones are holding back quite a bit on this record, which seems to be the right move in this case.
Every track on this album is brilliant. However, "My One and Only Love" stands out above all of them. Coltrane's playing of the head is perfectly nuanced and delicate - he is considered a brilliant ballad player for a REASON. And when Hartman comes in with the vocals, my hair just stands on it.
This is an album of a level of beauty that smooth jazz wishes it could attain, but cannot possibly hope to reach. It is essential for anybody who loves music. [abstracted from Amazon reviews]

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Sing Me The Phone Book. Part 1: Victoria Bergsman

There's a few voices out there, who could sing me the phonebook, and I'd happily listen. 

So this is my first entry in an irregular series called "Sing Me The Phone Book"

Part 1: Victoria Bergsman

1977: Born

1995: Forms The Concretes, releases two amazing albums

2006: Departs The Concretes, sings on "Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn and John

2007: Releases an LP under the name Taken By Trees, which features a song written by Camera Obscura's Tracey Campbell

2008: Releases an inspired cover - check out the youtube below:

Needless to say, I've been following her career since I got the first Concretes EP, and I would recommend everything she's touched.

If anyone wants the mp3 of the song above (the youtube fades out a bit early) let me know in the comments. 

And here's possibly the best under-two-minutes-long song ever written;  "You Can't Hurry Love" by The Concretes:

Daytrotter.com - free downloads

Click here!

A great source of free tracks, four per artist, usually recorded live in Daytrotter's scruffy studios. I can't remember how I found this site, might have been a fellow RRer but it would be a good addition to the linkety links. They've got Bonnie Prince Billy on there and Low, and I've just downloaded Lewis and Clarke, who are an interesting alt-country style band with a lovely cello in the mix.

Okkervil River

Great band, great show, February 9, at the small upstairs hall of the Amsterdam Paradiso, enjoy!

BADEN BADEN YOU SAY...

It was Frogprincess's comment about TracyK's comment on 'swanning about in Baden Baden' that set me thinking.
I was travelling in Guatemala with my friend John in a VW camper back in the late '70's, and as is often the case in such situations we'd met other travellers and someone had recommended the baths at ...., I've stretched my memory and stared at the map but the name won't come. It was a very small mountain village high on the side of a volcano. The towns and villages of Guatemala almost all have a Saints name attached, I'm looking at my map and literally 80%+ are thus. The name doesn't matter.
We were not going anywhere in particular and we suddenly saw the name on our map, it was close so we decided we'd go. If I say road, you'll think of road; Guatemala doesn't have roads in that manner, there are lines on maps but usually they represent trails more suited to donkeys than vehicles. As we neared the village with the baths the 'road' was all uphill since we were on a volcano, Guatemala has many volcanoes. Suddenly we came to a clearing in the trees, there was a large flat area, possibly as large as a football field and within it there was a huge bath, about half the size of a football field, it was dug below ground level and was about 2-3ft deep. It was full of hot steaming water and there were hundreds of Mayan Indian families taking their weekly Saturday bath. Everyone was naked, dozens of kids, parents, grandparents, all scrubbing each other, the place was packed. The reason there was a bath there and the reason it was full of hot water was the volcano, there was a mountain stream that ran downhill alongside the trail that was steaming, they'd diverted it into their communal bath. As far as we could see it was totally free, anyone could come and go as they pleased, there was nothing formal.
We'd been told to continue up the hill to where we'd find a more formal indoor baths, more suited to gringos; we eventually found it right next to the stream alongside the trail. It was a single story stone building about 100 ft long, when we entered there were about a dozen private cubicles along the length, each one had a stone lined 'tub' sunk into the floor that was about 5ft square and 3ft deep. An attendant appeared and we paid him 50c each, he removed a 6" wooden plug from the side of the tub and it instantly filled with hot water; there was no adjusting the temperature but that was OK, it was perfect. We'd brought our supplies, two towels, a half gallon bottle of rum, a bag of limes, several glasses and a large bottle of coca cola. We asked our new friend if he like a drink and of course he would. We sank into the tub each armed with a tall glass and lay there, every 30 minutes or so the attendant would check to see if we needed more water, we always did and we always rewarded him. We spent the rest of that Saturday afternoon in there, I have no memory of what came later.
I have no photographs of that day but there's a good selection from our travels in Guatemala at my Picasa site:
http://picasaweb.google.com/goneforeign

Bathing Bathing - now YOU TOO can be Butterfly...

It was TracyK's comment on 'swanning about in Baden Baden' that set me thinking. It's a lovely place to spend a week end - on the edge of the Black Forest and the site of two brilliant Roman bath complexes where you could actually spend the whole day just taking the waters. Everyone's travelling on a budget, myself included, and it strikes me that, if you were clever, you could do this for not too much dosh. Here's the plan:

• Flight: Ryanair do a direct flight from Stanstead to Karlsruhe - Baden airport. Which is really Baden Baden, not Karlsruhe. You'd have to get down to Stanstead via a cheapy flight and then you're off!
• Hotels: There's a great one called the Hotel Café Beeg which is situated just opposite the thermal baths. It's also a Konditorei or cake shop of some renown. Single rooms with B&B start at 85€ which is about £64. The Hotel am Friedrichsbad is also great - also situated just opposite the baths and boasts its own Czech restaurant - the Prager Stuben. A bit more expensive with a single starting at 99€ which is about £74.
• Bathing: You have two options, really. First of all, there's the Caracalla thermal baths situated in the heart of the town. It's basically a huge, landscaped indoor pool composed of baths with different temperatures. There are outdoor pools too with all kinds of groovy bubble bath features and waterfalls to play with. Great for kids I have to say. They have bubbling round hot tubs full of tourists. Frogprince and I joke that we will start chopping onions and carrots into the water to see if they get the joke. The upstairs is a sauna complex for the serious health fanatics. But if you want to get that authentic Madam Butterfly experience, then you have to go next door to the Friedrichsbad which has the most stunning architecture I've ever seen in a bath. OK excepting the Hotel Gellert (sorry Sourpus). They have old brass shower heads that measure a foot across. And steam rooms with beautifully tiled walls. And you can have your epidermis scrubbed off in a 'body brush massage'. At the end of the bathing experience, they wrap you up in clean sheets and you lie down and sleep for 20 minutes. And wake up feeling brand new. You just need to know that bathing suits aren't allowed in the Friedrichsbad, although you get a towel to cover your bits.
• Calories: Well, you're sweating them off in the baths, aren't you? You HAVE to have some Black Forest Gateau (Schwarzwälderkirschtorte). It's the law. Cake shops can be found in every street and they're all good. There are many nice restaurants in Baden Baden. Most do good quality German cuisine. and don't let anyone tell you the Germans eat badly. Not in the South West, they don't, gel Nilpferd?
• Otherwise: Baden Baden has a very well renowned Opera house. They get world class acts. Like Nigel Kennedy and Gary Mullen. And I'm not joking. Have a drink in the Medici before your concert... For the considerably more wealthy than myself, or those who fancy being an extra in 'Quantum of Solace', there's also a very beautiful Casino.

And don't forget to take the waters. They're supposed to cure everything from gout to rickets... And if you do make it to Baden Baden for your Madam Butterfly week end, be sure and let myself and Nilpferd know. We're not too far away after all...

Idiot Glee

GarageBand has been drinking not me.
I've been playing with the music recording program that came with the computer. I played a track on guitar, which I recorded using the microphone on my computer, then I added a few virtual instruments (dub horns!!) and here is the chaotic result. It's my first attempt, so please don't call me a looser. I plan to write some words, record a vocal track, make a video, which I will then post on youTube, and then await the start of my lucrative recording career.

Brits, Anyone?

Yes, it's that time of year again when the British Phonographic Industry pats itself on the back, and attempts to create publicity in order to offload yet more of the tame bilge that clogs shelves in Tesco. 

Fiddling whilst Rome burns, if you ask me. 

That said! I love the Brits, I love the spectacle and I especially love the traditional game that myself and Mrs McF play every year whilst watching the Brits on telly.

It's very straight forward; one point for every winner you get correct once the nominees are announced. 

This coupled with wine and food leads to lots of enjoyable shouting at the TV.

I always seem to lose for some reason. . . but not this year!!

***update*** we drew; 7 - 7! 

a first in brits history. 

BOOKS, ANYONE?

As part of our ongoing policy of providing cultural resources to our members, here's a book recommendation.
' SLAM' by NICK HORNBY, I just read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it, as I have everything by him.
You all know of course 'HIGH FIDELITY' which is our group biography, if not, 'get thee to a library!' And if you've got adolescent kids, count them in as well. Oh, and then there's '31 songs' another one written specifically for this audience, here's a brief comment:
Original, well written and wholly lacking in pretension … as good a book about pop music as I have read in many years and the most accomplished of Honby's books so far'
Spectator
"'A book about the joy of listening to great pop songs, about the elusive genius of a catchy chorus ... what shines most is Hornby himself - his wry self-awareness, his disarming honesty. Effortlessly readable, every chapter reminds us how special an observer of human behaviour Hornby is"
Heat

here's a couple of links: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2003/jan/19/featuresreview.review
http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/nickhornby/index.html

Oh! To be wanted, to be useful

This song "Evil Bee" by Menomena, has been stuck on repeat on my ipod, on my stereo, on my mac endlessly and endlessly and endlessly.

I'd forgotten how great the video is too, it fits the song perfectly and is cut spot on. 

The dynamics and instrumentation work really well, and there is longing, tension, and  pop hooks at the heart of the tune.

The circular nature of the narrative of the video is impressive, and as for the sub-text - would anyone wish to fathom a guess at what it all means? 

Things For Sale On Ebay Right Now! Part One

My giddy aunt!

Click here!

Barry Adamson

Quite a few people mentioned The Man With The Golden Arm on RR this week, but I think I said on the blog that for me the Barry Adamson version is such a belter I find the original kind of pales by comparison. Dunno - maybe it's just one of those times when the first version you hear of a track will alway be the definitive one, whether it's a cover or not.

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(I'm having the same problems as DsD with podbean titles, so TMWTGA is track 1 and the others are The Big Bamboozle (also nominated this week) and his entertaining jazzed up take on the Bond theme (someone really needs to get him to do a Bond soundtrack sometime))

Weapons of mass distraction

As we are on a movie theme this week, thought I'd share another poster I came across (from an early Russ Meyer). Evens up the Rammstein posting...

HERE'S A THOUGHT...

There's something that I've been aware of for some time which I suspect is shared by others, and that's the fact that there's often several postings here with musical clips attached but little response in the comments. This could mean that nobody bothers playing them, which I doubt, or that once played no one bothers to comment, either way the poster doesn't benefit from any feedback.
Take this week for example, there's 32 songs listed from Podbean and Deezer: there's only 5 comments.
Youtube has a better batting average, there's 7 videos with 14 responses.
I doubt that this shows disinterest but it would be nice if there was a system that at least showed activity at a musical posting, which were getting played etc. Is that a possibility? Any other thoughts or ideas?

Helping With Year 1 Homework - An Appeal

OK, I'm a rocker. You all know this. As much as I'd like to claim a wide range of musical tastes and awareness, every so often I have to go back to the above admission.

So when DarceysSis came home from school and said "Dad, we're doing Pavarotti at school" I -
(i) resisted the obvious necrophilia joke - she is only six!
(ii) realised I wasn't going to be much help.

Apart from a dodgy version of Nessun Dorma, the only track I own with Signor Pavarotti's powerful tenor on is this one, from the Passengers (U2/Eno) soundtrack:

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She loves this, so much so it has become something of a bedtime comforter when she can't sleep (no jokes, please, I'm serious).

What I need is an introduction to opera for both of us: something with individual tracks short enough to hold the attention of a child whose other current obsession is High School Musical, but powerful enough to appeal to a bloke whose normal fare ranges from Mark Hollis' minimalism to wall-of-sound guitar powerchords. If it is specifically by the recently-deceased ex-goalkeeper, so much the better.

To reveal the full extent of my ignorance, and curiosity, below are the only other two songs with vaguely operatic vocal contributions that I (know I) own. I absolutely love'em both.

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Give me some tips please, even if it is for compilations an opera-loving purist would find cheesy. I've decided this is the opportunity to travel a new road!!

Thanks.

soundtrax

Just playing with some French film soundtracks for old super-8 footage that I shot. An experiment that proves how much music can add to a jumble of images. The first is Duo from Delicatessen, the second is Brouillard from Jules et Jim

*UPDATE* I just tried saving the first film as CD-Rom quality (15 fps instead of 12) And it didn't take much longer, but I think it looks much much better. So I've replaced it, and here's the new version...

MY MOVIE THEMES

Here's my list, some I posted on RR, others I donded. In order they are:

1. 'The Overture' by the Who - Tommy.
2. The love theme by Nino Roto - The Godfather trilogy.
3. Adagio for Strings and Organ by Tomaso Albinoni - The Trial.
4. Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni - Raging Bull.
5. Lark Ascending by Vaughn Williams - don't know the film.
6. In Paradiso by Gabrielle Faure - The Thin Red Line.
7. Smile by Charlie Chaplin. - Modern Times
8. Theme music from Modern times by Charlie Chaplin.

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daffodils have started appearing in my house, i have no idea how they get in here

20th century Chopin

Bill Evans: a selection of film and show themes..

Starting with the incredible "Spartacus". Always looking for near-telepathic understanding among the members of his trio, Evans dispensed with bass and drums and overdubbed himself twice to produce an exquisite rendition of this ballad. From the 1963 album "conversations with myself". An extraordinary experiment in improvisational composition.

The following three tracks are from his last recordings at Keystone Corner in San Francisco, only days before his death. It defies belief to think that at the time of these recordings he was a very sick man, severely damaged by heroin and cocaine use, beset by personal tragedy. The liner notes include a quote by Keystone owner Todd Barkan: "Like what you see before a light bulb goes out-that extra-bright incandescence".

Theme from M*A*S*H, a storming performance.

My Romance, the show-tune by Rodgers and Hart. The 3 minute intro alone probably outside the capabilities of any other pianist.

Days of wine and roses. Mancini's ballad given an uptempo treatment, the trio with Marc Johnson's bass and Joe la Barbera on drums is particularly brilliant here.

"I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland."

Scores of scores

Turns out all it takes is a little complaint and Podbean is nice to me again.

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I had forgotten this:

Hung Up On My Baby by Isaac Hayes, from Truck Turner's essential companion, Three Tough Guys, although I have yet to see the latter.

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Love the chimey way the guitar sounds.

And it's up the red carpet for...FP's film music playlist

Now going up the red carpet is not all it's cracked up to be. You actually feel a bit of a dork. You are very aware of how you walk and hold yourself, how well you can walk in those heels...not! And you know that if you trip up, given that the world's cameras are trained on you, you will end up on every joke show from here to Vladivostok. Gulp! it just makes you realise that being an actress in the public eye is a job - it's hard work. They have to learn how to hold themselves, pose on the red carpet, give dazzling smiles to the camera and generally look faaaabulous even when they're feeling like five kinds of sh_te. I do not envy them. Film composers are less in the public eye, though. I wouldn't recognise Danny Elfman if he head-butted me. However, this week's blog has just underlined what a vital contribution they make to the final result and how, indeed, some film soundtracks have outgrown the film and taken on a life of their own. Aaaaaand the FP nominations for the best soundtrack are...

PRINCESS, HERE'S ONE JUST FOR YOU.

I've been scanning my animal pics all day, you sounded like you needed one, here 'tis.

"Hey, what's the deal with brunch--I mean if it's a combination of breakfast and lunch, how come there's no lupper?"

Fat Jack Bond's Theme

A few film and TV tracks..
Fat Albert Rotunda, Herbie Hancock

Right off, Miles Davis, from A tribute to Jack Johnson. An edit from the original masters.

Space March, Leftfield's remix of..

Capsule in Space, by John Barry. So that's what it sounds like when one spaceship swallows another.

To end with, Sheva by Goran Bregovic from Underground. Especially for Frogprincess.

(Podbean removed)

80's soundtracks were mostly bombastic orchestrals, rock anthems, pop songs or hip-hop influenced synth workouts- I preferred the latter, and Harold Faltermeyer's themes for Eddie Murphy and Chevy Chase were two of the best... I had these tracks on a loop as a 15 yr old and revisiting them has been a pleasure..

The Insurance Company, by Isaac Hayes

Love the way it starts, with that distorded piano, then the beat comes in, then the horns, and then the wah-wah saxophone that first comes in little spurts and then a solo.

Podbean is too slow, so I'm back on the old yt.