Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
02 Dec 2016 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: a flock of seagulls, cape cod potato chips
02 Dec 2016 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: elo, jeff lynne
(Jim Irvin’s article from Mojo magazine, August 2001 issue–reprinted from Beat Patrol)
April 20, 2001. The fat drops of rain falling on New York cannot dampen the anticipation that’s crackling along this usually quiet side-street. Here stand the few hundred lucky souls selected to witness the first show in 15 years by their favourite band. Soon they’ll be ushered into a makeshift TV studio and seated inches from a skinny man with a cloud of chestnut-coloured hair, a trim beard and wraparound shades that hide his baggy eyes. He’ll caress an electric guitar and sing songs that rocked their young lives.
Pray silence, please, for the Electric Light Orchestra!
Mayhem. You could hold a nice barbecue with the warmth of this response.
Staring at his feet, Jeff Lynne strolls on, plugs in, strums something. His body language ripples through a few emotions: Oh no, I can’t hear the guitar! Those people are a bit close! But they’re bloody pleased to see me!
He senses it’ll be okay, looks up and says hello.
For two hours we’re treated to the works of a master. It’s impossible not to grin like a fool at ‘Mr Blue Sky’, ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, ‘Evil Woman’, all of them. But, seated in the heart of this diverse, adoring crowd, I reflect on how I once despised this music. When ELO were at their artistic and commercial peak, right at the height of punk, I considered them artless, sexless, pointlessly extravagant – on stage and in their arrangements – their words meaningless, their melodies appropriated from greater pop minds. Ersatz and processed, the sonic equivalent of Dairylea cheese. Gloop for the masses.
What a horrible snob I was. Of course, the dream of punk as a great proletarian force was cobblers. The real ‘70s Music Of The People was being made by disco acts and bands like ELO, a noble music that’s uplifting and unpretentious. You don’t have to decode it or hitch a lifestyle to it. It’s music made with pleasure, for pleasure; a rare commodity we should treasure. Here’s how it happened…
Read more: https://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/jim-irvin-the-bullring-variations-elo-2001/
01 Dec 2016 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: she is gone, silver seas
The Silver Seas: “She is Gone” (2007)
Formerly known as the Bees, The Silver Seas are led by Daniel Tashian’s guitar and considerable pop songwriting chops.
Here piano is at the forefront, with soft stabs of chords overlaying an effortlessly contagious melancholy melody and an easy lilting rhythm reminiscent of Bob Lind’s “Elusive Butterfly”.
It’s gently intoxicating, like much of Silver Seas’ material.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2020/07/08/songs-you-may-have-missed-666/
See also: Recommended Albums #83 | Every Moment Has A Song (edcyphers.com)
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2021/12/18/songs-you-may-have-missed-719/
27 Nov 2016 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: oh land, rainbow
Oh Land: “Rainbow” (2011)
Danish singer-songwriter Nanna Øland Fabricius is a former student at the Royal Danish and Royal Swedish ballet schools. When a back injury forced her to give up her dancing career she focused on music, Anglicizing her middle name to create the pseudonym she records under.
Her self-titled second album (which was her debut in the U.S.) rose to #5 on the Danish pop chart.
She creates the kind of electro-dance pop that brings Santigold and Robyn to mind.
But mixed in with the dance beats is the occasional ballad, such as album closer “Rainbow”, which explodes into a radiant, color-saturated chorus befitting the song’s title.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2017/02/24/recommended-albums-72/
27 Nov 2016 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: cemetery row, colin meloy, the minus 5
The Minus 5 with Colin Meloy: “Cemetery Row” (2006)
Scott McCaughey and the Minus 5 summon Colin Meloy to sing the praises of life as a ghost. Given that many of Meloy’s own tunes depict harrowing and macabre scenarios, fans of his band the Decemberists know he’s perfectly cast here. Creepy.
Eyes that never close, hands too numb to hold a glass or a matchstick.
Everybody knows this old house is cold and crowded with halfwits.
Cemetery Row is not such a bad place — don’t you want to go?
Lemonade and gin.
Life is wearing thin by general consensus.
Nothing is a sin.
Fall out of your skin so free and defenseless.
Cemetery Row is not such a bad place — don’t you want to go?
Bars that never close on every corner, Cemetery Row.
Used to be afraid.
Now we love to fade into the procession.
No more the insane
Memory lane runs in the other direction
Cemetery Row is not such a bad place — don’t you want to go?
Bars that never close on every corner, Cemetery Row.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2013/03/16/songs-you-may-have-missed-361/
26 Nov 2016 Leave a comment
in Did You Ever Realize, General Posts Tags: lisa lisa & cult jam, the isley brothers, the supremes
Every Moment Has A Song 