"There's a time in life for Hoagy Carmichael. There's a time in life for Claude Debussy. There's a time in life for Jerry Lee Lewis. There's a time in life for Destiny's Child. All these things have their moment." ~Elvis Costello
14 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: what is jazz
14 Oct 2015 11 Comments
in General Posts Tags: i got a man, positive k
One-hit wonder Positive K’s lone Top 40 entry (#14 in 1993) becomes a more interesting listen when you learn the rapper did both the male and female vocals on the song. It being his debut, perhaps there was no budget for guest vocalists? At any rate, the “female” voice was K’s own, the pitch adjusted with the aid of studio technology.
12 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: john denver
12 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: bad band names
(via Rolling Stone)
By Eveline Chao, Dan Epstein, Brandon Geist, Andy Greene, Kory Grow, Brittany Spanos, Christopher Weingarten
It’s one of the biggest decisions any band will face: what to call themselves. And yet, so many get it so wrong. Fortunately, for every group that comes up with a terrible name and sticks with it, there’s a band that comes up with a terrible name, plays a few shows under it, maybe releases a demo or even an album or two but then finally comes to its senses. Many well-known and successful groups – from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Green Day – have been through the latter growing pains, starting out life cursed with a misguided moniker before landing on a name destined to adorn the T-shirts of millions of devoted fans. The name makes the band, as they say; here are 25 bands that almost didn’t get made.
30 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: magna carta, the fields of eden
Magna Carta: “The Fields of Eden” (2015)
Sit back in your most comfy chair with something seasonal in your mug (perhaps a pumpkin ale or an English tea?) and let piano, acoustic guitar and gentle strings take you on a journey back to the Yorkshire dales of songwriter Chris Simpson’s youth. If you’ve got some years on the clock this is the type of song that you’ll feel in your bones…
Times change with the tide, for such is the way of things
The old order can not stand forever, unmoving
All that goes around comes around, as indeed it must
…Look over your should, pilgrim, rest awhile
And consider on what ground you stand…
Simpson’s spoken reflections and the song they frame elicit at turns nostalgia, sadness, defiance, resignation and reassurance as he conjures an image of an idyllic place standing in the looming shadow of fast-changing times.
Guitarist Elliot Randall (Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers), who played on this album, notes its “wonderful tune-smithing” and “sonic loveliness” and compares it to a good book–“the kind you can’t put down.”
Other superlatives heaped on Simpson and his senescent progressive folk band are here duplicated from the liner notes:
“Chris Simpson — the English Paul Simon.”–Fred Dellar (Mojo)
“The boy still writes a fair toon.”–Doug Morter (guitarist)
“One of the greatest singer/songwriters in the world.”–Roy Teysee (Universal Records, Holland)
“A master songwriter and natural born storyteller”–Graham Chalmers (Ackrill’s Newspapers)
“They are the whole story of contemporary acoustic music”–Colin Irwin (Melody Maker, Mojo, BBC Radio 2)
“Magna who?”–Bob Dylan
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2018/12/29/songs-you-may-have-missed-631/
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2022/02/13/songs-you-may-have-missed-724/
