Video of the Week: “Sorrow, Pain and Joy All at the Same Time”–Clare Torry’s Performance on Pink Floyd’s ‘Great Gig in the Sky’
16 Jul 2022 Leave a comment
in Video of the Week Tags: clare torry, great gig in the sky, pink floyd
Ten Artists Sounding Uncannily Similar to Other Artists
22 Jun 2016 3 Comments
in General Posts Tags: ac/dc, accept, ali thomson, band of horses, bee gees, dave kerzner, fleetwood mac, jeremy fisher, kingdom come, kings of convenience, Led Zeppelin, lissie, neil young, paul mccartney, paul simon, pink floyd, simon & garfunkel, tin tin, tyler ramsey
Welcome to our little homage to musical homage. The following ten artists, whether by willful attempt or sheer happenstance, managed to pull off amazingly credible imitations of more notable musical acts. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We’ll let you decide:
Dave Kerzner: “Stranded”
This Dark Side-era Pink Floyd sound-alike couldn’t possibly have happened by accident. Kerzner’s 2014 New World album, though it literally and figuratively shows its influences on its sleeve, is actually an outstanding progressive rock record in its own right. But “Stranded”, more than any song I’ve ever heard, shows an artist who’s assimilated the Floydian musical vocabulary.
____________________
Lissie: “Further Away (Romance Police)”
Late-70’s Fleetwood Mac is revisited by singer-songwriter Lissie, complete with the Lindsey Buckingham guitar and Stevie Nicks vocals.
____________________
Ali Thomson: “Take a Little Rhythm”
You may remember this #15 hit from 1980. If so, you almost surely thought it was Paul McCartney because it perfectly mimicked the sound of his late-70’s hits, not to mention the Tom Scott sax solo of “Listen to What the Man Said” and the prominence of the bass guitar in the mix. And also because who the hell is Ali Thomson?
____________________
Jeremy Fisher: “Scar That Never Heals”
With all the stories floating around about Paul Simon cribbing musically from other artists it’s good to see another singer so “inspired” by Paul. Or so it sounds to me.
____________________
Kingdom Come: “Get it On”
This one’s just brazen. From John Bonham’s thunderous drum sound to Robert’s Plant’s wail to a riff that, to say the very least, “evokes” Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”…come on, guys. I mean, that sound is taken. Get your own.
____________________
Tyler Ramsey: “Stay Gone”
Neil Young is channeled on this one, though it’s not clear if Tyler Ramsey consciously does so. I hear echoes here of some of young Neil’s early 70’s tunes such as “Winterlong”.
____________________
Band of Horses: “Long Vows”
Again with the Neil Young! Band of horses sound like they got hold of a Zuma outtake here. In a good way.
____________________
Kings of Convenience: “Homesick”
The Norwegian duo known as Kings of Convenience capture the close harmonies and intimate spare sound of “Scarborough Fair”-period Simon & Garfunkel on this one. Or as their own words in this very song describe it “two soft voices, blended in perfection”.
____________________
Accept: “Balls to the Wall”
It seems in the world of 80’s metal you could scrape out a bit of a career merely by imitating an iconic act. Since their red hot career has presumably cooled off by now (unless like Spinal Tap they’re enjoying a revival in Japan) I wonder if it’s occurred to no-hit wonder Accept–and to the previously mentioned Kingdom Come for that matter–that there’s always a living to be made as a tribute band? Who could better fill the AC/DC void now that Brian Johnson has called it quits?
____________________
Tin Tin: “Toast and Marmalade for Tea”
In case you’re not conversant with late-60’s pop, or old enough to remember that the Bee Gees had quite a successful career before anyone had ever heard of disco, Aussie duo Tin Tin was pretty much exactly what the Gibb brothers sounded like from about 1968 to ’72. It’s not a shock that Maurice Gibb produced the quaint “Toast and Marmalade for Tea”, Tin Tin’s only U.S. top 40 hit and a long-forgotten chestnut. It carries the stately sound of contemporaneous Bee Gees hits such as “Lonely Days” and “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You”.
Floyd Track is Best for Surgery
20 Dec 2014 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: pink floyd
(via Prog Magazine)
by Martin Kielty
Comfortably Numb recommended listening for operating theatre – while Queen, Dylan and REM songs are to be avoided
Pink Floyd classic Comfortably Numb is one of a handful of songs recommended for surgeons as they lead medical operations.
But a study by Cardiff University Hospital says Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust, Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and REM’s Everybody Hurts should be avoided.
While the suggestions are light-hearted, they’re backed up by a serious study that’s found four out of five operations are carried out while staff listen to music.
The report in the British Medical Journal says it “improves communication between staff, reduces anxiety and improves efficiency.”
And surgeons who listen regularly say it helps them increase performance and helps them focus.
Read the full list here: http://prog.teamrock.com/news/2014-12-17/floyd-track-is-best-for-surgery
The Making of Dark Side of the Moon – Documentary
15 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: dark side of the moon, pink floyd
Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour Sings Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18
04 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: david gilmour, pink floyd, shakespeare, sonnet 18
(Reprinted from Open Culture)
In 2001 or 2002, guitarist and singer David Gilmour of Pink Floyd recorded a musical interpretation of William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18″ at his home studio aboard the historic, 90-foot houseboat the Astoria. This video of Gilmour singing the sonnet was released as an extra on the 2002 DVD David Gilmour in Concert, but the song itself was apparently connected with When Love Speaks, a 2002 benefit album for London’s Royal Academy for the Dramatic Arts.
The project was organized by the composer and conductor Michael Kamen, who died a little more than a year after the album was released. When Love Speaks features a mixture of dramatic and musical performances of Shakespeare’s Sonnets and other works, with artists ranging from John Gielgud to Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Kamen wrote much of the music for the project, including the arrangement for Sonnet 18, which is sung on the album by Bryan Ferry. A special benefit concert to celebrate the release of the album was held on February 10, 2002 at the Old Vic Theatre in London, but Bryan Ferry did not attend. Gilmour appeared and sang the sonnet in his place. It was apparently around that time that Gilmour recorded his own vocal track for Kamen’s song.
“Sonnet 18″ is perhaps the most famous of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. It was written in about 1595, and most scholars now agree the poem is addressed to a man. The sonnet is composed in iambic pentameter, with three rhymed quatrains followed by a concluding couplet:
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.