Oracle of The Clash

The Casbah's rocking, London's burning and what with the Olympics being in London next year, I'm wondering "Should I stay or should I go?"

Beatles Bits & Pieces

I read somewhere (not so recently) that in the first week their catalogue was made available for download last November, the most popular Beatles song was "Here Comes The Sun". Now, while that's a fine song, you can't help wondering if that wasn't also a consequence of people just wanting some heartwarming distraction from the freezing cold weather they were having at the time.

And on another Beatles-related note, a rather poignant observation about Brian Epstein was made in The Word magazine, namely that he would never have heard "Hey Jude". Obviously one can simply work this out by knowing the relevant dates but when it's put like that, it's rather sad.

Leonard Still Goin' Cohen

Caught Leonard Cohen last night. What a performer and what a set of musicians he has with him!

Aside from being transfixed by the music, I was also struck by the man's humility,warmth and humour. He tells us: "We've been on this tour for 3 years now. Back then I was 73: just a kid with a crazy dream..."

Last of The Soul Men

Solomon Burke was huge in every sense of the word. Father of over 21 kids according to the voice-over at the end of this track.

And now he's gone too. On the same day as Dame Joan Sutherland no less. But I'm a soul man rather than an opera fan, so while I can appreciate La Stupenda's reputation, it is the death of the last of the 60's male soul greats that leaves me with the greater sense of loss.

Talented Family

I hear that the British Labour Party has selected Edward Miliband to be its new leader. He beat out his brother, David, to the post. That's quite a talented family, especially when you also remember their musically gifted father, Steve, who had all those hits in the 70's.

Wrong Song

Had to make a call the other night and just grabbed a CD at random from the bookshelf before making it (I like to set a mood however random it may be). When I say random, obviously I didn't want to put on anything that was likely to drown out the conversation.

Glancing at the selected album, Beatles For Sale, it seemed to be suitable for not drowning out the conversation.

As the phone rang and rang, the first song "No Reply" seemed strangely apt. A wait, another unanswered dial and then "I'm A Loser" chimed through the speakers. One more try I figured. By now "Baby's In Black" had come on with its fateful "Oh dear what can I do? Baby's in black and I'm feeling blue" line and I decided perhaps there's a message here.

It's a great album but don't use it when making a phone call.

A Relic From A Different Age

Found in a locked drawer at work: The U2 File: A Hot Press U2 History. From 1985!

It's like an artefact from a time capsule. So many questions! Who paid $17 for this book and then left it behind? Who'd have thought back in 1985 that U2 would still have another quarter of a century to go? And whatever happened to Bono's hair.

O My Soul: Alex Chilton RIP

This is somewhat belated even by my own lax standards.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard that Alex Chilton had died on March 17, 2010.

This didn't receive anything like the mainstream media coverage that say, Malcolm McLaren's death received. And most people (of the vast numbers of people that read this blog) will say "Who?" but I would also wager that most people have heard Alex Chilton singing "The Letter" by The Box Tops without knowing who the lead singer was. He sung that was when he was only 16.

I also only discovered Alex Chilton late, namely when his subsequent band, Big Star, had their first 2 albums, #1 Record and Radio City, re-released on a single CD. This was simply one of the best CD re-releases ever! Hearing this music for the first time was a revelation. There was something joyous and yet fragile about it at the same time. You also quickly realised that you belonged to a pretty exclusive (read "obscure") club. This was not music that you were about to be hearing on the radio anytime soon. And yet this was not because the music was "difficult" in any way. In fact, the artists influenced by Big Star had been all over the radio: REM and Cheap Trick to name but two of them.

The "obvious" song, if a track can be described as such for appearing as an album track on a Bangles album, was "September Gurls". It was also covered by a strangely hip-to-it, latter-day version of The Searchers.

There were plenty of other delights however, to be found on this CD. "O My Soul", "When My Baby's Beside Me" (a great driving song), "The Ballad of El Goodo", "Don't Lie To Me" and "You Get What You Deserve" were all great to name just a few but the real joy for me was "Thirteen". This beautiful melody over the simplest of arrangements with its innocent vulnerability stood out from the rest. It remains one of my favourite songs of all time. As in "ever, ever" to quote a mate of mine.

Their next work Third/Sister Lovers was also subsequently reissued and in many circles is regarded as their greatest work although much of it was not music that could be readily played live, "Too Wagnerian for my present band", Chilton once noted! To my mind though, Big Star and Alex Chilton as a solo artist never repeated the simple magic of those first 2 albums.

A couple of great articles can be found at Popmatters: a poignant obituary featuring moving first-hand testimony along with an equally heartfelt summary of his career and life.

What the World Needs Now...

...is another Kiss tribute band.

At least that's what's suggested by all the phone number tags having been torn from this "Bass Player Wanted" flyer. Clearly, there's a lot of would-be Gene Simmons walking around the Sydney CBD. Guess it beats my day job too.

On the other hand, the person motivated to scrawl: "How limiting! Do Something More Your Age" would appear to disagree. A lot!

Perhaps that person also tore off all the phone numbers...