Little gems from London Calling

So last night I watched two really interesting shows: London Calling and London Songs at the BBC. The documentary was hosted by Jools Holland and told a history of London through various songs written about places in the city. What was a real treat though was the second show which was essentially a compilation of various performances of songs written about London. I just love watching those sort of compilation shows for the variety of music. The two highlights for me though (as well as Pet Shop Boys performing West End Girls naturally) were these: Blur's For Tomorrow official video and a performance of London Calling  by The Clash but this time it was by Joe Strummer and the Mescalero's.  It's quite a bittersweet performance too I think as it was only two years before Joe sadly died rather suddenly in December of 2002. It's actually made me all the more eager to watch The Future is Unwritten. My only criticism is that it would have been amazing if, instead of showing For Tomorrow they showed Damon Albarn and Ray Davies together singing Waterloo Sunset/Parklife as it's a stellar performance. Never the less, both shows were so interesting!

From the Archives...

A bit of a non-post really, but last night I was watching two very interesting musical shows: London Calling and London Songs at The BBC. The documentary aimed to tell a history of London's history through various songs written about it. I loved the second show which was a compilation of various performances of songs written about London. Naturally great songs like Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks and London Calling by The Clash were featured, but it's always lovely to see Pet Shop Boys on one of these shows, this time with one of their TOTP appearances performing West End Girls (obviously). Many of you will have already seen it no doubt, but its always lovely to see them on such shows as they can be ignored somewhat I feel.

Joy Division - She's Lost Control (Something Else)

Joy Division are one of my favourite groups ever, and this is probably my favourite live performance of theirs! This performance was what got me really sold on in their music. I had been struggling somewhat to enjoy them beforehand, but this made me realize what a captivating band they were. This is one of the few television appearances they made, and it was originally broadcast on September 15th 1979. They performed two songs on the show, She's Lost Control and also Transmission and were briefly interviewed (although the only one that talks in the interview is drummer Stephen Morris). For me, this live version of She's Lost Control is the definitive version. I find it hard to listen to the album version on Unknown Pleasures so much because I don't like how diluted the guitar sounds on the album version. Here though the guitar is much punchier and it really makes the track. Really though, I think all aspects of the song sound superior here to the album version. The atmosphere here is much more creepy and foreboding than the album version too I find. Another plus point is]Ian's dancing here too, you get a far better sense of his distinctive dance style here in comparison to the likes of the Here Are The Young Men VHS tape which is very hard to watch in places because of the poor quality. Sadly, the video footage of their appearance on Something Else hasn't been officially released, although the audio of their two performances is on the special edition of the compilation The Best of Joy Division that comes with the bonus disc. The video footage can be found on a bootleg release called Substance though, that was released on VHS but can also be found on a DVDR with Here Are The Young Men as a bonus disc. The performance does seem popular though, I have seen it on two separate BBC broadcasts: Punk Britannia and Sounds of the 70's: Punk. Both are great compilations of live performances by various bands which are worth a watch. In any case, this is Joy Division at their best I think!

Depeche Mode - Behind The Wheel

I love this song, easily one of my favourite songs from the 80's and probably of all time! Behind The Wheel is the third single from their album Music For The Masses. Before I heard this song, I have to admit I was struggling to get really into Depeche Mode. I had loved some of their songs but most of them took some time to grow on me. I heard Behind The Wheel on their well known 101 documentary (which was also seminal in finally making me a fan). The song was remixed for single release by Daniel Miller. In all honestly, I do prefer the album version by a substantial margin to the single version. I just think the single version has nearly too much going on in its arrangement, I think the extra synths are just a bit surplus to requirements really. What I really love about the album version is the musical symbolism that's very prevalent. The arrangement of the song is very simplistic and doesn't alter very much at all during the course of the track. Very appropriately, the beat merely keeps driving on, conjuring up images of driving down a highway for me at least. It goes perfectly with the driving metaphor that is the focal point of the lyrics. The lyrics of the song tell the story of  someone completing submitting themselves to their partner. In terms of theme, it implicitly reminds me of another well known Depeche Mode song, Never Let Me Down Again (also from Music For The Masses), as Never Let Me Down Again is again about submission, but in that song its about submission to drugs. I also love the B-side for Behind The Wheel, a cover version of the well known Bobby Troup composition Route 66. Usually I don't mention a B-side in a post that covers the A-side but for Behind The Wheel/Route 66 I make a special exception. It was the perfect B-side choice for Behind The Wheel I think as it maintains the driving theme of it's A-side counterpart. Route 66 even incorporates some of Behind The Wheel in its arrangement which ties the two even further. In any case, great song by a great band!

Nirvana - Unplugged

This is one of those legendary live sets that most people will have probably heard of, even if they're not fans of Nirvana to begin with. I was actually the same way, before I investigated Nirvana properly this was one of the few things about them that I was aware of.  Even when I was talking to my brother a few weeks ago about the performance (he's a Nirvana fan), he even said that it was in heavy rotation on the MTV channel, particularly after Kurt's death and it was one of those shows that when it was on, you almost had to watch it. After all, only the audio of the of the concert had been released at that point. I have to say that the concert is one of the most consistently brilliant live shows I've ever seen by anyone, it's simply that good.

 MTV Unplugged In New York was the first album of Nirvana's to be released posthumously after the death of lead singer Kurt Cobain. Initially in August 1994, an announcement was made that a two disc live compilation called Verse Chorus Verse would be released and would contain various different tracks from live performances from 1989-1994 and the Unplugged set in its entirety. However, given that Kurt's death was still very much fresh in the minds of surviving members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, compiling the album proved to be too emotionally difficult. This lead to the plans being shelved a mere week after the original announcement, although on November 1st of that year, the full Unplugged set was finally released as a standalone album.

Trying to get Nirvana on Unplugged was a difficult task, as the band members showed a dislike for the way many of the artists on the show treated their sets. They felt that they would simply play through their greatest hits except in this case they would merely substitute electric guitars for acoustic ones. Whilst touring with The Meat Puppets though (two members of which join Nirvana in the Unplugged set), Kurt finally accepted. In typical Nirvana fashion though, they opted not to do things the conventional way. Their set is mainly comprised of lesser known material and cover versions - six out of the fourteen tracks in the set are covers. I think the set is all the better for it though, I mean as great as songs like Smells Like Teen Spirit are, its good to see a band showcase their lesser known material, especially because I think Nirvana are one of those bands were the lesser known material is actually superior to their known hits. Speaking of hits, the only one you will find here is Come As You Are which may put some people off listening to the album, but honestly the cover versions here are so good that it really doesn't matter.

I have to say that the first time I watched this I was instantly hooked, to the point were it's been about two months since I originally seen it and I still play at least one song from this set a day. The Man Who Sold The World, which was originally by David Bowie, is honestly one of the best cover versions I have ever heard. I think I actually prefer it to the original, although I still really like the original. Another cover version of equal merit is of Lake of Fire, which was originally by The Meat Puppets. Two members of The Meat Puppets - Cris and Curt Kirkwood - join Nirvana onstage during their rendition of this song and two other Meat Puppet covers in the set. Many of Nirvana's songs here are performed even better than their studio versions I think, particularly Come As You Are. I'm really glad they decided to choose that as the only hit they performed, as Come As You Are is my favorite Nirvana single along with Lithium and it's arrangement really suits the Unplugged style. Having said that, I don't think Lithium would suit an Unplugged style arrangement, because of the usage of dynamic shifts between the verses and the choruses. I just don't see how you could make the performance acoustic yet still convey that part of the song just as effectively as the studio version does.

Another thing that I feel I must mention is the stage design. It was Kurt's own idea that the stage be adorned with things like stargazer lilies and black candles, in his own words "Exactly like a funeral". It gives an extra layer of eeriness to an already very emotional sounding performance I think, seeing as Kurt would be dead within six months of Unplugged. One particularly potent part is in the line in Come As You Are: "And I swear that I don't have a gun". For me, the stage design coupled with Kurts poweful vocals make it simply gut wrenching to listen too. Another highlight for me is the emotional resonance that the listener feels with Kurt's voice for the duration  of the set which really adds an extra dimension to the songs. As much as I love the other Nirvana concerts I've seen because of their highly energetic atmosphere, there's a very organic and consequently timeless quality to Unplugged which makes it work as an album of music and not just a live spectacle.

I have to say that this is simply a must listen of an album if you have any interest in live music. Each song on the album is performed absolutely beautifully and it serves as a sobering reminder of what a loss to music Kurt was. It's also one of the most acclaimed albums I have ever seen on Amazon US: it has a staggering average of five (yes, five) stars out of 454 reviews. Listening to the album, its hard to say its not justified. Honestly, the only downside for me for this performance was that it it flies in whilst watching it I found. It's absolutely imperative to remember that there are no pyrotechnics or costume changes here. The performance earns the praise it does through the music and the music alone. Indeed, there are some things in life that get elevated to legendary status through hype, but every so often something gets elevated to such status simply because they deserve it on merit. This Unplugged set (and Nirvana as a whole) are most definitely the latter. I've never concluded any post with the following statement but this really does warrant it: it's quite simply perfection from beginning to end.

Crystal Castles - Wrath of God

Crystal Castles - Wrath Of God by Crystal CastlesSo this is the second song that Crystal Castles have showcased from their upcoming third LP. The LP is titled III and is being released on November 5th. It's also the first time that the band's own Ethan Kath has taken up the role of production entirely by himself. As for Wrath of God itself? It's quickly becoming one of my favorite singles of the year so far, it starts off low key but quickly evolves into an exhilarating stormer of a track, when the initial beat drop occurred it took me completely by surprise if I'm honest. Looking forward to hearing the full album come November time!

Collection: Ian Brown's Autograph.

Now this is an item I definitely didn't expect to end up with! Two weeks ago today, Stone Roses were headlining the second day of Tennents Vital here in Belfast. I wasn't able to make the concert and as you might expect, that had annoyed me quite a bit. Anyhow, I got a phonecall early afternoon from my aunt (yes, the same one that got me Pet Shop Boys autograph for my birthday) who was in town and sounded very excited. To cut a long story short, my Aunt and cousins were going into Starbucks, and none other than lead singer Ian Brown walked out! My aunt and cousins approached him, said that their niece/cousin was a huge fan and he signed this business card for me, (the business is actually my mother's) as it was the only thing my Aunt had in her bag he could sign! I literally thought I would faint when my Aunt told me. My cousin also got a picture taken with him but for the sake of family privacy I'm not putting it up here. They talked to him for a few minutes and said he was a very nice guy, so I think I now love Stone Roses even more (if that was possible).