Disappointed, once more.

So yesterday I watched the live stream of Pet Shop Boys Afisha Picnic festival which they were headlining. I hate to be so negative, I honestly do, especially when it involves one of my favourite bands, but their performance tonight is just the latest in a string of disappointments in the whole way they have handled the start to their new album era. They just seem like they're lacking in drive or something, I mean we've not actually seen them much at all, and when they do actually perform a concert they perform one from their last tour, which was supposed to be over when they played in Sydney for New Years Eve 2011. The actual show itself is one of the strongest tours they've ever done, and they sounded good today. My gripe though? The fact that there was utterly no change to the set list. At all. The stream quality (for me at least) was utterly poor, it didn't actually start for me when it was the start of their set and as such, I entirely missed Heart and most of Did You See Me Coming. I spent the remainder of the show about three quarters of a song behind my friend who was streaming it as well. Going back to the lack of innovations, It just seems like such a weird thing to do considering the new album is out in just under two months, I mean they didn't even perform Winner live or anything. Basically, I spent an hour and a half watching a low quality stream of a concert that I already own (and it didn't even look so good either because despite them being the last act it was still pretty light, so their elaborate light shows and screens didn't even stand out). The only new part for me (although they did perform it at Sydney) was Together. Considering that is one of my least favourite Pet Shop Boys songs though that offers little in the way of consolation. They didn't have to do anything particularly over the top, but it wouldn't have hurt to have made some change at least. I can't help but feel they've made some very questionable decisions with this era. Personally, I think it feels like they've been very quiet or something and their lead single, Winner was an utter letdown. Its not even a patch on some of their weaker album tracks, let alone their best work (and there really isn't any comparison to their B-sides, most of which surpass the tracks released on their studio albums). Their video premieres tomorrow, yet this hasn't even been mentioned on their official site. Compared with The Killers Battle Born era which is just getting underway at the moment, and it really is a sad state of affairs. With The Killers recent comeback show after their hiatus, you could clearly see a band who were passionate and ready to make their comeback. With Pet Shop Boys in the last few months they seem to be acting like releasing a new album is very matter of fact for them. Which in a way is understandable, they met almost 31 years ago, and in their career together they have built up an impressive and incredibly consistent body of work by anyone's standards. What I find sad though is that unfortunately they do not have that many albums left in them (they both are fast approaching 60 after all). The best they can do is at least put a bit of extra effort in, I mean I know they've been quick to criticise their disregard for promotion in the press, but Winner is completely devoid of just about any creativity and see's them at their most conformist, and coming from two of the most overlooked and creative minds in pop music of the last 30 years (if not of all time), then that's very sad to see indeed. Having finished Literally last night, were I discovered that their record company at the time didn't actually want to release It's Alright (which was released in the end), it struck me that Pet Shop Boys of old would never have been satisfied with Winner. They strike me at the moment as a band who have lost their drive to be different and stand out, the very same drive that resulted in their most accomplished work, and what attracted me to them in the first place.

The Killers return!

Every time a new Killers album is announced I do turn rather giddy, childish even with excitement as they were my first serious musical love. With that in mind, I was delighted to wake up this morning to the news that The Killers debuted some more new songs at their somewhat intimate concert last night in Asheville, North Carolina. They performed new single Runaways, The Rising Tide which was first performed live a year ago at Scala in London but the real treat for fans came in the form of Miss Atomic Bomb and Flesh and Bones. Miss Atomic Bomb sounds particularly good but both tracks are very strong I think. Honestly, I am so excited for this album, as each of the songs have impressed me, I think Brandon wasn't exaggerating when he said that Battle Born was their best album yet! A full review of the gig will be in the coming issue of NME magazine which is out Wednesday, July 25 along with an interview with Brandon Flowers. Meanwhile, you can hear the new songs from last nights show by clicking HERE. Their full set list was as follows

Runaways
Somebody Told Me
Smile Like You Mean It
Spaceman
This Is Your Life
Rising Tide
Miss Atomic Bomb
For Reasons Unknown
Bling
Shadowplay
Human
A Dustland Fairytale
Read My Mind
Mr Brightside
All These Things That I've Done
Encore
Flesh and Bone
Jenny Was A Friend of Mine
When You Were Young

Rock star roots.

I've just found out something rather interesting about Nirvana, whom I'm investigating at the minute. As it happens, it turns out that Kurt Cobain actually has roots in Northern Ireland, where I am from! As it turns out, the fifth generation of his family had the surname Cobane and lived in County Tyronne, before emigrating to Washington where Kurt himself would grow up. I can't say that I actually live near Tyronne, I live on the other side of Northern Ireland actually, in the capital city of Belfast. Having said that, some members of my family do know people that share that same Cobane name. Never the less, this is a very interesting thing for me, and its making me excited about looking into their work further and seeing if I can find out a little more about it! I've also found some really good pictures and pieces of information about their gig in the Kings Hall in Belfast in 1992 which you can visit by clicking HERE (you'll have to scroll down to get to the Belfast entry however). That site seems to be one of the most informative live chronologies of Nirvana, and one that I will definitely be making frequent visits too as I investigate their work further!

New Releases: Happy Mondays

Good lord, it feels as if every day there seems to be a new Happy Mondays release at the moment! Firstly they did a new CD+DVD combo of their 2004 concert from Barcelona (which isn't the original lineup), then the obligatory greatest hits (featuring new liner notes by Shaun Ryder and the previously rare track and debut single Delightful, which isn't available anywhere else). Recently, its just been announced that there's also the arrival of two (no, that isn't a mistake!) live albums also. One of which is a pretty old concert from 1990 in New York, and the other is a release of one of their recent reunion gigs, from Brixton Academy in England to be exact. I'm excited for these new releases (particularly the new greatest hits for the rare track and the Brixton live CD as so far I've been impressed with how they're sounding since the reunion). I just hope that Happy Mondays are planning to remaster + re release their studio albums hopefully with the inclusion of some rarities, as Bummed and Pills And Thrill's and Bellyaches deluxe editions that were released a few years ago have become hard to find in the UK for whatever reason!

Some little TOTP Clips

So I was watching TOTP2 with my family earlier which is always an enjoyable way to spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon, as usual it had some good performances and others that were just bizarre, particularly some of the older ones from the 70's. This week featured X-Ray Spex funnily enough, which is a little ironic considering the earlier post I made on them today (judging by my my families reaction they are definitely an acquired taste as my parents and brother couldn't stand their sound). They also had other songs that I like such as Give It Up by KC and The Sunshine Band and Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio. My two favourites have to be these little gems though which I thought I'd share. The first one is Everybody Wants to Rule The World by Tears for Fears and the second is This Town Ain't Big Enough For Two Of Us by Sparks. The Sparks one is particularly quirky but in a rather brilliant way I think!

Interesting little download.

I have an odd fascination developing in recent months for record labels (particularly interested in ZTT, Factory and Creation), In recent times though I'm also particularly interested in Some Bizzare too. Their compilation album of the same name was their first release, and was designed to give an indication of the musical sound the label were interested in. I downloaded this last night after figuring it would be a good place to start. What I find fascinating is that the release contains early recordings by some acts that would go on to have much success like Depeche Mode (the version of Photographic here is actually the first released recording of Depeche Mode's) and also Blancmange and Soft Cell (who would then be signed to Some Bizzare) I've only heard a few of the other tracks of it so far and it sounds like a very experimental piece of work, definitely an interesting listen indeed!

Musical-Uturns

There are times when you have to admit you are wrong about something, and this is one of them for me. Lately (like in the last month or so) I was watching the Sounds of the 70's punk music edition on the BBC, which you can find in its entirety on Youtube HERE. It certainly was a mixed bag, some of the songs on it I utterly loved (Joy Division's She's Lost Control being the obvious one there) but one in particular called Oh Bondage! Up Yours! by X-Ray Spex utterly grated on me, particularly because of the singer, the late Poly Sterene's voice. I have to admit though that for whatever reason I've actually grown to really like the track now, its funny how opinions can change. I've heard that their debut album was really good, so I think I will check it out and explore their discography further!

Happy Mondays 2012 Performance/Interview

Big fan of Happy Mondays so I'm naturally very pleased that they've reformed recently, this time featuring the original line-up for the first time since the mid 90's. This is a very recent appearance from the last lot of days on the This Morning program which I thought was worth sharing for other Happy Mondays fans. Its a live performance of Step On (Which sounds good I think) and also a very interesting little interview were they talk about their reasons for reforming, and also the possibility of a new Happy Mondays album, I for one hope to see that come to fruition!