FEATURE: Eireplay: Doubling Up: The Urgent Need to Correct Gender Imbalance on Irish Radio

FEATURE:

 

 

Eireplay: Doubling Up

 IN THIS PHOTO: Denise Chaila/PHOTO CREDIT: George Voronov via District Magazine

The Urgent Need to Correct Gender Imbalance on Irish Radio

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ONE issue that seems to come up…

IMAGE CREDIT: Why Not Her?

every year is the gender imbalance across radio stations. In the U.K., there is still this problem with women being underrepresented. There is also a comparative lack of artists of colour. It is slowly improving on some stations, though there are major ones that have a huge gulf. The same is true of Irish radio. One might say there are fewer female artists (compared to men) across the Irish music scene, meaning it would be harder to create that sort of balance. A recent tweet by Linda Coogan Byrne (GDEI Consultant + Equality Campaigner at Why Not Her?) looked ahead to the gender disparity report that will come out in January. It documents the imbalance across Irish radio. There are a lot of great new Irish artists coming through that are not getting played. As I will explore, maybe the industry is not supporting women and creating an environment where they can be heard and in the mix. It is going to be quite angering reading:

“So far on Irish radio this year, in the Top 100 most played songs on Irish radio: (Jan -Oct 31st)

Only 18% of Irish radio is by Irish artists on Top 20 Playlists across all radio stations.

Dermot Kennedy still reigns across the radio, having 4 songs on heavy rotation the entire year round.

14% are white male artists.

4% is female artists and that is The Cranberries, Aimée and Jazzy making up that 4%.

Of the 18% of Irish artists, 2% make up Irish POC artists and that one artist is Jazzy, with two track, one her solo project release under Jazzy and second one is with her collab with Belters Only.

4% of Irish radio's most played artists were comprised of 3 female artists/lead female vocalists.

82% make up International Artists.

Doesn't seem right does it?”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kynsy/PHOTO CREDIT: Paula Trojner

It is not the case that there is a lack of great Irish women to play. From CMAT to Denise Chaila through to Biig Piig and Kynsy and Pillow Queens, there is enough variety and choice out there. It is not a new issue, imbalance. Look at this feature from last year that reacted to the 2022 Gender Disparity Data Report:

“The 2022 Gender Disparity Data Report on Irish Radio by Why Not Her? has stated that no artists of colour from Ireland featured in the Top 100 Most played songs on Irish radio in 2021.

Irish women artists make up just three per cent of the Top 100 Most played songs on Irish radio in 2021.

Dermot Kennedy is now the highest-impacting artist in the last five years across Irish radio with Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” being the most-played song in 2021.

The Findings

RTÉ Lyric FM and RTÉ Radio 1 had the greatest gender balance out of all Irish radio stations while Spin 1038 was the most improved.

FM104 significantly lagged behind for the third year in a row, with only three female artists in their top 20 most-played acts.

The report noted that “if you are a white Irish male artist, it is five times more likely that you’ll make it to the Top 100 than if you are an Irish female artist.”

Linda Coogan Byrne, founder of Why Not Her? and data analyst commented on the report’s findings: “There is a diverse multicultural vibrancy that is at an all-time high, this needs to be reflected in the radio stations in Ireland. It is my continued hope that these data reports can continue to set the precipice for a lot of change to come. Change can happen at a quick rate, (as is evident in Spin 103.8, Rte2fm etc) when an unconscious bias is stripped back and when the effort is applied to make the shift towards DEI.”

“It is a sad situation that we mostly rely on the privileges and power of white men to make the decision as to whether women and artists of colour are good enough to be seen and heard. I hope one day this changes. We will continue as a collective to stand with our colleagues and friends in broadcasting and the music industry in working towards reaching an equal voice for women and artists of colour alongside the LGBTQIA+ community across every facet of Irish culture and we will never be afraid to ask the question Why Not Her?”

Upcoming Legislation

Under new government plans to encourage greater participation of women on the airwaves, radio and TV programs may be required to show or publish their gender balance.

Media Minister Catherine Martin has issued a proposal for gender balance in the media that will be included in several amendments in the Online Safety and Media Regulations Bill which provides for radical moves for the establishment of Coimisiún na Meán.

Some of Minister Martin’s amendments will provide that Coimisiún na Meán may make media services codes to promote gender balance on current affairs programmes on TV and radio, as well as promote the broadcasting of musical works composed or performed by women on radio services”.

There is a gender disparity that has existed for years. It is evident that there is insufficient support of female artists on Irish radio. Like the U.K., the industry does seem to still favour male artists. I don’t entirely think it is a lack of visibility that causes these alarming statistics. Not only is there a gender disparity on U.K. radio. Sadly, there is racial imbalance too. I am not sure whether this is going to be corrected completely in the next few years. The more we see inequality across Irish and U.K. radio, the more it will impact negatively in the future. Apart from a natural bias that has always worked against women, I think there is an ignorance of talent. The talent is out there, yet there seems to be this blindness. I know that fewer female artists are signed to labels. This means it can be harder to build a large profile to make it onto radio playlists. Female artists are performing live and releasing music online, though how many have a realistic shot of reaching the same level as male artists who have a label and bigger push from the industry?! I don’t think the larger industry can be blamed entirely. Like on Country stations, there seems to be this block against women. Not playing a run of songs by female artists. It is insulting to the brilliance of music being made by women. There are so many Irish women who are making incredible music. Again, it is men who dominate and take most of the airplay. Sadly, the Gender Disparity Data Report 2023 is going to highlight inequality across Irish radio. It is very clear that…

THIS time next year.

FEATURE: Spotlight: DEBBY FRIDAY

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

DEBBY FRIDAY

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HAVING played…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Katrin Braga for The Line of Best Fit

at London’s Roundhouse last night (11th November), there is a lot of love and support in the U.K. for DEBBY FRIDAY. A stunning Electronic artist based in Toronto, her debut album, GOOD LUCK, was released through Sub Pop this year - where it deservedly won Canada’s Polaris Music Prize. I am going to get to some reviews for GOOD LUCK. With all Spotlight features, it is worth pulling in some interviews. Gaining traction and popularity in the U.K., I know that DEBBY FRIDAY’s music is connecting with people around the world. I am going to start out with an interview from The Line of Best Fit from earlier in the year. In promotion of the as-then upcoming GOOD LUCK, we learn more about her artistry and music. She is a compelling artist that everyone should follow:

“Decades down the family tree of Audre Lorde’s thinking on the transformative power of our erotic nature, which triggered an awakening that still resonates strongly today, FRIDAY’s multidisciplinary work is centred on the idea of the erotic and togetherness. “[Those two things] are very linked in the way that I understand music, and the way that I communicate through music,” she says. “I think music is metaphysical because it's both tangible and intangible. You’re dealing with stuff that is unseen, but at the same time it’s felt in the body.”

It’s a theory that she has talked about at length, and one that guides her expression through a multitude of avenues like filmmaking, writing, directing, music-making and her study of philosophy, psychology and mysticism. Armed with acid-laced drum pads and subaquatic basslines, FRIDAY plunges into the depths of herself, allowing her inner turmoil to be a source of information that prompts unfiltered creativity.

She takes her cues from the works of philosopher Carl Jung and his concept of the ‘shadow self’, using electronic punk as a tool to illuminate every aspect of herself. “I am a very firm believer in the Jungian theory that states that what is not let in through the front door will come in through the backdoor, every time,” she says. “If you don’t face your shadow – the ugly and disgusting parts of yourself, the parts that you’re ashamed of – then you’re going to have a lot of issues in life.”

FRIDAY’s artistry transcends genre and exists as a style she describes as “both a hybrid of feeling and emotion.” It’s inspired by a collection of her experiences, from warehouse raves to her early exposure to the internet and pop culture as a young child. She recalls hours spent downloading music through LimeWire, feeling as though she had everything at her fingertips while discovering genres old and new.

The music of Nigerian juju musician King Sunny Ade and Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti floated in the background of her childhood, along with folk gospel music. The electronic genre crept into her realm during high school, but her connection to it gradually bloomed when she began rave-hopping through Montreal’s nightlife circuit at age 15.

It was during her time in university that she surrendered to the experience and immersed herself in this space that was also largely informed by the underground Soundcloud culture of the time. Friday soon found DJ’ing, which was influential in establishing a foundation for her own production style. Although she only did it “for a little under a year,” the experience allowed her to travel around North America and over to Europe, bringing her into contact with “all these different communities of artists who were making the most strange and interesting kinds of music.”

Quitting the nightlife scene, unhappy with how it affected her mental wellbeing, FRIDAY moved from Montreal to Vancouver, where she taught herself how to produce her own music, gathering resources from YouTube and other online platforms. “Essentially, I just went after the sounds that I liked,” she says. “I didn’t really have an understanding of how to create a track or how to make music, but I knew what I liked”.

NME are big fans of DEBBY FRIDAY. I am going to get to a very recent interview that they conducted. First, back in April, they chatted with the artist and producer about her debut album, performing at SXSW, and her first global tour. GOOD LUCK truly is one of the best albums of this year:

“NME: How do you feel about sharing ‘Good Luck’ with the world?

“I’m very excited. It feels like it’s been a long time in the making so I’m just ready and I’m ready to see what happens. When I made the album I had the intention of making something that felt honest and I feel like I accomplished that with ‘Good Luck’. It feels authentic to me and to so many parts of my artistry. It’s a very personal album.”

Was it daunting to produce and write such an authentic record?

“I don’t think I’ve had a choice. Even from the beginning as a young person growing up in a very strict household being myself was an act of rebellion. When you’re in a really structured environment you have to find ways to express yourself outside of your home. You have to find ways to be honest about who you are. It comes automatically, I don’t know what else I would do.”

You’ve previously said that if you could describe your music in one word you’d choose ‘thunder’. What word would you use to describe ‘Good Luck’?

“I would say ‘journey’. A lot of the emotion that went into ‘Good Luck’ was coming from a place of feeling lost and finding myself and becoming myself. A lot of those songs are me in the present time writing to a past self, either sharing words of comfort or reflection. One of the things I wanted to do with this album was connect with people who had similar experiences. If you’ve ever felt lost, or like ‘what am I doing’ or ever wondered, ‘is this heaven, is this hell?’ I wanted to translate that question of ‘who am I?’ into the album to let people know they aren’t alone in that experience. It’s something that’s very common and a lot of people go through that, and a lot of my album speaks to that.”

What messages were you hoping to share with those past versions of yourself on ‘Good Luck’?

“I love you. Don’t be scared. Keep going. Especially keep going. I never thought I’d be a musician. I was very creative as a child but the idea of being a musician never entered my mind. My parents are immigrants and I had no understanding of the music industry. Even now, putting out this album I still feel so in awe of everything. I have a lot of gratitude and I’m still wide-eyed. I’m still like ‘what life am I living right now?’ So I would tell my younger self, ‘keep going’. Everything I’ve been through all of the pain all of the suffering, all of the fucked up moments, my path hasn’t been linear but I can say now on the other side that it’s worth it.”

You’ve described yourself as the “zillennial anti-heroine”. What is it about that title suits you?

“I feel in between generations. I’m a very young millennial and I grew up on the internet which I think is the dividing factor. I call myself an anti-heroine because I think if you look at the beginning of my story, you wouldn’t think I’d eventually figure things out. I was very lost and rebellious when I was younger. Now, I feel like an unexpected underdog in a certain sense”.

Prior to getting to some reviews, I am going to jump to this recent NME interview. Reflecting on her Polaris award win for GOOD LUCK, defying genres and a successful year, DEBBY FRIDAY revealed what it was like listening back to her debut album now:

“With Sub Pop backing her do-it-yourself mentality and two EPs drumming up her subversive sonics, Friday released ‘Good Luck’ in March of this year. The album followed suit of her previous releases, brimming with caustic confidence and showcasing a melting pot of soundscapes, with Friday’s soulful and sinister vocal delivery pontificating about love and hardship while outlining what she told NME during her SXSW debut earlier this year was the “journey” to become herself.

The vibrating, pulsating single ‘So Hard To Tell’ leads the album’s charge, as she sings to her younger self, asking a protagonist in a sultry register “All alone by yourself in the city / Act like you don’t need help / Honey, honey Is this heaven or hell?”. In other moments, like ‘What A Man’ Friday plays with timeless orchestration, building her voice over blistering echoing retro guitars, repeating “what a man” with the veracity of a funk singer. ‘Good Luck’ is a testament to how comfortable Friday is being both vulnerable and daring. It’s a clear evolution from her earlier EPs, and she’s not done growing.

“I did what I set out to do with this album,” she says. “Now I am in a completely different emotional space. When I listen back to it, it can be very heavy at times. I feel like I got it all out in the album and I’ve been working on my new music and hearing the difference between where I am now sonically and emotionally. I’m in a different place and it’s a different tone. I feel like the Polaris Award was almost this bow on top of ‘Good Luck’.”

Now that she’s wrapping her last life cycle the different place she’s in can be heard in her latest single ‘Let U In’, a glittery, drum ‘n’ bass love song she wrote while on tour in Melbourne, Australia. “I wrote the song about surrendering to love and missing your boo when you’re on tour,” she says. “I felt very happy and vulnerable and wanted to explore romantic vulnerability. I’m using my voice in a different way and the emotion feels lighter. It expands in a different direction, and the sound of my next album is similar.

Next month, Friday heads back out on a global tour, something she’s eager to embark on now that she’s able to revisit her past through her music and still show her fans the optimistic and lighter emotions she’s feeling in the present. “The power of music is what really takes me,” she says when asked about performing ‘Good Luck’ to fans. “I’m in awe of it.”

Now, with an award-winning debut behind her and a future of mining new sounds from fresh emotions, Friday is looking forward to what’s next while still wonderstruck about what she’s created so far. “Of course, you have goals and aspirations but having these things come true and all of it exceeding your expectations?” she says with a smile and a pause. “That’s a wild feeling”.

GOOD LUCK was received with a lot of acclaim when it came out. I am going to include a couple of the great reviews it scooped. Stereogum were compelled by the feverishness and epic quality of a compelling and confident debut from DEBBY FRIDAY:

“The artist that goes by Debby Friday was born in Nigeria and grew up in Canada, bopping around different cities before landing in her for-now home base of Toronto. She came up in the clubs and started out as a DJ but quickly branched out into making music of her own. Her debut EP came out in 2018, and it was called BITCHPUNK: a sort of genre signifier to label her aggressive, domineering sound. Another EP, DEATH DRIVE, followed the next year. Both early releases had their moments, but neither could prepare you for the sheer ambition GOOD LUCK.

Her first full-length is sweaty and determined, eager to deliver on its teeth-chattering beats with a feverish intensity. The influences are obvious, but the ways that Debby Friday crashes those sounds together are not. There are healthy dashes of Nine Inch Nails and Death Grips in her industrial gothic thump; there’s a dose of Crystal Castles in the shattered glass beat of “HOT LOVE.” You might be reminded on Beyoncé’s recent foray into the pulse-racing annals of house music on the opening title track, or the strangled guitars of Yves Tumor on “WHAT A MAN.” She spits and twists into raunchy rap on “HEARTBREAKERRR,” launches herself into sloppy religious ecstasy on “PLUTO BABY.”

There’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking about the sonics of GOOD LUCK, but its executed so well. Every one of its shadows have contours. Debby Friday has it all: songs that make you feel like that bitch, songs to wallow in, songs to lose your dignity to. Her voice is versatile and elastic — sometimes it channels disco detachment, other times it takes the form of a vicious snarl. In between the cockiness, a more conflicted figure emerges: “I’ve been a bad girl/ Oh, all my life,” she sings on “LET U DOWN,” a song that cycles through different perspectives, all downbeat and downtrodden. “I’ve been a mean lover, I’ve been a dream crusher/ I know I let you down.”

And I’ve been holding out on you, saving the best for last. The clear standout on GOOD LUCK — and the song that I think might make Debby Friday a star — is “SO HARD TO TELL,” the one where she ditches her music’s spikiness and softens her sound into a hypnotic, intoxicating loop. Pulled apart by forces beyond her control, Debby Friday navigates the wild swings of a soul that’s never content. “You’re just a young girl/ All alone by yourself/ In the city/ Act like you don’t need help,” she sings. “Honey, honey/ Is this heaven or hell?/ When it gets like this/ It’s so hard to tell.” The song is soothing and immensely catchy, and though it doesn’t contain any of GOOD LUCK’s in-your-face sonics, it’s just as tenacious and bold”.

I will finish up with Loud and Quiet’s take on an album from an artist and producer that I have a lot of respect for. DEBBY FRIDAY has just played in London, so that will boost her already large U.K. fanbase. With more dates set to come in 2024, many will also look forward to new music. There is no doubt that GOOD LUCK made a big impact with critics:

“Don’t you fuck it up / Give it what you got,” sings Debby Friday in the opening moments of her debut record, GOOD LUCK. The Nigerian-born, Toronto-based artist has produced a coming-of-age record that candidly deals with past mistakes as well as inserting positive affirmations to serve as reminders to continue growing as both a person and artist. In her lyrics, there’s evidence of a life lived and lessons learned, both in the personal and professional sphere. “You’re just a young girl / All alone by yourself in the city / Act like you don’t need help,” she intones, with an endearing vulnerability in her cadence on ‘So Hard To Tell’. A few songs later, ‘Pluto Baby’ ushers in a far more assured Friday whose unflinching presence is magnetic not only on this song but throughout the record.

Metallic timbres and industrial beats provide solid foundations to these ten instantly immersive and infectious arrangements. An overarching Y2K sensibility dominates some of the electronic elements woven into the defiant musical personality of the propulsive centrepiece ‘Hot Love’ and the pop-tinged ‘Heartbreakerrr’, which already feels like an instant classic designed to be sung late into the night. Elsewhere, Friday injects tonal variety towards the end of the LP with the sultry (and slightly unexpected) ‘What A Man’ melding a Cure-esque bass riff and a Slash-like solo within a nocturnal setting, yielding similarly magnetic results in the way these worlds collide in an Yves Tumor tune.

There’s an extraordinary elasticity across GOOD LUCK’s masterful production that makes repeated listens not just enjoyable but irresistible. Friday establishes a great sense of balance throughout the ten tracks. From the industrial, claustrophobic gloom of the album’s title track and ‘I Got It’ to the sweeter and more spacious compositions, Friday moves seamlessly through these deftly-engineered soundscapes. There’s always something new to hone in on and further draw you into this immensely multi-faceted body of work that further illuminates her dexterity as a songwriter and performer. It’s in these moments, and her faultless portrayal of GOOD LUCK’s commanding protagonist, where we can see the artistic evolution since the release of early EPs Bitchpunk (2018) and Death Drive (2019).

If there’s only one thing to be said about Debby Friday’s poised debut it’s that she most certainly gave it all that she’s got”.

A producer and artist who has already been tipped for greatness, I know that the next year or two will see DEBBY FRIDAY ascend to new heights. GOOD LUCK has been followed with amazing singles like let u in. Always creating such physical, soulful and dynamic sounds, I am going to watch DEBBY FRIDAY closely. She is an amazing talent that we all need…

IN our music rotation!

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Follow DEBBY FRIDAY

PHOTO CREDIT: Stella Gigliotti for NME

Official:

https://debbyfriday.com/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@debbyvendredi

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/debbyfriday/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DEBBYVENDREDI

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5lofelrRCFBwzTF616hSx4

Bandcamp:

https://debbyfriday.bandcamp.com/album/good-luck

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@DEBBYFRIDAYOFFICIAL

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/debbyfridayy/

FEATURE: Revisiting… Dagny - Strangers / Lovers

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Dagny - Strangers / Lovers

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AS the wonderful Dagny…

is releasing her second studio album (or ‘mini-album’, technically), ELLE, soon, I wanted to shine a light on her amazing 2020 debut, Strangers / Lovers. She (Dagny Norvoll Sandvik) has talked about the album and breaking that ‘second album curse’ that some artists face. Strangers / Lovers was acclaimed and popular - though you do not hear as many of these wonderful songs as you’d like on the radio. I will come to some of the amazingly positive reviews that this album accrued. Released during a real peak in the pandemic, it must have been frustrating for Dagny not to be able to tour the album and talk about it how she would have liked. Strangers / Lovers provided great relief and released for her fans at a difficult time! Check out her Instagram for updates regarding the new mini-album. I think that her debut is one of the most impressive of this decade. It is terrific and needs to be heard by everyone. I am going to start with an interview from The Last Mixed Tape. Released on 2nd October, 2020, Dagny’s remarkable debut album definitely made a big impression:

“Following her breakthrough hit ‘Backbeat’ grabbed music fans attention in 2016, Dagny has been building towards the creation and release of her forthcoming debut studio album Strangers / Lovers (due out on October 2nd). Speaking about the road leading up to this pivotal point, Dagny reflects. “It’s funny, I’ve been singing since I was 16 years old and I’ve found old interviews from years ago where I am promising my debut album was just around the corner. I eventually had to stop saying that, cause it wasn’t true. I wasn’t ready yet. Since ‘Backbeat’ I had so much to learn, I’ve always wanted to tell a story on a bigger picture and show a different side to my music, but it wasn’t until last year that I felt the time was right.”

“I think when I decided to set up my own label,” Dagny continues. “I felt I had the freedom to make the album. I had 250 songs to work through, and people were looking for a massive hit but I much rather the idea of making a full record. I enjoyed the process of telling a story not with just one song but with lots of songs and sounds. Plus, I’ve been gigging the same ten songs for years, so I think me and the people who have stayed with me all this time are ready for something new”.

Set for its full release on October 2nd, Strangers / Lovers is an album cast across two parts, one of which (side A) was released earlier this summer. Speaking about the narrative and thematic concepts that went being the record, Dagny states, “the two sides to the album came to me a long time ago. I’m from Northern Norway, and we get 24 hours of night and 24-hour daytime depending on the time of year. I remember saying that when I got the chance to do a full album, I wanted to make something that had both a light and a dark side. Side A is upbeat like summer, while Side B feels more like Autumn.”

“I react emotionally to songs” Dagny comments when asked about how she curated years of songwriting into her debut offering and fit with the central narrative of the album. “So I was able to bring everything down to the songs I connected with the most, and I felt I could make the contours of a full story. The idea of going from Strangers to Lovers and back to Strangers again is brutal. The idea of being close to someone then not being able to pick up the phone to talk to them again. Side A is chronological, it’s about meeting up and falling in love like ‘Come Over’ and ‘Paris’, but by the time you get to Side B you can see things aren’t what they once were.”

Live shows are such an essential part of the music. With the current pandemic impacting performances across the globe, Dagny looks forward to finally being able to perform once again, stating. “I love live music, it’s what I live for. Gigging is the reward to making this album, I miss it and hope that I can go out and play this album before I go and start the next one. I really can’t wait to play ‘Somebody’, ‘Come Over’ and ‘Coulda Woulda Shoulda’. So hopefully things will go back to normal soon, for both musicians and fans”.

I will come to a couple of the reviews. There was a lot of positive reaction to the amazing Strangers / Lovers. Awarding the album 9 out 10, this is what The Line of Best Fit said about a sensational debut album that announced this very special artist. If you have not checked out Strangers / Lovers, then I would thoroughly urge you to:

“Ever since bursting on to the scene with the dazzling Backbeat in 2015, Dagny has continued to deliver hit after hit. Having opened The Line Of Best Fit Five Day Forecast event back in 2017, the Norwegian star has steadily made a name for herself as a genuinely talented song-writer, a reputation which was boosted by the release of the first tranche of songs from her debut album Strangers / Lovers earlier this year.

Having proven her pop pedigree by penning tracks for Katy Perry and collaborating with Steve Aoki amongst others, Dagny’s song-writing prowess is there for all to see on this record, the second half of which, Lovers, completes the set. It’s unusual to be able to refer to something as ‘classic’ sounding for an artist when talking about their debut album, but Dagny has released such a wealth of material in the years leading up to this record that it’s hard to argue otherwise; as we’ve come to expect, this is powerful, punchy, effervescent pop music at its finest.

The latter half of Strangers / Lovers sees Dagny in her prime: open-hearted about being broken-hearted, free to muse on the highs and lows of new relationships and exuding boundless energy. Explaining why the album was released in two parts, Dagny explains “there was a very clear divide in the lyrics. There's this part that's about going into a relationship that's happy, and then there's also this part that explores the story of being out of a relationship. I felt like putting them together as one big package felt confusing.”

Following on from the foot-stomping, euphoric sounding tracks on Strangers, such as “Somebody” and Come Over”, there are elements of Lovers which are similarly explosive, irresistibly catchy and produced to perfection. You can be sure that if dancefloors were still a thing in 2020, they’d be packed out with people bouncing to the punchy bassline on “It’s Only A Heartbreak” and joining in with the ‘Oooooh’s’ on “Bye Bye Baby”. There are nevertheless some more tender moments scattered throughout, such as the melancholy piano-ballad “Bad At Love” and a nod to Dagny’s hometown of Tromsø on the closing track “Coast To Coast”.

Overall, Strangers / Lovers confirms Dagny as a true force to be reckoned with - a stellar record, consistent in its emphatic sound and almost entirely without fault”.

I will finish off with a review from The Independent. As many fans get excited about the release of ELLE – the first of a trilogy of mini-albums, it is scheduled to be released at the turn of the year -, I think that there is still a lot to get from the magnificent Strangers / Lovers:

“In Dagny’s native town of Tromsø, Norway, the sun is obscured from view from November through to January. Perhaps this explains why the artist – full name Dagny Sandvik – is compelled to make such dazzling pop music.

Her debut album, Strangers / Lovers, is a veritable koldtbord of slick, danceable tracks that capture both the euphoria of love and the defiance of heartbreak. On “Somebody”, she’s giddy, soaring across propulsive synth beats to reach an anthemic chorus; the shimmering “Bye Bye Baby” revels in the catharsis of closure. There’s a wonderful Fleetwood Mac bass thrum on “Moment”, while “It’s Only a Heartbreak” – inspired in part by Humphrey Bogart’s famous “Here’s looking at you, kid” line from Casablanca – is a clever twist on the oft-explored theme of unrequited love.

Dagny's debut has arrived a couple of years after the UK's Scandipop frenzy, which might be perfect timing. While it’s been noted that she might (to date) lack the big personality of stars such as Katy Perry (Dagny co-wrote and was sampled on Perry’s 2019 hit “Never Really Over”), her personality – and music – seems more inspired by the quirks and introspectiveness of early Sia. Which is by no means a bad place to be. RO”.

An album I loved when it came out. Strangers / Lovers is a wonderful, moving and enormously impressive release from the Norwegian queen, Dagny. She is one of the best artists in music right now. Such a complete talent who is going to inspire so many other artists in years to come. If you have not explored the brilliant, vibrant, varied, mature, open and awes-inspiring Strangers / Lovers, then make sure that this beautiful album…

DOES not pass you by.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Bo Milli

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Bo Milli

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EVEN though I wish that she had…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Synne Sofi Bønes

more of a profile across Twitter/X and Facebook, you can still find Bo Milli across a variety of platforms. Her music is that which needs to be heard by as many people as possible. Her Making Friends E.P. came out in October. I want to start out with some biography and interviews. There is not a lot of information out there about an artist based out of Bergen, Norway. I think these are the earliest days of her career. Things will expand as we look into next year. There are some interviews bits that give us more insight and depth regarding an amazing artist. In 2022, The Indy Review spotlighted her track, At the Wheel. Still a rising artist then – as I guess she is now -, there were eyes and ears on the brilliant Bo Milli:

“Coming of age during a global pandemic, with climate change as an ever-present background nightmare, newcomer Bo Milli has had a lot of existential crises to draw from with her music. Raised on an island in Norway, and now based in Bergen, the young indie rocker has been gaining recognition this year after first posting her single “At the Wheel” on Soundcloud. That track, a lightly melancholic rocker with Milli questioning the state of the world (“who is at the wheel these days?”) drew comparisons to artists like Phoebe Bridgers and Soccer Mommy.

With the release of her latest single “How it Is” last week, with “At the Wheel” as a b-side, Milli is showing that she is definitely a voice to watch. Milli’s vocals on the track have an ethereal sweetness to them, going into twee levels that contrast nicely with the sturdy drum beats, chunky, upbeat chords and horn accompaniment. Lyrically juxtaposing apathy and youthful determination, one can hear this inner battle in the musical dynamics”.

I want to move to One to Watch. They spotlighted Bo Milli (Emilie Østebø) and praised the approaching Making Friends E.P. They noted how she is someone primed for world domination. You know that this is an artist who is going to be firmly on everyone’s radar next year:

“Hailing from Norway, Bo Milli is a rising star bound for worldwide domination. 23-year-old Emilie Østebø pours her heart out in her debut EP, Making Friends, a tale of self-discovery and learning through experience. Like any successful exploratory young adult piece, each track could be perfectly placed in your favorite coming-of-age film. Universally relatable yet earnestly personal, Bo Milli’s gentle yet powerful vocals tell stories of first relationships, nights out in Bergen, and realizing harsh truths about herself and social interaction.

The EP opens with the melodic driving track “Come After Me,” an ode to the art of yearning and overthinking. Bo Milli sings of expectations taken from make-believe, grand romantic gestures you only see in movies that don’t have to be explicitly requested. A track that details the hope we feel as we age into the dating world, our narrator pours her heart out in song but not reality. The repetitive line “I want you to read my mind” showcases her admirable naivety, a trait that is also encapsulated in the lackadaisical sound of the record.

In the titular “Making Friends,” Bo Milli details the unmatched novelty of going out with friends. Its indie-rock sound energizes listeners to feel the experience first-hand, as she describes weaving through the crowd. Bo Milli sings with soft vocals, “Everyone here’s a stranger / but I know they love me / because I love them.” It’s the epitome of the electrifying experience of going out and absorbing the energy of a party.

There are welcomed stripped-back moments in the project, especially on “Be your Girl.” A flip side of the opening track, Bo Milli focuses on sincerity as she admits real intention to be with said crush. Desire slips through angelic vocals as she sings, “I know I might not be very cool / and this might be a very risky move / but it’s true.” It’s a simple love song, but one whose dynamism could only belong to Bo Milli.

"All the songs on the EP are in some way about struggling to ask for what you want from other people," Bo Milli shares. "'Making Friends' describes drinking too much when looking for genuine connection, ‘Come After Me’ fantasises about being perfectly understood without having to say anything, ‘I’m in' is about being honest in the wrong way and 'Chewing Gum’ - about macho-posturing."

 “Chewing Gum” is a standout moment for this budding artist, with a chorus so catchy it’ll be on your mind long after the song ends. What can only be described as a female macho-anthem, Bo Milli experiments with her own agency and plays the role of someone who’s unaffected by past lovers, convincing herself of her own indifference. Over an addictive pop-rock instrumental, “Chewing Gum” is an anthem for girls to pretend they don’t care, and even if they do, they’re welcome to jam out and pretend to be carefree for a couple of minutes.

In the last track on the EP, Bo Mili reflects on her actions and wonders if people can truly change. With an intriguing melody and smooth bass, she takes responsibility for blowing things out of proportion, reflected sonically in the explosive chorus. With the most confidence in her words, Bo Milli bravely announces that she’s fully in.

In her debut EP Making Friends, Bo Milli takes listeners inside her brain, from overthinking to yearning to contradicting herself and repeating the cycle again. It’s an accurate description of growing up, a diary on display put to music that emphasizes those complicated feelings. The start of a fruitful songwriter on the rise, we can’t wait to see what’s next for Bo Milli”.

I am going to finish with a feature from The Line of Best Fit. They highlighted Bo Milli’s Chewing Gum single. In the course, they also wrote how Making Friends is an E.P. is one you will want to hear. Chewing Gum is an “alt-pop macho anthem with plastic-girl power”:

“Bo Milli’s latest track "Chewing Gum" sounds like the song that kicks in as the credits roll in a teenage-coming-of-age movie (the kind they just don’t make anymore). If the song were a movie plot, it would follow the protagonist as she uses and drops someone as though they were just a piece of gum. It carries all the sonics of early 2000's pop-punk but treats us to a modern spin, lyrically subverting the traditional female role. She doesn’t submit to being dropped by anyone so takes the role on herself, describing the track best herself, as “macho-posturing.” The lyrics are all the evidence we need to know that she is not the type to comply with any preconceived expectation, and as the listener you can’t help but root for her.

Based in Norway, Bo Milli’s music is steeped in the heightened emotions of adolescence and she plans to express this in her debut EP, a body of work that has been in the making for the last two years. At only 23 she expresses her woes matter-of-factly. She paints an image of loud clubs and quiet mornings after, capturing her age with ease. It just so happens that the alt-pop rock genre suits her lyrics and the many emotions she has to let out.

Describing this latest track, Bo Milli says that "'Chewing Gum' is a macho-anthem expressed with unconvincing and plastic girl-power: totally unapologetic about having used and dropped someone as carelessly as if they were a piece of gum, I excuse this behaviour with the line "I’m a woman, I’ve gotta get it done". The choruses (and the solo) are all bravado, but the verses describe meeting a scorned lover with someone new and hints I’m not nearly as unaffected as I claim to be."

The distorted guitar alongside the echoey vocals makes it cathartic music at its best, full of frustration and relief when played at full volume. It carries all the frustration of a woman scorned presented with all the confident expression of her alt-pop rock predecessors. Bo Milli takes the events of her life and turns them into a catchy hook for others to relate to, evident as ever on "Chewing Gum".

I am curious to see where Bo Milli goes next. The Norwegian artist is one of the freshest and most exciting young artists coming through. Making Friends is among the strongest E.P.s of the year. If you have not heard her before, go and seek out her music. I hope that more interviews and profiles come online. Perhaps more engagement on Twitter/X and some bigger shouts and focus from radio stations here in the U.K. There is no doubt that the amazing Bo Milli is going to go…

A very long way in music.

____________

Follow Bo Milli

 Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/bo__milli/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bo_milli

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0LODGxvIf07NVyiMAVnVAc

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXCBxI3g5nxhne5UilNPXDA

Bandcamp:

https://bomilli.bandcamp.com/music

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/p/Bo-Milli-100035400116783/

FEATURE: The Best Next American Record: Lana Del Rey: Our Greatest Living Modern Songwriter?

FEATURE:

 

 

The Best Next American Record

IN THIS PHOTO: Lana Del Rey photoed for Rolling Stone UK in 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant

Lana Del Rey: Our Greatest Living Modern Songwriter?

_________

I have been thinking about Lana Del Rey…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mat Hayward/Getty Images

recently for a few reasons. As Glastonbury tickets are not going on sale for longer than expected, it made me think about this year’s festival and why Lana Del Rey was not chosen as a headliner. Her set was captivating, leading many to wonder why she was not deemed headline-worthy (at a festival that has not had enough female headliners through the years). I am also thinking about the fact that the great Joni Mitchell celebrated her eightieth birthday on 7th November. One of the greatest songwriters and poets of her age, where does she rank alongside fellow legends like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen or even Kate Bush? There are a lot of great modern songwriters whose lyrics and images will last for decades. Taylor Swift must be up there. In my view, the greatest living modern (as in, of her generation) songwriter is Lana Del Rey. Her songbook could be a modern-day equivalate of the Great American Songbook - the loosely defined canon of significant 20th-century American Jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes – in terms of its impact, variety and brilliance. Many might disagree, though you listen to her songs and get immersed in these distinct and wonderful worlds. I am not alone in thinking that Del Rey is a modern-day icon. On Friday, she was heavily nominated by the GRAMMYs. If she wins in any of the categories, that will be her first win. Long overdue recognition of a modern-day colossus. There are a couple of features/interviews I will bring in that discuss her songwriting and different perspectives. Bringing in visions of the 1950s together with huge vistas, modern-day characters and wonderful visions, there is nobody quite like her! Back in 2020, Bruce Springsteen called Lana Del Rey one of the greatest songwriters.

Not tied to any anniversary or occasion, I am thinking about songwriters in general. There are so many artists out there, yet there are a reserved few who can create their own worlds and stand out. Lana Del Rey reminds me of a classic poet. Maybe someone from the 1950s or 1960s. Whether talking about distinct areas or sides of American culture or delving more into her own experiences, her words and vocal delivery are exemplary. I am going to start with a Rolling Stone interview published earlier this year. I am interested on the subject as Lana Del Rey as the greatest living songwriter, as more than a couple of articles have suggested it. Hannah Ewens spoke with Lana Del Rey around the release of her new album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd. If you place other songwriters above Del Rey, Rolling Stone UK declared her “the greatest American songwriter of the 21st century”:

“Her ideas were before their time and heralded a new era of alt-pop where Lorde, Halsey, Sky Ferreira and the next generation’s biggest pop star, Billie Eilish, emerged young, moody and sad. Maybe if some people her own age — Del Rey was then 27 years old — had reviewed and written about her, it might have been different, she thinks. That’s not to say that some critics couldn’t recognise her distinct star power. In an article in the Guardian — one of many that circled the unimportant question of her ‘authenticity’ — a pop-culture magazine editor defended her, saying, “I think she cares about the art that she is creating. I don’t think that’s fake at all,” and adding that, “Lana Del Rey can go anywhere she wants to go. She’s going to one day be the cover of Rolling Stone.”

By retreating, she believes she has begun to see the culture more clearly. Her albums have followed suit, increasingly humorous and observational in their commentary. Meanwhile, regardless of genre, her sound has distilled into something that is pure Lana: classic and glamorous with her trademark airy, theatrical vocals. She found a fellow partially off-grid companion in Antonoff. “Jack Antonoff and I are super similar in the way we know about so much that’s going on culturally, but we have no idea how. We definitely don’t read that much about it or hear that much about it, but all of those turning points in culture, somehow we’re always aware,” she explains. Often, she and Antonoff will sit together in the studio and discuss what they’re doing to try to survive the negative waves of trends in tech, self-promotion, music and society. “I think even if I was in a remote area, I would always know what’s going on and I’ve always had a little bit of an intuitive finger on the pulse of culture,” she continues. “Even when I started singing, I knew it wouldn’t completely jive right away.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant

From Ultraviolence onwards, male and female critics accused Del Rey of glamourising abusive relationships. Meanwhile, other women — including Del Rey and her fans — were living out those common painful or toxic relationships. “The one thing I’ve never been spared from is having these normal, somewhat contentious relationships,” explains Del Rey, punctuating thoughts with raised eyebrows or a pointed tone. “It’s not like if you become a singer, when you date people, they feel like they have to be nice to you because if they’re not, maybe they’d be called out. That never happens. They’re still themselves completely. And I think that’s why some people might call some of my stuff polarising, because either you’ve been in a contentious family dynamic or interpersonal relationships, or you haven’t. So, if you haven’t you might use the words or phrases I’ve heard like ‘feigning fragility’, or ‘glorifying being submissive’. OK. Maybe it’s also just trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel?” To bring these narratives into a musical context and make them sonically depressing or the accompanying visuals unappealing wouldn’t work for Del Rey. “You’re writing what happened but you’re also trying to lift it up a little bit, maybe melodically in the chorus,” she says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant

If emotionally abusive relationships are all you’ve ever known, there are relational lessons that have to be completed to proceed to healthier dynamics. That’s probably why Del Rey’s songs are increasingly self-possessed and full of humour about these relationships (“God damn, man child,” she practically winks to us as she opens ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell!’). Often these lessons come directly from specific people, Del Rey says, referring to a relationship with one particular man: “The lesson was so shocking and it didn’t even really take the sting out of it. But I realised only that person with that particular look and stature and cheerful disposition that people considered him to have — that almost made me look like I wasn’t the positive one — only that kind of person could’ve brought me to my knees in the way that I needed to see what else I could add to my life to have a baseline foundation so that I could always come back to myself.”

The metaphysical and the romantic are entwined in her mind. A recent relationship she had with someone entrenched in their own personal problems comes up and Del Rey describes the mysterious way the question of whether to go or to stay in a partnership can manifest change. “I was laying on the grass and I was so pleased with myself because I was committed to this idea that I was like, ‘It doesn’t really matter, things don’t have to be traditional or perfect, you love him, that’s fine,’” she recalls. “And as I committed, he came home and was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ Tessa always says as soon as the person who is somewhat ambivalent tries to put two feet into the relationship, if it’s not right the universe has a way to sweep both people out immediately.”

So, when I ask why the overarching theme in her work is romantic love, the answer seems so obvious, as though we’re repeating ourselves. “Everybody finds themselves in a different way,” she replies. “Some people really find themselves through their work, some people find themselves through travelling. I think my basic mode is that I learn more about myself from being with people, and so when it comes to the romantic side of things, if you’re monogamous and it’s one person you’re with, you just put a lot of importance on that.” It’s different to her now, though, as part of this puzzling mood shift. Now in life and in writing she is orientated towards what’s happening day to day, “not being reactive to what appears to be the reality of the current circumstance and being as proactive as you can but letting everything go.”

That Did You know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd feels once again so different from what she’s done before and yet a collage of everything she’s ever made — it even ends with the grimy, heavy, original and unheard version of ‘Venice Bitch’ — is testament to where Del Rey is nine studio albums into her career. “Lana is boundaryless,” says Antonoff. “She’s reached a point in her work, which is really my favourite place to work from, where there’s nowhere to go but way out into the fucking wilderness artistically. Go chase radio? That’d be so stupid. Go chase trends? So stupid. She created all the trends. It’s a freeing place, if you can accept it. The only place to go is to be a leader.” So, she sauntered ahead with the bird on her shoulder to create what was, according to her, the easiest album she’s ever made”.

In August, The New Statesman celebrated a truly great American poet. An artist who definitely does not write in a conventional and commercial way, her songs are going to be dissected decades from now. Having just celebrated the eightieth birthday of Joni Mitchell, I am thinking about an American modern-day contemporary (Mitchell is Canadian) who has a similar poetic and imaginative flair. If Mitchell’s writing is beyond comparison, I do feel that Lana Del Rey will rank alongside the all-time best songwriters years from now. Her latest album continues to amaze and show new sides to her craft and genius:

“In “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd”, Lana Del Rey makes the tunnel an American legend. The song starts with an exhale, the kind of breath taken to subdue a panic attack, or avert the onset of tears. It’s why her voice, when it arrives, is steady. “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard?” she asks. “Mosaic ceilings, painted tiles on the walls”. A drum beats, bearing us ceaselessly back into the past, ceaselessly forward into the present. Violins call to something lost, irretrievable, something that never existed. “I can’t help but feel somewhat like my body marred my soul,” she sings. “Handmade beauty sealed up by two man-made walls/When’s it gonna be my turn?… Don’t forget me!”

It builds and builds, then there is the supernova. If, as Del Rey sings, Harry Nilsson’s voice breaks at precisely 2.05 in “Don’t Forget Me”, then hers breaks at the four-minute mark. Her voice ascends as she pleads her final “Don’t forget me!/Like the tunnel under Ocean Boulevard”, a vision of pain that sounds like ecstasy. The song circles a central enquiry: the question “did you know?” is seemingly the star that it orbits. But only at the end do we understand that it’s really a black hole – swallowing all questions, all answers, until all that remains is the inescapable gravitational pull of that desperate “Don’t forget me!”. It’s telling that the title contains no question mark. Del Rey always knew that the tunnel – and all of LA, all of America, including herself – was doomed to be forgotten. If, for Jean Baudrillard, LA was the apotheosis of “American reality”, then Del Rey is the city’s greatest poet. She understands that the story of the Jergins Trust Tunnel is part of some greater American story, one of boom and bust, of oil money and land banking and short-sighted capitalism, of pioneer spirit and metropolitan decay. And so she immortalises it, gilds it: spins it into the myth of the United States.

To paint Del Rey as conservative is to fundamentally misunderstand her work. Her interest in how seemingly small stories inform larger narratives allows her to compellingly communicate the climate crisis in a way no other artist does. Take, for instance, the ending of “The Greatest”, “Hawaii just missed a fireball/LA’s in flames, it’s getting hot/Kanye West is blonde and gone”. Here, celebrity culture exists not to distract or undermine the climate crisis, but to strengthen it: the dream of America is dead. What initially seems disaffected is replaced by the affect of somebody who knows it is too late to even grieve. These are the facts, Del Rey tells us. What else is left to say? The cover of Norman Fucking Rockwell! is at first glance so beautiful, so American-made, all gleaming yacht and Stars and Stripes and Hollywood progeny. It’s only when you look closer that you see it: the California shoreline engulfed in fire and smoke. “Blue Banisters” contains the devastating line: “Jenny was smoking by the pool, we were writing with Nikki Lane/I said, ‘I’m scared of the Santa Clarita Fires,/I wish that it would rain.’” It has the quality of a panicked interjection, a white-hot horror building in the veins. But, as with “The Greatest”, it’s simply a paean. There’s nothing to be done but bear witness.

There have been many proposals for the vacant Jergins Trust Building lot. Some of them have involved sealing off the tunnel, some have planned to incorporate it into a new project. An individual who purchased the land in the 1980s, whose plans involved destroying the structure to build a five-storey subterranean car park, didn’t even know the tunnel existed when he bought the lot. Nothing has yet been built. The tunnel is still there, mostly forgotten, and the sounds of the traffic above echo off tiles the orange of Long Beach sunsets before fading into the darkness.

In “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd”, Lana Del Rey tells us of a girl who “sings ‘Hotel California’/Not because she loves the notes or sounds that sound like Florida/It’s because she’s in a world preserved, only a few have found the door…”. Del Rey knows that narrative is the only way to truly immortalise. This is the ballad of America, and she is its poet”.

I have a lot of respect and love for Lana Del Rey. She should have headlined Glastonbury this year. Even though she is a young artist, it is clear that she is influencing a new generation. In terms of a ‘modern songwriter’, I mean those who are maybe not on the same level as the all-time legends, though they are the very best of their generation. I think Lana Del Rey can claim that. With this rich and fascinating songbook already penned, there are going to be more albums and revelations from one of the most distinct artists ever. There is nod denying the fact that New  York City-born Lana Del Rey is…

A modern-day queen.

FEATURE: Right Place, Right Time: The Beauty of Needle Drops in Films and T.V.

FEATURE:

 

 

Right Place, Right Time

PHOTO CREDIT: Anthony Macajone/Pexels

The Beauty of Needle Drops in Films and T.V.

_________

MAYBE words associated more…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Suzy Hazelwood/Pexels

with classic films and those from the past thirty years or so, the epic needle drop is something that can define a scene and elevate the visuals. The term refers to when you drop the needle on a vinyl album. A perfect time and place moment when a well-chosen song perfectly matches with a scene. I think, as I will explore, we are seeing some potential classics from modern films. There are articles like this that rank the most iconic needle drop moments. I feel, in an age where music can be too ephemeral and we miss so much because of the array of choices, committing a musical moment to screen in such an effective and standout why has a lot of value. In fact, when talking about his new film, Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese told Zane Lowe about the importance of music in his work and through his life. For new artists especially, a song of theirs being used as a needle drop is going to do wonders. It needn’t be a dramatic or tense scene. All genres can be considered. That difficulty of finding a ‘perfect’ song that is just right for that moment. I am going to come to modern needle drops across film and T.V. – and maybe some of the issues regarding music choice. This feature lists some of the all-time great needle drop moment, in addition to looking at the science behind that potent music-movie cocktail:

“What makes for a great song moment?

The songs on this list all range in genre and style. Some are classical pieces while others are modern pop songs from the movie’s release.

It is important to recognize that a memorable song moment is more than just plopping some music over a scene. It requires the filmmaker to understand both the song and the scene and know how he or she wants the audience to feel in that moment.

Some songs provide catharsis and allow the audience a moment to breathe while the protagonist is bolting a hit song. Other needle drops are present simply to let the audience know the setting they are in.

Let’s look at a quick definition before we jump into our list of the greats.

NEEDLE DROP DEFINITION

What is a needle drop?

A “needle drop” is slang used in the film industry to describe when a pre-existing song is used in a movie. In the best cases, the audio and video become intertwined to the point where people can’t disassociate the song from the film.

What Makes the Best Needle Drops in Movies:

The perfect fit between sound and image

Provides a layer characterization

Comments on the themes

Some of the most famous movie moments of all time are on this list. Others are a bit underrated. This list contains 60 of the best needle drops in film history based on our belief that the song and scene worked incredibly well together.

Here’s our list of the best needle drops of all time”.

I am fascinating in the interplay of film and music. How a soundtrack or diegetic song can make a good scene legendary. That interplay between visual and audio, whether a single song or sweeping score, is wonderful. For those filmmakers that can get that needle drop just so and make something breathtaking, the rewards are huge. Both the song and the film go down in legend. Screen Rant talk about the why a needle drop is so important. Why we remember those really impactful ones:

“Great needle drops in movies use popular songs to tap into deeper emotions for both characters and the audience, elevating an already emotional scene.

 Needle drops can be done ironically to juxtapose what is happening in the film and provide a unique viewing experience.

 The right song can become an anthem for a character or a film, adding layers of meaning and capturing a specific feeling or theme.

The right song in the right movie can elevate both works of art, and join forces to elevate the movie to new heights. While an original score can also enhance the emotion of a scene, there is something special about a great needle drop, especially when the song is particularly appropriate. Great needle drops don't just sell more soundtracks, but they also help expand the world and characters of a film.

An outstanding needle drop doesn't just play a popular song for no reason, but instead uses the song to tap into deeper emotions for both the characters and the audience. The song can be a favorite of the main character, or just play as a strange twist of fate, but either way, it elevates an already emotional scene. A great needle drop can also be done ironically, and used to juxtapose what is happening in the film”.

The nature of the needle drop has changed. Maybe broadened. Whereas you did get popular music scoring some classic moments, I think a lot of it was more score-based. Fewer contemporary Pop songs. Now, as film soundtracks are more varied than ever, you get needle drop moment featuring songs that are new and people might not have heard of. Variety wrote about this earlier in the year. They commended great needle drop moments. Though, as noted, a bad needle drop can ruin a song, artist and show/film at the same time. Maybe T.V. series are more culpable of this – when they misjudge the tone or go for the ‘wrong’ song (though that might be a subjective measure):

“Yet much like the films themselves, the way in which pop music was dropped into the stories was much different. Tarantino’s cues were silky, retro hits, recalibrated into unforgettable moments: The smash cut from the opening diner robbery to the opening credits where Dick Dale starts shredding his surf-rock classic “Misirlou”; Mia (Uma Thurman) making Vincent (John Travolta) wait for her slinky onscreen introduction while piping in Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man”; The Statler Brothers’ “Flowers on the Wall” soundtracking a revealing, quiet moment with Butch (Bruce Willis), before he commits a shocking act of violence. All of the choices were a perfect blend of sound, style and offbeat energy that matched the film’s kinetic spirit.

Meanwhile, “Forrest Gump” was a film about the ’60s and ’70s, and the song choices are right on the nose. A Vietnam scene soundtracked by Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son”? Check. A scene with hippies? Of course “California Dreamin'” by the Mamas & the Papas is on. Forrest (Tom Hanks) returns to Alabama and Jenny (Robin Wright) teaches him to dance? Hell yeah, “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd is blasting. Believe it or not, the famous montage of Forrest running across America features Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty” and Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.” Because he’s running!

“Forrest Gump” won the best picture Oscar.

Ever since that fateful year, more and more films and TV shows deploy pop music cues instead of scores in order to enhance their scenes. While music supervisors tend to be more considerate with diegetic music (songs that take place within the world of the characters, such as the “Wayne’s World” crew head-banging along to their tape of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”) projects are using non-diegetic songs to either spark insta-nostalgia for times gone by, or to artificially ratchet up emotion beyond what the script calls for.

Two innovative shows this year — “Beef” and the second season of “Yellowjackets” — fell into the same trap. “Beef,” which is primarily soundtracked by late-’90s/early-’00s alt rock hits, ends its finale with enemies-turned-friends Amy (Ali Wong) crawling into badly-injured Danny’s (Steven Yeun) hospital bed, as a passing of time assures the audience that everything is going to be alright. It’s soundtracked to Smashing Pumpkins’ shoegaze classic “Mayonaise,” a singular work from the band that heaps emotion onto a scene that hasn’t been earned. Given what we know about Amy — even after a strange trip in the desert — this compassion wouldn’t seem to be her go-to move. By elevating it to epic levels with such a bombastic song choice makes it feel even more out of place.

The finale of “Yellowjackets” hits a similar note. The show, which is awash in early-90s alt rock, soundtracked the sudden and unceremonious death of adult Nat (Juliette Lewis) to Radiohead’s monumental work “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” an aching lament from singer Thom Yorke about the inevitability of death, buoyed at the end with his aching plea to “Immerse your soul in love.” It’s a wholly complete meditation on the life and the afterlife, and running it over a slapdash end to the season seemed like a quick fix to bring drama into the series.

What’s frustrating about both shows is that there are moments of brilliance in song choice. For example, the “Yellowjackets” theme song — “No Return” by Craig Wedren and Anna Waronker — has always sounded like a beautifully bizarre Breeders b-side, fitting the vibe and time period of the series with lyrics that only point to the themes without being overtly literal. Meanwhile, one of the key moments in “Beef” is Danny’s acoustic performance of Incubus’ “Drive,” mercifully not a reference to the road-rage in the pilot, but rather a wonderful interpretation of his musical gift, remixing a secular song into a religious lament”.

There is the risk that, with more music and series/films released, it is harder to create a modern-day classic needle drop. I think that we are still seeing them. Variety noted how it is best not to force needled drops. It is the organic and seemingly natural mix of song and visual that leads to these timeless moment. Even if Stranger Things’ deliberate use of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) does seem like a modern classic where the song was well placed and used, there is a lot of forced insertion regarding songs trying to deliberately create a needle drop moment. Variety did mention two recent examples that are pretty good and do not fall intro that trap:

“Queen’s “Under Pressure” in 2022’s “Aftersun”: It’s a testament to the power of “Aftersun” that it’s able to so deftly decontextualize one of the biggest rock songs ever. This tender dance scene between Calum (Paul Mescal) and his daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) rewires the inner workings of their relationship — past and future — with very little dialogue and many things left unsaid.

Lil Wayne’s “How to Love” in 2022’s “The Dropout”: Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) loved dancing to hip-hop music through the series, and this scene in which she tried to lighten the mood with her lover and business partner Sunny (Naveen Andrews) was a masterclass in cringey sincerity”.

Whether you love a needle drop because it elevates cinema/T.V. and enriches a scene, or it brings to light a wonderful song, there is no doubting the fact employing a needle drop requires some skill, intuition and, above all, ensuring that the song is chosen because it is best for that particular scene – rather than forcing a song to work or using it because it is trending or popular. Whether diegetic, on a score or a soundtrack, when you see a song arrive in the right place and time and create this phenomenal scene, it does take the breath and lodges in the memory! Pairing song with scene, mind you, can be a tricky balance that can be more of…

A vinyl jump.

FEATURE: Spotlight: THALA

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 PHOTO CREDIT: Celeste Call and Ramona Roemer

THALA

_________

IT can be hard…

staying on top of all the great artists to watch and stick with. I can thoroughly recommend THALA. The Berlin-born multi-talented songwriter and musician released her E.P., twotwentytwo, on 2nd November. It is a wonderful listen that confirms the fact that she is someone that everyone needs to listen to closely. I will get to details about that E.P. very soon. Before that, there are some other things that I want to bring in. I will come to an interview from a couple of years ago. Before that, here is some biography about a truly astonishing and bright artist:

“On new EP ‘twotwentytwo’, indie riser THALA continues to embrace vulnerability, summoning long-buried emotions to colour her ardent love for lyricism amid psych-tinged ‘90s indie rock soundscapes.

Filled with potent songwriting and coming-of-age anthems straight from the heart, these everyday love stories surrender to life’s insecurities. It’s a page from THALA’s diary with impulsive, adolescent brilliance. Evoking the soundscapes of Slowdive, Deerhunter and Mazzy Star alongside the widescreen pop of boygenius and Snail Mail and the subtle punk influences of Juliana Hatfield.

‘twotwentytwo’  was recorded in London and Berlin earlier this year and follows the release of ‘In Theory Depression’, THALA’s first EP on Fire Records. Spanning six tracks, it builds on its predecessor’s fearless lyricism, excavating deep-set feelings of loss, pain, desire and conflict against luminous production and addictive melodies. Bill Green’s striking design, first employed on the cover of the last release, melding sepia-tinted photographs with scribbles of youth, youth, evoking bygone days and personal secrets yet to be disclosed.

Blissful guitars and evocative crescendos permeate THALA’s unique vision of dreampop, revelling in soaring choruses and intimate storylines. On its surface, ‘twotwentytwo boasts a kind of glorious emotive draw – you’d be forgiven for mistaking any one of these tracks as a backdrop to any teen-angst drama. However, while THALA wants her songs to feel nostalgic, it’s the complexity of her songwriting that sees her modern compositions really resonate and she is keen to stress her lyrics can be interpreted in numerous ways.

“Music is the fuel to heal ourselves in whatever way we need” she says of her relationship with her craft.

And therein lies the heart of this release – a cathartic, wildly empowering, self-explorative from a future indie heartbreaker at her gutsy best.

Showing no signs of slowing down with rammed appearances at this year’s SXSW and The Great Escape, THALA was a featured artist on Rough Trade’s ‘On The Rise’, she also picked up the attention of BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, Nels Hylton and Sian Eleri, KEXP and Kerrang Radio. THALA will be touring the UK and Europe through October and November”.

I think that THALA is someone that should be on your radar. Digital Berlin chatted with her in 2021. An artist who Rough Trade and BBC Radio 1 have championed; she has recently done some gigs in the U.K. There is a lot of momentum and love behind THALA. It is interesting reading about her start, influences and favourite albums of all time:

“1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?

I’ve gone through some pretty rough patches in my life – as everyone else has – and I don’t know, I guess I’m hoping, that somehow people can relate to what I write about and have to say. Because it’s things like love, happiness, disappointment, hate, insecurities that mess with us and our heads the most and to think, that you’re not alone at facing those those things, that sometimes turn out to be demons, is somewhat comforting, and so to get back to the answer of this question: I want to make people feel. Because some people have forgotten what it’s like to do so, and embrace it, and for me personally music has always been the best way of emotional release. Writing it, playing it or even just listening to it. An album can change your life I tell ya.

2. How and when did you get into making music?

How is a funny story and when is impossible to tell as it’s always been there. I am pretty sure, that the first time I sang, was to my mum’s Celine Dion ‘My Heart Will Go On’ CD, back then I must have been 6-years-old or something. Music has always done something to me that I was never able to explain. Had a certain pull. Even though I’ve never had training in anything, I never not wanted it to be a thing for me. I started teaching myself how to play the guitar only 3 years ago (am still shit haha hope it’s ok to say that here) and during that time I was living on the Canary Islands, living the beach dream life you could say. Then started writing songs slowly, became more confident with my guitar. When I returned to Berlin in November ’18, I quickly got into the open mic scene and fell in love with the stage and the feel of performing live but was working hard like a dog, 40-hour job plus a second one on the weekends. Sleep wasn’t really a thing back then. Lived as a street musician for a little while after I cut loose all of the old jobs. I went in saying ‘All or Nothing’ and than magically ran into the people that are working with me today (I do not believe in coincidences).

3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?

Beach House – Depression Cherry
Mazzy Star – So Tonight That I Might See
Beach Fossils – Summersault
Holy Wave – Relax
Dayglow – Fuzzybrain

4. What do you associate with Berlin?

I associate pure freedom and individuality with Berlin but strongly believe, that we are the ones who are creating it. Not the old buildings and trendy places to sip your coffees at (they might play a part though). Berlin is a place of art and no-fucks-given, a place many want to call home because here you can re-invent yourself and be whoever you wanna be.

5. What’s your favourite place in your town?

My favorite place is a little lake, that is very near to my house and it’s very idyllic. Love to go there alone, with some friends, swing, think, read, play my guitar, soak in some sun. And during winter I basically become my bed.

6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?

I think I wouldn’t wanna live in a world like that.

7. What was the last record/music you bought?

I bought a super old Fleetwood Mac record a few months ago, a limited edition thing and it didn’t even work.

8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?

I would LOVE to write something with Beach House, Phoebe Bridgers or Sharon Van Etten.

9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?

Ohhh I gotta go with Foo Fighters. First Festival I ever visited, it was raining loads and we were in the first line. INSANE.

10. How important is technology to your creative process?

It is definitely a thing that I enjoy working with just as much as analog gear. There might be that one synth, that you’ll only gonna find with that one midi. The world of sounds is so amazing and interesting. I feel like a kid at a toy store when I’m at the studio”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Nathan Stewart

Prior to getting to some information about her twotwentytwo E.P., Ticketmaster ran an interview recently. They were keen to know what we would get from THALA’s E.P. They were curious to know about her influences and what compels her songwriting. This is someone I am very excited about. I really love what THALA is putting out into the world:

“What can people expect from the EP?

Obviously, the first one is very personal and very vulnerable. Thematically, it’s definitely about mental health, my upbringing and the way I see the world. And the second one is goes deeper into what I feel; how I cope with memories; and into the stories I’ve picked up about other people, friends and loved ones that I then somehow combined. I would say I definitely experimented a bit more in this second EP. When I’m in the studio I’m super nerdy, and I’m even happier when I have a producer who likes to be nerdy as well – together, we can figure out weird sounds. One time, for one of the songs, we were on the phone in a queue to order pizza. And they had such a funny melody that went kind of like [hums a jingle]. We recorded it and then we reversed it. And it’s in one of the songs.

No one’s ever gonna know. Well, now people are going to know… But yeah, I love to do these little gimmicks and little tricks. Just build in some ear candy and get more experimental. I’ve started using a bit of a vocoder effect on stuff, those layered vocals, and I’ve done much more of that. I started getting into changing structures too, so things happen that you don’t expect. There are a few really nice rocky shoegazy outros that I love. And I’m just excited to play them on stage because I haven’t played most of them yet. We rehearsed yesterday and I was just so happy with the way it sounded, and we were drenched in sweat after we finished. That’s what I want.

It’s definitely a good sign when you’re really excited to play music live.

I don’t know though, it’s a first tour, right? I said to myself, if there are only three people, you’re gonna play like it’s 30,000. It doesn’t matter. Like, I’m gonna own that sh*t. In the case of there being not as many people as maybe one would wish for, I will not make that demean the work I put into it. The effort, sweat, blood and tears – everybody says that, but it’s so true. And I’m starting to really feel like that is really true.

Are you feeling that more than you were with the first EP?

Yeah, I am. It’s a funny mixture between the heat being on, but then also more like finding the path of the thing that you really want to do, and feeling more secure in that path. When I first started out, I was just writing for fun. I lived at the beach three years before. I didn’t really have a care in the world in that sense, not about music. I was like, yeah, cool, grab a guitar sometimes and play some covers, nice. But I didn’t think I would ever make it my career. And now it’s dawning on me: this is what I’ve chosen. This is the career that I want; this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, ideally. And so it becomes more and more serious in that sense. But it’s also more interesting, because I get to tap into different types of production.

I get way more creative in moments where I didn’t used to get creative. I’m walking down the street and I hear a funny sound on someone’s bike, which would just pass me by back then, but I get so excited about it now. Yesterday, I recorded something on my phone when I was cleaning out my trash bin. It’s a metal trash bin. I know it sounds funny, but when you come from above with a water hose, and you go in the motion of a circle, it sounds cool. And I recorded it, and I sent it to a guy that I’m working on a song with. I never used to do that, but now I do. So, I feel like all I breathe, all I feel, all I talk, all I am, is becoming more and more what I do.

Have you always been interested in production and being involved with that side of things? Or has that been a more recent interest?

No, I’ve always had an intuition of, “We should stop here. The drums should come back in here. We should put this here”… But since I never learned any of it, people that don’t know me are surprised, because I jump out with these ideas. I see the sensation in every little sound and every little detail, and I get really excited, like a child. Like a grown woman child, I think. I love it. It’s the best f*cking thing in the world. Studio, and then stage. There’s nothing better than that for me.

Do you have a song that you’re proudest of so far?

I’m proud of all of them, because they come from very personal spaces. I think one of them is definitely ‘In Theory Oppression’ from the old EP, which I also then named the EP after, because I think that’s the darkest and most honest song I’ve ever written. And even though its chorus is such a simple repetitive element of the same sentence, it was such a feeling I had in that moment when I wrote it. It went so deep, and it shook me, which usually happens, but not the way it happened with that song. And even when I play it live, I tap into this old self again, and I get really sad when I play it. But it’s good that I managed to put it into a song, which doesn’t mean it’s gone, but it’s just an outlet. And I’ve noticed that it resonates a lot with people when I play it live.

Do you usually write about your own life? You mentioned that you write about your friends’ experiences sometimes.

It’s mostly my own life. But there are definitely parts in songs where I’ve had conversations with friends, and then they say a sentence to me, and I’m like, “Oh, that’s a great line”. And then I write it down, and when I remember it, I work it into the song if it fits. I would never use something like a story that isn’t mine without telling the person who the story is about though.

Looking five years ahead in your career, where would you want to be by that point?

They just opened this new venue in Las Vegas, and it looks crazy. That would be sick. I would not be against that. But I think anywhere I go in the world, I’d like to sell out a capacity of like, 200. In the bigger cities, it could be 500, 1000, to dream big… And I do. If it’s bigger than that, hey, I’m going to be so happy and grateful, but I’m already so grateful for what I have.

Honestly, the most important thing to me is that I still want to have fun making music. I don’t want this business to destroy me or turn me into a different person. I want to stay the same as I am, I want to be genuine. I want to keep writing songs that people can connect to. And hopefully have a hardcore fan base that stands in front of the venue with signs of lyrics that I wrote…”.

If you are new to THALA, then I would recommend you check out her twotwentytwo E.P. It is available on Bandcamp (and streaming platforms). This is someone that everyone will hear a lot more about soon enough. I know that she will enjoy a very fruitful career. Make sure you follow her and listen to her awesome music:

“On new EP twotwentytwo, indie riser THALA continues to embrace vulnerability, summoning long-buried emotions to colour her ardent love for lyricism amid psych-tinged ‘90s indie soundscapes. Filled with potent songwriting and coming-of-age anthems straight from the heart, these everyday love stories surrender to life’s insecurities. Evoking the soundscapes of Slowdive and Deerhunter, whilst recalling the widescreen pop of boygenius and Snail Mail.

Recorded in London and Berlin earlier this year, twotwentytwo follows the release of ‘In Theory Depression’, THALA’s first EP on Fire Records. Spanning six tracks, it builds on its predecessor’s fearless lyricism, excavating deep-set feelings of loss, pain, desire and conflict against luminous production and addictive melodies. Following rammed appearances at SXSW and The Great Escape, and having picked up the attention BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, THALA shows no signs of slowing down…

Blissful guitars and evocative crescendos permeate THALA’s unique vision of dreampop, reveling in soaring choruses and intimate storylines. On its surface, twotwentytwo boasts a kind of glorious emotive draw - you’d be forgiven for mistaking any one of these tracks as a backdrop to any teen-angst drama. However, while THALA wants her songs to feel nostalgic, it’s the complexity of her songwriting that sees her modern compositions really resonate and she is keen to stress her lyrics can be interpreted in numerous ways.

And therein lies the heart of this release - a cathartic, wildly empowering, self-explorative from a future indie heartbreaker at her gutsy best”.

An exciting and wonderfully talented young artist who has a growing fanbase in Europe, I think that THALA is going to be a worldwide proposition. Her new E.P. is instantly one of the best of 2023. She is someone I confidentially predict will make some big splashes in the music world. Go and investigate twotwentytwo and find out why there is so much love and appreciation…

AT her incredible feet.

___________

Follow THALA

 Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/whatisthala/

Bandcamp:

https://thalaofficial.bandcamp.com/album/twotwentytwo

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@THALATHALA

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5JkWwSezW4KRFNy0ru3aZU

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/whatisthala/

FEATURE: She Loves You: Why the Recent Promotion Around The Beatles’ Now and Then Raises Questions About Gender Representation

FEATURE:

 

 

She Loves You

Why the Recent Promotion Around The Beatles’ Now and Then Raises Questions About Gender Representation

_________

I wasn’t quite sure…

how to headline this feature. What I want to talk about is how, especially when it comes to male bands and iconic acts, many female journalists and superfans are ignored in favour of men. Journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed tweeted after the release of The Beatles’ Now and Then. She is a massive fan of the band. Whilst so many fans took to social media to show their love of the song – which was released on 2nd November -, her tweet did raise questions. When you look at the vast majority of articles written about the song, and especially the radio and T.V. coverage of journalists and fans talking about the song and its impact, they are mostly men. It is not only an issue with The Beatles. The fact that women are not as included and spotlighted when it comes to getting viewpoints and discussion about their music. Almost excluding them from the debate. Of course, they are not consciously being pushed aside. It just seems like the easy go-to for broadcasters like the BBC is to find men to talk about The Beatles. Whether journalists, broadcasters or anyone else in the media, it does seem that men are favoured. The Beatles would not be as huge and popular as they are without their female fans. Those most ardent and passionate fans you see in old gig footage is usually girls and young women. The assumption that the most respected and authoritative fans of the band are men betrays a debt to women. I still think that there needs to be a correction of the narrative. That view that those screaming girls and women in the 1960s were hysterical or groupies. It was those women that gave the band their confidence and energy!

Samira Ahmed had a good point when she raised that issue as to why few women were invited to speak about The Beatles’ Now and Then. In terms of the major books about the band, most have been written by men (even though many brilliant ones have been written by women). There are scores of artists, podcast episodes and other examples of women expressing their love for The Beatles, though. Some of the most insightful and dedicated fans are women. Even so, there was still this reliance on male voices when we heard the interviews and reactions to The Beatles’ Now and Then. I don’t think it is only that band where gender inequality and disparity is quite glaring – ignoring the fact that I feel the most committed and loyal fans of the band back in the day were girls and women. Look at artists like David Bowie, and I feel like it would be mostly men invited to speak if a ‘new’ Bowie song came out. Why is there still this assumption that most of the expertise and insight about The Beatles comes from men?! There are millions of female Beatles fans that should be heard and highlighted. It is not the fact that they do not want to talk about them. In terms of Now and Then, there were countless examples of women in the media and society who would have added value perspective and colour. Yet, it was mostly (white) men who were asked to the party. In 2017, this article was published that discussed the females in The Beatles’ fandom:

“It’s been noted by a number of bloggers, (including myself) just how male-dominated the field of Beatles historiography is. Every major work in the Beatles canon, including but not limited to those by authors such as Davies, Norman, MacDonald, and Lewisohn, were written by males. This male domination goes back to the band’s earliest days, when the interviews the band provided were almost unerringly granted to male journalists, because that one gender dominated both the field of journalism in general and the rock journalist profession almost entirely. This one-sided perspective becomes even more difficult to reconcile given the apparent gender equity of Beatles audiences and fans, both then and now; unlike the Rolling Stones, the Beatles were a band that, by most estimates, had a fan base that was at least fifty percent female.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images via The Washington Post

This exclusively male-filtered perspective on the Beatles and their music – and its very real consequences on how the band’s story has been and continues to be told — is one that is only starting to receive serious, sustained discussion. Indeed, for me, the highlights of Womack’s “New Critical Perspectives” are the essays by author Kit O’Toole (“She Said/She Said,”) and Katie Kapurch, (“The Beatles Girl Culture and the Melodramatic Mode,”) which focus on this long overlooked demographic: examining the role of the female fan with insight and acknowledgement rather than condescension or dismissal.

Kapurch’s essay takes a look at how the Beatles’ use of predominantly feminine associated art forms and methods such as melodrama and “girl-group” discourse helped popularize them with their female fans, and allowed female fans to self-identify with the band. 

O’Toole rightly notes how it was the female fans who helped catapult the Beatles to fame and legend, in no small part by their impassioned responses and “buying the records in droves,” and that, when the powers that be finally acknowledged the Beatles’ talent, they did so while insulting and sidelining the band’s previous fans and largest demographic. When the male-dominated press reported on the band, their descriptions of female fans ran the gamut from insulting – one news report, showing an impassioned Beatles female audience, intoned “does it disturb you to realize that these girls will soon become mothers?” – to condescending and dismissive. In his 2008 biography of John, author Philip Norman argues that, while the majority of female fans preferred Paul – presumably for his looks – the thoughtful, intellectual and predominantly male fans preferred John as their favorite Beatle.

In “She Said/She Said,” O’Toole quotes Sheryl Garratt’s essay ‘Teenage Dreams,’ about the widespread dismissal of female teenaged infatuations: “What the press or any of the self-appointed analysts of ‘popular culture’ fail to reflect is that the whole pop structure rests on the back of these ‘silly, screaming girls.” Female Beatles author Candy Leonard argues that the stereotype of the hysterical female fan was a crucial factor in denying females a place at the males only Beatles historiography table: “If you look at fan images from fifty years ago, they are 99% female, but today, 99% of the ‘experts’ are male. So there’s a disconnect. The hysterical girl fan became a caricature …the legacy of those images today is the perception that women can’t have anything intelligent to say about the Beatles, their music, or the phenomenon.” O’Toole notes the growing amount of female voices on the band, but her list only includes approximately 8 women. Whether female voices were purposefully or unintentionally sidelined, there is little denying O’Toole’s and Kapurch’s argument that the female perspective – on the band’s history, on their own fan experiences, on music criticism – has been, and for the moment continues to be, overlooked”.

Not to take anything away from the wave of joy and emotion that greeted the release of The Beatles’ final single, Now and Then. Everyone had a chance to express their reaction online, though it would have been nice if the media and stations invited more women to speak. Have their say and discuss their relationship with the band. As I have said – and as many say -, it is women who have helped to make the band and were, in my view, their most dedicated fans. Even so, in 2023, why is it mainly male voices that are sought after when it comes to ‘expertise’?! Of course, men can’t be left out, though how many women did we hear on radio stations and elsewhere talking about this seismic and historic music moment?! Samira Ahmed’s tweet is perfectly valid. She asked why women were not more included. This decades-long gender issue. Women who formed such a huge and vital core of Beatles fandom still maybe seen as lacking the knowledge and experience that their male counterparts have when it comes to importance and legacy. I know of so many women who have incredible knowledge of The Beatles – and yet I only heard a couple or so on radio and T.V. That was quite sad and angering! There will be more opportunities for superfans of The Beatles to discuss news and new releases, so I hope that  things are corrected. Years from now, will all the most ‘important’ books, opinions and articles about The Beatles be from men?! Invaluable views and perspectives from women are not being championed and augmented. This seems wrong. When it comes to context, history, balance and such a unique and vital perspective, their voices are so…

IMPORTANT to hear.

FEATURE: Pounds of Love: A Perfect Way to End 2023…? Kate Bush’s Album Reissues and a Christmas with Certain Strings

FEATURE:

 

 

Pounds of Love: A Perfect Way to End 2023…?

PHOTO CREDIT: Fish People/Kate Bush 

Kate Bush’s Album Reissues and a Christmas Present with Certain Strings

_________

HAVING launched…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fish People/Kate Bush

a new website design/layout that looks amazing and is ‘presented’ by Fish People (Bush’s label), there has been this overhaul that has now put front and centre reissued albums that are going to exclusively appear in independent record stores. Kate Bush News reported on the fact that her 1985 masterpiece Hounds of Love is being reissued - and different editions are coming out. I am going to come to the studio albums in a minute, in addition to writing why these releases are perfect Christmas presents – and releases coming after December will be pre-ordered as late Christmas presents:

“As was promised earlier this year when Kate moved her distribution to The State51 Conspiracy, special presentations of Hounds of Love have just been announced on Kate’s newly re-launched official Fish People site. And they are quite extraordinary. They include an “illustrated vinyl” 12″ edition (known as the Baskerville Edition) as well as the album being presented on two boxes (called The Boxes of Lost at Sea). Additionally, the coloured vinyl we reported on last month is available to pre-order. Elsewhere, the new site features new notes and specially chosen footage by Kate on all of her albums as she reissues her full album catalogue.

Hounds of Love – The Baskerville Edition 12″ vinyl

The 12″ vinyl Baskerville edition (available from December 1st, pre-order here) features new illustrations by Timorous Beasties on the front (shown above – two hounds!), centre gatefold (Kate, being hoisted by sea creatures, in her life jacket with blinking red LED light!) and back (including a solar panel to charge the light battery in daylight!). The Baskerville Edition of Hounds of Love is intended to be the first in a series of illustrated editions of Kate’s albums. The Dreaming will be the second in the series of illustrated editions, also illustrated by Timorous Beasties. This will be released in time for Valentine’s Day, 2024. More details will be available nearer the time.

The site says that “the best way to charge this solar panel is in bright sunlight (but not with the vinyl LP, it might warp!) In that situation it will charge really quickly, within ten minutes. Smoked glass doesn’t work well at all and neither does a very cloudy day. LED indoor lightning won’t work at all, but halogen lightning should be good. Do not put the solar panel closer then 10 cm from an artificial light source as this could cause heat damage to the solar panel. We hope you will experiment and please be patient if it’s a little temperamental. This is an innovative idea and designed to be environmentally friendly.” 

The Baskerville Edition is accompanied by a beautiful new Cloudbusting-themed video which depicts a young Peter Reich receiving the record and telling his story. Extremely touching! See it below.

PHOTO CREDIT: Fish People/Kate Bush

On the official press release for the reissues Kate says:

It’s been great fun putting together these new versions, including coloured vinyls for independent record stores. They’ve been designed as a ‘set’. It’s very exciting to see the resurgence of appreciation for the physical presence of albums released on vinyl. It’s how it’s always been for me, especially when I was a teenager. The whole buzz of the record store was part of the experience. Buying an album was an event. There’s a special emotional connection that happens between the possessor of an album, the music and the artwork, when it exists in the real world. It’s something we can treasure in a unique way.

KATE BUSH, NOVEMBER 2023

The Boxes of Lost at Sea

If that wasn’t enough Kate has created two pieces of wall art, The Boxes of Lost at Sea (available from December 1st, pre-order here), each consisting of two boxes, each containing one side of the Hounds of Love album. In a second accompanying video, Kate explains via on-screen text, that she was inspired to expand upon a piece of work she first created for a special War Child charity auction in 1994 (see our news item here on the original artworks). Kate was thrilled to find the ITV clip of her idol, David Bowie, admiring her original artworks.

The boxes, which can each be wall mounted, also feature flashing LED lights powered by two AAA batteries. A donation will be made to War Child with each box that’s bought.

Kate says: “The idea was to create a hybrid of an album and a piece of artwork you could hang on the wall. They’re based on something I designed for an auction for the charity War Child”

Inside The Boxes of Lost at Sea are two vinyl records, described as “UV print on a side without grooves, on white vinyl.”

Like the 1994 original piece, each has an inscribed plaque, with versions available for pre-order in a braille version also:

Fish People are also reissuing the regular vinyl and CD versions of Hounds of Love and believe it or not (Stranger Things fans, ahoy!) a newly reissued cassette version – all three out on November 20th as previously reported. Elsewhere on the site, you can pre-order something for “those cloudbusting kind of days…” ……a rather fetching umbrella!”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Fish People/Kate Bush

I guess the new editions are a little on the expensive side. As Kate Bush has spent time and effort making sure these are all individual and look amazing, it will worth adding to your collection. Aerial looks pretty interesting! I might well get that, as I do not have the original on vinyl. Hounds of Love will be especially popular, as it is also coming out on cassette. With albums on the website, you also get videos relevant. Lionheart is a good example. It is a new way for fans old and new to connect with the album. I think one of the exciting things is that there is this access for young fans. Even though the albums were reissued and remastered a five years back – hard to believe before 2018 they were difficult to get on vinyl! -, I think this presentation and release looks better! The vinyl are more interesting. You get cool obi strips, plus the photos and information you get with each album will be amazing! Despite the fact that they are priced highly at the moment, that will fall in time. It is a perfect time new fans to bond with these albums. Bush has always said how she wants people to experience her albums on physical formats. The C.D.s are available too, though there is that major demand for vinyl. I might well add a couple to my collection, as these reissues and designs mark the end of an active and exciting time for Kate Bush. One of the downsides, I guess, is this debate around the reissue and a lack of new material. It is a lot of money for fans to pay for albums that do not contain new demos, outtakes, B-sides or anything we have not heard before. That is fair enough!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fish People/Kate Bush

There has been this retrospection, transfer of her albums to The state51 Conspiracy, and activity regarding her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. It would be nice to think that, as 2023 is coming to an end, there is something new next year. Bush cares deeply about her fans, however there is that palpable and understandable call for new music. As they literally invest so much when it comes to her existing music, there is a massive appetite for something fresh from the genius. She has given us this Christmas present. No doubt she will put a message on her official website next month thanking her fans, plus reflecting on the world and offering her love and support. Next year should be an opportunity when everything has been cleared and sorted so that Bush can follow 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. She does not need to say whether anything will come at some point. She will know what a wave of expectation there is out there. We are grateful for the studio albums coming back out with new designs. It has seen Kate Bush take a real interest in the process and completion. There will be eyes her way with records the next step. Even if it is audio from songs that have not seen the light of day, or demos that are new to fans – another round of repackaging and retrospection might be a bit too much. Whether that big question around new material is answered in 2024 remains to be seen. If it is, then you can guarantee that is something that all fans will…

HAPPILY invest in!

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Twelve: An Alternative Christmas: Inside the Magical Misty

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Twelve

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

An Alternative Christmas: Inside the Magical Misty

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ON 21st November…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fish People/The state51 Conspiracy

it will be twelve years since Kate Bush released her current studio album, 50 Words for Snow. There is activity in Kate Bush’s world with the reissue of her studio albums. With vinyl designed by her, we are getting this new treat in the form of the albums all looking splendid and ready in time for Christmas! I have written about that separately. I recently wrote about her first Christmas song, December Will Be Magic Again, as that was released on 17th November, 1980. During that feature, I mused how it was a little disappointing why there was no music video made for that song. Bush did perform the track on T.V. a couple of times, yet there is no official video. I kind of think that is a missed opportunity. It would have been great seeing Kate Bush in a Christmas scene. December Will Be Magic Again is a beautiful track that would have benefited from a wintery video. Thinking about 50 Words for Snow. Even though it is not a Christmas album, the songs are linked by snow. I do actually think that the third song on the album, Misty, evokes Christmas. It is an epic song that I feel is one of Kate Bush’s very best. In terms of the themes, it does not mention Christmas. You can feel and sense elements of The Snowman. That Raymond Briggs’ classic is definitely an influence you can hear on the track. Before moving on, here are extracts from interviews where Bush talked about Misty and what it concerns:

“Well, I think in that particular song obviously there is a sexual encounter going on… (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)

It's a silly idea. But I hope that what has happened is that there's almost a sense of tenderness. I think it's quite a dark song. And so I hope that I've made it work. But in a lot of ways it shouldn't because... It's ridiculous, isn't it, the idea of the snowman visiting this woman and climbing into bed with her.

But I took him as a purely symbolic snowman, it was about...

No John, he's REAL (laughs). (BBC4 Radio, Front Row, 2011)”.

50 Words for Snow uses snow as a backdrop. It has a particular interest in fascinating creatures, something child-like and wonderful. Maybe because Bush’s son Bertie was still small, many of the songs are about magic and mystery. Wild Man is about a half-man create, a yeti, that is being hunted. Lake Tahoe is about a ghostly figure who supposedly lives in the lake. The title track features fifty words for snow. It is pretty funny and cute. I think that Misty is the standout in many ways. It is the longest track on the album at 13:32. I think that there is something Christmas-like at its heart. It does seem to conjure the spirit of The Snowman. It is the time of year when Christmas songs are being played. I am marking the approaching anniversary of 50 Words for Snow by highlighting an unofficial Christmas song. That said, it is not one that is instantly appropriate for children. Maybe a more erotic and adult version of a Christmas classic. I think it is the updated The Snowman, in the sense a woman brings this snowman to life but it melts in the night – though many have said it is this tryst that went wrong, a brief moment of passion. I will move on. Before I do, this article from 2012 shines a light on the long-lasting and amazing Misty:

“Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s also my favorite song on the album. In fact, it could be said that I am somewhat obsessed with “Misty” — not just the song itself, but all of the artistic qualities it represents. After the album came out, I excitedly told everyone about how it had a “13-minute song about falling in love with a snowman.” Because who makes a 13-minute song about falling in love with a snowman? Why would anyone do that? And how could it possibly be good?

Perhaps the only person in the world who could do it or would do it is Kate Bush, who in her 30+ year career has consistently pushed the boundaries of art and has an affinity for oddball subject matter. A very underrated trait among great artists, especially ones I admire, is the willingness to go through with ideas that seem insane on the surface. As someone who has a lot of half-finished posts sitting in my drafts folder on this blog, I feel a lot of respect towards Bush, who sat down at her piano and hammered this song out because she knew it would be good. I imagine her picking up the phone during the writing process and having to tell whoever called “I can’t speak right now. I’m working on my song about loving a snowman.” She probably put off other real-life responsibilities while writing her snowman song, confident that people would want to listen to it when it was finished. To me, that is pretty much the definition of an artist.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Now, when you read that the song is about falling in love with a snowman, you probably figured “oh, it’s a metaphor for being with a cold, distant lover or something.” Nope. Another reason why this song is great is that Bush attacks the subject matter head-on instead of using bland, figurative language. Above a recurring piano figure, she recounts building the snowman, then how the snowman ends up in her bed.

Unfortunately, like all one-night affairs with snowmen, Bush’s tryst was doomed to end in heartbreak. “I can feel him melting in my hand,” she laments, knowing that you only have a limited amount of time to be with a snowman. At about the 8-minute mark, a guitar and some light strings join the piano as the song picks up in tempo. “I can’t find him… the sheets are soaking,” Bush sings, her voice full of very real yearning. The seriousness with which Bush sings the song is just another way that I think she’s in on the “joke” and is aware of the song’s dark comedy and absurdity.

But even though this song is absurd, it has a genuine emotional impact. Once you let the initial concept sink in (and since the song is so long, it will if you have the patience), it becomes a pretty stirring tale of two star-crossed lovers who obviously can never have a future. She was the good girl from the high-class family who wanted the best things in life. He was three balls of snow stacked on top of each other with a mouth full of dead leaves. You can see why it would never work out”.

Critics loved Misty. One of the highlights of 50 Words for Snow, this is what Pitchfork observed about a song so strange and unconventional that it could only have come from the splendid imagination of Kate Bush:

“But Bush continues to infuse her narratives with a beguiling complexity while retaining some old-school directness. Because while most of this album's songs can be easily summarized-- "Snowflake" chronicles the journey of a piece of snow falling to the ground; "Lake Tahoe" tells of a watery spirit searching for her dog; "Misty" is the one about the woman who sleeps with a lusty snowman (!)-- they contain wondrous multitudes thanks to the singer's still-expressive voice and knack for uncanny arrangements”.

Even if critics found the song unusual, they saluted its ambition and unconventional arc. A tale that, to me, seems steeped in Christmas and that time of year. Maybe an introversion of a classic tale. A woman who dreams of a night with a snowman. There are various different takes you could have. This is what The Guardian had to say about the glorious Misty:

“It devotes nearly 14 impossibly beautiful minutes to Misty, a song on which Bush imagines first building a snowman and then, well, humping him, with predictably unhappy consequences: "He is dissolving before me," she sings sadly, not the first lady in history to complain about an evening of passion coming to a premature conclusion. It features a title track that turns out to be more prosaically named than you might expect”.

I am going to wrap it up there. I did want to use the final 50 Words for Snow anniversary feature to celebrate and discuss Misty. A grand and incomparable song, I would urge people to listen to the whole album. It is twelve on 21st November. It is a glorious work from an artist who moved from shorter and more conventional songs to these longer and more expansive ones. It was a great shift that led to some of her best work. Let us all hope that there is…

MORE to come.

FEATURE: Don’t Speak Now (Taylor’s Aversion): Record Labels Limiting Artists Rerecording Their Albums, and Why It Is Important for the Artist to Have Control

FEATURE:

 

 

Don’t Speak Now (Taylor’s Aversion)

Record Labels Limiting Artists Rerecording Their Albums, and Why It Is Important for the Artist to Have Control

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THIS is a bit of a mish-mash feature…

based on a couple of features I saw. The thing that links them is artists taking control of their albums and legacy. The fact that there is a lot of nostalgia and ‘correcting’ from some major artists. Something Laura Snapes mentioned in her recent feature – which I shall come to soon. I think that record labels can be a mixed blessing. In terms of what an artist can say and release. How easy (or not) it is for them to rerecord an album if they are not happy with the originals – or there are songs and messages that need to be clarified and amended. In terms of the biggest example, we have Taylor Swift. In August 2019, Swift announced that she would be rerecording her first six studio albums so that she can control her legacy and past work. That is a big move and call to make though, as reviews for the albums she has reissues have shown, it was the right move:

“In 2019, the music label Big Machine Records, which Swift had been signed to from 2006 to 2018, was sold to music mogul/manager Scooter Braun – best known for discovering Justin Bieber.

Along with ownership of the company, Braun also gained rights to the master recordings of all the music Swift had created during her time with the label. This included her first six albums: Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014) and Reputation (2017).

This meant that anybody who wanted to licence any of Swift’s old songs for a movie or TV show would have to get Braun’s permission and pay him a fee.

“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta [CEO of Big Machine Records] would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future,” Swift wrote on her Tumblr account in June 2019.

“I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”

The “Cruel Summer” singer explained that she too had only learnt about Braun’s purchase of her masters when it was announced to the world. “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,” she said.

“Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it,” Swift said, calling it her “worst-case scenario”.

Her fourth recorded album, 1989 (Taylor's Version), was released at the end of last month. It was received with huge acclaim! The 2014 was her breakthrough and most popular album to that date, though Swift has added something to new to the original in terms of its impact and strength. I think all thew rerecorded versions so far have been a great move and added something to the originals. Set aside the fact Taylor Swift is a billionaire now; look at this from the perspective of an artist not cashing in. She is someone who is entitled to protect her legacy and control her recordings. In fact, regarding her wealth, she is extremely smart with it – and not someone who flaunts it at all. I do think that this is something women face more. Being misrepresented or messed around by labels. Not having the same freedom and commercial opportunities. There will no doubt be other artists like Swift who want to rerecord some of their albums for different reasons. Maybe it is the fact they are on new labels or they did not get a lot of say regarding what their album was about and how it was sold. Some might see older songs as a bit misrepresentative of who they are. As we heard at the end of last month, Taylor Swift might have opened doors. It does seem that labels, especially big labels, are trying to slam that  to ensure that artists do not rerecord their albums – and potentially cause some problems for labels:

“Record labels and recording companies have been working to prevent artists from re-recording their albums like Taylor Swift, according to reports.

The trend – while having been around for decades – has been brought to light recently by Taylor Swift, who has accumulated billions of streams and broke Spotify records with the updated ‘Taylor’s Version’ re-recordings of her albums.

The new projects, which have seen her re-record albums such as ‘Red’, ‘Speak Now’, ‘Fearless’ and most recently ‘1989’, came after Scooter Braun bought Big Machine Records (who owned the masters to Swift’s first six albums) back in 2019 for $300million (£247.2m).

When news broke of Braun gaining the rights to Swift’s masters, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that this was “the worst-case scenario” for her, calling him out for his “incessant, manipulative bullying”, and proceeded to regain control of her master recordings by re-releasing the albums.

Now, major labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are looking to put a stop to artists following in Swift’s footsteps, and have reportedly overhauled contracts for new signees.

Previously, artists were expected to wait two periods before they could re-release music – for instance, around five years after the original release date, or two years after the contract ended. However, according to a report by Billboard, top music attorneys are saying that they have been seeing contracts that expand that timeframe up to 30 years.

“The first time I saw it, I tried to get rid of it entirely,” Josh Karp, an attorney who saw the new restrictions in UMG contracts told the outlet. “I was just like, ‘What is this? This is strange. Why would we agree to further restrictions than we’ve agreed to in the past with the same label?’”

Gandhar Savur, attorney for Cigarettes After Sex and Jeff Rosenstock, agreed adding: “I recently did a deal with a very big indie that had a 30-year re-record restriction in it. Which obviously is much longer than I’m used to seeing.”

As the outlet explains, the concept of re-recording albums in an artist’s discography is by no means a new development, with Frank Sinatra doing so in the ‘60s as well as artists including Def Leppard. It has only been after the immense commercial success of Swift, however, that record labels have gone to implement a change.

 Speaking with Billboard following the report, a spokesperson for UMG stated the label does not comment on legal agreements and highlighted an article from The Wall Street Journal which reported changes in contracts before Swift’s re-recordings.

Similarly, representatives for Warner and Sony did not respond to requests for comment.

Following Swift’s attempt to regain control of her master recordings, the singer-songwriter has inadvertently inspired others to do the same too, including 98 Degrees, who credited the singer with creating “an alliance between the artists and the fans now to support the re-recorded masters”.

Reports of record labels extending the period that artists have to wait before they can re-release their albums stem back to the end of 2021, when it was reported the Universal Music Group had set out new guidelines following Swift’s first run of re-releases.

This was first highlighted by The Wall Street Journal, which reported that the new agreements “effectively double the amount of time that the contracts restrict an artist from rerecording their work”.

In other Taylor Swift news, the singer was reported as becoming the most-streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history, and ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ was confirmed as Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in 2023 so far.

She was also reported as becoming a billionaire following her run of ‘Eras’ US shows and a new concert film”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna during her current Celebration Tour

I do hope that artists have more freedom and say in the future. Not only does it affect women, though they are subjected to more bullying and coercive and controlling behaviour. Perhaps seen more as commodities compared to their male peers. In any case, I want to link this to a feature from Laura Snapes in The Guardian. She mentioned three massive and legendary artists – Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and Madonna – who are on a nostalgia trip at the moment in terms of their tours, rerecording albums, and releasing a revealing and honest memoir. In some ways it is a chance to say that the past was not all great and things were bad in some ways. A change maybe to go back to a simpler time. Also, a way of celebrating big moments from the past and involving fans of all generations. As Snapes writes, there is some nostalgia and monetisation at play. When it comes to artists like Taylor Swift, Madonna and Britney Spears, it is about empowerment and taking control back. Reframing their narratives and legacies. Some songs that were problematic or a little cruel now being re-versioned. It is something that is vital for these amazing women. When it comes to rerecording albums and being able to put out the work they feel happiest with:

“Framing the big picture of their work also allows them to stress the context behind their music in an increasingly ahistorical, social media-led fan culture that reduces specific cultural flashpoints to vibes (or indeed eras, language Swift has knowingly repurposed). Though looking back plays into that too: the future has never seemed less certain, and so nostalgia offers a safe haven – even Spears’s harrowing account offers reassurance that, yes, the 2000s were an awful time to be a girl. But what does cultivating your legacy mean for your artistic future? The premium on youth and beauty already traps women in their pasts, as Madonna well knows, and makes it an uphill struggle to have your evolution accepted beyond a certain point. As triumphant as the Celebration tour is, it also represents Madonna accepting that she has crossed the Rubicon into the heritage industry, possibly even admitting defeat on her active artistic currency – her album sales have been on a precipitous decline since 2005’s Confessions on a Dancefloor and the tour setlist features only one song released since then, 2015’s Bitch I’m Madonna. Perhaps she’s accepting the limits of her physicality, too: “I must tell you, I don’t feel very well right now,” she told a crowd in Antwerp. “But I can’t complain because I’m alive.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna)

Beyond the monetary spoils of reliving her past, hindsight has brought Swift moral vindication: the exploitative power dynamics of formative relationships now transparently evident; even clumsily trying to rectify her internalised teenage misogyny by defanging her slut-shaming rager Better Than Revenge, from the rerecording of her 2010 album Speak Now, with new, softer lyrics. But arguably, cycling back and forth between her adult and younger self has affected her current output: her last original album, 2022’s Midnights, was a nostalgic reflection on “13 sleepless nights” from throughout her life, coupled with an atmospheric, ruminative sound. Her previous albums all boldly staked out new ground – even 2020’s folksy Folklore and Evermore went somewhere new by going back to the land – but this felt like her first consolidation effort.

Alongside those muted lockdown albums, Midnights might have suggested Swift pulling back from pop’s pyrotechnic mountaintop for a more sustainable, experimental, adult kind of music career – were it not for her subsequent (literally) seismic current tour, one of the biggest pop spectacles ever mounted. But it, too, feels as though it is the end of an era in pop superstardom, one that Madonna set in motion 40 years ago: there has been a downturn in the minting of Swift’s successors, with no significant pop breakthroughs since Olivia Rodrigo in 2021. Swift is one of the last monocultural stars, and she operates as one, in conversation with only herself and her legions of fans. Last week, she successfully pushed a four-year-old song (and not a rerecording) to No 1 in the US. The (on-and-off) 19-month Eras tour concludes in November 2024. It’s a long time to perform supremacy via nostalgia.

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A post shared by Maria River Red (@britneyspears)

No one understands that tending your past means stealing from your future like Spears does. In the latter half of the conservatorship – which lasted one-third of her lifetime – she was contractually bound to endure her greatest successes in a five-year Las Vegas residency. Unable to escape, she started to give lacklustre performances on purpose “to punish the people who held me captive”, she writes. “Toning down my energy on stage was my version of a factory shutdown.” In March 2020, Spears posted a quote by the philosopher Mimi Zhu to Instagram that advocated for wealth redistribution and striking, prompting gags about Comrade Britney. It was no joke: Spears understood that she was the means of production. Her initial strike was far from successful: she said that she was confined to a punitive rehab facility for two months after protesting a complicated new dance move because she didn’t feel physically capable of it. But her freedom, post-conservatorship, means possibly shutting down the factory for good. “I don’t have to perform for anyone – on stage or off stage,” she writes.

Since the publication of The Woman in Me, Spears has made clear that she is done looking back. She lambasted the media for turning her story’s juiciest revelations into headlines. “Most of the book is from 20 years ago,” she posted on Instagram. “I have moved on and it’s a beautiful clean slate from here !!! I am here to establish it that way for the rest of my entire life !!! Either way that is the last of it and shit happens !!!” While she can’t cauterise the ongoing interest in her past – one that at its most productive might inspire legal changes to the conservatorship system – Spears has made clear that she is establishing a future on her terms, to which we may or may not be privy. She has done no book promotion; Instagram is the only place you can currently see her. There she maintains an unfiltered, instinctive, immediate presence, dancing and posting memes and thoughts at her whim. There is no more rehearsal, only now”.

Laura Snapes also mentions in her feature how Taylor Swift, Madonna and Britney Spears are white artists. Nostalgia and legacy-claiming. Compare that to Black contemporaries like Beyoncé and how her Renaissance Tour is about innovation and representing and reestablishing Black cultural legacies. In a social media where things have changed, legacy artists can now reach a new audience. They are being reframed at a time when there is more engagement and awareness. The media not controlling the narrative. Now, culture has shifted so that these new stories, tours and albums can represent the truth and be received as such. Taylor Swift especially is regaining control from forces that have distorted her legacy and music.  Incredible women taking a big step to ensure they are heard and are not misrepresented. It means that the news that labels are hesitant about artists rerecording albums is a bit of a step back. There are legacy artists and current acts who have suffered issues with their label and have not been able to put out the music they wanted. If they are condemned or blocked from doing so, I think that is going to cause a massive problem. Artists wanting to be independent or not having any label at all. Being able to ensure that, years from now, that artist is not misrepresented is vital. I don’t think artists having control and following in the footsteps of Taylor Swift is bad or would be compromising for labels. It is a complex situation. Maybe the right to rerecord albums or reframe the past is reserved to major artists. It would be great if there was more support to give artists say in how their music is sold and ensure that they can, if needed, revisit the past and set the record straight. Rather than letting them speak now, it seems labels may prefer that their artists…

DON’T speak at all.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Nelly Furtado - Folklore

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Nelly Furtado - Folklore

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FOLLOWING her spectacular…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Nelly Furtado in 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Hope Glassel for LADYGUNN

debut album, Whoa, Nelly! That arrived in 2000. On 5th November, 2003 – it has just celebrated its twentieth anniversary -, Nelly Furtado released Folklore. Perhaps people more commonly associate that title with Taylor Swift now. I remember getting Furtado’s debut album, so I was excited to see what its follow-up would offer. Not as acclaimed as her debut, Folklore does have some brilliant moments. It is not as played and explored as Whoa, Nelly! or 2006’s Loose. Furtado turns forty-five next month, so I wanted to use this feature as a double celebration. I might put together a career-spanning playlist closer to the date (2nd December). Now, I will bring in reviews that shine a light on the strength of Folklore. If some were mixed and felt that Folklore was not as strong as Whoa, Nelly!, I feel that they were missing a lot. An album that should be played more, you can buy it here. If that is a bit expensive, go and stream Folklore. Reaching the top forty in many nations, it is a shame that more did not provide an effusive and positive review! Twenty years later, I think that Folklore still sounds amazing. I am going to get to a couple of reviews for Nelly Furtado’s second studio album. First, Windy City Times spoke with Furtado about an amazing release:

“Folklore (DreamWorks), Nelly Furtado's eagerly anticipated second album, displays a wisdom that belies her youth, setting her apart from most of her contemporaries. Opening track, 'One-Trick Pony,' begins with a stunning string arrangement performed by the Kronos Quartet. Other guest performers, including Bela Fleck and Caetano Veloso, augment Furtado's exotic but welcoming tunes, allowing the young singer/songwriter to perpetuate her legend and develop her skills as a folklorist.

I recently spoke to Nelly while she was taking a break from filming a music video.

Gregg Shapiro: I want to begin by congratulating you on recently becoming a mother. Your daughter was born in September, and I was wondering if you think that motherhood has had or will have any effect on your songwriting?

Nelly Furtado: I think so. I think it gives me a different perspective on life, kind of shifts things around a little bit. You become a lot less selfish because you have to provide for somebody else, and you also take better care of yourself. In the future I think it's going to be there.

GS: The songs on Folklore were written in 2002—following the success of Whoa, Nelly and your tour. Like many songwriters do on their second albums, you have written songs in which you address your critics, the public, the media and other trappings of success. Do you feel as if you got that out of your system on songs such as 'One-Trick Pony' and 'Powerless (Say What You Will)'?

NF: Albums, for me, are like when an architect builds a house. You build a house and then move on to the next one. With writing, it's the same way. You just have to comment on your life and move on from your life and talk about other things.

GS: 'Powerless (Say What You Want)' sounds like it addresses the marketing techniques used to promote an image that someone else wanted for you. Did that motivate you to want to reclaim the heritage that those marketing your image were trying to conceal?

NF: It's not something that happened to me directly in the music business. The song is more about the sense of feeling of displacement or lack of connection that people get with images around us from looking at television and magazines and billboards. I think that's always been a motivating factor for me—to share my heritage and my identity.

GS: 'Fresh Off The Boat' combines a number of elements including dance, hip-hop and a Latin influence. What can you tell me about this track?

NF: That song is one of my favorites. It's a fun track. I've grown up watching my relatives live with one foot in Europe and one foot in Canada. They are different lifestyles, a different humility and modesty. But it's proud at the same time and it has a lot of integrity. I wanted it to be the basis for the song. Musically, it could be taken right out of an old church book from Portugal. I grew up listening to choir songs and stuff like that—they had a certain melodic strength. We also used this great bass player, Justin Meldal-Johnson, from the band I Am Robot, who used to play with Beck a lot, and built the track around that, too.

GS: I'm glad you mentioned Justin, because there is an amazing array of guest musicians on Folklore, including the Kronos Quartet ('One-Trick Pony'), Bela Fleck ('Forca'), Caetano Veloso (Island Of Wonder') and Jarvis Church ('Saturdays'). What was it like to work with these artists?

NF: Having a song with Caetano was amazing. He's one of my idols. I'm reading his book, Tropical Truth, right now. I think his music is kind of the best music out there in a lot of ways. I wanted to showcase some diversity on my album, maybe shed some light on artists that some of my fans may not have heard of. Working with Bela Fleck was really fun. He's a really nice. We like musicians who can take us to another level and make us feel a certain way. There are so many talented musicians out there.

GS: The use of the strings on 'One-Trick Pony' reminded me of another Canadian musician, Ashley MacIsaac.

NF: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

GS: I also read that you are an admirer of label-mate Rufus Wainwright. What do you think it is about Canada that produces such exceptional musicians?

NF: Rufus is in his own category. He's just incredible. I think that in Canada, we have perspective, because we're close to America, but we're far enough away to have our own spin on the world. We get influences from everywhere. We get the U.K. influence, the European influence, the French influence and a lot of Asian influence. We're not closed off from the rest of the world. We have our own identity. It's basically a bunch of cosmopolitan cities thrown about this vast country (laughs).

GS: Speaking of musicians from Canada, I detected a bit of Joni Mitchell in your phrasing on 'Childhood Dreams.' Would you consider her to be an influence on your work?

 NF: Yeah. I kind of rediscovered her last winter or last spring, just before going into the studio. I think she's amazing. The texture and the energy of her songwriting are great.

GS: As a resident of Toronto, have you ever had occasion to stroll down Church Street and stop into any of the clubs there and maybe pay a visit to some of your gay fans?

NF: Yeah, one of my best friends lives down there. There are lots of great theaters and dance studios down there. I always wanted to participate in Pride week. I've been there before, but I've never really been a part of the floats or anything. I've always thought that would be fun.

GS: Finally, as a folklorist, an observer of the world, what would you like to see happen in the world to make it a better place?

NF: Oh, wow! I always talk about diversity. I always feel like if everyone in the world knew a little bit more about another culture, another way of life, another lifestyle. In general, I think that ignorance is the evil of the world. If people just stick to what they know, it breeds fear. I feel like if everyone knew just a little more about other cultures and other ways of life we'd be able to live a little more harmoniously”.

SLANT provided their thoughts on Nelly Furtado’s Folklore. Her most recent album, 2017 The Ride, is exceptional. I hope we get another album from the remarkable Canadian-born artist. I have been a fan since her debut arrived, so any good news regarding new music would be amazing:

“On her sophomore effort, Folklore, Nelly Furtado’s self-described “ear candy” is less animated than the bubbly trip-pop of her debut, Whoa, Nelly!, an album that was so exuberant that—even if you cringed at the sound of Furtado’s nasal twang, which is best taken in small doses—you couldn’t help but appreciate its freshness in the midst of the teen-pop boom. There’s also little of the hip-hop influence that was hinted at in her post-Whoa, Nelly! work. She could have gone whole-hog and enlisted Timbaland and Missy or, hell, even Dr. Dre, for a predictably (but undoubtedly fascinating) urban-leaning release. Instead, Folklore is steeped in earthy, more organic textures, heightening the influence of Furtado’s multi-cultural background and taking the sound of her primary collaborators, production team Track & Field, into grittier, darker territories.

Once again, Furtado and her crew artfully mix the traditional with the modern, and there’s no better example of this than the magical “Island Of Wonder,” which features both vocals by living Afro-Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso and samples of his song “Tonada De Luna Llena.” Brazilian Martial Arts chants highlight the embattled teenage angst of “Explode,” a track that exposes the dark, yet all-too-common side of Furtado’s youth, while the bouncy “Fresh Off The Boat” and the celebratory “Forca,” which can be filed under “Future Football Anthems,” feature Portuguese-language hooks that are nothing less than infectious. Mellower than her debut, the album includes a number of restrained yet evocative pop ballads: the understated “Picture Perfect,” the lovely and hit-worthy “Try,” and the stunning “Childhood Dreams,” a lilting “super-ballad” about Furtado’s unborn child that was recorded inside a church—and it shows.

Too often, though, Furtado falls into the trap of so many other seemingly overnight pop successes by writing in a hermetically sealed, pop-stardom-induced vacuum. (“For you I will not dance/And for you I will not prance,” she sings on the otherwise magnificent opening track “One-Trick Pony.”) Write about what you know, for sure, but Furtado’s audience is unlikely to relate to the rigors of sudden fame or the personal anguish of having their ethnicity painted over in magazines. Still, Furtado’s insight remains beyond her years: “They took her passion and her gaze and made a poster…We take the culture and contort/Perhaps only to distort what we are hiding,” she proclaims on the album’s exhilarating breakbeats-meet-banjos lead single, “Powerless (Say What You Want).” If Whoa, Nelly! was the introduction of a promising new talent, Folklore is the transition that builds on that promise and brims with life, even if it does include a misstep or two”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Nelly Furtado in 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Hope Glassel for LADYGUNN

I am going to finish off with the review from BBC. If some were thinking Nelly Furtado would stick closely to her debut for 2003’s Folklore, there were those who saw the similarities but also appreciated the evolution and new musical elements. There is more mellowness to Folklore than there was to Whoa, Nelly! Pregnant during most of the second album’s recording, it is understandable it would have as different feel and dynamic to her 2000 debut:

“Folklore sees Nelly Furtado well and truly re-discovering her roots. There isn't a frothy pop song to be found on this album, which isn't to say there aren't any hooks. Here is something really rather special; Nelly exploring the capabilities of her voice and trying outa remarkablyeclectic range of styles.

Undeniably influenced by her Portugese roots and a range of folk and world music, the diversity of instruments and vocal styles on this album is breathtaking. Enlisting Brazillian legend Caetano Veloso on guest vocals and the mighty Kronos Quartet on strings has injected this album with an eclectic feel altogether different to her debut Whoa Nelly.

This mixture kept me riveted from start to finish. The single, "Powerless", is joyful and defiant; the upbeat, insistent African percussion and Bela Fleck's banjo produce a quite wonderful song.

"Forca" opens with an irresistable tabla and talking-drum riff and builds to a chorus which would be comfortably at home on an Orchestra Baobab album. Whereas "Saturdays", inspired by Nelly's experience of cleaning hotel rooms with her mother, is a simple but forceful acoustic guitar/vocal track which sounds as if it were recorded in her bathroom. Nelly gets the giggles half way through, which does nothing to dimiinish the power of her vocal delivery and only adds to the one-take feel of the song. I'm breathless with admiration!

"Picture perfect" is different again. A lazy, 6/8 rhythm and delicious bluesy electric guitar riffs build to a memorable, anthemic chorus which will have you holding your lighter in the air and swaying. 'I want to show you all I have to offer' she sings. She achieves her aim and then some!

It is Nelly's vocals which really show how much she has grown as an artist. The deeper, warmer soul feel of her voice on "Forca" and "Picture Perfect" is a welcome departure from that trademark, grassy, R'n'B sound.

No question, Nelly has taken things to another level. Whoa Nelly went platinum on the basis of some wonderfully catchy tunes and a fresh new sound. Folklore has twice the originality and has real staying power. 'Nobody can ignore me' sings Nelly. And I'm not arguing with her. Buy!”.

I wonder what the future holds for Nelly Furtado and her music. A recent Lady Gunn interview suggests that we may get something soon. Ahead of her forty-fifth birthday next month, I will check back in and write about the sensational Nelly Furtado. Folklore, her brilliant second album, recently turned twenty. It warrants more love and airplay. It is an album that is…

WELL worth checking out.

FEATURE: Everything Everything All at Once: Global Warming: The Balance Between Apocalyptic Albums’ Relevance, and the Need for Feelgood Escapism

FEATURE:

 

 

Everything Everything All at Once

PHOTO CREDIT: Timofey Urov/Pexels

Global Warming: The Balance Between Apocalyptic Albums’ Relevance, and the Need for Feelgood Escapism

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I think it is as important…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Tiff Ng/Pexels

for artists to reflect the realities of the world as much as it to project something impersonal and properly feelgood. I actually have recently written about the need for artists to tackle important and current issues like genocide and war happening in Palestine; the global crisis regarding climate change; the political ineptitude that is a permanent headache. Rather than this needing to be done in a very morbid and heavy way, artists can discuss topics that need to be confronted, though they can do this in a way that is more accessible and less suffocating than many have. You can be serious with the lyrics and keep the composition and mood of the song balanced. I bring this up, because one of my most-hated phrases in music is when artists talk about their new ‘apocalyptic album’. Maybe the media choose those words, yet artists putting out quite bleak and gloomy albums that talk about destruction, the end of the world, bad times, a lack of hope…I never see why they do this and what people get from it. I appreciate that it is relevant being candid and open about feelings and thoughts regarding the changing world and how bad things are right now. How many fans get excited when an artist discusses an upcoming album that is apocalyptic?! It seems to be the bus replacement service of the music world. Such an unappealing and depressing thing. Even so, if artists are all happy and do not discuss what is happening, then we risk being too escapist and not doing what artists should be doing: using their platform to raise awareness of major themes and problems that need to be discussed.

I bring this up, because a band I like, Everything Everything, are seemingly stepping into darker and more hopeless territory with their new album. Mountainhead arrives next year. They have never been particularly bright and overly-optimistic with their lyrics - through, with each album, there is something very uplifting to take away. To be fair, as the band’s lead Jonathan Higgs told NME, there is a concept that runs through the album. Some imagination and fantasy. The band also do address modern issues and ills that a lot of artists are not! It is a credit to them that they are using their music to create something substantial and vital:

“The record, set for release on March 1, 2024, takes place in a world where society has created a huge mountain by digging a pit at its foot, and aspires to climb to the mythical mirror at its peak. All the while trying to escape a gigantic golden snake called Creddahornis who lives at the bottom of the pit.

“A ‘Mountainhead’ is one who believes the mountain must grow no matter the cost, and no matter how terrible it is to dwell in the great pit,” Higgs explained. “The taller the mountain, the deeper the hole.”

Written and recorded quickly and produced in Stockport by the band’s guitarist Alex Robertshaw, the synthetic pop album was intended to have no plug-ins and effects in reaction to last year’s ‘Raw Data Feel’, for which the band used AI technology to generate lyrics, song titles and artwork.

“It wasn’t a big journey and struggle,” Higgs told NME of the new album. “We wanted to make it quickly to get back on track timing-wise because we’d been in a weird place in terms of the pandemic. We kept putting out albums at the wrong time and missing the festival season. We really needed to get back on schedule and we have these ideas we’d been working on during the touring of ‘Raw Data Feel’ so we just did what we do and put the record together quite quickly.”

The fundamental metaphor appears to be that of a capitalist society where the wealth disparity has reached an inhumane crisis point.

“It’s one of the many things. There’s a growing sense of questioning what it is that we’re trying to achieve. Sometimes it seems to fly in the face of common sense, particularly the idiocy of Liz Truss’s mantra. I was just watching it go by and thinking what actually is this culture? What is this society? What are we trying to do here? Just grow with seemingly no limit and no forethought, when everything around you seems to be going the opposite way, telling you the opposite thing.

“I read this book Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher which is a sort of diatribe about late-stage capitalism… I wanted something core and large for the centre of it because it controls all of our lives and we forget how we got here and why we’re even in the system. It has always been this and will always be. Increasingly as I get older I think about what life would be like without it. It’s not just capitalism, it’s more the endless attempt to expand that humans do. They have a tendency to spread out and consume everything and then move on.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Gullick

Are all the songs linked by the concept?

“Probably two-thirds of them are and there’s maybe a third that aren’t. We never go the whole hog with concept albums, I think it gets a bit tiresome. There’s things that will occur in our lives that don’t have anything to do with it. The whole thing about having a concept that spreads across multiple songs is that you vaguely fall within the shadow of that idea, and in this case, it’s life from within this world. None of it is baked beans reality.”

Are we all mountainheads now?

“Yeah, unfortunately, apart from people who try to get off the grid or try to destroy everything. Obviously a lot of it is great, of course it is. I’m glad I can go to hospital when I’ve got a lump in my head, but there’s a lot of bad stuff about it. Which is why it’s interesting to think about, it’s not very clear-cut at all. Also I enjoy playing a role within the record. You don’t really know if I’m in support of it or against it because I’m not really talking about it in emotional terms. I’m actually talking about it in factual terms. This is what’s happening. I’m not saying, ‘Look how bad this thing is’, which I found much more interesting to do.”

The final song, ‘The Witness’, seems to predict this system will end in apocalypse.

“We usually end up that way. Haha!”

Is that our inevitable course?

“Yes, but I couldn’t tell you and it wouldn’t happen all over the place. But I can’t see much good in the future right now. That song is really about seeing somebody go through a very intense psychological [event] and seeing it almost like a religious experience. So it’s got this flavour of holiness. That’s a song I haven’t done much analysing of because it makes me a bit emotional to listen back to it, just because of certain circumstances around the time we recorded it. I’ll answer that in a couple of years, probably”.

PHOTO CREDIT: TIMO/Pexels

Like Everything Everything, a lot of artists can’t see much good in the future. That is fair! At what seems like the scariest and most bleak we have been for decades, imagining a future when there is less economic strife, less war and there are some bright shoots coming through is pretty hard. I am in that position. Even so, the entire music landscape is not dominated by defeatism or a certain resignation. I recently wrote a feature arguing that artists need to discuss things that are happening in terms of conflict, discrimination and inequality. If we shy away, then that means that a lot of people’s voices and experiences are being ignored. Even so, it can be all too easy to be too influenced and infected by a malaise and darkness that then permeates the music. From a listener’s perspective, we do need to have some hope and brightness there to give balance and strength. I still hate ‘apocalyptic albums’. Music that is so heavy and bleak will never appeal to me! To be honest, you hear so many artists write apocalyptic albums that it gets very boring and frustrating. We all need our musicians to speak truth and power, yet we all need some comfort and assurance. Relatively speaking, things will get a lot better. I think that an anthemic song that has this huge spirit and energy can be as inspiring and important as a song that goes deeper and darker. It is not shying away from the harshness of the world by embracing music that is more concerned with positivity than pragmatism. We are going to see more and more artists put out albums that are apocalyptic and foreboding. So long as there are songs about big issues that needs to be discussed, rather than constant woe and negativity, then that is the main thing. As a reaction, there might also be some artists more used to less optimistic and joyous music changing their sound up.

It is striking that balance and ensuring that the landscape has shades of light and dark. It can be just as bad hearing too many empty and shallow albums that are all surface lightness and no depth as it is experiencing doom-laden albums that has no hope or any sort of light for the future. Ideally, we would have a lot of albums that do confront and explore the various issues and divisions around the world, where the artists talk more in terms of hope and resolution rather than the planet being f*cked – which seems to be an attitude many have. That sort of defeatism is not helpful and just adds to anxiety and depression! If the compositions and lyrics mix political seriousness and compassion but can also bring in something lighter and more melodic, tied to a composition that is rich and not crammed with icy synths, heavy drums and dirge-like guitar droning, then you can create a potent blend of the serious and sweet.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alexander Krivitskiy/Pexels

Togetherness at such a difficult time is essential. We also need music to mobilise and activate thought, protest, discussion, wider awareness and, yes, a degree of record-straightening and education. Views that are bigoted and toxic need to be addressed and called out. At a time when politicians are letting everyone down and showing their true colours, artists have an opportunity to create a very power and influential voice. Rather than artists choosing sides and potentially being divisive and using music to spread bad politics and ideologies, instead, they can bring us together and call for action and progress. I don’t think albums that see no hope are helping us. We need to have some fun and escapist music as much as possible. Putting this alongside albums and songs that react to the here and now – and the evils we are seeing on the news daily – is of the utmost importance. Even though things are very tough and seem lost at the moment, we all need to…

HOLD on to hope.

FEATURE: Prodigal Sons: The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet at Fifty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Prodigal Sons

The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet at Fifty-Five

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ON 6th December…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Rolling Stones in 1968/PHOTO CREDIT: David Bailey

it will be fifty-five years since The Rolling Stones released their masterful seventh (U.K.) studio album, Beggars Banquet. I have written about them recently, as they put out their excellent new album, Hackney Diamonds. If we discuss the peak of The Rolling Stones, many will put it between 1968 and 1972. They had this magnificent run of albums that began with Beggars Banquet. After 1967’s Their Satanic Majesties Request, a direct rip-off I think of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, luckily The Rolling Stones went in a different direction and were more individual for Beggars Banquet. Producing a hugely memorable album, I want to discuss it further as a big anniversary is approaching next month. A massive commercial success around the world, many would argue that Beggars Banquet is the best album from The Rolling Stones - maybe contentious but, when to you consider how focused and thrilling it is, it would be a fool who argues too long and hard! I will come to some features and dives into a sensational album that remains so fresh and influential to this day. Many associate the 1968 album with classics like Sympathy for the Devil though, in truth, all ten tracks are flawless. With no weak moment or dropped step, this is the band at maximum strength and ability! Such a tight album that has some of their best material on it, this was the start of a golden run. Udiscovermusic.com wrote about Beggars Banquet last year. They too noted how everything changed for The Rolling Stones with the release of their seventh studio album:

“The Rolling Stones remain rightly proud of their album Beggars Banquet, which marked a return to their more classic sound after the previous psychedelic experimentation of Their Satanic Majesties Request.

The band have said that Beggars Banquet “changed everything for The Rolling Stones,” describing it on their official website as the album that showed them reaching “their musical manhood.”

The album’s famous opening track, “Sympathy For The Devil,” was written at a time when Mick Jagger had been reading about the occult. He and Keith Richards – who jointly composed nine of the ten tracks on Beggars Banquet – initially gave the song the less shocking working title of “The Devil Is My Name.” In their powerful lyrics, the Stones imagine Satan’s appearances at crucial moments in history, and there are references to the crucifixion of Christ, the Russian Revolution, World War II, and JFK’s assassination. Musically, the song is also memorable for the piano work of master session man Nicky Hopkins.

There are also lots of brilliant guitar solos by Richards, who said that, at the time, his discovery of open five-string tuning for the recording sessions – which took place between March and July 1968, at Olympic Sound Studios, in London, and Sunset Sound, in Los Angeles – helped him improve the way he played. Richards recalled, “The tuning really reinvigorated me, it transformed my life. I had hit a kind of buffer. I just really thought I was not getting anywhere from straight concert tuning.” Richards would use the technique on later Stones hits such as “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Start Me Up.”

Interesting guest musicians are scattered throughout Beggars Banquet. Joining Stones regulars Jagger, Richards, Bill Wyman (bass), Charlie Watts (drums) and Brian Jones (guitars) were Dave Mason of Traffic, who played the Shehnai woodwind instrument on “Street Fighting Man.” The talented young guitarist Ry Cooder played mandolin on “Factory Girl,” though he was uncredited at the time.

A core bluesy feel runs through Beggars Banquet, from the Robert Johnson-inspired “No Expectations” to the murky two-minute gem “Parachute Woman,” which was recorded on a cassette player and double-tracked for effect, and which features some moody harmonica from Jagger. The seedy “Stray Cat Blues,” featuring Rocky Dijon on congas, has the hallmarks of the energetic production of former drummer Jimmy Miller.

The only song not written by Jagger and Richards was “Prodigal Son,” which had been composed by Mississippi bluesman Reverend Robert Wilkins back in 1929. Happily, Wilkins was 72 at the time the Stones paid their tribute and he enjoyed a boost from the royalties that helped fund his work as a religious minister.

Another notable aspect of the album was the portraits that the band commissioned from photographer Michael Joseph to go in the gatefold artwork. The photos, which evoke the work of Old Masters such as Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel, showed the group dressed in outlandish clothes that seemed to blend Swinging 60s London with Dickensian rascals. It is no surprise that Time magazine’s review of Beggars Banquet, which was released on Decca Records on December 6, 1968, described the Stones as “England’s most subversive roisterers since Fagin’s gang in Oliver Twist.”

There is, however, a poignancy to the album. Though it marked the start of a period of musical creativity and excellence for The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet also saw the last album appearance of founder and original leader Brian Jones, who drowned seven months after the album’s release, at the age of 27.

If it’s to be remembered as Jones’ final contribution, Beggars Banquet is also, in all aspects, an excellent album of bluesy rock at its potent best”.

On the album’s fiftieth anniversary – 6th December, 2018 -, SLATE argued how 1968’s most important wasn’t The Beatles’ eponymous album: it was The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet. It is understandable comparisons are made. Whilst I favour The Beatles as a piece of work, in terms of shifting narratives and defining groups, Beggars Banquet is a bolder and more important statement. An album that took The Rolling Stones to new heights:

“I give the Stones about two years,” a 20-year-old Mick Jagger remarked to an interviewer in June of 1964. Fifty-four years later, the quote has become one of the wrongest predictions in music history, as the Rolling Stones gear up to once again hit the road in 2019, adding to their legacy as rock ’n’ roll’s resident avatars of parodic longevity. In the summer of 1964, though, it would have been totally reasonable to wonder if the Stones even had two more years in them. Jagger and Keith Richards had only just recently begun writing original songs and hadn’t had an American hit yet. They were still a year away from “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” their first No. 1 in the U.S., which would kick off a run of eight Top 10 singles in less than two years. And they were four years away from Beggars Banquet, the album that would revitalize their careers and, to no small degree, alter the trajectory of a genre.

One could argue until the cows come home over what the greatest album of 1968 is: Lady Soul, Music From Big Pink, The White Album, Electric Ladyland, and Astral Weeks all deserve a place in the conversation, to name just a few. But Beggars Banquet, which turns 50 years old this week, might have been the most consequential. It was the first work to show that a rock act could reinvent itself in the face of irrelevance, the first great “comeback” album of the genre, and the earliest indication that rock ’n’ roll lives might be capable of something like second acts. At the end of a year that saw an explosion of double albums and single tracks that took up the better part of an LP side, all adorned with ever-newer forms of sonic gadgetry that promised musical corollaries to other consciousness-expanding materials of the day, it was a mostly acoustic album steeped in blues, folk, rockabilly, and other, more inscrutable influences that it felt like the band had conjured from some ragged musical beyond. It was mature, painstaking, and ferociously intelligent, all things the Stones had rarely been previously accused of being. It was, weirdly, from a band who’d spent their early years as the music’s foremost exemplars of incorrigible youth, a road map toward something like adulthood that didn’t involve quitting the road and gradually disintegrating, a route their more-famous countrymen had recently taken. The Rolling Stones are now in their sixth decade of touring behind the slogan of the “World’s Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band.” Beggars Banquet was the first work that rendered this claim credible.

The Rolling Stones of 1968 can’t really be understood without discussing the Rolling Stones of 1967. That year, the Beatles had released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, and the Doors had all rocketed to stardom; and the enormously successful Monterey Pop Festival and the attendant “Summer of Love” offered the strongest evidence yet that a revolution was enfolding in youth culture.

For the Rolling Stones, however, 1967 had been a year of personal turmoil and professional humiliation. In February, Jagger and Richards were ensnared in a drug bust that kept them in the glare of the British tabloids for the better part of the year. Richards began an affair with Anita Pallenberg, the ex-girlfriend of bandmate Brian Jones. (Richards and Pallenberg would remain together for more than a decade.) The once-prolific band’s productivity slowed, and given the explosion of innovation happening around them, the Rolling Stones quickly began to seem on the sidelines of history. So they did what all FOMO-afflicted midtwentysomethings do: They tried too hard. A new album finally arrived in December 1967, Their Satanic Majesties Request, an ill-advised attempt at Pepper-style psychedelia that was derided by critics and sold fewer copies than any album they’d made to date. Many wondered aloud whether the Stones were done, and who could blame them? This Jim Morrison kid was better-looking than Jagger anyway.

Then, in May 1968, the Rolling Stones returned with a new single. Produced by an American expat, Jimmy Miller, whom the Stones had enlisted after firing longtime manager Andrew Loog Oldham, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” sounded like nothing the band had ever made before. It was lean and pummeling, a churning cauldron of distorted guitar, off-kilter chord changes, shakers on the bridge, and sneering, slurred vocals. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash/ It’s a gas, gas, gas” were the only words most people could decipher, and no one knew what they meant. No matter. It went to No. 1 in the U.K. and topped out at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, kept out of the top slot by tracks like Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s in Love With You,” Cliff Nobles & Co.’s “The Horse,” and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap’s godawful “Lady Willpower,” a fact you should feel free to mention the next time someone waxes nostalgic about what great taste everyone had in the 1960s.

When Beggars Banquet arrived in December, it was easy to assume it would continue this move into dark aggression. The album’s lead single, “Street Fighting Man,” released in the States in August, had boasted a sleeve featuring a graphic image of police brutality that had caused it to be quickly removed from shelves, and the song was widely banned from radio play in the wake of the unrest at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

But instead, Beggars Banquet arrived with the most diverse, searching, and deceptively ambitious collection of music the Stones had ever made. It found the group straying down the corridors of country and folk on tracks like “No Expectations,” “Dear Doctor,” and “Jigsaw Puzzle.” By 1968, Brian Jones was already withdrawing from the band, his alienation fueled by creative disillusionment and substance abuse. On Beggars Banquet, the last album the Stones released during his lifetime, Jones plays guitar on only four of the album’s 10 tracks.

The Rolling Stones are now in their sixth decade of touring behind the slogan of the “World’s Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band.” Beggars Banquet was the first work that rendered this claim credible.

Jones’ creeping divestment opened the door for Richards to more fully assume the role of the band’s creative conscience. Richards’ soul is all over Beggars: riff-obsessed, compulsively rhythmic, and exquisitely musical. The same guy who plays the heavens-rattling acoustic guitar that opens “Street Fighting Man” plays the Jamerson-ian bass line on “Sympathy for the Devil.” He plays the electric guitars that sound like actual cats on “Stray Cat Blues”—all of them—and even croaks the opening lines of “Salt of the Earth,” the album’s closer, which might be the most convincing attempt at “political” songwriting in the Stones’ catalog.

Richards’ guitar solo on “Sympathy” is one of the most celebrated in history, and for good reason. It’s perhaps the first truly inimitable instrumental moment on any Stones record, its funky, squawking audacity carrying traces of Hubert Sumlin and Scotty Moore but filtered through an utterly unique musical mind. It’s fitting that it arrives less than three minutes into the album’s first track, as Beggars Banquet was also the first Stones record that sounded like it couldn’t have been made by anyone else in the world—not the Delta and Chicago bluesmen that the Stones worshipped, not the R&B virtuosi of Stax and Muscle Shoals, and certainly not the Beatles, whose shadow had loomed over the group since 1963.

Jagger had always been a good lyricist, as earlier hits like “19th Nervous Breakdown,” “Get Off of My Cloud,” and “Satisfaction” demonstrated, but Beggars found him in new territory altogether. The refrains from tracks like “Sympathy” and “Street Fighting Man” are so engrained in the cultural consciousness that it’s almost impossible to imagine them as being new: “Pleased to meet you/ hope you guess my name,” “but what can a poor boy do/ ’cept to sing for a rock and roll band?” But the writing in the verses is where it’s really at: “I watched with glee while your kings and queens/ fought for 10 decades over the gods they made.” Or the Martha and the Vandellas shoutout in the second line of “Street Fighting Man,” “ ’cause summer’s here and the time is right for fighting in the street,” and the perversely reverent sneer on that one-word change”.

I will come to some reviews soon. As it turned fifty in 2018, there was a lot of interest. Although not quite as an important an anniversary, the fact Beggars Banquet is fifty-five soon is quite significant. Albumism were among those who provided their perspective on Beggars Banquet back in 2018:

“Beggars Banquet became the Stones’ attempt to reconnect with their roots. The vast majority of the album is decidedly blue collar, with the group repurposing blues riffs and styles and making them conform to the Stones’ style. However, the album features not only two of the Stones’ best and most beloved songs, but also two of the best and most beloved Rock songs in history.

Beggars Banquet’s release was delayed for six months due to the album’s cover art. The original artwork pictured the top half of a dilapidated toilet in a bathroom located in a Southern California Porsche dealership, the walls of the stall adorned with the scrawls of Jagger and Richards. Apparently, representatives from the Stones’ label found the sight of the toilet offensive and they refused to distribute the album with that version of the cover.

The fact that the cover was a source of such controversy now seems bizarre. It’s hard to believe that a photo of the top half of toilet would be considered grounds for shelving the album, considering what was going on in the world in 1968. Eventually, the band and the label settled on a new cover, resembling a wedding invitation. And regardless, the album’s two biggest hits were pretty controversial in their own right.

The album’s other towering anthem, “Street Fighting Man,” was also the source of controversy. Anyone who’s picked up a history book knows that 1968 was a tumultuous time for citizens of the world. The globe was gripped with civil unrest, with prominent leaders being assassinated, the streets filled with young people protesting unjust wars and civil injustices. With “Street Fighting Man,” Jagger takes the perspective of one of these young men, fed up with half measures, advocating for armed revolution against the corrupt government system. The powerful summer rock anthem was apparently inspired by the experiences of radical activist Tariq Ali at a London protest against the Vietnam War. In an interview with Jann Wenner for Rolling Stone in 1995, Jagger revealed that the song was also inspired by the massive May 1968 protests and riots in the Left Bank of Paris.

Beyond the two singles, the Stones spend much of Beggars Banquet honoring their Blues influences. “No Expectations” is one of their more quietly beautiful songs, a slow, acoustic, and at times subtle meditation on heartbreak. The song is anchored by Jones’ exquisite performance on acoustic slide guitar, one of Jones’ final contributions to the group. Beggars Banquet was the last full album he recorded with the Stones before his death; he appeared on a few songs on Let It Bleed, which was released after he drowned.

Other songs on Beggars Banquet are steeped in Blues traditions. “Prodigal Son” is a straightforward cover of a Reverend Robert Wilkens song, appropriately filled with Biblical imagery as Jagger deepens his vocal tone, accompanied by Richards on guitar and Jones on harmonica. “Parachute Woman” is a ribald Blues song, loaded with extremely unsubtle sexual innuendo. Dirty Blues songs are a staple in the genre, and with “Parachute Woman,” the Stones follow in the footsteps of Willie Dixon’s “Back Door Man” or Muddy Waters’ “Bus Driver.” In fact, Jagger’s requests for the titular woman to “land on me tonight” or “blow me out” are relatively tame in comparison.

The album comes to a close with “Salt of the Earth,” the Stones’ dedication to the working class. The song opens with a verse by Keith Richards, who had rarely sung lead vocals for the group at that point. The Rolling Stones are refreshingly honest in their reverence towards the “common foot soldier.” They’re genuine in their admiration for those “humble of birth,” but they also acknowledge that they, as rock idols, don’t share a lot in common with the “rag taggy people.” The group recognizes the sacrifices made by the “lowly of birth” without trivializing their pain, but attempting to draw a false parallel with their travails as musicians. The song ends with a rousing chorus by the Watts Street Gospel Choir and a piano solo by Hopkins. The use of a full-on gospel choir makes this song a prelude of sorts to “You Can’t Always Get Want You Want,” another of their most iconic songs.

The Stones followed up Beggars Banquet by closing out the ’60s and opening the ’70s on an extremely high note, following it up with Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, the live Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, and Exile On Main Street, all included among the true jewels in their discography. And while each is a unique entity, during this period the Stones stuck with the ethos of using their blues rock roots as their foundation.

The Stones would go on to make other missteps throughout their career, but these later entries can be seen as the cost of doing business when a group starts getting long in the tooth. Time has made these lesser releases fall away in perspective, and albums like Beggars Banquet remain to define the group’s legacy”.

I am going to come to some straight reviews. The BBC wrote about Beggars Banquet in 2007. They noted how the 1968 album turned The Rolling Stones into the greatest Rock and Roll band in the world. Definitely a towering achievement that turned the band from legends into untouchable gods. You can hear so many albums since that directly nod to Beggars Banquet. Artists that owe a debt to The Rolling Stones’ masterpiece:

“The album that set the template for The Rolling Stones as we know them today, Beggars Banquet was an exercise in getting back to basics after the redundant excesses of their previous album, 1967's psychedelic Their Satanic Majesties Request.

Working for the first time with American producer Jimmy Miller, the Stones are here at their sharpest. Keith Richards reclaimed responsibility for the group after a troubled year, recording several basic tracks at home on cassette; hence the gloriously wonky backings on several cuts.

However, Beggars Banquet sometimes struggles to meet the standard set by Sympathy for the Devil, its opening track. From its shimmeringly effective piano, bass and conga introduction, its marriage of highly sensual music and provocative lyrics has to be one of the greatest in rock.

The lyrics still have the power to chill and many legends have arisen concerning its recording, such as pluralising the name Kennedy when news of Bobby Kennedy's death came through on 6th June during the sessions and the way the song's trademark "woo woos" came from nowhere, led by Anita Pallenberg from the control booth. With this track, the Stones' demonic reputation was sealed.

There is much to enjoy. Street Fighting Man conflated Jagger's imaginary hard-done-by blues man momentarily confused and out of step with the political climate of 1968. The self-referencing and mocking Jig-Saw Puzzle is a treat; Factory Girl is folky and pastoral; Salt of the Earth, made poignant by its performance in the Rock'n'Roll Circus film, closes the album.

Preceded by the single Jumping Jack Flash, Beggars Banquet established the Stones as 'The Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band in the World'”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Rolling Stones Through the Past, Darkly cover, 1968/PHOTO CREDIT: Ethan Russell

I will end with Rolling Stone assessing The Rolling Stones. Jon Landau provided an extensive look at Beggars Banquet. I have included a lot of it. Few reviews have gone as dee!. As it was written when the album came out, I guess there was this excitement and freshness hearing an album like Beggars Banquet – something you don’t feel as much in retrospective reviews:

“In many ways 1968 has turned into another one of those blues revival years. The Stones were into that when it was still verboten to show up at Newport with an electric guitar. It wasn’t until five years after they recorded “King Bee” that Slim Harpo finally made it into a white rock club. Happily, even back then, the Stones never got bogged down in the puritanism that mars so many of the English blues bands. They were from the beginning a rock and roll blues band. They may have mimicked Harpo note for note, Keith Richards may have played a straight Chuck Berry bag for three-quarters of their first album, but it always wound up sounding like rock and roll: loud, metallic, and trebly. The Stones were the first band to say, “Up against the wall, motherfucker,” and they said it with class.

Since that beginning the Stones have tried their hands at a lot of things: arrogance, satire, social commentary, “psychedelia,” lewdness, love songs, you name it. Each phase seemed to flow naturally from the one that preceded it and none of their phases ever really changed their identity as a band. In every album but one it seemed to me that they managed to feel the pulse of what was happening now and what was about to happen. For example, “Satisfaction,” that classic of the rock and roll age, both expressed the feelings of a moment and foreshadowed what was about to unfold: the elevation of rock and roll to the primary cultural means of communication among the young. There we were in the early summer of 1965 with folk music dead and nothing really exciting going on. And then there were the Stones sneering at the emptiness of what so many people saw all around them, not telling you to do anything about it, but letting you know that they feel it too. The music, with its incessant, repetitious, pounding guitar and drums, and that tension filled voice, was so permeated with violence that just listening to it was cathartic.

And the Stones live. If the violence of their music was cathartic, how to describe their concerts? I saw them several times during their early American tours, most memorably in Lynn, Massachussetts, in the spring of 1966. The Stones had their usual major dates lined up on their itinerary and the Lynn gig was not one of them. Lynn is a suburb of Boston and they must have decided to do a quickie number for less than their usual fee in order to fill in an open night. The concert was held in an open air football field that held 10,000 people. It rained that evening, a steady drizzle, and when they finally came on there was a lot of tension and movement.

On Beggar’s Banquet the Stones try to come to terms with violence more explicitly than before and in so doing are forced to take up the subject of politics. The result is the most sophisticated and meaningful statement we can expect to hear concerning the two themes — violence and politics — that will probably dominate the rock of 1969.

Beggar’s Banquet is not a polemic or manifesto. It doesn’t advocate anything. It is a reflection of what goes on at the Stones house, with a few pictures of the house itself thrown in for good measure. Part of what that house looks like has to do with what it’s surrounded by and the most startling songs on the album are the ones that deal with the Stones environment: “Salt of the Earth,” “Street Fighting Man,” and “Sympathy for the Devil.” Each is characterized lyrically by a schizoid ambiguity. The Stones are cognizant of the explosions of youthful energy that are going on all around them. They recognize the violence inherent in these struggles. They see them as movements for fundamental change and are deeply sympathetic. Yet they are too cynical to really go along themselves. After all, they are rock and roll musicians, not politicians, and London is such a “sleepy town.”

They make it perfectly clear that they are sickened by contemporary society. But it is not their role to tell people what to do. Instead, they use their musical abilities like a seismograph to record the intensity of feelings, the violence, that is so prevalent now. From the beginning they themselves have been exponents of emotional violence and it’s hard to imagine any group more suited to voicing the feelings of discontent we all share in these most violent of times. Wherever they wind up themselves, they are writing songs of revolution because they are giving powerful expression to the feelings that are causing it.

The words are beautiful. Notice how Jagger emphasizes them: “Ev-ry where I hear the sound of charg-ing, march-ing peo-ple.” The Stones obviously revel in the images of charging people: they’ve sure seen enough of them at their concerts. But they are too mature and too realistic to fall into the trap of slogans and easy answers. All they can really do is sing in a rock and roll band.

“Sympathy for the Devil” rounds out the group of ambiguous, socially aware songs. To me, it is the most distinguished song and performance of the year. Lyrically, it is a striking picture of a world gone mad. Cops are criminals. Saints are sinners. God is the devil. Whoever is on top makes whoever is beneath him the enemy; actually, it is always the men on top who are the enemy. Those who claim righteousness for themselves are only interested in perpetuating their own power. Those they vilify are really the righteous ones, until they achieve power for themselves. Then they imitate their predecessors and the process repeats itself through history. The narrator, Lucifer, was there when “Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt, of pain.” He was there when “the blitzkreig raged and the bodies stank.” And he lays “traps for troubadors who get killed before they reach Bombay.” And who is telling us all this? A man of wealth and taste. Sounds like what a lot of people would like to become.

The music is brilliant. The cut opens with just the percussion—a sort of syncopated Bo Diddley, precisely the kind of thing Watts excells at. Then they add Nicky Hopkins’ rhythm piano, perfectly understated. Wyman’s simple bass line matches Watts syncopation perfectly. Throughout the cut he adds color to the basic rhythm pattern by throwing in some very pretty, loopy bass lines. After two verses of Jagger’s singing, the background voices add that ultra simple “oo-oo” accompaniment which continues to grow for the duration of the cut. By the time they reach the end, they sound like a plane taking off, accelerating at an inexorable pace until it finally reaches its normal flight speed, at which point it levels itself off.

Beggar’s Banquet is a complete album. While it does not attempt Sgt. Pepper-type unity it manages to touch all the bases. It derives its central motive and mood from the theme of “revolution” but isn’t limited to that. Over at the Stones house there’s plenty of room for groupies, doctors, jigsaw puzzles, factory girls, and broken hearts as well. Yet even these subjects are colored by the impact of “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man.” Beggar’s Banquet ought to convince us all that the Stones are right. By putting all these different themes on the same album the Stones are trying to tell us that they all belong together. They do.

The art work in this album is quite nice. The center spread is a particularly appealing depiction of the Stones acting out the album’s title. However, it continues to grate on me that the cover of the album is not what the Stones intended, and that the Stones were forced to abandon the one they had originally intended to use by London Records. The idea that a record company executive should have the right to tell the Stones what is a suitable cover for their album is an outrage. It is typical of the Stones that they held out against the new cover for quite a while and then gave in. It just wasn’t worth the continued hassle. Nonetheless, giving in doesn’t solve the problem. As long as record companies are run by businessmen, artists will never achieve full control over how their art is presented to their public. There has been too much glib talk lately about the power of musicians. Unless musicians organize themselves more effectively, and unless journalists give them all the support they can, things like this will happen again and again. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech but it doesn’t forbid a record company from censoring the artists it controls via an exclusive recording contract.

The next time New York’s East Side revolutionary contingent wants to shake somebody up (besides Bill Graham), why don’t they head uptown to London Records? I’m sure the President of London Records could use the education”.

On 6th December, the phenomenal Beggars Banquet turns fifty-five. With The Rolling Stones perhaps nearing the end of their recording career – many feel Hackney Diamonds is their farewell -, they can look back at albums like Beggars Banquet with immense pride. Such a game-changing and wonderful album that was this revelation from a band who, in 1967, were consciously chasing The Beatles and doing pastiche replication of their iconic album covers and concepts. Stepping into different territory in 1968, The Rolling Stones almost fought against a misstep like Their Satanic Majesties Request. Dispending Psychedelia and what they considered to be popular and appropriate for 1967 (The Summer of Love), Beggars Banquet is a tough, pulsating and swaggering statement of intent from the Stones. Beggars Banquet is the type of album that thrills the…

BONES and soul.

FEATURE: No Plateau: Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York Performance at Thirty: The Pinnacle of the Legendary Series?

FEATURE:

 

 

No Plateau

Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York Performance at Thirty: The Pinnacle of the Legendary Series?

_________

A long-running…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Nirvana during the taping of MTV Unplugged at Sony Studios in New York City on 18th November, 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

and legendary T.V. series, MTV Unplugged has seen some historic performances through the decades. There are articles like this that and this here that rank the best sets/performances. Maybe it is going to have the same top-placed performance, so I wonder whether it is contentious at all to ask if Nirvana’s 1993 set was the finest of all?! Maybe not. It does seem to be the best for a number of reasons. Apart from the fact it was the final T.V. appearance featuring Kurt Cobain (he died by suicide in 1994), it was almost the final live appearance of Nirvana - as I believe they played live in 1994. You could tell this was the end of the road for a genius lead and peerless songwriter who was being crushed by fame and demons. Nirvana’s iconic set from New York surely holds the crown (even though others say that Pearl Jam, Paul McCartney, and Mariah Carey have turned in something even more special). It is a great series that sees many artists do something radically different to what we are used to! Take that down and stripping away the layers. Even though Nirvana did plug an acoustic guitar into an amp to get an electric sound, they were at their most restrained and un-electric. That said, the final number in the set, a cover of Lead Belly’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night Is wracked with pain and startling rawness.

On 18th November, 1993,  Nirvana taped a performance for MTV’s Unplugged series. The plan was to air it a month later. Kurt Cobain, dressed in a cardigan and appearance sheepish and a little humbled through the set, was joined by his bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, plus guitarist Pat Smear and cellist Lori Goldston at New York’s Sony Music Studios. Rather than a hits-filled set and obvious cuts, Nirvana chose some lesser-known material to record – this included covers of songs by Lead Belly, David Bowie, Meat Puppets, and The Vaselines. Their MTV Unplugged in New York album was released after Cobain’s suicide in 1994. Today, it ranks as one of the greatest live albums ever. Thanks to this website, you can see the cast and crew of that spellbinding set thirty years ago:

NIRVANA

Kurt Cobain (vocals, acoustic guitar)

Krist Novoselic (bass, accordian, acoustic guitar)

Dave Grohl (drums, backing vocals, acoustic bass, acoustic guitar)

Pat Smear (acoustic guitar)

Lori Goldston (cello)

Cris Kirkwood (acoustic bass, backing vocals)

Curt Kirkwood (acousticguitar)

crew

Alex Coletti (producer)

Scott Litt (sound engineer)

Beth McCarthy (director)

John Duncan (guitar technician)

Mike Dalke (drum technician)

Jim Vincent (guitar technician)

I want to come to some articles and reviews of that stunning and unforgettable day that Nirvana taped this unplugged performance - one that ranks alongside the greatest live sets of all time. I am going to bring in a review that mentions some background leading up to that 18th November, 1993 taping. MTV provided some backdrop and background twenty years after that performance, in 2013:

“On November 18, 1993, after months of negotiations and two days of rather tense rehearsals, Nirvana headed to Sony Studios in New York to record their episode of "MTV Unplugged."

At the time of the taping, the series had already played host to legends like Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Elton John, and experienced unprecedented success with the release of Eric Clapton Unplugged, an album that sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and won six Grammys, including Record, Album and Song of the Year. "Unplugged" had also served as a showcase for the era's highest-profile acts -- R.E.M., Boyz II Men, Pearl Jam, etc. -- and proven to be a safe space for established artists like Mariah Carey and L.L. Cool J to shake things up.

In short, by 1993, "Unplugged's" legacy was already secure. But when Nirvana's episode aired that December, it was clear to everyone that the show's history needed to be re-written immediately. With their stripped down, steely set, staunch refusal to play hits like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and sonorous covers of songs most had never heard (quick show of hands: how many Vaselines fans we got out there?), Nirvana had turned what many considered to be the defining performance of the "Unplugged" era. And twenty years later, that assessment still holds.

Of course, in the months following that initial broadcast, the legend of "Nirvana: Unplugged" only continued to grow. Kurt Cobain took his life in April 1994, making the show one of Nirvana's final televised appearances, and his death fundamentally changed the way the performance was viewed. From the funereal floral arrangements (stargazer lilies) Cobain himself picked out to adorn the stage, to the staggering final stanza of Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" -- where he yowls, gasps and all but gives up the ghost -- it was impossible to view the show as anything less than otherworldly; more than just a final performance, it seemed to be a final farewell.

Nearly seven months after Cobain's death, DGC would release Nirvana: MTV Unplugged in New York, an album that not only sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S. (making it the band's most successful posthumous effort) and won a Grammy, but was named one of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" by Rolling Stone and one of "The 50 Greatest Live Albums" by NME. It's legacy, much like the performance itself, is now set in stone”.

I am going to come to one review now. So many people have interpreted the MTV Unplugged in New York album as a suicide note. Feeling that Kurt Cobain knew that this would be one of the last times he was on a stage. Rather than it being a standalone performance from a band who would go on and record other albums and do lots of gigs, it was an unexpected finale in some ways. This is what AllMusic observed in their review:

“If In Utero is a suicide note, MTV Unplugged in New York is a message from beyond the grave, a summation of Kurt Cobain's talents and pain so fascinating, it's hard to listen to repeatedly. Is it the choice of material or the spare surroundings that make it so effective? Well, it's certainly a combination of both, how the version of the Vaselines' "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" or the three covers of Meat Puppets II songs mean as much as "All Apologies" or "Something in the Way." This, in many senses, isn't just an abnormal Nirvana record, capturing them in their sincerest desire to be R.E.M. circa Automatic for the People, it's the Nirvana record that nobody, especially Kurt, wanted revealed. It's a nakedly emotional record, unintentionally so, as the subtext means more than the main themes of how Nirvana wanted to prove its worth and diversity, showcasing the depth of their songwriting. As it turns out, it accomplishes its goals rather too well; this is a band, and songwriter, on the verge of discovering a new sound and style. Then, there's the subtexts, as Kurt's hurt and suicidal impulses bubble to the surface even as he's trying to suppress them. Few records are as unblinkingly bare and naked as this, especially albums recorded by their peers. No other band could have offered covers of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" and the folk standard "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on the same record, turning in chilling performances of both -- performances that reveal as much as their original songs”.

Pitchfork also detail some of the facts and background of Nirvana’s triumphant and simply unforgettable MTV set in November 1993. The pressure and celebrity that followed the band that year. Having released their third and final studio album, In Utero, earlier in 1993, all eyes were on them. Few could have predicted they would not only perform unplugged for MTV; it was also a set of rare covers and surprising moments:

“By the time Nirvana recorded their performance for MTV Unplugged in November 1993, they were the biggest band in the world. Not that they looked like it. Dave Grohl in his turtleneck and ponytail, Krist Novoselic wrangling his giant, borrowed bass, Kurt Cobain struggling to act relaxed in a room filled with people who thought he was a prophet.

Of course, that was the point of Unplugged, and, in a way, of Nirvana: Even after Cobain got famous, he tried, often painfully, to seem normal. A month or so after Unplugged was taped, he bought a black Lexus, but was so mortified by it—and mocked so thoroughly by his friends—that he returned it within a day. “This is from our first record,” he mutters before “About a Girl.” “Most people don’t own it.” Never mind the five million people who had bought the one that came next.

PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

Cobain was reportedly miserable before the taping, worried the band didn’t have the grace to pull off something so subtle. “We’re just musically and rhythmically retarded,” he’d told Guitar World in the wake of 1991’s Nevermind. “We play so hard that we can’t tune our guitars fast enough.” As few as 24 hours before Unplugged, he was considering having Dave Grohl sit out because he thought Grohl’s drumming would overpower the rest of the band. For musicians whose sound was so essentially electric, the idea of playing acoustic—or, as it came to pass, in a subdued, semi-amplified state—wasn’t just like going on stage naked, but amputated. Afterward, Cobain reportedly complained to Unplugged programmer Amy Finnerty that the audience must not have liked it because they were so quiet. “Kurt,” she said, “they think you are Jesus Christ.”

MTV had started hosting “Unplugged” in 1989 as a way to package famous artists in comparatively approachable contexts. (The name alone—“Unplugged”—conjured an imagined utopia where music was nothing more than the spontaneous expression of people in a room.) You’d come in, strip down, show your fans the heart bleeding under the armor. Between 1991 and 1993, guests of the show included middlebrow alternative acts like Elvis Costello and R.E.M., legacy artists like Eric Clapton and Paul Simon, and contemporary pop stars like Mariah Carey. A few hair metal bands came through in an attempt to be taken seriously, as though the lust of teenage girls was not serious enough. The day before Nirvana filmed their set, the show’s guest was Duran Duran.

As with all creative endeavors, Cobain seemed eager to strip the charade of its artifice and do something he perceived to be real. At the very least, he hadn’t clawed his way out of Aberdeen, Washington to let Nirvana become Mr. Big. He’d ordered the stage to be decorated with black candles and stargazer lilies, a funereal scheme routinely invoked as a premonition of his suicide, when in actuality it had more to do with his penchant for twisting conventional beauty into something grotesque. A treatment for the “Rape Me” video documented in his diaries called for lilies and orchids—“ya know, vaginal flowers,” Cobain wrote—to be shown blooming and withering in time-lapse, as though incapable of retaining pageant posture for more than a few seconds. Cobain himself regularly appeared in torn dresses and smeared makeup, storming through performances with the fury of a shattered debutante, more Sunset Boulevard than Black Flag. And what were Nirvana’s best songs but demonstrations of how the most corrosive blasts of noise could turn into lullabies fit for a T-Mobile ad? If you buy flowers, you already know: nothing stinks quite like a big, sweet bouquet of lilies.

The setlist, submitted to MTV without concession or explanation, contained six covers and no hits other than “Come As You Are,” a point of contention so contentious that Cobain was still threatening to cancel the performance a day before it taped. (“He did it just to get us worked up,” Finnerty said. “He enjoyed that power.”) Three of the six covers were originally by then-tourmates the Meat Puppets, an Arizona band that, like Nirvana, ventured to create a world that collapsed the distance between brilliant and dumb, ordinary observation—“the sun is gone, but I have a light”—and cosmic insight. The performances are creaky, intimate, eerily temperate for a band known to explode. On first hearing their cover of Leadbelly’s “In the Pines” (here titled, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”), Neil Young reportedly compared Cobain’s voice to a werewolf’s: neither dead nor undead, but beyond. I get it. Unplugged makes me feel like Nirvana could fill my body with arrows and I would still keep walking”.

I am going to round off soon. Maybe ask if there is any other performance from the MTV Unplugged series that could rival Nirvana’s for impact and legacy. Maybe not. That being said, there are a few that deserve their own standing ovation and acclaim. Mariah Carey springs to mind. So too does Björk. In 2017, GRAMMY provided ten deep facts and titbits about Nirvana’s staggering unplugged session in New York:

“More than two decades after its release, Nirvana's performance on MTV's "Unplugged" still stands as a convincing testimonial to Kurt Cobain's unmistakable musical genius and enigmatic charisma.

Recorded less than five months before his death at the age of 27, the telecast and subsequent album capture the Seattle trio at its creative and commercial peak. Cobain and bandmates Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic had already become internationally recognized as the godfathers of grunge, which was as much a marketing construct as it was a musical movement. But with their "Unplugged" performance, the band netted an even broader audience while performing in the more intimate Sony Studios in New York rather than the arenas they'd begun headlining.

Cobain would not live to see the 1994 release of the MTV Unplugged In New York album, which debuted at No. 1 and went on to win a GRAMMY for Best Alternative Music Performance. (Among the albums it bested was Grohl's Foo Fighters debut.) But his artistic spirit lives on in what many consider to be one of the greatest live albums ever.

Following are 10 lesser-known facts about the album and performance that marked the premature end of a promising career.

1. Six of MTV Unplugged In New York's 14 tracks are covers, and mostly obscure ones at that.

While David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" was familiar to mainstream audiences, Nirvana also used the telecast to bring attention to esoteric personal favorites such as the Vaselines' "Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam" and Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night." The group was also joined onstage by Chris and Curt Kirkwood for three songs by their band, the Meat Puppets.

2. According to producer Alex Coletti, MTV had been hoping for guest artist appearances from the likes of Eddie Vedder or Tori Amos.

In a 1995 Guitar World interview with GRAMMY.com contributor Alan di Perna, Coletti recalled how "everybody's eyes lit up" when he told the network that Nirvana would be bringing along some special guests. "But when I said 'the Meat Puppets,' it was kind of like, 'Oh, great. They're not doing any hits, and they're inviting guests who don't have any hits to come play. Perfect."

3. Other than "Come As You Are," the band refused to play their own hits.

MTV tried its best to convince Cobain and the band to incorporate "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and other well-known Nirvana material into the set, but to no avail. "We knew we didn't want to do an acoustic version of 'Teen Spirit,'" Grohl later said of the band's breakthrough single. "That would've been horrendously stupid." When prompted by an audience member request, Cobain asked, "How are we supposed to play 'In Bloom' acoustically?"

4. Cobain had an especially good reason for turning down one audience member's request.

"I don't think MTV will let us play that," he responded when someone called out for the song "Rape Me." The network had, in fact, previously banned Nirvana from playing the song during the band's performance at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.

PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

5. The black candles, white lilies, chandelier, and draperies were all Cobain's idea.

The darkly atmospheric stage set, as seen on the album cover, seemed to take on added significance when the network repeatedly rebroadcast the band's performance after Cobain's death on April 5, 1994. But even before the taping, some on the set found it ominous. When Coletti asked Cobain about the décor, the singer confirmed that he meant for it to look like a funeral. 

6. Rehearsals for the show went so poorly there was talk of Grohl not performing at all.

"[Rehearsals] didn't sound good," according to Grohl, who admitted he was struggling to attain a lighter touch on the drums. "Any time you have a band that's so electric and try to unplug them, there's always a lot of challenges, creatively," explained "Unplugged" director Beth McCarthy-Miller. Plus, she pointed out, "Dave [played] drums like Animal from 'The Muppet Show.'"

7. Nirvana's "Unplugged" performance was considerably more unplugged than most, but Cobain used some electric tools.

While Grohl toned down his drumming with brushes and percussion, Cobain strummed his '50s Martin acoustic guitar. However, Cobain insisted on running his guitar, featuring two electric pickups, through the "security blanket" of a Fender Twin Reverb amplifier, which yielded a distorted sound on "The Man Who Sold The World." Meanwhile, Novoselic contributed acoustic bass and accordion and touring guitarist Pat Smear and cellist Lori Goldston rounded out the lineup.

8. Cobain's iconic green cardigan worn during the "Unplugged" taping fetched more than $140,000.

The vintage Manhattan cardigan was sold via auction by Julien's Auctions in 2015. While its worth was estimated at $60,000, the five-button sweater — a blend of acrylic, mohair and Lycra — was snapped up for a final bid of $140,800.

9. Geffen Records initially planned to release Nirvana's "Unplugged" performance as part of a double album package called Verse Chorus Verse.

The idea was to combine the "Unplugged" performance with live material from throughout the band's career. But the project was quickly shelved once Grohl and Novoselic realized how emotionally overwhelming it would be to go through the tapes.

10. At his manager's suggestion, Cobain asked producers to include shots of him smiling.

Unfortunately, they could only find one, which can be seen at the end of "About A Girl," and which came through gritted teeth.

(Bill Forman is a writer and music editor for the Colorado Springs Independent and the former publications director for The Recording Academy”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

Let’s finish off with this article, that explores the legacy of MTV Unplugged. This idea of a Grunge band doing something like MTV Unplugged in 1993 was quite brave and non-commercial. Maybe something that would have put some fans off. Perhaps there was this myopic belief that Grunge and Rock bands could not go acoustic or translate what they do by filtering and turning down the noise by adding something richer and more harmonic. Contemporaries of Nirvana followed and produced some real wonders:

“Alice in Chains’ 1996 Unplugged is another example of a show that turned out great despite low expectations. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell had food poisoning and singer Layne Staley was in poor health as a result of his heroin addiction, which lead the group to not being able to perform live together in over two years. So, the pressure was on. Yet, the result is a contender for their best release. The unplugged versions of ‘Down in a Hole’ and ‘Rooster’ didn’t differ much from the album versions, but gained more depth from the intimate live setting.

Also from 1996 is Oasis’ Unplugged, is significant due to the absence of Liam Gallagher performing on stage. Noel Gallagher explained at the beginning of the show that his brother had a sore throat however, according to an interview with Noel, Liam was actually ‘shit-faced’ when the band walked out, so Liam wasn’t able to join them. Noel had to manage without him, singing his own songs without his brother for the first time. This was possibly the first time Noel realized that he didn’t need Liam and that he could stand on his own, making this one of the most important performances in the band’s career. It’s worth mentioning that Liam Gallagher is responsible for the newest addition to the MTV Unplugged catalogue, which premiered in September.

For artists of a previous generation such as Eric Clapton, Unplugged was a way of breathing new life into their established career. In 1992 it seemed like Clapton had passed his zenith, but iconic songs like ‘Tears in Heaven’, and ‘Layla’ made his Unplugged the best-selling release of the series to date.

Pearl Jam will be releasing their 1992 session for the first time on vinyl for Record Store Day’s Black Friday on November 29th. It features seven songs, almost all from their debut album, including ‘Black’, ‘Alive’, ‘Even Flow’ and ‘Jeremy’.

All these years later, MTV Unplugged still holds a lot of weight in the music industry. It remains relevant and necessary in an industry, which is ever more dominated by technology. Unplugged allows artists to showcase their talent and to connect with audiences on a more personal level”.

Fans of other artists may argue their corner when it comes to that ‘definitive’ MTV Unplugged performance. As it is thirty years ago on 18th November that Nirvana’s set was recorded, I wanted to mark that occasion. I did not see it when it first aired. Maybe a few years ago was when I saw it in full for the first time. I can only imagine what it must have been like for those in that space watching this incredible band produce a live performance that will live in their minds for the rest of their lives! I can only get a sense of the sort of tingles and atmosphere that they would have felt! Many would agree it is the ultimate and untouchable best, yet others may share different views. I can see credit and merit to every one of those great Unplugged sets. It is a chance to see an artist maybe step outside of their comfort zone and bring something new from their songs. Whether you see Nirvana’s 1993 set as the very best or not, many will spotlight it in the coming days (as it is almost thirty). Every opinion is valid, though one cannot deny that the Seattle band’s hypnotising, cultural significant and, sadly, haunting set has gone…

DOWN in the history books.

FEATURE: Paul McCartney and Wings’ Band on the Run at Fifty: Ranking the Nine Tracks

FEATURE:

 

 

Paul McCartney and Wings’ Band on the Run at Fifty

Ranking the Nine Tracks

_________

THE third studio album…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney on 7th April, 1973, rehearsing with Wings before their British Tour/PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Kay/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

by Wings (or Paul McCartney and Wings), Band on the Run turns fifty on 5th December (in the U.S. 30th November in the U.K.). A classic album from a band that many had written off prior to the release of their third studio album, this classic was unleashed into the world on 30th November, 1973. An early Christmas treat for fans of Paul McCartney and Wings! Mostly recorded out of EMI's studio in Lagos, Nigeria, it is the band – forgive the pun here… – spreading their wings. Paul McCartney wanted to record somewhere a little more exotic than he was used to (I guess, at this point, the U.K.). The band suffered some upset and upheaval just before leaving for Lagos when drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Henry McCullough left. There was no time to do anything about the situation, so Wings became a trio of Paul and Linda McCartney plus Denny Laine. The studio conditions in Lagos were quite grim. The McCartneys had song lyrics and demos robbed from them. Maybe an international move they regretted, there was additional work at London’s AIR Studios.

In spite of all of that hardship and setbacks, Band on the Run is the ultimate Paul McCartney and Wings release. One of Paul McCartney’s best albums of the 1970s. An all-time classic that I have a lot of love for. I first heard it when I was a child. I knew The Beatles’ music, though this sounded different yet similar. Not used to Paul McCartney outside of the band, I was hooked on Band on the Run pretty quickly, mind. It is timeless and filled with variety and strong moments. To mark the upcoming fiftieth anniversary, I am going to rank the album’s nine tracks (I am using The Beatles Bible as reference when it comes to the songs and details etc.). There might be some obvious placings, though a few might not be! Prior to the big 5-0 of Band on the Run on 30th November (5th December in the U.S.), here is my ranking of…

ITS wonderful songs.

____________

NINE: No Words

“Written by: McCartney-Laine
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
Linda McCartney: vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine: vocals, guitar
Ian Horne, Trevor Jones: backing vocals

Denny Laine’s first co-writing credit on a Wings release, ‘No Words’ was written before the release of Red Rose Speedway but wasn’t recorded until the Band On The Run sessions in the summer of 1973.

I’m kind of an odd-job man in this group. I look on Band On The Run as definitely their album. We’re not a group anymore. I’m one of the three or I’m an individual. If it was Wings, I’d feel more a part of it. But it’s not my songs and I’d like to feel more involved and contribute as much as they do. I did write one of the songs on the album and Paul helped me out with it. I’d like to do more like that.

Denny Laine

The basic track was recorded in Lagos, Nigeria, and was completed in September 1973 following Wings’ return to England. The orchestral arrangements were by Tony Visconti, and were recorded at George Martin’s AIR Studios in London.

In search of a new direction, and possibly to give an injection of something different, Paul and Linda, along with Denny Laine, had gone to Lagos in Nigeria to make their next album. In late September, shortly after they returned we got a phone call at our home from Macca. After he talked briefly to Mary she handed me the phone.

‘Hi Tony, I love the strings on T.Rex records, did you write them?’
‘Yes,’ I replied.
‘Can you really read and write music?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh right, in that case will you write strings for the album I’ve just finished?’
‘YES!’

The next day, a Sunday afternoon, Mary, our ten-month-old son and I made the short trip over to the McCartneys’ home in St John’s Wood. Mary and Linda sat in the living room with the McCartney children making a fuss over our little Morgan. In the same room Paul sat at the piano with me sitting next to him and played me snippets of songs on a portable cassette player, while on a second one he recorded his comments and his piano doodlings for string ideas. Some ideas he wanted me to strictly adhere to and some were just sketches that I was asked to improve upon. For a song called ‘Drink To Me (The Picasso song)’ [sic] he said, ‘Just do your thing, but in the style of Motown strings.’

I was thrilled to be doing this for one of my idols but not so thrilled when he told me he needed all seven arrangements by Wednesday.

I hardly slept for two days. I also had to book and strategize the session, starting with the sixty musicians needed for the title track, ‘Band on the Run’, down to the string quartet for ‘No Words’. When I arrived at AIR Studios I’m sure I looked bedraggled, I definitely felt it. I was greeted by Paul, Linda and Denny along with their great engineer Geoff Emerick. The sixty musicians are already there and I braced myself to begin the tedious arm waving (my bad style of conducting) and note correcting. The very first thing we did was the interlude between the first and second parts of ‘Band On The Run’; it proved to be very difficult because the first section is in an entirely different tempo from the next. We just kept doing take after take until we got the transition to work smoothly. Only some of the sixty musicians were wearing headphones, so it was a genuine job of conducting to bring them in and to keep them together. The rest of the day went a lot smoother. For the most part Paul acted the jovial perfectionist, which made it all seem like fun.

Tony Visconti
Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy”.

EIGHT: Bluebird

“Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar
Linda McCartney: backing vocals
Denny Laine: backing vocals, guitar
Howie Casey: saxophone
Remi Kebaka: percussion

Written during a holiday in Jamaica, ‘Bluebird’ continued the themes of personal emancipation explored by Paul McCartney on his 1968 song ‘Blackbird’.

When you write something satisfying, it’s a feeling that makes you want to do it again. It’s an ‘at home’ songs, when I would have some free time, sitting around with a guitar. It’s a bird flying in, from the point of view of the bird. It’s actually the bird singing it, so it’s mystical, I suppose. It could work in a mystical Chinese movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragen; it’d fit in something like that.

Paul McCartney
Billboard, 17 March 2001

McCartney used the flight of a bluebird as a metaphor for the power of love to set a person free from mental and physical constraints. Whereas ‘Blackbird’ had been written about the civil rights struggle in the United States, ‘Bluebird’ was more personal, and reflected his contentment with Linda McCartney and the stability after the dissolution of The Beatles’ business partnership.

Recording for ‘Bluebird’ began in Lagos, Nigeria, and the song was completed at George Martin’s AIR Studios in London. Coincidentally, the percussionist on the song was a Nigerian working in the English capital.

The only other musician on the album, other than the orchestra, is, funnily enough, African! We were gonna use African musicians, but when we were told we were about to pinch the music we thought ‘Well, up you, we’ll do it ourselves then, so there’s no question about it.’ Then we were back in London working at AIR Studios and this old friend from the past named Remi Kabaka turns up. And he’s from Lagos! He played on one of the tracks, he plays a bit of percussion on ‘Bluebird’, so he’s the only one who ended up doing anything on the album.

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney In His Own Words, Paul Gambaccini”.

SEVEN: Mamunia

“Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar
Linda McCartney: backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine: backing vocals, guitar

Meaning ‘safe haven’ in Arabic, Mamunia was the name of a house in Lagos, Nigeria, the city where much of Wings’ 1973 album Band On The Run was recorded.

According to issue 41 of Club Sandwich (1986), the fan club publication from McCartney’s MPL Communications, Paul and Linda McCartney once stayed at a hotel with a similar name, La Mamounia, in the Moroccan city of Marrakech. The spelling was slightly different, but the misconception that ‘Mamunia’ was named after the hotel was believed by many.

The lyrics are chiefly concerned with rain in Los Angeles, although the song was inspired by a 1973 visit Wings made to Tunisia. In the song, rain acts as a metaphor for rebirth and renewal. McCartney’s statement that the weather “ain’t bad, don’t complain” bears a similarity to John Lennon’s words on The Beatles’ 1966 b-side ‘Rain’.

Fittingly, the song was recorded in a heavy storm in Lagos, Nigeria, the first song to be taped during the Band On The Run sessions. One of McCartney’s road crew kept a rhythm on a bass drum on the recording, though was uncredited.

Paul McCartney’s fingerpicked acoustic guitar on ‘Mamunia’ recalls his work on the 1968 White Album sessions, notably his songs ‘Rocky Raccoon’ and ‘Mother Nature’s Son’.

‘Mamunia’ was the original b-side to the ‘Jet’ single, although early pressings were withdrawn in early 1974 and the song was replaced with ‘Let Me Roll It’. The change occurred as ‘Mamunia’ was being considered for a single release in its own right”.

SIX: Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)

“Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
Linda McCartney: backing vocals
Denny Laine: vocals, guitar
Ginger Baker: percussion
Pierre Le Sève: spoken word

The longest song on Wings’ 1973 album Band On The Run, ‘Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me)’ was written during a dinner party Paul and Linda McCartney had in Montego Bay, Jamaica with the actor Dustin Hoffman.

On one of our Jamaican holidays we had heard that Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen were around, shooting the film Papillon. We were invited to visit the set and Dustin asked us back to his house for dinner. He was asking me how I write songs; I explained that I just make them up. He said, Can you make up a song about anything?’ I wasn’t sure, but he pulled out a copy of Time, pointed to an article and said, ‘Could you write a song about this? It was a quote from Picasso, from the last night of his life. Apparently, he had said to his friends, ‘Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink anymore,’ and then gone to bed and died in his sleep. So I picked up a guitar, started to strum and sing ‘Drink to me, drink to my health…’, and Dustin was shouting to his wife, ‘He’s doing it! He’s doing it! Come and listen!’ It’s something that comes naturally to me but he was blown away by it. And that song became ‘Picasso’s Last Words’.

Paul McCartney
Wingspan

The issue of Time magazine was dated 23 April 1973, and the article in question was titled ‘Pablo Picasso’s Last Days and Final Journey’. Hoffman later described watching McCartney compose the song as “right under childbirth in terms of great events of my life”.

FIVE: Jet

“Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
Linda McCartney: backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine: backing vocals, guitar
Howie Casey: saxophone

The first single to be released from the Band On The Run album, ‘Jet’ was – like The Beatles’ ‘Martha My Dear’ – named after one of Paul McCartney’s pets.

We’ve got a Labrador puppy who is a runt, the runt of a litter. We bought her along a roadside in a little pet shop, out in the country one day. She was a bit of a wild dog, a wild girl who wouldn’t stay in. We have a big wall around our house in London, and she wouldn’t stay in, she always used to jump the wall. She’d go out on the town for the evening, like Lady And The Tramp. She must have met up with some big black Labrador or something. She came back one day pregnant. She proceeded to walk into the garage and have this litter… Seven little black puppies, perfect little black Labradors, and she’s not black, she’s tan. So we worked out it must have been a black Labrador. What we do is if either of the dogs we have has a litter, we try to keep them for the puppy stage, so we get the best bit of them, and then when they get a bit unmanageable we ask people if they want to have a puppy. So Jet was one of the puppies. We give them all names. We’ve had some great names, there was one puppy called Golden Molasses. I rather like that. Then there was one called Brown Megs, named after a Capitol executive. They’ve all gone now. The people change the names if they don’t like them.

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney In His Own Words, Paul Gambaccini

Curiously, by the time of 2021’s The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present, McCartney was claiming that Jet was not a dog but a pony belonging to his daughter Mary.

‘Jet’ was actually the name of a pony, a little Shetland pony that we had for the kids on the farm. My daughter Mary was born in 1969, so in 1973, when the song was written, she was four. Stella would have been two, so they were little. But to know that Jet is a pony is about as important, or unimportant, as knowing that Martha in ‘Martha My Dear’ is a sheepdog.

I remember exactly how the song started. We were in Scotland. I had my guitar, surprise, surprise. There was a big hill which had the site of a fortress on top of it, an old Celtic fort. It’s now primarily an ordnance survey marker. It was an extraordinarily good vantage point. The kind of place where you could imagine the Vikings coming up the hill while we poured oil on them or, if that didn’t work, threw some spears at them. There were some lovely little spots on the hillside where we all liked to hang out.

I had told Linda I’d be gone for a while, and as I lay there on this beautiful summer’s day, I let my mind wander. Some of the imagery is drawn from the relationship between Linda and her father [Lee Eastman]. He was a cool guy – very accomplished – but he was a little bit too patriarchal for my liking. I got on well with him, but he was a bit strict. That’s partly where the ‘sergeant major’ comes from. He also comes partly from Gilbert and Sullivan and ‘the very model of a modern Major-General’. Partly, too, from Bootsie and Snudge, the UK television sitcom, which had a character called Sergeant-Major Claude Snudge…

Anyhow I made it all up, played it on the guitar, came back to the farmhouse and played it for Linda. I asked her what she thought. She liked it! And that was what came out of my afternoon up on the hill. This wasn’t Mount Sinai and I didn’t come back with the Tablets of the Law, but I did come back with ‘Jet’.

Paul McCartney
The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present”.

FOUR: Mrs. Vanderbilt

“Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
Linda McCartney: backing vocals
Denny Laine: backing vocals, guitar
Howie Casey: saxophone

An album track from the 1973 Paul McCartney and Wings album Band On The Run, ‘Mrs Vandebilt’ later became a fixture of McCartney’s live shows.

The name was a misspelling of the Vanderbilt family, the US dynasty of Dutch descent whose patriarch, Cornelius Vanderbilt, made a fortune in the 19th century through rail and shipping empires.

The lyrics, however, contained little more than a passing mention to the family – notably in the lines “When your pile is on the wane/You don’t complain of robbery”, a reference to the family’s financial decline in the 20th century. Instead, McCartney used the name as a starting point for a scenario of his own invention.

‘Mrs Vandebilt’ was a good one. I didn’t know anything about her but I just knew she was like… a rich person.

Paul McCartney
Wingspan”.

THREE: Let Me Roll It

“Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
Linda McCartney: backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine: backing vocals, guitar

The song which closed the first side of Wings’ 1973 album Band On The Run, ‘Let Me Roll It’ was interpreted by many as an echo of the stripped-down production of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album and Lennon’s single ‘Cold Turkey’.

I still don’t think it sounds like him [John Lennon], but that’s your opinion. I can dig it if it sounds that way to you.

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney In His Own Words, Paul Gambaccini

By 2021 McCartney was more willing to admit the similarities to his former bandmate.

Bog echo. We always called it bog echo because it’s like the echo in a toilet, known to us as a ‘bog’. We’d shout up to the control room, ‘Can we have the bog echo, please?’ And they would ask, ‘Do you want it at 7.5 inches per second or 15 inches per second?’ We would say, ‘We don’t know. Play them both.’ The echo was on tape in those days. Short bog echo, long bog echo. It was very Gene Vincent. Very Elvis.

John loved this tape echo and used it more than any of us, so it became a signature sound on his solo records. I’m acknowledging that by using it here. I remember first singing ‘Let Me Roll It’ and thinking, ‘Yeah, this is very like a John song.’ It’s in John’s area of vocalisation, needless to say, but the most Lennon-esque thing is the echo.

The single most significant element in this song is not the echo, though. It’s not the vocalisation. It’s not the lyrics. It’s the guitar roff. The word that comes to mind is ‘searing’. It’s a searing little thing. We can talk about lyrics till the cows come home, but a good riff is a rare beauty. This one is so dramatic that people in the audience gasp when they hear it. Because it stops so abruptly, it feels like everything freezes. Time freezes.

Paul McCartney
The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present”.

TWO: Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five

“Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, drums
Linda McCartney: backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine: vocals, guitar

The final song on Wings’ 1973 album Band On The Run, ‘Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five’ was based on an idea that Paul McCartney had for some months prior to its recording.

McCartney’s starting point was the opening line, although it took some time for the rest of the song to be written.

With a lot of songs I do, the first line is it. It’s all in the first line, and then you have to go on and write the second line. With ‘Eleanor Rigby’ I had ‘picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been.’ that was the one big line that started me off on it. With this one it was ‘No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty-five.’ That’s all I had of that song for months. ‘No one ever left alive in nineteen hundred and eighty… six?’ It wouldn’t have worked!

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney In His Own Words, Paul Gambaccini

As with ‘Picasso’s Last Words (Drink To Me)’ before it, the song refers to other moments on Band On The Run, giving the impression of a unified body of work. In this case, ‘Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five’ ends with a reprise of the album’s title track.

When I read George Orwell’s 1984 I was just a kid, and I thought it was so far into the future I mightn’t live to see it. Like the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey – impossibly distant. Now they’re well behind us.

The idea behind the song is that this is a relationship that was always meant to be. No one in the distant future is ever going to get my attention, because I’ve got you. But when this was written, 1985 was only twelve years away; it wasn’t the very distant future – only the future in this song. So, this is basically a love song about the future.

Paul McCartney
The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present”.

ONE: Band on the Run

Written by: McCartney
Recorded: August-November 1973
Producer: Paul McCartney

Personnel

Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drums
Linda McCartney: backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine: backing vocals, guitar

The title track of Paul McCartney’s fifth post-Beatles album, ‘Band On The Run’ was a three-part song, inspired in part by a remark about the business meetings at Apple in 1969.

It’s just a good flow of words. I really don’t analyze stuff, and if I do I kind of remember what it meant about three months later, just lying in bed one night.

It started off with ‘If I ever get out of here.’ That came from a remark George made at one of the Apple meetings. He was saving that we were all prisoners in some way, some kind of remark like that. ‘If we ever get out of here,’ the prison bit, and I thought that would be a nice way to start an album. A million reasons, really. I can never lay them all down. It’s a million things, I don’t like to analyze them, all put together. Band on the run – escaping, freedom, criminals. You name it, it’s there.

Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney In His Own Words, Paul Gambaccini

The Beatles had often combined half-finished song fragments together, in works such as ‘A Day In The Life’, ‘She Said She Said’ and ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’, and the celebrated Abbey Road medley. John Lennon, in particular, often combined three unrelated ideas in one song, a technique used on ‘I Am The Walrus’, ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’, ‘God’, and ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’.

On ‘Band On The Run’, McCartney used the same technique, although unlike Lennon, the different parts stood in marked contrast from one another. The song begins with the band’s incarceration, “stuck inside these four walls”, in a gently melodic passage which gives way to thoughts of escape”

FEATURE: Spotlight: Viji

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Viji

_________

I have quite a bit to cover…

when it comes to the sensational Viji. The London-based, Austrian-born artist is someone people need to know about. Real name Vanilla Jenner, Viji is primed for greatness. Her album, So Vanilla, has won a lot of applause. It came out on 27th October. I will work my way to that. I want to cover off some biography and interviews first. Previous E.P.s, Are You in My Head (2020) and Suck It (2021), were pandemic releases that were hard to tour and promote. Both tremendous, her debut studio album has been released at a time when she scan truly strike! Signed to Speedy Wunderground, she is in very good hands indeed. Here is some biography regarding a truly wonderful artist that is hugely original and exciting:

“As a teenager in Austria, rising alt-pop artist Viji – aka Vanilla Jenner – was always searching for something more. Fueled by an obsession with US TV shows and pop culture of the time, she dreamt of making an imprint on this world. As a budding musician, she longed for peers who took being in a band as seriously as she did. “There were musicians around but no one who wanted world domination,” she laughs. “Nobody was writing songs.”

Years later and now signed to Dirty Hit, the artist is building a world for herself that fulfils all her desires. Since releasing her debut single ‘Cherry’ in 2020, she has marked herself out as a creative new force in the alternative sphere – both through her hook-filled songs and the inventive visuals that accompany them – with a streak of determination driving her forward.

“Put my head down and work hard / Reach my hand out super far,” she sings on ‘Cali’, the balmy title track from her upcoming third EP and a love letter to one of her dream states. “I’ve forever and always had an obsession with California,” she explains, noting that in the future, she’d like it to be somewhere she calls home for at least some of the year. “I always say I’m gonna work hard, and then once I’m there – wherever there is – I’ll move to Cali.”

With the determination to write her own story, Viji left home at 15 to spend a year in Colorado. Following many summer breaks abroad in the states (including Hawaii), she made one more stop in the south of the continent, spending time with her Brazilian side of the family.

Just as America seems to have been a constant in the new talent’s life, so too has music. Her grandfather was a classical pianist, her cousin was in a band growing up, and her dad builds instruments for a living. Even her name comes from an album. “My dad does a lot of folk instruments and Renaissance instruments, and apart from old school rock’n’roll, he’s also into weird elvish folk,” she says. “There’s this band called Blowzabella and they brought out an album called ‘Vanilla’. He was like, ‘That’s a pretty name for my future daughter’.” When Viji was embarking on her own musical journey, friends suggested she use her first name as her stage name, but she refused: “I don’t personally relate to whatever vanilla stands for in this world.”

If vanilla is typically associated with something plain and unadventurous, then Viji is here to challenge that perception. Over the last 15 months, the London-based musician has built the foundations of her career on songs that breathe new life into ‘90s and ’00s-inspired guitar-driven sounds, upping her inventiveness with each release. It’s something that’s already won her praise from the likes of DIY, The Fader, The Line Of Best Fit, Nylon and more. Her debut EP, ‘Are You In My Head’, was more straightforward plaid-tinged grunge-pop, before 2021’s ‘Suck It’ EP invited fresh synth elements into the mix, adding more dimensions to her core sound”.

I am going to get to a slightly older interview before coming up to date. Fred Perry shot some questions the way of Viji. When they spoke with her, she hadn’t yet played shows as ‘Viji’. An artist still waiting to bring her alter ego to the stage. I hope that we get to see Viji touring quite widely in 2024. She will definitely do some London shows:

“Name, where are you from?

Vanilla Jenner, Austria (living in London).

Describe your style in three words?

Baggy Bratz fits.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

I saw Justice play at Red Rocks in CO. That was really special cause it’s this open-air natural amphitheatre and their set was just as it was getting dark. So you got Justice playing and the moon with Denver skyline in the back, really can’t beat that for a vibe.

If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?

Fugazi and Frank Ocean would be crazy. I don’t know how the energy would match but I’d like to think they dig each other’s music... and mine.

Which subcultures have influenced you?

Skate, emo and rave, currently a bit of otaku.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

Would love to have Elon Musk and Grimes in a room to hear their take on the next ten years.

Of all the venues you’ve played, which is your favourite?

I haven’t played any shows as Viji (✖﹏✖). I’m dying to though! I miss live music. One of my London favs is Electric Ballroom.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?

Alex G, I think he’s amazing! I used to listen to his Album 'Rocket' every morning. It has so many different genres on it and he nails all of them.

The first track you played on repeat?

'Don’t Tell Me' by Avril Lavigne. I just listened to it again for the first time in forever. Still a banger!

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Adam’s Song' by Blink-182. I was a moody teenager and def thought I was doomed to die young. So 'Adam’s Song' seemed appropriately dramatic”.

I will come to an interview from DIY from October. They embraced her “narcotic, ‘90s influenced guitar world”. There is a lot of attention aimed the way of this extraordinary artist. Viji is a name that should be on everyone’s mind right now:

“Vanilla Jenner might have spent her early years in Austria - an epicentre of classical music - but from a young age the rules and rigidity of the genre were clearly destined to be an ill fit. “I was never that interested in the theory; that was never my thing. With guitar I was like, ‘Ah, let’s just play four chords in my room over and over and hum over it…’” she laughs, tooth gems glinting and bleach-blonde hair scruffed up in a clip. “I was very much approaching it as a songwriter instead of learning guitar as a crazy skill. I would be a lot better at instruments if I practised like they told me to practise at school…”

Instead of poring over textbooks, however, she began striking out independently, cultivating the identity that would go on to infuse the gauzy grunge of her musical project, Viji. Aged 15, she spent a term in Colorado where her listening habits were turned upside down. “My friends there introduced me to a lot of music I didn’t know. The Breeders; Bikini Kill; we listened to ‘Totally Crushed Out’ by that dog a lot - I got into all of it just through depressed friends who were like, ‘Listen to this!’” she laughs. “Elliott Smith is like, my everyday companion.” After school, she made the move to the UK, wanting to break away from Austria’s largely non-English-speaking music scene into a place with wider potential.

It’s a mix of intuition and ambition that’s been there from the start. “I did think at 12 or 13: I want to be a rock star. A pop star, rock star, just a star… I didn’t really think about doing anything else,” she notes. And, having released a debut trio of EPs via Dirty Hit (2020’s ‘Are You In My Head’, 2021’s ‘Suck It’ and the following year’s ‘Cali’), her new home of Speedy Wunderground is proving a fertile base for both.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Swann

Written and recorded collaboratively with the label’s Dan Carey, Viji’s incoming debut LP ‘So Vanilla’ is a record that’s wonderfully, woozily out of step with the current market of hyper-polished pop. From the tumbling melodies of opener ‘Anything’, through the tetchy prowl of ‘Karaoke’, to the bare bones acoustic melancholy of ‘Blanket’, the record weaves between energy levels but maintains a sense of both sonic and emotional grit throughout. “We were conscious of keeping it purposefully raw to preserve the energy of the live show; of not making it super polished or perfect because the music I listen to is not like that,” Viji explains. “I know it’s 2023 but it doesn’t all have to be super clean and sanitised…

“Lyrically it all blended [together with ideas of] memory, romantic boredom, tiredness… It’s quite a depressing record!” she continues. “All my favourite artists and movies, everything has dark twists, so everything I consume is on the darker side of entertainment.” Shimmeringly narcotic recent single ‘Down’, she explains, is literally about the fear of being too happy to be inspired. “If you live a happy life and you don’t really have anything to say, you’re gonna struggle to have that drive. If you’re just happy, why do anything?!”

Emerging after a steady gestation period with a record that makes a clear, cohesive statement about exactly what kind of artist she wants to be, Viji might be at risk of falling into her own happiness trap. But on ‘So Vanilla’, she’s proven herself anything but plain”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Swann

There are a couple of other interviews worth mentioning before getting to details about So Vanilla. Under the Radar Mag spoke with Viji about her debut studio album and what it was like working with super-producer Dan Carey. You can feel the passion she has for her music. Someone who wants it to connect with fans around the world:

“I definitely have the travel bug; I can never seem to stay in one place,” confesses the Vienna-born, Brazilian-Austrian artist, Vanilla Jenner, known by her stage name Viji. Thankfully, Jenner has settled in the UK to focus on her musical career. “London is now my base,” Jenner reveals. “I was born and raised in Vienna but hold dual nationality because of my father’s Brazilian heritage. I have a lot of family still living in Rio and regularly visit. I did spend a period of time in America on a student exchange too, but I’ve been in London for a few years now.”

Music has coursed through Jenner’s veins since her youth. Her grandfather was a pianist, and her father, an instrument maker. “Yes, my dad actually crafts Renaissance instruments. When we were kids, on long family journeys, Dad would encourage my brother and me to sing old folk songs and intricate four-part harmonies. I had a cousin who played in a rock band, which was more of an influence on the musical journey I wanted to take as I grew up.”

And that journey eventually led Jenner to work with award-winning producer Dan Carey, resulting in her wonderful debut album, So Vanilla, which is out today. They met when a songwriting session was set up whilst Jenner was still signed to the Dirty Hit label under her Viji moniker, and the pair hit it off immediately.

“I think we began working together around the time of my third EP,” recalls Jenner. “I was signed to Dirty Hit, but that was only to release my EPs.” As they continued to write and create, it started to become apparent that Dan’s label, Speedy Wundergrund, would be the ideal outlet for Viji’s work. “It just made perfect sense,” explains Jenner. “There’s a tight-knit group around Speedy, a whole scene going on there, and with me embracing a different sonic approach, it seemed like a very good fit. It’s a very ‘Speedy’ type of record.”

Carey has produced albums by Wet Leg, Geese, black midi, Fontaines D.C., Squid, Foals, Bat For Lashes, and many others. Artists often say, after working with him, that he’s a producer who doesn’t impose his own signature style on a record but rather respects and helps finesse the artists vision and perhaps nudges them towards sounds and effects that might work for their record. “Totally,” enthuses Jenner. “It’s been a really fun process from writing to producing with Dan. His studio is like this sprawling magical mess,” she laughs. “There are cables everywhere, but everything there makes such a beautiful sound. It’s very much a case of you go in and Dan caters for your vision. I’d never been involved in writing sessions with anybody before, but Dan seems to get what musicians hope to achieve and picks up the mood of the artist. He’s so enthusiastic—and has a sense of excitement when he finds something new—he’ll say things like, ‘Look at this, I’ve just bought it—and it makes this sound!’ It never feels like work when you go into a session with Dan.”

Amongst other things, Carey is known for his unerring ability to capture the energy and excitement of an artist’s live performance in the studio. However, with Viji being Jenner’s solo project, that wasn’t always possible, as she explains. “It was mainly me and Dan in the studio, and I had Yuri [Shibuici] from Honeyglaze on drums. And I did get my live band in for bits. My bassist did some backing vocals and also contributed the infamous screaming bit on [previous single] ‘Karaoke.’ A typical day recording with Dan would involve starting with some guitar tracking, and we’d do my vocals in the afternoon, as that’s when I prefer to sing. It’s magical watching everything come together; it was beautiful having a cello on a few tracks. I usually make sure I’m stocked up with lots of snacks so I don’t get distracted by any food cravings! And when I’m doing vocals, I usually have whiskey and honey and ready salted crisps. I don’t know if it’s a myth, but I heard that the oils in the crisps can help with your voice,” she says, referring to what Americans call potato chips.

The results speak for themselves. So Vanilla is a beautifully judged, perfectly paced album that allows Jenner’s ear for melody and her astute poetic lyrics to shine. When I ask if there’s a theme, such as dissatisfaction with modern life, or if the mention of religion is part of a wider theme she laughs before explaining, “There was never a theme, really, I just wanted to get my best songs recorded. Somebody else asked if it was about ennui, with songs like ‘Sedative,’ ‘Ambien,’ and ‘Blanket,’ but it’s a coincidence. The same with any mention of religion. I was raised an atheist and I’m not a believer in institutionalized religion, although I respect people who do. I mean I’m not a brutalist atheist in that I can see the beauty in the likes of cathedrals, but any sort of organized religion isn’t for me. I’m more interested in myths and legends and folklore from different cultures, any religious theme was certainly unintentional”.

It does seem like recording So Vanilla was joyful and fulfilling. Viji has now put out this magnificent debut album that will take her music to new places. Clunk Mag spotlighted Viji recently. If you have not added her album to your collection, there is so much to recommend when it comes to So Vanilla:

“George: Can you tell us a bit about what your year’s looked like so far? It’s been a big one!

Viji: It’s been substantial. I finished the record! We recorded it in November last year but the mix/master we finished in January. It’s been a lot of working on the record, creating all the content, shooting all the videos and bringing all the visuals to fruition. We really started playing live in March, going on tour with our friends which was really fun.

George: How has it translated to a live setting? Has it been a challenge?

Viji: No, it’s been really fun actually! We’ve been playing mostly the new songs actually which is really exciting. I’ve switched my band around a bit and it’s really fun because they’re my friends. As a solo artist, it’s a struggle to translate it live with the right people. My friends have made it a lot more enjoyable.

George: We love the album, it’s brilliant. Can you tell us about it, is there a concept? What should people be expecting?

Viji: It’s really not a concept album. It’s more of a collection of songs I’ve written over the last two years. The lyricism is definitely on the darker side, not to say that the music is. It’s mostly a guitar record, there’s only a few synth songs.

George: It’s quite a varied record. How do you balance noisiness and catchiness?

Viji: (laughs) I don’t really think of it in such detail. It usually starts with guitars, either at home or in the studio in a writing session. It’s mostly because I sing very softly and the melodies I write are more pop melodies. It’s definitely not on purpose!

George: Can you tell us a bit about working with producer Dan Carey and how you got involved with Speedy Wunderground?

Viji: It’s amazing working with them, he’s such a nice person. We randomly got set up for a session two years ago. It was really funny because I didn’t really know who he was, he didn’t really know who I was, we just agreed to meet. For me, it was a few days after having a few other sessions with somebody else and I was very tired. So, I came to the studio and said ‘let’s just write a really chilled song!’.

The studio is really fun, there’s so many things to fuck about with. Even though I was so exhausted it was so fun because he just totally went with the vibe. We weren’t here to write a hit song. It’s the last song on the record now.

He’s always been so supportive of the music and the process and it’s such a natural transition working with Speedy Wunderground.

George: What makes their style of production and recording unique to other people you’ve worked with?

Viji: I feel like the music I listen to is from the 90s and 2000s, so working in a space where it’s not all digital always helps. Not that I could necessarily hear the difference, I’m not a crazy analogue-head. It translates into the production and the rawness. Everywhere you go to the studio in LA, the sound is so heavily overproduced with effects. Working with Dan is so refreshing”.

You might want to know more about So Vanilla before investing. It is one of this year’s best albums, but here is some information from Rough Trade about a wonderful work. I get something new from the album each time I pass through it. An album that I would say everyone can get something from:

“London-based Austrian-Brazilian artist Viji with her highly-anticipated debut album So Vanilla out on tastemaker label Speedy Wunderground. Referencing the easy, sleazy sounds of the 90s, Viji – real name Vanilla Jenner – has been cementing herself as one of the most exciting alternative artists to watch in the UK right now. So Vanilla was recorded predominantly in London, in partnership with four-time Mercury Prize nominated producer and Speedy Wunderground label head, Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., Kae Tempest, Wet Leg).

Having finished So Vanilla in November 2022, Viji relays that every song had a different writing process – some saw her and Carey playing guitar chords together for hours, until the sounds fused into one, and others came from late night ramblings at home. Born and raised in Vienna, Austria until the age of 16, she travelled first to the US and then to Brazil to stay with family. After Brazil, she moved to the UK to study music production in Brighton. Although she had written her first songs aged nine, and had carried on writing through her teens, she had never recorded them, and understanding the technicality of production techniques allowed her to grow as a writer and performer. “If you can be self-sufficient you can get stuff done way quicker. If you can make your own music, your own demos, you don’t need to rely on anyone. For writing it means you are not constrained to your voice and an instrument, it opens up a new spectrum of songwriting and creativity,” she explains. After finishing the course she moved to London and started to figure out her own sound. Her approach to shoe-gazey rock, raw instrumentals and vocal delivery makes her stand out as one of the most exciting UK artists to watch, pioneering what rock music can sound like in the modern era”.

I will finish off with this review of So Vanilla. I am predicting massive things for the London-based artist. Viji is a sensation that will soon be playing all around the world. Do ensure that she is in your thoughts. She caps off a wonderful and busy 2023:

“It’s common to get excited when you hear that an artist has been signed to in-demand record labels such as Dirty Hit and Speedy Wunderground, and Australian-Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Vanilla Jenner, known as Viji, has experienced both in the lead-up to the release of her debut album, So Vanilla. An album that has been completed for almost a year, So Vanilla begins to cement Viji’s status as one of the most exciting artists currently blending 90’s inspired shoegaze and bedroom pop.

Opener, ‘Anything’, indulges on the lust that is felt when you know that you are someone’s fantasy, with a forceful chorus. Previous single, ‘Down’, then begins with a soft introduction that builds up to an intense and cathartic climax. Here, Viji’s creative potential shines through, delivering a powerful performance and evoking emotions that are both raw and authentic. The line ‘misery makes me holy’ echoes throughout the track, leaving a lasting impression on the listener, where the grunge-inspired tones of Sonic Youth can also be heard, adding an edge to Viji’s sound.

‘Sedative’ sees Viji explore the complexities of attraction and rejection through reflective vocals. Here, the lyrics convey a sense of inner turmoil, as she grapples with her emotions towards someone, struggling to express them freely – as if in a self-imposed trap, unable to escape her own thoughts. However, as the song progresses, Viji’s vulnerability gives way to an admission of her true feelings – that ‘London isn’t as cool without you’.

So Vanilla features a unique blend of sound, with ‘Karaoke’ and ‘Sharks’ standing out as they pay their homage to Viji’s ‘emo’ roots. The former is a captivating slice of alt-pop that exudes angst and vocals that draw inspiration from shouty Japanese punk tracks. Despite the stark contrast in sound found on the album, So Vanilla manages to maintain a cohesive flow.

Taking inspiration from a wide range of artists and genres, Viji’s debut album is a hit. The bond between her and producer, Dan Carey, is palpable, and their collaboration truly brings So Vanilla to life and overall, the album is a strong debut that showcases Viji’s talent and sets the bar high for what’s to come”.

The Austrian-born Viji is a wonderful artist that is being heralded and featured on so many hugely reputable and popular websites, music magazines and radio stations. With a great footing in the U.K., there are tonnes of fans internationally that want to see Viji in the flesh! With that sort of demand, I know that next year will…

BE even busier.

___________

Follow Viji

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/vijiwater

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/dontworrybeviji

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5T8jStToPqlBhbVU5WNHvi

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@vijiwater

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/vijiwater/

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential December, January and February Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: Marika Hackman

Essential December, January and February Releases

_________

I may update this at the start of the year…

IN THIS PHOTO: IDLES/PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Ham

but, as we are almost at the end of 2023, I wanted to recommend some of the best albums still to come – and also look ahead to what is scheduled for the first couple of months of next year. Things may change; albums may be added or shift their release date. I am writing this on 31st October, so this is what is planned for December of this year, plus January and February next year. There is not a tonne out in December – though there are a few that might prove to be perfect as Christmas presents. I am going to highlight one you will want to get. On 1st December, Peter Gabriel releases his first studio album in twelve years, i/o. This is an album that you are definitely going to want to pre-order:

“More than 20 years in the making, this December finally sees the release of i/o, Peter Gabriel’s first album of new material since 2002’s Up. During 2023, Peter has been releasing a new song from the album on the occasion of every full moon. Being revealed roughly every four weeks, each track has been allowed to find its own time and space, to enjoy its own orbit. “It’s a little like getting a Lego piece each month,” Peter explains. Now it’s time to stand back and admire the final, completed creation. And what a creation – 12 tracks of grace, gravity and great beauty that provide welcome confirmation of not only Peter’s ongoing ability to write stop-you-in-your-tracks songs but also of that thrilling voice, still perfectly, delightfully intact. Throughout the album the intelligent and thoughtful – often thought-provoking – songs tackle life and the universe. Our connection to the world around us – ‘I’m just a part of everything’ Peter sings on title track i/o – is a recurring motif, but so too the passing of time, mortality and grief, alongside such themes as injustice, surveillance and the roots of terrorism. But this is not a solemn record. While reflective, the mood is never despondent; i/o is musically adventurous, often joyous and ultimately full of hope, topped off as it is, by the rousingly optimistic closing song, Live and Let Live.

Always looking to push the boundaries, i/o is not simply a collection of a dozen songs. All 12 tracks are subject to two stereo mixes: the Bright-Side Mix, handled by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, and the Dark-Side Mix, as reshaped by Tchad Blake. “We have two of the greatest mixers in the world in Tchad and Spike and they definitely bring different characters to the songs. Tchad is very much a sculptor building a journey with sound and drama, Spike loves sound and assembling these pictures, so he’s more of a painter.” Both versions are included on the double-CD package, and are also available separately as double vinyl albums. And that’s not all. A third version – the In-Side Mix, in Dolby Atmos, comes courtesy of Hans-Martin Buff “doing a wonderful job generating these much more three- dimensional mixes” and is included in three-disc set, including Blu-ray.

Peter has kept his trusty inner circle of musicians close to hand, which means guitarist David Rhodes, bassist Tony Levin and drummer Manu Katché are sterling presences throughout. Several songs bear the fingerprints of long-time associate Brian Eno, whilst there are notable contributions from the likes of Richard Russell, pianist Tom Cawley, trumpeters Josh Shpak and Paolo Fresu, cellist Linnea Olsson and keyboard player Don E. Peter’s daughter Melanie contributes warm backing vocals, as does Ríoghnach Connolly of The Breath. Soweto Gospel Choir and Swedish all-male choir Oprhei Drängar lend their magnificent harmonies and the mass strings of the New Blood Orchestra, led by John Metcalfe, both soothe and soar. Peter has also invited a range of visual artists to contribute a piece of art to accompany each track. The dozen artists make an exceedingly impressive team of collaborators: Ai Weiwei, Nick Cave, Olafur Eliasson, Henry Hudson, Annette Messager, Antony Micallef, David Moreno, Cornelia Parker, Megan Rooney, Tim Shaw, David Spriggs and Barthélémy Toguo. Having handpicked the artists, Peter recognises that “They have the same obsessive attention to their visual work that we musicians have in sound”.

That was the standout from December. There are a few others that you might want to pre-order, though there is plenty in January and February worth exploring! The first January release to seek out is on 5th. Ghetts’s On Purpose, With Purpose is going to be sublime and must-hear. This is going to kick off 2024 with real aplomb and command! One of our finest voices in Hip-Hop and Rap, I was a big fan of 2021’s Conflict of Interest. His approaching album sounds like it could well rival that. Here is where you can pre-order On Purpose, With Purpose:

“Ghetts proudly presents new album, On Purpose, With Purpose. The record - which follows 2021’s epic Conflict Of Interest - continues the ongoing artistic evolution and unstoppable rise of one of the UK’s greatest rappers.  Ghetts returns sounding sharper, more unflinchingly honest and boldly confident than ever before. As well as achieving dizzying new heights as a songwriter and rapper, On Purpose, With Purpose finds Ghetts expanding his sonic palette by reaching out beyond rap and incorporating elements of wider musical influences such as soul (Double Standards), R&B (Mine), gospel (Hallelujah), Afrobeat and amapiano (Gbedu, Blessings, Tumbi)”.

Let’s move things to the following week: releases out on 12th January. Kali Uchis’s Orquídeas is going to be very special. Back in March, she released the hugely acclaimed and brilliant Red Moon in Venus. It is wonderful that we get another album so soon! Not too much is known about the ins and outs of her new album. Suffice to say, it is going to be another remarkable album that you will want to pre-order:

“Grammy Award winner Kali Uchis releases her fourth studio album, Orquídeas. Marking Uchis’ striking return to Spanish-language music, the project features a superstar lineup with Karol G, Peso Pluma, El Alfa, and JT. Inspired by the sensual allure of Colombia’s national flower, the orchid, Orquídeas traverses multiple Latin genres including reggaeton, dembow, bolero and salsa furthering Uchis’ connection to her Colombian roots”.

Maybe four more from January that are worth getting. Prior to coming to them, let’s stick with 12th January and Marika Hackman’s Big Sigh. Sporting a particularly wonderful and eye-catching cover, you will want to pre-order an astonishing album from one our most consistent and finest artists. It is an album that I will check out when it arrives:

“Big Sigh brings together the best of Marika’s previous works as an indie musician and adds a new layer of epic sounds and full-bodied production. Big Sigh is the “hardest record” Marika has ever made. As the title suggest, it is a relief of sorts – of sadness, of stress and lust, but mostly relief. Co-produced with Sam Petts Davies (Frank Ocean, Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and Charlie Andrew (Alt J, Wolf Alice, London Grammar). Lyrically there’s always romance alongside grief, with elements of vulnerability and feeling trapped.

“This album took a long time to make. It was not easy, and by the time I got to the end of it I was quiet. I wanted to be away from it and let it sit in its own space. Now the dust has settled and I’ve got re-enter the world of Big Sigh, and I’m excited. Stepping into a new world, moving forward, chipping away. Breathe in, breathe out. Big sigh”.

It is always interesting when a new Green Day albums comes along. Saviors is out on 19th January. This is an album that Green Day fans will be all over. I feel it may be one of their most important and brilliant releases since 2004’s American Idiot. Definitely, there are shared characteristics:

“Right from “The American Dream Is Killing Me” — the first single and opening track from Saviors, Green Day is sending out a fiery SOS for these troubled times. Amazingly, Saviors represents Green Day's 14th studio album, yet somehow this enduring power trio - Billie Joe Armstrong, Tré Cool and Mike Dirnt - remain devoted to their defiant craft that has fueled their career-long destruction of every boundary bestowed on the genre, and landed 3 East Bay punks in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. So even as the band acknowledges its illustrious past — such as with the 30th Anniversary of their now classic Dookie album and the 20th Anniversary of American Idiot coming 2024 — Green Day remains firmly focused on the here and now. Saviors features 15 tracks, and from the aforementioned opening track, "The American Dream Is Killing Me" to the blissfully ironic “Look Ma, No Brains!" to the fittingly emotional track, "Father To A Son,” this is a deeply felt song cycle that provides the soundtrack for our world on fire – the one we deserve, and the one that we need. The album was recorded in both London and Los Angeles under the audacious ear and rock prowess of Green Day's longtime friend and collaborator, Grammy® Award-winning producer Rob Cavallo. Need a little inspiration to live on to fight the good fight another day?”.

One of the biggest albums due the first quarter of next year comes on 19th January. Sleater-Kinney’s Little Rope. A stunning work from Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, another superlative album that is going to be well worth the money. Go and pre-order the latest from the mighty Sleater-Kinney:

“Sleater-Kinney release their eleventh studio album, Little Rope via Loma Vista Recordings. Recorded at Flora Recording and Playback in Portland, Oregon with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, Little Rope is a powerfully honest and soul-baring album by one of modern rock’s most vital bands. Little Rope is one of the finest, most delicately layered records in Sleater-Kinney’s nearly 30-year career. To call the album flawless feels like an insult to its intent – it careens headfirst into flaw and brokenness – a meditation on what living in a world of perpetual crisis has done to us, and what we do to the world in return. On the surface, the album’s 10 songs veer from spare to anthemic, catchy to deliberately hard-turning. But beneath that are perhaps the most complex and subtle arrangements of any Sleater-Kinney record, and a lyrical and emotional compass pointed firmly in the direction of something both liberating and terrifying: the sense that the only way to gain control is to let it go”.

Moving to 26th January and an artist people might not be aware of, Katy Kirby’s Blue Raspberry is one I can recommend people pre-order. It is going to be a really beautiful, open, playful and memorable album. If you are thinking about which albums are worth grabbing due out in January, Blue Raspberry should be near the top of your list:

“Blue Raspberry is Katy Kirby's follow up to her renowned debut album Cool Dry Place, which came out in February 2021.

Singer/ songwriter Katy Kirby introduced her warm, articulate vocals, perceptive lyrics, and playful adult-alternative style on her debut album as she toured tirelessly supporting bands like Waxahatchee, Andy Shauf, Julia Jacklin and Alex G.

That record was a tried-and-true folk collection, perfectly displaying the chops of a young songwriter and emanating the warm feel of a band in a room; Blue Raspberry, made with the same band and producers (Logan Chung and Alberto Sewald), hits the gas and enters completely new territory as we see Katy truly step into her own as a songwriting force. She fearlessly leans far into baroque piano pop on tracks like 'Redemption Arc' and the title track 'Blue Raspberry', and lyrically she explores themes of loss and queer love. Very few are able to capture the same emotional, theatrical magic of artists like Fiona Apple, Tom Waits and Joanna Newsom but Katy pulls it off on this record; standout 'Drop Dead'”.

A magnificent American artist whose albums are always remarkable, Torres is preparing to release her sixth studio album, What An Enormous Room, on 26th January. It follows the stunning Thirstier of 2021. Fans and newcomers alike will want to pre-order this album:

“What an enormous room is not only the title of the new album by Torres, it is an incantation, a phrase Mackenzie Scott has had in her head now for several years, for as long as some of the songs found here.

What an enormous room is an entirely new look at Torres. Scott’s undeniable skill as a guitar player is still the engine driving her songs, but in “Collect,” it’s pushed through a polyphonic octave generator, creating a sound that is sexy and alien and peak Torres, a provocative statement of purpose that’s both a call to arms and a call to the dance floor. “Wake to flowers” is a celebration of the unexpected joy of things turning out much better than one could have hoped. It’s on the slinkier side of What an enormous room, exploring new territory for Torres that Scott attributes to recording with her friend Sarah Jaffe, the Texan singer-songwriter whose inclination to break genre boundaries has led her to collaborate with Eminem and producer Symbolyc One.

Jaffe provides What an enormous room’s rhythm section, playing bass and drums, and the easiness of her collaboration with Scott made it possible for songs like “Jerk into joy” to emerge like the incantation central to it, and the album itself—after years in Scott’s head in a way that is simultaneously more direct and more sonically ambitious than any Torres record to date. When she sings “look at all the dancing I can do,” it’s an invitation to awe, and there is much here to be awed by. What an enormous room contains wry, Laurie Anderson–esque art rock, Nirvana’s rage, and ABBA’s strut. Rather than fear the unknown space she occupies, Mackenzie Scott has chosen to fill it with as much of herself as possible, an artist unwilling to be stifled. We’re hardly alone in our admiration for TORRES. As Julien Baker attests: What I can say about Torres is I think the music comes from a convicted place. Not convicted meaning a person is narrowly and foolishly committed to an ideal, or unshakably convinced of themselves, or a zealot, or stubborn.

I mean dedicated, I mean: If Torres’ music gets weird, gets brainy, gets funny, gets defiant, provokes, deliberately scandalizes, employs the crass to undermine the austere, courts lofty philosophical truth—it’s all done with the conviction of an artist with the (essential) belief in the worth of their task. I think you can hear it in the songs, someone reaching, leaning over the boundary between known and not, probing the almighty. After a decade and six studio albums and however many one-offs and tours and articles read and conversations had, the parts of this pursuit I’ve been able to observe are all marked by a dedication to creation that treats the act ongoing with as much preciousness as the evidence of the act that is left in a record. The modes of being are different: heartbroken, broke, furious (right- and unrighteously), awestruck by love, compelled by desire. sometimes resigned to death, sometimes fascinated by and reverent of the future. Sometimes viscerally present, other times suspended in heady awareness, poised on a fulcrum of observation and participation in the phenomenon that aliveness is.

The tools are the same: instruments that growl and shriek and moan, a lyrical voice shouting, swooning, chuckling, snarling as the moment commands. Torres’ music-making is conducted in a melodic vocabulary unique to itself—methods, equipment, circumstances shifting around the impulse to affirm the self within the world, to make art that bears all these little artifacts of the divine and of the real and show it to people and know it is valuable. I think that’s what Mackenzie’s music does. And I think it’s just incredibly good music to listen”.

We are in February now. The first is perhaps the most anticipated debut album in many years. The Last Dinner Party’s Prelude to Ecstasy is one that you will definitely want to pre-order. The London band are one of the most talented and promising groups of this generation:

“Without doubt Last Dinner Party will be the sound of 2024. Their debut album Prelude To Ecstasy is released via Island Records. It was produced by James Ford in London, and features the breakthrough singles, “Nothing Matters”, “Sinner”, and “My Lady Of Mercy”.

At the turn of 2023, The Last Dinner Party was little more than a new name being shared amongst those that had caught them live. Great songs, strong aesthetic. Having spent much of 2022 writing those songs, road-testing them, and then taking them into the studio, it wasn’t until April when the band released the instantly more-ish, dark guitar-pop of Nothing Matters that seemingly everyone had now formed an opinion on them. It was an introduction that took the online world by storm, and yet behind all the excitement and narrative was a fantastically confident indie-rock song by a band doing it the old-fashioned way, out on the road.

Third single, My Lady Of Mercy, an almost gothic, haunting rock song, and now with this atmospheric and anthemic ballad, On Your Side, the band’s songwriting is testament to all the buzz and excitement already accumulated. As it should be. Rather than wilt under the spotlight, they’ve arguably become a tighter, stronger unit because of it”.

Out on 9th February is Chelsea Wolfe’s She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She. Another captivating songwriter with a voice that buckles the senses, I would encourage people to pre-order an album that is going to scoop some huge reviews:

“Chelsea Wolfe’s latest album, She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, is a rebirth in process. It’s about how such a moment connects to our past, our present, and our future. It’s a powerfully cathartic statement about cutting ties, as well as an important reminder that healing is cyclical and circular, and not a simple linear process. As Wolfe explains, “It’s a record about the past self reaching out to the present self reaching out to the future self to summon change, growth, and guidance. It’s a story of setting yourself free from situations and patterns that are holding you back, in order to become self-empowered. It’s an invitation to step into your authenticity”.

A terrific young artist who is still under the radar I think, Declan McKenna’s What Happened to the Beach? is a treat out on 9th February. 2020’s Zeros was an acclaimed and wonderful album. Almost four years after that was released, we get another treasure from a magnificent artist. If you do not know much about him, I can recommend checking out interviews and his previous albums. There are scant details about the album out there at this early stage. Even so, he is such a strong artist who never puts a foot wrong. His new album will definitely be worth time and investment:

“Produced by Gianluca Buccellati (Lana Del Rey, Arlo Parks), What Happened To The Beach? marks Mckenna’s third studio album following 2020’s Zeros. The LP is an album that revels in both space and atmosphere and the tracks much looser”.

An album I am looking forward to is Helado Negro’s Phasor. Due out on 9th February, you should pre-order this album. It is going to be a magnificent release you will not want to miss out on. Definitely worth some investigation if you have not heard of Helado Negro and want to take that first step:

“The eighth full-length album in Helado’s catalogue follows his critically acclaimed 2021 album Far In.

Some of the seeds for Phasor were planted in 2019 on Lange’s 39th birthday after a 5-hour visit to Salvatore Matirano’s SAL MAR machine at the University of Illinois. A complex synthesizer that creates music generatively with a vintage super computer brain and analog oscillators, it can create an infinite amount of possibilities in sound sequences. “I was enthralled by it,” Lange recalls.

That SAL MAR experience became the bedrock for Phasor. It taught Lange more about himself and became central to his creative process. “It gave me special insight into what stimulates me,” Lange explains. “This pursuit of constant curiosity in process and outcome. The songs are the fruit, but I love what’s under the dirt. The unseen magical process. I don’t want everybody to see it because not everyone cares to see it. Some of us just want the fruit. I do. But I want to grow the fruit, too.”

Phasor is Lange’s tightest collection—deep, atmospheric, meticulously executed. It’s aligned with 2019’s This Is How You Smile which found him incorporating more upfront drums and bass and focused grooves. His 2021 album, Far In, focused on being in quarantine—talking to your mother through Zoom instead of across a room. Phasor, in turn, is a homage to going outside again. It’s a returning-to-life record, remembering what the sun feels like and letting it warm your skin”.

Before getting to an album from 23rd February – and the one I am most looking forward to -, there are a selection due out on 16th February that I will highlight. Grandaddy’s Blu Wav is the first one. The legendary band’s forthcoming album will be one you’ll want to pre-order:

“Grandaddy release a brand new studio album Blu Wav via Dangerbird Records. A prolific storyteller, Jason Lytle is inspired by the overwhelming beauty of nature to the mundane moments that spark life’s strongest memories. Introducing pedal steel into the band’s repertoire for the first time, buoyant lead single “Watercooler” comments on the dichotomy of both. It was inspired by having his own outdoorsy rock guy (in both senses of the word) lifestyle while his partner had an office job. Lytle shares, “Most of my relationships have involved girls who worked in office settings. This song is about the end of one, or perhaps a few, of those relationships. Listeners will also notice the pedal steel on this track and eventually on many others from the forthcoming new album. It’s a first for Grandaddy, and I couldn't be more thrilled about this fact.”

With the album title Blu Wav meant to be a literal mash-up of “bluegrass” and “new wave”, the new collection has a distinct feel, a uniform vibe, and a somewhat unexpected sound. It was conceived as Grandaddy maestro Jason Lytle was driving through the Nevada desert, and Patti Page’s "Tennessee Waltz" came across the classic country station on the radio. He was immediately intrigued by the possibilities of what it might sound like to keep the slow sway and sweet, simple lyrics of the bluegrass waltz while adding layers of dense synthesizers and the electronics of new wave. It incorporates the lo-fi lushness and sometimes-psychedelic orchestration Grandaddy is knownfor with Lytle’sfirst foray into true country. Seven of its 13 songs are waltzes, and as Lytle notes, “there’s an inordinate amount of pedal steel”.

The brilliant IDLES release TANGK on 16th February. With a range of physical formats available for you to pre-order it on, there is no reason not to go and check out this latest album from one of the world’s very finest bands! I love everything they put out into the world:

“TANGK is the righteous and vibrant fifth album from madcap truth-seekers, IDLES. Pronounced “tank” with a whiff of the “g” - an onomatopoeic reference to the lashing way the band imagined their guitars sounding that has since grown into a sigil for living in love - the record is the band’s most ambitious and striking work yet. Where IDLES were once set on taking the world’s piss, squaring off with strong jaws against the perennially entitled, and exercising personal trauma in real time, they have arrived in this new act to offer the fruits of such perseverance: love, joy, and indeed gratitude for the mere opportunity of existence.

A radical sense of defiant empowerment radiates from TANGK, co-produced by Nigel Godrich, Kenny Beats, and IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen. Despite his reputation as an incendiary post-punk sparkplug, frontman Joe Talbot sings almost all the feelings inside these 10 songs with hard-earned soul, offering each lusty vow or solidarity plea as a bona fide pop song—that is, a thing for everyone to pass around and share, communal anthems intended for overcoming our grievance.

TANGK is a love album—open to anyone who requires something to shout out loud in order to fend off any encroaching sense of the void, now or forever”.

The penultimate album you should check out is due on 16th February. Paloma Faith’s superb The Glorification of Sadness. I would encourage those who might not be aware of or a huge fan of Faith’s to pre-order this album, as I think this might be her best work yet. Its themes and objectives are ones that we can all get behind and appreciate:

“The Glorification of Sadness is more than an album about relationships. The celebration of finding your way back after leaving a long term relationship, being empowered even in your failures and taking responsibility for your own happiness. It is Paloma's most personal album to date, drawing on her own experiences with Paloma acting as the anchor to direct a deeply personal narrative and album. This is the first new music from Paloma since the release of her fifth studio album Infinite Things in November 2020 and is the first time in her career where she has executively produced a record”.

On 23rd February, queen Nadine Shah releases Filthy Underneath. Following 2020’s Kitchen Sink, the first single from her new album, Topless Mother, might be one of her very best songs. It is insanely catchy and brilliant! I have no hesitation in recommending that everyone pre-orders what is going to be among the best albums of next year:

“Nadine Shah releases her fifth album - Filthy Underneath on EMI North. The follow up to 2020's critically acclaimed Kitchen Sink and 2017's Mercury Prize nominated Holiday Destination.

Filthy Underneath chronicles a period of unprecedented turbulence in Nadine Shah’s life. And yet, the experience of listening to it is oddly life-affirming – a parade of ghosts spanning the entirety of Nadine’s thirty-seven years, moving with balletic beauty to the music that Nadine and long-time co-writer and producer Ben Hillier have created around them, with renewed emphasis on placing melody and movement front and centre”.

One in December, a few from January, more from February, the albums above are ones you might want to save money for. Christmas is not too far away so, if you are saving for an album or get some money as a present, I hope the suggestions above are of use! It is looking like a pretty interesting start to 2024 albums-wise. As I say, things can be added and change between now and then – as these are albums confirmed as of 31st October. I am sure there are one or two albums above that you will want to…

ADD to your collection.

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work at Thirty-Four: Whether Overused or Perfect in Anything, This Classic Endures and Inspires Still

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work at Thirty-Four

Whether Overused or Perfect in Anything, This Classic Endures and Inspires Still

_________

A Kate Bush single…

I have written about a fair few times, I want to bring together a feature reviews and interviews about it. Whilst This Woman’s Work was released as a single on 20th November, 1989, the fact is that it appeared on the film soundtrack of John Hughes’s She’s Having a Baby the previous year. It is definitely one of Bush’s most emotive and memorable songs. Before moving on, here is some interview archive where Kate Bush talked about the wonderful This Woman’s Work:

“That's the sequence I had to write the song about, and it's really very moving, him in the waiting room, having flashbacks of his wife and him going for walks, decorating... It's exploring his sadness and guilt: suddenly it's the point where he has to grow up. He'd been such a wally up to this point. (Len Brown, 'In The Realm Of The Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)

There's a film called 'She's Having A Baby'. And John Hughes, the director, rung up and said that he had a sequence in the film that he really wanted a song written to be with. And I'd only worked the once before on the 'Castaway' film - where I'd really enjoyed that - so I was extremely tempted by the offer. And when he sent the piece of film that the song was going to be part of, I just thought it was wonderful, it was so moving, a very moving piece of film. And in a way, there was a sense that the whole film built up to this moment. And it was a very easy song to write. It was very quick. And just kind of came, like a lot of songs do. Even if you struggle for months, in the end, they just kind of go - BLAH! - You know. [Laughs]. So that was the first song that I wrote for 'The Sensual World' album. In fact at the time we weren't even sure whether to put it on the album or not. And I must say that Del was very instrumental in saying that I should put it on the album, and I'm very glad I did. Because I had the most fantastic response - in some ways, maybe the greatest response - to this song. And I was really - I was absolutely thrilled, that you felt that way about it. (Kate Bush Con, 1990)”.

Whereas Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has been used in various places but took off when it appeared on Netflix’s Stranger Things in 2022, This Woman’s Work has not had the same explosion. Even so, it has been used quite frequently. I will come to an article that argues, perhaps, the song is a bit of a go-to. Seen as an emotional song that is a little easily deployed and, therefore, common, I think that This Woman’s Work has elevated many a moment. I will wrap up with thoughts about a stunning song that is as impactful and emotional as it has ever been. Vulture wrote about how This Woman’s Work was used effectively in season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale:

“This Woman’s Work,” a ballad originally written by Kate Bush for a 1980s John Hughes movie, has appeared many, many times over the years in film and on television. Unlike other songs that suffer from pop-cultural overuse — like “Hallelujah,” in all its incarnations — this gut puncher about trying to summon strength in a moment of profound weakness never loses its power. Instead, it has accumulated additional, profound layers of meaning.

Most recently, “This Woman’s Work” shows up in season two of The Handmaid’s Tale, during the horrifying opening sequence in which June (Elisabeth Moss) and several other Handmaids realize they are about to be executed. As each woman is shoved toward a noose, the first, delicate trembles of Bush’s voice break through the silence. Suddenly, with “This Woman’s Work” laid on top of it, a moment that is already terribly sad becomes utterly devastating. That musical choice injects the scene with a sense of futility — “All the things we should have done though we never did” — and also a tinge of irony.

“This woman’s world / Oh, it’s hard on the man,” Bush sings, even though the bleak dystopia these women inhabit is run by men, and it’s monumentally harder by the longest of long shots for women. “I know you’ve got a little life in you yet,” Bush continues. “I know you’ve got a lot of strength left.” That may be a message that June and her fellow women are trying to convey to themselves, even as they appear to be facing the end, but it’s also one sent from the show to those of us watching. June’s got more than a little life in her yet, it says. You’ll see after she and the others survive this moment. Indeed they do, as the floor beneath their feet never drops away and they escape the gallows, shaken but still alive.

“It was shattering and perfect,” Bruce Miller, creator of The Handmaid’s Tale adaptation, told Vulture’s Maria Elena Fernandez about the track. “One of the things I really like about the song is that on its face, there’s a bit of very interesting lyrical play. It’s nice that that’s going on while you’re watching.”

That kind of lyrical play and juxtaposition wasn’t something that Kate Bush necessarily envisioned back in the ’80s. As she explained in a 1989 interview with the BBC’s Radio One, she wrote “This Woman’s Work” specifically for a scene in the John Hughes movie She’s Having a Baby, about a couple, played by Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Montgomery, navigating marriage and the imminent birth of their first child. Originally, the track was meant to underscore a moment of crisis and reflection for Bacon’s character, as he waits to find out whether his wife and about-to-be-born baby will make it through a potentially dangerous delivery.

“This is actually the moment in the film where he has to grow up. He has no choice,” Bush explained in the BBC interview. “There he is, he’s not a kid anymore; you can see he’s in a very grown-up situation. And he starts, in his head, going back to the times they were together. There are clips of film of them laughing together and doing up their flat and all this kind of thing. And it was such a powerful visual: it’s one of the quickest songs I’ve ever written. It was so easy to write. We had the piece of footage on video, so we plugged it up so that I could actually watch the monitor while I was sitting at the piano and I just wrote the song to these visuals.”

It’s obvious while watching that scene that it was designed to sync up with its story and emotional beats, which makes it a little on the nose, but still certainly moving. Yet Bush’s lyrics are so brilliantly universal that the song has proven to be applicable to an array of significant pop-culture moments.

In the years since She’s Having a Baby was released, “This Woman’s Work” has provided the soundtrack for: other men having breakdowns (the Party of Five episode “Hitting Bottom”); young men and women grappling with abuse and what it means to be a victim (the second act of the Felicity two-parter “Drawing the Line”); double agents grappling with grief over the loss of their fiancés (the second episode of Alias); longtime friends having sex for the first time (the movie Love and Basketball, which features the Maxwell cover); and, of course, for women having babies. That last one happens in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, of all things, that opted for a cover by Swedish musician Emma Ejwertz. The FXX comedy isn’t known for its sentimentality, but when “This Woman’s Work” popped up in season six after Dee delivered a baby in what turned out to be a surrogate pregnancy, a normally absurd sitcom about classless dopes actually got sweet for a couple minutes.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

When there’s an element of irony involved, Bush’s otherwise cathartic, ultraserious ode to pain and regret can even succeed at scoring laughs, as it did in the season one finale of You’re the Worst, when a deflated and drunk Lindsay sang a karaoke rendition of “This Woman’s Work.” As played by Kether Donohue, Lindsay did so beautifully, sincerely, and with absolutely no awareness that she’s never done any actual work in her whole damn life.

But in the past year or so, “This Woman’s Work” has more often been used to reflect the mood and mind-set of those fighting injustice, or those just trying to find shreds of hope in hopeless times. That trend may have started because of the way that Maxwell — who first covered the song for MTV Unplugged in 1997, then recorded it on his 2001 album Now — began to frame it during his 2016 live shows, flashing images of lives lost, often to police violence, on the screen while he performed. “As this violent year draws to a close, this song became protest, dirge and battle cry,” a writer for the Economist put it in October 2016. “Night after night, by juxtaposing black and white, man and woman, today and yesterday, ‘This Woman’s Work’ has been reborn as a plea for social change and an olive branch of inclusivity.”

It made complete sense, then, when Maxwell’s take on the song was featured in a trailer for Fox’s limited series Shots Fired, which explored racism and police brutality. In that context, the song captured exhaustion and trauma of seeing the same tragedies play out over and over again (“Make it go away”).

When Spike Lee used it in the penultimate episode of She’s Gotta Have It, again within a story line about cops and racism, it had a similar effect. Maxwell’s cover slips in after the protagonist, Nola, insists on being taken into custody after an uppity white neighbor accuses her homeless friend Papo of spraying graffiti on the steps of a Brooklyn brownstone. Both Papo and Nola, who tries to take responsibility for the infraction, end up getting arrested and head to the station while Maxwell, again, insists in that desperate falsetto that they can find strength. To an even deeper degree than it does in that admittedly brief Shots Fired trailer, the song communicates how tired Nola is of having to defend herself and her friends, again and again having to do the work of a black woman living in a gentrifying neighborhood.

Now that we’re two years out from Maxwell’s 2016 concert tour and his reimagining of the subtext for “This Woman’s Work,” it’s obvious why the song resonates even more now. “Pray God you can cope” isn’t just the first lyric of this beautiful dark night of the soul set to music; it’s what people whisper to themselves in 2018 before they check their news feeds. “Make it go away” is what we say once we start processing what’s there. There’s a sense in the air that the country is stuck in some limbo between despair, surrender, and stubborn perseverance. All those feelings are conjured up by Kate Bush’s song, which was originally conceived to capture a moment of profound personal crisis but works just as well at capturing a social or political one.

That makes it just right for a drama like The Handmaid’s Tale, which is often received as if it’s the worst-case scenario of America’s future. In every episode, June and her fellow Handmaids are trying to summon the fortitude to press on, to get to a place where they don’t feel like they should be hoping, but where they can just hope. By placing “This Woman’s Work” in that near-hanging sequence at the beginning of season two, the show emphasizes through music that the possibility of death always hovers over June and her Handmaid sisters, but their fight to find a little life — not just by bearing children but by someday being free enough to build lives for themselves again — is going to continue. In other words, this woman’s work is never done.

“This Woman’s Work” is also a fitting in the Hulu drama for an simpler reason: Once again, a song that Kate Bush wrote just a few years after Margaret Atwood published The Handmaid’s Tale is being used to convey just how scary it is when a pregnant woman finds her life in danger”.

A new version of the song, by Max Tundra, was released earlier this year. It is a song that sounds great and interesting when others tackle in. Maybe some see This Woman’s Work as a personal song to Kate Bush or one that should not be wilfully and too overly used and incorporated into film and T.V. It is intriguing how it was perceived when featured in the recent Netflix film, The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez. The Daily Beast had their say on a song that is a needle drop go-to to many – perhaps a track that should remain relatively chaste and untouched:

“Rumor has it that I enjoyed The Mother, Netflix’s new action film starring Jennifer Lopez. But really, I’m not so sure if that’s true. I’ve been a little too hung up on one moment, right at the very end of the movie, to remember what came before. Everything up until those last 10 seconds was more than serviceable—at least, I think it was. It all turned into flat, static noise the second I heard two piano notes, followed by the familiar coo of a certain English chanteuse, rattling over a shot of a resolute and triumphant-looking J.Lo: Ooooooohhhhhh haaaaooooooooooo.

If you’ve not yet experienced the phenomenon of music supervisors plopping Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” into a piece of visual media that you’re watching, then you either have hobbies that don’t include mindlessly staring at a screen all day (good for you!), or you haven’t yet seen The Mother (a curse unto your firstborn). At this point, “This Woman’s Work” is starting to veer on, well, any song on the Suicide Squad or Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks in terms of sheer overuse.

It’s kind of like when a lot of us cried watching that one gay episode of The Last of Us, before the most annoying people online cropped up to say, “Stop weaponizing Max Richter’s ‘On the Nature of Daylight.’” Since its release in 2004, Richter’s song appeared in notable moments in The Last of Us, Arrival, Shutter Island, and several other films and television shows as well. I don’t really have much of an ear for recognizing the repetition of a sappy orchestral piece, but I certainly do for a bravura vocal performance from one Kate Bush. And I fear that too many music supervisors are misunderstanding the intention behind “This Woman’s Work” and using it as a slapdash form of emotional exploitation.

“This Woman’s Work” was written by Bush for John Hughes’ 1988 film, She’s Having a Baby. The song is introduced in a pivotal moment during the film, which is by-and-large a romantic comedy—until the titular baby that she’s having comes a-knockin’, and the movie suddenly takes on a very real gravity. In a hospital waiting room, Jake (Kevin Bacon) reflects upon his relationship with his wife Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern), whose health is in danger during labor, when their child reaches the breech position. Jake understands that he could lose Kristy, their child, or the both of them, and he can’t even be near them in this moment. As he waits for news, a flashback montage of his life with Kristy plays, set to “This Woman’s Work.”

It sounds almost a bit corny—and distinctly ’80s—but the scene is incredibly effective in its context. That’s especially true, considering that this was the first time audiences ever heard “This Woman’s Work;” it was written by Bush about experiencing a crisis during childbirth, from the man’s point of view. The video for the song made these details a bit murkier, so it could resonate with a larger audience, but the crux of the song’s meaning stays the same. Put simply: If you’re going to use “This Woman’s Work” in a film or television show, it should stay far away from the thin line between sentimental and hokey.

In the past five years alone, I’ve seen two shocking and unforgettable debasements of “This Woman’s Work,” which were equally appalling, but for different reasons. The first was in the second season premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale, where a group of 50 or so handmaids are sent to a barren, dystopian version of Fenway Park and made to climb up to gallows, where they think they are about to be hung under the glare of stadium lights. As nooses are put around their necks, that Bush’s memorable warble sings out. “I know you have a little life in you yet/ I know you have a lot of strength left,” she croons, while the handmaids, who have had their mouths muffled, silently exchange glances and tearfully try to accept their fate”.

Constantly appearing on the top ten and twenty lists of Kate Bush songs, This Woman’s Work is played fairly regular on radio. Still homogenised as an artist when it comes to a limited number of songs played, I can understand why This Woman’s Work resonates. Rather than it being specific to Kate Bush, the lyrics - which talk about dealing with a crisis - are relevant constantly. At a very bleak and tough time, it is going to be a song that filmmakers gravitate towards. Neon Music, in a feature from August, explored the legacy and continued relevance of This Woman’s Work. If Daily Beast felt it was an over-used part of soundtrack and not deployed carefully or skilfully, this article was a little more open-minded:

“As Kate Bush recalled in an interview with The Guardian, she wanted to write a song that would “make people cry”. She said, “I was very moved by the story. It was about a man who suddenly realises how much he loves his wife when she might die. It was such a powerful idea.” She also revealed that she had to work under pressure to finish the song in time for the film’s release. She said, “I had to write it very quickly. They sent me a video of the film, and I wrote it for the visuals. It was very difficult because there were lots of sound effects and dialogue over the top.” She also faced some technical problems while recording the song in her home studio. She said, “The tape kept breaking, and we had to splice it back together. It was a nightmare.“

LYRICS AND MUSICAL ELEMENTS OF THE SONG

At the heart of This Woman’s Work lie its poignant lyrics, which delve deep into the emotions of fear, guilt, regret, love, and hope experienced by the husband during his wife’s life-threatening situation. The song’s musical composition is a masterclass in evoking emotion. The piano melody, which sets the tone, builds tension throughout the song, drawing listeners into its narrative.

Bush’s vocal performance is nothing short of mesmerising, showcasing her range and emotion and bringing the meaning of This Woman’s Work to life. The strategic use of silence, pauses, and breaths adds drama and contrast, while the background vocals provide depth and harmony. The inclusion of strings further amplifies the song’s emotional impact, making it a timeless piece.

The lyrics of This Woman’s Work are divided into three verses and a chorus that repeat throughout the song. The first verse introduces the husband’s situation as he waits outside the operating room while his wife undergoes an emergency caesarean section. He reflects on how he has taken her for granted and how he wishes he could have done more for her:

I should be crying, but I just can’t let it show. I should be hoping, but I can’t stop thinking Of all the things I should’ve said that I never said, all the things we should’ve done that we never did All the things I should’ve given, but I didn’t. Oh, darling, make it go. Make it go away.

The chorus expresses his fear of losing her and his hope that she will survive:

Give me these moments back. Give them back to me. Give me that little kiss. Give me your hand.

The second verse shows his regret for not being more supportive of her dreams and aspirations:

I know you have a little life in you yet I know you have a lot of strength left. I know you have a little life in you yet I know you have a lot of strength left. I should be crying, but I just can’t let it show. I should be hoping, but I can’t stop thinking. Of all the things we should’ve said that we never said All the things we should’ve done that we never did All the things that you needed from me All the things that you wanted for me All the things that I should’ve given but I didn’t

The third verse reveals his love for her and his gratitude for their life together:

Oh, darling, make it go away. Just make it go away now.

The musical elements of This Woman’s Work complement and enhance its lyrics, creating a powerful and moving song. The piano melody, composed by Bush herself, is simple yet effective, consisting of a few chords that repeat with slight variations. The melody sets the mood of the song, which is sombre and melancholic, and builds up tension throughout the song, mirroring the husband’s anxiety and anticipation. The melody also matches the rhythm and pace of the film’s visuals, creating a seamless integration of sound and image.

RECEPTION AND LEGACY OF THE SONG

Upon its release, This Woman’s Work received acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Although it only reached No. 25 in the UK charts, it has since become one of Bush’s most beloved creations. The song’s emotional depth and relatability have made it a classic, touching on themes of womanhood, motherhood, and gender roles. Its influence can be seen in its numerous covers, references in other media, and its use in social movements.

Critics praised This Woman’s Work for its lyrical and musical brilliance, as well as its cinematic connection. Rolling Stone called it “one of Bush’s most stunning achievements”, describing it as “a devastating ballad that captures a man’s fear of losing his wife during childbirth”. The New York Times described it as “a haunting song that matches words to images with eerie precision”, noting that “it is rare for a pop song to be so perfectly suited to a movie scene”. The Guardian ranked it as one of Bush’s best songs, stating that “it is hard to think of another song that packs such an emotional punch in such a short space of time”.

Audiences also responded positively to This Woman’s Work, especially women who related to its themes of womanhood, motherhood, and gender roles. Many women found the song empowering and inspiring, as it highlighted the strength and resilience of women in the face of adversity. Some women also used the song as a source of comfort and support during their own experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, or loss. For example, one woman wrote on a fan forum: “This song helped me through a very difficult time in my life when I had a miscarriage. It made me feel less alone and more hopeful.“

This Woman’s Work has also been covered, sampled, referenced, or used in various forms of media, demonstrating its widespread appeal and influence. Some of the most notable examples are:

She’s Having a Baby (1988), where the song was originally featured and synced with the climax scene.

In the film Love & Basketball (2000), Maxwell’s cover of the song was used in a similar scene of a woman giving birth while her partner plays basketball.

The TV show ER (2001), where the song was used in an episode where a pregnant woman suffers a stroke and her husband has to decide whether to save her or their baby.

The TV show The Handmaid’s Tale (2017), where the song was used in an episode where a handmaid gives birth in a dystopian society where women are oppressed and enslaved.

The TV show Pose (2018), where the song was used in an episode where a transgender woman undergoes gender confirmation surgery and faces complications.

The social movement #MeToo (2017–present), where the song was used as a rallying cry for women who have experienced sexual harassment or assault.

MOST NOTABLE COVERS OF THE SONG

One of the most renowned covers of This Woman’s Work is by American singer-songwriter Maxwell. His neo-soul rendition, first performed for his MTV Unplugged session in 1997 and later released as a single in 2001, brought a fresh perspective to the song. Maxwell’s Woman’s Work introduced an urbanised sound with a longer instrumental intro and a distinct vocal delivery and interpretation. The cover found its way into movies like Love & Basketball, showcasing its widespread appeal.

Maxwell’s version of This Woman’s Work differs from Kate Bush’s original in several ways, both musically and lyrically. Musically, Maxwell’s version has a more contemporary and urban sound, featuring elements of R&B, soul, and hip-hop. He also extends the instrumental intro of the song, adding drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and horns to create a groove and a build-up. He also changes the key of the song from A minor to C minor, making it lower and darker”.

As it turns thirty-four on 20th November, I wanted to approach This Woman’s Work from a different perspective. Only reaching twenty-five in the U.K. when it was released as The Sensual World’s second single in 1989, I do feel that the song deserved better on the charts. It has been used a lot through film and T.V., though I feel it is good This Woman’s Work has widespread appeal. It goes to show…

WHAT a powerful song it is.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lucy Gaffney

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 PHOTO CREDIT: Charlotte Patmore

Lucy Gaffney

_________

EVEN though most of the interviews…

I am going to quote are from around 2020 and 2021, I think that is very much worth spotlighting the wonderful Lucy Gaffney. The Belfast artist is proudly putting Irish music on the map. Showing there is incredible strength and quality coming from there. I will use this feature to highlight some interviews where we learn more about a truly remarkable young artist who everyone needs to know about. Her latest single, Next Year, shows why she is such a special and instantly memorable songwriter! Gifted with a sublime voice and a wonderful songwriting ear and eye, her music is unforgettable! I am going to start with this biography about the sensational Lucy Gaffney:

“'Celestial' - Liam Gallagher

'A superstar in waiting' - This Feeling

'Seriously great record' - Huw Stephens/BBC Radio 1

Hailing from Belfast, Irish singer-songwriter Lucy Gaffney’s music conveys an abundance of hypnotic and sensuous charm with vocals that flow effortlessly over laid-back brooding lo-fi rock, enveloped in a bohemian haze.

Recent single 
‘Easy Come Easy Go’ captures your attention from the first note. It invites you into a world that preaches of the beauty in the mundane, everyday loneliness and coping with the anxieties of the unforeseen. It takes you on a journey immersed in distortion-driven guitars reminiscent of the Pixies that counter low evocative conversation in Lucy’s voice. Tilting a cap towards Elliot Smith, Lucy’s vocals evoke a warmth, longing and urgency that sparkle with a glimmer of hope from beginning to end. Lucy recorded the track in her home-studio in Liverpool in 2021 and it was produced by her brother Thom Southern.

Lucy Gaffney began her solo career at the beginning of 2020. Penned in Liverpool, her debut singles ‘Can’t Escape’ and ‘Send Me Away’ were produced by The Coral frontman James Skelly and immediately caught the attention of Ireland’s most influential, with Hot Press Magazine saying Gaffney “has emerged as one of the country’s most promising indie-pop prospects” and the iconic Liam Gallagher calling her music “celestial”.

Big supporters at radio have come in the form of BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Across The Line, BBC Radio 1, BBC Introducing Merseyside, RTE Radio 1, RTE 2FM, Radio X, NPO 3FM and KINK. Lucy has opened for DMAs, Bill Ryder-Jones and Sorcha Richardson in her short career to date - summer 2022 will see her biggest performance yet opening for Ryan McMullan at Belfast’s 5,000 capacity Custom House Square”.

I do hope that Lucy Gaffney gets the opportunity to perform in the U.K. (especially London). I know there are a lot of her fans down here that would love to see her on the stage. I think one of the most striking and notable aspects of Lucy Gaffney’s music is the sense of atmosphere. You get songs filled with wind, weather and the wild. Dreamy vocals with something more stirring. Such a varied and instinctive artist, Gaffney stands out from a wave of songwriters this year. Because of that, she is going to enjoy a very long and successful career! I am going to include a recent feature where Gaffney chose albums that are influential to her. There are some pleasant surprises in the mix! I am going to start out with this Fred Perry question-and-answer:

“Describe your style in three words?

Comfy, chilled, casual.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

Queens Of The Stone Age - Reading & Leeds Festival 2016, it was the first time I got up on someone’s shoulders and the sun was setting throughout the whole gig and the sky was bright orange, absolute vibes.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?

Nirvana and Elliot Smith. I guess there’s something magic in the fact that I’ll physically never be able to witness either of those musicians play live, makes them even more special and genius. I seriously can’t imagine what seeing them must have felt like.

Which subcultures have influenced you?

From growing up and discovering new genres of music and art, I definitely have taken a pinch of a lot of different subcultures into my style and my tastes. The mods always resonated with me, especially when I discovered The Who and The Jam as a teenager but I don’t think I could ever fully commit to the essence of it all though. I also always wanted to be a grunger but I doubt I’m cool enough haha. I went through a mad '60s phase at one point too, I wanted to be Nico, flares, fringe, pea coat, deadpan vocals. I still really love all that, it never goes out of style.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

David Bowie - I was gutted when he passed away, I remember that day I sat and watched all his interviews online. He’s just so down to earth and suave. Also, he’s got some great one-liners, I’d probably spend the whole hour laughing at his jokes.

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?

The Olympia Theatre in Dublin. It’s always been a mega gig and night for me there, and the backstage area is class.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?

Chrissy Hynde from the Pretenders. I’m not sure if she’s unsung. But she’s an absolute legend in rock music. Her voice and presence on stage is second to none. She could compete with any man in rock n roll. I hung out with her backstage after a Neil Young gig in Dublin and we chatted through the night, she’s the most supportive and cool person I’ve ever met, an absolute legend.

The first track you played on repeat?

'Walk On The Wild Side' by Lou Reed.

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Sweet Black Angel' by The Rolling Stones. I used to have it as my alarm clock ring tone when I got up for school every day, always puts me in a good mood. Also discovering the 'Exile On Main Street' album was a game-changer for me.

One record you would kee forever?

'Ape In Pink Marble' by Devendra Banhart.

A song lyric that has inspired you?

I remember that time you told me, you said
'Love is touching souls'
Surely you touched mine, 'cause
Part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time"

From 'A Case Of You' by Joni Mitchell.

The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?

'Cosmic Dancer' by T. Rex. I danced with a guy in Edinburgh to this one night in a club that was doing a '70s dance night, we never got each other's names, but we danced circa 1970 and I think it was one of the most freeing and fun nights of my life”.

In 2020, LOCK spoke with an artist they were really excited about. Even though she was – and is, I guess – a rising artist, that promise and potential was there. Showcasing the strength of Irish music, the amazing Lucy Gaffney let us into her world. I am a recent fan of hers, so it is interesting looking back at older interviews:

“You’ve recently released your In The Air EP, which includes an acoustic version of ‘Can’t Escape’, and a cover of DMA’s, The Stone Roses and Oasis.

How did you choose which songs to include and cover?

I just really liked playing those songs acoustic in my own style.

People seemed to love the videos I put up of them, so I thought it’d be kind of cool to record them in my studio properly during lockdown for something extra to have online before my second single drops.

How did it feel to have your cover of ‘Songbird’ shared and described as “celestial” by Liam Gallagher?

That was pretty cool haha. I remember a fan messaged me the morning after I released it saying ‘you know Liam’s been talking about your cover?!’ Best compliment ever.

How have you found the Liverpool music scene in comparison to your hometown of Belfast?

Liverpool’s ALL about the music for sure, living and breathing it.

You can’t turn a street corner without hearing a busker or a pub blasting tunes everyday of the week.

Belfast has a great music scene too but I feel like there isn’t as much of a young band culture throughout the city unless there’s a festival on or something.

There are some great nights and venues in Belfast but I think the scene needs to be embraced more.

Aside from music, how have you been keeping busy during lockdown?

I’ve been pretty busy with my music to be fair but apart from that I’ve done a a good bit of gardening and cooking – pretty proud of all the herbs and fruit I’ve grown.

Do you have any more releases planned for this year?

Yeah totally! I’ve got a single coming out in a few weeks and then there’s plenty more on the way after that.

I’m keeping it kind of hush hush at the minute but let’s just say the best has yet to come.

What are your goals for the future?

Touring non-stop if I can once gigs start properly again. I wanna play Glastonbury so bad!

What would you like listeners to take away from your music?

I just want my music to make people feel, music’s all about the buzz it gives you, so if people dig what I’m making I’m pretty proud of that”.

Let’s go forward to 2021. HotPress spoke with an artist that was described as "celestial" by Liam Gallagher. Tipped for success in 2021 (which was more than fulfilled!), Lucy Gaffney emerged as one of Northern Ireland’s most promising Indie-Pop names. Also in the interview, Gaffney reflected on her early days busking in Belfast; going solo; and drawing inspiration from the late great Sinéad O’Connor:

“I don’t even play covers that often, but that’s one Oasis song that I’ve always really loved – I think because it’s quite Beatles-y,” Lucy reflects. “I just stuck it up on Twitter, and within a couple of hours I had a fan messaging me, telling me that Liam had commented on it. I was like, ‘Wait, what?!’”

Although she was raised in Belfast, Lucy has been based in Liverpool in recent years – working in the city’s iconic Parr Street Studios with James Skelly on her first two singles. Skelly, who she first met while touring with his band The Coral, was a crucial force behind her evolution into a solo artist.

“I was coming out of a different band, where it was really veering towards me just being the lead singer,” she explains. “James Skelly was like, ‘These songs are really good. Have you recorded any of them?’ So me and the band went into the studio with him, and what we did felt more like a solo project. I decided that’s the way it should go, and James helped develop it – along with my brother. It just fell into place, and we went with it.”

“Irish music has always been really strong, but especially so at the minute – when you see how Fontaines D.C. have just taken over,” she continues. “I know I’m biased, but I feel like Irish acts have this really pure kind of talent. It goes back to Phil Lynott, and then U2. There’s always been very classic songwriting here – I suppose because there’s so much literature. You can’t get away from it. It’s in our blood.”

Placing her within this legacy of Irish talent, Lucy’s already been compared to the likes of Sinéad O’Connor.

“Sinéad O’Connor is amazing,” she enthuses. “Her track ‘Mandinka’ really inspired a lot of my new songs that haven’t come out yet. I first heard that when I was listening to Cillian Murphy’s show on BBC Radio 6 Music. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, why have I never heard this track?’ She’s got a great energy to her, and a bit of spunk, which I like.”

You can expect some of those Sinéad-inspired tracks in the months ahead – as Lucy reveals that she hasn’t been resting on her laurels over lockdown.

“I’ve got quite a lot to come out this year,” she says. “I was fairly busy towards the end of last year – working with a producer in LA, and a producer in England. I’m also writing some stuff with Bill Ryder-Jones at the minute. I should be releasing my next single and an EP in March. So it’s been a pretty busy year, in a weird way!”

I think we will get even more interviews with Lucy Gaffney soon. Picked up by radio stations like BBC Radio 6 Music, her music is spreading far and wide. No longer just an Irish treasure, she belongs to the world! Even if she is very original and is unmistakably indebted to nobody, there are various albums and artists that she has been inspired by. This feature from September sees Gaffney naming albums important to her. I have included most of them. I am especially interested in her Beck selections! I am a big fan of his - and I especially love 2005’s Guero. The fact that she leads with a very early and obscure album of his really piqued my interested and showed she has this deep love and knowledge of albums that many do not know about:

“Beck – One Foot In The Grave

This album brought something new into my life when I first heard it. I played it on repeat until I new every word and guitar riff like second nature. Each song blissfully brings with it a mood of off the cuff nonsense that resonated to the nth degree.  It changed my songwriting and allowed me the ability to care less about what fits on an album and what actually flows. Beck’s albums mould into every crevice of my life in some way or another. This one in particular needs to be heard from start to finish over and over to fully appreciate it. It’s a beautiful two fingers up to his success on ’Loser’ just months prior and encapsulates everything I love about raw untouched songwriting and production. The album artwork and inside sleeve on the LP is perfect and I’ve spent many a lazy afternoon enjoying it with a cup of tea in hand; ‘Sleeping Bag’, ‘Hollow Log’ & ‘It’s All In Your Mind’ being my highlights on the record.

Air – Moon Safari

This album was the catalyst for my love of dreamy French space-pop. Beth Hirsch’s vocal on this record washes over you and takes you on a journey of nonchalant coolness. I first heard the track ‘All I Need’ on a trip to Santa Monica, driving around with my cousins in the LA sunshine. The vocal feels like a personification of that – warm sunshine, flowing like silk over your brainwaves. I was lucky enough to stand front row at Air’s gig back in 2010 and it’s still one of the best moments of my life.

Chet Baker – My Funny Valentine

This is the first vinyl I ever bought for myself in Head Records in Belfast. My love for Chet Baker from then on ran deep. I got a record player for my 18th birthday and sat on my bed most nights listening to this instead of doing homework. This album brought me into my romance era in my early 20s, it also got me through a 12 hour art exam which I’m forever thankful for. You can’t help but loose yourself throughout every track. Chet’s voice is intoxicating. ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well’ might be my favourite but I blow with the wind in regard to that so I can’t really say for sure.

Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue

I guess this record really speaks for itself. It was my proper introduction to jazz at 16. I initially found this album when my older brother’s friend Jimi (with incredible taste) kindly leant me his iPod for a few days. I listened to ‘Blue In Green’ over and over until my heart hurt and wrote copious amounts of poems listening it with teenage angst. Getting the chance to listen to it on vinyl in a quiet room is simply breathtaking and should be on everyones to do list. 

Nirvana – Unplugged

It goes without saying that this is one of the best live performances of all time and makes the hairs on your neck stand up. As a little kid we used to play the full record start to finish on long car journeys to the west of Ireland and I remember saying over and over “Can you play the one about the parrot” because I was obsessed with the intensity of the storytelling. Kurt becomes the character in each song oozing humanity and depth. It absorbs you. ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night?’ is a prime example of this.

Beck – Sea Change

The album closest to my heart on this planet potentially. I have lived and breathed every track on this ten fold. I listen to this when I need to remember myself and feel whole again. It’s got me through many phases in my life. It’s the one record that I don’t think I can ever fully listen to too much. It’ll break your heart and put it back together on every listen. The album artwork visually has been a massive influence over the years. ‘Lost Cause’, ‘End Of The Day’ and ‘Guess I’m Doing Fine’ might be my favourites, but it’s far too hard to narrow it down with this record.

Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson

Thee coolest album ever made I imagine. I’ll be honest I listen to this the second I wake up on a weekly basis anytime I need an artistic pick me and to start my day with a little joie de vivre. You can’t listen to this without automatically feeling a little bit more sultry and cool. My French friends say its a crying shame that I can’t understand the depth of the poetry in the words but nevertheless its a sublime piece of unwordly art that makes you want to pack a case and move to Paris instantly”.

If you have not heard of Lucy Gaffney, she is a fabulous and enormously talented artist that I cannot recommend highly enough. Somebody we will be hearing from many years from now, she has had a very busy 2023. I am not sure what her gig plans are for 2024. I know there will be a lot of demand for her to come see people around the world. With September’s Daydream in Tokyo E.P. gaining acclaim, I want to end with a Thoughts Words Action feature, where Gaffney discussed the amazing and mesmeric title track:

“Lucy Gaffney returns today with new single ‘Daydream In Tokyo’ and news of a new EP of the same name to arrive on 29th September via Nettwerk.

Lucy Gaffney is no newcomer to the power of patience and pure intention. The Belfast native began releasing solo material in 2020, with two well-received lo-fi offerings recorded by The Coral frontman James Skelly. Fast forward to 2023 and ‘Daydream In Tokyo’ luminously marks her arrival. The first single from her upcoming second EP, it’s a pure-cut indie-pop gem every bit as Technicolour as Gaffney’s journey along the way.

Written when she was living in Liverpool, the song is an escapist anthem with a trajectory that takes you on a journey. Across three minutes, it captures how a potent sense of place far beyond can – even in one’s mind’s eye – be an antidote to the mundane. But for Gaffney, dreaming of Tokyo isn’t a knee-jerk lunge in the throes of wanderlust. Musing on walking through neon-lit streets, and singing ‘Thirteen’ by Big Star in a backstreet karaoke bar, it bears the physical imprint of the Japanese capital as channelled in her favourite film, Lost In Translation.

“I’ve always adored and been fascinated by its cinematography,” says Gaffney. “There’s so much depth in the mystery and ambiguity of discovering a foreign place. I find it hard not to completely relate to every scene. I can’t write unless there’s something inspiring me visually, so I wanted it to capture the aesthetic of the movie and, in a similar way, translate a relatability in everyday thoughts and relationships between people.”

Nodding to Bowie’s ‘China Girl,’ and jangle-pop gems like ‘There She Goes’ by The La’s and The Pretenders’ ‘Brass In Pocket’ as influences for its classic style and structure – along with the subtle but powerful approach of contemporary artists like beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers and girl in red – the single is a feat of full-blown indie-pop finesse. It may not be the case for all of Gaffney’s songs but ‘Daydream In Tokyo’ is open-hearted and idealist to its core. It also doubles as an invitation to dig deeper and discover the full spectrum of her sound.

“There’s a side of me that really likes writing in a darker way,” says Gaffney. “but there’s also a side to me that absolutely loves pop music and that feeling of elation when you are having a moment where you’re really up for a dance, and really rocking out to a tune. I was so heavily into the Cure and the Smiths, where every song is catastrophizing your own life, so that’s definitely worked its way into some of my writing. At the same time, making it pop is so much fun. It’s always been the big track that has turned me onto bands and got me hooked. It’s the lesser-known tracks that I fall in love with. The sad stuff is what you’ll give time to once you’re hooked on the tracks that make you feel elated. ‘Daydream In Tokyo’ is a song I want people to hear, then they can dig deeper.”

To record ‘Daydream In Tokyo,’ Gaffney flew to the Isle Of Lewis in The Hebrides, Scotland to record a bunch of her new tracks at Black Bay Studios with her brother Thom Southern and London-based producer Duncan Mills. “We had a lot of fun working on this track in particular and I think we captured a lot of that energy from the studio in the final mix,” she says. “I usually tend to construct songs with three tracks, meshing melodies and hooks together. Like on this song, I can usually just hear it in my head. I love deconstructing a track and blending things together, almost like a DJ would.”

Alongside Duncan Mills and Thom Southern, Gaffney tapped into the simple yet powerful majesty of the moment when she holed up in the secluded Black Bay recording studio on the Isle of Lewis last year. For two weeks, the trio worked around the clock to realise her vision for widescreen indie-pop that makes space for big hooks every bit as sonic points of reference such as Pixies and Pavement.

“The studio looked out onto the Atlantic ocean and hills of heather,” says Gaffney. “It was that kind of wild beauty you can’t really capture on your phone camera but you know you don’t want to forget. We’d wake up in the morning and record until 3 or 4 am some nights, so we quickly became a well-oiled machine where everyone had a part to play. Sure enough, we were like zombies by the end of it but I was always obsessed with that Exile on Main Street documentary as a kid so I was there for it. It was the best experience I’ve ever had in a studio, we all felt totally detached from society out there, no shops, no people, just the odd sheep or fisherman passing by. It was the “back of beyond.”

“My life this last decade has been so weird,” she says. “I’ve had really random experiences travelling with my music, like going to play in South Korea and stuff, I never thought I’d do that. I don’t know if my life will ever be as crazy as the last ten years but I love that it’s brought me to the point where I can finally understand more about myself. I’ve always sort of known the genres of music I’ve wanted to make from day one and I’m at the point where I can properly ask myself, ‘What can you physically do yourself and where can you go sonically?’”

“For me, the answer is telling yourself you actually need to embrace curiosity and do it now because there’s no better time than the present. As David Bowie once said: ‘If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting. I think I’m finally ready to embrace that”.

It is clear that everyone needs to hear Lucy Gaffney! A real dream of an artist, I am excited to see how her career evolves and unfolds. One of the most impressive artists that I have heard in a very long time. I really love what she is doing right now. Gaffney is someone who loves Ireland and proudly talks about her home and heritage. In return, the country is very…

PROUD of her!

___________

Follow Lucy Gaffney

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lucygaffneymusic/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lucy__gaffney

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@lucy_gaffney_music

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https://open.spotify.com/artist/1dWfI2kDIBAxs8OxI5GUVQ?si=kozk2mf_SKeXB-_QrbhKeg

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https://www.youtube.com/@lucygaffneymusic

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