FEATURE: Spotlight: Amanda Reifer

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamar Harding

Amanda Reifer

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A divine and simply extraordinary artist…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jimmy Fontaine

that everyone needs to listen out for, Amanda Reifer is someone very much equipped to go the full distance in music. She has an extraordinary sound and songwriting style that is so distinct and different. There are not that many interviews with her from this year. I want to start by going back to 2022. Following on from the 2020 single, Shitty Day, Amanda Reifer was in the process of putting the video together for the phenomenal single, Bag. Although I would argue this year has been important in terms of her career and evolution, 2022 was a big one. Poptized spent some time with Barbadian artist. Someone whose best days, I feel, are not too far away:

“Amanda Reifer is making 2022 her year, and she’s making sure it’ll be your year too. Infusing affirmations and good energy into her upbeat music, her songs are the perfect soundtrack for manifesting your goals. Her latest single “Bag,” her first release with Republic Records, is a vibrant pop song that combines a variety of genres, and it’s the perfect song to kick off your new year.

Brigid Young: Hi! Thanks so much for taking the time to hop on this call with me!

Amanda Reifer: Of course! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me! The feeling is mutual.

BY: So congratulations, first of all, on your release!

AR: Thank you!

BY: This is your first release since “Shitty Day,” which was back in 2020. How does it feel to have put out a new single?

AR: I’m really excited. I’m really excited, too, that it’s with the Republic partnership. It makes me feel like I’m moving forward after working for so long as an independent artist. It’s nice to have that support, and it’s a good start for me in terms of what’s to come for the rest of the year. Just super excited about it all.

BY: Do you feel like you have sort of a different goal or mission now with your music, since becoming a solo musician?

AR: Oh, for sure. In exploring my voice as a solo artist, I’ve found a lot of power and a lot of strength in expressing my womanhood so openly. My music gave me that experience of expressing myself without worrying if it resonated with the group members, and it gave me that power. I really want to share that feeling. When I write my songs, I want them to empower the listener. Definitely women listening, but also men! I want you to feel like there’s nothing you’re incapable of doing. That’s the energy I want to give. I also want people to understand the importance of expressing, not just the strength and the power, but also the vulnerability and softness, and the power that’s in acknowledging those parts of yourself. So for me, it’s just about pure expression, and the power behind that. I want people to be able to feel that.

BY: Definitely. Do you feel like it’s sort of therapeutic, in a way? To be able to write so authentically?

AR: Yes! Definitely. I’ve been working on this now, as a solo artist, for a few years, and being able to express myself through song in the way that I have has really helped me to grow as an individual, and to grow as a woman, and I love that, you know? I definitely feel it’s a lot more… you get a release from it when you talk from your own experience.

BY: For sure.  So, “Rich Bitch Juice” was your first track to really blow up, and like you’ve said, you’ve been a solo musician for a few years now, so how did it feel to see that success after working so hard at your craft for a while?

AR: It feels great! I love that people enjoy the song as much as I do, like that song is a vision board for my life, really. It’s like an audio vision board, so to speak. It was me speaking into existence: the mood, the energy that I wanted to carry through. I love that it resonated with so many people. If someone turns it on in the morning and it gets them started in the right way, and gets them going after things they want in life, then I’ve done my job! I love that, it makes me very happy.

BY: That’s awesome! You have a really interesting sound to your music, it’s sort of a fusion of many genres. Who are some of your inspirations, when it comes to music?

AR: This is a tough question because I’m inspired by so many different things! I love old reggae artists, like Bob Marley. I’m also inspired by Gwen Stefani, in her earlier projects. I have a broad source of inspiration! I have an eclectic taste, so I pull from a lot of different things. It’s interesting, it’s not just musical artists that inspire me, it’s also films, characters in movies that I resonate with, there’s different things like that. I pull from those things. That’s just to name a few.

BY: For sure. So, let’s talk a little bit about “Bag!” Can you tell me a bit about the writing process?

AR: Yeah! So “Bag” was like a no pressure record, you know, when you’re in the studio, just vibing and not really necessarily thinking about what you’re going to write. The producer played this track and I was like, “What is that?! This sounds dope!” I don’t know where it came from, but I just kept saying this line over and over: “that bitch fuckin’ with your bag.” I loved the playfulness of the tone, it was really just me talking at first. We turned that into the hook, and then I started to craft the concept around it. I sat on it for a minute, honestly, and I came back to it and I co-wrote the verses and kind of came up with this concept of, “what does being in your bag really mean?” It’s not really just about money, it’s about being in your zone. Living your best life. Going after things you want, and feeling good about yourself. We crafted the song around that concept, to encourage people to stay in situations, in environments, and around people that help you stay in your bag.

BY: It’s a great anthem to go into 2022 with.

AR: I hope you’re in your bag!

BY: I’m in my second semester of my senior year of college, so this is definitely the time to be in my bag!

AR: Oh, perfect! You gotta get your manifestations, and your playlists, you gotta be having the best 2022!

BY: You get me! I also wanted to ask about your partnership with Republic Records, how did that come about?

AR: Well that’s really exciting too, because, you know, being with the band I was also signed with the band, and I’ve been an artist for a very long time. So for me, it wasn’t just about just getting a deal for the deal’s sake, I really wanted to partner with the right people and the right team who understood the vision. People who could create what I see for my career, you know? Long story short, I started working with Title 9, they’re amazing, and it was through Sam and Wendy at Republic that we kind of decided that Republic was the right fit. It just made sense. They got the vision, they understood the nature of the partnership, and we decided to do that.

BY: That’s amazing! So, you just put out this awesome song, the new year just started, you’ve got this partnership, what’s next for you? If you can give any spoilers, that is.

AR:  (laughs) I’m actually in Miami right now shooting a video for “Bag!”

BY: Oh, no way!

AR: Yeah, we literally just landed this morning, that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m working on my album, I’m really excited about it. I’m gonna say… it’s almost finished! There’s some surprises there with that as well, I’m really looking forward to sharing. I definitely want to put my album out this year, I’m really excited about that body of work that I’ve been working on.

BY: It sounds like this is the year you’re going to be in your bag, no doubts.

AR: Girl, you know! We’re doing what we came to do this year. We’re doing the things that feed our soul, that light us up, the things that make us feel good about our life here, you know? That’s 2022”.

If you want to read about Amanda Reifer’s previous incarnation, in the form of Cover Drive, then you can read an interview here. The British-based group are well worth exploring. To show where Reifer came from. Her new single, Colonize, was released earlier this month. It is a phenomenal song. Mixing Contemporary R&B with Reggae, there is this wonderfully powerful and heady blend. An instantly spellbinding artist who I have bonded with hard. I am looking ahead to see what comes from Amanda Reifer. I am going to end with a couple of 2024 features/interviews with Reifer. This Yahoo interview saw Reifer talking about going solo. She also discussed Colonize:

“Authenticity is rare in today’s music industry, and Amanda Reifer wants to be considered a needle in the haystack.

Hailing from Barbados, Reifer’s music is just as vibrant as her homeland. Her eclectic fusion of pop, hip-hop, soul and reggae is a testament to her artistic diversity and commitment to uniqueness.

Reifer’s musical journey began in London as the frontwoman for the band Cover Drive. The band snagged a No. 1 hit in the U.K. with their single “Twilight” and were regulars on the Top 10 and Top 40 charts.

Although Reifer saw success with the band, she knew she wanted more. In 2020, she chose to put herself first and took a leap of faith by moving to Los Angeles to pursue a solo music career.

“Stepping out on my own, from something that I had been a part of as a young girl and starting over, was the first step in defining myself as a young woman and knowing my voice,” the singer said.

She continued, “It meant leaving behind everything I had known and built. I had no finances, no support or an individual public platform. I found confidence and support in my family and friends.”

Reifer supported herself as a songwriter and creative collaborator until her leap of faith paid off. In 2022, she was in a recording session with Kendrick Lamar, co-writing and singing on “Die Hard” feat. BLXST from his No. 1 album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

“I was in the studio working on my project, and I was introduced to Kendrick,” Reifer said, recalling the life-changing moment. “So when I played him my records, he complimented my pen, which was such an honor; I’m humbled that he took the time to sit and listen to my work at that point.”

“Die Hard” was nominated for best melodic rap performance at the 65th Grammy Awards, a moment Reifer says left her in “disbelief.”

“I’m just a little girl from Barbados. I watched [the Grammys] on TV; I see these incredible artists and people I admire,” she stated excitedly.

She continued reflecting on the big moment, “To actually be there, I was in a little bit of disbelief. I was just so humbled and grateful to be a part of something so much bigger than myself, part of a project so much bigger than myself. Even with that little small, small part I played. I was given the opportunity to create on something that has impacted my life in incredible ways.”

With the momentum of a Grammy nomination behind her, Reifer has begun the final tweaks on her debut project.

“I’ve been working on this album for three years. I’m so excited for people to hear this music,” she said.

The project’s lead single, “Colonize,” is the visual and audio personification of Reifer’s journey from the girl in a band to the artist standing alone. In “Colonize,” she advises a lover to resist the urge to impose, discredit and colonize her in his quest to obtain her heart. Having no restrictions and embracing the moments in relationships can be applied to love, business, creativity or friendships.

Like several other videos, Reifer co-created, co-directed and co-edited the striking visuals for “Colonize.” The singer went home to Barbados and filmed the video at her aunt’s home, which was one of the first plantation homes on the island. Reifer intentionally cast her family and childhood friends in the visuals to represent the beauty of independence and strength in Black women.

“My friends and my family have self-ownership and independence. We’re out here doing our things. We’re artists, we’re writers, we’re mothers and sisters. And to stand there in that competence and strength in support of one another and on the land we were oppressed upon was the statement I wanted to make,” she said regarding the stunning imagery.

Small details in the video exemplify Riefer’s dedication to her artistry, such as using her friend’s books, including a chair in her family for over two generations and wearing clothes made by local Black vendors.

Reifer’s voyage to find her voice and independence can be quantified by her genuine approach to her artistry, and she’s not looking to compromise anytime soon.

“All those different qualities, those complexities, those dualities, those things that exist all at once are now in this project, and being able to put that to pen and writing those experiences has given me a lot of liberation and freedom,” she said unapologetically. “And I’m just eager to share that”.

It is pleasing that an album seems close by. We will get this fully-fledged and expansive look into Amanda Reifer’s talent. You can tell she puts her heart and soul into everything she does. Growing stronger and more amazing by the year, I wonder whether she has any plans to tour the U.K. There will be a lot of demand for her here. An artist that is primed for world domination, I hope more and more eyes focus her way. Last month, HYFIN spent time with Amanda Reifer:

“Reifer’s creative process is deeply influenced by her experiences and the holistic way she views and manages her artistic expression. Her stunning and mature visuals are a testament to her growth and dedication to her craft. “The maturity that you see and that expression all come from the experiences I have had to go through to deliver something like that,” she explained.

One of the standout elements of Reifer’s visuals is the authentic representation of her roots. “I made sure that I went home to shoot all my visuals with a local crew, my friends from Barbados. I want people to get a sense of where I’m from and who I am,” Reifer shared. This authenticity and connection to her home are palpable in her music videos, which capture the beauty of everyday life and the environment that has influenced her.

Water is a recurring theme in Reifer’s work, serving as both an inspiration and a metaphor for her personal journey and artistic expression. She described water as a complex element embodying various qualities— vast, deep, playful, inviting, mysterious, and dangerous. “I think that’s a great metaphor for us as women and people who are complex beings,” Reifer noted. This complexity and fluidity are mirrored in her music, which spans different genres and showcases her versatility as an artist.

Reifer’s diverse artistic influences reflect her eclectic taste and respect for powerful, pioneering women in music. When asked about her personal Mount Rushmore of artists, she mentioned Lauryn Hill, Roberta Flack, Sister Nancy, Amy Winehouse, and Rihanna. These artists have left an indelible mark on Reifer’s music and artistic vision.

A significant milestone in Reifer’s career was her collaboration on Kendrick Lamar’s album “Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.” This experience, she said, was a profound learning opportunity that has influenced her writing and approach to music. “To be in that space definitely just put me in a posture of being a student. I watched everything, received everything, and then gave my best,” Reifer recounted.

Looking ahead, Reifer’s upcoming project promises to deliver more of the heartfelt and genre-bending music that her fans have come to love. She hints at new sides of herself that listeners have yet to discover, urging them to keep an open mind for what is to come”.

If she is not in your life, spend some time with the music of Amanda Reifer. I am really looking forward to a debut album. I can see Reifer headlining big stages before too long. Such is the impact and popularity of her music. This year has been a busy one for her. There is a lot of good stuff to come. Everyone needs to follow…

THIS incredible artist.

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Follow Amanda Reifer

PHOTO CREDIT: Junior Sealy

Official:

http://www.amandareifer.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/amandareifer

TikTok:

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

Twitter:

https://x.com/amandareifer

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuox9qxf0dv6T5LhPYWabHQ

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1PpDfXOUG7gxUjR1quWnwp?si=GlR2DiFMTxeAdCowegnuMw

FEATURE: I've Been Doing It For Years, My Goal Is Moving Near: Kate Bush’s Sat in Your Lap at Forty-Three

FEATURE:

 

 

I've Been Doing It For Years, My Goal Is Moving Near

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a single cover outtake for Sat In Your Lap/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Kate Bush’s Sat in Your Lap at Forty-Three

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THERE is something distinct…

about Kate Bush’s Sat in Your Lap. The brilliant first single from 1982’s The Dreaming, it was actually released on 21st June, 1981. The Dreaming arrived in September 1982. I feel there was an urgency from EMI for Kate Bush to release a single following 1980’s Never for Ever. Keep her name in the mind. It must have been strange getting a first single from an album that would not arrive for nearly fifteen months later! I guess we have examples of that today. Singles will come out and then an artist will put out the album a long time later. For Kate Bush, this was new and a bit strange. I wanted to make the approaching forty-third anniversary of one of her defining songs. Perhaps the most single-worthy release from The Dreaming, it went to eleven on the British single chart. It is a song that was different from anything Bush put out previously. More percussive and almost tribal, it is faster and rawer than anything from her first three albums – The Kick Inside (1978), Lionheart (1978) and Never for Ever (1980). There are interpretations as to what the title could mean. Maybe that knowledge falling in your lap is a book or inspiration. Graeme Thomson, in Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, speculated it could be to do with enlightenment through sex. Sat in Your Lap  features Preston Heyman on drums. They were recorded in the stone room at the Townhouse Studio 2. It is a huge contribution and one of the defining sounds of song. I am going to include some information I have previously used in other features about Sat in Your Lap. I shall add new details as I wrap up. It is worth knowing more about the video and the song itself. The Kate Bush Encyclopedia provides details about the video. We also get words from Kate Bush regarding the genesis of Sat in Your Lap:

“Music video

According to Kate, “The video was filmed over two days, one part at a video studio, the other at the audio studios. The former provided the quick, easy technical sides to be performed, the latter provided the space and presence. The large parquet floor was to be a feature, and Abbey Road’s past, full of dancing and singing spirits, was to be conjured up in the present day by tapping feet to the sound of jungle drums – only to be turned into past again through the wonder of video-tape. The shots were sorted into a logical order: all long shots were audio studio, all others were video studio. A storyboard was drawn up and was very closely worked to, being hung on the wall on days of shootings. The editing was a long, difficult job, as it was comprised of many sections which had to be edited together (just like the big musical one). The editor worked all day and into the next morning with great skill and patience, and only when someone told us did we find out it had been his birthday and he’d worked it all away. One of the exciting things about making the video was the “accessories” we used, such as the lovely costumes and props. The jerk-jacket which we used in ‘Army Dreamers’ was used again for a short sequence, and although there’s a silver wire, it feels like flying. Out of the harness and into the light of a timeless tunnel, as a little magician’s box springs to life and the room is filled with laser and skaters.”

Kate about ‘Sat In Your Lap’

I already had the piano patterns, but they didn’t turn into a song until the night after I’d been to see a Stevie Wonder gig. Inspired by the feeling of his music, I set a rhythm on theRolandand worked in the piano riff to the high-hat and snare. I now had a verse and a tune to go over it but only a few lyrics like “I see the people working”, “I want to be a lawyer,” and “I want to be a scholar,” so the rest of the lyrics became “na-na-na”‘ or words that happened to come into my head. I had some chords for the chorus with the idea of a vocal being ad-libbed later. The rhythm box and piano were put down, and then we recorded the backing vocals. “Some say that knowledge is…” Next we put down the lead vocal in the verses and spent a few minutes getting some lines worked out before recording the chorus voice. I saw this vocal being sung from high on a hill on a windy day. The fool on the hill, the king of the castle… “I must admit, just when I think I’m king.”

The idea of the demos was to try and put everything down as quickly as possible. Next came the brass. The CS80 is still my favourite synthesizer next to the Fairlight, and as it was all that was available at the time, I started to find a brass sound. In minutes I found a brass section starting to happen, and I worked out an arrangement. We put the brass down and we were ready to mix the demo.

I was never to get that CS80 brass to sound the same again – it’s always the way. At The Townhouse the same approach was taken to record the master of the track. We put down a track of the rhythm box to be replaced by drums, recording the piano at the same time. As I was producing, I would ask the engineer to put the piano sound on tape so I could refer to that for required changes. This was the quickest of all the tracks to be completed, and was also one of the few songs to remain contained on one twenty-four track tape instead of two!

KATE BUSH CLUB NEWSLETTER, OCTOBER 1982”.

I want to bring in a brilliant incisive and analytical feature from Dreams of Orgonon from 2020. Looking deep inside Sat in Your Lap, we get a real understand as to why this track is so incredible. A real departure and evolution from Kate Bush. Still regarded as one of her best singles ever. No denying why it is so popular. It is still played on the radio today:

“The aftermath of Never for Ever was a period of burnout for Bush. Prone to depressive burnouts after the completion of projects, she found herself drifting into a nadir of fruitless ennui, which she deemed “the anti-climax after all the work.” Completing Never for Ever in May 1980, Bush, not for the last time, put significant space between herself and the public, taking a holiday after an exhausting several months of recording. By the time Never for Ever was released in September, Bush was only just recovering from her creative inertia. Her timing was auspicious, as Never for Ever not only became her first #1 LP in the UK but the country’s first ever #1 studio album by a female solo artist ever. Never for Ever’s success was accompanied by heaps of promotion by Bush, including the usual run of performing songs on talk shows as well as signing albums for hundreds of fans at a time. Now she had more creative agency than she had previously, touting Never for Ever as “the first [album] [she] could hand to people with a smile.” Kate Bush the prodigy who sang “Wuthering Heights” was already a distant memory, transforming into Kate Bush the great 1980s British songwriter.

Yet Bush’s listlessness and struggle to write songs persisted for some time. It’s not hard to see why — the stress of Never for Ever’s production and the attention of the British public would be enough to put a damper on anyone’s creative output. It took seeing other musicians at work to get her motivated again. In September, Bush and her boyfriend Del Palmer attended a Stevie Wonder concert at Wembley Arena. Wonder was in a period of creative renewal himself. Having recently turned out a rare Motown flop in the distinctively titled Journey Through “the Secret Life of Plants”, he’d rebuilt confidence with his delightful Hotter than July LP. The concert broke Bush out of her writer’s block — “inspired by the feeling of his music,” as she later wrote, Bush got back to work on her songs, and forged a path towards her next album.

“Sat In Your Lap” wasn’t always Bush’s first self-produced song. For a time, she entertained bringing in experienced producers, including long-standing David Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti, going so far as to spend a day in the studio with him. The collaboration went nowhere, and Visconti has grossly remarked “all I can remember is the Bush bum.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bush decided to take on the producer role herself, with the intensive collaboration of a series of engineers. The first set of sessions for the album that would be The Dreaming were staged at Townhouse Studios in May 1981. Her collaborating engineer was Hugh Padgham, a producer for Phil Collins and XTC known for the “gated drum” sound that would define 80s pop (compress the drums, use a recording console’s “gate” to remove their reverb, resulting in a kind of sound vacuum. See Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight”). Bush and Padgham’s time in Townhouse was productive yet short-lived. Padgham is rare among Bush collaborators in having negative feelings about working with her, grumbling about her tendency to overpack a mix and experiment rather than having a concrete, straightforward vision. After laying backing tracks for three songs, Padgham moved on, dissatisfied with his latest gig but having indelibly marked the sound of The Dreaming.

Bush’s ad-libs, piano riffs, and rhythm track came together quickly in the studio, quicker than any other song on The Dreaming. Having a drum-centric engineer like Padgham was incredibly useful for her, as the early recording of Bush’s rhythm track showed. “Sat In Your Lap” is heavily percussive, built around its drum sound and brass section (initially synthesized on a Yamaha CS-80). The partially syncopated drumbeat (“dum-DUM-dum-DUM”) is Preston Heyman’s most memorable to date, a fine translation of the demo. The frantic, almost pharyngeal rhythm track has a kick drum so guttural and suppressed (though not apparently gated) that it can easily be mistaken for one of Bush’s vocal onomatopoeias. The track’s sonic menagerie (Bush’s recurring motif of musical instruments as bodily extensions lives to a maniacal extent), a veritable ensemble of screams, tinny horns on the Fairlight CMI, swishing bamboo sticks (thanks to Paddy Bush and Preston Heyman) childlike whispers, “HO-HO-HO’s,” and bellows of “JUST when I think I’m king!”

What better to bring Bush out of a period of creative stagnation than a missive to psychological stagnation? Or even better, a tremendously loud, busy, and clamorous one. Amidst the song’s sheer volume is a narrative of inertia and stillness. Bush deploys a childlike whisper in the verses, a canny juxtaposition with the rhythm track’s masculine percussiveness, indicating juvenile trepidation as she watches adults go about their lives: “I see the people working/I see it working for them/and so I want to join them/but then I find it hurts me.” The verses are terse observations from an unmoving figure, grounded in a desire to catch up and have a powerful mind: “I see the people happy/so can it happen for me?,” “I want to be a lawyer/I want to be a scholar/but I really can’t be bothered,” “I want the answers quickly/but I don’t have no energy.”

The verses are similarly sclerotic, sticking to its home key and mode of Ab Dorian closely, with an incessant chord progression of i-VII (Abm7-Gb), a relatively conservative doublet of chords that seem paranoid about wandering away from the key’s tonic (limiting a verse to its key’s tonic and subtonic is uncharacteristically parsimonious for Bush), and even staying in 3/4 the whole time. The refrain sees a return to Bush’s harmonic and rhythmic weirdness. Her predilection for following up a key’s tonic chord with the tonic of the parallel key lives as ever, as she maneuvers from Ab minor’s IV chord (Db) to Ab major’s iv (Db minor). The refrain otherwise sticks to a fairly conventional Ab minor (IV-iv-i-IV), with a smattering of Bushian time signature changes (it mostly sticks to 4/4, with a bar in 2/4 at the tail end of “some say that knowledge is something sat/in your lap” and “ho, ho, ho”). The post-chorus breaks with Ab Dorian, modulating to Db Mixolydian (a major key alternative to Dorian mode) with “JUST when I think I’m KING!”, dallying with chords not present in the key (A) and owning its unified disjointedness.

“Sat In Your Lap” conveys both frantic motivation and fearful inaction — it is enticed by the busy and productive activities of people and intimidated by the energy exerted in them, perhaps suggesting a character outwardly compelled to be a productive adult too soon (it’s possible Bush could relate). It is at once rapid, careening at 146 BPM, and petrified with fear. The music video (Bush’s first without director Keef Macmillan) swerves between stillness and freneticism. During the verses, Bush is mostly seated in a white dress, while the refrains see her cavorting with dancers in dunce caps. Former “gifted and talented” children drained by adults’ external compulsion to excel may encounter a kindred spirit in “Sat In Your Lap.” Yet even in its inertia lays a search — despite the emotional shutting down, the desperate need for knowledge and truth is genuine and constant.

The incessant refrain, consisting of Bush screaming (with occasional variations) “some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap/some say that knowledge is something that you never have,” makes the preoccupation with knowledge clear. Holy shit, says Bush, look at all this cool stuff adults do! And all these neat religious and philosophical paths! “Some say that heaven is hell/some say that hell is heaven!” Is anyone right? The sheer quantity of faiths can be incredibly disorienting to an adult. The comparable power that spirituality can have over a child is often formative.

Spirituality often works at a snail’s pace. Things that become deeply engrained in a young believer’s mind at an early age will only become clear to them several years later. A child confronted with gods can have a variety of emotional responses: indifference, awe, fear, befuddlement, joy. Sometimes a child is deeply moved by what they witness and feel. Yet with that, there can be complete physical inertia — shock and over-saturation, or interior silence and contemplation. For instance, the Hebrew Bible’s prophet Ezekiel responds to his first apocalyptic vision by sinking into days of catatonia. Bush’s answer to the mind-body problem is a symbiotic one — it’s an ouroboros, with no strict origin point, the body and the mind depending on one another. Once “Sat In Your Lap” taps into this idea of

Complicating this is the partial secularity of the song’s search. Her questions aren’t any less spiritual for it — some of the most spiritually complex people I’ve ever met are confirmed atheists, and Kate “I don’t think I’ve really found a niche” Bush hardly seems like a Bertrand Russell-esque non-believer. Ever the aesthete, Bush claims that she’s primarily drawn to the iconography of faith: “such powerful, beautiful, passionate images!” as she said of her Roman Catholic upbringing. Her first ever published writing was a poem about the Crucifixion. In a 1979 interview, she prodded a possible belief in a God, opining that God was “a label for people to put all their belief and love into,” and that putting such emotional effort into one’s relationships with people causes one to “reach an aim.” For all the theological crudeness of this idea (it boils down to little more than a hippie’s plea for everyone to just get along), Bush is (characteristically) unintentionally right. There’s a deep emotional center to faith and prayer. Contemplative and meditative traditions are built on unifying one’s emotional state with spirituality. This doesn’t make the experiences any less real — feelings are facts of life. An empirical understanding of any societal phenomena has to grasp its emotional basis: the values and emotions it appeals to.

As the only answer to the unanswerable is sublime incoherence, the song’s coda is hermetic descent into sensory overload. Iconography blurs (“Tibet or Jeddah,” “to Salisbury/a monastery”) in a tendency that’s strong in the last couple verses, as Bush inverts Psalm 23 (“my cup, she never overfloweth”), dabbles in desert-dwelling, monasticism, cathedrals, and with “some grey and white matter,” the human brain (grey and white matter oversee the brain’s connection to the spinal cord). “Sat in Your Lap” concludes with inconclusiveness: its dance is in the terrifying glory of befuddlement. Asceticism is a cerebral process as well as physical: the brain responds to the body’s state. Bush is engaging with some genuinely fascinating systems of thought here: for all the approaches to the mind/body problem that have been formulated, responding to it with “isn’t scholastically-caused sensory overload a kind of asceticism?” is new.

Recorded at Townhouse Studio 2, Shepherd’s Bush in May 1981; mixed through June. Issued as a single 21 June 1981; released again as the opening track of The Dreaming on 13 September 1982, over a year later. Music video also released in July ’81. Like every other song on the album, never performed live. Kate Bush — vocals, piano, CMI, production. Hugh Padgham — engineer. Nick Launay — engineer (mixing). Preston Heyman — drums, bamboo sticks. Jimmy Bain — bass. Paddy Bush — backing vocals, bamboo sticks. Ian Bairnson — backing vocals. Gary Hurst — backing vocals. Stewart Avon-Arnold — backing vocals. Geoff Downes — CMI trumpets”.

Turning forty-three on 21st June, I felt it important to revisit this song. One that created minor tremors. Very different to what people might have been expecting, it was a glimpse into The Dreaming. The sign that Kate Bush was experimenting more. More rhythmic and percussive than anything she had released as a single, I am glad that it was a success. Sat in Your Lap is one of her best tracks.  Earlier this year, MOJO ranked it as her sixth-best song:

“Out-there outrider for The Dreaming.

Organised chaos: the African drum-charging thunder, the rigid piano lurch, the synthesized trumpet section’s blare – and then Bush sings some kind of six-characters-on-the-run-from-their-author wildness and overrides all that big pushy noise. Breathy Bush and squawky Bush alternate before transubstantiating into the dominatrix dictator – Thatcher pastiche? – declaiming “just when I think I’m king…” Meanwhile, her subject is knowledge, work, idleness, frustration, “’tis I that moan and groaneth”. You’re gobsmacked, but you’ve gotta laugh too”.

In 2018, The Guardian put the song in eighth place. PROG, in a feature from last year, included Sat in Your Lap among her forty best tracks. A wonderful single from Kate Bush, it still sounds so fresh and urgent forty-three years after its release. No sense of it being dated at all. I really love the track. Opening The Dreaming, fans were in for this sonic treat. The rest of the songs on the 1982 album perhaps experiment even more. In terms of ‘weirdness’ or a lack of convention. This was Kate Bush producing music that was perhaps more ‘serious’ than before. Perhaps reacting to continued critical reaction. That patronising and diminishing viewpoint they had of her as someone unserious. Almost child-like. The Dreaming was Bush producing art. Sat in Your Lap was the first sign from that album. Everything was about to change. On 21st June, 1981, she released into the world…

A huge musical statement.

FEATURE: Queens and Sisters: The Continuing Inspiration from Women in the Music Industry

FEATURE:

 

 

Queens and Sisters

IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX/PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Engman for GQ 

The Continuing Inspiration from Women in the Music Industry

_________

I have said a few times…

IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift at Murrayfield Stadium on 7th June, 2024 for her Eras Tour/PHOTO CREDIT: David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock

how women are dominating modern music. I am not sure what year it was exactly when we switched from that male dominance. I think that it has been at least five or six years where women have produced most of the best albums. They have created the finest and more interesting music. Some of the biggest tours. I think the past few years have been particularly strong when it comes to music’s queens leading the way. Even though the music industry, in many ways, is still male-dominated, when it comes to the music being made, women are leading, A lot of the power still rests with men. I hope that this changes. In terms of balance and equality, there are some steps in the right direction. In terms of festivals and recognition of women in headline slots. I have said this before. We are nowhere near where we should be but, the more women are ruling and leading the way, hopefully the industry will catch on! Not only do we see Dua Lipa and SZA headline Glastonbury later this month. We are currently witnessing Taylor Swift takes her Eras Tour around the U.K. We all know how successful this has been. The reviews for the shows she has performed so far have been enormously positive. Heralding it as a work of brilliance, journalists have written how moving and extraordinary her set is. For my money, Taylor Swift might be the greatest live performer of her generation. Once was the time when male Rock acts were the go-to for live acts. They were the ones most lauded. I think the balance has shifted. Not that there are a lack of great live male acts today. It is clear that the most potent and inspiring live performers of today are women. Taylor Swift is a leading example of how amazing women are taking to the stage and producing live sets that linger in the memory. That we will be talking about for so many years. I will come to a review from one of her recent Eras shows. When Swift played Murrayfield Stadium last week, The Guardian shared their views in a five-star review. Both powerful and intimate, this is an artist at the top of her game:

“It arrives in the UK trailing yet more mind-boggling headlines. In Aberfeldy, Loch Tay has been renamed Loch Tay-Tay in her honour. Not to be outdone, and undaunted by their inability to come up with a Taylor Swift-related pun, Liverpool has rebranded itself as Taylor Town. A radio station in London has been set up that plays nothing but Taylor Swift songs. A recent feature in this newspaper claimed that it’s become literally impossible to avoid hearing Taylor Swift’s name mentioned: no mean feat in an era where popular culture is so atomised and personally tailored that – if a rash of puzzled social media posts about SZA are to be believed – an artist can be big enough to headline Glastonbury while remaining unknown to a significant proportion of Glastonbury-goers.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jane Barlow/PA

So much attention has been focused on the Eras Tour that reviewing it seems almost beside the point. Every conceivable detail has already been dissected and discussed in depth, from the surprise songs she inserts into each show – here it’s Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve from 2022’s Midnights and a medley of Evermore’s ‘Tis the Damn Season and Lover’s Daylight – to the mass of visual signifiers and concert rituals that leave Swifties looking less like mainstream pop fans than Deadheads, albeit more prone to sequins and less interested in LSD than the Grateful Dead’s notorious travelling army of devotees.

Still, it’s an incredibly impressive show. It succeeds in leaping between an eclectic range of material – dubstep-inspired, dark-hued pop; tweedy folk; monster-chorus-sporting anthems and acoustic guitar-driven songs that show her Nashville grounding – all of it linked by Swift’s keen melodic awareness and ability to turn songs about famous ex-partners and celebrity nemeses into universally relatable figures.

You don’t want for plumes of dry ice and flames, costume changes – a snake-bedecked catsuit and diaphanous wood-nymph with cape suitable for Stevie Nicks-ish twirling – or indeed dancers pedalling around the stage on glowing neon bicycles during Blank Space, but it feels less predicated on special effects than on Swift’s ability to work the cameras that track her every move in a way that seems to draw in the walls of a vast rugby stadium. She’s a genuinely engaging performer on a grand scale, the big screens behind her constantly pick up on an array of expressions and asides that create a sense of collusion and intimacy.

The songs from her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, get the same vociferous response as the well-worn hits from 1989 or Red, but it does leave you wondering where the woman at the centre of it all goes next. It’s not Cassandra-ish to suggest that this kind of ubiquity and success is an unsustainable moment. Whether she’ll even try to is an interesting question: perhaps, like Macavity, the character Swift sang about in the movie Cats – one part of her oeuvre that doesn’t get an airing tonight – she’ll do a disappearing act.

But, for now, Taylor Swift seems all-powerful, so much so she can take risks: amid the big hits, truncated so more of them can be crammed into the show, she plays All Too Well – a 10-minute-long song – and it’s a show-stopping emotional sucker punch. And when she performs the piano ballad Champagne Problems, the response is so loud, and goes on for so long, that Taylor Swift looks overwhelmed again: this time it doesn’t seem like hokum”.

It is not only Taylor Swift that is delivering these staggering live performances. I feel that, more and more, the most compelling live sets are coming from women. Whether that is a new band or an established solo artist, it is clear that festivals should react to this. I know this year has been an improvement in terms of parity. We are getting all this proof and celebration regarding their live prowess. Music’s queens excelling and overtaking their male peers. Not that it is a competition or a time to pit artists against one another. For decades, men have been given all the opportunities. Assumed to be the dominant force. This sort of music patriarchy. That is no longer the case. I want to mention St. Vincent a recent gig she performed at the Royal Albert Hall on 1st June. A very different show compared to Taylor Swift, here is another queen who is a phenomenal live performer. I realise that there are some terrific male artists whose live sets are brilliant. Not to take anything away from them. I just feel that it is female artists who are taking things to a new level. This is what NME wrote when reviewing St. Vincent in London:

“There’s usually plenty of theatrics to St. Vincent gigs. The ‘Masseduction’ tour explored power, control and lust via PVC suits, a never-ending supply of guitars while the run of shows to celebrate the sugary; ‘70’s-inspired ‘Daddy’s Home’ were driven by a warm spontaneity as St Vincent and her extensive band worked through past trauma amidst (somewhat unfair) social media backlash.

She wanted something more direct and confrontational for seventh album ‘All Born Screaming’ though. “I’m gonna fuck ‘em up,” Annie Clark promised NME earlier this year. True to her word, tonight’s gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall is vicious, destructive, and pure electric.

Throughout the pulverising 90-minute set, Clark wields her guitar like a weapon and attacks the microphone with a restless urgency. Big, cathartic breakdowns teeter on the edge of chaos, but Clark and her four-piece band never let things fall apart completely. It’s gorgeous to watch, but it demands participation as well. With music this charged, there’s simply no standing on the sidelines.

In the years since St. Vincent last played London, co-writes with Taylor Swift (‘Cruel Summer’) and Olivia Rodrigo (‘Obsessed’) have taken over the airwaves, but instead of chasing an arena-sized glamour, ‘All Born Screaming’ is a visceral exploration of death, flecked with hope. That’s very much the mood of tonight’s gig as well.

PHOTO CREDIT: Blair Brown

From the crushing purge of opener ‘Reckless’ through the unsettling horror-infused ‘Big Time Nothing’ to the snotty ‘Flea’, St Vincent indulges in bleakness. It gives the glitching dystopia of ‘Los Ageless’, the soaring anxiety of ‘Fear The Future’ and the pleading ‘Marrow’ an added sense of despair, but there’s more to this show than rage in the dying light.

“Show of hands, who has a Prince Albert,” Clark asks with a smirk, immediately after praising the beauty of the grandiose venue while there’s a playful, choreographed turn from her and her guitarists during ‘Flea’.

“This song is for all the people who have loved immensely, stared at the moon, and taken that leap,” Clark says before a gorgeous ‘Sweetest Fruit’, a stripped back ‘Candy Darling’ is lush and delicate while even the unruly attack of ‘Broken Man’ is sprinkled with tenderness. As St. Vincent describes it, it’s “deep epic beauty and chaotic violence, all at the same time”.

After she dives into the crowd once more and embraces them for the soaring romance of ‘New York’, the night ends with ‘All Born Screaming’. On record, the twisting, furious track feels lethal but performed in front of a crowd, the song encourages a shared experience through collective pain and fear.

“We’re all here for one reason, and that reason is love,” Clark explains. “As far as I can tell, there’s no other fucking reason to do anything,” she adds, offering a vital protest against a world that feels increasingly dark”.

Not only is it from the stage where women are inspiring. I use that word without caution. It is right to say. They are leading the way for the next generation. It is also through albums where we are finding the best music is being made from women. Few cannot deny this. Sisters united, this year is no exception when it comes to women leading once more. I am picking specific examples when it comes to review and examples. It goes much wider and deeper than a few names. I hope that the power dynamic shifts in the industry very soon. The fact that women are dominating should be reflected in those who hold power. Those who make decisions and can make and affect change. We are still in a position where there is discrimination, inequality, abuse and misogyny. Things can and will change. I wanted to use this feature as another opportunity to salute women throughout music. I will round off soon. Before that, one of this year’s best albums arrived on Friday (7th June). From the wonderful Charli XCX, BRAT is possibly the most critically acclaimed album of the year. Following from 2022’s CRASH – which won acclaimed but some mixed reviews too -, this album has gained a raft of five-star reviews. BRAT joins a list of amazing albums from stunning female artists in 2024. I think that, as we head through the year, we will see so many more astonishing and hugely acclaimed albums from newcomers and established alike. Further proof that it is women who are changing things. Producing the most important music of our age. There are ample options to select from when it comes to extremely positive reviews for BRAT. I want to highlight what DIY wrote:

“I’m famous but not quite,” proclaims Charli XCX over the unique balladry of the disarming ‘I might say something stupid’, a moment that immediately dispels the notion that ‘BRAT’ - the singer’s sixth studio album - is going to play out like any other club record. It’s an incredibly fitting statement for an artist who hit the top of the charts with 2022’s ‘CRASH’, landed a track on pop’s soundtrack of the decade for Barbie, yet whose affiliations with the comparably underground and now defunct label and collective PC Music and their shared love of musical unpredictability define them far better. Charli may have faced a fork in the road with ‘CRASH’ propping open the door for pop mega-stardom, but ‘BRAT’ unfolds as an unmistakable representation of her very core; an exhilarating ode to the multiple facets of club culture that have formed the foundations for everything Charli has become over the best part of two decades.

As she sings “sometimes I just want to rewind,” over an unapologetically heavy digital soundscape, her mutually shared debt to pioneering producers and friends AG Cook and Danny L Harle shines brightest. ‘So I’ takes every page from the rulebook that iconic musical powerhouse SOPHIE so brilliantly ripped up prior to her untimely death in 2021 for what is one of the most fitting posthumous homages in recent memory, Charli landing a complex balance between celebration of sound and lyrical heartbreak: “You always said it’s ok to cry, so I know I can.” This candour sits alongside the album’s heaviest calls to underground dancefloors - ‘Club classics’ and ‘B2b’ - which, at opposite ends of the record, pull a thread from the past to the present, the latter living up to its name with jarring precision. Yet even in these moments, Charli sends her vulnerability firmly to the forefront. “I don’t want to feel fearless,” she sings on a record that – at least musically – presents her as just that.

The album is fundamentally bookended by love letters to raves and everything that comes with them, the thunderous ‘365’ pushing opener ‘360’ to levels set to make any heads with a conservative mindset spin. And that’s the real joy here: it’s hedonistic to a tee, and an exhilarating ride through the highs and lows of going ‘out out’, whether the fundamental friendships and relationships that are formed and lost, putting the world to rights in the dark corners of clubs, or the pure ecstasy of an unrelenting dancefloor. If ‘BRAT’ will ultimately push Charli XCX into mainstream pop’s top tier still remains to be seen, but it absolutely guarantees the best night out of your life”.

In addition to highlighting a few recent triumphs from some incredible women in music, I wanted to use it as examples of what is happening right through the industry. We will see more captivating and memorable live sets from music’s queens as we head through the festival season. More year-defining albums. Brilliant new acts coming through. At a moment when women are still overlooked in some ways, the proof is out there that they are worthy of respect and equality! They are very much leading from the front. I think that we will see the dominance…

FOR generations to come.

FEATURE: I'm Headin' Down the Atlanta Highway… The B-52’s’ Cosmic Thing at Thirty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

I'm Headin' Down the Atlanta Highway…

The B-52’s’ Cosmic Thing at Thirty-Five

_________

WHEN writing about…

IN THIS PHOTO: The B-52's photographed on 27th September, 1989 in Munich, Germany/PHOTO CREDIT: Fryderyk Gabowicz/Picture Alliance via Getty Images (via Billboard)

The-B52’s’ majestic and brilliant Cosmic Thing, we have to give some context. It is sandwiched between two of their albums that were not big critical smashes. A triumph following from 1986’s underwhelming Bouncing Off the Satellites, they followed Cosmic Thing with 1992’s Good Stuff. A band who many feel peaked with their first two albums – 1979’s The B-52's (which turns forty-five on 6th July) and 1980’s Wild Planet -, there is no denying that Cosmic Thing was a brief return to form. Perhaps not as consistent as the first two albums, Cosmic Thing does contain several of the most popular and well-known songs from the Athens (Georgia) band. Roam, Cosmic Thing and Love Shack are among their finest releases. It is quite timely marking the upcoming thirty-fifth anniversary of Cosmic Thing. The B-52’s have recently played farewell gigs. Playing together for over forty-five years, it was a sad but celebratory send-off. A chart success in the U.S. and U.K., Cosmic Thing was co-produced by Nile Rodgers and Don Was. Recorded at a variety of studios around New York, it was released on 27th June, 1989. With Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland in incredible form, you can hear something very special through Cosmic Thing. It would not be right to call it a comeback or revival. Their first two albums are so lauded, so maybe anything that fell below that was unfairly criticised. There is no doubting that Cosmic Thing was a new stage for The-B52’s.

I want to get to some reviews and features about Cosmic Thing. Giving us more background and insight into one of the most life-affirming albums ever. Even if many reviews were tepid in 1989, retrospective assessment has been kinder and more accurate. Maybe not up to the dizzy heights of Wild Planet, Cosmic Thing is a wonderful album that deserves attention and respect ahead of its thirty-fifth anniversary. In 2019, Albumism marked thirty years of The-B52’s’ fourth studio album. A time when many were ready to write them off:

“The songs on Cosmic Thing were a slight move away from the band’s previous four albums which had been perceived as more underground “new wave.” Their 1979 eponymous debut album was a hit, particularly in Australia where it achieved the number 3 spot on the charts along with all three singles achieving similar success. Both "Rock Lobster" and “Planet Claire" have become some of music’s most legendary songs in their own right and have also gone on to forever be synonymous with the band and the new wave era they epitomized throughout the ‘80s.

The band’s following three albums did moderately well, with many claiming that their sophomore LP Wild Planet (1980) is their best. Whammy! (1983) and Bouncing Off The Satellites (1986) did not go on to achieve the same success as the previous two and maybe because of this, the band felt the need in the making of the latter album to write separately and switch up instruments (Keith Strickland moved from drums to guitar and keyboard). Sadly, these disruptions were trivial in comparison to the tragedy that struck the band in the most extreme way possible when Ricky Wilson, their guitarist and lead vocalist Cindy Wilson’s brother, passed away from an AIDS related illness in late 1985. It sent the band into shock.

Bouncing Off The Satellites had not yet been completed and given the devastation felt by all band members, the album was not promoted and the band wisely took a much needed hiatus. It’s important to mention Wilson’s death here for a number of reasons; not only was he a founding member of The B-52s and a prophetic guitarist giving the band an incredibly unique sound, but he was also a gay man who had passed away from an AIDS related illness at the height of his career. In 1985, this was not only incredibly taboo and surrounded by prejudice, but it could have very well been the catalyst for the band’s demise. Thankfully it wasn’t and given that June is Pride month, one must pay homage to yet another musician and person who sadly lost their life to HIV/AIDS.

1988 saw the band reunite after nearly three years away from the recording studio and start writing collaboratively, with all remaining four band members having songwriting credits on all four lead singles from the album. In June 1989, the album’s third single “Love Shack” was released and whilst the two preceding singles “Cosmic Thing” (from the soundtrack Earth Girls Are Easy) and "Channel Z” had provided little buzz for the band, it was their foray into the more commercial and incredibly upbeat party anthem that reaffirmed that they were well and truly back.

“Love Shack” is undoubtedly the band’s most recognizable song on a global scale and given that it charted incredibly well worldwide, with a staggering eight weeks at No.1 in Australia, this album was so much more than just a comeback. It was the first time the band had played without Ricky Wilson and to achieve all this success must have been somewhat bittersweet. Sometimes when we are at our lowest, we dig the deepest for inspiration and this album is living proof of that.

The album’s fourth and fifth singles, “Roam” and "Deadbeat Club," went on to chart well, with “Roam” faring better and gaining a GRAMMY nomination. “Deadbeat Club” was a homage to the band’s early life when their parents constantly referred to them as “Deadbeats” and even featured a cameo from their fellow Athenian, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, in the music video. Other notable tracks on the album are the beautifully upbeat “Junebug” and the transcendental, instrumental closing track “Follow Your Bliss.”

Cosmic Thing had a lot riding on its back, but with a production team that included Don Was (Was Not Was) and the legendary Nile Rodgers of Chic fame, coupled with a regrouping of sorts by the band, the album went on to become the group’s most commercially successful venture to date. Whilst many said the band had become “too commercial,” Cosmic Thing most definitely stayed true to their core style of new wave, continuing with the infusion of surf music (most notably with “Follow Your Bliss”) and their own unique brand of upbeat, lyrically positive and infectious dance grooves (think “Love Shack,” "Roam” & “Topaz”)”.

I want to move to a couple of positive reviews for Cosmic Thing. This is an album whose songs I first heard not long after they came out. I recall hearing Love Shack in 1989 or 1990. Roam is quite an early memory. The older I got, I heard the whole album was really impressed. Even if The-B52’s are an acquired taste to some, I have always liked their music. Cosmic Thing might be my favourite album from them. AllMusic had this to say when they reviewed Cosmic Thing:

“Many observers were prepared to write off the B-52's after the release of Bouncing Off the Satellites. Granted, the album was completed in the wake of Ricky Wilson's death, but the group appeared bereft of new musical ideas and were sounding rather stale. In other words, the last thing anyone expected was a first-class return to form, which is what they got with Cosmic Thing. Working with producers Don Was and Nile Rodgers, the B-52's updated their sound with shiny new surfaces and deep, funky grooves -- it was the same basic pattern as before, only refurbished and contemporized. Just as importantly, they had their best set of songs since at least Wild Planet, possibly since their debut. "Cosmic Thing" and "Channel Z" were great up-tempo rockers; "Roam" had a groovy beat blessed with a great Cindy Wilson vocal; and "Deadbeat Club" was one of their rare successful reflective numbers. Then there was "Love Shack," an irresistible dance number with delightfully silly lyrics and hooks as big as a whale that unbelievably gave the group a long-awaited Top Ten hit. The thing is, Cosmic Thing would already have been considered a triumphant return without its commercial success. The big sales were just the icing on the cake”.

I am going to wrap things up with a review from the BBC. I do hope that there is some form of commemoration and highlighting of Cosmic Thing prior to its thirty-fifth anniversary on 27th June. It is deserving of a lot more love than it got back in 1989. I guess, in such a big and important year for music, there was focus on other types of sounds and bands. No real excuse, mind:

“In the late 80s, after an initial burst of Technicolor freakery around the start of the decade, The B-52s were circling the Where Are They Now? columns, seemingly a wonky remnant of their own past. By the time Cosmic Thing had successfully reinstalled them bigger and better than ever before, the question was answered thusly: "Probably in Australia, hovering up sales, or scooping up awards ahoy."

This was the band’s first album (their fifth overall) to be recorded after guitarist Ricky Wilson died during the recording of 1986’s Bouncing off the Satellites; understandably, with the band in no mood to promote BOTS at the time, Cosmic Thing signalled something a comeback. It also saw a slightly less-lurid and kitschy look adopted – a professional move onwards from the wigs, lobsters and planets named Claire found on their iconic eponymous debut of 10 years earlier. It paid off too, chiming with the positivity and fun times the awaiting 90s had to offer, and becoming their most successful album to date.

Of course, this was mainly due to the success of the single Love Shack, a karaoke staple to this day. It was kept off the number one slot by Beats International and Snap! in the UK, but was one of the biggest singles of the year in their native US and spent eight weeks at the summit in Australia, a place that had taken the band to its heart before anyone else had. The song was based around a road trip they took out to Atlanta. Roam, the other big hit from the album, also did decent business and has been commandeered ever since as a theme for adventure holidays. The album is like a celebration of life and wonder, rather than what could have been an obituary for their earlier selves. This is true even on Deadbeat Club – a song that can be taken either as a slacker anthem or, more factually, a reflective discourse on their earlier days of no money, with ideas bursting out of their hair.

Smoothly produced by Nile Rodgers and Don Was, Cosmic Thing breathed new life into the b(r)and, and pointed the way ahead. We’ll draw a discreet veil over the Flintstones theme cover that followed a few years later, and instead hold Cosmic Thing aloft as a fine encapsulation of The B-52s’ world”.

If you have not heard Cosmic Thing or are unfamiliar with The-B52’s, then I would say that this album is worth revisiting. Also check out their eponymous debut and Wild Planet. Put it on, turn it up loud, and you’ll imagine yourself headin’ down the Atlanta highway…

LOOKIN’ for the love getaway.

FEATURE: Hang On to Your Love: Sade’s Diamond Life at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

Hang On to Your Love

Sade’s Diamond Life at Forty

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A truly brilliant debut album…

that reached number two in the U.K. and number five in the U.S., Diamond Life is a classic. Led by the intoxicating and sublime Sade Adu, the album boasts singles as grand and timeless as Smooth Operator and Your Love Is King. Prior to forming Sade, Adu began as a backing singer for British group, Pride. Adu and three original members of the group - Paul Anthony Cook, Paul Denman and Stuart Matthewman - departed the group to form Sade. It was not long before their titular lead gained interest from record labels. Recorded at Power Plant (London) from October to November 1983, the band wrote the tracks. Stuart Matthewman and Sade Adu wrote the majority fo the tracks together. Fifteen songs were recorded. Some cassette versions featured fifteen tracks, through the L.P. and C.D. versions have nine tracks. There are various reason why Diamond Life is so enduring. The mix of Soul, Jazz and Pop is a brew and blend hard to resist. Perhaps not that common up to 1984, we mark forty years of this brilliant album on 16th July. I want to get to a few features and reviews for Diamond Life. One of the most important and impressive debut albums of the 1980s, I hope that a new generation of listeners pick it up ahead of its fortieth anniversary. I am going to start out with a feature from Albumism published in 2019. It is interesting discovering the background and lead-up to Diamond Life:

“Helen Folasade Adu was born to Adebisi Adu—a Nigerian lecturer—and Anne Hayes—an English nurse; she was the second child conceived by this interracial couple residing in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, undoubtedly a remarkable origin given the period. When Adu and Hayes’ marriage fractured four years after their daughter’s birth, Hayes relocated back to the United Kingdom with her children, settling first in Colchester and later in Holland-on-Sea—two areas of Essex, England. Hayes did her best to give her son and daughter a normal upbringing and that structure allowed them to focus on whatever their passions might be; Adu’s interest centered around the plush lure of fashion.

For the young woman who would come to be known as Sade—a shortened version of her middle-name Folasade—London called to her and in pursuit of a higher education based in fashion, Adu enrolled in the venerated Saint Martin’s School of Art at 18. While Adu tasked away at her clothing design studies, another point of curiosity began to surface within her: music. It began innocuously with the Saint Martin’s student singing with Pride, an emergent and polite funk outfit popular in and around London at the very top of the 1980s.

Everything changed upon Adu forming a creative friendship with Pride’s dapper guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman. Adu and Matthewman began writing together and out of those scripting spells came the embryonic song shape of “Smooth Operator.”

Adu and Matthewman’s inevitable defection from Pride occurred in the first half of 1983; Adu’s activities at St. Martin’s ceased thereafter as well. Soon, the duo saw themselves expand to a proper group with the addition of keyboardist Andrew Hale and bassist Paul Denman. The artistic chemistry between Adu, Matthewman, Hale and Denman bonded the four youths right away and upon deciding to christen themselves after the namesake of their lead vocalist, the quartet got busy tightening up their live presentation.

By mid-1983, Sade had racked up several lauded showcases in London and one abroad in New York City. Record label intrigue reached a fever pitch in the wake of these performances and Sade eventually received a formal invitation to sign with Epic Records. Upon signing with the imprint, work commenced on their debut album Diamond Life with producer Robin Millar over a six-week span.

The nine-track song cycle is a sumptuous aural spread comprised of lithe funk (“Smooth Operator”), exotic jazz tones (“Your Love Is King”) and robust R&B (“Frankie’s First Affair”). A smart pack of session men provided support for Matthewman, Hale and Denman, however, it is their respective chops that give each track its own enthralling sonic radiance. Dovetailing between meticulousness and improvisation, the space between those two methods is where Sade’s trademark sophistication reveals itself on the steamy floor-filling black pop of “Hang on to Your Love” and the nimble soul of “I Will Be Your Friend.”

The entries contained on Diamond Life don’t just flout instrumental prowess, compelling song texts sit ensconced at the core of the arrangements and an identifiable vocal presence breathes life into them. Aside from a co-write credit from Ray St. John on “Smooth Operator,” a four-way split between the band members on the flashy “Cherry Pie,” and a cover of the social commentary chestnut “Why Can’t We Live Together?”—originally handled by the stateside singer Timmy Thomas in 1972—the remainder of Diamond Life leaped forward from the imaginations of Adu and Matthewman. Standing tall amongst the spicy rhythm sections, rich brass accompaniment and assorted percussion patterns of her musical brothers is Adu. She enchantingly straddles the divide between observation and active participation in every narrative gathered here.

When Diamond Life did finally arrive in stores in July of 1984, it made quite a splash. The record not only blew open an already vibrant rhythm and blues scene in the United Kingdom, it helped to center it as a dually dominant force capable of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with its American counterpart for decades to come. Further, Sade’s rise to prominence became living proof that a woman of color fronting a coterie of white male musicians could be a persuasive platinum seller as much as any of the antecedent English music exported to foreign shores.

With five more acclaimed studio recordings having come since Diamond Life, Sade’s international reputation is undiminished. Still, the darker resonance and romance of Diamond Life is as powerful as it was thirty-five years ago when taken on its own merits, separate from Sade’s other projects. Inspiring and enrapturing to any and all who encounter it, the classic appeal of this effort will continue to endure amid the finite trends that are part and parcel of today’s manic music marketplace”.

I would encourage people to pick up a copy of Diamond Life. It is a true classic! One of the most distinct and beautiful debut albums ever. Such rich songwriting. Those unbelievable, knee-buckling and hugely soulful vocals from Sade Adu! I will end up with a couple of reviews for an album that has gone multi-platinum. The incredible Sade were almost the forebearers of the British R&B wave that came in the late-1980s and 1990s. Artists like Soul II Soul, The Brand New Heavies, Simply Red, Jamiroquai, and Lisa Stansfield followed. I feel many of them took something from Sade. The band definitely brought Neo-Soul to the fore. The first review I want to include is from Rolling Stone:

“Ferocity and abandon are the hallmarks of a certain, and maybe the best, kind of soul music, but Sade's neat, self-possessed sophistication has its own shine.

Sometimes snubbed as "middle of the road," Sade did keep her soul under control on 1984's Diamond Life. There's the elegiac "Sally," as well as the curiously empathetic "Frankie's First Affair," in which a smooth operator gets his emotional comeuppance. And even the still-ubiquitous, samba-laced "Smooth Operator" is closer to a cautionary tale from a too-wise young woman than an actual revelation of whatever may have been Helen Folasade Adu's blues.

Finally, though, with the swinging, wrenching "Cherry Pie" (and, to a lesser extent, with the torchy "Your Love Is King"), Sade sets her elastic, evocative alto free. She's the queen of going thick and rich with her voice, but the way Sade flings out "You were the only one/You were the only one" over attitudinal percussion is intoxicating and forceful, and the band (Stewart Matthewman, Paul Denman, Andrew Hale, Paul Cooke) must have known it: At almost six and a half minutes, "Cherry Pie" is the longest and best song on Diamond Life.

If Sade hadn't rocked it so proudly, girls such as Alicia Keys and Erykah Badu and male crooners including Maxwell (whom Matthewman ushered into the limelight) and Eric Benet would have had less to feed their artistic selves. Twenty years later, Sade's Diamond Life has lost none of its blue bling-bling”.

Let’s finish off with a review from Pitchfork. They also look back at 1984 and where Diamond Life fitted in. A year where big stadium acts and New Romantics dominated the British scene, it might have been quite hard for Sade to break into the mainstream. As it was, Diamond Life was embraced and was a huge commercial success:

“In 1984, while British new romantics like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet filled arenas with enormous synth-pop, Sade became the minimalists, crafting quiet, vintage soul out of basic components. Their end product, Diamond Life, values brevity. The band had a weapon in lead singer Helen Folasade Adu—Sade for short—a modest contralto who wore hoops with a classic red lip and moved in silence like Carmen Sandiego. Despite early comparisons to the likes of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, Sade, then 25, saw not jazz but Black American soul as her band’s core influence. “I’m frightened of anyone for one minute thinking that we’re trying to be a jazz band, because if we were, we could do it a lot better than we’re doing now,” Sade said in 1985. “Our music is clearly pop, because it’s easy to understand.”

More precisely, their sound liquified soul and jazz into new-school pop. They were executors of spaciousness. With Diamond Life, Sade produced feeling music that became a prototype for a generation of singers who favored naked elegance: D’Angelo, Jill Scott, Alicia Keys. Maxwell later borrowed guitarist, saxophonist, and co-writer Stuart Matthewman for his own immaculate 1996 debut Urban Hang Suite; and Drake once equated the “dark sexy feel” of Sade’s records to those on his mixtape So Far Gone. The seductive undertones of artists like Tinashe and Yuna are similarly tethered to Sade, whose fierce dashes of sensuality originated here.

Over nine tracks, Sade sings of unwanted separation and missed connections under the banner of “quiet storm” music, the nickname for mood-setting, after-hours R&B that powered adult contemporary radio. Washington’s WHUR-FM is said to have originated the format in 1976 in response to radio programming that featured predominantly white easy listening acts. Quiet storm was, in contrast, a platform for balladeers like Anita Baker and Luther Vandross and their mellow grade of soul. For Sade, a band that conveyed turbulence even in their subtlety, the label fit. The swagger of “Smooth Operator,” their breakout U.S. single, almost overshadows the fact that the subject’s task is to travel across state lines breaking hearts. Their album, for the most part, seeks out and cherishes serenity and stability in partnerships while acknowledging the rocky parts. Lead U.S. single “Hang On to Your Love,” a stylish, midtempo number, views commitment as a courageous act, and on “Your Love Is King,” Sade drags out her prose, praising ordinary love between the exhales of a sax. The song has all the romance of a shimmering sunset gondola ride.

Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, Sade moved to England at 4 with her mother and brother. As early as 14, she began hitting nightclubs, and by the mid-’80s, the former art student turned menswear designer was casually experimenting as a backup vocalist in the seven-piece funk band Pride. Sade and Matthewman then morphed into a slicker breakout known collectively as Sade (a band name suggested by the singer herself), with Sade as their lead singer, keyboardist Andrew Hale, and bassist Paul S. Denman.

At the time, Sade was living in a deserted fire station, where she and Matthewman would listen to her collection of soul records, from Curtis Mayfield to Nina Simone. When band manager Lee Barrett began shopping a demo featuring “Smooth Operator” and “Your Love Is King”—material they’d been performing in clubs across England—producer Robin Millar said label execs dismissed their songs as “too slow, jazzy, and too long.” Next to the electro-pop of that era, Sade read as desperately tender, which proved to be an asset. The band eventually landed a deal with Epic in 1983 and issued Diamond Life the following year.

As with other idols whose enigma was part of their appeal, Sade practically invented the artist hiatus, taking years-long breaks between records, trading celebrity for freedom and longevity. She was, by all accounts, the coolest in everyone’s orbit. Tom Hanks, who appeared with Sade on Saturday Night Live in 1985, told The New York Times, “Calling her elusive or mysterious might color her as unkind or remote. She was not that. She was, rather, just very comfortable in the command of her art, as well as her presence.” Sade communicated gravity, often amid a cascade of keys and gentle sax riffs suspended in the air. Her voice entered the room like a chill. But her strength was in her ability to render truth and desire concisely. In relaying the sensation of a physical rush on “Your Love Is King,” she sings, “You’re making me dance…” and pauses before settling the emotion: “…Inside,” stretching its syllables into eternity.

The tracks on Diamond Life play in the arena of blues because Sade sought inspiration in the love stories of soul music that centered everyday people. On Diamond Life, she’s still refining her narrative voice, so the allegory in a cut like “Sally,” a sauntering tour through “one angry day in New York,” about the Salvation Army, has good intentions, but it’s the rare Sade song that offers the pretense of sentimentality in lieu of the real thing. The working-class anxieties that became a thread in their music materialize on “When Am I Going to Make a Living,” a song Sade wrote on the back of a receipt from the cleaners one night during a downpour.

Even when the lounginess is laid on thick, the album’s tones are subdued enough to be affecting. The damp ambiance of songs like “Frankie’s First Affair” and the six-plus-minute “Cherry Pie” burn like the type of molten soul expected to backdrop a film noir. While the track billows and tapers, becoming more atmospheric than dynamic by the end, Sade’s debut is a strong compilation of stories that bristle with simplicity”.

On 16th July, Diamond Life turns forty. It celebrates its ruby anniversary. When ranking Sade’s albums, I would put Diamond Life at the top. Many might say it is 1992’s Love Deluxe. Such a confident and wonderfully immersive and original debut album, I hope that there is spotlight of Diamond Life as it turns forty. Singles like When Am I Going to Make a Living and Hang On to Your Love sit alongside wonderful deeper cuts like Sally and Cherry Pie. There is no denying that Sade’s Diamond Life was…

SUCH a spectacular start.

FEATURE: Walk Straight Down the Middle: Kate Bush’s Music: Are the Deeper Cuts ‘Radio-Friendly’?

FEATURE:

 

 

Walk Straight Down the Middle

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989

Kate Bush’s Music: Are the Deeper Cuts ‘Radio-Friendly’?

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I am not sure how the debate started…

PHOTO CREDIT: Denis Oregan

but I was on Twitter and discussing Kate Bush’s music with someone I follow. We were discussing singles and why particular songs were not released. I maintained that a couple from, 1982’s The Dreaming, specifically, Houdini and Get Out of My House, could have succeeded. Bush released at least three singles from that album that were not successes – There Goes a Tenner, The Dreaming and Suspended in Gaffa. In fact, Night of the Swallow was not that popular. One could say that this album was not designed for singles. I think we assume that this equates to no chart potential or radio play. Maybe that was the case in the 1980s. Today, there is a breadth and variety of radio stations beyond the commercial and riskless. Those stations that have no edge or any sort of acceptance for anything that isn’t easily digestible and single. That is why I get angry that Kate Bush songs are not played more. We assume that Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is played most and almost synonymous with her because it is easy to listen to. In fairness, Bush deliberately made songs from the first side of Hounds of Love more commercial and accessible after The Dreaming’s sound and critical reaction. I would not say that this is song is the definition of radio-friendly. I don’t like this assumption that anything not released as a single is not radio-friendly. I don’t like ‘radio-friendly’. Hounds of Love is more accessible than most of her albums. Most of Kate Bush’s singles are less experimental and strange than some of her deeper cuts. That does not mean that these songs should be ignored. If you think about British radio, you occasionally get deeper cuts played. Most of the time, it is a few songs from Hounds of Love – the title track among them -, Wow, Babooshka, maybe Sat in Your Lap and This Woman’s Work. These songs are seen as suitable for radio. Not that challenging or off-putting for listeners. I do realise that radio was much more restrictive in the 1970s and 1980s. Bush was a bit stuck when it came to releasing singles that would be played and chart.

I feel this attitude continues today. We naturally assume that the songs that were successful singles are the only ones people want to hear. Anything else would not be popular. I don’t think that the term radio-friendly applies to songs that are not instantly commercial or ‘safe’. In terms of language, lyrical content etc., that is where radio-friendly comes in. Stations like BBC Radio 6 Music are an example of people who play really any type of music. There are enough radio stations that have a broad palette and, therefore, could play any Kate Bush song. I have heard Slipknot on BBC Radio 1 I have heard obscure Jazz and showtunes on BBC Radio 2. You get complex and symphonic Classical music on BBC Radio 3. There are niche and lesser-heard Folk songs on multiple stations. Captain Beefheart gets played. Modern-day groups that are angular and eccentric get airtime. Kate Bush’s songs, by comparison, seem quite ordinary and inoffensive. Nothing that would cause a listener to switch off. Think about the songs that one might lazily think are not radio-friendly. You’d be looking at The Dreaming’s tracks (aside from Sat in Your Lap), a few from 1978’s Lionheart and maybe a few from 2005’s Aerial. I cannot really name a song that is so out-there it could not make it onto radio. There is this media perception that Kate Bush is weird; this artist that only has a few songs that you can play on the radio. I am struggling to remember the last time a non-single from Kate Bush was played on British radio. If something deeper is, it is usually suggested by the listener. To be fair, she released enough singles that means we will never only hear one or two tracks. Even so, perhaps the dominance of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) gives people the impression that this is the definition of Kate Bush. We need to stop assuming that most of her catalogue is unworthy of radio play. Listeners cannot make their mind up if they don’t have a choice. Stations assuming that the singles are the only think worth hearing.

I don’t think there is any mandate or directive from EMI or Kate Bush that particular songs are played. Old and inaccurate perceptions of her and her music pervade to this day. The fact that platforms like TikTok maybe make the situation worse when it comes to narrow definition regarding her catalogue and sound. How there is a world of music unexplored and unknown because it is seen as unplayable or inferior. That is not the case. There is really no such thing as a radio-friendly song or artist. Everyone has a place somewhere. Few more so than Kate Bush. For all that she has given to the music industry, her music deserves a lot more than it is afforded. The more that we learn about the full extent and brilliance of her music, the more it will reach generations. The more people of all ages will understand. I don’t like this notion that only a select few Kate Bush songs could be played on the radio. The more singular and reductive stations are, the worse the situation becomes. We risk walking down the middle. Picking songs that are tried and tested. Those most people have heard. Only the occasional rare gem coming through. All radio stations should do a lot more to celebrate…

THIS woman’s work.

FEATURE: Screen Dreams: Why Is There Virtually No Music T.V. in 2024?

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Screen Dreams

PHOTO CREDIT: Karolina Kaboompics/Pexels

Why Is There Virtually No Music T.V. in 2024?

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WHEN I was a child…

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

and teenager, there was an abundance of music T.V. I know that this was before the Internet took over and we had options like YouTube. I do not maintain that this has replaced the need for music on T.V. There two are very different. For a start, people do not often watch live music on YouTube and social media. Most people use that for music videos and interviews. In terms of seeing artists perform, television very much has an important role. Also, we still listen to artists perform on the radio. That medium has not really declined. I wonder why there is this disappearance of music T.V. Many assume that it is because music videos are not popular. That TikTok and Instagram has made it redundant. For one, music videos were popular back in the day because they were on television. I think that streaming makes people turn away from videos. If there was a bigger screen and focused way of looking at the latest videos, it would not only mean streamlining the masses of choices. I feel it may help revive that desire fort artists to push the artform so that they can see them on a music T.V. programme. In terms of social media, it has its place regarding promotion and spreading music. You can’t get the same experience of watching live performances, music videos, interviews and features from these platforms. It is more that a lack of options means people assume music T.V. is a thing of the past. We have the excellent and long-running Later… with Jools Holland. Over three decades, it has platformed so many incredible artists. It has its format and niche. I do maintain there is an opportunity for at least one competitor. A show that would have aspects of that – the live performances and interviews -, throwing in features, music news, and an array of other things. Maybe a magazine show mixed with those live performances, it would prove popular. I have said in previous features about music television how there have been attempts in the past. Formats that have not really worked.

 I understand it is a hard thing to achieve. I recently read a feature in The Guardian that reported on the closure of music video channels. Fergal Kinney argues how music videos are in decline. That everything is reduced and tighter because of the needs and nature of TikTok. How there are reduced budgets so that you do not get these huge and ambitious videos. That rings true in a sense. I would say that music T.V. goes beyond the video. That live performances, classic videos and albums and all aspects of the music world have a place still on T.V. That we should not rely on the Internet. There is a community aspect to music T.V. Even so, it is sad that closures and reductions mean that nearly all music T.V. is now through the Internet:

“Channel 4 have announced the closure of The Box, 4Music, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang! on 1 July, amid declining eyeballs on linear TV, rising operating costs and plummeting advertising revenue. The stations – which served a hard-to-reach national audience often underserved by the music industry – now “no longer deliver revenues or public value at scale”.

After the rollout of digital UK satellite television in 1998, the new millennium saw an arms race in music broadcasting as corporate boardrooms targeted the bored and music-loving teenager. At their peak, between 2003 and 2010, there were nearly 40 rolling music video channels available in the UK.

While MTV Select, which ran on viewers’ requests, was an early education in democracy (disappointing), shows like VH2’s The Next Song Will Be Great implicitly understood the gamed, double-your-money promise of music TV on young minds. A show about the 100 Best Videos Ever became a highbrow seminar on auteurs such as Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry, and was where I first encountered groundbreaking videos such as Aphex Twin’s Come to Daddy, Bjork’s All Is Full of Love and New Order’s Bauhaus-influenced True Faith.

That collision of eras and styles is important. Much has been made of how 2010s streaming flattened 60 years of pop history, but for millions it was the music channels that got there first. This had implications: despite the best efforts of MTV2’s Zane Lowe-fronted Gonzo interview show, it was hard to be quite so thrilled by indie acts such as the Pigeon Detectives and Babyshambles once they were juxtaposed with their obvious indie influences, the Smiths or the Cure. Later, Simon Reynolds theorised about pop music’s addiction to the past, but here was the first time I witnessed contemporary music culture’s fight for oxygen against its own history.

Music TV could foster strange pleasures, too – and I don’t just mean staying up late to catch the version of Rock DJ that doesn’t cut before Robbie Williams rips off his own skin. Grownups would be bemused why, aged 14, I knew all the words to Cliff Richard’s Wired for Sound, but I’d become hooked by the Milton Keynes roller-skating video of this Magic TV mainstay.

In the 2020s, linear music TV is a dispiriting experience: a carve-up between Jools Holland, BBC Four’s Friday night archive Top of the Pops programme and Sky Arts’ bewildering clash of Andrea Bocelli arena shows and boomer-friendly reunion rock. What remains of music TV is nostalgia for an ageing broadcast audience: Tony Blackburn’s That’s 60s channel or Mike Read’s Heritage Chart Show. Like a lot of things about living in the UK, it is run poorly, without love, and in the slavish service of an imagined community of retirees”.

The fact that nostalgia music television is popular is not only about reliving the past. There are aspects of those shows that can be translate and updated for modern audiences. Music venues are closing and struggling. They are under-financed. Music television has that opportunity to provide exposure and opportunity for rising artists and established alike. At a time when so many artists price fans out, it is this affordable option to see them perform. New music videos of any budget could be shown. It means they are not overlooked. Artists would feel inspired to reinvest in music videos. Mixing in older albums and nostalgia together with the cutting edge. A variety of genres and artists featured. Discussion and interviews. Music T.V. is not just about videos. There is so much to feature and highlight. The sad thing is that there is not enough investment in and care of a previous institution. I like the fact that Later… with Jools Holland continues and shows no signs of ending. That proves that music T.V. is not dead. It is about getting the right format. When that does happen, the market could grow. Lacking investment and faith in music T.V. is a dangerous thing. The more we lean into TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, the more insular and private music becomes. Songs and videos get shorter. Also, TikTok seems aimed at younger music fans and artists. Where do older artists find a space and crowd?! The vinyl revival and growth shows there is a lust for the tangible. People wanting something that last longer than digital music. I feel the same about music television. A longer-form show where you have to engage, rather than watch short videos or rely on having a short attention span. The death of music television is not here yet. We need to ensure that it never is. One of the reasons I am so passionate about music is because of music T.V. and all that it gave to people of my gnereation. To lose that would damage and deny the new generations coming through. To ignore and discount music television would be…

A real tragedy.

FEATURE: She Loves to Come for Her Ride: Digging into the Unusual and Unknown Sides of Kate Bush

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She Loves to Come for Her Ride

Digging into the Unusual and Unknown Sides of Kate Bush

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AHEAD of the release…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on the set of The Line, the Cross and the Curve (1993)

of the reissued edition of Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, I have been thinking about the more unusual and lesser-known sides of her career. Those facts and titbits that many might not know about. That book, written by Graeme Thomson, is an essential and authoritative biography. It has been revised to include more up to date events like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) featuring in Stranger Things (2022) and getting to number one. I am not sure how deep to go and what things casual Kate Bush fans know already. There are a couple of unknown bits of information I might need to consult the book about, as they are a pretty hazy memory. I think that Kate Bush was a big fan of The Muppets when she was younger. Especially Animal. I do remember, early on in the book, there is a section that says, one day, when Kate Bush was walking down the street, she thought someone was waving to her and she started waving back. Before realising it was actually someone washing the windows! I think the more we know about the unusual, the cute, the rare and deep, the better impression we get of Kate Bush. I am interested in reading a book or magazine that collects together some of this rarer content. The more unusual or lesser-known interviews. Facts about Bush and some gems that may not even be known to hardcore fans. I did put a shout-out on Twitter to see if anyone had any favourite unusual/odd Kate Bush facts. One person responded with a comment about how her favourite flavour of Angel Delight was butterscotch. I don’t want to give to much credence to the notion that Kate Bush is eccentric or this mythical figure. That is how she was painted by the media for years. This apparent recluse and oddity. When people write about Kate Bush or there are articles, all the more obvious and well-trodden information is provided. Readers rarely get to know more about her various sides. How many know that Kate Bush (and Del Palmer) were at the final Ziggy Stardust concert in 1973? Bush cried her eyes out when it was announced Ziggy Stardust was retiring. Maybe thinking that meant David Bowie was retiring, it was a shock. That concert was at the Hammersmith Odeon. No coincidence this is a venue Bush chosen to perform at during 1979’s The Tour of Life. It was also the venue Bush performed in for the twenty-two nights of 2014’s Before the Dawn (named now the Eventim Apollo).

I think, the more and more I hear Kate Bush on the radio and see her represented in the media, the more defined she is. In terms of the image, her songs and value. The way people describe her. The same words keeping coming up. It gets tiring. People do not go deep enough or bother trying. I realise that highlighting some rarer knowledge about Kate Bush might mean people double-down on calling her weird or witch-like! I do think that it (these facts) add charm, dimensions and depth. When I see features about Kate Bush facts, many of them are the same. There are few that go beyond that. I have collected a few I want to drop in. I would like to hear from anyone who might want to add something. There is a whole world of the back-road Kate Bush. These interviews, performances, trivia and factoids that would be tantalising for fans old and new alike! In terms of lost songs and opportunities that never were quite realised, one of the top is the fact that Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush were going to record a song together, Ibiza. Having not reached the studio, it would have been wonderful to have heard the song! Kate Bush appeared on several Peter Gabriel songs, though he never appeared on hers. The two have shared a stage. I do hope that if a new Kate Bush album comes, Peter Gabriel is included. In terms of songs that were recorded but never released, Never for Ever was completed during the sessions for 1978’s Lionheart. Bush did call her third studio album Never for Ever, although it does not have a title track. Bush disliked her vocal on the song. Producer Andrew Powell loved the vocal. It is a shame that this unreleased song may never come to light. I am going to hop around a bit in terms of time period and subject. Many might not know that Kate Bush (Cathy/Catherine as she would have been called) took up karate. Her eldest brother, John, was an instructor at Goldsmiths College Karate Club. I think that Bush practising karate fed into her love of dance and movement. She did this between writing songs and poetry for her school magazine. Her nickname at school was ‘Ee-ee’, due to her squeaky kiai – this is the battle cry made by combatants when performing an attack move.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982

Whilst The Kick Inside’s James and the Cold Gun was not about James Bond, Bush was approached by Bond producers to record the theme to Moonraker. This is one of the great what-ifs when it comes to artists who could have recorded classic Bond themes. Think about Lana Del Rey or Radiohead. When it came to Moonraker’s theme, the iconic Shirley Bassey eventually recorded it. She recorded one of the very best themes. It would have been intriguing hearing what Kate Bush did with that opportunity! People might not be aware that Kate Bush interviewed herself for fan-club newsletters. In 1987, Bush was interviewed by two fictitious characters – her aunt Hetty and cousin Zwort Finkle. Zwort enquired as to why Bush didn’t do that many interviews. She said: “I find it very difficult to express myself in interviews…Often people have so many preconceptions that I spend most of the interview trying to defend myself from the image that was created by the media eight years ago”. I may do another feature about relatively unseen interviews people should check out. Two very different ones from 1994 – this one here and this - are really important. Going back to the Kate Bush Club Magazine, in the Christmas 1981 issue, Bush wrote about a recent trip to Loch Ness, where she claimed to have seen a UFO: “I noticed three lights in the sky, descending in a diagonal line. Then they formed a horizontal line and remained static just below a layer of cloud. There were huge circular orange lights; and we set off in the car in hot pursuit. We thought maybe they were some kind of stadium lights, but they were too near to the clouds; and we had never seen aircraft with such big lights, nor that colour”.

A lot of people do not know what sort of music Kate Bush was inspired by. During an interview with Pulse, where Bush discussed songs that impacted her, she mentioned John Lennon’s #9 Dream, which featured on Walls and Bridges in 1974. Bush also mentioned Billie Holiday and Roxy Music. There were some odd musical collaborations and charity endeavours. Bush made a guest appearance on Spirit of the Forest, a 1989 Live Aid-style charity single also featuring Iggy Pop, Kim Wilde, Fish from Marillion, the Jungle Brothers and the Ramones. It was a flop! Perhaps not compelled by human voices the most, when asked by Radio 2 in 1996 who her favourite singer was, Bush said it was the blackbird, and her second favourite was the thrush. Perhaps that comes as no shock. In 1981, Kate Bush was interviewed by anthropologist Desmond Morris. Bush did not stumble when asked this question: “Do you like your voice?” She not only said that she didn’t, but she then eloquently explored and explained why. Kate Bush was never a fan of flying. Not necessarily scared of it, she did find it tiring. Not a shock really, as she lived in Australia for a bit as a child. Even so, in 1978, her attitude was more positive. She did say she wanted to fly more. That comment came after she flew to Holland in 1978. She made trips to Japan, Jamaica, the U.S. and Australia. One side of Kate Bush that is not explored is her pets. Her dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, appear on the cover of 1985’s Hounds of Love. At the time of Aerial's release, she had a dog called Ted. Pyewacket was a member of Kate Bush’s household during the late Seventies and Eighties. Living alongside Zoodle, he was the subject of a comic strip Bush drew for the Kate Bush Club Newsletter. Moving onto Kate Bush as a groundbreaking, she was the first singer/songwriter to stage a concert where she danced alongside a team of professional dancers. Bush did so whilst singing live through a headset microphone. She rewrote the rules on how artists could perform live. People often credit Michael Jackson with popularising and introducing cinematic videos. The truth is, by the time Thriller arrived in 1982, Bush had already released epic and cinematic videos.

Kate Bush did not dabble in advertising a lot. She did wrote a series of short instrumental pieces for a Coca-Cola fruit drink, Fruitpoia, in 1994. With a different piece for each flavour, they are well worth watching on YouTube. Way before American Idol and X Factor were known here and the U.S., Kate Bush took part, sort of, in a Japanese version in 1978. She debuted at a Tokyo Song Contest to promote her tour. Bush came in second. These are only a few of the odder facts and deeper bits of information that adds new colours and layers to Kate Bush. Such a phenomenally busy and diverse artist, I do crave for the day when there is a Kate Bush book where we dig down and discover all the wonderfully unusual bits of information about her. On social media, I learn something new about Kate Bush nearly every day. I go down YouTube wormholes and discover these videos I have never seen before. Finding odd photos and discovering new facts that make me fall deeper for everything about Kate Bush. If you are a new fan, I hope you have learned a few things about Kate Bush you did not know. Diehards might have their own facts and oddities they could pass my way. Rather than focus on the obvious songs and the same old narrative, there is much more to Kate Bush than meets the eye. She truly is one of the most fainting artists ever. I want to end by recommending people go and pre-order a copy of Graeme Thomson’s new edition of Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, which is published on 27th June. That will give you all the information and detail that you could ever need. The more you explore and the deeper you go, the wider your knowledge is. That is what makes Kate Bush…

SO very fascinating.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Pride Month: Modern-Day L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Artists to Watch

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Mia Wray/PHOTO CREDIT: Madeline Kate

Pride Month: Modern-Day L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Artists to Watch

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IT is Pride Month…

do I was keen to get to a playlist that combined modern-day L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists that need to be on your radar. I will put out another feature or two related to Pride, as it is important that it is discussed and celebrated. You can find out more important about Pride Month here. There are some wonderful Pride/L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists on the scene at the moment. From legends and icons through to artists coming through, they are warrant highlighting and salute. It is great to hear radio stations put together playlists and dedicated their time to marking Pride. I am sure you will know some of these artists, though there are likely to be a few that are new. It would be great to hear any tips from people when it comes to artists that should be include on the playlist. In honour of this year’s Pride Month, below is a playlist of some contemporary L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists that you need to know about. As you will discover, they are truly fantastic. These are remarkable and important artists who are…

IN THIS PHOTO: Ray Laurél

FLYING the flag.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lambrini Girls

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Titouan Massé

Lambrini Girls

_________

THERE might be a bit of…

confusion and inconsistency, in the sense that Lambrini Girls are a duo, though they are also in publicity photos with a third member, Banksy. Rather than refer to them as a trio, there are going to be photos with Banksy included. The interviews are with Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira. Recent cuts God’s Country and Body of Mine are incredible and stunning examples of the Punk duo’s prowess. Lambrini Girls should be on your radar. Earlier in the year, VOCAL GIRLS spoke with the duo. Following their E.P., You’re Welcome, Lambrini Girls are definitely on a mission. One of the most powerful and important acts in the country:

“Following last year’s debut EP ‘You’re Welcome’, Lambrini Girls are back with riotous new single ‘God’s Country’. To mark its release, VOCAL GIRLS chat to the band about using their platform and responsible activism.

“I don’t think there’s any point in being a punk band and releasing a political song that’s a pile of shit,” Phoebe Lunny, vocalist and guitarist of punk duo Lambrini Girls, says firmly. She’s reflecting on their latest single, ‘God’s Country’, which takes thrashing aim at the pretty bleak state of affairs in the UK right now. “Just saying ‘don’t trust your government, let’s have a fucking beer, waheeeey’ – it trivialises it,” she continues. “I wanted [‘God’s Country’] to actually be attuned to the current political landscape.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Brodie Florence

To date, Lambrini Girls (completed by bassist Lilly Macieira) have followed the same highly-charged and unwavering path, confronting social issues such as lad culture, misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia across last year’s ‘You’re Welcome’ EP. They’re now hunkering down on a farm to write their debut album, where they do at least have the idylls of Oxfordshire countryside – complete, as they cheerfully inform me, with horses, chickens and geese – to offset the doom. ‘God’s Country’ is the first single to bridge the gap between the two projects: twisting hot-headed, flag-wielding patriotism on its head to poke holes in its logic, the song takes “God save the king” as its snarling refrain – an unfortunate coincidence given last week’s announcement of Charles’ cancer diagnosis. “The timing of that!” Phoebe sighs, shaking her head ruefully. “What can you do? That’s out of our control.”

One issue Lambrini Girls have always shouted loud about is the treatment of women and non-binary people, from their avid support of trans rights and ‘FUCK TERFS’ merch to songs like ‘Boys in the Band’,  which calls out the toxic culture enabling assault (“Problematic and well connected / But it's still being deflected / Because we separate the art from the artist”). The government’s Misogyny in Music report, published at the end of January, therefore came as little shock to either of them. “People on X [fka Twitter] were [reacting] like–,” Phoebe slaps a hand across her mouth to feign outrage, “–what?!” She sighs, exasperated. “What do you mean ‘what?’! This is our whole fucking lives! This is every non-male person’s career in music. It’s like everyone forgot the #MeToo movement happened, or think it just exclusively applied to the film industry. No!”

“Among women and queer people it’s common knowledge,” Lilly nods. “When I was first getting into music, my mum warned me about the industry and said ‘you never have to do anything you don’t want to do’, blah blah blah. Even she was completely aware of what it’s like.”

An example of social media’s mixed blessings, in the wake of the report, Instagram provided a space for people to share solidarity as well as their own experiences. Phoebe points to a statement posted by Izzy Baxter Phillips, frontperson of Black Honey. “I think what’s beautiful is that the more people who are vocal, the less scary it gets,” Phoebe says. “[Izzy’s] in a relatively big band, so a lot of smaller bands, or a lot of women or queer people, are gonna see that and think ‘it’s safe for me to do that too’. It makes it a lot easier for other people who might be a bit scared to do so – which is slay!”

Among other things, the report aims to limit the use of NDAs and develop a school programme to combat misogyny in boys. The latter point feels most critical for digging out the problem’s cultural root, but that is far easier said than done. “I feel like we’re in this weird sensationalist cycle where this kind of thing comes out and there’s a temporary uproar about it, but no one’s actually learning from it,” Lilly says. “People don’t take responsibility and don’t look at their roles in these things – particularly men, to be honest. The people who are affected by it are lower down in the power dynamic because we’re affected by it; that’s the inherent nature of it.”

“You have to recognise your privilege and use it to open dialogues, which might even get you in a bit of shit,” Phoebe agrees. “Every non-male person is putting their fucking neck on the line – it’s not enough to just see it and be like ‘aw yeah, that’s shit, let me repost that’.”

Challenging “cis geezers” and the generally unconverted to accept their sermon is why festivals and support slots are an important part of the Lambrini Girls agenda. “If you’re preaching to the choir 24/7 you’re enforcing your bubble, but you’re not making it any bigger,” Phoebe says. “In a crowd of 700 people, you might change one person’s mind, or at least make them think; that’s what’s important.” In fact, making people think seems to be the band’s raison d’être. Theirs is not a hollow, controversial-for-the-sake-of-it rehash of punk; nor is it aloof, claiming absolute wisdom from atop the high horse. Instead, Lambrini Girls are navigating both the political and digital landscape with admirable transparency - learning as they go - and making sure to scream their lungs out about any and all prejudice they see along the way”.

In February, DIY chatted with Lambrini Girls. They explained how they wanted to piss people off and make them question themselves. They are releasing such potent music that everyone needs to hear. With stations such as BBC Radio 6 Music shouting about them, this duo are primed for headline stages:

“Lambrini Girls, their vocalist and guitarist Phoebe Lunny explains, has always been “a passion project”. Born from the bones of a different band and a frustration with the Brighton music scene (and beyond), the project started in earnest when Phoebe met bassist Lilly Macieira-Bosgelmez - who’d been given 24 hours to learn the band’s set from scratch - and “something just clicked”.

Both were ambitious, determined to try and make music their career. More importantly, both were angry: about the ubiquity of misogynistic and homophobic ‘lad culture’; about the widespread occurrences of sexual assault at gigs; about the musicians and fans who perpetuate these behaviours. And so they set about addressing all these issues and more via the medium of fiery, three-minute punk scorchers - music that is virtually unignorable, intensely powerful, and utterly memorable.

“Hey mum / Why haven’t I had a boyfriend? / Um, maybe it’s because I’m potentially a lesbian?” Phoebe intones on debut single ‘Help Me I’m Gay’. Live, its performance involves asking the crowd to “put your hand up if you’re gay!” - something which can variously be “a celebration of people’s queerness” if there are lots of hands, or simply a way to show people that they’re not alone. And in encouraging this sort of community in others, the pair have gained confidence in their own identities, too. “I was a little bit more of a late bloomer with my sexuality,” says Lilly. “I started off saying ‘I’m half gay’, because I’m bisexual, and then with time I learned that actually, that’s not being half gay - [bisexuality] counts just as much. There are some parts of the queer community where you can be made to feel a bit invalidated as a bisexual person, so the band really helped me in that sense.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Swann

Elsewhere on Lambrini Girls’ 2023 EP ‘You’re Welcome’, tracks like ‘White Van’, ‘Lads Lads Lads’ and ‘Boys In The Band’ take aim at society’s deeply embedded problems with sexual harassment, with the latter placing the alternative music scene under particular scrutiny. Do they think that any significant progress has been made with tackling abuse culture within the industry? “In Brighton, it seems like people are being a lot more vigilant of it and opening dialogues,” muses Phoebe. “But I think there’s a lot of work to be done in London. It’s not a safe space; there are bands that are actively known to have done very dodgy stuff who still get to play the venues everyone else does.”

The first step towards stamping out these sorts of behaviours, the band believe, is “calling out your mates and believing victims.” Lilly explains that “we’re not trying to peddle a sort of inconsequential cancel culture where you hear something bad about someone then immediately cut them out. If someone is willing to take responsibility or explore the ways in which they might have hurt someone, that’s something really positive to go off.” The same can be said for their attitude towards the social discourse surrounding trans rights; in an era where social media has us primed to think in absolutes, it’s important to give people the grace to get it wrong (misgendering someone, for example) - providing they’re willing to learn.

“There’s ignorance on one hand,” says Phoebe, who is currently sporting a Lambrini Girls cap emblazoned with the words ‘FUCK TERFS’. “Then there’s wilful ignorance. There are people who are being actively hateful and are trying to stop other people just having human rights.” But, as Lilly acknowledges, “fifty years ago we’d be having this conversation about homophobia rather than transphobia. So I’d like to hope that [trans rights] will change with time.”

Phoebe also points out that these conversations shouldn’t centre around the band. Rather, their goal is “to show allyship and use [their] platform to bring these conversations into a slight mainstream” - something they believe is intrinsic to being a punk artist. “If you’re building your platform off politics, you have to put your money where your mouth is. If you’re a political punk band, then you do have a degree of responsibility to use your platform for good”.

Last month, Lambrini Girls were interviewed by Rolling Stone UK at Awake Festival. Among their missions is to make men speak up when they see things that aren’t okay. So much modern music is empty and is all about love stories and personal woes. The music of Lambrini Girls seems much more important. They are tackling themes and asking questions that the biggest artists in the world are not. You almost wish that roles were reversed and Lambrini Girls got to tour the world and have tens of thousands of people watching them:

“The Brighton punk duo address the issue on their song ‘Boys In The Band’, which sees them take aim at musicians who take advantage of their status to commit heinous acts.

“Hide your drink, from the boys in music, Before you pass out in their limousine,” comes their stark warning on the song.

Taking aim at victim-blaming, they add: “It was completely your fault, you can’t prove it was assault. And you shouldn’t have got so drunk at their gig.”

Before performing the track at last weekend’s Wide Awake Festival, the pair also encouraged attendees to call out their friends whenever they are confronted with inappropriate behaviour.

Speaking backstage, vocalist Phoebe Lunny told Rolling Stone UK: “It’s really important to us. We’re both women, so it’s something that we can relate to directly because it’s one in four women.

“Any crowd can relate to what we’re saying because half the crowd has experienced it, it’s something which is happening constantly and it is a massive societal issue that we have. It does really just stem from the fact that people hate confrontation, calling out their friends and actually speaking to their friends about it.

“Especially in music scenes, everyone just wants to be popular. Everyone wants everyone to like them. So when they hear something dodgy, they don’t say anything.”

She went on: “I’ve been that person [who doesn’t anything] myself, I know I have. But it comes from opening a dialogue and educating yourself and learning and also relating to something hat you can’t really relate to yourself sometimes.”

Her bandmate, Lilly Maciera, added: “I think also what we’re trying to do is trying to get men specifically to take accountability and to get more involved in things that they are seeing happening. Because I think the issue applies to all of us. I don’t think it is just men, but because of the power dynamic that exists between men and women, I think generally it shouldn’t be this way, but men hold a lot of power. And I think there’s a difference between women being like, this is fucked up, this is not OK and a man saying that.

“I think the reason for this is because women can relate to experiences as such. And I think men generally can, but not all of them. And it’s less likely for men to be able to relate to these kinds of experiences because I think micro-aggressions are a part of our daily lives. I think they are part of all women’s daily lives, and I don’t think they’re a part of men’s daily lives. So I think it’s all about making men feel aware about their privilege and trying to get them to be able to identify situations that are not OK and trying to encourage men to speak up about things when they see things that are not OK”

Explaining how the song reflects the “social climate we’re in,” Maciera went on to explain how parallels can be made with the importance of speaking out against the ongoing war in Gaza.

“The genocide that’s happening at the moment is the same thing. We’re not directly affected by it, are we? But it’s very important to stand up for it,” she said”.

I really love Lambrini Girls. They are such a vital force for change and conversation. Releasing stunning music that has real depth and bite, you need to get involved and follow them. As they are on the radar of some big music websites and radio stations, you are going to see them climb even higher with each new single. I cannot wait for an album from them. Artists that call out the bad and unlawful, compel change in those not doing enough, and who are also committed and passionate activists is…

ONLY be a good thing.

__________

Follow Lambrini Girls

PHOTO CREDIT: Emma Swann

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lambrinigirlz

Twitter:

https://x.com/Lambrini_Girls

TikTok:

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

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr33PPOQ3kfnONhM6a49CGA

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VR4TJ20WGiho2xZWMuuWb?si=rNiyQIwETIW8ZruCXIITog

Bandcamp:

https://lambrinigirlsband.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/LambriniGirlsband/

FEATURE: Spotlight: Charlotte Day Wilson

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Charlotte Day Wilson

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ONE of the best albums…

PHOTO CREDIT: Matthew Tammaro

of the year has come from the magnificent Charlotte Day Wilson. Cyan Blue came out in May and is an album that you need to add to your collection. I have been following her for a while now. Although she has been making music for a long time, many might know her as a collaborator rather than a solo artist. Her second studio album announces her as a major talent who you need to watch out for. I would urge people to pick up Cyan Blue. This is what Rough Trade say:

“Toronto-born-and-raised singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Day Wilson announces her highly-anticipated sophomore album Cyan Blue via Stone Woman Music / XL Recordings. Cyan Blue finds Wilson crafting a smoothly woven cyan tapestry of her eternal influences; thumping gospel piano, warm soul basslines, atmospheric electronics, and penetrating R&B melodies. Yet, it possesses a sense of vastness that rings in a new era for Wilson, one in which she’s embracing collaboration and newfound creative openness tinged with wistfulness and yearning and a reflection on youthful  innocence. “I want to look through the unjaded eyes of my younger self again,” Wilson explains of making Cyan Blue. “Before there wasn’t as much baggage, before so much life was lived. But I also wish that my younger self could see where I am now. It would be nice to be able to impart some of the wisdom and clarity that I have now onto her.”

Working with producers like Leon Thomas (SZA, Ariana Grande, Post Malone), and Jack Rochon (H.E.R, Daniel Caesar), Cyan Blue demonstrates Wilson’s sonic expertise while also showcasing the next evolution of her time-bending songwriting. Through 13 hypnotizing tracks, she continues to use music as a vessel for unpacking relationships, which in turn allows her to meet and understand herself in life-spanning, panoramic focus. But, on Cyan Blue, she challenged herself to kick her perfectionist tendencies.  “Before, I was extremely intentional about creating music with a strong foundation, a bed of artistic integrity,” Wilson reflects. “But that was a bit stifling, like, ‘Let me just make a great piece of art that will stand the test of time, no pressure.’ Now, I think I'm getting out of this frozen state of needing everything to be perfect. I'm more interested in capturing feelings in the moment as they happen and leaving them in that moment.”

While this is only her second album, Wilson’s influence in music has made a major mainstream impact. Wilson broke out in 2016 with her critically acclaimed EP, CDW, followed by 2018’s Stone Woman and made her debut studio album an official coming out moment in 2021 with the critically acclaimed, self-released Alpha.  Over the past decade, she’s been sampled by Drake, John Mayer, and James Blake, while Patti Smith has recently praised and covered Wilson’s 2016 breakout single “Work.” Additionally, she’s collaborated with artists like Kaytranada, BADBADNOTGOOD, and SG Lewis, demonstrating that there’s no sound Wilson can’t adapt to and sprinkle her cyan-colored magic over”.

Cyan Blue is a beautiful and instantly memorable album. Highlighting the fact Charlotte Day Wilson is a phenomenal songwriter. One of these artists that you need to hear. I have a few interviews that are worth sourcing. The first, from Sniffers, takes us inside a remarkable album:

“In Laurel Canyon, alongside her co-producer Jack Rochon, Charlotte Day Wilson crafted her sophomore album ‘Cyan Blue’; a graceful exploration of self through past-reflections and future desires.

While Wilson is known to have self-produced the majority of her previous projects,—from her 2016 EP ‘CDW’, and 2018 EP ‘Stone Woman’, to her 2021 debut album ‘Alpha’—‘Cyan Blue’ is a testament to creative easement achieved through collaboration.

For 'Cyan Blue,' Wilson prioritized enjoying her creative process over the pressure of producing a perfect final product. During recording sessions, she would drive to Ranson’s house each day before heading to the studio together. She shares, “those short drives were as important to us as working on the music, to listen to references while taking moments to check in on each other.” After completing ‘Cyan Blue’, Wilson stated that Rochon allowed her to feel “completely free and weird and able to make mistakes”, stressing to us the importance of having Rochon’s name “loud and clear since he was seminal to the creation of ‘Cyan Blue’.”

The creative freedom that Rochon granted Wilson doesn’t fall on deaf ears, rather their collaborative venture stands as Wilson’s most vulnerable and thought provoking feat to date. Transversing time over 13 life-chronicling tracks, ‘Cyan Blue’’s emotional resonance provides an earnest vantage point into Wilson’s desire for a clear understanding of self.

Hi Charlotte, it’s nice to meet you. Congrats on the new project.

Hello, thank you so much!

I wanted to start off by chatting about the title track ‘Cyan Blue’. You say a reflective line to your younger self; “I wish I could see through your eyes one more time”, can you expand on this wishful thought?

In general I’m on a perpetual journey of trying to connect with my inner child. I feel the most connected with myself when I feel close to the person I was when I was a child. I believe at our core we’re always those people, that we are who we are from a very young age.

Something I’ve always been aware of is my grief towards the fact that we can’t truly feel feelings again, and while we may remember the events that emotionally moved us, or recall what hurt us, or why we felt love, we don’t actually remember how those feelings felt as we lived them. As a deeply emotional person, I’ve enjoyed talking to my younger self about what those experiences felt like for me.

Looking into the future, your track “New Day” revolves around your desire to be a mother. Can you tell us about the personal narrative you shaped within the lyrics?

I wrote ‘New Day’ as I was confronting the heavy feelings I encounter when I think about being a mother in a lesbian relationship, specifically about how only one mother can be genetically tied to the child. This reality hurts sometimes, and while it’s not something I’ve necessarily spoken openly about, I hope that in putting these thoughts into a song that other people in Queer relationships who are experiencing these same feelings feel seen and heard.

I read in a past interview of yours that at the tail end of making ‘Alpha’ you began to deep dive into Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’; Did Joni’s song writing inform your storytelling approach for ‘Cyan Blue’?

Honestly, at large, not really. While that is a seminal album, and though I was working in Laurel Canyon, and she was a big Laurel Canyon girl, I was just using ‘blue’ as a lens to connect to the world around me.

What role did Laurel Canyon play as a backdrop to the creation of your album?

What was important for me in creating this album was to have fun with my friend and collaborator, I wanted to enjoy the process more than anything else. I didn't really care how it ended up, at the end it was just about the process and really enjoying it. Everyday in Laurel Canyon I would pick Jack Rochon up from his house and drive him to the studio, those short drives were as important to us as working on the music, to listen to references while taking moments to check in on each other”.

There are a couple of other interviews and a review that I am keen to get to. ELLE talked to Charlotte Day Wilson about her experiences from adolescence that she brings into Cyan Blue. I am fascinated by album titles that mention colours. How they have an emotional attachment. A variegated palette of albums where the titular colour holds a special significance for the artist. As Day Wilson says in the interview: “I was experiencing some sort of synesthesia with a color between green and blue”:

“Since your debut album ALPHA came out in 2021, what’s changed?

A big thing that’s changed is that things aren’t shut down anymore. My last album came out during the pandemic and I was working on it for the majority of the pandemic. It was a pretty isolating experience. It was hard to feel connected to everyone around when we were all so alone. My process with that album creatively was very insular and very isolating. I was just by myself playing everything and writing everything. Now, I’m coming out of that.

How do you feel about that album now that you’re a few years removed from it?

I love it more than I did when it came out. At the time, I still felt those perfectionist things like wanting to keep tinkering with it and not feeling sure if things were done. Now that time has passed, I think it’s aged well, for me at least.

What were you interested in exploring with Cyan Blue?

Connection. I think it’s one of the most human pursuits that we have as people. We want to connect with other folks, whether it’s people in our community, our neighbors, our partners, our friends, our parents. We want to find those moments.

Did the album title come before the songs?

No, it was a bit about halfway through that I started to think that maybe that could be the title. The other thing with the title is that my eyes are green and blue. On the title track “Cyan Blue,” I talk about how I wish I could see through my younger eyes. That’s a theme that I tend to lean towards a lot, talking to my younger self or different versions of myself. Whether it’s past, present, or future, it’s something that I find really interesting in music. So I follow those leads. Music is a vessel for me to talk to my younger self. It’s healing.

The ninth track on the album is a cover of “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. Was that another way you were calling back to your childhood?

[Laughs] I was lying in bed one night and I started singing “Over the Rainbow” to myself while I was in that weird liminal space between being asleep and being awake. And I was just laughing because I was changing the lyrics and turning it into a song about when a girl is over her gay phase. It was like, “Oh, she’s over the rainbow now.” So then I rewrote a bunch of lyrics to it and I recorded it like that, but we couldn’t get that cleared. So then I had to do a straight cover. In the end, I did find a lot of amazing metaphors that tied in with the rest of the album and it’s just such a beautiful song and I love the arrangement that my friend Jack [Rochon, her co-producer] and I did for it.

I wish they had cleared your original idea.

I think I’ll perform it on stage and people can hear the harshness of what the lyrics were. I think in the end it was a blessing in disguise that I wasn’t allowed to say what I was saying.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matthew Tammaro

That’s a good incentive to catch you on tour.

[Laughs] Yeah.

I also really like the song “New Day” where you sing about motherhood. What’s the story behind that one?

That’s definitely the most deeply personal song on the record. It’s about something that myself and my community and my partner talk about, but I don’t think I’ve heard people write about it before. The song is about the grief and pain that you go through as a queer person in a queer relationship when you’re thinking about having children and how only one parent can be genetically tied to that child. So I’ve always thought about how that would feel. It’s a song about how I want the child and even if she doesn’t have my face, she’ll have my name. So that’s what it’s about. I just want a new day, a new Charlotte Day.

Do you ever feel nervous about being vulnerable in your music, especially in this internet era where things get misconstrued so easily?

I do, but that’s what art is. It’s pure expression. And I know that if it’s something that’s really vulnerable, then other people have felt it too and they probably have been scared to say it or haven’t had an arena to commiserate with other people about it. The thing that I get more scared about is putting out songs that I’m not 100 percent sure are completely true to me.

Did you listen to any music while making the album?

No, I tend to not listen to music when I’m working on my projects because I feel like I absorb too much and I don’t ever want to be too heavily influenced by something. Even if I listen to a song on the way to the studio when I’m in that creative state, there’s a chance that I might end up being like, “Oh, I wanna make something like this.”

I immediately thought of Joni Mitchell’s album Blue, since the title is similar.

That was an influence. I was staying in Laurel Canyon and I was in this blue phase and obviously that album is a hugely influential album for me. But, I don’t know if I would... it’s tough. I feel like some of my heroes have been disappointing me recently. I just found out that she’s done blackface and has an album [Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter] where she’s in blackface. It’s crazy that a lot of people don’t know about that. And she’s never said anything publicly about that or apologized. The same goes for Patti Smith who’s covered my song “Work.” I can’t rock with her anymore because she has a song [“Rock N Roll N*****”] that she [released in the seventies], but she’s continued to perform it up until 2019 and has never apologized for it. It’s tough when you have these people who are hugely influential to you, but can’t rock with anymore. I was so touched that she was covering my song, but disappointed to find those things out.

Wow, I didn’t know that.

It’s fucked up. Everyone should just learn how to take responsibility for their weird fucking actions that they took in the sixties and seventies and somehow didn’t understand that that was wrong. And if you don’t understand that it was wrong at this point, then something’s really wrong with you. And if you can’t say sorry and know that you should apologize, then you’re not cool in my books.

Are you a self-taught producer?

Mostly. But I have had some really important sessions with people and some great mentors who have given me the time of day to let me ask questions about every little thing that they’re doing. But YouTube also taught me a lot.

With this new album, what did you want to achieve artistically?

What I set out to do with this body of work was to challenge my perfectionism and to just capture a moment in time and not obsess over any of the details of how this work was being put together. That was deeply in contrast to my process before. So I definitely achieved that with the help of my co-producer Jack. And I’m super proud of that. I feel like I’ve really grown because of this experience”.

The final interview is from FADER. I know this is a long feature already. It is important in exploring and properly spotlighting such a magnificent artist. With two remarkable albums under her belt (her debut, ALPHA, came out in 2021), there will be many more eyes on Charlotte Day Wilson. A fantastic artist who I hope comes to the U.K. to play at some point. At the moment she is touring North America. I would love to see and feel Cyan Blue come to life on the stage:

“The other side of the album is wishing you could relive your youth with the knowledge of adulthood. What kind of wisdom would you pass on to the teenage Charlotte?

First and foremost, be yourself. I think that's the hardest question that teens and young adults are faced with, "Who am I?" Early on in my music career, there were a lot of people encouraging me to just stay true to myself. But I didn't quite know who I was at that point, maybe because of all the things that distract and bring us further from our core childhood selves.

I would also say something like, "You will find who you are and you will not be alone and feeling confused as to why you can't see yourself in anyone around you. You'll find love, first of all, and second of all, a community."

Was there anything you wanted to capture with Cyan Blue that maybe you didn't or couldn't on Alpha?

I wanted to work in a way that was different and a little bit more uninhibited than how Alpha came together. Jack fosters a very safe space in the studio and it just felt like we were pushing each other out of our comfort zones. We both have slightly perfectionist tendencies, and so we were pushing each other to just follow our intuitions, not editing any instincts musically or creatively. It was fun to kind of have a partner in crime for that.

In what ways would he push you?

He would be honest with me when he thought something was not up to par. That liberated me. He was totally open about just saying, ‘That's not quite it. Just keep going.’

“Forever” samples The Foundations's "Baby Now That I've Found You." What was it about that song that made you want to sample it?

There's this Alison Krauss cover of that song, a super beautiful country version, that my dad used to play growing up all the time. I just sat down at the piano one day and was like, "Let me learn this song, it's so pretty." I make samples all the time and that ended up being one of them.

Something that I was dealing with when I was working on the album, and it's kind of heady and existential, was what you feel when you meet someone who you actually feel like you could spend the rest of your life with. It's the most beautiful feeling but you also have to confront your own mortality when you think about forever with someone, because forever is not infinite.

That's something that I was working through a lot on this project. That feeling of, "Wow, I might have met the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with, but that's not enough time with them."

“New Day” is written about having children in a queer relationship. I’m not sure I have heard anyone sing from the angle you take on that song before. Was that partly why you wrote it?

I think that song is my favorite one on the record, and also the most personal and vulnerable. It's something that I've thought about a lot, and that folks in my community have thought a lot about.
Watching people around me have children, and how so much of the experience of meeting two people's child, in our culture, we're so obsessed with being like, "He has your eyes and your nose." While I love doing that too with the folks in my life there was always a little bit of sadness attached to those moments for me, because I’d be thinking about the fact that that'll never happen for me.

Those were some big feelings that I needed to write about. I knew after I had written it that I also hadn't heard anything like that. It felt important to include on the record. I think in some ways, the song feels more like a celebration of coming to terms with the fact that any child that I raise will be my child no matter what.

Someone I wanted to talk about outside of the album is Patti Smith, who is a big fan of yours and has covered your song “Work” live for a few years now. That must have been surreal for you?

It was really moving at first. I read Just Kids at a pretty formative time of my life and it did inspire me to pursue a creative lifestyle in a lot of ways. Hearing her cover “Work” was one of those big kind of "pinch-me" moments, too. Since then, however, I've been made aware that she has a song from the sixties called “Rock and Roll N Word.”

She's never commented on it or apologized for it so I really don't rock with her anymore. I think that it's disgusting that she has such a violent song in the first place, and that she thought she had the authority to use a word like that and to subvert it in her own way.

I sent her a DM telling her, "I think it's a disgusting song, and I think that you should really think about apologizing.” It's obviously extremely disappointing and really sad to see. She never responded but I really think that she should be ashamed of herself.

Someone you have been working with is Nelly Furtado. What can you say about those sessions?

We've written a couple of things together. It’s an amazing experience to work with someone like her. She's just such a legend and it was really an honor to work with her. We text all the time, and she sends me music that she thinks I'll like. It's always very folky. It's really sweet”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Lipson

There is another interview I am including prior to ending with a review. CLASH. There are a lot of great insights and answers. I am particularly interested in what she says about the Toronto scene. I don’t think that this area is covered enough when it comes to musical excellence. Toronto has always produced incredible artists. I can imagine it is boiling over with so many unique and fascinating musicians:

“Since your songs have always carried an emotional weight to them, would you agree that the relationships we find ourselves in are meant to build character and define who we’re meant to be in the future?

Oh yeah, I definitely agree. Not to be corny, but everything happens for a reason and no matter what, we are conscious of what we take away from any given relationship. Like I think it’s all for character building and I don’t know – I’m a believer of destiny to be honest and I think whether it’s a way of coping with the things that come our way or not, I believe that everything happens for a reason. No regrets ever in this life is basically how I try to live.

What initially shaped that perspective for you?

I guess just coming to a place now where I feel very in control of my emotional state. I feel like I’m in a place of acceptance and knowing that no matter what happens, basically, I’ll always be okay. I’m very blessed to have a very loving family and group of close friends, and I think having that foundation of love allows me to kind of go through the external experiences of my life and know that they are all kind of like… nothing will rock me at this point, basically, you know?

How important is it to establish those relationships as you get older?

Yeah, big time. I really do think friends and family are important. To me, my loved ones are the people who hold it down for me and on any given day – no matter what happens with work or anything else – if you have your people in your corner, you’re good.

In terms of the production on your second album ‘Cyan Blue’, what was it like working with Jack Rochon compared to your initial and later recording sessions for ‘Alpha’?

It was a completely different experience for me which was really fun. It’s fun to try something new at this stage in my career. My whole thesis for this new project wasn’t necessarily any sort of concept in terms of the content and lyrics, but my thesis was just I want to have fun making it. Working on ‘Alpha’ and ‘Stone Woman’, I love that music and I’m proud of it but it wasn’t always fun to work on because I spent so much time alone laboring over the granular details of the work.

I learned a lot in that process and I’m really glad that I did it because now I feel like as a producer, technically I can kind of do whatever. Any vision I have I can generally achieve production-wise on my own. But it’s just time-consuming and it can be lonely, and I was working on ‘Alpha’ during the pandemic so that was a lot of alone time already. Working with someone else – Jack specifically because I love him so much, he’s such an amazing human, an amazing collaborator, amazing musician, producer, everything. It not only accelerated the recording process, but it also made it way more fun. Just like sharing that experience with someone felt really comforting for me.

What influenced you to move on from your perfectionist tendencies? And are you still harsh on yourself when it comes to your creative intuition?

I think I have a standard that I hold myself to that is probably, generally, pretty harsh at times. But I think what motivated me to switch my process up was that I didn’t know if I was having fun, and with this project, conceptually to a certain extent and in my life and my approach with everything, I’m trying to connect with my inner child. I think we are who we are from a very young age and the further we stray from that inner child, for me personally, I feel disconnected from myself. And something that I always loved doing as a child and even as a teenager and a young adult before I really had an established career in music, was entering into a flow state with music – just having a state and feeling of play and deep imagination. And also collaboration, having fun with friends.

That’s how most people get into music because it’s a fun thing to do with friends, and the further I got away from that, I felt disconnected from myself and as a result, I think music suffers when you’re not having fun making it. I was just trying to get back to a place of joy in the process and I definitely achieved that so for me I hope that the album does well, of course, but I also just know that I had a great time making it and it’s a success in my eyes because it was a joy to make.

PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Lipson

With Toronto having its own abundance of creativity and community, was it a challenge at all to write an album without having that familiar collaborative environment in your orbit?

I mean Jack is such a familiar Toronto person for me that I think that’s what grounded me. I don’t think I could have done it with someone who I wasn’t as familiar with. I think Toronto comes with me everywhere I go and another nice thing about the entire Toronto music community is that we always find each other in other cities too. I would also say that my Toronto music community no longer really connects in Toronto, we connect elsewhere. I don’t know what that says but I think maybe people have a similar thing with me where it’s helpful to leave the city and just leave the routine of home to tap into a 24/7 creative headspace.

What’s the inspiration behind the song ‘Do U Still’?

Well, funnily enough, you know how I’m talking about this state of play? That song came about basically as a joke. Jack and I were done working for the day and I think that maybe I was taking longer to pack up than Jack was so he was ready to leave. I was just putzing around the studio, packing up or something, and he sat down at the piano and started playing a couple chords and I just started it as a joke, singing but also kind of like screaming those lyrics [laughs]. I don’t know. They just kind of came out of me, you know? I’m not going to say exactly what they’re inspired by but it did come as a joke, like “Do you still love me?”. Just as a joke, you know? And then he was just laughing and I was like “Honestly, I kind of feel like maybe that’s a song”. Again, the creative process is so different every time and that one felt very different. As much as it’s about hoping that someone still loves you, it’s a lighthearted tune that started in a very lighthearted manner.

With “I Don’t Love You” being a small reminder that leaving love can be just as inspiring as finding it, is it difficult at all to write about lost loves and the heartache that can come with failed relationships? Or is it just a part of the process of finding peace in yourself?

I don’t find it difficult to write about – I think it’s super cathartic to write about. But releasing it is sometimes a different story. Because usually, you know, there’s some person that it’s inspired by and I do believe that in order for a grieving process to be complete, you usually do have to cut off communication and when I have this platform as a songwriter to put out my music, it’s almost as though there’s still a conversation, you know? It’s a bit of an odd privilege but also a responsibility that you have to tell a story from your perspective and I just hope sometimes that people know that I’m only singing from my perspective and that there’s always an element of storytelling and it’s not 100% rooted in whatever is factually going on in my life. I squint at reality all the time just to follow wherever the path of least resistance is taking me in the songwriting process.

For me, it’s one of those things where I might think that I have healed from something but then I start writing a song and these lyrics flow out of me, and my subconscious is banging on the door of my vessel to tell me that I still need to process a couple of things. I think it’s cool to be kind of exposed to things within your subconscious that you maybe thought were all well and good and you clearly have to get out somehow.

One interesting line from the single ‘I Don’t Love You’ is the lyric: “It’s more peaceful being heartbroken than crying every night for you”. When did you come to terms with that realization? And how has it changed your perspective on love and relationships?

That’s a good question. I think we all have different understandings of what love is and I have, in many phases of my life, thought that love is just about perseverance no matter what and loyalty no matter what, and to acknowledge that love is just actually letting someone be their full self and encouraging their own kind of growth as a person… I don’t know. I feel like that’s what real love is to me and while being heartbroken is an awful feeling, I do think that finding peace within yourself can be cathartic. I don’t know. Being stuck in something negative is way worse. I don’t know… I don’t have a good answer for that [laughs].

While it’s equally beautiful and complicated, do you still have an obsession with love?

I do, of course, because I believe that love is the meaning of life. Simply put. I don’t really care if it sounds cliche, but I live my life with a pretty strong acceptance and understanding that without love, there isn’t a purpose to any of this. And ‘love’ extends to platonic relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, and familial relationships, and to love well and be loved well is the thing that makes me feel the most complete as a person and the most at peace and at ease. It makes me feel like I can enjoy every day knowing that I’m surrounded by love. So yeah, I would say that hell yeah I’m still obsessed with love [laughs].

What wisdom do you hope to impart on others with ‘Cyan Blue’? And is there a lesson or realization that you hope listeners can take with them into the summer months?

The wisdom and the message that I hope people can come away with in terms of this project – they might not know it if they don’t read the interviews – but really, what I want people to know is that this shit has to be fun. You gotta’ have fun making it and if it feels like you’re fighting with the music, then there’s no point in doing it. Find whatever circumstances it is that you need to have a Tabula Rasa brain going into each session in order to enter into a good headspace and just enjoy the process. Because life is short and just wishing away time or ‘stressing away’ time is selling ourselves short of the joy of the beautiful thing that is making music and making art. Whatever your rituals are with listening to the album in a car, number one is definitely turn it up loud”.

There are a selection of really positive reviews for Cyan Blue. I want to highlight one from Spill Magazine. They had some interesting takes on Charlotte Day Wilson’s second studio album. If you have not heard it then I would recommend you take a listen. It is truly one of the best of this year:

“With the release of her second full-length album, Charlotte Day Wilson provides a captivating musical production, one that is as engaging as it is sonically mesmerizing. Fans of the Toronto native have been eagerly awaiting the follow-up to her 2021 release Alpha, and thankfully she rewarded such patience with Cyan Blue, an album very much worth the wait. Packed with a spectacular range of entrancing melodies and a rather peachy rhythmic groove, this new release marks a significant sonic achievement.

Nothing sparks a soulful record quite like a well-orchestrated rhythm section. The pulsating groove confidently established throughout Cyan Blue sets the perfect backdrop for Wilson’s atmospheric vocal performance. The album opens with “My Way”, a driving tune where the underlying rhythm courses along a distinct current, teasing what is to come with a gospel-like flare. The shimmering guitar sprawled out over the infectious bass in “Do You Still” demands attention and stimulates the listener, hooking them into Wilson’s refreshing musical discourse. The dynamic range in Cyan Blue isn’t gigantic but it is staggeringly impactful. Floating away from the pulsating groove of the livelier songs, she delivers many moments where tracks are stripped down and this is where the album truly begins to glow.

The record plays like a personal reflection, one that is intimate and honest. Wilson’s voice is tranquilizing, echoing through the darkness and coaxing the listener into submission. The quieter moments are where Wilson truly provides a visceral listening experience. At the end of “I Don’t Love You”, a glaringly exclamatory song, the ensemble is reduced to a subtle bass line huddled underneath Wilson’s voice, a move that builds an intensity in her lyrical statements. This kind of dynamic restraint recurs often throughout the album and lends a potency to the melancholic tracks. In “New Day” a haunting melody is presented through the fusion of vocals and piano, both following the same fluttering tune. The result is a wonderfully somber song that digs into the sonic psyche, leading the listener into the sobering world that Wilson has created.

Cyan Blue is loaded with a spectacular range of infectious melodies, subtle ambience and even some unexpected surprises. A pensive rendition of the classic tune “Over The Rainbow” hides deep in the middle of the record and offers another small taste of Wilson’s exceptionally imaginative musical style. A record as rich as Cyan Blue deserves many listens and has a lot more to offer outside of what little is mentioned here. It has proven itself as an album that was undeniably worth the wait”.

Although not a bran-new artist, as someone releasing her second studio album, it is an interesting time for Charlotte Day Wilson. Perhaps not known by all, we are in this transition stage where her new music is going to introduce her to a much bigger audience. We are going to be hearing a lot more from this extraordinary artist…

FOR many more years.

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Follow Charlotte Day Wilson

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/charlottedaywilson/

Twitter:

https://x.com/chardaywilson

TikTok:

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

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwk_ubOXZAbko15xX1MGYAA

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https://open.spotify.com/album/2ugywYl3kXs39enikXdsTV?si=r8lVCn9VS7aqE6G8InExlw

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FEATURE: Hammersmith: 26th August, 2014… Kate Bush’s Before the Dawn at Ten: That Opening Night

FEATURE:

 

 

Hammersmith: 26th August, 2014…

PHOTO CREDIT: Gavin Bush/Rex

Kate Bush’s Before the Dawn at Ten: That Opening Night

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I am going to publish…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on stage for Before the Dawn at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, on 26th August, 2014/PHOTO CREDIT: Ken McKay/REX Photograph

a couple of additional features about Kate Bush’s Before the Dawn residency. That ran from August to October 2014. We look ahead to the tenth anniversary of a hugely important moment. I have already written about the day Kate Bush announced she would be back on stage for that run of dates. At the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, it was a return to the same venue she performed at during 1979’s The Tour of Life. The Hammersmith Odeon back in the day, it was significant that she set it here. Not only was it close to her home and meant she did not need to travel a lot and move between venues, she knew the space and how it would accommodate her concept. I want to discuss that first night very soon. It happened on 26th August, 2014. Across the twenty-two dates, Kate Bush played to about 80,000 people. After announcing it would happen on 21st March, 2014, there was this frenzy and excitement to get tickets. They sold out within fifteen minutes. A critically acclaimed residency, Kate Bush won the Editor's Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. She was also nominated for two Q Awards in 2014: Best Act in the World Today and Best Live Act. I don’t think there were any tremors or real signs that Bush was coming back to the stage. Now, you would get someone leaking it or there might be teasers. That March announcement took us by surprise. Less than three years after 50 Words for Snow was released, we got a concert residency. Those who were there have said how incredible it was. I still maintain a concert film of Before the Dawn for its tenth anniversary would be welcomed and make a lot of sense.

I am going to get to a couple of reviews for that first evening performance. If you want to know more about the set-list and details of Before the Dawn, then you can find them here. What I love and thing is very important is the band. Including Omar Hakim on drums and John Giblin on bass, there were some extraordinary players around her. I think the choice of band is as important as the set. It all interlinks. There would have been a lot of rehearsals and planning. Prior to 1979’s The Tour of Life, Bush was drilling her band and did a rehearsal/run-through at a small theatre not long before that tour opened. In 2014, fewer details are known about the rehearsal process and what was involved. I am fascinated by that period between Kate Bush deciding to go back to the stage and that opening night. We will come to that soon. A couple of reviews too. The fact The Guardian did a breakdown of important events and happenings on that night. Looking on some Internet message boards, it sounds like the setlist was one thing that went through changes. She wanted to bring the suite form Hounds of Love (The Ninth Wave) and Aerial (A Sky of Honey) together. Deciding which others songs featured was tough. There had to be a limit! There were some obvious choices that fans would have demanded (Hounds of Love and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). It is fascinating seeing that Act 1 selection. Prior to going into The Ninth Wave, Bush needed to set the mood and put together a cohesive and varied series of songs. She said in an interview how Lily was the song to start. That she wanted to welcome people in with this sort of prayer and call. I love how Aerial’s Joanni and The Red Shoes’ Top of the City are in there. Deeper cuts that were brave but brilliant choices. 50 Words for Snow’s Among Angels features in the encore.

In all, there are songs from four Kate Bush albums. It is impossible to please everyone. There was never going to be anything from The Kick Inside and Lionheart, as Bush performed songs from those albums in 1979. Maybe 1980’s Never for Ever would have been too far back. That does leave The Dreaming (1982) and The Sensual World (1989). Fans might have wanted The Sensual World, This Woman’s Work and perhaps Sat in Your Lap to feature. Reading message boards, apparently Sat in Your Lap was considered at one stage! Never Be Mine is included in the live album (released in 2016) as a rehearsal, though it was not in the show. I think the problem with Sat in Your Lap would be sound quality. Maybe it is hard to choregraph. Perhaps her vocal range as it was in 2014 might mean it is very different to what we hear on The Dreaming. People have said it was considered for an opening track but was cut. Wuthering Heights was also rumoured to have been on the setlist at one point. That would have been magnificent. In fact, looking at this interview with David Rhodes, he said that Top of the City was chosen over Sat in Your Lap. The Big Sky was run through with the band, though Cloudbusting was selected as a better choice. There are also another few songs that Kate Bush considered included but that secret has not got to the press. That selection process is fascinating! Imagine Bush performing Sat in Your Lap on stage. It is obvious that there was a lot of thought and discussion about the dynamics and how the tracks sat together. Getting that flow and structure just so was crucial. The sets for The Tour of Life were quite spectacular. One of the issues was transporting it around. For Before the Dawn, there was this stable location that offered more freedom. In terms of the visuals and designs, perhaps The Ninth Wave was the most intense and spectacular. I love how there is a mixture of dancers/actors on the stage, including her son, Bertie, and things projected on a screen. It would have taken so much planning and time, when the setlist was confirmed, how it would all coalesce.

It is what makes the opening night so extraordinary. Few would have known about the rehearsals and deciding the setlist. Those discussions about everything from the hospitality packages, merchandise, set details, lighting, the band, right through to the poster design and the audience experience. Set aside the fact Bush was back doing a major live commitment thirty-five years since her first. As someone properly established, maybe there was extra expectation and pressure. In any regard, that first night performance was so charged. The Guardian followed all the major happenings. Well-known faces such as Lauren Laverne sharing their thoughts. A wonderful array of different celebrities there, mixing alongside all her other fans. It would have been so intense waiting for her to come onto the stage. Even if Bush and her team knew the set and were confident, I think about what Bush was doing minutes before going to the stage. The thoughts running around her head knowing, in mere minutes, she would sing Lily and be greeted by applause and rapture from thousands of fans! Not only did fans, for the first time, get to see Kate Bush perform The Ninth Wave in full. There was also a mix of songs that covered twenty-six years or so. There was no doubt critics would love the set. Kate Bush would have been incapable of disappointing or doing anything less than extraordinary. Considering how Aerial (2005), Director’s Cut (2011) and 50 Words for Snow (2011) got hugely positive reviews, she was going to nail Before the Dawn. Even so, a sense of expectation and the reality was not guaranteed to have everyone singing quite from the same hymn sheet. This is what The Guardian observed in their review:

“Over the course of nearly three hours, Kate Bush's first gig for 35 years variously features dancers in lifejackets attacking the stage with axes and chainsaws; a giant machine that hovers above the auditorium, belching out dry ice and shining spotlights on the audience; giant paper aeroplanes; a surprisingly lengthy rumination on sausages, vast billowing sheets manipulated to represent waves, Bush's 16-year-old son Bertie - clad as a 19th-century artist – telling a wooden mannequin to "piss off" and the singer herself being borne through the audience by dancers clad in costumes based on fish skeletons.

The concert-goer who desires a stripped down rock and roll experience, devoid of theatrical folderol, is thus advised that Before the Dawn is probably not the show for them, but it is perhaps worth noting that even before Bush takes the stage with her dancers and props, a curious sense of unreality hangs over the crowd. It's an atmosphere noticeably different than at any other concert, but then again, this is a gig unlike any other, and not merely because the very idea of Bush returning to live performance was pretty unimaginable 12 months ago.

There have been a lot of improbable returns to the stage by mythic artists over the last few years, from Led Zeppelin to Leonard Cohen, but at least the crowd who bought tickets to see them knew roughly what songs to expect. Tonight, almost uniquely in rock history, the vast majority of the audience has virtually no idea what's going to happen before it does.

The solitary information that has leaked out from rehearsals is that Bush will perform The Ninth Wave, her 1985 song cycle about a woman drowning at sea – which indeed she does, replete with staging of a complexity that hasn't been seen during a rock gig since Pink Floyd's heyday – and that she isn't terribly keen on people filming the show on their phones.

The rest is pure speculation, of varying degrees of madness. A rumour suggests that puppets will be involved, hence the aforementioned mannequin, manipulated by a man in black and regularly hugged by Bush during her performance of another song cycle, A Sky of Honey, from 2005's Aerial.

The satirical website the Daily Mash claimed that, at the gig's conclusion, Bush would "lead the audience out of the venue, along the fairy-tale Hammersmith Flyover and finally to a mountain where they would be sealed inside, listening to Hounds of Love for all eternity".

In fairness, this was no more demented than the thoughts of the august broadsheet rock hack, apparently filing his report direct from the 1870s, who predicted that Bush would not take part in any choreographed routines because dancing in public is "unbecoming for a woman of a certain age".

As it turns out, the august broadsheet rock hack could not have been more wrong: for huge sections of the performance, Bush's movements look heavily choreographed: she moves with a lithe grace, clearly still drawing on the mime training she underwent as a teenager forty years on. Her voice too is in remarkable condition: she's note-perfect throughout.

Backed by a band of musicians capable of navigating the endless twists and turns of her songwriting – from funk to folk to pastoral prog rock - the performances of Running Up That Hill and King of the Mountain sound almost identical to their recorded versions - but letting rip during a version of Top of the City, she sounds flatly incredible.

You suspect that even if she hadn't, the audience would have lapped it up. Audibly delighted to be in the same room as her, they spend the first part of the show clapping everything she does: no gesture is too insignificant to warrant a round of applause. It would be cloying, but for the fact that Bush genuinely gives them something to cheer about.

For someone who's spent the vast majority of her career shunning the stage, she's a hugely engaging live performer, confident enough to shun the hits that made her famous in the first place: she plays nothing from her first four albums.

The staging might look excessive on paper, but onstage it works to astonishing effect, bolstering rather than overwhelming the emotional impact of the songs. The Ninth Wave is disturbing, funny and so immersive that the crowd temporarily forget to applaud everything Bush does. As each scene bleeds into another, they seem genuinely rapt: at the show's interval, people look a little stunned. A Sky of Honey is less obviously dramatic – nothing much happens over the course of its nine tracks – but the live performance underlines how beautiful the actual music is.

Already widely acclaimed as the most influential and respected British female artist of the past 40 years, shrouded in the kind of endlessly intriguing mystique that is almost impossible to conjure in an internet age, Bush theoretically had a lot to lose by returning to the stage. Clearly, given how tightly she has controlled her own career since the early 80s, she would only have bothered because she felt she had something spectacular to offer. She was right: Before The Dawn is another remarkable achievement”.

I am going to round up in a minute. Before that, DIY were among those who attended the opening night – on 26th August, 2014 – and were keen to share their opinions on a stage return of one of the finest live performers ever. There is no doubt that those at the Eventim Apollo were blown away. I am gutted I was not fortunate enough to get a ticket. It makes me either determined to imagine a concert film will come on day:

“While you try to catch your breath and reorganise your sense of reality after three hours of an astonishing, immersive and utterly singular show, the one thing that instantly becomes apparent through the mist is that Kate Bush is not one to cede to your run-of-the-mill expectations.

The whole night feels unreal and unravels in a dreamlike fashion – even attempting to put it into words here it seems to dissolve on the screen. That’s not just because of the feverish speculation that came before the show or the fact that Bush hasn’t performed in concert since 1979, but also because whatever your hopes or anticipations for this show – one of the most eagerly awaited pop performances in history – Bush turns them on their head and pours them away in an avalanche of artistic contrariness and outlandish theatre which sees the stage filled with a wooden mannequin, fish skeletons, sheets billowing like waves, a preacher, a giant machine that hovers above the audience pounding like a helicopter as well as lighthouses and living rooms, axes and chainsaws.

Yet through all the theatrics and artistry one thing remains constant, and it’s the thing that shines through the most: the rush of humanity that ties all the ideas together; the one thing that takes Bush to that other place. It’s the innate heart that pulses through all this theatre and all these ideas: the simple truths of love, hope and family life that hold all her ideas together.

‘I feel your warmth,’ she says appreciatively as the crowd passionately cheer and clap her every move and gesture. And it’s her shy but generous smile at the response from the crowd which shows exactly what this means to her.

This is the weight of 35 years being lifted – thrown off with the skilfulness and heart that shows Kate Bush is no ‘mythic’ artist but a very real, supremely talented original. Tonight is an unequivocal demonstration that she’s a one-off: only she has the ambition, nerve and imagination to pull off the ideas that had filled her mind.

Yet at first it seems she’s going to play it pretty straight. Barefoot and dressed in elegant black, she strolls around the stage gently, occasionally twirling. It begins with ‘Lily’ as she leads a small group of backing singers that includes her son Bertie (who, she says, has given her the "courage" to return to the stage). The band that line up behind her are as tight as you would imagine. They play ‘Hounds Of Love’ and ‘Running Up That Hill’. They sound huge, they sound brilliant. If there’s one thing you notice most it’s that her voice is remarkably powerful and it’s brilliant on ‘King Of The Mountain’ which brings the opening ‘scene’ to a close, heralding a storm as a bullroarer fills the air and cannons fill the theatre with confetti.

It's now time for the drama of 'The Ninth Wave', the second half of 'Hounds of Love'. Here we see a story of resignation and resurrection played out in the most theatrical of ways. We see Bush in a lifejacket floating in water, looking up at the camera as if waiting to be rescued (she’s reported to have spent three days in a flotation tank at Pinewood Studios to create the special effects). At one point fish skeletons dance across the waves, at another a helicopter searches the crowd, before a living room (yes, a living room) floats across the stage in which a son and his father – played by Bertie and Bush's husband Danny McIntosh – talk at length about sausages.

It’s hard to comprehend exactly what’s happening but the band skilfully navigate the pastoral prog and Celtic rock. Even when the music isn’t captivating, the sheer sense of spectacle means you can’t avert your eyes for a second. As the ‘The Morning Fog’ brings the performance to a close with another standing ovation.

After a twenty minute interval – during which time the bars buzz with delirium – the third act sees her play out ‘Sky of Honey’, the entire second half of 'Aerial'. It’s so intricately detailed that you get the feeling Bush had always planned to perform these two scenes live.

‘Honey’ is a grandiose daydream moving through a summer's day. Again the scope of her vision is immense – even when the songs don’t enthral the enormous paper planes and human birds do, as we see a wooden mannequin finding himself lost and alone. Bertie plays a major part throughout dressed as a 19th-century artist – and at one point telling the mannequin to "piss off". It ends, as only it could, with Bush gaining wings and flying.

She returns to earth to perform a solo version of ‘Among Angels’ on the piano, before the band return to help close the show with a joyful ‘Cloudbusting’. "I just know that something good is going to happen", she sings as a now even more euphoric crowd jump to their feet.

Then she’s gone. You’re left with the image of a singer who has managed to retain her mystery and surprise. An enigma, the mythic artist who is intensely human. It’s overblown and preposterous and brilliant. All its startling achievements, magical highs and am dram faults – its relentless ambition and human imperfections – make it the only document you could possibly have asked for from such a unique artist. Before the Dawn is everything you would expect but couldn’t imagine”.

Perhaps one of the most important dates in live music history, the opening show for Before the Dawn occurred in Hammersmith on 26th August, 2014. There really does need to be some form of celebration or commemoration on its tenth anniversary! I know there will be magazine spreads that take us inside the residency. Get reaction from people who were there. Maybe we will see the footage come to light one day. I hope so! I am going to do a few more Before the Dawn features before the anniversary date. It is no understatement to say that those who were in the Eventim Apollo on 26th August, 2014…

HAD their lives changed.

FEATURE: I Should Have Known Better: The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night at Sixty: Their Most Underrated Album?

FEATURE:

 

 

I Should Have Known Better

The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night at Sixty: Their Most Underrated Album?

_________

WHEN we talk about The Beatles…

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles in 1964/PHOTO CREDIT: Walter Shenton Films/Proscenium Films

and their best albums, we often name the go-to titles: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, Abbey Road. Those seem pretty safe. In terms of those that are underrated and are not often seen as classics, I think that A Hard Day’s Night is at the top. It is a hugely important album in the sense that it was released during Beatlemania. This band who, a year previous, had put out their debut, Please Please Me, were now known around the world. It is amazing that this cultural phenomenon exploded so quickly. There are a lot of reasons why the album is important. We mark its sixtieth anniversary on 10th July. This was their first studio album where John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote all of the songs. Quite a leap in terms of their development and confidence. After years of performing covers at gigs and deploying their in their own work, this was a totally original Beatles album. I will argue that A Hard Day’s Night is their most underrated album. It is great that we are going to see its sixtieth anniversary. There have been no plans as of yet to reissue the album. Giles Martin – son of Beatles producer George, who has reissued and remixed other studio albums of theirs – has made no announcement. It would be fascinating to hear demos, early takes and extras recording during the sessions for A Hard Day’s Night. That would be amazing! It was an exciting and strange time for the band. Recorded between January and June 1964, the four-piece released a masterpiece. Remember that the A Hard Day’s Night film turns sixty on 6th July. That was a big moment for them. Releasing a film and album of the same name. I am not sure if that had been done much prior to 1964. Whether you see the album more of a soundtrack or a studio album, it is clear that their stock and fame had risen.

Putting out their first film a few days before their third studio album showed that there was a huge demand. A real need to see Gorge Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and John Lennon on the big screen. I often think that the album is stronger because one associates it directly to the film. We have visualisation of the songs. Iconic scenes being played out. That title scene with A Hard Day’s Night playing as the guys are chased by fans. One of the most iconic film scenes ever. People don’t really put A Hard Day’s Night up there with Abbey Road. Maybe there isn’t this amazing standout like Here Comes the Sun (Abbey Road), Tomorrow Never Knows (Revolver) or A Day in the Life (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band). Number one in the U.K. and U.S., July 1964 saw The Beatles confirmed as worthy of the hype and mania. Not only did people buy the album because of the band and the excitement around them. The quality of the songwriting meant that people bought A Hard Day’s Night to immerse themselves in. Perhaps after seeing the film, they were keen to buy the album to keep those images alive. The first single, Can’t Buy Me Love, came out on 20th March, 1964. They put out the second single, A Hard Day’s Night, the same day as the album (10th July, 1964). Even though the U.S. release was different to the one in the U.K., it was evident people adored the music of The Beatles. They were a sensation! I will come to some reviews/features about the album. First, Beatles Bible provide some useful information and background to A Hard Day’s Night:

“Having conquered hearts in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, The Beatles set their sights on the world in 1964. They started it with concerts in London and Paris, before making history by conquering America in February, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show before an estimated 73 million viewers.

The Beatles followed up their Stateside triumph with a world tour, numerous interviews, television appearances and new recordings, and starred in their debut feature film. And despite their whirlwind schedule of touring and studio sessions, the soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night turned out to be one of The Beatles’ strongest long-players.

We were different. We were older. We knew each other on all kinds of levels that we didn’t when we were teenagers. The early stuff – the Hard Day’s Night period, I call it – was the sexual equivalent of the beginning hysteria of a relationship. And the Sgt Pepper–Abbey Road period was the mature part of the relationship.

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

The album was recorded over nine non-consecutive days, between January and June 1964. In between the sporadic sessions The Beatles fulfilled their touring and filming commitments, with John Lennon and Paul McCartney writing some of their strongest songs to date.

What’s more, The Beatles refused to take the easy option and delve into their Cavern Club-era songbook, selecting some of the numerous cover versions in their repertoire to pad out the original compositions. A Hard Day’s Night became their first album to consist solely of original material, and was The Beatles’ only release to consist solely of songs written by Lennon-McCartney.

The songs

The title A Hard Day’s Night had been coined by Ringo Starr, and first appeared in John Lennon’s short story ‘Sad Michael’ in his first book In His Own Write.

When film director Richard Lester announced it would be the title of The Beatles’ first film, Lennon took up the challenge to write the theme song. At the time he and Paul McCartney were in competition to write the group’s singles, and Lennon was entering a particularly productive songwriting phase.

I was going home in the car and Dick Lester suggested the title ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ from something Ringo’d said. I had used it in In His Own Write, but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringoism, where he said it not to be funny, just said it. So Dick Lester said we are going to use that title, and the next morning I brought in the song. ’Cause there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A side, who got the hit singles.

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

The genesis of the song was later recalled by Evening Standard journalist Maureen Cleave, who was a friend of The Beatles.

One day I picked John up in a taxi and took him to Abbey Road for a recording session. The tune to the song ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ was in his head, the words scrawled on a birthday card from a fan to his little son Julian: “When I get home to you,” it said, “I find my tiredness is through…” Rather a feeble line about tiredness, I said. “OK,” he said cheerfully and, borrowing my pen, instantly changed it to the slightly suggestive: “When I get home to you/I find the things that you do/Will make me feel all right.” The other Beatles were there in the studio and, of course, the wonderful George Martin. John sort of hummed the tune to the others – they had no copies of the words or anything else. Three hours later I was none the wiser about how they’d done it but the record was made – and you can see the birthday card in the British Library.

Maureen Cleave

Lennon was the sole composer of the title track, along with ‘I Should Have Known Better’, ‘Tell Me Why’, ‘Any Time At All’, ‘I’ll Cry Instead’, ‘When I Get Home’, and ‘You Can’t Do That’. He also wrote the majority of ‘If I Fell’ and ‘I’ll Be Back’, and collaborated with McCartney on ‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’.

It comes and goes. I can’t believe it goes away for ever… but you can never be twenty-four again. You can’t be that hungry twice. That can never, never be.

John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

McCartney’s contributions to the album were hardly slight either: his highlights were the classic ballads ‘And I Love Her’ and ‘Things We Said Today’, as well as the single ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’.

When we knew we were writing for something like an album [John] would write a few in his spare moments, like this batch here. He’d bring them in, we’d check ’em. I’d write a couple and we’d throw ’em at each other, and then there would be a couple that were more co-written. But you just had a certain amount of time. You knew when the recording date was and so a week or two before then we’d get into it.

It didn’t seem like pressure. It was – I suppose you’d have to think it was but I don’t remember it being a pressure. It was fun, it was great. I always liken songwriting to a conjurer pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Now you see it, now you don’t. If I now pick up a guitar and start to conjure something out of the air, there’s a great magic about it. Where there was nothing, now there is something. Where there was a white sheet of paper, there’s a page we can read. Where there was no tune and no lyrics, there’s now a song we can sing! That aspect of it made it a lot of fun. We’d be amazed to see what kind of rabbit we’d pulled out that day.

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

In the studio

The Beatles met Francis Hall, the president of guitar company Rickenbacker, during their first visit to America in February 1964. Hall set up a meeting in New York City to demonstrate new instruments and amplifiers, and George Harrison was given one of the new 12-string 360 electric guitars. John Lennon also requested a custom-made 12-string 325 model, which was delivered at a later date.

How do I like it? Marvellous. It’s gear. It sounds a bit like an electric piano, I always think, but you get a nice fat sound out of it.

George Harrison, 1964
Melody Maker

The sound of the Rickenbacker became a key part of A Hard Day’s Night. The 12-string was perhaps most notable in the iconic opening chord of the title track, and in ‘I Should Have Known Better’ and ‘You Can’t Do That’. The instrument also influenced many of recordings that followed by bands such as The Byrds and The Searchers.

A further development in the studio was the advance to four-track recording, replacing the two-track facilities that had been used on Please Please Me and much of With The Beatles.

The very first records we made were mono, though I did have stereo facilities. To make mixing easier I would keep the voices separate from the backing, so I used a stereo machine as a twin-track. Not with the idea of stereo – merely to give myself a little bit more flexibility in remixing into a mono. So the first year’s recordings were made on just two tracks and were live; like doing broadcasts. With the great advance of four-track we were able to overdub and put on secondary voices and guitar solos afterwards. By the time we did A Hard Day’s Night we would certainly put the basic track down and do the vocals afterwards. Invariably, I was putting all the rhythm instruments onto either one or two tracks (generally one track) so you would have bass lumped with guitar. It wasn’t until later still that we began putting bass on afterwards as well, giving Paul the opportunity of using his voice more.

George Martin
Anthology

The first song to be recorded for A Hard Day’s Night was Paul McCartney’s ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. It was taped on 29 January 1964 in EMI’s Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris, in a daytime session before one of their residency concerts at the city’s Olympia Theatre.

The session had been booked for The Beatles to record German-language versions of ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’. The recordings were completed ahead of schedule, leaving the group free to record a new song.

‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ was taped in just four takes, in probably less than an hour. The song became the follow-up to ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ when released in the UK as a single on 20 March 1964, simultaneously acting as a stopgap between future recordings and a teaser for The Beatles’ forthcoming LP.

The small matter of conquering America meant The Beatles didn’t return to the studio until 25 February, when they recorded ‘You Can’t Do That’, and early versions of ‘And I Love Her’ and ‘I Should Have Known Better’; both were remade in subsequent days.

For the rest of February and early March the group recorded songs for the film soundtrack. They also taped several songs which were eventually issued on the standalone Long Tall Sally EP.

As was typical in the early 1960s, The Beatles didn’t attend mixing or editing sessions for the album. George Martin worked on the recordings in the group’s absence, on one occasion adding a piano part to ‘You Can’t Do That’ while The Beatles were on holiday.

Filming for A Hard Day’s Night was over by the end of April, but touring duties continued. The Beatles recorded the non-soundtrack songs for the LP in just three consecutive days from 1 June 1964, before beginning their world tour of Denmark, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand on 4 June.

In their absence the album was edited and mixed for mono and stereo by George Martin and the EMI studio engineers. It was completed on 22 June and released in the United Kingdom on 10 July”.

Chart success

A Hard Day’s Night had advance orders of over 250,000 in the United Kingdom. By the end of 1964 it had sold 600,000 copies. It spent 21 consecutive weeks at number one in the UK from 25 July 1964, and remained in the charts for 38 weeks.

More than a million advance orders were placed in the United States before its release. Within three months it had sold another million copies, making it one of the fastest-selling albums of all time. It topped the US Billboard album chart for 14 weeks, the longest run for any album that year”.

The fact that I cannot see that many articles about A Hard Day’s Night and its legacy goes to show it is underrated. There are some podcast episodes, though not as many as you would like. I do hope that there is something happening on 10th July to mark sixty years of a landmark album. One where The Beatles truly became The Beatles. Maybe something around the anniversary of the film. I want to drop in a BBC review for A Hard Day’s Night at this point:

“There may be more inventive Beatles records – Sgt. Pepper’s, for example – and there may be lusher ones – Abbey Road, for one. But no one Beatles album better encapsulated the essence of the band than this one.

A Hard Day’s Night not only captures The Beatles at the peak of Beatlemania – the most exciting time in pop music up to that moment, and arguably ever since; when continents fell and music was changed forever – but also sees them perfecting the art of pop. You may have Beatles songs that you prefer, or songs that mean more to you, but nowhere were the group more consistently brilliant than on this soundtrack

Where the film emphasised just how popular and bizarre their fame was, the accompanying album showed us just why this had happened. The title-track – with surely the most surreal name ever for a number one song – dazzles in a way The Byrds, The Monkees, The La’s and a hundred other janglers never could, while And I Love Her proved that the band could write melodies better than anyone else. Even the song they let George sing, I’m Happy Just to Dance With You, is fizzier than actual bubbles, while Lennon’s vocal (and rhythm solo) on You Can’t Do That saw him trounce The Rolling Stones for sheer snottiness.

This was the first and only Beatles album to be entirely composed of Lennon/McCartney songs, and that unheard-of-in-1964 cockiness shines through. Even the wistful songs – Things We Said Today and I’ll Be Back – were more confident than sad. This is, next to the White Album (a very different kettle of fabs), my favourite Beatles album, and has been ever since I heard it. The exuberance of the 1960s, the genius of The Beatles, and the total unstoppable confidence of the best band in the world realising that they were the best band in the world, are all contained here. Essential”.

I am going to talk about how very few rank A Hard Day’s Night among The Beatles’ best. One cannot deny it is one of their most important albums. Prior to getting to that, this is what Pitchfork wrote in their 2009 review:

“Pop in 1964 was part of showbiz: Once the Beatles hit a certain level of box office, there would never have been any question over making a film. Pop music meant teenagers, which meant fads, which meant the clock was running on the band's fame. The jazzman George Melly, who was writing about pop in the UK press at this time, remembered being convinced several times that the Beatles had hit a peak and their fans would soon desert them. I doubt this was an unorthodox opinion.

A film career might extend the fame a little, and smooth the band's inevitable transition to light entertainment. If the film was an enjoyable romp, so much the better-- John Lennon asked for A Hard Day's Night director Richard Lester on the basis of a comedy short he'd made (later referenced in the film's famous "Can't Buy Me Love" sequence), but Lester had also helmed 1962's It's Trad, Dad!, a snapshot of the British pop world just pre-Beatles (Tagline: "The newest, most frantic fad!"). He knew how to mix music and feelgood filmmaking to commercial effect.

A Hard Day's Night, in other words, is a crucial inflection point in the Beatles' career. Coinciding with their leaving Liverpool and moving to London, this could easily have been their first step on a road of crowd-pleasing predictability: Instead, both film and this soundtrack album are a testament to how fabulous pop can be when you take care over doing it.

The album is most famous now for being the first all-original record the band put out-- and their only all Lennon-McCartney LP. Formidably prolific at this point, the pair had been creating songs-- and hits-- for other performers which must have given them useful insight into how to make different styles work. There's been a particular jump forward in ballad writing-- on "And I Love Her" in particular, Paul McCartney hits a note of humble, open-hearted sincerity he'd return to again and again. His "Things We Said Today" is even better, wintry and philosophical before the surprising, stirring middle eight.

But the dominant sound of the album is the Beatles in full cry as a pop band-- with no rock'n'roll covers to remind you of their roots you're free to take the group's new sound purely on its own modernist terms: The chord choices whose audacity surprised a listening Bob Dylan, the steamroller power of the harmonies, the gleaming sound of George Harrison's new Rickenbacker alongside the confident Northern blasts of harmonica, and a band and producer grown more than comfortable with each other. There's detail aplenty here-- and the remasters make it easy to hunt for-- but A Hard Day's Night is perhaps the band's most straightforward album: You notice the catchiness first, and you can wonder how they got it later.

The best example of this is the title track-- the clang of that opening chord to put everyone on notice, two burning minutes thick with percussion (including a hammering cowbell!) thanks to the new four-track machines George Martin was using, and then the song spiraling out with a guitar figure as abstractedly lovely as anything the group had recorded. John Lennon's best songs on the record-- "A Hard Day's Night", "Tell Me Why", "When I Get Home", "You Can't Do That"-- are fast, aggressive, frustrated and spiked with these moments of breathtaking prettiness.

The Hard Day's Night film itself was also a triumph in its way-- Lester's camerawork capturing the frenzy of Beatlemania and the way the group's music was feeding off it. It had the happy effect of introducing the group's millions of new global fans to their world-- the fire escapes, boutiques, bombed-out spaces, and well-preserved salons of 60s London. In fact the film's knowing dialogue and pop-art cinematography has a level of surface sophistication that the Beatles' records don't approach for another year or two (though they were already far more emotionally nourishing).

Watching the film you're reminded that what the Beatles had set in motion was pop music's catching up with the rest of British popular culture: In art, in TV satire, in film and fashion and literature, the 60s were already a boom time. Pop had been left behind-- tastemakers looked instead to jazz and folk to soundtrack this creativity. What the Beatles had-- accidentally-- unlocked was pop music's potential to join, then lead, the party-- though it wasn't yet a given that they'd be the band to realize said potential. A Hard Day's Night is an album of an era when pop and showbiz were inseparable-- and if it doesn't transcend that time, it does represent its definitive peak”.

In 2022, The Independent placed A Hard Day’s Night sixth. Gold did the same for their feature. Ultimate Classic Rock did the same. It does seem predictable when it comes to the top-five albums. The same ones will appear in there – Rubber Soul, The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver and Abbey Road – but in a different order. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers placed the album a lowly ninth. NME ranked it eighth-best in 2012. I guess the sixth-best Beatles album is a good position. It means it is far stronger than most other albums ever released! I do feel like there is this unflinching view that there are these five golden albums. A Hard Day’s Night kind of gets close but does not equal them. I can understand the songs might not be as strong as you hear on Revolver, say, but the sheer importance and excitement on the album, for me, puts it high up the list. Few journalists have gone deep with the album. Considering A Hard Day’s Night was the band, at the time, at the peak of their powers, why is A Hard Day’s Night not talked about more?! In America in 1964, the year America grieved John F. Kennedy's assassination; when Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act; when poverty, inequality, and war became part of our daily dialogue, The Beatles provided some hope and light for American fans. Here in the U.K., there was tension and unrest. Harold Wilson, in October 1964, entered the Election campaign determined to end thirteen years of wasted Conservative rule. There was a need for change. Oddly, sixty years later, we are in a similar position. A Hard Day’s Night really started what came after. In terms of Lennon and McCartney writing original songs and being this incredible partnership. The sheer size and wave of popularity and attention around The Beatles in 1964 means A Hard Day’s Night has this importance and stature. Maybe it is slightly buried by Beatlemania. Maybe people think it is a product if that, rather than it being a truly great album. I maintain that it is underrated. As it turns sixty on 10th July, I hope people write about the album. Explore the context and background. Go deeper into the songs. Really do it justice. The astonishing A Hard Day’s Night is…

A seismic album in Pop history.

FEATURE: Saluting the Queens: Sabrina Carpenter

FEATURE:

 

 

Saluting the Queens

Sabrina Carpenter

_________

THIS is another…

Saluting the Queens where I turn the spotlight on an artist rather than someone else in the industry. Recognising women throughout the industry is important, although there is an amazing artist that I wanted to salute. Sabrina Carpenter might not be known to some. She is one of the most important and distinct Pop around. Her latest studio album, 2022’s Emails I Can't Send, was acclaimed and a chart success. It is announced that her next album, Short n’ Sweet, is out on 23rd August. She is someone I genuinely believe is going to get bigger and more acclaimed. Someone who will do huge headline slots and command the biggest stages in the world. In a busy and crowded Pop market, Carpenter is an artist that everyone needs to look out for. Even though she has released five studio albums, her best days and biggest successes are still ahead. There are a load of great interview with Sabrina Carpenter you can check out through YouTube. Some wonderful print interviews too. There are a few interviews from late last year/this year that are more up to date. Giving us an insight into an incredible artist. I want to start out by sourcing a GRAMMY interview from December of last year:

“When Sabrina Carpenter was 9 years old, she posted her first video to YouTube: a cover of Taylor Swift's "Picture To Burn." Fifteen years later, Carpenter isn't just a pop force to be reckoned with in her own right — she's sharing the stage with Swift.

While Carpenter certainly hasn't been a stranger to the spotlight before this year — she launched her singing career in 2014, the same year she gained recognition for her leading role in Disney Channel's "Girl Meets World" — her Eras Tour slot is indicative of the monster year she's had. Since her fifth studio album, emails i can't send, arrived in July 2022, Carpenter has continued to reach new career heights, from garnering billions of streams, to being named Variety's Rising Star of 2023, to headlining her biggest sold-out tour yet.

"In such a weird way, I guess I've tried to do my best and be enjoying what I'm doing without being too aware of what's going on," Carpenter admits to GRAMMY.com. "The love of what I do is in the actual making of things, so I've been making so much music and writing so much over the last year. Seeing this cool, organic reaction to it is great. But in the moment, it's hard to grasp it."

In between the Argentina and Brazil Eras Tour stops in November, Carpenter topped off her banner year with another bucket list item: a Christmas project. The six-track EP fruitcake nods to one of her biggest hits to date, "Nonsense," with a revamped version aptly dubbed "A Nonsense Christmas."

Shortly after wrapping her 2023 Eras Tour run, Carpenter took GRAMMY.com on a rollicking journey through her biggest milestones of the past 12 months.

Opening For Taylor Swift On The Eras Tour

When I first found out, it was through a text and there were a lot of emojis and exclamation points. That was really how it happened; it wasn't through managers or anything. When Taylor texted me and asked if I wanted to come on tour with her, I threw my phone across the room.

It's a really surreal thing. I covered one of her songs when I was 9 years old and definitely, throughout my life, she was an artist and a songwriter and businesswoman who I've always admired. So to call her a friend and be a part of something as iconic as this tour, I still can't process it.

I'm still on the tour into next year and have been learning as much as I can along the way. I actually feel bad about how many shows I've been to because so many people want to see this show, so I feel lucky and privileged to have seen it as many times as I have!

Creating Her Latest Billboard Hot 100 Hit, "Feather"

I was actually on the phone with my producer, John Ryan, and we were laughing about it because honestly, when we made it, we were just having fun. We wanted to make this song about all the s—ty events happening in my life, because it's so much more fun to turn it into a positive than to sit in the sadness.

When we wrote it, it was me, John and one of my closest friends, the songwriter Amy Allen. We were just literally dancing around when John was playing a chord progression and a cool, feathery thing on the piano. We wrote it in two hours and the fact that it fit so perfectly on the deluxe [version of emails i can't send] was a very kismet situation.

Getting Honored With Variety's Rising Star Of 2023

Just to be recognized by them was also surreal, because then I'm in a room with a bunch of people whose music I listen to, songs I study, and producers I love. I was just sitting there talking to them — and it's not, like, imposter syndrome, because it did feel like such an honor. It's cool to be able to do the thing I love the most, and when those things happen it's just icing on the cake. I'm very grateful for them.

Solidifying Her Status As A Songwriter

I wrote my first song when I was 10 years old and it was very bad. But it was always something that I loved doing.

When I got a little older and to a place where I got people's opinions, I was always made to feel like it wasn't my place; like I should just listen to them, be sent songs and be happy with them. But something really tricky for me is that I would actually have a real weird internal reaction singing lyrics that didn't feel honest to me, or didn't feel something I would say. I just always had a specific point of view — and I'm a Tarus, so I'm a little stubborn.

But over time, writing became a necessity for me; if I didn't write a song, I wouldn't be able to make it through these situations in life. I'm very lucky that I now get to do it all the time, but also that the people I work with who I love so much all believe in me so much”.

I think that Sabrina Carpenter is a phenomenal artist that has not been embraced by the mainstream as much as she should have been. Maybe the dominance of artists like Taylor Swift overshadows someone like Sabrina Carpenter. It is a shame. Her music is among the strongest out there. I would urge everyone to check it out. Even though it is not strictly a conventional interview, I like this chat between Sabrina Carpenter and (fellow actor and artist) Maya Hawke from earlier in the year. Published through Interview Magazine, there are a few sections I want to highlight:

“After getting her big break in 2014 on the tween sitcom Girl Meets World, Sabrina Carpenter has finally escaped the prefab pressures of Disney-kid stardom by snatching back her artistic identity. She followed up her first four albums with 2022’s Emails I Can’t Send, a more dangerous departure that saw the 24-year-old performer finding vulnerability in pop star problems like public breakups and internet hate. Taylor Swift took notice (she asked her fellow Pennsylvania native to help kick off the international leg of her Eras tour), as did the Catholic Church, which beefed with Sabrina over the video for her single “Feathers” (YouTube it). Someone else who’s been paying attention is the actor and singer Maya Hawke, who called Sabrina up to unpack the complexities of pop stardom.

CARPENTER: I genuinely feel the same way about you and your songwriting. Every time I see you perform you have such a genuine, raw portrayal of emotion.

HAWKE: Thank you. But part of why I look up to you is that the visual aspect is really hard for me. I love to paint and I love to act and sing, but connecting the dots between the three is a really big challenge. I’m curious, did it come all at once or have you been piecing it together slowly?

CARPENTER: I like to keep my eyes and ears open for things that resonate with me because that’s what brings my world to life. But most of the time I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. The more I keep creating, the more ideas just come out of the woodwork.

HAWKE: It’s like collage.

CARPENTER: Absolutely. It just has to be true to you, as clichéd as that sounds, because there’s no formula, as much as people like to think that you sit in an office and people tell you what you should wear and how you should act onstage.

HAWKE: Yeah. It’s more like you sit alone in your room and people call you and go, “What are you wearing? What’s the plan?” And you’re like, “I don’t know. Maybe this?”

PHOTO CREDIT: Conor Cunningham

CARPENTER: And then you end up finding what makes you feel comfortable. For me, clothing has had a huge part in that. It’s been a process of finding out what actually makes me feel comfortable. And oh my god, I’m not going to be comfortable in what I’m wearing right now in three to four years. But I have to follow what I feel at that moment.

HAWKE: That’s such a zen way to think about it. Sometimes I look back at things I did early on, like, “I wish I’d known what I now know about myself,” so that I could’ve been more consistent. But if I hadn’t experimented in all the ways that I did, I don’t think I would be myself now.

CARPENTER: The mistakes lead you to knowing yourself the most. If I didn’t wear the hideous things I wore when I was 13, whatever fedora I had, I don’t think I would’ve been the same person I am today. Also, what a humbling experience to look back and be like, “I’ve changed.” That’s a really good sign that you’ve lived life the way you should.

HAWKE: I think so, too. I wanted to ask you about the organic growth of “Nonsense.” That song wasn’t a single, right? A fan found it and then it exploded, as far as I could tell.

CARPENTER: Yeah. Sometimes I get insecure about pop music and the fact that it can’t always resonate with people. So it was really special for me to experience that song having its own life, maybe because it felt like the closest to my true personality, as silly as that sounds.

HAWKE: That makes total sense.

CARPENTER: I was at a really, really low point in my life about two years ago, so I was writing very few optimistic love songs. That one always stuck out, but I felt like it might discredit some of the songs on the album that were about more sensitive subjects, so it almost didn’t make it in. People in the past had told me my music didn’t have symmetry, that I didn’t have every song sounding the same, and that got in my head. So I’m grateful because the fans decided on their own that it meant something to them.

PHOTO CREDIT: Conor Cunningham

HAWKE: You talked about being insecure about pop music, and I was curious, did you consciously select a genre or did the style of songs you were writing just lend themselves to pop?

CARPENTER: Honestly, I don’t love the idea that a pop star is someone who makes catchy songs with easy-to-grasp concepts. It resonates with part of me, but I grew up with Stevie Nicks and Dolly Parton and Carole King and Patsy Cline, and that music didn’t necessarily feel like pop to me.

HAWKE: Right.

CARPENTER: I feel a lot freer and more excited about what I’m making now because I’ve realized that genre isn’t necessarily the most important thing. It’s about honesty and authenticity and whatever you gravitate towards. There were a lot of genres in my last album, and I like to think I’ll continue that throughout writing music.

HAWKE: That’s so smart. Your voice has so much capacity and clarity, and that lends it so well to how you’re producing because you can really jump the octave, for lack of a better term. I thought there was going to be a question here, but it’s really just a compliment. Your voice is incredible.

CARPENTER: [Laughs] Thank you so much. I don’t know how to take a compliment. How are you with that?

HAWKE: I deflect when I don’t agree with the compliment. I also deflect if I actually think the thing someone is complimenting me on is an insult. If they’re like, “You’re so quirky,” I’m like, “Thanks.” If I like the compliment, internally I’m a mess, but I’m just, like, “Thank you. That means so much to me.”

CARPENTER: I think being quirky is a compliment.

HAWKE: Anything can be a compliment or an insult. It’s all about what you were made fun of as a kid. I was bullied for being too quirky and weird, and now those things make me sensitive, but only because of my little child self that’s living inside my grown-up body. How did people react to you as a kid?

PHOTO CREDIT: Conor Cunningham

CARPENTER: Ironically, I was bullied for singing. I had really big dreams as a child, and it worked out for me. [Laughs] I did well in school, but I’ll be honest, I started homeschooling really young. This sounds so dramatic, but I felt safer learning the way that I did. I was in an online school, and then I started working at a pretty young age, so I got out of those little toxic circles that you sometimes don’t even realize you’re in because you’re so young. So I was grateful for that. Were you homeschooled?

HAWKE: I think because both of my parents were child actors, it was really important to them to not take me out of school. During my teen years I used to scream and cry at my parents, asking them to let me work, but they wouldn’t. I graduated high school and then I did a year at drama school and then I started working at 19. But I was always jealous of the people who got a head start.

CARPENTER: When I was younger a lot of people assumed it was my parents’ dream that they were trying to fulfill through me, and I always had to tell people it really had nothing to do with anyone but my 11-year-old self. But 19 is an amazing age to start having full control of what you’re doing. I started writing my debut album as a child and I would’ve never, ever put that out if I had started a little bit older.

HAWKE: I put my debut album out at 20 and I wouldn’t have put it out this year. [Laughs] But every time you change you look back and say,“I would have done it differently.” It’s all just organic growth. And it’s great you put out your debut album when you did. It started the train, and now you have Emails I Can’t Send and it’s extraordinary.

PHOTO CREDIT: Conor Cunningham

CARPENTER: Thank you. I definitely think timing plays a huge role in all of this.

HAWKE: It’s one of my favorite albums of the year. The whole thing makes you feel good, but the lyrics fill you with powerful thoughts about your own life and relationships. It doesn’t seem like you cut out any pieces of yourself to make this record.

CARPENTER: Thank you. I get chills when it’s received that way because I think one of the trickiest things for an artist is accepting being misunderstood. It comes with making art in any capacity.

HAWKE: Totally.

CARPENTER: I wrote most of the songs on Emails I Can’t Send not intending to ever put them out in the world, because I don’t think I would’ve written those songs if I thought about other people hearing them.

HAWKE: I actually feel that in the record. I started listening with “Skin” and then did a deep dive of your other stuff, but this record feels like you plunge 1,000 feet deeper into your own gut, and I’m so grateful you did.

CARPENTER: Thank you. Unfortunately, you have to allow yourself to get to that point where you’re even able to do that, and until I made this album, I wasn’t at that place where I felt I could. The other day, this guy was like, “Life is so long. You just have to follow the things that make you feel something, whether that’s good or bad.” And I was like, “Wow, I always hear life is short.” But it made me really excited about the fact that I’m going to find my way through.

HAWKE: That’s a very, very important thing to remember. It’s both things. An hour can feel like an eternity and a day can go by in the blink of an eye. Time seems to be what you make of it and if you treat your life like it’s long, it will be”.

I do hope that people check out Sabrina Carpenter’s music. She is someone who always comes across so well in interviews. By that, I mean she seems incredible intelligent, charming, compelling and intensely likeable. I am going to finish with an interview from Cosmopolitan. Among other things, Carpenter talks about opening for Taylor Swift during her Eras Tour:

“Late last year, in your acceptance speech for the Variety Hitmakers Rising Artist Award, you mentioned how your mum would reference The Tortoise and The Hare story when you were a kid and how it helped you get comfortable with “the mindset of a slow rise.” At first I was like, 'Oh, I totally relate to that.' And then I thought, 'But wait. She’s only 24 [at the time]. She got her first acting job at 11. She had this major role at 15.' It made me think about the ways in which ambitious women continue to move the goalposts for ourselves.

I was really nervous when I gave that speech, to be super frank. That award was such an honour, but it was one of the first speeches I’ve ever given, in this room of all these people I admire.

I was a kid when I saw that Miley Cyrus was 16 and touring arenas. And so my mind went, 'At 16, you’re going to tour arenas.' And then when that didn’t happen, I was like, 'Oh.' I think if you really look at how long I’ve been singing and acting, it’s a long time compared to the instant gratification that some people have. I never had the instant thing, which now I feel very lucky about because I have a lot of experience. Even if I’m light-years ahead, I would rather feel that I’m behind and have the ambition to think, 'Oh, I can always work a little bit harder. I can always try something new.' There are things I haven’t done yet that I really want to do.

What kinds of things?

Well, I feel so grateful that I’ve been able to tour an album that I really care about for almost two years and that my fans have given it a life longer than I ever could have asked for. I put two and a half years into making this album, and it’s a shitty feeling when you put so much time into something and people want something new in two months. So I’m trying to really take this experience in before moving on to the next thing… but I’ve been working on the next thing for a minute. I’m starting to feel like I’ve outgrown the songs I’m singing, which is always an exciting feeling because I think that means the next chapter is right around the corner.

Does a next chapter look like more music or a return to acting or…?

I go to the movies and I get really jealous of the people in the movies. I’m like, 'Oh, I want to be in a movie.' And then I go to concerts and I get jealous of people onstage. I’m like, 'Oh, I want to be onstage.' I think that’s a good sign. The hardest thing for me to do sometimes is to stop and take a moment to recognise how much I grew in the last year. I didn’t think 24 was going to be special at all. When I turned 24, I was like, 'What is this year even made for?' Because 21 is always very pronounced, 25 is always very pronounced. But the middle ages, oof. Even with songs, there’s 'Nobody likes you when you’re 23.' But shit about 24.

So has 24 been different than you expected?

You still feel very youthful, you can still wear very short skirts, but you also feel more insightful and have a bit more knowledge and experience. You’re better able to know the people that you want to invite into your life, whereas before you are just nice to everybody and want to be everyone’s friend. I think that’s what’s happened to me in the last year and a half. Instead of being like, 'Do people like me?' it’s 'Oh, do I actually like you?' Not in a mean way, but in a sense of, do I want this energy around me all the time? Is this someone who adds to my life?

What are those things that you look for to determine whether somebody’s additive to your life?

People who stimulate me and don’t just agree with everything I say. And people who are funny. When I meet people that feel very genuine and pure, I hope to keep them in my life. Because that’s the only way that I’m going to stay close to the ground in any capacity. But also, part of learning is keeping the wrong people in your life for a period of time. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way a couple of times, for sure.

Tell me about the day-to-day of life on the road with Taylor Swift for The Eras Tour.

What’s been so fun about this tour is getting to perform in places I haven’t before. And I’m quite jet-lagged because we’re all over the world. So sleep is super important. The hardest thing is turning your brain off and getting everything to quiet down. But I’m grateful for my inability to turn my brain off at times because that’s when I come up with ideas. I feel creative. I feel excited. After a show, I think a lot about what I want to do differently the next time and what I want to do with my own show in two years.

I did two legs of the Emails I Can’t Send Tour, and that was amazing, but it was a much more rigorous schedule. I feel so genuinely lucky on The Eras Tour because I get to perform a set that I’m super comfortable with, and then I get to watch one of the greatest performers every night. My favourite thing to do has always been to watch people who look so comfortable in their bodies onstage, like Madonna and Britney and Prince. Sometimes when you don’t have a mirror in front of you and you can’t actually see how you look, a lot of the learning comes from watching a video back and thinking, 'Oh, I thought I was giving more than I was actually giving.' And it’s been a very tall order being on a stage that big because — and this is not even to sound like a pick-me, like when girls are like 'I’m so small, I can’t reach the top shelf' — I’m literally 5 feet tall. So sometimes when I’m on that stage, it feels so huge that I just have to be larger than life in some capacity.

It almost feels like a Broadway show because everything is so synchronised but at the same time feels so in the moment. That’s an art. It’s really hard to teach. It’s really hard to learn. And I feel so lucky that I get to watch Taylor perform every time. It makes me want to tour the world again, which is a good feeling.

It sounds like you’re really energised and excited by what you’re doing — I can imagine that if you weren’t, you’d risk burning out.

Yeah. I’d be smoking a pipe a day. It would be rough. No, I’m still very much in love with it. I think that’s the whole goal, to keep falling in love with what you do all the time in new ways. With this industry, if you’re focused on the wrong things, it can be easy not to feel that way. If you’re focused on the things that excite you and the things that bring you that inspiration, that joy, it’s a more lighthearted experience.

What would be “wrong” things to focus on?

Anything that makes you question your own innate feelings and ideas and emotions. You read all of these interviews with artists in the past where the work that they were the most criticised for or the work that they were the most scared of was the thing that felt the most honest to them. And I always try to keep that in mind — to not take what other people say too heavily.

Considering that you’re in a much more constant feedback cycle than previous generations, you have to be particularly intentional about taking a step back and knowing what noise to drown out.

Correct. You have to be discerning, protect your energy, as they say. Because everyone has the ability to say whatever they want. And you’re like, do you have a degree in anything? People comment all the time, sounding like vocal instructors talking about technique, and then you go to their profile, and they’re literally working at GameStop [an American electronics company]. And by the way, no offence to anyone that works at GameStop because I love GameStop. But I just mean it in the sense that people will be doing something so different with their lives and have opinions on things that they aren’t an expert on 

So I understand how you approach friendships and meeting new people. Can we talk about how you approach dating? As you put your hands over your face to hide!

A lot of it, for me, has been fate. I know that’s super broad, but I don’t actively look for it. The relationships that I actually want to put my energy into have to be so interesting or invigorating because they take me away from the other things I love. So yeah, it’s fun and it’s messy. I think I’m still just at this place where I’m really enjoying the newness of all of it.

Do you use apps?

No. I have one app, and I usually just never open it. But there would be times where I would just want to see that other people exist. I know that sounds weird. Because when you’re on tour for a very long time, you’re just like, oh my god, there’s no one around.

Just tens of thousands of screaming girls.

Yeah. It’s either screaming girls or it’s people you work with. So when I was a lot younger, I was like, 'Maybe I should get an app to see if there are human beings.' But I’ve never, ever, ever, ever gone on a date from an app. It’s always just been by fate and by chance, people I meet or people that I connect with through friends and things like that.

I’d imagine your experience is very different from the average 25-year-old.

I don’t know. What’s an average 25-year-old? What was your dating experience when you were 25?

I’m a terrible example. My husband and I started dating in college. I was 23 when we got engaged, which is wild to think about now in my thirties.

Oh my god, you’re one of those. My best friend just got married and she’s my age.

Do you like the guy [she's married]?4

Oh, I love him. He’s amazing. It just made me feel like I was so behind or something. And then I realised, no, no, no, she’s just ahead.

Everybody’s on their own timeline. I have friends who have gone through divorces in their twenties.

I love how we’ve normalised that. Because that makes me feel a lot less scared when it comes to dating in general. When I was younger, the one thing I always thought was, why would I date this person if I didn’t see myself marrying them? I just wouldn’t even put energy into it. But now I have a mentality that there are relationships that are meant to be in your life, even if it’s only for a couple of weeks.

Okay, so across your personal life and your professional accomplishments — of which there are many — what are some of the things you love most about yourself?

I love this question. I think the fact that I really, really do love to find the humour and joy in things, even if they feel really dark and heavy. That’s saved me a lot of the time. Ooh, answering this is tricky. Because you’re like, am I going to say my hair? I’ve always loved the way I care about my friends. When I love people, I just care about them so much and want them to feel loved and seen. And then third, I would say I like my ass. I will do squats till the day I die”.

A new single Espresso, was released in April. I hope that it leads to a new album. That song proves that Sabrina Carpenter is among the most distinct and consistently brilliant Pop artists of her generation. I am looking forward to seeing where she goes from here. Her new album, out in August, will tell us more. No doubt a queen primed for the mainstream, there is no doubt Carpenter is a future icon. This stunning artist is…

AMONG the very best.

FEATURE: HIT ME HARD: Why Pitchfork’s Reaction to Billie Eilish’s New Album Opens Up Debate About Music Criticism

FEATURE:

 

 

HIT ME HARD

IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish/PHOTO CREDIT: Aidan Zamira for Rolling Stone

Why Pitchfork’s Reaction to Billie Eilish’s New Album Opens Up Debate About Music Criticism

_________

I do realise that…

PHOTO CREDIT: picjumbo.com/Pexels

I may be part of a problem that I am about to highlight. Also, music criticism and journalism is subjective. When it comes to reviewing an album or project, those charged with stating their opinion are free to score it as low or high as they wish. It is good we have a wide-ranging spectrum of takes on something like a new album. Artists do want the feedback. The public can obviously make their own minds up when it comes to opinions. Journalists are good at using their experience to frame an album in a way that brings it to life. Maybe finding small flaws or offering constructive criticism. I do find a lot of reviews are quite brief. I know some sites do limit word count though, when it comes to an album, a few paragraphs seems like the minimum. Many do not even do that. A debate that has raged for decades is the value of journalists. I think ‘critics’ implies those who are going to be critical, rather than provide a critical analysis. I have backed away from reviews because of the little traffic they gained when I share them. I still firmly believe that it is important that we have journalists giving their thoughts on an album, E.P. or song. I think we can all agree that certain reviews or overly-harsh or deliberately provocative. Others that are lazy or unfairly low. That is the nature of journalism. One site I do really like but is renowned for its low and bewildering album review scores is Pitchfork. Over the years, they have given artists like Lana Del Rey really low scores for albums objectively brilliant. Their review for Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT has drawn criticism. Chief among those calling it out is Eilish’s brother and co-writer, Finneas O'Connell (as album producer he is known as ‘Finneas’). As NME report, he was not best pleased with their 6.8 our of 10 assessment of an album that has won its fair share of four-star reviews from other sites and sources:

“Finneas has hit out at Pitchfork over its review of Billie Eiliish’s new album ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’.

Eilish’s brother and frequent collaborator co-wrote the follow-to 2021’s ‘Happier Than Ever’, and is credited as the record’s sole producer.

Eilish’s third studio effort earned a four-star review from NME, who praised the project for being “bold” and “confident in its execution”. “In trying to write an album for herself, she’s made one that will resonate harder than anything she’s done before,” it concluded.

Pitchfork was less favourable, however – awarding ‘Hit Me…’ 6.8 out of 10 (Eilish’s first two albums earned scores of 7.2 and 7.6, respectively).

The publication wrote: “Every song on this big album has some detail worth hearing, but the insistence on multipart epics and ballads kills the momentum […] The much-hyped live instrumentation is more window dressing than it is integral to the artistry, and Jon Castelli’s brightly saturated mix leaves the extraneous elements to fight for space in the more crowded sections.

“All these enhancements cancel each other out until ‘HMHAS’ is just another good record from Billie and Finneas – certainly tasteful, and arresting sometimes, but all the session musicians in the world can’t make it a masterpiece.”

Finneas has since responded to the review while replying to a fan on TikTok.

“Nothing cool about writing a positive review of an album everyone likes – they’ve gotta have an angle,” he wrote.

“They gave [Lana Del Rey’s debut album] ‘Born To Die’ a 5.5 – it’s their whole hater-ass bag.” Check out the screenshot below.

Eilish recently said that ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’ was “the most genuine thing” she’s ever made. “It feels very, very me and it feels like all of the music is exactly who I am,” she explained.

The star went on to say that she felt somewhat pigeonholed after the huge success of her 2019 debut album, ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’. She added that she overcompensated on ‘Happier Than Ever’ as a result.

Elsewhere, Eilish and Finneas said they had “never ever, ever loved something more” than their latest LP”.

Even if it one site giving consistently underrating reviews to great albums, it is fair to question how valid music criticism is. Not everyone will love everything or the same thing. I do find a lot of sites have a reputation for marking too low. When mixed with other reviews, it does rather stand out. Whether you feel they are being objective or deliberately harsh, it must be frustrating for artists to read reviews that go in quite hard. In the case of Pitchfork and Billie Eilish, they did say HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is no masterpiece. That is fine. It is the tone and angle of the review that seems rather dismissive. Finneas O’Connell might be subjective in his anger, yet I have seen many share the same views of that review.

It is a complex debate. I can appreciate those who say that reviews are not essential because people can form their own opinions. Like literary critics, it is not just about someone saying whether they like or dislike an album. There is perceptive about production, sound and aspects that the average listener might not know about. It is exciting for artists and fans reading reviews for a brilliant album about to arrive. I know how many artists value reviews. So many different takes and opinions can confuse things I guess. If someone says something and someone else something else, who do you trust?! Listeners will have the ultimate say. It is good to get a variety of opinions. What worries me is that reviews that are harsh or seem to take against an artist for no real reason might put listeners off trusting journalists. Pitchfork can be pretty random and strange with their reviews. It is not only them. A journalist is a music fan so, like any listener, they seek different things in an album. They have their own thoughts and takeaways. Music is universal, yet the listening experience is unique. At a time when we should really highlight how essential music journalism is, stories like the one where Finneas O'Connell blasted Pitchfork does muddy things. If a reviewer or site sees an album everyone likes and then feels it necessary to purposely downgrade it or feel there needs to be some negativity, it is frustrating defending music reviewing. I still find it has a place and real purpose. Even so, the Pitchfork review for a fabulous Billie Eilish album…

HIT pretty hard.

FEATURE: Among the Dozen… Predicting Albums That Could Make the Shortlist for this Year’s Mercury Prize

FEATURE:

 

 

Among the Dozen…

IN THIS PHOTO: Nadine Shah

Predicting Albums That Could Make the Shortlist for this Year’s Mercury Prize

_________

I have…

IN THIS PHOTO: SPRINTS

already put out a feature predicting albums that could well be in the running for this year’s Mercury Prize. The closing date for entries has already passed. We are in that gap between the window closing and the shortlist being announced. I know some say awards aren’t everything and the Mercury Prize is a little limited though, if you think about the fact Ezra Collective won it last year (and they are Jazz-based), then it is broad. I know it has a problem handing it out to London artists. I think it has gone to a London/London-based artist for the past nine years. If you count artists born outside of London but now based there, we could see a tenth consecutive year where a London artist wins it. It calls into question the relevance of an award that does not look beyond the capital. I know they are awarding it based on quality and merit, yet one would imagine that there is a slightly London bias. I don’t think we will see a London-based/born artist win it this year. I am holding cards close to check. I have in mind an artist who I think will win it. Rather than focus on each album and give you reviews and details, I have compiled a playlist of songs from fifteen albums that I feel will be in the running. In the coming weeks, we will see others make their Mercury Prize predictions. I think that the twelve shortlisted albums will be announced next month. I think the past year has been a remarkable one for British and Irish music. I have compiled a playlist of songs from fifteen albums I think are favourites to get a Mercury Prize shortlist nod. It is clear from this stellar list of albums that it will be a tightly-contested event. We will know who walks away with the honour later in the year. For now, wrap your ears around some wonderful songs (from great albums) by incredible British and Irish artists. The fifteen artists in this playlist are all worth of…

A Mercury Prize shortlist inclusion.

FEATURE: Not So Good Ones: Do Labels Truly Allow Artists to Be Themselves?

FEATURE:

 

 

Not So Good Ones

IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX

Do Labels Truly Allow Artists to Be Themselves?

_________

SOMETHING interesting…

PHOTO CREDIT: Nadine Fraczkowski/The Guardian

came out of a recent interview with Charli XCX. Before getting to that. You can pre-order her new album, brat, which comes out on Friday (7th June). Here is an artist who has not been welcomed into and embraced by the mainstream like some of her contemporaries. Maybe her style of music and persona is not considered to be as radio-friendly or accessible. I think most Pop artists today are sanitised. I think that they are expected to be a certain way. Maybe not talk out of terms of say anything that could divide fans or cause a storm. Not to say they are manipulated or, as part of their contract, told to dress, speak and act in a particular way. I feel there is a divide and difference between women and men. Less control and independence for female artists. This takes us to Charli XCX. Her new album comes out on the Asylum label. Not to say she is honed in and limited by the label. Some aspects of the interview with The Guardian gave pause. Maybe still seen as an outsider in Pop, I do feel that there is still a desire personality type or artist model that means anyone who has a bit of an edge or does not want to be like anyone else is seen as an outsider. As such, they do not really get the same critical plaudit and visibility as other artists:

“You used to get one shot in the music business: the wrong marketing, the wrong song and you’d never be heard from again. This was not the case for Charlotte Aitchison, better known as Charli XCX, who posted tracks on Myspace so long ago she invited comparisons to Kate Nash. Still just 31, and living between London and LA, she has written countless hits for other people – Icona Pop’s shouty I Love It, the slinky Señorita, sung by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes – as well as carving out a niche in experimental pop. Her songs can be brash and bombastic (you might know Boom Clap) but her personal vibe is dry and knowing. Her last record, 2022’s Crash, was a concept album about becoming a mainstream pop star: when it went to No 1, and she scored a song (Speed Drive) on the Barbie soundtrack, it seemed that she’d made it for real.

While most people under 30 know very well who she is, much of the world doesn’t, and this strange state of “famous but not quite” inspired one of the songs on her new album, Brat.

“The industry’s changed a lot,” she says. “I’ve been told for so long that I’m an outsider and I never really felt accepted into the British music scene. The press has perpetuated that narrative of me. I’m this girl who straddles the underground and pop music, and that, for some reason, is really difficult for some people to wrap their heads around.”

“More than ever now, people are rewarding the niche,” says Aitchison. “Finally, it seems fine that I’m just myself, and suddenly people like it. It’s good to finally be accepted. I’m happy with the winding path I’ve taken, and with my status as more of an outsider, because sometimes I feel a bit awkward being in the club. I’m at peace with it all. It’s all cool.”

She now lives in the Hollywood Hills, in a house formerly owned by Scottish DJ-producer Calvin Harris, and is engaged to George Daniel, drummer of the 1975. In a music world ruled by one or two artists who barely speak to the press, Aitchison’s directness is invaluable. “I hate the traditional LA approach to songwriting,” she says. “Having a kind of therapy session at the beginning, talking about what is going on in your life, then turning a sentence or two of that into a song – that’s my nightmare way of writing,” she says. “It produces very flaccid songs in my opinion.”

“We’ve got past the point of the media always pitting women against one another,” she continues. “In the mid to late 00s, it literally sold magazines and papers: ‘Britney versus Christina’, ‘Paris versus Lindsay’. Then feminism became a popular marketing tool. In the music industry, it was distilled into this idea that if you support women, and you like other women, then you’re a good feminist. The reverse of that is, if you don’t like all other women who exist and breathe on this Earth then you’re a bad feminist. If you’re not a girl’s girl then you’re a bad woman.

“That’s just such an unrealistic expectation of women,” she says. “Relationships between women are super-complex and multi-layered. You can like someone and dislike them at the same time; you can feel jealous of somebody but they can still be your friend; you can have the best time of your life on a night out with someone but not be that close to them at all. You can pose with your arms around a person at an awards show, but in reality you’re feeling not worthy, or small – or really cocky, or confident, or a huge multitude of different emotions. One day you can feel completely on top of the world; the next day, you can feel like your career’s over. The song is saying, sometimes it’s really confusing to be a girl, and that’s fine.”

“Persona is intrinsic to the modern-day artist, unless you completely reject it and do something alien-like and cold... I can’t wait for somebody to do that, actually. I can’t wait for someone to be really cold and mean and icy. But we’re not in a place where any major artist could do that. I hope someone dares”.

It is true that one does not hear Charli XCX on various radio stations. I think she is someone that the industry is overlooking. I am not sure whether brat will change that in that sense. Her Pop music is forward-thinking and progressive. It is very different to everything out there. It is clear that labels want their artists to be liked and admired. It is far less risky for them. I guess that makes some commercial sense. In some ways, this often comes at the expense of any form of free expression or a personality and sound that steps away from the desired and more accessible. I am sure Charli XCX would like to be more embraced and respected by the industry. That she is allowed to be true to herself and find the same sort of success and focus as many Pop peers around. I am not sure whether a cold or icy Pop artist would be overly successful. It would be interesting. There does seem to be this correlation between being nice, smiling and saying all the right things and success. In an Internet age, labels do very much mould artists to almost look and sound the same way. One might say that Pop artists should be bright and happy. That they should fall into line. That may be naïve of me. I was struck by what Charli XCX said. Here is an artist who is inspiring and nice. Watching and reading interviews with her, she is very real and honest. There is not the same sheen and energy as other Pop artists. In some ways, she is more genuine and honest than most of her contemporaries. The fact that female artists particularly might be expected to be very happy and energised all the time. As she has said, women are pitted against other women. Female relationships are complex. It seems quite discriminatory and intimidating for artists coming through. Many simply might not have the personality or preference to be likeable in a rather inane or pointless way. They can be seen as more serious or sullen and still get huge acclaim and popularity. It doesn’t really happen.

I wonder whether women especially in Pop and further afield have any chance of being authentic and choosing their own approach and personality and will be accepted and not prohibited from the mainstream. I do think that there is a nervousness from labels. Artists are not going to be deliberately offensive or angry, but there is fear of anything different or alternative. It is phenomenally hard being an artist now. With the Internet and social media adding so much difficulty and complexity, it is hard to navigate. Fans can be so divided and capricious. There is this fickleness and changing demand. If you are experimental or different then people will take against you. If you are more commercial then you are seen as a sell-out or attacked. It is impossible. Charli XCX has released phenomenal and successful albums. Even so, she is under-exposed and under-played. It is good that Charli XCX does seem to be at peace with being an ‘outsider’. That being herself is accepted. Her reservations about artists now having to live through the internet and there not being barriers between artists and fans. That the currency and commodity of niceness – in all its meaninglessness – is still sought-after from labels. Will artists ever be able to be more authentic and themselves and have the label promote them as fervently and widely as others on their roster?! Will labels always favour and demand that artists be…

THE ‘good’ ones?

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s Babooshka at Forty-Four: Her Best and Most Important Album Opener?

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s Babooshka at Forty-Four

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Her Best and Most Important Album Opener?

_________

I never need an excuse to speak about…

Kate Bush’s Babooshka. There are a couple of good reasons today. For a start, on 27th June, the single turns forty-four. It reached number five in the U.K. upon its release and Bush produced the song alongside Jon Kelly. They were producers for her third studio album, Never for Ever – Babooshka was the album’s second single. I always think it is interesting when an artist releases singles way before an album comes out. I guess you need to gain momentum. Never for Ever’s first single, Breathing, came out in April 1980. With Babosohka following a couple of months later, it would be three months more before Never for Ever arrived (it was released on 8th September, 1980). There is so much to explore with regards Babooshka. From live performances through to the video all the way to the lyrical meaning, it is a fascinating song from Kate Bush. It’s B-side, Ran Taz Waltz, was premiered (in a magnificently odd way) during Kate Bush’s Christmas special in 1979. I think it is very underrated. Rather than an album track as B-side, we have this song with its own life and purpose. I would love to explore it more one day. I want to argue that it may be her best album opening track. Definitely her most important in my view. Also, as American Songwriter recently wrote about the song, I want to include what they wrote. Before getting to those, we need some background on Babooshka. Including words from Kate Bush abouts its origins. Thanks to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia for providing details about a truly spectacular and magical track:

“Performances

Kate performed ‘Babooshka’ in various European programmes, including Collaro (France), Countdown (Netherlands) and Rock Pop (Germany). Her performance of the song in a Dr. Hook television special remains the first, and is memorable for the costume she is wearing: on her the right side she resembles a staid Victorian lady in mourning dress; on the left side a glittering, liberated young woman in a silvery jumpsuit, with bright lightning-streaks painted down the left side of her face. Her figure is lit so that only the “repressed” side of her costume is visible during the verses of the song, and mainly the “free” side during the choruses.

Cover versions

‘Babooshka’ has been covered by Astral Prince, Brain Grimmer, Sonia Cat-Berro, Kat Devlin, Eartheater, Goodknight Productions, Göteborgs Symfoniker, The Hounds Of Love, Yuri Kono, Miss Platnum, Mr. Sirius, Oldelaf, the Plunging Necklines, Niki Romijn and Debra Stephenson.

Kate about ‘Babooshka’

‘Babooshka’ is about futile situations. The way in which we often ruin things for ourselves. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)

Apparently it is grandmother, it’s also a headdress that people wear. But when I wrote the song it was just a name that literally came into my mind, I’ve presumed I’ve got it from a fairy story I’d read when I was a child. And after having written the song a series of incredible coincidences happened where I’d turned on the television and there was Donald Swan singing about Babooshka. So I thought, “Well, there’s got to be someone who’s actually called Babooshka.” So I was looking throughRadio Timesand there, another coincidence, there was an opera called Babooshka. Apparently she was the lady that the three kings went to see because the star stopped over her house and they thought “Jesus is in there”.’ So they went in and he wasn’t. And they wouldn’t let her come with them to find the baby and she spent the rest of her life looking for him and she never found him. And also a friend of mine had a cat called Babooshka. So these really extraordinary things that kept coming up when in fact it was just a name that came into my head at the time purely because it fitted. (Peter Powell interview, Radio 1 (UK), 11 October 1980))”.

Like so many Kate Bush songs, Babooshka came from a less-than-traditional source. Few songwriters like her were on the scene in 1980. The fact that she did not know about the Russian word for grandmother. The angle of the lyrics. Aged twenty-one when the song came out, she was writing purely from a hypothetical stance. In terms of relationships and trust, nothing that we hear in the song relates to her experiences. Making it all the more remarkable that she would come up with it! Almost a poet or author in terms of her songwriting. So many peers wrote about love and deceit in very ordinary and cliché ways. Kate Bush was penning amazing songs full of rich imagery and depth. I am going to claim that Babooshka is her most important album opening track – maybe some would argue if it is the best. I was pleased that American Songwriter focused on Babboshka last month. Their article mentions a great 1980 interview. I would hope that, ahead of the song’s forty-fourth anniversary, journalists take the song apart and explore it in more depth:

“A Test of Fidelity

In a 1980 interview on the Australian TV show Countdown, Bush explained “Babooshka” and its origins: “It was really a theme that has fascinated me for some time. It’s based on a theme that is often used in folk songs, which is where the wife of the husband begins to feel that perhaps he’s not faithful. And there’s no real strength in her feelings, it’s just more or less paranoia suspicions, and so she starts thinking that she’s going to test him, just to see if he’s faithful. So what she does is she gets herself a pseudonym, which happens to be Babooshka, and she sends him a letter. And he responds very well to the letter, because as he reads it, he recognizes the wife that he had a couple of years ago, who was happy, in the letter. And so he likes it, and she decides to take it even further and get a meeting together to see how he reacts to this Babooshka lady instead of her.

“When he meets her, again because she is so similar to his wife, the one that he loves, he’s very attracted to her. Of course she is very annoyed and the break in the song is just throwing the restaurant at him. … He loves her very much, and the whole idea of the song is really the futility and the stupidness of humans and how by our own thinking, spinning around in our own ideas, we come up with completely paranoid facts. So in her situation she was in fact suspicious of a man who was doing nothing wrong, he loved her very much indeed. Through her own suspicions and evil thoughts she’s really ruined the relationship.”

The Video

The simple video featured Bush in two guises. During the gentle verses, she’s dressed in a black bodysuit with a veil over her face, portraying the older woman in her song, dancing with a large double bass that symbolized the husband. In the dramatic choruses, she vamps dramatically in a skimpy warrior outfit, her eyes popping wide and cutting a dangerously alluring figure as she represents the temptress that was her own self. It was an effective way to use a low-budget concept. Bush was always a striking performer, exploring different ways to make her videos engaging.

While not a hit in America – she’s only had the one, and you know what it is – the single for “Babooshka” went to No. 2 in Australia, No. 4 in France, No. 5 in Ireland, Israel, Italy, and the UK, and No. 8 in New Zealand. It sold over a million copies in the UK and France, and has racked up 44 million YouTube views and 158 million Spotify listens.

A year and a half before the massive resurgence of “Running Up that Hill,” this Bush song got attention as part of a Tik Tok Challenge around late 2020. Young women (and a couple of men) lip-synched and/or performed to the major verse to chorus transition in the song. Their interpretations varied wildly.

With “Babooshka,” Bush took the familiar themes of distrust and infidelity and spun them into her own unique tale. “‘Babooshka’ is about futile situations,” she told the Kate Bush Club newsletter in 1980. “The way in which we often ruin things for ourselves.” That heartbreak certainly made for a classic song”.

Bringing cinematic and literary references to the fore, Never for Ever was Kate Bush’s broadest and most fulfilling album to that point. Where she was free to produce alone – with Jon Kelly at least; Andrew Powell (who produced 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart) does not feature – and, with it, bring a fuller lyrical and musical paillette to the front. I suspect that there was little room for too much ambition and experimentation on her first two albums. EMI keener for their prodigy to get herself established and then, when things were commercially secure, allow a bit more expansion. Bush was not willing to work with someone who did not share her vision and let her be more involved with production. As such, the opening song to Never for Ever had to be a statement of intent. Some would argue there are stronger opening tracks on her albums. How about Moving from The Kick inside? Surely Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) from Hounds of Love (1985). Even King of the Mountain from Aerial (2005). I would say that, in terms of its impact and freshness, Babooshka might be top. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is majestic. Though there has been oversaturation. It is played more than any other Kate Bush track. Not that it diminished its impact. I feel it is so over-familiar and almost synonymous with Kate Bush now. Other options like Moving and The Sensual World (from 1989’s The Sensual World) have their merits. I feel there is something extra from Babooshka. In terms of the way it starts this brilliant run of tracks. Delius (Song of Summer) and Blow Away (For Bill) then lead to All We Ever Look For. It starts Never for Ever phenomenally strong and perfectly precedes this run of beautiful songs that give you a flavour of the album. Babooshka has touches of the Fairlight CMI. Some standout Fender Rhodes piano and electric bass. A number two hit in Australia, there is this gravity and heft to Babooshka. The perfect way to open her third studio album. Kate Bush brilliantly bookending Never for Ever with these accomplished and intriguing tracks. The mighty and epic Breathing ends the album.

I would say it is her most important opening track. After two studio albums – Lionheart was not as well received as The Kick Inside - and a tour the previous year, there was this sense of expectation. From critics, maybe they felt that Kate Bush was past her best. After a slightly underwhelming – in their view – second studio album, could she deliver on her third?! I do feel there was a lot of doubt. People who has seen her during The Tour of Life had different expectations. There was this blend of fans’ expectations who were at the tour and those who were not. In any case, there were a lot of eyes on her. Some had gone lukewarm so, when you hear Babooshka, that is confirmation that Kate Bush cannot be written off or counted out! Listen to the opening few seconds. You are instantly hooked by that sound. I feel Kate Bush knew as soon as she wrote Babooshka that it was going to be the opening track. It is the perfect way to introduce listeners to a new phase of her career. Maybe if she had opened Never for Ever with Delis (Song of Summer) or All We Ever Look For, I don’t think it would have made the same impact. Perhaps people feeling it was very similar material on her previous two albums. Babooshka is like nothing else! I would argue it is her most important album opener. A song that very much lets you know what Never for Ever holds in store. I know I have said in the past how there are stronger opening albums tracks from Kate Bush, though I feel Babooshka might steal the title now. Before rounding off, I want to bring Dreams of Orgonon and their excellent feature about Babooshka. Lending weight to the argument that it is among Kate Bush strongest songs:

“Let’s walk back to the beginning of Babooshka’s narrative genealogy, the traditional English folk song “Sovay, the Female Highwayman.” The song (which Bush could have heard from A. L. Lloyd or her social circle of musicians) tells of a maiden who “dressed herself in man’s array,” pretends to be a highwayman, and holds her lover at gunpoint, demanding his treasures. The man gives Sovay his pocket watch but refuses to part with his precious engagement ring. Having seen her fiancé’s loyalty in practice, Sovay departs from him. The next day, Sovay’s fiancé sees her with his pocketwatch and learns the truth. Sovay explains that she only disguised herself “for to know/whether you were a man or no,” darkly adding “if you had given me that ring,’/ she said, ‘I’d have pulled the trigger/I’d pulled the trigger and shot you dead.’” It’s a morbidly funny song that creates a radically subversive woman protagonist (Blackadder the Third arguably homages it,) in a tradition of stories about women who break under the pressure of their partners. Sovay takes a socially unacceptable mode of agency, testing her partner’s dedication to her by literally threatening to rob and kill him. She undergoes a pleasant psychotic break, staging a rebellion against the norms of class society achieved by settling into one of its most despised professions. 

Kate Bush is relatively at home in class society. She’s exactly the kind of creative white woman Virginia Woolf writes about in A Room of One’s Own, which posits the ideal writing situation for women as containing an excess of leisure time and a private room. While Bush has written songs about working class people, she’s done so from a skewed theatrical perspective rather than a social realist one. Class dynamics in her stories tend to include heavily exaggerated behaviors and tropes, although they can be accompanied by a subversion of the established social order. In “Babooshka,” Bush switches out Sovay’s bandit for its middle-class equivalent — an adulteress. In her version of the story, the man is complicit in the hoodwinking, as he chooses to go along with this strange woman writing him letters (a bourgeois medium of communication). Rather than simply being outmaneuvered by his lady, he betrays her (in doing exactly what she wanted him to do). There’s a fundamental power imbalance here that, while arranged by one gaslighting partner, relies on unethical predilections from both parties, rather than a straightforward narrative of a gentleman being manipulated by his lady love. Neither “Sovay” nor “Babooshka” reveal the aftermath of their seminal betrayals, but both songs present clear cases of boundaries being crossed.

Now let’s turn to Babooshka’s husband. Bush is largely right when she says Babooshka is responsible for ruining their relationship. She manipulates her husband, lies to him, and connives the situation that undoes their marriage. The song is positioned around her failure to treasure the love and support she has. There are even hints that she turned on her husband long before she conjured up her catfish, particularly in her husband’s observation that the catfish resembles “his wife before she freezed on him/just life his wife when she was beau-ti-ful.” There’s a distressing suggestion that Babooshka is simply no longer attractive to her husband and stopped being beautiful when she stopped paying attention to him. However, Bush fails to account for the fact that Babooshka’s husband cheats on his wife. It can hardly be said this isn’t an emotional affair — he has a correspondence with a woman who reminds him of his wife when she was young (which. Ew) and goes to meet her behind his wife’s back. These activities match any coherent definition of adultery. That the song doesn’t take him to task for this is odd, and suggests Bush’s leniency towards her male protagonists is a tad blinkered (and vindicates Graeme Thomson’s self-assured observation of Bush’s tendency to obviate masculinity’s faults). As major as Babooshka’s transgressions are, the precise nature of them speaks to the complexity of Bush’s gender politics.

Of course, the song’s moral ambiguity is its most interesting aspect. While there’s an almost reactionary slant to the way “Babooshka” perceives relationships, particularly in the way it treats gender along binary and determinist lines, Bush does push against the grain. She often demonstrates a willingness to interrogate the internal experiences of her characters, particularly women characters. Exploring the ramifications of jealousy is crucial to imbuing her characters with interiority. Bush has Babooshka’s husband failing similarly, even if she doesn’t realize it. Most texts are buzzing with suggestions their authors haven’t considered. In the case of “Babooshka,” Bush enacts a complex meditation on how gendered expectations can poison relationships. Babooshka lets her suspicions and preoccupation with re-becoming young and glamorous overcome her life, and her husband lets his treacherous predilections towards young beauty lead him astray. No party comes out morally in the clear, and yet neither is entirely unsympathetic. They’re trapped in an ugly binary where people are programmed to perform in ways incompatible with human psychology. If there’s a way to use the framework of folklore in a thoughtful and modern way, this is it.

As such, “Babooshka” makes the case that Kate Bush’s songwriting can be multiple things at once and create a conflicting hive of meaning, and that Bush’s love for the archaic is hardly blinded by a nostalgic haze. She demonstrates a consistent willingness to interrogate how stories like these work, how human beings act when plugged into myth and folklore, and the ways in which these situations are incompatible with humanity. Some of the most complex women in fiction are characters in Kate Bush songs. Never for Ever’s status as the first studio album by a female artist to reach #1 in the UK remains significant for a number of reasons. If Dreams of Orgonon has a thesis, it’s that Kate Bush is a traditionally-minded person who can’t stop herself from writing feminist songs. Break the glass. Howl “Babooshka, ya-ya!” The 1980s are here, and there’s a new swordmistress of chaos to herald them.

Demoed in late 1979; recorded at Abbey Road Studio Two in January-June 1980. Issued as a single on 27 June 1980 with “Ran Tan Waltz” as a B-side; subsequently included as a track on Never for Ever. Performed on several TV programmes. Personnel: Kate Bush — vocals, piano. Stuart Elliott — drums. John Giblin — electric bass. Max Middleton — Fender Rhodes. Paddy Bush — balalaika, backing vocals. Gary Hurst — backing vocals. Brian Bath, Alan Murphy — electric guitars.

Even if some critics in 1980 were dismissive of Babooshka – NME were particularly snotty and short-sighted! -, it is clear that the track has picked up legions of fans. Although Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is the most-streamed song of hers on Spotify, Babooshka is second. The power and pull of the video is a big reason why it has been viewed so many times on YouTube. With forty-four millions views, it is hugely popular. I hope that  4K version might be released at some point. The world would receive Never for Ever in September 1980. Kate Bush already released one single, Breathing, prior. Perhaps a moment to prove that she was a serious artist who was aware of political avenues and concerns – some (Danny Baker among them) criticised Bush as not being serious or lacking the political edge of her Plunk peers -, Breathing was an understandable first release. The more accessible Babooshka is a perfect album opener. It is accessible yet it is unusual and distinct. Instantly different to what Kate Bush had recorded for her first two albums, it was important that she made a big mark with that opening track. Hooking listeners and showing she was this varied and evolving artist. I think the success of Babooshka a reason why Never for Ever went to number one. In doing so, Kate Bush was the first solo female artist to have a studio album go to number one in the U.K. That sounds like a mistake. It is not! I listen to Babooshka and settle in for this phenomenal experience. One where all the senses are engaged. As it turns forty-four on 27th June, I wanted to mark that. Beyond this, argue the case that Babooshka is her most important album opener. And, yes, her best. A huge moment in Kate Bush’s career, Babooshka helped to cement the fact that this amazing young artist…

WAS here to stay.

FEATURE: Legends of NW1: From The Dublin Castle to KOKO: Inside the Documentary, Camden

FEATURE:

 

 

Legends of NW1

From The Dublin Castle to KOKO: Inside the Documentary, Camden

_________

IT can be a difficult balancing act…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa in Camden

properly representing a place, scene, person or time in music history. Whether you are doing a music biopic or documentaries about a particular scene or album for instance, it may be impossible to dig deep and make everyone happy. I mention this because a new four-part documentary, Camden, is available on Disney+. For those who are not aware of Camden’s prominence and importance, this Dua Lipa-produced guide is a great and informative introduction. I will bring in a review or two for the series. Ending with a playlist featuring artists who appeared in the documentary. That is perhaps the crux of the reviews that lean towards the mixed or negative: those who were missed out that should be in the mix. The Punks. A lot of the Britpop acts not in there (Graham Coxon of Blur does not feature). Maybe sanitised or a little surface rather than a deeper dive. Having watched the series, I think Camden covers a lot of ground. It focuses on the legends, revels, outsiders and pioneers that owe Camden a debt. The iconic venues that so many famous artists started out in. Dua Lipa is the main guide, yet we hear from Questlove, Noel Gallagher, Lauren Laverne, Jazzie B, Pete Doherty and beyond. What we do get is a real map and guided tour. How close all these diverse and vital venues are. Important to shine a light on the independent venues and their importance – at a time when they are threatened and under-funded. That is a vital takeaway. Hearing artists wax lyrical and romantically about the vibe, pull and passion in Camden. How anyone can be who they want. People like Boy George feeling more seen and welcomed, in spite of some roughness and prejudice. How American artists came over and noticed how different it was in Camden.

The fact there was this acceptance and different textures. So many different people. Tribes mixing together. Maybe a look at the Punk scene and a few more episodes. I have seen reviews that say it is a bit hollow and features almost no history. What I took away from Camden and want to focus on is how many artists got their start there. Maybe we will see something in the future that explores the darker elements. Rather than outright positivity, something that balances the good and the bad. More older Punks included. Regardless, rather than make Camden this Mecca that will attract people in like a themepark, it does highlight an essential postcode on the global music map. How Camden is still a vital hub for artists. I am keen to get to that playlist. There are a couple of bits I want to include. NME, in their three-star review, gave a balanced look at Camden:

“Trying to condense the history of the postcode into four (roughly) hour-long episodes means that Camden is entertaining, but occasionally scattershot and lacking focus. Episode one largely revolves around the rise of local pop colossus Lipa and Coldplay, via indie citadel The Dublin Castle, where Madness led the two-tone ska explosion in 1979 and the Queen of Camden Amy Winehouse could later be found pulling pints.

It’s big on reverential mythos, like the documentary equivalent of a blue plaque, but there’s gold amidst the platitudes. The second instalment, ‘Rebels and Misfits’, hots up thanks to the inclusion of The Libertines and quote-machine Noel Gallagher. The latter, who bagged a flat in Camden in 1993, mocks the clichéd documentary convention of filming an artist foraging through the racks of a record shop by remarking: “There’s a lot of One Direction here!” He also remembers being kicked out of Britpop boozer The Good Mixer for (ahem) “good naturedly ribbing Graham Coxon at the bar”.

Breaking down the barriers between artists and fans, The Libs’ Pete Doherty recalls posting gigs happening in their abode with less than half an hour’s notice – much to the chagrin of Barât, whose washing was hanging in the bathroom. He also shares the story of The Clash guitarist and ’Up the Bracket’ album producer Mick Jones falling asleep twice while recording its title track.

Episode three, ‘Pioneers’, traces how American hip-hop stars including Public Enemy and The Roots relocated to Camden to escape the straitjacket of stateside expectations of what Black artists should be. Then the final furlong zeroes in on partying: Boy George swaps suburbia for Camden’s heady exotica, pioneering DJ Norman Jay sets up free warehouse parties as a reaction to the apartheid of London clubbing, and Sister Bliss discovers house music in Camden warehouses before Faithless play their first gig at local venue the Jazz Café.

Only Amy Winehouse’s first manager Nick Shymansky offers an alternative to the love-in by suggesting that “Camden was a dangerous place for someone like her”. Elsewhere, many of the same points keep getting made. By the time Lipa turns up in Cyberdog to find another way of saying “Camden lets you be whoever you want to be!”, cold-hearted viewers might be tempted to reply: “I want to be someone watching a deeper dive!” At times, seeing Olympic-level interviewees like Gallagher and Boy George hemmed in by the talking head format feels a bit like watching Tom Daley dive into a bathtub.

Still, with Chris Martin noting that Coldplay’s early days revolved around six pubs in the area (“If you could guarantee you’d bring ten people, they’d let you play”), and Little Simz highlighting the importance of free artist development schemes at The Roundhouse, Camden implicitly feels like a love-letter to endangered independent venues. The question is: with Disney+ memorialising it in a documentary, does authentic “non-conformist” Camden risk becoming an ersatz rock ‘n’ roll theme park?”.

You can look at the range of reviews for Camden. The Standard, Ham & High, and Independent had their say. Prior to coming to the playlist, there are two more things tick to off. This article featured the directors of Camden and their perspectives:

“On May 29th, 2024, Disney+’s new series titled Camden hit the streaming service around the world.

It’s a four-part documentary series that highlights the town in London, called Camden, where many ‘big name’ celebrities made their first marks and started their journeys into the people they are today. It introduces viewers to the culture and lifestyle of the area, showing everyone the magic that this town holds.

Besides being executively produced by Dua Lipa, the series features artists such as Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Little Simz, Boy George and Yungblud, just to name a few.

The episode directors that brought the series together are Toby Trackman, known for documentaries around sensitive subjects, Yemi Bamiro, who has a background in sports, and Sarah Lambert, who has also worked on documentaries of tough to hear topics.

For the interviews, we asked these episode directors about their personal ties to Camden, their own histories with music, their inspirations and more. Here’s what they had to say, and don’t forget to check out Camden now on Disney+, and on Hulu in the US!

Camden as a Location:

The namesake of the series is a town in London called Camden Town, more commonly known as just Camden. The sheer number of noteworthy people that either grew up in Camden or lived there for extensive periods of time is something to be studied, hence the reason for this docu-series.

The location itself nowadays doesn’t look like it has much to offer and is described as ‘alternative’ by the Visit London website. Coldplay’s Chris Martin takes it a step further and describes it as a ‘sh*thole’, affectionately, in his interview in the series.

Trackman:

“Yeah, I think Camden’s legacy is greater than its environment. It’s pretty scummy and these days it’s overrun with tourists during the day, but it’s characterful is one way of describing it.

“I mean it’s colourful, it’s vibrant. You’re going to see graffiti everywhere, all kinds of shops and markets and bars.

“I mean, it’s just kind of quite a lively place that somehow has managed to resist the tide of gentrification that’s kind of flattened and homogenised so much.”

Bamiro:

“I was at MTV for like five or six years. It was the early 2000s and Camden was still a hub music and creativity. It was when MTV was still this is pre-YouTube, it wasn’t all scripted reality.

“I guess it was about taking the excitement of those years and putting them into an episode about all this music and all these artists that I’d always loved forever. Whether that be Questlove or The Roots or Chuck D or Gilles Peterson.

“It was just an opportunity to bring everything full circle in terms of working in TV in Camden in the early 2000s and now you actually get an opportunity to tell a story about, the creative art that Camden was in terms of housing all of these incredible artists.”

Lambert:

“I used to always really like going to Camden as well, because I feel like when you’re making a documentary about a place, you have to be in the place, you have to feel it.

“The reason we’re here talking about Camden is because it has this distinct energy that nowhere else has. It’s a specific type of place. So, I think just going there and being there, it’s different now than it was 15 years ago, when I first moved to London. The market is completely different.

“A lot of it has changed, but it still has that edginess. I love the edginess of Camden, so I think being there, listening to the music, and trying to absorb as much as I can, read as much as I can, watch as much as I can, really delve into it.”

IN THIS PHOTO: YUNGBLUD in Camden

Inspirations and Motivations for the series

Every creative mind gathers inspiration from different aspects of life. Some people get it from locations, others from experiences.

Trackman:

“It’s been thrilling. It was really good fun. It was thrilling and wonderful. Me, I have another life in music as well as film. So, to be able to give and be given the opportunity to combine the two of them together is just a brilliant opportunity.

“I think that’s coupled with the level of aspiration that the channel had, and the production company had for how we were going to kind of realise things.

“When you step into that environment where you’re led by an Oscar winning team, and you’ve got access to mega A-listers, and you’ve got production saying, here’s all the resources that you need, go and have fun.

“That’s a really exciting safe space to be in, where you know that you can experiment, and push things and you’ll be supported. It was a wonderful opportunity.”

Bamiro:

“Like, obviously, the episode had a structure, but most of the time, I’m just asking them questions about stuff that I’m interested in.

“I know that it’s stuff that other people would be interested in, lots of people don’t know that The Roots used to live here, or people don’t really understand how big, Soul for Soul were in the 90s, and the fact that they were one of the first British bands to break America.

“So, there were all these things that I’d always found interesting, but it was just an opportunity to delve into that in detail and connect that back to the common denominator in all of this, Camden.

“The diversity of music, diversity of dress, of style, of thought. That was the reason why, all these artists were allowed to flourish.”

Lambert:

“When I first moved to London, we went out in Camden every weekend. I have so many memories. Every Friday night, we went to Coco.

“I think I was in the hallway with a friend. She was like, you know, Pete Doherty drinks here. We were both like, ‘Oh my God, Pete Doherty’. During the interview, Pete and I were like trading notes on Camden pubs, which was just hilarious.

“But what I have always really appreciated about Camden, and I think this is actually, similar for Yungblud, is that if you come from somewhere where things are like a bit more restrictive.

“I’m Irish, it’s like a smaller culture, a smaller community, people pay attention to what other people are doing.

“When I moved to London and particularly Camden, you could just do whatever you want. No one cares. Like the lengths you would have to go to, to get noticed in Camden is spectacular because there are so many characters everywhere.

“I just found that really freeing to go somewhere where you can just be yourself and no one cares, no one’s going to bring you down.

“It is just like a nice free place and I think that’s what lingered, that’s what resonates with Camden now. Even though it’s changed over the years, there is just something about it. You come out of the tube station, and you look up and down and nowhere else looks like that.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Nile Rodgers in Camden

Histories with Music:

Unsurprisingly, the directors of Camden, like so many of us, have overwhelming love and even dependence on music in their lives. Same as the artists they’ve worked with to bring this series to life.

Trackman:

“I grew up in Bristol in the 90s in the peak Massive Attack era. There was a pirate radio station, I’d get these 20-minute sessions every week from this this guy up in London called Gilles Peterson, playing all this other stuff that’s just like, wow, what’s that?

“I heard he had a record label, and I wrote to him at age 15, asking for some work experience. It probably wasn’t directly from him, but anyway, someone said yes.

“So off I went. I went and stayed up in London at my grandma’s and hung out in Camden at 15 with, all the jazz cafe Dingwall’s crew and that really got me into DJing properly, in that Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay world.

“Then when I went back to Bristol, I got involved more heavily in the sound system jungle world. I’d go back up to London to play Bagley’s and all that kind of stuff.

“I was in a live hip hop band, we were there as the DJ, and we were playing at the jazz cafe around the same sort of time that The Roots were kind of doing their thing.  Sadly, we were never on the same bill. I can’t quite claim that fame, but that was, that was my, that was my world.

“When they came to me and discussed this project, I was like, this is me. I can bring this to life in the most authentic way because I was there. I know it. That’s just brilliant. It’s the best fun over the last year and a half, living in my teenage fantasies again, basically.”

Bamiro:

“I think the rule that I have in relation to the work that I pick is that I always have to have some sort of like personal connection to the work, because if I if I don’t, then I can’t, it would be me being disingenuous, and I wouldn’t be able to necessarily do it justice.

“It always feels like a privilege to work on things like this because I’ve loved music since I was like 11 years old. I’ve loved this type of music since I was 11 years old.

“So there’s always like a little pinch yourself moment when you’re doing this job because it’s something that, if I could have told my 15-year-old self that, you get to hang out with Chuck D and talk to him about coming to Camden in the 80s with Def Jam and Public Enemy. That’s mind-blowing stuff.”

Lambert:

“I listen to the music all the time from different artists, because I think it’s all about the music.

“Whenever I prepare for any interviews or research anyone, I just listen to the music over and over, to the point where this morning, my partner put on a really random Joe Strummer song, it came on Spotify.

“And he was like, ‘who is this?’ I was like,’ Oh yeah, that’s Joe Strummer’. He was like, ‘how do you know’? And I was like,’ because I have listened to every Clash song so many times, you would not believe it’. It’s like. burnt into my mind.

“It’s all about the music. I used to always really like going to Camden as well, because I feel like when you’re making a documentary about a place, you must like to be in the place, you must feel it.” 

Final notes:

The youth coming into the industry in the following years are in the minds of Camden’s episode directors. What words of advice would they give to those following in their footsteps?

Trackman:

“I think we’re at an interesting time at the moment while one set of opportunities seems to be closing, a whole other set of opportunities are opening.

“The exciting thing about that is that the opportunities are opening.  There are less boundaries attached to those, there are less gatekeepers, and I think that’s so exciting.

“I think when we were in Camden filming this, there was a club night that we filmed at the Dublin Castle called Club Smiler, which is the living embodiment of the, of the Neuromantics from the 80s, and it’s completely open in terms of identity.

“It was just so inspiring and thrilling to see these young people dressing like they just did not care what anybody thought.

“That was so empowering. I think that gave me real hope. There’s a lot more bravery, I think now than there has been for a long time, in young creatives. That coupled with the freedom of some of those opportunities that are out there, it is exciting.

“I hope that we’ll see, people keep pushing and taking risks because I think the main message is that the more risks that you can take, the truer that you can be to your voice, then potentially the greater the rewards.

“The most inspiring bits of advice I ever got from another on a project, I was working with a famous author. He said, ‘there’s no such thing as originality, don’t worry about that’.

“All you’re doing is remixing your influences through your experiences and that will be original, but don’t worry about trying to create something truly original.

Just do what you want. That is the message.”

Bamiro:

“I would say just use your initiative and just keep hustling. It doesn’t take anything to find someone’s email online. If it’s a director that you like, or a producer, or you see someone’s names in the credits, and you admire their work, send them an email.

“Let them know that you like their work, and would they be up for having a zoom call? It’s all about how you can be self-sufficient, if you don’t necessarily have the money or the funds or the resources to move to London or move to a big city.

“It’s important that young people understand that it’s a tribe. Never be shy to reach out to people and tell them how into their work you are. Everybody loves compliments and everybody has an ego and I think it’s the best way to connect to somebody.

“Then just build from there because I think most people want to share and help where they can, so I think it would be just hustle and never rest on your laurels and never think that it’s out of your reach.

“Sometimes it’s the simplest things like sending an email or just reaching out to someone or sending someone a DM on Twitter or Instagram.”

Lambert:

“I think be curious. I think I am probably just naturally quite a nosy person and I’m really interested in people.

“When I’m interviewing them, when I’m preparing for interviews, I, I am really invested in what they’re saying, and I think that comes across.

“Don’t be afraid. I think this is so true for the creative industry. It took me a while to learn this.

“Don’t be afraid to just email someone and ask for a little favour, because everyone’s been there.

“Everyone has had to get their foot in the door. When I started in this industry, I didn’t have any contacts. I didn’t have an auntie that works at ITV.

“I just had to scrape my way in myself. For that reason, if people ever contact me, I’m always like, ‘yes’, how can I help?

“Everyone’s had to do it. So, you should never be shy about doing it. If there’s someone’s work, even now that I admire, I will just email them and be like, ‘watch something’. Then just send my true thoughts being like, ‘I really like that for this and this reason. I really respect your work, I’d love to work with you sometime’, and most people will respect that. They’ll really appreciate that you’ve taken the time to look at their work.

“Don’t be afraid to be cheeky, that’s probably the number one rule.”

Conclusion:

Camden serves as a fun, nostalgic documentary series for those familiar with the town. It also covers important topics such as the country’s politics. The series is worth a watch to anyone who is familiar with the area and/or those that have planted their roots there. These celebrities share their stories in a way that is heartfelt and warming. The directors make sure that the scenes move us with the words.

The directors of Camden are talented and down to earth, which compliments the themes behind the documentary. In watching the series you can see each thoughtful detail within each episode”.

I am ending with an NME article that lists all the music that was featured in the four-part series. Perhaps there will be more interest and investigation of Camden after this documentary. It is definitely important that we recognise all the different sides to this area of London. Its full history and importance. We get a brilliant soundtrack throughout Camden. So many wonderful artists and memorable songs:

“The music docuseries Camden landed on Disney+ this week, but which songs from the area’s history are included on the show?

The show, which is executive produced by Dua Lipa, goes behind the scenes with some of the world’s biggest artists, revealing untold stories of how Camden in London shaped their lives and careers.

Per a description, the four-part series explores “Camden’s rich history” through “archive footage, observational filming and interviews” with the likes of Chris Martin, The Libertines, Yungblud, Little Simz and Nile Rodgers.

“Hearing from world-renowned musicians as they relive their Camden experiences; from their very first gigs to sell-out concerts, the highs and lows of nights out and a youth spent discovering music,” it adds.

In a statement, Lipa said: “Executive producing the new original documentary series that celebrates the very place I started all of this is such a major full circle moment for me!

“Camden will always have a special place in my heart and I’m humbled to share that with some absolute icons.”

Asif Kapadia (Amy) is the series director, while the individual episodes are directed by Toby Trackman, Yemi Bamiro and Sarah Lambert.

In a three-star review of the series, NME wrote: “With Chris Martin noting that Coldplay’s early days revolved around six pubs in the area (“If you could guarantee you’d bring ten people, they’d let you play”), and Little Simz highlighting the importance of free artist development schemes at The Roundhouse, Camden implicitly feels like a love-letter to endangered independent venues.”

“The question is: with Disney+ memorialising it in a documentary, does authentic “non-conformist” Camden risk becoming an ersatz rock ‘n’ roll theme park?”

Here’s every song in Camden, the Disney+ documentary

The show’s four (roughly) four hour episodes include a rich history of the luminaries associated with the area’s various music scenes. See a full list below.

EPISODE ONE

The Clash – ‘Janie Jones (live)’

Dua Lipa (ft. DaBaby) – ‘Levitating’

James – ‘Sit Down (live)’

Madness – ‘One Step Beyond’

Babyshambles – ‘Killamangiro’

Coldplay – ‘Shiver’

Coldplay – ‘Yellow’

Dua Lipa – ‘Blow Your Mind (Mwah)’

Little Simz – ‘Offence’

Little Simz – ‘Dead Body’

Dua Lipa – ‘Hotter Than Hell’

EPISODE TWO

Oasis – ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’

The Libertines – ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’

Kenickie – ‘In Your Car’

Oasis – ‘Supersonic’

The Libertines – ‘Up the Bracket’

Oasis – ‘Cigarettes & Alchohol’

YUNGBLUD – ‘21st Century Liability’

Bob Vylan – ‘We Live Here’

Bob Vylan – ‘Wicked & Bad’

YUNGBLUD – ‘Lowlife’

EPISODE THREE

The Roots – ‘Proceed’

Anita Baker – ‘Sweet Love’

M-Beat (ft. Nazlyn) – ‘Sweet Love’

The Roots & Tariq Trotter (ft. Erykah Badu & Eve) – ‘You Got Me’

Nas – ‘The World Is Yours’

Soul II Soul – ‘Keep On Movin’

Soul II Soul (ft. Caron Wheeler) – ‘Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)’

Public Enemy – ‘Bring The Noise’

Black Eyed Peas – ‘Joints & Jam’

EPISODE FOUR

Bicep – ‘Opal (Four Tet Remix)’

Culture Club – ‘Time (Clock of the Heart)’

Roxy Music – ‘Love Is The Drug’

Visage – ‘Fade To Grey’

Konk – ‘Your Life’

Steve “Silk” Hurley – ‘Jack Your Body’

Faithless – ‘Insomnia’

Eliza Rose e Interplanetary Criminal – ‘B.O.T.A. (Baddest of Them All)’

Landlord – ‘I Like It (Blow Out Dub)’”.

Regardless of critical reaction, the fact is that Camden is a great beginner’s guide to the area. It will definitely get people invested in a cornerstone of London’s music history. One of the epicentres. A hub that has attracted so many different types of people through the decades! I would advise people to watch it. The genuine happiness and pride you hear from artists who played at a Camden venue and owe so much to it is really humbling. They are genuinely in in owe of Camden and its people. This expansive documentary is worth your time and focus. There are definitely some gems and insights…

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TO be found.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: So Shine Bright: Female Artists with Diamond Singles

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Rihanna/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

So Shine Bright: Female Artists with Diamond Singles

_________

IT is great when we get to…

IMAGE CREDIT: Rihanna

celebrate women in music and their successes. Rihanna has just been named the female artist with the most diamond singles to her name. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) bestows a diamond award upon those songs that have moved at least ten million equivalent units, combining actual sales and equivalent streaming figures. It is an incredible honour for a song to achieve that. Relatively few artists have achieved multiple diamond single successes. Rihanna is one of the biggest artists in the world, so it is not that surprising she would have some to her name. Even so, it is a monumental achievement. It also means we can shine a light on other women who have diamond singles. I am going to end this feature with a playlist of female artists and their diamond singles. Queens of music who have accomplished something remarkable. NME were among those who reported the news of Rihanna’s triumph:

“Rihanna has shared her response after it was revealed she has received the most amount of diamond singles for a female artist.

As of May 31, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has confirmed via their website that Rihanna has achieved seven certified diamond singles – ‘Umbrella’, ‘We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)’, ‘Stay’, ‘Love the Way You Lie’, ‘Needed Me’, ‘Work’, and, yes, ‘Diamonds’.

Four of these (‘Umbrella’, ‘Work’, ‘Needed Me’, ‘Stay’) were the latest to be awarded diamond, following ‘Diamonds’, which received it back in April. Four are solo leads while two feature guest verses by Jay-Z (‘Umbrella’) and Drake (‘Work’), and the last a feature she did for Eminem (‘Love the Way You Lie’).

With this achievement comes the accolades by RIAA for having the “Most Diamond Singles for a Female Artist” and “Most Diamond Certified Titles for a Female Artist”. To this, Rihanna responded with a tweet, accompanying a visual of these feats, saying: “ain’t no back n forth”.

A single is awarded diamond by RIAA when it reaches 10 million equivalent song units. According to the RIAA, one song unit is equal to a sale of a single digital song, or an accumulation of 150 audio and video streams.

Per Forbes, the artist previously in the lead was Katy Perry, who holds four diamond singles in ‘Firework’, ‘Dark Horse’, ‘Roar’, and ‘California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg’). In June 2023, Perry beat out Lady Gaga’s total of three diamond-certified singles (‘Bad Romance’, ‘Just Dance’, ‘Poker Face’) before she was dethroned by Rihanna in April with ‘Diamonds’.

Rihanna’s last release was 2022’s ‘Lift Me Up’ recorded for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, while her last album was 2016’s Anti.

Last April, Rihanna shared her latest update on new music. “It’s gonna be amazing. It has to be — that is the only reason it’s not out yet,” she told Extra at a Fenty Beauty event in Los Angeles. “If I’m not feeling it and I’m not feeling like it represents the evolution, the time I spent away. There should be a show of growth, right?”

“I want to play, and I feel like music is a playground, and I want to have fun with it and show truly where I am at.” She also prefaced that she’s “not a big collaborator”, so any guest performer on a new record would have to be “very intentional”.

As we think about possible new music from Rihanna, it is worth celebrating the fact that she has earned more diamond singles than any other female artist. To mark that, and with songs from other female artists who are in the ‘diamond league’, this playlist combined huge singles that…

SHINE bright.