Here are the most famous and successful band to come out of the Paisley Underground movement, The Bangles. This is from their first EP in 1982, with a different bassist, Michael Steele joined for the first LP in '84 to form the classic line up....
That's beautiful, and a truly great voice too. He reminds me a bit of this guy who hails from Bristol. I love this track, which is slightly marred by the drums and slide guitar being too high in the mix:
Another of those First Heard... pieces of music. Way before I first knew it was UB40 I heard a bit of what I later realised was Food For Thought on Cornish pop radio. The French also love their reggae [or they did], and back in the 1980's it seemed that's all I ever heard in the South of France. Then I heard King, announced as by UB40. Driving down French country roads, with the sunroof wide open [or top down if you're lucky], to the Languedoc coast on one of those sunniest of Mediterranean mornings was superb. This playing in the background made it even better :
Me and my mates hold the distinction of being the first people ever to get up and dance at a UB40 gig in Southampton!...It was the Signing Off tour and they were being greeted with typical Sotonian reticence. I loved the cover, which was made to look like an old UB40 signing on card. This was the first time that I had heard Strange Fruit and was fascinated by the lyrics, which I later found out was a very old song and Billie Holiday's version is the benchmark. Still, here is the version off of Signing Off...
First time I heard a song from this band would have been in 2002, 5 or so years after their debut album was released. I happened to switch MTV2 on late one night and was blown away. The song was Detox by a Canadian band by the name of Strapping Young Lad. I would post the video but I don't think there are many metal fans in here. The band split up back in 2006 with the singer Devin Townsend joining up full time with his side band, The Devin Townsend Project. This is a song from an album he recorded with Che Aimee Dorval called Casualties of Cool.
Just secured tickets to see Canadian Jangle Pop band Alvvays at Talking Heads on the 29th of this month. Saw them a couple of years ago at The Joiners and they were excellent....
On a random note, it seems Taylor Swift has put her entire catalogue on Spotify, despite her vocal opposition to the site previously.... Which is good, I can see if 1989 is an album worth getting. I do love the song blank space. I remember one time listening to it through headphones in a library, and being so tempted to shout out "AND YOU LOVE THE GAME!" with the song. Good times.
Okay, I have to say 1989 is a pretty damn good album. There's no bad songs (admittedly some are not as good as others, but that's always the way). I think I'm gonna buy it. See, and that, Taylor, is why Spotify is a good thing. It got you an additional album sale This song was the first track on the album and as far as I'm concerned set a good tone for the rest of the album. So catchy! [ A bit like how the song State of Grace (one of my three favourite songs) set a good tone for the album Red
A house in Pézenas. Within very easy reach of everywhere down there. Don't need to show you, but other people may not know where it is: please log in to view this image You know me, I'm always going on about Meze, Sete and a few other places down there. Last time I was there we were at Montagnac, just up the road. North to South french canal system passes through this area, for those interested in that boat buying subject we spoke of a couple of weeks ago. Pretty impressive that you can get to the Med from La Mere through here.
I am envious TSS. Easy reach if Carcassone too. Cape d'Agde and Sete are both lovely. We took the kids to Serignan plage for their first French holiday when they were babes.
