Great harp playing, but I agree with LTL that she could have played the emotions in her vocal a bit more - she was a tad too upbeat for the sadness of the story. But maybe that's what Charlie wanted?
I suspect so - I'm just astounded how something so uplifting and upbeat can come from such an unhappy source. Perhaps the explanation comes from his comments about the blues (in general) in an interview: DI: How does the blues bring out such joy in your audience? CM: The spirit of blues -- times are hard, but the spirit of it is, “We’re going to get through this. This isn’t the end of the world.” In [country] music, this guy’s singing about “My old lady left me, and I’m going to jump off the bridge.” In blues, you’d never jump off the bridge. You’d get yourself a new old lady. [laughs] You can keep your overproduced twottish Glee/One Direction/generic boy band/X factor/manufactured mass-produced wallpaper music commercialised tripe in the bottom drawer when there's stuff like this out there with some genuine emotion behind it. I'm not just talking about this song but any music that has real emotional feeling behind it rather than a desire to make money or to "be famous". Vin
Often the blues is just more fun. Here's Lucille Bogan: And Lightning Hopkins mad because he bought his woman a WIG and she done WRONGED HIM!
I must counter your x-factor statement with two words (well a name): Lucy Spraggan. The only X-Factor contestant who wrote her own songs that she sung in her performances. When she left (due to illness) I stopped watching the x-factor as I knew then at that moment that it peaked and could never again reach that level. So as she left relatively early on in the live shows, she never really 'made it' from X-Factor, she she still doesn't have that manufactured-ness of some of the X-Factor contestants (although I must admit, I did like Story of My Life by One Direction, and Steal My Girl sounds weirdly Bruce Springsteen-ish) [video]
Pomps - you like what you like, and there's nothing essentially wrong with that - and never let anyone tell you there is. I think/hope what people here are saying, and certainly what I would say, is never stop exploring and pushing the boundaries of your personal taste. I've seen Lucy Spraggan live as it happens, and she's....okay....but that's just my opinion. There are a decent amount of people that like her (although she's never really had any great success, not that that's a yardstick necessarily though), but for me it's nothing that hasn't been done a million times before and a lot of it is like someone like Nizlopi, and any number of the American singer songwriter artists. If you like her but want someone who has a little bit more invention and punch to her, try someone like Fiona Apple. I was interested that in your list (which was a bit mainstream actually, but nothing wrong with that essentially), you had Sigur Ros (who are great). If you like Sigur Ros, go and have an explore of some of Cinematic Orchestra's work. If you see yourself as someone that really loves music, take some time to read about the history of it too - it opens up a lot of understanding - rather like going to an art gallery, but learning about the stories behind the paintings before you go - it'll make the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.
I cannot begin to explain how much the first song just made the current Mrs Onionman laugh. As for the second, how can Lightnin' Hopkins make a single guitar sound like there are three guitarists playing together? Vin
Trust me, music is my life, so I will never stop trying to discover and explore more music (thank you Spotify radio). The name Fiona Apple is vaguely familiar but I'll look her up. Yeah, I realised when I was writing my list that Gotye for example had a number one for 5 weeks with Somebody That I Used to Know (which I was tempted to post on my ex's wall just before I deleted her from Facebook - but I didn't!) BUT in the case of Gotye, have his album which is really good and most people only know Somebody and think of him as a One Hit Wonder. As for Of Monster's and Men, I guess they're fairly mainstream (I know Little Talks did quite well, I presume Mountain Sound did quite well as well) but they're bloody awesome. The thing is, I tend to buy individual tracks rather than albums, unless I listen to an artist and find at least 4 songs on an album I like, so in my music collection I'll have lots of single songs by artists... But tbh, most of those are fairly mainstream. The most unmainstream of those is Alison Kraus from the soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou? One artist in my collection who are definitely not mainstream: Scala and Kolacny Brothers [video] [video] This video's slightly NSFW
Alison Krauss did a great album with Robert Plant. Check that out. Also you might like Black Sands by Bonobo - another cracking album (and the title track is just beautiful).
Mainstream doesn't necessarily mean successful though Pomps - it's more a sound. I'd say that choral interpretations of songs like those above is pretty mainstream...but evidently you enjoy that type of sound and production. That's cool.
I have the Alison Krauss / Planty album, it's great. I will check out Bonobo. By the way, after the Beach Boys discussion last night I listened to one of my favourite albums of theirs this morning, Holland. (Seems appropriate somehow...) Every bit as good as I remembered it. Opening track Sail On Sailor (which Pomps ought to like ) and the absolutely sublime California Saga. Here's a taste:
Film Soundtracks. Not my favourite genre in music, simply because they are usually meant to compliment the visuals rather than stand alone. Musicals would buck this trend of course, as they have to have strong songs to a sometimes indifferent film for it to become successful. If my Mum was keen on anything she was keen on musicals, and one in particular - The Sound of Music. I know how keen because [I may have mentioned this before] I was personally dragged along to see it 8 [yes EIGHT] times. And she went at other times too. I can still remember the giggles from friends as she grabbed my hand while I was playing a rounders match [I was back-stop] on the green outside the house and marched me off to the bus stop to get to the cinema. I hated the bloody film. However, for the last 10-20 years I've realised that it was one of the best of its kind and I have to admit that I love it.
Yes, it's one of my guilty pleasures too TSS, you're not alone! Mind you, I'm not sure I would go as far as some friends of mine who regularly attend sing-along showings of the film.
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/13579166.Minder_star_George_Cole_dies_aged_90/ No need for a minder any more RIP.
As to your Holland reference Chilco, there's not a bum track on that album. Every moment has something about it, from SOS [geddit.?] through the environmentally concious [this is 1973 remember] California Saga, Only With You, Trader, Leaving This Town to Funky Pretty. I even like Brian Wilson's madcap Pied Piper offering at the end. Of course, I've left out Steamboat. If ever popular music conjured the sound of a steam engine this track does it. I was totally indifferent to this track the first time I heard it, but like most great stuff it reveals itself to you. By the third time I was completely hooked. Written by drummer brother Dennis and sung by Carl. Don't worry Mr Fulton:
Techie man been and gone....well worth the £45. I would have been lost at the first stage...never mind the connect to broadband router stage. Nice and tidy because the number of cables has been halved. He gave me a nice tutorial on what is available on my new box that wasn't on the old one. Sometimes you are better off knowing your limitations.
