Off Topic The Review Thread

Really? His dad Tommy was a carpenter who used to work with my dad...was going to say small world, but we are all from a little bit of West London. Don’t think I ever met Paul but I met Tommy loads of times in the ‘factory’ in Margravine Road, Barons Court. Paul was a Chelsea supporter I seem to remember.

 

Ninesy started a thread on intros a while back. Check out Whatever You Want by Status Quo. I only became aware of it properly a few years ago, they must have cut out the intro when it was played on the radio.

 

Great intro

 

Apparently, Spotify is killing the long, building intro as kids today want the instant fix of the lyrics, tune, hook, riff, chorus combo type stuff. Acts, aware of the fact that listening habits today mean that kids rarely listen to a whole track before skipping to the next, are cutting out the intro.

There are lots of great classic intros out there. A particular favourite of mine is Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, which builds and crunches up well nice, Bruv.

 

I’ll try and find the Ninesy thread, and don’t want to clutter this excellent thread with video clips, but alongside Pretty Vacant, which for me has social, cultural and political resonance heightened by being a 15 year old in West London when I first heard it, as well as just being brilliant, I think the intro to the Small Faces’ (East Londoners!) Tin Soldier is a genuine wtf moment as well.

 

Whilst channel hoping last night found a fascinating programme on 5 select about the river Thames showing the way it has transformed over the last 100 years or so from having the docks and wharfs in the center of the city to what we have now.....also included colour footage from 1920's around the tower of London with Nelson column above the rooftops....
As we're mostly Londoners on here it was an interesting view of London in the 50's and 60's a period which most of us would be unaware off as we're so young (at heart anyway).

Worth catching up on channel 5 playback....

 

Another issue with "new" music is that any view on YouTube over 30 seconds counts as a "stream" for chart figures. There are now albums out there lasting about 20 minutes, full of tracks under a minute long, and each one gaining high chart positions as the tracks get listened to/viewed. This also has the effect of wiping out the popularity of a good intro...

 

London Calling - The Clash - has anybody been to the exhibition in London? I am planning to go but having just started a new job don't really want to start taking days off until I have my feet under the table

 

I watched it 9s, and have to agree - brilliant first two episodes, third was a bit odd, and an unusual twist on the genre

 

Finally got to watch The Irishman this evening. Just a wonderful film. Nothing much new in the story so the actors' performances take all the attention (De Niro is superb, Pesci brilliant, but Pacino a bit over the top for me), but ultimately it's a film about aging and I found the closing scenes very moving, which I hadn't expected. A fulfilling end to an excellent day.

 

Virgin Atlantic. What a deeply average experience. Not surprising really when you look at the ownership, Branson now has 20% of it, Delta 49% and AirFrance/KLM the rest. Essentially now there are three trans Atlantic carriers, all set up as joint ventures so that the cash from flying on one partner is shared amongst all. This lot, the American Airlines/IAG (BA and Iberia) Group, and the Star Alliance mob (United, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Swissair etc). In my experience the Star Alliance mob cope with challenges most proactively, so I go with them when possible.

Is this consolidation and reduction of choice the way economics is meant to work?

 

Jessie Buckley!!

 

Sorry for that outburst, I'm watching the Baftas and the wonderful Jessie suddenly popped up singing. Stunningly beautifully, of course.

 

Did anyone else catch Al Pacino on the One Show the other day? As someone put it, it was like seeing the Pope on Deal or No Deal. It was a bizarre, but ultimately endearing performance and he seemed genuinely moved by the tributes from the public. Top man.

 

Great interview, I love the way he explained “The pilot is the first episode”

 

Ian Wright on Desert Island Discs, now hosted by the useless Lauren Laverne. I like Wrighty, he’s a very honest and open bloke, and has had a genuinely challenging journey, but man he cries a lot. Every two minutes so far.

 

went to this show on friday
great night out
seen them 3 times now and even jj seemed to be enjoying himself
mi-sex the opening act were great too
I think they are doing quite a big uk tour
get along if you can




ENTERTAINMENT
The Stranglers round out Australasian tour with classic show at Auckland town Hall
16 Feb, 2020 8:48am
3 minutes to read

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Jean-Jaques Burnel and Baz Warne of The Stranglers. Photo / Getty Images.

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By: David Skipwith
Senior entertainment reporter for the New Zealand Herald.
@dskipwithNZH

Jean-Jacques Burnel of The Stranglers on the songs that changed his life
• What's on this weekend
• Relive punk's glory
• Punk apostle back on air - with rock

The Stranglers were once too dangerous for New Zealand but 40 years on the UK rockers reinforced their legend status in front of a packed Auckland Town Hall.

The punk and new wave icons rounded out their Australasian tour on Saturday night with an impressive show after consecutive gigs in Christchurch and Wellington.

The once notorious English group have been regular visitors to our shores in recent years, back by popular demand after memorable outings at the Powerstation in 2016 and the Town Hall two years later.

"We were banned in 1979," recalled founding bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel.

"We were supposed to play Auckland. We did a tour in Australia which caused quite a lot of controversy at the time.

"Auckland City Council decided to ban us so our concerts were cancelled.

"We found that we still [struck a chord with Kiwis] and we had a great audience in 2018.

"There was a request for us to come back and we jumped at it because it's very exotic for us to travel so far afield and it's a wonderful country. It was a no-brainer."

Kiwi new wave veterans Mi-Sex opened proceedings with a strong set featuring familiar tracks People, Computer Games, Blue Day, and But You Don't Care, but it was the English four-piece that everyone had come to see.

Taking the stage to the crazed carnival-esque instrumental Waltzinblack, Burnel, veteran keyboardist Dave Greenfield, charismatic guitarist Baz Warne (frontman since 2006), and drummer Jim Macaulay (2013-present) kicked off a high-energy set featuring many of their classic songs and deeper cuts from their extensive back catalogue.

With Burnel's lead-bass lines propelling their sound together with Greenfield's distinctive swirling keyboard runs, they ripped through the likes of Get A Grip On Yourself, Something Better Change, Nice N Sleazy, Duchess and Hanging Around.

When they did eventually stop for a breath, Warne teased fans watching on from the balconies, wondering aloud why anyone would choose to buy a seated ticket for a rock show.

It was all in good fun – at least until he reminded the crowd of the Black Caps cricket side's heart-breaking defeat to England at last year's World Cup.



That jibe proved still too raw for one punter who lobbed a plastic pint of beer at the towering vocalist.

Warne returned serve verbally, pointing the offender out and rightfully mocking him: "He's throwing stuff and he's hiding like the little twat that he is. There's some wee-wee running down his legs into his tiny little Dr Martin boots."

That moment was quickly forgotten however, as The Stranglers resumed their set to run through Dreamtime and the pop-soaked Always the Sun, Skin Deep, Peaches, and their chugging version of Walk On By.

The only blemish in an otherwise polished performance came when Greenfield and Macaulay got their tempos out of synch while counting in Golden Brown.

Few in the audience seemed to notice or care as the crowd sang along in unison to one of the group's biggest radio hits, before they closed out the night with a stirring rendition of No More Heroes.

The gig ended on the right note with fans wanting more. Hopefully they'll be rewarded with another tour in a couple years.