It's no April fool, My Life Story, one of my fav bands from the mid 90's. A pop band with a full orchestra. I think they had some connection to Brighton. Anyway 2 great albums in The Golden Mile and Mornington Crescent. Especially for today, here is April 1st.
Aboit ten years ago there was ane evening at te jazz festival in Vienne biled as "Quincy Jaones presetns ...." which he compared and introduced a number of young artists. There was a Frenc big band on the billing who performed some of his arrangements but when they returned for the second set, Jones himself conducted them. The transformation was incredible and you could hear how much they upped their game for him. Jones seems to have benn around for ages. He started writing and playing trumpet for Lionel Hampton's big band in the very early 1950s when he was still a teenager but I think he best work comes from late fifties /early sixties when he led an all-star band which toured Europe. This records are essential.. He was at his best during the 50s and 60s when he was providing scores for many artists including Count Basie. I am not so fussed with his later work in the pop field where he seemed more involved with production but he has always retained his affinity for jazz. If I am not mistaken, I think that a lot of his commercial stuff was often contracted out to others who remained incredited although I don't think this is unusual.. I can see why he went in to more popular forms of music beause of the fact that he is musically open-minded and I feel that the kind of jazz he was into had become less relevent in the 1970s. Stoll , he remians one of the most important musicians workiing in the last 100 years.
S Club 7 's Paul Cattermole died today at the age of 46. Was a big fan of s Club back in the day and 46 is no age at all so it's rather sad. Also was looking forward to seeing the 7 of them in October
Mark Sheehan (guitarist with the script)has passed away aged only 46 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-65281865
AI has recreated Bowie's voice, to get him to sing "Four Until Late" by Cream. Oh man, we're in a lot of trouble!
I think we were half-way there with this through Auto-tune but , I agree, it is quite alarming. You can see this ending up with a finite number of "hits" with which it would be possible to have any variety of artists singing to. Effectively, you could end up with a situation where there is no longer an appeal for new artists because AI. This is the polar opposite of a band like Cream for whom improvisation was the driving force as opposed to ocpying and pasting the works of other's on top. I will stick with the Robert Johnson original of this, though.
What they will never be able to replicate is the magic and unique experience of a live performance and thank christ for that! You can access the final night of Kate Bush's historic 22 date 'Before The Dawn' residency at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith in 2014. Wish I was there in person... http://tela.sugarmegs.org/ Enter Kate Bush into the search box and scroll down to the last show next to her name This is the setlist. http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/asxcards/KateBush2014-10-01ApolloHammersmithLondonUK.html
You're right there SA. I was 16 in '66 and lived nearby the Agincourt ballroom in Camberley so saw all the bands that became stadium stars in intimate venues. Passed my test in '67 then got further afield to see a wide range of bands. The soul and ska allnighters with the occasional live appearance are another fond memory.
You lucky *******!. It helps to know the bloke who discovered her I guess... The gig you saw may even be on that list.
(1) Heatwave - The big guns - YouTube Heard this track for the first time on Black is Black on Radio Tres on Friday. This was recorded towards the end of their high levels of popularity and during the heyday of Jazz Funk. To me there are shades of Shakatak. When the BBC had jerks like Mike Read, it is no wonder this received little airplay except from the likes of Robbie Vincent, Jeff Young and Greg Edwards.
There are a few songs from my youth which I loved that stuck in my head even though I never knew who recorded them until years later. Three of those songs were from the same artist!, the great Gordon Lightfoot and I was gutted the hear of his sad passing today... Bob Dylan once said: "I can't think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don't like. Every time I heard a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever." He wrote this superb song about a real life disaster... R.I.P. Gordon...