… What once was pleasure, now's pain for us all
(In my heart, only shadows fall)
I once stood proud, now I feel so small
(I don't know whether to laugh or cry)
The long hot summer just passed me by
The change of season from summer to autumn is a good excuse to listen one of my favourite songs, The Style Council's "Long Hot Summer"
Thank god for Paul Weller!!! Growing disenchanted with rock music, he dissolved The Jam, and formed one of the best soul groups of the eighties along with Mick Talbot, formerly of Dexys Midnight Runners.
It is preferable to listen to the extended version of "Long Hot Summer" because the song is so good that you don't want it to end.
Every once in a while I will be listening to music and song will come on and I will think this sounds a lot like.....
"Elves" by the Fall, from their 1984 album The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall is one such song and after hearing it for some reason all I could think of was that's the riff from the Dead Kennedy's "Holiday In Cambodia." Well, I was close...the song actually sounds a lot more similar to The Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog". Not sure if bands do this on purpose as an homage to their influences or if it is just a rip off. I'd like to think that is the former.
Great song though, from one of The Fall's best albums. The Wonderful and Frightening World Of The Fall was a turning point in the career of the band thanks to a greater role from guitarist Brix Start. Start wrote half the songs on the album steering the band's sound in a slightly more commercial direction and paving the way for their most critically acclaimed album This Nation's Saving Grace.
The legendary jazz musician, who recently passed away, made a late period masterpiece collaborating with English producer Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. Promises is a beautiful and essential album.
Nina Simone's song, "Sinnerman", from her classic album Pastel Blues is a tour de force. Simone is one of the best and most underrated singers of all time. If you do a search of great singers she is rarely mentioned and overshadowed by artists like Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye. Those artists are all amazing, but listening to this song and others by Simone she deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence and just might be better...but hey, when comparing how great artists are, it's all subjective.
"Sinnerman" is actually a cover of an old spiritual, but Simone makes it her own.
I waited for you as the trees swayed out of time
In a crowded room I pick up your lonely stare
"Pablo and Andrea" is a very understated dream pop song from Yo La Tengo's Electr-O-Pura album. What makes this track special is not only the gorgeous lyrics, but the the soft beauty of the guitar solo that comes on about halfway through the song. Beautiful song.....
I heard the Bruce Cockburn song "Wondering Where The Lions Are" on an old episode of ER earlier today, and was pleasantly surprised because I thought this was only a hit in Canada. Apparently it was his biggest hit in the US going into the top 40 in 1979. Cockburn would have bigger hits in Canada during the 80's including the ironic anti-war track "If I Had A Rocket Launcher" and "Lovers In A Dangerous Time", covered famously by The Barenaked Ladies, but I think "Wondering Where The Lions Are" is his best song. I remember seeing him perform it live on television when I was a kid and thinking it was too folk-y, but now, like a lot of music that I thought was too hippie-ish, I have grown to appreciate it and think it is a really beautiful song.
The song is taken from Bruce Cockburn's 1979 album Dancing In The Dragon's Jaws.
Here is something different from art punk/post hardcore band Fucked Up. "How To Die Happy" is from the band's 2018 album Dose Your Dreams and has a distinctive dream pop sound.
Lead singer/shouter Damian Abraham took a slightly reduced role on this record and the band took advantage by exploring other genres including alt rock, dance rock and krautrock. The majority of the songs still belong to Abraham but on the ones he doesn't appear they have employed other band members or brought in guest vocalists.
"How To Die Happy" is one such song where, with the help of vocalist Alice Hansen, the band take a stab at dream pop and shoegaze with great success.
The San Francisco postpunk/shoegaze band Weekend (not to be confused The Weeknd...lol) have not released and album in a few years and was wondering if they are still a going concern. They released two excellent albums about 10 years ago, but nothing since.
"Coma Summer" is a shoegaze song that will pierce your eardrums (that is a good thing!!) and is from their debut album Sports released in 2010 on the always good Slumberland label.
So, the Prince estate wouldn't give permission to use the song "Nothing Compares 2 U" to the makers of the Sinead O'Connor documentary. Seems ridiculous that someone would hold back the rights to a song when using it for a movie to depict an artist who made the song famous and took it to #1 worldwide. Even more ridiculous when you can stream the song on demand anytime or anyplace via YouTube of your favourite streaming app. I watched the documentary and they did have a scene of them making the video (one of the best videos of all time), but it was a bit weird that it was done without the song.
The documentary was well made, but I did have one issue with it. The movie documents her early career playing in bands and then her first two hugely successful albums, but once they were done talking about all of her controversies, the movie ended and they pretty much ignored the rest of her discography. She released some good albums in the ensuing years, two of my favourites being the Gospel Oak EP and her reggae album Throw Down Your Arms.
Those first two albums, The Lion and The Cobra and I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, remain true classics with the latter being more mature than the brilliant but tormented songs of the former.
The Canadian punk band Teenage Head are probably the hardest working band in Canada having toured extensively across the country playing every city from coast to coast. In the eighties it wasn't unusual for Canadian new wave and rock bands to play high schools and Teenage Head did their fair share of those gigs.
Frantic City is their best album, and around the time of the release of that record the band were poised to break the U.S. market but a car accident scuttled those plans. Guitarist Lewis was seriously hurt and they were unable to travel to New York to showcase their music. Too bad, because if a song like "Take It" had of become a hit outside of Canada these guys might be playing venues across the globe instead of being relegated to bars and school gyms in Canada.
Unfortunately, the band has been struck by tragedy in recent years with original lead singer Frankie Venom dying of cancer in 2008 and original guitarist Gord Lewis was murdered just this past summer. But even after the loss of two founding members the band is still together and continue to tour.
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