1. Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (All names will be linked to their videos on YouTube)
(The video is almost 9 minutes long, so I recommend you start at 7:14. Also the video is from a live concert to give you a sense of what their concerts were like. Absolutely amazing)
Slow and masterful, but it's really the lyrics that made me pick it as number 1. Even though I'm dead, I would like people to think of me carrying on up in heaven (or hell), living life like the crazy fool I am.

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.

2. Tenacious D - Tribute (Name linked again)
I guess it wouldn't be right without the party piece, no matter how out of place it would seem.

My karaoke version of Tribute

3. Otis Redding - Dock Of A Bay (It's a nice version)
Slow, simple, great for a funeral. In a way it's how I would like to imagine life after death.

Sittin here resting my bones
And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's two thousand miles I roamed
Just to make this dock my home

4. Blondie - One Way Or Another (You got the idea yet)
I like the fact that it would scare all those enemies that decided to turn up. Let's face it would funny to see them shit themselves.

One way or another I'm gonna find ya
I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha

5. Frank Sinatra - I Did It My Way (Filled with pictures of Frank Sinatra)
Probably the most overused song at funerals, but that's because the lyrics are perfect. It comes in at number 5 solely for that reason and is only to be used if not already used at someone elses funeral. I always think it is likely to remind people of someone else who had the song played at their funeral.

And now, the end is near,
And so I face the final curtain.
My friends, I'll say it clear;
I'll state my case of which I'm certain.

I've lived a life that's full -
I've travelled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

6. Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground - Perfect Day (Nice picture of a sunset for the video)
Again, I think the slow and simple melody suits a funeral environment. I mainly like the fact that this song has and always will sound so ironic to me. The slow tempo and simplicity would suggest anything but a 'perfect day', hence my reason for it coming in ay number 6.

Just a perfect day,
Problems all left alone,
Weekenders on our own.
It's such fun.
Just a perfect day,
You made me forget myself.
I thought I was someone else,
Someone good.

Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with you.

7. Thunderbirds Theme Tune (The version from the credits of the 1996 Thunderbirds movie)
This is mainly for comical purposes only. I couls just see my coffin being taken away to this music. I guess it would sound like I was in the army or something but it's purely for my love of Thunderbirds as a kid.

8. Mitch Miller Band - Show Me The Way To Go Home (Now I couldn't find the version I like on YouTube, so I've settled with another one)
The song is an old drinking song, believed to have orginated in England, but I've really only ever heard it sung in Ireland. I like it because, let's face it, I like my drink and what better to send me out with a drinking with "Show Me The Way To Go Home" in the lyrics.

Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it went right to my head
Where ever I may roam
On land or sea or foam
You will always hear me singing this song
Show me the way to go home

9. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) (It's a bad quality vid, but I'm not searching around for another one)
It has to be the accoustic version, otherwise I don't want it. Again, it's the simple and slow melody combined with such emotive lyrics. It would represent my life and how I have enjoyed it so far, no matter what.

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

10. Muse - Starlight

I already did this one here.

So my book Practically Posh was just released and is already sweeping the nation, or at least my office, literally

Yesterday, Marissa, a co-producer on the station, was buzzing around her desk happily organizing away, when she sang out to me "Robyn, I'm cleaning my desk!" "Great!" I replied, barely looking up from my own embarassingly messy area

"Not just CLEANING," she said, "Like SPRITUALLY CLEANING, and getting all the bad energy out,"

"Good idea" I muttered, 'til I realized "Hey! That's from my book!" Yay! the first time someone used one of my ideas from the book, and a brilliant one at that!

In my "nesting" or "home" chapter I write about period a couple of years ago,when I went through a particularly rough patch in my life where I lost a boyfriend and a job within two months. After lying around my home in sweats for a month, buried under a mountain of self-help books, a good friend suggested I give my house a “cleansing.” I responded with an indignant, “Hey, lady, all I’ve been doing is cleaning my house.” She explained what she meant was a spiritual cleansing of my house: Kick out bad energy and invite happiness in. Happiness, eh? That was enough incentive to tear me away from the pages of Stand Up For Your Life! for a couple of hours. I looked up home cleansing rituals on the Internet and found most of them involved sage, cedar, or frankincense. I walked to a local botanica (a Latino herbal store) and picked up some sage tablets, cedar incense sticks, and a candle for Santa Clara, the patron saint of clarity. I then opened all my windows, dropped the sage tablets in glasses of water and placed them in the corners of each room. Then, beginning at the front door, I lit a cedar stick and began walking room to room waving the stick like a sparkler and shouting, “Out, damned bad energy, out!” I finished by saying a prayer in front of old St. Clara.
This was my interpretation of a cleansing ritual, but you could choose to ask a pastor, priest, rabbi, or even your friends to bless your house. Your spiritual tidying may be as simple as throwing away negative items from your past (like photos of evil ex-boyfriends or betraying best friends), trashing old work files, or cutting up your work I.D. and dancing around in your underwear to “I Will Survive.” Sometimes you need a busload of faith to get by, as Lou Reed once sang, so ladies, whatever it takes for you to feel good, go for it.

For our office "cleansing" Marissa, our editor Ashley (AKA Swatch-She's Swiss) and I held hands and read a blessing Marissa wrote about removing blocked energy, disorganization, insecurity, and office gossip and bickery, and inviting in harmony, creativity, teamwork, and focus

We then grabbed a broom and swept all the bad energy out the door!

I think its worked well so far, we've had some great shows, and everyone seems to be getting on well

I vote you give it a try!

Love, xxoooo

Robyn

[wpvideo h1C3RTfm] a short video

Same decor an old Chinese drawing. Same musicians. But the songs were different. It was another show. Less commercial. Less easy. He plaid BERLIN Album.
The Salle PLEYEL where Lou REED did perform yesterday is smaller than the Palais des Congrès. The mood in the Salle Pleyel, wasn’t good. Half an hour before the concert and during all the concert, many watchmen at the four corners and at the middle of the auditorium were observing the audience for forbid any pic or video.
Mister Lou REED had threat to stop the show if some one take a pic with a flashlight ! Miser Lou REED is a Diva.
With all those watchmen, the audience looked like a herd of muttons with dogs around.

Lou REED had no contact with his audience. No smile. Stiff Lou REED. Frozen Lou REED. Constipated anorexic Lou REED.

But excellent musician Lou REED. Really good. Spec that saturday evening. I should try to see BERLIN the film.
We wanted to see him before he dies. He’s just a brilliant ghost with a little fat paunch :

June 28th, sad anniversary. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jeremy Novick & Mick Middles - Wham Bam Thank You Glam: A Celebration of The '70's (Aurum, 1998).

blurb

Come On, Come On, Come
On, Come On, Come On,
Come On, Come On...
I SAID!

From A-line flares to Zebedee. from David Cassidy to the Austin Princess Vanden Plas. Wham Bam Thank You Glam is the first, the last, the everything you'll ever need to remember those halcyon days of the 70s when men wore cheesecloth and women teetered on six-inch platforms.
This is more than just a celebration of Glam music (although there's lots of that in here). this is a celebration of the whole glorious shebang - the clothes! the telly! the cars! the football! the sweeties: All recalled in fantastic dayglo shades of poptastic colour by some the real heroes of Glam.

All that Glitters is not gold - it could be Bacofoil - but it is exciting. The years between 1969 and 1976 (Punk year zero) were a riot of colour, humour, funny clothes, flash cars, weird sweeties and bizarre telly. People really did wear sea-green forty-inch flares and silver six-inch platforms while swigging a lime Crests and sitting in a bright yellow Ford Capri Mk I - and they weren't all members of Mud or Paper Lace. The Glam years were strangely naive, yet widely debauched, the music was a brash over-played version of rock'n'roll with big drums and daft lyrics, the fashion tried to make bricklayers built like out­houses look like Quentin Crisp. Yes, it was a lot of fun, as our guides to the Glam years will testify within these pages.

- in the immortal words of that cool white bear:
'It's frothy, man!'

"Glam Music can be broken up into three distinct groups. The Chinnichap merchants, the Teenyboppers and the Geezers who just happened to be there ..." - oversimplifying matters, perhaps - what about Bowie, Roxy, Marc, Mael bro's, Iggy, Lou, Dolls and all the other space invaders from planet art? - but not a million miles wide of the truth.

This book is like the Bible or something. For example, there's a top interview with the much-missed Brian Connolly of the Sweet in which he answers all the big ones. Which bands did the glam rockers' really look up to? How did Sweet get on with their rivals? Who were the biggest copycats? What did Bri think of the Damned covering Teenage Rampage and punk in general? Ex-Man City bruiser Mike Summerbee is a revelation with his look at Football, Beer And Lots Of Girls: George Best And The Roots Of Glam. Dee Dee Wilde recalls her years in the lingerie catalogue come to life that was Pans People - "For a young girl it was the best job in the world". The Glam Telly featured includes Jason King, The Sweeney, On The Buses (!!!!!!!?) and Man About The House while a 'What's on at the movies' feature wisely concentrates on good old fashioned Brit smut like Come Play With Me, the Confessions ... and the racier Carry On's. In the A-Z of Glam who should we find under 'R' but Richard Allen (the cover of whose Glam is also given some prominence in the literary dept though, understandably, not as much as Pop Swap).

It's not perfect. For example, I've not found any mention of Dana Gillespie as yet, and she was just about the glammest person going in 1974 as the gratuitous use of above pic ably demonstrates, although on the plus side, Kenny's risible Do The Bump doesn't trouble the all-time Glam Top 20 chart so you're laughing really.

For more glampunk, see the Vault of Evil forum's ghastly rock & roll section.

From our friend Alwyn W Turner of Trash Fiction and Cult Rock Posters (Aurum, 2006) fame:

Crisis? What Crisis? Britain in the 1970s (Aurum, 2008).

Meticulously researched, this confident, engaging and well-argued history of the 1970s features dozens of original interviews with contemporary politicians, rock stars, actors, designers, as well as drawing on the books, films, sitcoms and media of the time. This is not an insider's account of the crises that wracked Britain in that decade. Rather it is the consumer's version, a world seen through the eyes of the mass media, in which Tony Benn, Mary Whitehouse and environmentalists jostle for space with David Bowie, Hilda Ogden and skinheads.

Alwyn writes: "If you've got the stomach for possibly the worst single ever made, there's a trailer for the book here:

Crisis? What Crisis? video"

Oh, that is exquisitely ghastly! Treat yourself!

The remastered CD version I'm currently listening to includes here a couple of songs that weren't on the original album, "How Do You Think It Feels" and "Caroline Says I". These don't add much to the collection; one could almost say that they actually lower the overall average. On the other hand those who, like me, suffer from "completeness-mania" will probably be happy that these songs have been made available.

The original program resumes with a powerful rendition of "White Light / White Heat", a fast rock'n'roll number from the Velvet Underground period. The atmosphere changes all of a sudden to a feeling of impending doom with "Lady Day", from the Berlin album. Rock'n'Roll Animal closes on a much lighter tone with the humourous "Rock'n' Roll".

This is one of the great rock live albums. The songs are mostly masterpieces, very well arranged and played by accomplished musicians. In my opinion it has aged well, even though its style dates it unmistakably in the first half of the 1970's. What can I say more? I wish I was there; instead, I urge you to buy this album, and possibly also Lou Reed Live, taken from the same concert.

En entendant l'une des premières répliques, celle où Steven explique ce que fluorescent signifie (i.e. "éclairé de l'intérieur, comme toi mon fils"), on se dit que commence très mal, et c'est loin d'être fini.

L'histoire ne tient absolument pas debout: imaginez que vous venez de perdre l'amour de votre vie, et quelle est la première chose que vous faites? Evidement vous allez sonner à la porte du meilleur ami (ici un ancien avocat devenu toxico) de votre défunt mari que vous ne pouvez pas blairer car il a gâché vos soirées et bien évidement, vous décidez de l'aider en l'invitant à s'installer chez vous, c'te bonne blague!! Et encore on aurait pu toucher le fond si Audrey et Jerry s'étaient beaucoup plus qu'entre aider, si vous voyez de quoi je parle... on aura au moins évité le pire.

L'action dans ce film n'avance pas, il ne se passe rien, on voit juste que Jerry devient de plus en plus proche des enfants de son ancien meilleur ami et que cela ne plait pas à sa veuve. Les dialogues sont très prévisibles, ça donne un effet très papier glacé et plat, on ne ressent aucune émotion.

On a juste l'impression que tout repose sur Benicio Del Toro (qui joue ici le toxico), malgré son énorme talent, n'arrive pas à sauver le film. Quant à Halle Berry, je n'ai pas réussi à adhérer à son personnage. D'accord c'est une très belle actrice, j'avais bien aimé sa prestation dans A l'ombre de la haine (Monster's Balls), mais là c'est pas passé.

Le seul bon point du film? Surement la musique avec des titres de Lou Reed et du Velvet Underground.

The event was hosted in a large tent, which, by way of happy coincidence, also happenned to be called The Marquee. The show was a fully seated affair, with a main floor area in front of the stage that was then surrounded on the other three sides by banked seats. There was little room between the rows and the chairs were the sort of cheap fold-ups that are desperately uncomfortable to sit in. Fortunately, the band came on a little after 8pmm so I did not have to sit for too long before there was something to concentrate on other than the nine continuously looped scenes of flowing water that were being projected onto a white curtain.

The stage had been set up in a conventional enough manner in front of the curtain. However, once the eight band members had come out, the curtain was drawn back to reveal a 12-strong girls’ choir on one side and a wind and brass section on the other. Behind them, again, was an enormous mock-up of a folding Chinese screen, decorated all over with Oriental drawings. Suspended from the roof at its centre was a long vertical red banner with a message in Chinese characters printed in yellow on it. To the left of that again was an enormous sofa (sic) that was also suspended vertically from the roof of the tent. Onto this unusual backdrop were then projected random scenes of a mysterious blonde either out partying or spending time with her children or lover. In all, it had the feel of some imaginative set design for the portrayal of a domestic drama, which, of course, is precisely what this album is all about.

Lou Reed must have really ransacked his wardrobe prior to the show before settling on the sophisticated red T-shirt and crumpled blue jeans look! He was joined at the front of the stage by three other guitarists, including Steve Hunter, who played lead on the original recording, as well as three further guys on drums, keyboards, and vertical strings respectively and a female backing singer.

The main part of the show broadly fell into parts – a subdued and sober opening half and a more adventurous and impactful second half.

Beginning with Oh, Jim, though, the quality of the songs picked up notably, without sacrificing the original artistic intent behind them. Caroline Says (II) captured the drug-induced stoicism of the beaten girlfriend in a sad and moving manner, while the child's bawling at the end of The Kids has never felt more brutal than it did on Saturday night. However, it was The Bed that produced the evening's most powerful song, with the retelling of the suicide of the character's wife booming out time and time again around the motionless auditorium, whilst the video on the backdrop showed a camera trailing slowly around different rooms of "their" appartment.

The final number was, as you might guess, Sad Song, which went for a grandstand finale that did not quite come off for me. After an extended (i.e. boring) "thank you" to his cast and crew, Reed led his merry men and women off stage, before bringing them all back out again for renditions of Satellite of Love and Rock And Roll. Ironically, both were disappointingly unstructured for perhaps now trying too hard to give everyone on stage a chance to do something further. In that respect, sometimes less is more.

As you can see, it was not the amazing spiritual evening that I had allowed myself to hope that it might be. On the one hand, I do appreciate fully that the album is weighed down by its dark subject matter and a barnstorming, no-holds-barred performance was not one of my expectations for the show. At the same time, the arrangements, overall, just seemed to lack the imagination that you might have hoped for, when you bring such a large group of musicians out on tour and have Hal Willner as the show's musical director. That said, there was that clutch of four songs that I refer to  above that did get close to the hoped-for heights. It is these that is what I will try to remember the evening for.

©Evelina Sjöstedt.

Llevo ya casi 6 meses en esto del blog y cuando leo las estadísticas descubro que mi post mas visto es “Esta bueno sentirse triste”. Esto me confirma la idea que es mucho mas interesante aquello que tiene que ver con la congoja que las historias positivas, entonces pienso que no hay nada mejor que echar un poco mas de leña al fuego.
Yo tiendo a estar deprimido, y no vivo esto como una virtud sino como algo cercano al fracaso, mi voluntad para creer en el cambio o que el mundo va para mejor es nula, esto genera una necesidad de anestesia en forma de canción que me lleve a ese estado melancólico que justifique mi falta de fe, pongo a vuestra disposición un breve listado muy útil para este tipo de casos :

“She” Gram Parsons

“God Give Me The Strengh” Elvis Costello Burt Bacharach

“Perfect Day” Lou Reed

“Everybody’s Gonna Learn Sometines” versión Beck

“Time Alter Time” versión Eva Cassidy

“Simple Twist of Fate” Bob Dylan versión Jeff Tweedy

“Down River” David Ackles

“The first Day Of My Life” Bright Eyes (el video al final del post)

Estas solo forman parte de un pequeño muestrario de historias depresivas devenidas en canciones que pueden llevarles el alma al piso. Yo personalmente creo que hay que llegar a tocar fondo y recién ahí intentar coger fuerzas para volver a la superficie, y como corresponde en estos casos, la banda de sonido que acompaña el descenso tiene que ser acorde a la situación.
Obviamente sabemos que en la melancolía tiene un tremendo encanto y uno tiende a acomodarse y sentirse muy a gustito acompañado de canciones que justifican nuestra falta de fe en un futuro mejor, pero la parálisis no es un buen lugar para quedarse, hay que intentar salir y mejorar el panorama.
Pero mientras el desconsuelo este omnipresente y la tristeza sea nuestra mejor aliada, no hay nada mejor que ayudarla en su trabajo de destrozarnos el corazón regalándonos canciones que nos hagan brotar las lagrimas, nos obliguen a vestir de negro y a pasear por las calles como un perro abandonado. Un estado morbosamente ideal.

Good restaurants. Excellent wines. Old houses:

I like to search in this town some memory of a life that I didn't live. Like this African restaurant where you can eat "Tchak tchak chicken" that I never ate. Some one told me it is delicious. Why not ?

I hope next saturday Lou Reed in Concert at Paris will make me happier than one year before. He was good, my mind wasn't.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was very nice,

candlelight and Dubonnet on ice.

We were in a small cafe,

you could hear the guitars play,

it was very nice.

It was paradise.

Returned from Berlin yesterday, I could have stayed there my whole life. Unlike any other country I have visited prior to it, I felt immediately comfortable in the city. The atmosphere was ideal for my tastes, it was laidback but youthful and exciting. Glamour and grit in equal measure. For such a short trip we really covered a lot as well. We started off with the East Side gallery, the remains of the Berlin Wall. Quite a moving experience with some profound, personal and occassionally preposterous graffiti providing hours of interest. I didn't indulge in any political sloganeering, instead opting for "writing what I know." I simply added "Sarah <3 Jamie forever." A bit childish perhaps but I'm nineteen years old and in love, fuck cynicism.
Kreuzberg was cool but a little harder to navigate than I expected, I think it's one of those places that you need to know where the good places are to find them. We happened upon a few cool shops and things but really more expensive and boutique-chic than I was expecting from descriptions I had heard.
Alexanderplatz was pretty rad, lots of touristy things like the TV Tower that I had been told to look out for. Loved the Marx & Engels statues - talk about a perfect photo opportunity.
I also thought the fountain of friendship between peoples was sweet. Would have hung around there a bit longer but the heat (did I mention the heat?! INSANE. Like going to Tenerife or something) was starting to get to your blonde, fair blogger and so I suggested the Jewish Museum as a conclusion to the day's sightseeing. What a weird experience! Not what I was expecting at all and if I'm honest, the architecture was for me the most exciting element of the attraction. That's probably due to my own ignorance however, as only modern history can really capture my attention so the earlier exhibits didn't do it for me at all.
Having had a relatively quiet but very romantic first night on cocktails in sweet little bars, we spent the second night at an indie club I had found recommended on this website. Karrera Klub DJs hosted it at the Roter Salon, which was really easy to find being directly opposite a metro station. The music was fantastic, entry was quite cheap (if my euro->pound conversion is at all accurate) and I had a genuinely magical night. Jamie even danced with me, which he had sworn he wouldn't. I appreciated the effort knowing that he is not a particularly "clubby" person but I think he had as good a time as me.
Having crammed so much into our first day we took it a little easier on the second. We started at a junk market which was really cute, selling heaps of ace vinyl and some gorgeous jewellery (which Jamie and I invested in respectively). As we got a little hotter and a lot hungrier we thought we ought to stop for a break and I suggested Potsdamer Platz as a potential area to pick up food. This was a fatal error, haha! In a rush we jumped on a train to "Potsdam", thinking it was the same area. After half an hour travelling we realised we were misguided and had in fact landed in a suburb of Berlin that we knew nothing about! The heat, this error and our starved appetites led to a minor squabble which was soon resolved by a snooze in the sun and a first-class train journey back to familiar territory.
It's worth noting that although we had bought two day train tickets these were at no point checked, despite the fact we made numerous journeys on both the U and S bahn lines. Not sure what was going on there!
Back in Berlin, we wandered around the big sex shop for a nosey and a juvenile giggle. Not even the soap on a rope butt plug could stave my hunger though so we went for a quick lunch in the shade. Fed and watered, we visited the Dali museum before heading back to the hotel for a disco-nap. In a much more refreshed condition we got all dressed up and headed to the Unter Den Linden area of Berlin, an upmarket and classy place that boasts the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. We decided to blow our cash on some seriously swanky grub and had a totally-out-of-our-league two course dream at the Bocca Di Bacco restaurant. It was GORGEOUS. Posh wine, divine cuisine, my handsome boyfriend and a wonderful city - I was in heaven.
It started to pour down at this point, the only bit of bad weather we had on the whole trip. A wee bit tipsy, Jamie asked me for a kiss in the rain "like in The Notebook." Must remember to a) watch that film and b) laugh at him for his chick-flick knowledge.
We finished the night with cocktails at Potsdamer Platz (yes, we got there in the end!) and wow - the Sony Centre area is amazing to see! Super-modern with bizarre buildings, neon lights and glowing water features - it was incredible. A really cool place to get food or drink and just watch.
Our return flight was far better than the first purely because we weren't sitting near any idiots but I was devastated to conclude a holiday that had been mindblowing from start to finish. As I said to Jamie, however, "we're no longer in Berlin. But we are still young and in love. It can't be too bad."
Would rather be in love in Berlin than Livingston, though.
Pictures of Berlin to follow.

Last night I went for food with Jamie and the family. It was a nice night even if I let the white wine get to my head. Visited Auntie Jackie - which was an experience for Jamie haha - then we watched some of Sex and the City film in bed. Ashamed to admit it was my third time watching. I remember a time when I laughed at girls like me!

I guess everybody changes.
Like I am trying to. Still fighting the old insecurities, feeling a bit ugly at the moment and so have decided to start taking care of myself slightly more. Once I start my job I will spend less time in my own head, which can only be a good thing!

Odiado por uns em 1973, e amado por quase todos nos dias de hoje, Lou Reed marcou uma época e várias gerações de apreciadores de rock.
A 19 de Julho, a arena do Campo Pequeno recebe um memorável concerto que festeja os 35 anos de Berlin, o seu álbum mais emblemático.

Considerado um dos maiores génios do rock, Lou Reed foi criticado há 35 anos atrás por BERLIN, um álbum demasiado emocional, introspectivo e psicologicamente devastador para quem o ouvia. Para a Rolling Stone este álbum era de tal forma ofensivo para o ouvinte que este deveria ter direito de vingança; sem dúvida, era o final de uma promissora carreira. Felizmente, o prognóstico estava errado e Lou Reed tem sido reconhecido ao longo dos anos com diversos prémios e distinções, tais como o Heroes Award e o Chevalier Commander of Arts and Letters. O seu nome foi inscrito no Rock&Roll Hall of Fame, em 1996, em reconhecimento da sua participação na criação dos Velvet Underground.
A 19 de Julho, a arena do Campo Pequeno recebe um memorável concerto que festeja os 35 anos de Berlin. Com direcção musical de Bob Ezrin, produtor original de Berlin, Reed estará em palco acompanhado por cerca de 30 pessoas, onde se incluem Steve Hunter, guitarrista original do álbum, Mike Rathke (guitarra), Rupert Christie (teclas), Fernando Saunders (baixo e coro), Rob Wasserman (contra-baixo), Tony “Thunder” Smith (bateria) e o New London Children’s Choir. Os arranjos são assinados por Hal Willner com a London Metropolitan Orchestra.

LOU REED
19 Julho | 21h30 | Campo Pequeno
Bilhetes à venda no Campo Pequeno, FNAC, Worten, Bliss, Bulhosa e em www.ticketline.sapo.pt
Informações & Reservas 707 234 234
Preço 25€ a 75€

www.loureed.com

Lou Reed, interviewed in yesterday's FT.

From allmusic.com: Peter Laughner was an important, and still overlooked, figure in the birth of American punk and new wave. As a singer, songwriter, and performer in numerous Cleveland bands, he was probably the single biggest catalyst in the birth of Cleveland's alternative rock scene in the mid-'70s. Roughly speaking, Laughner's work melded the street-life aesthetic of Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground with folk, roots-rock, art-rock, and even singer-songwriter influences. His legacy is difficult for the masses to appreciate, however, and not just because his premature death meant that very little recorded material emerged during his lifetime. It's all because his talents were too disparate to be easily pigeonholed and, until recently, repackaged for the CD era, despite a wealth of unreleased material.  An accomplished guitarist and moving Reed-meets-Springsteen sort of vocalist, Laughner gigged with numerous bands during the early and mid-'70s, including Cinderella Backstreet, Peter & the Wolves, Friction, and Rocket from the Tombs. The last band, which also included David Thomas and future members of the Dead Boys, has been belatedly recognized as one of the earliest forerunners of punk and new wave with its bridge between Stooges-like hard rock and sounds that were simultaneously more primitive and arty. Rocket broke up, however, before making any recordings (although some have since been released). Laughner was also a founding member of Pere Ubu, although he only appeared on their first two singles before leaving.   Laughner died of acute pancreatitis, brought on by drug and alcohol use, in June 1977, while still in his mid-20s. He's mostly remembered for his pre-punk creations -- "Ain't It Fun," which he performed with (and helped write for) Rocket From the Tombs, was covered by Guns n' Roses in the 1990s. But actually, his most affecting performances were those he performed solo on guitar, on various unreleased recordings, some of which surfaced on a hard-to-find album in the early '80s. Some of these, along with representative work from other facets of his career, were finally made available in the 1990s on the Take the Guitar Player for a Ride compilation.

Dan Weintraub/The Gap Between v2

"I may be old/I may be fat," sings Dan Weintraub, and with those hilariously revealing lines he has totally won us over. Far too many of today's acoustic-pop artists are so focused on whoring themselves to suburban housewives and teenage girls that they've forgotten the folk roots of the genre. (Sadly, it has happened to country music as well.) This is lyrically driven style, and the words should not be nonsense. Weintraub writes candidly; you almost feel that you're trespassing into the forbidden territory of someone's mind. On "When I Was," Weintraub cleverly observes how people often view the past with rose-colored glasses, letting sentimentality and nostalgia disguise the biting reality of truth. So "When I Was" isn't about what Weintraub used to be; it's merely his original perception of himself.

The Lou Reed-esque "Too Many Lindas" jumps to the shuffling riffs of the Violent Femmes' "Kiss Off" while "Just Before You" aches with the morose introspection of American Music Club and Buffalo Tom. This is quiet music with loud emotions. Don't let the softness trick you. There is turbulence beneath the cozy embrace of Weintraub's acoustic riffs.

http://danweintraub.net

Guido Harari

El disco comienza con dos versiones de R.E.M. por Grant Lee Phillips (So. Central Rain) y Elk City (Everybody Hurts); continúa con The Beatles/Lennon, vistos por Steve Rizzo (Imagine) y Roddy Frame (In My Life); después vienen The Czars con un tema de Patsy Cline (I Fall To Pieces) y dos versiones de Thin Lizzy por David Kitt (Dancing In The Moonlight) y Belle & Sebastian (Whiskey In The Jar); Jane Birkin elige a Neil Young (Harvest Moon) y Billy Mackenzie reinterpreta a Stevie Wonder (Pastime Paradise); The Smiths/Morrissey son los elegidos por Nouvelle Vague (Sweet And Tender Hooligan), Pete Yorn (Panic), Joshua Radin (Girlfriend In A Coma) y 10.000 Maniacs (Everyday Is Like Sunday); Clem Snide (I'll Be Your Mirror) y Cowboy Junkies (Sweet Jane) bordan dos temazos de Lou Reed/Velvet Underground; Lush participan en un single de Elvis Costello (All This Useless Beauty); Wilco recuperan a los fabulosos Steely Dan (Any Major Dude Will Tell You) y la cursi de Katie Melua salva la papeleta con The Cure (Just Like Heaven); Johnny Cash obra el milagro con Depeche Mode (Personal Jesus); Ryan Adams se atreve con Alice In Chains (Down In A Hole); Starsailor recurren al clásico de Bill Withers (Grandma's Hands); y el disco se cierra con un temazo de OMD (If You Leave) en versión de Nada Surf.

Ya sabéis: haced clic en la portada para descargarlo. Espero que lo disfrutéis.

Aquí podéis escuchar a Elk City cantando el Everybody Hurts de R.E.M.:

[audio=http://idisk.mac.com/aanino/Public/Musica/everybodyhurts.mp3]

Para la próxima recopilación, haced sugerencias :-)

Bombastic, challenging albums will always exist, thank God. I have nothing against broad experimentalism (even when it is unsuccessful), and quite frankly would hope every artist continually pushes themselves to create, and challenge their own fans in the process.

Songs like Deathcab For Cutie's new “I Will Possess Your Heart,” the soaring Sam’s Town, even Green Day’s concept-y American Idiot are all good examples of this ... and all good albums. I’d also throw out there Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Half the Radiohead catalog, and as you guys mentioned: Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper, irrefutably yes; incredible albums that redefined pop music. Also, the failures … Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, Bob Dylan’s Street Legal, these are bold movements, sometimes embraced, sometimes disregarded.

A lot of those albums and songs we’ve listed above challenge the rules of rock music, be it in content or sonically, and prove you can create (and succeed?) outside “the formula”, and ultimately push what people consider popular music.

I think Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head is an incredible album, a completely unexpected jump, and rightly heralded as one of the best albums of 2000. Rush... could be added to those albums listed above -- an LP that changed the way you think about a band and their capability to expess. For Coldplay, that album was sonically daring, revolutionary, even confrontational, but this success exists completely outside the realm of injecting yourself in socio-political conflicts.

I’m now referring directly to the “Violet Hill” video (released virally-only). It opens up with Department of Defense test colorbars, a rocket missle launch with Bush overdubbed with monkey sound effects. The rest of the video focuses on various political figures dancing, bomb/firework footage, and George Dubbs conducting a "war orchestra” while Tony Blair plays backup guitar.

Here’s the thing: This is very “safe” criticism. They’re taking potshots at Blair, who stepped down from being the British PM more than a year ago, and a lame-duck President who is already the most universally-loathed man to ever hold the position. This is easy, safe, empty criticism.

Mind you, criticizing these two was not always okay to do, and had this focused outrage came out 2+ years ago, I would be a lot more impressed and receptive to the message. For instance the Dixie Chicks (of all bands) who saw massive radio station boycotts, their records burned, and received death threats after expressing their displeasure with the Texas-born Prez.

Or, when Conor Oberst sang “When The President Talks to God,” live on The Tonight Show, asking the middle American crowd if they think George Bush “ever smells his own bullshit,” live on national television; three years ago. At that point, as I mentioned before, Chris Martin was more concerned about making trade fair.

Coldplay alt video for "Violet Hill" 5/20/08:

Bright Eyes, Live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ~5/04/05:

So I downloaded a bunch of Lou Reed and Sigur Ros, Television and the Residents, Wire, John Cale, Alien Ant Farm (they sucked), more Brian Eno and Patti Smith's latest. I also discovered a great band called Ladyhawk that Carrie Brownstein mentioned in Monitor Mix. It's great having access to all this music, and as long as I pay the monthy fee, I can keep it.

I really don't buy many CDs these days but last summer I went to my local gay-owned CD store and one of the co-owners, Curtis, mentioned the name Electrelane to me. I'd never heard of them before. But I managed to get a few downloads off the internet, enough to know I liked them, and I went back just before Christmas and bought myself their Axes CD. Perhaps it's not one of their best, but I do love the third track. Overall, I find the album to be a bit uneven. The jazz influence is a little too strong for my taste, although I do admire the piano player.

But now that I have the Zune pass, I can go in and check out their influences. So I started listening to a bunch of Stereolab. This is band that I'd heard of, but never heard. During the 90's I was too busy raising children and dealing with a failing marriage to pay much attention to new music. I feel lucky that I was able to find Sleater-Kinney during those days.

But further research revealed a band called Can from the late-60s and 70s. Now where did this come from? I have never heard of Can and neither has my partner. But I already love one of their earliest albums, Soundtracks. I've also listened to Tago Mago a few times, and the first half is great but some of the latter pieces are a bit trying. O Peking reminds of the Resident's song about Westinghouse which really is not very pleasant to listen to. I need to listen to more of their stuff, and it is so exciting to discover this band from so long ago. How could they have been so thoroughly buried? Why are most people content to listen to pop crap? I doubt that these questions can ever be satisfactorily answered.

- Waar ik -hopelijk- naartoe ga is "It's not only rock 'n' roll, baby", een tentoonstelling in de Bozar in Brussel. Het laat de beeldende werken van rockmuzikanten zien zoals Patti Smith en Pete Doherty (om eens af te rekenen met het hokjes denken dat mensen hun creativiteit slechts in 1 ding kunnen uiten). 13 juli treedt Lou Reed er op.

- 7 juli komt de nieuwe cd van Beck uit. Hij gaat "Modern guilt" heten.

- Een paar dagen geleden las ik op de Ultimate Guitar-site dat Slash aan een soloplaat werkt.

- Ik geef ineens de link naar de StuBru-site, want daar staan op een rijtje: een interview met Isobel Campbell (die even lieflijk spreekt als ze eruit ziet - zoals ze 'yeah' zegt!), een interview met de leden van Alphabeat en een filmpje van de Jeugd van Tegenwoordig in actie.

- Wat je daar ook kunt lezen is dat er weldra een archief aan onuitgegeven materiaal van o.a. David Bowie, Pink Floyd (mét Syd Barrett!) en Paul McCartney zal worden vrijgegeven door de BBC.

- Op het Download Festival in Engeland deden ze de recordpoging 'zoveel mogelijk mensen geschminkt als Kiss'. Je zult je niet verbazen dat Gene Simmons en kompanen er de hoofdact waren. Ze komen trouwens ook naar Graspop dit jaar.

- Jawel, My Bloody Valentine is terug! Gisteren speelden ze hun eerste concert sinds 16 jaar. Hun officiële comebacktour start 20 juni.

Jag är lite som Lou Reed & David Bowie. När de var i akut behov av att rehabilitera sig från heroinet drog de till Berlin. Europas heroinhuvudstad. Nu är jag alltså tillbaka. Ett oemotståndligt erbjudande laveterade mig i nyllet. Och jag for.

Mer utförlig reserapport följer. Nu måste jag räta in mig i det krumma ledet & påbörja marschen mot cirkuskriget i Spandau.

Farväl & (eventuellt) på återseende.

In Berlin, by the wall
You were five foot ten inches tall
It was very nice
Candlelight and Dubonnet on ice

We were in a small cafe
You could hear the guitars play
It was very nice
It was paradise

Sento gravare sulle mie spalle una grande responsabita' perche' gli articoli scritti da Antonio sono sempre molto interessanti e ben curati.

Non ritengo opportuno creare dei doppioni rispetto agli interventi di Antonio, ma piuttosto delle piccole aggiunte un po' come cioccolatini (oppure i biscottini alla cannella che qualcuno di voi ama tanto ;-P ) che accompagnano un buon caffe'.

Come saranno fatti questi "cioccolatini"? non lo ho ancora deciso definitivamente, voglio cercare di mantenere i due "capi saldi" di questo blog:

- l'ascolto: Quindi intendo proporre articoli che riguardino sempre qualcosa da ascoltare, anche se cerchero' di ampliare l'esperienza dell'ascolto.
- Il Venerdi': Ho sempre trovato eccezionale l'idea di Antonio di proporre un piccolo momento di piacere da condividere con gli amici l'ultimo giorno della settimana lavorativa, giusto per prepararsi all'imminente week-end, quindi anch'io proporro' i miei interventi il venerdi', e spero di avere la stessa puntualita' e costanza di Antonio nel rispettare le scadenze.

L'argomento che voglio proporre in questa settimana (e nelle propossime) si intitola: "Esperienze Sinesetiche", di cosa si tratta?

Cito Wikipedia: "La sinestesia è una figura retorica. È un tipo particolare di metafora che prevede l'accostamento di due sfere sensoriali diverse. Essa ricorre anche nella lingua parlata di tutti i giorni (esempio "Giallo squillante"). Ha largo uso in poesia:"

Quindi quello che faro' oggi e nelle prossime settimane e' proporvi situazioni dove si accostano la sfera sensoriale uditiva a quelle di altri sensi.

Per questa volta ho deciso di associare l'ascolto (percezione uditiva) di un brano di Lou Reed (Walk on The Wild Side):

Alla lettura di una poesia (percezione visiva): "Il Sabato del Villaggio" di Giacomo Leopardi

La donzelletta vien dalla campagna
in sul calar del sole,
col suo fascio dell'erba; e reca in mano
un mazzolin di rose e viole,
onde, siccome suole, ornare ella si appresta
dimani, al dí di festa, il petto e il crine.
Siede con le vicine
su la scala a filar la vecchierella,
incontro là dove si perde il giorno;
e novellando vien del suo buon tempo,
quando ai dí della festa ella si ornava,
ed ancor sana e snella
solea danzar la sera intra di quei
ch'ebbe compagni nell'età piú bella.
Già tutta l'aria imbruna,
torna azzurro il sereno, e tornan l'ombre
giú da' colli e da' tetti,
al biancheggiar della recente luna.
Or la squilla dà segno
della festa che viene;
ed a quel suon diresti
che il cor si riconforta.
I fanciulli gridando
su la piazzuola in frotta,
e qua e là saltando,
fanno un lieto romore;
e intanto riede alla sua parca mensa,
fischiando, il zappatore,
e seco pensa al dí del suo riposo.

Poi quando intorno è spenta ogni altra face,
e tutto l'altro tace,
odi il martel picchiare, odi la sega
del legnaiuol, che veglia
nella chiusa bottega alla lucerna,
e s'affretta, e s'adopra
di fornir l'opra anzi al chiarir dell'alba.

Questo di sette è il più gradito giorno,
pien di speme e di gioia:
diman tristezza e noia
recheran l'ore, ed al travaglio usato
ciascuno in suo pensier farà ritorno.

Garzoncello scherzoso,
cotesta età fiorita
è come un giorno d'allegrezza pieno,
giorno chiaro, sereno,
che precorre alla festa di tua vita.
Godi, fanciullo mio; stato soave,
stagion lieta è cotesta.
Altro dirti non vo'; ma la tua festa
ch'anco tardi a venir non ti sia grave.

Indipendentemente dal testo, che potete trovare tradotto qui, ho sempre associato il brano di Lou Reed ad un'atmosfera di tramonto, quel momento magico che si interpone fra la giornata con la sua frenesia e la notte calma e placida, il momento in cui si smette di lavorare e ci si dedica a se stessi oppure agli amici (quanti di voi non hanno mai bevuto un aperitivo in compagnia a fine giornata dopo il lavoro?).

La stessa atmosfera la ritrovo nella poesia di Leopardi: che descrive con la sua maestria il momento della giornata che vi ho descritto in precenza:
[...]
Già tutta l'aria imbruna,
torna azzurro il sereno, e tornan l'ombre
giú da' colli e da' tetti,
al biancheggiar della recente luna.
[...]
E mette in scena una serie di attori che in varie maniere provano e fanno provare al lettore la sensazione di gioia e soddisfazione per la fine della settimana lavorativa e l'imminenza del giorno di festa.

si conclude cosi' questa prima esperienza sinestetica, fatemi sapere cosa ne pensate oppure se secondo voi il brano andava associato ad una poesia diversa oppure se la poesia andava associata ad un brano diverso, oppure ditemi semplicemente quello che volete.

ciao a tutti

Roberto.

But regardless of how you define an excellent compilation, here are a dozen artists for whom the advisable place to start listening is a well-constructed greatest hits package...

Artist: Frank Zappa

Compilation: Strictly Commercial: The Best Of

Why: Unless you really care about mudsharks, ponchos and yellow snow, it's best to skip the smarmy jokes-inside-jokes-inside-jokes that litter Zappa's albums and cut to the chase with this collection.

Missing: 'Willie The Pimp' from Hot Rats

Artist: James Taylor

Compilation: Greatest Hits

Why: The list of songs on the front of the album says it all - not only is his best work is collected here, Greatest Hits represents a cross-section of some of the finest singer-songwriter music of the 70's.

Missing: 'Oh Susanna' from Sweet Baby James

Artist: Steve Miller Band

Compilation: Greatest Hits 1974-78

Why: This is the definitive SMB album, and along with Anthology's trove of earlier recordings, contains 99% of the Steve Miller you'll ever need.

Missing: 'The Stake' from Book Of Love

Artist: Santana

Compilation: Santana's Greatest Hits

Why: The iconic album cover, for starters. Plus, the songs inside play seamlessly, charting the birth of Latin Rock.

Missing: 'Soul Sacrifice' from Woodstock

Artist: The Beach Boys

Compilation: Endless Summer

Why: One of the great American songbooks, Endless Summer gathers all the band's hits into a single glorious stretch of bikinis, surfboards, hot-rods and summer days.

Missing: 'Good Vibrations' dammit!

Artist: Journey

Compilation: Greatest Hits

Why: Love 'em or loathe 'em, Journey's presence in the 80's was undeniable. Greatest Hits brings the highlights, and provides all the Journey that most of us will ever crave.

Missing: Nothing!

Artist: Donovan

Compilation: Donovan's Greatest Hits

Why: Trust me, it's just better this way. With the exception of Barabajagal, you don't want to be sitting through Donovan's full-length LPs.

Missing: 'I Love My Shirt' from Barabajagal

Artist: Blondie

Compilation: The Best Of Blondie

Why: All the Blondie you need, and then some. This Best Of could be trimmed to an ep and few would notice.

Missing: Half an album's worth of hits.

Artist: Lou Reed

Compilation: Between Thought And Expression: The Lou Reed Anthology

Why: This three-disc anthology has all the best bits of Lou's scattered post-Velvet Underground solo career, and then some. Feedback track from Metal Machine Music anyone?

Missing: An editor.

Artist: Kinks

Compilation: The Ultimate Collection

Why: In 2002, the Kinks finally - finally! - got the best-of collection that they'd long deserved. This generous 2-disc, 44-track compilation hits all the high points.

Missing: A case could be made for 'Cuppa Tea' off Muswell Hillbillies, but it feels like hair-splitting.

Artist: James Brown

Compilation: Star Time

Why: This four-disc box set is loaded with funky dynamite, and stands as strong evidence that the Godfather Of Soul was one of the most influential musicians of all-time.

Missing: Nothing.

Artist: John Lennon

Compilation: Shaved Fish

Why: Lennon's solo work can be fairly... ahem... challenging, but this collection sifts together the most accessible stuff. A number of fine compilations and box-sets of his music have been released in the last decade, but Shaved Fish remains the place to start.

Missing: 'Working Class Hero' from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

*****

And 12 more definitive best-of compilations...

Blood Sweat & Tears - Greatest Hits
Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Band
Muddy Waters - The Chess Box
Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits
Elvis Presley - 30 #1 Hits
Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
Prince - The Hits/The B-Sides
David Bowie - ChangesBowie
ABBA - Gold
Queen - Greatest Hits
Aerosmith - Greatest Hits
Sly & The Family Stone - Greatest Hits

*****

Further reading...
Rob O'Connor: The 25 Best 'Best-Of' Albums