Tom Verlaine R.I.P

It's been a few days since the sad news that Tom Verlaine, renowned Television frontman and guitarist  has died, hearing his music again on the radio, reminding me of his great talent.

I'd been introduced to his music through, of course, David Bowie, by seeking out the original writer of  Bowie's splendid Kingdom Come cover on his now classic, Scary Monsters (and Supercreeps) album. At the time I was only 15 or so and entering 'peak Bowie disciple' mode, desperately hunting down anything the great man touched or recommended. This approach had already paid dividends through an introduction to Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop which marked me out from my fellow school pals who were generally more attentive to the Top 40, rather than what had come before and had perhaps influenced those artists.

Diligently I bought Television's seminal Marquee Moon album and later on its 1982 release his third solo album, Words From The Front. My memory is that I enjoyed them both but preferred his solo work with it's echoes of loss, history and war, themes which still resonate with me.

Both these purchases were on vinyl but when I eventually followed the herd in replacing my turntable with a CD system in the early 90's, these albums didn't make the transition - looking back, very few of my old standby LP's actually did, with the afore-mentioned Scary Monsters amongst the handful to be 'upgraded' to the newer format. In fairness, money would've been tight back then and the attraction of the numerous new shiny CD releases too much to resist for an old favourite.

Although checking now, I see that Words From the Front was denied a CD release until 2008, so maybe I'm somewhat forgiven and I've also stumbled on a (previously unseen by me!) video of the hypnotic title track.

Hearing many of these songs these last few days and others which had previously escaped me is a timely but ultimately sad reminder of the inspirational talent we have lost, still there is a legacy and his music is left behind for us to find and re-discover.

VANGELIS R.I.P

More sad news with the passing of Vangelis, legendary composer of many unforgetable tracks and soundtracks including of course, Bladerunner, Chariots of Fire and 1492:Conquest of Paradise. His soundscapes have been a constant of my adult life and it's no exggeration to say that I play a couple of his albums, if not daily, certainly weekly and have done so for years!

There's something transformative about his music so that if I need to really concentrate to get some work done, it can almost instantly transport my mind to that place where I can ignore external distractions and just get on with the job in hand. The only other artists that have this effect on me is the solo work of David Sylvian and to a slightly lessor extent, the music of  Dead Can Dance, but it is Vangelis that I invariably turn to most.

While I never saw Vangelis live like I did my ultimate musical hero David Bowie, he has been in some ways just as influential in shaping my mind and creative thinking. 

R.I.P to an unparalleled genius.

Oh Vienna!

 

We are lucky in that we usually sneak away for a few days in January and this year after pricing up a trip to London we found that for almost the same cost we could zip across to Vienna, so that's what we did. We'd never been before and hadn't really done a huge amount of research but we had a lovely time, even with the cold winter weather!

We basically got ourselves a 72 hour travel pass and, by tram, bus and metro ventured around the inner and outer city doing a wee bit of exploring and sightseeing. There was plenty of choices for museums and culture but we really only had time for one and chose the (upper) Belvedere  home,  of amongst many other fine pieces, Gustav Klimt's famous The Kiss, which was a real thrill seeing the original.

The impressive approach to the upper Belvedere, a former palace

 

We couldn't but help be impressed by all the impressive architecture and compared to most other capital city's, just how quiet and clean it all seemed.

The Austrian Parliament building (designed by a Danish architect apparently)

 

St Stephen's Cathedral

Vienna was also famously the setting of Carol Reed's Third Man movie, based on the Graham Greene novel and starring Orson Welles and while we didn't venture on a tour of the sewers we did visit the Prater amusement park, which is still dominated by the Wiener Riesenrad Ferris wheel, which prominently features in one of the movies memorable scenes.

 

 

There was also a special ice skating event, Wien Eistraum, ('Vienna's Ice Dream'), that had just opened where thousands of skaters made their way round a specially constructed track in front of the town hall, surrounded by log cabins serving up delicious fresh cooked food and beer, it reminded us of Manchester's Christmas markets but more relaxed!

We enjoyed wandering around and had fun trying the local food and drink - the coffee houses and cake are as superb as we'd heard and the Ottakringer beer wasn't too bad either. Although we didn't visit the Opera, we did enjoy an evening concert of Mozart, Strauss, ballet and operatics in the chamber room of another former palace so we got a wee flavour of Austrian culture that Vienna is of course famous for, even if I couldn't get that Ultravox song out of my head!

Goodnight Blackstar

Mmm, been a strange, sad, sombre week for many. I am doing almost the same thing I was this time last week, sorting through some comic colouring related work on the laptop while listening to David Bowie's new album ★ aka 'Blackstar'.

Like last week I will shortly be off to bed and up early in the morning playing chauffeur but unlike last week now I know that the man, the artist behind not just ★ but the (cliche) soundtrack of my life has gone, it's a strange feeling. I posted my initial thoughts on the day the sad news broke, and the week since has been so strange surrounded by Bowie music everywhere, special programmes, tributes and it still has that unreal feeling to it.

I've been playing only his music this week - something I've always regularly done - and it's all so strong and vibrant, something that contemporary artists can't seem to match, which makes his loss more profound, but that legacy he's left behind means of course he'll never really leave us and I hope that all this attention will at least have introduced his music to a new generation who in turn will be inspired.

As for me, well Bowie's already touched my life in so many ways, I've always been hungry to learn, for new things, new places and have made several fairly big changes over the years, possibly influenced by his own restlessness. I've also though not quite been brave enough to follow through with everything, particularly my own comics work, despite having many great opportunities to do so. Has this been a fear of failure or a fear of success or something else? Who knows but as the great man once famously answered to that Proust question;

Q: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

A: Living in fear

All I have to do then is forget the fear and complete my own art which can't be all that difficult, after all I'll have Bowie's great music to keep my company. Goodnight.

  

2014 Moments in Music!

I've been slow with any 2014 'best of lists' so here instead is my 2014 playlist as far as I can recall from my 'go to' pile of CD's. Those who follow such things can check out previous lists for 2013 and 2012 - gosh that sounds so old now doesn't it!

1. DAVID SYLVIAN: Gone To Earth (2006)
2. KARL JENKINS: River Queen (2005)
3. JOHN BARRY: Mary Queen of Scots (1971)

4. JOHN BARRY: Out of Africa (1985)

5. DEAD CAN DANCE: Anastasis (2012)

6. DEAD CAN DANCE: Wake (2003)
7. DOUGIE MACLEAN: Essential Too (2013)

8. LONDON GRAMMAR: If You Wait (2013)

9. KATE BUSH: Ariel (2005)
10. KING CREOSOTE: Scotland With Love (2014)

Mmm, another eclectic mix of soundtracks and old favourites with just a sprinkling of contemporary-ish albums, guess that says a lot about me! Still really enjoying David Sylvian's re-mastered double Gone To Earth album which seems to suite any mood. It originally came out in 1986 and, not being a Japan fan particularly, I missed his solo career only 'discovering' him much later through the excellent Everything & Nothing (2000) retrospective. I'm still short of a couple of early releases while his later work became too experimental for me after Blemish (2003).

I do play soundtracks a lot and find myself listening to classic FM  more and more these days - along with BBC 6 Music of course! River Queen was a Classic FM discovery and is great background music with some stirring moments. The movie it comes from is an odd beast, starring Samantha Morton and Kiefer Sutherland in Victorian New Zealand and the turbulent Anglo-Maori wars. It doesn't quite deliver on its promise but is interesting and both it and its music are worth tracking down.

Through Zulu of course I've always been a John Barry fan with his short Somewhere in Time soundtrack a clear favourite but I finally caught up with his lavish Out of Africa and lessor known (to me) Mary Queen of Scots soundtracks this year, enjoying them both. Out of Africa is a very watchable movie with music to match, although the CD mood is slightly spoiled by a soft-rock number tacked on! I've not seen Mary Queen of Scots for years but the music has it all, bagpipes, recurring themes, stirring motifs even Scott Walker on vocals and has been a delight. It was though very difficult to track down the whole album with a shorter version (without Scott Walker!) more readily available.

Still enjoying my Dead Can Dance brace of albums and last year's London Grammar with this year's big new discovery (to me!) Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote and his From Scotland With Love tv/documentary soundtrack album. I guess this is his most commercial offering but its been the reason for me to finally embrace his music and I've just picked up his acclaimed Diamond Mine (2011) album with Jon Hopkins so not a bad thing - maybe a bit like David Sylvian, I get there eventually!

 

My other favourites were the two artists I saw perform live in 2014, Dougie Maclean and of course a certain Kate Bush! I've been lucky to see Dougie many times, (I think this was the 6th!) and its always a joy to hear and meet him - he normally pops out afterwards to chat and sign CD's etc. He was in demand last year with his famous Caledonia song performed en masse at Glasgow's Commonwealth Games ceremony so this was a special treat.

Much of course has already been said and written about Kate Bush and her totally unexpected return to the stage after some 35 years or so! The performance was very, very special and it was a privilege to witness. Needless to say Kate did not pop out afterwards for a chat but she did seem to enjoy herself and be truly astonished with her rapturous response she received. The show was the excuse I needed to revisit her albums with Ariel, which formed much of her setlist, a favourite.

After The Dawn!

I'll post my comics report on Finland soon but just days after returning from Helsinki Dave and I had a short Accent UK rendezvous in London for Kate Bush's triumphant stage return at the Hammersmith Apollo after some 35 years!

There's already been much written about this surprise musical event of the year, suffice to say that we and the whole sold out audience were absolutely captivated by Ms Bush, her band, the music and spectacle of the show.

From the very first moments when she led her backing singers on stage in a marching formation it was clear that she very much wanted to be there and was genuinely humbled by the fantastic response she got. The first mini-set of 5 crowd pleasing songs were performed in a traditional way possibly to give the rapturous crowd a chance to digest that yes it really was her before the real performances began. I won't go into detail just in case you are one of the lucky ones with a ticket still to see her but after those first few songs the show really begins with two major interpretations of her most popular song suites, one recent, one not. These interpretations take in music, video, acting, dance, theatrics, effects and more with many surprises. It was clear to all that we were watching a genius at work and although there may have been one or two sequences which remained a little baffling, there was no doubt that this was something very special indeed.

Never before have I watched a musical performance when you literally did not know what was to happen next and although very familiar with the songs their interpretation brought, (excuse the pun), a deeper understanding. More so when you remembered that much of the songs were being performed live for the first time, some 30 years after their release!

It must also be said that the audience's reactions were also unprecedented, standing ovation's after most songs and the whole positive atmosphere projecting love and goodwill to the stage where it was humbly received.

This really was special and, despite the cost, I'm so glad that I was able to witness it. No doubt there will be a DVD available at some point which if it only captures 1/2 of the shows essence will be worth picking up.

Souvenirs from the performance

2013 Moments in Music

I mentioned that I wasn't quite done with 2013 so here's my wee list of favourite CD's from last year, not necessarily released in 2013 but they all helped form my soundtrack to the year, (and checkout 2012's list here!);

1. DAVID SYLVIAN: Gone To Earth (2006)

2. DEAD CAN DANCE: Anastasis (2012)
3. THE BLUE NILE: Walk Across Rooftops (2012)

4. DEAD CAN DANCE: Wake (2003)

5. DAVID BOWIE: The Next Day (2013)

6. DAVID SYLVIAN: Brilliant Trees (2006)
7. PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING: IEE (2013)

8. LONDON GRAMMAR: If You Wait (2013)

9. ENNIO MORRICONE: Good, Bad & Ugly (1967)
10. THOMAS DOLBY: Floating City (2011)

I came comparatively late to David Sylvian's solo career via his first excellent retrospective Everything & Nothing (2000) and resisted his earlier works thinking that all the best tracks were already on this collection and its ambient companion Camphor (2002) but finally succumbed in 2013 and while there is a little overlap with those releases, both the Gone To Earth and Brilliant Trees remasters are  unexpectedly wonderful and kept me returning to them many times during the year.

 

As did the remaster of The Blue Nile's debut which I'd never previously had on CD despite proudly owning on vinyl back in the day! I would still say that Hats is their best but I was surprised how fresh Rooftops sounded, including the various bonus tracks.

 

After the excellent Albert Hall gig last year I continued my fascination with Dead Can Dance but so far have not dipped into their back catalogue thinking again that Wake will have all the best tracks, but maybe like with David Sylvian, I'll be proved wrong?

 

My other favourites, with the exception of Ennio Morricone, were all pretty much contemporary releases for me headed of course by Mr Bowie!  What a wonderful surprise his return was and while not a true classic, The Next Day is a strong contender and contains many worthy additions to the Bowie songbook. It was also a great reaction by the man himself to move forward while everyone else was looking back at the excellent V&A retrospective, proving that as usual Bowie's at least one step ahead!

 

My other 2013 favourites were mainly discoveries through the increasingly essential BBC 6 Music shows and the live circuit where I managed to see both Public Service Broadcasting and Thomas Dolby perform, separately I should add! P.S.B kept in character during their performance accompanied by the vintage information films which give them their name and are well worth checking out as is their earlier The War Room E.P which preceded their Inform, Educate and Entertain album.

 

 

We caught erstwhile 80's star and pop eccentric/genius Thomas Dolby at a small local intimate venue with maybe 100 or so people on his short Invisible Lighthouse Tour where he provided a live narrative and soundtrack to his recently completed movie about the closure of his local lighthouse and it was really quite something special. He even took a short Q&A session in between encores talking about his inspiration, his music and experiences, a humble and very talented man who, perhaps like Mr Bowie (who Dolby of course accompanied at Live Aid), has not yet turned his back on creating inventive music.

 

  

2012 Music

1. ENNIO MORRICONE: The Good The Bad & The Ugly (1967)
2. DEAD CAN DANCE: Anastasis (2012)
3. THE UNTHANKS: Last (2011)

4. CLASSICAL:100 Hits (2008)

5. BEIRUT: Riptide (2011)
6. KATE BUSH: The Dreaming (1982)

7. THE DOORS: The Very Best of (2007)

8. DEAD CAN DANCE: Wake (2003)

9. MARK KNOPFLER: Local Hero (1997)

10. KATE BUSH: 50 Words For Snow (2011)

 

The above are my favourite CD albums of last year, the ones that I reckon I turned to the most often. Mmm, looking at the list, I'm not the most contemporary of folk am I? However in my defence most of those albums were only bought last year (or within the last couple of years) so although 'old' in terms of their original release, they're pretty contemporary to me!

I did in fact buy several new releases last year including albums from Feist, Smoke Fairies and Amy MacDonald but although they've all got decent tracks on them, they haven't yet made it onto my regular 'play pile'.

Finally getting The Good, The Bad & The Ugly soundtrack was inspired by a rather excellent show by The Spaghetti Western Orchestra in Stoke last year, which itself was inspired by their TV performance at the proms from the Royal Albert Hall.

I mention this as we visited the Albert Hall for the first time in October to see the rather wonderful, enigmatic Dead Can Dance in their reunion concert. Their music is a recent discovery for me and I'm so pleased we managed to share in what was a very special event.



 

Great Expectations....

At the start of the year its normal to reflect on what was and consider what will be and I'll aim to do a bit of that but today just heard the unexpected news that my all time music hero has released a new song ahead of a planned new album, his first for 10 years (is that slower than my comics Dave?), all this and on his 66th birthday too.

Welcome back Mr Bowie, you've been missed....