Keeping the party theme going.... Let's Celebrate!!! Classic Kool & The Gang
pop
don’t always get back what you give
December 24TH is a song by a unique song stylist, Julia Fordham. Her music typically dances on the line between jazz and pop. It is accompanied by a specific type of mood that can be laid back, accepting, sad or reserved happiness and only occasionally unbounded joy. Since I love moody music it fits right in with my melancholic state of mind.
There is a “hard truth” in this song that is so important – things don’t always turn out the way we planned and you “don’t always get back what you give.” It’s a different way of stating the golden rule of “Do unto other as you want them to do unto you” (not that they will return the favor).
Enjoy this little bit of holiday melancholia.
I miss this…
In the early 2000’s I was working in music retail and was given a sampler of hot and popular music from Japan.
It featured some amazing artists and styles. A real ear-opener. One of the artists were Pizzicato Five. This group falls under the category of things I miss, and “whatever happened to….?” This is, in many ways pop fusion music with it’s blend of soul, pop, french chanson, Burt Bacharach etc. The music is cheery, upbeat, warm and smooth retro feel which is perfect for summer. I’m not sure what happened to this group. Unfortunately they never really made a hit in the US. And their music is hard to find. But here’s to happy music may it bring a little cheer to your summer.
I found these fun videos and they really do maintain the fun vibe of the music with their own hipster cool.
Enjoy 5XP5:
PIZZICATO FIVE / イッツ・ア・ビューティフル・デイ
PIZZICATO FIVE / 恋のルール・新しいルール
Pizzicato Five – Twiggy Twiggy
PIZZICATO FIVE / ベイビィ・ポータブル・ロック
PIZZICATO FIVE / 悲しい歌
ever been kissed by a rose?
music theme for summer 2020
Do you ever pick a theme song to get you through the summer? I do because the music feels cool no matter how hot the temperatures may get. I started doing this in 2003. That first year the album was THE THORNS – with their songs “Runaway Feeling” and “I Can’t Remember”.
This year with everything that’s happening culturally, politically, globally it just feels like a nonstop hurricane. I choose to sing and dance. Most people think these things are just about feeling good, joy, celebration etc. But you can also sing and dance in protest. And that’s my mindset this year. So my theme song for 2020 is “Dance In The Hurricane” by Toya Willcox. I listened to Toya occasionally back in the 1980’s when she was just starting her career. In addition to music she is a gifted actress and author. She never really broke big here in the United States. I lost track of her over the years. I recently re-discovered her with her new remastered collection, when she recorded with a band simply called THE HUMANS. I started doing some googling and reading and found that somewhere after I stopped listening to her she married Robert Fripp – yes, that Robert Fripp, of KING CRIMSON fame (**see note at end). Now my curiosity was piqued and started seeking out her most recent music. She just released (in 2019) a remastered edition of her last studio album IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON QUEEN (2008) re-imagined w/bonus tracks (a deluxe 2 disc set). I listened to a couple of snippets on YouTube and thought “Oh what the heck”… and I bought the album. It blew me away. One song, especially, just grabbed me in the fiercest way – its ideas and the driving rock sound. “Dance In The Hurricane” features some narration by Robert Fripp. Its an encouraging and powerful song to be listened to repeatedly during difficult times.
Here’s a snippet of the lyrics:
“…Don’t write my rules,
Love your life, Dance in the Hurricane…Only heaven knows how life will write your song. Be loud, be heard, be proud…”
[chorus] “I danced in a hurricane with the god who has no name, I had to run or face the pain, hold on to love, and learn to trust again…”
Final line in the Lyrics – “One constant law remains, if the light goes out dance again.
So I dare you to DANCE!
DANCE IN THIS HURRICANE!! Let this song be your dynamo to re-charge your soul battery so your light can shine again.
Another great track from this 2 disc set is the track, “Sensational”.
(** I don’t know if you’ve followed them at all but since the lockdown Toya and Robert have been posting “…Sunday Lunch” videos that are weird, quirky and just good fun like when her and Robert dress up in bee costumes…. or when they dance Swan Lake in their back yard. Just a real hoot and a holler!)
we are the people
Well Iggy Pop has done it again. Like Bowie and Dylan he just keeps surprising us and gets better and better. His newest album (2019), FREE, is a real breakaway from previous efforts – jazz textures abound. His primary collaborators are soundscape guitarist Noveller and jazz trumpeter Leron Thomas. Pop only co-wrote 3 of the 10 tracks. As he wrote in the liner notes he “…wanted an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice.” And what a voice it is. In addition to the three tracks he co-wrote he sings/speaks the words of Leron Thomas, Lou Reed and Dylan Thomas.
I find myself repeatedly listening to this album. I find it deeply moving. Here are a quartet of tracks.
Starting with the title track FREE which Pop co-wrote with Leron Thomas
Next is the poem WE ARE THE PEOPLE, written by Lou Reed and was published post-humously.
We are the people without land
We are the people without tradition
We are the people
Who do not know how to die peacefully and at ease
We are the thoughts of sorrows
Endings of tomorrows
We are the wisps of rulers
And the jokers of kings
We are the people without right
We are the people who have known only lies and desperation
We are the people without a country, a voice, or a mirror
We are the crystal gaze
Returned through the density and immensity of a berserk nation
We are the victims of the untold manifesto of the lack of depth
Of full and heavy emptiness
We are the people without sorrow
Who have moved beyond national pride and indifference
To a parody of instinct
We are the people who are desperate
Beyond emotion because it defies thought
We are the people
Who conceive our destruction and carry it out lawfully
We are the insects of someone else’s thought
A casualty of daytime, nighttime, space, and God
Without race, nationality, or religion
We are the people, and the people, the people
And now for something a little lighter – JAMES BOND, written by Leron Thomas. I nominate Iggy to do the theme song for the next James Bond film. What do you think?
And to round out this post here is a classic poem by Dylan Thomas,
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.
And do not go gentle into that good night
Old age should burn and rave at close of day
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Though wise men at their end know dark is right
Because their words had forked no lightning
They do not go gentle into that good night
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight
And learn too late, they grieved it on its way
Do not go gentle into that good night
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
And you, my father, there on the sad height
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray
Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
so in love with u
What a way to wrap up the first full week of March. Spring is right around the corner. For those who follow me and like my work the music today is for you.
uplifting music for troubled times ~ part 1
I’ve recently noticed that the times we are living in are not unlike the late 60’s early 70’s with cultural and political unrest, deep division and social dysfunction. I’ve also noticed that there is some incredibly inspired music that is made during troubled times. So go ahead and get your uplift on and let the sun shine in. Sunshine is the protest against darkness.
Enjoy this classic from the musical HAIR performed here by the 5th Dimension.
And this classic also by the 5th Dimension
…. on the culture blender….
I love blenders. They make great drinks, soups, etc….
But what about culture blending… there are pros and cons…. one of the pros can be – it’s just so damn entertaining. This has been proven, time and again, by many serious musicians. Some of you may remember a comedy called SPINAL TAP that lampooned every hair metal band that existed to that point in time.
Well, there was a movie in 1989 by Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki called LENINGRAD COWBOYS GO AMERICA…. A fantastic comedy if you like your comedy very dry and dark. The “Leningrad Cowboys were called The worst rock and roll band in the world. In many ways they were the Finnish version of SPINAL TAP….. not afraid to mix in their cultural roots with communism and rock and roll they pretty much live up to the SPINAL TAP of world music comparison….. Of course just like SPINAL TAP – the band – the cowboys started taking themselves too seriously even daring to write some of their own rock standards and phasing out the cultural mishmash that made them so much fun to begin with….. But that’s the way of all things….
So here is a reminder of what once was. This live video was titled LENINGRAD COWBOYS TOTAL BALALAIKA SHOW…. featuring drums mounted on a tractor, guitars shaped like tractors big, BIG hair and pointy shoes and of course the actual Red Army Chorus/band and Dancers from Moscow – all doing a cover of ZZ TOP’s “GIMME ALL YOUR LOVIN'”…What more could a citizen of the world ask for? LOL
May it put a smile on your face this weekend. 🙂
and here’s a trailer for the movie that started it all.
Leningrad Cowboys Go America – Free Screening at The Loft Cinema from The Loft Cinema on Vimeo.
“I Hate Banks” & “Where The Hell’s My Money”
From one of my favorite indie bands that I got into during my college years. The one and only Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper with their washboard psychobilly rock and roll. Dedicated to the country of Greece who is probably feeling this way with the way the EU is jerking them around.
ROCK ON!!!! Bonus tracks:
and anticipatin’ the upcoming July 4th Holiday. Here in crazee America – home of UFO’s, Big Rigs, and BBQ
So who the hell is Mojo Nixon? Find out more here:
http://www.mojonixon.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojo_Nixon
The Dance
The dance of life…loss… and the life that remains.
…the dance goes on….
A beautiful song and video.
Enjoy by “ABOVE THE CLOUDS OF POMPEII” BY BEARS DEN
R.I.P
Rest in peace Demis Roussos
A great entertainer who made people happy even through the RAIN AND TEARS.
Forgotten 80’s – part 2
Another forgotten one-hit wonder was by the synth-pop band that went by the name EBN-OZN. They had one hit that proved that learning your vowels never goes out of style. AEIOU Sometimes Y was a hit in 1983. Like many one-hit wonders it was a bizarre song that deserved is danceable hit status. The group was made up of Ned Liben and Robert Rosen. Their only album that was released was titled Feeling Cavalier(I still have it on cassette). Even though the group was only formed in 1981 the duo went their separate ways in 1985. Ned Liben died in 1998 of a Heart Attack. Robert Rosen changed his name to Robert Ozn and is now working as a writer, producer in the film industry. So without further fanfare enjoy AEIOU SOMETIMES Y. 🙂
The Forgotten 80’s
The 80’s was a magical time for music. In many ways it was the return of one-hit wonders at the end of radio’s glory days. So this may be the start of a new series. The forgotten 80’s. What about some of that fun music and what happened to the synth artists of the “New Wave”?
Today I’m featuring a really fun song called DANCING IN HEAVEN (Orbital Be-Bop) by band Q-Feel. The band only had one album and this song was their one hit from 1982. The song was featured in the film Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. The band was active between 1981-1984. The lead singer Martin Page went on to some solo success and is still active today.
C’mon everyone, “Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow…” Keep dancing in heaven. Enjoy. 🙂
... on being and becoming ... 