MUSIC TO SOOTH THE SOUL

Hello!! How are you all? Has anyone missed me? Bet you think I’ve been on me hols or something exciting like that? No unfortunately not, I’ve had family things going on and had to take a little time to focus on that. But I’m back now and well I may have taken time out from writing this stuff I spout out to you all, but I haven’t stopped listening to music. In fact if the truth be known in times of stress and worry, I need my music even more. It’s a great way to relax and unwind.  My kids know me so well, they comment Mum’s stressed she’s got ‘The Verve on’! Cheeky buggers!  Anyway, Iast couple of weeks I’ve been collecting my musical thoughts and here they are, some new records I bought, new sounds I’ve discovered, old sounds re discovered and well just my usual ramblings……

KITTY, DAISY AND LEWIS – TURKISH DELIGHT

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis is a three-piece band comprising the siblings of the Durham family (they aren’t from Durham). Their music is influenced heavily by R&B, swing, jump blues, country and Western, blues, Hawaiian and rock ‘n’ roll. They are all multi-instrumentalists playing guitar, piano, banjo, lapsteel guitar, harmonica, double bass, ukulele, drums, trombone, xylophone and accordion between them. Kitty Durham is the youngest of the group and primarily sings and plays drums, harmonica, ukulele, banjo, trombone and guitar. Daisy Durham, the eldest, primarily sings and plays drums, piano, accordion and xylophone. Lewis Durham sings and plays guitar, piano, banjo, lapsteel and drums. He collects and plays/DJ’s 78rpm records and has built a home studio which consists of antique recording equipment such as 8-track tape machines and vintage BBC and RCA microphones. Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis do not use computers or any digital format during the recording process. The band are signed to BBC Radio 1 DJ and Bestival curator Rob da Bank’s label, Sunday Best, who released their second single “Mean Son of a Gun”, a song originally cut by Johnny Horton in the 50s, with the B-side “Ooo Wee” which they first heard on a 78rpm record sung by Louis Jordan. This was released on 45rpm, CD and a limited edition 78rpm vinyl. The tracks were recorded at home. The vinyl was also cut by Lewis using his own equipment at The Exchange Mastering Studios, which is owned and run by his father Graeme.

I’ve just been introduced to this band by a good friend.  I am impressed and very much enjoying their music. Their titled ‘The Third’ offering released brings great melodies, a rhythm section that can really swing and a total disregard for genre boundaries.  They switch eras as often as they swap their instruments, and yet consistently manage to deliver. As much this music may owe a debt to the past, it sounds vibrantly current, a result of the trio’s magical performances. Having built their own 16-track analogue studio in Camden, ‘The Third’ was created on their own terms. It is a great album and recommend you give it all a listen.  The track I’ve chosen has a very ‘SKA’ sound to it and the video is wacky love it, that’s me in the video!! *It’s not

SIMON AND GARFUNKEL – SOUND OF SILENCE

Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of guitarist/singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. The duo first met as children in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York in 1953, where they first learned to harmonize with one another and began writing original material. By 1957, the teenagers had their first minor success with “Hey Schoolgirl”, a song imitating their idols the Everly Brothers.  Today their acclaim is universal but in 1964 Simon & Garfunkel’s debut LP Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. … only sold about 2,000 copies. A mix of Paul Simon originals, folk covers and traditional tunes, its highlight was a Simon composition recorded on March 10, 1964, “The Sounds of Silence.”…Simon and tenor Art Garfunkel honed the song in Greenwich Village coffeehouses before they recorded “The Sounds of Silence” with producer Tom Wilson. Backed by just two acoustic guitars and an upright bass, ‘The Sounds of Silence’ was drowned out by the wave of Beatlemania that swept America in 1964. Discouraged, the long-time friends split up. Simon moved to England and Garfunkel returned to college in New York.

A remix of their song “The Sound of Silence” gained airplay on U.S. radio in 1965, hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Simon & Garfunkel reunited, releasing their second studio album Sounds of Silence and touring colleges nationwide. Their third release, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (1966), found the duo assuming more creative control. Their music was featured in the 1967 film The Graduate, propelling the duo to further exposure. Bookends (1968), their next album, benefited from this promotion, and increased their profile. Their often rocky relationship led to artistic disagreements, resulting in their 1970 breakup. Their final studio record, Bridge over Troubled Water, was subsequently their most successful, becoming one of the world’s best-selling albums.

I have this album and it’s been in my family all my life, I’ve grew up with it. I know every chord, lyric and it’s probably the album I’ve listened to most in my life. I love this song and as an insomniac it strikes a lot of chords with me.  It celebrates its 50^th year this week and still as popular with new fans. It’s a ‘legend of a song’.

PETE GREEN’S FLEETWOOD MAC – LOOKING FOR SOMEBODY

Fleetwood Mac is a British-American rock band formed in July 1967, in London. Due to numerous line-up changes, the only original member present in the band is its namesake, drummer Mick Fleetwood. Although band founder Peter Green named the group by combining the surnames of two of his former bandmates (Fleetwood, McVie) from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, bassist John McVie played neither on their first single nor at their first concerts, as he initially decided to stay with Mayall. The keyboardist, Christine McVie, who joined the band in 1970, while married to John McVie, appeared on all but the debut album, either as a member or as a session musician. She also supplied the artwork for the album Kiln House.

The two most successful periods for the band were during the late 1960s British blues boom, when they were led by guitarist Peter Green and achieved a UK number one with “Albatross” and from 1975 to 1987, as a more pop-oriented act, featuring Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Fleetwood Mac’s second album after the incorporation of Buckingham and Nicks, 1977’s Rumours, to date the album has sold over 45 million copies worldwide, making it the sixth-highest-selling album of all time. In 1998, selected members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. The band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. Peter Green (born Peter Allen Greenbaum, 29 October 1946) is a British blues rock guitarist and the founder. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for his work with the group, Green’s songs such as “Albatross”, “Black Magic Woman”, “Oh Well” and “Man of the World” have been recorded by artists such as Santana, Aerosmith, Status Quo, Black Crowes, Midge Ure, Tom Petty, Judas Priest and Gary Moore, who recorded Blues for Greeny, a covers album of Green’s compositions.

The band’s first self-titled  album release brought them overnight success in the UK, the album reached No. 4 and stayed on the charts 37 weeks, despite the lack of a hit single. This track was written by Pete Green and is a favourite of mine well the whole album is. Love the blues and Greeny knew how to sing it. I’ve just ordered the vinyl and look forward to hearing it play. It’s an album I had forgotten about for a while and I’m enjoying re-discovering it again.

NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS – BALLAD OF THE MIGHTY

Mr Gallagher needs little introduction, I would think. Back with a second offering as a solo artist with his new album ‘Chasing Yesterday’. I was sent a link by iTunes to sample this track a few weeks ago.  I personally enjoyed Noels first solo album and thought it was really good. I know some hard-core ‘Oasis’ fans slated it as too commercial. Each to their own, as I always say. I loved Oasis but I’m definitely a Noel follower and will buy this album without hearing it first.  I like this track and love the video, especially his jacket at the beginning.  Noel can and does take the piss out of himself, watch the video to the end ‘Liam, Noel’! Emh ‘Chris Martin did 10 takes’! Very funny.

CLAYHILL – NORTHERN SOUL (ACOUSTIC)

I was saddened to hear of the death of Gavin Clark a few weeks ago. The musician best known for sound tracking Shane Meadows’ This Is England, his work with UNKLE and British folk outfit Clayhill, died on Monday 16^th February. Before his death, Clark was working on new material with UNKLE. Gavin Clark, lead singer of Clayhill, is featured on four albums by UNKLE, War Stories, End Titles… Stories for Film, Where Did the Night Fall and another Night Out. He sings the track “Keys to the Kingdom”, “Broken” and several on End Titles… Stories for Film. He was formerly in the band Sunhouse whose music features in Shane Meadows’s Twenty Four Seven.

In 2005 Clayhill recorded a version of Tim Buckley’s “The River” for the tribute album Dream Brother: The Songs of Tim and Jeff Buckley. Barnes and Clark provided the original music for another Shane Meadows movie, Somers Town (2008). Tracks by Clayhill and by Clark (co-written with Nick Hemming) also appeared in Meadows’s 2009 film, the mockumentary Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee. During a 5 September 2009 concert at the King’s Place Music Festival, the band announced that the performance would be their last.

I loved the band Clayhill and Gavin’s acoustic performances in particular, this song is a favourite of mine.

This may also interest you about Gavin by Shane Meadows

What about the Brits?! What a heap of piffle, what has happened to rocknroll, where’s your ‘Jarvis Cockers’ and your ‘Water Swilling’ MP haters? It’s all sedate and sameish and predictable. I switched off at Taylor Swift’s intro.  Even Mad –Donna couldn’t liven it up for us with her aero dynamics, poor lass has whip lash now.  Call it a day Madonna pet let the youngins have a go.  She will be inundated with ‘have you had a fall or accident at work’ calls now and taxi for the cape puller.

NADINE SHAH – RUNAWAY

I’m going to leave you with Nadine Shah. A local lass from South Shields. My niece has recently produced Nadine’s video for her next single release date????? Here is Nadine on the Review Show as a taster and Anna (my niece) says she’s a canny lass.

(EDIT) Bobby’s birthday today let’s indulge.

Bye!

GIRL AFRAID

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