Dag 1334: The Black hit of Space

After posting my first video onto YouTube the other day I spent some time last night having a look at some of the music videos they have on there. I was amazed at how much of the stuff I like was there.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have recently discovered this site (which has loads of great info about minimal synth and similar music from the late 70s and early 80s) and from this I discovered that the owner of this site also runs a weekly radio show on East Village Radio called Minimal-Electronik Plus. This is available as a podcast so I have subscribed to it and its been great listening to it each week on the train and the gym. One of the tracks I recently heard in this show was Alone by Colin Newman of Wire. I first heard this song when it was covered by This Mortal Coil on their album Filigree and Shadow. The original version was also used in the film The Silence of the Lambs. This is a great song but the only version of it I could find on YouTube was a clip from Silence of the Lambs. I did find some other interesting Wire clips too though, and also this fantastic video.

Apart from Minimal-Electronik Plus I have also been playing pr0nography by The Cure to death in recent weeks and particularly the track Siamese Twins. I had a look to see if I could find this track on YouTube and came accross this version with some modern dance going on to it (I bet DJ will like this). I realised that I had seen this on TV when it it was originally done all those years ago. I am hoping for a joint Critcal Mass/Cloudhands outing to see The Cure at the first possible oportunity.

Anyway, I then started looking for some of the bands I used to like back in those days and tried searching for I'm so hollow, who used to be one of my fave raves (I even used to have an I'm so hollow badge which was black with I'm so hollow..... written inside a cloud - wish I still had it).

Then I had a look for the Human League and found some pretty interesting early stuff. I bought Reproduction from iTunes a couple of years back (I had originally had it on vinyll, but haven't had a record player for about 15 years - in fact my kids don't even know what records or record players are), but I no longer had a copy of Travalogue, which I really used to like) so I did a search for Black Hit of Space (one of my alltime favourite Human League tracks of all time) and instead of coming up with a Human League version of it, it came up with this - which I think is great and I'm glad I found it.



This got me wanting a copy of Travelogue again so, as is ones want when its late at night and one has had a few drinks, I logged straight onto iTunes and bought it. I then tried to find something else to go with it and nearly bought A-Z by Colin Newman and spent quite some time deliberating on one of Twilight Ritual's albums, but in the end I managed to get away with just the Human League album.

I listened to it for the first time (since I had the LP) on the train this morning and here are my thoughts:
1. Black Hit of Space.
This track is, in my opinion, one of the best Human League songs ever and was definately an inspiration for the Strange Devotion track Danger Line. I remember when travelogue came out one of its criticisms was that it had been over produced. I agreed to some exstend and always thought this one was of the tracks that suffered from this. I always thought the live version sounded better, but it is still a great song full stop.
2. Only After Dark.
I always thought this was one of the weakest tracks on the album - it's ok but not as good as the rest.
3. Life Kills.
This is another great track and very much in that early Human League style. The only thing that lets it down is those analogue brass sounds. I have never liked brass sounds from analogue synths. In fact I haven't liked them from digital synths either. If you listen to any of my stuff you will notice that I never use brass sounds on anhy tracks. Anyway, apart from the brass sounds this is a great track.
4. Dreams of Leaving.
This is an absolute classic and up there with the best Human League tracks ever. It is even quite a moving song in many ways. The opening verse makes one think of people trying to escape from an opressive regime (and or country). We then get a fantastic analogue instrumantal section and move into the last verse which is very similar to the first but the location has moved to a modern day office environment - very clever lyrics indeed.
5. Toyota City.
This is the first instrumental on the album and, as could be guessed from the title, it has a bit of a japanese feel to it. Maybe not an outstanding track, but good nonetheless.
6. Crow and a baby.
I hadn't heard this album for such a long time that I had forgotten most of the tracks. This was one of the few that I didn't forgot and I can even remember them playing it live. This is classic Human League - great stuff.
7. The touchables.
When I read through the track listing before playing this I felt I had no idea what this track was - I couldn't remember a thing about it, but when it statred playing and I heard the line "Speaking of which, what is your choice" and realised that I had been singing this line to myself regularly for years without even realising what it was. I have no idea why and as the song went on I realised I had no memory of the chorus at all - it just seemed to be that first line that I had kept on my mind for all those years. In fact, listening to it now I have to say all in all it is one of the weaker tracks on the album. I wonder why that first line had stuck in my mind for so long?
8. Gordon's Gin.
This is the second instrumental on the album and I remember this being one of my favourites back then, when I was about 16 years old. It still sounds great.
9. Being Boiled.
Being boiled was the first Human league single and tghis is a souped up re-recording of it. I remember being absolutely stunned when I first heard the original - I don't think I had ever heard anything like it before. This is one of the 2 Human league tracks that Strange Devotion played live. This version is still really good, but it does suffer a bit from over production and it has those brass sounds in it.
10. W.X.J.L Tonight.
This is the last song from the original album, though the iTunes version has 7 extra tracks. This is another really great Human League track. It is about the death of radio shows with DJs and is somewhat moving in some strange way - you really feel sorry for the guy who is singing it (I mean the radio DJ guy, not Phil Oakey).
11. Marianne.
This was originally a single and I remember buying it and I can remember them playing this track live. It still sounds good after all these years.
12. Dancevision (instrumantal)
I reckognised this track so I must have had it on some format first time around but I can't remember what it is from - maybe it was the b-side to Marianne? I know I could quite easily find out using the interconnected world wide internet and a computer but I'm just not going to do it.
Great instrumental with a great ending
13. Rock 'N' Roll/Night Clubbing
This is a couple of cover tracks that blend together. I love the way the drums/handclaps slow down as the first song becomes the second. I remember having this back then, but again can't remember if it was an A side, a B side or something else ebtirely. I also remember these tracks from seeing them live. The other cover they used to do live was Perfect Day. I can remember that after seeing them at Wakefiled Unity Hall on the last date of the travelogue tour (which would also be the last gig they played before Ian Marsh and Martin Ware left to be replaced by 2 girls Phil oakey met in a night club) I managed to get back stage and asked one of them what that track was and they gave me a look that said "how on earth could you possibly not know" as they told me it was a Lou Reed track.
14. Tom Baker
I can remember having this track and I think it was the B side to Boys and Girls. I'm pretty sure I liked it at the time, but now I'm not so keen on it. I think the proper Doctor Who theme is better.
15. Boys and Girls
As just mentioned I bought this single when it came out - I have a feeling it was the first release of the new Human league lineup. Again, I thought it was good at the time, but it doesn't sound quite so good now.
16. I don't depend on you.
I have never heard this track before and it sounds like a rather average sounding funky type of disco track and not like a Human League track at all.
17. Cruel.
This is another instrumental and, again, I had never heard of it before. It is just nowhere near up to the standard of the original Travelogue album tracks. These last 2 tracks might just as well have been left of as far as I'm concerned. They sound like a completely different genre of music.
18. The Weekly Woss Weport.
That's strange, I thought there were only meant to be 18 tracks on this release? Its like some sort of strange black hit of space style occurence where no matter what I press on my iPod it just comes up with Weekly Woss Weport and which ever way I turn I see that cheeky grin in font of me so without further ado her we go:
Before we get the first guest we have tghe obligatory joke and this one was about a water butt that is shaped like a bottom - I prssume you have to be American to appreciate this one properly. Personaly, I didn't think that this was a genuine product.

The first guest is Jamie Foxx (who I have never heard of before) and I must say his rendition of YMCA just doesn't fit in with the style of Travelogue at all. He then tries to make ammends by singing some other song but it still has no synths and simply does not fit on this album.

Next up is someone whose name sounds like Beth Ditto, but as I have an ear infection I may not have heard it correctly. I haven't heard of her either. A quick search on t'intenet reveals that I did hear the name correctly and she is a singer who has appeared on the cover of NME. It seems she is from Arkensaw (which is pronounced Arkansas).

Now it is Michael Ball's turn to talk to the hersuit Mr Woss. This is not the best line-up I have seen on this show so far (although I'm sure there are plenty of people who would disagree with me). So, we are now a bit into Mr Balls slot and I have to admit he has come accross much better than the previous guests did.

To round the show off we have yet another band from Sweden. Last week it was The Hives and this week it is Peter, Björn and John. They are not too bad at all.

So, all in all, despite Mt Ball being able to raise a few laughs, this episode of the Jonathan Woss Show made a very disappointing end to a fantastic Human League album which doesn't sound half as over produced now as was reported at the time.

Now I am going to watch an episode of Futurama before going to sleep.

Next week we hope to get James Burke on the case, or at least involved in some capacity or other.

Dag 1332: Is it always like this?

Here we have a rather rare example from the Björkbjiggler school of ham acting.

Dag 1327: Going crazy on The New Sound

So, it seems that there is this group in America called The Capricorns, which is made up of 2 girls and they have this song called The New Sound which is really catchy and literally hundreds of people are making videos of themselves dancing and/or generally going crazy to this song and posting them onto youtube.

Here are the links to all of these err um literally hundreds of videos on youtube:

number 1
number 2
number 3
number 4
number 5
number 6

I think the first 2 are the best.

But I must admit that I didn't find these on youtube by myself, I found them on this really good website that I just discovered last week.

I had never heard of The Capricorns before, but I think it would be really great if everyone who reads this makes there own video to go with The New Sound and then posts it onto youtube and then you can post the link into the comments area of this post. If enought people I know do this, then I will do one of me miming and going crazy on it and post that. Now thats an offer you can't refuse.

I might just add that, as I am typing this while watching the Jonathan Woss Show, this could almost be classed as a Weekly Woss Weport. In fact if I tell you what I have seen so far on the Jonathan Woss Show that would actually make it a Weekly Woss Weport (albeit in a cut down form) so:

First off Mr Woss comes through the doors with some sort of beard style thing attached to his face. The bit below his lip looks a bit like it is not quite in the middle. He tells some joke or other, but I can't remember what it is. Then he gets Richard Hammond on, who has written a book and forgotton some of the things that happened since his accident. Then he gets his digital wireless skipping rope out and hsows how you can lose weight while eating a donut. Then he gets an actor on and I don't pay much attention as I am watching people going crazy on The New Sound and then he gets Dame Helen Mirram on. Then the HIves come on. They are from Sweden.

So as the final Jonathan Woss credits draw to their inevitable close here is a video of the real Capricorns going crazy on The New Sound.

The Capricorns

See if you can spot the fan in the audience.

Dag 1321: Världen är allt

My Dad collected me from work at 17:00 and we set off for the M62 for the journey to Manchester. The traffic wasn’t too bad although an accident on the opposite carriageway had caused many miles of tailbacks.

We soon found the G-Mex carpark where the Bridgewater Hall website had recommended we should park. It stated that we should take the tunnel out of the carpark where we would find a lift that would take us up to just outside the Hall. We did this and saw that just outside the lift door were some stairs leading down to an area of water with a fountain in the middle and a nice looking bar called the pitcher and Piano next to the water. SO we went down the stairs and saw that if we hadn’t taken the lift that is were we would have come out anyway.

After some very nice food and a couple of drinks we headed back up the stairs and into the foyer. The building looked very new and I had heard it had fantastic acoustics. I soon spotted the t-shirt stall and spent a bit of time deliberating whether to get a white or a green t-shirt. I ended up choosing the green one even though I knew I would be told it was horrible when I got home (which is exactly what happened). They also had black t-shirts, but I already knew I was banned from buying black ones. I also bought a tour programme (which has a hard cover and a cd on the back cover). And they were both given to me in a tour plastic bag – very nice.

So, £40 lighter, we saw we still had plenty of time before the show was due to start so we went up to the circle bar for a swift half and sat by the window looking out over Manchester. There was a Hilton hotel near the hall that looked amazing.

Just before 20:00 went to our seats. They were in the left hand side circle and I had bought them from someone on eBay as when I tried to book them from either ticketmaster or the Bridgewater hall website only gallery tickets were available. So I was a bit surprised to see that the whole of the row in front of me was empty along with half of the row in front of that. Some of the people around me moved forward once they saw that no one was about to turn up for these seats but we stayed put as we had a good enough view where we were.

The layout of the hall was very impressive and it looked like it had been designed primarily for the acoustics. Behind the stage I could see a collection of massive shiny new organ pipes.

After 5 minutes or so the lights came down, the band walked onto the stage and started playing Wonderful World from the Nine Horse album Snow Bourne Sorrow.

The set list was the same as at the Stockholm concert and was as follows:

Wonderful World
It'll Never Happen Again
World Citizen
The Day the Earth Stole Heaven
Ride
Playground Martyrs/Transit
Fire in the Forest/Ghosts
Snow Borne Sorrow
Mother & Child
Waterfront
Atom & Cell
Sugar Fuel
Brilliant Trees/Fight the Bullfight/Nostalgia/Fight the Bullfight
The Librarian
(1st encore)
Every Colour You Are/River Man
(2nd encore)
Wanderlust

The stage was very large, open and roomy and the lack of a speaker stack at either side gave it a very different appearance from most concerts I’ve been too. Behind the stage was a backdrop with graphics projected onto it that changed subtly as the show went on. It was a great effect and must have taken someone ages to put together.

The sound quality was absolutely excellent, as expected, and, for me, the highlights of the show were Ride, Mother and Child, Waterfront (which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end) and Fight the Bullfight. The only disappointment (and it was only a slight disappointment) was that the arrangement of Every Colour You Are had been changed and had a more minimal drum part. I always thought that the strong drum pattern made this song, but the drums on Fight The Bullfight, however, were fantastic and more than made up for this.

The band consisted of:
David Sylvian – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
Steve Jansen – drums and occasional keyboards
Keith Lowe – Bass
Takuma Watanebe – grand piano and keyboards
There was a flute and (possibly) oboe player for about half of the songs, but I didn’t catch his name.

David Sylvian sat on a stool throughout and didn’t have a strap on either of his guitars. His voice was just as good as on his recordings and he had white shoes.
Steve Jansen has a rather strange looking drum kit with an electric bass pedal instead of an actual bass drum. Despite what I mentioned above, the drumming was excellent and varied from fairly loose swing styles through to very tight minimal drumming and the rock drumming style of Fight The Bullfight (if that is what style that was).
Keith Lowe sported a leather kilt and had 2 electric basses (one of which looked like a Danelectro Longhorn) and 1 electric double bass.
Takuma Watanebe played what must have been a concert grand piano (it looked huge) and had a short keyboard and an Apple MacBook Pro next to him and a larger keyboard on top of the piano (unfortunately I was too far away to spot what these keyboards were. His piano playing was excellent throughout and incredible of Mother and Child.

encore

The lighting was pretty dark throughout so I wasn’t able to get any decent pictures, even after I had managed to work out how to disable the flash.

Of the songs I didn’t already know; It'll Never Happen Again is a cover of a Tim Hardin song, Playground Martyrs is a track from Steve Jensen’s new album Slope and Transit is a song from Christian Fennesz. I think that Sugar Fuel is a track by a group called Ready Made, though I haven’t been able to find out much about this track at all.

There was a standing ovation at the end and after both encores.

after the show

So overall it was a great evening. There was no support and the concert lasted from 20:00 to 22:00 with no breaks. We thought we would be able to get home in good time, but unfortunately the queue for the carpark ticket machine was massive and it took half an hour to finally get to the front. As the queue was so big when we got there I felt sure there must not have been any more machines especially as more and more people tuned up and joined the queue behind us. As we drove round the carpark I saw another machine at the other end of the carpark with no one anywhere near it, so I guess they could do with better signposting to the locations of the pay stations.

Dag 1320: World Citizen

Tonight I will be mostly watching David Sylvian in concert.

I'm sure this song will be included in the set list.