There haven’t been many good football (that’ll be soccer to my American readers) songs in my opinion. But there are a few exceptions; “Back Home” by the England 1970 World Cup Squad, “Three Lions” by Baddiel, Skinner & the Lightning Seeds and the 1990 New Order song “World In Motion”, yes even with that John Barnes rap!
Anyway New Order’s song which was England’s official 1990 World Cup song was originally titled ‘E for England’. At least it was until the FA realised the name might be misconstrued as a reference to drugs and rave culture! Really? was it that obvious?
For me those three songs represent some of the best England performances we have ever had from 1970, 1990 and 1996. Is that coincidence? Maybe you have some favourite football songs, what are they?
As many of you know I am a massive fan of Stephen King and as such I have looked forward to the cinematic adaptation of his magnum opus, ‘The Dark Tower’. I was really excited when I learned that Idris Elba had been cast as Roland the Gunslinger and that the Man In Black would be played by Matthew McConaughey. Then there was that ridiculous period when the internet trolls moaned on about how could a black man play Roland. Well Roland’s character transcends colour and Elba is undoubtedly one of the finest actors on the planet. Thankfully that all died down. But then recently I started reading the reviews and almost all of them have been negative. Was the film as bad as those reviews have suggested?
Well I saw it on 18th August, sadly not on the 19th (OK some of you won’t get that point!) and I thought it was a very good opener for what I hope will be a long Dark Tower series. Elba and McConaughey are on superb form. Idris Elba makes a perfect Roland and Matthew McConaughey does evil in the most convincing way. Tom Taylor who plays Jake is pretty much everything I imagined Jake Chambers would be from the books. Taylor is British and this is his big screen break, although he has previously appeared in a number of TV shows.
New York in the movie looks every bit as vibrant, busy and depressing as I hear it can be. While Mid World looks exactly what a world that has moved on should look like. The odd reference to some of King’s other works are clever, particularly Pennywise from IT. If I were scoring this film I would give it a 4 out of 5 and I excitedly anticipate the following instalments building on that and getting even better. To all those critics who scored it 1 or 2 out of five, were you actually watching it? Have you forgotten the face of your father? But to finish, this is a music blog so I have selected a few songs that in some way relate to the Dark Tower, did you get all the references?
I don’t often post about music birthdays on this blog, well certainly not too often anyway. But I will make an exception for one of my favourite singers of all time, Johnny Nash. He turned 77 on 19th August. He has a voice like no other and along with hits that span genres using blues, reggae and soul to name but a few, he was also influential in bringing Bob Marley to the fore. Johnny was the first person to have a hit internationally with a Bob Marley song; “Stir It Up” in 1972. Most people will know Johnny Nash for “I Can See Clearly Now” but he has recorded plenty of other great songs in a career that began back in the 1950s. Enjoy a few of those to celebrate his birthday now!
OK so it is clear that Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams have, confusingly for some folk, very similar names. But did you know that they also share the same birthday! Both were born on November 5th. Bryan in 199 (the year of my birth) and Ryan in 1974. Ryan now sends Bryan an email every year on their shared birthday. Ryan has also covered “Summer Of ’69” and “Run To You” at various times.
Have you ever wondered about the title of Nick Drake’s ‘Five Leaves Left’, his 1969 début album? Did you think maybe it sounded spiritual or maybe profound? Well it might sound that way, but it was inspired by the fact he’d nearly run out of Rizlas for his, presumably, Wacky Baccy rollups! In fact Rizla packets used to include a note towards the end which said something like “only five leaves left”. Do they still have that?
It is now estimated that more Ramones t-shirts have been sold worldwide than Ramones albums. Seriously? What is the world coming to? Personally I feel very lucky to have seen the band play live in London back in 1977
Matt Bellamy off of Muse came up with the title of the band’s classic song “Muscle Museum” in a rather strange way, by looking at a dictionary. In most English dictionaries, the word ‘Muscle’ comes before ‘Muse’ and ‘Museum’ precedes it. Pretty strange huh?
Los Angeles synth supremos KRON recently unleashed their unbelievably powerful EP “Raptoid” on Ring The Alarm Records. The sound this bunch make belies the fact that there are only three of them and that their sound is simply not organic in any way. It is pure synth power with hints of Giorgio Moroder circa the Midnight Express score. They produce a barrage of sound that will not just make you want to dance but will stand over you with menace until you start to move.
All of the eight tracks on this EP would fit perfectly into a film soundtrack. Opener “Proof You’re Gone” would grace the Exorcist and title track “Raptoid” would be perfect on the next instalment of the Terminator franchise. “Valley Of The Wind” is Mogwai on steroids. My favourite track is “Neo Kong” with its vocoderish sound that takes on Daft Punk and leaves them in a bloody pulp. Michael Sherer, Sean Krell and Sam Newell started out as the house band for Ghosting, a regular art/tech dance party held in a warehouse in LA’s Chinatown. The crowds just got bigger and bigger as they flocked to see the trio now named KRON. It was not just to hear the attack of KRON’s modular synths but also to witness the galactic analog video synth visuals.
I really need to see this band live and if they are ever playing in the north of England I will do my damnedest to be there. On Facebook they have perhaps the best genre description that I have ever seen; “Mortal Kombat-Safari House-Horror Synth”. They also describe themselves as “Equal parts Giorgio Moroder, Simian Mobile Disco, sentient rogue Microsoft screen saver, and Amun-Ra (the ancient Egyptian sun-god)”. It is the rogue screen saver part that really interests me. Bottom line this has the hallmarks of a classic album that will be played regularly in my house. A big thank you to those delightful folk at Noisy Ghost PR for letting me take this EP for a spin.
Having really loved Hurray For The Riff Raff‘s album ‘The Navigator’ on first hearing it earlier this year I was hoping to get the chance to see them live. Well that chance came around at a fabulous little venue, the Crescent, in my adopted home city of York. Were Hurray For The Riff Raff good? Well you will just have to read on to find out, but first let me tell you about the rather splendid support act, Alex Golisti. He played a great acoustic set including some of his own songs, one of which was an old banjo tune that he played on the guitar and had written his own lyrics for. He has a voice that at times shows similarities with both Tom Waits and George Ezra. He plays a style that evokes bluegrass and roots music with a modern twist. On top of all that he has a great self-deprecating sense of humour.
I was accompanied by my beautiful wife Catherine a.k.a. Catwoman this evening as she enjoyed ‘The navigator’ too. We were both very excited to be here and from the opening salvo of “Life To Save” and “Nothing’s Gonna Change That Girl” we were not disappointed. The energy shown by Alynda Lee Segarra and indeed the whole band never let up for the whole night. There were plenty of highlights notably for me the haunting rendition of “Fourteen Floors” with Alynda on keyboard. Then just when you think it couldn’t get better the band hit us with one of Segarra’s excellent protest songs, “Pa’ lante”. It has vision, power, heart, soul, deep emotion and an uplifting message. I understand that it is Spanish slang and that it means to “go ahead” or “go for it”. Alynda is very proud of her Puerto Rican roots and that shows on the current album and in her stage performance. The encore included a rousing cover of Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” which had absolutely everyone on their feet. This is a band on top form and one who were really enjoying themselves. I will definitely be seeing them again! This was another great show from Please Please You, thank you Joe Coates.
Upstate New York residents Broken Bellows have their first EP lined up for release on 25th August on Fervor Records. It is full of masterfully mellow rock with harmonies to die for and everyone one of the five songs could stand on their own as a single. I can hear influence from everyone from the National to Muse and the softer side of pop punkers Panic At The Disco. The duo’s second single “Misery” is also the second track on the EP and it is stunning. On this evidence Broken Bellows are a band that are now on my must see live list! I reckon Cory Brent and Will Prinzi are ready to blow you away at a festival stage very soon! Check them out, you will not be disappointed. A large thank you to those very nice people at Noisy Ghost PR for giving me the chance to hear this excellent EP.
Click here to check out second single “Misery” on Soundcloud.
