The National Film and Sound Archive have just announced their 10 selections for their annual intake. Among them are the sounds of a howling dingo, two erotic electronic pieces, "Khe Sanh" and Icehouse's track "Great Southern Land".
I've written about "Great Southern Land" extensively elsewhere and the story of the song's genesis is fascinating. The fact that such an iconic song is being recognised is wonderful, but why is there only 10 every year? There's a lot more that could be done by the national archive to maintain our musical heritage than just logging a mere 10 songs (or at least that's how it looks). They have a huge collection but there is a lot of great material made by Australians that we don't want to see lost, so i do hope to see more local music making the archive in times to come.
The versatility of the work of Icehouse is an oft-overlooked aspect to the band. The fact that their music rocked hard and yet could be remixed in a number of different styles successfully. Not being a fan of remixes myself, it takes a pretty special remix to capture my attention and this one is probably the greatest thing ever. It is the "BIRRALKU DHANGUDHA" remix featuring indigenous performers singing in language that elevates the song to heights it had only previously hinted at.
Take a list below. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Archive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Archive. Show all posts
Saturday, 29 November 2014
Monday, 2 September 2013
Archive: Use a little English to doctor the spin...
This is an archive piece written and posted on LiveJournal in 2006, albeit slightly edited and re-published in 2013:
Use a little English to doctor the spin...
I was recently fascinated by a comedy series on the Public Relations industry recently called "Absolute Power". Basically, the stars of the show were hired by celebrities to embellish/fabricate facts and rebut/quash rumours and/or start new ones. In other words, they're like a bull with no horns and no genitalia - they just sit there and bulls***.
Recently I have seen a couple of pieces of PR produced verbal diarrhea that have just left me wondering "Who are these people and why do they invent such crap?"
On the inside of the sleeve to "God Save The Smithereens" by The Smithereens is written: "This is the band Buddy Holly died for...". What the hell does that mean? Buddy Holly died needlessly in an accidental plane crash. Thus, in my opinion, making this statement redundant and ridiculous. And the fact that this appeared on their 9th or 10th album makes me wonder why they have even bothered - they don't need to sell the virtues of the band to me. I've been listening to their records since I was 16.
And on a bottle of cheap red wine, have a go at this piece of lexicographical wonderment:
"Featuring the subtle flavours of almond, rose petal and blackberry, this richly textured wine also leaves a smooth, buttery finish."
Isn't it great how you can get all that out of a bunch of crushed grapes stuck in a wooden barrel for a few short weeks?
According to this PR bloke (or lady, we can't be sexist now, can we?), this Merlot, or whatever it was, does everything except mow the lawn. It must be that, in order to be a successful PR person, you have to be able to sell ice to the Eskimos. Lie through your teeth with a straight face and make it convincing.
If that's the case I'd probably starve, because I can't lie straight in bed. I'd be totally useless at it. I'll just stick to teaching, I guess. You can't fool everybody all the time, but it's easy enough to fool a bunch of 8th graders for 50 minutes at a time into thinking that Alegrba is useful....
Use a little English to doctor the spin...
Image source: The Web of Language blog at the University of Illinois
I was recently fascinated by a comedy series on the Public Relations industry recently called "Absolute Power". Basically, the stars of the show were hired by celebrities to embellish/fabricate facts and rebut/quash rumours and/or start new ones. In other words, they're like a bull with no horns and no genitalia - they just sit there and bulls***.
Recently I have seen a couple of pieces of PR produced verbal diarrhea that have just left me wondering "Who are these people and why do they invent such crap?"
On the inside of the sleeve to "God Save The Smithereens" by The Smithereens is written: "This is the band Buddy Holly died for...". What the hell does that mean? Buddy Holly died needlessly in an accidental plane crash. Thus, in my opinion, making this statement redundant and ridiculous. And the fact that this appeared on their 9th or 10th album makes me wonder why they have even bothered - they don't need to sell the virtues of the band to me. I've been listening to their records since I was 16.
And on a bottle of cheap red wine, have a go at this piece of lexicographical wonderment:
"Featuring the subtle flavours of almond, rose petal and blackberry, this richly textured wine also leaves a smooth, buttery finish."
Isn't it great how you can get all that out of a bunch of crushed grapes stuck in a wooden barrel for a few short weeks?
According to this PR bloke (or lady, we can't be sexist now, can we?), this Merlot, or whatever it was, does everything except mow the lawn. It must be that, in order to be a successful PR person, you have to be able to sell ice to the Eskimos. Lie through your teeth with a straight face and make it convincing.
If that's the case I'd probably starve, because I can't lie straight in bed. I'd be totally useless at it. I'll just stick to teaching, I guess. You can't fool everybody all the time, but it's easy enough to fool a bunch of 8th graders for 50 minutes at a time into thinking that Alegrba is useful....
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Johnny Cash and friends vs The Record Industry
This is an archive piece written and posted on LiveJournal in 2006, albeit slightly edited and re-published in 2013:
How high's the water mama?
I watched the Johnny Cash biopic last night entitled "Walk The Line" and that song didn't even make an appearance: "Five Feet High and Rising".
I didn't know that June Carter was such a tough nut to crack - she didn't want to have a bar of poor old Johnny for ages! I have to applaud him for his tenacity. I would have given up ages ago if it was me, no matter how great the girl was.
The thing that struck me though was, and like the Ray Charles biopic I saw last week, is how clueless record company execs can be. Columbia Records didn't see any merit in Johnny recording a live album at a prison. The "Live at Folsom Prison LP" turned out to be his biggest selling record ever, closely followed by its sequel "Johnny Cash at San Quentin". These are the same people who didn't see any faith in releasing Dave Brubeck's landmark 1959 LP "Time Out" because it wasn't "commercial" enough. Those bean-counters were eating their words when that album became the first ever jazz LP to chart in Billboard top 40 LPs and the first jazz album to spawn a hit single ("Take Five"). Go figure.
History is littered with stories like these. Around the same time as Johnny was arguing with Columbia's record execs, they passed on signing Frank Zappa and the Mothers.
We all know the story of the Beatles being snubbed by Decca in London in 1962. They were so annoyed with their decision they signed the Rolling Stones immediately after hearing their demo.
Ray Charles had the same problem. Atlantic didn't want to release "What'd I Say" as a single because it was over 6 minutes long. When they did, it was a massive hit - the biggest in the company's history.
Same deal with James Brown and his landmark album "Live at the Apollo" - the record company vetoed the idea. James funded the recording himself and it was the biggest selling LP record of his career (and it still is).
I wonder if these experiences have hardened the record company people now so that they don't take any risks on new talent or new ideas. Maybe that's why a lot of modern music on the radio sucks and all the good stuff is on the internet or on indie labels that get no media coverage.
Or maybe i'm a curmudgeon. I dunno. Meh. Bah humbug. Turn the record over...
How high's the water mama?
I watched the Johnny Cash biopic last night entitled "Walk The Line" and that song didn't even make an appearance: "Five Feet High and Rising".
I didn't know that June Carter was such a tough nut to crack - she didn't want to have a bar of poor old Johnny for ages! I have to applaud him for his tenacity. I would have given up ages ago if it was me, no matter how great the girl was.
The thing that struck me though was, and like the Ray Charles biopic I saw last week, is how clueless record company execs can be. Columbia Records didn't see any merit in Johnny recording a live album at a prison. The "Live at Folsom Prison LP" turned out to be his biggest selling record ever, closely followed by its sequel "Johnny Cash at San Quentin". These are the same people who didn't see any faith in releasing Dave Brubeck's landmark 1959 LP "Time Out" because it wasn't "commercial" enough. Those bean-counters were eating their words when that album became the first ever jazz LP to chart in Billboard top 40 LPs and the first jazz album to spawn a hit single ("Take Five"). Go figure.
History is littered with stories like these. Around the same time as Johnny was arguing with Columbia's record execs, they passed on signing Frank Zappa and the Mothers.
We all know the story of the Beatles being snubbed by Decca in London in 1962. They were so annoyed with their decision they signed the Rolling Stones immediately after hearing their demo.
Ray Charles had the same problem. Atlantic didn't want to release "What'd I Say" as a single because it was over 6 minutes long. When they did, it was a massive hit - the biggest in the company's history.
Same deal with James Brown and his landmark album "Live at the Apollo" - the record company vetoed the idea. James funded the recording himself and it was the biggest selling LP record of his career (and it still is).
I wonder if these experiences have hardened the record company people now so that they don't take any risks on new talent or new ideas. Maybe that's why a lot of modern music on the radio sucks and all the good stuff is on the internet or on indie labels that get no media coverage.
Or maybe i'm a curmudgeon. I dunno. Meh. Bah humbug. Turn the record over...
Johnny Cash's birthday
This is an archive piece written and posted on LiveJournal in 2006, albeit slightly edited and re-published in 2013:
In honour of Johnny Cash's 80th birthday, I present part of my review of the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line" from 2006.
image source: www.johnnycash.com
...I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the ties that bind
Because you're mine..."
Back again on the subject of the Johnny Cash documentary "Walk The Line" that I recently viewed, I thought that Reese Witherspoon was a fairly convincing June Carter but Joaquin Phoenix's performance left a lot to be desired. Take into account I had just watched "Ray" recently and Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles was so realistic he deserved that Oscar he won. I can't really say the same for poor ol' Joaquin. After listening to "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" yesterday it became apparent to me just how far off the mark Joaquin really was:- Sorry mate.
I think it's so cool that Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two arrived at their unique sound because they were playing at the limit of their abilities. In short, they couldn't play any better. And while Johnny was once a labelmate of Elvis Presley, Johnny's legacy is way more vital that Elvis's ever was. At least Johnny wrote his own songs...
Johnny's legacy is unfortunately hampered by the fact that he will forever be tied to the genre of Country music. That is a great shame as his music really was genreless - it was a seamless mix of Gospel, Folk, Blues, Rockabilly AND Country. He crossed genres so seamlessly he created his own sound, and style. He became idiosyncratic, and the words he sang were, in most cases, real. They felt lived in, and he believed in what he sang about and made that known. No wonder his fans are as diverse as Nick Cave and James Hetfield from Metallica.
Johnny was associated with a movement in music called the "Outlaw" movement. Although in the eyes of most people that title stuck because he sang songs about spending time in jail and various social injustices, oh and killing people too. But that is not in itself correct, although it probably helped. The title was applied to people like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and others because what they did was "outside" the accepted conventions of country music, whose aristocracy is based around the all powerful Nashville music scene and "The Grand Ole Opry". Jim Reeves, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette were/are "Nashville-approved", Johnny Cash, strictly speaking, was not. He, like the others I've mentioned, chose to do things their way and flipped the bird at Nashville. Thus the title "outlaw".
image source: mirandoenlared.blogspot.com
And I think popular music on the whole is all the better for it.
In honour of Johnny Cash's 80th birthday, I present part of my review of the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk The Line" from 2006.
image source: www.johnnycash.com
"I keep a close watch on this heart of mine...
...I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the ties that bind
Because you're mine..."
Back again on the subject of the Johnny Cash documentary "Walk The Line" that I recently viewed, I thought that Reese Witherspoon was a fairly convincing June Carter but Joaquin Phoenix's performance left a lot to be desired. Take into account I had just watched "Ray" recently and Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles was so realistic he deserved that Oscar he won. I can't really say the same for poor ol' Joaquin. After listening to "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" yesterday it became apparent to me just how far off the mark Joaquin really was:- Sorry mate.
I think it's so cool that Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two arrived at their unique sound because they were playing at the limit of their abilities. In short, they couldn't play any better. And while Johnny was once a labelmate of Elvis Presley, Johnny's legacy is way more vital that Elvis's ever was. At least Johnny wrote his own songs...
Johnny's legacy is unfortunately hampered by the fact that he will forever be tied to the genre of Country music. That is a great shame as his music really was genreless - it was a seamless mix of Gospel, Folk, Blues, Rockabilly AND Country. He crossed genres so seamlessly he created his own sound, and style. He became idiosyncratic, and the words he sang were, in most cases, real. They felt lived in, and he believed in what he sang about and made that known. No wonder his fans are as diverse as Nick Cave and James Hetfield from Metallica.
Johnny was associated with a movement in music called the "Outlaw" movement. Although in the eyes of most people that title stuck because he sang songs about spending time in jail and various social injustices, oh and killing people too. But that is not in itself correct, although it probably helped. The title was applied to people like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and others because what they did was "outside" the accepted conventions of country music, whose aristocracy is based around the all powerful Nashville music scene and "The Grand Ole Opry". Jim Reeves, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette were/are "Nashville-approved", Johnny Cash, strictly speaking, was not. He, like the others I've mentioned, chose to do things their way and flipped the bird at Nashville. Thus the title "outlaw".
image source: mirandoenlared.blogspot.com
And I think popular music on the whole is all the better for it.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Archive: SPEW!
This is an archive piece written and posted on LiveJournal in 2006, albeit slightly edited and re-published in 2013:
SPEW!!!
Based on a short column in one of the those teeny-bopper pop magazines from the late 1980s (Smash Hits it was, I think) these are some song lyrics that make me spew:
The Cure:
“Let me take your hand I’m shaking like milk” ("Let's Go To Bed")
Eskimo Joe:
“Black fingernails, red wine…I’m gonna make you…all mine” ("Black Fingernails, Red Wine")
Oasis:
“I know a girl called Elsa, she’s into Alka Seltzer…” ("Supersonic")
Bill Withers:
“I know I know...” times 27 ("Ain't No Sunshine")
Nickleback:
“I like your pants around your feet
And I like the dirt that's on your knees...” ("Figured You Out")
Lee Harding, aka The Punk that should not be:
"She's a Wasabi, she looks like a Barbie, Just too hot for me. She's like a tsunami, could wipe out an army..." ("Wasabi")
Eiffel 65:
“I’m Blue ba da bee ba dee dah ba dah ba dee dah de dah ba dah dee ba dee dah” ("Blue")
Shannon Noll:
“I’ve got a car, I’ve got a big black shiny car, maybe tonight we can go for a ride” ("Drive", and this one is not really Shannon's fault: Bryan Adams wrote this one, proving that he is well and truly past it)
Avril Lavigne:
“He was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it any more obvious...” ("Skater Boy")
Richard Harris:
“…someone left the cake out in the rain. I don’t think I can take it, ‘cos it took so long to bake it, and I’ll never have that recipe agaaaaaaaain, ooooooooohhhhh nooooooooooooooo!” ("MacArthur Park". Again, Richard didn't write this. The writer, Jimmy Webb, is a songwriter of some substantial repute, but in this case he should have known better.)
BBBBLLLLLLEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGHH
EDIT: I notice that most of the songs cited here are ones that have been released mostly within the last 7-8 years, a handful of them notwithstanding. Is this further proof that popular music has gone to crap of late? Discuss...
The Cure:
“Let me take your hand I’m shaking like milk” ("Let's Go To Bed")
Eskimo Joe:
“Black fingernails, red wine…I’m gonna make you…all mine” ("Black Fingernails, Red Wine")
Oasis:
“I know a girl called Elsa, she’s into Alka Seltzer…” ("Supersonic")
Bill Withers:
“I know I know...” times 27 ("Ain't No Sunshine")
Nickleback:
“I like your pants around your feet
And I like the dirt that's on your knees...” ("Figured You Out")
Lee Harding, aka The Punk that should not be:
"She's a Wasabi, she looks like a Barbie, Just too hot for me. She's like a tsunami, could wipe out an army..." ("Wasabi")
Eiffel 65:
“I’m Blue ba da bee ba dee dah ba dah ba dee dah de dah ba dah dee ba dee dah” ("Blue")
Shannon Noll:
“I’ve got a car, I’ve got a big black shiny car, maybe tonight we can go for a ride” ("Drive", and this one is not really Shannon's fault: Bryan Adams wrote this one, proving that he is well and truly past it)
Avril Lavigne:
“He was a boy, she was a girl, can I make it any more obvious...” ("Skater Boy")
Richard Harris:
“…someone left the cake out in the rain. I don’t think I can take it, ‘cos it took so long to bake it, and I’ll never have that recipe agaaaaaaaain, ooooooooohhhhh nooooooooooooooo!” ("MacArthur Park". Again, Richard didn't write this. The writer, Jimmy Webb, is a songwriter of some substantial repute, but in this case he should have known better.)
BBBBLLLLLLEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGHH
EDIT: I notice that most of the songs cited here are ones that have been released mostly within the last 7-8 years, a handful of them notwithstanding. Is this further proof that popular music has gone to crap of late? Discuss...
Archive: playing guitar changes the man
This is the first of a series of articles first published on LiveJournal in 2006
Playing guitar changes the man...
...Not by choice but maybe by a freudian slip, I came out with something in conversation yesterday that was quite profound, but, in hindsight, rather obvious at the same time:
"playing a musical instrument really changes your perspective on music."
I've never thought about that before, but it really does. Along with that, and in tandem with my music studies throughout school and elsewhere, I have tended to become highly analytical and critical of music. So much so that my analysis of certain styles and artists has led me to hate them passionately on the basis that they talentless and creatively redundant (this is probably the only occasion whereby Doof Doof music and Nickelback can be grouped in the same category).
I was explaining to someone yesterday the process in which the change in my tastes occurred. I started playing guitar when I was 13, and up to that point I followed the top 40 religiously, but mainly delighting in the music that was less "pure-pop". By that I mean I avoided the Kylie Minogues and the Debbie Gibsons that plagued the charts back then (Debbie Gibson was so talented that we have all but forgotten her all these years later, thank God!)
But by 1990 (within 12 months of me starting on the instrument), I was almost totally weaned off top 40 music and began hating local commercial radio. There was no Triple J at the time but when I got wind that Triple J was going national, I was all for it coming to Newcastle. We needed something new to listen to. It turned out that we were the first regional pocket in the country to receive the transmission, and I listened intently for about a fortnight after it started but then turned again back to the local commercials channels, and when the weather was right, the Sydney commercials like Triple M, which at the time I thought was far superior to NEW-FM and NX-FM. On those stations I picked up a few things that were outside the regular mainstream. If I look at the singles I purchased around 1992, by bands like The Smithereens, Matthew Sweet, Pearl Jam and local band Killing Time, because they were lucky enough to have a lower chart placement they made it onto the commercials. But then they were only played in select time slots, like after 7pm on weeknights. If I had have listened to JJJ, these bands were being played all day every day as part of their playlist. Go figure!
But in 1990, at the ripe old age of 14, I was tired of the charts. There was nothing really that floated my boat musically and that made me want to play guitar. I'd spent the last 12 months thrashing to death albums like "Appetite for Destruction", "Dr Feelgood", "Trash", "New Jersey" and "Pump" and really needed something different.
And it came from a very unusual source - my mates and their parents records. My dad didn't have anything of worth to me besides "Bat Out Of Hell", but through my mates I found Suzi Quatro, Slade, The Sweet, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Who, Creedence Clearwater and heaps of others that were simple and easy to play, and direct enough in their energy to make you excited about your music again. I kept my musical outlook retro for a while until 1991 when Guns and Roses released Use Your Illusions 1 and 2 and the self titled Metallica LP came along, and then the grunge explosion in early 1992. I learnt to play songs hand over fist because they were simple, but I was hopelessly out of step with current music and trends, thus making my life in rock bands quite tedious.
Then I got a car that didn't have a tape or CD player in it in 1995...only a radio. Welcome back Triple J! Alternative rock here we come and I'm so glad I did.
The point is it is so easy now for young kids to check out new music. You have the Js on the Radio, they're also now on TV too. You have the internet and you still have word of mouth, but the latter is less and less powerful than it used to be. I wonder if the kids of today have the same sense of excitement I had when I discovered new music, retro or current, after a fair bit of unearthing.
It is also true that kids of today are gaining a broader view of music too. Look at their iPod lists and you may be surprised to see amongst the Ludacris and Snoop Dog tracks to find a track from Bowie's Ziggy Stardust LP in there. That is what's really cool, but it isn't always the case....
...what a strange world we live in, and how it has changed since 1990....
Playing guitar changes the man...
...Not by choice but maybe by a freudian slip, I came out with something in conversation yesterday that was quite profound, but, in hindsight, rather obvious at the same time:
"playing a musical instrument really changes your perspective on music."
I've never thought about that before, but it really does. Along with that, and in tandem with my music studies throughout school and elsewhere, I have tended to become highly analytical and critical of music. So much so that my analysis of certain styles and artists has led me to hate them passionately on the basis that they talentless and creatively redundant (this is probably the only occasion whereby Doof Doof music and Nickelback can be grouped in the same category).
I was explaining to someone yesterday the process in which the change in my tastes occurred. I started playing guitar when I was 13, and up to that point I followed the top 40 religiously, but mainly delighting in the music that was less "pure-pop". By that I mean I avoided the Kylie Minogues and the Debbie Gibsons that plagued the charts back then (Debbie Gibson was so talented that we have all but forgotten her all these years later, thank God!)
But by 1990 (within 12 months of me starting on the instrument), I was almost totally weaned off top 40 music and began hating local commercial radio. There was no Triple J at the time but when I got wind that Triple J was going national, I was all for it coming to Newcastle. We needed something new to listen to. It turned out that we were the first regional pocket in the country to receive the transmission, and I listened intently for about a fortnight after it started but then turned again back to the local commercials channels, and when the weather was right, the Sydney commercials like Triple M, which at the time I thought was far superior to NEW-FM and NX-FM. On those stations I picked up a few things that were outside the regular mainstream. If I look at the singles I purchased around 1992, by bands like The Smithereens, Matthew Sweet, Pearl Jam and local band Killing Time, because they were lucky enough to have a lower chart placement they made it onto the commercials. But then they were only played in select time slots, like after 7pm on weeknights. If I had have listened to JJJ, these bands were being played all day every day as part of their playlist. Go figure!
But in 1990, at the ripe old age of 14, I was tired of the charts. There was nothing really that floated my boat musically and that made me want to play guitar. I'd spent the last 12 months thrashing to death albums like "Appetite for Destruction", "Dr Feelgood", "Trash", "New Jersey" and "Pump" and really needed something different.
And it came from a very unusual source - my mates and their parents records. My dad didn't have anything of worth to me besides "Bat Out Of Hell", but through my mates I found Suzi Quatro, Slade, The Sweet, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Who, Creedence Clearwater and heaps of others that were simple and easy to play, and direct enough in their energy to make you excited about your music again. I kept my musical outlook retro for a while until 1991 when Guns and Roses released Use Your Illusions 1 and 2 and the self titled Metallica LP came along, and then the grunge explosion in early 1992. I learnt to play songs hand over fist because they were simple, but I was hopelessly out of step with current music and trends, thus making my life in rock bands quite tedious.
Then I got a car that didn't have a tape or CD player in it in 1995...only a radio. Welcome back Triple J! Alternative rock here we come and I'm so glad I did.
The point is it is so easy now for young kids to check out new music. You have the Js on the Radio, they're also now on TV too. You have the internet and you still have word of mouth, but the latter is less and less powerful than it used to be. I wonder if the kids of today have the same sense of excitement I had when I discovered new music, retro or current, after a fair bit of unearthing.
It is also true that kids of today are gaining a broader view of music too. Look at their iPod lists and you may be surprised to see amongst the Ludacris and Snoop Dog tracks to find a track from Bowie's Ziggy Stardust LP in there. That is what's really cool, but it isn't always the case....
...what a strange world we live in, and how it has changed since 1990....
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