Music – Page 2 – Hello Curns

Anything You Can Do

The latest advertisement from Mercedes is one best-timed and well-pitched pieces of advertising I have seen for a long time.

I haven’t written much here for a while. I don’t really know why, but I haven’t gone away – perhaps I am just spending all my time moving my Windows Media library across to iTunes. Yes, after all these entries about music players, I gave up and switched to an iPod Nano. And, after all those trials and tribulations with other music players, I am very happy. I even bought the Nike+ kit so that I can track how far I have run at the gym. Seriously, I’ve tried many of the music players, and they just don’t have the ease of use and integration that iTunes has. It’s the seamless interaction that makes it all work so well.

Still, that’s not why I picked up the keyboard today. Earlier, I watched the European Formula One Grand Prix, and boy, what a race that was. But I don’t really want to talk about the race itself (I am sure you can read all about it here), but I did want to talk about one of the best pieces of advertising that I have seen in a long while.

Even if you are not a petrolhead follower of Formula One – and especially if you are British – you can’t have failed to have read some piece about the Championship scrap between Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso.

The latest advertisement from Mercedes (which is, of course, the team they both drive for) plays on this rivalry beautifully. Anything you can do, I can do better:

I just think the whole thing is really well pitched, and they seem to have had some fun making it.

But What Was The Year?

No matter how many times my media player tells me JoBoxers (and their classic, Boxerbeat) is from the 2005 compilation (Teenage Kicks) I know it’s a true pop treasure from 1983 (top ten in February no less).

Oh! how I despair at all those compilation CDs that are gracing my CD collection. Over the years I have collected a fair few. I think it’s something to do with being a pop fan. True pop is a three and a half minute tune mimed to some falling glitter snow surrounded by Pans People and introduced by The Hairy Cornflake. To that end, the long player was never really on my turntables as a child. Thus, my musical memories are really quite happily contained across a collection of compilations. This is all well and good until you come to rip them all so that you can add your youth to your mp3 player. For, lo, compilation cds neither sit well on mp3 machines nor do they rip well. The artist may be in the title box while the artist is just listed as ‘various’. I can live with that (I lie, I can correct that) but I can’t stand that the dates are incorrect. No matter how many times my media player tells me JoBoxers (and their classic, Boxerbeat) is from the 2005 compilation (Teenage Kicks) I know it’s a true pop treasure from 1983 (top ten in February no less). Thus, I must spend my evenings correcting each cd as it gets ripped. My life will be over before this project is complete. My sanity will be gone sooner. But my mp3 player will know hits of 1978 are very different from those of 2002.

Get JoBokers, Essential Boxerbeat, featuring the single Boxerbeat, on mp3 at Amazon. You can live those teenage years again, scratch-free. It’s one of the hits of 1983!

Memories Of The Walkman

I was a avid singles collector at the time and the little Walkman unit wasn’t ever going to play vinyl 45s. So, at this point in my life I became a compilation tape wizard.

When I was younger, my Sony Walkman was one of my favourite things. Today, you would probably think of it as a first-generation device, but I think this was 1982 and it was a WM-4 (or the like). There’s a picture of it here. My brother and I were at an age where we wanted to listen to our own music all the time, so I suspect my parents thought it would be a good idea to get us one each so we could listen to our music in the car while they had Radio 2 on. And it stopped the arguments.

I was an avid singles collector at the time, and the little Walkman unit wasn’t ever going to play vinyl 45s. So, at this point in my life, I became a compilation tape wizard. I would spend hours putting tapes of my records together to listen to in the car. There would be the odd album track from one of my parent’s records, but most of the tracks were from those singles of mine.

I would spend hours listening, rewinding, forwarding and listening again to my soundtrack to the 80s. If it had been number one in the charts during that period, then it would have been on those tapes.

And so to – what I thought was going to be – the point of this little wander down memory lane. During that time in the early 80s, I used to carry a small stock of batteries around. If the Walkman stopped working, I just replaced the battery (although I did learn over the years not to use the rewind functions a great deal, as they drastically reduced battery life). My cheesy 80s pop was always with me.

Fast forward to 2005. This afternoon I was heading to the gym and thought I’d take my new Century Walkman-equivalent with me, only to find the battery was drained. Except this time I can’t just swap out the batteries – I have to charge it. So I wasn’t able to walk with my music.

And they call it progress.

On a side note, my parents’ loft probably still houses the Walkman – the cassette part gave up years ago, but the radio still works, and the stereo sound from it is still one of the best I’ve ever heard. Those 80s hits singles are all stored in boxes in the same loft space, but the compilation tapes have long since gone. It would be amusing to try and recreate one of them through the wonders of digital music, but I shan’t be setting myself that kind of goal.

Spooky side note. When I wrote the words above, I had no idea that the entries on this day in 2004 and 2003 were both – in some way – music-related. I wonder what it is about today?

Birthday Boy

Stephen, it’s your birthday and all of us – by which I mean me – at Hello Curns (the blog for Britain – I’m thinking it might be a good slogan) would like to wish you all the best for the coming year. I’m sure it’s been a fun year – that Child Catcher costume alone must have made you laugh each day and, perhaps, put memories of that Technicolour Dreamcoat behind you. But when, dear boy (and I say that as a term of endearment rather than as some comment on your person), will you be back in the studio recording some pop tunes for us? I was most disheartened that there was no further material after the last album. Truthfully, I was one of those who thought it was great. So, I don’t think you need any brother of some bygone pop star to be your new frontman. No, stick with the solo material. Oh, and don’t drink too much tonight. Happy Birthday.

Stephen Gately was Man of the Moment at some point in the past when we did that stuff

And in case that’s not enough, Stephen is 29, and today is Thursday, March 17, the 76th day of 2005. There are 289 days left in the year. This is St. Patrick’s Day.

Erasure: The Nightbird Tour

From the moment Andy Bell appears on stage with angel wings you know they are back on form.

I’ve seen Erasure a couple of times in concert. The last time was the Other People’s Songs tour. While I enjoyed the album, I wasn’t so sure about the concert: they seemed to be going through the motions a little more than in previous times. So, it was with some interest that I got tickets to The Nightbird Tour at Hammersmith Odeon (erasuregig.com).

From the moment Andy Bell appears on stage with angel wings you know they are back on form. The Nightbird material fits very well into the overall set; the feeling of a ‘show’ is back and the audience was – most definitely – behind Vince and Andy. The first number ‘No Doubt’ leads into ‘Hideaway’ which I don’t recall seeing performed for a very long time and is one of my favourites. But we also got ‘A Little Respect’, ‘Who Needs Love Like That’ and ‘Blue Savannah’ plus a Vince performing ‘Rapture’.

The concerts are recorded so that you can get a copy of the show you went to see. I shall be having one of those, for I had a superb time.

Madonna

I went to see Madonna at Earls Court.

Madonna, Earl’s Court, 2004

So I went to see Madonna at Earls Court.

That statement does not make me a huge Madonna fan – although I am partial to many of her hits and, unlike some of my friends, I think American Life is a great album (then again, I also like some of Blue’s material so who am I to judge musical tastes?) and she is most certainly a performer.

So, when commenting on a Madonna concert, what should you say? Earls Court is a huge venue. For those of you who haven’t been, you should be aware that it’s very stadium-like. We sat in the back left corner, so it was like she was at the opposite goalpost. And it’s in that context that you will understand why I didn’t think it was that good.

Madonna can put on a show. She is the undisputed queen of showmanship. And therein lies the problem. She performs a West End show of the variety you need to see. And she performs them at West End prices but to stadium-sized audiences. The audio is show-like, and you doubt that she’s singing live the whole time – although I suspect a lot of it is live. It’s just very well produced and sounds like her CDs and, for me, that isn’t the point of going to see live music: somehow you need to believe that they are performing live. Add to that the fact that you can’t see the spectacular, and you have a fun but ultimately disappointing evening.

Digital Download Chart

Is the new digital download chart a good thing?

A year ago, I wrote about ringtones and the large amounts of money to be made from them (as well as one of the current boyband stars of the time) and asked when we would see the first ringtone-only hit? Well, maybe not ringtones, but the music download industry in the UK is taking a step towards producing download-only hits when Radio 1 introduces the download chart from the start of next month. I think this is fantastic news and I will be interested to see how the record companies react.

Also about a year ago, I wrote about my first experiences with downloading music from the MSN Music Club. Well, I can tell you that a year on, I have bought, perhaps, ten tracks – mainly the odd chart hit jumps out at me. I’ve tried several services and find them all a little frustrating in one way or another.

Many download services don’t let you have the latest singles from an artist until they are falling down the regular charts. I assume this is to ensure that those fans who want the track will actually buy it and contribute to a chart position before the downloads (which don’t contribute to a proper chart position). So, although I do think this chart is a superb step forward, digital music will only be legitimised when it’s included with the full chart.

Maybe in twelve months I’ll be writing about that.

Defining Your Own Space

Singing along at the gym?

The BBC is reporting on an interesting piece of research about the way people are using personal music players to claim back something personal from a world where we are surrounded by advertising messages:

Through interviews with Walkman owners and now iPod buyers, he found that listening to music acts as a shield, aura or cocoon … Using headphones helps to keep the world at bay and reclaim some space.
BBC: More than just a pretty interface

Yesterday I listened to my own choice of music in the gym rather than watching one of the televisions hanging from the ceilings. It was a very different experience and – to be honest – I almost caught myself singing along. I had purposely chosen a lot of upbeat pop/dance to keep me going and it worked. While my usual fare of Sky News and Chart Show TV are interesting, this time I knew my whole musical selection would be good, and I would find the whole hour interesting and commercial-free.

But what about the aspect of the Walkman or iPod as a space definer? I think this is probably very obvious. I often ride the London Underground listening to music to cut me off from the rest of the people there. In the morning, it does give you a sense of your own space when you are sardine-squashed into a carriage. In the evening it keeps you occupied – less likely to be engaged in a conversation with somebody who you might find threatening.

A few weeks ago, cityofsound pointed me to Traffic Island Disks – an interesting radio programme looking at the music people are listening to as they wander around an area of London. It is very interesting listening to how people define their own spaces through the music they are listening to (it’s also a pretty good idea for a radio show).

Janet’s Malfunction

Time to stop worrying about Janet’s boobs.

Is it just me, or is most of the world laughing at America’s reaction to Janet Jackson’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ at the Super Bowl? It really amazes me the way people can get so worked up about a little bit of flesh. Shouldn’t we be celebrating our bodies? It’s not as if Janet showed off a great deal. I would agree that people deserve better, but not because I disagree with what’s shown, but because it’s such a cheap stunt.

One of my current favourite reads, The London News Review, has one of the best pieces written on the subject

By thunder, America is one fucked up country. With one eye it ogles the antics of Trousersnake and his bootilicious buddies, while the other eye is screwed shut in disgust. [Source]

Exactly. Calm down people and don’t buy the record. Of course, had it been the Trousersnake having a wardrobe malfunction it would all have been different.

Hi We’re Your Weather Girls

Humidity is rising – Barometer’s getting low, According to all sources, the street’s the place to go.

The Weather Girls, — The Weather Girls said “It’s Raining Men”

I have been recovering from my trip to the USA by spending a great deal of today asleep and generally caching up on the mail, the christmas cards, the washing and all the other things you need to do when you’ve been away for a week. It’s almost Saturday night and I am going supermarket shopping (you see, dear reader, I have a very exciting life).

While I managed to listen to the radio and some CDs I did, eventually, resort to music television so that there were some pictures to provide an alternative visual while I drank my tea (real tea, not a USA-style tea, is one of the greater comforters in my life).

The Hits is showing some so-called classics this afternoon. The video for It’s Raining Men (The Weather Girls) looked so dated that it made me wonder what those brought-up entirely on the sophistication of the modern day music video would make of these dated images.

Interestingly, it occurred to me to that it’s the video that looks a lot older than the music sounds. Allowing for the fact that It’s Raining Men is part of the soundtrack to my youth, I still think it’s the video technology that has made the noticeable leaps in the last 20 years.

And it’s 20 years next March since It’s Raining Men was a hit for The Weather Girls. Originally charting in the UK in August 1983 it eventually made number 2 in March 1984. It’s one of those songs that I would have sworn topped the charts but, apparently, not. I would imagine that a combination of Nena’s ‘99 Red Ballons‘, Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello‘ and Duran Duran’s ‘The Reflex‘ kept it from the number 1 slot.

CD or not to CD?

Just bought another CD.

I’ve just been out and bought Erasure’s Hits collection. Now, I own all the original albums, so I am not entirely sure why I went and bought it. Still, I now own the CD, so it can sit on the shelf alongside all the others, and I will take pride in the fact that my Erasure album collection is complete.

Phil Gyford posted an interesting question about CDs and what would happen if they were all stolen. I have ripped a good number of my CDs, but I would miss the originals if I didn’t have them. There appears to be more value in holding an original CD case with the lyrics, photographs and the notes. I would have to try to replace a good number of them because I would miss them. A little like software, it’s good to have all the originals just in case something happens.

It Was 20 Years Ago

What was number one in October 1983?

It’s been twenty years since Culture Club’s Karma Chameleon was the UK’s number one-selling single (full list). I really remember the video set in Mississippi (but I don’t imagine it was actually filmed there). I suspect it would be very dated now … altogether now: “Every day is like survival, You’re my lover, not my rival …”

Disappointing Frustrating

Why is it that it’s always the small stuff in life that is the most infuriating?

Why is it that the small stuff in life is always the most infuriating?

This morning I thought I would give the MSN Music Club the once over. You’re supposed to be able to download music legally and all that kind of thing. Well, today they did manage to take my credit card details (I signed up for the minimum service), but that’s about all they’ve done. I haven’t actually managed to get a track out of it. It seems to be a permanent error (but perhaps not as big an error as me handing them my credit card details). Obviously, I was also silly to try to access it later in the day with the Mozilla browser.

How disappointing.

This afternoon I rushed home from work to meet the plumber who was coming to fix a new kitchen tap to replace the one that’s been dripping for a year (I know it’s a water crime, but I do have a life to lead). Anyway, he arrived (after I had hauled my ass and walked up the escalators on the tube to make sure I got the right train home) only to leave ten minutes later, saying he couldn’t fit the new tap and somebody else would have to come out next week and show him how to fix it.

How frustrating.

On the upside, my Oyster card that allows me to travel on the tube hasn’t yet been erased by my mobile phone despite the fact that I keep sticking them in the same pocket.

Silly Pop Stars

Blue’s Lee Ryan has been charged with drink-driving. I should file this under silly popstars, shouldn’t I?

Blue Lee Ryan and Pride in the Park 2003 — Lee Ryan

Who’s a silly boy then? With all that fame and money, you think Blue’s Lee Ryan would be more careful and pay for a driver, wouldn’t you? If you didn’t know, he’s been charged with drink driving. Let’s hope the adulation isn’t going to his head and that he doesn’t think he’s better than everyone and above the law. Still, another shameless excuse to post a picture (I took this one at Pride In The Park last month).

I should file this under silly popstars, shouldn’t I?

Beep Beep To Profit

There’s a market of over 70 million pounds for ringtones – a figure I find astonishing.

Sometimes, I live in a world of hope, and today is no exception. BBC News reports that sales of mobile phone ringtones are set to overtake sales of CD singles. Ringtones are worth an astonishing £70 million, if the article is to be believed, and are highly profitable for the record industry. I wonder if they will now start to realise that there is money in the digital delivery of music, and it’s about time that they embraced it fully? I do hope so. Sadly, I can’t contribute to their new revenue source as I find those high-pitched beeps trying to sound like a song all too irritating. I accept that’s an age thing. I wonder when – for I’m sure it will happen – we’ll see the first ringtone only hit?