Today’s tune is an easy one, since tomorrow is the first of July.
Some songs are perfect for evoking certain feelings, or firing off memories. It’s something to do with the way music slips its way inside you.
I guess “July”, by Mundy, is plain and obvious about its summertime intentions, but it delivers everything it promises. This is a song that was written to be played in the car, with the sun shining and the windows down.
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I’m not completely sure of this exact crop, or the rough and ready processing, but you can see what I was going for.
And a little bit more:
I have things to do, now, so I’ll step away from those links and leave them for you.
One of the bands that was on the edge of my awareness when I was a teenager was Toad the Wet Sprocket. I had a few albums on cassette and MiniDisc, and most of those got lost in one of the house moves over the last ten years.
My favourite was their fifth, Coil, which had a lot going for it. I don’t even have a copy of it any more. That’s a real shame, as I remember loving it. (I think my yearbook quote on leaving school was taken from a track on it, too. It was very earnest.)
“Crazy Life” is a nice slice of cheerful guitar, and its opening riff has ended up being one of my flat-picking warmups. It’s very satisfying in its simplicity, and I’ve been known to play it over and over again, letting my fingers do their thing while my brain does something else. There’s something about the rhythm and the simple melody that emerges that I find very relaxing.
I think the song also featured on the soundtrack to Empire Records. I really should find a copy of that film, too.
(PAW2009 25/52)
Late, today. I got a bit distracted by events.
We were at a wedding on Friday, our first with the wee man in tow. It went alright, I think, and the day as a whole was great. The bride and groom were driven off from the church in a Riley Elf belonging to a friend. I had a look around it during the afternoon. There’s a lot more room in that wee car than you’d think, and it was a well-looked after example.
I think that’ll be our last wedding until my brother’s in the autumn.
Last week, in a roundabout way, Jonny reminded me of a little EP called Bathroom Floor.
Before he made his name as Duke Special, Ulster lad Pete Wilson performed under a few different names, one of which was Booley. This record is of that era, a bit of rocky pop between his earlier electronic- and synth-heavy tunes and the present music hall style.
“Alright” is the anthem, the track that stands out for me. With a teenager’s yet-innocent (but not altogether naive) ranting against all the Northern Ireland rhetoric of the late 90s, I find there’s something stirring about it.
Even ten years ago, Wilson could write a song. The other really stand out tune on Bathroom Floor is “God On Your Side”, which is even more topical now than then. It’s chilling.
The EP had its track list rejigged and added to, and was re-released as a full album. Unfortunately, I can’t find either to stream anywhere online.
(While I’m here, anyone remember DBA?)
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Just a few this time round. I’ve been doing much less random surfing around lately. I wonder why?
There you have it. A few more things to keep you diverted on a Thursday lunchtime.
It’s time for a little guitar heroism.
Extreme are a hair-rock band best known for that acoustic ballad often murdered by teenaged boys (I did my part. Did you?), “More Than Words”. Five years later, their fourth album, Waiting For The Punchline included this brilliant little acoustic instrumental.
As in instrumental.
Nuno Bettencourt has fast, fast fingers of the kind that aren’t often matched to such a melodic style. On “Midnight Express” he gets the speed out of an acoustic guitar by — if I remember correctly — tuning down a step to slacken the strings off a bit. That also adds to the nice percussive tone of the track.
This one I didn’t even try to learn how to play, although a guy I was at school with did make a credible stab at it.
On the album recording, after music ends, you can hear a very self-satisfied laugh. Fair enough :D
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My father-in-law trains gundogs and competes with them in working tests and field trials. (I think the difference is that the tests are run with training dummies while the trials are at an actual shoot, with real birds.)
On Saturday we had a grand day out at a test just through Bellaghy. It was a much nicer afternoon up there than we had morning in Lisburn, at a nice wee spot by the Bann. I didn’t even know where Bellaghy was until we drove through it to get there.
This was Paddy, one of the other competitors.