Sunday marked George Harrison’s 75th birthday, and in honor of his birthday I watched The Concert for George and, later in the day, Eric Idle’s The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, a satirical film based on the Beatles’ career that features Harrison in a small role as a journalist. I also shared the wonderfullyContinue reading “I Have Always Thought in the Back of My Mind…”
Category Archives: Music
The Line-Up Revealed
So, the headlining acts at ShamrockFest this year are Sum 41, Shaggy, and Less Than Jake. Umm, what’s the point of this festival, again? I’ll still go; Carbon Leaf, Barleyjuice, Kilmaine Saints, and Scythian will satisfy the Celtic rock itch. But jeez. Those headliners, on St. Patrick’s Day…
A Christmas Song I Love
I love “O Holy Night.” I write that unironically. I’m not a Christian. Heck, I’m even skeptical of the historicity of Jesus, and even if he were historical I doubt there’s any truth to the Nativity story as related in Christian mythology. Yet, in the pantheon of Christmas songs, “O Holy Night,” a song explicitlyContinue reading “A Christmas Song I Love”
Some Things Go On
It’s hard to say that “Walls (Circus)” is a Tom Petty deep cut — it’s the lead song on an album, it’s in a movie — but it feels like a deep cut. No one seems to know it. You never hear it on the radio. I won’t say it’s my favorite Tom Petty song,Continue reading “Some Things Go On”
A Night with Roy Orbison
Earlier in the year WITF, during one of their pledge drives, showed Roy Orbison: A Black & White Night, a concert film shot, obviously, in black and white, that was filmed in September 1987. Orbison’s backing band that night consisted of Elvis’ backing band, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and Bruce Springsteen, while his backing singersContinue reading “A Night with Roy Orbison”
Coldplay: Kaleidoscope
I’m underwhelmed by Coldplay’s new Kaleidoscope EP. A companion, I suppose, to A Head Full of Dreams, Kaleidoscope comprises five songs that feel like odds and ends the band had around, rather than a proper album. The opening track, “All I Can Think About Is You,” is pretty good, though it seems to have beenContinue reading “Coldplay: Kaleidoscope”
A Legend to Last a Teatime
Magnificent
Elbow’s video for their single “Magnificent (She Says)” makes me think of Gandalf’s final line in The Lord of the Rings: “I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are evil.” (Page 1007 in my single-volume hardcover edition.) The song itself is gorgeous, and I have listened to it many times sinceContinue reading “Magnificent”
Fugitive Motel
I could count the number of times I’ve heard Elbow on the radio in the car on one hand. I’m talking actual music tracks, not interviews on NPR or somesuch. Imagine my surprise, then, when I heard “Fugitive Motel” on the radio when I was leaving the grocery store this evening. I was skipping throughContinue reading “Fugitive Motel”
The Beatles Christmas Records
This afternoon at work I listened to the Beatles’ Christmas records. These have never been officially released, so I had to resort to bootleg mp3s. (They’re also on Youtube.) These Christmas records were produced for the official Beatles fan club, and they were issued between 1963 and 1969. Each record ran about six minutes long,Continue reading “The Beatles Christmas Records”