Sportsthoughts (146) – Two great days of sport: Cheltenham, Chelsea v West Ham and England’s Grand Slam

Posted on March 22, 2016 by John S

Yes, two great days of sports viewing, with a decent amount of beer and wine drinking thrown in! Sometimes it just has to be done…

On Friday, just gone, I took the day off work, with a few friends, to enjoy Cheltenham Gold Cup day. For those of you who aren’t British, or horse racing lovers, this is the biggest day of the year for the National Hunt horses, the ones who leap over fences. Cheltenham is a rather posh West Country town which, for four days a year, becomes the home of the biggest racing festival on these Isles. Half of Ireland seems to attend! The whole festival hosts the best horses in all the different races, but the Gold Cup is the biggest race of all – three miles or so over the big fences. Less of a slog than the Grand National, but requiring stamina and speed to win. The best of the best.

I and my friends gave up actually going to Cheltenham a long time ago. The train journey was awful, the crowds overwhelming, the view, except in the best areas, pretty poor. We decided to have a virtual Cheltenham in London, and we have done it ever since, on Gold Cup day. A good breakfast, a few beers, watch the racing in the pub, cocktails early evening and a curry, which we all struggle to eat, to finish things off. Simple pleasures!

This year breakfast was at AquaShard, 32 floors up the iconic Shard building. Excellent full English, though pricey at £29. You are paying for the view. And it is good.

Thought I’d do them in black and white.

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After the Shard it was down to a good old fashioned pub in Borough called the Royal Oak for a couple of pints of Harvey’s Sussex bitter before moving back to home territory in West London. First a pint of the finest London Pride in the pub adjoined to the brewery in Chiswick, the Mawson Arms, where we watched a couple of races; then over to our favourite haunt, Hammersmith, base the Cross Keys, where we watched the races and played a bit of darts.   Lychee Martini in a local Thai restaurant and then that curry. We are easily pleased!

The betting was the usual disaster. You have to plan for that – work out what you are prepared to lose, and don’t go further than that trying to get money back. Treat it as part of the cost of the day; and if you are lucky you get a little bonus. I didn’t get lucky this year. My first three bets say it all: unseated rider, pulled up, fell! The latter was Cue Card in the Gold Cup, who looked poised to win, before crashing into a fence.

You lose and move on…

Saturday started with an unexpected delight. On Friday, my mate DC got a call offering him two tickets to Chelsea v West Ham, lunch included. A raffle prize. Awesome. Chelsea’s hospitality, as I have said before, is really good. Very professional staff, excellent food and drink.

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I was unusually hopeful about West Ham at Stamford Bridge. We are on a good run, with aspirations for a top four place; Chelsea are languishing in mid-table mediocrity, after a disastrous season, by their recent standards. I wasn’t disappointed. West Ham played really well, with Lanzini outstanding in midfield. The “genius” Payet (see previous blog!) was relatively subdued, but it was still great to see him play, watch how he moved all over the pitch. The West Ham midfield is nothing if not fluid.

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Chelsea worked hard, passing a bit awry. But the final 2-2 result was fair, although the late penalty awarded to Chelsea was dubious. It was great though, that West Ham left feeling angry that they had only drawn. We usually get whupped at Stamford Bridge. There is a new confidence at the Boleyn. Great things are possible.

In the evening I was out again, to watch the France v England rugby match at my local in Ealing, the Plough. The Grand Slam on. And we did it, 31-21. It was a bitty game. England were strong, dominating most of the crucial areas of play, and scoring three tries to France’s nil. But a lot of penalties were conceded, which kept on bringing France back into the game. In the end though, another win, and the transformation under Eddie Jones, with almost the same squad that flopped at the World Cup, is complete. Just shows how important good management is.

It’s a fantastic achievement, well above what we all expected. I was hoping for top place, but expecting second, to Wales. England reasserted their power in the forwards, and showed good pace and, sometimes, incision, going forward. Still a bit imprecise at times, but getting better all the time. It feels like, finally, they may take advantage of the flow of promising young players. Every top side, Quins included, has them. If England get it right then the rest of the world in rugby needs to get worried. No guarantee yet that it will happen, but now, it looks more likely. We shall see.

 

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My Top Twenty – Scottish pop tunes!

Posted on March 16, 2016 by John S

This one got sparked off by a recent discussion at work about SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s choices on Desert Island Discs. Mostly Scottish, but that turned out to be quite wide-ranging, many not exactly Scottish. It got me thinking about all the Scottish artists and bands I really like. There are loads. I narrowed them down to twenty for this list, but I had to leave quite a few out with a heavy heart and there will, no doubt, be some I have forgotten!

So here is my Scottish Top Twenty. With nary a bagpipe in sight!

1. Old England – The Waterboys

So I start my Scottish top twenty with a song about England! So typically English, a Scotsman might say. But Mike Scott is a Scotsman and this song is one of the great anthems. Old England is dying, he cries. And it is magnificent, with saxophones blaring. My love for the Waterboys is rooted in their Irish phase – Fisherman’s Blues and Room to Roam – but Old England and Whole of the Moon were the great precursors.

2. Tether – Chvrches

Anyone who reads my blog will know I love Chvrches! The combination of 80s electropop, an indie sensibility and, if you strip the songs down to the melodies and words, a celtic soul. With Lauren Mayberry’s beautiful voice – and look – fronting things up. Thether is one of their many great tunes: it builds and builds and bursts into a magnificent electro peak half way through. A true anthem. Scottish to the core – that combination of melancholy and anthem.

3. The Faith Healer – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

SAHB were my favourite band for a period in the mid-70s, before punk took over. I never lost faith in them even when punk did prevail. Alex Harvey was an extraordinary performer and his band were characters too, especially guitarist Zal Cleminson. I saw them at Leicester de Montford Hall, one of my first gigs. For a while it was the best concert ever. Awesome music and sheer theatre. Faith Healer was one of the classics.

4. Maggie May – Rod Stewart

Rod is a great soul singer, and in the early seventies he combined the wistful celebrations of a song like Maggie May with the raucous rock’n’roll of The Faces. I forgive him everything since because of these amazing few years!

5. Party Fears Two – The Associates

All angst and hyperbole, the Associates took that early 80s grandiloquence and turned it into something sharp and very moving. On the edge.

6. Daddy’s Gone – Glasvegas

I had high hopes for Glasvegas for a moment in the 2000s. The power, the emotion, the look, the layers of sound, made me think that they were The Clash meets Phil Spector, or even Bruce. The next really big thing. It didn’t happen, but this was one of their finest songs. As a father myself, I knew what the words were all about – I kept having those games of football in the park…

7. Just Like Honey – Jesus and Mary Chain

What a great song this is! Featured in one of my favourite ever films, Lost in Translation.                                                                                                                                                             The JMC were all about distortion, feedback, over Beach Boys melodies; but this one eschewed the feedback and headed for a languid Velvet Underground style groove. Entrancing.

8. Can’t Stand My Baby – The Rezillos

A wonderful punk thrash, with a Scottish accent, singing about being uncool!

9. I Never Wanted – Idlewild

Epic guitar, in sequence with the melody. A beautiful song which simply soars.

10.  One World – John Martyn

John Martyn started in a kind of folk music, but always had guitars which took the songs some place else. That really came together on the album One World in late ’77, and the title track was the epitome. The slurred voice, the echoing guitars, the sweet melody… music with few parallels.

11. Sugar Hiccup – Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins came to the fore in the mid-80s.  Shimmering sounds, and Elisabeth Fraser’s beautiful, fragile voice. This track was the best example, for me. Heavenly!

12. I Don’t Want a Lover – Texas

I’ve always had a soft spot for Texas since I saw them play brilliantly in Paris, probably in 1990. Their first album, Southside, came out in 1989, and I Don’t Want a Lover was the leading track. A soulful, urgent piece, with Charlene Spiteri singing with real heart and a touch of the blues.

13. I Travel – Simple Minds

Simple Minds went on to great stadium things like Don’t You Forget About me, but this relentless electro-pop piece from the early 80s remains my favourite.

14. Woke up this Morning – Nazareth

Nazareth were a rasping, rock’n’rolling sort-of-metal band from the early 70s. They had a few hits like Bad Bad Boy and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s This Flight Tonight. (I heard the Nazareth version first!). My favourite track is this rocking tune that involves dead dogs, and hogs! It has warped my sense of the blues…

15. Pick up the Pieces – Average White Band

A mid-80s Scottish soul combo who came up with one of the funkiest instrumentals ever. Even metal fans loved it! Totally irresistible.

16. Neil Jung – Teenage Fanclub

Some of the best indie melodies you could ever wish to hear – from the 90s. This one was off Grand Prix, their best album. Fantastic tune, and a guitar solo which sounded like… Neil Young of course.

17. Rip it Up – Orange Juice

An important song in the development of indie in the 80s. But a funky wonder in its own right. A great example of the growing fusion of black and white sounds and rhythms at that time.

18. Stuka – Primal Scream

I could have picked any number of Primal Scream tracks to illustrate their importance. Screamadelica was the album that symbolised the Indie move into psychedelia and dance. But I love this one off the album Vanishing Point, which is infused with a crazy reggae dub.

19. Into the Valley – The Skids

A punky anthem with a big Scottish sound!

20. The Other Side of the World – KT Tunstall

A heartfelt, soulful, folky sound. Just a song I always come back to. Lovely.

There’s a variety of sounds in this list, but the unifying theme might be something big and heartfelt in the music.  Something sincere and often challenging. Something that fits in with that thing I call celtic soul.

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From Bethnal Green to Elephant and Castle: the language of place, the roots of English music and its twisted offspring

Posted on March 10, 2016 by John S

Two rather different evenings yesterday and today. Last night I was at St John’s Church in Bethnal Green to hear three talks on the Language of Place and some folk music from the Memory Band; tonight it was the irrepressible Fat White Family at the Coronet in Elephant and Castle. East London, South London – out of my comfort zone. I need some West London gigs!

The Language of Place event was organised by Faber Social, a branch of the well-known publisher. The speakers were Nina Lyon, a new name to me, who has just had a book called “Uprooted: On the Trail of the Green Man” published; Ian Sinclair, who writes really interesting books about London and its surrounds, its recesses; and Will Self who writes on the edge. The host described the latter two as writers of psychogeography – I think I know what he means!

Nina Lyon was a bit nervous and spoke fast, but the extracts from her book were engaging, and I liked the concept of pursuing the Green Man, a mythological essence of old Britain, a symbol of the heart of our culture, our environment. Ian Sinclair wrote a book I read a couple of years ago called London Orbital, which chronicled his journey on foot around the M25, the outer London ring road, a monstrous motorway. It was done in stages with different friends. It was a discursive book, full of digressions, occasionally irritating; but fascinating about what lies in those suburban spaces. Last night he spoke with wit and passion about his London, about a walk at night along the length of the London Overground, from Hackney to the West. Odd characters were encountered, night characters, London’s static, invisible people. And someone was taking pictures of pigeon nests, hidden in the brickwork of bridges, with cameras on fishing rods!

And then Will Self. Amazing. He immediately announced he had bad vibes. In this august Anglican Church! Whether it was the modern, rather disconcerting paintings of Jesus’s end or the terrible history of the Bethnal Green tube station, where hundreds of people died in a stampede down the steps during a German bombing raid on World War II, was not entirely clear. His delivery was spaced-out, unpredictable and very striking. And funny. Eventually he read a passage from his book “Umbrella”. It was a one man play as he assumed the accents of his early 20th century London characters. It was compelling.

Must do more of this sort of thing.

The writers were the main attraction for the audience, though my friend Paul had suggested going because of the Memory Band, whose singer is a friend of his. I hadn’t heard them previously, but liked the combination of traditional folk melodies, often instrumentals, and some wistful ballads. I thought the violinist was especially good, creating a real atmosphere of times memorial. Hence the name of the band, I guess. I shall definitely be exploring their recordings.

And then… the raucous, wild, weird, anarchic, rocking Fat White Family. I often describe bands by comparing them with others from the past. I haven’t a clue how to do that with FWF. I suppose Iggy and the Stooges are an influence; maybe Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa too. They took me back a little to my old favourites, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, but really they are like none of these. They are rock’n’roll, twisted out of shape, kicked up the arse, lagered up. There is psychedelia. They do work up a rocking rhythm too – maybe there’s even a bit of dance culture in there.

The singer, Lias Saoudi, looked pretty different to when I saw FWF at Latitude and on the NME Awards tour last year at the Forum in Kentish Town. Resplendent in a baggy white suit and shorter hair. No shirt and the jacket soon came off, and later the shoes and socks. Mercifully not the trousers this time! The lead guitarist, Saul Adamczewski (who has had drug problems), too had shorter hair and even sang something resembling a ballad at the end. With off-kilter guitars of course.

All the favourites, like “Auto Neutron” and ‘Touch the Leather” and recent release “Whitest Boy on the Beach” (great title) were played and there was plenty of moshing at the front. Lias had a good time crowd-surfing, all flailing arms and legs. Yeah, this was raw rock’n’roll. Highly entertaining, but to be be enjoyed in smallish doses at my age, I think. If you gave me the choice of seeing the Memory Band or FWF tomorrow, I fear I would plump for the folkies. Even though I recognise that it is likes of Fat White Family that make rock’n’roll a living, breathing force, even today.

Great to have both though!

And if there is anything I will remember from these two evenings it will be the sheer presence of Will Self as he spoke. A force of nature. The language of time and place…

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Have You Heard? – (72) Erohs Shore

Posted on March 7, 2016 by John S

So, just to to say that one of my blog followers, Resa, put me on to this band, and her partner is involved. But as you’ll know, if you follow this blog, I only write about music I like, and I like this music!

The band haven’t made an album yet, as far as I know, but there is a selection of tracks on Soundcloud, which are well worth listening to. Link here. I really like “Honestly” and “LIM (Love in Motion)” but it is all good stuff. I wouldn’t mind hearing a heavier bass line, because I like that sort of thing, and it would complement the beats and the soulful vocals.

There is a feel of what we used to describe as trip hop back in the 90s. Updated with a modern R&B beat, and singing to match.  So I’m getting a bit of Massive Attack, Portishead. And that is a serious recommendation. But also a band I really liked in the early 90s, called Innocence. I’ve no idea whether Erohs Shore have ever heard them, being Canadian, but they share some DNA. Check out Innocence’s”Belief”, to hear what I mean. Here’s an example, called “Let’s Push It”, which itself is quite heavily influenced by Pink Floyd.

 

So check Erohs Shore out. Where they are heading, I don’t know. But it is a good start.

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Sportsthoughts (145) – Can England win the Grand Slam?

Posted on February 28, 2016 by John S

Three games into the Six Nations. England the only team with a 100% record. So can they do it, can they win the Grand Slam?

The Welsh and French will say no, with games to come. The Scots and Irish will say, please no, anything but…

I never got around to predictions this year, but they would have been: 1. Wales, 2. England, 3. Ireland; rest, who knows?

But England have started well under new coach Eddie Jones and look like real contenders. The forwards are back to being a real power and there is pace and skill out wide. The confidence seems to have returned after the World Cup fiasco.

But the Grand Slam? With Wales so strong? (They drew against Ireland, hence not having that possibility themselves). What could do it? Well, it might just be the phenomenon that is Billy Vunipola. Yesterday, in the 21-10 win over Ireland, he was incredible. The yards he made powering through the Irish defence, was extraordinary. In the first half he made more distance than the entire Irish team!

And yet, in that stat lies the reason why England might blow it. For most of the game, the first half especially, they were so on top, camped in the Irish half, dominating possession. But so many moves broke down at the crucial moment: a misplaced pass, a dropped ball. They should have been out of sight at half time, but were only 6-3 up. It’s a familiar England problem, that lack of precision when it counts. They showed they could do it, for ten minutes in the second half, and they scored two excellent tries. That spell won the game, but they then put themselves under pressure again with another familiar trait: giving away needless penalties. They aren’t unique in this respect, and after all, it is a high-intensity contact sport. People make mistakes, try to get away with things. Both are punished. And the ref yesterday, Raymond Poite of France, who is usually fairly sympathetic to England’s style of play, lost his patience with them, no doubt at all.

If you ask yourself, would New Zealand or Australia have squandered so much possession, such dominance, the question answers itself. There is a way to go.

Still they did win 21-10, and defended very well at the end. I was delighted that Jack Clifford, Quins’ young star, came on and won a vital turnover at the end, which cancelled the building Irish pressure. He will be a permanent fixture in the team soon. And Saracen’s Maro Itoje was almost as awesome as Vunipola, in his first start for England in the second row. Amazing to have Courtney Lawes coming off the bench! England do have strength in depth.

The big collision is on 12 March. England v Wales. Could go either way. The winner will take the Six Nations. If England win, they still have to beat the French in Paris; and no matter how the French are playing, you never know what they’ll do on the day.

A way to go, but can England win the Grand Slam? I say yes!

 

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I Was There is here!

Posted on February 27, 2016 by John S

Eight years in the making, my music book, “I Was There – A Musical Journey”, finally emerges from the printers! This edition isn’t for sale, but I’m working on a version that will be ready for selling soon. So watch this space if you are interested…

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Sportsthoughts (144) – The genius of Dimitri Payet

Posted on February 24, 2016 by John S

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West Ham have a new hero. A midfielder with such skill – and passion – that he ranks with the greats of our club. I’m talking midfield creatives here, so the World Cup 66 trio aren’t involved. We are talking about Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, Paolo di Canio, Joe Cole.

And I’m talking now about Dimitri Payet.

In the summer the club finally got rid of Sam Allardyce as manager. The anti-football, percentage man. Keeps you in the top division, yes, but kills the joy of the game. Of course we all love to win. But football is also about the excitement, the beauty, the creativity; marvelling at superb systems of play but also moments of individual inspiration. Our new manager, Slaven Bilic, understands that, believes it, and is also an ex-West Ham player. He understands and respects the West Ham way, which Big Sam never did.

And Dimitri Payet epitomises that way. The sheer joy of the game. Skill which is a good in itself, as well as a huge contribution to the team. Some of his moves this season have been truly audacious. His free kicks and set pieces generally are so precise, dangerous, that we have confidence that there may be a goal at any moment. And he tracks back, fights hard for the team. The fans have really taken to him. He is the symbol of the new era, the optimism, as we look forward to playing at the Olympic Stadium next season.

I can say that I haven’t been more excited by a West Ham player since the emergence of the young Joe Cole. Sadly he went to Chelsea, had some of the inventiveness knocked out of him to fit in with the Mourinho system, and never really fulfilled his immense potential, although he was still an outstanding player. Payet is a different case. He is 28 already. We bought him from Marseille. He had a bit of a reputation as a bad boy, a bit inconsistent. Neither has been evident at the Irons. He has quickly become the man around which most of the team’s play revolves. When he was injured, early this year, the team dipped, although they did well to hold on to draws, if not wins. Being West Ham, we still have bad games, but more than for a long time, we are bossing other teams – and entertaining. West Ham fans are happy again!

Our big fear, of course, is now that the biggest clubs will come calling, offering to increase his wages hugely. My hope is that, because he is 28 already, they may not be so keen. Also that he will realise that, as the top man at West Ham, and now our best-ever-paid player, he will be central to the team in the way that he could never be at Man Utd, City, Arsenal, Chelsea.

Fingers crossed, because, after two-thirds of the season Dimitri Payet is already a legend!

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Influences and passions : Chvrches, The Staves, Genghar… and Elton John

Posted on February 21, 2016 by John S

In London yesterday it rained, then rained, then rained some more. I used it as a reason to start editing the quotes out of my book, so it’s easier to publish commercially, and just to veg out a bit, watching music videos and listening to the musical choices of some of my favourite artists. The alternative was watching Arsenal draw 0-0 with Hull in the FA Cup…

The book editing isn’t quite as painful as I expected: even one of the key early chapters, on my discovery of Bruce Springsteen, survived the hatchet job quite easily. I reckon I could have something ready for publication within a month or so. Meanwhile the uncut version arrives from the printers this Thursday!

Facebook’s a good route into some excellent music. First I came across a video, about 20 minutes long, about Chvrches’ appearance in Central Park, New York, last summer. This really showed what an accomplished and popular band Chvrches have become. Deservedly so: they’ve got great music and have made it the old-fashioned way. Touring, touring, touring. And they’ve got Lauren Mayberry. She talks in the video with real passion about the band’s connection with their fans. The cynic would say, who doesn’t? But you could see in her eyes how much she meant it. The video is at the link below.

http://www.baeblemusic.com/concert-video/central-park-summer-stage/chvrches.html

I then moved, again via Facebook, onto a podcast by The Staves – Emily, Jessica and Camilla – just talking about and playing their favourite music. It was rooted in what we now call Americana – going back to Crosby, Nash, Stills and Young – and of course, singer-songwriters, Joni Mitchell to the fore. But there were some interesting leftfield choices, like Jai Paul, too. They finished with a couple of things that could easily make a podcast of my own: David Bowie’s “Starman” and the rousing anthem that is The Waterboy’s “The Whole of the Moon”. It was good to hear them talking about their influences in this way: relaxed, together, no agenda. It’s a long broadcast – getting on for a couple of hours – but something to play in the background as you do something else, like writing.

In Residence: The Staves

Also on Spotify was a playlist put together by the lead guitarist in Genghar, John Victor. It was guitar music, not surprisingly, and he selected some real gems. One I hadn’t heard before was a rousing thrash called “Monster Hospital” by Metric. There were a couple of Foals efforts – always a good choice – and some stirring stuff from the likes of Sonic Youth and Fugazi. Anoter highlight was a brutal version of King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man” by Ty Segall’s band, Fuzz. If you like piledriving guitars, this band is for you. The only thing I found a bit grating was The Mars Volta. I’ve given them a try before, but they are just too much for me. Too much going on in no particular direction. Sort of prog meets hardcore.

Songs to play on guitar

Finally, the first show in a box set I bought recently. Inspired by reading Elvis Costello’s autobiography – you may have read my recent blog about it – I got both series of his American talk show, “Spectacle”. It did show on Channel 4 in the UK, but somehow it passed me by completely. In the show, Elvis interviews musicians mostly, not about latest releases or controversies, but about drives them, musically. The first interview was with Elton John, who is a huge music buff. I knew that, but it was fascinating to hear him wax lyrical about some of the big influences on him and his music: notably the pianist Leon Russell and the singer-songwriter Lauro Nyro. And Elvis and Elton sang a few things together. I loved it. It’s a bit of a muso thing, but that suits me down to the ground. The next show on DVD 1 is, would you believe it, Bill Clinton. I believe the saxophone makes an appearance! And Series 2 begins with two shows featuring Bruce Springsteen. I may just have to skip to them.

There’s loads of clips of the various shows on You Tube if this sounds interesting to you.

Not a bad way to spend a rainy Saturday. The big excitement today is picking up a new turnable, so I can get back to playing my vinyl records, including the Disclosure album my girls bought me for Christmas.

Geek heaven!

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Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink, by Elvis Costello

Posted on February 14, 2016 by John S

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I’ve just finished reading Elvis Costello’s autobiography, “Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink”. The book got mixed reviews when it came out. Good in parts, seemed to be a theme. Some critics objected to the length, the detail, the supposed name-dropping.

None of those things matter a damn to me. In fact I welcomed all three.

I think this is the best musical autobiography I have yet read, though I have high hopes that Bruce Springsteen’s, which comes out in September, will surpass it.

Elvis has always been generous in describing how his songs came about. The sleeve notes for his reissued CDs a while back were brilliant. So full of insight. The book is the same.

I’ll admit I’m biased. I love Elvis Costello’s music. I have since the very first time I heard “Less than Zero” in 1977. Elvis has the distinction of being the only artist whose music I’ve followed avidly from his first record right through to the present. Even Bruce doesn’t meet that criterion, because I only really discovered him big time with the release of “Darkness on the Edge of Town” in 1978. I admit I haven’t always bought some of the most recent records straightaway, but I still always catch up in the end. And I’m always glad I did.

“Unfaithful Music” is a sprawling, wayward book. It doesn’t follow a chronological narrative, although his early life is mostly covered in the first third, and likewise the latter end of his career. I think that had it been chronological, it could have been an even better read. It would have been easier to make the connection between his personal development (and his troubles) and the music he was making at the time. But it only takes a bit of imagination to do the work yourself. And I can see how some of the reflections are easier to make and fit in with the more random approach.

Elvis writes with passion and wistfulness about his grandparents, especially his “Papa’s” experience of the First World War, his life as a musician on the transatlantic cruise ships, and how the talkie movies as well as recession, began to undercut his career afterwards. He writes with even more passion and insight about his father, singer and trumpeter Ross McManus, who played a leading role in the Joe Loss Orchestra for many years. Ross was not faithful to Elvis’s mother, and they split when Elvis was still young. But they remained close. So much of what Elvis distils in his own music was learnt from his father.

Music runs through his family. His mother was extremely knowledgeable about music and worked in record stores in Liverpool and London. Jazz was her speciality.

Every aspect of Elvis’s musical journey is covered in the jagged narrative. Of course I loved the descriptions of the making of the early classics, which are especially important to me; but as I’ve stayed with him, it is all fascinating. I’m interested in which guitars he used at different times and what sort of sound he was trying to achieve. I enjoy learning how the lyrics came together. It’s enlightening to learn of his experiences working with Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan (live), George Jones, Burt Bacharach and so many others.

Elvis is also nothing if not self-critical – not only about his music, but his personal life. He is bitingly honest about how he let the women he loved down so often, how he came close to messing his life up completely at the height of his success. He now seems at ease with the world, married to jazz singer Diana Krall with two young sons. I suppose it’s called growing up! It makes it easier to write about all the mistakes of the past I guess.

If you aren’t an Elvis Costello fan, you might struggle a bit with the book because of the lack of that time narrative and the sheer detail that he goes into about the music at times. If you are a fan, then that detail is fantastic!

There are so many quotable passages, from his memories of his first confession in the Catholic Church, how no type of music is superior to any other (I so agree), the creation of the great song “Shipbuilding”, to the wonder of working with the musical genius of Burt Bacharach. I’ll just leave you with one, from near the end of the book:

The danger of regarding any point in the past as the golden age is that you forget there were just as many crooks, crackpots and idiots around then, and just as many terrible records.

We only recall the ones we love.

Wisdom.

Posted in Art, books, theatre, cinema | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Applewood Road at the Exmouth Market Centre, Clerkenwell, 11 February 2016

Posted on February 12, 2016 by John S

I went to a concert on Thursday night just gone in Exmouth Market Centre. I guess you’d call it Clerkenwell. Not an area I know particularly well, but Exmouth Market looked cool – loads of restaurants, cafés and bars.

The concert was by Applewood Road. They were singing songs from their first and maybe only album, also called “Applewood Road”. The singers were Emily Barker, Amy Speace and Amber Rubarth. Emily’s music, of course, you’ll know I love, if you follow this blog. Amy and Amber were new to me. Both are based in Nashville now, though Wikipedia says they are from Baltimore and California. Amy referred to New York too.

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(CD cover, generously signed tonight by the three singers tonight. Left to right:Amy Speace, Amber Rubarth, Emily Barker. Photo by Stacie Huckeba).

They met in a Nashville cafe, brought together by mutual friends. They hit it off immediately and started making music together the next day. A one off track, Applewood Road, was well-received and that encouraged them to make an album. Which, tonight, they shared with us.

They were sensational. They each played four of their own songs in turn before coming together to sing songs from the album – and at least one beside. Emily went first. She started with a song on the piano, dedicated to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, sometimes regarded as the founder of rock’n’roll. That was followed by an unaccompanied song. Sung beautifully, of course. Then another new piece called “Over My Shoulder”. Finally we got “Disappear”, which was on her second album “Despite the Snow”. She has a new look too: short dark hair and quite a 60’s style outfit. Thinking of those singers who combined soul and country at that time? I was thinking Dusty Springfield for some reason.

Amber Rubarth was next . Lovely, simple songs, beautifully played and sung. I couldn’t help thinking of Jessica from the Staves. And finally Amy Speace. She told some good stories about a catholic girl from the North East locating to Nashville. She sang a moving song called Ghosts, which told the tale of her grandmother who waited 18 years to marry a man she met when they both worked on a passenger ship. He a Southern Baptist, she a Northern Catholic. She had vowed to look after her ailing parents until they died. 18 years.

Together, as Applewood Road, they were awesome. All the songs were new, but they immediately felt much-loved. They shared the guitar and singing duties. Emily played some banjo and harmonica. The harmonies were fantastic. Engrossing from start to finish. And, as well as songs from the album, they sang a truly beautiful version of REM’s “Losing my Religion”, which I think Amber has recorded previously. Unforgettable.

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I had to think of the Staves, although their backgrounds and personalities and experience are quite different. But there is a shared love of American folk, country and soul – and those harmonies.

I don’t think “Applewood Road” is a long term project. They are doing a short tour of southern England and a few dates in the US, I think. But this is such a great start that I hope they give it another go.

Posted in Music - concerts, lists, reflections | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments