Sportsthoughts (48) – Europe wins the Ryder Cup!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by John S

Well, what about that?….

Photo from Google Images/ www1.skysports.com

(Apologies to American readers for the eurocentricity of this review, but you know how it is).

What a story!

Going into the singles on day three of the Ryder Cup, the US were leading 10-6. Totally on top. Oozing confidence. Those chants of USA, USA! ringing round the course. Surely they would reaffirm their dominance and extend their lead on day three, the singles.  The Europeans, in recent times seen as strongest in the team format, with the US coming on strong in the individual battles, looked done for. There was just a sliver of hope towards the end of day two, as first Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia , then Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy won their fourball contests against Woods/Stricker and Dufner/Zac Johnson respectively.  Poulter had become the heart and soul of the European team, pumped up to the max as he birdied the last five holes, to take Europe into the lead for the first time in the match on the 17th hole. An amazing feat.

Photo from Google Images/dailytelegraph.co.uk

After a deflating Sunday afternoon at the Stoop, watching Harlequins lose for the first time this season, against a grimly efficient – and deadly dull – Saracens team, I settled onto the sofa at about 5pm, ready for a marathon session. To assuage my conscience, I assembled an IKEA stool for one of my daughters , finishing it only after having to take most of it apart two-thirds through, as I’d put two wooden supports the wrong way round on the first attempt. Lesson: multi-tasking not advised when assembling IKEA furniture!

From the off, something felt good about the Europeans. Luke Donald was at his metronomic best. Such an easy, economic style. He was moving swiftly ahead of one of the American heroes, Bubba Watson. Ian Poulter was in a ding dong battle with Keegan Bradley, another of the US stars of the first two days. Rory McIlroy was  looking good too, notwithstanding the fact that he almost missed the start, and needed a police escort to get to Medinah, 11 minutes before tee off time. Some dubious excuse about thinking the tee off time of 12.25 Eastern  time was actually central time. He’d have been slaughtered by the press if he’d lost his match. Instead it has become one of the happy highlights of the final day. Fourth off was a real quality encounter: the mighty Phil Mickelson against Justin Rose.  Justin kicked off well, then Phil was looking strong, but Justin was hanging on in there.

Luke Donald Luke Donald of Europe plays a bunker shot on the fifth hole during the Singles Matches for The 39th Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club on September 30, 2012 in Medinah, Illinois.

Photo from Google Images/Zimbio.com

At five Scottish veteran Paul Lawrie started surprisingly well against Brad Snedeker.  He hit one amazing chip out of the rough into the hole to go 1 up at hole 4. At hole 9, he got an eagle to go 3 up. Wow, this was beginning to look exciting.  Still most likely a US win, because there was a big block in the middle where the Americans looked to be on top, but at least the Europeans would be able to say they’d given it a good shot.

And so the action, and the scores, ebbed and flowed. There were few matches where one player was dominant. Donald, Lawrie, Westwood, but no-one else. Of course there were some amazing shots, some outrageously good putts. A special kind of tension, different to the normal strokeplay golf, where it’s every man for himself.  The responsibility to the team, and the partisan crowd, give it an atmosphere like no other golf tournament. Raucous and raw. The nerves must really jangle and you could see that in some of the wayward shots.  So many going into the bunkers, a few dropping into the water – there is lots of water at Medinah. But the recoveries, and some of the putting…. awesome!

As the event reached a climax, something strange was happening. There was a lot of blue on the scorecard. Blue being Europeans in the lead.  Still that block of red in the middle, but thinning out, often back to the white A/S – all square. Right at the back of the proceedings, Tiger Woods was NOT crushing Francesco Molinara, as might have been expected. The lead was mostly with Molinari.  It seemed odd, Tiger being last out.  Captains usually do have someone good on the last play, just in case it goes down to the wire, but it didn’t feel right for Tiger not to be in the thick of those early battles. Throughout the contest, Tiger seemed to be a bit of an afterthought. A few great moments, but overall a little subdued, and even left out of the foursomes on the second day. Unprecedented. The new heroes were Bubba, and Keegan and Webb.

And then the matches began to be won and lost.  Luke Donald, four up for ages, withstood a late charge by Bubba Watson, and won the match on the 17th, 2 &1. Paul Lawrie, fifth out, was second in, a crushing 5&3 winner. Ian Poulter went on another of his hot streaks late on, and came out on top, 2 up. Rory McIlroy completed the job against Simpson, 2&1. And in maybe the most exciting match of all, the pivotal game, Justin Rose birdied the last two holes –  the 17th an immense putt, applauded by the ever-gracious Mickelson – and snuck past the great American, 1 up at the last. This was the moment when you really began to believe. The first five out – all blue… could it happen?

It still felt like the Americans would sneak it – the two Johnsons, Zac and Dustin, beat McDowell ( a disappointing Ryder Cup for him) and Colsaerts (who didn’t have too much in his trousers after all) to restore some balance.  But Sergio Garcia grabbed a late victory over Jim Furyk, and Lee Westwood, almost in the shadows, had a solid 3&2 victory over Matt Kuchar. Dufner got one back for the Americans against Hanson.  But slowly, imperceptibly, Europe started to look on for more than dignified defeat. It came down to the last two pairs, down to the wire… where Tiger was poised to do the job.

11th match, 18th hole, Martin Kaymer, the German with a five foot putt to halve the hole and win the match against Steve Stricker. Out of form this weekend… but he’s German, they are good at penalties, this is like penalties. He strokes the ball, it rolls slowly towards the hole.  It’s in the hole!  

(Hey, see how long I resisted that phrase).

Photo from Google Images/thetimes.co.uk

Kaymer the hero, the Ryder Cup retained. Woods and Molinari all square with one to go.  If Woods won it would be 14-14.

And so it came down to the last hole in the last match.  Woods with a fairly short putt to win the match and tie the Ryder Cup. Tiger Woods. End of story. The ball drifted wide. He missed! Molinara with a four footer to halve the match, to win the whole thing for Europe… tension mounting. And then, Tiger gave him a gimme! Sportsmanlike isn’t the word. Admirable, but in the circumstances, reckless.  Molinari could easily have missed that one. Granted the US couldn’t win, but they could have drawn.  Heads held that bit higher. All square after a mighty battle.  But no, Tiger conceded. Withdrew from the fray.  Dejected. Would the super-competitive Tiger of old have contemplated such an action? An admirable act of respect for the European team. In keeping with the traditions that golf likes to pride itself on.  But man, this was the Ryder Cup!

Photo from Google Images/13wmaz.com

And so the celebrations began. Poulter to the fore – Europe’s man of the tournament. The captain, Jose Maria Olazabal, highly emotional, remembering his old friend, the great Seve Ballesteros, who died this year. The most exciting golfer I ever watched, a man who could conjure the wildest of escapes from the craziest of positions, and the man who revived the Ryder Cup, made it a contest again.

They were all saying it.

Seve, this one is for you…

Photo from Google Images/aussiegolfer.net

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Sportsthoughts (47) – Ryder Cup Day One

Posted on September 29, 2012 by John S

Just spent the last three hours vegging on the sofa watching the USA whup Europe in the fourballs. Only real resistance was from Belgian Nicholas Colsaerts of Belgium, who hits the ball further than anyone else and putted magnificently.  His partner, Lee Westwood, the great Lee Westwood, just kept him company. Together they won the only point for Europe in the afternoon. The US took three and are 5-3 up after day one.  Could have been worse.

Great quote from Colsaerts afterwards: “You’ve got to go with what’s in your pants”. I think this may have been Belgian-English in the spur of the moment! I think he meant you’ve got to give it all you’ve got… or maybe you’ve got to have balls. I think he may find that one sticks to him!

From what I saw, Europe will have a job coming back. Phil Mickelson hit some superb shots and his partner Keegan Bradley (shouldn’t that be Bradley Keegan?) was awesome. Mickelson said awesome three times in a short post-match interview.  So I guess it was. Tiger Woods looked serious in the last few holes and almost clawed the game back from Colsaerts and Westwood.  Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson (what’s with these names?) trashed Lawrie and Hanson of Europe. The Americans just looked much better.  But why did captain Olazabal leave out Ian Poulter and Luke Donald in the afternoon? Seemed odd, but I guess you have to give everyone in the team a game if you want them firing in the singles on Sunday.

Golf’s not really my game.  Mainly because I am rubbish at it. Occasionally I can hit a great shot and it all seems so easy.  Occasionally a twenty foot putt will glide into the hole. But mostly it’s scuffing along the fairway and grotesquely misjudging the greens for another three or four putt nightmare. And I only play two or three times a year, two of which are with an annual reunion with friends in the chill of November. See my grim recall from last year here.

So watching the best players does fill me with awe.  The US Masters and the British Open have always been on the BBC, so we live and breathe those for a total of eight days in the year. Otherwise, golf doesn’t really register in a big way until the Ryder Cup comes around every two years.  That has got bigger and bigger over the years, as the teams are now so evenly matched. And it’s fascinating watching sportsmen who are usually the ultimate in self obsession transform (or not) into team players. The pressure is immense, even more so than usual, because if you are playing badly you are letting down more than yourself. The shift in mindset, at this elite level, must be hard for some. (Tiger Woods seeming to be one).

The answer is obviously a few beers and a bit of bonding beforehand. Judging by the bellies, one or two of the Brits are quite good at that. Don’t know about the rest.

So the next two days will be fun, as long as the US don’t stretch their lead too far in the next sessions of foursomes and fourballs. We need it to come down to the wire in the singles. That’s what makes the brand ultimately.

Come on you Euros!

(Not often we say that)

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Sportsthoughts (46) – Defending a Fish Supper

Posted on September 26, 2012 by John S

So “Big Sam” Allardyce was angry as his – my – team, West Ham, crashed out of the Capital One League Cup, losing 4-1 at home to Wigan. Wigan! You bet he was angry – with the team of course. The weakened team – 9 changes from the last Premier League game. Team selection by… Sam Allardyce. Rubbish defending… they can’t come knocking on my door complaining about not playing now…etc, etc.

And…

We couldn’t defend a fish supper tonight.

Quoi?

Now I know what he really means.  The defence was so poor it couldn’t have defended a really easy thing to defend… like a fish supper. Never mind a goal attempt by the fearsome Wigan reserves (yes, they put out a second team too). But the choice of metaphor was intriguing.

That got me thinking, how easy would it be to defend a fish supper? Under what circumstances would you find yourself in the position of defending a fish supper? Here are the circumstances I can think of:

1. Fending off an attempt by someone outside the chippie to steal your fish and chips. Hard or easy depends on how big and threatening they are. Quite likely to be HARD, especially after the pubs close.

2. Defending said purchase to a strict vegan environmentalist, who would oppose eating a fish supper both on principle and on the empirical grounds that cod stocks in the North Sea are rapidly dwindling. HARD.

3. Justifying the meal to the healthy eaters who would cite the batter on the fish and the existence of chips as a cause of obesity, heart disease, and so on.  HARD.

4. Explaining to your kids that McDonalds was shut so you couldn’t get burgers and chips, but fish is much healthier anyway. Quite HARD.

5.  Justifying eating out at a really posh and expensive fish restuarant – in the evening – when you could have just gone for a curry. Depends whether you can afford it. NEUTRAL.

Have you got any other examples?  Do leave them in comments!

But my conclusion is that defending a fish supper can be hard. Probably harder than keeping out the Wigan reserve attack.  So Sam’s got his metaphors in a twist.  Or maybe a pickle.

What’s worse is that he was lambasting some of the young lads who could be West Ham’s future if he gives them the chance in the long term. Jordan Spence,  James Tomkins, Dan Potts – all playing in the Hammers’ defence last night. Doing their best. Is he saying don’t knock on my door to them?

I hope not.

Meanwhile, given this fishy theme, let us remember the finest of maritime metaphors uttered by a football man.  Of course it is Eric Cantona.

When seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea…

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Have You Heard? – (22) How the Clash and the SOS Band, via Beats International, led to Professor Green

Posted on September 26, 2012 by John S

A journey through sound…

Still on that Clash reggae trip  – another of the great tracks off “London Calling” is The Guns of Brixton.

A bit of Clash bravado, but Paul Simenon contributes a menacing vocal and the bass line is just one of the best. So good it led to….

But not just yet.

First, in the 80s soul/dance sphere, one of the great tracks was Just be Good to Me by the SOS Band. From 1983, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, no less.

The twelve inch single version ran to nearly ten minutes.  I’ve included a shorter version here.  It’s almost rock, with the strident rhythms, the chorus – and the cover! But the voice – Mary Davis – is pure soul. It was a disco anthem.

Norman Cook, ace DJ, Fat Boy Slim, took the bass line from “Guns Of Brixton”, the melody from “Just be Good To Me”, threw in a bit of his own dub and rap, and some Ennio Morricone western sounds and came up with the brilliant single Dub be Good to Me, in 1990, under the name of Beats International. Lindy Layton on vocals. I bought the twelve inch and loved it then, and I love it now!

And then, twenty-odd years later, London rapper and soulboy, Professor Green, took inspiration from “Dub Be Good To Me”, and maybe all three songs, and gave us Just Be Good to Green. Lily Allen on vocals.

The culmination of our journey and a recent hit, so let’s watch the video too.

Four fantastic tunes, one symphony of reggae, rap, soul, dance and pop, spanning 32 years.

Fusion!

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University College, Oxford, in the Autumn Sunshine

Posted on September 23, 2012 by John S

I was a student at University College between 1977 and 1980. The era of punk and new wave! I studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. The subject generally gets the blame for most things that go wrong in Britain these days, as half of our Prime Ministers did the same. Oh well, I enjoyed it and it has stood me in good stead throughout my career in the private and public sector.

When you are a student – or at least when I was a student – you have so much to keep you amused and engaged that you don’t necessarily appreciate your surroundings. Even when they are as magnificent as they are in Oxford. When I go back now, I always think, wow, what a privilege to have been at Oxford, to have been surrounded by all this beauty. Why didn’t it bowl me over at the time?

This weekend I was in Oxford, at the College, for a Gaudy. The word derives from Latin (of course) and essentially means enjoyment or merry-making, a feast. The Gaudy is a get together of a number of years of student intake, in this case people who started between 1975 and 1979. There were about 130 people there. A great opportunity to catch up with people who you may not have seen for ten or twenty, or even thirty, years. This is mostly good! We had a series of gatherings, and just ate and drank a lot, in our penguin suits.

The grouping of years meant that this was a bit of a male occasion, as the College didn’t admit women until 1979. Most Oxford colleges were single sex until then, when the majority changed their ways. Others followed a bit later. We were reminded last night that the first intake of women comprised 29 out of 300-odd undergraduates. I think it is now evenly split. Of the 29, 10 were there last night.

It was a beautiful Autumn day, crisp and sunny.  I found a space around 4.30 to nip round the College and environs to take a few photos. To appreciate those surroundings that never quite made it into my consciousness, other than in a vague way, when I was studying here in the late seventies.

Not a lot has changed and here are a few of the shots I took yesterday.

The Chapel, through the Master’s garden. (The Master being the head of the College, effectively the Chairman. Currently Sir Ivor Crewe).

From the Master’s Lodgings, a view into the Radcliffe Quad.

The Radcliffe Quad.

Views through to the main Quad.

The main Quad.

View of Univ from  the High Street.

Merton Street is out of the back of the College. Home to Merton College and Corpus Christi.  Also where I lived in my first year – in the pink building below.

Logic Lane (sounds like something from Harry Potter, but massively predates it of course) runs through the College grounds and is a public path for most of the day. Views from both ends.

Looking into the High Street we see across to Queen’s. Always a big rival in sport. The local derby!

The Gaudy reminded me, once again, how lucky I was to be able to study at Oxford and in particular, at Univ. It has shaped my life, and I am so grateful for the learning and experience and friendships I took from those three years.

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Have You Heard? – (21) “Revolution Rock” by the Clash… and Danny Ray

Posted on September 21, 2012 by John S

I’ve been playing a bit of Clash reggae this week.  Never fails to lift you up. Some of the best music ever, in my world. My Have you Heard 3 is a tribute to some of that music.

“Revolution Rock” is up there with the best of Clash reggae. Pure celebration, with punching horns, a thudding bassline, a hint of dub and Joe Strummer in fine voice, calling us to arms. It’s off “London Calling” which is a candidate for best album in the world, ever. The moment when the Clash embraced the history of rock’n’roll.

 

But it wasn’t an original. That was by Danny Ray. Not an artist I know much about. From Jamaica, spent a lot of time in England, and best known in the reggae world as a producer. Just listen to his version of Revolution Rock. From 1976.  Simpler than the Clash’s and with that elastic guitar sound that reminds me of Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves” (also covered by the Clash, of course).

Danny Ray

I’ve got this track on a compilation called “Revolution Rock: A Clash Jukebox”, which may have been a freebie from a music magazine in the first place. Or maybe it was Trojan records.  Lots of songs either that the Clash covered or were inspired by. Anyway my mate Osama Rahman put a copy my way. It has original versions of other great Clash reggae tunes like “Armagideon Time”, “Pressure Drop” and  “Junco Partner” (which wasn’t even reggae). As well as bizarre interludes like Anthony Newley singing “Pop Goes the Weasel”.

Big up to the Big Oz!

Everybody get off your seats… and rock to the brand new beat!

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A visit to the Poble Espanyol, Barcelona

Posted on September 16, 2012 by John S

If you are in Barcelona and fancy a few hours of tranquility and lovely architecture, I can recommend the Poble Espanyol, up in the hills – Montjuic to be precise – overlooking the city.

I went there with our friends, John and Anita during our recent holiday.  My wife, Kath, got to stay with the kids in Calagogo. But she got the guitar concert the night before in a lovely mountain village called Pals! The five teenagers we had between us preferred the beach, swimming pool, sleeping, hanging around the houses and the beach parties. Fair enough. But one of us had to hang around with them just in case.

The Poble Espanyol was built in 1929 for the Barcelona International Exhibition. It’s a life size display of architectural styles from around Spain. It was so popular during the exhibition that it was decided to keep it going – the original intention was to dismantle it after the exhibition finished.

I think they made a good call there.  It really is a relaxing and intriguing place. Many of the buildings now have shops or cafes and restaurants on the ground floor. Arts and crafts and some very nice food and drink. You are spoilt for choice.

Here are a few photos.

This (below) is where we had lunch. A lovely cafe called Casa Arribes, serving food and wine from Arribes del Duero,  a region next door to Portugal. We had a tasting menu which was just delicious!  The red wines of the region are powerful, aromatic. Pirita and Terrazgo were the ones we tasted. Made from grapes unique to the region – one, I think, called San Juan. There was a lovely tangy white as well.

This one’s from the start of the visit, when we stopped for a quick refreshment. Yours truly in the pink shirt. Drinking Coke!

Maybe not the priority if you are only briefly in Barcelona, but if you have a bit of time definitely worth a visit.

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Have You Heard? – (20) “If Not For You” by Bob Dylan, Olivia Newton-John… and what they spawned!

Posted on September 15, 2012 by John S

I was listening to my iPod on shuffle tonight as I cooked dinner, and on came “If Not For You” by Bob Dylan. It’s from one of his post motorbike crash country albums of the late sixties/ early seventies, “New Morning”. It’s a nice song, not amazing, but good. But it reminded me that I first heard it sung by none other than Olivia Newton-John, an Australian folk singer who went on to greater things as the co-star of the film “Grease” with John Travolta. She also sang “Take Me Home Country Roads”, which became a bit of a Euro-disco hit in recent times. Bryan Ferry sang ‘If Not For You’ on his Dylan covers album, “Dylanesque”, too. Sadly there is no record of him covering “Take Me Home Country Roads” in a reggae/dance style!

So many songs spinning through my head!

Starting with Bob’s original If not for You from “New Morning”.

But I first heard the song as a twelve year old on Top of the Pops, by the lovely Olivia. Steel guitars to the fore.  Influenced I think by another version, by George Harrison. This video is from Australia, but it’s similar to  Top of the Pops.

A few years later Olivia was transformed, in “Grease”.  At the time it seemed one of the most unlikely makeovers. But a good one!

Before “Grease” her other big hit was ‘Take Me Home Country Roads”.

This was originally by John Denver. I am not going there! But I did like the fact that it was eventually turned into a Eurodisco song, which I heard on the beach at my favourite place, Calagogo, on the Costa Brava, in Spain. By the Hermes House Band, who I think are from Holland.

The remix is even better!

So many songs spawned by a snippet of Bob Dylan! Let’s at least end on another cover of ‘If Not For You”, this time by the front man of Roxy Music, the very great Bryan Ferry.

If we had a vote, I think I know which of these videos would win though…

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My Top Ten – Roxy Music

Posted on September 13, 2012 by John S

Roxy Music are one of the great British bands of the 70s – and 80s. There has never been anyone else like them. When they burst on the scene in the early seventies, I, as a young teenager, didn’t really know what to make of them. They were weirder than David Bowie and almost as as good.  (It was the time of Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane). Their music was a melange of glam rock, prog, jazz, cabaret, rock’n’roll, psychedelia, just about everything. And they looked and dressed like no-one else.  Absurd and cool at the same time.

The original band was Bryan Ferry on warbling vocals, Phil Manzanera on guitar, Brian Eno on synthesisers and general weirdness, Andy Mackay on sax and woodwind, Phil Thompson on drums and Graham Simpson on bass. ( The latter didn’t last long even though he was a founder member. Bassists always came and went in Roxy). Ferry was the main songwriter and grew quickly to dominate the band, especially after Eno left, after the first two albums. We will always wonder what would have happened if Eno had stayed, as he seemed always to be the most radical, sonically.  But we shouldn’t underestimate the creativity and radicalism of Ferry.

The music has stood the test of time. The seventies music still sounds like nothing else, just as it did when it was first released. There was a second wind in the eighties, when Roxy moved with the times, and incorporated a smoother, slicker, atmospheric, soulful sound, most evident on “Flesh and Blood” and “Avalon”. It was very much the Bryan Ferry show after the creative burst of the first half of the seventies.  The days of Brian Eno laying down the crazy synths sounds , and guitarist Phil Manzanera inventing new noises were over. But a new generation in the eighties loved the remade and remodelled Roxy.  A couple of years ago I went to see a reunited Roxy (sans Eno) at the London O2.  To the delight of me and my friends they started with a whole load of seventies classics.  They went down pretty well with the crowd. But then, when they launched into the eighties, a whole new part of the crowd – and I have to admit, more – went crazy.  This was their Roxy. To be filed with Dire Straits, Sting and Phil Collins. Hmmm….

So this is my Ten. I can’t help but concentrate on the seventies classics. They are the ones that marked out Roxy Music as one of the most distinctive bands of the era. They are the ones I still still listen to and marvel at.  But I’ve squeezed in a couple of later tunes, because I do like Roxy Mk II too.

For some reason, I haven’t been able to upload some of the Roxy tunes from my iTunes, so I’ve reverted to Youtube.  Quite a few live videos from the early days, when they were a staple of a BBC rock show called the “Old Grey Whistle Test” (OGWT). actually, given the visual aspect of Roxy it’s no bad thing.

10. Take a Chance With Me, from Avalon

This is one of the eighties tunes. “Avalon “is a mellow, atmospheric album.  This track has grown on me over the years.  I think it is Bryan Ferry at his most soulful. The video here shows how he looked in the early eighties.  To be contrasted with the seventies appearances. But it has to be said that Bryan in the late seventies and early eighties was probably the coolest man on earth. Perfect haircut (which I tried but failed to emulate) and an ability to wear a suit like no-one else.  Maybe he just had a good tailor..

9. Amazona, from Stranded

“Stranded” was released in 1973.  It was the first Roxy album I got to know at the time it was released. It’s a brilliant piece of work.  With an iconic cover. “Amazona” is a funky track that I grew to love in later years, prompted by the fact that rapper Ice-T sampled it for one of his great tunes, That’s How I’m Living . Sounds like it, anyway.  (Listen to it here by clicking on that title). Picking this one has made me leave “Street Life”, from the same album, out of this Ten.  Oh, I’m still wondering whether I’ve done the right thing!

8. Mother of Pearl, from Stranded

An epic.  The raucous start descends into a woozy mid tempo chug in which Bryan Ferry declares,  Oh Mother of Pearl, I wouldn’t trade you for another girl… Roxy’s love songs were different!

7. Angel Eyes, from Manifesto (but single version here)

Roxy went a bit quiet after 1976. “Manifesto” was the first step in their re-emergence. I really liked the diamond sharp dance riffs and the sheen of “Angel Eyes” when it came out in  1979, and I still do. This one has a proper promotional video.

6. Virginia Plain, single.

“Virginia Plain” was the song that made Roxy Music stars in 1972.  Strangely it wasn’t on the debut album. It was a frantic, skewed rocker, with Ferry’s undulating vocals giving it an strangeness that was a big part of its appeal.  It made no2 in the charts, and made Roxy the outre limb of the glam movement.

5. Love Is the Drug, from Siren

A jaunty, sleazy classic from the mid seventies, when Ferry had taken to wearing military style outfits, which might have attracted more derision had he not been so damned stylish!

Dim the lights, you can guess the rest…

4. Do The Strand, from For Your Pleasure

“For Your Pleasure” was Roxy’s second album, and maybe their best.  “Do The Strand” is one of those songs that only Roxy could have done.  Frantic piano, wailing sax, Ferry on full warble, rock’n’roll from, I don’t know, Czarist Russia? Nonsensical but memorable lyrics… Rhododendron is a nice flower…

Go to 1.20 of this video for the start of the music. The first bit is Richard Williams, who used to present OGWT, explaining why Roxy were great. Which is good, if you are interested.

3. Editions of You, from For Your Pleasure

In which all the players take turns to wig out, with Eno to the fore. And a segue from his synth craziness to Manzanera’s guitar solo that still takes my breath away.

2. Ladytron, from Roxy Music

The intro to this song, featuring Andy Mackay on clarinet, is so beguiling and disorientating. It conjures up images of darkened dens, of mysterious caves, mist and danger (too much Harry Potter!). It is the best single segment of music by Roxy Music, I think. And I love the way that the opening salvo slides into Ferry’s wistful croon:

You’ve got me girl on the runaround…

This video might demystify the music a little, but it shows how distinctive Roxy Music were at the time (1972). And still are.

1. In Every Dream Home a Heartache, from For Your Pleasure

In which everything about Roxy Music – the strange, sleazy sounds, the songs about faded glamour and empty encounters, the richness and originality of the music, the singular oddness of Bryan Ferry’s voice, come together in a maelstrom of angst and musical mayhem. The only song about an inflatable doll that doesn’t attract immediate derision.  In fact, the only song about an inflatable doll that I know!

This is the very essence of Roxy Music.

Again, the video is from the BBC’s “Old Grey Whistle Test”. Look at those eyes!

Near Misses

So many, so many!

“Re-make, Re-model” and “If There Is Something” from the first album. The second single, “Pyjamarama”, with jangling guitar, Ferry vibrating, and saxophone soaring. A feel of Bowie. The song I most regretted leaving out of the ten.  ‘Street Life” and “Song for Europe” (jamais, jamais, jamais!) from “Stranded”. “The Thrill Of It All”, “All I want Is You”, “Out Of The Blue” and “Prairie Rose” (Roxy meets country rock) from “Country Life”, with the most provocative cover of all the provocative covers. ‘Both Ends Burning”, ‘Whirlwind” and “Sentimental Fool” (cousin of Ladytron) from “Siren’. “Dance Away” from “Manifesto”. and then all those eighties smoothies: songs like “Same Old Scene”, “More Than This’, “Oh Yeah” and “Over You”.

It’s a good portfolio!

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Have You Heard? – (19) Kurt and Kylie!

Posted on September 11, 2012 by John S

So, I was writing a piece for my musical journey book earlier tonight, about Kylie Minogue. Part of a sweep up of 80s popsters who didn’t fit into any other categories. Next to her on my iPod was Kurt Vile, Americana personified. How different could they be?  But I love them both.

Kylie for some of the best dance/pop of any era. Catchy tunes, great videos. And humour. Go Aussie!

Kurt, for some seriously good heartfelt country rocking. With a blurred but hard edge.

One of my shots from Latitude festival. See my blogs for more.

So for this match made in heaven, I’m going for Kylie’s classic 1990 dance hit What do I Have to Do? and Kurt’s acoustic guitar masterpiece, Heart Attack. From different worlds, but both do something for me. And given that Kylie once teamed up with Nick Cave, I can’t see why a duet with Kurt Vile wouldn’t work in the future.

In fact, I think it would be brilliant!

(Click on the titles to play the songs. separate page so you can click back on the text to continue reading)

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