Category: MUSIC

Bloomsday Music this year

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Well its that day again the 16th of june the day James Joyce choose to be the day in Ulysses , in the last fiftry years this day has become a day to celebrate both the book , it’s writer and the city of the book in a way Dublin .I have done post before about the book which for me is a classic that I plan to reread again probably for this time next year (?the original plan was this year but as so much has happened I decided to leave it ) So this year I’ll bring you some great songs and singers from Dublin and Ireland .

Hothouse flowers debut album has for some reason been a favourite of mine for the last twenty five years and this song of a man ordering drinks trying to forget a women is my favourite track on the album .

I loved the film Once with Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova as a couple from different places falling in love in Dublin of course Hansard has been in an earlier film also The commitments

Andrew strong the singer in the Commitments had one of the true great white soul voices .I do wish they had made a follow up to this film they do so many bad sequels a great one off like this deserved one .

My bloody valentine are Irish we often forget this as they are so busy working on their records in recent years (decades)  seeing them live was a highlight years ago for me .

Not a dublin singer bu Divine comedy Booklovers brings this back to writers and books and also has James joyce in the song .Of course I missed U2 but I couldn’t pick a song by them as so many I like .

have you a favourite Irish band ?

Winston’s music from Mali to Paris

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Been a while since I’ve done a music post so what is making Winston’s towers rock recently ?

Benjamin Clementine is a huge star in the making and this is his ode to london . He spent time in paris busking before he found fame . Something of nina simone in his vocal style a modern star with a really old voice .

A band I have like since the first album , but with there recent album seem to have really grown into the band they always could be My morning jacket .

I am trying to widen my music in some ways to match the reading of the blog , so a recent world music record i have enjoyed is Songhoy blues music in exile album .Another excellent group of musicians from Mali .

What has been rocking your world recently

Be back til then here is some music I’ve been listening too .

~ winstonsdad ~ 9 Comments

Sorry I decided to length my blogging break a few days more after I was given the all clear to type a lot , but I decide to wait a bit longer .But  now have a sizeable backlog of books to review as I am up to book 24 of the year .So till I get back hopefully on Thursday I’ll share a few recent songs I’ve been listening too .

The sons of bill latest album has been compared to classic REM in some magazines , but to me it has classic americana roots .

He has been around a while this is his second collaboration with the great Mark Lanegan dark and moody as you’d expect .

Last not so much as a band but a film Frank I watched recently partly based on the great Frank sidebottom who also wore a large paper mache head .Maybe fassbinders best performance .

How have you all been ?

Winston’s Top 5 albums of 2014

~ winstonsdad ~ 5 Comments

Well still debating what is going be on my books of the year so I will start out with five albums I have loved this year a mix of the new and the reissued albums for the last twelve months that I have been listing too .

1. Benji by Sun kill moon

Well this has easily been my most listen to album I have always been a fan of mark kozelek from his early days as red house painter .But this album just sees him turn into a true confessional singer the songs are so heart breaking mainly about people he has lost in his own life or his loved ones .

2 Scott walker and sunn 0)))

Well was there ever a better combination for a album Scott walker has been getting more avant grade in his singing and music ever since he went solo , so in my mind it was only a matter of time to this happened he got in expermential rock band Sunn 0))) to do his latest album adding a meancing background to his surreal lyrics .

3 Spiderland by Slint

Now a classic album that has been reissued this year spiderland was slint ‘s second album and a classic of the fast slow fast style and has long been a favourite of mine maybe one of the best post rock albums .Good morning captain was in the film Kids years ago so many of you will maybe know it .

4 Gentlemen by Afghan Whigs

Another reissue by a singer and his first band that for me never quite became as big as they should be Greg dulli voice sits somewhere between barfly , soul singer and rock god .Maybe that is reason he is hard to pigeon-hole , so it was great to see this come out again after 21 years .

5 Way out weather by Steve Gunn

 

An album that saw a great guitarist finally step into the limelight he has played with a number of great bands in particular with Kurt Vile in recent years so his solo album was a real treat for me to listen too .

What have been your albums of the year ?

Winstons music Spike Island

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On sky this week was the film Spike island a fictional take on four young lads in a band taking the trip to see the legendary Stone Roses gig on Spike Island , I could have gone to this gig back in 1990 a number of my friends went , I was a fan of them , not a big fan then as I was till a mad smiths fan back then .I did have a few stone rose t-shirts at the time , also the baggy jeans and Joe Bloggs sweatshirt that were the fashion .The film brought back the times for me , I remember hearing the stone rose for the first time at a friend’s house who had recorded them on a Tony Wilson show on  tv , i think it was called after dark , which at this time he had all the up and coming bands from Manchester the Happy Mondays and inspiral carpets were also both on it .I enjoyed the remind of my teen years , any fans of the music or growing up at the time will love the film it is steeped in the time and of course has loads of stone rose songs in it .I like being on the very edge of this time the Madchester scene , I had a friend at college that wrote the fanzine for Inspiral carpets for me the most underrated of the madchester bands , closely followed by the new fast automatic dafodils , that burnt out to soon .

Where you a fan of the madchester scene ?

A song and album that have caught the eye

~ winstonsdad ~ 5 Comments

I still get two music magazines every month Mojo and uncut like I have for the last decade or more .I tend to mainly read the articles these days as there seems to be very little new that appears that really grabs me by the horns and makes me want to run out and listen to it but this one album has caught my eye in its reviews in this months Mojo and uncut it is a solo album from Steve Gunn , he has in the past been a member of kurt Vile’s backing  band an artist who’s work I have enjoyed .So i download onto my phone via spotify his album way out weather and am loving it , a mellow mournful album of blues songs .

What albums and singers have you enjoyed recently ?

 

A song for sunday -A tip from a friend

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I first got really into David Slyvian from my good friend Stephen when we used often swap albums we loved ,the former Japan lead singer has been ploughing his own groove and making truly unique music for the last tirty years and is one of the over looked gems of the british music scene .

Song for sunday

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Well rather late this week but this week I have been listening to mainly the last Sun kill Moon album ,I have been a fan of Mark Kozelek work since his early days in red house painters .But this last album to me seems his most his most personnel to date ,the title Benji is from a series of films in the seventies through to the eighties ,I remember the films .The lyrics on the most part are about his parents and very heartfelt ,i read in an interview he wrote this as at 47 its hard to write about things he did when he was 21 .I was very touched by the song I have chosen “I can’t live without my mothers love ”

have you heard of Sun Kill Moon or Red house painters .

Song for sunday Ryan Ryan

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I remember when I first heard Ryan singin it was with his first band Whiskeytown ,an alternative country band .The band had a small amoun of success with there three albums ,before Ryan Adams became a solo artist or with his solo band The cardinals ,his solo stuff moved into a  rockier sound than his early stuff with Whiskeytown he has since gone on to release 14 solo albums his latest has just come out his first in four years .I chosen an early song from his second solo album gold which is push comes to shove my favourite solo record by him .

Have you a favourite song by Ryan

A song for sunday which band did I see three times in less than a year

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Yes in 1991 I had a real liking for the indie band Curve on the edge of the shoegazing scene they released three single word titled eps in 1991 ,Blindfold ,Frozen and Cherry ,all did well on the old Indie chart .It was an ex that took me to see them first in Manchester just after the début ep came out ,I loved them they mixed driving guitars with a slight dance feel under Toni haildays heartfelt lyrics .Any way back home in Northumberland My friend Paul who was also a fan decide to go see them twice in a row first at Newcastle then the night after in Middlesbrough  .Anyway in the Newcastle Gig I swear I had seen the band in the crowd just before their gig ,I even said to Paul he said no but when they took to the stage he said I was right .Anyway next night I had the same t shirt on a  Einstürzende Neubauten the german Industrial band that has Bliza bargeld the guitarist from Nick Cave and the bad seeds at the time ,we saw the band members again I said lets go say hello and we did and spoke to Debbie the bassist in the band for a good while see said see saw us the night before due to my EN  tshirt as she was also a fan of the band .So that is the story of how I saw a band three times in a year ,I feel sorry Curve never quite broke huge as they could been as their sound was very like Garbage that followed them !! Any way be back later with a review

A song for sunday

~ winstonsdad ~ 3 Comments

Simon over at stuck in a book does a song for sunday so I’ve decide to try and do a few songs I loved between now and the end of the year .A sort of history of me in songs so now too todays song and it’s Morrisey Debut single after he left The Smiths Suedehead ,his first solo song. I have recently listen to the new LP ,but something about time and age meant I was less excited than when I heard this ,which was I remember on a John Peel show as I used to record songs from his show on a tape and then listen to them for a week or two on my walkman this is song was on repeat at the time just before the single came out  .Do you feel less excited the older you get about new stuff and artist you have loved ?

Ian Curtis 34 years on

~ winstonsdad ~ 2 Comments

Well in a change from the usual book related post .I’m doing a short post about a favourite singer of mine I can’t remember when I first heard Joy division but it feels like there music has been around since my first lone forays into music , of course the fact he lived and die in Macclesfield a small town very near to where I spent my teen years .Ian Curtis died 34 years ago tomorrow he killed himself but was struggling with many think bi polar , epilepsy and fame ,for me it is his lyrics that have alwAys touch me bleak love songs , songs about collapsed cities and a changing world at the time . So I’ll post videos to a couple of my favourite song love will tear us apart there most famous but some many times over the years it has cropped up a strange times for me .

a couple of great christmas songs and a bonus story

~ winstonsdad ~ 12 Comments

Well I am having a rather quiet ,uneventful christmas this year we coming of a bad year and decide to hold back and go big in 2014 on our christmas then .But I must admit Christmas does always bring me to a few of my favourite christmas songs the first is obvious as it was recently voted the nation favourite christmas song and also is in the single charts for the umpteenth year (always tickles me with Shane McGowan birthday falling on Christmas day ,he must make a tidy sum year on year from  this classic ) The song is a story of a couples american dream falling apart around christmas and for me it’s as much about being in love and yes your dreams fail at times but you have each other and have your memories to fall back on .

The second song was from a few year ago and it was from the Bob Dylan christmas album it turns out after listening to the theme time radio hour Bob did on christmas he is a fan of christmas he even told every one on that show how he made his figgy pudding ,I ‘m sure this theme time show is online somewhere but couldn’t find it this evening .The song is called “it must be santa ” is also actually is rather Irish in its tune as well, has a feel of a reel as the song winds up and seems to speed up just as a reel does when it is played .The video was fun for this ,wouldn’t we all love bob at our Xmas party?

Now I promised you a story ,I do think in some ways  literature is the poor relation of christmas ,I know there are a number of christmas stories but it isn’t as big in novels as it is for singer and filmmakers both of whom seem to draw inspiration from the festive period more than writers .But one writer that did try a different take on the Christmas story is Paul Auster with his long short story Auggie wrens Christmas here it is read on a npr show from 2004 , by the writer himself .The story also form part of a film that Auster made with Wayne Wang an interlocking series of stories all connect with Auggie wren and his tobacconists ,if you haven’t watched it do as it has two great lead roles from Harvey Keitel and William hurt ,also a Forrest Whitaker tour de force as a father discovering his son for the first time .

Have you a favourite Christmas story or song ?

Happy christmas from Winston and I to you all ,I will be back with my Humbook choices tomorrow .

C90 memories

~ winstonsdad ~ 6 Comments

Well today is the first national Cassette store day .I still have a few cassettes about and both the hifi’s in my house can play them ,so its a shame we haven’t a record shop here to join in .So I decide to share a few cassette memories .I got my first cassette player when I was about 12 a toshiba twin deck in red with four band radio it led me into a world of buying albums but also recording tracks I loved on John Peel at night .So I will share some fond memories of five songs from that time .

19 – paul hardcastle- This was my first album the album was called Paul Hardcastle it had a number of dancer track than this one but it was this song that made me buy this Album .This song was so big that summer and one of the first big purely from sample hits .This song maybe also made me wonder about poltics and life given it subject people dying young due to war .

Some people -The Farm .Before there huge change in direction with Alll together now and the baggy influence on them the farm where a left leaning  indie band and thanks to my friend Jamie I got into them and there live tape I brought from their fan club was one of my favourites in the summer of 1987 .I loved the tone of these early songs they had a bittersweet quality that they never quite matched later on .

Suedehead – Morrissey well anyone that new me in 1988 would have known me as a huge Smiths fan even down to a trade mark Quiff ,Levis and specs I never really needed  .So when I heard  John peel played this weeks before its release on single and I got it down that night I was listening to it till it wore out .Also my favourite video by Morrissey as I like him had a huge James Dean fan thing going so him wandering round  Dean’s home town was great .For me his music gave a shy boy a world to fall into ,one that felt he knew me and I knew him .

Mercy seat – Nick Cave and the bad seeds – This was maybe the first time I ventured outside what my group of friends listen to after hearing this the first single from the album on the radio .I went to Beatroute in Congleton( my all time favourite record shop a mecca for a budding indie fan ) where I lived and brought this album on tape .for the next two years it was probably my most played tape .by this time I had been given a brand new my second Walkman this was a tiny one from boots not much bigger than my tapes with auto reverse and a graphic equalizer so seemed the bees knees to the 16yr old stu .

The way the world is by Pale saints

1990 and this album was that summer favourite a warm and memorable summer ,maybe one of the lesser known bands from the shoegazing movement .I always found this album The comfort of madness near prefect album for drifting on sunny days .That Christmas saw my first CD player arrive so even thou I still had tapes brought tapes they became less important barring old mixes of songs II had made featuring most of the songs mention here .

What are your tape memories ?