A few good times in my life
This morning, I received the sad news that Sly Dunbar has also passed away. This marks the end of the legendary rhythm section that played with almost every musician who needed a reggae rhythm in the 1980s. Both had enhanced numerous songs with their own drumming and bass playing. Here are a few examples of their work.
RIP Sly
Today, Kevin Coyne, an English singer/songwriter, would have turned 82. Reason enough to remember his music once again. Born in Derby in the heart of England in 1944, he developed a passion for painting as well as music in his youth. In the mid-1960's, he first worked as an art therapist in a psychiatric clinic, then as a social worker with drug addicts. They also had a lasting influence on his lyrics, which often deal with outsiders.
Musically, he was rooted in the blues, but in principle it was blunt, technically immature boogie, standardized British blues. What is fascinating about his songs is his falsetto voice, the singing, that howling familiar from Shakespeare's witch scenes, from the wind over the ravaged landscapes of northern England, those cries at night in the madhouse, that bad-tempered creaking that sticks in your head.
As in his music, Coyne also lived excessively in his personal life and paid the price early at the age of sixty.
Kevin Coyne - Marlene
Kevin Coyne - House On The Hill
Kevin Coyne - Eastbourne Ladies
Kevin Coyne - Lunatic
During the last days I rediscovered Distractions the latest album by Nottingham's Tindersticks from 2021. Stuart Staples and Tindersticks began their career as Britpop was taking off. Unlike other artists of that era, they wore three-piece suits and cultivated a slow, dark romanticism in their songs.
With their return a few years ago, they are celebrating their return to their roots and have created a monster of a bass-oriented, monotonous piece of music with Man Alone. Despite the monotonous underlying mood, they have succeeded in creating a hypnotic pop song that feels like a sleepless night in which thoughts circle around and never seem to end.
Tindersticks - Man Alone (Can't Stop The Fading)
A few days ago Swedish pop artist Tove Styrke released the first song from her upcoming album later this year. She returned after a four year hiatus with a dancefloor banger. Prayer is characterized by a unique sound palette of analog synthesizers from the 1970s and 1980s, live drums, and electric bass. All of the sounds on the single were recorded live or generated with analog machines. No samples were used. A great bass line and a few bleeps set the rhythm before Tove Styrke begins to sing, her voice soaring to elfin heights. Leftfield pop as it should be.
A few days ago I watched a documentary about Dolly Parton's life and music and I forgot how many great songs she wrote. I am not a fan of country music but I will always find some great songs in this genre. It came that one song of this documentary never got out of my mind and after a little search in the internet I realized that there were released some fantastic cover versions.
Dolly Parton - Down From Dover
Not only because I really like the songs of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra their version of this song is outstanding.
Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra - Down From Dover
Finally the best version comes from Jon Langford and Sally Timms. The way they arranged this song and Sally sings have convinced me that this could be the definitive version.
Jon Langford and Sally Timms - Down From Dover
Last weekend, I watched another classic of film history, The Bridge on the River Kwai. The film is about a group of British prisoners of war in early 1943 in a Japanese camp in Burma who are ordered to build a wooden railway bridge. The film glorifies the steadfastness of the British officers and the capabilities of the soldiers, which contrasts with the reality that approximately 20% of the 80,000 British prisoners died due to poor nutrition and the climatic and hygienic conditions.
What made the film unforgettable was the prisoners' march as they whistled Colonel Bogey March, a military song from the beginning of the last century.
Next follows with songs that feature whistling at some point, whether as an intro, outro, or interlude. Be sure that you won't listen to Klaus Meine whistleing.
Let's take another journey into the past and listen to classic and forgotten songs.
1968: Love
1973: Stevie Wonder
1967: Spencer Davis Group
1971: Marvin Gaye
1971: Grateful Dead
1973: Elton John
1982: Joan Jet and the Blackhearts
1984: Echo and the Bunnymen
1965: Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders
1965: The Temptations
1977: Climax Blues Band
1982: Haircut One Hundred
1968: Blue Cheer
1978: Eruption
1970: Creedence Clearwater Revival
2009: The XX
1963: The Cascades
1983: Eurythmics
1967: Cream
