One of the most obscure compilations of recent decades appeared in 1990. There have always been albums on which musicians have been honoured. This album, however, is something special. It was released by the Red Hot Organisation, a charity to support HIV/AIDS relief worldwide after a spike in deaths among artists and intellectuals in NYC. I can't say why Cole Porter's music was used as the main theme, but the fact that so many artists from so many different musical genres recorded their versions is remarkable. Every song could have been written by David Byrne, Iggy Pop, Jungle Brothers, The Pogues or Sinnéad O'Connor. And that is probably the greatest praise for Cole Porter's songs, which have lost none of their fascination even after more than 30 years.
It's November and, like every year, I'm thinking about a year-end list and, as always, there's another album that shouldn't be missing from such a list. David Holmes, an Irish DJ and producer who has managed to gain respect in the DJ camp as well as in the alternative scene over the past few years, recently released Blind on a Gallopping Horse. Together with Raven Violent, who already left her unmistakable mark with her voice on his side product Unloved, an album of positive songs in a negative time was created. Blind On A Galloping Horse is a multi-faceted record with a lot to discover and an absolutely positive example of how the gloom of the world can be addressed without letting despair win out. On Necessary Genius he pays tribute to 'dreamer, misfits, radicals, outcasts' who are no longer with us and includes shout-outs to Weatherall, Terry Hall, Sinéad O'Conner, Serge Gainbourgh & Jane Birkin and more. Still underlaid with a dancable beats.
Yeah x 3 is proofs that he's able to make a softer pop song that should appear in every top 40 this year,
During the last weekend I saw a documentary about the life of Shane MacGowan with The Pogues. Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan, singer-songwriter and frontman of the legendary Irish-British band The Pogues. Born on 25 December 1957 to Irish parents in England, he grew up in Tipperary, Ireland. In his youth, he moves back to England with his family at a time when the Northern Ireland conflict has torn a deep rift in British society. In London, Shane is admitted to the venerable Westminster School at 14 thanks to his literary talent. But the Irish boy with the crooked teeth and the strong accent remains an outsider there. After attending a Sex Pistols concert in 1976, Shane knows what he wants: to become a musician!
"I was always at the right place at the right time": From the niche of punk, Shane managed to give his compatriots a widely audible voice in the heated atmosphere of the Northern Ireland conflict, with a force and lack of inhibition they never had before.
Now documentary filmmaker and punk companion Julien Temple has created a memorial to Shane: a firework of intimate footage of British punk culture from Temple's own archives and previously unreleased material. In his film, Temple evokes the rise and fall of a snotty genius who catapulted himself out of his own band with his excesses and ended up in a wheelchair, only to finally celebrate his 60th birthday as a lavish party on stage with new teeth, old humour and greats like Nick Cave and Johnny Depp.
I saw him several times from his first tour with Pogues until he couldn't stand and sing because he was drunk as hell and Joe Strummer had to replace him on stage but I always liked him and his music. There could be many songs that should be featured but I decided for a song he recorded with a Sinnead O'Conner and maybe the best duet ever. Two beautiful Irish voice together in a great song.
I took myself a break from posting and following my favorite blogs, because I was busy at office and preparing my vacation. Next Tuesday me and Christiane will leave for Sri Lanka. We'll stay there for nearly four weeks - maybe we take a short trip to Thailand from there. I am so glad to get away from cold, rain and snow. The next days will be also filled with little things to do until we leave an visit some people to say good bye and wishing them a merry Christmas a good start into the next year.
Even if I am a long way from home, I try to keep this blog alive.
As I wrote the title of this post I wanted to publish a song by the great Quincey Jones called 'Back on the block' but I decided to give you a song that impressed me yesterday while I was taking the train to my job. It's a song by Sinnead O'Conner I took from a collection of her rare tracks. Just the lady and her voice telling us another story of a love gone waste.
