I Don’t Like Cricket (I Love It) by 10cc

2009 (1 tracks, 5:08)

pop

Another one from Chris today, because he happened to be there when I realised I didn’t have a song for today. Ten Years Today by Bullet For My Valentine.

Last year was, I think, the first time the number has appeared in the band name rather than the song. I sent You’ve Got A Cold by 10cc.

In 2007 I sent Ten Years Gone by Led Zeppelin.

The three giant video screens that form the backdrop to the Golden years stage

The penultimate gig on the Christie 2009 Tour took us to the huge Sports Stadium in Antwerp, where we performed the two biggest Christie hits “San Bernadino” and “Yellow River” to a packed house of 12,500 partying Belgians.  It’s the third time we’ve played this prestigious event, and it never loses its lustre. This year the bill featured Slade and 10cc, and it was particularly great to see 10cc, creators of such classic pop, fronted by Graham Gouldman, who is surely one of the UK’s leading songwriters, with a lineage you can trace back beyond 10cc to classic 60’s hits such as “For your Love”, “No Milk Today“, and “Bus Stop”.

The Rubettes play to the crowd

....and Alan, their lead singer, finishes with a flourish

With the bands all billeted in the Crowne Plaza hotel, and top class back stage catering in our own restaurant, there was plenty of time to chew the fat with fellow musicians. I reminded Paul Burgess, drummer with 10cc since the days of “The things we do for love”, that the last time I’d chatted backstage with them was a mind-blowing 29 years ago, when they were playing the cavernous Drammenshallen near Oslo, and we were also touring Norway.

I exchanged the usual banter with the guys from Sailor, who, as our drummer Simon pointed out, could all audition for the role of Doctor Who and be confident of getting the part!  (Incidentally, one of the highlights of the evening was taking the stage for the finale with all the other bands and being led in an impromptu tango across the stage by Sailor’s keyboardist, Henry!)

Graham Gouldman - Master Songsmith

A band's eye view of the Finale

All’n'all, a wonderful time was had, and as I wearily headed home, arriving in Turre just shy of midnight on the Sunday, I reflected on how crazy a business I’m in that caused me to take four flights in 24 hours to perform a total of 6 minutes on stage to 12,500 people. Statistics Schmatistics – it’s rock’n'roll!

With seemingly indecent haste, the huge arena empties, and the crew de-rig the stage

Kev Moore

Utter class…

Listen to that amazing synth underscore.

Very like “the Black Hit of Space’ by The Human League in places.

See what I mean.  This mash up totally rocks.  One of HL’s greatest song from their joint best album (Travelogue – the other is Reproduction – Fuck Dare)

Kevin Godley, British musician (10cc, Godley and Creme)

Happy Birthday this week to:
Oct 04
1929 ● Leroy Van Dyke → “Walk On By” (1962)
1947 ● Jim Fielder → Blood, Sweat & Tears, sessions
1957 ● Barbara K. MacDonald → Timbuk 3
1962 ● Jon Secada

Oct 05
1936 ● George Jones Jr. → The Edsels
1938 ● Carlo Mastrangelo → The Belmonts
1942 ● Richard Street → The Temptations
1943 ● Steve Miller
1947 ● Brian Johnson → AC/DC
1949 ● Brian Connolly → Sweet
1954 ● Bob Geldof → Boomtown Rats
1957 ● Lee Thompson → Madness

Oct 06
1917 ● Bob Neal → Early Elvis Presley manager
1946 ● Millie Small → “My Boy Lollipop” (1964)
1950 ● Thomas McClary → The Commodores
1951 ● Kevin Cronin → REO Speedwagon
1954 ● David Hidalgo → Los Lobos

Oct 07
1941 ● Tony Sylvester → The Main Ingredient
1945 ● Kevin Godley → 10CC
1949 ● David Hope → Kansas
1951 ● John “Cougar” Mellencamp
1953 ● Tico Torres → Bon Jovi
1968 ● Thom Yorke → Radiohead
1968 ● Toni Braxton

Oct 08
1934 ● Doc Green → The Drifters
1942 ● Reese Francis “Buzz” Clifford → “Babysittin’ Boogie” (1961)
1948 ● Johnny Ramone (John Cummings) → The Ramones
1949 ● Hamish Stuart → Average White Band
1950 ● Robert “Kool” Bell → Kool & The Gang
1965 ● C.J. Ramone (Christopher John Ward) → The Ramones

Oct 09
1937 ● Pat Burke → The Foundations
1939 ● Overton Vertis “O.V.” Wright → “That’s How Strong My Love Is” (1964)
1940 ● John Lennon
1944 ● John Entwistle → The Who
1948 ● Jackson Browne
1969 ● Polly Jean “P.J.” Harvey
1975 ● Sean Ono Lennon
1984 ● Nona Hendryx → Labelle

Oct 10
1946 ● John Prine
1946 ● Keith Reid → Procol Harum
1953 ● Midge Ure → Ultravox
1954 ● David Lee Roth → Van Halen
1961 ● Martin Kemp → Spandau Ballet
1967 ● Mike Malinin → Goo Goo Dolls

Het weekend is weer begonnen!En met deze muziek uit mijn jeugd ( en misschien ook wel uit jouw jeugd) heb ik er zin in. Geen plannen, niks moeten en lekker uitrusten na deze drukke week.

Ik word er altijd weer vrolijk van en mijn energie komt terug bij al deze mooie muzieknummers.En mijn zonen worden er horendol van als ik zit mee te zingen. Maar dat begrijp ik eigenlijk wel!

Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas Report:

Click here to go to BAIFP to check Elton John “Sorry Seems to be The Hardest Word”, Boston “More Than a Feeling”, Manfred Mann “Blinded By The Light”, 10cc “The Things We Do For Love”

Happening across the movie King Kong on cable the other night, something occurred to me – it might have been the most influential movie of my childhood.

I’d seen the original version watching it on the late, late show when I slept over at a friend’s house in second grade. Not long after, the hype began for the remake.

It was nothing compared to the hullabaloo for some movies now – no cable, no internet – but it seemed to begin a year before and the scope and duration was something I’d never seen at the ripe old age of eight.

I vividly recall a poster in our small-town theater of Kong, astride the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center with a Santa Claus hat perched on his noggin’. The tagline read “Guess who’s coming for Christmas?”

I knew that it would be months after the national release before it would arrive in our town. That poster should have shown him wearing a leprechaun’s hat and clutching a bottle of Guinness.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to learn a lesson in patience. My dad was kind enough to drive me and several friends into the city to see the movie during our Christmas break.

I did learn a lot of other things. I learned that oil company board rooms were populated by the ruthless, the kind of men who might twirl their moustaches as a train headed down tracks to which a distressed damsel was detained.

Of course, Charles Grodin as a petroleum executive had far more panache than the corporate officers I know. They burp up banalities like “sweet spot,” “drill down,” and “bring to bear.”

Grodin uttered things like “If that island doesn’t produce huge, I’ll be wiping windshields,” “Sweet Jesus! Dear Rockefeller!” and “It’s some nutty religion – a priest gets dressed up like an ape and gets laid.”

(you don’t get such rich fare in a business meeting)

The lush island scenery and the underlying message of the movie certainly made me receptive to an environmental consciousness in a way that a Native American crying over litter in a television commercial couldn’t.

As much as Christopher Cross, viewing King Kong likely fueled in me the desire to travel. I haven’t been to Indonesia – from where Grodin and company began their voyage – but I have been to Borneo and, in Malaysia, some friends and I scaled hundreds of steps, monkeys roaming about us, to reach some cave.

Jessica Lange was fetching enough as Dwan, but blondes have never held me as entranced as they apparently do most males of the species.

(although I have been known to be drawn to vacuous girls with unusual names and a flair for the dramatic, so she must have made some impression)

King Kong was also the first movie I think I ever saw with Jeff Bridges whom I’d argue might be the most underrated actor of his generation.

Not only was Bridges the dashing man of action in the flick, he was a hippie.

(of course, at eight, any guy with long hair was a hippie to me)

It was Bridges, as a long-haired paleontologist from Princeton, who taught me that a guy with long hair could grow up to be a paleontologist from Princeton, able to tangle with large apes and woo Jessica Lange.

Years later, in my twenties and en route to London, I first visited New York City and saw the Twin Towers.

I’ve seen some things in my time.

I’ve been to Bangkok.

There are few things that have left me as jaw-droopingly stupefied as standing in front of those buildings. For me, it inspired the same sense of wonder as seeing King Kong in the theater as a kid.

It was during the first few days of 1977 that I saw King Kong. I hadn’t discovered music, yet, but there was a lot of music on Billboard’s chart in early January of that year that would someday be quite familiar to me…

Elton John – Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
from Blue Moves

I can’t claim to have intimate knowledge of Elton John’s entire catalog as it does encompass four decades. I do know his extensive string of hits and I own a number of the classic albums, though, and I’d have to choose the wistful Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word as my favorite of his ballads.

Boston – More Than A Feeling
from Boston

For some reason, even though it was apparently a hit in the winter months, I think of More Than A Feeling as a summer song. Although I’m not rabid about the song, it does conjure up a good vibe for me and I’ve never quite understood the venom reserved for Boston.

Also, I find it amusing that Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit echoes the song.

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Blinded By The Light
from The Roaring Silence

When I saw Blinded By The Light on the chart, I realized something – this song was likely my first exposure to Bruce Springsteen’s music.

10cc – The Things We Do For Love
from Deceptive Bends

Since Paloma and I started collecting vinyl a little over a year ago, we’ve snagged several 10cc albums and they’ve been a revelation of musicianship, craftsmanship and quirkiness.

The Things We Do For Love is a breezy and flawless pop song.

Released in 1985, “Cry” was the only time that the duo of (Kevin)Godley and (Lol)Creme had a hit on the U.S. charts. As members of the pop band 10cc, they had hits like “Rubber Bullets“, “The Wall Street Shuffle” and “I’m Not In Love“. Godley and Creme left the band in 1976, and 10cc went on to score a couple of more chart hits with “The Things We Do For Love” and “Dreadlock Holiday“. Godley and Creme had a few minor successes in the UK but it was 1985’s “The History Mix, Volume 1” that brought them the most attention. “Cry” hit the Top 20 in the U.S., helped by an attention-grabbing music video which the duo directed that showed faces morphing into each other while lip-synching the song. (Godley and Creme are among the faces in the video as well.)

And it was in the area of music videos that the duo acheived their greatest success. The duo directed memorable videos by The Police (“Every Breath You Take“, “Synchronicity II“, “Wrapped Around Your Finger“) Duran Duran (“Girls on Film“), Herbie Hancock (“Rockit“) and George Harrison (“When We Was Fab“), among others.

Unfortunately, their partnership ended in 1988 (Creme joined The Art of Noise; Godley reteamed with former 10cc bandmate Graham Gouldman for some new tunes in 2006; not sure what they’re up to these days) but they left an enduring legacy of memorable music and videos.

Here’s “Cry”:

Biggie B-Boy Beatmaster B down in the dungeon recreating Workinonit, from the J Dilla Donuts LP, with two copies of the original sample. F-F-F-F-Fresh!

Tracklist
1. Picture of You
Boyzone
2. I Get Around
The Beach Boys
3. Walking On Sunshine
Katrina And The Waves
4. Yesterday
Wet Wet Wet
5. Running Back For More
Louise
6. That Kinda Guy
Thomas Jules-Stock
7. Give Me A Little More
Gabrielle
8. I Love L.A.
OMC
9. He’s A Rebel
Alisha’s Attic
10. Stuck In The Middle With You
Susanna Hoffs
11. Art For Art’s Sake
10cc
12. Have Fun Go Mad
Blair
13. Can We Talk (Pure Radio Mix)
Code Red
14. Bean Theme (Mad Pianos)
Howard Goodall
15. Elected
Mr Bean and the Smear Campaign (Featuring Bruce Dickinson)

อัลบั้มเพลงประกอบภาพยนตร์สุดป่วน Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie เมื่อ Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) ต้องมาทำงานที่แกลลอรี่ที่อเมริกาเพราะความที่เจ้านายของเขาในอังกฤษเห็นว่าเขาเป็นพนักงานที่ไม่เอาอ่าวที่สุด (ซึ่ง Bean ไม่ได้คิดเช่นนั้น แถมยังมาในฐานะ Dr. Bean เสียด้วยซ้ำ!)
อัลบั้มนี้จึงได้รวมเพลงศิลปินมากหน้าหลายตา รวมทั้งนี้ยังมีเพลงเก่าเอามาร้องใหม่โดยศิลปินรุ่นหลังๆ กับเพลงที่มีเนื้อหาเกี่ยวข้องกับอเมริกาและรูปภาพ ที่พิเศษสุดคือบางเพลงจะมีเสียงบทสนทนาจากหนัง (ที่เกี่ยวข้องกับเพลงนั้นๆ) แทรกมาทำให้ผู้ฟังได้อารมณ์ของหนังควบคู่ไปด้วย
Picture of You เพลง Pop มันส์ๆของวงไอริช Boyzone ที่เด่นที่สุดในอัลบั้ม ซึ่งถูกใช้ตอนเครดิตท้ายเรื่องนั่นเอง แล้วมามันส์กันต่อกับเพลง I Get Around วงอเมริกันร็อคระดับตำนานอย่าง The Beach Boys
Walking On Sunshine เพลงทำนองสนุกสนานฟังเพลินของ Katrina And The Waves แล้วเพลงนี้ยังเป็นหนึ่งในความสำหรับสูงสุดของวงนี้อีกด้วย Yesterday เพลงสุดฮิตของ The Beatles ที่ถูกนำมาร้องใหม่โดย Wet Wet Wet รวมถึงการเปลี่ยนทำนองดนตรี แต่ยังคงฟังได้ไพเราะไม่แพ้กัน
I Love L.A. เพลงที่มีเนื้อหาใกล้เคียงกับหนังที่สุด (ในส่วนของสถานที่) เดิมเพลงเป็นของ Randy Newman ถูกนำมาร้องใหม่โดย OMC แต่เพลงนี้เรียกว่าเป็นความน่าผิดหวังของอัลบั้มก็ว่าได้ เพราะจุดขายเพลงนี้ในหนังเป็นเวอร์ชั่นของ Randy Newman ซึ่งเวอร์ชั่นร้องใหม่นี้ยังฟังดูไม่โดดเด่นเท่าของเก่าเสียด้วยซ้ำ
เพลงร็อคฟังสบายๆ Art For Art’s Sake ของวงอเมริกันร็อค 10cc ที่ชื่อใกล้เคียงกับคอนเซ็ปต์หนัง
Bean Theme (Mad Pianos) เป็น Score ชิ้นเดียวและโดดเด่นที่สุดโดย Howard Goodall คอมโพเซอร์ประจำซีรี่ย์ส Mr. Bean กับดนตรีออเคสตร้าคลออันทรงพลังและเสียงเปียโนที่เล่นอย่างบ้าบิ่น (เหมือนที่บอกในชื่อเพลง) ผลลัพธ์ คือ Score แฝงอารมณ์ขันและความยิ่งใหญ่ที่จะประทับใจผู้ฟังไม่รู้ลืม
Elected เพลง Rock มันส์ๆกับเสียงร้องแบบสุดขีดของ Bruce Dickinson ทั้งนี้ยังร่วมแจม (หรือสร้างความปั่นป่วน?) โดย Mr. Bean กลายมาเป็นเพลงที่ฟังดูพิลึกแบบสุดๆ
Bean: The Album คือ อัลบั้มแห่งความทรงจำสำหรับคนรัก Mr. Bean ที่รวมเพลงเพราะๆสนุกๆไว้ฟังเล่นได้ไม่เบื่อ

Various Artists - Bean: The Album

http://www.ulbuzz.com/nx1zUA94Le
(MP3 ริปด้วยโปรแกรมWMP / Bitrate 256 kbps)

*Bonus Tracks Including*
1. Randy Newman – I Love L.A. (320kbps)
2. The Choirboys – Ecce Homo (Theme From Mr. Bean) (128kbps)
http://www.ulbuzz.com/S3UsDko7oY

We began parting ways with our colleagues in the UK music press when we realised that some of them were being quite serious as holding this up as a masterpiece…

10CC
The Original Soundtrack
(Mercury, 1975)
In the UK, men of a certain age still reach for a cigarette and look desperately round for a dance, trying to appear cool and uncaring , when they hear the opening few notes of “I’m Not In Love”. Bitter? Us? The album, however, sounds like an advertisement for something. A Steely Dan record, perhaps? It’s very conceptual. We’re scared to play “I’m Not In Love” even now. We were like 10 years old when it came out, and it seemed like the most sophisticated, adult, love song we’d ever heard. Like we knew. They had this Radio One spot in the UK called Our Tune whereby this DJ called Dave Lee Travis (“the Hairy Cornflake”) would recite unbelievably traumatic, painfully sad tales of woe and heartbreak over music which, nine times out of 10, was “I’m Not In Love”. That slot traumatised a nation. Hearing it again reminds us of when we first listened to the radio on, under the bed-covers late at night, it was the first song we noticed — this and “Killer Queen”. It is rather surprising, on reflection, that these are adults singing the song — it’s such a 10-year-old’s love tragedy fantasy.
Cost 92 cents. Bargain value: 5, slip cover 7

Deacon Blues 1977

Excerpt ~ Def 1000 songs: Most rock & roll bands are a tightly wound unit that developed their music through years of playing in garages and clubs around their hometown. Steely Dan never subscribed to that aesthetic. As the vehicle for the songwriting of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan defied all rock & roll conventions. Becker and Fagen never truly enjoyed rock — with their ironic humor and cryptic lyrics …… more

Number 907 - Steely Down – 1977 – USA – Genre: Rock - Play Song

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Ah, Reggie.

VARIOUS
Magic Reggae
(K-Tel, 1980)
Ah, the Caribbean. A land of golden skies, gold-reflected waters, silhouetted palm trees, if our scene-setting cover shot is to be trusted – and a grinning lady with a big old basket of exotic fruit. The thing is, you can’t go too far wrong with reggae compilations from 1980 and earlier, as long as they don’t have too much 70s era Bob Marley or Eddy Grant on them, and you’re not going to be too stupid about it and pick up something with The Police or 10cc on or something. (You only need one EG song, and it’s here: the bass-heavy “Living On The Front Line”.) This is as jammed with UK chart hits as that lady on the sleeve’s basket is with mangoes: Althea & Donna, Desmond Dekker, Typically Tropical, The Melodions, Jimmy Cliff, Bill Loveday and Steel Pulse. Whoa! That is one sumptuous line-up of acts: honeyed with goodness and dripping with social injustice, plus the odd succulent morsel of feminine solicitude. But hang on there one second! Just hold on! Rewind! Typically Tro… (splutter!), the Black Lace of their day, with their “coconut airlines”!? The “Y Viva Espana” of the intrepid West Indies holiday traveller? What are they doing in the company of Harry J’s Allstars’ sublime “The Liquidator”, the lilting dub cousin of Booker T And the MGs’ “Green Onions”, or Janet Kay’s effortlessly cool Number 2 hit, “Silly Games”?  And what precisely is Bill Loveday doing among The Pioneers and Barry Biggs? Memory records Loveday as a smug, bearded tit in mirror shades, cutting his hit at the end of a Captain Cody And His Planet Airmen session. A quick search on Google reveals Bill Loveday as being the chief executive officer and president of Clarian Health. Ah well. The vagaries of K-Tel compilations: good solid value for money, but not quite as up on the quality control as some of us would wish. Perhaps we’re a little too picky…
Cost £2, bargain value 7, inner sleeve none (but nice white sticker in top RH corner, masking the name “Sandra”)

Iedereen die vergeefs wacht op wat regendruppels op het dak van zijn huis en eventueel in zijn tuin is eraan voor de moeite. Niet dat we ons hier spontaan aan een regendans gaan wagen (we zijn blij genoeg dat het eens mooi weer is), maar het zou niet slecht mocht het een keer goed doorregenen. Ons arme gras vraagt erom! De volgende dagen lijken de temperaturen terug naar een normaal niveau te gaan zakken, maar of daar ook regen bij zit is voorlopig koffiedik kijken.

Waarmee we meteen bij het eigenlijke luikje van dit blogbericht komen. Normaal gezien zijn zomerhits niet écht aan mij besteed wegens té flauw, té goedkoop, té fake sfeertje … té slecht voor woorden gewoon! Mambo no 5, Hot Hot Hot, Samba de Janeiro, Summer of 69 en andere Sweat (La La La La Song) bezorgen me meteen koude rillingen.

Gelukkig is er af en toe beterschap in de zomer. We zullen dat bewijzen door een aantal voorbeelden te geven die wel aanstekelijk werken op dans én andere spieren. En we beginnen dicht bij huis. Buscemi bracht in maart 2003 ‘Seaside’ (van het album ‘Camino Real’) op de markt, een aanstekelijk nummer dat voor mij gewoon ‘zomer’ ademt.

En waarom gooien we er niet gewoon wat lekkere 80’s chicks bij die behoorlijk wat furore maakten in die tijd. Bananarama mocht gezien worden, ik herinner me nog goed dat Countdownpresentator Adam Curry destijds een meer dan serieuze boon had voor de meiden. ‘Cruel summer’ voeg ik er louter bij om het visuele aspect, dus ik pretendeer hier niet zozeer dat het een wereldnummer was.

Volgens mij krijgt bijna iedereen een zomers gevoel als de heren van 10cc hun hit uit 1978 van stal halen. ‘Dreadlock holiday’ blijft dan ook een meezinger van formaat. 10cc bleek geen eendagsvlieg zoals de meeste zomerhitmakers. ‘Feel the love’, ‘Wall Street Shuffle’, ‘The things we do for love’ en ‘I’m not in love’ spreken boekdelen wat dat betreft. Om nog maar te zwijgen over hun nevenprojecten Wax en Godley & Creme.

Opkomende krekeltjes, bruinverbrande mensen, één groot zwembad, de nodige cocktails en een uitstekend muziekje op de achtergrond. Het zijn maar enkele elementen die zijn verenigd in ‘Club Tropicana’ van Wham. Kijk, luister en je bent ervan overtuigd dat het altijd zomer mag blijven!

En we gaan eruit met een échte klassieker uit 1965. The Beach Boys bezongen in dat jaar hun ‘California girls’. Nauwelijks een jaar later zag hun meesterwerk ‘Pet sounds’ het licht. Rolling Stone Magazine riep het album uit tot het op twee na allerbeste aller tijden.