Yesterday Went Too Soon

I guess to a large extent music is a reflection of a person and their personality, and therefore as an extension of that, this blog is a reflection of the personalities of the three of us that run it - Ed, Johnny, and my good self.

The younger a person is the more the music they listen to seems to reflect their personality, it’s a simpler more raw listening experience - when you’re young you listen to anything that appeals regardless of quality. Then when you’re older you listen to a better standard of music (if you develop any taste at all).

The first band to capture both your youthful zest for life, and your more mature desire for increasingly credible music remains a firm favourite with most people throughout the rest of their lives, no matter how much their music taste develops or changes.

For me that band was Feeder. I’ll always love Feeder for what they used to mean to me. Everybody I knew was loving Blink 182 and Linkin Park, and I felt I knew more than anybody. Was better than everybody. I’d endure the chats about “Take Off Your Pants And Jacket” at school with a wry smile, then jog home to listen to "Yesterday Went Too Soon" - the breakthrough Feeder album, and better in every way than its predecessor "Polythene".

I cried when Jon Lee killed himself, I’ll remember the moment I heard the news forever. I don’t remember where I was when I heard Princess Diana had been killed, but I remember Jon Lee like it was yesterday. It felt like a death in the family - as lame and pseudo emo-core as it sounds to admit that.

In later years I found out I wasn’t alone in this - with the proliferation of the internet, and indeed Feeder themselves, I realised Feeder weren’t a small underground band like they seemed to be to a young me, and that thousands of people had variations on the same experience as I had.

Even now I like Feeder. I hear the new songs every so often on the radio and - although they’re mostly fairly dull - they remind me of being young. Being excited about music for the first time. I still buy the albums as they come out, even though I know I wont listen to them much. If at all, actually.

I guess we all properly connect with credible music for the first time because of our personalities and how we feel a track we hear on the radio/television reflects ourselves. For me that track was Yesterday Went Too Soon by Feeder.

Feeder - Yesterday Went Too Soon

Walking along the streets with that on my headphones thinking about lost loves, future loves, and even self-love, everything felt ok. I loved the lyrics, I loved everything about it for childish reasons. Yet it was a more mature type of music for me to like than anything that had passed my ears previously.

Three minutes in when Grant’s vocals kick in, even now I get nostalgic. Feel like crying. Y’know, I can kind of see why emo has caught on - if it makes this connection with so many kids, then I guess you have a market. You have sold out tours. You have gold discs.

Hopefully you have a million new fans of more credible music in a couple of years time too, I think there’s chance.

Next up was my first gig - Feeder were playing at a locally hosted Radio 1 Roadshow hosted by Jamie Theakston and Chris Moyles. Feeder and the Manic Street Preachers. Not bad for a first gig, and not bad at all considering it was free. Also playing that day were OPM, of Heaven Is A Halfpipe fame.

From that day, my first ever connection with live music, I remember mostly Feeder playing Buck Rogers. Everybody else I know that was there that day says they remember the Manics. I don’t.

Actually, in truth I remember booing the Manics. I still had a lot to learn about music.

So yeah, this entry wouldn’t be complete with Buck Rogers for your aural pleasure.

Feeder - Buck Rogers

"I think we’re gonna make it."

x

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Links:

Official Feeder Site

Feeder On Amazon

Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time - Episode 1

Welcome to the first in yet another series of infrequently updated themed blog posts. This time, as the title states, the onus is on Unexpected Cover Versions Of Our Time.

In short this is a topic which allows me to cut loose from all the credible music and painstaking research that goes into my normal blog posts (slight exaggeration, but bear with me), and have some fun instead.

Everybody loves cover versions. It’s a scientific fact. So, in honour of this, I present to you the first unexpected cover version for your aural delight…

(Chris Cornell, looking pretty damn cool)

Chris Cornell covering Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, live and acoustic. Unplugged I believe is the popular word for this phenomenon. I heard this for the first time on Tuesday night on Radio 1’s Black Hole, where they basically play any old shite and pass it off as “random” or “experimental”. For once however, they got it spot on. Cornell (ex-Soundgarden and Audioslave rock god of dubious merit) brings his surprisingly strong vocals to MJ’s classic disco filler Billie Jean. And it works. Honestly.

I’m not even going to attempt to review the song. Just listen to it with no expectations and an open mind. Personally it’s one of my favourite cover versions ever, but I’ll leave it with you to form your own opinions.

Chris Cornell - Billie Jean

Of course, I couldn’t upload that without uploading the original. Is Michael Jackson still cool? Perhaps not. Is his music still cool? You bet it is. Billie Jean is responsible for some of the worst dancing of our generation - an identical scene of foolish drunken men failing miserably to recreate the moves played out in nightclubs and indie haunts around the world. A modern day Shakespearian tragedy if you will. Only MJ himself truly had the moves to do this song justice.

(Michael Jackson, back in the day)

As before, I’m not going to delve deep into the subject matter, i'm just going to post the track. I suspect you have this one already (you really should have, especially if you’ve ever thrown a house party), but just on the off chance that you don’t, here it is anyway…

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

You can find out more about either artist by clicking the following links:

www.chriscornell.com

www.michaeljackson.com

The Blue Nile.

"Do I love you?"
















"YES, I LOVE YOU!" the crowd roar back as one from the seats of the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, on the 26th day of November in 2006. This moment remains forever fresh in my memory as Paul Buchanan performs 'Tinseltown In The Rain' on this world-famous stage. It's a Blue Nile concert in all but name, complications arising from a member who does not want to tour.

They don't tour very often, nor do they pump out albums on a frequent basis. There are merely four released so far in the twenty-SEVEN years since they began making music. This is no ordinary band though. The Blue Nile are very special, the kind of band that forge new sounds and ideas for generations to come. It is pop music, but with endless layers. Not a single note or beat is wasted, efficient yet incredibly moving.

Back in my seat, it is apparent that Paul Buchanan was born to sing in this concert hall. The sound coming out of his mouth diverts in two directions; out of the large PA speakers either side of the stage to sweep across the auditorium, and scaling up the roof of the hall- itself built specifically to magnify natural sound from the stage- to drench the patrons sitting in the upper and grand circles in a warm sonic mist.

I have in my possession a mere thirty-three songs from their studio albums (no official live releases have been forthcoming, nor sadly a full audio document of that night) yet trying to choose a selection of songs was horrendous. After all, I can only use so many words to convince you of their worth and impact on Scottish music until I implore you to just listen.

Craig B of Aereogramme (my favourite band that are still active, no question) has mentioned them as an influence and if you search, you can find screeds of effusive journalistic praise. You can read further into their history, though the members themselves will provide scant information for the trendy photoshoots, fact-sheets and various paraphernalia afforded to bands far less magical.

Yet nothing can really prepare you for what you are about to hear, so just listen and enjoy. If you have a spare fiver- or equivalent currency of your choice- invest in Hats (discussed further below). You won't regret it. You MUST see Paul Buchanan/The Blue Nile tour if they are near you. Alas, their most recent US tourdates were suddenly pulled, leaving fans bemused but not shocked considering their previous regard for essentials of the 'business'.

They just want to make beautiful music, and in an age where image is everything and the depth of a personality can be scoured open with a mascara brush, I salute them with a tear in my eye. Just like I did when they left the stage of the Usher Hall that fateful night.

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The MP3s:

Paul Buchanan- Tinseltown In The Rain (live)

Paul Buchanan- A Walk Across The Rooftops (live)

The Blue Nile- Stay Close

The Blue Nile- Happiness


Two songs from their debut- A Walk Across The Rooftops- performed live in Coventry (or Warwick, I can't recall?). One each from their third and fourth albums- Peace At Last and High respectively. I've swapped the third and fourth album choices because I can. But nothing from their second album?!

I'll leave you to discover the magic of Hats for yourself for two reasons-
1) I'm not in that haunted mood that lets repeated plays of it envelope me like a shroud. This is music that asks a lot of questions amongst its blissful resolutions, and it can leave me utterly drained.
2) It's probably in my top five albums ever, as a suite of songs it's basically perfect.

And now I shall leave the others to post.

Slackers. ;)

From here:
The Blue Nile on Wikipedia
The Blue Nile on Youtube
The Blue Nile on Facebook
Quick UK link to Hats (it's £5 in a few notable chain stores, email me to ask)