Music for Pleasure

I've been mulling things over and, all thing considered, 2007 should be good for music - at least for me. Let's count 'em...

'Therapy' by James Whild Lea, aka Jim Lea of SLADE! An album by a Lord of Noize already released this year and it's only January!

A new Buffy Sainte-Marie album being made even as I type.

A new album by Amanda Palmer (aka Amanda Dresden Doll) of her solo material is in planning according to her blog which will be fabulous. Unfortunately, little seems to have happened to the video material shot at the Roundhouse in November so that might not be available as a DVD anytime soon.

A new Maximo Park album released in April (tickets go on sale tomorrow for their tour in May - three gigs in different venues in London).

And I'm enjoying the 'Dreamgirls' soundtrack and Madonna's live 'The Confessions Tour' CD.

More SLADE re-issues due in phases between February and August.

Sigh.

'Therapy' - James Whild Lea

I had to log-on this morning to try Jim Lea's website again to see whether I could download his new album and voila! Instant music, instantly burned to disc and copied onto iPey for listening on-the-go. I was so happy doing this that I forgot to go to work... Well, I can't be expected to remember everything.

This is a good album, 13 tracks and all with a dense, full sound and crisp production. He's not trying to do SLADE by the back door, this is original and thoughtful work (although he includes his version of 'Universe', SLADE's last single which he wrote). It's a mature rock album. Lots of rock guitars thrashing but combined with orchestral backings - lots of music and only his voice (I don't think there are any backing vocals).

There are lots of hints of various influences - the Beatles and Oasis (he out-Liam's Liam!) and even a hint of the Beach Boys in there. It's a delight to listen to.

Favourite tracks at the moment include:

'Dead Rock UK' - I love it when Jim lists dead pop stars that Marc gets the honorific of "Mr Bolan", a nice nod of respect to an old rival.

'Great Big Family' - this should be a single.

'Why Is Youth Always Wasted On The Young' - the age-old question!

No doubt I'll have different favourites the next time I listen (I am, of course, listening as I blog).

My only worry is how is the album going to be promoted? How will anyone know it exists if it's only available through Jim's fledgeling website? Promoting it to SLADE fans is one thing but how does everyone else get to hear about it? I must ponder this.

James Whild Lea - Therapy

And the angels rejoiced and sang hosannahs in three-part harmony. I have looked on the face of a Lord of Noize and he was good. I have heard the voice of a Lord of Noize and he was good.

James Whild Lea has released his first solo album 15 years after leaving SLADE and it is good. 'Therapy' by James Whild Lea.

Well, from the short clips on his website it sounds good but I've yet to hear a full song. I have no doubt that all the songs are excellent, of course. They couldn't be anything else. Loud, brash, guitar-driven rock music that brought a tear to my eye. O yes, I'm going to enjoy this!

The glorious news came wafting to me down the SLADE wires so I scooted over to his site and went straight to the shop to listen to a few clips and then buy the album. Unfortunately delivery is 'within 28 days'. That's no way to treat a fan, I want it now! So I chose a few tracks to download to keep me going but every time I tried to download I got the same error mesage: "Unfortunately, this purchase cannot be made. The provider has supplied erroneous data. Please contact the provider." Huh! I'll simply keep going back until it's fixed.

Cor! A new record! I am thrilled! Go on, do the clicky thing on Jim's name above in red and take a listen, I dare you ...

Jimmy got, Jimmy got, Jimmy got soul!

The day began with a visit to the Huh Muh Vuh Store on Oxford Street and what was right in front of my eyes but the soundtrack to 'Dreamgirls'. It wasn't available last week (and neither was it available for download) but suddenly there it was. I grabbed it off the shelf, the 2xCD version, and I've been wallowing in it this evening. It's great. I could live without the few 'dance mixes' at the end of disc 2 but that's being churlish. It's got everything on there that you could possibly want. The only annoying thing is that it seems to have been rush-released since the track details aren't on Gracenotes so when I taped it onto poota to put onto iPey I had to type in the track details. Yes, I want it all on a plate, obviously.

It sounds so good, so powerful and so full of sound. Jennifer Hudson still stands out as 'the voice' but all the others are also excellent, with Eddie Murphy ripping it up as a funk and soul master. Jamie Foxx's songs sound much better than I remember them, maybe it was his stare-into-the-middle-distance mode of acting that made me doutful?

I had to be very careful what I said to Jeannine at work today since she's really looking forward to seeing the film on Friday when it's released. I *had* to rub it in that I'd seen the preview but we can discuss it properly next week when we've both seen it.

The real reason for the trek to HMV was to pick up Madonna's 'The Confessions Tour' DVD and CD which was duly scooped up. I'm listening to the live CD at the moment and will watch the DVD later. I was there when it was recorded y'know.

The live CD is excellent - and that's coming from an afficiando of 'SLADE Alive!' as the best live record ever. Air guitars at the ready for 'I Love New York' with herself doing feedback against the amps and all sorts! The sound quality of the CD is excellent (as you'd expect) and I'm hearing stuff clearly that was a bit fuzzy on the night. As well as 'I Love New York' much kudos go to the swampy-drunk version of 'Let It Will Be' (with Glitter Band influences) and the magnificent 'Music Inferno' sequence. I can't wait to see the DVD!

"Just watch me burn!"

Come On Now Social

I ordered 'Come On Now Social' by the Indigo Girls from Amazon what seems an age ago and, since it still hadn't arrived, I checked up on it this afternoon. I contacted Amazon and had an almost instant reply along the lines of there are problems with the supplier, sorry, please accept a £3 gift token and if you want to cancel the order, here's the link. How sweet. I checked a few other online stores and no-one seems to have it (including eil.com which is odd) so I cancelled the order and then downloaded the album from my good friends at iTunes.

I'm sure the CD must be available from somewhere but how much effort do I really want to put into finding it when it's right in front of me in the iTunes store? I download individual tracks but when it comes to albums, I prefer to buy the hard copy - that way you get all the packaging and booklet and stuff. On the other hand, I only ever really look at the booklet once so does it matter? Downloaded and burned in about 15 minutes and now belting out of my CD player.

I'm seeing the Indigo lasses for the first time in a couple of weeks so I need to refresh my lug-holes with the full range of their sounds and, although a few of these tracks are on compilations, I haven't heard the full album before. It's excellent, harder than their ususal sound, a very robust performance. There are different styles on this album and that's a good thing. That may be as a result of working with a number of guests, including Sheryl Crowe, Joan Osborne and Me'Shell Ndegeocello. I'm enjoying it.

And the £3 from Amazon? That'll almost pay for the Blue Mink 'best of' CD I've been looking at recently...

Dreamgirls

Chris took me to see the preview of 'Dreamgirls' at the National Film Theatre tonight. He was apprehensive because he loves the original cast recording from 1982 or thereabouts and I was apprehensive because, well, I didn't - I've only heard it once and it was very '80s. Leaving that to one side, it's nice to see a film at the NFT on the big screen with excellent sound, especially a musical, so I settled back into the comfy chairs waiting to be entertained. And I was.

The story is one most people who like music will at least be familiar with, loosely based on the rise of Motown and the career of Diana Ross and the Supremes. Of course, bits of the story are changed, with Hitsville being set in a car dealership with the sign reading 'the sound of tomorrow' rather than ' the sound of young America' and all that. And some of the characters seem to merge at different points with Eddie Murphy starting off as a James Brown character morphing into Marvin Gaye (complete with crochet skullcap) doing a 'message song'. But that always happens in films like this so it would be churlish to dwell on it.

More amusing was the borrowing of iconic images of Diana Ross in the latter stages of the film - at one point it got to be a 'guess the song from the picture' with Beyonce photographed imitating Diana images from the late '60s through to late '70s disco diva. That was great fun!

I had to get that out of my system but it's not really what the film is about and doesn't relay its emotional intensity at various points. It was bright and brash and colourful throughout with excellent music (which sounds much better to me than the cast recording) and visuals. The excellent set pieces and clothes, the perfect sound and perfect choreography. I bet a lot of practice went into those scenes, including the throw-away clips that were used to show the passing years.

I didn't actually recognise Beyonce at first since she was very much the enthusiastic little girl with a big smile and big eyes. A happy and permanently excited naif. She was ok, I suppose, but playing the lead singer character meant she couldn't give vent to her real voice except for a new song added at the end. And Jamie Foxx played a very strange character who didn't actually do much except look menacing and stare into the middle distance. I didn't notice much acting at all and he was strangely inarticulate. Where was the charming rogue he must have been to achieve what he did? Why did people follow him? Where was the charisma? Maybe I should practice my middle-distance staring...

Two people deserve a special mention. Eddie Murphy was excellent. I'm not a great fan of his - he seems to have played the same character for much of his career but he really won me over in this film. He can sing, he can move and he can act. At one point when his hopes of a new career had just been demolished by the Jamie Foxx character he gets out his syringe kit so shoot up despite people around him trying to talk him out of it and you can almost feel the desperation and lack of hope and dreams dripping from the screen. He doesn't do or say much, maybe it's the expression of hopelessness on his face? And his set piece stage songs were some of the highlights for me with an excellently staged 'Steppin' To The Bad Side' (I think) with him out front, the Dreamettes behind and all of them flanked by a dozen or so dancers on platforms behind them all.

The other person is Jennifer Hudson who played Effie, the Dreamette who was dropped. What a voice and what a presence. She had a few set-pieces that were excellent but the one that'll be shown on all the film reviews is 'And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going', the song where she's told she's out of the group and her lover (the Jamie Foxx character) is leaving her. It was heart-rending and painful. What a voice she has - I know that Beyonce was playing a character with a softer voice but she was totally blown away by the powerhouse of Jennifer. She's definitely more in the school of Aretha than Diana where voices are concerned and this was reinforced by the imagery later in the film where she dressed in the colourful ethnic clothes and head-scarves of Aretha in the early '70s. I'll be watching her with interest.

I enjoyed it. A film I definitely want to see again and I want the soundtrack and probably the DVD when it comes out. I wonder if the success of this film will re-launch soul music?

And to finish it off I got a free bottle of Guinness afterwards since Guinness is launching a new version of the classic drink and sponsoring the current season of films. Could an evening out get any better?

Car-Crash Cabaret

Went to the Madonna tribute VauxhallVille cabaret this evening. As ever, it was a delight and a puzzlement - was it *really* meant to be like that? A few technical hitches were encountered but I don't think anyone minded. Hosted by Nathan DeVille and Timberlina with Dawn Right Nasty spinning the platters and the in-house dance troupe of Bearlesque providing the all-essential moves.

The evening started off so well with the vocalisations of the lovely Scales of the Unexpected, a barbershop triplette, doing a medley of Madonna classics, and very well done too. They've obviously practiced, practiced, practiced and were note and movement perfect. The evening started to go a bit downhill with the 'sex book' sequence which was a bit random and then (the former Princess) Dawn got up on stage to have sex with Timberlina ... shocked, I was! It went further downhill with the Madonna karaoke when a rather drunken anti-Madonna singer and an altogether out of his head (possibly chemically enhanced) singer took the stage for a rather painful 15 minutes or so with poor Timberlina trying to manage it all. Lots of laughs all-round but painful at the same time.

Luckily the bears in all their chunkiness, our dance troupe of choice, rode to the rescue with a dance routine set to the tune of 'Vogue'. Starting off on the stage they then moved to the poles to vogue around the red poles of destiny. We weren't being treated to the Viking pole dance this evening so this was the next best thing.

All in all, an enjoyable evening during which several pints of Guinness were consumed... that place is bad for me.

Let It Snow

This was the view from my bedroom window yesterday morning... and this was the view of my house . I *like* snow but we don't get much in London so we must celebrate it when we can.

The Mighty Maximo Bag

The mighty Maximo Park are returning in renewed glory on 19 March with a new single, 'Our Velocity'. Their new album, 'Our Earthly Pleasures,' is released on 2 April. Excited? Wey aye man!

I am still ticketless for the Astoria show next month but, luckily, a full UK tour will be announced shortly. Me Geordie lads are back! ... well, almost...

True Grit

I had an odd experience walking down Mitcham Lane in the freezing breeze this evening. The gritters were out. Of course, the news has been full of a change in the weather and it looks like winter is finally arriving - that's generally a good thing in my book, since I like winter. I like all the seasons (we're so lucky in this country to have four of them) but I like them to act as they should - summer hot/winter cold sort of thing. Not the murky, damp squib we've had so far this winter.

What I don't understand is why the gritters were only sprinkling the grit at bus stops. What's that about?

Still, it's a suitable sign for me to get out my big clumpy shoes from Toronto - they're the best slip-proof shoes I've ever had and I'm not risking anything with the state of my back.

Surprising

Walking up Streatham High Road the other evening I noticed that Lambeth Counil had taken down the Christmas lights and replaced them with colour banners reading, 'Welcome to surprising Streatham'. What's so surprising about Streatham? What am I missing? I must investigate this further.

Records

After my expereince with Steve Treatment - assuming none of his work would be released on CD and then finding almost a full back catalogue had been released on a double CD in America - I should probably assume that every piece of music has been released somewhere in the world. The fun is in finding it. In the meantime, of course, one can always 'tape' old records and magically digitise them courtesy of new-fangled technology.

I'm currently listening to 'New Wave', a collection of (largely) American punk or proto-punk from 1977 or 1978. It's great to hear it in its entirity again. Some of the tracks are, of course, available on CD, such as the two New York Dolls tracks, the glorious 'Piss Factory' by Patti Smith and 'Love Comes In Spurts' by Richard Hell and the Voidoids (I've eyed his 'best of' CD a few times recently). But what about the rest of this hotch-potch of a collection? What about 'Horror Movie' by Skyhooks? 'All This And More' by the Dead Boys? 'All Or Nothing' by Little Bob Story? And for some obscure reason it also includes 'Lookin' After Number 1' by the Boomtown Rats.

I'm enjoying strolling down memory lane at the moment.

Shilpa Shetty

This years' Celebrity Big Brother didn't start off well with the odd collection of celebs. Last years was mandatory viewing but this year? Not really. I caught a couple of episodes and turned over through boredom. Then Jade Goody went in with her odd mother and vacuous toyboy - I heard about it but didn't watch. Then I caught the eviction episode last Friday and an episode earlier in the week which was full of Jade and the girls ganging up on Shilpa Shetty and bullying her endlessly for no obvious reason. I couldn't work out what the problem was meant to be. Then I realised there was no problem. This was the politics of the schoolyard and the mentality of the gang. No more and no less. Plain old-fashioned bullying but with disturbing overtones of race. It was deeply uncomfortable to watch and yet I watched it. What does that say about me?

Jade, of course, got her come-uppence last night and was evicted in favour of Shilpa staying in. That is perfectly right and proper, but Jade only had 82% of the vote - it should have been over 90% of the vote. She seemed genuinely upset and apologetic when she saw some of the footage of what she was saying and her often aggressive actions. There now seems to be a gang mentality to get at Jade and pull her down, the same bullying tactics she's being vilified for. I can't be bothered with that. Jade has no impact on my life other than seeing her on the covers of trashy celeb-magazines I wouldn't dream of picking up let alone reading. I don't really care about Jade but part of me thinks she doesn't dererve to be let off the hook after the hell she put Shilpa through for a week - some things shouldn't be forgiven or glossed over. What kind of message does that send to others of her ilk and the 'get away with it' mentality? There are consequences to our actions and that's what Jade's seeing right now. No doubt the other two girls in the gang will feel the pain as well when they're evicted.

What I found quite odd throughout was that it happened at all. These are adults we're talking about here, not 'Lord of the Flies'. Jermaine Jackson intervened once that I saw but Dirk Benedict didn't seem to get involved at all - for both of them, why should they care? They'll be back home in a week or two and will never see or hear the celebs again. Cleo Roccas tried to intervene and be a go-between but wasn't strong enough, and neither was Ian 'H', but at least he supported Shilpa. It all seemed a very odd set-up with poison flowing through the house and no-one doing or saying anything. That's a wierd dynamic.

Throughout it all, the one I felt sorry for and admired was Shilpa. Admired for her restraint and her control, not responding to all the petty little jibes and actions. Admired for her grace and poise and elegance - which, along with her obvious beauty, is possibly why the girls ganged up her - she effortlessly outshines them all. She gave Jade the benefit of the doubt and even apologised in the diary room for -once only - saying she felt the actions were racially motivated and withdrew the comment. And this was all well before Jade knew something was up and went to apologise. I don't think I would've been so magnanimous.

Shilpa is an admirable woman and it'll be interesting to see what happens to her when she leaves the house, hopefully as the winner if there's any justice. Obviously there'll be more Bollywood films - there are always more Bollywood films. But where will her career go next? Hollywood?