Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: You've got to listen to the music

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  • recordari,

    Still, I'll know I've hit rock bottom when I start mainlining Luther Vandross.

    Simon, are you there?

    Since you brought it up, here's some Alexander O'neil, doing that dancehall classic, Criticize ;-) (Runs, hides...)

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    See: Pretty Things in Listener

    I was at the New Plymouth concert where the band was lurching around the stage, waving blazing newspapers. They could have burnt down the entire CBD of New Plymouth but at that stage of my life, I wouldn't have cared. In wake of this concert, Truth mounted a campaign to hound them out of NZ.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    just to hark back to the Blue Monday discussion for a wee minute...there's also this to consider...

    now, not claiming that because this bunch are from Manchester as well and pre-date BM's release that the progression must have been, ummm, borrowed, but it's interesting none the less. Of course, there probably isn't an apparently unique chord progression anywhere that's never been heard before.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Hasn't this thread wandered places as I slept.

    Of course, there probably isn't an apparently unique chord progression anywhere that's never been heard before.

    Indeed, but it's eerily close. The flip side of this is like Being Boiled Pt2, but then the single was meant as a pisstake of the whole dour Northern Synth scene I think. There's a cool Diplo remix of that doing the rounds, that old 1% at work again.

    here's some Alexander O'neil

    Posted that on FB a week or so and got a flurry of swooning old club kids getting all hot and bothered. And, Rich, just so you know, maaaatttteeee, I won't have a word said against Luther either. ;-)

    When I was living in mid 1980s London there could be found early on a Saturday morning, moving between nightclubs and football terraces, acres of young soul smoovies wandering the streets chanting Luffa, Luffa . He was like a soul god to hundreds of thousands and there were queues at the import stores when the new single was due.

    I had a grounding in Luther and all things musical that were contemporary and black when I flatted with Murray 'Soulfinger' Cammick for 3 or 4 years before I left for London. I was extremely resistant but eventually those Marcus Miller basslines cracked the defenses.

    The importance of Luther and Alexander (and not trying to lecture but I guess I am), was that they pulled soul out of the 'burbs and into the inner cites. In the UK The pirate stations banged the stuff out and mashed it with reggae and early hip-hop That eventually gave you the likes of Massive Attack and, yes, Portishead. In NZ you can draw a line between the South Auckland & Porirua kids arriving Luthered-up in the city and the rise of the urban soul movement in the late 1990s and beyond.

    Plus they could, y'know, really sing.

    Personally, I'm waiting for the critical reappraisal of the jumpsuit Elvis period

    Yeah, I know he's almost dead, massive, a fashion disaster and it's one of the most mawkish songs ever, but what a voice.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    just as a compare and contrast...and cos it's my favourite.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Alien Lizard (anag),

    Of course, there probably isn't an apparently unique chord progression anywhere that's never been heard before.

    Gerry and the holograms put me in mind of another
    digi-didgeridoo-hoodoo is there a Dr in the House?

    and I too, will hear no ill spoken of Mistah Vandross

    - what next, people dissing Bobby (anything but) Bland? these must indeed be the final days...

    The Arrrgh Complex • Since Jan 2010 • 158 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Yeah, I know he's almost dead...

    Six weeks, if memory serves.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    these must indeed be the final days...

    The lineage:

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Well, as Sacha has pointed out, I seem to have conflated "I didn't like it" with "It's overrated"

    Hey, nothing personal. We were a party to the conflation - that's communication for you. I like Geoff's word "resonance".

    Sigue Sigue Sputnik were also good by me, along with easier to find mainstream contenders like (ulp) Thomas Dolby and Berlin as I got into that sound. Fortunately I didn't feel compelled to choose at the time, though I imagine space under the arm would have been a constraint for those UK cool kids.

    Geoff, check this:

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Thanks, Sasha.

    Whilst we are talking of untimely deaths, the great French filmmaker Eric Rohmer has died, aged 89.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Here's another song that changed my musical life. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the first song played at the opening of The Powerstation. I don't think it was The Asylum, as the stage was the other way round?

    I'm surprised we haven't got here yet, but now we have ;-)

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Memory fades on the opening tune at either club. I'm betting Roger Perry would know, but Love song was another big meeting point between post punk and electronica, as was Theme For Great Cities. Big tunes, early 1980s at A Certain Bar etc, and hugely influential across the water in Detroit.

    Jim Kerr...it all went a bit wonky after that.

    I was playing Love Song when I DJed at Michael Meemee's 40th a few years back, and it was all going a bit nuts (old people thinking they're not courtesy of cheap white wine) when the filth burst in and shut down the party. I asked if I could finish the record but the angry police woman snarled and said it was rubbish anyway, so no.

    I had a brief, ugly, Gideon Tait flashback.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I tentatively recall that this track made it to number one in only one country. Ours.

    (Prepared to be told otherwise)..

    and bonus from some years later:

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Love the Doot Doot. I mean ironically, sort of. What? And the Underworld.

    [Redacted] Phew that was close, I nearly posted Kylie doing her remix of Blue Monday, but thought better of it just before the 15 minutes was up... Carry on.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Saw Underworld at Glade last year - amazing. They had real mega mega white things floating around. (it was also suggested they may have been the bubbles from the lager lager lager).

    Anyway, if you won't, I will:

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Haha! I'll just dance to it.

    Lalala, lalalala la, lalala, lala lalala...

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • TracyMac,

    Getting back to CDs, I still buy them. I will install iTunes over my dead body, and other than the indie outfits like Magnatunes, that don't carry the artists I want, the DRM and shite quality are reasons not to buy from most online vendors. Trent Reznor is doing the right thing, as far as I'm concerned.

    By buying CDs, I can rip my nice OGGs (hell, if there was more 224 kbit AAC or VBR MP3, I'd buy those - I'm not a complete dork about music) and copy them onto any device I so choose.

    Pitch Black released something recently that had OGG files on it, and I thought, COOL, no need to rip this one... until I found out they were 48kbit. Why the hell would I want to listen to AM-quality music?

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    @Sacha: Doot Doot didn't make it to number one (I looked it up to win an argument on this very issue last year) but did make the top 10.

    It was there for ages. It seemed.

    And I think it was a hit in some other countries as well. Canada springs to mind, for some unknown reason.

    They were Welsh, from memory. I like to picture the entire stadium at Cardiff Arms Park, instead of singing 'Land of My Fathers' et al, warbling

    'And now we go Doot
    Doot Doot
    WHIRRRRrrrrrrrr.......

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • dyan campbell,

    Sad news that Jay Reatard has died

    10 Reasons Jay Reatard Was Cool

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 595 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    Rob, I think the point Sacha was making is the Freur (or more correctly @~~~>@~~~>@~~~>) is Underworld..same band.

    And yeah, you are right, it was a hit in Europe, Canada, and, indeed the US. God knows why.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    re Freur, I remember Karen Hay pimping them on RWP. I grabbed the album and 12'' from a cheapie bin a few years back for a bit of a laugh - no-worr-eye-mean?

    wasn't quite so funny when I sat down for a listen. still, interesting musical footnote given where they ended up.

    now filed under ironic nostalgia.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I met a couple of blokes from Freur, after their hit. They were friends of the Chills' manager Craig Taylor, and they came to see the Chills play at Dingwalls. Nice chaps, although I wouldn't have picked that they'd become Underworld.

    But some of you will have come across the Auckland-based journalist and author Chris Bell, who used to play bass for Freur live. Another lovely chap, and he has an interesting approach to being a writer in the internet age.

    It's a small world ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    did you sing the chorus with bee-ewwww bit to them?

    might have gone down a bit like when Neil Finn responded to Sting singing one of his songs to him back stage with a rendition of de do do do de dah dah dah.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    A moment for the great Teddy P:

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    But some of you will have come across the Auckland-based journalist and author Chris Bell, who used to play bass for Freur live.

    wow. Didn't know that either. Never met Chris in the flesh but have had numerous online exchanges with him. On tax policy and Alvin Stardust, though not in the same discussion....

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

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