sobota, 19 września 2015

Corect Spelling/Cold Fish/Sushi - Love Me Today


Sometimes record companies could incline artists who have contract with them to make silly or even ridiculous moves to achieve commercial success. The fine example for this theory could be a case of one English new wave band which released its only record under three different names. The story has begun when a working in London Canadian Michelle McAdorey answered the ad of a guitarist Ian Morse looking for a vocalist to form a proper band. After a few rehearsals the duo recorded a demo tape which was well received by music agents and allow them to get live gigs in some prestigious clubs in London like The Venue or The Marquee under the provisional name Cold Fish. Soon the band has grown to a quartet with two new musicians : Tom Sewell (bass) and Peter Howard (drums) and what was more important, it has secured the recording deal with major label CBS Records. Midge Ure (Ultravox fame) was chosen by that label to produce the first band's single, at least the track designed for its A-side. That single titled "Love Me Today" (CBS - A 2779) was released by the band first in UK in early 1982 under the name Cold Fish but it passed almost unmarked and failed to enter the hit charts. Poor results of this release caused that CBS dropped the band and restrained its support for them. But the band still had been trying to find some success with their only song outside UK and they managed to release "Love Me Today" in two formats as 7inch and 12 inch in Canada under the name Corect Spelling and in Europe under the name SUSHI. Unfortunately, changes of name didn't bring any evident profits for the band and due to lack of them they broke up. Sadly, because I think that "Love Me Today" had got a really big hit potential.


      

niedziela, 13 września 2015

Leo Sayer - Thunder In My Heart


Yesterday, while I was going home I listened on my car radio the song by Leo Sayer "Thunder In My Heart". At first moment this song seemed to be very familiar to me but I needed about a minute to recognize who performs it. It won't be a big slip if I say that I didn't listened to this song more than thirty five years. I'm not a great fan of music created by such artists like Leo Sayer but accidentely I encountered on him when I bought a compilation vinyl album titled "Heart Of Glass and Other Hits" (Pronit - SX 1841, Tonpress - SX 1841) released in Poland around a year 1979. The reason I have bought this record was its setlist comprising mainly tracks of new wave and rock stars like Blondie, Rory Gallagher, Ten Years After, UFO or Jethro Tull but the addition to them were songs by pop or disco artists : Nick Gilder, Frankie Miller, The Babys and Leo Sayer. Thereby I played this album as a whole on my gramophone so many times I also became fond of Leo Sayer's hit "Thunder In My Heart" compiled on B-side of that record. By the way, it peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart and number 38 on US Billboard Hot 100.


wtorek, 8 września 2015

Dan Hicks vs Thomas Dolby - I Scare Myself

                      Dan Hicks                                                      Thomas Dolby

A sophisticated jazzy theme with haunting dark lyrics. This is an appropriate description for the song "I Scare Myself" by Dan Hicks, an American singer/songwriter active on jazz-folk-blues-country music scene since the early 1960's. He wrote this song at the beginning of his career while residing in San Francisco area. It was released on his first album "Original Recordings" (Epic - BN 26464) from 1969 but it passed almost unmarked. Almost, because Tommy LiPuma, the producer of the next Dan's studio album, have found this song so commercially atractive that he convinced Dan to re-record it once more and release it on that album titled "Striking It Rich !" (Blue Thumb Records - BTS 36) in spring of 1972. Generally, this time the song's got wide radio airplay, becoming soon one of the most popular Hicks's tracks on his numerous gigs which followed the release of that album. Throughout next fourty years several artists covered "I Scare Myself" with various results. The most successful version of the song was recorded by Thomas Dolby in 1984 and released on his third studio album "The Flat Earth" (Parlophone Odeon - PCS 2400341) and futhermore as a single in 7inch and 12inch formats (Parlophone - R 6067). It's so different than Hicks' original albeit equally magical. Dolby changed entirely song's instrumentation, partially its rhythms and gave it new more jazzy outlook, very polished yet a little moody and dramatic sometime. That was a minor hit in UK and continental Europe peaking at Number 46 on the UK Singles Chart.


       

niedziela, 6 września 2015

The Rezistance - The Art Of Love



Another lost band from the past. The short-lived Belgian project The Rezistance, active in years 1982 - 1983 is a classic representative of the new wave scene in the period of its heyday. All the records released by them is a single "Dance On"/Get Off" (Maquis Records - MR 001) and 12inch mini album "The Art Of Love" (Parsley - PP 029) with tracklist : A side - "Heavenly", "Whatcha Gonna Be?"; B side - "Fear", "Ground Zero", "Dance On". The band's line-up : Bob Geenens (vocals, keyboards), Phillippe Vanderdonckt (bass), Ronald Vanhuffel (drums), Jackie Hebbrecht (guitar), Eric D'Hoe (keyboards). It's a pity that catchy tunes from these records didn't achieved any bigger success, especially "Heavenly".


sobota, 5 września 2015

Anica Dobra - Mjau Mjau



This track is taken from a film directed by Serbian Darko Bajic titled "Black Bomber". The film plot is about an independent radio host Crni (Dragan Bjelogrlic) and the rock singer Luna (Anica Dobra) who are fighting the authorities ruling town in non-democratic way. They both are cruising their pick-up truck with built-on studio broadcasting their own radio program.



czwartek, 3 września 2015

The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble - Here Be Dragons


Here Be Dragons. Once that was the name for unexplored territories located on faraway uncharted parts of the medieval maps. This phrase in Latin form "Hic Sunt Dracones" meant the unknown in a way to warn people of possible danger or hazard. Nowadays this definition is used metaphorically for crossing bounderies to enter undiscovered areas of culture or life. It perfectly suits to creativeness of the Dutch avant-garde jazz outfit The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and their music which is a mix of modern jazz, ambient and electronic post-rock. The band was founded in a year 2000 by Jason Kohnen and Gideon Kiers as a project to compose soundtracks for the ancient silent movies directed by Murnau and Lang but soon it has grown into the proper jazz combo with line-up counting six or seven members, recording and releasing albums, as like extensively touring all over Europe. Since 2006 the band released four studio albums, their debut self-titled "The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble" (Planet Mu - ZIQ141CD), followed in 2009 by "Here Be Dragons" (Ad Noiseam - adn120), and in 2011 by "From The Stairwell" (Denovali Records DEN86) and "I Forsee The Dark Ahead, If I Stay" (Parallel Corners). Needless to say that my favourite one is exactly "Here Be Dragons".  The personell resposible for this record : Jason Kohnen  (double bass, piano), Gideon Kiers (electronics, drums), Charlotte Cegarra (vocals, piano, xylophone), Hilary Jeffery (trombone), Nina Hitz (cello), Eelco Bosman (guitar), Sarah Anderson (violin). They've done a great job, this album's got unique sound, dense albeit atmospheric, with crystal clear vocals of Charlotte Cegarra and hounting string parades, truely a musical trip into some magic uncharted places.