FEATURE: Wings Fill the Window: Kate Bush’s Night of the Swallow at Forty-One

FEATURE:

 

 

Wings Fill the Window

PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport

Kate Bush’s Night of the Swallow at Forty-One

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THE final single released…

from Kate Bush 1982’s album, The Dreaming, is one of her most underrated and under-discussed tracks. Night of the Swallow was released on 21st November, 1983. Though most people who are unaware of Kate Bush might never have heard of this song. For those who know Kate Bush and her albums, Night of the Swallow will be on their radar. Many consider it to be one of her best tracks. It is hard to argue against that! Released only in Ireland, I think it should have got a wider release. Perhaps one of the reasons why it was only released in Ireland was because of the Irish sounds. It is heightened by its sonic palette. I love the mix of players on Night of the Swallow. We have Bill Whelan on bagpipes, string arrangement; Liam O'Flynn on uilleann pipes, penny whistle; Seán Keane on fiddle and Dónal Lunny on the bouzouki. I am going to get some words from Kate Bush about working with Irish musicians and that experience of connecting with them. In terms of the story of Night of the Swallow, it is about a smuggler planning his next clandestine journey. Kate Bush adopts the role of his lover, pleading for him not to leave. The smuggler speaks in defiance. Even if that is what the song literally references, Bush has said in an interview that she was thinking of men trapped in relationships who want to leave and might not be able to because of the woman’s insecurities. Also the same with the mother-son dynamic and the mum not wanting the son to leave the nest. That feeling that the male is compelled to pull away when they meet with this resistance. Bush turning that everyday and common dynamic that she has witnessed and turning it into one of her most transfixing songs. The author John Boyne was on Desert Island Discs earlier this year and he chose Night of the Swallow as one of his eight discs. He actually selected it as the one he would save from the waves. He has heard the song countless times and it is very special to him. He is not the only one. It is a track that goes deep and provokes such strong emotions.

Prior to moving on, this is what its writer said in the Kate Bush Club newsletter of October 1982. She would release the single just over a year later. It is a shame that it was not a worldwide release, though I guess it might have struggled in terms of chart positions.

“Ever since I heard my first Irish pipe music it has been under my skin, and every time I hear the pipes, it’s like someone tossing a stone in my emotional well, sending ripples down my spine. I’ve wanted to work with Irish music for years, but my writing has never really given me the opportunity of doing so until now. As soon as the song was written, I felt that aceilidhband would be perfect for the choruses. The verses are about a lady who’s trying to keep her man from accepting what seems to be an illegal job. He is a pilot and has been hired to fly some people into another country. No questions are to be asked, and she gets a bad feeling from the situation. But for him, the challenge is almost more exciting than the job itself, and he wants to fly away. As the fiddles, pipes and whistles start up in the choruses, he is explaining how it will be all right. He’ll hide the plane high up in the clouds on a night with no moon, and he’ll swoop over the water like a swallow.

Bill Whelan is the keyboard player with Planxty, and ever since Jay played me an album of theirs I have been a fan. I rang Bill and he tuned into the idea of the arrangement straight away. We sent him a cassette, and a few days later he phoned the studio and said, “Would you like to hear the arrangement I’ve written?”

I said I’d love to, but how?

“Well, Liam is with me now, and we could play it over the phone.”

I thought how wonderful he was, and I heard him put down the phone and walk away. The cassette player started up. As the chorus began, so did this beautiful music – through the wonder of telephones it was coming live from Ireland, and it was very moving. We arranged that I would travel to Ireland with Jay and the multi-track tape, and that we would record in Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. As the choruses began to grow, the evening drew on and the glasses of Guiness, slowly dropping in level, became like sand glasses to tell the passing of time. We missed our plane and worked through the night. By eight o’clock the next morning we were driving to the airport to return to London. I had a very precious tape tucked under my arm, and just as we were stepping onto the plane, I looked up into the sky and there were three swallows diving and chasing the flies.

Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982”.

I do feel this is one of Kate Bush’s ‘lost’ singles. One that should have done better or be released more widely. Perhaps Night of the Swallow was seen as more suited to Ireland due to the nature of the composition. That it would resonate harder. Given extra gravitas as it featured members of the Irish bands Planxty and The Chieftains. It is one of my favourite Kate Bush A and B-side releases. An incredibly strong single with Houdini as the B-side. It could have been a single itself. When Night of the Swallow was released, only about a thousand copies were made with a picture sleeve. In addition, a vinyl 7″ was pressed in England and the sleeve produced in Ireland. Unfortunately, as a greater number of vinyl was produced than the sleeves, it did cause issues. The single did not sell well and, once the next shipment of 7” singles was in transit, Night of the Swallow had already stalled. It meant that there was this stock of discs that could not go anywhere. It is said from about 1990, there were copies with a lighter-weight sleeve. Original copies with the hard card sleeves and later ones with a paper sleeve. Thanks to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia for that information. I think The Dreaming is one of Kate Bush’s most varied albums in terms of the themes and sounds. Her role as producer crucial in that respect. Her lyrics are always strong, though she hit a career peak in 1982 with The Dreaming. Night of the Swallow boasts some of the album’s finest and most striking words. I think my favourite section is this: “Give me a break!/Ooh, let me try!/Give me something to show/For my miserable life!/Give me something to take!/Would you break even my wings,/Just like a swallow?”.

Night of the Swallow gets brief mention. Whether it is a review for Bush’s 2019 lyrics book, How to Be Invisible, where the song is described as one of obligation in a relationship. There is the odd review where Night of the Swallow is giving some kudos. Whether it is from Medium (“Night of the Swallow” — Another haunting track (and my personal favorite) with a strong Celtic flavor, especially in the instrumental passage played by Irish musicians recorded in Ireland, during an all-night recording session with Kate. The somewhat mysterious narrative involves a secret, night-time escape by plane, possibly by a smuggler on his way to his next rendezvous, with Kate pleading, “I won’t let you do it/If you go, I’ll let the law know…” The dramatic final chorus is as gorgeous as it is spine-tingling”) or Prog (“This is a surprising single when the nature of the songs is considered. But very pleasantly surprising, and extremely satisfying for those listeners who prefer artistic values and uncoventional details over catchiness and hit potential! Both tracks are taken from Kate Bush's fourth album The Dreaming (1982), which was her most adventurous and innovative work to date at that point. In fact all singles from that album are far from typical in the single market, whereas Never For Ever clearly had songs such as 'Babooshka' that are quite obvious choices for 7" releases. 'Night of the Swallow' is actually very representative of the album's deep and mysterious spirit. Kate's magnificent vocal performance carries the song that has almost cinematic power in its scenery. Apart from the strong chorus ("with a hired plane, with no names mentioned...") which is spiced up with folk instruments - there are Uillean pipes if I remember right, and isn't that instrument in her lap on the rather unclear cover picture? - the playing remains very delicate, making the vocals and lyrics the centre of all attention. The spellbinding atmosphere of this song is very English and "old" in a way. The arrangement is highly original and full of interesting details, such as the fast tap-tap-tap percussion pattern on the chorus”).

I do hope that more is written about this gorgeous song in years to come. I do worry that there are tracks from Kate Bush’s albums that get passed over. The Dreaming is equally vulnerable to people maybe listening to obvious standouts - such as Sat in Your Lap (the first single) - and maybe one or two other cuts. Such a rich album, Night of the Swallow is one of the gems. It is a shame it didn’t do anything in Ireland. Even if Bush is moving away from retrospection and clearing the way for new music, there are songs that warrant a new video. Maybe an animation that is stunning and stylish, it would bring Night of the Swallow to new people. Perhaps not a song one would instantly think to cover, there is scope to do something new with the track. As there are rising artists covering Kate Bush and making new audiences aware of her work, I would urge a band or artist to take on Night of the Swallow again. It is a fantastic track that you don’t hear played or talked about much. If you have not heard Night of the Swallow then make sure that you do. The seventh track on The Dreaming, it then leads to All the Love and the wonderful closing two tracks of Houdini and Get Out of My House. Such range over the course of four songs! Maybe Kate Bush knew that Night of the Swallow would not be a big single. I have said before how it was common but a bit unusual releasing different singles in different countries. Often it did not provide a successful gambit. I do feel Night of the Swallow would have done well as a U.K. single. We will never know. A wonderfully oriignal and distinct song that should get more discussion and airplay, Night of the Swallow turns forty-one on 21st November. Rather than it being this album track that was a failed single, I think we need to be a lot more positive about this stunning song. Discuss it as much as we can and, in the process, ensure that we provide it…

A whole new lease of life.

FEATURE: Directors Cut: Have We Passed the Age of Music Video Innovators?

FEATURE:

 

 

Directors Cut

IN THIS PHOTO: Acclaimed French director Michel Gondry has directed multiple classic videos during his career

Have We Passed the Age of Music Video Innovators?

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I have been thinking about this…

PHOTO CREDIT: Donald Tong/Pexels

for a while now. I have been immersing myself in some great and hugely innovative music videos from the 1990s and 2000s. Maybe as a way to get featured on MTV or the early days of YouTube, there was this defined wave of directors putting out amazing video after the next. My favourite is Michel Gondry. The French director started out in the 1980s but his classic period I think was from the early-1990s to the early-2000s. Directing videos for artists like The White Stripes, Kylie Minogue and Radiohead, perhaps he is best known for the videos he directed for BjörK. Such mind-blowing and eye-opening videos. This very distinct style. A huge imagination. Gondry also directed one of the best music videos ever: Daft Punk’s Around the World. He is still directing, though I think his finest years were back in the 1990s and the early part of the past decade. He is not the only one. Hugely creative and exceptional directors like Sophie Muller, Hannah Lux Davis, Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham and Melina Matsoukas. Between them, they have this portfolio of videos that stay in the mind and will endure for years. I have highlighted Michel Gondry as I always love his videos. How they need to be watched over and over again so that you can work them out. Alongside the more arty and intellectual directors, there are those who have made huge productions. I guess music videos were essential for people to notice the song. A way of marketing this track so it would reach a larger audience. More than being part of the promotional process. The best directors made videos that were more enduring and powerful than the songs themselves. I have discussed this before. How these directors created timeless videos that inspired other filmmakers.

Many would point out how social media means artists are promoting their music in different ways. Music T.V. is not really a thing anymore. It also can be expensive making videos and most artists have a very limited budget. So many videos from major artists are liked and shared because of the artist and not necessarily the quality of it. I am thinking about the best videos of the past decade and how many could stack up against classics from a few decades back. Do we have modern-day directors who have their own style and have built up a reputation. We have film and T.V. directors who have a varied and long C.V. Less common when it comes to music videos. It is a pity that there is far less stock in music videos now. I guess it is fair to say that the culture is different. However, as physical formats like C.D.s and cassettes are back and could well see a boom, what is to say music T.V. cannot stage a revival? There are some great music videos released each year, though we tend to see fewer standouts. A director with their own mark and personality. Running together a string of brilliant videos that engages the senses and stays in the memory. Every time I write about this, I do wonder whether music videos are valued. I don’t think it is as simple to say tastes have changed or the digitisation of music has impacted that side of things. With so many rising and major artists putting out music, there should be this opportunity for directors with the vision and brilliance of Michel Gondry or Sophie Muller to break through.

Even if it won’t have the same impact and legacy of those directors’ videos, often music video directors go into film. It is this gateway where a director can flex their creative muscles. In so many cases, I remember an artist and an album because of a music video. Money remains an issue. To mount something quite ambitious and technical, it can take a lot of time and money. There is not really a big return. I feel it is a shame that the visual side of music is perhaps not as celebrated or important as it once was. The more I revisit these wonderful music videos from the past, it is more than the visuals. It is the memories. The way videos opened my music world. I think videos were more important than the actual music in a way. I long for the day when we get these ambitious and new directors emerging that take music videos in a new direction. Maybe people can name some who are doing that already. I am always keen to discover amazing directors. I also fear for younger music fans who might lack curiosity when it comes to music videos. This unique artform that has produced works of genius through the years. Perhaps I am old and stuck in the past. It is not as though music videos have disappeared. I feel there is a real absence of directors pushing things. Music videos not as regarded as they once were. A golden time when videos ruled. I seriously hope that this time has…

NOT gone forever.

FEATURE: With a Beautiful Snowflake… Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Thirteen

FEATURE:

 

 

With a Beautiful Snowflake…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow

Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Thirteen

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MY final visit…

PHOTO CREDIT: Kate Bush/Fish People

to Kate Bush: The Deep Cuts takes in Among Angels. The final song on her latest studio album, 2011’s 50 Words for Snow, it is the only song on the album not related to snow and the cold. I will explore a song that has got a lot of attention recently. That is Snowflake. Now scoring an animated video featuring a little shew, the Little Shrew (Snowflake) radio edit is many people’s first introduction to the song. The opening song on 50 Words for Snow, I will come to the track in a bit. This is the second and final feature for 50 Words for Snow ahead of its thirteenth anniversary on 21st November. An album of seven songs set against the backdrop of snow, it is appropriate that we start out with Snowflake. Maybe Among Angels is after the snow has cleared. The penultimate track is the title cut. Where we get actually fifty words for snow. I like the narrative of 50 Words for Snow. For this anniversary feature, I am going to focus in on three of the key songs. I also want to take a look at the new Polar Edition and how the recent exposure of Snowflake in this new form should draw people to the 2011 album. How it would be great to have 50 Words for Snow as a single film with animation and this arc. There were animations for a few of the songs already. I like Kate Bush’s new direction on Snowflake (Little Shrew). That is a black-and-white video (well, maybe grey and white some would say). Maybe that then leads to a colour animation for the second track, Lake Tahoe. My first anniversary feature spent some time with an interview from 2011. There was some critical feedback too. In terms of the reviews, they were among the most ecstatic of Bush’s career. Up there with Aerial (2005) and Hounds of Love (1985) in some cases. I also will end this feature by writing how Bush has announced she wants to work on new material. Whether it will be anything like 50 Words for Snow.

I think that Snowflake is one of Kate Bush’s best album-opening tracks. I love how intimate Snowflake is. Even though we get this sense of the expanse of a street and snow falling from the sky to a person’s hand, there is this tenderness and ethereal quality. In terms of the personnel, we have Kate Bush’s young son Albert (Bertie) on lead vocals. Bush on backing vocals. She is also playing piano. The legendary Steve Gadd is on percussion. He was present through 50 Words for Snow and her previous studio album, Director’s Cut (also released in 2011). The late Del Palmer – who engineered the album and was part of Bush’s music and life since the 1970s – on bass. Bush’s partner Dan McIntosh on guitars. That connection between the players. Even though their parts are subtle, they create this powerful mood and set the scene. The spotlight is very much on Bertie. The fact that her tenth studio album starts with a voice other than her own is an inspired decision. Expectations are subverted. This beautiful and pure voice representing a snowflake. This is what Kate Bush said about the majestic opening track:

“When I wrote the song it was something that I wrote specifically for him and for his voice, and I guess there was a very strong parallel in my mind between the idea of this transient little snowflake and the fact that Bertie at this point… still has a really beautiful high, pure voice which soon he will lose… there seems to be this sort of link between the brief time that his voice will be like this and the brevity of the snowflake.
I think his performance on this is really powerful, and obviously I’m quite biased because I’m his mother. But it’s interesting how many people have reacted so powerfully to his performance, it’s, you know, I think it’s really something.

Joe Tiller, ”50 Words For Snow’: How Kate Bush Made A Wintry Wonder Of An Album. Dig! website, 11 December 2022”

Depending on your preference, one of the best things about 50 Words for Snow is its collaborative nature. I am going to feature one track that features a legendary figure. Some people were not keen on the fact that we have Andy Fairweather Low, Elton John and Stephen Fry heavy in the mix. Maybe preferring Bush alone, her albums have always had some backing vocals. Perhaps many feeling one collaboration would have been enough. Snowed in at Wheeler Street is a duet with Elton John. It is good that we get this two-hander from two artists who admire one another. Stephen Fry lending his distinguished voice to 50 Words for Snow’s title track as he lists increasingly-ridiculous words for snow. Andy Fairweather Low appearing on Wild Man. Even if some critics felt the title track and Snowed in at Wheeler Street were weaker tracks – because of the collaborations or maybe they were not as engaging -, I do think it offers variation and new textures on the album. Rather than Bush taking solo vocals, you do have this mix of more explorative songs where Bush’s voice guides us. A few songs where others appear. I am going to come to Snowed in at Wheeler Street soon. However, prior to that, I want to concentrate on a song that fascinates. That is Misty. One of the least-streamed songs on 50 Words for Snow is also the longest. It is the third track. I always think of it as being the closest connection to Christmas. Even though many interpret it as a song where Kate Bush has sex with a snowman, I think it is more sensual than that. I always think of it as a dream. A woman dreaming of this encounter. However, the snowman eventually melts and the bed is wet. Misty is this truly wonderfully, strange song. I guess, when I say it reminds me of Christmas, I am thinking of The Snowman. Granted, this would be the adult version! We associate snowmen with Christmas. It does seem to be this retelling of that story. When speaking with John Wilson in 2011, Bush felt the song was a bit ridiculous. She wanted people to think of it as a dark and tender song. Wilson felt that the snowman was symbolic, but Bush came back jokingly saying it was real. I think it is meant to be symbolic. Such a fascinating track, it is strange people have not written about it more. You immerse yourself in the music. As I will come to, it would be great to have a full-length animation with this song.

Track five on 50 Words for Snow features the brilliant Elton John. Snowed in at Wheeler Street is a song you almost have to defend. Perhaps the one highlighted most as being the weakest of the seven, I think it remarkable and fitting to have these two friends playing lovers who get separated through time. This is what Kate Bush said in a 2011 interview:

“The idea is that there are two lovers, two souls who keep on meeting up in different periods of time. So they meet in Ancient Rome and then they meet again walking through time. But each time something happens to tear them apart. (…) It’s like two old souls that keep on meeting up. (John Doran, ‘A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed’. The Quietus, 2011)”.

Not much is written about the song. From The Quietus (“Those synths imbue ‘Snowed in at Wheeler Street’ with a sense of frazzled foreboding that negates the potential cheesiness of Elton John’s throaty turn on a duet that casts him and Bush as a pair of lovers spread across time, doomed to separate at key points in history, wishing that could return to one mundane, snow bound day spent together”) to The Guardian’s three-star (where they listening to the same album?!) assessment (“It all begins beguilingly enough with the birth of a snowflake, sung by Bush's son Albert, who flutters down to a stately piano accompaniment. Their search for each other is echoed later in "Snowed in at Wheeler Street", an inferior duet between Bush and Elton John. Two lovers are torn apart by various historical forces – the sack of Rome, the second world war, 9/11; the best that can be said for them is that Bush's voice reaches some of its lushest temperatures”), it is all a bit lukewarm and perfunctory. Granted, not up there with Lake Tahoe, Misty, Wild Man or Among Angels, I think Snowed in at Wheeler Street is very special. Back in 2013, Kate Bush News reported on an article where Elton John discussed working with Kate Bush:

“In his “Soundtrack of my Life” features in The Observer Sunday 1st September, Sir Elton John noted Snowed in at Wheeler Street as “The song that was difficult to Record”:

“I did a duet with Kate Bush on this track for her last album. That session with her was hard, because she doesn’t write easy songs. She’s a complex songwriter and this is a weird song, but I love it so much. I’m so proud to be on a Kate Bush record; she’s always marched to the beat of her own drum. She was groundbreaking – a bit like a female equivalent of Freddie Mercury. She does come out socially sometimes and she came to my civil partnership occasion with her husband. There were so many stars in the room, but all the musicians there were only interested in saying, “You’ve got to introduce me to Kate Bush.” I remember Boy George saying, “Oh my God, is that Kate Bush?” I said, “Yeah!”.

On 21st November, it will be thirteen years since Kate Bush released her latest album. In a way, Snowflake ties us to the album and also to the now and future. As it was used in a new context, I think it will draw eyes to 50 Words for Snow. Opening this amazing album, I was fascinating by the animation that Bush paired with the song. How effective it was. However, as it has not been done yet, it would be great to have a single film of 50 Words for Snow. At sixty-five minutes, maybe it would need a slight trim. Cutting some of the longer songs down or blending them together. Think about the imagery we could get. Bush showed how effective a four-minute radio edit of Snowflake could be powerful and emotional with the right images. I envisage an album version/start of a film featuring a young child animated. Watching the snow fall. Maybe setting it at midnight at Christmas (so the very start of 25th December) and following it through to the evening. Even though Bush said 50 Words for Snow is not a Christmas album – she said that to John Wilson in 2011 -, there are mentions of the day: “We're over a forest/It's midnight at Christmas/The world is so loud. Keep falling. I'll find you/I think I can see you/There's your long, white neck/The world is so loud. Keep falling. I'll find you/Now I am falling/Look up and you'll see me”. From that opening in a street in the U.S., we now move to Lake Tahoe. Straddling Nevada and California, we would pan across the country. If the opening of the film is more romantic, tender and Christmas-tinged, the second song is more gothic and darker. That blend of light and dark. There would be some old-style fairy-tale imagery. Consider some of the lines: “No-one's home/Her old dog is sleeping/His legs are frail now/But when he dreams/He runs../Along long beaches and sticky fields/Through the Spooky Wood looking for her/The beds are made. The table is laid”. All the songs on the album beg for longer-form animations. As I say, if we have songs that are eleven or thirteen minutes, perhaps cutting three to four minutes off to accommodate a fifty-five-minute film.

Prior to getting to the next two songs – which could be blended and joined – we then move into a garden/house for Misty. Perhaps in Minneapolis (Minnesota). I was thinking of that place because Prince was born there. Kate Bush was a fan of Prince, so that would be a nice nod. There would be subtitles saying the place name or we would see it on a map of America. There was a short (two minutes and twenty-four seconds) animation to accompany a segment from the song entitled Mistraldespair. It was premiered on 25th November, 2011. I do like that clip, but it would be great to redo it and make it longer. Perhaps a seven or eight-minute version where we can go deeper into the song and have a longer-form animation. This film that sweeps across America on Christmas as the snow falls on various states. We would end up in California. I see us then flying over to the mountains and woodland of Montana for Wild Man. We find Bush playing this woman in the woods looking for this beast. Something seen as mystical or mythical. Rather than hurt it, she wants to protect it. It would be the first of a two-part story in the middle of the film. I envisage us panning out and that song being set in a snow globe. It would be the start of Snowed in at Wheeler Street. There is a Wheeler Street in Philadelphia. The largest city ion Pennsylvania has a Wheeler Street. I imagine representations of Kate Bush and Elton John in separates houses in Wheeler Street as there is a huge snow drift. We travel around the song and the various flashbacks. Maybe later in the evening, they both fall asleep and this is a dream. The start of the song sets the scene: “Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you but don't I know you?/There's just something about you. Haven't we met before?/We've been in love forever./When we got to the top of the hill we saw Rome burning”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush overlooking a scene from Misty

Various cities and places are named in the song. From ancient Rome through to Paris 1942 to the London smog , these lovers keep getting separated. These burning hills of Rome. Evocative images throughout. It is a dream sequence that could also be a twist at the end of the film. Is everything a dream or is the story as straightforward as we think? I kind of compare it to The Ninth Wave and how there has not been a short film for that. Also running at seven songs, it would be fascinating pairing them together. Having animated films of both. From the dream of Snowed in at Wheeler Street, we then flash to something a bit trippy and fantastical. Perhaps going to be a university in New York, Stephen Fry plays Prof. Joseph Yupik. Kate Bush was interviewed by The Quietus in 2011 and spoke about the song and these made up words for snow (“So the idea was that the words would get progressively more silly really but even when they were silly there was this idea that they would have been important, to still carry weight. And I really, really wanted him to do it and it was fantastic that he could do it. (…)”). I like the idea of Kate Bush playing someone dancing with the professor as the snow falls across New York. Being this Disney-esque fantasy where all the words come to life and we get this psychedelic nod to The Beatles too. It would then fade out as we get to the final song. Rather than there being snow, we would then go to California.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush visualising Lake Tahoe

As Los Angeles is three hours behind New York, we would be staying within Christmas Day. Maybe a scene at a family home. We then go to the street and a situation like It’s a Wonderful Life. Maybe a man on the edge or sad. Thinking of running. He then gets these visions and voices. Similar to the ones from Snowflake. That song starts from above as snowflakes fall into someone’s hands. Here, we get a similar vision. It could be part of a twist or narrative switch that takes us full circle. The opening verse compels so many visions: “Only you can do something about it/There's no one there, my friend, any better/I might know what you mean when you say you fall apart/Aren't we all the same? In and out of doubt”. I am thinking about heavenly voice from his late wife. The child from Snowflake could be his child that was separated and is living somewhere else. We get visions of that as he closes his eyes. I am going more into this song in a separate feature. I love the lyrics on this track and how affecting they are. How it is just Kate Bush and the piano. One of her most stripped-back and intimate moments on 50 Words for Snow. Kate Bush performed this song during the encore for her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn. It must have been an amazing experience! Also, Among Angels. Los Angeles is the city of angels. All tying in! I love the lines “I can see angels standing around you/They shimmer like mirrors in summer/But you don't know it/And they will carry you over the walls/If you need us, just call/Rest your weary world in their hands/Lay your broken laugh at their feet”. The mixture of the celestial and otherworldly within this doubt, turmoil and strain in Los Angeles as a man is on the edge. We would get a nice resolution and a twist as the film fades away…

It is well worth Kate Bush thinking about something larger for 50 Words for Snow. As she has invited the thought of a new album, it would be her last clearing of the snow before new work. However, as it took her a long time and so much effort to put together animation for Little Shrew (Snowflake), maybe it is too big an undertaking! The same with anything for The Ninth Wave from Hounds of Love. I guess it is a possibility for the future. Many people have wondered what it would be like if all songs from the album were animated and there weas a larger arc and this thread. A single story that goes around America on Christmas Day. From the early hours through to the evening, there would be no dialogue. Instead, you get introduced to various characters and vignettes. We would have some unexpected twists and cliff-hangers. I think it would also compel people to listen to 50 Words for Snow. As I said in the first anniversary feature for 50 Words for Snow, I noted how people rate the album low when ranking her work. It comes eighth or ninth (Bush has released ten studio albums). It is much stronger than that! People perhaps not having the patience to sit through a long album. Songs that unfold and evolve. Rather than there being these shorter and more conventional tracks. I think 50 Words for Snow warrants greater respect ahead of its thirteenth anniversary on 21st November. It is a simply wonderful album. I do think a new album, whenever that comes, will be different. I will speculate in another feature. However, I do also feel we will get a mix of piano-led numbers and this Jazz-Rock/Art Pop blend and something more orchestral and sweeping. It will be interesting. However, take some time and listen to 50 Words for Snow. Put this album on, close your eyes, and lose yourself…

IN this snow-filled and fantastical world.

FEATURE: Let’s Do It Again: TLC’s CraZySeXyCOol at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

Let’s Do It Again

TLC’s CraZySeXyCOol at Thirty

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DEPENDING how you stylise the title…

one cannot deny that TLC’s second studio album is a masterpiece. Following on from 1992’s Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip, it was a massive leap forward in terms of confidence and quality. Their debut is fantastic, though CraZySeXyCOol has so many gems. On 15th November, 1994, the trio - of Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, and Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas – put out into the world one of the best albums of the 1990s. The group began working on a follow-up to their debut in 1993, but there was not much productivity and development due to personal issues. Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes was battling alcohol issues. She was in a volatile relationship. Even though her role was diminished on the album, she still contributes a lot and is responsible for some of the best moments. Boasting some of the trio’s best cuts – Creep, Red Light Special and the epic Waterfalls -, they would follow up CraZySeXyCOol with 1999’s FanMail. Reaching number three in the U.S. and four in the U.K., I think CraZySeXyCOol still sound amazing and nuanced thirty years later. We live in a time when there is not really an equivalent to TLC. Operating now as a duo – Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes died in 2002 -, you can tell how they have inspired a legion of new Pop and R&B artists. We can hear elements of CraZySeXyCOol in contemporary albums. I want to mark the upcoming thirtieth anniversary of a truly great album. One that I would urge everyone to listen to. One where the deep cuts are really strong and compelling. I especially love Kick Your Game and Let’s Do It Again. The interludes are also really good. There is this flow to CraZySeXyCOol that makes it seem like a single piece of work almost.

Before I finish this feature, I am going to bring in a few features about CraZySeXyCOol. Marking its twentieth anniversary in 2014, Billboard did a track-by-track examination of the album. I hope that we get some new features and insight into CraZySeXyCOol as we head towards its big 3-0:

“The success of CrazySexyCool was due to the disc’s singles. All four landed in the top five of the Hot 100, and two reached No. 1. One of those chart-toppers, “Waterfalls,” stands as one of the decade’s greatest songs, and in so far as it used hip-hop, soul, and a big-budget CGI video to sell social messages concerning inner-city drug abuse and the spread of HIV/AIDS, it’s ‘94 to the core. It’s also timeless.

“Waterfalls” is one of the few CrazySexyCool tracks that truly is TLC — as in all three ladies blending their distinct voices as they had on their 1992 debut, Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip. A lot had happened in the nearly three years since these sexy tomboys in the baggy jeans bedazzled with condoms arrived on the scene. Most notably, Left Eye had been convicted of arson after nearly burning down then-boyfriend Andre Rison’s mansion, and her court-mandated rehab overlapped with the CrazySexyCool sessions.

Lopes’ raps are notably absent on many of these tracks, and without their toughest, funniest member, T-Boz and Chilli had to reinvent themselves. Working mostly with the same stable of producers they’d used on TLC Tip — Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, most notably — T-Boz and Chilli got down on some sultry bedroom jams, scoring big with “Creep,” “Diggin’ on You,” and “Red Light Special.”

It’s mostly via the intro and interlude tracks (there are five of ‘em, this being a ‘90s album and all) that TLC puts forth the album’s loose concept: To some extent, all women are crazy, sexy, and cool. It’s just a question of how those elements balance out at any given moment. With CrazySexyCool, TLC got the ratio just right, and even though the follow-up, 1999’s FanMail, became the group’s first and only No. 1 album, this is the one people come back to”.

Back in 2019, NME celebrated twenty-five years of CraZySeXyCOol by speaking with TLC. ‘T-Boz’ and ‘Chilli’ spoke about how the trio really felt they needed to prove themselves on their second studio album. It was clear they more than stepped up to the plate and delivered one of the seminal albums of the 1990s. It remains this beloved masterpiece:

“We were all sitting there like, ‘This is terrible’,” says Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, laughing as she recalls the time bandmate Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes turned in her verse for their first Number One single, ‘Creep’. “She basically wrote an anti-‘Creep’ rap. So when it came to shooting the first video we took the rap off of it. And because we did that Lisa put tape on her mouth as a protest so she couldn’t sing the song.”

“And not regular tape,” adds Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. “We’re talking about the grey tape you put on a box at the UPS store, the stuff that can take your skin off. Then we had to go to the trailer and try and talk her into taking it off.”

According to T-Boz, Left Eye, who tragically died in a car crash in 2002, wasn’t a fan of the subject matter of ‘Creep’. In among the track’s jazzy horns, funky drum kicks and longing synths were lyrics such as: “I’ll never leave him down/ Though I might mess around/ It’s only cause I need some affection,” which she feared her then-boyfriend, NFL wide receiver Andre Rison, might get the wrong idea.

“They had one of those real touchy, jealous-type relationships so she didn’t want him to think that she was cheating,” she explains. “But it had nothing to do with their real relationship, it was actually a personal situation that happened to me.”

Remembering Left Eye and the “cute and weird” ways she would pen her raps, T-Boz says: “She used to go in the bathroom and write in the stall with her little bit of weed. She used to sit there and smoke, and write sideways on the toilet with her feet up on the wall and her back against the stall.” And those raps were an important part of the success of ‘CrazySexyCool’.

Certified 12-times platinum in the United States and selling over 23 million copies worldwide, the album saw TLC go on to become the first girl group to ever be awarded diamond status by the RIAA. Bagging them a couple of Grammys, they were also first black act ever to win the coveted Video of the Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards for their breakout hit, ‘Waterfalls’.

But more than sales and accolades, ‘CrazySexyCool’ paved the way for the next generation of girl groups. Taking what they had learned from watching those that came before them — such as the likes of SWV, En Vogue and R&B boybands like New Edition and BBD — TLC packaged a fresh new attitude and unique swagger that inspired the next wave of girl power. Some of the fans who grew up listening to the group went on to take centre stage themselves: All Saints, Little Mix and, on a much larger scale, Destiny’s Child and the Spice Girls – something Mel C acknowledged in an interview with The Guardian last year.

“We had a lot to prove with that second album,” says Chilli. “It established us as a group that was gonna be here for a long time and it proved we weren’t just a fad.”

“And I think it’s doing what we wanted it to do still to this day” T-Boz adds. “It’s just good music that has no age and appeals to everyone, regardless of colour. It doesn’t matter what gender, creed or nationality you are, it’s just great music and that’s what I love about it. It’s timeless.”

Timeless is a certainly a good way to describe ‘CrazySexyCool’, as is, unsurprisingly, the album’s title. Devised by Left Eye, Chilli says the title — which represents the individual personalities of the group (Crazy [Left Eye], Sexy [Chilli], Cool [T-Boz]) — was conceived while on a trip to Europe.

“It’s so funny because when Lisa came up with it I was personally a little upset,” explains Chilli. “I thought Tionne should have been sexy. We all could have played crazy and sexy but I know I’m cool – I’m the cool one. I was confused as to why I would be sexy. I was like, ‘That’s not me, that’s Tionne!’ I just didn’t look at myself like that.”

Laughing, T-Boz says: “Lisa slapped her upside her head and was like, ‘Girl, you better recognise!’”

It was obvious from the moment you first pushed play on ’CrazySexyCool’ just how much of a departure it was from the group’s 1992 debut, ‘Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip’. Pairing ardent grooves and sensual riffs with edgy hip-hop beats and moving away from the popular sounds of new jack swing, they took what Mary J. Blige was doing at the time with her signature brand of hip-hop soul, mixed in some Atlanta swag, and delivered something new and distinctive for listeners to wrap their ears around.

Taking on more serious subject matters than in previous years, the album was a coming-of-age moment for TLC. From AIDS and gang violence to sexuality and romanticism, regardless of the topic there was a newfound confidence and youthful optimism on display across the album’s 16 tracks. In the erotic bounce of ‘Let’s Do It Again’ and ‘Take Our Time’, the trio displayed a more assertive side to their art while proving they were completely comfortable with the more explicit side of self-expression”.

There are features like this that I would advise people to check out. I am going to end with a couple of reviews. Louder Than War provided their take on CraZySeXyCOol in 2014. There is a new generation who are discovering this album and the queens that are TLC. I do hope that CraZySeXyCOol gets a lot of new airplay on its thirtieth anniversary on 15th November. I have loved this album ever since it came out. It was a big part of my teenage years:

“The 23-million selling collection took the band to the top of the charts all over the planet with polished R&B tunes that were perfectly crafted by the leading producers of the day. CrazySexyCool meant TLC members Tionne ’T-Boz’ Watkins, Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas and Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes’ were catapulted into the realm of pop royalty, while simultaneously scrabbling for payment and control over their musical legacy.

CrazySexyCool is the second album from Atlanta-based vocal group TLC and it continued the sex positive message on which the band had built their early persona. The themes of this sophomore effort included women dictating when and how they engaged in sex, women directing how they want to be loved and women showing players what it feels like to be played in return.

This second album was produced by some of the biggest names in the music world including Dallas Austin, Babyface, Sean Combs and Jermaine Dupri. The sound of TLC was heavily shaped by these men who ironed out the Left Eye-driven fun-loving cacophony of early tracks such as Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg and Hat 2 Da Back, instead steering the women towards more mainstream-friendly songs such as Red Light Special, Creep, Let’s Do It Again and Take Our Time.

As a fan, I felt rapper Left Eye was pushed out by several forces. Perhaps the men behind the scenes had their eyes on the payout. TLC was a cash cow set for massive things following on from the runaway success of their debut 1992 album Oooooooh… On The TLC Tip. That rap-heavy disc featured Lopes as co-writer or writer on ten tracks and the direction of the group seemed focussed around her.

Left Eye was also battling legal woes following on from an arson charge and a rehab stint supposedly connected to alcohol dependency. TLC was coming apart at the seams as CrazySexyCool was becoming one of the biggest selling albums by a female group in history. T-Boz was constantly struggling with effects of her sickle-cell anaemia, while Chilli was by her own admission still dealing with her decision to terminate a pregnancy with group writer/producer Dallas Austin.

The band was also struggling financially amid claims they were forced to file for bankruptcy due to contractual turbulence with original manager Pebbles. Having sold tens of millions of records, the women were left with very little money. This is one of the saddest but most often-recounted stories in the pop world. Young people sign constrictive contracts that allow no breathing room when runaway sales come knocking. TLC even had to buy the rights to their name and image from their first manager in order to keep the show on the road.

As you can see, it is easy to become swept up in the drama of TLC but it was the music on CrazySexyCool that the public were lapping up.

Waterfalls was the best of everything TLC had to offer at the time. The rambunctious new jack swing of earlier material had been replaced by funky R&B with the smoothest of production values furnished by Organize Noize of Atlanta. Members of this production crew co-wrote the song with Left Eye who delivers one of the most defining raps of her career. T-Boz uses the verses to warn young people of the dangers related to gang activity and unprotected sex while the music and harmonies are irresistible.

The song became one of the highest selling releases of 1995 and showed where a mature TLC could go sonically while retaining the crucial ingredient of Left Eye. Waterfalls is still a staple of mainstream radio in 2014, although sadly it’s the radio edit devoid of the rap that often makes it to air. The song is so well known and loved it has even been recorded by Bette Midler this year for her cover album of female artists. Extra info while we are at it: a little known fact about the tune that became the most well-known of the TLC catalogue is that CeeLo Green sang backing vocals.

CrazySexyCool contains fantastic pop and R&B songs that make for an album with no dud tracks. Diggin’ On You wasn’t an all-conquering radio smash in the vein of Waterfalls, but it certainly is one of the freshest sounding pop songs to emerge from the era while penultimate track Switch is simply a whole lot of fun. After almost being treated as an afterthought throughout the long player, Left Eye returns to close out the album with a darker, self-penned rap on Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes. It highlights what an essential component her voice and life views were to the overall TLC package.

The album is a shining example of mid-90s R&B, peppered with just enough pop and rap to ensure maximum appeal. R&B, rap, pop and even middle of the road radio stations kept the singles from CrazySexyCool in near-constant rotation. The production gurus made the long player one of the slickest music collections around and it is often still found on must-listen lists compiled by popular culture buffs.

CrazySexyCool’s follow up, FanMail, opened the door wider for Left Eye to return to the fold which resulted in a futuristic, grittier and more accomplished sound. Her tragic death a few years later put an end to her talent so we must look back on her contributions (such as the 20-year old CrazySexyCool) to remind ourselves how she helped TLC become one of the most celebrated musical acts on the planet”.

I want to include most of Pitchfork’s exploration of CraZySeXyCOol because it makes so many important observations. Their words about a landmark Pop/R&B album are brilliant. Its “unapologetic femininity and low-key swagger” definitely impacted a lot of acclaimed contemporaries. I often think that groups like Destiny’s Child and Spice Girls were inspired by TLC’s second studio album:

“The original concept for CrazySexyCool was simple: Women contain multitudes. The title, an amalgamation of their personalities, was a way to subvert the public’s perception of each member: Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins as the “cool” one, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas as the “sexy” seducer, and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes herself supposedly “crazy.” She figured, rightfully, that each of them was all of those things at once. Straightforward enough—and yet some of the album’s male producers initially missed the point about the self as a many-layered construct. “They’d do a crazy song for me, a sexy song for Chilli, and a cool song for Tionne,” Left Eye told Vibe in 1994. “We had to explain that CrazySexyCool doesn’t just describe us individually. It describes all the parts of every woman.”

Each member of the Atlanta R&B trio had a distinct role, but the point was how they all came together. T-Boz was raspy and matter-of-fact, her jazz-like vocal style centering tone and swagger over power and clarity. Chilli was the closest to traditional R&B, imbuing their songs with quiet-storm sultriness. Left Eye was the rebellious poet who rapped, sang, and came up with many of their musical and visual concepts.

It was Left Eye who suggested the group pin condoms to their clothing and tape them over her own eyeglasses to promote safe sex, a laudable fashion statement that came to define their anything-goes credo as artists. As with their predecessors Salt-N-Pepa, none of TLC’s messaging in their songs, visuals, or outfits seemed scripted or telegraphed. Unlike in the typical girl group, no one member was ever elevated over another. Their individual styles merged seamlessly because they played off each other’s strengths, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Their 1992 debut album, Ooooooohhh... on the TLC Tip, presented the trio as sexual and independent twentysomething women who allowed themselves to be goofy, improper, and a little bit messy on their own terms. The critical success and triple-platinum sales of that album positioned TLC as role models for younger listeners and pop industry anarchists who pushed the fundamental truth that women have basic physical needs. In the video for “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,” they fired water guns and sang about sexual autonomy while sporting bright, baggy jumpsuits and kooky Digital Underground-style puffy hats, making the case for sexual expression without suppression.

CrazySexyCool was slicker and more scandalous, smoothing out TLC’s approach without losing the tongue-in-cheek wit of the debut. Its songs emphasize not just sex but pleasure in all its many forms. It’s a liberating, multifaceted view that suggests sexy doesn’t have to be raunchy or explicit alone: It can manifest itself in the movement of a serpentine sax, or the way T-Boz whispers, simply, “Yes, it’s me again” at the beginning of “Creep” like it’s foreplay.

Released in November 1994, CrazySexyCool earned TLC two No. 1 hits, “Creep” and “Waterfalls,” and secured their current status as the highest-selling girl group of all time, having gone diamond with 10 million units sold in the U.S. by June 1996. TLC’s singular appeal wasn’t only from catchy hooks and savvy visuals: It was their organic way of touching on universal subjects like sex, self-love, and freedom with a certain ease and affability that made their music both exemplary and inviting.

While their more vocal-centric peers of the ’90s—SWV, En Vogue, Xscape—prioritized neatly stacked gospel harmonies and flat-out singing, TLC’s collective advantage was making real music in a pop space that more often presented girl groups as flawless, demure, coordinated confections. With its funky energy and mixture of singing and rapping, CrazySexyCool fit squarely between the year’s star-making R&B debuts by Brandy, Usher, and Aaliyah and the major first statements in hip-hop from the likes of Notorious B.I.G., Nas, and OutKast. Their signing to Babyface and Antonio L.A. Reid’s LaFace records had catapulted them to the forefront of Atlanta’s hip-hop and R&B scenes, and their crossover success carved space for labelmates like OutKast and Goodie Mob to be as weird and expansive as they wanted, and still make it pop.

Left Eye’s deftness as a rapper, and T-Boz’s talk-sing style, which flirted with rap cadences, provided all sorts of possibilities for producers like Jermaine Dupri and Sean “Puffy” Combs, two prominent officiants in the marriage between hip-hop and R&B. Rap bookends the album: Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest sets the tone on CrazySexyCool’s intro, kicking a cool 16 like a hype man warming up the crowd at a house party; and well before many listeners outside of Atlanta knew his name, TLC’s hometown peer André 3000 appears on the gloomy closing track “Sumthin’ Wicked This Way Comes.”

The lead single “Creep” was the first sign that TLC had discovered a more muted palette compared to the hyperactive sound of their debut. The song slinks in with a sample of Slick Rick’s “Hey Young World” as T-Boz presents the best and simplest solution to being cheated on: “So I creep/Yeah.” Her low, conversational register makes it sound like she’s got her feet kicked up in the recording booth and a cool mint in her mouth. She adds a slight vocal fry on the Babyface-produced “Diggin’ on You,” a subtly jazzy and easygoing love story about surrendering to the rizz. Left Eye blocks it instead on upbeat “Kick Your Game,” taking comedic turns as both the pursued and the pursuer over Jermaine Dupri’s signature bells-and-bounce production. Knowing that Left Eye once said she met her ex-boyfriend, NFL star Andre Rison, after he followed her in the club one night trying to holler, it’s hard not to hear the shade when she mentions a pickup line about making love on the 50-yard line.

T-Boz’s morning voice is supremely suited for the album’s overtly sexy songs, especially “Red Light Special,” a drawn-out tease over a spiraling string instrumental from Babyface, with sax notes snaking like they’re doing slow body rolls. She has a laid-back style of seduction, while Chilli sounds like she’s at the edge of ecstasy, a dynamic they also play with on “Let’s Do It Again.” What’s sexy is cool is silly and vice versa, even in passing moments, like the interlude where Chilli initiates a game of phone sex, only to end the call with a juvenile joke and a toilet flush. The only point seems to be that it thrills her, and that’s enough.

TLC’s go-to producer Dallas Austin said he wanted to “bring out the Prince side” of the group on the album, an influence felt in the slithering melodies and pure craving for sex. “Red Light Special” sounds like a straight-shooting sister to Prince’s tickling, moaning “International Lover,” with a similar crawling chord progression. Babyface produced the actual Prince cover: a rework of “If I Was Your Girlfriend” that T-Boz manipulates with a sly wink and a higher-than-usual vocal range. (Prince, who once called TLC his favorite group, granted his rare approval for the cover.) Prince’s original pines for the singer’s imagined intimacy between platonic female friends; TLC uses the more traditional meaning of girlfriend, twisting the original without losing its subversive spirits. “Case of the Fake People” is a similar whirlpool of funk, interpolating the O’Jays’ sweeping “Backstabbers” with boom-bap production from Austin and T-Boz and Chili’s voices swirling in and out of overlapping melodies.

T-Boz loved pointing out that Clive Davis, founder and then-president of LaFace’s parent label, Arista Records, initially hated the concept of “Waterfalls.” In fairness, it was an odd choice for a single: a cautionary tale about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and drug abuse that’s weighty in subject matter but weightless in execution, using lakes and waterfalls as a metaphor for slipping over the edge. The airy, warped production from OutKast producers Organized Noize sounds like actual carbonated water bubbles bursting on the track. It’s a wonder that the song worked, let alone topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for seven weeks straight. But “Waterfalls” is a beauty, one that gets deep without drowning itself.

By the time T-Boz and Chilli started recording CrazySexyCool in the summer of 1994, Left Eye was spending time in court-ordered rehab after being indicted on a felony arson charge for setting fire to the home she shared with Rison, meaning she wasn’t as present for the sessions as on other TLC albums. She wrote and recorded her verse for “Waterfalls” during a two-hour break from the rehab center. Admiring the world around her in the car, she felt optimistic: “My life is 10 shades of gray/I pray all 10 fade away.” Left Eye, among hip-hop’s most agile lyricists, once said she never really distinguished between a rap and a poem. She rhymes from an almost childlike perspective here: innocent, curious, cocky, and mischievous. “Waterfalls” is as much Left Eye’s poetic opus as it is TLC’s career-defining record. In her limited appearances, she provides the album with many such small but potent pleasures, whether trading preacher-esque yelps with Busta Rhymes on “Can I Get a Witness (Interlude)” or rapping abstractly about whatever she wants to and somehow tying it back to the topic at hand on “Switch.”

Through TLC’s willingness to be anything—but themselves most of all—CrazySexyCool demonstrates that authenticity can be the driving force of a great pop record. That point still resonates nearly 30 years later in the work of artists inspired by TLC, including Kehlani, K-pop powerhouses BLACKPINK, and Cardi B, who referenced Left Eye’s arson charge on her debut album: “Smash your TV from Best Buy/You gon’ turn me into Left Eye”.

On 15th November, it is thirty years since CraZySeXyCOol was released. Rightly heralded upon its release, the album was nominated for six Grammy Awards at the 1996 ceremony. Waterfalls was nominated for the Record of the Year. In addition, two of the album's nominations were for its songwriters: Dallas Austin for Creep; Babyface for Red Light Special. TLC won two awards: Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for Creep. The magnificence and sublime CraZySeXyCOol is a…

LANDMARK release.

FEATURE: The King of Rock and Roll: Why It Is Great to Have Shaun Keaveny Back on the BBC

FEATURE:

 

 

The King of Rock and Roll

PHOTO CREDIT: Joe Magowan

Why It Is Great to Have Shaun Keaveny Back on the BBC

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I will try not to uncover…

PHOTO CREDIT: Shaun Keaveny

some old wounds and expose history, but one of the biggest shocks in recent years was when the great Shaun Keaveny left his BBC Radio 6 Music show in 2021 after fourteen years. Seemingly being offered work he didn’t want to and nudging him off his afternoon show, it was terrible when he announced he was leaving. His final show was a mix of sadness and celebration. So many people were unsure of what he would do after that. Would he ever come back on the airwaves?! It was not long (2021 in fact) when he created Shaun Keaveny’s Community Garden Radio. The listener-run station, which was started with producer Ben Tulloh, is still going strong today and is its own little empire. Keaveny’s Friday show runs between 1-3 p.m. There are other broadcasters who have their own shows. It is expanding and this exciting award-nominated platform. So innovative and community-driven. Listeners contributing so much and, as Keaveny has pointed out, he has a lot more freedom and flexibility in this format – including the chance to be political, honest and let out a few swears! Quite a bit has happened since 2021. His podcast, The Line-Up with Shaun Keaveny, seems to be on hiatus at the moment (which I hope ends and we see new episodes). It is always baffling why shows and series are cancelled when they are successful and popular. That need to make change. If Keaveny’s departure from BBC Radio 6 Music has afforded him more variety and freedom – and is a blessing -, you do wonder about some other decisions. The BBC cancelling the terrific Your Place or Mine with Shaun Keaveny. A series that has at least a few more series in it, I wonder why that went. In any case, one cannot dwell on losses and deficits…

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Shaun Keaveny’s Daily Grind was also a casualty. More to do with attrition that anything else. Putting out a daily podcast for nearly a year was a massive and admirable undertaking. I believe it will be back in some form. Maybe a weekly instalment. Together with producer Ben Tulloh, it was a tremendous listen! The Shaun Keaveny audio network reaching Global. Since his final show with BBC Radio 6 Music, Keaveny has presented on a variety of networks. He has been on Greatest Hits Radio, BBC Radio London and Virgin Radio. He has also appeared on a number of podcasts. In terms of broadcasting achievements that he can tick off his bucket list, there cannot be too many left. I would like he will substitute for someone on BBC Radio 6 Music once and show the station what they are missing! As nice as it is to hear Keaveny on other stations, he does sound especially comfortable and natural on BBC Radio 2. Presenting from Broadcasting House, I can understand why he loves being there. In the heart of London – near Regent’s Street, there is a particular buzz and energy there -, when he substitutes for Liza Tarbuck now and then, it is good to hear an audible smile from someone who, three years ago, left a long-running BBC Radio show. Later today (at 5 p.m.), Shaun Keaveny stands in for Rob Beckett. Sandwiched between the legendary Bob Harris and Tony Blackburn (a cosy place to be!), we will get a two-hour Sunday warmer for Keaveny. A great way to end the weekend! I do love how Keaveny has presented various different slots for BBC Radio 2. I would love him to host Pick of the Pops on Saturday or even stand in for Dermot O’Leary on a Saturday morning. He is this super sub that can pretty much fit into anyone’s shoes. A station that has a lot of love for and trust in!

This brings me, rather long-windedly, to my main point. Sadly, the iconic Johnnie Walker had to step down from presenting on BBC Radio 2 because of ill health. On Friday night (1st November), Keaveny presented his first episode of The Rock Show. It must be bittersweet. As someone who holds Johnnie Walker in high esteem – in fact, he is Keaveny’s radio hero and a huge source of inspiration -, it is also a massive gig. A permanent one! That is important. Shaun Keaveny permanently back on the BBC. I guess it might impact how he interacts on social media and what he posts, though not much will change. It is this security. A terrific long-running show that he took to like a duck in water. Even if he was a bit nervous (understandably!), he was naturally in his element. There was a bit of Led Zeppelin played. I hope he manages to squeeze in another of his favourite bands, Dire Straits, in a future episode. I do hope that we get a new interview with Shaun Keaveny. His reaction to taking on The Rock Show. How he reflects on 2024 and his hopes for the future. Maybe his top-five Rock songs or advice he would give to young broadcasters. A major talent with a wide and very loving fanbase, here is a broadcaster with decades ahead. I do think the best is still to come. Even though his current slot is esteemed and it must be a dream come true, Keaveny will be on our radios for many years more. Who knows what other shows and ventures he will have. Maybe some new podcasts and some career-defining moments. I am especially pleased for him. Three years ago, when he tearfully signed off his final-ever BBC Radio 6 Music show with a thanks to everyone who was a special time him (the tears came thick and fast when shouting out his wife), few thought he would be back on the BBC. Fortunately, as we head towards Christmas and the end of 2024, Keaveny has a lot of positives to reflect on. Aside from some losses – a couple of podcasts -, there have been many gains.

Some great exposure on other networks. Some very happy memories and an expansion of Shaun Keaveny’s Community Garden Radio. The Rock Show must be the icing on the cake! A weekly slot on the biggest network in the U.K. is something to be very proud of. The new King of Rock and Roll has accomplished so much in a few years. If you want to hear some reflection on his departure from BBC Radio 6 Music and life after, then there are some great interviews. Where he also talks about Community Garden radio and a daily podcast. I would recommend this GQ interview from last year. There is this interview from The Guardian. Shaun Keaveny chatting about his Community Garden Radio. A sense of liberation he felt. Even though he is back on the BBC, he has the best of both worlds. As a pioneer of listener-led radio and this lo-fi and low-key show that comes from a small office in Fitzrovia, he also broadcasts on the BBC on a huge show. It must be a dream for every broadcaster! I am not sure if the tone and dynamics of CGR will change now he is a permanent fixture back on the Beeb, though I hope not. We need to give the wonderful Shaun Keaveny all the freedom he deserves. One of the hardest-working broadcasters in the country, this is a new phase in his career. Apart from some minor changes (perhaps he will need to hold back on some political opinions). I wanted to send lots of love and a hearty salute…

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TO the legendary Shaun Keaveny.

FEATURE: Radio Gaga: Why Is There Little Effort From Stations to Create Gender Balance on Their Playlists?

FEATURE:

 

 

Radio Gaga

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Freepix

Why Is There Little Effort From Stations to Create Gender Balance on Their Playlists?

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I have written about this before…

PHOTO CREDIT: Ron Lach/Pexels

and will continue to do so. I recognise that some radio stations have made efforts to affect gender parity on their playlists. Get closer to it at least. I am not sure whether there are any radio stations in the U.K. that have equality. Maybe smaller stations can do that, yet it seems the major stations are still biased towards men. That is the way it has always been. In terms of their top-twenty songs or the most popular, some radio stations do have gender parity. That is only a very small selection of songs played. A niche statistic. Whilst it is important, we have to look at the entire playlist. Click on any station’s website and look at each programme and the music played. How many have as many female artists as males played? Very few have shows where there are more women than me. Yet, we normalise this. It is seen as the way things are. There is no doubting how women are dominating music. As I repeatedly say, this is not new. That has been the case for years now. The most exciting and incredible new artists are largely women. Most of the best albums of this year I would contend have been released by women. I also think that many legendary female artists do not get played enough. In all, there is more than enough choice for every radio station. The industry has not really addressed gender imbalance across their playlists. If small steps have been made to ensure their most-played songs are balanced in terms of gender, that really doesn’t disguise the fact that their entire playlists – all songs from all shows – is male-heavy. In some cases the discrepancy is fairly small. For some stations, it is embarrassingly large. I have been looking at various playlist on BBC Radio 2 the past week or two and some shows only feature a couple of few songs by women!

I have named-and-shamed stations such as Radio X, Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio and BBC Radio 2 before. Even if the latter is good when it comes to their most popular songs – in terms of gender balance -, they definitely do not have gender equality across the board. Even the supreme BBC Radio 6 Music struggle in that respect. They are not featuring as many women as they could and should. Again, we normalise playlists that feature chunks of male artists without a female voice. If the reverse happens, would people complain?! It is rare that you’ll hear a run of five or six female acts/artists in a row. Back in 2020, the Gender Disparity in UK Radio Report highlighted a real gulf. So many radio stations struggling to feature women. BBC Radio 6 Music did get close when it came to their ‘playlist’. This is curated tracks that are played the most on a station, not the entire playlist. It is a portion of the tracks played across a station. It is not really good enough a station affects gender parity with their own playlist but the remainder of their musical output drops the ball. It is deceptive in a way, as it seems like there is gender parity across the station but in fact it only applies to their playlist. As misogyny is still rife in the industry and women have spoken out, one would think things would change. This year’s report showed improvements. It is quite particular. The first part of the report  is analysis of the Top 100 Radio Airplay Songs from 2024 from U.K. and international acts. Where we see breakdown by station, that represents the Top 20 most played songs by British artists. It is good that we can see some equality from some stations but two things are clear. One, so many stations and desperately short of hitting balance. Also, as I have said, it is a very particular number of tracks. Stretch across all shows and every song played and then present those figures. How many stations would have the same positive figures like BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 2 – possibly not the former and most definitely not the latter!

IN THIS PHOTO: Ken Bruce

Perhaps the feeling is that, if stations hit gender parity on their own playlists/most played songs, that will be sufficient. Stations need to be aware of every song they play. It still look pretty bleak. When you listen to a show and not hearing a woman’s voice for four or five songs sometimes. Quite okay for them to be left out. I don’t think any big station in the U.K. has done enough. There are no excuses when it comes to the reason. There are no quotas or barriers when it comes to how many female artists can be included. Stations choose which artists to play, so they have control over that. If you collate all the stations from the Gender Disparity in UK Radio Report 2024 and average out the percentages, it would not be anywhere near 50%. In terms of gender party. Only a third of the main stations managed to affect gender balance. The remaining stations fared even worse. I think only four of five of the seventeen stations had the same amount of women played as men. It shocking to see how little real development and commitment there has been. Stations not doing enough across the board. If the most played songs playlists shows at least a few stations commit to gender parity, as mentioned, is there a single one that has gender balance across their entire scheduling?! Perhaps not. In 2024, that should not be the case! Stations deliberately overlooking women and having this inherent gender bias. If women feel they will not be played on a station – or only if they are among the most played artists – then that will affect their career. So many perhaps not coming into he industry because they won’t get played. All stations need to do more. There are no excuses or rationale for the way things are. From heavy-hitting BBC stations through to local radio, women need to be given…

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

THE respect they deserve!

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: The Great John Williams

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

The Great John Williams

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PERHAPS the…

IN THIS PHOTO: Steven Spielberg and John Williams at Symphony Hall, Boston in 1998/PHOTO CREDIT: Boston Globe/Getty Images

most recognisable and greatest film composers of all time, John Williams is the subject of a new documentary. He is undeniably one of most versatile composers ever. In terms of all the films he has brought to life with his compositions. Still composing to this day, I wanted to recognise his brilliance by compiling a playlist featuring gems from his wonderful scores. Before coming to that playlist, Mark Kermode wrote for The Guardian about the new documentary and John Williams’ impact:

“Now streaming on Disney+ is a new documentary, Music By John Williams, in which the French-American film-maker Laurent Bouzereau (creator of umpteen behind-the-scenes movie docs) interviews the American composer, who has defined the face of modern orchestral movie music. Williams’s recollections, from his earliest days as a hard-practising pianist (he has a background in jazz) to his blockbuster collaborations with film-makers such as Spielberg and George Lucas, are as clear and concise as his earworm theme tunes for Superman (1978), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Star Wars (1977) – the last of which spawned a double-LP soundtrack that became the biggest selling symphonic album of all time.

Williams is undoubtedly the greatest “whistle test” composer of his age – a purveyor of instantly memorable tunes that both capture and breathe life into the movies they accompany. In Bouzereau’s documentary we see archive footage of the late Christopher Reeve (also the subject of a new film in cinemas: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story) declaring that “I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to John Williams. Without his music, Superman’s powers are greatly diminished.” Reeve adds that Williams’s score in effect enabled him to fly. Elsewhere, Spielberg confirms the oft-told story that when Williams played him the two-note theme for Jaws (1975) on the piano, “at first I thought he was joking” – only to realise that “his musical shark worked a lot better than my mechanical shark!”. And we hear the violinist Itzhak Perlman sheepishly admit to telling Williams that he would “think about” playing on his 1993 Schindler’s List score, the Oscar-winning strains of which reduced Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, to tears after just 10 notes.

Born in New York in 1932 and classically trained at the city’s Juilliard School, Williams played in Hollywood studio orchestras for many years – he’s there on hits as diverse as West Side Story and To Kill a Mockingbird – before turning to orchestration and composition. On his early film scores he was credited as “Johnny Williams”, becoming John only when a colleague told him he needed a name that people would take seriously. And how they did; to date, Williams has racked up five Academy Award wins and a whopping 54 nominations, most recently for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) at the age of 91, making him the oldest nominee in any competitive category in the awards’ history.

The range of Williams’s film scores is extraordinary, from the old-school twang of The Reivers (1969) to the experimental edginess of his work with Japanese percussionist and keyboardist Stomu Yamash’ta on Robert Altman’s 1972 psychodrama Images (which Spielberg used as an early temporary soundtrack to Jaws), to the jazzy sounds of Catch Me If You Can (2002). He has also scored disaster movies – The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno (1974), Earthquake (1974); Hitchcock’s last feature, Family Plot (1976); prime-period Oliver Stone hits Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and JFK (1991); and the first three Harry Potter movies (2001-4)”.

To salute and recognise the magic and genius of John Williams, below are examples of his fine work. From classics through to films you might not know about, his music is timeless. That interaction and relationship between music and film. How a wonderful score can elevate scenes and make a bigger impression that what is on the screen. Here are some incredible pieces of music from a composer and cinematic visionary who…

HAS no equals.

FEATURE: Kate Bush: The Tour of Life: Imagining What It Would Be Like Interviewing An Artist I Adore

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Kate Bush: The Tour of Life

Imagining What It Would Be Like Interviewing An Artist I Adore

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THIS edition of…

IN THIS PHOTO: Emma Barnett/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Kate Bush: The Tour of Life takes us to now. In fact, the future. Sorry to make this feature all about me, but I am going to expand on an idea I include in a feature from October. On 25th October, we all got some phenomenal news when it came to Kate Bush. An animated video, Little Shrew (Snowflake) was released. Directed by Kate Bush, it was intended to raise awareness for the suffering of children because of war and to raise money for War Child. To promote the video, Kate Bush was interviewed by Emma Barnett for BBC Radio 4’s Today. Nobody really saw any of it coming. A new interview with Kate Bush! It would have been enough to have that interview and the wonderful and moving video. Gifts enough for all fans! We could have left it there. In 2022, when Barnett and Bush first spoke – around the success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and its use in Stranger Things -, there was this what-if about it. The interview was wonderful, though there was no question around new music. Bush said how she really taking to gardening. Many took this as a sign she was retiring or had given up making new music. A little stereotypical, ageist and flawed in terms of logic, one realises Bush was no stranger to gardening. In fact, it helped her creativity! I wonder if Bush had any ideas for new music around that time. Quite a few people thought that a question should have been asked about future plans. Perhaps Bush would have said there was nothing yet. Been a little evasive. However, last month, she was asked that question by Barnett.

No way leaving that question off the table, Bush at first sort of seemed to say there was nothing. She then said how she had been busy with the animation and spent a lot of in revisionist mode. Bringing out her lyrics book, working on reissues of her albums and some archiving. Basically, she was now open to new ideas (and had a lot in mind). It was an exciting moment that many fans did not expect. As I wrote previously, I felt that the death of Del Palmer earlier this year would have spelled the end of a creative relationship that dated back to the 1970s. Bush unable really to conceive of working without Palmer. As much as she adored him, he would have wanted her to continue making music. The reaction from fans around the world was one of relief and excitement. There is no date for a potential eleventh studio album. The fact that it was put out there suggests Bush has already planted seed and has worked up songs. Rather than her being at the sketching stage, I would not be shocked if several songs were already completed. I am writing this on 2nd November, and there have been no announcement about a title or release date. I sort of worry by the time it comes out there might be, which means I have to re-write and edit this feature pretty heavily! I suspect the earliest we might get a new Kate Bush album is the middle of next year, yet one cannot bet against her announcing something long before then. As 50 Words for Snow is almost thirteen, that gap sort of led to an assumption Bush was maybe not going to put out any more music. Luckily, we were given more than a glimpse of hope!

IN THIS PHOTO: John Wilson

I will write a separate feature as to what I think the album might concern and what it might sound like. Titles perhaps. I can either imagine a one-word title or something like Songs for Peace. Given Little Shrew (Snowflake) and Bush raising funds for War Child, maybe there would be this look at the modern world. How there is warfare and conflict. Being Kate Bush, there would also be hope and beauty. Of course, nobody knows for sure what will come and when. That is the beauty of Kate Bush: she could announce an album tomorrow (though, as I say, it will bugger this feature up a bit!). As remote as it was then, now it seems marginally less remote. I am talking about interviewing Kate Bush. As I say, I did cover this a few weeks back. How a dream I thought was dead is, well…slightly less dead. Kate Bush does not know who I am or anything I have written about her. There are people who have written books about her who will never get to interview her. I suspect, when a new album does arrive, she will know the radio stations she wants to feature on. BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 6 Music. Returning interviewers like Mark Radcliffe and John Wilson. Maybe Matt Everitt too. In terms of the 6 Music stable, Lauren Laverne too (who is currently away from the station as she is being treated for cancer). There will be some magazine/newspaper interviews perhaps. I guess it depends on how generous Bush is with her time. Interviews will be conducted via landline or she will be recorded at her home. That was the way it was more or less with Aerial (2005), and definitely more so with 2011’s 50 Words for Snow.

IN THIS PHOTO: Lauren Laverne/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

Bush will not be travelling much/at all to do interviews. I imagine there will be a fair few shorter interviews rather than longer-form ones she did around Aerial’s release in 2005. A single might come – which is unlikely to feature Bush in any capacity in the video – and there will be the vinyl and C.D. release of the album. I think many journalists are in the same situation. We would all love to speak with Kate Bush, though the likelihood for most is slim. I have talked how I would love to send her a letter and say that I have written about her for years - and to wish her good luck. Maybe ask if she might contribute some audio to a Hounds of Love podcast next year (when the album turns forty). It is quite ambitious to think a letter could get to her or I deserve a response, regardless of how much I have written about her. However, helping me through a tough period of depression is this recurring dream: the interview request. Getting a notification – or imagining such a distant reality! – and having to wait by the phone for Bush’s call. Her on a landline and me, rather nervously, on my mobile. Hands trembling as the call comes through, I would need to situate myself somewhere calm and quiet. It would be the ‘screening call’. The introductions and getting a sense of what was going to be asked and how the actual interview would go. You then wait for the day when it happens. I suspect being driven to her home, never really knowing where it is. Getting out of the car and walking to her door to be met by Kate Bush or Dan McIntosh (her partner). The tour of the house, garden and maybe studio too. Reading accounts of those who have been to Bush’s home – her current one or previous ones – and what happens. The hospitality offered. Bush making me feel at ease. After everything is finished, being driven back to London and trying to take it all in. It is exciting to think of that possibility!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2014/PHOTO CREDIT: David M Bennet/Getty Images

However much I do dream and try and manifest that, I know the reality. The slots are coveted and Bush would probably not take a risk on an unknown journalist or someone with a small readership. A new album after, well, fourteen years (if released next year) would mean interview slots go to big stations and websites and papers. I know Matt Everitt, and as he works for BBC Radio 6 Music, I often joke to myself I could be brought along as security. You know, just in case Kate Bush flips out! That, or I could be part of the team who sets up the microphones. It is nice to dream and have that ambition. Up until a few weeks ago, this seemed intangible and fantasy. Now, because there is a strong possibility a new album will arrive in the next year or so, that does turn that fantasy into something that could be realised. Not that an interview is the be all and end all. Writing about Kate Bush and people connect with those features is its own reward! Something I am very lucky to be able to do. Her knowing about it one day would be amazing! Everything has changed after that Today interview. Bush letting us know that she has ideas for a new album. The fan in me is pleased enough with that and excited that her music will reach new people - and we can only dream of what a new Kate Bush album will encompass. The journalist in me longs for that interview. Or a chance to speak to her. Although it seems unlikely and distant…

STRANGER things have happened!

FEATURE: No Doubt About It: Why I Can Envisage the Great Ella Purnell Stepping Into a Compelling Series with Music at Its Heart

FEATURE:

No Doubt About It

PHOTO CREDIT: Zoe McConnell for NME

Why I Can Envisage the Great Ella Purnell Stepping Into a Compelling Series with Music at Its Heart

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THIS is quite a self-indulgent feature…

PHOTO CREDIT: Suki Dhanda/The Guardian

but one that opens to a larger point. One of our greatest actors is London-born Ella Purnell. You might have seen her in shows like Fallout, Yellowjackets or Sweetpea. There are some fascinating recent interviews like this and this that I would advise people to read. There is also this great one with Elle. Almost too much to bring in. The twenty-eight-year-old from Whitechapel is seeing her career explode. Though she knows the acting industry is capricious and unpredictable, the fact she is making every role her own and choosing some really great parts suggests someone who have serious legs and chops. Someone who can adapt to and adopt any role and has that stamina and wisdom. A very smart and grounded person, she is not letting Hollywood stardom get to her. I think she will get a string of huge acting roles. I can see producers and actors like Margot Robbie snapping her up to appear in one of her films. Greta Gerwig too. You can feel some incredible women will look her way. Huge directors like Quentin Tarantino or Martin Scorsese. It is still early days, though you know Ella Purnell is going to be a screen icon and one of the most lauded and acclaimed actors of her generation. I want to bring in some extracts from a couple of recent interviews before I move on and come to an observation relating to music. First, I want to come to an interview from The Guardian. Speaking about her role in Sweetpea, it is always fascinating reading and hearing interviews with Purnell. She is so grounded and relatable but there is this obvious and extraordinary talent at work. Someone who I envisage having this decades-long career:

“All Ella Purnell ever wanted to do was write children’s books about magical trees and talking ducks and happy bunny rabbits, and instead here she is chainsawing a man’s head off in a radioactive wasteland. Or freezing to death in the wilderness and being eaten by her closest friends. Or being so traumatised by school bullies that she takes up serial killing, slaughtering victims with her dead dad’s treasured pocketknife.

It might not be exactly what Purnell had in mind for her 20s, but spending the past few years committing, and being subject to, acts of stomach-churning violence has certainly had its upsides: the Londoner is now on the brink of TV superstardom. Purnell has been on a steep trajectory since 2021, when she appeared in hit US drama Yellowjackets as the prom queen captain of a New Jersey high school football team left stranded in a Canadian forest after a plane crash (think Mean Girls meets Lord of the Flies). In April, she starred in Amazon’s sensationally successful video game adaptation Fallout as Lucy MacLean, a vault dweller in a post-nuclear apocalypse United States who surfaces to search for her kidnapped father (the series attracted 65 million viewers in its first 16 days of release, and helped Purnell accumulate 1.4 million Instagram followers). Now, the 28-year-old is returning to the UK for more viscerally disturbing action. In new Sky Atlantic thriller Sweetpea, she plays Rhiannon Lewis, a receptionist whose mounting fury at being walked all over eventually erupts into a murderous spree.

Purnell isn’t sure why she’s ended up specialising in such troubling material. “People think I must be really messed up, but I swear I’m a happy, well-adjusted human!” Seated on a sofa in the corner of a blindingly white photography studio – the dramatic purple eye makeup from her shoot still intact – Purnell certainly seems psychologically sound; relaxed and genial, with a kind of preternatural confidence (even by American standards: a recent New York Magazine profile described her as “strikingly self-assured”). Yet the actor also joins me in identifying as a total wuss: “I can’t do horror films. I don’t really love watching too much gore, or any supernatural things. I’m not even really a big sci-fi person. And I’m not a gamer. So I don’t know how any of this has happened!”

In truth, there is a logic behind Purnell’s CV – and it can be traced back to the ambivalence with which she has approached her profession. Purnell “never really planned on becoming an actor. I feel a lot of guilt and impostor syndrome attached to that statement, because I know a lot of people have wanted to be an actor ever since they were kids. And that just wasn’t me.”

Confusingly though, Purnell actually was an actor when she was a kid. Growing up in east London, she took singing and dancing lessons at the storied Sylvia Young Theatre School, which led to her performing in Oliver! in the West End when she was 10. She appeared in her first film when she was 14 – playing Keira Knightley’s character Ruth as a child in Never Let Me Go. But as her career picked up further in her teens, she “freaked out” about the path that had been laid out for her (not by parents or agents, she clarifies, but a road she had unknowingly carved out herself). At 18, she decided to put the brakes on her acting career. “I wanted to go to university and be a writer – I wanted to write children’s books.”

Purnell won a place at university (she can’t remember exactly where or what she was going to study, but it was related to creative writing), but ended up deferring after landing a part in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children – working with Tim Burton was her childhood dream and she couldn’t bring herself to turn it down. She thought it would be a one-off, but more irresistible jobs cropped up, such as the lead role in a US TV show. In 2017, Purnell moved to New York to star in Sweetbitter – a series about a young woman who comes of age working in the city’s buzzy restaurant scene – and relinquished her university place. “I realised I didn’t need to go to university to be a writer – I could just write!”.

Prior to moving on, there is another interview I am keen to feature. When speaking with NME last month, Purnell said how there is no filter anymore regarding her growing fame. Quite a big and scary moment of transition, this growing notoriety is a mixed blessing. It will mean security and so many interesting roles. The subject of privacy and remaining grounded. It is harder to maintain:

“In Sweetpea, Purnell plays Rhiannon, a small town Englishwoman – yes, despite the perfect American accent she often uses on-screen, Purnell was raised in Bethnal Green, London – who has been dealt a duff hand since childhood. She was bullied so much at school that she pulled out most of her hair through stress and retreated into herself. She never found her way back out and in adulthood she’s withdrawn and fearful, living at home with her dad and working in a local paper where nobody even seems to know her name. When her dad dies, leaving Rhiannon completely alone, something in her snaps. She starts exacting vigilante ‘justice’ on those she considers bullies, by murdering them.

What’s interesting about Sweetpea is that it’s not just about someone getting what she sees as revenge. It’s about a sort of addiction of victimhood. Rhiannon has so defined herself as the underdog that she considers all her actions justified. She doesn’t notice herself becoming the tormentor, even as she wipes another victim’s blood from her knife. It’s that, not the killing, that interests Purnell. “I like the grey area,” she says. “I like a character where I can’t make up my mind, or who’s divisive… maybe it’s a tiny rebellion, that I get to play people who aren’t necessarily likeable, or who maybe aren’t too concerned about being likeable.” There were times she worried Rhiannon was going “too far” for the audience to possibly go with her, but then says that’s part of the attraction. “I love that shit. I love confusing an audience.”

Purnell couldn’t be less like the awkward, anxious Rhiannon. She walks into a room with ease. Not cocky, but absolutely confident in her right to be there, chatting to everyone she encounters, rearranging her space so she’s as comfortable as possible. Before we sit down to speak, she strides around the hotel room adjusting the layers of her outfit to try to match the mix of hot lights and hotel air-conditioning. Without a table in easy reach, she upturns an empty wastepaper bin and uses it as somewhere to park her iced coffee. She just seems very at ease with herself, like she’s been doing this forever. Which she almost has. Purnell may have only become familiar to many people in the past couple of years, but though she’s only 28 she’s been at this for two decades. She’s put in the work to get here.

PHOTO CREDIT: Zoe McConnell for NME

School for Purnell was not the darkly formative time it was for Rhiannon, but it was still vastly different to most people’s experience. Her acting career technically began when she was eight years old, with “an advert for sweeties in Germany”, but she’s been working regularly since she was about 13, when she played a young Keira Knightley in Never Let Me Go. Acting wasn’t necessarily something she felt a huge passion for initially. She was good at it and enjoyed it enough to keep doing it. None of her classmates were particularly impressed by her occasionally nipping off to set. “I went to a very posh, fancy girls’ school,” she says. “Lots of people had scholarships or were very gifted at things… [Acting] just sort of felt like an extracurricular activity, if that makes sense?”

Basically, it was something she did, not who she was. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to do it as an adult. “I fell in and out of love with it a million times over,” she says. “But teenage girls go through a thousand changes of heart every single day… Sometimes I’d compare myself to others and want to be a normal kid.” Somewhere between the ages of 16 and 18 – she’s not sure exactly – she decided to take a year off acting and look into other possible careers: “A writer or a teacher, possibly both”. She traveled, “but couldn’t stay away [from acting]. I just kept coming back to it”. Then she won a role in Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, for one of her heroes, Tim Burton, followed by her first American role, in Sweetbitter, and that was the decision made. “That’s when I was like, yeah, I’m sticking with this.”

Career decided, she had to figure out who she wanted to be as an actor. “I made lists,” she says. “I make lists of everything: things to google; food I want to make; actors I like.” Top of that list was Helena Bonham Carter, but also Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie, among others. “Women who don’t fit in a box,” she says. “Character actors. You don’t see a lot of character actors, especially women.” She says channeling those women, especially Bonham Carter, helped her “learn to find my voice and come up with my own ideas, instead of just doing everything I was told to do”.

I know Ella Purnell is a big music fan. Not to suggest she could have a music career of her own, though I have been thinking how she could play the lead in a music biopic. I definitely can see music playing a part in future roles. Whether it is a film that is set in the 1960s or 1970s where Purnell is playing one of the leads, set to a soundtrack of classic tracks of the time. She is an actor who can pretty much cover any ground or genre. Easily adopting American accents for roles, I do envisage music playing a big part. An actor I really love and have a huge amount of respect for, I do wonder whether Purnell has ever considered taking on the role of a major artist. In fact, when I was thinking about artists she resembled, Gwen Stefani came to mind. Perhaps there would not be scope for a biopic about her band, No Doubt, though I often felt Stefani is someone who could have had a long and successful acting career. I would love to see Ella Purnell take on Gwen Stefani in a film. Maybe playing a young version of her as part of a larger story. Maybe it is a random thought. Purnell has said in an interview how she loved Lenny Kravitz and Girls Aloud. I am not sure how much she has considered a role that would either be a known artist or a film revolving around music. There have not been a huge number of films like this the past few years. Of course, various music biopics made me think about Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. It would be wonderful seeing her in a film where music comes to the forefront.

I have been thinking how the T.V. series Vinyl didn’t last long but should have. A series set in the 1970s. It would be great to see a similar series set in the 1990s. Purnell playing someone in the music industry. I also think of The Beatles and the 1960s. How it would be cool and iconic with Purnell in the mix. This is me spit-balling and throwing out ideas! I have been really getting back into the directing of Michel Gondry and his visual style. How it took that and applied it to films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Few modern directors who have that sort of eye and intelligence. In reality, what would be great is Ella Purnell playing a fictional character. A series set in the 1970s. Around the styles and sounds clashing through the middle to the end of the decade. Perhaps this love story at the heart. Purnell playing someone in the industry who starts out as this overlooked person who is struggling to find her feet who then becomes this huge inspiring and important figure. Having that sort of remarkable mix of visual styles that Gondry brought to his video. Maybe having him direct. Writing by some incredible women. An empowering, fascinating, compelling and at times edgy and controversial series. This powerful performance by Purnell. The wonderful soundtrack and this evocative soundtrack. Whether it is something she has considered or not, I do hope that Purnell connects more with music in future roles. At least a series that explores music or weaves it directly into the story arc. The fantastic Ella Purnell is one of the best and most humble young actors in the world. I can see such a long career for her. Whether she is as massive a music fan of music as I think she is or not, I do love her adaptability and incredible versatility. Seeing Purnell in a music biopic or series about music would be…

WONDERFUL to imagine.

FEATURE: Sobering Thoughts: How the Music Industry Could and Should Highlight Women’s Safety

FEATURE:

 

 

Sobering Thoughts

IN THIS PHOTO: Saoirse Ronan in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: Paolo Roversi for DAZED

How the Music Industry Could and Should Highlight Women’s Safety

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I am not sure how to…

IN THIS PHOTO: Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Saoirse Ronan and Eddie Redmayne on The Graham Norton Show/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Crossick/PA

wrap a feature around a thought that has been in my mind following something Saoirse Ronan said. The American-born Irish actor recently appeared on Graham Notion’s talkshow and there was this moment when fellow guests Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal and Eddie Redmayne sort of made light of a man having to defend off a stalker or stranger with their phone. If they could use it as a weapon. Ronan, clearly uncomfortable and galled by something women have to consider all the time, dropped the mic and bomb. She interjected and did say that this is something women have to think about all the time. It left them (and host Norton) humbled and a bit dumbstruck. Quite embarrassing for them but incredible to see. The audience definitely appreciated Ronan’s observation. That led to conversations on social media. Entire articles about the reaction to Saoirse Ronan’s truth-bomb. In fact, Marina Hyde wrote this article for The Guardian. Stating how we don’t usually expect hard truths from chatshows. However, we definitely got one:

“Therefore the moments when it isn’t take on outsize significance. As you may have guessed, we are talking about last Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show, on which the Blitz star Saoirse Ronan appeared as a guest alongside Gladiator II actors Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal and Day of the Jackal leading man Eddie Redmayne. We join the sofa as Redmayne is doing an anecdote about how his Jackal preparation involved being trained in self-defence, in order to do what Team America would call “his acting”. (Not how Eddie put it, obviously. And yet, the reality.) Redmayne’s revelation that he was shown how to use a phone as a weapon if attacked proves quite the hoot, with Mescal riffing on the absurdity – “Who’s actually going to do that, though?” – Norton chiming in, and Denzel laughing along. Ronan is trying to say something but she gets honked over, before managing to cut through with a line for the ages: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time”.

Oooooof. The look on the other actors’ faces after Saoirse has detonated this chat-icide bomb is hilariously mesmerising, as is the sudden silence, which is split-second but also seems to last 27 years. Ronan obligingly diffuses it by provoking audience applause with a rallying, “amirite ladies?”. And then everyone moves on. Well, everyone except the internet, which has been picking over the entrails ever since. 

The clip itself will be familiar to any woman who has ever wondered if they can be arsed interrupting some self-styled comedy gold happening around them to say something that matters to them. As mentioned, Saoirse herself has at least one failed attempt at interjection before waiting, as one must, and trying again – at which point the guys are having such a rip-roaring time doing their bit that they initially don’t appear to realise she has opted not to respond with the timeworn improv gambit “yes and … ”.

Possibly the best part of the entire thing is the moment after, surely a shoo-in for the Best Silence Oscar. Personally I’d have liked it to have been broken by Denzel thundering “WHERE IS YOUR IMPROV NOW?”, but for some reason such lines desert our leading men. Caught unawares, Redmayne offers a sort of wan yas-kween nod. But the applause for Ronan is seized on as a natural break, and the conversation moves on without anyone at all discussing by far and away the most fascinating thing said on the sofa thus far.

But look, I know what you might be thinking: is all this unfair? I mean, they’re only on a flipping chatshow, aren’t they? The trouble is that there are so few of these sort of moments in the obsessively controlled world of contemporary showbiz that we are left with the somewhat absurd situation of twats like me remorselessly analysing this tiny clip like we’re huddled in the White House situation room watching live footage of some Seal team raid on a stronghold, and holding our breath for the kill order. And yet, this one proves no less satisfying each time you see it. Ladies and gentlemen – she got ’em.

No one is suggesting that the male actors and presenter involved deserve some huge backlash for this. What people are saying is that the moment was telling. When clips like this go viral, it’s for a reason. For this many civilians to share them – this many female civilians, let’s face it – means they instantly saw something they recognised. Most, if not absolutely all, women have been in a version of that conversation in their time, and almost all of us have not found the precise words to say in the moment it was happening, instead either coming up with them while stewing on the way home, or two weeks later in the middle of the night (still stewing).

For the right words to be found in the moment, on primetime television, is a fantasy arguably more powerful than any of the ones the chaps are currently promoting in their movies and prestige TV projects. No offence to the Roman gladiator, former-Roman-gladiator-turned-arms-dealer, and public school assassin with whom Saoirse was sharing the sofa. But Mescal and Washington just got totally colosseumed, while Redmayne took an absolute burn bullet to the forehead”.

I am going to move on to how this applies to the music industry. Or could. I am still compelled to stay with Saoirse Ronan. At best, the guests that sat alongside Ronan with Graham Norton were naïve and lacking awareness. At worst, they were ignorant to the reality women and girls go through every day. I think Saoirse Ronan was very forgiving and generous when speaking about Paul Mescal (a friend of hers) during a recent interview when asked about that moment. One that has gone viral:

“In a Virgin Radio UK interview, she said: “The reaction has been wild. It’s definitely not something that I had expected, and I didn’t necessarily set out to sort of make a splash.”

Ronan continued: “I do think there’s something really telling about the society that we’re in right now and about how open women want to be with the men in their lives.

“So many men and women that I know from all over the world have gotten in touch with me about this one comment, which is, again, I would urge people, please, please, please to watch this in context.

“The boys weren’t sort of like debunking anything that I was saying. But at the same time, it felt very similar to like when I am at dinner with a bunch of my friends and I will always make the point that, well, this is actually an experience that we go through every single day.”

Ronan added that she has discussed the issues with “dear friend” Mescal in the past: “He completely gets that and completely understands that but I think the fact that there was a moment like that that happened on a show like Graham Norton, which is something that the entire nation channels and to watch and even overseas, it’s something that people tune into, it seems to have had an accessibility which seems to have really gained traction”.

Every week, we are reading stories of young women and girls being killed by men. Their motives, disturbingly, jealous. Coercive control. Always so horrible to think how vulnerable so many girls and women are. What shocked me about the Graham Norton event was that the subject of fending off someone with your phone is no laughing matter. Even if it was not meant to be an insult to women or shrugging off a horrific daily reality, it has left a nasty taste. It is an attitude so many men have. Why is it down to women alone (for the most part) to speak out against the fact women’s safety is constantly threatened but rarely discussed more in the mainstream media?! There is very little activation from men. A shocking lack of awareness and knowledge. They are dumb to how nearly every women has to be prepared when they walk the street. The fact they might need their keys or phone as a weapon. Never feeling truly safe alone. I understand there are charities and organisations that exist that help women feel safe at gigs. There are resourced and phonelines. There is information and awareness out there. I feel, with every news story we read of a young woman or girl losing her life because of male violence, the more there should be outrage and protest around the world. It may seem like this has nothing to do with the music industry. A lot of women in music have written about women’s safety and their own experiences. How they keep keys in their hand in case they need to use them as a weapon. Both Courtney Barrett and Billie Marten have discussed it in their lyrics. Away from this, there is not really a lot of discussion and highlighting. As I say with many subjects around women’s safety and equality, there is definitely not enough conversation.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mikhail Nilov/Pexels

As with all of these topics – gender equality, sexism and women’s right -, it is women who are mostly discussing it. I think there seems to be a pretty low priority assigned to women’s equality and safety. It is something the industry could tackle. It is something that affects all female artists and fans. From those attending gigs who are at risk of sexual assault, abuse or violence in the streets, through to artists who live with that daily risk of being attacked, it shouldn’t take a reality pill from Saoirse Ronan to awaken senses and open eyes to something that some, deliberately or not, joke about. Men not having to worry in the same way women do when it comes to their safety. I have been thinking about women in music and all the layers and types of abuse and harassment levelled at them. How they also have to face sexism and misogyny. It all comes down to misogyny. An epidemic that is claiming so many lives. One might say that the music industry speaking out or there being this widespread activation can change things. Women and girls will always be exposed to male violence. Sadly true, however, the more awareness that is raised, the more it will do to tackle the issue. Making women feel safe in the industry. Calling out men to do more and to ensure that this sickening and frightening epidemic – because that is what it is! – ends in our lifetime. That we do not have to keep hearing about women and girls being murdered, abused and the subject of misogyny and violence. It takes me back to that Saoirse Ronan comeback on The Graham Notion Show. How a brief interjection made such a sobering impact. Stunned and make fools of the men who were casually joking about something that is very serious. Definitely women it comes to women and keeping them safe. How they have to always be ‘prepared’ when they go out in case they are attacked. This is a harrowing and disturbing reality that we should not have to discuss…

IN THIS PHOTO: RDNE Stock project/Pexels

IN this day and age.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Songs from Albums Turning Fifty Next Year

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Songs from Albums Turning Fifty Next Year

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EVERY year…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

I put out a series of features that collect songs from albums with big anniversaries the following year. Ahead of us entering 2025, I am starting out with albums turning fifty. Those big releases from 1975. It was a pretty big and interesting year for music. Some classics came out that year. As I move towards more modern albums, it is worth heading back half a century to those gems that came out in 1975. Even if you were not alive at the time, you will be able to appreciate these important albums. It has been great spending some time travelling back…

TO 1975.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Bawo

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Bawo

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THIS time out for Spotlight…

I want to shine a light on an artist I recently saw NME raving about. I am going to bring in their interview with it. He is a new name to me though, when I first heard him, I was instantly gripped and invested. Bawo is an artist that you need to know about. Before coming to some more recent press, I want to head back to the start of last year and DJ Mag heralded a West London artist who was making waves beyond the capital. It is interesting learning about Bawo’s beginnings and the music he grew up listening to:

“Over the years, West London has given us some titans in the rap scene, from C Biz and K Koke to Nines and Knucks. Although some in that list are more active than others these days, there’s an exciting new generation of talent who are pushing rap into new territories, finding new connections between the different strains and sub-genres.

One of the latest in this new tidal wave is Bawo, a rising artist who’s been connecting the dots between grime, garage, rap and soul (plus a few other influences) in a way that feels both new and yet fundamentally West London. “I think there’s an appreciation of sound that unites us,” he explains, trying to pin down the ‘sound’ of West. “I think it’s a bit different, I don’t know if it’s a thread that the average listener would clock, but if you’re from West, you can hear it.”

He describes his own sound as “homely” and there’s certainly a warmth to it — this is music for the home, best enjoyed without the distraction of the outside world — but that’s not really what he means. What he’s actually referring to are the cues he takes from the artists he grew up with, the mercurial, intangible feeling he got from listening to 50 Cent, Michael Jackson or Akon in the family home. “They just have this sort of familiar tone about them, whether it’s the backing vocals or the chords that are used,” he says. It’s the high production value of those blockbuster records, but it’s also the intimate familial connection from a record shared between loved ones. “And I think that comes through,” he adds.

Away from his parents’ stereo, however, was the much-closer-to-home influence of Channel U. “Jme, Scorcher, and Chipmunk were huge influences," he says. "[Chip] had an album out when we were teenagers [‘I Am Chipmunk’] — that was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s living the dream!’ That was pretty big for me as well.”

Six years ago, Bawo uploaded his first track to SoundCloud, an ultra-‘90s, ultra-New York boom-bap tune called ‘It Don’t Stop’. Even though his sound has evolved immeasurably since that first drop, a nostalgic edge has been one of the few constants in his music. In the years that followed, he would play around with instrumentals from a mixture of unknown producers, alongside bigger names like Wiley, The Streets and Preditah. As he jumped between grime, garage and back to rap again, his punchy, commanding delivery remained. Though each track was wildly different, gradually, a pattern was beginning to emerge.

At some point during this period, a message hit his SoundCloud inbox from Oscar #Worldpeace. He’s still not entirely sure how Oscar heard him or what made him reach out, but he’s not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I’ve been listening to him for years, before I ever had anything on streaming platforms in that way,” he explains. “He just literally shot me a message out of the blue. It was a cold moment for me, having listened to him for so long.

“To be honest, he’s one of the only people I could consider a friend in the whole game," he adds. "So it’s been a pleasure knowing him, and working with him so far has been really easy."

By 2019, Bawo had started to settle on the kind of rap that’s since become his calling card. A fluid, ever-shifting sound that draws, in varying combinations, from basically all the sounds that have led him to this point. The SoundCloud-only ‘Things’ EP, dropped just a few months before ‘Bag To Get’ (which for all intents and purposes was a breakout track for him), is perhaps the best distillation of this. The original ‘Things’ was grime through and through, but he followed it with a ‘2.0’ version which was much harder to pin down; it really felt like a watershed moment for Bawo. Before that, he was playing around with different sounds, but only ever one at a time. With ‘2.0’ it really felt like he’d hit his stride and cracked the formula for combining grime, garage and hip-hop into something he could call his own.

And that brings us neatly back to his “homely” comment. Because what he’s doing now is more than just grimey-garagey-hip-hop; you can hear the warmth of those records that played in his parents’ house, memories being made in real time. Just look at ‘Starts With A Text’, another landmark release for him and by far his most popular yet. The verses give probably the best example of his understated rhyming style and on the hook we get an even more understated singing performance — a talent honed in church choirs in his youth.

Another prime example is ‘Headtop Buss From Luss’ / ‘Mazzalean’, the double-drop release he gave us in 2022. The first half is a booming rap joint that takes more than a few cues from the sound system culture that’s been embedded in West London for the better part of a century, but the second veers away dramatically into more beautifully understated singing. There’s no polish, no theatrics, just a subtle vocal performance backed only by clicking fingers and a few guitar licks”.

I am going to move it forward. Last month, Bawo released his second album, It Means Hope Where I’m From. It is perhaps his greatest work yet. An album that will take him worldwide. Even if there are few reviews of the album and what is out there is pretty brief, the general feeling is that this is a big step from one of our finest young artists. Someone that everyone should know. I will end with that NME interview from last month. Prior to that, I want to come to this VERSUS chat. Even though a lot of the interview discussed trainers, football and style, there were some interesting observations and exchanges that I wanted to highlight:

“VERSUS: How did growing up in West London and your Nigerian heritage shape your status as an ‘Original’?

Bawo: The cultural contrast is all I've ever known. That being said, I found myself aware of wanting to balance Nigerian and British culture in my earlier years. It was the whole thing of going to Nigeria and feeling like it was home – but also feeling like an outsider at the same time. Then, in your class at school, you're the only kid who looks like you, and you've got a hairline that's clearly from Africa – you stand out. You're forced to stand out even if you don't want to. That's in both scenarios.

What does it mean to be an ‘Original’ in your eyes?

To be original is to be completely honest with yourself, which can make you seem like a weirdo because we don't know what normal is. Ultimately, originality is about being true to yourself in both words and deeds.

What does community mean to you?

We're all sharing the same space, right? It depends on where your parents are from; you get a mix of first, second, and third-generation kids. It’s all about the back-and-forth of support and, at times, not being so nice to each other, but we’re all growing together.

Your project, Legitimate Cause, is just over 18 months old. How do you feel about it now that it has had time to breathe?

I feel just as proud of it. It doesn’t feel like it’s been 18 months, which is crazy. My dream was for it to resonate with people. I didn’t plan for such a long gap before dropping another project, but I guess it was meant to be this way. A lot went into that music, and some of it, like “Figured Out”, was four years old when it came out”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Galloway

Despite the fact that it is not a particularly long interview – you hope that there will be a more in-depth interview out there soon -, it is an important highlighting of an artist adding something invaluable to music. Really making this, as NME write, “lo-fi rap for the masses”, because Bawo aims to put good vibes out into the world and really make a contribution is to be commended. This is someone who can act as a role model for young rappers coming through:

“You grew up in a Christian household, surrounded by different types of gospel. What pulled you towards rap music initially?

“Partly, the brainwashed side of me that had watched too much MTV Cribs wanted a humongous mansion… I wanted to be 50 Cent as a kid, so there’s a bit of that in there as well.

“But the more I did it, the more my actual motivations showed themselves. I don’t care about having a huge house or anything like that. I want to be financially comfortable, for sure. But I want to be a part of something that helps make people happy and add to the database of creativity that humans are constantly making, and be a positive contributor to that space.”

Tell us about the process of making ‘It Means Hope…’

“It’s been really fun and it’s been stressful at some points, because the nature of the tape has changed from ‘let me just put out a mixtape of 10 songs because I have quite a lot of songs that haven’t been released’. A whole identity started to form, visually and sonically, and then it became more and more serious. To be honest, I wouldn’t call it an album. It feels a bit unfair to call it a mixtape. But overall it was fun, I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed feeling like I was actually levelling up in my skill.”

On the cover of ‘It Means Hope…’, you’re now revealing the superhero suit underneath your corporate suit you wore on your last project. Tell us about the thematic evolution between the two bodies of work.

“I’m now even more confident in vulnerability and unapologetically being myself. But it’s also another way of saying that that was a shell. Now you’re getting closer to the real me. So those are the parallel things. In terms of what the logo represents, it’s been really effective, even for me. There’s been times I wake up and not want to go gym, but I’ll see my t-shirt with that new SN [Say Nothing, Bawo’s independent label] logo on it, and think, ‘I have to live up to that’. So it’s supposed to represent purpose”

With It Means Hope Where I’m From out into the world, more people are discovering the wonder of the simply brilliant Bawo. I am new to him, though I am committed to keeping an eye where he heads next. Humble yet ambitious, it is only a matter of time before he goes worldwide and is standing on some huge stages. If you have not discovered the brilliance of Bawo, then you really must do…

WITHOUT delay.

___________

Follow Bawo

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Galloway

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/_bawo/

Twitter:

https://x.com/_bawo

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg_aBwzKa8qDjLFqe-f943g

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1nrJKGxkiSY6FjJRXcc9CB

FEATURE: Out from the Cold: Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Thirteen

FEATURE:

 

Out from the Cold

Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Thirteen

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I will publish two features…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in promotional shot for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow

marking thirteen years of Kate Bush’s latest studio album, 50 Words for Snow. Until very recently, many people would have thought that was her last album. Very little sign that she was thinking of coming back. No real intent regarding doing anything new. The more time that passes, the more unlikely it was we would get anything. On Friday, 25th October, we heard an interview where Kate Bush spoke with Emma Barnett for BBC Radio 4’s Today. Bush was speaking about the animated video for Little Shrew (Snowflake). It was designed to raise money for War Child by brining to focus the atrocities of war affecting children. Bush particularly impacted by the violence in Ukraine. When she was being interviewed, Bush also revealed that she was keen to do something new. She had many ideas and there was this palpable sense that a new album was on her mind. Of course, as she announced she had ideas, it is more than likely she is already recording the album rather than thinking of ideas. You can get 50 Words for Snow (Polar Edition). A few lucky fans have received signed Snowflake cards from Kate Bush! That reissued album is out now. I hope that people who are fans of Kate Bush fans appreciate and listen to 50 Words for Snow. Not discussed as much as many of her studio albums. I really love Bush’s 2011 release. On 21st November, 2011, we were treated to the second album from Kate Bush that year – Director’s Cut was released in May. 50 Words for Snow received hugely positive reviews. In fact, it was rated as highly as 2005’s Aerial. Rather than having an album with ten, eleven or twelves tracks that last between three to five minutes, these were longer tracks. Allowing the music to unfold. In this first anniversary feature, I am going to get to an interview with Bush from 2011 and reviews for the album. Like with other albums I have marked recently, the second feature will explore the songs more.

It is interesting looking at 50 Words for Snow now realising that Bush will bless us with her eleventh studio album very soon - I reckon next year. If not next year than the year after. Though you feel next year will be the one. I think that 50 Words for Snow should be viewed more highly. When it comes to Kate Bush album rankings, I guess 50 Words for Snow ranks average. Bafflingly, Rough Trade placed the album tenth when they ranked her albums last year. This blog ranked it in seventh. NME placed the album sixth in 2019. SPIN placed the album eighth in 2022. In the same year, The Pink News put 50 Words for Snow eight too. So it averages in about eighth or ninth position out of ten. That is quite a shock to me! I am glad an album like The Red Shoes, often seen as her weakest album, does better. I think 50 Words for Snow is among her best and most important works. After some retrospection and revision for Director’s Cut, this was Bush’s first completely new album after Aerial. A totally different sound and direction, 50 Words for Snow has so many moods. You fall into songs. The recent Little Shrew (Snowflake) video offered a new take on that song. Originally written to showcase her son, Bertie, on vocals, it opens 50 Words for Snow. I think it would be wonderful if there were animations for all seven tracks on the album. It seems like this complete piece that could be made into a short film. Tantalising if Kate Bush performed the entire album live one day. She did perform Among Angels as part of 2014’s Before the Dawn residency. Thirteen years after its release, it is still amazing hearing songs like Misty and Lake Tahoe unfold. The brilliance of Bush’s compositions and productions. Songs that flow, expand and create their own worlds.

If some think the album has a few weaker songs – some highlight the title track and Snowed in at Wheeler Street -, I do think the entire album should be given another chance. In terms of streaming numbers, the seven tracks on 50 Words for Snow do not have huge figures. Over four million for Snowflake, though the remaining six tracks haven’t done as well. I want to bring in some reviews to show that critics did react positively to the album. I will start with extracts from an interview with Kate Bush from 2011. An interview I have sourced before, The Quietus chatted with Bush about her new album. John Doran was tasked with asking the questions. I would urge people to read the entire interview:

“Kate Bush’s abilities as a songwriter just get better and better with age. The keen eye that saw a couple’s sex life writ large in their entwining clothes drying on a line in the breeze on ‘Mrs. Bartolozzi’ (Aerial) is at evidently hard at work on every song here. She sees the erotic poetic potential in places other song writers wouldn’t dare look for it. ‘Misty’ is the story of a love affair or one night stand between a snowman and a girl and she has no problem taking this to its soggy but bittersweet conclusion. She inspires a powerful performance out of Elton John on ‘Snowed In At Wheeler Street’, as the pair play disembodied lovers, trying to be together for all time despite corporeal disaster constantly wrenching them apart.

Kate Bush: I’m sorry I’m late phoning but I’ve been caught up in another interview that went on for much longer than it should have.

That’s fine. That’s not a problem.

KB: How are you?

I’m great thanks, how are you?

KB: [indecisively] I’m good… [decisively] Yeah! I’m good thanks!

I’ve got a five-month-old boy, he’s my first child so sleep’s at something of a premium. I say this to everyone at the moment because I’m half asleep.

KB: Awwwww!

So obviously looking at the artwork, the track listing, the title, and the lead single ‘Wild Man’ from your new album 50 Words For Snow, it’s pretty clear what the theme is. Now culturally snow is really interesting stuff. It can symbolise birth, purity, old age, death, sterility… I was wondering what it means to you.

KB: [laughs derisively] Well, I’ve never heard of it in terms of old age or death… [laughs] That’s quite an opening line. Well, I think it’s really magical stuff. It’s a very unusual, evocative substance and I had really great fun making this record because I love snow.

What are your memories of snow like from childhood? Was playing in the snow something you really looked forward to?

KB: Well… yeah. Do you know any children who don’t look forward to playing in the snow?

I know what you’re saying but there are some who like it more than others…

KB: …

Er…

KB: … Are you knackered?

Yeah.

KB: Have you been up all night?

Yeah, I have.

KB: [laughs uproariously and good naturedly] Well John do you like snow? Don’t you think snow is a thing of wonder and beauty?

I think that if I lived outside of London, maybe in the countryside where it doesn’t turn to a mixture of slush and hazardous black ice, I might like it more. Also, I’m very tall and for whatever reason I just fall over when it’s icy, I always have done. It’s very dangerous I think.

KB: [laughs] Are you a kind of glass half empty kind of guy?

My glass used to be completely dry. Now it’s half empty but I’m working on making it half full… No, I’m joking, of course I like snow, it’s simply marvelous stuff. But obviously there’s been a great thematic shift between Aerial and this album.

KB: Yeah.

So Aerial is full of images of clear skies, still water, warm days and it’s full of the bustle of family life and an easy domesticity. 50 Words For Snow is a similarly beautiful album but there is a chill to it – it lacks the warmth of its predecessor. I wondered if it represented another switch from an autobiographical to a narrative song writing approach?

KB: Yeah, I think it’s much more a kind of narrative story-telling piece. I think one of the things I was playing with on the first three tracks was trying to allow the song structure to evolve the story telling process itself; so that it’s not just squashed into three or four minutes, so I could just let the story unfold.

I’ve only heard the album today so I can’t say I’m completely aware of every nuance but I have picked out a few narrative strands. Would it be fair enough to say that it starts with a birth and ends with a death?

KB: No, not at all. Not to my mind anyway. It may start with a birth but it’s the birth of a snowflake which takes its journey from the clouds to the ground or to this person’s hand. But it’s not really a conceptual piece; it’s more that the songs are loosely held together with this thread of snow.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in promotional shot for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow

Fair play. Now some of your fans may have been dismayed to read that there were only seven songs on the album but they should be reassured at this point that the album is 65 minutes long, which makes for fairly long tracks. How long did it take you to write these songs and in the course of writing them did you discard a lot of material?

KB: This has been quite an easy record to make actually and it’s been quite a quick process. And it’s been a lot of fun to make because the process was uninterrupted. What was really nice for me was I did it straight off the back of Director’s Cut, which was a really intense record to make. When I finished it I went straight into making this so I was very much still in that focussed space; still in that kind of studio mentality. And also there was a sense of elation that suddenly I was working from scratch and writing songs from scratch and the freedom that comes with that.

Had you always wanted to do 50 Words For Snow or were you just on a roll after Director’s Cut?

KB: No, they were both records that I’d wanted to do for some time. But obviously I had to get Director’s Cut done before I could start this one… Well, I guess I could have waited until next year but this record had to come out at this time of year, it isn’t the sort of thing I could have put it out in the summer obviously.

Did the snow theme come from an epiphany or a particular grain or idea? Was there one particular day when you happened to be in the snow…

KB: No. I don’t think there was much snow going on through the writing of this… it was more to do with my memories of snow I suppose and the exploration of the images that come with it.

Now the cover art features a snowman kissing a girl and I was worried that her lips might get stuck to his. Do you know like when you’re young and you get your lips stuck to a lolly ice straight out of the freezer?

KB: [giggles]

And what about the carrot getting stuck in her eye? It’s a health and safety issue.

KB: Well she doesn’t look too worried does she?

Yeah, she looks like she’s quite into it to be honest. Well, this leads me onto a serious question. Sometimes when I listen to your albums I think of Angela Carter. Sure there may well be a fantastical, almost fairy tale piece of story-telling going on here but just out of reach there is a quite torrid, sexual undercurrent. I mean, I’m right to read this sexuality into this album aren’t I? I’m not just being a pervert.

KB: Well, I think in that particular song obviously there is a sexual encounter going on… you are referring to that song aren’t you?

Yeah, ‘Misty’, which has the reference to the girl’s affair with a snowman, the wet sheets, the idea of him melting in her hands and on her bed.

KB: Yeah. [massive pause] I’m sorry John, did you ask me a question? What was the question?”.

I will finish with a couple of reviews. For anyone who has a particular view of the album or has overlooked it, I think that it is necessary to reconsider. There are a lot of hugely glowing reviews. Drowned in Sound awarded 50 Words for Snow 9 out of 10:

“So yeah: maybe when Kate Bush said the 12 year gap between The Red Shoes and Aerial was down to her wanting to work on being a mum for a while – and not because she’d had a mental breakdown/become morbidly obese/was a dope fiend/sundy other conspiracy theories that flew around – she was, y’know, telling the truth. Here, six years after Aerial and just six months after Director’s Cut comes 50 Words for Snow. It’s Bush’s third album since 2005, which technically puts her up on The Strokes, The Shins or Modest Mouse.

And jolly spectacular it is too, which is never a guarantee: Aerial was a masterpiece; The Red Shoes, The Sensual World and the diversionary Director’s Cut were not. Bush has always been best at her most focussed, and here she delves monomaniacally into snow and the winter – its mythology, its romance, its darkness, its rhythmic frenzy and glacial creep. 50 Words for Snow is artic and hoare frost and robin red breast, sleepy snowscapes and death on the mountain, drifts in the Home Counties and gales through Alaska.

But it is mostly, I think, a record about how the fleeting elusiveness of snow mirrors that of love; and if I’m off the mark there, then certainly as a work of music one can view it as a sort of frozen negative to Aerial’s A Sky of Honey, the transcendent 42 minute suite about a summer’s day that took up the album’s second half. Whatever the case, 50 Words...demands to be listened to as a whole: the days of Bush as a singles-orientated artist are long gone on a long, sometimes difficult record on which the shortest track clocks in at a shade under seven minutes.

The first three songs clock in at over half an hour and comprise the starkest, most difficult and in some ways most beautiful passage of music in Bush’s career. Based on minimal, faltering piano and great yawning chasms of silence, these tracks mirror the eerie calm of soft, implacable snowfall and winter's dark. On the opening ‘Snowflake’ she shares vocal duties with her young son Albert, whose pure falsetto blends into her lower register. Vaguely suggestive of carol singing, his tones are also clear and elemental, without the shackles of adult emotion as he keens “I am ice and dust and light. I am sky and here.” over his mother’s spare, hard keys. ‘Lake Tahoe’ is the real challenge here: a crawling ghost story about a drowned woman, gilded with cold choral washes, its diamond keys crystallize into being a note at a time. Its 11 minutes are roughly as far away from ‘Babooshka’ as it’s possible to get. Yet as Steve Gadd’s soft, jazzy drums gather in pace and intricacy, life and movement enters this crepsular musical tundra, the album’s low key opening sequence swelling to a soft crescendo with final part ‘Misty’. A bleakly sensual love story that, er, appears to be about a doomed affair with a snowman, it’s somewhat reminiscent of Spirit of Eden-era Talk Talk as its 13-minute expanse periodically blooms into gorgeously tangled blossoms of bucolic guitar.

Single ‘Wild Man’ sees a shift in gear – springy, exotic electronics, a sprightlier pace and a sense of playfulness as a husky-voiced Bush trades the last song’s impossible man for another as she dreams about the possibility of a yeti. Describing a Kate Bush track without making it sound silly can be rather trying – this is a woman whose past triumphs include several songs featuring Rolf Harris – but I guess ‘Wild Man’ works as lush, sensual dream of the possibility of the things that might existing outside humdrum human experience. It’s not just about the yeti, but the impossibly exotic place names she mutters in her verbal quest for the creature – “Kangchenjunga… Metoh-Kangmi… Lhakpa-La… Dipu Marak… Darjeeling… Tengboche… Qinghai… Himachal Pradesh” – and the vertiginously thrilling change of gear as heavily distorted guest Andy Fairweather Low roars a near indecipherable chorus. It’s also about Bush’s formidable production skills, her precise, nagging synths and total mastery of studio as instrument.

Those synths imbue ‘Snowed in at Wheeler Street’ with a sense of frazzled foreboding that negates the potential cheesiness of Elton John’s throaty turn on a duet that casts him and Bush as a pair of lovers spread across time, doomed to separate at key points in history, wishing that could return to one mundane, snow bound day spent together. And a bed of electronics whip up a quietly hypnotic tumult on the astonishing title song. Here – and again Kate Bush songs can be a job to not make sound ridiculous – Bush counts to 50 in a hushed monotone as Stephen Fry (oh yes) recites a list of names for snow, real and imagined: “blackbird braille… stella tundra… vanilla swarm… avalanche”, occasionally punctured by an eerily muted chorus in which Bush frenzied urges him to continue the list. On the one hand, it continues ‘Wild Man’s revelry in the intoxicating power of human language. On the other, it’s the album’s least human track, its churning, chiming electronics and alien words mirroring the quiet chaos and leaden intensity of a snowstorm, its final minutes a headlong descent into oblivion and whiteout. It is astonishing, immense, bizarre and perfectly realized: only Kate Bush could conceive of this song, and nobody else will make anything like it again.

As the cooing over Director’s Cut demonstrated, even Bush on diversionary form is enough to tease gushy spurts of adjectives from the soberest of souls; hitting a true peak again, there is the temptation to drone on about how important she is, how she dwarfs most of her peers artistically, let alone the braying yahs and rahs of today who cite her as an influence. But let’s keep it in perspective: in the 26 years since Hounds of Love, Aerial and 50 Words for Snow have been her only truly fully realised albums. Kate Bush is more than fallible; but at peak she is incomparable”.

Before wrapping things up, DIY’s review saluted and celebrated a beautiful and brilliant album from one of music’s greatest songwriters and most original voices. The gulf between critical reaction in 2011 and the low position the album is usually afforded in various features is surprising. As the weather is starting to turn and the days seem shorter, 50 Words for Snow is a perfect accompaniment:

“While May’s ‘Directors Cut’ was a reworking of earlier material, ‘50 Words For Snow’ features seven all-new compositions. It is a concept album of sorts based around the theme of winter and snow, a theme Bush has wanted to cover for a long time, and there is definitely a pronounced wintry feeling to these subtle, delicate and at times desolate songs. For an artist who has a reputation for making theatrical, florid music ‘50 Words Of Snow’ features Bush showing her capacity for restraint and her supreme gift for making meticulously crafted beautiful music.

The album is very long, indeed at least two of the tracks are over ten minutes in length, but it never fails to captivate and is never dull. In much the same way as it is possible to stare enthralled at falling snow for hours the fragile songs here, despite their length, leave you engrossed.

Opening track ‘Snowflake’ sets the tone. A twinkling piano is the backing for a duet between Bush and her son Bertie which sees her playing the role of the mother protector shielding her son from the elements: “The world is so loud, keep falling, I’ll find you.” ‘Lake Tahoe’ sees Bush showing off her experimental side and features an operatic duet between Stefan Roberts and Michael Wood.

‘Misty’ is an incredibly sensual and heartfelt track featuring a powerfully soulful vocal. It seems to describe a passionate encounter with a snowman that has came to life before mysteriously departing, “I see his snowy white face but I’m not afraid / he lies down beside me / I can feel him melting in my hand.”

‘Wild Man’ is faster paced and is the only song here that could reasonably be considered a pop single, at least in Kate Bush’s fabulously strange definition of pop. The second half of the album takes a turn for the strange. Elton John pops up with a soulful stately vocal in ‘Snowed In At Wheeler Street’ his powerful voice a lovely contrast with Bush’s soft hushed tones. The title track is the highlight and possibly the most baffling piece of music to be heard all year. Stephen Fry is an unusual choice of guest as he intones 50 different synonyms for snow over a dense tribal backing. These terms for snow are mostly made up, and go from the beautiful (‘blackbird braille’), to the ridiculous (‘Boomerangablanca’). A lot of thought has clearly gone into these linguistic creations and a read of the lyric sheet is strongly recommended. It is an utterly bonkers piece but it encapsulates everything that is so unique and fascinating about Bush.

The great thing about Kate Bush is that you cannot imagine anyone else ever possibly making the music she does, and ‘50 Words For Snow’ is another impossibly beautiful and individually brilliant album. A perfect accompaniment to those long and dark wintry nights”.

You can buy the 2018 Remastered edition of 50 Words for Snow if you do not want to invest in the new Polar Edition. In 2011, when we knew a second studio album of that year was coming from Kate Bush, there was a mix of surprise and anticipation. Bush having to juggle the two. It must have been quite strange reworking older tracks for Director’s Cut and working on new and totally different songs for 50 Words for Snow. In interviews for Director’s Cut, Bush had to keep her cards close to her chest when asked about new music. She did reveal in one or two that a new album was coming but did not give much away in terms of what it would entail. After 2011, Bush engaged in various projects. Her lyrics book, reissuing her albums, the 2014 residency, and various other bits. Lots of looking back, but very little glimmer that any new album would come. We were very fortunate that Bush shocked everyone by dropping the tantalising possibility of a new album very soon. Will it sound like 50 Words for Snow? Bush told Emma Barnett that she wants to make something different. That all of her albums are different. Perhaps a return to an album that has more tracks that are shorter than those on 50 Words for Snow. The use of Snowflake for a new video recontextualises the lyrics. One of the most stirring and touching songs on 50 Words for Snow, it is wonderful that she revisited it. It makes me also appreciate the original more. For the second anniversary feature, I am going to go more into some of the songs and take a different approach. Ahead of its thirteenth anniversary on 21st November, do spend some time with Kate Bush’s 2011 album. 50 Words for Snow is a stunning, immersive and brilliant…

ALBUM everyone should hear.

FEATURE: No Scraps Left on the Table: Why The Last Dinner Party’s Gig Cancellations Due to Burnout Will Impact Other Artists

FEATURE:

 

 

No Scraps Left on the Table

IN THIS PHOTO: The Last Dinner Party

Why The Last Dinner Party’s Gig Cancellations Due to Burnout Will Impact Other Artists

_________

I am returning my thoughts…

PHOTO CREDIT: Vishnu R Nair/Pexels

to Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual. It is indispensable and essential reading. Not least because many people do not realise the psychological toll that being a touring artist can take. From the outside, we may look at artists on the stage and feel like they have a perfect life and are living the dream. Drawing energy from the crowds each night. Maybe huge touring artists like Taylor Swift can make that lifestyle look easy. She is someone who has a lot of people around her. Even so, Swift cannot do as many shows as she does and not feel the effects. Think about artists coming through who are doing so many dates. They are also promoting their music, working on new material and really pushing themselves. Trying to give their fans everything but then getting to a point where they need to step back. This is what has happened with The Last Dinner Party. The Mercury Prize-nominated group released their phenomenal debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, earlier this year to huge reviews. The group have had to cancel some gigs due to burnout. Stereogum reported the news:

“Last month, the Last Dinner Party canceled a show last-minute citing illness, then cancelled a handful of dates. Today, the rising indie rock band cancelled five more due to burnout.

“As we came to the end of the UK/Ireland tour, we put some time aside to discuss how to approach the upcoming European tour,” they wrote in a statement on social media, continuing:

The burnout we’re experiencing emotionally, mentally, and physically — is something we’re taking very seriously. After much consideration we have come to the difficult decision to finish the tour with the last show in Prague. This means that we are sadly cancelling our November headline shows in Vienna, Zurich, Parma, Luxembourg and Tilburg. We wanted to give fans with tickets to these particular dates as much advance notice as possible to adjust their plans. We sincerely apologise to our fans who were looking forward to seeing us, and we are truly saddened to not be seeing you this time. Refunds will be issued by your point of purchase to the original method of payment.

This year has been incredible for us but undeniably exhausting and we have found that we need to take responsibility over the amount of shows that we can do. Pushing ourselves past breaking point is not a fair or wise decision for anyone. We hope that you can understand that our reason for cancelling these shows is to protect our well-being and give the very best performances you all deserve.

Moving forward and armed with the knowledge of our limits, we are working with our team to make sure we only book tours that we are capable of fulfilling at the highest potential. We never want to find ourselves in this situation again.

Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts, for being the most supportive, generous, and wonderful fans — it means so much to us.

It’s a tough time for touring indie musicians. Earlier this week, Clairo canceled three gigs due to exhaustion; last month, Bright Eyes canceled the rest of their 2024 tour dates and in August the Armed canceled their tour before it even began”.

I think we will find many other artists step back from dates because of exhaustion and burnout. I can see how artists are suffering. They want to see as many people as possible and travel to all sorts of places. That can be physically draining. The emotional effect of being on the road. The adulation from the stage and some comedown and stress when it comes to everything connected to touring. The business side of things. Promotion. It can all combine in a really severe way. I have seen some on social media criticise The Last Dinner Party because they feel like they have cancelled dates and not really done enough to warrant that. Lacking stamina. It is insulting to consider people taking shots at a group who have faced their fair share of challenges since they started. Sexism and those saying they are industry plants. The truth is that The Last Dinner Party have crammed so much in this year. To deliver brilliant shows in different towns and cities requires so much. What is involved in promoting albums and touring in general is a hell of a lot tougher and more demanding than most people realise. It is no surprise that other artists have also cited burnout and exhaustion. It is not a new thing, though I do feel there is this expectation that artists can tour relentlessly and do everything else without it causing any damage. There is a real danger going beyond a point where you can’t really carry on to please fans.

IN THIS PHOTO: Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan attend the Guts World Tour premiere/PHOTO CREDIT:: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

It is disappointing that some will miss out but it is paramount artists think of themselves and can ensure they are able to continue and perform after a short break. In the case of The Last Dinner Party, they will be back on the road soon enough. I do think that the industry needs to look at some of the pressure and expectation put on artists. I am not sure whether there are ways in which touring can be made easier. Perhaps artists having to shorten their tours. It is hard to make that call as they want to reach as many people as they can. Think about the music industry in general and how rising popularity and fan adulation/obsession can impact mental health negatively. Artists such as Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo have shared their advice on dealing with fame and the pressures that come with succeeding and being very visible in the entertainment industry. It is really challenging for every artist. So much to navigate online and in the real world. The amount of energy it takes to tour and everything else required to build their name and keep their fans happy. Let alone everything that comes from being online. I do hope that The Last Dinner Party are given enough space and time to refresh and rest for a bit and people will give them earned patience and respect. I have seen some criticism but, when you look at other artists who are also pulling out of dates, it is becoming more widespread. If an artist is experiencing burnout then they need to be given time and respect. If they are pushed or expected to go on then that can lead to…

SOMETHING far more serious.

FEATURE: Exploitation, Sexism and Racism Within New Jill Swing: Why the Incredible Women of a Brilliant Genre Deserve More

FEATURE:

 

 

Exploitation, Sexism and Racism Within New Jill Swing

Why the Incredible Women of a Brilliant Genre Deserve More

_________

THIS is inspired…

PHOTO CREDIT: DeMonica Santiago, Shireen Crutchfield and Joyce Tolbert (The Good Girls) in 1990 PHOTO CREDIT: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

by a recent article from The Guardian. I do lean on them a bit when it comes to features but, as a new album has come out that is definitely worth getting, I wanted to explore the idea more. The genre of New Jill Swing. How it was an incredible genre where amazing female artists ruled. However, for all the brilliant music they put out, there was exploitation, racism and sexism behind the scenes. The compilation, New Jill Swing: 1988-94 is out now on Ace Recorda:

“New jill swing was a cheeky response to the very male, late 80s world of new jack swing, and it was the dawn of a golden age for female R&B in the 90s.

The original source of new jack swing - or swingbeat - could be found in key records such as Janet Jackson’s “Control”, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, which mixed hard beats with soul, real R&B with 808s and a tough shuffle. Producer Teddy Riley took these sounds a step further at the end of the 80s, blending them with hip- hop because - strange as it now seems – hip-hop in the 80s was barely integrated into R&B.

Solo acts like Karyn White (‘The Way You Love Me’) and Jasmine Guy (‘Try Me’) followed in Janet Jackson’s future-perfect footsteps, inspiring a bunch of female groups who followed in the early 90s. The initial ground-breakers were a Motown act called the Good Girls who were set up to be a swingbeat Supremes, with the wonderful ‘Your Sweetness’ in 1989. 1990 saw the emergence of R&B superstars En Vogue whose confidence and style proved that swingbeat wasn’t just a genre for boy bands. Xscape (‘Love On My Mind’) followed in 1991 while SWV (‘I’m So Into You’) and Jade (‘Don’t Walk Away’) both had their first UK hits in the spring of 1993. These hits were also pop classicist in their melodies and lyrics, harking back to 60s girl groups as much as they looked forward to the 21st century.

“New Jill Swing” has been compiled by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and is historically significant as the first ever compilation of the genre. New jill swing may have borrowed from hip-hop but it was more smartly stylized and consciously retro-modern in its look, whether that was in En Vogue’s Old Hollywood references, the Good Girls’ plaid skirts or Jade’s baseball caps and braids. It would also unwittingly lay down the groundwork for the ultra-modern sounds to come later in the decade from the likes of TLC and Missy Elliot”.

I think that there should be a book about the genre. The compilation will showcase the brilliant groups that were around through the 1990s and in the late-1980s. This opposition or alternative to the more celebrated New Jack Swing. Unlike the large swathes of male artists in that scene, life was much harder for their female counterparts. If the album puts out there the amazing music made by New Jill Swing acts, a lot of that success came at the expense of the artists. In terms of the contracts many signed and how there was discrimination and sexism. There is a lot more to discuss when it comes to New Jill Swing. If survivors such as SWV proved that they could sustain and overcome hurdles and challenges, a lot of other women were not so fortunate. Exploitation quite common. It is shocking that you can look through the new compilation and many of these acts are either short-lived or experienced so much abuse. Not taken seriously or made to sign bad contracts to get a label a quick hit:

“A flash of Technicolor fills the screen, as four women spin and glide in perfect unison. The bouncy crunch of drum machines collides with slick, soaring vocals, as the women then jump over one another’s heads. “I broke my ankle doing some of this stuff,” says Stacy Francis of the lively music video for You (You’re the One for Me) by her group Ex Girlfriend. “Some of what we were doing was unheard of at the time. There wasn’t anything like that before we came along.”

Populated by the likes of En Vogue, SWV, Pebbles, Karyn White, Jade, Xscape and others, this was new jill swing, the female counterpart to new jack swing, which exploded in the late 1980s and early 90s by fusing US hip-hop with pop and R&B. It would go on to shape R&B as we know it but came at a cost for many of the women involved. “It was an exciting road,” says Francis. “But it was also rough and heartbreaking. There was a lot of exploitation.”

“Hip-hop was still not completely respected at that point as an art form,” explains Tara Kemp, whose 1991 US Top 10 hit Piece of My Heart features on the compilation. Pop radio stations demanded a version with its rap removed. “A lot of people still didn’t think hip-hop was music,” Kemp says.

IN THIS PHOTO: Tara Kemp in 1991/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Natkin/WireImage 

“It was like when rock’n’roll came around and your grandparents would be like: ‘It’s not gonna last!’” recalls Shireen Crutchfield, who was the lead singer of the Good Girls, a group who were marketed as the Supremes of the new movement. “New jack swing was definitely a generational thing – a distinct departure from what was before. Our manager wanted us to stay away from it because he was a lot older than us.”

The person who changed that mindset was producer Teddy Riley. “There was a snobbery around rap,” recalls Joyce Irby, one of the more experienced artists on the scene. In the early 80s she released her own rap track, A Wild and Crazzy Song, and joined pop-R&B group Klymaxx before becoming a solo artist on Motown Records. “But Teddy’s stuff was so musical. He really could incorporate and blend hip-hop with traditional R&B so that there were elements the old-school musicians could respect. His stuff was exquisitely done.”

Riley is the unquestionably the godfather of new jack swing: he was the force behind boybands Guy and Blackstreet, and produced early scene hits by Bobby Brown and the Get Fresh Crew. “At the time, nobody was coming with the authentic, eclectic, offbeat fusion styles,” he said in 1987. “We gave R&B a new lifeline.”

However, while Riley’s contributions to the genre have long been celebrated, along with producers such as Full Force, LA Reid, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Babyface and Bernard Belle, Stanley wanted to showcase the women from the era. “These groups were definitely treated as second class by the record companies and producers because they were women,” he says. “But they really laid the groundwork for a lot of the female R&B acts of the late 90s and early 00s and productions by the likes of Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Rodney Jerkins – basically, some of the most incredibly extreme music to become commercially successful in history.”

New jack swing was also known as swingbeat and on Irby’s track on the compilation, She’s Not My Lover, you can hear why. “I loved big band swing,” she says. “You can hear the influence in the horn lines on that song.” She worked as a co-writer and co-producer with another scene mainstay, Dallas Austin, and cites Motownphilly by Boyz II Men, “a track that he cut and then I edited. I was like: ‘You’ve got to put the real swing in from back in the day and merge that.’”

As the industry latched on, a lot of the women featured on Stanley’s compilation were spotted and signed up while they were young. Crutchfield, who was in high school and dancing on the TV show Soul Train, was signing a deal to Motown by the time of her 18th birthday. Francis was in a Broadway show at 16, then signed and in Ex Girlfriend by 18. Irby was spotted years earlier, aged 16, by George Clinton, while hanging around on the loading bay outside gigs, playing her bass guitar. However, while Clinton was supportive and nurturing, many of the others faced much more difficult situations.

“The whole industry is very toxic,” says Kemp. She was signed to Giant, a label run by Irving Azoff, who was best known for managing the Eagles. “He had wanted it to be a rock label but he hadn’t had any hits,” she recalls. “They didn’t really sign me to be an artist because he didn’t care about this type of music. He just needed a hit.” (When contacted via his publicist, Azoff did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)

Her 1991 debut single, Hold You Tight, duly reached No 3 and was certified gold, but she faced hapless label ideas as they tried to rebrand her. “Their vision was for me to be wearing a black lace teddy carrying an Uzi and acting like a Black girl from the ghetto,” she says. “As someone who came up legitimately in R&B music, I was never about pretending to be something I’m not. It was really cringeworthy and horrible. When I heard that, I was like: ‘I’m out of here. This is not gonna fly.’”

Meanwhile, despite Motown’s girl group pedigree, the label were struggling with the Good Girls. “I don’t think they knew what to do with us,” says Crutchfield. “We weren’t appreciated as artists; we could have done so much more.” The group split in 1993.

Francis says Ex Girlfriend “were four young women from the ghetto who were taken full advantage of. If you look at any group on that compilation album and you go: ‘Hey, what happened to that person? Where are they?’ Most likely, they signed the most horrific record contract. Which is what we did. We didn’t have anybody that cared enough about us to say: ‘Wait for a lawyer.’” (Warner Music could not make anyone available for comment.)

However, despite the bruises from their experiences – Kemp alleges she ended up blacklisted from the industry, couldn’t get a deal, and was “literally not allowed to play” because of egotistical interference from her label after she negotiated an exit from it – there’s a huge pride in the music they presciently created. “We need those phenomenal songs from these talented women out there,” says Francis. “In many ways this is very bittersweet for me but to have our fingerprints on that new jack swing era and be pioneers of that – come on, it’s just epic. There has been a lot of hurt and healing to go through but no matter what you experience in life, no matter how many people come along and take advantage, that music still lives on. Art always wins”.

It is a shame that there has not been more discussion about New Jill Swing. Of course, this new curated compilation celebrates the music. Whilst we know of New Jack Swing and the best of that genre, maybe not as much focus is on the women of New Jill Swing. I wonder whether a modern-day revival and evolution could occur. I can hear the influence of New Jill Swing in modern artists, though it is not as prevalent and defined as it was in the 1980s and 1990s. It would be great to see a wave of new groups emerging that revive the brilliance and phenomenal sound of New Jill Swing. Whether keeping pure to the roots or adding in something fresh to give it a twist, there is that room for a revival. Both honouring the women who came before and carrying on the legacy. As brilliant as the music was that came from New Jill Swing, there are these stories of exploitation. More prevalent than many people are aware of. Quite a big problem for many. Such a discredit to these women. So many of these amazing acts that could have gone a long way only enjoyed brief careers. The women who were trailblazers and laid foundations for women of Pop and R&B that followed. Their stories need to be told. It would be good if there was a documentary or book where we could hear from many of the artists from New Jill Swing and their experiences. At the end, maybe a real celebration of how influential and important New Jill Swing was. The new compilation from Bob Stanley showcases a wealth of talent. Phenomenal cuts from queens of New Jill Swing. It is an album I would recommend…

EVERYONE picks up.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Metacritic’s Highest-Rated Albums of the Year So Far

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé

Metacritic’s Highest-Rated Albums of the Year So Far

_________

I have touched on this before…

IN THIS PHOTO: Fontaines D.C.

but I want to return to the best albums of the year so far. I will run a feature in the next month or two regarding the best albums of this year. There is still competition. Before then, I am taking from Metacritic and the albums they deemed to be the most acclaimed of the year. A site that collates and averages critics reviews to determine which are the highest-rated. In this twenty-song mixtape, we will hear songs from those albums that have won rave reviews more or less across the board. Including tracks from Charli XCX (twice), Laura Marling and English Teacher, this is a playlist of sheer excellence. It may also guide you to albums that you have not heard before. We still might get some potential year-best albums between now and the end of the year – though most of the best have been released. This is a gold standard mixtape with cuts from the…

MOST acclaimed albums of 2024.

FEATURE: Don't Let the Mystery Go, Now: Kate Bush’s December Will Be Magic Again at Forty-Four

FEATURE:

 

Don't Let the Mystery Go, Now

Kate Bush’s December Will Be Magic Again at Forty-Four

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THE Christmas song is something…

that a lot of artists tackle. With mixed results. In the case of Kate Bush, she released two. The lesser-known one is Home for Christmas. It originally appeared in the BBC’s The Comic Strip Presents… film, Wild Turkey, screened on 24th December, 1992. A bit of a lost gem, Home For Christmas was released as the B-side to the U.K .single, Moments of Pleasure, and as the B-side to the U.S. single, Rubberband Girl. It is a bit niche I guess. Christmas songs can only really be played at a particular time of year, so fewer people hear them and they can be buried amidst the classics. The second (and first-released) Christmas song, and best-known is December Will Be Magic Again. It was released as a single on 17th November, 1980. I want to write about it as it gets a lot of stick:

“Critical response

Released in November, critics in the UK were quick to reach their verdict in the various music papers.

Looks like we’ll have to endure that fairy Kate Bush… over the cash-register season… Kate is “cute”… and no doubt you’ll be force fed, as you will with turkey.

Andy Gill, NME, 29 November 1980

Sounding like she’s just been rutted from the rear with a particularly rampant reindeer, Kate reminds us of the joys of the season at considerable length and expense. Lush, sentimental, extravagantly produced… destined to become a Christmas irritation; and airwave itch you won’t be able to scratch.

Allan Jones, Melody Maker, 6 December 1980”.

There is something about a Christmas song that is very subjective. Judged on different merits and metrics compared to an ordinary song. Compared against a narrow number of songs rather than anything else. If December Will Be Magic Again was wintery or something that was about the season or month and not Christmas, it would not have been seen as lesser or judged as harshly as it was by some. I think it is a great song and one that is always heartwarming to hear this time of the year. As we are in November, it is only a matter of time before this song is on the airwaves!

It is a shame that there is no music video for this single. I sort of thought Bush might put an animation to it recently. A song I think she likes, it would be great to have a new video for it. However, the track was premiered during the Christmas Snowtime Special in December 1979, though it was not a single release until 17th November, 1980. It was the follow-up single to Army Dreamers. Quite a musical shift! Though it only reached twenty-nine in the U.K., it has taken on a life of its own since 1980. Now more regarded and played more, I would rank December Will Be Magic Again alongside the best Christmas tracks. The Christmas imagery and classic visions are present right from the off: “December will be magic again/Take a husky to the ice/While Bing Crosby sings White Christmas. He makes you feel nice/December will be magic again/Old Saint Nicholas up the chimney/Just a-popping up in my memory”. I will mention December Will Be Magic Again when I talk about her Christmas special, Kate, that was broadcast on 28th December, 1979. Rare that the Christmas single was officially released so long after it was performed on T.V. There is not much written about a wonderful jewel that is sprinkled with snow and lovers. The imagery Bush weaves through the song. How her voice dances and glistens through the track! I want to highlight part of this Dreams of Orgonon feature about December Will Be Magic Again:

“With “December Will Be Magic Again,” we’re in considerably less serious territory. A one-off Christmas single with no attachment to an album, it dallies in its own winter wonderland, cordoning itself off from Kate Bush’s more serious contemporary work. When pop singers do Christmas songs, they’re usually partaking in a tradition of cheerful odes to Yuletide (with some notable exceptions). “December Will Be Magic Again” is one of these songs, abdicating its status as a contemporary of Never for Ever in favor of filling the Christmas single slot. Yet Bush couldn’t settle for even her Christmas fluff being drab traditionalism, and fucked around with it a bit.

You see, a lot of Christmas standards hail from the 70s and 80s and are created by artists such as Paul McCartney and Wham! These songs are often little more than lists of Christmas activities and odes to sitting around trees with your family. It’s a saccharine tradition that buys into capitalist notions of Christmas and giving corporations lots of money. To be sure, Christmas activities are often fun — no form of leisure is free of capitalist maleficence. But at its core, modern Christmas is as much a commercial enterprise as it is a global family tradition.

Bush doesn’t completely break from this pattern, as “December” is straightforwardly nostalgic. From the longing for the past implied by its title to its dwelling on childhood images, the song spends it runtime on a reconstruction of Christmas childhood memories. Bush settles into the falsetto end of her vocal range, singing lots of high notes with a wonder usually only prepubescents can manage. Bush has exactly the sort of voice which makes lyrics like “take a husky to the ice/while Bing Crosby sings “White Christmas”/he makes you feel nice” sound cutely intuitive in a way we’re not prone to seeing in things like “Wonderful Christmastime.”

Yet for its exercise in nostalgia, it separates itself from the mainstream of Christmas music by being a little too eccentric to be quite marketable (the song did pretty well in the charts, but was far from one of Bush’s bestselling singles). Bush’s own East Wickham childhood makes its way into the song. She has a refreshing tendency to lean on her own interests in her songwriting, which liberates “December” from feeling too commercial. There are the obvious references to staples of Christmastime like “old Saint Nicholas) (who is grossly maligned by the entire UK as “Father Christmas”) and romantic traditions (“kiss under mistletoe”), but they’re balanced by images of Oscar Wilde showing up: “light the candle lights/to conjure Mr. Wilde/ooh, it’s quiet inside/here in Oscar’s mind.” The reference is clunky, with two uses of “light” in a single clause accompanied by some strange stuff about dwelling in Wilde’s head (“it’s quiet in here/inside Oscar’s mind”). Yet it’s an oddly poignant choice of creative minds to dive into: Wilde’s idiosyncratic wit often responded to darkness in his personal life. As a queer man in Victorian England, Wilde’s status as popular author was diminished by his demotion to subhumanity for his sexual orientation. In some ways, true recognition for him came later when millions of people read his work and celebrated him as both a great creator of the fantastical and a queer icon, including a little The Happy Prince fan called Catherine Bush

Recorded at London AIR Studios in 1979. Performed on 22 December for BBC Snowtime Special and 28 December for “Kate” special. Single version recorded in November 1980. Released as a single on 17 November 1980”.

I do like how Bush decided to record this Christmas song. Many artists avoid it because they don’t like to or feel it is perhaps a waste of time. If it is not tied to an album and there is no real benefit in scoring a high chart position for a Christmas song then they sit it out. I love the T.V. performances of the song but don’t think they quite do the song justice. I have written about December Will Be Magic Again a few times now and I always sort of have to defend it as people take against it. Again, it is that thing about Christmas songs only compared to other Christmas songs. It is hard to measure up to Mariah Carey or Wham! However, December Will Be Magic Again is a lost Kate Bush treasure! An overlooked song that is given a heavier pounding because it is competing with other Christmas songs. I love her writing. It is simple yet distinctively her: “Oh, I’m coming to cover the lovers/Ooh, and I’m coming to sparkle the dark up/Ooh, and I’m coming to cover the muck up”. I have seen December Will Be Magic Again included in listings of her best songs, though it is quite rare. I hope that this year is one where the song is given no light and appreciation. It would be good maybe to see a fan-made animation for the song. A young Kate Bush maybe watching over a town being blanketed in snow as we see inside houses as Christmas Eve unfolds. In 2023, Prog included December Will Be Magic Again in their top forty Kate Bush songs feature:

“This seasonal tune made its debut in December 1979 when Bush performed it on Kate, the BBC’s Kate Bush Christmas special.

That Joe Payne: “Like much of Kate’s stuff from that era, it’s a real fusion of classical and contemporary and I just adore the lyrics [to this single]: ‘Jumping down in my parachute; the white city, she is so beautiful/Upon the black-soot icicled roofs, see how I fall, like the snow…’

“Wow, what imagery! She was already a huge influence on me way before hearing this song, but I have to say that it’s the theatrical sensibilities that always draw me in. She sets a great example to anyone who wonders where the line is between art and entertainment and reminds me that there’s nothing wrong with aspiring to both”.

The Guardian placed December Will Be Magic Again twenty-fifth in their ranking of every Kate Bush single. There are twenty-nine to choose from. However, as they placed The Man I Love at twenty-six and called it “very nice, but inessential”, you can’t really trust anything they say! Insanity on their part! I still hold a soft spot for December Will Be Magic Again. So do many fans. When we hear the song played, we know we are getting near Christmas. I think it is one of the first tracks played, as its title does not mention Christmas, so we can’t get away with it! The Guardian wrote how 2011’s 50 Words for Snow – not a Christmas album but winter-themed – was stronger and had potential Christmas singles. They wrote “…but her first attempt at a Christmas single 31 years earlier fell oddly flat, never quite sounding as magical as its title suggests”. I would argue that the twinkling and brilliant December Will Be Magic Again possesses…

PLENTY of magic.

FEATURE: Strings, Please: The Crossover Between the Mainstream and Classical

FEATURE:

 

 

Strings, Please

The Crossover Between the Mainstream and Classical

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THEY still seem like different worlds…

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 17th October, 2024/PHOTO CREDIT: Lloyd Wakefield

I am referring to genres like Pop and Rock and Classical. Maybe it is quite hard to mesh and combine the two naturally. I do think that there has always been a relationship between these worlds. Classical music is still seen as quite niche and specialist. We have a wave of incredible young composers and fantastic players that are making the genre fresh and contemporary. That perception the genre is dusty and elitist. Once seen as a novelty, the meeting of musical worlds like Electronic and Dance together with strings and the Classical is becoming more common. D.J. sets or classic albums being scored by orchestras. Pete Tong, Jules Buckley and The Heritage Orchestra performed Ibiza Classics a few years ago. They performed a big show at the O2. The Ibiza Proms is an intriguing mash-up that is actually quite natural rather than awkward. More and more, Classical music and orchestration is being paired and integrated with a range of different sounds. It always heightens them and adds something classy and dramatic. That may sound stereotypical or lazy. Going back to the elitist tag. However, it is true that strings, brass and woodwind offers a magic and emotional resonance that is hard to deny. I am writing this feature because there have been recent examples of popular contemporary artists with huge followings being backed by orchestras. Dua Lipa recently performed with the Heritage Orchestra. In a one-off (debut) show at the Royal Albert Hall, this was a Pop artist defined by energy, bombast and these huge anthems reimagined. The beautiful melding of the orchestra and Lipa. Rolling Stone provided their take:

“The last time Dua Lipa played in the UK, it was to headline Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, and her next performances in her home country will be two sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium next June. Sandwiched in between these two career-defining moments is tonight’s show at the Royal Albert Hall, which is being filmed for a TV special and sees her joined by a full orchestra, promising a transformation of her discography.

The entire pit of the venue is turned into one huge stage, with a snaking walkway cutting between a 53-person Heritage Orchestra, 14-person choir and Lipa’s seven-person band. In between songs, Lipa tells the audience how new album Radical Optimism was about searching for something tangible, and how the idea of this special show allowed her to “go into the bare bones” of her songs and reimagine them.

IN THIS PHOTO: Elton John joins Dua Lipa on stage at the Royal Albert Hall/PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Gibson

The idea is an interesting one, but in reality not much changes here from her studio material, and it’s probably for the better. Hers are some of the best pop songs of the decade so far, and to radically transform their shape and structure could serve to dilute their power. Instead, the sweeping string section and stirring horns add a new layer of paint while not being transformative. It adds an extra dramatic heft to Radical Optimism highlights ‘Houdini’ and ‘Training Season’, while the brilliant groove that drives both tracks is still firmly in tact.

The idea of an orchestral reimagining of an artist’s catalogue – especially one as fun and danceable as Lipa’s – can end up feeling like code for making it a little more boring, but it’s the changes of energy and tone that make the show succeed. There are beautifully tender moments when she covers Cleo Sol’s ‘Sunshine’ and sings at the piano for a devastating rendition of ‘Anything For Love’, but moments later she’s thrashing about on top of that very piano during a raucous performance of breakout hit ‘Be the One’.

For the encore, it’s truly heartwarming when the troupe of singers part like the red sea to reveal a beaming Elton John, who reveals a genuine chemistry with Lipa as the pair tear through a jubilant version of ‘Cold Heart’. The gap between this show and her soon-to-be-stadium tour is then cut by the introduction of her dancers, who add a much-needed dynamism to a live debut of Barbie track ‘Dance the Night’ and the closing ‘Don’t Start Now’.

This was a show that hinted at revolution for Lipa’s catalogue, and though it stops short of delivering that, it doesn’t diminish the power of these potent pop songs and confirms her as a true entertainer”.

Offering a new dynamic to her music, I don’t think it should be treated as a novelty. It is not the first occasion of a massive Pop artist taking things down and being accompanied by an orchestra. It does open the door for future possibilities. Artists such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé would sound wonderful with orchestral support! The way we think about particular songs and albums. An Evening with Dua Lipa will air on ITV later this year. Recently, Florence + The Machine performed their phenomenal debut album, Lungs, in a dramatic reimagining for the BBC Proms. It is available on iPlayer to watch now:

“Huge hits Dog Days Are Over and You've Got the Love feature in this dramatic reimagining of the international star’s groundbreaking first album. Fans flocked from all over the world to this unique concert titled Symphony of Lungs, celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Florence + The Machine's Brit award-winning debut.

Captivating everyone in her path, Florence teams up with conductor and arranger Jules Buckley, the London Contemporary Voices choir and an 80-plus-piece orchestra complete with lute, flute and harpsichord to create a remarkable new soundscape in her only concert of the year”.

It seems like more and more artists will be reframing and remoulding their albums by pairing with orchestras. The fact that Dua Lipa and Florence + The Machine garnered such huge reviews shows that there is this alchemy that should be mined more. I am excited to see how that notion evolves. This is what The Guardian wrote when reviewing Florence + The Machine: Symphony of Lungs:

“Will it surprise you to learn that Florence Welch’s orchestra features not one, but two harps? That there is a lute and a rainstick, and a violin solo so furious that it feels like a devil is being conjured? As the grand high witch of maximalism, the Proms is the ideal way for Welch to revisit the pained howl of Lungs, her 2009 debut album that wears its heartbreak like a scar. “When I first heard Jules’s orchestration, I cried,” she tells the audience in her whisper-soft speaking voice. “This album is about feeling and I never thought anyone could add more feeling. But Jules did.”

She walks out in a red Rodarte gown that is 90% sleeve, evoking the bruised and bloody heart of 15 years ago. Each of Jules Buckley’s orchestral reworkings teases something new from the occasionally patchy collection of songs. Girl With One Eye becomes a campy musical theatre number as Welch vamps around the stage and the bassoon channels You’re a Mean One Mr Grinch; the fluttering woodland flutes heighten the emotional warfare of My Boy Builds Coffins; the tidal wave of feeling crashing around during Rabbit Heart ratchets the crowd to their feet.

And anchoring it all is that voice, wide-mouthed and guttural but not gravelly, dredging up long-buried emotions and recasting them with tenderness and a kind of joy. Welch claims that her range has shrunk in the intervening years but you can rarely tell; the huge notes hit like a cannon firing, her head voice peaking with all the softness of a flurry of snow.

“Everything’s a big crescendo,” she said of her songwriting in 2011 – and so it is here, heightened by the power of tens of musicians. The breaking waves engulf the audience every time: by the time we reach Dog Days Are Over (with an operatic verse chucked in, because why not), the atmosphere hits a kind of ecstasy that you rarely get to feel without chemical intervention. Spirits are channelled and danced with, as Buckley and Welch give an unforgettable performance”.

I don’t think it is an easy go-to for artists to perform with orchestras to give their albums this new sense of grandeur and brilliance. It is a way of helping break down barriers. I still think we undervalue orchestra and Classic music. How many wonderful conductors there are coming through. There is still a long way to go. There is still sexism and misogyny in this world. Very little diversity, especially when it comes to conductors. However, things are improving. I think that one cannot fault the quality and psychological, emotional impact orchestras have. Dua Lipa and Florence + The Machine are a couple of examples of what happens when mainstream artists collaborate with orchestras. It is not a new thing, as I say, but it is getting more attention. I do hope that we see more artists reimagine their work. Maybe Kylie Minogue. Anyway. It is exciting and fascinating how we perceive and consider certain albums when they are stripped back and rebuilt. It is a celebrated artist and an orchestra working together…

IN perfect harmony.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Becky Sikasa

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Becky Sikasa

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THERE are not many interviews…

out there with Becky Sikasa. That is a shame, as she is a major talent that people need to know about. I will come to an interview with her from last year. In terms of biography on her Bandcamp page, you do get a sense of why this incredible artist has been turning heads: “From the very start soul artist Becky Sikasa captivated tastemakers and music lovers in UK and Germany. Working with award-winning producers and directors, Becky shapes her artistic vision, and is on her way to becoming one of the new voices of UK-Neo-Soul”. She pays The Lexington in London on 28th November. I am tempted to go and see her play as her music is phenomenal. Recently nominated for a second time running for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) for The Writings and the Pictures and the Song. Sikasa was nominated last year for Twelve Wooden Boxes. Even though  rEDOLENT won for Dinny Greet, the fact she has been nominated two years running proves what a consistent and important talent she is. I want to pull together the various bits of reviews and interviews there are. I want to start with this feature from CLASH. Last year, they highlighted seven acts who were playing at the Wide Days showcase in Edinburgh:

“Playing the smallest Wide Days venue, the authenticity of Sneaky Pete’s makes for an off-kilter match to Becky Sikasa’s set. The intimacy greatly showcases her emotive soul pop. Playing on the Friday, the space is packed to bursting point, most punters have clearly planned to watch this set. Laying her soul bare, or at least that’s how it seems, the Glasgow based singer ensures an arresting performance. The proficiency of Becky Sikasa’s voice is impossible to shake off”.

You can hear her long-E.P. on Bandcamp and also Spotify. I think it is a wonderful work. I will end with a review of that work from April. With a new single, I have no words, out and getting a lot of positive reaction, this is a perfect time to discover Becky Sikasa. I will hop back and forth regarding timeline and chronology. I want to come to Record Jet and their feature from February, where they named Becky Sikasa their artist of that month. Since then, she has had quite a big and important year:

“Between neo soul and indie pop

February is going to be a musical one: our Artist of the Month is Beck Sikasa, singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. And boy, is there a lot of music with Becky! Vocals, keyboard, guitar, violin – it seems that Becky owns it all and makes it all her own. That’s why she is considered an up-and-coming star in the world of neo soul. But Becky can do more than just neo soul. She is constantly growing her international fanbase with her colourful genre cocktail of neo soul, a pinch of RnB and indie pop. In other words, she has generated a lot of attention outside of Germany. Her lively and colourful music has a certain appeal. She considers James Blake, Sylvan Esso and Bruno Major, among others, to be her musical idols and sources of songwriting inspiration.

Next stop: Pop Academy Edinburgh

Her interest in music started  at the young age of 4, when she played the keyboard with her mother. She also took the opportunity to learn to write her own lyrics. Becky includes many of her own experiences and emotions in her music. Her lyrics talk of lovesickness and how she deals with pain. She pours all of her creativity and emotions into her music. This is perhaps also the reason why Becky Sikasa has generated well over 32,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Her next few concerts have been announced and are partly sold out.

Becky has a feel for emotions

Becky Sikasa moved away from home to Scotland, specifically Edinburgh, to Napier University. There she studied pop music and first appeared in 2016 as one half of the German-Scottish duo “Lunir”. The band’s first appearances were in pubs, small cafes, on the radio, as a feature at 1Live, and appearances at international festivals and showcases. During the pandemic, Becky concentrated on her solo career and composing her own and new music. She eventually released her debut singles “Lullaby” and “Keeper” in 2022. Her tracks capture a light, airy mood with Becky questioning her identity, sense of belonging and connection. And as Becky’s Instagram posts demonstrate, her rehearsals are funny and spontaneous.

The new single “Crashing and Fall” was released on 19th January and along with three sold-out headline shows in three countries (England, Scotland und Germany), is really driving her rise. The latest single was picked up by BBC 1Xtra, BBC Introducing and BBC R1’s Chillest Show and the first three tracks of the EP have already been streamed more than half a million times – a fantastic achievement when you consider that they were released by Becky herself on her own label. With so many festival appearances and solo gigs coming up this year, 2024 will be a big year for Becky”.

Prior to ending with a review of her new E.P. (at six songs, it is technically that rather than an album), I want to feature an interview from last year. Interculture Youth Scotland spoke with the stunning Becky Sikasa about he progress and what she was looking ahead to. I am new to her work, though I have been looking back and seeing where she came from:

“What first got you into music and who were your early musical inspirations; anyone you listened to while growing up or were there any artists throughout your life that you heard and felt, ‘I want to make music like them!’?

For sure! Definitely too many to list them all but big childhood heroes for me were Lauryn Hill, Regina Spektor, Mariah Carey, D’Angelo, Stacie Orrico, Corinne Bailey Rae, Feist but then also Lianne La Havas, Bon Iver, Hiatus Kaiyote, Solange, KT Tunstall, Justin Timberlake, Kimbra...ha-ha! The list goes on, but I’ll stop for now.

What has been the most amazing experience for you in music and what are you most looking forward to in 2024?

Think one of my favourite moments recently has been performing my song ‘Wait Up’ live for the first time with my band at our Edinburgh headline. That feeling of something you made up in your mind coming to life like that is just unreal.

What were the most challenging things you encountered at the beginning of your career and what would you count as the important breaks?

I think one of the most challenging things when you first start a project is trusting that your art is already enough even though no one’s heard it yet and it doesn’t yet have any outside stamps of approval that you may be looking for to sort of make it a ‘real thing’.

Can you describe how you compose your songs, and explain a bit about your process?

There isn’t really one way but usually the first bit, the first line, the first phrase, the first melody just sorta jumps out at me randomly. Might be in the middle of the night, actually quite frequently is in the middle of the night ha-ha! (my poor neighbours). I don’t usually have an idea to write about a topic and then go at it, it’s more of a fluid process, not that much planning or structure to it. Once the bones of the track are clear, I usually take it to David Scobie whose part of my band and has been a close creative partner for the longest time and we just experiment and have fun with production and arrangement until it feels right. Those long-term creative relationships are so important to me. That level of communication and understanding doesn’t just happen overnight”

Who would you most like to collaborate with?

I’ve actually already started working on some collabs with a couple of incredible artists! I feel like I can’t give it away just yet but am truly buzzing...keep your eyes peeled for that in 2024!

You’re playing First Footin’ on New Year’s Day in Edinburgh with other acts like Bemz and Grace &The Flat Boys, what’s your New Year resolutions or goals for 2024?

Ooh I never really do New Year’s resolutions but to be honest I’m super lucky to call my band and my visual and creative team my best pals and we’ve sort of just been having the best time working away together. So ,I kinda just hope we get to do even more of it next year?!

Buzzing to start the year off with a wee solo gig as part of this amazing line up! Hopefully get some people excited to come along to my Celtic Connections show which will be my biggest headline yet, at St Luke’s.

Your music speaks such truth and comes from a place that allows people to feel okay with vulnerability, tell us about your EP ‘Twelve Wooden Boxes’, and how your tour has been so far?

That EP is probably always going to hold a special place in my heart; not just because it’s my debut but also because of what it’s about. Twelve Wooden Boxes is the house I grew up in as a kid. One of my earliest and most vivid memories is picking dozens of flowers in in the big meadow behind the house, my mum tying them into cute arrangements, and me and my siblings sitting on these tiny plastic chairs, selling them to people passing by. We were so proud of our wee business! There was something magical about that home and it burnt down a few years later. Twelve Wooden Boxes is about feeling a bit lost in the world, searching for belonging and identity, the first earth shattering heart break, and ultimately, love.

What would you tell young people who are building towards songwriting, and what advice would you give to them on finding their identity as an artist?

Don’t feel disheartened too easily, keep at it.

Don’t be afraid to ask other artists you like for help, maybe co-write with friends.

And most importantly try not to take it and yourself too seriously and remember to enjoy yourself in the process”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Becky Sikasa (@beckysikasa)

To round things off, there is this review for The Writings and the Pictures and the Song. It is a wonderful E.P. that I would urge people to check out. I think that it is Becky Sikasa’s best collection to date. She is going to keep on growing and become this massive artist. Someone that should definitely be on your radar:

“Scotland’s rising R&B and neo-soul star Becky Sikasa released her EP ‘The Writings And The Pictures And The Song’. This is her second EP after her 2022 debut ‘Twelve Wooden Boxes’, for which she received a nomination for the Scottish Album of the Year award.

‘Twelve Wooden Boxes’ was praised for Sikasa’s soaring vocal range as she searched for belonging, identity and love. ‘The Writings And The Pictures And The Song’ shows Sikasa’s disillusion with unbelieving ideas about love following her first heartbreak.

The new EP features singles ‘Hard To Love,’ Wait Up,’ Work Of Love,’ and ‘Crashing And Falling’. Sikasa wears her heart on her sleeve in ‘The Writings And The Pictures And The Song’, as her angelic vocals interweave in the unworldly production. She opens up to her listeners through her unguarded lyrics, from feeling hard to love to her anxiety about making mistakes.

The EP opens with her 2023 single ‘Hard To Love’. Relating to her experience with ADHD, Sikasa states on her social media that a lot of qualities associated with ADHD are often categorised as annoying and disruptive, leaving a tear in her self-esteem. Backed by soft piano chords, Sikasa’s heavenly voice and pure songwriting convey her vulnerability from start to finish as she translates the thoughts in her head into this single. ‘Wait Up’ is the second track of the new EP. This resounding single featuring Sikasa’s soulful vocals reminds her listeners they still have time, as everything will come together at the right moment.

‘Nothing To It’ is the third track in the EP about escaping the cyclical nature of life and making the same choice. Sikasa fears losing herself and voices that making the same choices feels like watching herself from the outside, walking into a trap. With the support from her celestial vocals and the delicate arrangement of the piano chords, Sikasa wonders whether learning is ever linear. ‘Nothing To It’ reveals that Sikasa is still a work in progress, as she constantly enters the same cycle of making the same choices and learning from them.

‘Work of Love’ ties the EP together, as ‘The Writing And The Pictures And The Song’ is a line from the widely praised 2023 single. Sikasa enunciates with her supernal vocals and her pure lyricism that the work of love is not for the weak and is not an easy process. The song stemmed from Sikasa’s first heartbreak, a heartbreak that was not only broken from the love but love in general. Sikasa opens a new path from this feeling towards a new perspective with the backing of heartfelt music arrangements.

‘Of Lightness And Nicotine’ is the penultimate track in the EP of her finding the balance between ‘lightness’ and ‘nicotine’ through her unearthly vocals and intangible production. The EP closes with ‘Crashing and Falling,’ Sikasa’s heart-rending single about her fear of making mistakes and “doing things wrong.” Sikasa embraces love and tenderness to pull her out of her fear, as her seraphic harmonies intertwined with the vivid music arrangements support the beautiful message that love can rescue you from your fears.

Through unlearning ideas and embracing love, Sikasa is a work in progress. Siksasa demonstrates her work of progress by moving through her fears instead of living in them and finding new perspectives of love whilst also exhibiting that love itself, from loving others to loving yourself, is also a work in progress. Most known for writing emotive songs about belonging, identity and connection from scenes from life, art and literature, she dived deep within herself and her experiences to compose grounded lyrics harmonised with her empyrean vocals and backed by the dainty composition. She invites her listeners to experience her process and inner thoughts whilst reminding them that they are also a work in progress.

Following the release of the EP, Sikasa received a nomination from BBC Introducing for Scottish Act of the Year. She also announced a tour in Scotland, due to begin in Autumn. With this soulful EP, her gift of lyricism and heavenly, warm vocals, Becky Sikasa is the next effulgent star of neo-soul and R&B”.

If you are looking around for a new artist or someone for next year that is worth watching then I would suggest that you connect with Becky Sikasa. This incredible artist is also helping to shine a light on Scottish music and its importance. It often gets overlooked in favour of artists coming out of London. The award-nominated and hugely tipped artist is someone to watch closely as I feel her career will…

TAKE her far and wide.

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Follow Becky Sikasa

Official:

https://beckysikasa.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/beckysikasa/

Bandcamp:

https://beckysikasa.bandcamp.com/music

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@beckysikasa

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3UqXMAMPI53itEWm6SMaBZ

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/beckysikasa

FEATURE: In One in Seven British Households… The Beautiful South’s Carry on Up the Charts at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

In One in Seven British Households…

The Beautiful South’s Carry on Up the Charts at Thirty

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IT is claimed that…

The Beautiful South’s Carry on Up the Charts is in one in seven British households. So popular is their greatest hits collection, you can find it in so many homes around the country! Released on 7th November, 1994, I wanted to mark thirty years of one of the all-time best greatest hits collections. The band - Paul Heaton – vocals, Dave Hemingway – vocals, Jacqui Abbott – vocals, Dave Rotheray – guitar, Sean Welch – bass and Dave Stead – drums – released their fourth studio album, Miaow, earlier in 1994. Whilst not their best-received, it did contain great songs like Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud). It was no surprise that Carry on Up the Charts did so well. Think about the songs on it. From their debut single, Song for Whoever to A Little Time, there are recognisable and instantly warming songs. The songwriting brilliance of Paul Heaton and Dave Rotherray. It is amazing that  this album really exploded. It was a major commercial success, reaching number one in the U.K. Albums Chart and going on to become the second-biggest-selling album of 1994. In a year where so many genius albums were released, The Beautiful South were up there with the very best. I think that many assumed a greatest hits collection would not be a success. Their 1989 debut album, Welcome to the Beautiful South, was a success. By the time Miaow arrived, the band’s stock was slightly waning. The chart positions were lower by then. It took many by surprise that a greatest hits album did so well. Listen to it now and it is not such a shock. So many classics and instantly recognisable tracks. Such exceptional songwriting. I must admit I don’t love every song on Carry on Up the Charts. I have always felt uncomfortable with 36D. It is a song that you could not get away with now. Judging Page 3 models and those that were perceived to be all about their bodies and looks and were shallow women, it does come off as really sexist and misogynistic. I guess Paul Heaton would not write a song like that now and has moved on, though The Beautiful South were reacting to the tabloidisation of the media and the sort of glamour models that appeared in newspapers like The Sun.

It is an uncomfortable song and one that contributed to former vocalist Briana Corrigan leaving the band – objecting to the way women were perceived in some of the band’s songs. Regardless, it is the only black mark on otherwise stunning album. This is what Sputnikmusic said in their review of Carry on Up the Charts:

“Released 1994.
Go! Discs Records.
Paul Heaton - Vocals
David Hemmingway - Vocals, Drums
David Rotheray - Guitars
Sean Welch - Bass
David Stead - Drums
Jacqueline Abbott - Vocals
Briana Corrigan - Vocals
Damon Butcher - Keys

If you live in the US, you will likely have no idea who The Beautiful South are. If you live in the UK, there is a 1 in 4 chance that this album is in your house somewhere. Such is life.
The Beautiful South were formed from the ashes of The Housemartins in 1989. Paul Heaton and David Hemmingway decided, in the wake of the break-up of their previous group, to form a new group almost immediately, choosing their new name as a sarcastic riposte to the reputation of the housemartins as boring, downbeat Northerners (the same reputation that had blighted their most clear influence, The Smiths). The assembled a line-up and released their first single within a year.
This compilation was released in 1994, following four full-lengths. Although they'd always been a successful group (A Little Time was a #1 single), the success of this album was a total shock. It became the 3rd fastest selling album ever in this country, and stayed at #1 in the charts for months, eventually going 7 times platinum. Approximate estimates place it as the 50th biggest selling album ever in the UK.

Song For Whoever

Originally on Welcome To The Beautiful South. 5/5

Their first ever hit, and easily one of their best songs. You know how every other rock star has written a song about being a rock star? Well, this is the best song ever written about being a rock star, ever. It's essentially a power ballad, but it perverts the form and exposes its cynical, hollow underbelly. 'Oh Shirley, oh Deborah, oh Julie, oh Jane....I wrote so many songs about you, I forgot your name.' And the wake of that lyric, every cynical attempt to dedicate a song to a vague 'lost love' falls flat. Heaton then goes one step further, painting himself as an abusive womanizer always in search of the subject for his next hit. 'Deep, so deep, the number 1 I hope to reap, depends on the tears you weep, so cry, lover cry.....'

You Keep It All In

Originally on Welcome To The Beautiful South. 5/5

This time, a duet between Heaton and Corrigan, with a few vocals from Hemmingway, too. This is the first clear showcase of Heaton's not-so-secret weapon - welding dark, cynical lyrics to upbeat, melodic, easygoing pop (here, replete with fingersnaps). After Corrigan accuses Heaton of keeping it all in, he responds 'That's right. The conversation we had last night? All I wanted was to knife you in the heart....' The lyrics later hint at a teenage girl forced to keep quiet as her father abuses her mother - revealing the song as treatize on the British stiff upper lip. Which, of course, amkes the irony of the upbeat melody cut even deeper. Americans may not understand the power of this song. I think it's a fucking masterpiece.

I'll Sail This Ship Alone

Originally on Welcome To The Beautiful South. 4.5/5

A beautiful piano intro leads into another finger-snapping rhythm with a stunning melody. Tenacious D fans may recognize the story here - 'Well they said if I wrote the perfect love song, you would take me back. Well I wrote it, but I lost it....' Later in the song, Heaton soars into an unabashed falsetoo over pizicatto strings, and the ghost of Morrissey bleeds through the track. Brilliant stuff.

A Little Time

Originally on Choke. 5/5

Man, this was MASSIVE when I was just getting into music. It's one of my earliest - and fondest - musical memories. Generally piano-led, but with a full brass section and pan pipes too (!!), it features one of the many Beautiful South bitter duets. Here, Heaton asks for a little time, space, and freedom, only to be shot down by Corrigan. 'The freedom that you wanted back? it's yours for good....I hope your glad.' Her sections use the anti-chorus technique, famously used by Radiohead on Fake Plastic Trees - instead of everything building up, it all backs off leaving the vocal to dominate the listener's attention completely. To close the song, she reprises Heaton. 'I've had a little time to think it over....I found a little courage, to call it off.' It's her best vocal performance, and it's heartbreaking.

My Book

Originally on Choke. 5/5

The most upbeat song yet. I've seen this song thrown down at weddings, and amazingly, it got EVERYONE up. Another measure of just how ingrained into the British consciousness this album is. The lyrics switch from diary entries in the verses (these lyrics are the most Morrissey-esque on the whole album, and accordingly, the funniest) to male-female vocal trade-offs in the chorus, before referencing Soul II Soul by closing with a chant of 'Back to bed, back to reality'.

Let Love Speak Up Itself

Originally on Choke. 5/5
A total change of tact from My Book, this is a slow ballad featuring only piano for the most part (a rarity for these guys). While there is the trademark cynicism here (references to funerals, meat cleavers, and 'pathetic little vodkas' are included), it's pushed onto a far grander scale here - the AMG track review quite rightly describes this as 'cinematic'. The pay-off line - 'To the world's greatest mum, from the oldest swinger in town' - is absolutely sublime, and is delivered perfectly by Heaton.

Old Red Eyes Is Back

Originally on 0898. 5/5

Their best song ever, and Heaton's best lyric. A tale of a old drunken waster looking back on his life, battling to overcome his alcohol dependancy. Every time he falls off the wagon and succumbs to drink again....well, old red eyes is back. Our protagonist palms people off weakly - 'When you look into these eyes, I hope you realize, they could never be blue.' The song builds and builds, before crashing again, and picking up for one final chorus. 'Old Red he died, and every single landlord in the district cried/An empty bottle of whiskey lying by his side...

We Are Each Other

Originally on 0898. 4/5

More guitar-led than most of their output, this deals with a couple so close that their relationship can no longer function properly. The structure of the song is brilliant (this sort of attention to detail is just one of the many things that elevate The Beautiful South far beyond the vast majority of pop bands) - observe how the chorus is split into 2 halves, effectively making 2 brilliant hooks for the price of one.

Bell Bottomed Tear

Originally on 0898. 4.5/5

Vocal duties here are handled mainly by Briana Corrigan, though Heaton does appear at points. The strengths of her voice is exploited very well here - sugary, with a slight hiccup, but always fragile and vaguely damaged. Her character here is never made explicitly clear - she's adressing a man who has got her pregnant, though whether she and the man are still together isn't made clear. Either way, he's ruined her life. Quietly devastating.

36D

Originally on 0898. 4.5/5

A distant relative of Little Baby Nothing by the Manic Street Preachers, though far more upbeat than that song. This features Heaton addressing a woman who's got by on looks and sex alone, telling her to 'Close your legs, open your mind' (and that's just the opening line!). The chorus packs a sonic punch you wouldn't expect from the band, as Heaton and Hemmingway ask '36D, so what? Is that all that you got?'

Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud)

Originally on Miaow. 4.5/5

Also known as 'Carry On Regardless', this is the track that gave its name to the album (it's also, in both instances, a reference to the Carry On movies). It also contains the lyric 'Bronze is for the sick and old' - another ironic, witty twist from Heaton when you consider that their later cash-in compilation was called Solid Bronze. Practically a showtune musically, it could quite easily have shown up in a musical. It's also possibly their most relentlessly catchy moment.

Everybody's Talkin'

Originally on Miaow. 4.5/5

Cover version time! To be totally honest, this is a pretty average version of this song. The band play it straight, although there's some strange slap bass in the second verse. But you know what? I've never heard a bad version of this tune. It's just a plain great song all the same.

Prettiest Eyes

Previously unreleased. 4.5/5

Opens with a fingerpicked acoustic guitar passage that almost threatens to take attention away from the vocal. The fact that this is a fairly simple love song is almost a disappointment after what precedes it, but it's saved by Heaton's lovely observation of love surviving throughout old age. 'Take a look at those crow's feet, sitting on the prettiest eyes.' The couple even offer up some advice to the younger generation - 'You can't have too many good times, children'.

One Last Love Song

Stand-alone single. 4/5

A continuation of Song For Whoever. This is more subtle in its cynicism towards popular music, but it shows in the second verse. 'Those bloody great ballads we hated at first? Well I bought them all, now I'm writing worse.' But this is different, because it is - hark! - a fairly straight love song. Which makes you wonder whether the quoted lyric is self-hatred, or just a backhander aimed at either his reputation or the rest of the charts. In any case, there's subversion of the pop song structure here, just as there is in Song For Whoever, even if it's not quite as effective.

Dream A Little Dream

Originally on French Kiss OST. 4/5
Only included on some reissues. Another cover, again of a simple, great pop song that surely everybody in the Western world is familiar with. Again, the band play it straight. A good song, but nobody will call this out as a highlight.

I'll be honest here - my original intention was to review the later Beautiful South hits collection, Solid Bronze. However, halfway through the track-by-track, I realised the only reason I was even listening to it was for the songs that featured on here. Thing is, when these guys are off form, they're boring and too intelligent for their own good, which comes through all too clear in the second half of Solid Bronze. Here, though, EVERY track is brilliant. I was wary of giving another compilation such a high rating so soon after reviewing Legend, but screw it. Anybody who appreciates intelligent, melodic music NEEDS the Beautiful South in their collection, and this is THE starting point.

Within The Genre - 5/5

Outside The Genre - 4.5/5”.

I am going to end with another review for this magnificent greatest hits collection. This blog dug deep with a greatest hits collection whose full title is Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South. I am surprised they did not release a second volume of it. Regardless, the 1994 album still sounds so amazing and full of treats thirty years later. Songs that instantly come back to mind and make you sing along:

“The People’s Music, as Cornelius Cardew would have recognised and condemned it. Six times platinum, and I read somewhere that one in four households owns a copy of the Beautiful South’s greatest hits, although Wikipedia indicates that it is one in seven. Given the band’s hitherto largely indifferent commercial appeal, the early big hits notwithstanding, this triumph was unexpected – the compilation was put together to combat shrinking album sales, and nobody involved in its making expected it to do much business.

Perhaps, as with Queen’s Greatest Hits, the public proved surprisingly receptive of a string of medium-sized hits which sounded really good and instantly familiar when run together. But one might prefer to think of Carry On Up The Charts as the ultimate triumph of that petrified eighties doxa, New Pop.

If the mission of New Pop was to smuggle radical ideas into the musical mainstream, then it must be argued that nobody in pop smuggled them better or more sneakily than Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, the band’s writers. They had three voices with which to work – Heaton, Dave Hemingway and Briana Corrigan (succeeded in 1994 by Jacqueline Abbott) – but this was no Fleetwood Mac; rather, it allowed Heaton and Rotheray to construct little dramas, schematic dialogues (Alan Bennett might be a pertinent reference point here, but Alan Ayckbourn would be more so) or doleful soliloquies.

The music is immaculate in construction and proved instantly attractive, possibly so much so that mothers named their daughters after the women referred to in “Song For Whoever,” and solvent types deployed their music as genteel background to dinner parties, both parties generally missing the point altogether.

The affable smoothness of the music is as much a red herring as the band’s name – sardonic, anti-Thatcherite, unavoidably Northern. For this is generally very savage stuff. They did not play at all in North America, since there is rarely the revealed subtext with which American audiences could identify when listening to, say, Randy Newman or Stephen Merritt. Sure, “Good As Gold” sounds, musically, like Ben Folds, but who in the States knew about the Carry On films or could empathise with Heaton’s hilarious growl of “re-GARD-less”?

Yet “Song For Whoever” is a coruscating demolition of allegedly sensitive songwriting males who seemingly and actively seek out women to abuse and betray purely to advance their own “art” and make them richer. Its sentiments are worthy of Crass. “I’ll Sail This Ship Alone” relies on Heaton’s warble of a Freddie Garrity voice, slowly and systematically upping the trope of lyrical options available to the deserted lover before arriving at a gruesome conclusion. The fruity flute bounce of “You Keep It All In” masks a brutal scenario of domestic violence – the daughter in her bedroom with the light on, hearing everything that’s going on downstairs, might be the girl to whom the Tracey Thorn of “Protection” sings.

“A Little Time” subverts the “gotta find myself” trope so nicely that it got to number one as a single, even though its gentle balladic sway is regularly intercepted by plutonium-filled fields of low electronic drones, all the better to soundtrack Corrigan’s angrily sardonic response to Hemingway’s platitudes.

All of these four songs get played on Radio 2 to this day, and its audiences largely remain mercifully ignorant of their underlying messages. Does this imply the final failure of any pop to “matter,” or might it be the case that music fans charmed by soppy sentiment also have a parallel taste for the sordid (how else can one possibly explicate the continuing success of EastEnders, that least beautiful of Souths?)?

The remaining songs get far less airplay today, but still mostly remain acidly familiar. “My Book” is probably the nearest that the record gets to “rock” in a 1987 Smiths or, dare I say it, Housemartins sense. “Old Red Eyes Is Back,” concerning the slow suicide of an incurable alcoholic, balanced against the subject’s own Faustian cries against the many alternative futures which had once been available to him, is one of the most final of deconstructions of the “mad for it” Loaded/Oasis leitmotif. “Bell Bottomed Tear,” detailing a one-night stand which doesn’t quite vacate itself from the minds of either protagonist (Corrigan, Hemingway), is a wonderful ballad, slightly reminiscent of mid-eighties Style Council, and rather more reminiscent of the melancholy side of Mike Batt (“Railway Hotel”), which seems to serve as the flipside, or possibly the prequel, to “A Little Time” (except there is, somewhere in this song’s diplomatic wreckage, a child, whereas “A Little Time” makes no mention of children – yet who is to say that this isn’t the same couple spoken about in “You Keep It All In”?

(are you following all of this, by the way?)

Homer Heaton nods at times, however. Corrigan was unhappy with “36D,” which seems more intent on having a go at glamour models than the men who facilitate them, and other lyrically dubious songs, hence left the band. She was replaced by Jacqueline Abbott – and the only cover version to appear here, of an American song, serves to introduce Abbott to the band’s landscape (even though she seems at times to be trolling Tracey Thorn while singing the Fred Neil standard).

Nonetheless, we do sense a distinct maturation of the band’s aesthetic palate. “Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud)” jauntily (in the Gilbert O’Sullivan style, really) chronicles what might be the young Red Eyes, not giving a damn but wanting something more, as though Ingrid Bergman would ever have remotely heard of him.

But the most remarkable song here is “Prettiest Eyes,” one of the most generous of popular songs to celebrate old people (and yes, there is a Kevin Rowland subtext here too; see “Old” on Too-Rye-Ay). Whereas the earlier “Let Love Speak Up Itself” was a typically vinegary analysis of an old couple – though does carry an extraordinary coda wherein Heaton suddenly begins crying and yelling, as though attempting to scrabble his way out of the coffin designed for him – “Prettiest Eyes” is a more grown-up study of growing old yet remaining capable of love and much else. Its coda of “But you'll never hear the crack of a frown when you are here” is quite moving, and “crack” is the key word – it is as though the violence which has bubbled up throughout the rest of the record has been defeated and resolved.

All that remains is “One Last Love Song,” the bookend to “Song For Whoever” which examines over-melismatic emotional yuppie soul types and their videos and mannerisms in the manner of an eighteenth-century sea shanty. At its end, Heaton cries, repeatedly, “Let it die.” Rebuilding the true social(ist) contract.

Oh, and that cover art? Painted by Camberwell School of Art graduate Matthew Radford, it depicts a group of blurred, indistinct citizens crossing London Bridge – and it is the old London Bridge that they are crossing. The art suggests that the South might one day become beautiful once again”.

On 7th November, Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of The Beautiful South turns thirty. I was eleven when it came out. I was a fan of the band already, but I don’t think there is a copy of the album in my family’s home. One in seven homes own it apparently. That is no overstatement. A major success for the band, they experienced mixed fortunes with their studio albums after 1994. However, like Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud), they would…

CARRY on regardless.