My daughter was listening to Chase This Light this weekend. Always Be is my favorite song of the ones I heard. Every time it came on, I said that I hadn't posted on Musiclectic lately, and I should definitely post this. By the last time or two, my older son grinned at me at the sound of the opening chords.
The music video is fun (I also enjoy its accurate portrayal of field trip reactions).
I've always wondered about the band's name, but never bothered to look it up. It doesn't refer to the name of the lead singer, Jim Adkins. Instead, as Last.fm writes:
Tom Linton’s [co-vocalist/guitarist] younger siblings, Ed
and Jimmy, fought constantly when they were younger. Jimmy, who was
stronger and heavier, would usually win. On one instance, Ed, as
revenge, drew a picture with crayons of Jimmy shoving the entire world
into his gaping mouth with the caption, “Jimmy eat world.”
I thought I was familiar with all of Elton John's hits in the 1970's so I was surprised to hear Amoreena at the opening of Dog Day Afternoon (which we recently watched, but which I was too young to watch when it came out in 1975):
Amoreena comes from his 1970 album, Tumbleweed Connection, which I need to get someday.
...Tumbleweed Connection is simpler than
John's last album and next time around I hope he goes all the way and
gets down to nothing but the basics. He is one of the few who is good
enough not to need anything else.
This summer, I've been involved in a community theater production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,* Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's pop/opera version of the Biblical story of Joseph. It's a fun musical, and a number of the songs are in varying styles: Disco (Go Go Joseph), Calypso (Benjamin Calypso), Elvis (Song of the King), French (Those Canaan Days) and country/western - One More Angel in Heaven:
This is the movie production starring Donny Osmond as Joseph, Maria Friedman as the Narrator, Robert Torti as the Pharaoh, Joan Collins as Potiphar's Wife, and Richard Attenborough as Jacob.
* I've written much more about the community theater production at my other blog, Moomin Light.
Leos Janáček's Sinfonietta is one of my favorite pieces of music. I love how expansive the brass fanfare is. The very fast theme (starting at 2:40) reminds us of crabs scuttling sideways at the beach. I also love all the different themes and how he weaves them together.
Interestingly, the only version that I liked which I could also embed was this video of a beautiful, 1980 performance by the Netherlands Dans Theatre, choreographed by Jiri Kylian. They look nothing like crabs, although the backdrop could be seen as seashore-ish. The opening fanfare is a bit faster than I'm used to hearing.
...It is dedicated 'To the Czechoslovak Armed Forces' and Janáček said it
was intended to express 'contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty
and joy, his strength, courage and determination to fight for victory.'
It started by Janáček listening to a brass band, becoming inspired to
write some fanfares of his own. When the organisers of the Sokol Gymnastic Festival approached him for a commission, he developed the material into the Sinfonietta. He later dropped the word 'military'...
...The idea of a brief fanfare quickly grew into the five-movement
Sinfonietta, his largest purely orchestral work. Each movement is
scored for a different--and unconventional--group of instruments; the
sound of Janáček's music is so idiosyncratic that for years
unsympathetic listeners thought it was simply poorly orchestrated. But
the raw, powerful, and often electrifying timbre is part of Janáček's
confident, utterly individual voice--matched by his unexpected choices
of harmonies and the daring cut of his melodies...
I love finding new music, and one of the best places is a small gift and CD store in Blowing Rock, NC, Pandora's Mailbox. The owner is quite happy to recommend music and play it for you. Many years ago, she recommended Dreams Come True, a blues album by Marcia Ball, Angela Strehli, and Lou Ann Barton. I've enjoyed it ever since.
I've heard a few different versions of this song, but I hadn't heard Joan Baez's until I was wandering around YouTube this evening. I love her voice - it's so strong and clear.
It's often thought of as an older folk song, but it was written by Irishman William McPeake who first recorded it in 1957. It's a variation of an 18th century song, The Braes of Ballquhidder, written by Robert Tannahill.
This is a live version, recorded in Japan in 1967. It originally appears on her CD, Farewell Angelina:
I had forgotten this song until I saw it mentioned at At Water's Edge. Our high school had a "radio" station, which played in the lunch rooms. The DJs enjoyed playing certain songs unusually fast, and this was one of them.
I
pretty much missed pop/rock in the 80's. I was at the NC School of the
Arts, focusing on classical music, for a few years at the beginning of
the 80's. After that, I spent most of my time getting to know folk
music and Broadway soundtracks so I rarely listened to pop radio.
I caught up eventually. Some parts took longer than others, and,
although I had heard Why Can't This Be Love on the radio, I hadn't
really paid that much attention to it until the last few years. I
recently put it on my mp3 player, and I've really enjoyed it -
particularly the guitar interlude.
All of the instrumentalists at the NC School of the Arts were required to be in the reading orchestra. It was my favorite class. Although I enjoy solos, my favorite place to play flute is in an orchestra - I love the feel of being part of something that large and beautiful, and I love the way the different parts interact. Reading orchestra also had less pressure than the regular orchestra because it didn't perform. The point of reading orchestra was to be familiar with lots of different pieces so that the musicians would be ready to work on them in their future professional lives.
For me, it was like a musical all-you-can-sample buffet.
Usually, we would only work on a piece for one class. Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, however, was so complex that the conductor decided we would work on it again the following week. Everyone needed to practice it during the week.
I had been disappointed because, although we switched off each week which flutist would play the first flute part, it wasn't my turn that week. The Classical Symphony is one of my favorite pieces.
Well, at the end of class, M, who was playing first flute, turned to me and said that she had a terribly busy week,* and could I please play first flute the next week?
!
"Yes, I think I probably can," I quietly remarked, while inside yelling, "YES!" We were in most of the same classes so I wasn't really any less busy, but I was determined to make all the time I could to work on it.
We played it the next week, and I had an absolute blast! Afterwards, M turned to me and said that it was a pretty good piece - maybe she should have tried to make the time. What could I say? I just tried to smile sympathetically.
Here's the fourth movement. We didn't play it this fast, but it was so fun!
