The Soundtrack to my Life Part Deux

Moving swiftly from Sparks' Exotic Creatures of the Deep, the latest album to have taken a complete hold of me is one titled The Kick Inside, an album by the most spectacular female artist I have ever introduced myself to... Kate Bush! I regret dedicating such a small segment of my previous post to my current favourite singer/songwriter, particularly since Wuthering Heights would actually make an appropriate follow-up in The Soundtrack to my Life. So now is the opportunity to elaborate on her excellence.

First of all, what's the song about? Well it's pretty obvious if you've read or simply heard about the book of the same name. Lyrically, the concept is entirely based on this story and isn't the best choice of song from her debut LP to analyze her affectionate choice of words. On the other hand, the bizarre chord changes, the twinkling outbursts of piano and Kate Bush's surreal vocal range makes this the stand out track on the album. What fascinates me most is the level of success the song had in 1978. As a result of this unconventional commercial release, it was the first time a female artist had ever written and performed a song that reached the number one spot (unexpectedly snagging this impressive achievement from Debbie Harry). But it wasn't the song alone that grabbed my attention. I decided to type 'Kate Bush' into YouTube for the first time having discovered that many people on Last.fm with similar taste to mine were fans of her work. The first video to prop up was of course her most successful, Wuthering Heights. I was a little confused by what I saw initially, but having listened to plenty of Sparks lately I wasn't put off by the obscurity of her movements and high-pitched vocals. I then noticed that there was a second music video known as the Red Dress version. At this point, I was completely blown away - Her bold expressive movements, her mysterious physical appearance, her wondrous vocality! I loved it.

My previous post already featured the Red Dress music video, so here for your viewing pleasure is the original release shot for the UK...



I think I slightly prefer the Red Dress one, but it's still a beautiful song performed beautifully.

Out on the winding, windy moors...

My lack of posting is not due to lack of interest, but rather a lack of internet. To be fair, in a quiet village with a name like 'Dogdyke', you can't really expect top notch technology. I've seen a fair few films and heard a handful of albums since my last post, so I'll make somewhat of a summary of it. You may have noticed that my alliteration is at an all-time high. Totally unintentional, unless somehow subliminal? Now I sound like an intellectual rap artist.

Moving on, upon visiting my Dad in London we decided to 'try something new' by going to the cinema to see... a Bollywood movie!? I've heard that these films at times can actually be quite good and don't deserve the reputation for being shallow sing-song luvvy-duvvy crap sprinkled with an unbearable amount of cheese. What we saw was actually pretty close to this, although the substance was stronger than I imagined (by 'substance' I don't mean cheese, although there was plenty of this). In actual fact, the reason why we were even sat in that screen watching that god forsaken film was because of my Dad's girlfriend's involvement as an extra in the scenes set in London. It's amazing how many times extras are re-used without the audience paying any attention. She'd appeared in the film three times, one of those times filling up half the screen. After our trip to Bollywood (in the Trocadero, London) we decided to settle home with a nice Frank Darabont film based on a Stephen King novel. No, it wasn't The Shawshank Redemption... but rather a horror titled The Mist.

Hmm... What to make of this film I'm not entirely sure. I certainly enjoyed the emphasis on human psychology during a circumstance of utter turmoil, but the problems with the film narrows down to two things. For one, the CGI is piss poor. I can let this one pass since the film focuses primarily on the people and how they cope in a situation of terror. Still though, the CGI creatures did pull you out of the reality built up by the characters. The second problem with the film was script-related. The human psychology factor would have worked had the film been lengthier, but we're expected to believe that people can turn into such savage beings in such a short duration of time, without enough motive to do so. Regardless, I actually enjoyed the film to an extent and would certainly deem it as something that has not been done before in such a peculiar way. What I loved most about The Mist was it's tragic ending that is evidently not at all 'Hollywood-friendly'. No wonder it was somewhat of a flop. It really is hard-hitting.

~~~

Now in terms of music, I have absolutely fallen in love with Kate Bush and everything about her and what she has provided me. I wanted to listen to everything she'd ever created simply from having discovered this one video on YouTube...



That of course is the 'Red Dress' international music video for Wuthering Heights. To think that this remarkable woman was only eighteen years of age when she wrote the song is astounding, not to mention other tracks on The Kick Inside album were written from as young as thirteen. I honestly can't get enough of her. Musically and lyrically it's all so beautiful.

I've been well into ordering rare Belle & Sebastian 12" EPs lately, and have recently received 3.. 6.. 9.. Seconds Of Light and Legal Man in the post. Brilliant. I'll leave it at that.

The Persistence

Excuse me for the awful play on words in the title, but I can't be the only person to think that the majority of Muse fans are stubborn and persistent. Persistent in the sense that they keep telling themselves that Matthew Bellamy is a genius and couldn't possibly do wrong, right? After my first exposure to 'Uprising' and a related three hour debate amongst friends, I unexpectedly 'fell out' with Muse.

So many of us have waited a long time for this new album, The Resistance, and soon the wait is over. So far, Muse have publicly released two songs, the first being United States of Eurasia and the second being that bloody Uprising song. First let me start with '...Eurasia'. To put it bluntly, it would be unfair to legitimately credit this as an original piece written and conceived by Matthew Bellamy. I know this has been said so many times, but rightfully so... United States of Eurasia is Queen meets Lawrence of Arabia. The song's 'outro' (titled +Collateral Damage), is simply an old Frédéric Chopin piece tampered with the sounds of frolicking children, jet planes and missiles. So far, not a brilliant start eh? Not to worry, this is shortly followed by the release of the album's opening track, Uprising.

I'm going to copy and paste a message I left on Muse's Last.fm page, as it best describes my feelings towards what we've heard of The Resistance so far:

I fell out with Muse last night after listening to 'Uprising' and following a debate I had with friends. The 'Resistance' material that has been provided to us so far has been dreadful. 'United States of Eurasia' and the far worse 'Uprising' do not provide anything that has not been done before. In fact, Uprising is evidently a mess of a number of conventions that include an overused electro beat, ridiculous Dr Who synths, musical references to Blondie, and the corny hooligan chants of 'C'mon!'. A good song should relate to its listeners with at least some sense of intimacy, and even though I have been a fan of both 'Origin...' and 'Absolution' in the past, Mr. Bellamy has never achieved such emotions. I would call it an unfortunate obsession for someone with such obvious musical talents to rehash old material and to please people with nothing but meaningless bombastic spectacles. I conclude that Matthew Bellamy is not a genius, but a spectacular musician.

Fans of Muse aren't used to seeing paragraph-length statements on their beloved page, and funny enough despite the popularity, nobody made an effort to question my controversial opinions.

I wish to dwell on the whole 'bombastic spectacle' theory - a term actually brought to a debate I'd had by a friend. Muse can play. Muse can play real good. What they can't do is produce art. There's nothing new, nothing pretty, nothing of an intimate level. I never actually understood this in the past, and since having introduced myself to the wonders of so many artists over the century, I can never return to Muse. They can keep their reputation for marvelous live perfomances, but I pray that justice will be served, and that people will regard Muse as unoriginal songwriters and novice lyricists. Besides, Radiohead are better ;-)

The Soundtrack to my Life

I'm experiencing somewhat of a mild crisis, which is not something I occasionally experience. I find that writing is my cure, but unfortunately I've not seen a film, heard an album or read a book to review and I don't want to ramble on about myself and turn what I hoped to be a publicly accessible blog into one of those awful hormonal journals. I have therefore decided to introduce a new concept called The Soundtrack to my Life, which is when I either review a song that has currently engraved itself into my mind, or one that captures my current mood.

Right now, I am definitely digging the glorious work of Sparks. I've passed through their glam rock and disco-tech stages and am currently immersed in their recent 'chamber pop' phase. I use the term 'chamber pop' loosely because this is what Wikipedia describes the genre as, but I undoubtedly disapprove. It's almost impossible to label the album Exotic Creatures of the Deep for example, which is a bizarre and diverse hybrid of orchestrated strings, distorted guitars and funky electro. It certainly isn't pop in any sense of the word. The particular song that I constantly have on the mind and must frequently play from my iTunes library is the epic finishing track, Likeable.

It would be quite arrogant of me to say that the lyrics apply to me, but as far as musicality goes, I am in love. The sheer diversity in these final six minutes of the album begins with a dreary harmony of the words 'I'm likable!', which is quite reminiscent of the opening to the banned (by the BBC) 2006 single Dick Around. Next comes the catchy chorus that could work as a pop song had it been reworked that way, however Ron Mael's delicate key pressing gives it a more classical approach. The spoken verses reflect one of Russel Mael's new frequent techniques which seems to be less falsetto, more quirky talk! Then comes the delightful 'Noone ever wears a frown, when they see me coming round' segment, which gradually builds in extravagance each time around. The song closes with an extended version of the album's intro that features the comical yet tragically desperate lyrics 'I don't care if you love me, just so you like me... like me, li-ike me, like me, li-ike me...' The perfect way to end the album and without a doubt a seriously likeable song.

In seven days, God created the world. In seven seconds, I shattered mine.

So I'd heard about and seen trailers for this fairly new film starring Will Smith called 'Seven Pounds'. Having read some mixed reviews, I wasn't at all fussed about seeing it, but it wasn't until my Dad informed me that it was actually quite brilliant that I decided it was worth checking out. Fortunately, the film showed up on my Sky Box Office.

Having gotten through over an hour of the film, I had to admit to myself that I was actually with those who were critical of it. The story felt weak, the pacing seemed slow, the dialogue was rather poor and I couldn't quite find myself immersed in its narrative. I began thinking never to take my Dad's advice on what makes a good film, as we evidently have differing opinions. However, as the characters' lives seemed to merge together and the twists began to unfold, I was officially hooked on the film's plot. Will Smith's acting is as good as ever, as well as the supporting cast's such as Woody Harrelson, who's portrayal of a blind man successfully tugs at the heartstrings. On the other hand, one of the main criticisms I have for the film is the love interest played by Rosario Dawson. Her acting isn't anything shameful, but unfortunately the scripting doesn't save this character from a lack in likability. Had we really and truly cared for her as much as our protagonist does, then perhaps the film would have been a far more successful drama.

Indeed, as evident in the above landscape, the cinematography is quite superb. In fact, the overall direction of the film is a pleasant experience, so any criticisms of mine are predominantly aimed at the writers.

As I said before, the majority of the film seems a little lackluster, but the last thirty minutes or so save it from its mediocrity. It's worth a watch and I recommend doing so, but be aware that it is by no means the perfect drama. Not close.

Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie

And so begins my second blogging attempt, the first of which I no longer have any interest in maintaining. Let me start by giving a little info behind the title, Le Charme Discret. You might have guessed its influence from the title of a 1972 French film directed by Luis Buñuel called Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie. The English translation is The Discreet Charm of the Middle Class, but obviously I've merely kept the 'Discreet Charm' part. Suffice to say, that's about as far as the inspiration goes as I haven't actually seen the film, I merely admire it as a pretentious French title, much like Belle & Sebastian's stolen name from Madame Cécile Aubry's novel and television series.

If you're 'craving' to know why I've set up a blog (again), then I ought to fill you in on its purpose. This isn't going to be as personal and self-referential as the previous one, but is more likely to be a tad more 'article-based' in terms of my reviews and opinions on the works of others as well as my own. Don't expect any "Oh I got absolutely smashed last night!" garbage, because I know that nobody really cares about that nonsense.