23 posts tagged “last.fm”

Top Artists this Week (see more)

23 Dec 2007 – 30 Dec 2007

	1		Spear of Destiny	24
	2		Georg Friedrich Händel	20
	3		Аквариум	16
	4		Paolo Nutini	11
	5		Nic Jones	9
	5		Nine Inch Nails	9
	7		Michael Jackson	6
–	8		Stephen Fry	4
	8		Spice Girls	4
1	10		Jona Lewie	2

Ah yes, Spear of Destiny keeps Handel from the top. How about that ladies and gentlemen. I always listen to Messiah on Christmas day in the morning but it's so darn long I don't think I've ever heard the whole thing.

But, to the Spear. What a trip it was to listen to them again. I liked them a lot in the mid 80s. Post punk was the label given to them. Kirk Brandon certainly was an angry man and rather politicised too, just the sort of thing a boy in his teens should be listening to really whilst guzzling six packs of Lamot lager, Diamond White, Rossco's homebrew and the odd quarter bottle.

World Service (1985) and One-Eyed Jacks (1984) rock, and Outland (1987) takes me back to my army days big time.
Dave, if you're reading this and didn't do the Spear, check these tracks out. I reckon you'll dig them.

Rainmaker

Spear Of Destiny

Liberator

Spear Of Destiny

Never Take Me Alive

Spear of Destiny

Mickey

Spear of Destiny

No time for much any more. Trying to pack and it's mental. Probably dismantling the network and boxing up the computers in the next day or so. I'll keep the MacBook out through.

Here's last week's charts. Yeah, I discovered May Windhouse. She's good. And Dave made me seek out Ace of Base too, after his post about some cover or other. Good fun.

Oh, and talk about vanity - I'm in my own charts! I was listening to recordings of myself on the way to a gig so I could get the lyrics in my head again. I'm no Yam Hinewouse but I ain't bad.

And Led Zep I just plain rocks. Can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to it.

Top Artists this Week (see more)

16 Dec 2007 – 23 Dec 2007

	1		Amy Winehouse	61
	2		Ace of Base	20
	2		Yann Tiersen	20
	4		Red Hot Chili Peppers	15
	5		Johnny Cash	12
	6		Cams	10
	7		Led Zeppelin	9
6	8		Stephen Fry	7
3	9		Jona Lewie	4
2	9		Paul McCartney	4

9 Dec 2007 – 16 Dec 2007

5	1		Pete Murray	21
17	2		Stephen Fry	17
	3		Nick Harper	12
	4		The KLF	9
4	5		Nine Inch Nails	6
10	5		Waterson:Carthy	6
21	7		Paul McCartney	5
21	7		Wizzard	5
19	9		Band Aid	4
5	10		Genesis	3

Pete Murray is an Australian and I'd never heard of him until my good friend Philippe asked if I would sing a duet with him on the track Opportunity. I learned it in an afternoon and we rehearsed a few times and pulled it off very well as it happens. Unfortunately the recording I made of the concert was too hot and the whole thing clipped all the way through. So, I'd best let you listen to the original then!

Stephen Fry reads the Harry Potter audiobooks and does so very well. I'm just starting the final one now and am really enjoying them!

Nick Harper is a definite for featured artist on day. Meanwhile, enjoy Pete Murray.

Opportunity

Pete Murray

Cutting it fine again this week!

Top Artists this Week (see more)

2 Dec 2007 – 9 Dec 2007

8	1		Nine Inch Nails	61
	2		The Wonder Stuff	34
	3		Владимир Высоцкий	22
	4		Roy Harper	20
	5		Bryan Sutton	19
	6		Martin Carthy	16
	6		Pete Murray	16
	8		Pixies	15
	9		The Greencards	14
	10		Pat Walsh	13

Nine Inch Nails are at the top this week. This is mainly thanks to the inspiration I got from bevester who recommended Year Zero. I've been a fan of NIN since Pretty Hate Machine but haven't bought any of their music since Downward Spiral. Not really sure what that is, but there you have it. So I was excited to hear Year Zero and it didn't let me down. It has that trademark NIN angst and I loved it right from the start. I guess as a concept album I should get familiar with the lyrics but that usually comes later for me.

The song I listened to most on Pretty Hate Machine was Something I can Never Have. And it still gives me the chills. I remember locking myself away with PHM and a bottle of White & Mackay after being dumped one time and playing it loud.

I did see them perform once in Glasgow (May 1994) but I remember very little about it.

So many thanks bevester for the reco and here are some tunes for y'all's enjoyment. (including Hurt, which Johnny Cash covered on American Recordings IV and made it his own and now I play the JC version -- planning on playing it today at my leaving gig as it happens!) The NIN version is really good too though.

Something I Can Never Have

Nine Inch Nails

Hurt

Nine Inch Nails

Another Version of the Truth

Nine Inch Nails

No time for a big long post this week.

Top Artists this Week (see more)

25 Nov 2007 – 2 Dec 2007

1	1		Suzanne Vega	36
	2		Thomas Luis de Victoria	19
	3		Mika	13
	4		Muse	12
3	4		Beppe Gambetta	12
	6		Sergei Rachmaninoff	9
2	7		Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman	8
1	8		Stephen Fry	5
	9		Nine Inch Nails	4
	10		Steve Gibson with Leo Laporte	2

This week's artist is Mika. Lorraine heard a track of his on the radio whilst babysitting Hamish in the car while he slept as I and Freya were having fun in the park. She liked it well enough to buy the CD and it really is great. His vocal range is incredible and his music pop-tastic. Sort of a cross between Freddy Mercury and Robbie Williams.

I hope he's not a flash in the pan!

Thomas Luis de Victoria is a CD that I have of choral music and it's really good for aiding concentration or playing really loud to mediate to.

Enjoy.

Any Other World

Mika

Cutting it fine this week folks! Without further ado, here are last week's charts:

Top Artists this Week (see more)

18 Nov 2007 – 25 Nov 2007

8	1		Beppe Gambetta	34
	2		Suzanne Vega	31
	3		The Wonder Stuff	30
	4		Pierre Bensusan	28
	5		Roger Waters	20
33	6		Talking Heads	14
	7		Tony McManus	10
	7		Stephen Fry	10
	9		Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman	9
	10		Big Audio Dynamite II	8

Things are beginning to look a bit more representative of my actual music tastes now. I won't go into them all this week as I'm sure the ones who haven't yet been my featured artist will be one day. Stephen Fry is the audio books of Harry Potter, and Anne Dudley and Jaz Coleman is a CD called Songs from the Victorious City which I was overjoyed to find (it wasn't that hard actually). I used to listen to it a lot on cassette during my university days, playing cards with my mate and rolling Camberwell carrots. The Victorious City is a direct translation from the Arabic for Cairo. It was a real treat to hear those tunes again.

And so to this week's artist. Many years ago, when I was still quite wee (must've been around 1987) I caught a documentary on Suzanne Vega. It was late at night, I was tired and only half watching. One tune really caught my attention and I started watching intently after that. The tune was Fancy Poultry (from her second album, Solitude Standing). I then bought that album and her first one and listened to them a heck of a lot. They were very much part of the soundtrack to my mid to late teenage years. I continued to follow her work and got a new CD whenever one was released. She evolved and changed styles and producers and got a bit more experimental and I just loved her stuff. I got to see her in Edinburgh back in 1993 and again here in a school gym hall in Luxembourg in about 2002 and then at a festival in Belgium the following year. She's really great live. At the Belgium gig I was already part of the Towie Tree (the forum on her own web site) and so was able to go back stage and say hi to her. It was great to meet her.

I have learned to play a few of her tunes on the guitar, including my very favourite The Queen and the Soldier.

I knew that she had a new album due out and checked this week. Sure enough, there it was, Beauty & Crime and it was DRM free on Amazon! I've listened to it a couple of times and like it but I don't know it well enough yet to comment. It's with a new producer again (she divorced her previous producer, Mitchell Froom a few years ago) and features the vocals of her daughter Ruby and KT Tunstall!

I could write more and more coherently but I'm really tired and it's time for bed.

Anyway, here are a few samplers for y'all.

Ironbound / Fancy Poultry

Suzanne Vega

Caramel

Suzanne Vega

Blood Sings

Suzanne Vega

Top Artists this Week (see more)

11 Nov 2007 – 18 Nov 2007

	1		Beastie Boys	35
	2		The The	28
	3		Anna Massie	26
3	4		Bert Jansch	25
	5		Radiohead	23
	6		Lou Reed	16
	7		Tommy Emmanuel	14
	7		Nine Inch Nails	14
	9		Peter Gabriel	12
	9		Beppe Gambetta	12

My last.fm profile is beginning to reflect my musical profile more accurately as time goes it. It was time this week to address some gaps. First up, the Beastie Boys. I was a fan of the Beasties since Licensed to Ill, and it's still a cracking album. When I was doing my basic training in 1988 at AAC Harrogate, we all had to do a party piece. Mine was Billy Connolly sketch (the one about getting caught 'having a wank') and the full version of Paul Revere from Licensed to Ill. It went down pretty well as I recall (although I think the Billy sketch was better received!). Then came the classic Paul's Boutique, the Beasties seminal album in my opinion. An incredible set of samples and hip-hop that was way ahead of its time and relatively unknown compared to Licensed to Ill. We even tried to find the real Paul's Boutique from the address given in the album (in Brooklyn) when we travelled the US in 1993, but it was to no avail! (I could link to the post I made but for some REALLY annoying reason Vox displays only some of my tags - why is that Vox?) Then came Check Your Head, another ground-breaking album in the same vein as Paul's Boutique. Brilliant. Ill Communication didn't sit so well with me; I just never really bonded with it in the same way and I that was the last B-Boys album I bought. So, I spent some time this week spinning the old Beasties albums and filling a gap in my profile.

Next up, and this week's featured band, is The The. Despite their really annoying name, I've loved this band right from the start (well, I never really dug Burning Blue Soul and still don't, but that was originally released as a Matt Johnson solo album). I shan't go on about them, just to say that Matt's one of my favourite lyricists of all time and I've always really related to his words and the music. "The future is now, and it's all going wrong; bodies queue for nothing for it's to nothing they belong", etc.

Annie Massie is a young Scots lass who plays a variety of instruments really, really well. I first saw her at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow back in 2004 (I think) and was blown away. She plays mainly in the traditional Scots vein and can flatpick like no other gal I've ever seen. And she's so wee! Her music is terrific and I highly recommend her CD Glad Company. I'll certainly have her as a featured artist one day.

I've mentioned Bert a lot so browse previous last.fm entries. He was my featured artist last week.

Fellow Voxer Bevester inspired me to dig out some Radiohead again. I hadn't listened to them in a while and it was good to hear them again. Kid A is my favourite with Amnesiac a close second (but they're all good). Those two albums were a lot of work, and I mean a lot. This is not easy listening and needs repeated spins to get it. But once you get it, it really pays you back, big time!

Lou Reed's New York was the first CD I ever bought. I enjoy his music and the Velvet Underground a lot. This week I had to share my story at an AA meeting and so played my playlist called Spiritual on the iPod on the way in to town. There's a song on The Raven called Vanishing Act that is just wonderful. So I listened to that a few times over the last week, along with a lot of other Lou stuff.

Tommy Emmanuel. If you play guitar you should certainly know about Tommy. And if you don't play, you should still go and see him. One of the best performers I have ever seen.

Nine Inch Nails. I used to listen to them a lot. Pretty Hate Machine got me through some hard times, particularly Something I Can Never Have. Downward Spiral was great. Fixed and Broken rewarded repeated listens but were tough going at times.

Peter Gabriel. Brilliant. Love his solo stuff and Genesis. As with Bowie, his most recent stuff is some of his best in my opinion. Up was terrific!

Beppe Gambetta is an Italian flatpicker. I saw him last night and will write about him there with some audio. I had lessons with him too back in 2005. He's a really nice guy.

So that's it for this week. Enjoy the The The tunes (see, told you their name was annoying!) I've included two from Shades of Blue since it's not such a common one (it's a 4-track EP).

Enjoy!

True Happiness This Way Lies

The The

Jealous of Youth

The The

Out of The Blue (Into The Fire)

The The

Dolphins

The The

Top Artists this Week (see more)

4 Nov 2007 – 11 Nov 2007

1	1		Bert Jansch	93
	2		Bill Sheffield	12
	3		Katie Melua	4
	4		Bucks Fizz	2
	4		Cliff Richard	2
	4		Culture Club	2
	4		Blondie	2
	4		Dexy's Midnight Runners	2
	4		Jive Bunny	2
	4		David Bowie	2

As suspected, Bert is at the top by a country mile! I have a long history with Bert Jansch. I flicked on the TV back in 1991 and caught the beginning of a documentary called Acoustic Routes. It was all about Bert and featured many songs both of Bert on his tod and playing with others such as Wizz Jones, Duck Baker and Davey Graham. I was blown away by what I saw, particularly the track Angie/Anji and went out the very next weekend and bought my first guitar. I've been a fan of Bert ever since and have even learned a few of his songs.

I've recently been having a bit of a Bert revival, adding some missing CDs to my collection, including his latest release, The Black Swan (released last year).

I saw him play a couple of years ago at a little theatre in the Scottish borders [The Wynd Theatre]. I went with a friend and we arrived late. The promoter, knowing that I had travelled all the way from Luxembourg to see the gig, took pity on us and put us on seats right on the stage, in the wings. Well how about that ladies and gentlemen! To be honest, I wasn't that impressed and the same goes for some of his more recent recordings prior to The Black Swan. So I was rather tickled at just how good The Black Swan is. It's a belter to be sure. Really.

Bert played a big part in the folk revival that took place in London in the 1960s and is one of those people who never made millions or became famous or a household name but who influenced many people who did (including Bob Dylan to a degree, Jimmy Page, Neil Young and more recently Bernard Butler, Johnny Marr and Beth Orton (Beth plays on The Black Swan)).

So, here are three tracks for your enjoyment. The first is the first track from his first album, released in 1965 and entitled simply Bert Jansch. This is one that I can play.

Strolling Down the Highway

Bert Jansch

The next is the opening track from The Black Swan, as I said released in 2006, 41 years after his first!

The Black Swan

Bert Jansch

And finally an instrumental, this one from his third album, Jack Orion, released in 1966. This is a belter!

The Waggoner's Lad

Bert Jansch

As to the other artists in this week's charts, I've mentioned Bill Sheffield before and he was my featured artist on the charts that week. I got his latest CD through the post last week and it's reasonably good. There is one really awful track on it though with poor lyrics. Good guitar though.

I borrowed Katie Melua's latest CD from a friend and haven't enjoyed it much at all. Again, one really poor track with poor lyrics has put me off (If You Were a Sail Boat - Midge Ure did it so much better!)

Having to create playlists of each day's iPod tunes at the end of the day to play them when I go to bed so that they get scrobbled. So my iTunes playcount is needlessly increased so that they get scrobbled. When will they fix it? (and yes, iSproggler doesn't work either).

So, with no further ado, here are this week's charts before it's too late.

Top Artists this Week (see more)

28 Oct 2007 – 4 Nov 2007

	1		Sufjan Stevens	28
	2		El McMeen	16
	2		Bert Jansch	16
	4		Kate Rusby	15
	5		The Beatles	13
4	6		Pat Walsh	11
	6		The Rolling Stones	11
	8		Tony McManus	8
	9		Scissor Sisters	7
	10		Adam and the Ants	6

I discovered Sufjan Stevens on Vox. A few people have posted tunes from this album and I've liked them all so it was an obvious jump to get the album. It's really very good.

El McMeen is a guitar hero of mine. I had a lesson from him once at his home in NJ. I can play a few of his arrangements. He makes it sound so easy.

Bert Jansch is the reason that I play guitar. I'm having a bit of a Bert festival these last few weeks. Expect him at the top next week.

Kate Rusby sings folk songs in an English accent. I was surprised to discover that the purists don't rate her. What is it with the music police? I think she's doing great things for British folk.

Can't beat the Beatles.

Pat Walsh - see last week's charts for a tune.

The Stones - along with the Beatles, played during lunch time to "teach" Freya what's good. No doubt she'll end up liking something that we won't and we'll say things like "that's not music... call that music? ... it's just noise ... turn it down... etc." Isn't that the way of things?

Tony McManus plays fingerstyle guitar and is another reason that I play.

Scissor Sisters - I was desperately seeking something to help with my most hated weekly event: the weekly shop. This was the nearest thing I could get to hit the spot, but it still wasn't quite right. Not sure where I stand on them actually.

Adam and the Ants - I have a long history with Adam and his Ants. The first album I bought was Prince Charming and I've always rated him. His albums were remastered quite recently with bonus tracks and they have dated very well actually.

So that's it for this week. Enjoy a Sufjan track. Well, why not? This one made me think a little of Charlie Brown music.

The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders- Pt. 1- The Great Frontier-Pt. 2- C

Sufjan Stevens

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Better get this week's charts posted before the new ones come out tomorrow. And sorry to the last.fm group for bombarding the group. I just discovered the group and so linked all my weekly chart postings to the group and they all appeared in my RSS feed so apologies for that. From now on it's once a week only!

Top Artists this Week (see more)

21 Oct 2007 – 28 Oct 2007

	1		Elvis Costello	71
	2		Pat Walsh	22
3	3		commandN	2
	4		Anne Stephens	1
	4		Clive Dunn	1
	4		Henry Hall	1
	4		Steve Gibson with Leo Laporte	1
	4		Mandy Miller	1
	4		Terry Scott	1
	4		Alex Lindsay	1

So it was a big Costello week. Well, two days actually. That was because I discovered Pat Walsh at the Little Brother jam I went to near Atlanta and Elvis Costello is an influence of his. Pat's performances were great and he's a nice chap too. I'm glad I met him and I'm awaiting delivery of an EP from him with the chords to my favourite of his songs, Umbrella Birds. He has a British sound to his songs which I find very appealing.

All other tracks are either podcasts or from All Aboard, my daughter's favourite tuneage for in the car listening. I'm rather glad to have found it actually as it was my first music as a kid too. This week's favourites have been Two Little Boys and the Runaway Train so you can expect Rolf Harris to show up in next week's charts!

Here's a Pat Walsh tune for your enjoyment.

That's Why He Sleeps At Night

Pat Walsh

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