Well, here we go again. Last time it was
hieroglyphs, now it is sounds. This damned number 10 is a very restrictive
number; however number one is easy:
Pomp and Circumstance March # I in D Major, Edward Elgar, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
Most people know this as Land of Hope and Glory but the words
were set to the tune by a chappie called A.C. Benson at the request of King
Edward VII after Elgar’s scoring. It used to be played as the national anthem
for England at the Commonwealth Games but, for some stupidly ignorant,
senselessly nonsensical, ridiculously irrational, ludicrously asinine and
preposterously dumb reason ‘they’ changed it to Jerusalem for the recent Glasgow edition. I don’t know anyone who
has represented England at the Games who thought it was a good exchange. Jerusalem is a wonderful tune and
evocative of all the right upstanding emotions but the Women’s Institute can
keep it with their jam; England is Land
of Hope and Glory.
Back to Elgar.
The Last Night of the Proms always does a
tremendous version and one of my bucket list entries would definitely be to be
in one of the front few rows for that experience (There you go Peter – next up
‘My Bucket List’). However, my favorite recorded version is by the London Philharmonic
and conducted by Daniel Barenboim but I couldn’t find it on Youtube so we have
him leading the Berlin Phil instead. Some versions lack the differentiated
tempo that Barenboim commands, especially the more adagio sections.
Elgar would definitely be number one; the
other nine (hmm... fat chance of stickling to that number but we’ll try) are
not ordered, they are just listed as I thought of them.
Eroica Symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven
If you could only chose one composer from
history and no others were ever allowed then I suppose the coin flip would be
between Mozart and Beethoven. I err on the side of the deaf guy.
Obviously not his most famous symphony but
this one makes the hairs stick up and my arms go goosebumpy for a poignant
reason. Simply by writing about it my arms and neck have gone cold and goosy.
Yesterday I was telling someone about visiting the concentration camp in Auschwitz
and the same thing happened. Always does. Funny things, strong memories.
Eroica was the chosen music for the memorial service held in the Olympic
stadium the day after the murder of 11 Israeli athletes during the Munich
Olympic Games.
Sally In Our Ally, Gracie Fields
I know! Music. Music? She actually had the
most wonderful voice. I doubt that her accent during film dialogue was how she
spoke in everyday life (would anyone want
to keep a Rochdale accent?) but singing has magical properties, erasing stutters
and disguising accents like a palette knife smoothing the finishing touches to
Christmas-cake icing.
Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window/Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight, The Beatles
I view myself as a Sixties child and there
is a strong ring of truth to the phrase, ‘If
you can remember the sixties you weren’t there,’ but you don’t have to
remember it because the music is still here. The 1960’s music revolution produced
some amazing stuff. The Beatles’ catalogue, the Rolling Stones (more of which
later), Bee Gees, Elton John (more of ...), and others produced stuff which is
regarded as classic rock and is still played every day fifty years later.
The Rubber
Soul-Revolver-SPLHCB-Abby Road quartet of albums contains some great, great
music. I know the White Album is often quoted by ‘those that know’ as one of
The Beatles’ classics but I wasn’t too impressed. Not as melodious as the
preceding four (in release date terms – I know the tracks were recorded out of
release sequence) and, without re-listening to them all again, not as
indicative of The Beatles’ ‘hidden signature’, their harmonies.
To ‘bookend’ Our Gracie I should chose Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite
because the actual, the real, the legendary, the immortal Pablo Fanque’s Fair which
spawned the poster from which John Lennon wrote the song was actually, really,
honestly and truly, in real life, held on Town Meadows at the back of Rochdale
Town Hall. But I won’t. Instead I go for the Polythene Pam/Bathroom Window
thing.
I know there are four titles but they all
blend together and, in total, are less than 7:30 so I’m keeping them as one.
Ringo’s drumming is as outstanding as ever (did you know he is left handed but
has always set up his drum kit as a right-hander’s set? The subtle effect,
combined with his already unique style, is to make him almost impossible to
copy). If you want to see something remarkable watch Chris Bliss juggling to
the Carry that Weight sequence –
talent, talent, talent.
And walking across the zebra crossing is
also on my bucket list. Peter and Trini could probably do it every day but I
have never done it!
Chris Bliss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uaBBl3gXRs
Something, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and a zillion others
The Lennon-McCartney partnership and its
acrimonious disentanglement produced some of the highest quality music of the
20th Century but lurking in the background, hiding its light under
its own bushel is George Harrison’s contribution. Frank Sinatra described Something as, “The best love song ever written,” and it’s pretty hard to argue
with, or top, that opinion.
Another amazing fact is that three of the
greatest love songs of the sixties (or any time really) were all written about
the same woman! Patty Boyd. George wrote Something,
Clapton wrote Layla (more of ....)
when she was still married to George and he was secretly in love with her, and
later wrote Wonderful Tonight after
she’d untied the George knot and tied the Eric one. That’s a pretty impressive
singalong CV. She must have had something!
Anyways, I digress. My favorite version of Something is from the Concert for George
which was organized and directed by his best friend Eric C, one year to the day
after George died. Fantastic concert; Tom Hanks even dresses up as a Mountie
and joins The Monty Pythons for The Lumberjack Song and another combination of
Pythons emulates Gracie Fields’ Sing As
We Go with a bare-assed naked Sit On
My Face. Awesome stuff.
Anyways, again, I digress. I’ve never been
a fan of McCartney. Smug, smarmy and chocolaty- smooth. Wouldn’t trust him. I
was, and always will be a Lennon man; raw edges are much more interesting. So,
all through the Concert for George I was patiently waiting for Something and along comes the slippery,
slimy, oily Poily and starts plinking Something
on a ukulele! You can sense the dismay of the whole audience in the Royal
Albert Hall; George’s greatest song and it is going to be bastardized by this
Plinking Paul. They bravely force themselves to join in but then, then, then ...
Clapton brings in his Stratocaster, Mincy Macca swops the uke for a piano and
is joined by Joe Brown, Jools Holland, Sam Brown, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty,
Heartbreakers, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Gary Brooker, Andy Fairweather Low,
Klaus Voorman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Neil Innes, Tery jones, Michael Palin
and Carol Cleveland to produce a sensational crescendo-ing working which must
have made George smile. Just outstanding. Turn it up to 11 and let it wash over
you – an experience to equal Pomp and
Circumstance or Nessun Dorma.
George’s lyrics get overlooked but they
stand comparison with probably the greatest lyricist of the 20th
Century, Cole Porter. Porter’s grasp of language is astounding. In olden days a glimpse of stocking was
looked on as something shocking ... who could write that nowadays?
Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen
In my book this may be the best rock song
ever written. The very least position I could give it would be joint top with Layla and Like a Rolling Stone. As the Blessed Brian Clough almost said, “It may not be the best song ever written but
it’s definitely in the top one.” Awesome lyrics, very complicated musical
construction, and fantastic arrangement. Some of these rocky people never cease
to amaze me; Brian May has a PhD in astrophysics and he has an asteroid named
after him.
Eloise, Barry Ryan
Marion Ryan was an excellent ‘journeyman’
singer in her day and her twin boys, Barry and Paul, The Ryan Twins, did a reasonable job of continuing the family
tradition with ballads and sweet, love me-leave me easy-going tunes. However,
when Barry broke out with this solo number, written by brother Paul, it was a
revelation. Hard hitting, orchestrated, soaring, tempo-changing from slow and
gentle to thumping, biting, vicious and violent it took the happy-family image
and crushed it underfoot like an attack on an irritating cockroach.
Like a Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stones
The Stones are, without doubt, The Greatest
Rock and Roll Band In The World, and Dylan’s masterpiece was judged the
best/greatest/most influential rock song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
So three stones all rolling together and they definitely don’t gather moss but
they do gather plaudits.
The ‘storyline’ of the song is a riddle,
wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, and the wordsmithing and imaginative
juxtapositioning of concepts is possibly Dylan’s greatest ever achievement. It
is unusual for The Rolling Stones to do cover versions even though they made
their breakthrough with a Lennon-McCartney number, and Dancing in the Street by Jagger and Bowie doesn’t count. This, however, is the obvious one for them to
do but it took a long time. The result, however, is tremendous. A fusing of the
best song ever, with the best group and the ‘best front-man in the business’. One Youtube version features the
man himself as well but he sings about as equally worse as he ever does and
Jagger looks really worried about the quality of the concert.
With Dylan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD7_FfGJI0E
“Alright, let’s stop messing around.” Rolling Stones
I am definitely cheating here. Flashpoint (1991) is a series of live recordings
taken from the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tours in 1989 and 1990 and, somewhere The
Immortal Keef is obviously a tad pissed off with the boring approach used so he
commands a change. The album launches Keef’s rifs into a non-stop barrage of
some of the best rock songs ever: Paint
it Black, Sympathy for the Devil, Brown Sugar, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. 25
minutes of rock perfection. Yes, Honky
Tonk Woman is missing but we have to accept that perfection sometimes has
elusive elements.
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Elton John
Some artists should gracefully retire after
producing what is their career masterpiece. Reg Dwight is one of those. Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road is a stunning compilation of music and EJ is one of the best
rock-ists ever. I am one of the millions of peoples who want this double-track
played at their funeral (Peter – another top ten list idea!). I’ve seen him
three times in live concert; once very good, once totally crap and once,
ok-ish, but this version is on my iPad and gets full treatment every time I’m
stuck on a budget plane with no seat-back video.
That’s ten titles and arguably 19 songs but
I insist on keeping calm and carrying on.
Nessun Dorma, Three Tenors
If my religious beliefs were conventional I
would vow that Luciano Pavarotti’s voice was delivered by angels. Vincero, the crescendo-ing climax to this
Puccini masterpiece means I will win,
and, indeed, he and they do.
Layla, Derek and the Dominoes
See above for the amazing story of
Clapton’s writing of this. The storyline is based on Persian folklore about
forbidden love. The long version with the piano coda – added in complete
isolation by the drummer the day after the other instrumental passages were
recorded – is what transforms it from a great, great piece of rock history to
its legendary status amongst the genre’s
immortal pantheon of musical god-scores.
Anything by Frank Sinatra
That’s not a song called Anything sung by Frank Sinatra, it’s any
song sung by Frank Sinatra. Undoubtedly the best singer of popular songs of the
20th century, his phrasing is so unique that it is impossible to
accurately sing along with him. Try it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2srU38V8pI
Yes It Is, The Beatles
I have nothing exclusively Lennon-ish here
which is unfair on the poor guy so I’ll chose this little known number. It was
originally the B side to Ticket to Ride
and, although, credited to the L-McC partnership, it was a Lennon exclusive
original.
The Youtube link is to a rare version from
some out takes. The particular YT channel has some absolute gems.
