I just watched the film “Possession” By Cronenbergs son – pretty good, one of those films where you’re thinking back to that time you killed a bunch of people, then instead of covering it up properly, you left loads of easy clues for the cops to follow, in a blind panic – yeah, life’s like that! Good film actually, but I was thinking of music, for some reason, these 2 songs, I just had to seek them out and play them, thus the blog share!
This was totally out of the blue! I’m hankering to listen to a whole bunch of music – haven’t heard that Police one for years – I thought it was Sting. – it took me about 10 mins to ID the Fuckbuttons song – its that sound, very emotive – the Police one is good too š
R.E.M. stands for Rapid Eye Movement, which is what your eye does when youāre in deep sleep. I knew that after someone told me at some point or other, and I knew about the group REM from quite a few years before they were popular, but I didnāt really actually know anything about them, just that they existed from quite a way back in the 80s.
Well these guys moved into my flat, using the room next door for sleeping, there were three of them, when they first came and knocked on the door there were 2, Iād only expected one, since there was only one bed, but 2 turned up. There was a knock at the door, and there were these 2 guys, with eyes like saucers looking back at me, it made me laugh, cos they were obviously high on something as if I wouldnāt guess.
SO anyhow, they moved in, and this other guy just showed up at some point after that, so there were 3 in there, when they were home, which wasnāt that often. They were getting through an awful lot of ganja these guys, so much of it, I was higher than Iād been for a while just by knowing them – I guess they kept me sweet that way. So of course I was curious as to what made them tick, I liked music, and got chatting to one of the guys about that, he liked REM, he told me it stood for Rapid Eye Movement, and about how he liked these songs they do. So we got like really stoned, and he told me about how heād been in this car accident, the car had rolled on this road I know quite well, and how heād had to have a false heel done in an operation, around which point I just fell asleep for a bit, it was probably 4 am or something, those guys used to come into the flat at way past 2, and doss down – 3 of them in a room meant for one, so Iām meeting my neighbors, and Iām trying to stay awake, and when I wake up heās showing me his foot, heās got his sock off and his heel is like white, cos its some sort of plastic insert, pretty freaky, – then I wake up again, and Iām like fuck this I got to go to bed, and heās like āyou want it donāt you?ā Iām thinking WTAF? Its another misunderstanding, I completely forgot whatever the subject was. He said well thatās where I want to be – I liked him, he knew where he wanted to be. Maybe this song was in my mind? I have no idea, I was totally confused! Donāt Go Back to Rockville,
I really canāt remember – they all thought I hated them for a while, and I did off and on, cos of course you do when you live with someone, there was another couple of guys living in the flat at the time, quite a few people came and went, it would have been more fun if theyād paid the bills and contributed to the running of things a bit more, know what I mean?
I quite like this one about Wild Heaven
Fucking beatniks! LOL I do remember this one – Pop Song 89
Could be from years later for all Iād know, I donāt really remember that much from that time, things got a bit frustrating, there were some other guys sleeping in the front room, this guy had such cheesy feet, I have no idea where he came from, but he drove me nearly insane – I donāt need some guy with stinky feet in my kitchen every morning for weeks on end, it donāt matter how high one is, that just doesnāt work for me – no way!
Looking at the dates, Iām talking about the 80s, but Iām thinking more like the mid to late 90s, so maybe I got it all wrong, could have easily been a throwback. I remember this one – Radio Song
Iām just wondering what REM songs I knew at that time when I told that guy I quite liked REM? I have no real idea what was going on at that time, Iād lost my mind in an incident involving magic mushrooms a year or 2 before, anyway, I liked this guy, he knew what he wanted, or where he wanted to be or whatever. Anyhow, they all moved out, in a bit of a hurry to do with cops and the law or whatever. Love this song, it definitley wasn’t out at that time, cos I remember hearing it later – (I think) – such a classic! Whatās the Frequency Kenneth!
There was a knock at the door, and there were these 2 guys, with eyes like saucers looking back at me, it made me laugh, cos they were obviously high on something as if I wouldnāt guess. SO anyhow, they moved in . . .
[Edit] – I just want to add, R.E.M. are such an amazing band! I went into my collection and found so many good songs on this various collection I’d got. Its just got me floored how good they were – I added a few tracks, check it out,
I only really play them from time to time, its not really my thing, and yet when I do, I go nuts! Its brilliant!! I’m only really interested in the hits, but there’s so many, writing this blog reminded me of the missing songs I needed – its just refreshed my admiration all over again! š
Well they played this George Michael song on the radio the other day, and I always thought it was one of his best. A bit morbid perhaps? Maybe his mindset was a bit unusual, or maybe it was just the essence of pop at that time, everyone trying to write something meaningful and worthwhile? Well, I think he succeeded with this one.Ā I think its subliminal while its on!
I don’t know if its because I’d heard that song on the radio I started thinking about this one? Its a similar sort of moody thing, its by Psyaviah. Its got this haunting sound to it, as well as a pretty down sort of theme, and yet its quite satisfyingly honest I guess:
This guy! I seen him a few times in Sheffield, they don’t have that scene like they used to – about a decade ago it was pretty busy, now they play Manchester – or don’t come to the UK at all, just London, but Sheffield was pretty happening 10 years or so ago, you could see at least half a dozen industrial dance bands a year there.
Faderhead played a few times, I signed up for the newsletter and got some very interesting insights into his music career – he’s called Sammy, and he’s a good guy! One time when I saw them, I was surprised to see he had fans, with actual Faderhead T-shirts! Well, why not? They were pretty good!
Anyway, here’s a 10 min doc to bring you up to speed! š
When the Corrs did their version of Dreams by Fleetwood Mac I was appalled. It was a good choice of song, it’s always a good one to hear, but really, the Corrs are almost entirely talentless, they just added that stupid Celtic fiddle, put frocks on their size zero figures & sold it like manure!Ā
Mick Fleetwood himself came out to congratulate them on a great version! What a joke! I’d have been more pleased if he’d come onto the stage with an axe, and chopped them all up!
Thing is, I like to think “the Mac” were an amazing talent, the best ever most highly evolved pop musical genius. Closer to the truth would probably be to say they had talent, and with the help of the industry, sold a lot of records. No one is suggesting the Corrs are / were better, or are / were they? This whole thing makes me mad! I want to believe that “the Mac” really were special, you can’t tell me different, look at the catalogue!
Don’t even let me start on Barry Manilow’s Could it be Magic as covered by Take That – SACRILEGE! An appalling insult! If I were Barry Manilow, Iād go berserk with a machine gun!
When I hear a song, 9 times out of 10, the first version I hear seems definitive, unless I later decide the original is better, which normally it is, or if it’s not, then the original was unrecognisably different.Ā
Here’s a conundrum, I have loved the song Blue Flower by Mazzy Star for quite a while, I thought it was among their best songs, but then I recently found out its actually a cover of a song by Slapp Happy!
Well I never! Anyhow, here’s the 2 songs, if you not heard the Mazzy Star one before, you might find it a bit scuzzy, but overall, I can’t see me ever preferring the original – they definitely added to the song and made it their own, but I can justĀ about understand people who prefer that sort of bluegrass thing too.
This was a good film I saw on TV a while ago, its not really just like the trailer, which makes it look like a Bonnie & Clyde thing, which it is in a way, but not at all really, its one of those you have to see to get it. One of the things I liked most about it was it captured something about youths and growing up, at that stage where its all out there for you, just waiting for you to discover it, but then you soon begin to find out about the details, and the real nature of what youāre up against.Ā
Thereās views of the real America, unlike the Hollywood version, where they go to housing estates filming the characters working, larking about, and all this stuff that happens, you have to see it –Ā but they also go to some really stunning places and have experiences theyāll remember forever kind of things. Its a real good one to watch, cos weeks or a month or 2 later, you might think what was that bit where . . . and there was this . . . and then . . .Ā
Thatās how it was for me, cos I was watching something on TV tonight, and it reminded me of American Honey – and how good that film was, something about it. I hate Bonnie and Clyde BTW, so its really not like that!
I looked the film up after I saw it and it turned out that the cast werenāt actors, the director just went out spotting kids for the roles in car parks and beaches and stuff – the group seems to gel together really well, thereās parts where theyāre all singing their favourite pop songs together, its quite touching.Ā
Hereās Mark Kermode doing a review of the film better than I can do šĀ
Well weāve been on this lockdown now for what? 7 weeks? At least! And what have I done? Well, Ive eaten a lot of chocolate I can tell you that! Its easing off a little now, so I went out for a motorbike ride, its pretty, but in a sad and sombre way – every village you go through thereās kids drawings of rainbows & NHS support posters, all the little shops have queues outside, socially distanced spacing, its like driving through a weird post apocalypse movie scene. Of course lockdown might have been less long and severe if the country hadnāt been run by a bunch of lunatics, letting it come to this in the first place, and where do we go next? How much more of it?Ā
Yesterday I was thinking about Lizzie Siddall, why was that I ask myself? Well, I forgot, but I looked her up for some reason, something on TV or whatever prompted me, she was the girl in the painting of Ophelia, it was something to do with that.
Anyhow, she was from a fairly working class background, and met up with painter Rossetti, had an affair with him and eventually they got married, but supposedly Rossettiās sisters didnāt like her much, cos they were more classy, knew what spoons to use at dinner and so on, so the whole thing didnāt work out that well, or it did, but Rossetti liked to shaft other women, being a bit of a rogue and all that – anyhow, she died of a laudanum overdose, and Rossetti put a book of his unpublished poems in the coffin with her, then years later had her dug up to retrieve and publish the poems, but the public didnāt like them so much, perhaps because of the morbid connotations. Anyhow, Siddall had support from art bigwig John Ruskin, he liked her poems and pictures, which is quite interesting, cos Ruskin himself was also an interesting Victorian character, always opinionated and a bit odd in this day and age perhaps, but there you go.
Following links from that info + more about Rossettiās life (which was interesting too) I read about John William Pollidori, who was Rossettiās uncle, he used to hang out with Byron & Shelly and was at the famous mansion at Lake Geneva, out of which came the book Frankenstien, (Mary Shelly) and his own book āThe Vampyreā (first ever published book in that genre). Ken Russel made a bonkers film about it!
I got the film Maleficent to watch, I bought it before lockdown, but havenāt watched it yet cos it seems frivolous to sit and watch when the older generation are all locked up in this dreadful situation, now its easing off a little, I might finally watch it. I watched Star Wars the other night, not bad, not good, just trash! LOL Enjoyable I guess, bit silly, bit pointless. Its all based on War really isnāt it? Hardly progressive, but when did Disney ever care about anything? They tell it like it is, shit, with good bits, thereās a piece of brain missing in Disneys ethos non?
This morning, they were playing some reggae song and it reminded me of this phrase that goes āIts a long long wayā – similar vibe, so wondering what song it was I was thinking about. So I googled the lyrics, and I donāt know if its this song or not, cos clearly its not reggae, but it may have been this one by OMD. Once I hear an OMD song, I can’t think outside of the OMD box, cos its so distinctive.
– anyhow, its not a bad song or owt, and I got informed about the actress Louise Brooks by it, so I googled her, and it seems that she was quite an interesting character – That guy out of OMD is quite good at finding heroines to write songs about (RE Joan of Arc) I found this quote about Louise Brooks
“…the eminent Herr Pabst described it to me over a cocktail in the Bristol Bar, Berlin. ‘Louise,’ said Herr Pabst, ‘has a European soul. You can’t get away from it. When she described Hollywood to meāI have never been thereāI cry out against the absurd fate that ever put her there at all. She belongs to Europe and to Europeans. She has been a sensational hit in her German pictures. I do not have her play silly little cuties. She plays real women, and plays them marvelously.'”[69]
Well, what does he mean by that? You may ask? Thereās something weird about that – Hitler banned the film because he didnāt like her, or that sort of woman I suspect, you donāt want to mess with right wingers, not if youāve got a brain worth using!
Here’s a nice picture of Louise Brooks I like š
I seen this one before,its called Stranger By the Lake
Its about these gay guys who hang out at a lake, but there’s a murderer on the loose! its ever such a good film, I saw it on TV a couple of times, I’d be tempted to buy it for my collection if its cheap enough, cos its so enjoyable. Unexpectedly really, cos I’m not so much into watching gay guys lolling about, but this movie just has it all – really good!
It reminds me of La Piscine
Which is also about people lolling about and getting murdered, cant go far wrong with that one either, but I think maybe the Stranger by the Lake does more with less? Though I couldn’t say one was better than the other.
Anyhow, I wasn’t going to mention La Piscine, but had to cos it came into my head, and its good too.
So, for my other of the “Couple of Good films” is this one, its called Everlasting Love
Ok, its another gay one, and this time, its one I haven’t actually seen, so I might be wasting time saying its good – thing is, I saw an advert for this years ago, must have been around the time it came out, and I thought “I’m going to see that one” Something about people doing naughty things in the woods really appeals to me! LOL Yeah, I’m that guy!
Anyhow, I saw the trailer, but I never got round to seeing it, then I forgot the title, and couldn’t find the link – then a few years ago I went scouring the net to find the title, but never did, but then today, I was on the film web site and just scrolled through the LGTB+FYI+WTF section, and soon enough, it came up! SO, I still wanna see it! As it happens, it says in the review that its in the vein of Stranger By The Lake – if its anything like as good, I’ll be happy!
I heard this article the other day about how people who have been off work for a while might be deranged, or rearranged by the experience, you know, as in lazy? Well its an interesting subject I think, and one which I feel obligated to write about, since I have experience of laziness – you see over the years I have been unemployed off and on. Its known that during the 80ās unemployment was high, and this left its mark on those involved – while those working in good well paid jobs at the time were off snorting coke and enjoying life on their yachts, or rather, struggling to attain that goal, others were sat around watching daytime TV and thinking āscrew it!ā
This phenomena is regarded by those in power as a real threat to the economy, I donāt think the current situation is really comparable, because back then, they made you feel like they didnāt want you, society I mean frowned on unemployed people, so it was confusing, you got to thinking āif they donāt like me, I donāt like themā and Why should I work anyhow? The deal sort of stinks a bit! I like doing creative stuff, and going to work still provides some sort of alternative to daytime TV, so really that was why I always returned to work. But after unemployment I wasnāt the same person as I had been before, now my attitude was less fearful rather than more – unemployment wasnāt an āunknownā
After a spell of unemployment in the 90ās, I went college and did art, got a degree, and other qualiās too, so now I can be creative at home without going to work, and yet I still find being a part of a workforce is a powerful thing, it makes you feel you belong, cos youāre doing what everyone else does, if your not doing that, say you spend all day doing art, and not bothering about what everyone else does for a living, and you just do that cos youāre such a grandiose person of great talent and moral superiority – or is that just another tangled question regarding status, related to employment all along? If I had never been to college, or been unemployed, would I now just be another worker, struggling to get that coke + yacht = lottery win?
Right now weāre in a situation where its do we go back to work and risk Covid death, or what? Just sit on our arses? Hmm, thats not something I can think through quickly!
Hereās as stupid unrelated 80s song that popped into my head for no reason!
exacticablog 