Wednesday 30 March 2011

Words & Music

I've said before that music is great because there is so much of it. I'm not contradicting myself but  lately I feel I can't possibly absorb all the music that I buy and appreciate it for what it is because there is so much of it. Do you know what I mean?

You see for me a good song is all about words, yeah the musics important too but words are far more important than some catchy tune that just sounds good. Don't get me wrong I do like tunes like that but they don't stick around and when you get to the porch they're gone on the wind. The ones that do stick around are the ones that talk about stuff that I relate to, places that I know, situations I've been in. Songs about stuff thats important to me like friends and our past,  throwing caution to the wind and not caring about the future and just valuing what we have now. Songs that tell stories about people and the way they live their lives. Maybe bad shit happens to them or maybe things work out but what I'm saying is that some real thought has gone into these lyrics.

I'd like to say that when I buy a new CD I turn it on and sit down with the lyric booklet and follow each song through. Unfortunately I don't have time for that, its a ritual I reserve only for the best but lately I feel that a lot of good music is slipping through the cracks, theres so much to buy that I barely get the chance to listen to it and take it in before I buy the next one so I think I really just need to cut myself off from buying and take a few hours somewhere just to catch up. This may sound a little over the top to some people but music is just one hobby of mine like anything else. Lying around listening to cd's is only the same as the guy who goes cycling through the countryside for a whole afternoon with the wind in his hair and the sun on his back. This is deep stuff, but it'll sink in.

The latest bands I've been listening to are the Dashboard Confessional, The Bouncing Souls and the Wallflowers fronted by none other than Jakob Dylan, yes Bob Dylan's son but I also discovered Brian Fallon's latest acoustic masterpiece of The Gaslight Anthem song 'Bring It On'. Thats my song of the blog this time around. Hope you take 3 minutes to listen because its incredibly soulful, he's just lost in his own little musical world from the first chord and thats kind of how I feel when I lie down and listen to these bands and songwriters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1zj0Ghz5PE&feature=related

Heres a cool picture of Brian Fallon that I found on the internet by someone called faap-de-oaid. A great drawing that really captures the soul that Brian sings with (If you're reading i hope you don't mind me posting your picture but I think its awesome!) Its currently the background on my laptop!




And finally....

Bryan Adams has announced a tour in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of his 'Waking Up The Neighbours' album. For the slim few of you reading that may like Bryan Adams I'd recommend seeing him live, in my opinion this is his best album and its a chance to see a lot of these songs performed. The album actually spawned the song 'Everything I Do (I Do It For You) (although that isn't the best song on the album). Get yourself a ticket I say, get yourself a ticket!