AKA Snail Convention (part 2)
Listening notes: hole up with an Onchidella celtica at a local pub and enjoy a slow session. Bring a fiddle, a penny whistle, an accordion or mandolin and join in.
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LGAS030 -
LGAS030 Listening notes: Snail Shell by They Might Be Giants (from the album John Henry, released 23 August 1994).
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LGAS029 Listening notes: select a version of Aztec Camera’s Oblivious (1983). Concentrate on the lyrics (do this from the safety of your own home, with the lights on, using speakers rather than headphones).
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LGAS028 Listening notes: Search out We Could Send Letters by Aztec Camera. It’s the B side of indie hit Just Like Gold 1981, Postcard Records, Scotland (POSTCARD81-3). Roddy Frame recorded this at the age of 16. I hadn’t heard it before tonight. I was looking for something from Postcard Records because I wanted to avoid anything too obvious (e.g. Treacherous by Britney Spears).
It’s a long and complex song with striking shifts in tone and tune. Stick with it. I liked the lyric “We’re making tracks/ that show our touch and go”. A bit like Michelle the snail.
The chorus is a real leap in melody, with lyrics “Just close your eyes again/ Until these things get better”. And then I heard the guitar solo, and that was perhaps even better.
ALI FINKS
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LGAS027 Listening notes: Listen to Procul Harum’s A Salty Dog (1969), enjoying a glass of the same
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LGAS026 Listening notes: Ladies Night by Atomic Kitten, or the original if you prefer.
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LGAS025 Listening notes: Listen to another Manx celebrity’s song Isle of Man, performed by George Formby for the 1935 film No Limit, filmed during the islands TT Race. It’s the aural equivalent of a dirty seaside postcard. To be endured if not enjoyed. Formby is also immortalised in a statue, near to the marina in Douglas.
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Coming, very soon -
LGAS024 Listening notes: Track down anything by 1970s Liverpool band Yachts while you are reading today’s post. Perhaps Suffice to Say, Yachting Types or Hypnotising Lies. Read about them a little, and their origins. Note the nautical names/ references in their history. Find the connections with Bill Drummond and wonder why you didn’t know this before. Write your reflections in the comments below.
GANTOB blog 