Liberal Burblings

Archive for the ‘Pop music’ Category

Paul Gambaccini’s comments on the death of Michael Jackson have been very interesting, particularly in relation to the planned 50 concerts at the O2 over the next eight months:

I’m sorry, of course, I’m stunned but I can’t say I’m really shocked because I had feared some kind of negative health result from these dates…I never thought he would be able to do them all because he was a 50-year-old man with a poor recent health history and to think he could subject his body to this vigour was unrealistic.

I’m just a few months younger than Michael Jackson. It has always amazed me how he has managed to defy time, in many respects, up until his untimely and very sad death yesterday, that is. While I have been ravaged as normal by anno domini, Jackson remained looking like a teenager.

With hindsight the following is easy to say. But it is absolutely staggering that anyone realistically thought that Jackson would complete 50 dates at the O2. At the age of 50 (and I am nearly there) it is unrealistic to expect yourself to do fifty anything, let alone fifty stage dates at the O2. I remember watching the Scissor Sisters at the O2. It’s a huge arena and the shows tend to be very technically complex. The Scissors Sisters’ lead singer, Jake Shears, is very fit but he went through enormous physical strain during the concert with all that leaping about and dancing. At the end he had sweat pouring off him. Jake Shears is 30 and he only did three concerts at the O2, albeit as part of a world tour.

It seems that, sadly, at last time has caught up with Michael Jackson but it seems very hard to believe that, had he lived, he would have been able to complete any but a small number of the planned O2 concerts. Indeed, reports suggest that even Jackson doubted his ability to do the dates.

But, as I say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Last night was an unusual but enjoyable New Year’s Eve for us. We spent the four hours in the run-up to midnight on the M4. I think we passed more rabbits than cars. Radio 1 did a fantastic New Year’s Eve hits mix. It really was exceptional. Brilliantly selected tunes, fantastically well mixed. (And no adverts, of course, due to the unique way the BBC is funded…) And a superb sound tapestry at midnight. By that time we were a few yards from home and saw in the New Year parked on the edge of Stroud Green, Newbury, watching the various fireworks displays that were occurring. We always have an eye for a bargain!

Hard on the heels of the Norfolk Blogger, Richard Younger-Ross has tabled an EDM calling on the BBC to insist on changes to the Eurovision voting system or to withdraw from the contest.

Tonight’s Radio Four PM featured news of an academic study on Eurovision voting patterns by Derek Gatherer. He has identified at least three distinct voting blocs – the Balkans, the former Eastern European USSR states and the Scandanavian countries. I will put aside an hour or so to study his thesis! It is called a “Comparison of Eurovision Song Contest Simulation with Actual Results reveals shifting patterns of Collusive Voting Alliances”.

I was saddened to read in the Telegraph* that Bobby “Boris” Pickett has died. It takes skill to come up with a record (i.e “Monster Mash”) which is played frequently 45 years after it is issued. I played it last Haloween to my daughter. I often played it (usually from the original 45rpm disc) when I was a radio deejay. Saying “Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers” always tested my limited skills of speech. Apparently Mr Pickett used to say that, although that one record didn’t make him rich, it “paid (his) rent for 36 years”.

Of course, Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s greatest contribution to civilisation was the wonderful line:

Whatever happened to my Transylvanian Twist?

*I didn’t buy it – it was on the coffee table at the local gym.

I suppose it had to happen sooner or later. The Mail on Sunday are giving away a free CD of the original Tubular Bells this week. I seem to remember reading a comment by Jonathan King that the composer/performer of these CDs gets circa £1 million from this sort of issue. So it is nice to know that the old multi-instrumentalist won’t have to check around the cushions of his sofa for odd coopers for the forseeable future. What a shame Viv ‘slightly distorted’ Stanshall isn’t alive to enjoy some of the proceeds!

I don’t often listen to Bells in its entirety these days. A few months ago, however, I was delayed in traffic going to Heathrow and put it on. I listened to side one without moving forward in the traffic jam! It was great to hear it again and the Viv Stanshall-narrated piece certainly stood out as the apotheosis of the work.

The Mail on Sunday CD business is all a long way from the day when my brother bought one of the first copies of Tubular Bells. That was in the days when Virgin Records was a direct mail record company which advertised in Melody Maker and NME. I can remember the adverts which listed all their records with the numbers of the albums. I used to be able to recite the first ten Virgin records.

But the years have taken their toll on my memory and I cannot find a list on the web. I remember that Tubular Bells was the first release and had the number 001. I am not sure if there was a prefix like “V” or “VS”. Tangerine Dream with “Phaedra” were certainly in the first ten, and may even have been number three (?). I am a bit misty on the others. I think Captain Beefheart was perhaps number two. Henry Cow? Faust? I think they were in there somewhere. Any ideas from those with better memories than me?