To mark the start of the third year of Living To Music, this is the first time an artist has been selected for the second session. I felt it right that the distinction goes to Pink Floyd given that their 1973 classic, ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’, which featured back in September 2010, garnered more comments than any other previous selection
It’s almost 2 years since Living To Music was launched with Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ in August 1st 2010. Since then it’s been a key feature of the blog and pretty successful in fulfilling its basic objective, which is to help get people to sit down and listen to music, as opposed to treating it as something in the background. It’s also spun-off ‘Classic Album Sundays’, which has gone from strength to strength in recent times, and is even holding sessions in the US now
Like so many of my generation I was transfixed to my TV screen exactly 40 years ago today, when David Bowie performed ‘Starman’ on Top Of The Pops, and Ziggy Stardust, the singer’s alter ego, burst ever so brashly into public consciousness, ushering in a new era for Pop music.
This Sunday (July 1st) at 9pm, you’re invited to share a listening session with some likeminded souls, wherever you might be. This can be experienced either alone or communally, and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home to participate. I bought my first Parliament record, a 7” import copy of ‘P Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up)’, at a record shop called Rox, which was in Birkenhead, a short bus journey from where I lived in New Brighton. It was March 1976 and I’d just turned 16 – I’d started my first club residency at the Chelsea Reach the previous December, where I played every Saturday, and was now also working at the nearby Penny Farthing for a full-on 5 nights per week. It was at the Penny that I’d started my first Funk night, every Monday.
This Sunday (June 3rd) at 9pm, you’re invited to share a listening session with some likeminded souls, wherever you might be. This can be experienced either alone or communally, and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home to participate. Only the 2nd live recording selected for Living To Music, ‘Stop Making Sense’ is the soundtrack to a brilliantly original stage performance, which is available on DVD and highly recommended.
This Sunday (May 6th) at 9pm, you’re invited to share a listening session with some likeminded souls, wherever you might be. This can be experienced either alone or communally, and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home to participate. Described by Lloyd Bradley, the author of 'Bass Culture' as 'one of the supreme heavyweight champion dub sets', melodica player / keyboardist, Augustus Pablos, get's the full dub treatment from one of its founding fathers, King Tubby.
This Sunday (April 1st) at 9pm, you’re invited to share a listening session with some likeminded souls, wherever you might be. This can be experienced either alone or communally, and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home to participate. Portishead are part of a Bristolian bass lineage that also includes Massive Attack, Tricky, The Wild Bunch and Smith & Mighty, who, between them, stirred up groove cauldrons of Hip Hop, Funk, Electro, Soul, Jazz, Dub and Lovers Rock, with a pinch of Punk thrown in for good measure, distilling a unique British flavour that could only have come from this city.
I originally became aware of Fleetwood Mac via their chart topping single 'Albatros' (1969), an almost ambient instrumental opus that had your senses surfing on an ethereal wave of sound - band founder Peter Green's hauntingly understated guitar a joy to behold.
Since scaling the dizzy heights between 1965-1970, with partner in harmony Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon’s solo career, despite a strong start, had gradually stalled from the mid-70’s onward and, by the 80’s he was pretty much regarded as a name from the past who, like other names from the past, continued to release LP’s that no longer caught the public’s interest. His album prior to ‘Graceland’, 1983’s ‘Hearts And Bones’, was considered a commercial flop (although it would receive retrospective critical acclaim) and, with the weight of failure on his shoulders, it looked like his best work was well behind him.
As we enter 2012 I thought this would be the ideal Living To Music choice to kick off the year, especially given that the first Sunday in January is also the first day of a new year. This highly acclaimed and much-loved 1989 LP, which perfectly caught the mood of the times, provides us with the opportunity to re-visit the past, whilst looking ahead to the summer. When an announcement was made earlier this year, that The Stone Roses are to re-form for 2 shows at Manchester’s Heaton Park in June 2012 (with a 3rd later added), there was genuine intrigue and anticipation. This wasn’t a case of another comeback cash-in, but something more symbolic. If ever there was a band with unfinished business to accomplish, it’s The Stone Roses.
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