Song of the Day #2 - Traveling Wilburys - Handle With Care

For my generation of kids that grew up in the 80's the music cassette was still a big part of our everyday life. At that time there was a cassette player in every car, and one of the few cassettes in my parents car, that we hadn't taped form the radio, was the one with Traveling Wilburys. Every time I hear them now I get that safe, cosy feeling of going on a car trip with my parents, for instance for a summer holiday. The weather is nice, the nature outside is green and we are ready for some great adventure.

This music is perfect car music still for me, it slides along over the road like the car. Secondly what a group of people! It's bound to be quality when you put George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan in the same band! One of my favourite songs is "Handle with care", so that's today's Song of the Day. It's one of the songs on the record where all of the guys show of their talent in different parts; the beautiful leading voice of Harrison, the high notes of Orbison and the gritty in between by Dylan and Petty and Lynne. Hope you have some great memories with this one too or will make new ones now. And we all could use some summer in January.

Musical Memories: The Shangri-Las

When I grew up, my parents bought this amazing collection of double LPs of the history of rock'n'roll. We are talking 50 double albums here. It was brilliant to grow up with. I started with listening to a lot of the 60's pop up until I was about 10-12 and then progressed into the more gloomier part of the collection. One of the tracks that really caught my eye was Remember (walking in the sand) by The Shangri Las. And as time has progressed I have grown to love them more and more. They are the backstreet, crazy, raw, ruff and tuff version of The Supremes.

The fantastic changes in rhythm and arrangements and the feel of the thing really does it for me... It's so lovely gloomy, sad, desperate and melancholic, but at the same time the kind of melancholy that you just want to enjoy and soak in. You really feel for the poor gal and her hopeless destiny.

The most famous song is without a doubt The Leader of The Pack, and again there is the classic story about a bad boy, a good girl gone bad and her family. It's never been my favourite, but is a great pop tune.

A few years back I found a even sadder song by them: I Can Never Go Home Anymore, about a teenage girl who leaves her mother for a boy and never can go home. "Life is so lonely, like a child without a toy, and then a miracle and then - a boy". The storytelling of this songs is like any sad classic story we have heard in gypsy songs and similar.

And then the fantastic Past, Present and Future that has none other than a spoof of Beethovens moonlight sonata in the background. That's should say something about drama and gloom!

Musical Memories: DumDum Boys - SUS

Obs, det var her vi var
Vel, hurra for det
Teddyfor i hue og vrient lynne

Time for another of my musical memories: those songs or albums that just brings you back to a certain time in your life and you can almost feel the air from back then around you.

For me one of this magic moments are connected to the Norwegian band DumDum Boys album SUS. I have it on cd, but I am a lazy one these days and listen to most of my music through Spotify, so I have waited for a long time for that album to be released on Spotify. A lot of people doesn't really like this DumDum album, I think. But I simply love the sound of it. It has great guitar riffs (all through the album), exciting arrangements (Texas/Møkkamann), sounds and effects and cool rhythms (Nå er Nå). DumDum Boys is almost always great when it comes to pure rock'n'roll and great lyrics, but this has something extra. And I also think it's quite amazing that it came out in 1996. It's somehow very adventures for it's time and just before the years when some of my favourite new and adventurous albums from the late 90's came out, but I mean this is Norway..! I just think it's a little treasure. Not to mention the strange fact that it was recorded in Australia.

I haven't listened to the album in several years now, but it's amazing when you find music that you have for some reason loved in your life, and you still remember every line of lyric and they are still great. It brings me back to being 17 in my mother's basement. I can almost smell the sound of the walls. Looking forward to have this as my background music while I work on Monday.

SuS on Spotify
Wikipedia
Home page for DumDum Boys

Musical memories: Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song

Every year I am always afraid of loosing the Christmas spirit before I actually get to Christmas itself. I don't want to be so sick an tired of Christmas that when it finally comes I won't feel a thing and just think that I hope it's over soon. I had a golden Christmas moment a few weeks ago when it was snowing, I listened to the first Christmas music of the year. I was on my way home from work on a bus and all the beautiful Christmas decorations and lights of Oslo was up. Somewhere between there and now, I lost it again. I thought it would help to come home to my mother's where I always celebrate Christmas and me and my boyfriend went home by train through a fantastic winter wonderland. But still nothing. A few hours after I came home I got a terrible cold and for the last 4 days I have had no Christmas feeling at all. But today my friends.. Today I have changed from being a sick little gal myself and into a nurse for my darling, who not surprisingly has the same bug as me. We are hopeing my mother doesn't get it too.

The three of us had a lovely Christmas lunch and after that I opened the chest and started to dig into the Christmas decorations. And then slowly, as I put every little ornament in it's place, half of it stuff I made in school over the years, it started to sneak up on me. Me and my mother laughed at the funny Santa we have that plays blues when you move him and a new Nisse got a new spot at the piano. Now I am really looking forward to going to go into the cold beautiful forest tomorrow and and getting the tree, and then, as I am decorating the tree, I am gonna listen to the greatest Christmas songs of all, in my mind: Nat King Cole's version of The Christmas Song.

You can listen to it here, and as you might notice, I have written about that experience before.

15 albums of my life

This is really a facebook thing, but since I wanted to share it with all of you, I put it here, and this will also end up in facebook notes, so all is good :)


Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world. When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!


---------------------------------

As chronological as possible

A-Ha - Hunting High and Low
This is the first album I remember buying at the age of 6 and I totally loved it. It was the perfect clever pop-synth of a 6 year old. Still love the album

Guns n' Roses - Use the illusion I
I think this started my craziness for guitars and guitar solos. Amazing rock album and I still love it. November Rain is still one of the greatest albums ever made. Perfect for a 12 year old :)

Nirvana - Live in NY MTV acoustic
This changed the whole way me and all my generation looked on music I think, though we didn't heard about Nirvana before Kurt was dear, I think ;)

Aerosmith - Living on the Edge
Oh, how we loved Crazy and Cryin'. Record listening and taping of videos onto vhs when I was 14.

The September When - Hugger Mugger
Opened my eyes for the great Norwegian band The September When and made me go out and buy everything they ever made and obsessively love it forever and know all the lyrics. Nice for a 15 year old.

Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill
Girlpower in a cool way not the stupid spice girl way. Lovely for a 16 year old.

Blur - Blur
This album opened my head and ears to a whole musical world. I had never heard anything like the guitar on Essex Dogs, and still love it.

R.E.M - New Adventures in Hi-Fi
Started my relationship with R.E.M. I loved this album and we liked it so much that we even used it for a theatre performance, how advantage of us ;)

Radiohead - Ok Computer
Amazing, mind numbing, and so so filled with love on all levels.

Kent - Isola
Bought on a Swedish gas station outside Gothenburg on the way to Praha by bus with my high school senior class. Listened to it all the way there and back. Turned out to be the foundation of a friendship a few years later.

Jeff Buckley - Grace
So beautiful, so clever, so sad. Bought in Poland on another study trip and listened to all the way home.

Elliott Smith - XO
Not sure if this was the first one I bought of Elliott, but I pretty soon loved all his stuff and this is one of the albums I love most of all.

Travis - The Invisible Band
Remember buying it and sitting on the train station and thinking how much I loved ever song.. Amazing :) Sparked my whole love for Travis.

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not Amazing energy and cool guitars and vocals. Just a very very good debut album

The Raconteurs-Broken Boy Soldiers /Consolers of the Lonely Bought these two at ones. Lovely nice to the soul, deep, blues sound from the heart. listened to this all through the summer of 2008.

Musical Memories: The Smiths - There is a light that never goes out

Back in the early days of the internet, when IRC was the cool thing and long before mp3's an American that I randomly talked to sent me two songs of a band I had never heard before. The songs where "There is a light that never goes out" and " How soon is now" by The Smiths. Little did I know how legendary these two songs all ready were in the world and how they still are. I just remember totally falling in love with the lyrics of There is a light that never goes out and also the melody and the softness of Morrissey's voice. This lyrics was written for a person of about 16 years old with all it's dreams of never ending love and the naivety of that. It's somehow really tragic, but also about teenage love. At least I felt so. I half wanted to be the person in that, half was glad I didn't die like that. This was before I heard more songs of The Smiths and realized something really irritating, but I still love the softness of the voice and the lyrics.

Take me out tonight
Where theres music and theres people
And theyre young and alive
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I havent got one
Anymore

Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people and i
Want to see life
Driving in your car
Oh, please dont drop me home
Because its not my home, its their
Home, and Im welcome no more

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I dont care
I dont care, I dont care
And in the darkened underpass
I thought oh god, my chance has come at last
(but then a strange fear gripped me and i
Just couldnt ask)

Take me out tonight
Oh, take me anywhere, I dont care
I dont care, I dont care
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I havent got one, da ...
Oh, I havent got one

And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Oh, there is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out

Musical Memories: Marie Fredriksson - Sparvöga

When I was about nine there was a Swedish TV-series about a girl that they called Sparvöga (Sparrow's eye) on TV. I do not remember at all what the series was about but it made a big impression on me then and even more so the theme song. For about 20 years now I have been walking around humming this tune from time to time. I had totally forgotten to search for it at YouTube and of course it was there. It's in Swedish, but even if you don't understand the lyrics, the whole melody of the song and the feel of it is so amazing that I am sure you will enjoy it.

Musical Memories & Great Musicians: Last Christmas (Wham) - Graham Choo

As Christmas is fast approaching, I think one of the most classic Christmas songs of my childhood is "Last Christmas" by Wham. (Yes, kids. That used to be the band of George Michael and some guy that everyone forgot-)

I was looking for an alternate cover of the song and I found tons of them. One of the greatest was this one by Graham Choo . He does a classic guitar version of it. Really well done and makes me think that I have to practice guitar more like that too ;)

Enjoy :)

Musical memories: The Snowman - I am walking in the air

Since Christmas is soon approaching I give you one of my fondest Christmas memories. I love this song and this animation film when I was a child. For a few years they didn't show it on NRK (Norwegian National TV station) on Christmas eve and I thought it was really sad. I had such amazing memories from seeing it as a child. And then a few years ago I saw it again and it's truly amazing. I am sorry that the movie is in such bad quality but it was the only one I found with the original song. Do you remember this? Was it popular around the world? The movie is called "The Snowman", and this is just a part of the whole movie.

Musical memories: Chris Rea - Tell Me There's a Heaven

This song I found when I was about 13 in my father's record collection and it still touches me. It's very over the top, but still it's quite cute. It's something in Chris Rea's voice that is comforting in a way and cliches are always true, so it's quite cute :) Look here

Musical memories: Radiohead - 2+2=5

After two albums filled with quite a few strange and surprising, yet quite wonderful leaps and bounces, I found myself sitting at 12 o'clock at night in my mother's living room with Radiohead's 6th album "Hail to the thief". It was quite dark in the room, I had cigarettes and ashtray ready and I had just acclaimed to my mother : "I am extremely sorry mother, but I just gotta listen to this, and I gotta do it now."

I was very anxious as I put the cd in the cd-player and silently crossed my fingers in my mind hoping that there would be some rock on this two. Kid A and Amnesiac had been great album, but I had kind of missed Radiohead the rock album.

I pushed play and 2 + 2 = 5 started. I was instantly thrilled. The first rumbling chords and then the great first riff that glides along in 7/8 promising that something else will soon happen. In the background, small climpering noises just painting the whole photo. Then they seemingless goes into 7/8 and it's like they are stretching it further and further before... KABOOOM... Oh yes, that was rock for you. That whole build up still gives me goose bumps. And then suddenly... we fall through another rabitt whole and is suddenly into some psycho 60's rock theme, and just when that is getting boring. They cut away half the instruments before coming back in full speed. By the 3. theme I was rocking half sitting, jumping on the floor. I of course as always had to use about 6 more listenings before I developed my usual love for the rest of the album, but 2+2=5 will always be a favorite of mine. I think it also be my favorite album starter of all time. Genius.

And here it is of course:
Great live from Letterman
That O'Brian CAN sing :)



Live on Later!

Observe Colin's jumping, that they all walk backwards at the KABOOM that I mentioned before,



(Personal highlights for very dedicated fans: Thom's screaming of "screaming" at 1.40, 2.55 the gutiar that stops and starts- great sound cuting going on there, and the naaaat, naaat in the end).

Musical memories: Alanis Morisette - Unsent

Me and my friend was just talking about how songs can get connected to the different boys you have been in love with and what you felt at the moment. I have A LOT of these kinds of songs I found out. SO.. I'll just start of with one that is actually about all Alanis X boyfriends and I even used a part of it to explain to a boy once why we couldn't be together. I am not gonna tell you what part, but it still brings tears to my eyes when I hear it. So, here you are.

Musical Memories: The Wannadies

In the series of music that has meant a lot to me at some time during my life, and still do, I give you The Wannadies. I think I might have discovered The Wannadies back in 1998 at the same time almost as Kent. I remember walking down to a huge mall right next to where I used to have my piano lessons and buying "Bagsy Me". I think I must have heard You & Me song before that on radio or maybe in the Romeo and Juliet movie. What a movie soundtrack that is... (Lovefool - The Cardigans, Kissing you - Desree and Exit music (for a film) - Radiohead among others). When I listen to The Wannadies now, it kind of gives me a feeling of being 19 again (I was young once too ... hehe) and it really takes me back. The Wannadies also was the other band that made me become friends with my Kent-friend, that I have mentioned for you before.

The Wannadies sound Swedish in a way I think. I can't really explain why. They are basically just pure rock'n'roll and works well when you are really excited, mad or happy, because it has so much energy. Below I give you some of my favorite songs of them. And oh, yes, I love the videos too :)

Skin



You & Me song


Hit

Musical Memories: Kent

More photos here

My relation to Kent started all the way back in about 1997. I must have heard the single "If you where here /Om du vär her" somewhere and on our class trip to Praha we drove through Sweden. The song somehow summed up the whole feeling of being away from someone you love. I had a long-distance-byfriend at the time, so I really identified with it. On a gass station somewhere in Sweden I bought my first Kent record "Isola". I listened to the cd all the way to Praha and back and was utterly hooked on all the great guitar melodies, the lovely vocal of Jocke and his great lyrics and what I have found out later is that special Kent rhytm. it's the same in all their songs and very very Kent, and makes it good no matter what they do. It's a kind of slow groovy 4/4. Kent later released the album in english and I still can't belive that such a great album can sound that horrible in just another language. No sir, Kent it English does not work at all for me.

In 1999 came Hagnesta Hill with some, if not the, greatest lyrics of Kent. At the same time, I started University and at some point in 2000 I was standing outside the institute of theatre and music and started talking to a girl. In a few minutes we realized that we both loved both Kent and The Wannadies and was utterly thrilled that there were someone else in the world that knew about this great music and loved it at much. This became the foundation of a great friendship that still has a strong flavor of the common love of great music.

I saw Kent for the frist time in this periode somehow... I do not really remember when, and in might even have been later. I was just a few meters awway from the stage and it was great. Mew also did the warm-ups so we also discovered another great rock-band that night. Ah,.. I found it now... May 2002. I also saw them again the same summer when I was at the Quart festival. This turned out to be the greatest year so far when it comes to sucess for Kent in Norway. In October 2002 they actually played the biggst stage in Oslo , Spektrum, for 8000 people. At this time the hype started to kill my Kent-feeling, because half of the people there was just there to sing along with the monster-hits from the album that was released that year "Vapen & Ammunition". I was quite happy when they said "Let's play some old rock'n'roll" and did the song " Kräm". Then you could see all the "new-comers" get shocked and all of us "oldies" jumping violently.

Here is Kräm (it's still one of my favorite songs):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py9c079V3Dg

That whole hype of 2002 killed my Kent interesst for some time. I just couldn't help it. I know it's very stuck up and posh and anything to not like things when they are to hyped, but I am just like that. When people has to many opinions on what I should think of a certain song or band or cd I can't listen to it... I just have to wait...

So ... I haven't actually really listened to the two latest Kent Albums... The fact that one of the bands to guitarplayers left the band also contributed to me not wanna listen to them because I have always love the guitars of Kent so.. It has been a bit sad, but I just couldn't. About a few weeks ago though my friend sendt me a great link. It was a summer calender of Kent clips from their new studio, so I had to watch, and the more I watch them I realize that I have missed them, so now I think it's about time to really dig into those two last albums that I haven't really listened to.... I think it might be time now to refind old long lost love... hehe ;)


Om du var här (with english subtitles): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VAKCjZ4AkM

Vinter 02 (One of the greatest music videoes and greatest guitar-tunes of all time): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uYa8gWs2rE

Kärleken väntar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veew6nzWDCU


Kents channel on YouTube where you can see and listen to a lot about them :
http://www.youtube.com/kentchannel

Kent's official homepage : http://www.kent.nu/

Musical memories: Guns N' Roses

In about 1992 a new kind of music hit me. Up till then I had been listening to a lot of a-ha and pop stuff basically. But then i discovered Guns N' Roses. We was a few years behind here in the countryside of Norway so Nirvana didn't hit until just before Cobain died, at least not me. So we also got to hear Guns N' a little bit late. I think my fetish with wanting to play guitar might have started when I heard Slash play and was reinforced by hearing Jimi Hendrix the year later, and Bryan Adams, but more about that some other time.

I remember listening to Don't Cry and November Rain in long nights thinking about cute boys in school and rocking to Sweet Child of mine... Wait a second... Bon Jovi must have been before all this... hm... Ok, so I might actually have got that guitar thing from Richie?? That's a bit frightening. Let's stick with Slash for now. I remember my friend had a huge crush on him, and I just loved that guitar playing... I saw him live as a part of Velvet Revolver a few years back, and though it wasn't Guns N' Roses, it was still quite special. A childhood.. Well, early teenager... hero.

So i give you November Rain.. The song with two guitar-solos. It's almost like a small opera or something.. :



And for some rock n' roll :