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17 August 2012

♫ Advertising Jingles

Brutus Jeans (takes me back, my favourites were Falmers) used this song in the mid-70s, really catchy feel-good tune with the words "When I wake up in morning light, I put on my jeans and I feel alright. I pull Brutus Jeans on, I pull my Brutus Jeans on..."

David Dundas subsequently released the full song which reached number 3 in the UK singles chart.



Other memorable advertising jingles (none of which were written by Charlie Harper) included Coca Cola's "I'd like to teach the world to sing" subsequently recorded by the New Seekers, "I'm a secret lemonade drinker" written by and featuring Elvis Costello's dad and, to finish, the brilliant Courage Best ads by Chas n Dave.




16 August 2012

♫ Radio On

Funny how one thing leads to another. I was listening to Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman (from the mid-1970s) and decided to share with Friends on Facebook.



My cousin commented that, coincidentally, he had also been listening Jonathan Richman as they are both playing at the same festival this weekend, so I looked it up.

I had never heard of the Green Man Festival even though it's massive and in its 10th year, held in the Brecon Beacons national park in Wales. Maybe if I had known about it earlier, I could have volunteered as a litter-picker ;)

They even have an on-line radio station, Green Man Radio and TV!

Recommended Music Blog: soundsandvision


14 August 2012

♫ The Good, The Bad and the Others ... Live Music at the Olympics

I didn't see all of it, but here is a round-up of the memorable parts of the London 2012 ceremony  (IMHO)

The Good

Getting straight to the point, The Who. Excellent performance.

Take That - and this is a major admission from someone who truly dislikes their style of music. However, by the time they took the stage, it was a pleasant change to hear in-tune singing.

One Direction - again, not my favourite style of music but very well delivered.

The Bad

Paul McCartney. If you listen to old tracks from Beatles and Wings albums, his voice was usually a bit shaky but did he not know that he couldn't deliver quality at the Olympic gig?

Ray Davies. Not quite so off-key as Sir Paul. Great song, poor delivery.

Liam Gallagher. What happened there? Had Nicola Adams punched him on the nose?

The Others

The Spice Girls sounded just as before (they lost it a bit when hanging on for dear life), Kaiser Chiefs performed a good enough rendition of Pinball Wizard, Annie Lennox was as professional as ever as was George Michael (though boring).

I was not impressed by Emeli Sandé, Russell Brand is not a singer, Jessie J should definitely NOT have attempted We Will Rock You. Brian May, brilliant as he is, cannot resurrect the dynamism of Queen without Freddy. Can't comment on Madness, Muse, Blur and some others as I missed those bits. Eric Idle - well, not really music but good fun.

The Absent

Freddy Mercury and John Lennon for obvious reasons but ... David Bowie?! Wasn't he invited or was he washing his hair?

Personally, I was pleased that Elton John and Cliff Richard were rested. I expect they would have been very competent though not very exciting.

And did I miss it or was there no inclusion of Lily Allen's LDN?