Emeli Sande Clyde Auditorium Glasgow 6th November 2012

As her Our Version of Events has gone double platinum and the top selling album of the year in 2012, Emeli (once known as Adele) took to the Auditorium stage as if wrapped in a golden glow from her massive debut year and as if she cant’ quite believe it!  In July she sang the haunting Welsh song Abide With Me at the Olympic ceremonies London which must have been a truly daunting experience for a new singer.. as she walked out to that solo mic.  

Sande has a big smile and golden hairstyle to match her big voice and songs. Exuberant and effortless, Emeli sang of Hope, My kind of Love and Next To Me – her positive feel good messages. Emeli now has a bigger band (with three guitarists, two drummers, and backing vocalists) and started with a very good arrangement of her quality song Daddy. She sang a Nina Simone song of her biggest musical influences, How It feels to be Free

During her set she spoke of her support here in Glasgow and of those who first saw her perform at the Oran Mor, five years ago. And yes I was lucky enough to have been there!  It has been wonderful to follow her success story and to see how she has developed as an artist.  

Her Set – Daddy, Tiger, This is Where I Sleep, Breaking the Law, two new songs, My Kind of Love, Nina Simone’s How It feels to be Free, Read all About It, Wonder, Climb Mountains, Heaven, Next to Me,

Sande says ‘I love the buzz performing in front of a live audience. There really isn’t anything quite like it.’

Emeli has responded to my requests with personal messages and she comes across as genuine. She also has depth of character and integrity which comes over in her music.

Proceeds of the concert went to Nordoff Robbins music therapy.

Are There Real Artists on the X Factor 2012?

What’s happened to the X Factor 2012? We now have real artists as judges - Gary Barlow successful songwriter from Take That, American singer Nicole Scherzinger, singer Talisha - apart from Louis Walsh (Westlife) who is beginning to look and sound like a musical dinosaur – rather than the A & R Label executives as it once was.

The show now even has some ‘credible’ artists on who have clearly been singing and doing music for years.  

Looking back at sixties reality tv show Opportunity Knocks the talent show was very amateurish then. What really is the difference between a manager developing new talent in London and one of these shows?

X Factor 2012.

Ella and Jehmene are both very good singers. James has true grit though and I always look for quality in a voice, and his voice has that X-tra factor! He also has character and musical intelligence about him and even a bit of attitude, always a good thing. 

One drawback these days is everything new in music simply feels too pre-ordained, perfectly synchronized, planned and worked on where nothing is left to chance.... Well yes as always its good to work hard and make careful preparations but sometimes it just feels too clinical like there are no new roads to take, no new challenges for our ears! Sometimes being an artist is about finding your own path, in the hard knocks path of life rather than being taken by the hand in the classroom. Everyone is trying so hard to make 'pleasing' tunes. But that's really not the point.

I do dislike the way these shows manipulate and then discard young people.

Art should question and offer something new, new challenges. I'm supporting James Arthur on X Factor. The trouble with the X Factor tv show is, it makes music now 'all about the voice' and the musicianship gets lost.

London Music

I look through NME 2012 ( or Q also) and I am so bored of the music coming out from the London labels these days – the predictable rock bands, samey pop for the tweeny market, and the introspectiveness of the guitar singer songwriter. There is little original. it is all to a preset formula - like a recipe that worked before and saying ‘well let’s just stick with what we know will sell.’ It is boring and samey.

Any true creativity offering something new never happens in the mainstream but rather in the peripheral edges.

There are the performers - Let Me Entertain You Robbie - and then is there is the real side of art and music the writers and creatives and that interests me.

As Joni Mitchell said, you can’t start out wanting to be both.  Elton, Carly Simon, Dylan and Emeli Sande all started out as writers and later were performers also.

Emeli Sande heads back up the UK Album Charts

Scottish singer songwriter, Emeli Sande heads back up the UK Album Charts - After performing at the Olympic closing ceremony Emeli Sande heads back up the UK album charts with her debut album Our Version of Events. I have followed Emeli’s (she was known as Adele oddly back in 2007) music career since she attended medical school here in Glasgow and I took photos of her ep launch gig Oran Mor in 2007.  She hails from Aberdeenshire. I have a selection of images from her gigs here in Glasgow at King Tuts, Oran Mor and Old Fruitmarket the past 5 years here -  http://www.musicfootnotes.com/2012/03/emeli-sande-photos-2006-to-2011.html

Emeli sang Lennon's Imagine at the Olympic Closing ceremony.

Emeli Sande sang Welsh song 'Abide With Me' London Olympic Opening ceremony

 

Emeli Sande sang a haunting version of the Welsh song 'Abide With Me' at the London Olympic Opening ceremony which was very moving and a tribute to the victims of terrorism in recent years. Oddly American station NBC decided to cut the segment in favour of an interview.

 http://deadspin.com/5929778/heres-the-opening-ceremony-tribute-to-terrorism-victims-nbc-doesnt-want-you-to-see

On  Saturday when Jessica Annis won her gold medal for the heptathlon they played Emeli’s songs River.

Sande's debut album Our Version of Events has gone double platinum.  

MY EMELI SANDE Photos - http://pkimage.co.uk/fEmeliSande 

SEE ALSO: Opening Ceremony Choreographer "Disheartened And Disappointed" NBC Cut His Entire Performance Out Of Their Broadcast
NBC Responds: We Removed The Opening Ceremony Memorial To Terrorism Victims Because The Tribute Wasn't About America
NBC Also Edited Out A Tribute Featuring Two Dead U.S. Servicemen From Their Opening Ceremony Broadcast

Music Photography

Broken  Records Queens Hall

Mumford  ABC Glasgow

Viking Galaxy Classic Grande

Michael Marra

Sometimes at gigs something magic happens…. the audience is really up for it, as are the musicians on the stage.  It is as if it all comes together in that one time and place. And it is at these rare gigs that I am able to  get a good position and shot unobtrusively for the entire gig – and I am not restricted to those ridiculous 3 songs (which I know matter for the bigger stages).  The trouble with restrictions is it creates a ‘manic’ grab for photographers while it can be an adrenaline rush. Also I am not sure it’s the best situation for portfolio images or a quality photoshoot. Sometimes.

I got into music photography by chance. I took some photos at a gig several years ago and realised I had a talent for capturing the right moments. While I should add I have studied art and portraiture many years, so perhaps photography is a natural progression. Also as I am a huge music fan it made sense for me and music is my motivation - from Mozart to pop.

Snowpatrol Bellahouston

Lana Del Rey 'National Anthem' Video

Lana has released artwork for her forthcoming video for her single National Anthem. She has a very unique style and she likes her music to be about the images too. The video is set to see Lana taking on the role of Jackie O with rapper A$AP Rocky playing John F. Kennedy. Del Rey cited the video as "definitely the most beautiful thing" she's ever done. As of June 29, 2012, it has garnered over one and a half million views.

REVIEW What Culture -http://whatculture.com/music/lana-del-rey-national-anthem-music-video-review.php - It’s actually really really sad and a truly stunning video (especially the end monologue) – it is all about nostalgia, memories, life, love and loss. I preferred the more upbeat demo version of National Anthem originally but I think this video makes the most of the new more forlorn version and bolsters it upwards. Will it set the charts alight…if it does provide a breakthrough then it is much deserved. Get ready for the Summertime Sadness video soon but in the meantime, rejoice in a national anthem that everyone can actually remember the words to.  Stars, stripes and serenading the President are all in a day’s work for the 2012′s First Lady of Pop as she delivers another note-worthy all-American visual.

Born to Die has sold more than 1.4 million copies worldwide. It peaked at number one in Greece, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other European countries.

Del Rey's music has been noted for its cinematic sound and its references to various aspects of pop culture, particularly that of 1950s and '60s Americana. The singer has been described as a "self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra" and cites many contemporary artists such as Elvis Presley,Britney Spears, Nina Simone, Nirvana, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, and Antony and the Johnsons amongst her musical influences.

Del Rey possesses a wide contralto vocal range, which has been described as unique, captivating and highly emotive, being able to transcend from sounding high and girlish in her timbre, down to a low and jazzy sound with great ease, although both these areas of the voice can be conflicting in their sound and polarise opinion. 
http://youtu.be/60cvtxwlJr8

Eclectic Taste in Music

I was wondering about this - why I have eclectic taste in music and why it is that many people like to focus on only one or two genres of music. I believe I perhaps I have broad tastes in music because of my own personal journey in music. 

I started piano lessons when I was seven and the focus then was on simple tunes and then musical and national tunes. I sang in school and church choirs -  sometimes Burns songs. Eventually I moved on to classical pieces - such as Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. In my teens I got very into pop music - from Motown, The Beatles, The Stones, Cream and more. I played Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Elton John on the piano. In my twenties I got involved with the 'folk scene' in Edinburgh and enjoyed traditional reels and unaccompanied and harmony singing.  

I enjoy all the genres and I wouldn't want to have to choose between them!

However for some 'music' is about their image of themselves - how cool or otherwise they see themselves. For me it's' about music or voices that move me and what makes a good song or melody.

There are great folk tunes and fairly boring folk tunes; there are also great pop songs and boring pop songs; there are great classical pieces and dull classical pieces of music; there are energizing rock gigs and dull rock gigs too. I get annoyed on Wikipedia or elsewhere when I read the music snobs who think pop music is only for young people and only for commercial reasons... and that by contrast all classical or jazz music is wonderful.   

Sometimes it is the simple song that we remember, the endearing folk song that moves us or the classical piano sonata that touches our heart.        

Loss of Robin Gibb

The Enduring Songs of the Bee Gees

For a while ‘disco’ went out of fashion and so did the Bee Gees songs. They drew a lot of attention for their songs for the cult movie Saturday Night Fever in 1977 (Night Fever, More Than A Woman, Jive Talking, You Should be Dancing) and also for the movie Staying Alive in 1983.

But the caricature of Travolta in his white suit, while successful did little for the Bee Gees image, as Disco fever became passé with the advent of punk.

And so the Bee Gees began writing songs for other artists – the incredible ‘Islands in the Stream’ was covered by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rodgers. Yet check the BeeGees own version which I much prefer.

I first heard the Bee Gees songs when Massachusetts, How Deep is Your Love, Gotta Get a Message To You were played at the end of Disco dance nights and I thought the close harmonies and powerful emotions of the songs really stood out.

If you check their back catalogue they have written so many unforgettable songs. Recently on YouTube I discovered some amazing clips from a concert the Bee Gees did in Las Vegas in 1997.  

Just two weeks back I found this song they wrote for Celine Dion ‘Immortality’, yet again I thought wow. 

They always knew the heart of the song, and they never over sang or over played their songs. Robin Gibb sang  Massachusetts and he had an awesome falsetto voice. He was such a great and unassuming talent.

(Robin's twin Maurice died in 2003. Robin is survived by older brother Barry Gibb.)

The Bee Gees have sold in excess of 200 million records worldwide. At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Their most popular composition is "How Deep Is Your Love", with 400 versions by other artists in existence.
Among the artists who have covered their songs are Ardijah, Michael Bolton, Boyzone, Eric Clapton, Billy Corgan, Destiny's Child, Faith No More, Feist, The Flaming Lips, Al Green, Jinusean, Elton John, Tom Jones, Janis Joplin, Lulu, Elvis Presley, Nina Simone, Percy Sledge, Robert Smith, Take That, and John Frusciante. The band's music has also been sampled by dozens of hip hop artists.

Celine Dion ‘Immortality’

Fyfe Dangerfield

Admiral Fallow Photos King Tuts

I took photos of this up and coming Scottish band Admiral Fallow at King Tuts Glasgow - and I noticed how much fun they were having on stage. Oddly.  I was checking through my images of new Scottish musicians and posted this blog last night  - and low and behold they are releasing their second album "Tree Bursts In Snow" Monday 21st and getting good reviews. I'm getting psychic now!?  
Admiral Fallow formed in 2007 and is led by singer song-writer Louis Abbott and based in Glasgow. They write and perform folk/ pop. Their first album “Boots Met My Face” was released in the UK and worldwide in 2011. Their song "Squealing Pigs" was  used on NBC's Chuck, featured in a commercial and was performed live on BBC television's Hogmanay Live 2011.In July 2009 the band headlined the Sunday night T Break stage at T in the Park. They have also played at the Wee Chill, Rockness, Loopallu Festival and Insider festivals. The band has supported many artists - including Guillemots, King Creosote, the Futureheads, Paolo Nutini, Frightened Rabbit, Belle and Sebastian, The Low Anthem. In 2011 the band played a UK headline tour and also attended Austin, Texas for SxSW 2011. Shows followed in New York. UK summer 2011 festivals included Glastonbury, Latitude, Cambridge Folk Festival, Green Man, End of The Road. They co-headlined the HMV Next Big Thing Festival 2012 and are touring for their next album release 21 May 2012 of Tree Bursts In Snow. The band members are -. Louis Abbott, Kevin Brolly, Philip Hauge, Sarah Hayes, Joe Rattray. www.admiralfallow.com. 

Folk Songs and Pop Tunes, ballads are ?

Folk songs may not grab you first time- but they get under your skin in a more subtle way and you never tire of them - unlike the simple pop tune. 

I'm always rather puzzled by the loosely defined definitions regarding songs or tunes between the genres. A song sung by a folk balladeer is a 'folk song' wheras a song sung by a pop star is a 'pop ballad.'

Folk singers and Dylan wrote and sang highly memorable 'folk ballads'. Some pop singers sing formulaic and forgettable 'ballads'. What is the difference though, after all I hear some dull folk songs as well as dull pop songs?  

The dictionary defines the Ballad as -  a narrative song with a recurrent refrain; a slow sentimental song, especially a pop song.

The folk song as - a song that has been handed down the generations; a modern song that reflects the folk idiom.

I was sitting at Prestwick airport and heard this truly awful whiny song. I asked my son who it was, he said that ridiculous Justin Beiber. I said that he reminded me of 'Donny Osmond' in the 70s and his soppy ballad 'They Call this Puppy Love'!   

Well that's the difference to me between the folk ballad and the 'soppy pop ballad'? That song by Beiber is a soppy shallow empty pop Ballad. By comparison Someone Like You by Adele is heart wrenching with it's honesty of emotion.    

Awful ballads? An example might be James Blunt's cheesy ballad song 'You Are Beautiful.'  It is so hackneyed and has those over-used tired old clichés and song formulas. My ears would feel ill on hearing this song and need to listen to some Dylan to feel better! 

Westlife ballads use those predictable key changes when the boys manage to rise up off their tall stools..... oh dear...

The soppy pop ballad is written to a formula and lacks emotional realness or any credibility. To me the difference is 'substance' and having something to say. Those unforgettable folk ballads offer new insights with imaginative and creative melodies and words. It is also in the music production.  

And sometimes 'cheesy' can be good too! 

The Best Songs

Occasionally a song comes along that transcend the personal as it has a universal emotion we can all recognise an share in. 

Good Examples - Let It Be, Imagine, Stand By Me, Here Comes The Sun, Case of You, Something, Islands in the Stream, Reason to Believe, Sound of Silence,

The Ballad of Hollis Brown 
 

Best Folk Songs

Westlin Winds

Outlaws and Dreamers

Both Sides the Tweed

Girl From the North Country

Vision of Joanna,

Who knows Where the Time Goes

The Blacksmith

Are you Going To Scarborough Fair 

Katie Sutherland at the Oran Mor

I took photos of Katie Sutherland at the Oran Mor Glasgow in April 2012. She was with a band called Pearl and the Puppets who played several big support slots and had songs picked up with commercials and films. I've taken photos of Pearl since 2009 and she is fun to take photos of with her expressive doe eyes.

I took photos of Katie Sutherland last week at the Oran Mor Glasgow in April 2012. She was with a band called Pearl and the Puppets who played several big support slots and had songs picked up with commercials and films. I've taken photos of Pearl since 2009 and she is fun to take photos of with her expressive voice.

Katie and her band gave us an entertaining set of quality songs. Singer songwriter Katie Sutherland introduced her band as now simply her ‘band’ and not the ‘Puppets’ anymore – they consist of Blair McMillan (drums), Gordon Turner (guitar), Scott Clark (bass) and Michael Abubakar (keyboard).
 
Set List: I hope you like It, I Can Drive, Complicated, I Love You So Much, I Do Like You, This Is What Its all About, How lucky I Am, Sinner, Let It In, 

Katie supplies the lead vocal and also plays guitar and mandolin. Her voice is engaging, natural and soothing.
She thanked all those who have pledged for her new album – and she sang several songs from the album including Sinner, That’s What It’s all About and more, and she said she would be recording the album in June. Several of her songs have positive themes with titles such as "Because I Do" and "Make Me Smile"
In 2009 she drew attention for her music and was signed by Universal. She played some big gigs that included the BBC One Scotland Hogmanay Live, supporting Elton John and The Hoosiers and main stages at music festivals Rockness and Wickerman. 

Pearl and the Puppets were a band led by singer songwriter Katie Sutherland (vocals/guitar), Blair McMillan (drums), Gordon Turner (guitar), Scott Clark (bass) and Michael Abubakar (keyboard). In 2008, the band's song "Because I Do" was featured on a Vodaphone advertisement. Their song "Make Me Smile" was featured in a Victoria Secret advertisement in the USA and an Orange advertisement in Romania. 

*The LA sound - The Byrds to The Eagles

Crosby, Stills and Nash; Neil Young; Joni Mitchell; David Geffen. And The Laid back acoustic sound of Laurel Canyon - All about the SONG

In the early 70s LA became the centre of the music business as young artists moved there rather than to New York city. Artists came to play the well renowned LA Troubadour venue.

The artist was the centre of the business, which was driven by the songwriter and by self publishing singer songwriters. Crosby, Stills and Nash were known for their beautiful 3 part harmonies and exquisitely roving melodies. Then we had flower power and hippies.

Carole King and James Taylor moved there from New York and King’s Tapestry album spent15 weeks at no 1. 

Ambition and idealism ‘counter culture' was the name of the game.

However.....eventually the business men moved in and it became more about managers and lawyers - more about business and less about the music. The Corporation of Rock.

Recently I thought... where are the great songs of today? 

And so I begin to wonder about the cheap club nights and that's what ears get used to.... and that it is it simply not about THE SONG anymore?

In my view the cheapening of music has led to some kind of diluted commodity with no thought about quality anymore.

Unbelievable clip  -

John Lennon and Paul Simon present the Best Song Award 1975 at the Grammy's when Olivia Newton John beats icons - Elton John, Joni Mitchell and Roberta Flack!!

The Industry never ceases to amaze me! 

  

 Most amazing CLIP of Judy Blue Eyes ( Joni mitchell) 

*George Harrison, his Songs Brought the Sun and the Stars

‘Sense never gratified/ Only swelling like a tide/ That could drown me in the material world.’ 

' George didn’t see black and white, up and down as different things. He didn’t compartmentalize his moods or his life. People think he was this or that or really extreme, But these extremes are all within one circle.’ Olivia Harrison

Harrison, the often overlooked Beatle, wrote some of the most loved Beatles songs - 'Something', 'All Things Must Pass' and 'Here Comes the Sun'. His guitar playing was highly expressive and admired by other guitarists. He added more to the Beatles sound than many realized. And my guitar gently weeps.....

I’ve been curious about Harrison since my twenties when this rhythm guitarist to my surprise said he was the most talented of the Beatles. After all it was always Paul and John in the spotlight. I watched Scorsese’s documentary ‘Living in the Material World’ recently and I enjoyed the way he is able to get under the skin of artists that he portrays, as he did in his  documentary on Bob Dylan entitled 'No Direction Home'. 

From the start George was the little brother, brought in by John and Paul to play the guitar riffs. He didn’t enjoy the teen worship and out of control screaming hoards of girls swooning for the band, and after a bit it became over whelming to him.

However anyone who studies the Beatles back catalogue will discover that some of their best songs were written by Harrison. He gave the Beatles a ‘lyrical’ style of playing. He is listed at number 11 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time". He drew from the records of Carl Perkins, Duanne Eddy, Chat Atkins, Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. There was his prominent rhythm guitar on 1966 Taxman, Love You Too on Revolver; This Is Love, When We Was Fab on Cloud Nine. Eventually Harrison developed his own skills and he submitted his songs for Let It Be and Abbey Road albums – songs such as All Things Must Pass. Then he wrote one of the best love songs ever written ‘Something’ which was Harrison's first Beatles single (a double A side with Come Together). 

           

George the Innovator.  He was an innovator, an observer who was endlessly curious.  He was a free agent and he didn’t like the rules yet he was also very much a team player.

Concert for Bangladesh(1971) – Held at Madison Square this was the first large scale concert by pop musicians to support a charity and led to Geldof's Live Aid. Even today sales of the CD raise money for UNICEF.

George the Mystic. His spiritual journey meant everything. He had money at an early age yet there was still something missing for him.  He married blond model Patti Boyd after filming Hard Days Night and she led him to an interest in Eastern philosophies.  Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar  became his mentor and he believed you needed to have direct experience of god in whatever form to believe. ‘ Look we’re not these bodies lets not get hung up on that.’  Patti inspired two of the greatest love songs ever written - Something by Harrison and Layla by Eric Clapton.  She later married Clapton and Harrison married Mexican Olivia Arias. 

 Post Beatles. All Things must Pass is considered to be the best post Beatles solo record with songs such as – Isn’t It a Pity, Beware of Darkness, My Sweet Lord, I’d Have You Anytime (co-written with Dylan) and the Dylan cover If Not for You.

George The Filmmaker. Handmade Films. He paid the largest price ever for a movie ticket when he had his house mortgaged to fund Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.

The Traveling Wilburys (1988). When recording for his album Cloud Nine Harrison so enjoyed  working with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lyne and Tom Petty(no less!) that he later got them together to tour and record as a super group. 

 Songs. I Gave My Heart To You, If I Needed Someone, All Things Must Pass, Something, Here Comes the Sun, My Guitar Gently Weeps, Isn’t It A Pity, Within You Without You, What Is Life, 

Harrison had a compassionate, spiritual and caring voice that seemed to come from a deep sense of belief and certainly of love. His friend Eric Clapton told of them sitting in the garden at Friar Park one morning when the sun started to come out and suddenly inspired the song .. like a miracle..The Beatles were different they were the first big band of the early 60s and those years 1963 to 1966 transformed the musical landscape forever. 

‘Create and preserve the image of your choice.’
 

‘’You don’t build a garden for yourself right now – you build a garden for future generations.’

 He had both grace and humour. He searched for inner light and inner peace …and yes Harrison did make the sunset with his songs. 

 All Things Must Pass, Concert for Bangladesh, Living in the Material World, Handmade Films, Cloud Nine, Travelling Willburys. 
It has been a joy reading about Harrison for this blog and listening to his music.

http://thehamburgbeatles.blogspot.com/

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Concert for Bangladesh

George's last concert