Lana Del Rey wows crowd at Hackney Weekend!

It is good to see Lana is now performing with scaled back stings and piano rather than the out-of-step rock band that backed her on her Saturday Night Live performance and which didn't match her range of jazz infused soul sound at all.
Lana performed her next single National Anthem as her encore and shook hands with the enthusiastic crowd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejg2zFpvTzI 

Interesting. Also I heard this track on the radio today. Lana Del Rey and Bobby Womack 'Dayglo Reflection' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eJkETkfdSg –
Del Rey is due to play a host of UK festivals, including this weekend's Isle Of Wight Festival as well as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend and Latitude Festival.  Earlier this month she played Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre and debuted a brand new song, 'Body Electric', at the show.

I watched LDR on the YouTube clips when she received poor reviews of her performance on Letterman. I also watched some other clips, where she performed with only piano and I posted on YouTube how much better she sounded with the piano backing rather than the band, where she looked and sounded ill at ease and rather lost.
Del Rey has spoken about how hard she found being judged by music fans and critics at the start of the year. "When you focus on being a writer for ten years and then after that people start listening to the work and they decide that they don't like you and that's kind of off-putting," she told BBC Radio 1. Adding: "Just because when you've put all your work into crafting words and melodies and then people start thinking about you as a person, that's a little off-putting."
As of March 2012, Born to Die has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. It peaked at number one in Greece, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other European countries.

Emeli Sande Olympic Torch Relay George Square June 2012

 

Emeli Sande performed at as part of the George Square Olympic Torch Relay celebrations 8^th June 2012.  She performed songs from her number one UK Album Chart, Our Version of Events, which was released in February 2012.
Emeli sang her album songs – Heaven, Tiger, Breaking the Law, My Kind of Love, Daddy, Wonder, Next To Me.
She asked us to join in her last two songs. A very young child behind me, who was about five, was singing along and knew all the words. Her mum said she had heard them on the car cd player. Emeli said that ‘Wonder’ would be the summer single, and it’s hum along chorus works well with stadium audiences – as does ;Next To Me;.

Sande appeared as a guest artist on Professor Green’s single 'Read All About It' which reached the number one spot on the UK Top 40 Singles chart in October 2011. Emeli Sandé is a Scottish R & B and soul artist and songwriter. Before pursuing her musical career, Sandé studied medicine at Glasgow University. Sandé first became known to the public eye after she featured on rapper Chipmunk’s, ;Diamond Rings; which entered the UK top Ten Singles chart. Also a top ten hit with Wiley’s 'Never Be Your Woman; Sandé released her first solo single 'Heaven' in 2011 which made No. 2 UK Singles chart.  Her album 'Our Version of Events' was released in America in June 2012 to good reviews.. Emeli Sande Photo Gallery - ttp://www.zenfolio.com/pkimage/emelisande 

Transatlantic Band

Every January my son and I take a front row seat at the 'Transatlantic Sessions' Celtic Connections Glasgow. This is a very unique concert - and is about the band firstly and live bands don't come much better than this one! The musical directors are Shetland fiddler Aly Bain and dobro player Jerry Douglas.

Transatlantic Band. Ruth Moody, Declan O’Rourke, Tim O’Brien, Aly Bain, Jerry Douglas, Russ Barenberg, Danny Thompson, Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker, Donald Shaw, Darrell Scott, Bruce Molsky

There is an earthy real sound here. Folk tunes, as Dylan found, touch a deep place and yes you can play the tunes over and over.  What I love is the way the singers are centre stage I mean vocally surrounded by these rich deep warm tones of the folk music. Singers include some of the most beautiful Celtic voices -   Eddi Reader, Karen Matheson, Cara Dillon, Darrell Scott, Tim O'Brien, Paul Brady, Julie Fowlis.

Folk music has stood the test of time and much like good wine it simply gets better with age. 

Here is the perfect voice of Cara Dillon singing Garden Valley. Words and Music by Scottish singer songwriter Dougie McLean  

Would Dylan Get a Record Deal Today?

Today the Industry would put Bob Dylan, Sandy Denny, Rab Noakes, Paul Simon – all the great legends and outstanding talents of the 60s and have them in ‘backrooms’ studios to write for singers such as – Frankie this, or Johnny that, or Elvis shake your hips – so they can sing ( as Dick Gaughan put it) about what it is like at summer camp – I despair! 

Fortunately in the 60s there was more creative freedom, and artists were able to stand up for what they believed in. There were several reasons for this –

There was a lot more money in the music industry; bands played at club nights and social venues; solo artists played residencies at bars and clubs. 

I know there still are wonderful venues in places like London (the Troubadour, Bedford, RegalRoom, ) and Glasgow (Oran Mor, King Tuts, Nice n Sleazys ) and there are still many promoters who care about independent music. 

My son’s band played recently at a ‘Grease the movie’ party and had so much fun covering those classic songs of the 70s. They also played some Motown and such great bass lines for him to play. They played an 8 song set and everyone was dancing and having a great time. After the DJ set came back on and it was so dull by comparison to the ‘live’ band. They could easily have played for longer. I told my son that’s what it was like at the clubs back when. There would be a DJ in one room and a live band in another room. The live band was so much better ( well usually) than the DJ.

It’s all about a fast profit today though and DJs are so much cheaper - and all the cheap club nights now.

The sad thing is now bands feel its’ a performance with the audience standing to listen. When I saw Aloe Blacc here last year – he attempted to make a path in the audience for those who wished to dance. Folk singers used to simply play in bars while ‘audiences or rather customers simply sat and chatted. It was all less rigid and formal – it’s all so formal now.  I’m talking here about learning the craft of live music. Once a band or artist is established and people pay to hear them, that’s a different ball game. It seems that developing artists now spend much less of their time playing live.   

It is just as well there were guys like John Hammond who was willing to take a risk with Dylan - after all he didn't look or sound quite right but he had charisma.Now the music industry simply can't afford to take any risks, its too expensive. That's why it is important that we support independent music.   

 I listen to young artists today and many lack any substance behind their songs. 

 John Hammond was an American record producer, Civil Rights activist, non-musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s. In his service as a Talent scout, Hammond became one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music. Hammond was instrumental in sparking or furthering numerous musical careers, including those of  Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Count Bassie, Pete Seeger, Aretha Franklin,  George Benson, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen,
He was largely responsible for the revival of delta blues artist Robert Johnson's music (who was a big influence on Dylan) .  He also strived for racial integration, not only in the musical frontier but in the United States in general.

Where are the free thinkers today.......?