serene’s posterous

There's a lot more stuff on Netflix instant these days. I was
watching Morrissey - Who Put the M in Manchester - live concert from
2004 a few nights ago. Since it appears there is more extras on the
DVD, I may put it in my queue at some point so that I may enjoy the
full DVD. Fans are pretty crazy at the show, trying their best to
reach their hero. And it seems that Morrissey really enjoyed the
response of the crowd.

This is one of my favorite songs by The Smiths, "There is a Light That
Never Goes Out", performed at the encore of this concert.

I was listening to a lot of Roddy Frame this afternoon because I was
thwarted in my attempts to find my copy of Roddy Frame's cover of John
Cale's "The Thoughtless Kind". Sadly, the song must have gotten lost
in the shuffle of changing computers and hard drives.

Marble Arch is my favorite song off Roddy Frame's newest album from
2006, Western Skies. Lovely bossa nova groove. This is the demo
version off Roddy Frame's website . The version
on the album has a fuller sound and is somewhat more polished.

I was re-watching High Fidelity the other day. Lots of great songs in
the movie. Seymour Stein by Belle & Sebastian (in the Monday tape
scene) caught my ear, and I had to immediately go through my music
folders so that I could go listen to it in full. Twee pop at its
best. Seymour Stein is from the album The Boy with the Arab Strap.

Here's Belle & Sebastian performing The Boy with the Arab Strap live
on Later with Jools Holland.

Been listening to this song by Adele obsessively. I first heard this
song on SYTYCD in a dance by Joshua and Katee. The emoting by Katee in the dance seems to make the song far more touching.

Here's a video of the full song.

Threw this CD into my amazon.co.uk shopping cart on a whim, when I was
buying some other CDs. This is the newest album by Sophie Ellis
Bextor, released in May 2007. Her plummy accent is the same as ever,
and I guess on the whole, the CD is better and more cohesive than her
previous two efforts. Lots of great fluffy pop/dance/disco tracks,
such as 'Me and My Imagination' and 'Love is Here'. The front half of
the album is a lot better than the second half, where there are
several skip-worthy tracks.

This CD is crazily priced on amazon.com at $45.99 now. I only paid
about 4 pounds plus shipping (which averages to under 2 pounds per
item if you were buying more than 1 CD) from amazon.co.uk for the
exact same thing (14 tracks special edition).

Seeing James for the first time live.

Oh they are amazing live. 2 full hours! A good mix of old and new
songs. Although the sound was a little subpar - sometimes you can't
hear him or the instruments clearly - it was one of the best concerts I
have been to. I was maybe 4-5 rows of sweaty people from the stage.
Close enough to see the sweat on Tim Booth...but not quite close
enough to grab his hands or jump onto the stage.

Highlights I think were Sometimes where the audience sung along for a
long time ("Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes, I swear I can
see your soul..."), and the crowd favorite, Laid (Tim had pulled some
excited audience members onto the stage). I think practically
everyone there knew the lyrics of the song. The new songs from the
Hey Ma album were well received too. I just wished they had played
Just Like Fred Astaire from the Millionaires album. They had played
it a few times earlier in the tour, but it's not on the setlist this time.

The setlist was: She's A Star, Oh My Heart, Ring The Bells, Waterfall,
Come Home, Hey Ma, Bubbles, Say Something, Dream Thrum,
I Wanna Go Home, Out To Get You, Upside, Whiteboy,
Born Of Frustration, Sit Down, Sound.

Encore: Top Of The World, Sometimes, Laid

     

Looking forward to the James concert next week in the city. Waterfall
is another song from their new album, which was played live at Later
with Jools Holland. I think this is one of the more catchy songs off
that album.



Check out Andy Diagram playing the trumpet in a flowery dress (!)

The first movie I watched in its entirety on the tiny but clear screen of the touch. Love the movie! The music is very good and doesn't feel shoehorned into the movie unlike some movie musicals. While the plot is very simple, it doesn't detract from the story of the kindred souls. Listen to the song Falling Slowly, which I think won the academy award for best song.

Enjoying the new James album, Hey Ma, in anticipation of their live performance in SF in October. Excellent album. The only problem I think is that it doesn't have a standout radio friendly single. Current favorite song is the first track, Bubbles.

This is their title track, Hey Ma.

I was listening to BBC worldservice a few days ago and they were interviewing this singer who had a really thick Scottish brogue. My parents had no clue what he was saying. I had to concentrate just to figure out what he was saying. One of the topics was about how some bands from the UK feel compelled to sing in the so called trans- Atlantic accent because they think they won't have any success in the US otherwise. I wonder how true is that. The singer appears to think that it isn't a problem. The band is Glasvegas and the song is Daddy's Gone. I think the song is catchy and the accent's quite charming.