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- Music Weekly: Cee Lo Green and Vince Clarke
First up on this week's podcast, Ben Beaumont-Thomas speaks to Cee Lo Green, a rapper and singer who got his start with Atlanta's Goodie Mob before going on to form Gnarls Barkley with Danger Mouse. Green explains why he's like a kung-fu master, and why his music represents life's highs and lows.
From here we move on to Singles Club, where Rosie Swash and Ben join Alexis Petridis in the studio. This week the panel discuss Too Much by Sufjan Stevens, Far Nearer, by Jamie from the xx, and Lost in the Woods, a collaboration between Bon Iver and Kanye West.
Finally, synth legend Vince Clarke tells us what it was like to go back on the road with Yazoo after all these years, and how growing up in Basildon made it easy to find Alison Moyet.
For more fun times, do follow us on Twitter or friend us on Facebook.
Переслать - John Lennon birthday tributes from Google and beyond
A Google doodle has been unveiled to celebrate what would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday tomorrow. Here's a roundup of other online tributes
Had he lived, tomorrow would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday, which is why Google is celebrating in advance with their customary doodle. The anniversary of Lennon's birth comes almost exactly two months before the 30th anniversary of the day when Mark David Chapman stepped forward on a New York sidewalk, shot five bullets from a .38 revolver and ended the musician's life.
Last week, the Guardian and Observer writer Richard Williams reflected not only on what Lennon would have made of the world today, but what the world makes do with in his absence. "Next week, the troubled EMI Music will put on a happy face and issue not just remastered versions of eight existing Lennon solo albums, but a bunch of new compilations and boxes, squeezing yet more blood from the carcass of the group whose phenomenal success brought it the prosperity that has subsequently been frittered away." Ouch.
The Daily Mail, on the other hand, has a different concern: what would a 70-year-old John Lennon look like? Grey, apparently, with slightly less hair, but exactly the same pair of spectacles. So, now you know.
The BBC asks, in the somewhat glib manner of an organisation for whom use of the words "is" and "he" is too much like hard work: "John Lennon: still relevant?" But it turns out the article in question has gone some way to actually asking people on the streets of Liverpool this question. "I don't know anything about him, to be honest," said one 21-year-old, while her companion, who apparently never listens to a word that comes out of her friend's mouth, said: "Everybody loves the Beatles." Liverpool's answer, it would seem, as to whether Lennon is still relevant is: yeah, kinda.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame seems to be letting Lennon's relevance hang in the balance: the museum has taken it upon themselves to fill a time capsule with music and memorabilia with the hope of continuing his message of love and peace in the year 2040. Yoko's on board with this one, and we'll leave the final word to her: "I know that John's work, life and dreams will help inspire them to bring a better world for everyone. Children Power!"
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Readers recommend: fantasy songs
Last week was all about paying homage to music legends. Now we're embarking on a journey to mythical worlds
"Yes this is worse than 'Bicycles', wrote Suzi last weekend and I could see her point of view. Bicycles was, and shall remain, a prince among topics, one that allowed us to explore issues of community, freedom and how pleasant it feels to pootle along at 10mph in suburban Surrey. Bicycles was a brilliant topic, the best, and any other theme is going to pall in comparison.
I may not have been good for the nomming, but last week's thread was good for the reading and unlikely in the listening, most notably in the number of 60s curios nominated.
Some of them have even made the A-list (click on to read the column that discusses the choices): The Beatles are in town – The Fondettes; Ringo Beat – Ella Fitzgerald; What More Can I Say? – Danger Mouse; Guitarrero – Luis Vagner; Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl? – The Barbarians; Randy Scout Git (Alternate title) – The Monkees; Kiss Me – The Wave Pictures; The Beatles and the Stones – House of Love; When We Was Fab – George Harrison; Hey Joe – Daniel Johnston.
After that, it seems only logical to proceed to the B-list. And so we shall:
The Residents – Beyond the Valley of a Day in the Life
Russ Meyer meets Sergeant Pepper via a stay in Hotel Brain Bend. A total freak of a song, and so soused in psychedelia it's a surprise to find it was made in 1977.
The Beatles – Glass Onion
Oh yeah. A bit too zedded for the A-list (even for me), but despite the frazzled edges of this song, I like the simplicity at its core: three chords, short lines, flat intonation. Unusual Beatles.
Captain Beefheart – Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones
Get off the drugs son! Or if you're not on drugs, then please severely limit your exposure to avant-garde rock'n'roll! Not really, Beef fans! This song might be wilfully difficult (cocking a snook at the Fabs) but it's certainly intriguing and has a bit of a groove too.
PiL – No Birds
Couldn't quite establish securely in my own mind that this was, as claimed, a riposte to And Your Bird Can Sing, but it is a piece of both frenzied and mournful rock'n'roll. Plus it's got the same guitar line as Jilted John.
Titles – Barclay James Harvest
A corny conceit (compiling lyrics from Beatles titles), that doesn't stop this song from actually being both touching and melodic.
The Stones – We Love You
Liked this a lot. Again it's been chipped right from the ehart of the 60s and, like Beefheart and Glass Onion, it has experimental aspirations. But beyond that, it still rocks.
The Idle Race – Girl at the Window
Loved all the stuff about Jeff Lynne on the thread and his status as Beatles fanboy #1. This sounds more like a Beach Boys offcut mind, but the lyrics are unimpeachable in their brown-nosing: "They were playing lovely tunes/ by the light of the moon."
Beta Band – Space Beatle
A piece of noughties psychedlia to complement the originals, complete with ticking-clock percussion and dreamy harmonies.
Billy Joel – We Didn't Start the Fire
It may be just Marconius and myself who have fond feelings for this number, but looking back, the 80s had a certainty, a confidence that reflected the 60s and so a track that, in the year the Berlin Wall fell, attempted to condense 50 years of history is not so out of place. Fukuyama rocks!
The Delgados – All You Need is Hate
A bit tangenital this, as I think the Beatles link is limited to the wordplay of the title, but this is four minutes of well-composed and quite delightful bombastic indie.
So that's last week, but what about this? Fantasy is the theme and not the sort you're thinking of. Unless you're thinking of Michael Moorcock, in which case, it is. Basically I am looking for songs set in imagined worlds. So this may stray into science fiction territory, but it also applies to mythical worlds or, you know, ones with hobbits and stuff. I'll be on the blog tomorrow should clarification be needed, but I hope this topic finds you well.
The toolbox: Archive, the Marconium and the Spill.
The rulebook:
DO post your nominations before midday on Monday if you wish them to be considered.
DO post justifications of your choices wherever possible.
DO NOT post more than one third of the lyrics of any song.
DO NOT dump lists of nominations – if you must post more than two or three at once, please attempt to justify your choices.
Finally, no biting, spitting, buking, puking or hair pulling.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Behind the music: What's the secret to writing a hit?
Guy Chambers co-wrote many chart-topping singles with Robbie Williams. He offers some advice to budding songwriters
How do you write a hit song? Many authors have claimed to know the secret, and software developers have tried to come up with a formula by running thousands of chart-toppers through computer programs. Of course, no one has a definitive answer. But Guy Chambers, a songwriter who has had his fair share of hits, tried to shed some light on the issue at a recent songwriters masterclass at the British Academy of Composers and Authors (BASCA).
Chambers, like most successful songwriters, started out by playing in bands. He was a member of World Party before forming the Lemon Trees, but as they struggled to gain notable success he turned his attention to writing for other artists, including Bryan Adams and Cathy Dennis. Yet, he felt depressed. "The business was really wearing me down," says Chambers. But when he was on the verge of giving it all up to become a music teacher, his publisher introduced him to Robbie Williams, and he knew straight away they had something special. "We'd sit down together. He'd sing at me while I was playing, and I'd suggest the next bit, then we'd go through the lines one by one and edit," says Chambers. "He was such a determined pop star that I had to be as ambitious as he was and raise my game."
The first song they wrote together was Angels. "I got a migraine from overexcitement," says Chambers. "I knew it was a winner." Robbie had the melody for the verse in his head for a while, and the rest of it came together in half an hour. His co-writer attributes part of the song's success to its economy with words, saying it's easy to remember and sing along to. Quite a few people did, and eventually it was voted best single of the past 25 Years at the Brit awards in 2005.
Apart from Angels, some of Chambers's favourite "babies" are Feel and Millennium. "Using the sample of John Barry's James Bond theme from You Only Live Twice was Robbie's idea," he says. This meant they had to give 50% of the publishing/credit to Barry and the theme's lyricist Leslie Bricusse, despite no lyrics from the original being featured in Millennium. Yet Chambers doesn't feel hard done by, citing the case of Bittersweet Symphony, in which the Verve had to give all the publishing to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, as much worse. "Jagger and Richards didn't even write the bit they'd sampled – it was part of the arrangement of a cover of the Stones' The Last Time."
Initially, Robbie didn't want to sing Rock DJ, as he thought it was cheesy. "We had the hook, chorus and the title, but he hated my melody for the verse," says Chambers. "So, as a compromise, he prayed to Ian Dury and made a rap. 'No head, no backstage passes' – I can't believe he was allowed to say that on the radio."
The pair never had any real creative disputes until the end of their partnership. Chambers says Robbie moving to LA was a factor in their "breakup", adding that there's no truth to the rumour Robbie didn't like him writing with others. "We simply didn't write enough (once he did), and so quality went down. You have to write 10 songs to get one good one. There's a high wastage to being a songwriter."
What other advice does Chambers have for budding songwriters? "First of all: people will normally say no to you, so get used to that and just move on to the next song." Demos are dead, so only play an A&R person tracks that sound like they can go straight on the radio. Make sure it's loud. Have a good title (one A&R will only listen to a track if he likes the title). If you have trouble getting songs to established artists, find a great budding artist with a good backstory, such as James Blunt's soldier credentials, to be your partner.
Chambers also talks about the importance of finding the right key for an artist, using his Tina Turner song as an example: "She always wants to sing in the highest pitch possible, so I had to rerecord each instrument at the same time as we recorded her vocals." The wrong key may also have been the reason we didn't see Robbie fronting Queen, according to Chambers. "The band approached him after he did a cover of We Are the Champions. I said, 'Robbie can't sing in those keys (that Freddie Mercury sang in)'. But Brian May said Queen songs should only be played in their original key."
Of course, the Robbie split did not spell the end of Chambers's career. He's written for artists including Beverley Knight and Will Young. He recently wrote with Katie Melua ("a fearless lyricist and great singer") for her latest album, and will soon be writing with Rufus Wainwright ("he's dying to have a hit"). But what he's really excited about is a TV project he's doing with Goldie, in which the pair are mentoring 12 children from "challenging backgrounds" to perform their own music.
Some people say that Guy Chambers made Robbie Williams's solo career, others say that Robbie made Guy Chambers. I'd say that they made each other. No books or computer programs can recreate the magic that happens when two perfectly suited songwriters come together. Claiming you have that formula would be to say you have the formula for a perfect marriage. And, as Chambers can testify, even perfect musical marriages hardly ever last.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать
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