Author: Paul

Each week I listen to an artist or band that I should really know more about. This week was the turn of both Prince and The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.

What I Knew Before
I don’t think it’s possible to be anywhere or do anything without at least being aware of Prince. For a long time, I thought of him as a soft sex pixie of the highest order. The thing that changed that for me was when my friend showed me his performance at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame with Tom Petty, Steve Winwood and Jeff Wayne, where he took on the solo from While My Guitar Gently Weeps with so much zeal that it made my hip twitch. I’ll post it below. It’s truly incredible. Look out for adorable Dhani Harrison in there too.

What I Know Now
There is a lot to Prince. A lot of music. Most of it is very good although it sometimes suffers from being made in the ’80s and losing a lot of his genius to the mistakes of the era when it came to music.
What people fail to appreciate is that Prince was a verified genius. He created constantly and brought so much music and joy into the world. My understanding is that there is a vault of additional music that we are yet to hear. Whatever happens, we are better for Prince having visited us.

Favourite songs:
Well obviously, you have to include Kiss, 1999, Raspberry Beret and Purple Rain, but let’s also include Jungle Love.

Favourite album:
I think I have to say Purple Rain

Spotify my favourite songs from this project.

Each week I listen to a band or artist I’ve never explored before.
How do I find them you may wonder?
I asked friends to help me compile a list at the start of this hell year of people I should know more about. There are huge gaps in my knowledge and I wanted to plug them. This week was the turn of new wave darlings, Tears For Fears.

What I Knew Before
I liked Tears For Fears because of their appearance on the Donnie Darko soundtrack, alongside another Music Jar band, INXS. Aside from that, I probably heard Martin Day play them on his 80s show on Essex FM.

What I Know Now
It’s essentially that. Tears For Fears have some hits and they have some wonderful cover versions to discover, but they were never going to be a band to blow me away.
I was however surprised to learn that they were from Bath. They don’t sound very Bath. I think it’s the lack of spa activities in their set. That aside, there’s something very pertinent about their music as that whole shoegaze romanticism rears its head once more because it’s all cyclical.

Favourite song(s):
Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Shout, Head Over Heels and Mad World.

Favourite album:
Songs From The Big Chair

Each week, as penance for trying to make plans in 2020, I take an artist from the music jar and do what I can to ignore the world and lose myself in their music.
This week was the turn of California Girl, Sara Bareilles.

What I Knew Before
I recently listened to Bareilles on Armchair Expert, one of my favourite podcasts. As a result, I knew more about her than I should have done. Mostly how she came to be so adored, her work on Waitress and the issues she has with her face in profile (same here, sister).

What I Know Now
More of the above, and also the undeniable fact that Sara Bareilles writes some of the best pop music in the world today.

Favourite song(s):
Love Song, She Used To Be Mine, I Choose You, Bottle It Up – Live At The Fillmore and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Live at the Variety Playhouse

Favourite album:
Between The Lines: Sara Bareilles Live At The Fillmore

Spotify my favourite songs from this project.

Each week, inspired by A Beautiful Mess, I take the name of a band or artist from a pickle jar and listen to that band for the week. This time around, it’s California pop-ska-rock tromboners, No Doubt.

What I Knew Before
No Doubt were, without doubt, a band who were around when I was coming of age, and absorbing all of the music of the time. I think I learnt to play Don’t Speak on guitar. I only ever knew the hits and, of course, I really appreciated Gwen’s crop tops.

What I Know Now
No Doubt were around for an impressive thirty years and are currently on hiatus. They have more past members than any other band I’ve had the pleasure of listening to this year – thirteen.
I listened through each of their albums, from 1992’s No Doubt all the way through to 2012’s Push and Shove and I just didn’t really feel a lot for it beyond the nostalgia of the hits. Maybe that says more about me than it does about them.

Favourite song(s):
All the cliches; Don’t Speak, Just A Girl, Underneath It All

Favourite album:
Return of Saturn

Spotify my favourite songs from this project.

Each week, I listen to an artist or band that I should know better, taken at random from a pickle jar.
This week was the turn of heartbreaker, Tom Petty.

What I Knew Before:
I once worked with an older guy who took me under his wing and introduced me to a lot of bands that I wouldn’t have been into otherwise. He would turn up for work with DVDs to give to me which he would drop by my desk, much to the confusion and chagrin of everyone else we worked with. I was told to use the relationship to my advantage. I don’t know what that means. One of those DVDs was a live Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers gig. I recognised that there was something cool going on there, but ultimately, it wasn’t something that I would return to. I filed it away.
The only other link I feel to Tom Petty is through the song American Girl, and its use in Silence Of The Lambs. My god, that’s a well-placed track.

What I Know Now
I wanted to enjoy Tom Petty more than I did. There are some great songs in there and his work with the Wilburys is a particular treat for me, but I still wasn’t completely wowed by it. I don’t think it helped that Tom Petty was pulled from the jar in a week when I was glued to the news and unable to really focus on much else. That has all worked out well. Kamala is now our American Girl.

Favourite songs:
I suppose I have to consider solo TP as well as Heartbreakers tracks. I know he was in and out with the band. I Won’t Back Down is the best Petty song but Refugee, Mary Jane’s Last Dance and American Girl are all great Heartbreakers songs.

Favourite album:
Full Moon Fever

Spotify my favourite songs from this project.

Each week, I take a different band or artist and indulge in their back catalogue to try and escape that hellscape that 2020 has become.
This week was the turn of Hampshire-born indie band, Blaenavon – a band I cannot spell correctly on the first attempt.

What I Knew Before
Absolutely nothing. The recommendation for Blaenavon come from my friend Sarah at work, who has an impressive track record for such things.

What I Know Now
With a very basic level of research I have learnt that the band have been together since 2016 after meeting at secondary school. Unlike most bands formed by friends in school, they are good, and have released three albums to date.
Each album has a very different sound to it but there’s something compelling to each.

Favourite song(s):
I Want You, Take Care and whatever u wanna B

Favourite album:
That’s Your Lot

Inspired by A Beautiful Mess, each week I listen to a different band or artist, taking the name from a pickle jar I filled with suggestions at the start of 2020, not knowing that the year would be a pickle itself. This week was the turn of seasoned LA geek rock band, Weezer.

What I Knew Before
When we were teens, Weezer weren’t quite hard enough. They didn’t rock. I can remember turning Kerrang TV over when the video for Hash Pipe came on.

What I Know Now
I certainly had it wrong. I had it so wrong in fact that I issued a public apology to one of my friends who was and is a huge Weezer fan. Weezer absolutely rock. They have rocked since they formed in 1992 and I should have respected that.
I went for a skate on Monday, because I’m still a child. I listened to their self-titled first album, also known as Blue and realised I had been very wrong. Every song on that album absolutely slaps. My Name Is Jonas, No One Else and The World Has Turned And Left Me Here open that album. An unreal presentation. I don’t know if there’s a debut album I have heard in a long time that hits in that way. Weezer are something special and I’m sorry I didn’t recognise it.

Favourite song(s):
My Name Is Jonas, Buddy Holly, Say It Ain’t So, Undone – The Sweater Song, All My Friends Are Insects

Favourite album:
Weezer (Blue)

Spotify my favourite songs from this project.

Each week, I take the name of an artist or band from a rapidly diminishing supply in a pickle jar, and do what I can to explore their back-catalog. This week was New York’s own, Talking Heads.

What I Knew Before
Of course I knew Talking Heads before this week. It’s impossible to make it to 33 without realising that this is not my beautiful house and this is not my beautiful wife.
I knew Talking Heads came up as part of the CBGB sect in the 70s – I visited what is left of the site last year. I am aware that David Byrne is one of the most important silver foxes in the world today (a list which also includes Taiki Waititi, Max Joseph and Keith Murray). What I didn’t know, is how much music there was and how little of it I had explored. I maybe had the top five tracks committed to memory but the deep cuts on Speaking in Tongues were somewhat beyond my comprehension.

What I Know Now
Talking Heads are the most important band I’ve discovered this year since My Chemical Romance (a sentence that doesn’t make sense in a linear fashion and probably hasn’t been spoken before).
I have learnt that I missed out on seeing American Utopia in person (I believe it was on in London where a friend of mine saw it and cried) and also on in New York while I was there. The Spike Lee directed version has appeared online in the last week but again, I failed to catch it when it was shown on the BFI Player. I must try harder and learn to keep my eyes open in future.

Favourite songs:
Psycho Killer, Once In A Lifetime, Born Under Punches, Life During Wartime, (Nothing But) Flowers.

Favourite album:
Talking Heads ’77 or Remain in Light

Spotify my favourite songs from this project.

Each week I listen to a different musical artist, taken at random from a pickle jar that I filled up at the start of the year.
This week was the turn of a little singer you might have heard of, Elvis Presley.

What I Knew Before
Well, I knew of Elvis. Obviously I knew of Elvis. The first memory that comes to mind is my secondary school science teacher who had a poster of Elvis on the wall of his classroom. When we became too loud and disruptive (which was often), he would point at the sign and say: “think about what Elvis would make of this, yeah guys! A little less conversation, a little more action please.”
This would get us straight back to our Bunsen burners.
It’s hard not to be impacted by Elvis Presley. I mean The Beatles were impacted by Elvis. He’s the king.

What I Know Now
Basically, that, but with a bit more Elvis in my mind. I suppose it’s entirely possible that a week isn’t enough time to delve into the discography of one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. There’s only so far that Blue Hawaii can get you in a week.
There’s no escaping the fact that a lot of it started with him and I’ve ever looked it until now. I’ll have to keep on listening.

Favourite songs:
Suspicious Minds, Jailhouse Rock, Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes, Hound Dog.

Favourite album:
’68 Comeback Special

Each week, I take an artist I don’t enough about from a jar, and try to listen to their back catalog in a week. This time around, it was northern Irish anti-masker, Van Morrison.

What I Knew Before
I was lucky enough to see Van Morrison perform at Hop Farm Festival 2010. A festival I just had to Google because it’s hard to believe the lineup. Van, Bob Dylan, Blondie and Ray Davies.
I knew the hits. I’ve probably performed Brown Eyed Girl in a seedy karaoke bar at some point.

What I Know Now
Probably the same as the above, with a sprinkling more of the controversy that surrounds his recent comments. Van (The Man) was the only artist I took from the jar and pulled at my collar over, worried that in a little over nine months, his placement in the jar might have soured.
Does his attitude change the songs he’s written?
No.
Does the fact he wrote Astral Weeks excuse it?
Also no.
I’m here for the music though, so let’s park the Three Chords And The Truth, and get into it.

Favourite songs:
Tupelo Honey, Moondance, Have I Told You Lately, Crazy Love

Favourite album:
Blowin’ Your Mind!