What’s this ? Two posts in a week ? There might be more at the weekend if we’re not all blown away by storms by then :-D.
I think my back has started to improve, add that to my mental state improving at work again in the new post and I’ve been a bit bouncier letting the daft thoughts come out and have fun. Haven’t been banned from anywhere yet, so there’s still a bit of control there :-D. I’ve been enjoying listening to a few bits of music again and I’m way overdue a music post. This one’s going to be fairly random … But first, a thumbnail !
Attribution on this one is to Tooshtoosh from a site that’s pretty hostile with its cookie popup thing but here’s a link anyway. Oh, the music thing is also inspired a bit by the ever lovely streamer lady Tashnarr (twitch link) who treated us to a rendition of Still Alive, the song at the end of the Portal game.
There’s been some amazing tunes on the iTunes DJ* selection as well this evening. It’s come time again to listen to the best tracks of Madonna’s Ray of Light album, currently listening to Frozen but I don’t think that’s actually the best on the album. Let’s see … It starts off remarkably well with Drowned World / Substitute For Love and keeps on going throughout. Perhaps my favourite Madonna album. And I can mostly sing along to it which is always good.
The album before was Aventine by Agnes Obel, who has a fairly distinct sound and a great voice as the centrepiece of it. Here’s what I think is the best track from it, The Curse. I do like it when the instruments interact with the voice, with the instruments feeling as important a part of the melody as the voice.
Another group that did that extremely well was Dire Straits, with Mark Knopfler weaving voice and guitar together. Here’s their interpretation of a modern Romeo and Juliet.
Thinking of Portal and Staying Alive, I think Lisa Miskovsky did a song called Staying Alive for the original Mirror’s Edge game (not played it or heard the track). This is another lady with a remarkable voice, although the songs might end up sounding a bit bland and over produced. When she’s good though, it’s a A Brand New Day of very very good.
All song links go to youtube as per usual.
Katie Peters Plays (another wonderful lady streamer) added in a Stress-Less-Zone for her discord not long ago and while listening to Clannad’s Legend album, I thought a few of the tracks in there could be a good fit for it. Legend was an album that came out accompanying the 1980s Robin of Sherwood series and was essentially a soundtrack album for it. The Clannad music set a wonderful tone for the series and Together We was one of the signature tracks.
The next album up here is the ‘Til We Meet Again album by Norah Jones, which is a bit of a collection of previous work. My favourite track on there is After The Fall, which came from the Little Broken Hearts album.
Going back a bit, I remembered All About Eve for someone the other day. This is one from way back, one of the first albums on cd we owned. Martha’s Harbour was a fantastic introduction for this group and that voice. Oh and I love how she disappears off into the background and lets the band take centre stage for the instrumental section of another of my favourites, Blue Sonic Boy.
I’ve picked up a few albums lately, I thought Invisible String by the prolific Taylor Swift was pretty good. There was another album by Metric too but I’d go back to Gold Guns Girls as a particular highlight from them. They got energy.
Time for a few other favourites ? I mentioned instruments being as much a part of the song as the voice and Congregation by Low caught me like that too. It was chosen as music for the series Devs for a few episodes. Didn’t bother finishing the series, did like the song.
The Awake And Always Dreaming album by Hannah Peel came up as well, she started out with a wonderful music box accompanying her singing but she didn’t want to continue doing semi traditional song arrangements and moved on to a more classical style. Lovely voice, good one to listen to. And you have to respect the choice of moving on to a different style. Here’s Don’t Kiss The Broken One. Oh and apparently Song For The Sea, The Almond Tree and Unwound on that link too.
I was looking forward to another little lady singer (name like shoes) who’s giving us another album soon but she’s gone into NFTs so nope. Seeya.
I don’t want to leave this post on a downer though … oh ! Here’s an appropriate one for people who publicise and promote the NFT thing. Rocket by Goldfrapp. You’ll know why when you hear the words :-D. Oh and that’s an underrated album too, it’s another one that maintains energy throughout.
Part of this is from pondering if I go back to selecting albums to listen to in the car on Friday. I’ve been lazy for the last few years and just letting it do its semi random selection. But it would be good to listen to some of those great albums in the car again. Kate Bush did some wonderful albums where the tracks blended in to each other, Pink Floyd would tell a story with their albums too. Wish You Were Here ? I think it’ll be on the flat on Friday and no Running Up That Hill.
One last song before I disappear off to pay more attention to Tashnarr’s stream …
I bought a Game Pass subscription yesterday with the aim of trying out Forza Horizon 5. I enjoyed a couple of hours in that yesterday although apparently my cheap and (not) cheerful controller gives 100% of signal after only 50% of travel on the analogue pad so driving is challenging. Looks awesome though :
I did enjoy a few hours in that yesterday. And it was good that it recommended Extreme graphics settings and was actually able to give a good frame rate with that.
To the music ? Last one. And it’s the old theme for the Grand Prix coverage on BBC. It’s The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. (edit – redid the link)
Later everyone ! Stay safe, be well, don’t get blown away by the storm.