What do Bananagun, Sam Fender and Thievery Corporation have in common? They all featured during the last stretch of May. Join them, along with a lot of others on this last post for the month
Image: Jerrysartarama.com
This series of blog articles cover a week of mini-feature posts from the Loving the Music Facebook page and group. This makes it easier for our music-loving community to search through our ever-growing archive of songs, backstories and trivia.
22nd - 31st May 2020 - Featured Musicians:
Sam Fender - Kate & Anna McGarrigle - Bananagun - Thievery Corporation - Southern Discomfort - Merry Hell - Reely Jiggered - Hollies - Herman's Hermits - Yardbirds - FKJ
22nd May: Tonight is devoted to another young UK musician who made waves when his Hypersonic Missiles album was released last year. Sam Fender is one of the fresh new faces of British music and if you’ve heard some of his numbers, you will have realised that he is going to be around for a long time to come.
When his debut album was released I featured (and waxed lyrical about) the few tracks I could get hold of. To start tonight’s session I’m revisiting the Hypersonic Missiles album with the track Saturday. Great song, great lyrics, great video – you get the picture?
The other clips I have lined up tonight is a lovely cover of a well-known favourite, and a live video performance he did for the British Red Cross fund. Just Sam and his guitar doing four really cool numbers. But to start here’s Saturday from the debut album Hypersonic Missiles. Enjoy.
As promised, here’s Sam Fender at the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge doing a cover of a much-loved classic, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. The musicians amongst you will appreciate the fact that he keeps that 5-fingered pick constant and perfect for 5 minutes and 14 seconds! But see for yourself. Here’s Sam with Back to Black.😎
When I was considering what clip I should use for the final Sam Fender song tonight I was a bit stumped. There’s so much good material out there that I could have chosen, but decided on a lovely clip of just Sam and his guitar. The simplicity of the clip shows what a down-to-earth nice guy Sam Fender is.
Here he does four songs for the British Red Cross. Of particular note is the straight acoustic version of his song The Borders (11:46). The album version is brilliant but this version brought tears to my eyes. Such a touching song.
Have as good a Friday night as the lockdown will allow. There have been many times over the last couple of cabin-fever months that I have been thankful for music to keep me sane! Let me leave you in the capable hands of Sam Fender. 😎
25th May: Back in the ‘70s when a very dear and special friend and I ran a coffee bar in Port Elizabeth, a regular customer (who became a good friend) introduced us to the quirky joys of Kate & Anna McGarrigle. To this day I haven’t met many people who know of them, but when it does happen it is one of those secret knowing smile and special handshake moments. The sisters hail from Quebec and started performing their own compositions during their university years with the folk group Mountain City Four in the ‘60s, with their songs being covered by Emmylou Harris, Judy Collins and Linda Ronstadt. Due to these cover versions, Kate & Anna got their first recording contract and so the first self-titled album was released in 1976.
I’m starting today’s selection from their catalogue of recordings with the track that sold me on the sisters and is synonymous with those crazy and fun couple of years back in Angelos Coffee Bar and the crew who made it their second home. Let's listen to Blues in D from their first album simply named Kate & Anna McGarrigle. 😎
The next song from that super-quirky Canadian sister duo, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, is a love song about salt. Yes, you read that correctly, salt.
Talking of love songs, Kate married the Canadian singer/songwriter Louden Wainright III in 1971 and although their marriage only lasted four years, they remained “antagonistic friends” (Kate’s words) and had two children, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, both successful musicians and performers in their own right, and as quirky as their mother and aunt ever were.
This intriguing track (I chose a clip that showed the lyrics) is from their second album, Dancer With Bruised Knees (1977), and the song is called NaCl. This song may well come in handy for any of you on lockdown and trying to homeschool your children. This is ideal for a science lesson!
I don’t think any feature about Kate and Anna McGarrigle could be complete without possibly their most famous and widely covered song, the beautiful Heart Like a Wheel. While the Linda Ronstadt version is probably better known, I am a sucker for the simplicity and pathos that the sisters pack into the original song.
Unfortunately, Kate succumbed to cancer in 2010, but the McGarrigles music lives on in the 10 studio albums and numerous collaborations that they leave us.
Sadly, the majority of the special people and group of friends that I learned to love Kate & Anna McGarrigle with back in those Port Elizabeth coffee bar days are gone far too soon, and although it never fails to bring a tear to my eye when I hear this song, it is a tear of happy memories.
Thank you for indulging my choice for today. I hope I’ve rekindled memories in some and sent others on a hunt for more of the McGarrigle’s music. There’s lots of it out there and it is all beautiful! Have a happy week music lovers. 😎
26 May: A bit of Radio Caroline magic happened this morning when they featured a song by Melbourne based band Bananagun. Never heard of them? Well neither had I so I did some digging around and took a listen to their latest album, The True Story of Bananagun, to be released in June.
We’ll come to who they are later, first, let me answer the ‘genre’ question. The song that hooked me sounded like a Nigerian Fela Kuti inspired outfit with a bit of funky Prog-rock thrown in the mix. Sound intriguing? It is! Here’s a pre-release from the album, the song People Talk Too Much. 😎
We’re discovering the Melbourne outfit, Bananagun, today and if you enjoyed the first track I featured, I’m sure you’ll want to know more.
Bananagun wrote and recorded their debut album as a five-piece for the first time, after beginning as the solo recording project of multi-instrumentalist Nick Van Bakel. The additional four members had previously formed the lineup for live performances.
Here’s Bananagun getting in touch with their inner-sixties vibe with a bit of fun funk and frolic, the song Out Of Reach. 😎
The closing song from Bananagun for today is Do Yeah! I’ve listened to some of the earlier Bananagun tracks while putting together the song selection for today and personally think that this album is their best yet.
Nick Van Bakel said the band wanted the new album to feel vibrant, colourful and have depth like the jungle. Like an ode to nature”, fusing Brazillian tropicalia with West African rhythms. I think he's cracked it!
The band had a European tour in the works for May, but the coronavirus pandemic forced its postponement until September. I’m looking forward to hearing what’s in the barrel of the Bananagun in the future.
Thanks for listening today folks. If you’re enjoying my page and group can I ask you to recommend it to some of your musically inclined friends? It will help me boost my base and, after all, what better gift to give than music? 😎
27 May: When Eric Hilton and Rob Garza decided to form Thievery Corporation in 1995 I wonder if they realised just how influential their music would be in the future? From those initial albums that immediately became future classics, their style of Trip-Hop has been embraced globally by fans and fellow musicians alike.
Maybe one of the biggest tributes to your success as an artist is having your music arranged for an orchestra, and that is exactly what we’ll be listening to tonight. In 2017 Thievery Corporation played a historic concert at the JF Kennedy Centre where some of their favourite compositions were arranged by some of the country’s leading young classical composers.
To honour the inspirational performance Thievery Corporation has released the album Symphonik. They recorded the album along with Prague’s FILMharmonic Orchestra and released it last month on their ESL label (18th Street Lounge).
To kick off the selection for today here’s a remarkable rendition of their huge hit, Lebanese Blonde from The Mirror Conspiracy album (2000), and the sultry voice of Natalia Clavier. Enjoy. 😎
Although having an orchestral working of a song or album can sometimes lead to overly lush and sometimes watered-down versions of the originals, not so with Thievery Corporation’s new album, Symphonik. They have successfully integrated their particular flair into each composition without losing any of the songs original quality.
For today’s second choice let’s join them and the Prague FILMharmonic Orchestra for a version of Love Has No Heart from their 2017 Temple of I & I album, joined this time by vocalist Shana Halligan, who interestingly is the daughter of Blood Sweat and Tears founder member Dick Halligan. 😎
In closing the Theivery Corporation theme for today I have chosen a clever arrangement of the band's song Until The Morning from my favourite album of theirs, The Richest Man In Babylon (2002).
Some might not enjoy the new Symphonik album, but like many commemorative albums before, the new release is a chance to reflect on Thievery Corporation's success that has the last spanned 25 years. Like it or not, it is evident is that they can still seamlessly incorporate a new, but comfortingly familiar, dimension into their music. Personally, I think it is a worthwhile and important addition to any TC fan’s music collection.
Thanks for joining me for a few tracks from this new album. Please don’t forget to help share the love of music by sharing and linking my page to your music-loving friends. Wherever you are, stay warm, stay safe, stay sane and keep the music going. 😎
28 May: Happy Thursday music-lovers. There are three folk outfits that you’ve possibly never heard of before tonight, but I’m planning on changing that! One hails from Scotland, one from Manchester and the last is a duo of local guys from Pretoria, and that’s where we are starting today.
Southern Discomfort describes themselves as an electronic folk duo and comprises of Jandre and Alden Van Heerden. Although they share a surname they are not related but met each other in their first year at the Open Window Arts Institute. Now, holding their degrees in film and sound engineering, they are exploring their creativity to the hilt.
What grabbed me about this track is how it almost reimagines Folk Music, pairing the intriguing lyrics against a slow, driving soundscape interlaid with a delicate repeated guitar riff that lends a haunting element to the track.
Southern Discomfort plan to release a full album later in the year and I can’t wait to hear where these extremely talented guys take this concept. Find them on Southern Discomfort and subscribe to their YouTube channel to keep up to date with new releases. Here’s the song Something Foreign.
The second folk outfit I’m featuring today goes by the name of Merry Hell and have become well known on the UK folk and festival circuits since they formed in 2010. They have released five albums along with a couple of DVD’s, but the track I am featuring tonight is the first in a trilogy of digital singles to be released at three-weekly intervals.
The song Leave it in the Ground has an ecological theme and was written by fiddle player, Neil McCarthy, whose mining town heritage heightened his awareness at the devastation of the land and community, and inspired him to write the song which looks at the use of cleaner and safer energy as both a way forward and a means of honouring the sacrifices of miners of the past. Here is Merry Hell and the song with a big message, Leave it in the Ground.
The last Folk outfit in today’s selection is a three-piece from Scotland, Reely Jiggered (gotta love that name!). They comprise of classically trained Alison McNeill on fiddle and vocals, her sister Fiona on mandolin, bodhran, guitar and vocals and drummer/percussionist Scott McLean. They released their third album, Tricky Terrain, at the beginning of the month, and it’s a cracker. These are highly skilled musicians with vocals that are chilling at times.
Although Reely Jiggered is inspired by Celtic music, they draw sounds from World beats, fusing Funk, Rock, Pop and Jazz in a distinctive style which is a step above the norm in this genre of music. I’ve chosen the track Walking Boots from the Tricky Terrain album to leave you with. It’s a driving and thoughtful song about the displacement of people throughout history and shows the McNeill sister’s vocal prowess perfectly.
Thanks for exploring some new Fok tracks with me today. If you enjoyed them please share them with your friends, because everything goes better with music! Catch you tomorrow. 😎
29th May: If you’ve ended the week feeling a bit down, here’s some Friday morning fun from one of my favourite musical comedy artists for you, the ever-irreverent master of word-play and brilliant pianist, Tim Minchin. I found this clip named Universal Comedy compiled from his 2008 F*cking Rock special. It’s a collection of five songs that covers the all-important issues of inequality, religion and love that had me in hysterics last night.
By the way, Tim isn’t only a master of musical satire, I saw him as Judas in a production of JC Superstar a few weeks ago and he outshone the rest of the cast. This is a truly talented man. 😎
29th May: Facebook friend and music lover, John Knottenbolt suggested a documentary a few days ago charting the history of the remarkable band 10cc which was excellent (thank you John – link to the doccie in the comments section).
Before you jump to conclusions, I am not going to feature any 10cc songs, but rather a selection of hit songs that were written by one the band before 10cc was even thought of.
10cc had two writing teams within their members, Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart, and Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, but it is Graham Gouldman that we are discussing tonight.
I’m starting today with an early hit from the British band, The Hollies, for whom Gouldman wrote the 1965 hit Look Through Any Window, and their 1966 blockbuster hit, Bus Stop. Graham Nash, before he quit The Hollies for Crosby, Stills, Nash and (sometimes) Young, said that as soon as he heard the songs he immediately knew that the band could turn them into hits. How right he was. Here’s a very early clip of The Hollies performing Bus Stop.
Today I am featuring some of the hits written by Graham Gouldman, one of the members of 10cc before the band came into being.
Another big name during the British Invasion of Music of 1964 – 67 was Herman’s Hermits. Their non-threatening looks and the pretty boy image of lead vocalist Peter Noone (who was only 15-years-old but already well known in the UK for his appearances on the long-running soap opera, Coronation Street) became a preferred choice of the ‘moderate’ pop music listener of the period, with The Rolling Stones and The Beatles being too hardcore an option for many.
Here we head back to 1966 and Herman’s Hermits and another bit of Graham Gouldman genius, No Milk Today.
The last track I’ve chosen in today’s threesome of Graham Gouldman songs that were huge hits for other groups, before his own band, 10cc, was thought of, is the classic For Your Love from The Yardbirds.
You may (or may not) know that The Yardboards were the springboard for three legends of the guitar: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. The band had numerous hits during the mid-60s and although they split up in 1968, they are still considered one of the huge influential bands of the time.
After the band split Keith Relf and Jim McCarty went on to form Rennaisance and Jimmy Page formed Led Zepplin. Here’s one of The Yardbirds first mega-hits, the Graham Gouldman composition, For Your Love.
Thanks for exploring the talent of the superb songwriter and musician, Graham Gouldman, and some of the classics he wrote for some of the biggest bands of the ‘60s.I hope your Friday has been a good one and, restrictions aside, you all have a wonderful weekend. If you’ve enjoyed these posts please share them, and my page with your like-minded friends. The more the merrier. 😎
31st May: I came across this clip earlier from a master of looping, French Kiwi Juice, or FKJ as he's known to his fans. I have featured a few tracks of his before so some of you may know what to expect. FKJ's music is a wonderful blend of smooth jazz, clever electronics and soundscaping.
What makes this clip, or considering its length I should I say the movie, interesting is the location. This performance was filmed for Cercle (the major music streaming promotion service) on the Bolivian salt flat, Salar de Uyuni.
As FJK said in an interview with Cercle "I didn’t want the location to be just a background to my music but my music to be the soundtrack of the location". Whether you watch this beautiful video or just have it streaming in the background for the music, do yourselves a favour and take some time to sink into this wonderful sound journey. 😎
I hope that you find these weekly recaps of Loving the Music mini-features make your musical world a little easier. Happy exploring! Join our Facebook Community here for a music group who does more than just post a link to a song.
Please enjoy browsing through our archives:
July 2020: 1st-7th July - 8th - 14th July - 15th -21st July - 22nd - 31st July
June 2020:1st - 7th June - 8th- 14th June 2020 - 15th - 21st June - 22nd - 30th June
May 2020:1st - 7th May - 8th - 14th May - 15th - 21st May - 22nd - 31st May
April 2020: 1st - 14th April - 15th - 30th April
March 2020:1st - 7th Mar - 8th - 14th Mar - 15th - 21st Mar - 22nd - 31st Mar
Feb 2020: 1st - 14th Feb - 15th - 28th Feb
Jan 2020: 1st - 14th Jan - 15th Jan - 31st Jan
The Design Train is a social media marketing company run by music-lover Andrew Knapp, who also hosts the Loving the Music Facebook pages. The Design Train specializes in content creation on a wide variety of topics designed to compliment the client's objectives.
Words © Andrew Knapp
The author does not own the copyright of any of the videos used in the article
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