Monthly Archives: July 2013

My iPod #86: The Who – Behind Blue Eyes

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Hi everyone. I’m feeling good. Each day just seems to go into the next so quickly, I don’t know where the time is going.

This is the third song from this album that I’ve done a blog on, and I’ve only got five songs from Who’s Next on my iPod. Oh, well.

For those of you who don’t know, “Who’s Next” is only a compilation of songs that were supposed to be used for a much bigger project that Pete Townshend had worked on. After they had finished “Tommy”, Townshend began work on a rock-opera called “Lifehouse”. However, when he explained the concept to his friends and the other band members they just didn’t get what was going on. They couldn’t handle it.

“Behind Blue Eyes” is sung from the perspective of the villain of the story, Jumbo. It was intended to be his ‘theme song’, but of course “Lifehouse” never happened. “Who’s Next” is still considered to be the band’s best album, even though it wasn’t intended to be made. That’s quite funny. You can listen to the album’s intended tracklist, thanks to this playlist on YouTube.

“Behind Blue Eyes” is the penultimate song – before “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. It starts off with Roger singing alone over Pete’s guitar, John later joins in with the bass and vocal harmonies are introduced. The song then changes into a full rock out when Keith and the electric guitars come in. Keith’s drumming is brilliant on this, listen to them here. The song then ends with a reprise of the first sections. With three cymbal crashes on the last three words, the song fades to a close.

It’s quite of a downer. But then the last track begins, and for the next nine minutes you’ll feel great.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #85: The Futureheads – The Beginning of the Twist

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Hi everyone.

I’m feeling good today. After about seven years, I have finally got around to taking my acoustic guitar to get fixed. I only need a new high e string, but it’s taken so long. I never thought this day would come. I listened to ‘Blow Away’ by George Harrison – one of the happiest songs that I only listened to last Friday or so, on repeat on the way to the shop and back.The weather is incredibly sunny and very hot. It’s a good time to be alive.

“This Is Not the World” is The Futureheads’ third album released in 2008. They also hadn’t released an album for quite a while. “The Beginning of the Twist” was the first single, and brought back that hard-hitting, punchy feeling that’s present throughout most of their songs.

It was also the first time the band had released material on their independent label Nul Records, after leaving 679 Recordings for undisclosed reasons. It is the first song on the album, but in its own way it is announcement of their change and a message that things will not be the same. I don’t think it’s in any way autobiographical, I just thought of that. It’s all up to interpretation.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #84: Green Day – Before the Lobotomy

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To this day, I am still not sure what the concept of “21st Century Breakdown” is. I know that it includes two characters, Christian and Gloria, and I also believe that those are the same characters that are embracing on the album cover. So is it like a love story? Is it supposed to be some sort of survival of two lovers in a shitty period of time? That’s really all I can deduce from it.

“21st Century Breakdown” was somewhat the “Relapse” for Green Day. It was released in 2009 – five years after releasing “American Idiot” in 2004. It was an exciting time for Green Day fans, including myself. I wasn’t really impressed with “Know Your Enemy” though, it was a bit repetitive and it didn’t strike me as much as “American Idiot” did as a first single.

That didn’t stop me from eventually downloading the album though. It is a straight-forward punk rock album: Guitars in full force in both ears with the bass and drums in the centre, a few overdubs here and there and guitar solos. Yeah, it’s good.

“Before the Lobotomy” starts off quietly for the first minute or so, describing how people feel down and how there seems to be no signs of hope, “Laughter, there is no more laughter. Songs of yesterday now live in the underground” But the song then picks up, turning into more of a rocker in the middle alternating between 7/4 and 4/4 in time signature. I can’t remember the last time Green Day used that in a song. It’s nice though, it keeps things going quickly. The end reprises the first verses of the song though, reminding everyone that society still sucks.

I like this song. Listen to it, you may like it too.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #83: Razorlight – Before I Fall to Pieces

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Ah. The third single from Razorlight’s second album from 2006.

I like this song, no matter how many people may not like Johnny Borrell’s voice or as a person. The song was released as a single in December 2006, months way after the actual album was released.

I had actually heard the song before it was released as a single. In primary school, I had a friend and we were into the same music and we would talk about songs that were out and whatever. Baring in mind, we were about eleven at the time. He had this huge musical library on his computer, and I would always request songs for him to send to me through MSN. I don’t know if that annoyed him or not, because I asked for a lot of music. I will just assume that he was cool with it. He invited me around his house one time, so he probably was.

The video always confused me though. I have no idea what’s going on. It probably should have just been a perfomance video. It does feature Guy Pearce, and Scorpio from Gladiators though.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #82: Blur – Beetlebum

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Beetlebum. What you done. She’s a guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun. Now what you done. Beetlebum.

I can’t remember how I came to like this song. Blur have been around for a long time, so it’s pretty hard to pick out an exact time. It may just have been playing on MTV2, on one of the chart shows that the channel sometimes showed. I can remember being concerned about the censored Coca-Cola can, and the censored cigarette in Alex James’ hand, and then going online to see if there was an uncensored version. There isn’t one. It’s not censored for a particular reason, it’s just for effect.

It’s good listening to the song by itself, but with the video it just seems so much cooler. Damon… stares deep into your soul. Some weird kaleidoscope effects occur. He starts making out with the microphone later on, and for the last minute or so the camera starts flying around the surrounding area. It’s trippy, possibly a way of depicting the effects of drug taking. Which is what the song is about. You can see it on Wikipedia. It has references too, so it’s obviously true. Obviously.

The song is the opener from their self titled album released in 1997. It was also released as the first single, and reached number one for a week until it was knocked off the top spot by LL Cool J. That’s not too bad. Whatever LL Cool J’s song was, it’s probably better than anything in the chart today.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.