Author Archives: The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

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About The Music in My Ears (by Jamie Kyei)

Just one man who's making his way through life one day at a time writing about the songs he has on his phone. And other things at some points.

#815: Oasis – The Masterplan

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‘The Masterplan’ was originally released as a B-side to ‘Wonderwall’ when that song was a single back in the day. It, along with many other Oasis B-sides, has always left Oasis fans wondering how they weren’t singles in their own right or at least on their parent albums. Noel Gallagher has said that at the time, he didn’t write shit songs. Which is a fair enough answer. Something had to be a B-side, so he wrote this to fit the quota.

I had been on this earth for only a few months at the time of the ‘Wonderwall’ single. I was three when the The Masterplan B-side album was released. So I didn’t know this song existed for a long time. In 2006 the band released Stop the Clocks, and promotion videos were made for ‘Acquiesce’ and ‘The Masterplan’. Saw the video for the latter on MTV2 one day, and that was all it took, really. Better late than never. With its message that we’re all small things that a part of a bigger picture alongside its L.S. Lowry-inspired animated video which is a huge ode to Manchester, it just made for a memorable music experience. Still does now, but when I was 11 it was even more so.

It is a bit crazy that no one thought to tell Gallagher to save this one. I could think of a song or two on Morning Glory that it could have replaced. It was 25+ years ago, so obviously what’s done is done. It does truly show the quality of Noel Gallagher’s songwriting, particularly during that point from 1994-6 where it seemed that all he touched turned to gold. Good stuff.

#814: Parquet Courts – Master of My Craft

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Parquet Courts, Parquet Courts. Not the hugest fan of them, I have to admit. Not because they’re bad. They do make great songs, but I’ve never been able to fully enjoy their whole discography from front to back. I did a ‘review’ for Sunbathing Animal way back when. It’s not very good. But That was after I had heard Light Up Gold for the first few times and thought, “Wow! This is my new band.” I’ve not listened to that album for a while. If I had started this blog a bit later, ‘Bodies Made Of’ would’ve had its own post on here.

I’m digressing. Continuing on with the ‘songs from the perspective of someone we shouldn’t like’ theme established from yesterday’s post, this is ‘Master of My Craft’. It’s the first song on Light Up Gold, and it’s sung by co-lead vocalist Austin Brown. I think it’s all right to assume that this is from the POV of some sleazy, selfish, corporate business-oriented person who has no compassion whatsoever for other people. This person won’t even take a minute out of the day to talk to you. It’s madness. I’m exaggerating. Brown’s kind-of-distant vocal delivery suits the song’s message well, and I’ve personally liked the almost-monoaural mix the track has. Makes the performance sound all the more compact and tight.

With about fifty seconds to go, the vocals finish and the band jam on two chords with Brown providing a solo in each ear. Listening to the song by itself, you may think that it ends quite abruptly. You would be right. Some would tell you that the best way to listen to the song is when it’s then followed by the next track on the album, ‘Borrowed Time’. That would have had its own post too. That way you get a solid six minutes of some good rock music. You wouldn’t believe that one song ended and the other started the way this transition goes. The band perform the two songs live below.

#813: Supergrass – Mary

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‘Mary’ is a track on Supergrass’ self-titled album from 1999. The ‘X-Ray’ album as it’s usually referred to by fans. On it, guitarist Gaz Coombes and bassist Mick Quinn sing the vocal together, with Quinn taking the melody and Coombes on the lower harmony. The track evolved from a three chord piano riff created by then resident keyboardist Rob Coombes which pretty much repeats throughout the song’s entirety.

There is a threatening tone to this song. It has a very smooth groove to it, but Quinn and Coombes start singing about the things they’re going to do or meant to do to the listener, and how people have dark thoughts in their heads. The only thing revealed about Mary is that she has green teeth, and that she gets shocked/scared by the song’s narrator. It’s all from the perspective of someone that the listener is definitely not meant to like. And I think that’s what appeals to me the most about this song. It’s different in that way from many others by Supergrass.

Pre-YouTube days you really had to search for music videos online. I remember finding this one somewhere, and after reading that it was censored and was rarely shown during the day time… Well, it piqued my curiosity. And as you can see above, the video is quite creepy. The more scary scenes were hilariously replaced in the censored version with pictures of onions. I don’t know, either. They had to do something, I guess.

#812: The Beatles – Martha My Dear

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Not so long after John Lennon finishes wailing about happiness being a warm gun on The Beatles’ White Album comes ‘Martha My Dear’. The track is virtually a solo Paul McCartney venture. He plays all the instruments on there bar the violins, trumpets and all the other ‘classical’ instrumentation. Those were arranged by the band’s producer George Martin. The song is also notable for being about McCartney’s dog who he owned at the time. I’ve seen that a lot of people don’t take it seriously for that reason and jokingly categorise it under the ‘granny shit’ label that Lennon had reportedly said about some of McCartney’s material.

But really, I think it just goes under the list of great songs that the man wrote. Another great melody as per usual. And that piano run is hard to play. I’ve tried. There’s a lot of skipping and jumping from note to note while trying to maintain the timing. I’ve also liked how the song always keeps moving and changing. McCartney sings along with the piano and violins for the first verse/chorus(?), then the horns come in for the “hold your head up” section to add some oomph, and then takes off with the “take a good look” bridge. It’s hard to label the song’s parts. There’s not really a chorus because the piano lick is kind of the main refrain of it. It’s just one nice melody after the next, with a nice instrumental walk-in-the-park section.

So a guy just wanted to write a song about his dog. There’s no problem with that. Have you seen the pictures of Paul and Martha? It seems that they were very close. A lot of credit has to go to George Martin on this one too. His arrangement for the additional instruments make this track a lot more dramatic than it has any right to be. This would be the beginning of Side 2 if you were listening to it on vinyl. I think I’ve got to say that that side may be my favourite on the double album. The run from ‘Martha My Dear’ to about ‘Rocky Raccoon’ is one of their strangely gratifying moments on any of the band’s albums.

#811: Manic Street Preachers – Marlon J.D.

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This song is a bit of a recent addition to my phone library. Journal for Plague Lovers is one of my three favourite Manic Street Preachers albums, and it’s been on my computer storage since late 2013. Then, I’d already established a few highlights from there that I liked right away. One of those should be coming up in the next few weeks. ‘Marlon J.D.’ I didn’t really appreciate until, maybe, about last year. I don’t think I even listened to the album. Its chorus line just started ringing in my head and I guess I needed to listen to it to properly remember what it sounded like.

This blog post, found on a site dedicated to Manic Street Preachers, actually covers a lot of what I would have wanted to talk about here. Probably in better detail too. I’m also all for its driving energy, the slashing guitars and the pulsating drum machine that relentlessly keeps the song moving. There’s an opening-theme-song-to-a-police-detective-TV-show vibe to this song that I sense too, though that’s just me. Like all of the other songs on Plague Lovers, its lyrics were written by Richey Edwards, the band’s original co-lyricist and guitarist who disappeared in 1995 and was presumed dead 13 years later. According to bassist Nicky Wire, Edwards was fascinated by Marlon Brando as a figure of success and self-destruction. A lot of the lyrics are also taken from the film Reflections in a Golden Eye featuring Brando and Elizabeth Taylor.

Wire and lead singer James Dean Bradfield give more information about the song in the video below. Some points covered: Wire wrote the song’s music, and originally sang the song’s demo. You can see him demonstrate it around 2:34 in this video. And neither of them know what the J.D. stands for. I think the answer’s a lot closer then they think. To the point that I think they actually do know, but I don’t know why they would say they don’t. You know what I mean? Anyway, the song’s up there.