For those of you who don’t know, Billy Talent used to be known as Pezz and produced a complete style of music under the moniker. Instead of the heavy, hard punk, post-hardcore rock they are recognised for their music went down a completely different route taking influences from ska, indie rock and a bit of hip-hop too.
Under that name they released one album labelled “Watoosh!” (a name which I can only think is the onomatopoeia of the noise a whip makes when used) in 1999. “Fairytale” is the second track on this album, and was one of the first four songs I heard when I found about Billy Talent’s past (albeit in very low quality). The other three being “M&M”, “Nita” and the Tragically Hip cover of “New Orleans Is Sinking”. Was the music different? Of course it was. But in a good way. In fact, at that point I was amazed that even when they weren’t Billy Talent, I still liked every song that they made. This was at a time when the first album was the only thing the band had to show.
I really liked “Fairytale” when I heard it for the first time. It was less angry and more brighter than Billy Talent material. Ian was still a maniac on guitar, Jon and Aaron still owned the rhythm and Ben had a bouncy rapid-fire vocal delivery that you would rarely hear today. Overall, it’s a very positive and energetic track about wanting to be in a relationship, but only being able to dream about it or something. Which probably sums up the title. Billy Talent used to be of those bands where the song titles never appeared in the song, you see.
As the epic “Easier to Run” on “Meteora” fades out to silence “Faint”‘s one note ‘violin’ fades in from out of nowhere, the dramatic ‘strings’ introduction begins and just when you thought you would be able to take a breather, this track starts.
We all know “Faint”. It’s one of those standard Linkin Park songs that everyone knows the words to. Mike Shinoda raps in the verses, Chester Bennington doesn’t sing as much in this. This is his shouting/yelling/screaming song of “Meteora”. He does it again in “From the Inside”, but this is the track where all of that takes place.
It’s fast. It’s loud. Pretty much takes your breath away the first time you hear it. It probably wouldn’t be wrong to say that Bennington could barely breathe after recording the vocal for this.
To tell you straight, I can’t remember the first time I heard it. I have no nostalgia or sentimentality linked with this track whatsoever. It actually might have been on the speakers in a shop somewhere when I was forced to go out with my family when I was younger. I have never really cared about what it means too. It’s not my favourite on the album either. But it’s damn good. And it’s from their best album. Yes, I said that.
Nearing the end of Franz Ferdinand’s second album comes “Fade Together”, a forlorn piano-led track about the end of a relationship. You regularly get the ’emotional’ track near the end of any album, and this song is definitely one of those.
A single-tracked Alex Kapranos in the verses sighs into the microphone about plans to ‘get away’ with somebody which all seemed so real, until something of a flash-forward in time in the next verse reveals that those dreams are long gone. Now Kapranos only wishes to get over this person, no matter how hard it actually is to do so. In hope of ending this feeling he, along with himself as the haunting double-tracked vocal comes in for the chorus, calls out to all to ‘fade together/forever’.
A very good album track. One where the time signature is quite weird during the verses (goes from 3/4 to 5/4 and then switches back to 3/4), and includes great use of a piano, which has its own little solo for the last 30 seconds when the singing finishes and the bass and acoustic guitars disappear and you may also hear the sounds of bird tweeting throughout, adding to the track’s lonely atmosphere.
It’s all a bit of a downer. But at least the next track ends the album on more of a confident note.
I have returned! What better way to start the month of October than with the start of this ‘series’ thing that most followers possibly look at my blog for.
This is “Face to Face”, the penultimate track from Daft Punk’s second album Discovery. If you are watching the album’s visual counterpart “Interstella 5555“, this is the point where – spoilers – Earth finds out the band are aliens and help them get back to their home planet. That’s the first time I heard the track, and I got very positive vibes from it. Watching the film at the same time, I was happy to see that the people of Earth were so adamant on helping the blue-skinned people. It was nice to see.
From looking at the lyrics, the track is from the perspective of someone who feels foolish for throwing their toys out of the pram in a fight, instead of just talking it out face to face, and finding sense in whatever the other person was saying. It may also be about Internet dating or something. But I personally think it’s the former.
The double-tracked vocals are done by Todd Edwards, who more recent Daft Punk fans may know from “Fragments of Time” from “Random Access Memories”. However, the majority of the track has no vocals at all and instead focuses on the different samples of older songs that are used but which Daft Punk never wanted to reveal. We all know that “Evil Woman” by ELO is in there….. but I still have no clue what the female vocal is saying or where it’s from. I’m convinced that it’s saying “-long…. Mr. Furlong” and then “good evening” at some parts too.
The music itself makes me feel good. Why? The positive message, the stomping 4-4 beat, or those cut/copy samples that work so well together. A song to lie back to and feel good about what you have is what this is.
On the ninth of September 2009 after four years of arduous work using the latest technology available, The Beatles’ discography from “Please, Please Me” from ’63 to 1970’s “Let It Be” were released, remastered in both mono and stereo mixes. For what must have been a long wait for those who owned the last remasters from 1987, every snare hit, string pluck and glorious melody were now able to be heard in a revitalised condition. “The Beatles: Rock Band” game was also released on the same date, allowing the young and old to play along with the four guys through their journey from the Cavern Club to Abbey Road studios. It was a good day for Beatles fans…. though it wasn’t really for me.
It isn’t that something bad happened to me on that day. It was another day in the opening week of a new year at school as far as I was concerned. I didn’t have a clue as to what was going on. I had never given the band a look before that month, but it was then that everything changed. Whilst casually browsing the Internet as you do, I noticed on the television that the now-defunct channel VH1 Classic was dedicating one half an hour slots everyday to The Beatles suitably titled “Beatlemania”. This was because of 09/09/09, but I didn’t know this so I assumed it was just a random move on their part to show The Beatles videos on music television.
Any of you who read my posts in the Blogger may remember a statement in my “Across the Universe” entry, where I controversially stated that when I was younger I didn’t actually think The Beatles existed. I say controversial – not a lot of people cared or probably even read the post in the first place – but I said that and then just moved on as if I hadn’t. I feel as if I should address this. To cut it short, the “Paul Is Dead” theories played a massive part, the supposed backwardmessages as well as the general consensus that The Beatles were ‘the greatest band of all time’ and Sgt. Pepper is the best album ever all threw me off a bit. They couldn’t be as good as everyone said they were. I bet I wouldn’t like them if I listened to their stuff. I listened to “Sgt. Pepper” to try and understand, and it still underwhelmed me. Maybe The Beatles just weren’t the band for me.
But I had to admit the sight of them together, laughing, joking and generally having a good time in videos such as “The Night Before“, “Penny Lane“, “Hey Bulldog“, “One After 909” on “Beatlemania” was honestly the first time I had watched the four men perform/mime their songs whilst being within the vicinity of each others’ personal space, which essentially nullified all prior thoughts I had about the group. The band actually had been on Earth for a period of time in the past. And the few of their songs that were shown on the programme I really got to like, especially “Penny Lane” I must have hummed that tune to myself as I was walking to school every day. Those were good days.
I felt as if I had missed out by listening to The Beatles at the age of fourteen. For some reason I thought that I should have known their songs for years by that time. But on the contrary there was so much to discover. I am just lucky that I started before it was too late. By the end of the year I had downloaded most of their albums and my obsession continued well into 2010, as I received “The Beatles: Rock Band” as a late Christmas present. Had a good time with that game, even if my interest in it faded as weeks went on. But its official forum was pretty cool. I was a member on there, and along with its community pulled off something of epic proportions. I’ll talk about that tomorrow.
The group were undeniably unique – the charisma and chemistry between all four members are qualities that arguably haven’t been matched – and their music was of such great quality that it continues to stand the test of time. From Key Stage 4 to the second year of university, The Beatles have been in my head. Here is to many more years.
The Music in My Ears 