Category Archives: Music

My iPod #77: Kings of Leon – Be Somebody

Leave a reply

Ah. The only one I really like from “Only by the Night”.

I am, admittedly, a Kings of Leon fan who prefers their music prior to “Only by the Night”. Sure, “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody” were major successes for them – and that’s great. I just like it when they weren’t aiming for this big, stadium filling sound that they seem to have been going for since the album’s release in 2008. Ever since they cut their hair, which I first noticed in the video for “Charmer”, things just started going downhill for me. I’m just saying. Don’t hate me.

“Be Somebody” is the highlight from the album for me. That’s only because the two songs I’ve mentioned above are repeated endlessly on the TV or radio. I can’t get no satisfaction when I hearing them sung by contestants on the X Factor, or Britain’s Got Talent, or other inane Saturday night ITV programmes that are on.

It sounds like a song that could have been on “Because of the Times”, I don’t get a sense of “Ooh, look at us we’re this huge band now and you should listen to us” vibe that I get from other songs on the album. It’s a haunting song, emphasised by the descending riff in the verses and the shrieking guitar in the breaks between the verses until you are suddenly lifted by an uplifting sounding chorus, where Caleb reaches the top of his lungs singing how he’s going to be somebody.

To summarise, for me it’s the only good song on the album. I’ll stick to their tunes from when their hair was long.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

P.S. Congratulations to Andy Murray, who became the first Briton to win Wimbledon in 77 years. He’s still Scottish.

My iPod #76: Fatman Scoop ft. The Crooklyn Clan – Be Faithful

Leave a reply

Oh, man. One of the biggest of 2003 right here guys.

This song was the most contagious thing ever. I was only eight years old, but this song played almost every day. It got to number one in the UK and stayed there for two weeks.

You can’t sit still to this song. As soon as the intro starts, the bass drop kicks in and “Scoop” starts yelling “OH, OH, OH, OH, OH, OH, OH”. That’s it. You’re done. You’re already jumping around the room and shouting along with him.

This is probably one of the most random songs I have on my iPod. I think it just brings back memories of when I was in primary school. It also played for about 30 seconds at my recent prom, so that was cool too.

As for Fatman Scoop, he’s featured on a few songs here and there since the hit. But the success for him as a solo artist never reached the highs as it did for him with this track. He did release another song entitled “It Takes Scoop”, which was a top ten entry in the UK. But I don’t think anyone would think that is quite as memorable as “Be Faithful”.

I’m sorry Fatman, but this is one for the ‘one-hit wonder’ chart countdowns on television.

I LOVE IT THOUGH, IT’S SO HYPE.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #75: Morning Runner – Be All You Want Me to Be

Leave a reply


This is the first song I heard by Morning Runner.

I was watching music television one day. I think the channel was The Amp -which was a really good music channel; I don’t know why it got removed – and I watched the video for it.

But you know how it goes. Time moves on, and songs get older and older until they eventually fade away and are hardly ever played again. I never forgot about the song though. I wasn’t able to watch the video again until sometime in 2010. I downloaded the song, and I can have it on repeat whenever I want.

It’s got that “Rush of Blood” Coldplay type vibe. Apparently it influenced Chris Martin to write songs with Coldplay for “X&Y”, so obviously it must be good.

The song was released as the band’s second single from their debut album “Wilderness Is Paradise Now”. Their debut was also their last as the band then split in 2007. People may also know this band for “Gone Up in Flames”, a song in FIFA 07 and the theme song for “The Inbetweeners”.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

P.S. I created a Twitter account, so if you want to follow me please do @JamieKManteaw.

Bye, bye.

My iPod #74: Nine Black Alps – Bay of Angels

Leave a reply

Afternoon everyone.

Sorry there was no blog yesterday. I went to the cinema with my friends.

We also broke the law too. Originally, we were only meant to watch “This Is the End” (which is a hilarious movie, I recommend it) but we ended up watching “Now You See Me” too, for free. 😀

It was cool. I thought we would get caught. We didn’t. It was fine.

Don’t break the law guys.

Another blog will come up later today. This is the song that would have been posted yesterday.

“Bay of Angels” is the fifth song of Nine Black Alps’ third album “Locked Out from the Inside”. It’s one of the less heavier songs on the album, but is placed in between two of the more rocking tunes and therefore is a song to chill out to amongst the noise.

Although it may not be as fast and loud as the others, it is a great song creating an almost ethereal and dreamlike atmosphere with its slow pace, echoey vocals and soaring guitar work.

Until… later on.

Jamie.

My iPod #73: The Who – Bargain

1 Reply

Have you ever wanted something so much – so badly, that you would give up anything to win it?

Well then my friend, “Bargain” is the song for you. After “Baba O’Riley” on “Who’s Next” is this gem, again penned by Pete Townshend about becoming closer to God.

It’s another powerful song and is driven on by the force of the rhythm section and Daltrey’s vocals, even more so than in the aforementioned album opener.

I don’t think I can write anything else that isn’t in its Wikipedia entry.

It’s one of my favourites from the album though. It’s good stuff.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.