Tag Archives: sky

#1311: Supergrass – Sun Hits the Sky

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“I know a place where the suuun hits the skkyyy!” A great, great opening line to a song, the song in question being Supergrass’s ‘Sun Hits the Sky’ from their second album, In It for the Money, released in 1997. I’ve made it known in many a post before that this is my favourite Supergrass album, and I want to stress again that while you all may get your Britpop fill from Oasis or Blur, Pulp or Suede, all very respectable choices, please, please don’t leave Supergrass out in the cold. You should all be listening to Supergrass. Not one dud exists in the band’s six-album discography. I’m sad that it’s more or less confirmed that they won’t make another one, even though they are kind of together at the moment to celebrate the 30th anniversary. In another way, sometimes it’s best to just let things be. I can understand that. So I’ll leave it at that too.

Anyway, ‘Sun Hits the Sky’ is the sixth song on In It for the Money, closing out the album’s first half if you were to listen to it on vinyl. I have a strong, strong feeling that I heard the song in an advert for a UK holiday resort of some kind. Maybe Butlin’s. Maybe Center Parcs. If any member of Supergrass happens to read this, could you possibly confirm whether this was the case? I would have been a small child when those “commercials” were going around. But come 2005/06 when I was a little older, and by that, I’m talking the age of 10, Supergrass videos were usually playing on the television – a whole lot of fun they’d be too – and the video for ‘Sun Hits the Sky’ showed up one day on one of those video channels. The song was immediately recognisable, but the main thing I got was that it was Supergrass who had made the song – I want to say I had gained a fair knowledge of the band by then – and that this thing called In It for the Money was something to get, because song that was shown on the TV from it was I enjoyed a heck of a lot.

So where is this place where the sun hits the sky? Well, we all know that the sky isn’t this kind of border that the sun reaches up to. It’s all really limitless. I know it’s not meant to be taken literally. In fact, I think this track is about wanting to get really, really high – more in a haze of marijuana smoke rather than a darker deal with heroin – a bit like Paul McCartney’s ode to pot with ‘Got to Get You into My Life’. When you’re in your 20s and in a band, you’re gonna be smoking joints at some point. Gaz Coombes about knowing a place where the sun hits the sky and things get all distorted and strange, and in the choruses he sings about being someone’s doctor and being on the way to prevent someone from coming down. I guess like how it’s a dealer’s job to deliver the goods to their clients. I think I’ve got this song down. Just can’t help but feel good when listening to this one, got such a driving momentum. Very, very hard not to sing along to once you’ve got the words down, and notable highlights are the keyboard solo by Rob Coombes and the psychedelic ending where tablas and bongos enter the mix and the song eventually fades out with Mick Quinn laying down some licks on the bass guitar. A big “Yes” from me for this tune.

#943: Nick Drake – Northern Sky

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It may be a despicable thing to say. But for me, when it comes to Nick Drake’s three-album discography, there’s Pink Moon, and then there’s the other two. I feel some shame just typing that. I’ve grown so use to the desolate and stark atmosphere of Pink Moon that when I hearFive Leaves Left or Bryter Layter, the fullness of the instrumentation seems a bit unfamiliar to me. Those are both very fine albums in their own ways, and I’ve been trying to appreciate them more as time has gone on. In fact, wasn’t relatively long ago that I truly understood how good today’s track was.

‘Northern Sky’ is the penultimate track on Bryter Layter. Might not just be me, but I get a lot of imagery from this track. Clear skies of purple and deep blue at dusk on a chilly winter evening. Oddly specific, but that’s what I see. The album cover may play into it a bit too. But mainly it’s those visions are caused by the soft resonance of those celeste keys and the soothing Hammond organ which are present throughout, provided by former Velvet Underground member and all-round fine musician John Cale. Initially turned off by the instrumental choices, Drake grew to like the arrangement and anticipated it to be his big commercial breakthrough. That didn’t happen. Record label antics.

The lack of widespread recognition of his work dampened Drake’s hopes, and he became more and more emotionally withdrawn and distant as a result. He was known to be quite the shy person anyway, so it makes a song like ‘Northern Sky’ all the more profound and affecting. It’s a love song, something of a rarity in his work, and it captures all the feelings that usually come along in that situation of being with someone. The courage, the wonder and happiness, the underlying uncertainty, numerous others, but most of all the appreciation. It might be one of the best love songs out there. And with that, the sadness seeps in when thinking on how everything ended for Drake. He just wanted his music to be heard. If he could have hung on that bit longer, he would have arrived at a point where he would see his material be adored by millions. Too tragic. But we’re all listening now.

My iPod #51: The Who – Armenia City in the Sky

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Hola todo el mundo. Como estás?

Muy bien.

I made another post about The Who a few days ago, so have a look at it if you want.

In that post I mentioned that Summer 2010 was when I began to listen to The Who, and recognised them for the ball of talent that they were back in the day.

However, I had only listened to a few songs by them. In order to get a sense of what their music was about, I would have to listen to one of their albums.

But which one? Where do I start?

Now, I knew that their ‘magnum opus’ was considered to be their album ‘Who’s Next‘. It contains two of their most well known songs, and it is the one where each member had reached their peak at their positions. Together, there was no stopping them.

For me, there was something that prevented me from listening to it. I don’t why. I think it’s just because I had only heard of those two songs, and if people only liked the album for them then what was the point?

So what better way to start my Who experience…. than with their 1967 release, ‘The Who Sell Out‘? Seeing its article on Wikipedia, I saw the praise that it received (full marks by the ones listed), the whole radio concept thing amused me, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to listen to it.

It’s probably their most under-appreciated album. It is their only release where a majority of songs are not written by Pete Townshend and not only sung by Roger Daltrey. Everybody gets to sing, I have the 1995 remastered version which features ‘Jaguar’ with lead vocals by Keith, and ‘Girl’s Eyes’ which is written by him and sung with John Entwistle. It’s really one of my favourite albums.

“DUUUUUH-DUH Monday……..” is the first thing you hear when listening to ‘Armenia City in the Sky’, the first song of the album. The Who Sell Out incorporates radio adverts that were transmitted on a rogue radio station, ‘Radio London’, which would normally be broadcast from a boat in the middle of an ocean. This ‘Days of the Week’ interlude carries on until Sunday, which is when a weird backwards guitar fades in, and boom. The actual song begins.

Another unusual thing about the song is that it’s not actually written by any members of the band. In fact Pete’s chauffeur, Mr John Keen, wrote the song and is also singing it along with Roger Daltrey. Although it’s hard to make it out, seeing as there is this weird pitch shifting effect that is used on the vocals. Maybe they didn’t want people to know that someone who wasn’t in the band was singing.

Listening to it with headphones is another weird experience. You basically have Keith and John playing the rhythm section in the left channel, whilst there are these backwards trumpets and hazey backwards guitars playing in the other. That along with the lyrics, for example:

‘The sky is glass, the sea is brown, and everyone is upside down,’

makes this song one of the trippiest from the album.

I guess as it was 1967, this was supposed to a spoof of the psychedelic material that was coming out, only because this is the only song on the album that uses that sort of drugged-up-on-LSD sound. The others are solid songs that don’t try to sound like it at all.

The solo is backwards too, so that screeching bird-call in the middle is still a guitar. After two repetitions of the title, the band maintain the pace and rhythm, a weird insect-sounding voices says ‘Freak out, freak out’ and the song ends with an explosion that echoes into the next radio transmission.

All in all, it’s a perfect start to a perfect album.

This is how the backwards sounds in the song sound originally.

Until next time.

Jamie.