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My iPod #87: Nine Black Alps – Behind Your Eyes

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Hmmm….. so Nine Black Alps. I briefly touched upon them on a previous post – one that was quite rushed, seeing as I had forgotten to do a post on it in the ‘A’ series.

I always go on about my favourite bands on here. There’s They Might Be Giants, and Billy Talent too. Well, Nine Black Alps are another. Let me tell you why.

Why, I must have been ten years old or something when I first saw their video for “Unsatisfied” on MTV2. I always changed the channel when it came on, because the introduction sounded so depressing….. and the lead singer never smiled or anything. He just looked bored all the time. I didn’t wanna watch that. They then released “Just Friends” as a single, and that was a song I didn’t care for much either. For me, it was a much better song but it’s 2 and a bit minutes long, and it goes by quickly. Nope. Nine Black Alps weren’t the band for me

That was until the advert for their album “Everything Is” started airing on the television. It showed a few seconds of the two music videos for the songs I already mentioned. But it was the one for “Not Everyone” which really caught my attention. That’s for another blog. Then their songs started showing up on every EA Sports releases. First, “Cosmopolitan” was part of the EA Trax in FIFA 06, and then another of their songs, “Shot Down” appeared on Burnout Revenge.

Long story short, I got the album as a present for my eleventh birthday. It’s one of my favourites. “Behind Your Eyes” is a song from there.

“Behind Your Eyes” is one of the two acoustic songs on “Everything Is”. It comes after five songs full to the brim with hard-hitting riffs, loud guitars and various lyrics about dying, obtaining weapons and other morbid subjects. The album as a whole has quite a war-like concept to it. I’m not sure whether it’s a concept album or not. It could be.

Anyway, “Behind Your Eyes” introduces a sense of hope. A light, not quite at the end of the tunnel, but one  that shines for a few minutes until it flickers out. But you still manage to find a way through the darkness. That is until the light goes and then everything is dark again. I say that because as soon as “Behind Your Eyes” finishes, it’s back to the guitars and dark lyrics.

Yeah, it’s a pretty song amongst the madness.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.

My iPod #38: The Beatles – And Your Bird Can Sing

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1966 was a good year for England. The football team won the World Cup, Tony Adams was born, and The Beatles unveiled their seventh album to the world. Except for the USA, who wouldn’t hear the album in its original form until the remastered CD in 1987.

Revolver. My favourite album by The Beatles. One of my favourite albums by any band.

Where can I start? I think that everything I would say about it has been said by almost every reviewer there is. I’ll leave it to you lot to find out what they say.

Upon seeing the Beatles light in 2009, I went on any site where I could download their whole discography. ‘Revolver’ was one of their first albums I downloaded, and then I didn’t know what to think of it. I’ve said many times that it takes a few listens to appreciate each song individually, resulting in an accumulated appreciation for the album as a whole. This was another of those times.

I think the fact that the songs were so short was something that made the album seem really quick to me. I would be listening to a song, and then it would finish and it was onto the next one. It was hard to get into something when the last chord faded out before your ears.

‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ was one example. Barely over two minutes, it’s one of the shortest songs.

Listening to it again and again though, I finally understood why the song was so sick. Sick is good. Now, it’s come to a point that when I see the cover, I either think of the fake countdown at the beginning of ‘Taxman’ or the introduction of this song.

It’s actually one of the more ‘basic?’ pieces of the album. A straight-forward rocker written by Lennon, with dual-guitar solos by both George Harrison AND Paul McCartney, Ringo doing his stuff on the drums. It;s just a really cheerful song, with hubris at its finest in the lyrics:

‘You tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is
And your bird can swing, but you can’t hear me
You can’t hear- MEEEEEEE.’

It’s just a huge ‘You suck. I’m great’ message. It’s brilliant. It’s everything you want musically and lyrically, and it’s only done in a short amount of time.

Then ‘For No One’ starts. Then you need to get the tissues. For drying your eyes.

It was clear that the band was a world away from their mop-top mania stage and had already embraced their dive into the unknown. That’s why they’re so great you know? They changed their sound on every album and they still sounded good! JESUS.

Revolver forever.

Until next time.

Jamie.