PFlog http://peterfalconer.co.uk/pflog.cfm Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:10:00 GMT http://bandzoogle.com Papa's Got A Brand New Bass! http://peterfalconer.co.uk/pflog.cfm?feature=3044738&postid=1949161 I've been after a fretless bass for a while now, but unfortunately there are too many things on the go right now for me to justify the expense.However, when browsing in a second hand guitar shop today, I came across a real bargain.&nbsp; A bass guitar that actually sounds pretty decent - Seymour Duncan pickups and good intonation - but which, due to its, er, unique appearance the shopkeeper had been unable to sell in the four years it was in his shop.&nbsp; And here, ladies and gentlemen, it is:<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bimbMer-kKQ/T3yOSBVL9ZI/AAAAAAAAAOw/wOl3wnRReEE/s1600/Photo+04-04-2012+18+15+51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Yes, that's right: I've bought a <a href="http://www.daisyrock.com/" target="_blank">Daisy Rock bass.Daisy Rock still make flower-, heart- star- and butterfly-shaped guitars, but they appear to be trying to move away from those and push the more conventional bodies on their catalogue.&nbsp; I can't for the life of me think why...&nbsp; So this is the bass I picked up for a criminal £100.&nbsp; I intend to convert it into the world's first Daisy Rock fretless, using my own two hands, some pliers, a soldering iron and some wood filler.&nbsp; Watch this space, folks! I've been after a fretless bass for a while now, but unfortunately there are too many things on the go right now for me to justify the expense.

However, when browsing in a second hand guitar shop today, I came across a real bargain.  A bass guitar that actually sounds pretty decent - Seymour Duncan pickups and good intonation - but which, due to its, er, unique appearance the shopkeeper had been unable to sell in the four years it was in his shop. 

And here, ladies and gentlemen, it is:


Daisy Rock Bass

Yes, that's right: I've bought a Daisy Rock bass.

Daisy Rock still make flower-, heart- star- and butterfly-shaped guitars, but they appear to be trying to move away from those and push the more conventional bodies on their catalogue.  I can't for the life of me think why... 

So this is the bass I picked up for a criminal £100.  I intend to convert it into the world's first Daisy Rock fretless, using my own two hands, some pliers, a soldering iron and some wood filler.  Watch this space, folks!
]]> Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:10:00 GMT 92A0AFB00043E40719EED343271B4537 Song Titles http://peterfalconer.co.uk/pflog.cfm?feature=3044738&postid=1900645 A lot of writers start with a song title, and that gives them an idea of what the song might be about, and therefore what sort of music would go with it.&nbsp; Plus, it's an advertising line for the song.&nbsp; If you're flicking through an album and you're faced with the following track list:Breakup songLove songI love youCaptain Corelli's Buggered OffSad song Song for my father... which track are you going to skip to first?&nbsp; Exactly.So where's a good place to find a song title?&nbsp; Well, my current favourite source is newspaper columnists. &nbsp; Newspaper headlines aren't always poetic enough (from various newspapers today: "Murdochs to Testify"; "Betty Ford's Son Eulogizes Former First Lady"; "Indonesian Volcano Erupts"; "Met Chief Under Pressure"; and, of course, "Brooking Good" - another story about Kelly Brooks in her pants).Columnists, on the other hand, and especially editorials, don't need to sum up the news story (the readers will already have read about it earlier in the paper), so they just have to sound enticing.&nbsp; For example: "Fixing The Holes"; "The Sky Falls In"; "Fade To Grey"; "Absolved Of Blame"; "Wrong Target"...But pick up any book and you'll find something.&nbsp; Here are a few from a random page in <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Speak-Memory-Autobiography-Revisited-Classics/dp/0141183225/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1310675901&amp;sr=1-1">Speak, Memory, the autobiography of Vladimir Nabokov: "Linden Avenue"; "Conventional Ghost"; "Persons Unknown"; "Some Mysterious Stranger"... or <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/1791-Mozarts-H-C-Robbins-Landon/dp/0500281076/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1310675927&amp;sr=1-1">1791 - Mozart's Last Year by H.C. Robbins Landon: "Rewrite The Second"; "Outside The Line"; "Language Misleading"; "New Intrigue"; "Dresden 13"... or even the classic <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collectible-Spoons-Reich-James-Yannes/dp/1425186955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1310675965&amp;sr=1-1">Collectible Spoons of the 3rd Reich by James A Yannes: "Diamond Colours"; "Sleeping Carriage"; "For All Intents And Purposes"...However, I have to say the award for greatest song title of all time has to go Joe Tex for the absolutely superb (and totally genuine) You Might Be Digging The Garden (But Somebody's Picking Your Plums).&nbsp;<a href="http://www.acerecords.co.uk/releases/cdsewd043_0.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">I Gotcha!Whether they're poetically elegant, ball-grabbingly direct, or just make you grin, what are your favourite song titles?&nbsp; A lot of writers start with a song title, and that gives them an idea of what the song might be about, and therefore what sort of music would go with it.  Plus, it's an advertising line for the song.  If you're flicking through an album and you're faced with the following track list:
  1. Breakup song
  2. Love song
  3. I love you
  4. Captain Corelli's Buggered Off
  5. Sad song
  6. Song for my father
... which track are you going to skip to first?  Exactly.

So where's a good place to find a song title?  Well, my current favourite source is newspaper columnists.   Newspaper headlines aren't always poetic enough (from various newspapers today: "Murdochs to Testify"; "Betty Ford's Son Eulogizes Former First Lady"; "Indonesian Volcano Erupts"; "Met Chief Under Pressure"; and, of course, "Brooking Good" - another story about Kelly Brooks in her pants).

Columnists, on the other hand, and especially editorials, don't need to sum up the news story (the readers will already have read about it earlier in the paper), so they just have to sound enticing.  For example: "Fixing The Holes"; "The Sky Falls In"; "Fade To Grey"; "Absolved Of Blame"; "Wrong Target"...

But pick up any book and you'll find something.  Here are a few from a random page in Speak, Memory, the autobiography of Vladimir Nabokov: "Linden Avenue"; "Conventional Ghost"; "Persons Unknown"; "Some Mysterious Stranger"... or 1791 - Mozart's Last Year by H.C. Robbins Landon: "Rewrite The Second"; "Outside The Line"; "Language Misleading"; "New Intrigue"; "Dresden 13"... or even the classic Collectible Spoons of the 3rd Reich by James A Yannes: "Diamond Colours"; "Sleeping Carriage"; "For All Intents And Purposes"...

However, I have to say the award for greatest song title of all time has to go Joe Tex for the absolutely superb (and totally genuine) You Might Be Digging The Garden (But Somebody's Picking Your Plums).


 
I Gotcha!
Whether they're poetically elegant, ball-grabbingly direct, or just make you grin, what are your favourite song titles? 

]]> Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:50:00 GMT 6F8D93502E6986D5AEF4DEC4944EAE2D Live Music Act passed! http://peterfalconer.co.uk/pflog.cfm?feature=3044738&postid=1854605 The Live Music Act means venues in England and Wales with a capacity of under 200 will no longer need local authority permission to hold performances of live amplified music between 8am-11pm.&nbsp; Are there people out there in the know who can tell me if this will help put a stop to the disgraceful amount of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_to_play" target="_blank">Pay To Play scamming that goes on across the country (and especially in the capital)?&nbsp; God knows the Musicians Union have been as much use as an ash tray on a motorbike in this matter...<a href="http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&amp;storycode=1048770&amp;c=1" target="_blank">Read more on MusicWeek. The Live Music Act means venues in England and Wales with a capacity of under 200 will no longer need local authority permission to hold performances of live amplified music between 8am-11pm.
 
Are there people out there in the know who can tell me if this will help put a stop to the disgraceful amount of Pay To Play scamming that goes on across the country (and especially in the capital)?  God knows the Musicians Union have been as much use as an ash tray on a motorbike in this matter...

Read more on MusicWeek.
]]> Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:12:00 GMT E824135A175B9669D37228243126DA28 The Radio Still Sucks http://peterfalconer.co.uk/pflog.cfm?feature=3044738&postid=1816748 So in an <a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/article-24038440-inside-the-mind-of-noel-gallagher.do" target="_blank">interview with the London Evening Standard Noel Gallagher said, '"Fact of the matter is that great music died quite a while ago." "Remember when there were all cool bands in the chart? Oasis, Blur, Pulp and The Verve.&nbsp; Now it's Jessie J and fucking Duffy.&nbsp; Everybody's got records "featuring" somebody else: it's either a shit rap about somebody's struggle, or just fucking shit music set to some reggae backbeat sung in some transatlantic fucking accent. And then they'll throw some Cockney in just to keep it fucking "real".'<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ST8cpnnphcc/T0t1kqS6elI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/y2MKm3oJHaQ/s1600/Noel-Gallagher1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">"Y'see, wharritis right, is... fuckn..."Now, this article isn't about Noel Gallagher vs Jessie J in the songwriting stakes.&nbsp; What I'm more interested in is the idea that "music's just not as good as it used to be."&nbsp; People have been saying this for years - if it's true, music's been getting steadily worse since about 1642.&nbsp; Let's look at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles">this week's Top 10:<a href="http://gotye.com/" target="_blank">Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. <a href="http://kimbramusic.com/" target="_blank">Kimbra)<a href="http://www.emelisande.com/" target="_blank">Emeli Sandé - Next To Me&nbsp;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/artist/DJ_Fresh" target="_blank">DJ Fresh - Hot Right Now (feat. <a href="http://rocnation.com/ritaora/" target="_blank">Rita Ora)<a href="http://www.officialflo.com/" target="_blank">Flo Rida - Wild Ones (feat. <a href="http://siamusic.net/" target="_blank">Sia)<a href="http://www.davidguetta.com/" target="_blank">David Guetta - Titanium (feat. <a href="http://siamusic.net/" target="_blank">Sia)<a href="http://jessiejofficial.com/" target="_blank">Jessie J - Domino<a href="http://mypinkfriday.com/" target="_blank">Nicki Minaj - Starships<a href="http://www.davidguetta.com/" target="_blank">David Guetta - Turn Me On (feat. <a href="http://mypinkfriday.com/" target="_blank">Nicki Minaj)<a href="http://gymclassheroes.com/" target="_blank">Gym Class Heroes - Ass Back Home (feat. <a href="http://www.neonhitch.net/splash">Neon Hitch)<a href="http://will-i-am.blackeyedpeas.com/">Will.I.Am - T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever) (feat. <a href="http://www.jenniferlopezonline.com/">Jennifer Lopez &amp; <a href="http://www.mickjagger.com/">Mick Jagger)OK, so at first glance he's certainly right about records "featuring" somebody else.&nbsp; Staggering!But what about the quality of the music?Gotye is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist who's been earning his stripes for quite a while now.&nbsp; This track isn't half as good as his superb 2006 hit <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkONn8tadp4">Learnalilgivinanlovin but it's still a good song with an interesting production that means it doesn't just sound like the rest of the top 10. Emeli Sandé is a good singer and a hard worker - not just a stage school pop princess (though she does keep using that annoying turn on the "You will find him you'll find him next to me" line that's so horribly popular with everybody who graduates from the BRIT school), and the song's a well written anthem with a great production by Craze &amp; Hoax.The first David Guetta track isn't bad - he's got a knack for a good build up (better demonstrated in his Kelly Rowland collaboration When Love Takes Over), and Jessie J's Domino isn't a bad song at all, even though it's already starting to sound a bit dated.&nbsp;The rest of the chart, though... The Flo Rida and Will.I.Am tracks are particularly horrendous, while Nicki Minaj's output continues to grate, and DJ Fresh&nbsp; - a legend on the Drum &amp; Bass scene - has nothing special to offer here.So we'll say it's 20% good 'uns; 20% not bad; 60% garbage.<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--jk4adeO_8Q/T0uE5S2NVRI/AAAAAAAAAOY/tbCcWBsLVC8/s1600/Untitled+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">Chart composition, Late February 2012Now let's look at the chart from Mid August 1995, when Oasis released Roll With It. (Chart courtesy of <a href="http://everyhit.com/">Everyhit.com)<a href="http://www.takethat.com/" target="_blank">Take That - Never Forget<a href="http://boyzonenetwork.com/" target="_blank">Boyzone - So GoodThe Original - I Luv U BabyThe Outhere Brothers - Boom Boom BoomSeal - Kiss From A Rose/I'm AliveTLC - WaterfallsCorona - Try Me Out<a href="http://www.dianakingdom.com/" target="_blank">Diana King - Shy Guy<a href="http://www.blur.co.uk/" target="_blank">Blur - Country HouseSuggs - I'm Only Sleeping/Off On HolidaySo in this chart we've got the sublime Kiss From A Rose - great song, wonderfully sung, with legendary producer Trevor Horn pulling out all the stops.&nbsp; Country House, which I hated at the time, is a tremendous record from every perspective (once you learn to block out Damon Albarn's mockney affectation)&nbsp; TLC's Waterfalls is canny - bit repetitive but catchy nonetheless.&nbsp; Lovely, crisp production too.&nbsp; Diana King's Shy Guy is pretty bland if inoffensive, as Noel would say "set to some reggae backbeat sung in some transatlantic fucking accent."&nbsp; Jamaican patois was in at the time, though (Remembering Shaggy with a shudder, and that dickhead on Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl).&nbsp;I'm Only Sleeping is a good song, but Suggs's cover is completely unnecessary.&nbsp; The Original's track is probably ok if you'd just come back from Ibiza and didn't know any better, but I'm afraid I can't be so generous to Try Me Out - I think if Corona's entire output were buried somewhere in the Gobi desert the world would be a better place.&nbsp; Boom Boom Boom is just moronic.&nbsp; So Good is a dangerous title to give a song that's so mind-numbingly bad; lazy songwriting and production... while Never Forget is similarly ironic, given that it's so forgettable I'd completely forgotten the chorus almost before it had even finished.The Roundup: Seal and Blur provide our 20% of good 'uns; TLC and Diana King provide the middle ground; and the other 60% should be destroyed.<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--jk4adeO_8Q/T0uE5S2NVRI/AAAAAAAAAOY/tbCcWBsLVC8/s1600/Untitled+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">Chart Composition - Mid August 1995Are we seeing a pattern here?Whether you're a musician or a music fan, it's annoying when you hear the latest number one, and it's utterly terrible, but I think we can take comfort in the fact that&nbsp; the charts have always been rubbish.&nbsp; Even going back to the sixties, The Beatles' Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever was kept off the top spot by Please Release Me by Englebert Humperdink!&nbsp; We remember the best music, because its quality ensures it lasts that little bit longer, and we tend to forget the dross.What lives in your memory as a great year for music?&nbsp; Have a look at a few charts at <a href="http://everyhit.com/">Everyhit.com and see just how rose-tinted your glasses are - if you can find one that's 80% classic hits and 20% forgettable garbage, I'll eat my hat!"Every now and then, I turn it on again, but it's plain to see that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IgIsfksM7s" target="_blank">the radio still sucks."- The Ataris
So in an interview with the London Evening Standard Noel Gallagher said, '"Fact of the matter is that great music died quite a while ago."

"Remember when there were all cool bands in the chart? Oasis, Blur, Pulp and The Verve.  Now it's Jessie J and fucking Duffy.  Everybody's got records "featuring" somebody else: it's either a shit rap about somebody's struggle, or just fucking shit music set to some reggae backbeat sung in some transatlantic fucking accent. And then they'll throw some Cockney in just to keep it fucking "real".'


"Y'see, wharritis right, is... fuckn..."

Now, this article isn't about Noel Gallagher vs Jessie J in the songwriting stakes.  What I'm more interested in is the idea that "music's just not as good as it used to be."  People have been saying this for years - if it's true, music's been getting steadily worse since about 1642. 

Let's look at this week's Top 10:

  1. Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra)
  2. Emeli Sandé - Next To Me 
  3. DJ Fresh - Hot Right Now (feat. Rita Ora)
  4. Flo Rida - Wild Ones (feat. Sia)
  5. David Guetta - Titanium (feat. Sia)
  6. Jessie J - Domino
  7. Nicki Minaj - Starships
  8. David Guetta - Turn Me On (feat. Nicki Minaj)
  9. Gym Class Heroes - Ass Back Home (feat. Neon Hitch)
  10. Will.I.Am - T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever) (feat. Jennifer Lopez & Mick Jagger)
OK, so at first glance he's certainly right about records "featuring" somebody else.  Staggering!

But what about the quality of the music?

Gotye is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist who's been earning his stripes for quite a while now.  This track isn't half as good as his superb 2006 hit Learnalilgivinanlovin but it's still a good song with an interesting production that means it doesn't just sound like the rest of the top 10.

Emeli Sandé is a good singer and a hard worker - not just a stage school pop princess (though she does keep using that annoying turn on the "You will find him you'll find him next to me" line that's so horribly popular with everybody who graduates from the BRIT school), and the song's a well written anthem with a great production by Craze & Hoax.

The first David Guetta track isn't bad - he's got a knack for a good build up (better demonstrated in his Kelly Rowland collaboration When Love Takes Over), and Jessie J's Domino isn't a bad song at all, even though it's already starting to sound a bit dated. 

The rest of the chart, though... The Flo Rida and Will.I.Am tracks are particularly horrendous, while Nicki Minaj's output continues to grate, and DJ Fresh  - a legend on the Drum & Bass scene - has nothing special to offer here.

So we'll say it's 20% good 'uns; 20% not bad; 60% garbage.


Chart composition, Late February 2012



Now let's look at the chart from Mid August 1995, when Oasis released Roll With It. (Chart courtesy of Everyhit.com)

  1. Take That - Never Forget
  2. Boyzone - So Good
  3. The Original - I Luv U Baby
  4. The Outhere Brothers - Boom Boom Boom
  5. Seal - Kiss From A Rose/I'm Alive
  6. TLC - Waterfalls
  7. Corona - Try Me Out
  8. Diana King - Shy Guy
  9. Blur - Country House
  10. Suggs - I'm Only Sleeping/Off On Holiday
So in this chart we've got the sublime Kiss From A Rose - great song, wonderfully sung, with legendary producer Trevor Horn pulling out all the stops.  Country House, which I hated at the time, is a tremendous record from every perspective (once you learn to block out Damon Albarn's mockney affectation) 

TLC's Waterfalls is canny - bit repetitive but catchy nonetheless.  Lovely, crisp production too.  Diana King's Shy Guy is pretty bland if inoffensive, as Noel would say "set to some reggae backbeat sung in some transatlantic fucking accent."  Jamaican patois was in at the time, though (Remembering Shaggy with a shudder, and that dickhead on Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl). 

I'm Only Sleeping is a good song, but Suggs's cover is completely unnecessary.  The Original's track is probably ok if you'd just come back from Ibiza and didn't know any better, but I'm afraid I can't be so generous to Try Me Out - I think if Corona's entire output were buried somewhere in the Gobi desert the world would be a better place.  Boom Boom Boom is just moronic.  So Good is a dangerous title to give a song that's so mind-numbingly bad; lazy songwriting and production... while Never Forget is similarly ironic, given that it's so forgettable I'd completely forgotten the chorus almost before it had even finished.

The Roundup: Seal and Blur provide our 20% of good 'uns; TLC and Diana King provide the middle ground; and the other 60% should be destroyed.


Chart Composition - Mid August 1995

Are we seeing a pattern here?

Whether you're a musician or a music fan, it's annoying when you hear the latest number one, and it's utterly terrible, but I think we can take comfort in the fact that  the charts have always been rubbish.  Even going back to the sixties, The Beatles' Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever was kept off the top spot by Please Release Me by Englebert Humperdink!  We remember the best music, because its quality ensures it lasts that little bit longer, and we tend to forget the dross.


What lives in your memory as a great year for music?  Have a look at a few charts at Everyhit.com and see just how rose-tinted your glasses are - if you can find one that's 80% classic hits and 20% forgettable garbage, I'll eat my hat!


"Every now and then, I turn it on again, but it's plain to see that the radio still sucks."
- The Ataris
]]> Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:09:00 GMT 17ED5E3D359BC8A7BEB590C53BE38817 Gagged http://peterfalconer.co.uk/pflog.cfm?feature=3044738&postid=1799399 I am not an anonymous internet user.&nbsp; It's me!&nbsp; I'm Peter Falconer, and you can see that from all over this website.I teach singing and piano to - including other people - minors, and I also want people to like me so that they might come to my gigs/listen to my music/give me a publishing deal.Therefore, everything I say has to be carefully thought out.&nbsp; If I have a rant about something personal, will it come across as whining self-indulgence?&nbsp; If I make a comment about another musician, will that look like sour grapes from a chippy bastard who's difficult to work with?&nbsp; And since I don't want to align myself with any particular political movement, least of all ones with which musicians and artists are expected to align themselves, any comment on politics or current affairs is fraught with danger.I've nearly written about a dozen posts so far, and deleted them all for fear of offending somebody!Fuck it!<a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/listen_to_yourself.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">from xkcd.com I am not an anonymous internet user.  It's me!  I'm Peter Falconer, and you can see that from all over this website.

I teach singing and piano to - including other people - minors, and I also want people to like me so that they might come to my gigs/listen to my music/give me a publishing deal.

Therefore, everything I say has to be carefully thought out.  If I have a rant about something personal, will it come across as whining self-indulgence?  If I make a comment about another musician, will that look like sour grapes from a chippy bastard who's difficult to work with?  And since I don't want to align myself with any particular political movement, least of all ones with which musicians and artists are expected to align themselves, any comment on politics or current affairs is fraught with danger.

I've nearly written about a dozen posts so far, and deleted them all for fear of offending somebody!

Fuck it!

from xkcd.com

]]> Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:28:00 GMT D784F526A0C63857071F3D1F8A42CCA3 Testing http://peterfalconer.co.uk/pflog.cfm?feature=3044738&postid=1755581 Testy Testy Testing Testy Testy Testing
]]> Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:38:00 GMT 7CEA69135659D7A63E701224363B57A7