Music to motivate and inspire.

I recently went for a job interview and had to drive over 3 hours to the Midlands to meet the people conducting it.  The music choice on any road trip is paramount, as mentioned before in a previous article (Road Trip!!!), but I also had to consider the inspirational and motivational qualities of the music I chose this time.

I started off by selecting one of my all time favourite artists, Peter Gabriel, as he never fails to move me and his music settles me as I’ve played it so many times and it is ingrained in my psyche.  I selected his best of collection ‘Hit’ to get a wide mix and played both discs to start my journey off.  It was great to wend my way through the hellish commuter traffic and have Peter vocals and sublime music to soothe me and stop me getting over anxious about the coming interview.

I realised that I would want to be a little geed up and focused for when the interview started and short of playing ‘Eye of the Tiger’ on a loop I knew I’d need some rock music to get the blood (and my fist) pumping.  I selected some Foo Fighters and chose their ‘The Colour and the Shape’ album as it has one of my all time favourite tracks on it, ‘Everlong’.  The album is one of their best and as I approached my destination I was feeling both inspired and motivated.  Peter Gabriel managed to give me the first feeling and Foo Fighters managed to provide me with the second.

The Colour and the Shape

The interview went very well (they offered me the job this week) and I came out feeling relieved and also a little tired from the concentration.  Now I had the journey home before me and I wanted something buoyant to accompany that.  Something to help me celebrate and also keep me alert.

I chose Mumford and Sons ‘Sigh No More’ which has to be one of the best albums I have bought in recent years.  It is one of those rare albums that doesn’t have a bad track on it and that I can listen to at any time.  Pretty soon I was heading back down the motorway with my feet jiggling and body swaying and singing along with full gusto.  The relief that the interview went well and the up-beat music playing out loud made me almost giddy.

I put on some radio later in the journey so I could hear some new music to further explore and find out what’s happening in the world and I arrived home feeling shattered, but satisfied.

Music is such an integral part of my life that I love being able to select it for particular purposes or moods.  To bring me up if I’m feeling down, to create a smouldering mood if I am feeling romantic with my wife, to pound our some aggression if work is particularly difficult or simply just to inspire me and get me buoyed up for an impending interview.  Music is so powerful if you think about it and I am fortunate to have it in my life.

You never know, it may have even been the difference between success and failure in the interview.  If I’d played something else maybe I’d be telling a different story here.  I kind of doubt it to be honest, but it’s worth stopping to briefly consider never-the-less.

Excited to see Tom Petty

I’ve been a little overexcited lately.  One of my favourite artists has announced he will be playing a solo gig in the UK after nearly 20 years.  Tom Petty is at the top of a very short list of bands I want to see live, the others are Marc Cohn, Jill Scott and Mumford and Sons and the thought of getting tickets to see him live has left me as giddy as a school kid on their first date.

As a result I have spent the past week listening to every album in his back catalogue.  His music is pretty varied and the standard is remarkably high for someone who has been on the scene so long and who has released so many albums.  Of course there are some albums that move me more than others and I’m glad to say that one of my favourite albums is one that Tom himself rates as one of his best, ‘Wildflowers’.

But one of my other favourite albums is one that critics were pretty harsh to and which seems to slip under most fans radar.  ‘Echo’ was written at a time when Tom was going through a divorce and when his bass player, Howie Epstien, was ill with various drug related illnesses.  Yet the songs on the album have a particular feel that seems to connect with me.  It isn’t an accessible album and you certainly need to give it a few listens, but it is well worth the effort.  I love the backing harmonies on ‘Swingin’ and the groove on ‘One more day, one more night’ never fails to get me swaying along and it ends the album perfectly.

Tom’s early work is also great and songs like ‘American Girl’, ‘Refugee’ and ‘Breakdown’ never fail to plaster a goofy grin on my face as I sing along.  I especially love the version of ‘Breakdown’ on the live album ‘Pack up the Plantation’ where the audience sing along perfectly.



I grew up on Tom’s music and I guess whenever I hear him I feel comfortable and nostalgic for my childhood.  The fact that he is an extraordinary songwriter and his lyrics are outstanding only helps keep my interest as an adult.

I watched some live DVD’s this week as well and got myself all stirred up ready for the gigs he will play in June.  He really seems to connect with his audiences and I can’t wait to feel that same connection and sing along and whoop and shout my approval with the rest of them.

If you have yet to try Tom Petty then I recommend him VERY highly indeed.  Give the Greatest Hits album a try, but be aware his later albums aren’t represented as he changed record company.  I love ‘Wildflowers’, ‘Echo’, ‘Damn the Torpedoes’, ‘She’s the One’, ‘Full Moon Fever’, ‘Into the Great Wide Open’…..hell it would be easier to just say I love them all in their own way.

I’ll report back later in the year and let you know how I get on at the gigs.  I anticipate I may embarrass myself with my over exuberant antics and get some strange looks, but it’ll be worth it.

Honouring my grandfather

A couple of weeks ago I attended my grandfathers funeral, where I was also a pallbearer.  Two of the most emotional moments of the service for me were related to music.  Funnily enough these were the most emotional moments for most other people too and it shows the power of music to move us and tap into our core.

My grandfather used to do highland dancing and my aunt also plays the bagpipes on the hills surrounding her farm.  As a tribute to him she arranged for a bagpiper to play music as we entered and left the church.  I remember standing next to the hearse as everyone filed in and I nervously waited to be shown how to carry the coffin.  The bagpipes played in the cold, crisp air and the sheer volume surrounded me and worked its way into my thoughts stopping me from focusing on dropping him too much!

My wife said the congregation could hear the pipes from inside the church and it was quite moving to hear the plaintive sound seeping into the building as people settled themselves before the service began.

When I has the weight of the coffin settled on my shoulders and we began the walk into the church the piper played us in. It was very moving for me to feel as if I was carrying my grandfather on his final journey and showing my love for him by doing him this honour as this almost stately music played behind us.

During the service there were the usual hymns, but I have to admit these didn’t do too much for me.  I always find it hard to link to hymns in church when you can hear people sing off key or like myself with nervousness or hesitancy.

But another moving moment was when a song was played for my Grandfathers wife that meant a great deal to them.  We were told the significance of the song and as it started and we listened to the lyrics it was even more powerful.  The vicar also said it related to everyone there and so when we heard the lyrics we were all soon deeply moved and welling up.  The song was ‘One Shining Moment’ by Des O’Connor and the funny thing is, whilst I’m not a fan of Des at all, the potency of the lyrics and their personal significance still made me and everyone else link to what was being said and become emotional.  That is the true power of music.  To make you share and feel with everyone else even if you all don’t share the same taste or passions.

Finally, as we followed the coffin out of the church the bagpiper played a Scottish lament called ‘The Dark Island’.  By this time I had had my emotions riled up by the service and words I had heard and I quite freely wept as we followed the coffin and the lament swirled in the air about us.  Passing people stopped to watch and notice the unusual sound in the streets and I found it to be a moving and fitting tribute to my grandfather.

Any funeral is hard to get through and when particularly emotional music is played it helps us link to our emotions and grieve.  Music can also be used to honour and respect and both of these things happened at my grandfathers funeral.  I thought I would share these moments with you.


    Away to the westward, I'm longing to be
    Where the beauties of heaven’ unfold by the sea
    Where the sweet purple heather’ blooms fragrant and free
    On a hill-top, high above the Dark Island.

    Oh Isle of my childhood I'm dreaming of thee
    As the steamer leaves Oban, and passes Tiree
    Soon I'll capture the magic, that lingers for me
    When I'm back, once more upon, the Dark Island.
   
    So gentle the sea breeze’ that ripples the bay
    Where the stream joins the ocean, and young children play
    On a strand of pure silver, I'll welcome each day
    And I'll roam forever more, the Dark Island.

    True gem of the Hebrides, bathed in the light
    Like a midsummer dawning, that follows the night
    How I long for the cry, of the seagulls in flight
    As they circle high above’ the Dark Island.

Listening to Metallica

I’ve been listening to a lot of Metallica recently and in the past week I’ve played every album at least once.  Maybe it’s the winter gloom or maybe it’s some recent work stress getting me down, but I find pounding out some heavy music on the way into work gets me fired up and ready for the day and when things get hard during the day the extra aggression and oomph keeps me going.

It’s pretty much acknowledged amongst metal fans that whilst Metallica may still be metal giants, they have gone off the boil on recent albums.  The latest album, ‘Death Magnetic’, is a solid album, but it’s nowhere near as good as ‘Master of Puppets’ or even the lack lustre (and unfairly maligned) ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ albums.  After the heights of the ‘Black’ album they have steadily declined and I find myself going back to their early albums again and again when I need that Metallica fix.

Master of Puppets

The main difference in the early and later albums is the song length.  The early albums had songs with more punch and immediate impact.  They’d run in, smack you in the face and run out again before you knew what had hit you.  Don’t get me wrong, the early albums had long songs as well, but they had structure and built to a crescendo.  The later albums have lots of long songs, but they plod aimlessly along and I often find that a decent riff or song idea is killed by it’s overblown length.  I’m not the only one to think this and a friend of mine always says if Metallica stopped their new songs after 4 minutes then each song would be a solid affair, but the extra 3 minutes ruins it.  As a music fan I love a long album from an artist or band I like, but only if it warrants it.  Quantity doesn’t equate to quality.

One thing I always hope for is a remastered version of ‘…And Justice for All’ where Jason Newstead’s bass work is given a decent production and the album sounds less muddy.  This is one of my favourite albums of theirs and I think it would benefit from a remaster and I’d happily snap it up if they ever did one.

...And Justice for All

If you are new to the band then I’d suggest you start with the early albums and the ‘Black’ album is their biggest selling for a good reason, but make sure you give ‘Master of Puppets’ a try soon after.  Their album with the San Francisco symphony orchestra, ’S&M‘, is also an accessible introduction to the band and is the closest you’ll get to a ‘best of’ at the moment.  If you want to hear them interpret some other bands work then seek out ‘Garage Inc’ which is an excellent double covers album.  And if you’ve already heard ‘St Anger’ and it turned you off then give another album a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.

It’s been great fun revisiting all of Metallica’s albums this week and each one has something to offer and whilst I have my favourites and some are obviously better than others, on the whole they still offer up a decent body of work.  Their music has certainly helped me get through this past week, who knows maybe I’ll be doing it all again on Monday!

Embraced by Johnny Cash.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash recently.  Digging out old albums, buying up some new ones and watching some old documentaries I have of him.  I have always liked Cash, but I am particularly feeling his music at the moment and I love both the humour and humanity in his lyrics, as well as the emotion in his more introspective songs.

I have been playing his American Recordings a lot and love the intimacy of the music on offer.  Whether it’s just Johnny and a guitar or whether he is backed up by another one of my favourites, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, his music speaks to me and there is a message to take away from every album somewhere.

Although his music has a gospel quality to it and he has said he wanted to add at least one gospel track to each American Recordings album, you don’t feel as if he is preaching or trying to convert.  Instead you just feel the sincerity of his faith and the comfort he receives from it.  This is a lesson some evangelists or doorstep missionaries could learn!!!

The American Recordings are another Rick Rubin project and he gave Johnny a free reign to create the music he wanted to in the last years of his life.  Rubin recognised Johnny’s place in music history and wanted to honour that and the music they created together is a lasting and fitting legacy.  There are some wonderful covers like Nine Inch Nails ‘Hurt’ which Cash makes his own, U2’s ’One’ and later on in the series he covers Sheryl Crow’s ‘Redemption Day’ which is a wonderful rendering of this already amazing song.  I heartily recommend these albums and if you see them at the right price snap them up quick.

Unchained.

I am also particularly enjoying the prison recordings and both ’At Folsom Prison’ and ’Johnny Cash at San Quentin’ have been played a lot.  I love the atmosphere of these albums.  The inmates whooping and hollering and Cash cajoling and encouraging them adds to the music on offer.  The songs are often based around crime and prison life and this resonates with the inmates, who react, which then resonates with the listener.  It is very potent.  The songs are great stories as well and some are gruesome, some are sad and some are just downright funny.

I also like how in between songs you can hear prison announcements being read out or spoken over tannoy systems and how when wardens step onto stage the crowd boo and jeer, only for Johnny to calm them down again and start into the next song.

If you haven’t heard these albums I can also heartily recommend them.

No doubt in a few days or weeks I’ll be fixated on another artist or album and that’s often how music works for me.  I get a feeling for a particular artist or sound and hold it in a tight, intimate and passionate embrace before letting it go.  I’ll then come back to it now and then over the years to renew my love and relive happy memories.  Each time I do this I learn more and feel different things and it’s never the same experience twice.  I’m sure there are other ways to enjoy music, but this is the way that works for me.  Johnny Cash’s embrace has been especially comforting this time round and I’ve loved finding some new music of his, as well as enjoying some of my old favourites. 

Music List Challenges

There’s an app on Facebook that I have been using lately called ‘Music List Challenges’, which as the title suggests is a selection of music lists where you can tick off songs and albums you own and rank yourself against other users on a global leaderboard.

Maybe it’s the inner geek in me, but there is something satisfying about being able to tick those little boxes and see just how much music you really know and own.   From Classical lists, to Metal lists to specific years and specific artists and peoples own personal collections, there is a range of lists to suit most people and I am pleased to say I have been able to tick at least one of two boxes in each list.

Interestingly it has also shown up some gaps in my musical collection.  Specifically the 70’s as a decade of music.  I have a lot of the metal from this era, but I am missing a lot of the glam and disco from this era, although I do know most of it.  Maybe a few compilations and greatest hits collections can help me here and I’ll look into this soon.

I’ve also been adding my own lists to the app and it is good to see when other people use the list and how they compare.   It’s a nice way to interact online about music without some of the back biting and bitching I’ve read on other music forums.  There’s none of the ‘my band is better than yours’ malarkey that you see, it’s just a case of tick your boxes and compare your score.  Maybe it’s a bit insular, but it also preserves my ego from someone telling me my taste in music is dire.  Hmmm, sadly my feelings of self worth may be that tied into my music!

Anyway, it’s an interesting way to spend the odd moment online and it’s nice to see myself climb the ranking as I work my way through the lists.  If you like this kind of thing then take a look, it’s a bit of light hearted fun and if you add your own list then maybe I’ll be ticking your little boxes and comparing my collection to your own.

Music as Christmas gifts.

At the risk of sounding shallow and foregoing all the family time and festive goodwill, what’s the best thing about Christmas?  That’s right, the new music you receive as gifts.  Whether it’s an actual CD someone buys you, or the voucher so you can run off and choose your own, Christmas is often a time for some extra new albums and I rub my hands with glee at the thought.

I can’t help myself and often start loading up my basket at a certain online retailer well before Christmas day is upon us.  My wife insists I don’t buy anything from my wish list in the run up to Christmas in case she has already bought them, so if I spot some bargains I feverishly hope they last until after Christmas in the instance I don’t receive them as gifts!

Then once the presents have been unwrapped and vouchers have been counted I turn on the computer, scan my basket and add or delete any CD’s as required and then after a few clicks I eagerly start to await their delivery.

In the mean time, on Boxing day, I head off out to the high street and browse the sales to see if I can snap up any music bargains with the cash I have.  The great thing with smart phones these days is that I can compare prices online as I shop to ensure I get the best price and more often than not I am heading home with a bag of musical goodies eager to load them onto the computer and my ipod.

This ritual applies to birthdays as well and I know that at these two times of year I am more able to buy some extra music than my budget normally allows.  The bumper Christmas crop gives me something to look forward to and enjoy in the coming dark winter months and you can’t beat some new music as you settle into the new year and get back into the work schedule.

Of course Christmas is about a whole lot more than just the presents, but when you know the odd voucher is on it’s way or there are some CD shaped presents under the tree, you can’t help but get a little excited.  So, how many days is it until next Christmas?  ;)

New Year Suggestions.

As we head into 2012 I wanted to take a minute to say a thank you to the regular readers of ‘Music is My Life’.  Your comments have added a great deal to each article and I have enjoyed reading them immensely.

It is with this in mind that I thought I would use today’s blog post to ask if there is anything you wish to see more of in the New Year?

Would you like to see more reviews of books or CD’s?  This could be of new music coming out or existing music I own.  Would you like more reminiscences of concerts I have seen and performances that have especially moved me?  I could try to include more interviews if you enjoyed these or include more polls for you to vote on.  Tell me what you’d like to see and I will do my best to include it for you.  The blog wouldn’t be anything without the readers and your views and opinions are valued.

I hope you have all had a relaxing Christmas break and wish you all a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

Christmas Music.

There is something about a good Christmas song that gets you instantly in the festive spirit.  Whether it be a traditional carol or a classic pop song, when you first hear it you will be transported back to your childhood and exciting nights waiting for Santa.

I’m unsure if other countries place as much importance on the Christmas Number 1, but in the UK the Christmas Number 1 is a coveted spot and it is hotly fought over every year.  You can get novelty tracks which are short lived, more classic tracks that you play year on year, the soulless fare from X-factor that has dominated the Christmas charts in recent years or even the odd Protest song to fight back against the X-Factor drivel.

I took great delight when the Rage Against the Machine song ‘Killing in the Name’ song beat the X-factor song to Christmas number one a couple of years ago and I happily bought many versions of it to help it along the way, encouraged others to do the same and I was an ardent supporter of the campaign.  Not only is the band and song awesome, but it was worth buying, even though I already owned it, to stop Simon Cowell controlling the chart again.  It isn’t especially festive, but I happily play this song every Christmas and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

Other songs instantly make you think of Christmas and you will get strange looks if you play them at other times of the year.  The Pogues song ‘Fairytale of New York’ is one of these and I can’t help but feel festive when I hear it.  Bandaid’s charity single ‘Do they Know it’s Christmas?’, Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’, Wizzard’s ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday’ and Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ are Christmas pop standards and if I don’t hear each one at least once during December then my holiday season isn’t complete.

There is also something about the crooner and rat pack singers that makes you feel all Christmas-y and Bing Crosby singing ‘White Christmas’ makes me feel warm and nostalgic every time.  Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra have the same effect.



Of course there have been some dire Christmas songs over the years, like Mr Blobby and most X-factor singles, but thankfully these don’t stand the test of time and they don’t get repeated year on year.  I guess they are OK for marking a particular year though.

The list is almost endless and I could go on and mention loads more, but the point I am making is that music is as a big a part of Christmas as the mince pies, Christmas tree, Festive films and Turkey dinner.  And whilst some shopping centres will play these songs on an endless loop from October onwards, if you manage to avoid this saturation, the songs will still have a resonance and fill you with festive cheer.  I have my own Christmas compilation playing in the background as I write this and it’s making me want to spread my buoyant Christmas spirit to those around me and what more can you ask at this time of year?

I wish you all a warm and happy Christmas and I hope you get lots of new music to share and delight you in the coming year.

The latest musical addiction.

Occasionally I will come across a song that I love so much it almost becomes an addiction and I have to play it over and over until I’m saturated it in.  I’ve had this before with the song ‘Hide and Seek’ by Imogen Heap and I played this song numerous times each day for many months.  But I’ve experienced this again recently with another song that had me hooked so badly I could barely go an hour without playing it and when I did, I would play it two or three times in a row.

The song in question is ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ by Gotye.



I heard of it first via a magazine recommendation and I checked it out on YouTube. I must’ve played it ten times that first night and I was mesmerised by the video, the music and the lyrics.  Then I did the unthinkable (for me) and I bought that single track from itunes, my first ever itunes purchase.  The complete album the song features on was only available on import and was very expensive, but the song had caught me so badly that I had to have it with me the next day at work.  So, one trip to itunes and a few clicks later and I had the song on my ipod.

The thing with an ipod and itunes as I’ve mentioned in a previous article (‘Where’s the nearest iPod anonymous meeting?’) is that it counts how many times you’ve played a track and I could soon see that within two days I had played the song over 50 times.  By the end of the week it had slowed a little, but I was over 100 listens and still going strong.  It had become the most listened to track on my ipod in the space of a week.

One friend warned me not to ‘kill’ the song by overplaying it, but I couldn’t help myself and by the middle of the week I had decided if I wore the song out then so be it, I had to keep playing it.

I played the song to my assistant and she also loved it.  I’m sure some of the music I’ve played for her has hit very wide of the mark and when this song came along to captivate her she was as addicted as I was.  If we played it and when it ended I was still working, her hand would sneakily reach out and press play one more time until we were bobbing our heads along to the intro and then singing with gusto at the chorus.

She, like me, adored the chorus and the powerful lyrics.  We would sing them out loud and laugh and smile as we both accentuated certain parts.  We both adore the part when Kimbra joins the song and the way she adds impact to the songs crescendo and balances out the male point of view at the start of the song.

I’m guessing the addiction with this song isn’t just a problem I suffer with, as when I first played the song on YouTube a few weeks ago it had 13 million views and when I went back again recently this figure is rapidly climbing to 18 million. 

I’m gradually playing the song less now, but still about 5 or 6 times a day and I have loved every play of it so far.  I haven’t ‘killed’ the song yet and I guess like ‘Hide and Seek’ after a few months away from it I will come back to ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ and love it all over again with renewed vigour.

Music is my passion and this song is a particularly addictive morsel, but I’m so glad I found it and have it in my life.  Now I just need to buy the album it came from (after already buying Gotye’s other albums) and I have to see him live.  These things are all just ways I feed my habit.