Here's the second half of my post, and this one's my favourite male singers. The honorable mentions, Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Jonsi (Sigur Ros & solo) and Dan Haseltine (Jars of Clay).
Matthew Perryman Jones
Song: CanciĆ³n de la Noche (from Land of the living)
I discovered MPJ through Noisetrade and Land of the Living would be one of my top 5 albums of all time. MPJ has an powerful & emotive voice.
Ryan O'Neal (Sleeping at Last)
Song: In the embers (from Atlas - Light EP)
If you are a fan of the Twilight Series or Greys' Anatomy you would have heard his music, as its often featured. I enjoy listening to his music through headphones. Really love this lyric of this song..
Like fireworks We pull apart the dark Compete against the stars With all of our hearts Till our temporary brilliance turns to ash We pull apart the darkness while we can
The Edge (U2)
Song: Sunday Bloody Sunday - (Live from Santiago during 1998)
Was touch & go whether to include Bono or The Edge. For some reason its Edge's backing vocals which often grab me. During the 1997/8 PopMart tour The Edge had a solo spot, and on the final few legs of the tour The Edge played and sang Sunday Bloody Sunday on his own, which as you can see transforms the song.
Glen Hansard (The Frames, The Swell Season & solo)
Song: Say it to me now (solo version, the song is also on The Frames' 1995 album Fitzcarraldo)
Glen's voice has always grabbed me because its so varied, and carries so much emotion.
Josh Ritter
Song: Change of Time (from Live at Iveagh Gardens)
Ritter is a masterful storyteller with both his music & words.
Kyler England (also in a band The Rescues - worth checking out Crazy Ever After)
Song: We Rise Like Smoke (acoustic)
I love the harmonies Kyler has with the other singers in The Rescues, but also love some of her solo songs - exhibit A).
Gemma Hayes
Song: Waiting for You (from Janie Jones Original Soundtrack)
Gemma has a rich voice bringing light & dark, joy and sadness to her songs.
Brooke Fraser
Song: Arithmetic (from What to do with daylight)
When I hear Brooke sing, I often can't seperate her words from her voice, and sometimes feels like she's singing to you. Brooke's a favourite too, she went to the same primary school as I did, grew up in the same suburb as I did, and like me - moved to Sydney. We never actually met though, until a gig in the Basement.
Sally Ellyson (HEM)
Song: Seven Angels (from Departure & Farewell)
Sally's voice has a dreamy quality about it. With the music, she grabs you, and you feel like you're floating along with her.
Amy Speace,
Song: The Sea & The Shore (from How to sleep in a stormy boat)
Beautifully expresses each phrase, rising and falling as the tide.
I'll write another post on my favourite male voices later.
Saw a great article earlier this week listing the author's 10 favourite R.E.M. songs. So thought that I'd post a list of my own. I realise I've got 12, it was so hard to stop at 10.
Find the River (Automatic for the People)
This song highlights what I love about R.E.M. beautiful harmonies and in this song sparse instrumentation. Find the River is a beautiful song, perhaps on the journey of life.
Nightswimming (Automatic for the People)
Love the combination of the keys and Stipe's voice. Rosen's book on the story of their songs, says that this songs harks back the to the band's days in Athens, Georgia before they were famous, and the song does have a reminiscing feel about it.
Final Straw (Around the Sun)
I am one a few people it seems who really liked this album. The album was released in 2004, and it clearly brings the years 2001-2004 back to mind. Final Straw is one of two protest songs written about the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Maps and Legends (Fables of the Reconstruction)
A classic REM track with the shimmery guitars, and indecipherable lyrics. I've always thought of the "maps and legends" as people Stipe knew around Athens.
World Leader Pretend (Green)
One song from R.E.M in which you don't need to decipher Stipe's vocals, as the CD has the lyrics printed inside. Perhaps one of the more political songs Stipe's written.
"This is my world
And I am the world leader pretend
This is my life
And this is my time
I have been given the freedom
To do as I see fit."
'Untitled' (Green)
I guess one of the first 'bonus' tracks on a CD. The band actually switch instruments on the song. The song highlights the beautiful harmonies of Mills & Stipe. What a lovely innocent lyric:
"This world is big and so awake/ I stayed up late to hear your voice/ This light is here to keep you warm/ This song is here to keep you strong."
Cuyahoga (Life's Rich Pageant)
The song brings to my mind the early history of Australia, though it is written about a dying river in Ohio.
This is where they walked, swam, Hunted, danced and sang / Rewrite the book and rule the pages / Saving face, secured in faith / Bury, burn the waste behind you, / Take a picture here Take a souvenir / Cuyahoga Cuyahoga, gone
The opening line - "Let's put our heads together and start a new country up", does give a glimmer of hope.
Country Feedback (Out of Time)
Michael Stipe often mentions before playing this one live, that it is his favourite R.E.M. song. I love the stream of consciousness approach to the lyrics. It's one of those songs which takes on a new life when played live, with Buck extending the solo at the end.
Here's a link to R.E.M. playing the song with Neil Young.
Half a World Away (Out of Time)
One of the saddest lyrics Stipe has written & possibly my favourite song on Out of Time (1991). Just beautiful harmonies between Mills & Stipe.
Leave (New Adventures in Hi Fi)
Beautiful intro, and haunting lyrics. 'New Adventures..' is one of my favourite R.E.M. albums as this is one of the standout tracks (and probably R.E.M's longest one too).
At My Most Beautiful (Up)
One of the most romantic songs Stipe has written. Some lovely images and a beautiful music arrangement.
"at my most beautiful
I count your eyelashes secretly. with every one, whisper I love you. I let you sleep. I know your closed eye watching me, listening. I thought I saw a smile.
Perfect Circle (Murmur)
Another beautiful track .. and typical for Stipe, the lyric is vague, alluding to friendship and romance.
Was listening to Grandstand on ABC Radio today they were talking about the moments in sport we remember. The spark for the conversation being McCullum's historic 302 earlier this week. So with that in mind, I thought I'd think about some of the sporting memories which have stayed with me. I've limited it to 10.
(1) I remember Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones 467 run partnership in 1991 (which was the highest for any wicket in Test Cricket until 1997). Crowe was out for 299, which until Tuesday was the highest score by a New Zealander in Test Cricket.
(2) Sir Richard Hadlee's 400th Test Wicket, the first bowler to that mark.
(3) Nick Davis' fourth quarter in the 2005 Qualifying final against Geelong. The only one I was at the ground to see. I still can't believe Sydney won that game.
(4) That penalty in 2005 taking Australia to the 2006 Football World Cup.
(5) Manchester United's two goals in stoppage time to win the Champion's League Final in their treble season of 1998/99
(6) Arsenal's undefeated season in the Premier League (2003/2004)
(7) The All Black's winning the World Cup in 2011.
(8) The Wollongong Wolves coming back from 0-3 down to win their first Australian Soccer Title
(9) South Africa chasing down 438 to win a One Day Match.
(10) The NZ Breakers winning the NBL title in 2011, 2012 and 2013. They are the only NZ team to win an Australian Competition.
Three things from the second half of the documentary which screened last night.
:: The worst thing about the movie is Bono. If you know U2, you know that Bono and Michael did get on. But it just wasn't done well -they could have made so much more of it.
:: Chris Murphy, is perhaps the best thing in the movie, the passion he has for music & the band. Really intrigued to read his book.
:: Perhaps the most striking thing about the film was how it highlighted the difficult relationship Australian bands have with the Australian media, and the tensions from being in a band.
It was so much harder to watch than the first half, seeing Michael's collapse.
Finishing the post where I've started here's U2 singing 'One' in Mexico City (in December 1997).
Hansard's new EP was released on the Australian i-tunes store this week (I guess in parallel to the concerts he is playing with Eddie Vedder - was such a shame to miss them).
Drive All Night is a four song EP featuring a cover of Bruce Springsteen's song 'Drive All Night' preformed with Vedder and Jake Clemens, and three of his songs. Pennies in the fountain is my faavourite. Something magical in his vocals.
What's always struck me about Hansard is that when you hear him play, its almost like you're on the street with him, and he is busking. He's not too proud to keep the stage for himself, and knows his place in history. I saw him play in 2010, and he brought up LJ Hill onto stage to sing one of his songs.; when his band played in 2008, he sang New Partner with Holly Throsby. He is an absolutely great story-teller, both on & off the stage. During his interview with Richard Glover this week he recounted the story that during his concert in Sydney last year - he became the Pied Piper and led people out of the Opera House.
He's had an amazing career from his time in The Frames (a band who's music deserves to be heard by more people), to the Swell Season, and solo career. When you hear time talk, you know how he has struggled with how fame 'found him'.
Can't recommend the EP (and his other music) highly enough, and I think there's still tickets to see him at the Opera House on St Patrick's Day....
No secret I'm a fan of the Kiwi singer Lizzie Marvelly. Lizzie has moved from a classical style to pop and also writing her own songs. Last Tuesday she released her video for 'Generation Young' - which is quite a catchy tune, encouraging the younger generation to be the change & create the world in which they want to live. The video is quite a moving addition to the song.
And as a bonus she's recorded a cover of 'I See Fire', Ed Sheeran's song from the second installment of The Hobbit.
Albert's try against Manly, in the 1997 Grand Final, (and perhaps too many others by Queenslanders in the 78, 79 or 80th minute)
that soccer match at the MCG against Iran.
What they all have in common is that they are some of the memorable moments in Australian sport. The book by Mangan highlights, some of the bravest, craziest, unluckiest defeats in Aussie sport. He argues that in fact sometimes its the defeats that leave the lasting impression in our memory. Especially seeing as you probably aren't going to see your team win many premierships in your lifetime, its the near misses (and catastrophes which are stay in your mind. I feel very lucky with the Sydney Swans - four GF's in my lifetime for 2 wins and 2 losses.
But think Thomson & Border, Lee & Kasprowicz, Haddin & Pattinson. (Whitney & McDermott, for other reasons). All of those Cricket Tests are memorable, for the tightness of the result, and the fight & courage showm, by both sides.
The book is a great trip down memory lane (pain street?).
A couple of others - on a global scale which I won't forget are Manchester's win against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League Final, Liverpool's win against AC Milan in 2005, and Oracle's comeback win in the America's Cup last year.
One of TV shows I had been anticipating this year, was the mini-series about one of Australia's great rock bands INXS. The first part which screen last night took us from the formation of the band through to "when Michael met Kylie". The show reminded you of how brilliant & erratic Michael was. Michael and the band are amazing songwriters and performers (that he wrote the words for Need You Tonight in 15mins is just one example). It was weird watching the band write and people hear the songs for the first time. Slightly humorous seeing their first manager say they weren't going to be anything.
Hard to believe that it is about 16 years ago, when I heard good friends of INXS, pay tribute to Hutch. In their PopMart concert at the Sydney Football Stadium, U2, finished with Bono dedicating One to Michael (and as they did in many of their concerts during late 1997 and 1998).
It was one of the things that highlights Bono's ability to create a moment... there was an storm during the show, and Bono had all of the lights turned off, and the band played "One" illuminated only by the flashes of lightening, then the crowd left, singing "Never Tear Us Apart', such a moving moment. After watching the show, the storm seems fitting for Hutchence too.
Given that the ending is known, next week's episode will be harder to watch. In the linear notes to their collection "The Years" released in 2002, Andrew Farris writes: "perhaps the people to watch out for the most, are the ones who tell you they're okay", something to be mindful of I guess.
Hutch is one of the great singers (at least of my lifetime), and last night reminded me how much poorer we are without him.