This was Amber’s web pick on this week’s episode of CommandN (a video podcast on technology). It’s a great little video and shows how we got from writing on paper to Web 2.0 sites (like Vox, for example!)
Vox Hunt: Rocked My World
25 January 2007 by
Audio: Show us cover art or share a track from the first band or solo artist you flipped for.
Submitted by Red Pen.
That would be Adam & the Ants. My dad had Kings of the Wild Frontier on tape and I loved it. The first “album” I bought (it was a cassette tape) was Prince Charming. I had Adam Ant posters all over my wall and was a big fan. Definitely the first band I “flipped for”.
Mist Covered Mountains of Home
17 January 2007 by
I first heard this tune on El McMeen’s CD, Playing Favorites. El’s music has been an inspiration to me ever since I discovered his playing. It began when I downloaded a sheet of hand-written tablature for a tune called My Mary of the Curling Hair from his web site. El plays a lot in the tuning CGDGAD and Mary was the first tune I learned in that tuning. I just loved the way it sounded and began to play more in CGDGAD.
I struck up an e-mail dialogue with El and found him to be the most approachable and helpful of players that one could hope to find. I ordered a CD of his (Dancing the Strings) and, after hearing it, ordered his entire back catalogue as a Christmas present to myself in 2003.
I did a couple of video lessons with El, where I would record a video of myself playing a tune, send it to him over the Internet and have him critique my playing. That worked quite well, but obviously was nothing like as good as the real thing.
In October 2004 I flew to the USA for my first Little Brother Jam and, since I was there, I decided to take a trip to El’s house in New Jersey for a lesson at his home. It was a great experience and one which I would very much like to repeat one day.
The Mist Covered Mountains of Home is a tricky tune to play and I’ve never played it live. In some ways it’s more difficult than the Humours of Ballyloughlin, also one of El’s arrangements in CGDGAD, as it really requires emotion. The Humours requires emotion too, of course, but the essential part of the Humours is the timing; you really have to get the groove of that one going and get the feet tapping.
I haven’t practised Mist for a while and I have a chance to play it out at the forthcoming 10th RMMGA UK gathering at Hargate Hall in March. February should be a relatively quiet month for me (translation deadline is end of Jan) so I plan to spend some time working on Mist and see if I can get it to a playable state. I know from experience that playing a tune in front of people is the baptism of fire method of discovering if you really have it down as well as you think you have.
Mist is one of those tunes that can really bring tears to my eyes, even my own playing of it, and that’s something that happens all too infrequently for me.
This video of it was recording some time ago, around November 2004 if my post on my Celtic Guitar Talk forum is to be believed.
This is the Sea
9 January 2007 by
This is the Sea is the third Waterboys album and most probably my favourite album of all time. It’s certainly the album in my collection that has been listened to the most. I’ve bought it probably four or five times. I’ve had two cassette tapes bite the dust, bought the CD then lost it, bought it again and, this Christmas, I was pleasantly surprised to find the remastered edition in my Christmas stocking (from my loving wife).
The remastered version also includes a second CD of extended versions of the songs and songs which never made it onto the original 1985 version. It’s nice to hear the extended versions of Medicine Bow and Spirit, my two favourite tracks from the CD. It also has some liner notes written by Mike Scott which are illuminating.
It’s interesting to note that the tunes do not seem to date. Since I went into Alcoholics Anonymous back in September 2004, I’ve increasingly tried to live a more spiritual life and this has given a whole new meaning to Mike Scott’s lyrics. I know from having pretty much everything Mike Scott has written that he himself is a spiritual person, so it’s nice to have that perspective on songs with which I am so familiar. Spirit and Be My Enemy are two polar opposites of the spiritual side of Mike Scott’s writing (at least in my interpretation).
This was pretty much the culmination of the “Big Music” concept of Mike Scott’s writing – they “went folk” after this one with the fantastic Fisherman’s Blues album in 1990.
As a musician, it’s interesting to note that This is the Sea shows the power of the three-chord song. I have recently come to the conclusion in my own guitar playing that, at least in this genre, the music serves the song. Old England is a case in point. I’ve recently started performing Medicine Bow and may start playing The Pan Within a bit more too!
So, for now, enjoy Spirit (the original version).
Amrit Sond: Genius or nutter?
24 December 2006 by
This performance of Amrit Sond was recorded at RMMGA UK9 gathering at Hargate Hall in 2005. I heard him play this twice and, on each occasion, it was the same. At first I was like, WTF, but the more I listen to it, the more I see its musical merit. He’s pushing the boundaries of music on the acoustic guitar, and making us question the western conception of music. Amrit has an interesting background and it is manifesting itself in his music.
Oh, and he’s a humble and friendly guy with a great sense of humour. And he can also play more “conventional” music very well indeed. In fact, he won a Grammy for it.
So here’s Amrit:
Black Water Side
12 December 2006 by
While my wife and kids are away, I thought I would cheer myself up and take the opportunity to play guitar around the house at night! I don’t often get to do that quite so freely as the kids are asleep. I had fun playing the little Brook Bovey in the bathroom, where the acoustics are great.
Last week, I played out at an open mic and messed up a favourite tune of mine pretty badly, Black Water Side. For some reason this tune continues to elude me when under the spotlight, so I decided to try recording a video. I find that recording something simulates to some extent the pressure of playing out. And since I was playing the Bovey, I thought I’d do it on that. It has an incredible sound for such a small guitar!
Enjoy!
Short Hamish Video
7 December 2006 by
I shot this on my Minolta Dimage F100 and realised that the sound isn’t working 🙁
