Posts Tagged ‘Music’

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ABBA World, Earl’s Court, London

Monday, February 15th, 2010

As cultural juxtapositions go, there can’t be many like this one. At opposite ends of the London cultural spectrum, we watched Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night, and visited the ABBA World exhibition at Earl’s Court on Saturday morning. Both full of brightly-coloured costumes, stage acts and singing, only one had acrobatics of the high-wire kind. The other boasted voice acrobatics that have become known the world over as the sound of the Swedish supergroup.

If you don’t know the ABBA story, you’re either very young or have had your head buried in the proverbial sand for the best part of the last four decades. There haven’t been many Eurovision winners that have gone on to mega-stardom and have a legacy both as rich and recognisable as Agnetha’s, Bjorn’s Benny’s and Anni-Frid’s. And it’s just as well it’s a legacy worth celebrating, as, unsurprisingly, that’s what ABBA World is all about. Premiering in the UK, the movable exhibition is, just like the band did, going on a global tour and will end up in Sweden as a more permanent reminder of the Swedish super group. But we got it first.

My fear was that it would be a tacky, glittery and money, money, money-making memorabilia fest, taking away the credit that the post-ABBA Gold and Mamma Mia! years have built up. Yes, there is a fair bit of, let’s call it fun, but the one thing the exhibition does do is remind you of how big the four Swedes were. Led down the stairs in what appears to be Earl’s Court’s basement, 25 themed ‘rooms’ let you enjoy the ABBA story, told by new video reminiscences (even by the ever-elusive Agnetha), endless numbers of gold discs and music industry awards, props, puppets and scene set-ups.

Interactive exhibits lets the visitor test their ABBA knowledge (I was quite good on the ‘Fan’ questions but rubbish on the ‘Fanatic’ ones), mix an ABBA track (compared the original, I was 86% correct and quite pleased), appear in an ABBA video and appear with 3D cartoon-like holograms of their idols. Unfortunate and incorrect Swedish to English translations on the exhibit information panels aside, ABBA World is largely well-done and a diverting and interesting three hours. And even I, an ABBA loyalist, learned new things about the other fab four.

Don’t believe all what you see, though; the helicopter in the ‘Arrival’ section (above) isn’t the one that actually appeared in the stunning 1976 Arrival album cover. But, disappointment aside, that didn’t stop me and several others sitting in it…

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ABBA: Oro: Grandes Éxitos

Friday, February 12th, 2010

It’s rare that newer versions of old songs improve on the originals. Cover versions invariably dilute the original recording’s concept, and it’s unusual for a band to record a new version of an old song. Saint Etienne did it recently, as elements of Foxbase Alpha were re-recorded for their 2009 Foxbase Beta update, and I found out this week that ABBA have done it too. Recording Spanish versions of a collection of well-known tracks, there are two in particular which I think arguably sound better than their English language counterparts.

It’s all Spotify’s fault. Browsing the (limited) ABBA catalogue, I found a remastered version of 1977’s The Album, with bonus tracks including the Latin American versions of Move On and Thank You For The Music. These are my two favourite songs on that particular album, which I consider their best (alongside 1976’s Arrival), and so good are they that they’ve been on repeat ever since. I don’t know what it is about The Album that captivates me so much; maybe it’s the memories of both that and Arrival being played lots in my childhood (I was four at the time), but captivate me it does.

The two ‘new’ tracks are from Oro: Grandes Éxitos, a US version of Gold: Greatest Hits, released in 1993 (and re-issued in 1999) for the Latin American market, sung entirely in Spanish. This album itself was originally released as Gracias Por La Música in early 1980, the ten tracks on it re-recorded in 1979. I’ve not heard the other songs which make up the compilation, but if they are as good as Al Andar and Gracias Por La Música, then they may too eclipse the English versions. I can’t tell you why I like them so much. Maybe the Spanish lyrics fit the songs’ rhythm better, or maybe it’s just because they’re different versions of such familiar recordings.

Whatever it is, it couldn’t have worked its magic at a more appropriate time. We’re off to see ABBA World tomorrow at Earl’s Court, so for the past couple of days I’ve been listening to ABBA virtually non-stop. Everyone knows the story, the band’s legacy and the music, but there’s something that the music that still sounds fresh, even over 30 years later. I don’t know if the walk around the themed rooms tomorrow will add much to the ABBA story, but it will be interesting to see the costumes and items which played a part. The thing I’m looking forward to seeing the most? The helicopter from the stunning front cover photo shoot of Arrival…

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Christmas shopping at Bluewater

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

Christmas at Bluewater

That’s not all we did at the weekend, but it took up almost half of it. Ean and Vikki came down for a day in London and a day in Kent’s, if not Europe’s largest undercover shopping paradise. Saturday was filled with jobs and more shopping for the festive season, while the evening was spent at Seabright’s Barn, literally a stone’s throw away from Andrew and Sheila’s, where we enjoyed traditional Christmas fayre and joviality in the company of my local Starfish Project speech therapy group.

Christmas at Bluewater

While we were eating and drinking, Ean and Vikki explored the bright lights of the big city, and planned the day that lay ahead for them in Kent. I bet those lights weren’t as bright as the ones at Bluewater’s Winter Wonderland, though, with dodgems, a towering ferris wheel, other fairground rides and a glowing Christmas market in attendance. We’d booked ice skating, and although fun, the rink itself was a little crowded with, well, little ones, but we enjoyed ourselves all the same. (Vikki in a good sports tradition, retired early, though, due to boot fatigue and ill-fitment, a common problem using universal skates.)

With the final of X Factor providing Sunday night’s entertainment, a warm-ish chilli to banish the cold and gins and vodkas to lift the flagging and tired spirits, we were soon on the phones voting for local boy Olly Murs to be crowned 2009’s champion of ITV’s big talent show. It wasn’t to be, though, and while disappointment gave way to bewilderment, amusement was gained through the previous night’s finalist Stacey Solomon (above), with her endearingly comical demeanour and personality. And it’s the memories of amusement and laughs with our guests which sum the weekend up – we don’t see my brother and his girlfriend often enough, and we can’t wait to host them again.

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Saint Etienne: Foxbase Beta

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Saint Etienne, Foxbase Beta

You know what it’s like when you meet an old but distant friend sometimes who you may not have seen for a while – you ask yourself if you’re likely to see them again in the near future, or why you left it so long to rekindle the friendship? Maybe even why you were friends with them in the first place?

Well, I had similar feelings about Foxbase Alpha, the debut album from Saint Etienne. Although I liked parts of it, it wasn’t one of my favourites from the London-based trio. I preferred later collections such as You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone, Sound Of Water and Tales From Turnpike House, or even the import-only The Misadventures Of Saint Etienne. And believe me, I love St Et.

But, just as the voice asks ‘What happened there?’ at the end of track five, Girl VII on the new remixed version of Foxbase Alpha, Foxbase Beta, something has; the arrival of the new reworked album has made me regard the remixed early collection of 13 tracks from 1990 as one of the group’s best.

Richard X might have something to do with it. The modern pop producer cited Foxbase Alpha as one of his favourite albums of all time, and after working with the group on This Is Tomorrow and 2009 single Method Of Modern Love, a plan was formulated to re-produce Foxbase Alpha and not so much bring it up to date, but throw off some of its clothes and reveal more of the music behind the 18-year old recordings.

And the Blackburn producer famous for working with such musical luminaries as Annie, Kelis, Sugababes and (ahem) Liberty X has certainly done that. Foxbase Beta sounds so much more, well, sparkly, rejuvenated. Always an album which conjured up images of early morning sunrises and crisp, spring days, it now shimmers, like the morning dew.

Saint Etienne

More of a companion piece to the original recording, Richard X hasn’t tampered too much with the spirit of the original album. He’s just added more musical and forgotten-about snippets from the original sessions; put absent instruments back; and made the whole thing more Sixties-sounding, and more ‘London’. Sarah Cracknell recorded new vocals for some songs, too, and even they sound brighter.

From the clarity and freshness of Only Love Can Break Your Heart, to the breeziness of Spring, from the Freddie Phillips/Trumpton-inspired London Belongs To Us to the faster-paced bounciness and stomp of Nothing Can Stop Us, he’s worked wonders. Not that there was much wrong before, I just don’t know if I ‘got’ it. I don’t know why I ‘get’ it now, but by Richard X twiddling some knobs, it’s had a hold on me over the past couple of weeks.

Available as a limited edition, numbered two-disc set (I have no. 0428) with the reworked album on one disc and a pithy directors’ commentary and bonus tracks on the other, a single-disc version is also for sale through Rough Trade records. For those who don’t know what master tapes and CDs are, there should be also a digital download album at iTunes, which along with the single-disc version, misses out on the commentary and bonus tracks.

Overall then, Foxbase Beta is a fresher and brighter than ever before version of Foxbase Alpha; a solid five stars. If you’re a Saint Etienne fan, it’s a must for your collection. New yet familiar at the same time, courtesy of Foxbase Beta, Foxbase Alpha has put on its best lippy, pulled on a boob tube, and is ready to go out partying. Like it’s 1990, of course…

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The Hit Factory:
The Best Of Stock Aitken Waterman

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

The Hit Factory: The Best Of Stock Aitken Waterman

Look what you can turn up in the most unlikely of places. We were in Basildon on Saturday, and in a similar twist of old rare music fate to when I last found other hard to find Stock Aitken Waterman records, I stumbled across this video from 1987 on a town centre market stall which also sold, of all things, badges, model cars and Nazi memorabilia.

Completing the Hit Factory trilogy (I already have the second and third volumes in the series), it’s such an early release, it doesn’t include any Kylie or Jason, relying on Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up and Bananarama’s I Heard A Rumour (below) to lure me in. Other early SAW ‘videostars’ include Princess and Edwin Starr, as well as Phil Fearon and The Three Degrees.

And yes, just as you’d expect, it’s laughably cheesy, with one cheap video following another. Most, like Mandy Smith, seem to follow a studio-based template whereby the artist stands in front of a cloth backdrop ‘dancing’ to their track in some now-hideous outfit. Princess clearly got the pick of the deal; she got outside locations around London for Say I’m Your Number One. Mel and Kim didn’t even bother to turn up for FLM, though, relying on puppets for their appearance cut in with some concert footage.

Classic. Well worth £1.50.

Basildon is clearly the place for bargains, as well as the home town of Alison Moyet, Yazoo and Depeche Mode. It also has a giant QD store, and in the spirit of reminiscing we went in, as there used to be similar shops in East Anglia and certainly in Lowestoft and Norwich. A ‘quick look’ turned into a £45 spree, and included such hauls as a new pair of jeans and also a coat, all for a price less than the cost of a designer item of either.

I also had my first seasonal coffee (a gingerbread latte) of the year, sitting in the Costa in the town centre. And, although there were no falling mattresses from tower blocks this time – unlike our visit – and the skies were still grey – like our last visit – the place had a certain charm. That charm must have been genuine, too, as a planned ‘couple of hours’ visit turned into an all-day stay.

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