After coming downstairs in the early hours of the morning, switching on the television and changing it to MTV2, the video for "Do or Die" - the last single from "Guerrilla", the third album by Welsh band Super Furry Animals - came on. It was over quickly because the song's only two minutes long, but even afterwards I could slightly remember the melody of the chorus, even though I had no idea what Gruff Rhys was singing apart from the title phrase. That was in 2005 or so. I didn't hear it again until roughly seven years later.
"Do or Die" wasn't even supposed to be a single. Originally the band had chosen the album track "Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)" for release, but the label meddled around and promoted "Die" instead. The band weren't very pleased. I am though, "That's My Home" annoys me a bit; it's very repetitive and doesn't really go anywhere. It one of those tracks that I think I would have liked when I was four, and then listened to it later on in life thinking "What was so good about this again?".
The track's cool, man. It's got funny lyrics about riding camels and eating tomatoes and a simple, catchy riff that alternates between two chords. The track becomes louder and louder from the instrumental part onwards before coming to a complete stop whilst synthesizer noises carry on and eventually fade out. Plus it has a really bubbly intro, helped along with those keyboards, that sounds like background music to the start of a Saturday morning children's television show.
Michael Jackson. A name that brings up so many memories... so many questions. Too many that I won't go through in this blog. Whether you hated or loved him, you can't say that the guy didn't make some damn fine music. That will go down forever in history.
I remember where I was when the news came out that he died.... I was in my bed, asleep. My sister came home from a night out screaming to my aunt that Jackson had died. "Pffff... no way," I thought to myself "It's just a rumour."
Next morning on BBC News - BREAKING NEWS: MICHAEL JACKSON DEAD. Holy shit... he was gone. I didn't really care for the guy, his music was fantastic and all. It was a shame though. It was raining. Everyone on the public bus to school was quiet, except for this one guy blaring Michael Jackson songs in his ears. My friend hastily ripped of the front page of The Sun and stuck it on the notice board in our form room as some sort of 'tribute', and MTV played Michael Jackson videos all day. It was crazy. Four years has flown by.
Enough with the sadness. Let's talk about "Black or White". I can't remember the first time I heard the song. Michael Jackson seems like a name that had been around forever. I have a feeling my sister had a cassette that showed all the videos for "Dangerous" somewhere. It must have been on that. The faces morphing into different people near the end of the song is something I can remember. It's very vague.
"Black or White" was the first single from "Dangerous" in 1991. I wasn't born, my sister had been for a few months. It's a very happy song, singing positively about equality and people getting along with one another. The chorus of the song is, if you... were thinking of getting with Michael, it didn't matter if you were black or white. If you were fine - and not like 'feeling fine' but if you were fine - then you had a good chance with him. And this is all sung over a joyful riff, not played by Slash of Guns 'n' Roses. It reached number one almost everywhere, and was another song to add to Jackson's classics.
Yeah. Said it's all right. I won't forget. All the times I've waited patiently for you. And you'll do, just what, you choose to do. And I will be alone again tonight my dear.
Those are the first words of album 'Forever Changes' by Love.
I'm a great fan of music. Any type. You may have guessed that already. I got to a point last year, when I really couldn't think of any albums to download. I had a large amount stuffed into my iTunes library, but still I couldn't think of anymore.
That was until I took the initiative to search 'best albums ever' into Google, and surprise surprise there's a site which had all I could hope for.
besteveralbums.com compiles the albums by the amount of times they've been placed in a 'best of' chart in magazines as well as allow users to rate their favourite albums. I would have no idea who 'Love' is if it wasn't for the site, I probably wouldn't have listened to any of the albums that are shown on there too.
I listened to 'Forever Changes', for the first time last year on Spotify. 'Alone Again Or' was the one that got my attention straight away. Yes, it is the first track of the album so that's obviously going to happen. It's quite a simple song, it has two verses with one of them repeated as the final verse, but it is backed up with lush orchestration. Violins, various strings, the trumpets in the middle which reminds me of the stereotypical background music that's played in a cartoon when a character goes to Mexico, or some other South American country. To put it frank, it sets the mood for the whole album.
And yet still, 'Forever Changes' isn't one of my favourite albums. I don't know what it is, I don't really know how to say why it isn't. I think it's just that it's sounds very different to what I normally listen to. There's something very sophisticated about it that just puts me off it. I'd probably have to listen to it again and see if I change my mind.
You don't have to take my bullshit though, listen to it and make up your own decision.
