Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Monday, 27 September 2010
The Devil And Daniel Johnston
I became a fan of Daniel Johnston's music after watching the 2006 documentary The Devil And Daniel Johnston. This details the history of his desire to be a successful musician and artist, his obsessive love for Laurie, who inspired so many of his songs, and the various other effects that his combination of talent and mental health problems have caused.
A major part of his fame has always been associated with his mental illness. But being a mentally ill musician is not the reason for his being famous.
He was signed to Atlantic Records, after a bidding war, while he was in a psychiatric hospital. A major impetus for this was the publicity caused when Kurt Cobain was photographed wearing a t-shirt with some of Daniel's artwork on it. That fact really tells the story behind his success I think. Other musicians, including a lot of famous ones, have always been fans.
This is partly because of his extreme self-belief and enthusism but it is fundamentally because they could see the potential in his songs. The songs have generally always sounded rough and sometimes frankly not good but when these songs are covered by famous fans of his work they appear as the hidden jewels they are.
In 2004 he released The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered. The first disc being covers and the second disc originals. Many artists over the years, including Beck, The Eels, Wilco, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, Bright Eyes and Tom waits, have covered his songs.
There's always a lot going on with Daniel. In October 2009 he released his first studio album in six years, a film is being made of his life intended for release in 2011, he has his own successful iphone app!, his art is shown in major galleries and he continues to tour (amongst other things).
So here now are some of his songs. A mixture of originals and covers.
A major part of his fame has always been associated with his mental illness. But being a mentally ill musician is not the reason for his being famous.
He was signed to Atlantic Records, after a bidding war, while he was in a psychiatric hospital. A major impetus for this was the publicity caused when Kurt Cobain was photographed wearing a t-shirt with some of Daniel's artwork on it. That fact really tells the story behind his success I think. Other musicians, including a lot of famous ones, have always been fans.
This is partly because of his extreme self-belief and enthusism but it is fundamentally because they could see the potential in his songs. The songs have generally always sounded rough and sometimes frankly not good but when these songs are covered by famous fans of his work they appear as the hidden jewels they are.
In 2004 he released The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered. The first disc being covers and the second disc originals. Many artists over the years, including Beck, The Eels, Wilco, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie, Bright Eyes and Tom waits, have covered his songs.
There's always a lot going on with Daniel. In October 2009 he released his first studio album in six years, a film is being made of his life intended for release in 2011, he has his own successful iphone app!, his art is shown in major galleries and he continues to tour (amongst other things).
So here now are some of his songs. A mixture of originals and covers.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Band On The Run (and a trip to Lagos) reissued
After receiving The Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in June it's been announced that Paul McCartney will also be one of the five recipients of this years Kennedy Center Honours. This prestigious award "celebrates the careers of extaordinary artists". The chairman described McCartney as "one of the most influential and successful songwriters and musicians of all time, whose work has continuosly altered both the creation and perception of music all over the world."
So it's pretty darn good timing for the reissue, on November 1st in the UK and November 2nd in the US, of the "legendary" Wings album Band On The Run. This will be the first release from the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. Yes all 40 years worth will be getting a makeover.
It was originally recorded in the summer of 1973 in Lagos, Nigeria because Paul wanted to record somewhere abroad! Two band members left days before departure and the conditions were way less than ideal. They were also mugged at knifepoint and all the demos stolen. This meant that they had to record the whole thing from memory...wow.
Anyway it was released to much critical and commercial success. "The album topped the US album chart 3 separate times, won a Grammy and went on to sell more than 7 million copies," according to the official website...and I believe them.
If you go to the site you can get a free download of "A Trip To Lagos."
http://www.paulmccartney.com/
It also details the myriad versions of the reissue. Bogstandard up to Deluxe, with a big hardback book of photos and other stuff, and some versions with DVDs in between. Oh and there's also vinyl. Nice.
So now here's some tunes from Wings most successful album ever.
Band On The Run (original video)
Mrs Vanderbilt (live in Kiev. It was voted by a Ukrainian poll as their all time favourite Paul McCartney song)Really?!!!...Ok then...?! Maybe just skip to the next one.
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
So it's pretty darn good timing for the reissue, on November 1st in the UK and November 2nd in the US, of the "legendary" Wings album Band On The Run. This will be the first release from the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. Yes all 40 years worth will be getting a makeover.
It was originally recorded in the summer of 1973 in Lagos, Nigeria because Paul wanted to record somewhere abroad! Two band members left days before departure and the conditions were way less than ideal. They were also mugged at knifepoint and all the demos stolen. This meant that they had to record the whole thing from memory...wow.
Anyway it was released to much critical and commercial success. "The album topped the US album chart 3 separate times, won a Grammy and went on to sell more than 7 million copies," according to the official website...and I believe them.
If you go to the site you can get a free download of "A Trip To Lagos."
http://www.paulmccartney.com/
It also details the myriad versions of the reissue. Bogstandard up to Deluxe, with a big hardback book of photos and other stuff, and some versions with DVDs in between. Oh and there's also vinyl. Nice.
So now here's some tunes from Wings most successful album ever.
Band On The Run (original video)
Mrs Vanderbilt (live in Kiev. It was voted by a Ukrainian poll as their all time favourite Paul McCartney song)Really?!!!...Ok then...?! Maybe just skip to the next one.
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
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