lefreeakblog

   --  a short update on what I'm listening to  --    THE start of a new year always brings with it fresh hope, and music is no different, whether it's the tantalising promise of new music from your favourite artist or a certain song that seems to resonate, January tends to evoke a different, more reflective mood...which brings me to Crowded House.       Born in the early Eighties, I missed this antipodean band first time round but always knew a few of their big hits and it was after I turned on the radio and heard 'Don't Dream It's Over', arguably their best song and surely one of the best Eighties singles, that intrigue got the better of me and I picked up Spotify to take a closer look. And now years later after briefly listening to them before, it clicked - it's always at the turn of the year - but why?       I think it's because in songs such as 'Weather With You' and 'Distant Sun', their singer and chief songwriter Neil F...

Following the  first part of my 2021 review, below is a breakdown of my ten favourite albums of the year as well as a quick overview of songs which I enjoyed: Favourite 10 Albums of the Year 1. Blank & Jones -   Relax Edition 13 At the forefront of the late-90s rise in trance, the German duo of Piet Blank & Jaspa Jones turned to ambient thereafter with the release of their Relax series. This is the latest, a double album of chillout, tasteful funky house and balearic beats and a much needed tonic for lockdown despondency in 2021 - my choice for best album of 2021. 2. St. Vincent -   Daddy's Home A concept album about her father's return from prison, this album's real treat though is how Annie Clark recalls the atmosphere of early seventies downtown New York, the sleaze, the dirt, the funk. A melting pot of Lou Reed, Bowie, Steely Dan even Beatles (on the psychedelic Sun King-esque Live The Dream). 3. Cleo Sol -   Mother The singer in the mysterious...

  IT was the year that a pandemic allowed geeks the chance to shine. Amidst a severe restriction on live performance,  super-fans were busy viewing, cutting and editing together film of their favourite artists and readying them for blockbuster release, funded  by an ever increasing demand and driven by competition from the streaming wars.       With time to kill, we were allowed to indulge ourselves in a number of gems, with Peter Jackson's "The Beatles: Get Back" , Questlove's  "Summer of Soul"  both on Disney+ and Todd Haynes'  "The Velvet Underground"  on Apple TV+ all released to great acclaim.       Each of these documentaries covered the late sixties, part of the analogue era when very little film was actually recorded, in sharp contrast to today where it is so ubiquitous. And it looks we will see more and more as super-fans endeavour to unearth rare footage and bring fans young and old upto date with classic ar...

For the first time in a long time, I was back at the cinema last month, there to catch the new Bond movie No Time To Die , a solid and enjoyable final romp for Daniel Craig. My favourite moment wasn't primarily film related however, it was when the strings from the impossibly majestic We Have All The Time In The World started and I was struck by how beautiful this piece of music is. Much like in the film from which it first appeared, 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service , it turned out to be a reoccurring theme, with its moments of reflection and looking back. Written by regular Bond composer John Barry and Hal David - Burt Bacharach's most reliable lyricist - it has the same assured quality that many other David penned songs have such as Magic Moments, Walk On By and Say A Little Prayer. In it's original appearance, it was written as a secondary theme for certain moments throughout ONHSS rather than opening the film; Barry felt that given it's long title, it ...

After uncovering 57 hours of unseen footage, a new film documentary by acclaimed film director Peter Jackson will be released this month, covering The Beatles' recording sessions for Let It Be , the subsequent planning of a live concert and the resulting abridged famous rooftop show. I must be honest, the sheer volume of media excitement around this has been intriguing and raised as many eyebrows as heartbeats; afterall wasn't Let It Be the most maligned Beatles' album? Weren't Beatles' supposedly at war at this point?       As is generally the case, the truth is far murkier and more complex than the publicly believed narrative. Certainly, the starters for ten of the  teaser trailer and then the more recently released  official trailer just show what the fuss is all about, with arguably the then four most famous people on the planet having the time of their lives in full bright colour, in the rehearsal room, in the same room for far longer than any of us rea...

New Releases Yousef & CamelPhat -   April label: Knee Deep In Sound   genre: Progressive House verdict: Two of Liverpool's most forward looking artists in dance today, trance house producer Yousef and well known duo CamelPhat team up for this samba tinged bit of progressive bliss which is suitably balearic and warmer than their recent efforts. The sound of an Indian summer. rating: ★★ ★★ ✩ Disclosure -   Seduction label: Disclosure  genre: Deep House verdict: After conquering the world by expanding their original garage house sound, Disclosure go back to their roots. This is their 3rd single in as many weeks and the pick of the bunch. A simple but effective piece and their own take on deep house. rating: ★★ ★★ ✩ Joel Corry & Jax Jones (feat. Charli XCX & Saweetie) -  OUT OUT label: Perfect Havoc Limited   genre: Dance Pop verdict: Another slice of contemporary dance pop built around a pulsating but predictable beat, the sought that was...

Coupling a jittery piano line with an insistent chorus, Get Get Down is the dance anthem the sadly departed Paul Johnson will be best remembered for and a track that encapsulated the spirit of the man himself.       Released in 1999, at a time where disparate forms of dance music - four to the floor, speed garage, big beat - were slowly merging into one, Get Get Down is one of those timeless dance tracks that defies categorisation.        Born Paul Leighton Johnson in 1971, a career in a music production beckoned after being inspired by the illustrious line of DJs that came from Chicago to international prominence that included Frankie Knuckles and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk. Born with an innate desire to get on with th ings, he was self-taught, arranging and playing at his first gig aged just 13. As he told 5Mag in 2006: “I was breakdancing at the time, that was my thing, then I went to my first party and saw the DJ mixing and wanted to do that. I was ...