All things must pass...

Oh, America...

Peter Gabriel, Wallflower, lest we forget...

To view the song only, it is also on YouTube here: Peter Gabriel - Wallflower (piano version)

Peter Gabriel's December message in which he talks about a number of projects he has been involved such as Witness and also bigs up Emmanuel Jal's 'We want Peace' project. Towards the end of this video he performs an exclusive, informal version of his 1982 song 'Wallflower' which was inspired through seeing the work of Amnesty. This simply features PG accompanied beautifully by pianist Tom Cawley. 'Wallflower' is one of PG's songs selected for the 'New Blood' record featuring full orchestral arrangements. It is in support of Mary Robinson, one of the innovative peacemakers, The Elders.

My highlight of 2010 was experiencing PG's Scratch My Back concert which I reviewed extensively here, so inspiring, so moving and the most significant spiritual refreshment of the year...

You can still preview the whole Scratch My Back album here too

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Jónsi - Totally Transcendent Tunes

Jónsi - Grow Till Tall from fadryke on Vimeo.

Advent Two

Every so often an musician emerges who is clearly a prodigious talent. Jónsi hails from Iceland and clearly draws on his cultural roots to season his incredibly atmospheric music. His live shows feature stunning background graphics which appear to both surround and integrate with the band's contribution. Wonderful stuff!

h/t Tim Abbott's recent blog review

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Awesome Advent from Sufjan Stevens

A stunning version of my fave Advent hymn, love both the apparently haphazard and over the top production! This piece is on an amazing five CD collection Songs for Christmas. The enigmatic Sufjan also produced an incredible CD by another Greenbelt Festival favourite band who played there in 2009, The Welcome Wagon.

Welcome to Advent 2010!

PB

Hymns and Spiritual Songs...

One of the joys of being in the Blogosphere is making international virtual friends who lift your spirits with their thoughts and encouragement. Posting the video above was a direct result of reading this on the When Love Comes to Town blog, one that I have on my Blogroll and is clearly a fellow pilgrim on the 'Redeeming Culture' trail.

Over the last couple of days I have been wrestling with what to write about the version of 'In Christ Alone' that appeared as a just for fun 'cover song' on stellar musician Adam Young's Owl City Blog... so I am grateful for Mike Todd's excellent piece today, A Mild Rant on Sacredness, Owl City and The Jesus Station, which says so well what I wished I had thought of...

Cheers me dears!

PB

Music is A Voice of God...

The late Billy Preston giving a transcendent performance at possibly the very first major fund raising concert in 1971 organised by The Beatles guitarist George Harrison for the folk of Bangladesh. I was reminded of this song when a compilation program celebrating 250 great performances from 'Later... with Jools Holland' was shown recently.

On the same program DJ Trevor Nelson, when talking about Mary J Blige, used the expression 'Took it to church' to describe a particularly brilliant performance where artist and song become one entity, a special moment which transcends personal taste and totally captivates the whole audience. I immediately thought 'Took it to church' as an expression to describe something so special by linking it to 'church' was both challenging and something to always aspire to...

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Remembering Live Aid...

Sometimes seems like yesterday! The 13th July 1985 was an extraordinary day and everyone who watched Live Aid was blown away by Queen's transcendent performance, re-launching them to a new audience and Freddie Mercury giving all the other bands a serious lesson in stagecraft!

Did I ever tell you about the honour of working with his Freddieship? Oh yes, so I did!

Some of it's just transcendental...

A little Easter Sunday treat! The Peter Gabriel cover of Lou Reed's 'Power of the heart' from the 'Scratch my Back' album... enjoy!

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Peter Gabriel Scratch My Back with New Blood

An artist of the stature of Peter Gabriel is often caught between a rock and a hard place. Even his post Genesis solo repetoire extends back to the 70s with so many massively popular songs it is inevitable that when you try something new your stalwart fans may initially be a bit puzzled. Equally, just rolling out the back catalogue you run the risk being criticised for not offering something new! His latest venture combines the two in an inspired way and manages to deflect either opinion.

His latest 'Scratch my Back' project takes other artists songs (who will, in return, record their version of a PG song) arranged for a full 54 piece orchestra (no drums and guitars!) delivered in a format that is far more akin to a classical music recital than your usual stadium rock approach. The first half comprised ALL the tracks from the CD album in the same track running order whilst the post interval 2nd half saw the orchestra playing arrangements of PG's own songs.

The songs, or pieces, were all supported by simple yet stunning 'arty' graphics which included some video elements (on an array of LEDs rather than projection screens) the focus was clearly the music, with conductor  Ben Foster at the helm, supporting vocals from Peter's daughter Melanie with a charismatic Norwegian lass, Ane Brun and a brilliant pianist Tom Cawley. The opening was David Bowies 'Heroes' which started with one of the LED screens obscuring the orchestra displaying very sparse graphics totally synchronised to the music which eventually raised to reveal the orchestra and PG himself stepping onto the front part of the stage.

As mentioned, the set list followed the running order of the Scratch my Back album, check out the player on my blog here. Highlights were the whole drama of the opening with 'Heroes', the starkness of 'Boy in the Bubble', 'The Power of the Heart' and 'Book of Love' which had a witty and self deprecating sequence on the displays killing off any thoughts of sentimentality! PG found his stride in 'The Power of the Heart' with a passionate and committed vocal performance that drew the most applause in part one. Gabriel fans are very respectful so although the response could not be called rapturous, it was polite even if sometimes puzzled.

For me personally I found it immensely stimulating and inspiring yet very much with the classical music concert similarity to the fore. Often attending classical recitals you are not as familiar with the material, so it is an adventure which may not always be delightful and can sometimes be quite arduous. The lack of familiarity, at times, didn't make for easy listening, not a bad thing in my book, regardless John Metcalfe's arrangements and orchestration throughout were brilliant! I would say the 'high brow' factor placed it somewhere twixt Classic FM and Radio 3 with PG's grace and gifts building an accessibility bridge to the essentially Radio 2 audience.

The genius was saving the familiar material, albeit with the previously unheard orchestral versions, as the whole of the second half. Again the arrangements were stunning and gave new textures to the Gabriel catalogue, with the extensive suite of texture and dynamics an orchestra can deliver new facets of PG's songs appeared. This time it was the audience who found their stride, clapping along, cheering, mimicking PG's gestures and even standing in appreciation!

'Solsbury Hill' was the clear 'clapometer' favourite and along with 'In your Eyes' plus the pre-encore set closer 'Don't Give Up' being my own personal 2nd half highlights. Selecting 'Don't Give Up' felt significant, whether by design or default I don't know. The whole of the 'Scratch My Back' CD is very much a Lament for the world (more on Steve Stockman's Blog here), where we have screwed up environmentally, ecologically, tribal / civic wars, corruption, terroism, ethnic cleansing, shock and awe etc. Therefore including 'Don't Give Up' so brilliantly gave hope and encouragement for the future.

To be nitpicky I cannot say it was all perfect. The orchestra was not tight, it did not groove and or have the feel that PG's band excels at, the sound was a bit harsh and sometimes some cues were missed. Equally these points are much more noticable in an orchestral format so overall it did not tarnish or diminish my enjoyment. I am so glad I was able to go and experience this firsthand, a very special and memorable eve. If you get the chance, there are not many dates left and only in North America, don't miss it!

Jeff Buckley - BBC Soul Music

UPDATE: Newer post includes 2nd half of this BBC Radio's Soul Music broadcast with Sarah Connolly, Jeremy Summerly, Alison Moyet and Philip Sheppard on Jeff Buckley's amazing interpretation here

BBC Radio 4's recent edition of 'Soul Music' which featured Dido's Lament turned out to be really special! It always gives me enormous encouragement (and pleasant surprise!) to hear top notch classical maestros admitting truths that most of their colleagues would consider heresy.

The program moved from a fairly conventional start covering thoughts from the mezzo soprano Sarah Connolly and the view of the conductor of the band at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Day.

Jeremy Summerly, the big boss of the Royal Academy of Music and a renowned conductor, issued the first challenges to conventional thinking about the approach to singing the piece. He asked how would anyone know how 17th Century singers would sound and then introduced Alison Moyet's version, praising her approach, the clarity of her timbre and the fact that every word is intelligible. For someone of Jeremy's stature in the classical world to say this is really something, especially as he stated that Purcell's masterpiece is 'the great tune of the 17th Century'.

The closing section of the programme introduced Philip Sheppard, cellist and now composer. He spoke about how he was invited along to be part of the supporting orchestra for Elvis Costello's Meltdown Festival in 1995. One of the pieces was to be Dido's Lament which would be sung by charismatic rock singer Jeff Buckley. Although Philip had never heard of Jeff Buckley before once he heard him singing it had a most profound effect on him:

He seemed to screw every ounce of meaning out of the words and physically he looked like he was wracked with pain and anguish as he was singing it. But what was coming out was beyond ethereal his voice had this quality where it meant so much more than when I had ever heard it before.

But then when he sang it it seemed to be a Lament so much more and it really went beyond what I would consider to be classical music...and to date it's actually probably the greatest musical
experience of my life, in as much as it turned my world inside out.

As a result Philip had to admit:

I know NOTHING about music - at all!

Up to that point I was a musican who played through study rather than a musician who played through feel and now I have to say I seek out people to work with who do not necessarily read music who have their first sense is one of 'ear' rather than of 'technique'...

Philip then goes on to say how this became a pivotal moment in his career which helped him to become a composer, enabling him to move away from being 'a player who just repeated other people's music'.

Jeff Buckley died in a tragic accident just two years later in 1997, sunsequently his version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' reached number one in the US Billboard charts and is considered by many to be the definitive version.

Now Philip thinks of Jeff nearly every day and is ever grateful for the effect of the encounter, even though he only met him for around half an hour...

Listening to this has changed me forever, too, thank you so much...

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Scratch my Back... Peter Gabriel preview

Peter Gabriel's latest project is a suite of cover versions recorded with an orchestra. Some of the songs are in a very stripped down style, giving huge emphasis to the lyrics. One of the joys of this is tracking back to some of the original versions, especially of some by lesser known artistes. All the composers are returning the compliment by recording a Peter Gabriel song themselves.

Check out a video mini documentary of Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon discussing their respective approaches to 'Boy in the Bubble' and 'Biko'.

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This is how the world will end...

... and this video from The Elms was shot and edited BEFORE the earthquake and gives an idea of the scale of poverty in Haiti... we can send money, we can help raise money... we MUST cancel the debt.

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Mumford and Sons - Music to mend...

Sometimes I hear something that can change me forever:

It seems that all my bridges have been burnt,
But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,
But the welcome I receive with the restart

From the song 'Roll away your stone' 4th track on the amazing album 'Sigh no more' from Mumford & Sons. Passionate songs to restore the spirit - vitally energetic, acoustic, anthemic, imaginative, intelligent, poetic genius...

From the title track 'Sigh no more':

Love that will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you and will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be.
There is a design an alignment to cry,
of my heart to see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be

Wonderful!

Art and Christianity Part Three - Music

This my third post on the Art and Christianity meme commenced by Jonathan Evens.

Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young


Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion. I remember filing in the Royal Festival Hall at 10:00am on a Good Friday to experience Bach's epic Passion and wondering what to expect having been told by my hosts that we would not be leaving until 3:00pm! On advice I had managed to obtain a choir score from Upminster library to help me navigate my way through Bach's interpretation of Matthew chapters 26 and 27. Now whilst I still don't read music I would say it was pretty essential to peruse the score to be able to greater appreciate the composer's genius in using motifs and phrasing to highlight activity and mood.

I was familiar with the beautiful hymn, 'O, Sacred Head! Sore wounded', (also known as the Passion Chorale) yet as soon as the double choir launched into their opening chorale I was transported heavenwards by the breathtaking and all enveloping wall of sound undergirded by the massive double orchestra and pipe organ. There appeared to be around 10 soloist parts and I came across the word Recitative for the first time... had already heard of Arias!

However, it is not an easy piece to listen to in its entirety and despite the sublime chorales the tension Bach creates musically is tangible. Nowadays we are so used to a high solo violin scraping away to semaphore impending doom in a film or tv drama but this would have been very early examples of this sort of technique. Whenever Jesus has narrative or 'speaks' there is a 'sound' Bach has scored a special full violin section sound to emphasise what we can consider to be Jesus' 'Spirit', the pre-Pentecost Holy Ghost. This musical effect, which is referred to as Jesus' 'halo', is conspicuously absent as Christ utters 'Eli, eli, lama sabachthani' and I found this deeply moving.

Here is the moment of utter desolation (and multiple Recitative performances) that narrates 'Now the Lord is brought to rest'. Then in the finale chorale, as per the youtube example above, the choirs can be heard 'answering' one another and the stereo effect of the double orchestra can clearly be heard... as the final chord resolved and faded I do not recall whether there was applause or not as I made my way out, I had been transported to another place, I do remember tactfully averting eye contact so folk around me would not spy my wet cheeks.

It took me until Sunday to recover physically. I ached from feeling the palpable tension, from concentrating on the passage, the sense of loss as the Passion unfolded (such a vital part of the Easter weekend) and I will never, ever forget...

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O Magnum Mysterium...

An absolutely breathtaking version of Morten Lauridsen's piece by the Nordic Chamber Choir that puts King's College to shame with its sheer beauty, control and heavenliness. You haven't lived until you hear angels sing, this comes so very close! In my opinion, humble or otherwise, one of the most amazing choral pieces ever...

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In the air tonight... Advent 3

Let everything that hath breath Praise the Lord... yes, everything you hear is created by the human voice: bass, drums, percussion and the synthesiser effects! I love the combination of beatbox techniques, hip-hop, gospel and re-imagining creativity going on here. So appropriate for Advent ;-)

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Memorable Musical Moments Meme...

Think of eight memorable musical moments, not necessarily all time favourites, but those when, for example, you felt compelled to wait in the car when listening to this amazing song on the radio because you just had to know who it was by. Or the piece you heard on the tv in a drama that drove you straight onto iTunes to download... (remember once we spent the princely sum of 6s 8d on a vinyl single?!). Optional details for each song give where, why and Spotify or youtube links...

I hereby tag: Maggi Dawn, +Nick Baines, Richard Hall, Jonathan Evens, Tim Chesterton

The Promise You Made – Cockrobin (view)
Inside of you - Alice Martineau (view)
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap (wow!)
Quanta Qualia - Patrick Hawes (listen)
Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm - Crash Test Dummies (view)
Don't Give Up – Peter Gabriel and Paula Cole (view)
While You See a Chance – Steve Winwood (view)
Belief - John Mayer (listen)