And the greatest of these is...

From the film Across The Universe (in my Amazon wishlist!) including cameo appearances from Eddie Izzard (as Mr Kite) and Bono. Screenplay by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, directed by Julie Taymor.

P h/t RJ

Choral Anthems for the rest of us...

A sensitive live performance of U2's anthemic 'With or without You' by the Belgian girls' choir Scala conducted by Stijn Kolacny and accompanied by brother Steven Kolacny on the piano. First became aware of them when they played and sang Coldplay's Viva la Vida during the introduction to the last (2011) BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

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Loving your neighbour...

Some serious wisdom from Russell Brand about the past week in the UK:

But I know, as we all intuitively know that the solution is all around us and it isn’t political, it is spiritual. Gandhi said 'Be the change you want to see in the world.'

In this simple sentiment we can find hope, as we can in the efforts of those cleaning up the debris and ash in bonhomous, broom-wielding posse’s. If we want to live in a society where people feel included, we must include them, where they feel represented, we must represent them and where they feel love and compassion for their communities then we, the members of that community, must find love and compassion for them.

Read Russell's full article here.

PB

When the roll is called up yonder...

... So singer Caleb Followill of the excellent Kings of Leon proclaims in the first line of the band's single 'Radioactive', the words taken directly from the well known Gospel hymn. The inspirational video also demonstrates an acknowledgement of their church roots, featuring an excellent young choir, perfect music for a joyful Gaudete Sunday!

Recently ITV recently carried a documentary which followed the band around for 48 hours entitled 'Excess All Areas' (Explicit!). Despite the title and the presenter's efforts to talk sex drugs and rock and roll, the band came across very much as the family that they are genetically, very different to most bands with similar status.

And to make an important join - check out Martyn Joseph's brilliant song 'Brother's in Exile'...

PB

The shuffling first fifteen meme...

 

1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.
2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
3) Write down the first 15 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please.

1. The boy with no name – Travis
2. Are we alright? - Show of Hands
3. Bring 'em all in - Mike Scott
4. He never said - Martyn Joseph
5. Blood red sky - Seth Lakeman
6. Why does my heart feel so bad? - Moby
7. Superhuman touch - Athlete
8. I grieve - Peter Gabriel
9. Black swan song - Athlete
10. Also Sprach Zarathustra - 2001 Space Odyssey
11. Chasing cars - Snow Patrol
12. You (Live 2008) - After The Fire
13. Somebody told me - The Killers
14. '40' - U2
15. Walking into battle with the Lord - Chumbawamba

I supposed I am slightly puzzled this list is relatively contemporary yet my overall library is substantially more varied Intriguing that over 50% are bands that have played at the Greenbelt Festival over the years...

Thanks for the tag Phil, if you haven't been tagged yet, go for it anyway (that's you, that is!).

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

Some live recordings from songs that former Talking Heads mainman David Byrne and world renown producer and artist Brian Eno worked on together, collaborating across the internet...

David says:

Some time ago Amnesty International asked if I might do "something" for that organization this year- (in previous years I had done one of my tour dates as a benefit for them). Amnesty has such an amazing and consistent track record of speaking out and helping to illuminate courageous people who might otherwise not be heard from so the answer was "yes." It was decided to record some songs from my current tour for them to be sold as a download with the proceeds going to Amnesty. As there are no physical costs with digital distribution this means more of the sales percentage actually goes to where it's supposed to. So, thank you for supporting a great organization and I hope you like these recordings too.

Read more here....

Well groovy!

h/t Martin Wroe

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