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What are you listening to? Part III
- Thread starter S.B.G
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Cloudy and foggy day here in Sacramento, and not feeling much up to listening to something hard or majorly/poppy and upbeat.
After reminding kiddies in another thread that The Way It Is was not some "hot bumpin' classic track" written by TuPac, that had me looking at that video, which lead me to another, which lead me to one that had me thinking about my 5 year old son, and .. well.. that definitely expresses the love that any parent would have for their child.
Yes, the movie at the time, Over The Top, was cheesy, but looking back at it now as a parent, the lyrics to its biggest song on the soundtrack definitely fits. And if Kenny does one more soundtrack, he might break Elvis' record on number of appearances on movie soundtracks made by an artist.
Either way, towards the end of the 80s, there was this. Enjoy.
After reminding kiddies in another thread that The Way It Is was not some "hot bumpin' classic track" written by TuPac, that had me looking at that video, which lead me to another, which lead me to one that had me thinking about my 5 year old son, and .. well.. that definitely expresses the love that any parent would have for their child.
Yes, the movie at the time, Over The Top, was cheesy, but looking back at it now as a parent, the lyrics to its biggest song on the soundtrack definitely fits. And if Kenny does one more soundtrack, he might break Elvis' record on number of appearances on movie soundtracks made by an artist.
Either way, towards the end of the 80s, there was this. Enjoy.
My mum used to like this song too, reminds me of a Sunday night before I had to go to bed because I had school in the morning.
Am listening to Stabbing Westward Ungod at the moment, quite an uplifting album (not!!) bit of OutKast BOB and Alice In Chains Jar of Flies, I'm more of a 90s man really.
The beautiful 'Moonlight Sonata' by Ludwig van Beethoven.
And still on a classical vein, but a slightly stranger one: The first (and, as it happens, also the last) track from 'Carmina Burana' by Carl Orff, the compelling and mesmeric piece known as 'O Fortuna'.
Currently I am listening to Coldplay - A Head Full Of Dreams on repeat. I am trying to 'get to know' the album, meaning get a feeling for each song, discover new sides to each track and so on. Other than that, I enjoy listening to the 'Blues' genre radio on Spotify 
hehe..opps... now we'll see a whole bunch of Youtube videos.... Nice job
oh well.. may as well follow suit:-
and
oh well.. may as well follow suit:-
and
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I am being really mischievous today, it must be the weather (above 54ºF here now and climbing). Last year on this date it was 19ºF and snowing. Anyway in honor of the apparent summer part 2, I am playing the likes of Billy Idol's Hot in the City and assorted other raucous summer hit-the-road tracks from back when I used to commute to the mountains from my job in the city.
These two cats I have now don't seem to like rock and roll so once again they have headed upstairs until I regain my sanity I guess. I had a cat back in the 90s who used to lie down and roll on her back when anyone cranked up some rock music, the shameless creature!
Very enjoyable post.
So, the cats don't much care for rock'n'roll? What do they like?
Years ago, I knew a dog that howled (tunelessly) to 'The Moonlight Sonata' which one of his owners - a very good friend of mine from university, with whom I am still friendly, and whose father was a professor (of German) - used to play on the (rather good German) piano for me.
While he was a very talented pianist (and the house had a superb collection of Deutsche Grammophon recordings of classical era German composers and more modern French ones), it was clear that the dog (who went by the name of Moses, 'because he was found' as was explained to me when I asked) didn't much care for it. Mind you, as such piano recitals and musical renditions always occurred after the consumption of several bottles of (good German) wine, invariably raided from the professor's cellar, maybe the dog had a point.
Then, again, I knew other dogs that barked with a wild and quite extraordinary enthusiasm when I put on the theme from "Pulp Fiction" (Misirlou).
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What a funny story about the dog Moses and his (sober!) assessment of ad hoc musical performances. I've a friend who has several rescue dogs, all Siberian huskies. Every day when the noon siren sounds at the local firehouse in her village, those dogs apparently think it's the Big Papa of all Siberians and in proper pack obeisance they set off a round of howling that could raise the dead.
My current cats don't seem to mind Baroque music or even later things like Mozart or Haydn keyboard or orchestrated works. Prokofiev, Bartok, not so much. Little snobs. This comes from caving in and feeding them stuff with names like Sheba and Fancy Feast, no doubt.
Snobbish and/or discerning cats? It is very funny that they don't like Bartok, or Prokofiev, but do like Baroque, Mozart (I would question the taste and sanity of any animal that disliked Mozart - even babies are said to like Mozart), and Haydn keyboard pieces.
And the story about the Siberian huskies howling to the noon fire alarm siren is very funny.
Yes, Moses quite liked Baroque, too. As do I, and as did his joint owner, my friend, the talented pianist. There had been a time in his life when the talented pianist had hoped to study music professionally, but ended up teaching languages like both of his parents. These days, he does occasional - some of them quite lovely - joint translations of German poetry and texts with his mother, who is German, (and who is lucid and nearly ninety) some of which they have published.
Anyway, Moses would lie quietly, his head on his paws, listening, if we played Baroque era music on the stereo, while sipping our (purloined) wines. (The professor himself would usually have been away, at a conference, or visiting Germany during such musical recitals. In fairness, he never begrudged us a bottle from his cellar; helping ourselves to three at a time, however, could only occur when he wasn't around to remind us, mildly, that perhaps we were drinking a bit much).
The problem was that Baroque music is quite complex and intricate, in composition - and execution - and demands close attention, when listening to it, and, above all, when trying to play it. This is not music to play while you are somewhat intoxicated (as in the sort of cheerful and happy state that the shared consumption of three bottles of good German wine might well leave you in).
Thus, my friend discovered that the intricacies of Scarlatti and Soler - not to mention Bach - were well beyond him, after greeting several bottles of German wine. Hence, seeking refuge in the Moonlight Sonata, which he maintained that even an idiot can play flawlessly while cheerfully plastered. Moses disagreed. Vehemently.
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Well it's the six string quartets the cats don't like of Bartok. I run through them a few times a year. I guess one could play the Moonlight Sonata while drunk but judging it while also drunk seems like edging into uncertainty principle territory.
I have been enjoying Apple Music for the opportunity to listen to classical music I either don't have or don't have in digital format. Yesterday I was listening to a bunch of Mozart piano concerti i have not heard for years. I have kept my streaming subscription so far and no plans to drop it yet. There's no way one can judge a classicial work's recording based on 90-second track previews...
I have been enjoying Apple Music for the opportunity to listen to classical music I either don't have or don't have in digital format. Yesterday I was listening to a bunch of Mozart piano concerti i have not heard for years. I have kept my streaming subscription so far and no plans to drop it yet. There's no way one can judge a classicial work's recording based on 90-second track previews...
Oh, yes, agreed completely on the matter of 90-second track previews. Insufficient, especially for those slowly building pieces that only develop their full power after the best part of ten minutes or so.
Nevertheless, I am fascinated at how the cats dislike both Bartok, and Prokofiev. Bartok is interesting, but not someone I would regard as a proverbial 'desert island disc' companion. Prokofiev, on the other hand, I rather love.
What pieces do you listen to? And which of those are the pieces that the cats dislike so strongly?
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Every year when it finally gets warm enough to drive with the car windows open I play a bunch of tracks from his Cuts Like a Knife album in the car just to celebrate winter being in the rear view.
I have a lot of respect for Bryan Adams; he has performed at so many venues for charitable efforts, and among them a concert in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2006, with benefits towards schools there and also general aid after the 2005 earthquake in that region. He was one of the first (or maybe THE first) western musician to play there after the September 11 attacks.
Prokofiev - most of my gear has just his piano sonatas 7 & 8 (the 8th was one of the ones the Soviets banned for some reason, I am not sure what could be politically incorrect about a piano sonata but what do I know), both violin concerti, Toccata Op.11, and.... on my laptop I have Peter and the Wolf and listen to that once in a great while, it's so wonderful with each critter having its own instrumental representation. The duck!
Bartok's Six String Quartets are a big deal to me. I spent a lot of time analyzing their constructions at school for an independent study project in music one year. I'll grant they can be an acquired taste, but I acquired it and I still love them. They were written over a long period of time so they're quite different, or rather pairs of them are different. The first two are practically Romantic era, but from there he was experimenting. I like them all for different reasons I guess. So creative.
Another fun thing I did that term was a comparison of impressionism and expressionism in opera, using Debussy's Pélleas et Mélisande versus Berg's Wozzeck.
Of other Bartok works I do like his opera Bluebeard's Castle, the Concerto for Orchestra and the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. There are some nice folk-themed works for keyboard, i haven't listened to any of that for a long time and should check out apple music for some of it!
Anyway I suspect the cats don't care for the sound of stringed instruments. Probably sounds to them like their wild cousins fighting or something.
Anastacia.. Hugely underrated (in the US), but an inspiration and a big talent.
Years & Years - My best musical discovery of 2015
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Florence + the machine (How Big How Blue How Beautiful)
Lana Del Rey (Honeymoon)
Train (Bulletproof Picasso)
Adele (25)
Troye Sivan (Blue Neighbourhood)
Hozier (Hozier)
James Bay (Chaos and the Calm)
With the media celebrating Sinatra's 100th birthday, decided to play his various work on some Harbeth speakers.
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4
Ah, love it, love it, love it. (Especially No 2).
(Actually, as an aside, I have a CD of those Piano Concertos - a superb recording from the early 1990s, which cost a veritable fortune at the time, a fantastic CD by Deutsche Grammophon, with a very young Mariss Janssons conducting….)
One of my all time personal favourites, and one of my (late) father's personal favourites, too.