It's Not Over Until The Fat Lady Sings

I said in another post, each blog post is a bet, you're betting your own reputation on it.

I also said on different occasions that if you play a song enough times people might get used to it and even say they like it especially if it  was heard on occasions when they wanted to have a good time.

This time i'll go by instinct. I had it with singing in the same tune with the choir.

I always thought soul is a genre belonging to the American culture. But nowadays there is more audience to British soul than to American. It shouldn't matter would say some. If it's good, then let's hear it. I am in the United States for 16 years now and i cannot name out of the top of my head any American soul singer. I'd have to think first, to double check with Wikipedia than play a few youtube videos and probably i will remember a few voices. Ah, and there's always that BB King diabetes commercial.

But i can name a few British soul singers, among them Van Morrison and Adele. And i looked into Wikipedia, Leona Lewis goes there as well. Van the man is not all bad especially when you listen him with The Band. Now i need to confess, i've been listening a lot of The Band lately, especially after i re listened that obsessive Caravan song one day on 101.9.  I think there's a bit of soul even in Jesie J's music.

But Adele can't possibly be that good to fill the air with her all day long on most local stations. And the charts.

The way the British do that is simple. You take a popular genre that's about to die. (Or you take a popular genre and invade it and kill it in the process, i'm not sure, for that i'd have to check the with the history).

You put together some fragments from different songs, that one can only vaguely remember. Add a bunch of subliminal words and find or build a professional singer who would go for it. Ask him/her to make it sound not all that pretentious. Throw away as much as possible from that contemporary British accent.

Pronounce m like a and s lie sh.  Stumble on words like little children. Season it with a few new age like, unexpected, almost dissonant change of keys. Make it sound like crying for hope. Yodelling like change of tones. Raise the eyelash corners a little. Empathize. Other things she does deliberately with her voice i cannot describe.

Play it like crazy on local stations and everywhere.

Adele brought it to an art. At times she makes it sound like it is continuous with no brakes. Voice falls into silence only at low tones. A bit monumental with highly accurate piano (actually the British were always good with instruments) and dozens of strings. And the newly invented technique of filling any empty spaces with words. Marching drums. Scratching ears at high notes. Anything but not soothing.

Although in the recipe there are enough reasons to back the charts, i don't believe it. Someone tell me when this is over.

(I've been listening this video version several times while writing this. Now that i released some of my frustrations by doing so, i can see it already in a different light. I think i even might get used to it. :) See what i mean?)

The Light Now Comes From The Far East

Smooth Operator, Kiss Of Life, etc.

În toamna lui 95, o vreme plină de speranţe şi coincidenţe în care nu credeam, conduceam maşina pe ploaie, pe Burnside, dincolo de centrul Portland-ului, spre Gresham. Mergeam la un tip Pit Mann sau Peter Man sau cum s-o fi scriind, un român neamţ din Ardeal care mai repara maşini acasă în garaj, pe strada 200 şi ceva. Eu credeam că maşina are ceva şi mai credeam că el poate să o repare.

(Chiar cu maşina aia în ianuarie 96 am condus odată pe autostradă cu furtunul de la pompa de benzină spart şi am lăsat o dară de benzină lungă probabil de zeci de km.)

Pe atunci lucram la Sheridan Fruit Company, schimbul 2, ca box boy, ţin minte că mă puneau să număr şi sticlele şi can-urile de băuturi pe care le aducea oamenii străzii, în saci, împuţite.

În spate era o clădire cu intrare cu cifru unde intrau şi ieşeau tot felul de persoane, cineva la un moemnt dat mi-a spus că acolo a fost biserică satanistă, dar nu ştiu sigur, iar preotul lor, un tip îmbrăcat mai mult în negru care călca săltat, venea şi cumpăra alimente de la noi. Ţin minte odată a venit cu girlfriend-ul, o tipă îmbrăcată în negru cu părul vopsit alb şi eu eram în genunchi aşezam nişte cutii de coserve pe un raft de jos iar el stătea lângă mine şi se uita în gol.

Deci conduceam pe Burnside, spre Gresham.

La radio doi DJ-ei se certau de la cum se pronunţă Sade care era la mare modă pe atunci. Până la urmă au ajuns la concluzia că se pronunţă şade, exact ca în româneşte. Ţin minte că m-a frapat.

We Are The People

Are We Human?