God save the queen.

Punk queen Vivienne died.

Merry Christmas, take 2

MARO Mariana Forjaz Secca from Portugal and and Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir from Iceland, singing The Christmas Song, composed by Mel Tormé & Robert Wells on 1945.

Merry Christmas, take 1

The Beatles on 1965

Amazing Agnes Obel

The Curse, from the album Aventine (2013)

and Camera's Rolling from Myopia (2020)

And it doesn't stop raining around here ...

Terry Hall, best known for being the lead singer of the legendary ska band the Specials, left us yesterday. He was 63.
"Friday Night, Saturday Morning" was composed by Terry:

Here's the Specials recreating the Toots & the Maytals song "Monkey Man" ...

... and criticizing one of the greyest times of England with "Ghost Town":

here we go

May the Sound be with you

P.S.Y. and the previous Psychedelic Jam by the Butthole Surfers live 1991 and 1985

Badalamenti

Angelo Badalamenti will be always remembered for working for David Lynch. Both were masters of creating atmospheres and suspense.
It's been a terrible end of the year, so many great artists are dying lately and I haven't mentioned most of them like Wilco Johnson, who was a reference in a totally different style and I even have one of his records ...
So Julee Cruise, who sang for Twin Peaks, left us six months ago and now, on December 11th, Badalamenti also left us. He was 85.

Rosie Alena

Rosie Alena is almost unknown. Somehow she resembles Angel Olsen, one of Rosie's influences. Here's this breathtaking Adore Me.

Christine McVie

Don't Stop was written by a great composer, very important in Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie, who left us today. She was 79.

Bon Iver, Live in Lisbon, 2022-11-11

This one was a long wait. Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) and his band had chosen the starting of their 2020 European Tour precisely in Lisbon. The concerts in closed theatres were forbidden because of the pandemic and so that tour took place 30 months later and Lisbon was the last of this tour, this time.
Superb concert and I was surprised to watch this closed arena and its 20.000 places almost full to appreciate a non popular artist.
I made some videos which speak for themselves about the quality and the complicity of this artist and his Portuguese audience. Simply memorable.






Now, the concert's setlist. The bold titles in the setlist open the videos made by the author of these lines.

Perth
666 ʇ
Heavenly Father
U (Man Like)
Jelmore
Faith
10 d E A T h b R E a s T
715 - CREEKS
iMi
Hey, Ma
Blood Bank
____45_____
33 ''GOD''
8 (circle)
Salem
Skinny Love
Holocene
Sh'Diah
Naeem

Encore:
Flume
The Wolves (Act I and II)
RABi

Mimi Parker

Mimi Parker left us after two years struggling against cancer. She was married to Alan Sparhawk and both made in 1993 the band Low, very appreciated in this blog. Mimi was 55.

Wolf Alice, Live in lisbon, Halloween 2022

Another band loves Portugal and the city Lisbon and so Ellie Rowsell and her group Wolf Alice decided to start their European tour exactly there. It was the night of Halloween and they looked a bit terrifying. Not too much, though, scaring the audience wasn't their goal, I guess.
It was an amazing concert. From the setlist at the bottom and all the videos I made, hope you enjoy these ones:




Setlist and videos recorded:
Smile - video
You’re A Germ
Formidable Cool
Delicious Things - video
Lipstick On The Glass - video
Planet Hunter - video
Space and Time
Bros - video
Safe From Heartbreak (If You Never Fall In Love) - video
How Can I Make It OK? - video
Play the Greatest Hits - video
Silk
Feeling Myself - video
The Beach II - video
Visions Of A Life
No Hard Feelings - video
Giant Peach - video
encore:
Lisbon
The Last Man On Earth - video
Don’t Delete The Kisses - video

Kings of Maybe, 14 years

This blog was created 14 years ago already! Its audience has increased a lot since 2020 due to the pandemic and the list of the most visited posts is shown above. On the top of the list we have Angel Olsen: her brand new album and some takes live at Lisbon on 2015 with 2.830 visits. Below, a different video of the 1st of the songs of that post.
Thank you SO MUCH for visiting and appreciating this blog. It is my pleasure to make it and I hope it's your pleasure to visit it.

the funeral

António Sérgio had this goal for "The Right to Difference". But he also promoted artists not so different. He was one of the first and very few to present Band of Horses. Curiously, "The Funeral" was a song that António Sérgio played often. António Sérgio left us thirteen years ago. We miss him every day.

Christine, still walking at me

The House of Love in 1988, their 1st and biggest success ever.

Have a nice Halloween :)

Angel Olsen, live in Lisbon, 2022

Angel Olsen loves Lisbon and she started her European tour precisely there with two shows, on September 26 and 27, after revisiting the city and some friends during a couple of days. Both of the shows were performed in Capitólio, a theater that Angel knows well, once she sang there before, during her 33th birthday on January 22, 2020. I watched the 1st show (day 26) and I made some videos. I never record an entire show and I'm showing 3 of the best moments recorded. The songs are Dream Thing, Ghost On and Shut Up And Kiss Me. I kept Angel's chats, she has a very nice sense of humor. Enjoy :)

Sigur Rós, live in Lisbon 2022

On the night of September 28, Sigur Rós started their European Tour in Lisbon. I was missing them, and I was missing the concerts in closed theatres, this would be my 2nd one in only 3 days after the pandemic. It was a good concert. However it wasn't quite the retrospective promoted by Radar Radio. To me, the divine "Svefn-g-englar" was the best moment.

Vidro Azul (Blue Glass) 20 years

Vidro Azul (Blue Glass) is a cult radio show directed and presented by Ricardo Mariano since 2002. Mostly devoted to the Ethereal wave and to introspective music, Vidro Azul is one of my favorite radio shows and I've been making some posts about it here in this blog. Zola Jesus is one of the artists that only someone like Ricardo Mariano could present to us.


This 20th anniversary of Vidro Azul was celebrated during some days by Ricardo Mariano and his colleagues on SBSR FM and it ended at a cult place also, the Incógnito Bar. 'Course I had to go!

red red sun

Thin White Rope, 1988.

I wish I was a fisherman ...

... Tumblin' on the seas, Far away from dry land, And it's bitter memories ...

Fisherman's Blues by Mike Scott and the Waterboys, live in North Music Festival Porto, on May 28, 2022.
Unfortunately without Steve Wickham, amazing violinist devoted to Irish traditional music. Since February 14, Steve Wickham has not touring with the Waterboys to stay focused on his own work.
Still, this was a very good performance of Fisherman's Blues. Enjoy :)

hold me close

when you can

Efterklang

drive anyway

Luís Nunes, AKA Walter Benjamin, AKA Benjamim

just hanging around

The Stranglers in 1977. And here's this amazing take with John Peel:

from Combat Rock, the Clash 40 years ago

"Straight to Hell" and "Rock The Casbah"

Deep Purple Made in Japan, 50 years

"Made in Japan" is only one of the best albums ever, even 50 years after. The band was totally relaxed and did not consider their Japanese tour and its recording as important. That behavior turned the live recordings into the most perfect back then, even if they were supposedly produced cheaply. The band did not believe it would be a great album. So the title "Made in Japan" originally intended to be a reference to the cheap products made in the East. Back in 1972, Japan was only starting to spread its very good products into Europe, the Japanese industry would conquer and save some of the British labels only 8 years after, like it happened to Austin Rover Group and its cars designed by Honda. This double live album was intended to be produced only for the Japanese market but, somehow, it ended up being sold in the UK but very cheap, the same price as one LP. However, it became a big success and it was released worldwide.
This amazing and historical album was recorded on 15, 16 and 17 of August 1972 and it starts with these two songs: "Highway Star" and "Child in Time".


Unfortunately, only the sound is related to Japan. There are no good video recordings from these concerts in Japan and this footage came from the Danish tour five months before. Though Ian Gillan wears the same shirt with triangles he would use in Japan sometimes :)

wonderwall, or the wishing stone

On the last post I talked about the secret stories behind Supersonic, a song written by Noel Gallagher, one of my very favorite Oasis songs ever. The other very fave is Wonderwall, which I used to sing with my daughter. Below, Cat Marshall singing it to John Peel.

Again, no one would have a clue about what Noel is talking about if there weren't some explanations made later as James Hargreaves shows here:

This is a VERY long documentary but it's totally worth watching entirely.
Below, a very peculiar version from Noel himself.

Have a wonderful week :)

the hidden story of Supersonic

All music composers write songs with abstract stories mostly related to their hidden personal life experiences. It's the case of Noel Gallagher who made for his band Oasis, two of my favorite songs, "Supersonic" and "Wonderwall".
No one could ever get a clue that he's talking about being himself in a rush to write a song for the day next scheduled for studio recording and there were Elsa having a gas problem. Elsa was a farting doggie. And Noel's friend living "in a corner all alone under a waterfall, where nobody can see him, nobody can ever hear him call" is the constant traumatic memory of Noel himself who passed most of his youth defending himself from his terrifying father's aggressive and noisy behavior. However, Noel is not a saint, he considers himself a "bastard cat" while he thinks that the band's singer, his brother Liam, is a "bastard dog", the guy who acted like the bad guy in the band. Whatever happened with this amazing band, Noel is a great songwriter making some of the most stunning songs ever.
All this information and much more, is available by James Hargreaves in YouTube. James Hargreaves is a musician who is self making Noel and Oasis biographies to the point of Noel considering publicly that James is the "Oasis nerd". Anyway, I stepped accidentally by James channel on YouTube when I was searching for replacements for the gone Oasis videos in this blog. Many old videos were gone due to closing pages, or due to the non supported obsolete FlashVideo. So, hope you all enjoy this long decoding about "Supersonic". It's worth watching, really.

adventure's times

August is holidays and adventures time.

Jan Hammer composed on 1984 this "Crockett's Theme" also known as "Miami Vice Theme", for the kitschy crime drama television series Miami Vice. However, it's a beautiful composition even today.
It's a "song" composed for electronic instruments. But here's Jan Hammer playing it live with the help of the jazzy Tony Williams Group. Tony Williams is a jazz drummer best known for playing with Miles Davis during 5 years as with other notable jazz composers like Chet Baker and Herbie Hancock.

your life, your call

José González and his band Junip on 2013.

Have a positive weekend :)

this is my only life

This Scottish lovely band made a new album and I really love this "unnecessary drama".

The album is called "a bit of previous" and Belle and Sebastian are the band.

Have a peaceful weekend :)

I Might Be Wrong, new video 21 years after

There are songs so ahead of its time that they sound great much later. It's the case of many songs of Radiohead. This is a new video for this 21 years old amazing song of Radiohead from their album Amnesiac.

we don't know what tomorrow brings

another song from Light for Attracting Attention the album of Thom Yorke and his Radiohead colleague Jonny Greenwood and also the drummer Tom Skinner from the Sons of Kemet, the three composing the new band The Smile.

pink moon, 50 years

We'll have the greatest 2022's full moon tomorrow, 13 of July. Not a pink moon, but a super buck moon.
Pink Moon (I posted it here on KoM 12 years ago) is the name of a song and also the title of the last album of Nick Drake, released on 1972, 50 years ago.
Nick Drake was a great composer but a shy, introverted and withdrawn person afraid of acting in a country having world stars like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bowie, etc. Very little known even in UK, he became finally known worldwide because of this commercial made by Alan Pafenbach to promote the Volkswagen Golf Cabrio in 1999:
I would never post a commercial and that's not the target of this blog. However, and besides of being a great example of a very good commercial, it had this side effect of kicking Nick Drake to his deserved global attention. The song was released as a single precisely on the year 2000, one year after the VW commercial.
 (click twice on Play)
Other songs from the album Pink Moon, Place To Be and Things Behind The Sun:

angelnumber 1210

very lovely song from Goon, a very little known indie band from LA. This song is from the upcoming album 'Hour of Green Evening' available next Friday.

Have a lovely Saturday :)

"Saturday Pt. 2" is a Ty Segall's new song from his forthcoming album "Hello, Hi" to be released on July 22, 2022.

50 years of Smoke on the Water

"Smoke on the Water" is a monumental song. It opens pure, strong and it grows like a Beethoven symphony. Jon Lord gives it a Baroque touch, Blackmore sings with his guitar, and baritone Gillan sings Rock 'n' Roll. And Glover and Paice join everything in a bluesy-jazzy jam mostly strong, but delicate when needed. What a fantastic band, what a fantastic song. Nowadays, it's hard to believe that these guys were pioneers of what would be classified as Hard-Rock and Heavy Metal.
Below, a videoclip joining several live footage from 1972 to 1973 and very well sound mixed:

Jon Lord says at the minute 8 of this documentary below, "we were not a singles band" and @ 8:30 "we send it (the album Machine Head) to Warner Brothers ... with the indication that "Never Before" would be the single ... we honestly didn't think that "Smoke on the Water" was a hit material ... how wrong can you be?"
As told in this documentary, this song tells a well known story about a disaster happened on December 1971. The song was included in the albums "Machine Head" and "Made in Japan" both released on 1972. "Smoke on The Water" was released as a single only on the year after with both versions, the studio and the live in Japan.

Finally, here's the band performing at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan, on August 17th, 1972. It is a great performance but not the sublime version recorded (but not filmed) at Osaka on 15 August 1972 and included in the album "Made in Japan", one of the greatest live albums of all time, where live versions are better than the studio recordings. It was the first live and double album I bought :)

the haughty kite bird wounded on the wing

Porto, is a very ancient city built on a riverside's slope by the end of Douro river.
Carlos Tê, a very romantic poet, returning to his majestic old city and watching it crossing the river, compared that view to a haughty kite bird* wounded on the wing (altivez de milhafre ferido na asa) and he wrote this soulful poem. Rui Veloso transformed it into this beautiful song in fado style**.

This video was recorded by me only 4 hours ago. The live performance of this song is always a very touching moment for the public and for the artists.
Notes:
* A kite bird (milhafre) from Porto area is similar to a big falcon.
** Fado is a Portuguese music style but Rui Veloso is a bluesman.

50 years of Ziggy Stardust

"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" was released 50 years ago.

Songs included in this remarkable album, influenced hundreds of bands.

We can say with no doubt that artists and bands like Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, Pixies, Pulp, Placebo, Gary Numan, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, would never be the same or even exist without this album.

Julee

And sometimes we almost forget the ones we love most. Julee Cruise is gone. Angels never go to Hollywood is the only post I've ever made with Julee Cruise. 15 years ago.

Julee was fighting against her health problems long ago, maybe one of the reasons why she's been away from the public. Julee's sweet and smooth voice became known worldwide after Angelo Badalamenti suggested her to David Lynch to sing their movie songs. Twin Peaks became a big success and a cult classic. We cannot imagine Twin Peaks without Julee's voice. So long, Julee.

the ultimate damage

so fucking beautiful

and ... Wizz.
The IDLES, live From The Basement, a few days ago.

Angel Olsen: her brand new album and some takes live at Lisbon on 2015

So Angel Olsen just released her new album "Big Time" and this movie with a little story and 4 of its songs. I've selected the one I like most, the last one, "Through The Fires":

Stepping back, I'd love to show again her visit to Lisbon on 2015, this time with her band on September 8, the concert on the day before to the one I've shown here on this previous post.
That concert took place at the gardens of Palace Sinel de Cordes:

 

Again, I'm not showing all the songs but, as usual, everyone can drag the playhead across the scrubber bar and watch the rest.
"Stars", from Angel's second album "Burn Your Fire for No Witness" released on 2014:

"Acrobat", from "Half Way Home" (2012):

"Forgiven/Forgotten" (Burn Your Fire for No Witness - 2014), "Give It Up" (My Woman - 2016), "Sweet Dreams" and "Tougher Than the Rest" released much later on 2017, album "Phases", "Lota" (2014) :

And finally, "Miranda" ("Half Way Home" - 2012):


These videos were recorded by Luís Dias who had this great idea of keeping the memory of such great moments.
Have a nice weekend :)

Angel Olsen live at Lisbon on 2015

On the day of 9 of Septembre 2015, a girlie and funny Angel Olsen gave this very intimist concert a solo.
I've selected "Heart Shaped Face" released on 2016 and "Unfucktheworld" released on 2014. But, as usual, you can drag the playhead across the scrubber bar and enjoy this amazing show entirely.

boa noite

"Cantiga da Ponte" by the Sensible Soccers on 2021

gone is the day, gone is the night

We have something great here. Fontaines D.C. made their new album "Skinty Fia" and they've presented four of its songs just hours ago in this video for Tiny Desk series. I've selected "In ár gCroíthe go deo" (in our hearts forever) my favorite, with the verse "gone is the day, gone is the night" giving the title to this post. But, please be my guest and watch the entire show skipping to the start the scrubber bar.

speech bubbles

brand new from The Smile, the band composed by Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead and drummer Tom Skinner from the Sons of Kemet.

kiss my feet

It's official, I'm addicted to MARO :)))

Here she is with her sister Matilde and her brother Manuel. They also sing SO well!
This is a very peculiar and beautiful song totally transformed by Maro.
Here's the original, by Laura Mvula, recorded five years ago. Amazing!

Maro and friends

1stly, Maro's brand new song starring Salvador Sobral.
And now, Salvador himself in a very impressive performance of his best known song:

Maro again, with António Zambujo, singing "mano a mano", a song composed by Maria do Rosário Pedreira and Júlio Resende:

And Maro again, playing solo her best known song:

Lali Puna, remember?

About the 1st anniversary of this blog, I posted a very peculiar dance song from this artist, Lali Puna, sung in Portuguese. Please check that and other posts with this artist here

Taken from Wikipedia, here's some information about this girl and her band: "Valerie Trebeljahr, the lead writer and singer, comes from Busan, Korea. The name of the band, meaning Valerie from Busan, references this, as Lali is a diminutive form of Valerie, and Puna is a childish spelling of Busan (which is often transliterated Pusan). She also lived ten years in Portugal before moving to Germany, and that's reflected in some of her songs, featuring lyrics in Portuguese".

the petty ocean

"All the Love" by Stuart Staples and the Tindersticks, composed on 2008 and live here at Philharmonie de Paris on February 10, 2015.
This song is included in the limited edition of "Past Imperfect" box set, released on last March 25. "Past Imperfect - The Best of Tindersticks ’92 - ’21", celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Stuart Staples–led band. The limited edition box set includes the concert Live at Glasgow City Halls, 5th October 2008 and a great version of "All the Love".

5.17 + that's how horses are

Thom Yorke, some days ago.

skrting on the surface

Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. Song out a couple of weeks ago.

Eric Clapton and MARO

As I told on the last post, during this pandemic, Mariana "MARO" asked many artists to join her online for a duet, including some celebrities as Eric Clapton. Here they are singing "Tears in Heaven" in this video published on May 2020:
LOVED the comment of "Soul of theTroll Productions": "God bless Eric Clapton. He's our own little piece of heaven, playing with this angel!"

Saudade, by MARO

This girl with a deep smooth beautiful voice, has been creating her musical career since at least 6 years ago and during this pandemic she asked many artists to join her online for a duet, including some celebrities as Eric Clapton. (PS: watch next post)
Now she became known because she won the representation of her country in Eurovision Song Contest with this simple and lovely song "saudade, saudade" in memory to her lost grandfather. It is a very Mediterranean song, almost folkloric and she asked many singers to join her. Again, Portugal is gonna make the difference with a song straight to the heart of the audience, the monkey's competition does not matter at all.
The videos shown here are the previous versions, the most beautiful ones, in my opinion. Just a curious note about the woman with a baby, she's the Catalan singer Rita Payes.


Update: below, the official video published 5 days ago:

pretty in pink

In these times of madness and war made by a maniac, let's land down on pretty things of life.

special stuff for this special day 22 3 3

cherry coloured funk

The Cocteau Twins and Elizabeth Fraser's celestial voice. Firstly the version from The Black Sessions live 12/22/1995 at France Inter Radio, pretty similar to the original version presented on the 1990 album Heaven or Las Vegas but, with the beautiful Liz's voice undressed of electronics. And then, the ethereal version from Otherness, 1995 EP.

... I'm alright, I'm alright ...

"crawl" from IDLES

Have a safe weekend. Take care.

Now, there's really a whiter shade of pale

Gary Brooker, who co-founded Procol Harum, and co-wrote and sang “A Whiter Shade of Pale", his band's most famous song (released 55 years ago) has died on February 19. But only yesterday (and what a day!) this sad news became public. Gary was 76 and was struggling against cancer for a long time :(

Farewell, Mark Lanegan

We, the wolves, we are terribly sad, Mark Lanegan left us today.

His songs were elegant, he was an artist, a great singer and his voice was very unique, rough and smooth at the same time.
Mark was very productive in the last years, he made many songs lately and he also gave his voice to several other songs and I loved his Christmas performances.

For one generation of music lovers, specially in Europe where Mark Lanegan lived and where he was really appreciated, Mark was one of us, a wolf of the pack.

António Sérgio, the wolf master, was a great fan of Mark and he used to delight us playing his songs often on his radio shows and showing us his lastest songs. Mark Lanegan left us too soon, he was 57. We are heartbroken.

Under The Milky Way

The Church, Australian-British band in 1988.

YES!

"I wanna be your dog" came to the news again two days ago due to the Russian skater Alexandra Trusova amazing performance at this 2022 Winter Olympics.

Below, Iggy singing his 1969 proto-punk song with Kim Gordon and the Sonic Youth in 1987.

WOW

Just wow!
Radiohead's Videotape live Bonaroo 2006.
Notice the light beat at 33:47.

At Bonaroo 2006 Radiohead presented some songs from their forthcoming album In Rainbows released on the year next, 2007.
If there are some songs from Radiohead that amaze me, one of the top is Videotape.

This song has been a case study for many musicologists who have spent a long time analyzing this song.
I wonder why only now I stepped by these analyses. Absolutely amazing, thrilling :)

Joyeuse Saint Valentin

"Black Eyes", originally written in 1843 by the Ucranian poet Yevhen Hrebinka for his first wife Maria Vasilyevna, became popular as a song by the Russian opera singer Fédor Chaliapine. Later, a most known version was made by the Italian-born British composer Adalgiso Ferraris who also played this song with the name "Dark Eyes" in a movie. The song became very popular and wrongly known as "Russian traditional" and was played by many artists, including the French jazz guitarist and composer Jean "Django" Reinhardt. "Les Yeux Noirs" the version shown here, is a cover of Django's version made by the American musical duo Pomplamoose, composed of husband-and-wife Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn who spent her childhood in France and Belgium.
Enjoy :)

Roscoe

The Midlake, 2007.

kiss them for me

Siouxsie Sioux, live 2004

strong feelings

dry cleaning, 2021

watching strangers smile

Such a great song from the Parquet Courts

at the pearly gates

Videotape by Thom Yorke and Radiohead live From The Basement 2008.

'morning

the Kills "tape song"

for an ending

Close Cover is maybe the most known piece of the avant-garde and minimalism composer Wim Mertens. This Flemish Belgian musicologist was sporadically presented by António Sérgio during his radio shows since the 1980s. Despite of most known by presenting punk and post-punk music, António Sérgio used to embrace every "not too popular" musical genres, creating specific chapters including the ambient and the cinematic music such as created by Wim Mertens, Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and others.

beginning to see the light

Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground in 1968

such a small love

1967, fantastic Scott Walker. He will influence so many artists like David Bowie, Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), Leonard Cohen, Brian Eno, Alison Goldfrapp and more.

waving

waving, smiling, at love forever, alive and dying

a take two

just somebody

Live 2011, "somebody that I used to know", from Gotye, or Gauthier or Walter/"Wally" but officially Wouter André De Backer, born in Bruges (Belgium) and living in Melborne, Australia. With the amazing help of Kimbra Lee Johnson on vocals.

jumped in the river and what did I see?

Pyramid Song, live in Paris, 2001. A brilliant performance.

Dylan in 1969

I Threw It All Away