2013 Summarized and 2014 Predicted

Once a year, usually as the month of December fades out into the dawn of a new era, I get visited by three ghosts. The Ghosts of Music Past, Present and Future come to visit as the midnight bells chime twelve..... Ok, I'll stop now as I'm sure there might be copyright laws involved at some point.
However it is that time of year when every music publication, blog, podcast etc review the best events of 2013. I have decided to tackle mine with also making predictions of what will occur in the future*, so here goes;

Best Album Releases

The Next Day - David Bowie

Past:  The King of Pop and personification of rock 'n' roll had been in self-exile since his 2004 'Reality' tour. After leading everyone into thinking that the era of Bowie had been and gone, he carried out the most simplest of publicity stunts which just consisted of popping down the road for a pint of milk. The media were whipped up into a frenzy but even they couldn't predict the sudden, surprise release of 'Where Are We Now?' on the Thin White Duke's 66th Birthday, 8th January, with the announcement of a new album. The Next Day reached Number 1, Bowie's first since his 1993 album 'Black Tie, White Noise'.  

Present:  Bowie and Visconti are still holding all Bowie fans in a state of limbo by releasing contradicting statements over the possibility of live performances. 

Future: Different versions of 'The Next Day' will be released over the next five years with the promises of unheard tracks and remixes of original versions. Despite the controversy over the title track, The Pope will release a statement saying that he is a fan. 

Rewind The Film - Manic Street Preachers

Past: After waving farewell to the Welsh musicians at the O2 arena in 2011 as they announced they were embarking on a UK hiatus, I immediately began suffering Manic withdrawal symptoms (see what I did there?).  Remedy and much excitement came in May of this year however as James Dean Bradfield  announced to NME that recording was in progress of two new albums, with one being almost purely acoustic. Rewind The Film was nostalgia in its purest form for everyone involved as the Manics explored the ideologies that had moulded them as a band.

Present: Nicky Wire is carefully selecting his wardrobe for the tour of the second album. Milkman outfit or leopard print skirt, or both?

Future:  30 Year War will be used as the official song for Margaret Thatcher's memorial service in 2014 due to an embarrassing mix up on behalf of the Tory Party.

 

 New- Paul McCartney 

Past: It seems that 2013 should go down as the official year for musical nostalgia as Paul McCartney released his sixteenth studio album to express his memories of the days before The Beatles as well as more recent events in his life. Selecting producers such as Mark Ronson, McCartney went against the grain of what was to be generally expected of him by making a fun-loving pop album. 

Present: 'New' reached number 3 in the UK album charts and I wouldn't be surprised if DJs everywhere are selecting tracks from the album to put on their New Year's Eve Party song list. 

Future: Paul McCartney will go down in history as the most successful Post-Beatles Beatle.

Best Live Performances

 Roger Waters - The Wall 

After sharing air with the legendary Roger Waters and seeing performed live one of the most famous albums in British history, I predict that I will still be wearing the Tee Shirt when I'm old and frail. On a more serious note, the concert has also inspired me to get more involved in politics and hopefully one day I will get a chance to teach impoverished children in third world countries so that they can have a fighting chance in this world. 

Beady Eye -BE 

'You're not a mod,  you're just a c**t in a Parka coat' I thought to myself as Liam Gallagher swaggered onto stage at Kingston's New Slang. Kudos to New Slang for getting a Gallagher brother up onto their stage but the night for me just contained pure comedic value. You can imagine the crowd that they drew for their acoustic set and although I had managed to wiggle my way to the front, Liam was sat down on a stool so that anyone from the third row back couldn't see their Britpop hero. Cue shouts of 'STAND UP YA PRICK', 'NOEL WOULD STAND UP' and the wittier 'SIT DOWN IF YOU LOVE MAN U' .  I predict that Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds will turn up at Kingston in a demonstration of 'whatever our Liam can do, I can do fucking better...a''ight?' 

Magistrates

The Magistrates had it all together back in 2009, on the verge of huge success. Unfortunately the promise of a debut album never actually materialized and the band went their separate ways. Last month the band were on stage together once more with their new(ish) single 'When We're Apart' as they tested the water. The band create a vibrant, party atmosphere with their electro-dance beat which enables the crowd to just let go of their inhibitions. Hopefully 2014 will see a release of an album to accompany them on their tour. 

Best Moments

Leaving work one night, I had a couple of hours to kill before heading over to New Slang to see The Front Bottoms, my favourite American band. There was no point in heading home so me and my boyfriend decided to amble round Kingston before we spotted Brian, the lead singer of the Front Bottoms, come out of the club. He was rather restless before the gig and so we gave him a quick tour of Kingston. It was rather surreal as we chatted away about many different things, such as explaining to him why it is not okay to be a Milwall supporter. We ended up giving him our Kingstonian scarf to make sure that he went away supporting a decent 'soccer' team. My 2014 prediction is that one day he'll turn up on the terrace to see Kingstonian play. 

My inability to grasp modern technology manifested itself on the worst possible day. My camcorder would chose not to work on the day I had my first ever live interview wouldn't it? However it was fantastic getting the opportunity to interview Mutineers as it felt just more like a friendly conversation, even if I'm still struggling to get the footage from my phone to my computer. I can see Mutineers making more of a name for themselves in 2014 with their upcoming tour whereas I'll be beginning a one-woman war against technology.












*not actually psychic

My Music Week in Pictures

The past week has been an accumulation of many music based discoveries that combined have resulted in  angering, educating and even sitting in a chair for an hour and a half staring at an Edgar Allan Poe doll.*


Monday 

For my 21st, a close friend got me 'Punk Rock: An Oral History' by John Robb and this week I haven't put it down. This is a brilliant resource for any cultural historian as it includes quotes and interview snippets from the greatest punk rockers in history. The likes of Mick Jones, Siouxsie Sioux, Glen Matlock plus many more lend their anecdotes and opinions to help us gain a deeper understanding of the rise and fall of punk.









Thursday 

 As much as I love the music that I already have on my iPod, at times it can get a little stale. Therefore I strolled into my local record store (Banquet Records) and asked them to recommend me an album that was full of punk energy. This is what was offered (you won't get that sort of service in HMV!). Although this was the first time I had heard anything by The Wonder Years, it was love at first listen. My favourite track on this album was 'The Devil in My Bloodstream' featuring Laura Stevenson. The song starts off as a beautiful, woeful tale of the ugliness of the industrialization of America which wiped away nature. This is accompanied by a mellow piano line and a harmonizing duet with Stevenson which places the listener at ease. However the song lulls the listener into a false sense of security as without warning, the melody is stripped away as the guitar riffs take over and the vocals become aggressive. What's not to love about a song that takes you by surprise?

Saturday 

For those who know me, they will understand that I was born a feminist and will die a feminist. Therefore when I came across this rather feminine, pastel-coloured album entitled 'Cooking Songs' ("for £15? Fuck that" exclaimed my cousin) in HMV my heart sank. Many may argue that it is aimed at all genders who like cooking, but with songs such as Rihanna's 'Only Girl In The World' Abba's 'Dancing Queen' with the clincher being 'It's Raining Men' I honestly beg to differ. I am currently debating whether to write a letter of complaint to the record company.

The highlight of my week was getting my 3rd tattoo. There is a rather long winded inspiration behind it, which you can read for yourself in my previous post. The design was an alteration of a still taken from Pink Floyd's 'The Trial'. In the original the wall was angled away from the camera with Pink slumped in the distance so to adapt it for my own body, I adjusted the angle of the wall and brought Pink forward to sit next to the graffiti. it looks red, dark and swollen at the moment but once it heals the lining of the wall will be faint, making the graffiti and Pink the dominant aspect of the tattoo. Thank you to the lovely Elisha Collins at Wicked Ink in Sutton for her great work!







*The Edgar Allan Poe doll was property of Elisha as part of her Living Dead Dolls collection. He was stood in his coffin with his wife, I want one!

Mother, Do You Think They'll Drop the Bombs? How Pink Floyd Change My Political Outlook.

Growing up in a working class family with strong European ideals of family, my maternal Grandparents contributed a lot to me and my brother's upbringing and we would often spend months upon months living with them. My Nan was an archivist at the local Wandle Industrial Museum and so she instilled within me a desire to know everything there is to know about our heritage and past.  Therefore my most frequent request was 'Nan, Grandad, tell me all about the war.' I used to sit next to my Grandad on the sofa as he would tell me all about war torn Budapest and what daily life was under the Nazi invaders. I didn't know what Fascism was, but I knew the Nazis believed in it and that Hitler was the most evil man in all of History. My child-like innocence never quite grasped how scary it must have been for my Grandad to walk to school everyday with the streets lined by the Nazi patrol, his family having his house raided on a daily basis for any valuables (which my Nagymama hid in my Uncle's nappies) and the risk that his Mum took when she punched a Nazi soldier in the face when he tried to kidnap my Uncle.  My Grandad, Uncle and their parents managed to flee to England within the very short gap between the Nazi occupation and the Soviet takeover. Unfortunately everyone else in the family got left behind and all communication became difficult as letters would struggle to be sent through the iron curtain.

You may wonder why I'm talking about my heritage and family history, but it is the reason why Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' means so much to me. Not only were my family literally divided by a wall, but the theme of Totalitarianism  had a huge effect upon my family, having witnessed it from both the far left and far right. My Grandad always told me that the far left and the far right are basically meeting points in a circle and so there is not much difference between the two. Walking into the Wembley Arena yesterday to see Roger Waters perform The Wall live, I knew exactly what he had meant. I wasn't sure if the mannequin on stage in a leather trench coat and a Hammer logo armband was a nod to the horrors of Nazism, or Soviet occupied Eastern Europe.  As the stadium lights dimmed, soldiers marched onto stage in full black and red military regalia. Roger Waters was their glorious leader, their dictator and as he declared 'are there any queers in the theater tonight? Get them up against the wall' I had to double check I hadn't just stepped into the pages of Orwell's '1984'. It was terrifying. As the red flares shot up and the soldiers marched on by with the Hammer logo flags, I realized just how all it takes is one charismatic leader to install fear and terror into the people. Following the intro, Roger Waters dedicated the whole performance to every victim of state terrorism from the trenches of WW1 to the controversial Guantanamo Bay. This added not only poignancy, but a horrifying realization of the consequences of modern warfare.

The Wall has always been a musical extravaganza full of grotesque imagery and over the top effects but it seemed that this particular performance went beyond that. The choir of children who stormed the stage for 'Another Brick In The Wall Part 1' were telling a 10ft puppet resembling 'Teacher' to leave them alone as their t shirts read 'Fear Builds Walls'.

'Mother' returned the crowd to state of memory and sadness. Waters spoke to us of the tragedy of Jean Charles De Menezes and how his family would never be able to find justice or the answers that they seek. When I was 16, I was visiting a theater in Stockwell. To get through to the room where the performance was being held, I had to walk through the room where a Press Conference was being held by De Menezes' family. I saw for myself the pain etched on to their faces and I understood that it would never go away for them. Having a thousand strong crowd sing 'Mother am I really dying?' was singly the most emotional experience I've ever had. 'Goodbye Blue Sky' made me realize that Waters was not pinpointing one particular regime, but every form of government as the plane projected onto the wall was dropping bombs in the shape of symbols representing religion, capitalism and communism.

'Young Lust' a bit further down the line did much to change the mood however. Throughout the performance so far, stage hands were adding blocks to the wall and so by this point the orchestra were slowly being hidden away, only being peeked into by a few gaps. 'Young Lust' has always been a favourite of mine due to its aggressive nature and as it was being played, projections of strippers were being cast onto the wall which although a bit cheeky, was perfect imagery for such a track.

The first half ended on a poignant note with Waters disappearing behind the wall on the ending note of 'Goodbye Cruel World'. During the 20 minute intermission (I don't think anyone would have the energy to perform, or even watch, The Wall all the way through!) profiles of those who had suffered and died as a result of corrupt governments were projected onto the now completed wall. What makes this even more poignant is that prior to the tour family members were invited to send in these pictures of their loved ones, which ranged from Sophie Scholl to Salvador Allende.

The second half of the show opened with 'Hey You' but with The Wall fully erect, where was Roger Waters? Where were the musicians? Maybe they chose to do it this way for the line 'hey you, out there beyond the wall' and to emphasize the separation. 'Vera' and 'Bring The Boys Back Home' placed us back upon the emotional rollercoaster while video footage showed children being reunited with their parents as they returned from war. 

I'm not going to lie, I did get my hopes up during the opening verse for 'Comfortably Numb' as I was holding my breath for David Gilmour to appear on top of The Wall for the chorus, but I was left sadly disappointed. Maybe it was bit of a long shot?

'The Trial' is when the full horror became real for me, when the audience became spectators of a totalitarian regime, deemed helpless as we watched The Prisoner be placed on trial for showing feelings, showing feelings of an almost human nature. I was very much impressed that Waters managed to not sing 'The Trial' but act it. His body language against the backdrop of the monstrosity of the injustice of 'The Trial' video being projected onto the wall overwhelmed me. It was powerful and majestic. This was Waters trying to change the world via music. However the rest of the concert saw him take a personality switch where he was still changing the world, but changing the world as a power-hungry dictator, even 'shooting' a gun furiously into the crowd.  The intense energy and the presence of the leather clad army sent rippling fear throughout the stadium.
The fear and energy was so full on that the conclusion of the show was made even more celebratory given the turn in mood. An inflatable, floating hog (Animal Farm anyone?) covered in symbols of capitalist repression bearing the slogan 'TRUST US', which was previously floating above our heads, came rapidly, deflating down but the real crowning glory was that The Wall came tumbling down. Although I'm neither German, nor old enough to have been there, I can only imagine that the cheers resembled those of the German citizens as the Berlin Wall fell, and I felt that this was my moment to cheer for those who were on either side in 1989.

What made this particular performance of 'The Wall' so special was that it was adapted to represent modern warfare, current affairs and the interactions of countries with one another in this very day. The most beautiful piece of projection was as the 'Capitalist Hog' was deflating, a cartoon of a young woman, perhaps Iranian, removed her earphones, thus liberating herself from her own generation, smiled and raised her hands in the air.  The very tip to a most emotional musical spectacular with the strongest message I have ever experienced at any concert.

So go speak to your parents, your grandparents, people from other cultures. Listen to their story because I promise that you will regret it if you don't.