SHOUT SONGS

SHOUT SONGS

Mar 9, 2025 | MUSIC, ROCK

Basically, the definition of shout songs refers to the Gospel genre: a strongly rhythmic religious song in the African-American folk tradition, characterised by chants or shouts of response between the leader and the congregation.

Shouts of invocation, we can say of a joyful kind.

However, when I think of shout songs, completely different songs immediately materialise in my mind.

Songs that are irresistible to me, in the sense that when I listen to them, I feel strongly involved and find myself singing with an unequivocally liberating emphasis.

Shouts that drag out a load of emotions.

What is the quintessential shout song in your opinion?

Wandering around the web in search of answers, the song mentioned the most left me somewhat perplexed.

It is actually one of the songs in the index of my Heron Formula, so it has a special meaning for me, but for my vision it does not exactly correspond to the idea of a shout song: Won’t Get Fooled Again – Roger Daltrey – The Who.

What do you think?

Going on a sort of statistics of the most quoted songs, I realised that a high percentage of them are in my index. 

A fluke? Definitely not: obviously it all comes down to my vision of music.

What do you prefer to sing instead?

I know, I should use the verb to listen, but shout songs provides an additional level of involvement.

Speaking of involvement, I also take this opportunity to talk about Emily Armstrong.

shout songs

Her singing screamed a huge responsibility: to get on stage with Linkin Park.

Surely no one considered the thought of a replacement: impossible, but still a huge perplexity remained.

That’s why I appreciated Mike Shinoda’s sentence: the voice of Chester Bennington is you.

We are the voice of those who have left us.

In contrast to the shouting, there are those who have chosen silence, no less than a thousand artists: 1,000 UK Artists. 

shout songs

These 1,000 UK Artists have released a 12-track album entitled Is that what we want?

Here are the titles:
1. The
2. British
3. Government
4. Must
5. Not
6. Legalise
7. Music
8. Theft
9. To
10. Benefit
11. AI
12. Companies

These tracks do not contain any of the thousands of entries among which we can mention Annie Lennox and Kate Bush and represent the artists’ protest against the proposed change in copyright law.

The amendment would allow artificial intelligence companies to create their own products using rights-protected work: music, lyrics, etc., without a licence, effectively favouring the so-called training of algorithms without providing any remuneration for authors.

Silence to communicate.

Shall we also add our voice?

Or perhaps I should say let us also add our shout …

CAFFEINATED ZOMBIE

CAFFEINATED ZOMBIE

Jan 4, 2025 | A COFFEE WITH, MOVIES, ISN'T IT IRONIC?, ISN'T IT IRONIC?, MOVIES, ROCK, ROCK, A COFFEE WITH

Caffeinated zombie in particular is impersonated … can we say ‘impersonated?’ Just kidding of course!

I mean, reading the title you must have immediately thought of Jim Jarmusch’s film The Dead Don’t Die, do you know it?

If you don’t know it, ‘this is going to end badly’ …

I don’t know about you, but we really like to quote some iconic lines from this film.

But back to our caffeinated zombie aka the Iguana of rock: Iggy Pop. 

Born James Newell Osterberg Jr., you can really say anything about him.

Even that he roams Centerville with his inseparable pot of coffee.

Caffeinated zombie

Over all I like to recall his friendship with David Bowie.

“He resurrected me” were his exact words in an interview with the New York Times. 

Together they went to and from Berlin and together they gave us that little gem that is China Girl, not to mention the legendary The Passenger.

Together is the adverb that can also be used when referring to Jim Jarmusch because the interpretation of a zombie is one of the many occasions in which he and Iggy also collaborated.

Staying on the subject of zombies for now, what do you think?

Do you like films and series with their range of versions from the most macabre to the most ironic?

The word zombie has its roots in the West Indies, roots intertwined with woodoo rituals, but why am I telling you about it at the start of this year?

To quote The Simpsons: ‘zombies prefer to be called disadvantaged living.’

That’s it: let us rise from slumber and worry less about definitions.

Let us live, let us feed on beauty and not on our fellow man, let us distinguish, let us change.

Otherwise, as Adam Driver repeats: this is going to end badly.

And of course I would also like to toast, like the old Mallory: Chardonnay!

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

NIRVANA UNPLUGGED

Nov 2, 2024 | BOOKS, MOVIES, BOOKS, MOVIES, MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Nirvana unplugged in New York, often known as MTV unplugged is first and foremost a high moment in music history to me.

For our very first chat here on the blog, almost five years ago now, I told you about the cardigan Kurt Cobain wore during the recording of this live show.

Then over time we talked a lot about music but never came back to what is really one of the most important memories for me.

First of all it is the memory of an emotion: the first time I listened to Come as you are without even getting to the end I was convinced that I would never like another song again.

Come as you are is perhaps the only one of Nirvana’s most popular songs, performed even during unplugged, I think precisely because of its characteristic intense intimacy.

But every single song performed during MTV unplugged is beautiful.

The cover of The Man Who Sold the World in my opinion beats even the White Duke.

Where did you sleep last night is poignant to the point of almost materialising Kurt’s suffering.

And then Dumb, About a Girl, Pennyroyal Tea … which is your favourite?

Sadly released posthumously Unplugged in New York with every listen reminds us of the pain and loss of an artist who would now be a grandfather, as his Frances Bean became mother to Ronin at the end of September.

Many tales and anecdotes about 18 November 1993 chase each other all over the place, but what we can all still see is Kurt arriving, and after a simple ‘Good evening’ he introduces About a girl by attacking his guitar ride.

The rest is magic, atmosphere, white flowers, candles, drapes and soft lights, like metaphorical arms that welcome us into an immersion of music and sensations, simplicity and depth at the same time, where everything else is stripped away, the whole world is outside, where all that counts is the lightness of a faint breath destined to fade away but which in reality can only remain engraved in the memory forever.

Extreme vulnerability yet disruptive power.

Nirvana Unplugged is one of the gifts I cherish, it is 30 years old today and yet I’m never tired of listening to it again.

I treasure it along with Kurt Cobain Diaries

Nirvana unplugged

and Montage of Heck, which I saw at the cinema earlier anyway.

Nirvana unplugged

On the off chance that you’ve missed something, I recommend catching up: I find it indispensable to understand the deep torment of a Soul torn between the love of music and the pain of life.

I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault

I’ll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame

DARK MATTER

DARK MATTER

Apr 27, 2024 | MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Dark matter … first of all can we say that we are immediately attracted by these words?

Not to mention that the first thing I read in it was the prosecution of that sort of thread left hanging after 72 seasons, or Memento mori … 

So even Pearl Jam tells us the obscure in some way … this we should mainly ask Luciana: the biggest Pearl Jam fan I know.

Lucy you will correct me if I’m wrong, right?

The first rumour I heard about Dark Matter concerns the illustrious name in the credits: Sean Penn.

His contribution would consist of the sound of a pool cue hitting the ball, recorded by Eddie Vedder on his mobile phone.

Cool.

Not to mention the fact that the thought of Eddie and Sean automatically leads to Into the wild. 

Wild was also the start of the recording, which started at Andrew Watt‘s house and then relocated due to rain flooding.

I would call Andrew a natural born fan if I tried to imagine his repertoire of Pearl Jam t-shirts: a different one for each day of recording.

So at this point I ask: do you also keep one or more t-shirts from the concerts you have experienced? Can you tell me what they are?

Meanwhile, I list the titles of the eleven tracks of Dark Matter:
Scared of Fear
React, Respond
Wreckage
Dark Matter
Won’t Tell
Upper Hand
Waiting for Stevie
Running
Something Special
Got to Give
Setting Sun

and I won’t hide that before I found out which Stevie they were referring to, I hoped it was Nicks … instead it’s Wonder.

But there’s another reference, which I want to consider in a particular way: in the song Scared of Fear
…
We used to laugh, we used to sing
We used to dance, we used to believe

do you think we could get back: Seattle, 90s?

Although in reality each of us has our own memory that fits these words, would you like to tell yours?

I leave you with the conclusion of Dark Matter: words we should all remember, as well as sing

These days it’s strange
When everyone else is paying
For someone else’s mistakes
This guilt takes shape
until everyone pays
for someone else’s mistakes …

DANSE MACABRE

DANSE MACABRE

Oct 28, 2023 | MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Danse macabre is Duran Duran‘s new work due out Oct. 27 just in time for Halloween. 

Actually, the idea for Danse macabre came from the Halloween-themed performance at the Encore Theatre at the Wynn in Las Vegas on Oct. 30 and 31 a year ago. 

Yes, I know, I didn’t want to believe what I was seeing either, and yet it’s all true.

Let’s say that from that start to the final album the dance more than macabre was intense and produced three unreleased, three new versions from their discography and six covers.

Covers are always a big risk, that’s a fact, however I regardless appreciate the tribute to pieces of music history.

Paint it black is a song that I like very much and that’s all I’m going to say.

Spellbound by Siouxie and the Banshees thanks to Stranger Things is now appreciated even by non-boomers, who knows if they will even listen to the Duran Duran version.

Definitely Bury a friend by Billie Eilish is a great point of contact.

And with regard to Psycho Killer contact point was the passion for Tina Weymouth that John Taylor discovered shares with Victoria De Angelis.

When you say Talking Heads …

Here is what John had to say about it

Sharing, cooperation are concepts I love, just as I love rock characters, and by rock I don’t mean simply music.

Can a macabre dance be rock?

I don’t know, what I do know is that Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Nick Rhodes, Roger Taylor, and on this occasion also Andy Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo somehow continue the thread that we are following together.

If we trace it backwards we go back to Lux Æterna by Metallica, and earlier to Memento Mori by Depeche Mode, all the way to last October with Muse and You make me feel like it’s Halloween. 

So are you ready for the Danse Macabre?

ATOMIC CITY – SPHERE

ATOMIC CITY – SPHERE

Sep 30, 2023 | MUSIC, MUSIC, ROCK, ROCK

Atomic City is the new song by U2 released on September 29.

U2 surprisingly performed a preview in Las Vegas a few days ago

Did you recognize Freemont Street?

That’s right: the location of the video I still haven’t found what I am looking for.

Listening to Atomic City, you recognize something else well too, don’t you?

I immediately thought, “Debbie Harry!” 

In fact Blondie as well as Giorgio Moroder appear in the credits.

From Atomic to Atomic city then.

Although Atomic City is no longer a reference to Blondie but is what Las Vegas was called in the 1950s.

Las Vegas.

Since I saw the movie with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher whenever I hear Las Vegas mentioned I can’t resist without repeating it in various ways like they do in the movie, you know the scene?

Las Vegas in particular was U2’s choice for their residency show “U2: UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphere.”

Achtung Baby needs no further introduction: simply the fact that it is the album that contains One, makes it memorable.

Sphere, or MSG Sphere is an arena created for entertainment shows at The Venetian Resort in Paradise, Nevada and is currently the most colossal and avant-garde sphere in the world: covered with LED panels that also allow images to be projected outside, as well as a virtual experience inside.

If you love math I recommend you take a look at this page: it contains an explanation of how centuries-old mathematical formulas and 22nd century engineering and technology were used to create Sphere.

Wanting to put on a Residency show as opposed to the tours we are used to in the music business, U2 thought to concretize creativity using the latest technology.

What are your thoughts on this?

According to Heraclitus, invisible harmony is a perfect and pristine sphere. The visible one, on the other hand, continually deforms under the weight of reality.

In this case the weight is of virtual reality …

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