Category Archives: Music

My most listened of 2019

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As 2019 closed I often wondered what songs I’d listened to most as I have sat at my desk “chugging away” on my PhD. Spotify dutifully obliges each December with a listing of what I have listened to the most on that platform. I haven’t only listened on Spotify as I like the Stingray platform that comes with our PayTV subscription, particularly they 70s Chanel. I also listen to some vinyl, so it’s not a complete picture but it will be pretty close.

My year’s listening was dominated by 70s music and Springsteen’s Western Stars.

It wasn’t a surprise that the songs from Western Star dominated. I have blogged previously on how much I like this album, so I won’t spend a lot of time writing about it again, except to say that it is definitely my album of the year with Tuscon Train my current favourite from the album.

From there it was largely 1970s music. Continue reading →

Puff the magic dragon

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As I was working on the last section of my Research Methodology chapter which at the time of writing stands at an absurd and definitely to be edited 63 pages before appendices, a childhood favourite came up on the Spotify playlist – Puff the Magic Dragon.

My parents loved Peter, Paul and Mary and as kids, their music was regularly playing on the family radiogram. There aren’t a lot of music artists that I have in common with my now late parents but Peter, Paul and Mary was one of them.

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Father’s Day 2019 and Springsteen’s Western Stars

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You just can’t top a hand-painted card from your one-year-old grandson as the best present you could ever get on Father’s Day.

The card was the surprise and highlight of my Father’s Day.

What was not a surprise was my children giving me Bruce Springsteen’s latest album “Western Stars” on vinyl. It is quite possibly the best Springsteen album since Born to Run!

Yes, a big statement but its one I’m going with. I have pretty much had it on continuous play since it was released on Spotify. Now I can play it on my Rega Planer turntable.

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The Langley Schools Music Project

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As I sat at my desk reviewing my data and writing a one page precise for a possible book chapter in a family business publication my Spotify Music Stream produced an odd sound. It was a cover of the Eagles classic “Desperado”. I stopped what I was doing and listened closer, who was signing, why hadn’t I ever heard this version before?

The solo sent shivers down my spine — such an innocent sounding voice. My first thought was of a young voice, but little did I realise how young. The version I was listening to was from The Langley School Music Project, a collaboration of four Canadian elementary schools (the equivalent of a lower primary school in Australia) recorded in a school hall in two-track in the mid-1970s. Of course, the version I was listening to had been remastered, but the simplicity of the recording remained intact.

As I listened further, the school choir element became more obvious particularly with the simple music arrangement of “Band on the Run”. The tambourines and the symbols so reminiscent of school choirs of my era. But why should that be a surprise, it was recorded in my era!

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My Top Songs 2018 Part Two

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In my previous post, I looked at the Top 15 of my Spotify Top Songs of 2018. In this post rather than going numerically through the remaining 85 I have picked out a selection.

I thought I would top and tail this post with extremes.

In my Top 20 is, what my daughter refers to as my ode to Eurotrash – Loreen’s Euphoria, winner of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. Only to be listened to at the gym with the volume at the max!

David Bowie is also in my Top 20 with Life on Mars. I can’t say Bowie is a go-to in my music listening, but there are some of his albums that I adore and Hunky Dory of which Life on Mars is the fourth track on side one is definitely one. I can’t remember when I bought the album, it’s an import so it must have been around 1975 when a school friend of mine and I took advantage of the huge difference in exchange rates between the UK and Australia and started importing records.  Whether its Life on Mars, Changes, Kooks, Andy Warhol, this is a classic album and seeing it in My Top Songs gave me an excuse to fire up the turntable and give it a spin.

America’s Ventura Highway. The simplicity and harmonies make America’s music and Ventura Highway, in particular, a regular on my Spotify Playlists. Continue reading →