Category: Music

British Band Before Beatles

Paul McCartney’s new CD, Kisses from the Bottom, features old songs that he knew from his father, who had been a musician in a Jazz band. From listening to Clare Teal, Sundays on BBC Radio 2, I know the names of two big name British band leaders that I assume must have been familiar to Paul’s father — Ray Noble, who I’ve mentioned before, and Benjamin “Bert” Ambrose, who did a really catchy instrumental version of Caravan.

I love that arrangement. It reminds me a bit of Raymond Scott’s sound.

http://youtu.be/tZACT4UgBog

Wake up and move!

I’m not terribly big on Broadway shows, but there are two musicals that stand out as favorites. The older I get, the more I appreciate Robert Preston’s thoroughly winning performance in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. Like Rex Harrison in my other favorite musical, My Fair Lady, Preston wasn’t a singer, but what he brought to the stage has, in my admittedly limited exposure, never been equaled.

One of my earliest blog posts was of Preston singing that Baby Boomer gym class favorite, Chicken Fat. I have Carol’s permission to make this song the alarm clock sound… “for a while.”

Robert Preston (1918-1987)

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/Chicken-Fat.mp3|titles=Robert Preston sings “Chicken Fat” by Meredith Willson]

Flash in the post

I don’t do very much video capturing anymore, partly because it’s a royal pain, but mostly because YouTube has most everything anyway. But I have some video clips I’d like to post later that aren’t on YouTube, so tonight I spent way too much time testing a new video editor. As is always the case, there are good and bad things about the software, but at least I got it working.

This is a comparison between the 1987 LD (LaserDisc) release of HELP! and the 2007 DVD edition. The LD is full frame, the way the film was shot.

[jwplayer config=”std” mediaid=”17311″]

And this is from the DVD. The movie has been cropped top and bottom to create a wider image, as it would have been shown in movie theaters in 1965. The color has been corrected, but it has much harder video contrast and louder sound than the LaserDisc.

[jwplayer config=”wide” mediaid=”17305″]

It’s a mad, Mad World

I watched Donnie Darko once, probably more than five years ago, and it didn’t hit the spot for me. Maybe I’m too old for the material. If it becomes available on Netflix Watch Instantly I’ll give it another try. But something that stuck out from it was Mad World, a remake by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews of the Tears for Fears song. This version was #1 in England and I hear it played every so often on BBC Radio 2.

http://youtu.be/4N3N1MlvVc4