What song are you listening to right now?

[LimpingFish]

From the movie "The Heroic Trio".

[Haggis]

Been away from this thread for a long time... the guilty pleasure this week was rediscovering my Bon Jovi - These Days album (first album I ever bought) and playing it at my son all week on the school run. However, because I can never stick to just 1, these have been my big tracks of the past month.

This live performance... 

These dudes...

And then this track from the most excellent Mirage album...

[heltenjon]

I'm sorry. But this is so silly, so funny...and so well performed. I need my daily dose.

[LimpingFish]

Sparks! I highly recommend Edgar Wright's 2021 documentary The Sparks Brothers, as well as most, if not all, of Spark's discography.

I used to watch this as a child. In the '80s, obviously, I'm not THAT old. And in English, but f'me the English version of the theme is absolutely NOWHERE to be found. You can also check out Michel Legrand's music for the Once Upon a Time... series. The theme song for ...Life has literally been embedded in my brain since childhood. Ditto the theme song for ...Space.

I know I posted a number of tracks from this album before, Tino Casal's  Lagrimas de Crocodrilo from 1987, but it really is that good. 

And this track from Kraan, a German prog rock band performing since the early 1970s, is taken from their 2020 album Sandglass.

The Art of Noise and Max Headroom; two names that will mean absolutely NOTHING to you if you weren't alive during the 1980s.

[Ponch]

The Art of Noise and Max Headroom; two names that will mean absolutely NOTHING to you if you weren't alive during the 1980s.

The tidal wave of nostalgia almost drowned me. 

[Snarky]

I saw Pulp in concert last night, so I can scratch that off my list. This will always be the ultimate Pulp song for my money:

Pulp – "Babies"

And yes, they played this one, along with pretty much all the hits–the crowd was singing along to practically every song (you could tell that fewer people knew "O.U.", "Weeds" and "Sunrise"). Jarvis was in full crowd-pleasing mode, throwing out phrases in Norwegian and doing that pandering thing where artists change lyrics to fit the venue ("I seem to have left an important part of my brain/somewhere, somewhere in a park in Oslo"). Snark aside, I loved it.

[AndreasBlack]

Well......I hate to say it, i'll probably ban myself out of this forumsection sooner or later

But it's my new preview of a 80's ballad i recently composed, possibly my proudest moment as a composer and i guess you can call me a singer by now  I click on the video a lot of times to see if someone more have liked it (tragic i know!). All about them likes! Anyways, hopefully you 70/80's guys will like!
Oh, and thanks Frighter i saw your comment just now, totally missed it before!

[AndreasBlack]

Always loved this ballad, it's just magical too me.

[Snarky]

I was gonna say I saw her performing that song live when she opened for Patty Griffin and Aimee Mann in Pittsburgh back in 2003 (which was the week I moved there for college), but on second thought I believe that was Sophie B. Hawkins.

Sophie B. Hawkins – "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover"

[Snarky]

Some artists and bands I liked at the Øya music festival last week (I'm skipping Janelle Monáe and PJ Harvey since I was already a fan):

slowdive – "prayer remembered"

I must admit I'd never heard of slowdive, though they've been around since the 80s. Their "wall of sound" show was superb, with droning guitars that swept over you and through your very bones, without relying on deafening volume. (The album cannot fully capture the grand scale of their sound in concert.) Biggest discovery of the festival for me.

Angélica Garcia – "Karma the Knife"

She did a very stripped-down set with just her and a drummer (who also set up part of the stage themselves). She mostly played Spanish material from her latest album (I liked "El Que"), but I thought this was the catchiest.

Blondshell – "Salad"

I wasn't really in shape to enjoy their concert (tired and coming down with a cold), but it sounded intriguing enough to check out later.

HILLARI – "Dangerous"

The opening concert consisted of a bunch of Norwegian artists and bands doing just one song each, backed by the band Orions belte (see below). HILLARI has a bit of a Lianne La Havas thing going on, which I quite like.

Kaja Gunnufsen – "Jazzing med Kaja"

I'm completely out of touch with Norwegian music, or I feel I'd have heard of Kaja Gunnufsen a long time ago. The upbeat tunes and girlish voice contrast beautifully with the ultra-depressing lyrics conveyed through very simple and straightforward (almost naivistic) rhymes.

Orions belte – "Bean"

Another Norwegian act. This instrumental band was a nice way to chill out between other sets.

han gaiden – "Talk of the Town"

More Norwegians. They did a DJ set that sometimes verged on the Blade Runner-y, as in parts of this track.

[Snarky]

A couple of flashbacks:

Patty Griffin – "Flaming Red (Live)"

After Andreas got me thinking back to when I saw Patty Griffin in concert, I've been relistening to some of her stuff. I really love this dark and dirty version of "Flaming Red" (even though the sound quality in this video isn't the best).

Ani DiFranco – "Hide and Seek"

Artists are not necessarily the best spokespeople when it comes to politics, but looking back I think Ani DiFranco's fierce insistence that the personal is political (and vice versa) helped open my eyes on a number of issues.

And one current hit:

Chappell Roan – "God Luck, Babe!"

A+ music video. And the song's flashforward prediction reminds me of (spoiler warning for an excellent film)...

Spoiler

Portrait of a Lady on Fire:

[close]

Antonio Vivaldi – "Summer" (III. Presto)

I made the mistake of reading up to see if the Vivaldi concert was historically plausible. It isn't, as his music had fallen into obscurity at the time the movie is set, but the artistic license is absolutely justified by how powerful that scene is.

[Creamy]

It's so cheesy that it could belong in GTA Vice City You nailed the early 80s sound.

Chappell Roan – "Good Luck, Babe!"

Reminds me of that Gwen Stefani song (but in better).

Antonio Vivaldi – "Summer" (III. Presto)

It was used for a while on a history radio broadcast here.
Before that, the theme was Light and Shadow by Vangelis. With the right introductory text, it could also give me chills:

Other gifted ladies singing live:

[AndreasBlack]

And one current hit:

Chappell Roan – "God Luck, Babe!"

A+ music video. And the song's flashforward prediction reminds me of (spoiler warning for an excellent film)...

Don't know if i'm the only one that catched a certain phrase in her song, but since i'm a Swede here we go  

As for songs i'm listening to here's one, and this is the closest i've found to my own latest song. I've been on a quest to see if i can find a song where i "ripped off" a lot from unintentionally ofc . Anyone?

 

[AndreasBlack]

It's so cheesy that it could belong in GTA Vice City You nailed the early 80s sound

80's Cheese seems to be my thing. I think it's easier to sing cheesy ballads then a fire pop/rock song. :-Dt Thanks anyway much appreciated, hope the track finds it way into a cheesy playlist of yours Lionel Richie Stuck On You and Max Fury AI Love, right?! 

[Totem]

An oldie:

and a newbie(?)

[jwalt]

Not following this thread all that much, but did have a link handy and listening to it at the moment:

Also encountered this one a while back:

I confess. Disco never quite dropped dead, for me. Never danced. Never had the bell bottoms. But did actually own a leisure suit. Yeah, I'm that old.

[Snarky]

November mood...

Mercury Rev - "Downs Are Feminine Balloons"

Flight of the Conchords - "Carol Brown"

Liz Phair – "Nashville"

Finn Coren - "Riverboatman"

(Love the music, cringe at the English pronunciation.)

[tanito0]

"Sleep", by Voices 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aynHSTsYcUo&list=RDGMEM8h-ASY4B42jYeBhBnqb3-wVMaynHSTsYcUo&start_radio=1

[LimpingFish]

Some good stuff in these last few posts!

As for myself...

Clannad recently (finally!) released an expanded version of their Robin of Sherwood OST album Legend, which has got me back into listening to them. This song is not from that album, funnily enough, but rather it's probably the lesser regarded of their 80's hits, behind Harry's Game and In a Lifetime at least, but I prefer it to those songs myself.

The video sucks so hard though, with the band looking awkward, and the other scenes looking...well, see for yourself.

As I've mentioned before, Men Without Hats are one of my favorite synth-pop groups of the 80s, and since their 1984 album Folk of the 80s (Part III) recently got added to Spotify, they've again been in regular rotation on my playlists.

Still going strong at 77 is France's Julien Clerc, though this, one of his most famous songs, is from his 1971 album Niagara.

Cass Elliot, of The Mamas & the Papas fame, recorded, in my opinion, some of her best work solo. This song, California Earthquake, is from her 1968 debut solo album, Dream a Little Dream.

And for something completely different, homemade synth genius Bruce Haack and his song Blowjob, from his album Haackula, recorded in 1978 but unreleased until 2021. It... speaks to me.