Category: Music

Idol Schmidol

Finally caught an episode of the second season of Singapore Idol, because it was “Rock the House” night.

Song by song run down (I don’t know the names of the contestants):

  • You Give Love A Bad Name: Pretty decent! Good voice and stage presence. I was impressed. Song choice could have been edgier though. Off to a good start.
  • I’m A Believer: I was this close to pitching my TV out the window. What the hell was that? Voice was a squeak, stage presence was a joke. And if that’s a bloody rock song, I’m John Petrucci.
  • Sweet Child O’ Mine – Wasn’t all bad vocally, zero stage presence.
  • Livin’ On A Prayer – Decent voice, but the vocal acrobatics made it excruciating to listen to.
  • Some Good Charlotte song I think?: Singing: rubbish. Song choice: blah.
  • Wishing I Was There: Mmm…bland is the only word that came to mind.
  • Plush: Tried too hard. Aping will only get you so far.

Verdict: I want my hour back.

P.S. That they used The Show Must Go On for the episode preview made me very angry. The song means something to Queen fans, dammit. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry…

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Categorized as Music, TV

Signs Of Aging

I:

  • now consider David Gilmour of Pink Floyd to be the greatest guitarist alive, used to be Steve Vai

  • have been seeking out as many performances of Beethoven’s 9th as I can, so I can decide which I like best. For now, it is Furtwangler’s ’51 recording

  • am listening to a lot of classical music, Chinese, Indian, European

  • am heavily into the old blues and jazz guys: Blind Willie Johnson, Charlie Christian, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Miles Davis

  • love the old Chinese divas, especially Bai Guang

Oh my, is that my life flashing before my eyes?

Top 10 Albums

“Best Of” lists. I used to make and remake them all the time when I was younger. Here’s my current list:

  1. Led Zeppelin IV
  2. Sting – The Soul Cages
  3. Beatles – Revolver
  4. Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
  5. AC/DC – Powerage
  6. Dream Theater – Awake
  7. Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
  8. Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
  9. U2 – Achtung Baby
  10. Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger

I do not consider classical works albums, otherwise Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis will be up there, somewhere.

Definitely Maybe Best Ever?

What a farce. Oasis’ Definitely Maybe was voted best album ever by readers of the Book of British Hit Singles and the music magazine NME, via a poll conducted over a year.

Oasis does have some great songs, but is Definitely Maybe, which is arguably not even the best Oasis album, better than Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band (no. 2)? Dark Side of the Moon (no. 8)? A Night at the Opera (no. 19)?

Just goes to show popularity contests are worthless.

Sting Branching Out

Sting will be releasing an album of 16th century lute music. This is even more unexpected than Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions, which is a very good experience by the way.

I, for one, am optimistic about this album, as I am a huge fan of Sting the balladeer, Soul Cages style.

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Categorized as Music

Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation

I was taking a taxi to work one day, the driver had the Scorpions on the stereo, so I was like “right on!” and we started talking about the good stuff such as Deep Purple and Mr. Big. He revealed that his 15 year old son complains that its too loud when he cranks up AC/DC at home. What the hell?

If I have any kids, I have a feeling they’ll be listening to pop music to annoy me.