words: Paulo Carmona freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Paulo Carmona
Lloyd Cole is one of those unique cases in which a man, a guitar and his voice manage to give an whole concert in which the audience does not fall into a dragged sleepleness apathy like. There are several factors for that: The first one is the voice to be in shape in the highs and lows and the knowledge of using breathing to achieve what is intended.
Another factor to have in consideration is the compentency is the playing of the electro-acoustic guitar. The rhythms, the freestyle, the intensity, the silences and the arpeggios. All very well played and pertinent to the flow of the songs. And the songs, of course.
Š Mondo Bizarre Magazine/Paulo Carmona
When a song is well written, well harmonized and has a poem that tailor suits it because it is felt, loved and conceived since it naturally; with guitar and voice, or orchestra it will always be a great song. That was what, once more, Lloyd Cole offered us. Always nice and afectous, supported by is British humour, including about mid concert pause, explaining it is mandatory for guys his age, he was an excellent entertainer from beginning to end.
The menu included more introspective songs such as Like Lovers Do, My Other Life, 2 CV, Today Iâm Not So Sure, The Afterlife, The Idiot, Butterfly and more iconic and uplifted songs like Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken, Jennifer She Said, Brand New Friend, Perfect Skin and Undressed. On the much demanded and thanked encore Lost Weekend and Forest Fire were played.
On my way home, on the aftermath, I was thinking a cup of hot tea and sweet, sweet biscuits would be right the thing.
Here I am, looking like an international woman of mystery on a cold, windy late afternoon by the salt marshes. My radio programme Amazing Songs & Other Delights airs every other Monday, 3-4pm (gmt +1) on YÊ YÊ Radio: https://yeyeradio.com/ (or on the app) Each edition of my show has a theme. The anniversary show, in late May is a special occasion with endless delights. All aired shows can be listened to on mixcloud: YÊ YÊ Radio mixcloud | Mondo Bizarre Magazine mixcloud
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #64 – The Grandeur of Ghosts edition can now be listened to on mixcloud. It is a good soundtrack for today, 25 de Abril (April 25), is the day my country stopped being a dictatorship 50 years ago. April 25 is also Anzac (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day. The programme includes Portuguese songs connected to 25 de Abril, an instrumental track from Mick Harvey’s Waves of Anzac and other anti war songs, instrumentals and poems from Siegfried Sassoon and Federico Garcia Lorca. You can read more about the programme here: https://mondobizarremagazine.com/2024/04/21/amazing-songs-other-delights-64-the-grandeur-of-ghosts-edition-by-raquel-pinheiro-radio-ye-ye-monday-22nd/
Tracklist: 01 – Johnny Mandel – Suicide is Painless (from M.A.S.H.) 02 – Credence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son 03 – The Cranberries – Zombie 04 – Golpe de Estado – Rev 25 05 – JP SimÃĩes – Mudam-se os Tempos Mudaram-se as Vontades feat. Ruca RebordÃŖo, Nuno Ferreira, MÃĄrcio Pinto, Pedro Pinto (JosÊ Mario Branco song) 06 – Mick Harvey – Vietnam 07 – JosÊ Afonso – GrÃĸndola Vila Morena 08 – Vivian Kubrick – Ruins (Full Metal Jacket soundtrack) 09 – New Order – Love Vigilantes 10 – Jimi Hendrix – Machine Gun (live at the Filmore East,1st night, 31.12.1969) 11 – Jacques Brel – La colombe 12 – Siegfried Sassoon – Suicide in the Trenches read by Stephen Graham 13 – Paulo de Carvalho – E Depois do Adeus 14 – The Libertines – Shiver 15 – Federico Garcia Lorca – Balada de la gran guerra by Joan Mora 16 – AmÃĄlia Rodrigues – ZÊ Soldado, Soldadinho 17 – R.E.M. – Orange Crush 18- Elvis Costello – Shipbuilding 19 – Tom Waits – Day After Tomorrow 20 – Manic Street Preachers – Suicide is Painless, Theme for M.A.S.H.
The Grandeur of Ghosts by Siegfried Sassoon
When I have heard small talk about great men I light my two candles; climb to bed; then Consider what was said; and put aside What Such-a-one remarked, and Someone-else replied.
They have spoken lightly of my deathless friends, (Lamps for my gloom, hands guiding where I stumble,) Quoting, for shallow conversational ends, What Shelley shrilled, what Blake once wildly mutteredâĻ
How can they use such names and be not humble ? I have sat silent; angry at what they uttered. The dead bequeathed them life; the dead have said What these can only memorise and mumble.
Old Jerusalem – Breeding angels – drawing by Francisco Silva
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #63 – The Say Hello, Wave Goodbye edition is tomorrow Monday, 8th, 3-4pm (gmt+1) on YÊ YÊ Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
The title comes from the Soft Cell song of the same name, here on a cover by David Gray. The meaning refers to saying hello to something new, goodbye to an old, beloved one. In this case, the old beloved one is Old Jerusalem that Francisco Silva is retiring with a last concert on the 20th, at Socorro here in Porto. Old Jerusalem’s farewell includes Breeding angels, a demos album that contains Red sun over the interstate – that is also on this week’s programme – a song I have the previledge of known, and often sing on my own home, for a couple of years.
If Francisco is retiring Old Jerusalem, he is bringing, given birth, to The June Carriers that release their debut album Equanimity on the 10th. And now, beginnings and endings, and metting, and journeys, and the same thing, that yet is, but isn’t, become even more interesting.
My track Big Bang, that opens the show, has the exact same guitar line as The June Carriers’s Pastoral Epigraph, that closes the show. It is a travel from the The Big Bang, from the ends, or beginnings, of The Universe to Earth. The guitar, of course, is played be Francisco on both instrumentals. As for the why and how Francisco’s guitar line ended up on my track, on both tracks, that is for another day.
What my Big Bang and Then June Carriers’ Pastoral Epigraph shows is how the exact same guitar line, although easily recognisable, can feel so different depending of its surrounding, of the musical ambience and creation. Of how two people compose differently with the same guitar line (or any other same musical bit). Other than knowing I was going to use his guitar line, Francisco had no say, nor knew, what I was going to do with it. I didn’t have a clue how he was going to use it on what become The June Carriers’ first album.
The Maze at my favourite local park in colour Š Raquel Pinheiro
My 16 choices for this The Say Hello, Wave Goodbye edition are all about travel, journeys, inner and outer, out in space, on our planet, far from home, standing still. The Modern Lovers’ Dodge Veg o-matic is probably the best going nowhere song ever. Bartleby, the immovable, “I prefer not to” scrivener of Henry Melville’s tale as his very fixed ideais regarding is life, his views, doing, moving, changing in ways others find normal is not for him.
Some journeys don’t end well. Like in the ErlkÃļnig a Schubert lieder, with lyrics by Goethe, in which a father rides madly through the night, on horseback, with his son, whistle the Erlking is enticing the child, that tries to draw dad’s attention. The lieder ends with the blunt “In seinen Armen das Kind war tod” (roughly “in your arms the child is dead”.
The Maze at my favourite local park in black and white Š Raquel Pinheiro
Others have twist and turns. Diferentes in perspective, depending where we find ourselves. My photos of the maze from my favourite local park are taken from inside it and I know my way around it because I know from where the whole maze can be seen. However, on a foggy day, I may, and still get lost in it. The colour and black and photo illustrate the same thing seen in two different ways.
Tracklist: 01 – Raquel Pinheiro – Big Bang (radio edit) 02 – Old Jerusalem – Red sun over the interstate 03 – Franz Schubert – ErlkÃļnig (Op. 1, D. 328 – Wer reitet so spät sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) 04 – The Modern Lovers – Dodge Veg o-matic 05 – Bernard Butler – Camber Sands 06 – The Fugs – Bartleby The Scrivener 07 – Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 08 – David Gray – Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Soft Cell cover) 09 – The Beatles – Drive My Car 10 – The Clash – Lost In The Supermarket 11 – Kings of Leon – Going Nowhere (live in Nashville) 12 – Siouxie & The Banshees – The Passenger (Iggy Pop cover) 13 – The Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) (2011 remaster) 14 – Aaron Copland – Going to Heaven! (Emily Dickinson poem, sung by Sanford Sylvan) 15 – Little Eve – The Loco-Motion (remaster) 16 – The June Carriers – Pastoral Epigraph
Good morning with our Middle of the Week song – Camber Sands by Bernard Butler. Camber Sands is the opening song from
Good Grief is Bernard Butler third solo album and his first in 25 years. Have listened to the song live on assorted youtube recordings I was curious to hear how the album version sounded like. There are shades of Bowie, snippets of lost dancehalls mood, murmurs of a land between countryside and the intangible real.
The video takes me back to an array of memories. Road trips with my dad. Going up and down my country distributing print Mondo or, years before, as a road manager finding myself in numerous small, unknown places.The lyrics “back to 83” when the possibilities were endless. The music to a certain house, by the sea, with its garden, pine tress, endless joy. And another house, close by, in pastels colours, hidden behind walls among an amazing garden.
For me, the song also conveys melancholia of childhood memories, of love found, and lost and found. Songs become ours. Each of us will put their own experiences, feelings, emotions to them. Making someone who hardly cries, me, shed tears is a gesture. Hats of to you, Bernard. Have a nice day everyone.
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #62 â The Spring Wonders edition airs Monday, 25th, 3-4pm (gmt) on YÊ YÊ Radio: yeyeradio.com (or on the app).
It is a simple, gentle programme with songs that evoke Spring even several of them aren’t Spring songs per se.Some of the ongs are just out – EinstÃŧrzende Neubauten’s Ist Ist – one is not even out, therefore the enigmatic “?”, others are from various decades.
I like the feeling and emotions of the chosen songs put together. I hope you like it too.
Tracklist: 01 – The Learning Station – Spring Is Here 02 – Bill MacKay – Glow Drift 03 – Erica Buettner – Our Most Fragile Things 04 – Candelion feat. Cody Francis – I’m Thinking of You 05 – Laura Veirs – Lake Swimming 06 – Combustible Edison – Hot and Bothered 07 – EinstÃŧrzende Neubauten – Ist Ist (Rudy Shadow percussion version) 08 – Jasmine Minks – Soul Station 09 – The Gentle Spring – Dodge The Rain 10 – Pernice Brothers – The Ballad of Bjorn Borg 11 -? – ? 12 – Divine Comedy – Perfect Lovesong 13 – They May Be Giants – Birdhouse in Your Soul 14 – The Hit Parade – Apple Tree 15 – Brian Eno & John Cale – Lay May Love 16 – The Beatles – Blue Blue Sky 17- The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #61 – The It Is All New edition a programme filled with novelties can now be listened to on mixcloud.
Monday, March 11th, 2024, 3-4pm (gmt) Running time: 60:01:12
Tracklist: 01 – The Black Keys – I Forgot To Be Your Lover 02 – Been Stellar – Passing Judgment 03 – Bodega – Tarkovski 04 – Crumbs – DIY SOS 05 – Blind Zero – Running Back To You 06 – P. S. Lucas – Black Sand 07 – James – Our World 08 – Pete Astor – Chinese Cadillac 09 – The Sex Organs – Sex Shop 10 – La Luz – Strange World 11 – Wolf Manhattan – You Can’t Always Win 12 – Nourished By Time – Hand On Me 13 – Girl and Girl – Hello 14 – Six Organs of Admittance – The Mission 15 – Liam Gallagher & John Squire – Make It Up As You Go Along 16 – JP SimÃĩes – Mariazinha 17 – The Libertines – Night Of The Hunter 18 – Corridor – Mon Angent
My Amazing Songs & Other Delights #61 – The It Is All New edition airs Monday, 11h, 3-4pm (gmt) on YÊ YÊ Radio: yeyeradio.com
This edition is a programme filled with 18 new, newish songs like You Can’t Always Win Wolf Manhattan single from the second upcoming album, and a cover of a decades long Portuguese song, Mariazinha by JosÊ MÃĄrio Branco here interpreted by JP SimÃĩes.
As is often the case with my radio shows, the selection is eclectic, from established to new names, from Portuguese to American songs.
Tracklist: 01 – The Black Keys – I Forgot To Be Your Lover 02 – Been Stellar – Passing Judgment 03 – Bodega – Tarkovski 04 – Crumbs – DIY SOS 05 – Blind Zero – Running Back To You 06 – P. S. Lucas – Black Sand 07 – James – Our World 08 – Pete Astor – Chinese Cadillac 09 – The Sex Organs – Sex Shop 10 – La Luz – Strange World 11 – Wolf Manhattan – You Can’t Always Win 12 – Nourished By Time – Hand On Me 13 – Girl and Girl – Hello 14 – Six Organs of Admittance – The Mission 15 – Liam Gallagher & John Squire – Make It Up As You Go Along 16 – JP SimÃĩes – Mariazinha 17 – The Libertines – Night Of The Hunter 18 – Corridor – Mon Argent
Here is the Family Affair programme. The songs my brother Renato and I sing along through technology – we’re over one thousand kilometers apart – including CançÃŖo de Embalar by JosÊ Afonso my niece’s favourite song.
Trackist: 01 – JosÊ Afonso – CançÃŖo de Embalar (Gaia) 02 – Manu Chao – Mi Vida (Renato) 03 – La Rue Ketanou – Sur Les Chemins De La BohÃĒme (Gaia & Renato) 04 – Gojira – Born in Winter (Gaia) 05 – Faith No More – I Started a Joke (Raquel) 06 – Blur feat Noel Gallagher & Paul Weller – Tender live at Tennage Cancer Trust (R&R) 07 – McAlmont & Butler – Yes – 20 years live on Andrew Marr (Raquel) 08 – Muse – Darkshines (Renato) 09 – Blur – Coffee & TV (Gaia) 10 – Radiohead – Man Of War (Renato) 11 – Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger (R&R) 12 – Queens Of The Stone Age – Mosquito Song (Raquel) 13 – The Beatles – Eleanor Rigby (R&R) 14 – The Stranglers – Golden Brown (R&R) 15 – The Beatles – A Day In The Life (Renato)
Monday February 12th was International Epilepsy Day. I have two types of epilepsy, photosensitive – in my case affected both by light, and certain types of sounds – and atonic (my muscles suddenly lose contraction and I fall or things slip from my hands). For many people with epilepsy the condition is like traversing mountains and Valleys. In my case that happens mostly with photosensitive epilepsy.
Through mountains and valleys is also, literally, what me and my friend Matt do. Me when walking up and down the more, or less, urbanized areas of Porto – Porto is at the end of a mountain range. Matt lives in Los Angeles and if often at places like Laurel Canyon where, in the 60s and 70s, many musicians lived at, including Neil Young who has epilepsy.
The songs selected for the programme comprise those from musicians with epilepsy as well as those from bands and artists that lived at Laurel Canyon
Trackist: 01 – Antony & The Johnsons – Epilepsy is Dancing 02 – Joni Mitchell – Michael From Mountains 03 – Chris Knox – Grand Mal 04 – The Byrds – Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There Is A Season) 05 – Spandau Ballet – Gold (HD remastered) 06 – The Mothers of Invention – Anywhere The Wind Blows 07 – The Streets – Dry Your Eyes 08 – Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box 09 – Neil Young – Cinnamon Girl 10 – Joy Division – Transmission 11 – Prince – Purple Rain 12 – Elton John – Bennie And The Jets 13 – The Olympic Symphonium – Thanks a Lot 14 – Jimmy Reed – Too Much 15 – Black Light White Light – Epilepsy
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