"Mes coups de cœur (et de gueule) sur les livres, les voyages, la musique, les films, la photographie, la peinture, et le reste ! Bref, tout et rien à la fois !
Et surtout, rappelez-vous, en lisant ce blog, que je suis avant TOUT un auteur !"
Annie Lennox and Co "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves !" - Oui, les filles... un peu de sororité ne fait pas de mal !
Depeche Mode "Just Can't Get Enough" - Indémodable quand tout part en vrille... on met cette chanson, on sautille, on chante à tue-tête et tout va mieux !!! Just Can't Get ENOUGH !!!
Laure Branigan "Self Control" - No comment :)
Queen & David Bowie "Under Pressure" - Que demander de plus... le sexy David Bowie et le charismatique Freddie Mercury... et cette basse !
INXS "Never Tear Us Apart" - 1991, Wembley, des potes, un amoureux qui râlait avant et dansait après le concert... La belle époque !
Au début décembre, outre les chants de noël (merci la maboule de noël de ne pas trop écouter, sinon, les voisins vont divorcer !), il y a des chansons qui évoquent bien les souvenirs d'Hiver... ou pas !
Elton John "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" - même pas désolée, mais bon, cela reste une belle chanson !
Lenny Kravitz "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" - quand c'est terminé, c'est fini, point, barre... mais il reste souvent de bons souvenirs, sinon c'était une illusion !
Lady Gaga "Million Reasons" - et des milliards de regrets aussi !
Savage Gardens "Truly, Madly, Deeply" - une des chansons les plus dédiées pendant une période (trop) courte !
Blur "Out of Time" - intemporel... Quand Damon vous chuchote "out of time", perso, je fonds !
Oui, je me prépare aux sorties des albums des trois derniers cités.
Cependant, je voulais rendre hommage à un chanteur disparu le 2 janvier dernier qui a résonné longtemps dans mes oreilles grâce (à cause ?) d'une tante qui l'aimait beaucoup....
Ses paroles ont trouvé un écho en moi pour certaines chansons.... et j'avais envie de les partager pour le remercier.
Car, à l'instar de Michel Delpech, les artistes -notamment les chanteurs/auteurs/compositeurs- aident souvent leur public à affronter des drames, soutiennent les joies et accompagnent la vie de tous...
J'en sais quelque chose avec Blur....
Alors, voici ma playlist "Spécial Michel Delpech" parce que ces chansons-là sont importantes pour moi...
"Le Chasseur" - parce qu'elle me fait penser au Périgord à chaque fois et aux moments partagées avec mes grands-parents, oncles et vieux cousins.
"Quand j'étais chanteur" - parce que cela peut arriver à tout le monde... et que finalement Jagger lui survivra !
"Les Divorcés" - parce que j'étais toute petite quand mes parents se sont séparés et que les paroles de cette chanson m'ont fait comprendre pas mal de choses sur les relations (compliquées) des adultes !
"Wight is Wight" - parce que la première fois que j'y ai mis un pied, j'ai entendu ce titre dans ma tête et que j'ai ri pendant de longues minutes sous le regard amical de celui qui m'accompagnait.
"L'Amour en wagon-lit" - parce que c'est drôlement sympa l'amour en wagon-lit ... Dommage que cela n'existe (presque) plus.... les wagons-lits... pas l'amour !
"Que Marianne était jolie" - parce que cette chanson pourrait illustrer les jours actuels... et que Marianne est toujours jolie mais triste dernièrement !
1.) What does the word "Beauty" really mean to you?
Everything. Beauty is everywhere and I
guess that you can see beauty in any kind of things. Everyone has its own
vision of beauty and judging about others’ beauty is not an option for me. But
I have to confess that I do it sometimes…. I’m not perfect (yet ?).
2.) What are your favorite makeup & skincare products? Caudalie, Rimmel, Chanel, Nuxe, Elizabeth Arden & Mavala products.
3.) Favorite movie?
Too many to point out a single one… but I do love “Se7en” , "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" & “Cider House Rules”.
4.) Who do you love most in the world?
My late grandmothers and grandfathers.
5.) If you could meet any celebrity, who
would it be and why?
Late River Phoenix (I suppose that I
have to wait my death to finally meet him somewhere over the rainbow).
Nowadays and living ? Tom Sharpe, British author.
6.) What's the best part about being "you"?
My loyalty and my creativity.
7.) What trait do you dislike most in others?
Lack of loyalty, opportunism and
arrogance (even though that is one trait that some people point out for me !).
8.) What makes you feel glam?
A red lipstick, perfume and music.
9.) Favorite food?
Cheese & hot toasted bread.
10.) Who influences you most in your field?
Musicians do : Blur (Damon Albarn & Graham Coxon), Arctic Monkeys (mainly Alex Turner),
Nada Surf, REM, Bill Ryder-Jones (and The Coral), the Kinks, Johnny Cash & the Beach
Boys. Their music have major influence in my creative life. Wagner, Listz & Mahler are top of the list too.
11.) If you could travel to any destination anytime, where would you go?
Basically, I won't go that far.. UK & Ireland. I would stop by in Périgord a few times a year, but would travel in UK & Ireland all the time. Probably settling between Liverpool-London-Dingle triangle.
I think that it is going to be more and more obsessive !
Back in 2005, when I first heard an Arctic Monkeys song via MySpace, I liked their energy, their youth and their sound. Then, I listened to their first album and I liked the singer’s voice. I honestly didn’t know who he was and what he looked like until I saw them on stage in UK.
I can affirm that I only liked Arctic Monkeys onto their music and not because of the attractiveness of the members. Basically, none of them is really my type… and they all could be my kid (technically speaking, of course).
So I started to listen to them with some interest without been totally fascinated although a few months later, two songs hit my mind. There were “I bet you look good on the dancefloor” and “Perhaps vampires is a bit strong but...”. Alex Turner’s (lead singer and front man, should I state that ?) way of performing them drew my attention and his northern accent really turned me on (some Liverpuldian reminiscence ?). So far, his voice is the main point of attraction, along with music and lyrics. The older, the better I should say.
I definitely fell for Arctic Monkeys when I first heard “Do Me A Favor”. I don’t know how to explain it but I knew by instinct that this band shall be into my musical life for good, as Blur is.
I might like a lot of bands & songs anyhow I am truly faithful to three bands : Blur, Arctic Monkeys & The Beach Boys.
Arctic Monkeys has this incredible front man. A band without a front man is not a good one. Usually, the front man has to get charisma, sexiness and a part of je-ne-sais-quoi.
Within the band, two out of the four have that ability : Alex Turner & Matt Helders. I don’t know what Matt Helders’ future would be made of. He’s got enough talent to keep on doing an excellent drummer and a very amazing actor in videos, knowing exactly how to draw attention.
But it is quite different for Turner. In 2005, it was undeniable that this fragile young guy with a post-adolescence face and his skinny figure had enough charisma to be a leader. But he had the cons of his youth, that is to say nervousness. He looked so shy on stage that it was pretty much boring. They all were performing songs, close to album versions, and went off the stage without a word or a look to the audience. I guess that being in the spotlights was not really their cup of tea.
Turner had face another spotlight whilst his relationship with a British TV presenter. I was not sure that he would, one day, blossomed on stage. But he did. Since last spring, he did. I don’t know whether it is his new hairdo or the way he assumes who he is, but he now has existence on stage. He knows how to flirt with the audience and keep eyes contacts with the front row.
It was obvious in Casino de Paris gig but more certainly on the Olympia gig. Turner became a man. That is all good for Arctic Monkeys.
This paper is not an ode to Alex Turner, but to a young band that did four albums, pretty brilliant and so rock that their ballads are even more gorgeous, especially written by young boys (mainly Tuner, by the way).
Just listen to “Cornerstone” (Humbug album) or “Love is a Laserquest” (Suck it & See) to get an opinion onto Turner’s skill to write gorgeous lyrics and ballads. His experiences with The Last Shadow Puppets or Submarine’s soundtrack might have revealed himself into this brilliant songwriter. So, yes indeed, he is not the best singer ever, his voice might aggravate many of you, but the sound and lyrics are good, first-class, considering his age.
I might not be objective whenever it comes to Arctic Monkeys, but the fact is that many bands lost the battle from “newcomer” to “Group”. They have that je-ne-sais-quoi which makes them be excellent.
As I wrote in a review about Submarine Soundtrack, Tuner’s name will have a major impact in British music and to music in general. Someone told me (my so-called manager) that I can’t help refereeing to blur in any paper I write about music. So here it goes again… Turner makes me think about Damon Albarn, (Front man-singer-songwriter of Blur, Gorillaz, The Good The Bad and The Queen, RocketJuice and the Moon, etc.) : this kind of obsession with music, getting different influences, go off the path and accomplish greats compositions. Albarn is a genius in music (Listen to his opera “Dr Dee” trailer). Turner is going to achieve that, sooner or later.
So, let’s have a musical dream : a studio, 2 songwriters/singers (Albarn & Turner), and 2 of the greatest British guitarists I know (Graham Coxon & Bill Ryder Jones), add a help from a few friends (Kane, Helders, etc.) and you may have the perfect album ever recorded.
A few songs I deeply love from Arctic Monkeys :
Cornerstone
Love Is A Laserquest
Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
505
Do Me A Favor
Mardy Bum
Crying Lightning
Secret Door
Last song RUmine
And from Alex Turner (The Last Shadow Puppets & Submarine)
Oh well, that is ! Blur is back at the headlines since the announcement of the Closing Olympics Ceremony gig in Hyde Park, due on august 12th 2012 and my obsession is back on track (did it really weaken ?) !
You do know this chorus “last night a DJ saved my life”, thus you should understand my own chorus “2 decades ago, blur saved my musical life !”.
A bit of my blur life sum up :
Early spring 1990, my former boyfriend whom were nightclubbing a lot in London, was used to (audio) tape me some sounds from the bands he had listened to. On one expected tape he then sent me, I heard half a song and got chill. I don’t remember why I felt that but I wrote him back to check out whom that band was. He did and told me that their name was “kinda of blur” and that they were performing the week following our conversation over the phone. So he went and recorded another song and when I got the audiotape by the regular mail, I fell for blur. Thus, I went and joined him spending time out and I attended to my first gig of blur in june 1990. You know what ? What I felt then was love at first sight. Not physically but musically. Nothing compares to that feeling I had that night. Blur will be always and forever the only band to move me to tears on a simple song.
Anyhow, since that june 1990 evening, I’ve been a major “fan” of them. I don’t like the “fan” word because it sounds like for me a bit of “fanatic” and “hysterical”. I never wanted to get involved into any forum (signed up to some to read, but not interfering that much, especially not thinking that I’m a specialist !) or “fan club”, nor even chasing the band for an autograph or a photograph. In the early years, I met them a few times backstage and wherever else, but never was imposing myself and acting hysterical. I saw many female fans whom were just acting like bitches to attract the attention of one of them (mainly Alex & Damon though) and it was just pathetic to my eyes.
I love them, four of them, for their music, the vision they have on the music, lyrics and compositions. Sometimes, I do like their vision of life and world but I don’t mind if one of them said something which is contrary of what I do believe truly. It does not interfere with my love for their music. By the way, did I mention that I fancy Graham too much to talk about that ?
I am surely the most uninterested fan of them. I am not into their lives, their wives, kids’ names etc. Yes, I do know those facts about them, but what the point ? They have their lives and I am sure that I would appreciate discretion from a fan, if I were them. I don’t collect stuff either. Yes, I do have many, many albums, cds, audiotapes, books and some magazines, but I am not trying to get everything in sight.
A couple of years ago, I knew where and when a member of blur spent his holidays. I was living nearby and I could have easily met him “accidently” many times. I never did a move. I even avoided going to a party or a restaurant diner knowing that he was invited too with his family. I went through to an event and spent a few hours around him and I never mentioned that I was a huge fan of his band. Even though I would have loved to ask him a few questions about the future of the band and even some points about a special song to me, I just smiled a few times when someone mentioned to him “I love your music, I am your biggest fan !”.
So, indeed, you won’t ever meet me waiting hours outside a concert place or a hotel ! Probably never yelling their names in the street or disturbing them in a private event.
I did see a few concerts from 1990 to nowadays. I won’t count them here because it shall be too much work for this paper. Some were more special to me because of an atmosphere or a particular person I attended it with. Liverpool & ULU 1990, Reading, Liverpool, Paris 1991, Rennes & Reading 1992, London 1993 were my incredible souvenirs from those early years.
After those, it was not really the same, it was highly amusing to get tickets and to attend to a gig due to thousands fans that joined to after “Girls & Boys” hit. Paris & Bordeaux 1994 & May 1997 were a great period too. 1999 was hectic (again Reading). Paris & Liverpool took my heart in 2003 but the one which really brought me down is the July 3rd 2009 - Hyde Park gig. “The first gig that we put on sales” Damon said that night. I went through this year in a dream because I thought I would have never seen them all back together on stage. I think that those two hours were too short and too intense to fade away one day.
NME put on line their 10 best Blur songs last week, and I thought, why not !
Explaining the context of the song and why I do like were harder than I thought it would !
So, here are my ten favorites :
-She’s So High : This is the very first song I’ve heard from them. So, it is just special to me. Then, I just can’t stop smiling whenever this song pops up. And hearing Damon singing “I think of her… It doesn’t help me”, was quite a pleasure back in 1990 because it drove my former boyfriend crazy as he didn’t like the band and the “handsome jerk front man”. The July 3rd 2009 version is unique too. When they performed it in Hyde Park gig, it was the first song played and I could not believe that I was there, in London, in Hyde Park, among my friends and waiting for the reunited band on stage. Yes, Reunited, at least !
-Best Days : If I feel low, whatever happened and wherever I am, I put that song in my MP3 and listen it loud. “Other people turn around and laugh at you if you said that these are the best days of our lives…” sound just so right to my ears and I am used to tell it to myself to go through sometimes. The melancholy and the softness of the song have most likely touched my heart.
-The Universal : This Is A Low is one of the most incredibly moving song to me (along with Sweet Song), but The Universal is just as touching as Tender is. Despite the video which is basically an amazing one, the lyrics and the way of performing are major attractions to me. “When the days they seem to fall through you, well, just let them go” is kind of a motto for me. I don’t know why but I’ve been receptive to this sentence since the very first time I heard the song. The Great Escape was and still is a glorious album (but not the best for me !) and The Universal is major class. Quite a classic indeed. Unfortunately, some commercials put it on air lately in UK, making it a bit too “popular” in the most negative meaning.
-Slowdown : Yes, I can see your reprobation saying that you don’t get it. Slowdown, for God’s Sake ! It’s not a song, some say. But it is funny enough and quite hilarious somehow. It reflects too a certain period of time when people were used to say “slowdown a bit, would you !”, but performing by blur, it ‘s an easier reason to calm down ! It’s also my name on forums.
-Coffee & TV : Yes, it should be clear to anyone knowing me a bit, Graham sings ! Apart from that main interest, the lyrics are great, the sound is brilliant and the video is one of the cutest ! Again, vocally speaking, Graham is not Damon, gets this tiny little voice, but he is so adorable. It’s quite hysteria whenever he performs it live.
-Sing : Probably one of the most significant song of them, and from Leisure. I do know that Leisure is quite a minor album for many (most ?) and it is not what we can call it “the origin of blur”, but it was just amazing back then.
-No Distance Left to Run : Wanna make me cry ? Let’s listen to that song. Unexpectedly, when I first listened to it, it was a bit too still and gloomy for me. I was just under the Tender attack on 13 and didn’t really mention this song. A few months later, I attended to another band gig (yes, undeniably, I can like others bands !) and talking about their fans, one told me “blur ? gosh, I hate this moaning song – No Distance Left to Run- !”. I meant not to be offended but I really didn’t care of it. When back home, I put it and I felt like hit by a train… How could I ignore that one ? Since the releasing of 13, I was in a very “shinny happy people” attitude, and nothing could depress me. No Distance Left To Run did. Sort of. I felt pain and suffer and I still do. It makes me feel alive. Amazingly alive.
-Theme From an Imaginary Film : Right, second reprobation look toward my choice. I can hear you screaming that my tastes are shit ! It sounds like a silly song ; might be by the way. Anyhow, I quite adore this song. I still don’t know the reason why, but this song features my MP3 and my “save my day MP3” with the essential songs for me. Believe me or not, I stay irrational to the pressure of erasing it.
-There’s No Other Way : The title says it all. There’s no other way than blur. It’s crystal. The introduction is about to make me feel a teenager any time I hear it. “Back to the past” ticket for free !
-Young & Lovely : Oops ! First of all, the ones whom read that paper and aren’t true fans of blur might, at that moment, wonder “what the hell is that song ?”. I guess that this “Chemical world” b-side is fresh and lovely. Not the kind of single you are expected from blur. No doubt that some of you would hate it ! But I love this song.
I may add to that list : the cover Daisy Daisy, Bang, Tender, M.O.R., This Is A Low, Battle, Ambulance, For Tomorrow, Popscene, Death of a Party, Inertia, Luminous, Sweet Song & Battery in your leg.
