This weekend was a good and relaxing one. I didn't do anything very exciting in particular but found a few gems.
The first one being a concept album produced for Margate in 2006 called Plague Songs,
about the 10 plagues of Egypt when God unleashed his power over the Egyptians starting with blood and culminating in the death of the firstborns. All the songs were pretty good but I think the best songs were:
Relate the Tale by King Croseote - The song about the second plague (frogs) written from the viewpoint of a frog, with lines saying:
How could the God of frogs have allowed this thing to happen?
How could the God of frogs have made this mistake?
Although I prayed for company a hundred thousand times I did not expect my prayers answered
All in the same day...
Frogs are definitely not my favourite animals but this song made me feel very sorry for this frog. The lead frog having realised all the other frogs were dying in piles and piles, went back to the bloody Nile hoping to relate the tale.
Flies by Brian Eno with Robert Wyatt - Robert Wyatt making the buzzing noise. Another song from a different viewpoint, that of the flies. Wyatt's buzzing sounds like Bruce Forsythe brushing his teeth. Eno's atmospheric song however was enchanting.
Hailstones by The Tiger Lilies - a godless song about hailstones. A very sad and moving song. You would empathise with the person in the song who died on the sixth day from hailstones after indulging in a few days of drug-laden solo excursions and existential psychosis. The end line was beautiful: Hailstones heavy as lead had beaten me... God is dead.
Glittering Cloud by Imogen Heap - about locusts (8th plague). A very insightful song about a locust in an existential dilemma. He says in the first line, I'm not really like this. It's something I become, trying to explain that he's misunderstood. But in the chorus becomes the green crop-munching monster.
Darkness by Scott Walker - a very bizarre but wonderful song by the eccentric Scott Walker. It's very accessible compared to his newer stuff with loads of shrieks and shouts ala Bjork's Medulla, ending with the line And when do we go, Get your coat.
I can't believe I missed this wonderful gem. It also has Stephen Merritt with a song on lice, and Rufus Wainwright with a song on the death of the firstborn.
The first one being a concept album produced for Margate in 2006 called Plague Songs,
about the 10 plagues of Egypt when God unleashed his power over the Egyptians starting with blood and culminating in the death of the firstborns. All the songs were pretty good but I think the best songs were: Relate the Tale by King Croseote - The song about the second plague (frogs) written from the viewpoint of a frog, with lines saying:
How could the God of frogs have allowed this thing to happen?
How could the God of frogs have made this mistake?
Although I prayed for company a hundred thousand times I did not expect my prayers answered
All in the same day...
Frogs are definitely not my favourite animals but this song made me feel very sorry for this frog. The lead frog having realised all the other frogs were dying in piles and piles, went back to the bloody Nile hoping to relate the tale.
Flies by Brian Eno with Robert Wyatt - Robert Wyatt making the buzzing noise. Another song from a different viewpoint, that of the flies. Wyatt's buzzing sounds like Bruce Forsythe brushing his teeth. Eno's atmospheric song however was enchanting.
Hailstones by The Tiger Lilies - a godless song about hailstones. A very sad and moving song. You would empathise with the person in the song who died on the sixth day from hailstones after indulging in a few days of drug-laden solo excursions and existential psychosis. The end line was beautiful: Hailstones heavy as lead had beaten me... God is dead.
Glittering Cloud by Imogen Heap - about locusts (8th plague). A very insightful song about a locust in an existential dilemma. He says in the first line, I'm not really like this. It's something I become, trying to explain that he's misunderstood. But in the chorus becomes the green crop-munching monster.
Darkness by Scott Walker - a very bizarre but wonderful song by the eccentric Scott Walker. It's very accessible compared to his newer stuff with loads of shrieks and shouts ala Bjork's Medulla, ending with the line And when do we go, Get your coat.
I can't believe I missed this wonderful gem. It also has Stephen Merritt with a song on lice, and Rufus Wainwright with a song on the death of the firstborn.