plagiarism

'In interviews promoting Amused to Death, Waters asserted that Andrew Lloyd Webber had plagiarized themes from "Echoes" for sections of the musical The Phantom of the Opera; nevertheless, he decided not to file a lawsuit regarding the matter.

Yeah, the beginning of that bloody Phantom song is from Echoes. *DAAAA-da-da-da-da-da* [sic]. I couldn't believe it when I heard it. It's the same time signature - it's 12/8 - and it's the same structure and it's the same notes and it's the same everything. Bastard. It probably is actionable. It really is! But I think that life's too long to bother with suing Andrew fucking Lloyd Webber.[6]

Waters did, however, respond by adding a reference to Webber in the song "It's a Miracle" on the Amused to Death album:

We cower in our shelters, with our hands over our ears
Lloyd Webber's awful stuff runs for years and years and years
An earthquake hits the theatre, but the operetta lingers
Then the piano lid comes down and breaks his fucking fingers
It's a miracle'

source - wikipedia

Bloc Party

"Silent Alarm" is the first time I've heard Bloc Party and I think they're quite good. Music is energetic all the time without ever getting into the "noisy" zone and the lyrics aren't the worst you will come across either, thoughtful without becoming overly dramatic.

The song that caught my attention was "Helicopter" which many believe is a criticism of American life in general or in particular of George.W.Bush, although the band denies it.

For the last couple of days, I've been tripping on this song "Like eating glass"
Influences are cited as Blur, Smashing pumpkins, Radiohead, Depeche mode etc.

Like eating glass

It's so cold in this house
Open mouth swallowing us
The children sent home from school
Will not stop crying

And I know that you're busy too
I know that you care
You got your finger on the pulse
You got your eyes everywhere
And it hurts all the time when you don't return my calls
And you haven't got the time to remember how it was

It's so cold in this house (2x)

I can't eat, I can't sleep
I can't sleep, I can't dream
An aversion to light
Got a fear of the ocean

Like drinking Poison, like eating glass (3x)
Like drinking Poison, like eating

It's so cold in this house (3x)
It's so cold in this bed

Like drinking Poison, like eating glass (3x)
Like drinking Poison, like eating

Come and show me how it was

We've got crosses on our eyes
Been walking into the walls again
We've got crosses on our eyes
Been walking into the furniture
We've got crosses on our eyes
For richer, for poorer, for better, for worse
We've got crosses on our eyes
We've been walking into the furniture

Knight Of The Blue Communion - Peter Ivers Band

yesterday evening, was going through the albums list in my ipod, looking for something new to listen to, when i came across 'knight of the blue communion', wanting to check out whoz the artist, i went ahead. And the 1st note of the 1st track got me hooked. The last time i remember that happening was when i first listened to 'White Rabbit'. Incidentally both the songs are carried by some tremendous female vocals.

So, after listening to the entire album, couldn't wait to find out more about this brilliant band. But unfortunately google doesn't give much information. Looks like this was one of those brilliant one-off works, that happened by coming together of some amazing people, and it just clicked. While googling i found out that a certain 'Asha puthli' sang a couple of songs for this band. Imagine a famous singer with my name, well almost... :D Anyways the female vocalist i was talking about was not her, though even she is also brilliant, its 'Yolande Bavan', she is just freaking brilliant. Listen to 'scratch cat fever' or any other song in the album.

As far as the album, there is no comparable. It reminds me of a fair...all eccentric, wonderful, weird stuff coming together to make one heady experience. Blues,rock,psychedelia,classical,jazz,world music....it has everything. All i can say is listening to this album, is a trip unlike any other.

Goodbye and Hello - Tim Buckley

Just realized when i typed out da above words - 'Goodbye and Hello'.....so apt to my life right now, in so many ways.... bitter-sweet, thts what it is... hmm...though it can be 'sweet-sweet' or 'bitter-bitter' as well depending on situations...
yea i know da above sentence was bad...'n dont think this is the blog 4 such stuff neway...
So, coming back to 'Goodbye and Hello', yes its this brilliant album by Tim Buckley. Kinda re-discovered it on my ipod yesterday. Tim Buckley was highly recommended to me by one of my friends and i would do just the same now :)



Its one of the best psychedelic albums 've listened to. But psychedelic is just one of the sounds in the entire album. The album is much more. than that, the outstanding part is of course Tim Buckley's singing. And lyrics is like poetry... just checkout 'Goodbye & Hello' or 'No Man Can Find The War', and you will know what i mean...and that too coupled with his singing...its just amazing...
My Fave songs.....hmm...will probably be 'Hallucinations','Goodbye & Hello' 'n 'Once i Was'...

Once I Was

Once I was a soldier
And I fought on foreign sands for you
Once I was a hunter
And I brought home fresh meat for you
Once I was a lover
And I searched behind your eyes for you
And soon therell be another
To tell you I was just a lie

And sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you remember me

And though you have forgotten
All of our rubbish dreams
I find myself searching
Through the ashes of our ruins
For the days when we smiled
And the hours that ran wild
With the magic of our eyes
And the silence of our words

And sometimes I wonder
Just for a while
Will you remember me

Modest mouse

Another band from the "alternative rock" movement, the first song I came across was "float on". Brilliant song, which was a conscious attempt on the group's part to make upbeat music after the band lost a couple of friends
"Bad news comes dont you worry, even when it lands,
Good news will work its way to all them plans."
is a such a reassuring thing to tell yourself when you're having a bad time that one immediately takes to this song.

I believe that modest mouse are one of the smartest artists out there. They perform on themes as varied as Love, Death, God, Social causes etc, but most importantly whatever they say, they say it well.

You gotta hand it to them for coming up with lyrics like
"We were aiming at the moon, we were shooting at the stars,
But the kids were just shooting at the buses and the cars" ( Bury me with it).

and later in the same album

"Jaws clenched tight, we talked all night,
Oh! but what the hell did we say?
The good times are killin me"

To anyone who's not heard them before, "Good news for people who love bad news (2004)" would be a great album to start with. (Don't you just love ironic themes?)

I Came as a Rat

Well I ain't sure, but I been told
He's baking cakes inside our souls
Stayed awake, took a nap
Got myself my bottles back
I'm breakin' them out on the street
Walkin' around in my bare feet
I do not need you to tell me that I am not a cat

I caught a ride, we caught some air
He's never gonna cut his hair
It takes more time to make a fake
We night swam down in the lake
Washed the dirt off our intentions
Prattle on 'bout bad inventions

I came as ice, I came as a whore
I came as advice that came too short
I came as gold, I came as crap
I came clean and I came as a Rat
It takes a long time, but God dies too
But not before he'll stick it to you

Well I don't know, but I been told
You never die and you never grow old

Uh oh!

I came as a call, I came as flat
I came too soon so I came back
I came as flowers, I came as nice
I came as dirt and I came as its price
It takes a long time, but God dies too
But not before he'll stick it to you
I don't know, but I been told
You never die and you never grow old
Uh Oh!

Poets of the Fall (POTF)

Poets of the Fall are an independent rock band from Helsinki, Finland that was founded by Marko Saaresto and Olli Tukiainen in 2003.


heres wiki's take on them.

i remember getting on to this band in my frst year, being introduced to by a friend. i was on the lukout fr gud music then. i needed it :).
i remembr spending most of my frst summer break listening to them. they are relatively new and relatively gud.
some songs that i'd suggest you listen to are:
1. Lift
2. Late Goodbye (this also happens to be the ending song of Max Payne 2)
3. Carnival of Rust

among others.

theres another reason for me mentioning them. we are having them perform live at our college cultural festival this year(if nothing goes wrong.so far so good). it was suposed to be a surprise, but i spilled the beans.

heres a link to lift

R.E.M

Although "Loosing my religion" is what most people would think of when they think R.E.M, they go much further. As legend has it after numerous attempts at arriving at a name, Peter Buck decided to open the dictionary and name the band after the first word his finger points to.

A Band that was at the top of its game in '87-'93 period, they were well known for taking up social and political causes, be it "First we take manhattan.." or "The end of the world as we know it" and "Welcome to occupation" and ofcourse the definitive "Loosing my religion".

"Document"(1987) is their breakthrough album. Although "Out of Time"(1991) put them right on top, "Automatic for people" (1992) is perhaps their most accessible album.

One of the most influential bands from the 80s, influencing alternative bands like Modest mouse, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Live and so on. (Modest mouse citing R.E.M as their inspiration is what made me sit up and take a fresh look at R.E.M. beyond loosing my religion)

Shiny Happy People

Shiny happy people laughing
Meet me in the crowd
People people
Throw your love around
Love me love me
Take it into town
Happy happy
Put it in the ground
Where the flowers grow
Gold and silver shine

Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing

Everyone around love them, love them
Put it in your hands
Take it take it
There's no time to cry
Happy happy
Put it in your heart
Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine

Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing

Trivia: This song was based on a poster "shiny happy people" protesting the killings by Chinese government to suppress the Tiananmen Square uprising.