As I walk through this wicked world, I have found that light orchestral easy listening instrumental music can be very comforting. No hard edges, nothing shocking or discordant, just mellow flowing gentleness. A soft warm blanket that helps take my mind off the planetary suffering for a little while.
The Hollyridge Strings was a studio orchestra that made easy listening covers of popular songs. The main conductor and arranger was Stu Phillips, but Mort Garson and Perry Botkin Jr. were also involved.
Their version of Strawberry Fields Forever enhances the beauty and dreaminess of the original John Lennon composition. The saxophone that opens the first verse at 0:13 is almost too sultry, but the strings soon appear, along with the cool quiet little "chik" guitar and drums. The section from 0:42 - 1:07 is easy listening heaven, it oozes sweet aching romantic softness. It's all draped with reverb to give it that drifting through an empty shopping mall feeling.
Want more easy listening music? There is a great internet station called Instrumental Hits Radio. And you can find lots more Hollyridge Strings Beatles covers on youtube.
In honor of St Patrick's Day, here's my favorite Irish musician, the late great Phil Lynott, lead vocalist and bassist with Thin Lizzy.
His mother, Philomena, was Irish, and his father was Guyanese. His parents didn't stay together, and his single mother couldn't raise him by herself. He grew up in Dublin with his grandparents and his uncles, Peter and Timmy. Despite the social stigma in Ireland at the time regarding his mixed-race background, his grandparents provided a stable, loving home, often affectionately calling him their "little black baby". Although he grew up apart from his mother, they shared a deep and loving bond.
Life with his grandparents provided a deep connection to Ireland that he retained throughout his life and career, even as he achieved international fame. He spoke fondly of his childhood in Dublin, which served as a source of inspiration for his songwriting and storytelling. His friend and Thin Lizzy bandmate Scott Gorham said in 2013, "Phil was so proud of being Irish. No matter where he went in the world if we were talking to a journalist and they got something wrong about Ireland, he'd give the guy a history lesson. It meant a lot to him."
Roisin Dubh (Black Rose) A Rock Legend is a tribute to Ireland. It interweaves traditional tunes like ‘Shenandoah’ and ‘Danny Boy’ into the distinctive Thin Lizzy twin guitar sound. It also pays tribute to Irish mythological hero Cú Chulainn and indulges in a playful string of puns and wordplay, acknowledging iconic figures of the Emerald Isle. From W.B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde to Van Morrison and Brendan Behan, the lyrics showcase a clever homage to a host of Ireland’s cultural luminaries.
Lyrics by Phil Lynott and Gary Moore:
Tell me the legends of long ago When the kings and queens would dance in the realm of the Black Rose Play me the melodies I want to know So I can teach my children, oh
Pray tell me the story of young Cuchulainn How his eyes were dark his expression sullen And how he'd fight and always won And how they cried when he was fallen
Oh tell me the story of the Queen of this land And how her sons died at her own hand And how fools obey commands
Oh tell me the legends of long ago
Where the mountains of Mourne come down to the sea Will she no come back to me Will she no come back to me
Oh Shenandoah I hear you calling Far away you rolling river Roll down the mountain side On down on down go lassie go
Oh Tell me the legends of long ago When the kings and queens would dance in the realms of the Black Rose Play me the melodies so I might know And I can tell my children, oh
My Roisin Dubh is my one and only true love It was a joy that Joyce brought to me While William Butler waits And Oscar, he's going Wilde
Ah sure, Brendan where have you Behan? Looking for a girl with green eyes My dark Rosaleen is my only colleen That Georgie knows Best
But Van is the man Starvation once again Drinking whiskey in the jar-o Synge's Playboy of the Western World
As Shaw, Sean I was born and reared there Where the Mountains of Mourne come down to the sea Is such a long, long way from Tipperary
Yeah, what is that thing? It's a Bladderhorn, a creature created by Wayne Barlow, a sci-fi/fantasy artist extraordinaire.
Iannis Xenakis was an amazing guy. Remembered as a prolific avant-garde composer, there was so much more to him. There needs to be a movie.
This is just a section of the entire piece called Hibiki Hana Ma, which is around eighteen minutes. It was one of his electroacoustic pieces which was repeatedly played every day in the Tekkhokan (steel pavilion) during Expo ‘70 in Osaka. It's all kinds of bleeps and skids, rumbles and twitches, wood tocks and crackling papers. It's a big bowl of electronic soup, perhaps the Bladderhorn's favorite dish?
Being such a huge fan of his previous album, Peggy Suicide, I was so eager to hear what Julian Cope would come up with next. Jehovahkill was a massive double album of pagan megalithic heathen mother earth concepts and a thrashing of mainstream monotheism. I loved it.
Fear Loves This Place was the obvious "hit" from this album of challenging electronic krautrock epics and lo-fi guitar strumming. It looks at the subject of domestic violence and its existence in a supposedly peaceful and loving Christian society. Today it's the right-wing evangelical Christian US government that has brought the Crusades back after 1500 years to proselytize through their beautiful loving fear and death all over the place. We're living one hell of a heaven.
As a teenager, if I was listening to this music, then I was listening to the live album Yessongs, by Yes (or possibly watching a VHS copy of the film). The dramatic music served as a countdown to Yes taking the stage and launching into the song Siberian Khatru. Kind of pretentious, but it certainly gave me a greater appreciation for classical music.
Igor Stravinsky achieved international fame with his orchestral composition for The Firebird ballet, which premiered in Paris in 1910. Set in the evil immortal Koschei's castle, the ballet follows Prince Ivan, who battles Koschei with the help of the Firebird, a magical and prophetic glowing or burning bird from a faraway land which is both a blessing and a harbinger of doom to its captor. The Finale here is from the 1919 Firebird Suite, a reduction of the ballet for a smaller orchestra.
Firebird. What a cool frickin word. My Dad owned a Pontiac Firebird for maybe a year or so back in the 70s.
Mr. Stravinsky, what can I do to put you behind the wheel of this baby?
Kourosh Yaghmaei is known as "the Godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock", as well as "the king of rock". He began his career in the 60s, playing covers of popular western pop music like the Beatles, the Kinks, and the Ventures.
Gole Yakh (Ice Flower) was his first solo single, and it sold five million copies in Iran alone. It brought him fame and was translated and adapted for other languages. The song tells a story of solitude, where "the ice flower has sprouted in my heart" (گل یخ توی دلم جوونه کرده) while enduring cold, lonely nights. It revolves around themes of heartbreak, loneliness, and the sorrowful remembrance of a past relationship.
Kourosh was heavily censored following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. His work was banned from the country's airways, markets and homes, and his name from the press. He decided to stay in Iran rather than migrate to another country. During this time he worked for children and published books and cassettes.
In 2016, he was quoted in Vice magazine: I believed that if I had changed my career it would be an unrespectful behaviour to my music and myself and also it would mean betrayal to my cultural roots. Now that I look back, I am glad I did not bribe anyone or bow to pressures, but lived all these 37 years with honour. I believe even in an unequal battle, resistance is preferred to giving up.
Based on this photo, I'm surprised he's not known as the Iranian Paul McCartney.
