44 replies to this topic

[Mitch0129]

Earlier tonight, I saw Randy Travis perform here in Houston. I had never seen him before although I have been a fan for years. He put on a great show!

Speaking of Little River Band, my favorite song by them is "Love Is A Bridge". It was a minor hit in the late 80's, did not really do anything on the charts but I always thought it was their best. At the time it was out, I was involved in a long-distance relationship and that song really hit close to my heart.

Of course, you can not forget about "Cool Change", "Lonesone Loser", "Lady", and many of those other great LRB songs!

[peterbj7]

Until this thread I had never even heard of "Boston", but I've now been away and got some of their stuff. Good and I like it, though for me it doesn't approach the immortality standard. There are probably some items I should have included but didn't, but I was trying to exclude even music I love listening to if I didn't think it passed the immortality test. And I was restricting myself to modern "pop" music to fit into the thread, though I actually listen to other music at least as much.

I have extremely catholic tastes in music. All I ask is that it be good music (not necessarily that I enjoy it). I have a hard disk with some of my CDs on that's currently running at 85gb, and I have over 1200 LPs in England that I have never to date digitised so I can't listen to them in Belize. Not to mention over 100 DAT tapes and 50 minidisks, all of live recordings. The time it would take to copy this is too horrifying, though there are some long-deleted disks that I must copy at some point. As well as a great deal of modern "pop" music I have "classical" music of all types and genres. As I used to sing in an English cathedral choir and until I came to Belize always belonged to several choirs at the same time, that sort of music is well represented. As is organ music which I suspect most people would find quite obscure. But it saddens me that most young (and older) people in both the US and Britain close their ears to anything that doesn't have a "beat". There is a great deal of wonderful music out there that many/most people will never hear.

Across all sorts of music and all time, there is one sort of music which is guaranteed to lift my spirits, and I have often heard this from others. That is the music of JS Bach. If there are people here who by reason of their background/culture have never listened to any Bach, I strongly urge them to. Anyone with a mathematical/logical sort of brain is likely to identify with Bach, so if it sounds alien and rather strange to you because you've never tried listening to "classical" music before, please try it. But listen to it, don't have it on as background.

[blacklatexozdiver]

If we're talking classical stuff, for me nothing beats "The Lark Ascending" by Ralph (pronounced Rafe) Vaughan-Williams.

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Ahhh, Peter, another who enjoys "everything from Bach to Rock". When push comes to shove and I HAVE to clean my house, I put anything by Mozart in the CD player and just turn it up.......favs are symphonies #40 and #41. I'm a little older, and a music major when I started college (although somehow I ended up as an accountant ?!?), so I can & do appreciate any music that is done well. There are particular styles I don't listen to regularly - mainly because I can't understand what the heck they're saying so I can't sing along!

[blacklatexozdiver]

Ahhh, Peter, another who enjoys "everything from Bach to Rock".

From Bach to Bacharach? From Mozart to the Monkees? From Rachmaninov to Rock and Roll?

Sorry... I'm dribbling again... back to the thread at hand.

[peterbj7]

If we're talking classical stuff, for me nothing beats "The Lark Ascending" by Ralph (pronounced Rafe) Vaughan-Williams

I knew him, or to be more precise I sang under his direction a few months before he died. I've been trying to find on Limewire "Job - a Masque for Dancing". I have it on LP in England but that doesn't help much here in Belize, and it's sufficiently obscure that there's not the remotest possibility of me finding it here.

Ahhh, Peter, another who enjoys "everything from Bach to Rock". When push comes to shove and I HAVE to clean my house, I put anything by Mozart in the CD player and just turn it up.......favs are symphonies #40 and #41. I'm a little older, and a music major when I started college (although somehow I ended up as an accountant ?!?), so I can & do appreciate any music that is done well. There are particular styles I don't listen to regularly - mainly because I can't understand what the heck they're saying so I can't sing along!

One composer I love sounds just like an unpleasant noise to many people, and that's Olivier Messiaen. His organ music is often ethereal, always transporting. In England his monster symphony "Turangalila" was a cult in the '70s, as much as the music of Mahler was shortly afterwards. Both cults gone now. Messiaen is perhaps the musical equivalent of Jackson Pollock, seemingly random splurges of sound/paint, but which actually have a deep and subtle structure.

Messiaen survived both world wars. Another French composer who died very young in the second and left behind tantalising signs of the great composer he would have become was Jehan Alain. His organ music is absolutely wonderful, and has been promoted throughout her life by his sister Marie-Claire.

But at the end of the day, for me JSB trumps them all. IMO he truly is by far the greatest composer who has ever lived.

Enough of these musings! Time for work.

Edited by peterbj7, 13 July 2008 - 10:31 AM.

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Ahhh, Peter, another who enjoys "everything from Bach to Rock".

From Bach to Bacharach? From Mozart to the Monkees? From Rachmaninov to Rock and Roll?

Sorry... I'm dribbling again... back to the thread at hand.

I love creative thought!

[Mitch0129]

Peter, it is interesting to me that you had never heard of Boston until this thread. I will assume you either have never lived in the USA or were not living here around 1976 when their first record came out. That record created a huge stir, sold 17 million copies, a number that was unheard of at that time and it was unmatched until 1983 when Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" topped it. According to their web site, it is still the top-selling record in the US which is pretty impressive.

I can tell you my own story about when that record came out. I was in a record store here in Houston looking for my next record purchase (my record collection was over 1000 when I stopped buying them) when I heard "More Than A Feeling" over the store's stereo system. I was blown away by the melodies, then I heard "Peace Of Mind". I said to my younger brother, who was with me, that is pretty awesome, I wonder who it is. I asked the store clerk who told me it was a brand new band called "Boston" and it was their first record. He told me that the record just came out that day, they just got a shipment in, and he was getting ready to price-tag them and put them in the bin. I grabbed a copy out of the box, slapped it on the counter, and bought it right there. The clerk told me I probably bought one of the first Boston records sold in Houston. I just know I got a great album, I just did not know how great it would become. It is still one of my favorites of all time.

The band has had an very interesting history in that in their 30-years-plus career, they have only cut something like six studio albums plus a greatest hits package, yet they are considered one of the greatest rock bands of all time. You can read about their history on this link, I think you might find it to be some good reading.

BTW, while I can not say I am a classical music fan, I certainly admire your classical tastes. Guys like Mozart, Beethoven, and Back do not really get their due but they were geniuses in their time.

[Dennis]

All wonderful songs and artists.

If you want eclectic, my all time favorite is "Photographs and Memories" by Jim Croce

[peterbj7]

Back on the theme (sic) of Vaughan Williams, he wrote "Three Shakespeare Songs" which are positively idyllic, even though they were just dashed out for a choir to perform at a singing competition. Back home I have an EP (if anyone remembers what they are) of the songs performed years ago by the choir of King's College Cambridge (England), and they are ethereal. I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms here and scratched around on Limewire for them, and was amazed to find the songs, albeit in a performance that isn't in the same league as King's.

And I agree about "The Lark Ascending". I've just been listening to it.

Of course, few people have acknowledged "classical" music at all, so this question may not get any responses - what do you think of Wagner?

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

Back on the theme (sic) of Vaughan Williams, he wrote "Three Shakespeare Songs" which are positively idyllic, even though they were just dashed out for a choir to perform at a singing competition. Back home I have an EP (if anyone remembers what they are) of the songs performed years ago by the choir of King's College Cambridge (England), and they are ethereal. I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms here and scratched around on Limewire for them, and was amazed to find the songs, albeit in a performance that isn't in the same league as King's.

And I agree about "The Lark Ascending". I've just been listening to it.

Of course, few people have acknowledged "classical" music at all, so this question may not get any responses - what do you think of Wagner?

I've sung Wagner, but personally I think it's a bit ponderous and heavy......

[dustbowl diver]

Too many choices too little time!

[pir8]

Have I mentioned any thing Beatles?
How about Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"

[peterbj7]

I've sung Wagner, but personally I think it's a bit ponderous and heavy......

A bit like Stockhausen, of whom Beecham once said "I've never conducted any, but I think I once trod in some".

[Landlocked Dive Nut]

I've sung Wagner, but personally I think it's a bit ponderous and heavy......

A bit like Stockhausen, of whom Beecham once said "I've never conducted any, but I think I once trod in some".

That's a good one!