Stuff I'm Listening to - War of the Worlds

Artist: Justin Hayward (the Moody Blues) (composed by Jeff Wayne)

Title: Forever Autumn

Lyrics: 
A gentle rain falls softly on my weary eyes
As if to hide a lonely tear
My life will be forever autumn,
'Cause you're not here

Why?: I am not sure if I've ever mentioned my best friend, the one who first dubbed me Peanut. She was the one who made an attempt to introduce me to more progressive music than I was used to listening to in high school. She was a rocker at heart, and where I was something in between Bender and Brian (the 'brain') from the 'the Breakfast Club' and JD from 'Heathers' and a freelance mod and goth, was immersed in the depths of synth-pop, ska and punk, she was immersed in the depths of prog-rock, heavy metal and punk. It was a history teacher that had introduced her to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds and in turn she made a copy of the CDs for me. 

Linked above, a live version of the one track I immediately gravitated to, featuring Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues who provided the vocals in the original recording, followed by the track Thunderchild lead by Chris Thompson of Manfred Mann, which I've grown to like over the years. 

Below, a kind of ambient track that, to my understanding, wasn't part of the original score, but has made it's way into the remix album, ULLAdubULLA, where it serves only as a narrative device where the Martians discuss their plans to invade the planet Earth. 

ULLAdubULLA (Audio only)

Stuff I'm Listening To - the Phantom of the Opera

Title: Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again

Artist: Sierra Boggess (composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart)

Favourite Lyrics:
Wishing you were somehow here again
Knowing we must say goodbye
Try to forgive teach me to live
Give me the strength to try
No more memories no more silent tears
No more gazing across the wasted years
Help me say goodbye


Why?:
I mentioned earlier, Andrew Lloyd Webber was making his musicals available online to keep the quarantined masses entertained and to raise money for charities supporting theatre workers during this time of crisis which is what got me started on this musicals kick. 

Back in the late 80s and 90s in Toronto, we got our 10 year run of 'Phantom of the Opera' at the Pantages Theatre. I'd seen it twice in total. Once when my brother won tickets to the third row. I accompanied my mother (because my brother was uninterested). It was a rare evening out with my mom and so enjoyable. My mother insisted on purchasing the souvenir book for me, making sure we had some memento to look back on. Then once with my ex-boyfriend's mother, who declared a sheer love of Andrew Lloyd Webber's work shortly after we met. With her, it was so nice to see her so happy. Normally chatty, she was left speechless for the evening, clearly happy and overwhelmed by the experience. 

Both times the experience was pretty phenomenal. Despite what you may think of Webber's work, it worked for me. I was definitely sold on live musical theatre. 

I had initially opted to post 'Think of Me' as my choice track, because it features Carlotta, the typical diva character and always a phenomenal soprano. But for each performance I've seen, Carlotta almost steals the show. How easy it must be to overdo it and clearly she is a fun character to play, but kudos to every single singer I've watched, hamming just enough to make Carlotta the antagonist she's meant to be. I have a soft spot for louts and scoundrels and bad guys, and Carlotta is one of them. 

The recently streamed show featuring Sierra Boggess as Christine blew me away and made me rethink my choice track. 'Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again' is this song where Christine is singing at her father's grave. Normally, it's part of the story and I'm just enjoying the music each time I've watched various incantations of the show online. I'll lie and tell you it's quarantine stress that made me emotional when this part came on. 

Of course, I couldn't post about this musical without a nod to the title track. While for most, Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford are their choice for Christine and the Phantom, my biased favourites would be Rebecca Caine and Colm Wilkinson, as they were the original Canadian cast. It was a big deal to have the show with a semi-permanent Canadian home and the promotional video got a surprising amount of airplay on MuchMusic. But posting that video would have been too easy. 

So instead of the two promotional videos you've likely seen many times featuring Sarah Brightman or Rebecca Caine, linked below instead, Antonio Banderas with Sarah Brightman at one of the anniversary shows. Antonio Banderas... Yeah... is it me or did it just get super hot in here? 


Phantom of the Opera - Sarah Brightman and Antonio Banderas

Stuff I'm Listening To - Avenue Q

Artist: Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Book by Jeff Whitty. 
(Cast in linked performance: Sarah Dewhirst - Kate Monster, Jenny Reierson - Mrs. Thistletwat, Bryn Tanner, Carter Roeske, Zarah Nesser - Trekkie Monster, Michael Turner - Princeton , Steve Modena - Brian, Tolu Ekisola - Gary Coleman, Zach Miller - Rod)

Title: The Internet is for Porn

Favourite Lyrics:
The internet is for porn.
The internet is for porn.
Grab your dick and double click
For porn! Porn! Porn!

Why?:
Given that most of us have been in lockdown for the past two months, I figured this would be an appropriate song of choice. 😉


I was actually introduced to this song via a Warcraft fan video and immediately thought it was awesome. For anyone raised on Sesame Street, this weird musical is going to be a familiar alternative universe of your childhood television viewing, but better suited for today and for your allegedly adult self.

Plus, you have to admire the genius of the second last line in the lyrics above. 

I can't give you much more depth other than I am totally guilty of trying to imitate Trekkie Monster at the top of my lungs in my more drunker moments.

Stuff I'm Listening to - the Sound of Music

Artist: Bill Lee overdubbed for Christopher Plummer and Charmain Carr
  
Title: Edelweiss

From: The Sound of Music by Rogers and Hammerstein

Lyrics (all):

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white clean and bright
You look happy to meet me

Blossom of snow, may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever

Why?: There are a ton of Christmas related memories attached with this movie because they always seem to play it on television around that time, at least here in North America. 

I think my mom and dad were happy that they would plunk me in front of the television for about two hours of relative peace and quiet. I usually fell asleep just after their performance at the festival, but I don't think I really understood they escaped from the Nazis until I was old enough to stay awake that long.

For all the songs in this musical, I could have picked the 'Goat Herder' or 'Do-Ri-Mi' but this was the song my mum and dad gravitated to. My mom would hum or whistle this song to herself often. And I had caught my dad whistling it a number of times to himself. It's a pretty song.

I know Christopher Plummer nicknamed this movie the 'Sound of Mucus' and I don't blame him. It's rather full of mushy sentiments. But also filled with some great songs. 

It was many years later when Christopher Plummer went on to appear in 'Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country' that my frantic brain much desired to hear 'Edelweiss' in Klingon.  Alas, I have not found one yet. But a preliminary search of the internets brought me this. I'm not sure what I watched, and am now just more bothered and confused than ever. So naturally I've posted it below so you too can share in my current mood.

Edelweiss - Starship Edelweiss
 

Stuff I'm Listening To - Les Misérables

Artists: Sacha Baron Cohen and Helen Bonham-Carter

From: Les Misérables 

Lyrics:

Master of the house? Isn't worth my spit!
Comforter, philosopher and lifelong shit!
Cunning little brain, regular Voltaire
Thinks he's quite a lover but there's not much there
What a cruel trick of nature landed me with such a louse
God knows how I've lasted living with this bastard in the house!

 Why?: This is a great stage production if you get a chance to see it. It is filled with some wonderful pieces. My first and only time seeing Les Miz, I was provided with two warnings: 

"Don't wear mascara. Bring Clean-Ex". 

My friend was not wrong. 

One of my favourite pieces from the show is Cosette singing "Castle in the Cloud" which, when done right, will bring me to tears. Yeah yeah... I'm a giant softy. I know. But it also seems, I have a soft spot for depravity and scoundrels. They seem to get some of the best lines and best numbers in stories.

I cannot remember who played Monsieur and Madame Thénardiers in the production I saw, but I quite enjoyed the number in the film and think that Cohen and Bonham-Carter did a great job of it. 

Castle On a Cloud - Original Cast Recording

I'm not crying. You're crying.

Stuff I'm Listening To - the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Artist: Tim Curry

Title: Sweet Transvestite

From: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Lyrics:
Don't get strung out by the way I look
Don't judge a book by it's cover

Why?:
There isn't much I could write about this musical that hasn't already been said. Either you love this campiness or you don't. I personally knew about the movie when I was younger, but obviously did not appreciate it to its fullest until I went to the see it in the theatre with some friends when I was a teenager. Up until that point, I was vaguely aware of the steps for the 'Time Warp' dance and that you needed to bring rice with you to the theatre if you were going to go see it and none of that was ever fully explained to me. My ex-boyfriend's mother scoffed at me when I asked her to explain. At the time I was annoyed because I do ask many questions that might seem like common and obvious knowledge to most people and people think I'm kidding around. Honestly, I am really that naive and that unaware about certain things. But I'll forgive her that. You really have to just go to the theatre and see it and experience it for yourself.

Also, what is not to love about Tim Curry in drag? Tell me? 

Stuff I'm Listening to - Little Shop of Horrors

Artist: Steve Martin

Title: Dentist

From: Little Shop of Horrors

Lyrics: 
I thrill when I drill a bicuspid
(Bicuspid)
It's swell though they tell me I'm maladjusted
(Dentist)

Why?:
I had started a bit of a COVID-19 Playlist earlier that has since sputtered and failed so far as I am concerned. Apparently we're in the midst of what researchers dub the third quarter phenomenon, a period during long missions that have crew isolated (think Space, Submarines, Antarctica), that leave the crew isolated from family for long periods of time. It's a period of lower morale, unpleasant moods, a general down feeling. This COVID-19 stuff has taken it's toll. We are all under stress, so know that you're feeling meh is quite normal. So... Let me share some more guilty pleasures with you to maybe cheer you up. I discovered that Andrew Lloyd Webber has been streaming his musicals for us quarantined folk and also trying to raise money for theatre workers in times of need (like right now).

I like musicals. I've only ever seen two ('The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Les Misérables') live. The rest I've only watched as movies or only heard their soundtracks. 

Today my pick is 'Dentist' from 'Little Shop of Horrors'. It's a lovely dark comedy, directed by Frank Oz. Steve Martin is a great actor and does a wonderful job as Dr. Orin Scrivello, a stereotypical bad guy, who's a biker and happens to be a dentist as well. This is one of my favourite bits of the movie because it's hilariously over the top. The movie cast some amazing SCTV and Saturday Night Live alumnis (Rick Moranis, John Candy, Bill Murray, James Belushi) so you know the comedy performances are going to be gold.

It's a great bit of film except that the not-fairy-tale ending was cut since test audiences didn't like it, and changed up for the bit of fluff that's there now. 

That reminds me. They shut down all the dentists two months ago. I seriously need to go floss. 

Stuff I'm Listening To - Victoria Day Edition

Artist: the Kinks

Title: Victoria

Favourite Lyrics: 

Canada to India
Australia to Cornwall
Singapore to Hong Kong
From the West to the East
From to the rich to the poor
Victoria loved them all

 
Why?: Because it's Victoria Day in Canada, eh? I usually post the Fall's version because it was the first one I'd ever heard. But homage is clearly overdue to the original. Here's their performance taken from 'One for the Road'. Cheers all, Happy Victoria Day, the first May 2-4 without mass fireworks, gatherings and camping, but there's still beer, so yay!

Stuff I'm Listening To - Quick Fix edition - Human League

Artist: Human League

Title: Hard Times / Love Action





Lyrics: (I must admit I actually don't know these songs well enough to pick any at the moment)

Why?: Shamefully, in a blatant consumerist attempt to cheer myself up the other day, I was browsing through a independent Canadian record dealer's website (actually not long after Record Store day) and found a couple of albums to purchase to make me happy. This 12" single actually got added in last minute because it brought my total up to that magical point where I wasn't going to have to pay an arm and a leg for shipping. Also... my excuse...  As a Talk Talk fan, it was required for historical accuracy. I couldn't find the 7" so this was going to have to do.

Those of you who follow Rustin Man (and if you don't, why are we even friends?) will likely recall his two posts (here and here) about their pre-record deal performance at London's Blitz Club and tale of a certain solitary 7' single in the booth that was the pre-show entertainment. 

Stuff I'm Listening to - Kraftwerk

Artist: Kraftwerk

TItle: Neon Lights

Lyrics: 

Neon lights
Shimmering neon lights
And at the fall of night
This city's made of lights

 

Why?: I actually don't own anything by Kraftwerk outside of a single MP3. Before you all gasp in surprise, let me explain. I just never got around to purchasing anything because they were everywhere. From people playing their stuff around me or on the deck of many of the music paraphernalia stores I'd hit. They were often the alternative stations go to during the times I'd be listening. MuchMusic's main show for alternative music that loved Laurie Anderson, the Cure and the Residents also seemed to really love Kraftwerk. And it seemed every band I enjoyed listening to enjoyed Kraftwerk and you could hear that in their music. Kraftwerk was such a mainstay of my teenage years, as much as air was. They were always there, even when I didn't notice. 

As for this song, clearly it's a favourite, it's been on my iPhone for a long time, five star ranking and when they introduced those hearts, it got one pretty fast.  RIP Florian Schneider-Esleben.