Tag: Retro

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Live music galleries

Live music galleries: The Box [2024]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

The Box live @ The Bronson Centre, September 2024

Artist: The Box
When: September 27th, 2024
Where: Bronson Centre Music Theatre, Ottawa
Context: I hummed and hawed about attending this show but am glad I decided to go in the end because The Bedouin Soundclash show that I had a ticket for in December got pushed to March and I had to sell my ticket for a January Slowdive show due to my ongoing health issues. So this was the last live show that I’ve seen for some time and what a doozy it was. Put on as part of local station, Boom 99.7’s Legends Weekend, the bill included 80s New Wave ‘legends’ Strange Advance, Images in Vogue, and these guys, Montreal’s The Box. I had always loved their tune “L’affaire dumoutier (say to me)” from back when I was a pre-teen and my AM radio-listening days. However, at some point during the pandemic, I decided to give the rest of their catalogue a listen after seeing a poster advertising a show by the band and found that I knew a lot more of their tunes than I realized. The only remaining original member from back in the day is frontman and driving force, Jean-Marc Pisapia but the rest of band is a gaggle of fantastic musicians that he put together when he decided to re-start performing as The Box back in the early 2000s. Given the length of the bill and the average age of the audience members, each act was only allotted a short set but The Box made the most of their time, blasting eight of their greatest and well-known hits, including the song already mentioned, “My dreams of you”, “Closer together”, and Cold War classic, “Ordinary people” (see below). Jean-Marc and his band were pure performers and crowd pleasers all the way through. And I found myself smiling and singing along with the rest of the crowd.
Point of reference song: “Ordinary people”

Jean-Marc Pisapia with Isabelle Lemay
Dan Volj on bass
Francois Bruneau on guitairs
Martin Lapierre on drums
Jean-Marc singin’ it
Categories
Tunes

Eighties’ best 100 redux: #85 Thompson Twins “Hold me now” (1983)

<< #86    |    #84 >>

Check out that hair! Yeesh!

Thompson Twins’ “Hold me now”, at song #85, is something of a guilty pleasure* of mine. When I was in grade five, I thought the band was the coolest thing ever and even today, I still know all the words to this song. I’m dedicating this one to Victoria, my lovely wife, for whom this song is also a pleasure, but maybe not so guilty.

Like so many British New Wave bands of this era, Thompson Twins began as a post-punk band (seriously) and at the time of their debut album, had a roster of six members! Alannah Currie was only officially added as the seventh member for the band’s sophomore album, 1982’s “Set”. The band’s core of Currie, Tom Bailey and Joe Leeway were convinced by their manager at the time to whittle themselves down to a trio and expand on their synth pop direction, given the North American success in 1982 of single, “In the name of love.” The changes paid off because the band enjoyed global success for the next four years and three albums, culminating in an appearance at Live Aid in 1985 where they were joined onstage by none other than pop icon, Madonna.

“Hold me now” was the first single released off Thompson Twins’ fourth album, “Into the gap” and despite the sneers of critics everywhere, was a huge hit the world over, charting into the top ten of many countries’ charts. I personally remember watching this video for many weeks running on my favourite music chart show at the time, CHUM FM top 30 videos. Sure, it sounds dated now, as does most of the band’s back catalogue, but it still has a place in my Apple Music library. The nostalgia factor is strong here.

Click the play button on the video below and sing along loudly with me.

Original Eighties best 100 position: #88

Favourite lyric: I like: “You say I’m a dreamer, we’re two of a kind / Both of us searching for some perfect world, we know we’ll never find.” But I’m near certain Victoria likes: “And then I’ll ask your forgiveness though I don’t know / Just what I’m asking it for.” Maybe because it reminds her of the two of us together.

Where are they now?: Joe Leeway left the band in 1986 and the remaining duo of Bailey and Currie officially called it quits in 1993. The band has never considered a reunion but since 2014, former lead singer Tom Bailey has regularly toured under the name “Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey”.

*I’ve always called this one a ‘guilty pleasure’ but I think I’m nearly ready to own it. Give me another year or two. 😉

For the rest of the Eighties’ best 100 redux list, click here.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 1994: #30 Beck “Loser”

#29 >>

I’m starting off this list of my favourite tunes of 1994 with an artist with whom many of you are likely quite familiar. In fact, you’re all probably more familiar with Beck Hansen (also known mononymously as Beck) than is this humble blogger.

I remember hearing this very track on alternative radio and watching the video on MuchMusic ad nauseum back in ‘94. I found it amusing at first, deeming the tune catchy yet quirky, but soon grew to dislike it, as well as the other single* that was being slogged from “Mellow gold”. The singles from his next album, “Odelay”, though they too were overplayed, rang more true for me and I purchased that album on CD. I very nearly became a fan after that, if it weren’t for the Britpop explosion that followed, dragging my tastes in a completely different direction for a time. Still, I paid attention when I heard his name spoken on commercial radio over the years that followed but it took catching him at Osheaga back in 2013 to finally hook me for good.

In truth, “Loser” was originally released as a single in 1993. It was released by indie label Bong Load Custom Records with a limited pressing and somehow got picked up by college radio stations along the west coast. Modern rock stations started playing it next and pressings quickly sold out. Our hero musician, who from his folk roots had always been indie at heart, found himself signing with a major label, DGC, to keep up with demand. They re-released the song in 1994 as a preface to Beck’s third album but first on a major label, the aforementioned “Mellow gold”. The rest, of course, is history. A dozen or so albums released, millions of units sold, Brit awards, Grammys, household name.

“You can’t write if you can’t relate
Trade the cash for the beef for the body for the hate
And my time is a piece of wax falling on a termite
That’s choking on the splinters”

In hindsight, this is a crazy tune and crazy that it became so successful. Beck mixes and matches with genres and sounds, throwing blues, folk, and hip hop into the meat grinder and cranking away. He’s got samples, a wicked drum machine beat, slide guitar, and sitar**. Above it all Beck is spewing nonsensical words at random in a rough hewn sing-speak that some have strangely compared to Dylan. By contrast, Beck has called out his own rapping prowess, which incidentally, is the real basis for chorus line that became like a clarion call for the so-called slacker image of generation X.

“Soy un perdedor
I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?”

*I remember making the connection for a university acquaintance between “Beercan” and the artist that performed “Loser”, without realizing until later I was sounding arrogant and making her feel small. Not one of my finer moments.

**When I saw him at Osheaga, he had Elephant Stone’s Rishi Dhir playing the sitar on stage with him.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 1994 list, click here.