My Musical Alphabet : L

As I keep saying, this stuff isn't mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies. I'm sure you know how.

Like some songs on these lists, I am not sure where my liking for the following one comes from. Maybe from the 60s and some TV stuff about the war? I really do not know. What I can say for certain is that this is the version I like. Not the one my Marlene Dietrich. This is Lale Andersen with Lili Marlene. Sorry for the removed crackles but it looks like an the 78rpm shellac has been cleaned up. A nice song and tune. Associated with the "Baddies" from the war but listened to and sung by both sides. Music beats war!

Lale Andersen singing Lili Marlene

Another, C&W, lurve song next and who doesn't like the Eagles? You must - their albums, back before nicked downloads, sold by the millions. Released when I was just starting out on the love trail. I really like this one out of their repertoire. Of course, it is Lyin' Eyes.

The Eagles performing Lyin' Eyes

Now this is a bit of an oddity, even if I do say so myself. I have never heard of the movie it is from, the song, the singer, the composer. Believe it or not, I first heard this on a TV advertisement! Back then I had no shazam to find it. All I had was a search engine or two, a scientist's enquiring mind and a CSI's detecting skills. A bit of a cheek using La for my link with this. It is La ragazza dalle pelle di luna. Singer unknown at this time.

La ragazza dalle pelle di luna 

Next up in the category are Lullabys. This is not the first one I heard but it does come with a nice guitar version. The first one was Brahm's lullaby in a bright blue poodle ornament that one of my grans had. The head went around and the tune came out. I was going to post Nena, her of 99 Red Balloons fame, covering some children's songs but instead plumped for another bit of guitar. The song was written by no less than WA Mozart.

Josef Stalinsson plays some Mozart

Next up is some Lennon, not from his Beatles days but this lovely melody. It is #9 Dream. I was bottle fed the Beatles but they went weird and I lost contact. However, their songs, or their member's songs now and again popped up. No idea what he's on about but the tune is nice.

John Lennon's #9 Dream

Turn this next one up to 11. One of the best riffs written (Not the best but more of that later). It is Zep of course. Led Zep. I was never a Zep fan but did hear their stuff from fellow travellers. Back then if you liked a song you bought the album or the single (if it was available). None of this download nonsense. Anyway, I do like this one. The louder, the better.

Such a simple song. Apart from the solo.

Time to slow this down a bit with a total change of direction from metal to dance. Yes, I know.

The L this time is for the London Boys. Another piece that is on my list. I can probably lay this one on England. I was living there at this time. Possibly picked up from my, limited time, clubbing days. Never again. Not because of the music, honest, just the predatory nature of those others in the club. Seems that all singles are targets - from anyone. Anyway, now that dark secret is out, here they are:

Requiem by the London Boys

Landler. The precursor to the walz. I don't know about this one but I may be able to lay it at the door of that Children's classic, Trumpton. I found this one trawling through Youtube trying to avoid all references to the Sound of Music. This clip has it all - give it a listen. BTW, there is no yodelling in this one, it is purely instrumental.

Well, there you go. Thanks for taking the time to have a read/listen to my warblings. Feel free to like, comment or share (as they always say on YouTube). If you'd like to hear my take on any musical genre, I'll happily give it, provided it isn't too specific or so vague that I've never heard of it. Until next time...

Next up is :- And then there were movies

NB: I keep saying, this stuff isn't mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies. I'm sure you know how.

Here is your next 30 minutes worth of class as it relates to my favourite movies, movies I have watched more than once, movies where I could quote chunks of. You know the kind.

So, let's get into them, in no particular order:

Das Boot. An anti-war movie, believe it or not. I am a fan, a big fan. I have this on 6 part VHS tape, DVD, Director's Cut DVD, LP, CD, Audio-book, novel, novel (abridged)...no Blu-Ray yet but maybe. I also have various references to it via a band called U-96, another movie called Beerfest. Your link:

Note the guitars - two of them. Go looking on youtube and you can watch it being played. SUBlime (hee hee hee).

Next up is a movie starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. An unusual pairing that works well. The movie is a boys own type thing. A spy movie set in deepest Germany. BTW, I have visited Hohen Werfen, the castle where some of the movie is set. Unfortunately, the cable ride up to the castle isn't quite up to movie standard.

Here is your main theme:

And next up is a Michael Caine movie based on a Len Deighton story (sort of). You clip has Harry (not his real name) meeting Samantha. To me, this is the best of the "Harry Palmer" stories.

The geek in me has walked the length of  Lietzenseeufer looking for one of the buildings used in the movie. The Wall was but a side-show.

My favourite bond is the one and only outing of George Lazenby. Also has that wonderful Louis Armstrong song in it.

There are loads of SciFi movies that are class but top of the list must be 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a movie that has to be seen several times to take in everything that is there and all the potential meanings. This movie does not belong on the best of hollywood stuff. This is not a movie just to entertain. It is a movie in the best BBC tradition - to inform, to educate, to entertain. Here is the trailer:

After all that really deep stuff, a couple of cartoons to entertain you. The first one is Snow White. A movie full of nostalgia fo me. The first movie I saw at the cinema. It had me in tears. I thought she was dead. Oh, yes, it also had a yodel in it, and here it is:

The second cartoon is my favourite of them all. Baloo makes the move and the Sherman brothers had all the songs spot on. Of course - The Jungle Book.

Well, there you have it. A fine selection of must see, 5* movies if I do say so myself. There is a stack of others that didn't quite make the list but on another day may have. I know some people look on TV and the movies as trash but there are many that are brilliant. The writers, directors, producers, special effects, all the backroom stuff. My hat is off to them all.

As usual, any comments are more than welcome on this topic as well as the others. Feel free to add them. Please.

My Musical Alphabet : J

As I keep saying, this stuff isn't mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies. I'm sure you know how.

Here is your next 30 minutes worth of class.

I will begin this trawl through J with Mr. Elmore James, the master of the slide guitar. I have no idea where my liking for slide comes from. I've had a good old hard think about it and cannot find any rhyme or reason. I don't know when it started or why. All I know is that slide sometimes just hits the spot. I nearly said hits the right note! It does not link into Eurovision, it does not link into Quo (although Rossi has dabbled). Sorry but there is no juicy story to go with it.

Anyway, as Elmore James is from the very old days, here is a much younger George Thorogood playing Dust My Broom. Eventually - after 4 minutes of waffle.

  

Another J, is Jeff Wayne. There is no link here because I'd have to give you the whole album and I know your time is too precious. The work, is of course, The War of the Worlds. A brilliant album based on a brilliant story. Yes, I know it is a musical but, hey-ho.

I do not know about you but when I go on holiday abroad, I like to watch the TV. Even if you cannot understand it all, sometimes you come across a gem.  The one I found is from Jeyro and it is this:

  

This next one I can lay at the feet of my old dad. He bought me the soundtrack to 2001 (it was space related and I am a geek, remember?) On it was An der schönen blauen Donau or to give it the English name, The Blue Danube.  This fueled my love of the waltz and the ländler. Of course the J is for Johann Strauss. Did I mention that the movie must be one of the best ever?

  

Before the next J, a word about some of these choices. You might have noticed a common theme. I like strings - guitar, ruan, bazouki, balalaika, zither....so next up is Julian Bream. Hard to imagine that this is just one guitar. Brilliance. The piece is Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

  

To finish off with a little weirdness, here is Aneka with Japanese Boy. Another one full of Eastern Promise. And a one-off wonder to boot.

  

And so we come to the end (to paraphrase Bob Stewart on RTL). Well, the end of the Js.

As usual, feel free to add you thoughts whether you agree with me or not. It would be helpful to know what you think and if you want this to take any particular direction.

My Musical Alphabet : I

As I keep saying, this stuff isn't mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies. I'm sure you know how.

Anyway, we are now up to the letter I. I is for ABBA in this nice little tune of theirs. I first heard this as a radio introduction to some radio show. It might have been RTL, the great 208, the station of the stars. Their international programme before the English service started or maybe it was on before the old DLF came on air. But I may be talking out of my rear here. Anyway, here it is:

Intermezzo Number 1

I'm quite partial to a nice tune, probably more so than the words. It might also be why I like the light classics rather than the more full on concerto or symphony.

My next take is this German Volksleid, a nice little song that I found on one of those cheapo "greatest hits" CDs that you find yourself buying. Get your right hand working and you'll find numerous covers on YouTube. This is not the best cover but my favourite is on a cd in a cupboard at this time.

Im Krug zum grunen kranze

This next German was also found on a Greatest Hits Box set that I picked up for a song. (Sorry about that clumsy humour). 100 tracks for less than a pint! A worthy trade-off. This from the 80s by Herwig Mitteregger, the decade before music went pear-shaped.

Immer Mehr

Penultimately we have another  instrumental brought back to my memory when I purchased a box of 45s. Not only a random collection of vinyl but it was a B side I think, I for the title or I for Italian. Nino Rossi from 1965 playing the trumpet here:

Il Silenzio

Lastly, for the "I"s is Frank, undoubtedly the best at this song. All the children, C&W, BGT stuff pales compared to him. Yes, Mr. Ifield does it here:

Not exactly sure where or when I first heard it but I would put money on the early 60's. Decades before the 90's re-release. Must have made a big impression as other yodels were a bit thin on the ground in 60's Scotland.

Well, that's it for the I's. I think you'll agree a nice little collection of tunes. Feel free to add any comments whether you like these songs or not.

Next up are the K's. I wonder what quality tunes will be in there?

All things skiing.

Help.

It's summer and the wintersports season is over.

Well, the new season might be on the horizon but it's a safe bet that the BBC will decide that us wintersports fans don't need a news feed unless you lump us in with "other sports". Ski Sunday finished back in March and, as yet, there is no indication that we will see a new series until January 2019 - 3 months after the Sölden opener.

Luckily there is some of the Pyeongchang Olympics still on the TV box.

Remember that? 

I suppose we are lucky in that we have Eurosport - when they can keep to the schedules! They will soon be advertising what's coming up in for the winter season.

Get yourself over here and here for full details.

We also have the Winter Dew Tour to catch up with but only on satellite or cable - it seems like if it isn't football, snooker, cricket or tennis, it isn't good enough for us.

Maybe you need a bit of something else to keep you going. There are some ski sims around.

Another short one, I'm afraid but I have to get up in the loft for my ski gear. Can't watch it on TV unless appropriately attired and all that.

Warning Warnung Mise en garde Varning Avviso Advertencia Aviso Waarschuwing Advarsel Uyari 

Ok. Ok. I know it's only April but as sure as night follows day, May follows April and you know what that means:

Yes, something to smile about, it's even older than me.

I've mentioned this before so for this take I'll post some links to songs that I thought were very enjoyable.
First of all, set T H I S as your home page to make sure you stay up to date this year.

I'll take you on a magical mystery tour from my earliest recollection of the contest up to last year. I've only had an inkling of this year's stuff so far so none of it has jumped out as worthy of favourite status yet.

First of all, comes this from the late France Gall:

A more recent favourite is the following from

linca & Alex Florea

Another of my likes is this Electro Velvet number that has been slated on-line. Not by me.

Another early memory is Sandie Shaw's entry back in the 60s:

I'll finish with my favourite from Germany - Nicole. A song covered by her in Dutch, English, French but best of all in German.

Martial arts and the movies

As I keep saying, this stuff isn't mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies. I'm sure you know how.

When I were a lad "Made in Hong Kong" was stamped on all sorts of stuff. It was a by-phrase for cheap and tacky. But that was about to change.

I was a young teenager when Enter the Dragon was released so I didn't see it for a few years as it was classified as an X back then. When I did see it, it was cut but I still thought "FFS!". It was awesome, a good old fashioned spy/espionage affair with some martial arts thrown in long before the high-tech of Bourne or Crouching Tiger. Naturally, I decided to see loads more as well as manage to track down where I could see it in its uncut glory. This was the first martial arts movie to be produced by a major Western TV studio. It spawned an interesting TV series (Kung Fu) as well as some tripe (The Water Margin or Monkey).

Well that was a bad move as back then all you could see were "Chop Socky" movies out of Hong Kong. You know the kind of movie, even if you've never seen one - the hero fights his way through the movie, in houses, on the street, in parks and fields, on top of trains. He is often battered within an inch of his life but always wins through. These films, when I watched them, were invariably dubbed (More about dubbing in a forthcoming blog?) but I still lapped them up. I'd spend all day in the cinema watching the movies. Binge viewing before it caught on. I was living in Glasgow in the late 70s and spent many an entire weekend sitting in some flea-pit with nothing but a choc-ice to see me through the day.

A 'net search for Shaw Brothers will get you going. And going. And going.

Back to Bruce Lee: He died and eventually, his last film was released. This was Game of Death. Again, not too bad a film. Unfortunately, the game to play when watching it is to look for the joins. Bruce Lee died in the middle of filming but there was enough "in the can" to be going on with. So, in come the bandages, the fake beard - all wound into the story to make them believable. There is even a cut-scene when Bruce Lee was on display in his casket. The real, dead body.

The film has numerous doubles, numerous cuts from older films but it does have a good storyline. I'd watch both the re-mastered version (with all(?) the footage) as well as the version that was released to the big screen. It is worth it. But I do say that as a die-hard Kung Fu movie fan.

Those are the two of his that top my list. There are others but I'll leave you with those two.

This ramble brings me to Ip Man, starring Donnie Yen.

Now Ip Man was a martial arts master and teacher - he taught Bruce Lee, and this is his story. The movie is brilliant - there is no other word for it. Definitely on the "must see" list. This is the third outing (of many) of a fighter in the ring of opponents - Bruce Lee, Jet Li and now Donnie Yen. Watch and see who you think does it best.

I only have picked those two action stars, I have not mentioned the movies of Jackie Chan or Jet Li but I could have.

These movies are another chicken and egg thing - do I like the movies because of the Eastern philosophy or did I get into the Eastern stuff because of the movies? 

I'll finish here with a parody. Do you remember Airplane! or Police Squad? Well before them came The Kentucky Fried Movie and it contained a major segment, "A Fistful of Yen". Well worth a watch.

That's it. Hopefully, the next bit of this blog will be sooner rather than later.

Comments, whether in agreement or not, are always welcome.

Some more TV Stuff of the Retro Variety.

A thousand apologies to anyone who just might be following this blog. The extreme tardiness in getting anything completed and put up here is down to a workload, in extremis, in the lab. The external verifiers have been in and given us an obstacle course to navigate on top of providing a service to all the sick and needy of the area. Enough of that. Here's the next wee bit, as they say in the homeland.

As I keep saying, this stuff isn't mine and may very well be pulled for breach of copyright. You can, of course, go looking on YouTube, or its foreign variants, for copies. I'm sure you know how.

In my younger days, it was thought by my elders that it would be a good idea to have access to a wide range of TV, as an education, and an entertainment too you understand, but as I sit staring at the TV today, I wonder what on earth possessed anyone to make the tripe before me. Doesn't matter whether if it is supposed to be dramatic or funny, it isn't. Maybe there was something to only having three tv channels and only for a limited time. I suppose there isn't enough class to fill up every minute of the day schedule.

Not like the old days.....and this brings me to the early 60s

1962 to be precise and The Saint.

Like Danger Man earlier, I probably watched this alongside my mum. Not when it was first shown as we lacked a TV back then but later on as re-runs. I liked the Roger Moore incarnation not only because I didn't really have much choice but because the stories were usually very well written and the special effects limited. I skip over the effects in the giant ants episode. In general, these stories were simple standalone affairs - none of todays' ongoing story arcs and such.

The later versions of the Saint I didn't really watch much of - I suppose I was doing other things when the Ian Ogilvy version was on TV.

Like the other programmes of the sixties, all it took was a stock shot of the Eiffel tower and a poster on the Elstree Studios backlot of "Pastis 51" or some such and you were in France. It also got us out of Scotland, not that there was anything wrong with Scotland you understand.

Along with the Eiffel tower and poster advertisements were jets, pre-British Airways, BEA and BOAC, other foreign locations, cultures, politics - the whole shebang. And all before we were in the EU.

I am really glad that this material is still available. When you consider that some of the great TV stuff of old (albeit videotape) was wiped and that today's TV offerings of reality tv dross and wall-to-wall shite, this material (like Templer) is a breath of fresh air without the need of rose-tints.

That's it. Hopefully, the next bit of this blog will be sooner rather than later.

Comments, whether in agreement or not, are always welcome.