Monday, April 17, 2006

The "greatest painting” apparently...

I just couldn’t stay away...

And so today Isaac Hayes’ 1969 classic “Hot Buttered Soul”, Shivaree’s “Who’s Got Trouble?” from last year (including a lovely cover of Brian Eno’s “The Fat Lady of Limbourg”), “The Very Best of Asia”, which I bought for two hard to find B Sides included in this compilation from 2000, and a 6CD box set, culled from the EMI vaults, called “Best of the 80’s” (I know that’s a bit of a contradiction in terms but hey, it was only £3.99) all joined my collection from the basement of Virgin on Princes Street...

Once again I had others in my hand but put them back...

Back home I listened to the Shivaree album while Anne prepared a spicy goulash – which turned out to be the best goulash I’ve ever tasted – and then made my way upstairs to finalise my proposed cover version of Alice Cooper’s “Hello Hooray”...

It just wouldn’t work though – it ended up sounding more like Judy Collins’ version – limp and lacking in any power whatsoever in comparison to the benchmark set by the Coop back in ’73...

I went back downstairs for the superb goulash, which we ate whilst watching a documentary on a fresco painting called “The Resurrection” by Piero della Francesca which you can read about here : http://www.artchive.com/artchive/P/piero/resurrex.jpg.html

And here is the painting, once described by Aldous Huxley as “the greatest painting in the world”...



As Coronation Street was about to start, I was bemoaning the failure with “Hello Hooray” when Anne, who’d been listening outside the door whilst I’d been trying to sing the Cooper song and, no doubt, laughing, suggested “that one by Emerson Lake and Palmer that goes “Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends””...

Aha, “you mean Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression Part Two” I said, but she was already watching Corrie and so I went back upstairs and spent 40 minutes or so working out the main chords for this prog tour de force, changed the key and rendered into a country and western song...

So that wasn’t working...

Finally, I fell back on the song that sprang into my head when I first heard there was to be a theme of “Hello” on Thursday night...

If I get a slot, I’ll be paying homage to the pariah who was once one of Britain’s biggest pop stars, Mr Gary Glitter, by murdering his 1973 hit “Hello Hello (I’m Back Again)" – and I may well not be the only one to cover it, it’s so obvious, although I imagine the wags at OOTB will change the lyrics to something relating to Mr Glitter’s more recent notoriety...he did write a fine tune or two though before he was caught out...

By 9:50 it was listened to, chords worked out, lyrics transcribed and the tune rehearsed a few times and I settled down to listen to Isaac Hayes and Asia followed by the highlights from the weekend’s SPL games...

Hmm, all three songs considered for covering were from 1973....

Highlight of the Day : Anne’s culinary delights once again Posted by Picasa

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