Differences between Irish, British, Polish, American and other nations culture, tradition, music - loose talk

One of the takes of "Come On" from the boot of Electric Ladyland. Fierce does not describe it adequately. Maybe Hendrix was getting frustrated and gave it an tad extra shred


No. As in 10 cc "I don't like cricket.........I love it!". If CCR had only recorded SuzyQ, and never played another song, they would have been up there. They had me at "Oh, Suzy Q......" !!

Fogarty is a very naughty boy - but we'll let him off, because of his genius.

Some of their songs such as their take on "You put a spell on me" or "Suzie Q" for example. The first one reminds me of slow dancing with girlfriends (love you, girls!) in somebody's dark basement, with only mattrasses on the floor and candle light. Aah, those were the days. My favorite song from that era is "The Park" by Uriah Heep. So beautiful.

youtu.be/Qmx37Irw3Rg

Should be "I put a spell on you"

Down with that sort of thing! We'll have none of that kind of carry on here :D Suburban Irish houses didn't generally have basements but they had vigilant Irish mothers who had a habit of appearing suddenly with trays of tea and assorted biscuits, so there were limits to one's activities whilst listening to music. Boys were certainly permitted in the house, even long haired ones (in fact they were quite favoured 'doesn't he have beautiful hair God Bless him' as long as they sat at a safe distance from the girls and were 'mannerly' "Oh thanks very much Mrs McGinty, let me take that tray for you, ah no, you're grand, don't bother coming back for it, I'll bring it to the kitchen for you when we're finished, you go and watch your programme" :D


What about Fortunate Son? I love that one. Great live version from the Royal Albert Hall:
youtube.com/watch?v=nyREuhUnXic

Those guys could start an earthquake - I didn't like their music at the time....the critics said they were rubbish. I shouldn't have believed what I read.

CCR were brilliant and still very much loved in NL.
If any of you ever listen to the Dutch Pirate Radio stations on around 185 metres.....1620 Khz,you wil hear plenty of CCR songs.

Great thread.....been moved again.....but great anyway.....yeah,Jeff Beck is better than Hendrix,I know that sounds like blasphemy,but he is.....and Zakk Wylde is serious competition...

Okay I'm American but I never totally "got" CCR. A very good band with some very good singles, but nothing for the ages. Being marginally from the US south their southern shtick always felt a little put on (and so I wasn't surprised when I found it was in fact a put on). If you want real Southern Rock from the US it's the Allman Bros and Lynyrd Skynyrd all the way.... (Wet Willie have their moments too)

On the other hand, I loved TRex more than I can say from the first moment I heard them (they only had one hit in the US) and they never, ever sound stale to me, they sound as vivid and fresh to me now as when I first him.

I also have a particular love of British folk rock groups like Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and Pentangle (and Clannad especially when they sang in Irish)

They take me back a bit. I played their 'Magical Ring' album to death in the 80's.
Another band I'm very fond of is Afro Celt Sound System. Their music is a kind of mix between Irish and West African.

T-Rex, yes, yes, yes! Get it on!


If anybody mentions The Incredible String Band I'm organizing a lynch mob and coming after you! Steeleye Span set my teeth on edge, don't like that English folksy vocal style at all with that sort of Somerset bumpkin accent thing. Having said that I love the old Cornish Chistmas song, The Sans Day Carol but I only like it sung either by a group of rosy faced locals or by this Irish group, I think you'd like it Maf:

youtube.com/watch?v=uDnWw6jQDtQ

Are you familar with Clannad's early stuff? This is nice live footage from the 1970s, one of their most popular songs, Téir Abhaile Riú which tranlsates as Go On Home You. It's about a girl being 'matched' with the local Piper whom she doesn't want to marry and she's arguing that her 'bargain' is not made. Also Siúil A Rún, in Irish and English. There's quite a tradition of bi-lingual songs in Irish traditional music where for example the chorus is in Irish and the verses in English.

youtube.com/watch?v=M9Jc2VHGQbY


The only thing I don't like about them is John Fogarty's hair and trouser scene from those early days,truly disturbing combination. So I like to listen, but avert my eyes from the screen for YouTube vids.

I really wish that the Mods would leave this conversation alone. It wasn't doing any harm at all in the off-topic section and now it's been hacked at and the flow destroyed. If I were a more emotional type I would weep salty tears :D

I lurve Maddy Prior (and her collaborations with June Tabor as the Silly Sisters).


The first album I had by them was Clannad 2 (around 1980 and then bought anything by them through Fuaim) after that I drifted more into alternative American punk stuff (X, Black Flag, Minute Men, Husker Du)

The only song by them in English I really, really liked was two sisters

youtube.com/watch?v=GhnPOUyEomc

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clannad_2

A favorite in Irish was the more contemporary An Tull

youtube.com/watch?v=MlOrEIKNOXQ

A better guitarist - maybe...but that's not the point. Less listenability. I used to own 800 Hendrix CDs. Zero Jeff Beck CDs (my bad...)

Good point,Beck is technically better but of course that is not everything.I have more Hendrix albums than Beck ones too.
And Hendrix was an original trailblazer too.
Many have imitated him,Trower,Morino,SRV to name just three,all good,but not the same.

Lowell George of Little Feat. Can't believe I forgot about him, great slide guitarist!

Groundbreakers. And what a voice! Never had any of their albums though. Now where is that bangs head against a brick wall smiley....? Talking Americana, George was America. It's strange how the Band get all the plaudits because of the charisma and infighting between Levon Holm and RR, but Little Feat don't get the same recognition.

It was a family member that got me into Little Feat and Jethro Tull and I still have the Feats don't fail me now album :) Unfortunately, I no longer have a record player for all my vinyl :(

I don't remember The Band at all.
youtube.com/watch?v=o-r-qi_cJs0

Simples. Befriend a Hi-Fi enthusiast (they are everywhere) and bag some of their stuff. They are always happy to offload as they constantly trade/upgrade.

Get some vintage stuff. Your old records wont sound good on new gear. And remasters wont sound good on vintage gear......... You don't have to pay a lot if you buy cleverly and it's an investment as well. My 1971 Sansui amp has doubled in value in 5 years. Would never sell it though.

"Time to Turn" by the German prog group Eloy rocking the joint on Dougpol Towers turntables at the moment. The neighbours are loving it (I suppose)

• 
  Eloy_2.jpg
  

I don't know anyone who has vinyl or a record player these days! Hi-Fi enthusiasts are most definitely not everywhere Doug! Can't bring myself to part with my vinyl though. Might have a look on ebay later, would be good to hear some old tunes again.

You have some old records there! Like me you seem to have quite diverse music tastes. Haven't heard of Eloy either I'm afraid!

Tell me about it, I would love a vinyl record player. I go to an outdoor flea (and antique) market and see all kinds of interesting old Polish and other east bloc records I would love to digitalize... (yes I like Eastern European pop music from the 1960s through the 1980s..... sue me).

Also when I visit places like Hungary and Romania.... so much obscure weirdness, so little equipement to immortalize it with....

I have a huge soft spot for Yugoslavian music from that era!

youtube.com/watch?v=Q9uJQ4s6SSw for instance - just utterly shameless, or this masterpiece - youtube.com/watch?v=jSouEC8BFuI

A lot of Yugoslav New Wave was fantastic, too.

PS: culture.pl/en/article/the-musical-milestones-of-the-polish-radio-experimental-studio - well worth a read, IMO.

But isn't it all a bit ......... Eurovision ?

I saw a late 1960s (maybe early 1970s) musical variety show from Jugoslavija on TV Polonia that was primo stuff. Crow's crazy nationalism is maddening but I regret that Jugoslavija has disappeared - I liked it much better than the rag tag places that have taken its place....

I'm also into more folkish efforts. I stumbled onto this in the early 1980s and tried many times to find it in Hungary with no success and then it shows up on youtube...

youtube.com/watch?v=rUJUreiIJqM&list=PL5vf-xjy1OMVUcFbZkqUbS-oYgD0ljpDf

One of the things that made me interested in Poland in the first place was a friend who'd picked up some records (in Indonesia of all places) and gave them to me, there was a czerwone gitary and a compilation from Opole or Sopot (some year in the late 1960s) and "Piosenki o mojej Warszawie" which I loved and have never been able to find here.... though some of the songs are now on youtube , though not always in the versions on the record.... :-(

youtube.com/watch?v=CwgNF7I2Dao

A. I lurves me some Eurovision (the weirder and more outlandish the better)

B. No. There's actually a very rich tradition that's been (sadly) abandoned. It's a little like collecting Soul music in the US (from the golden decade) there are always new and interesting things popping up.

Show some of that tolerance you keep banging on about and listen with fresh ears, you might be surprised.

Now you're getting into my territory! I loved the madness of Eurovision last year (Romanian rap-yodelling? Croatian pop-opera? yes!), though one of my all time favourites was this piece of lunacy from Moldova in 2005 - youtube.com/watch?v=mVhtWfC7RF4 - and of course, a special mention to Lithuania's entry from 2006 - youtube.com/watch?v=DBAdOlQPbwg


Yes, absolutely. Not only the Yugoslav New Wave (which was better than the Anglo stuff if you ask me), but also a lot more was quite original. Estonian music is actually well worth checking out if you're into more folk stuff, because one way that they kept their identity throughout the centuries was through song. They actually seem to have kept this alive, too.

If you listen to what they're producing now in ex-Yugoslavia countries, it's either awful Serbian music with terrible Turkish melodies, or it's hyper-nationalist Croatian music. Having said that, I discovered quite a rich tradition of nationalist songs during the wars there - this is a particularly ghastly Serb song, but there's so much more - youtube.com/watch?v=Y9-mYg5VDzQ&index=4&list=PLHyyETA5ebv94EwLTyDw1R8E8tYn8cKoS - the lyrics are hilariously arrogant, and the music just defies any explanation.

Favourite Eurovision songs, come on now everybody, we all have them :)

Ding-A-Dong (Netherlands) sung by Teach In 1975:

youtube.com/watch?v=sI78Bqp6z6g

But of course my all time favourite is the tragically ill-fated entry by Fathers Ted Crilly and Dougal McGuire:

youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg

What could have been....

As a bonus, the sequence here (from 1.15 to .1.56) captures what goes on in my head during interactions with students pretty well....

youtube.com/watch?v=rsISf1HW_nU

My all time favorite Eurovision song remains Bosnia's demented song from 2008 retro Jugoslav new wave?

youtube.com/watch?v=kIRDbmpC2PI

Last year's rapping and yodeling Romanians are way up there too.

And of course we can't forget Fathers Dick Byrne and Cyril McDuff :D

youtube.com/watch?v=FDrebP5bOcg

Ah Ireland, my Ireland, even our spoof Euro songs are better than the actual entries!!


Yes, this one definitely asks more questions than it answers..........it's a weird European tradition of bizarre surreal arty cabaret if you get my drift and unfortunately they can't write a decent tune which is kind of essential in pop music!

Reminds me very much of this:

youtube.com/watch?v=rfaF3WSb3qk

like for example Laibach?

a bit Neo Nazi for my tastes, although a mate was a fan. We met one of the drummers in a pub in Brixton a few times,, he was a miserable tight arse. <irrelevant>

Yup, though I also don't like them for the neo Nazi overtones. The Serbian stuff was a bit better, especially because it led into some quite decent music during the early 1990's when everything else was crap in Serbia.

youtube.com/watch?v=LMPvplTWb-s - just utterly unashamedly silly!

No! Never do that. A lot of people used their collections for frisbees and now regret it. You know what prices are now for near mint originals.. Yes, I am getting on a bit, so most of my pals tend to be relatively old too and share the same passion for "music" - most of them go a bit daft for Hi-Fi but I get to dabble a bit in the lower end stuff. You could get a decent enough retro turntable for 500/600 zl, but you have to know what you're doing (as in, you need a decent enough cartridge/needle which might be another 200 zl - this is all second hand of course) but I prefer the sound from 70s solid state vintage Hi-Fi, and older records (the majority of my collection) were pressed to sound good on the equipment of the time.

Any modern record deck/turntable costing below 3,000 zl is not going to pass the "Breakfast in America" test - that's an interesting one - as the original mastering is suspect and only sounds good on certain cartridges (Ortodon Red - a love/hate model - being one affordable option) We all know you can spend 30,000 zl on a turntable, but that's for the Russian PM and his friends...

And the main problem with separates is finding the speakers to match, plus cabling, stands etc.
That's why a lot of people have gone digital, because they have other interests and can't be bothered with all the fascinating variables that analogue music allows. But keep hold of those LPs, and do store them vertically :) :) And clean them if you can - wood glue does the trick:)


That's a good one. She's a singer. There have been some great Eurovision songs over the years, often let down by naff arrangements or poor performers. A great party night for some:)

The only time I watched Eurovision in recent years was when Terry Wogan hosted it on British TV and he just highlighted how funny it was because of how pathetic it was.He made it hilarious.Now he's gone it's just pathetic....