261. Pas de Deux – Tchaikovsky – (Nutcracker) (1892)

One of the good things about the work that I do these days is that sometimes it takes me to other parts of the country and I often get to spend time in Edinburgh and Newcastle.

During the first few months of 2010, I was working away in Newcastle and Edinburgh and while in Newcastle by myself I sometimes took the opportunity to go to the theatre and see whatever was on. During the three months I spent there I managed to see ‘Equus’, ‘Chicago’, ‘Cinderella’ and ‘The Nutcracker’ among other things.

Despite being over 40 I had never been to the Ballet before and as it was a modern production of ‘The Nutcraker’ by the Scottish National Ballet that I went to see just after Christmas. It was a full house that night but I just managed to grab a single seat in the middle of a row at the back and sat down to watch it.

Although I was familiar with the story (Ophelia had got the ‘Barbie and the Nutcracker’ video when she was younger and we had watched that together in our old home) it was still amazing to see the ballet on the stage and listen to the wonderful music played by a live orchestra. The Pas De Deux is my favourite piece from this ballet and I can’t hear it without thinking of the ballet and Tchaikovsky himself who was very much a tortured soul.

Now listen to the music…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG0jMkoKLJo

260. One Summer’s Day – Joe Hisaishi - Spirited Away (2001)

It was my children that made me sit down and watch the film ‘Spirited Away’ which is a Japanese animated film by Studio Ghibli written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and with music by Joe Hisaishi.

This piece forms the main theme of the film and is heard when Chihiro accidentally passes the river into the spirit world and had to undertake a perilous journey to return home to the ‘real’ world and try to be reunited with her parents. I don’t want to say too much about the film as it is a ‘must watch’ and don’t want to spoil it but it is a great film and all of the elements from the animation itself to the story and the music combine to make a truly exceptional piece of film making which is highly recommended (by me!).

My kids originally though when I was playing ‘Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence’ (song 125) by Sakamoto on a disc in the car that that was this song from ‘Spirited Away’ and having listened to it there are some similarities but this is the actual song from the film which is also on my ipod and has become one for my favourites…

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ni1sVCgEk

259. Summer Nights – Grease (1978)

After the phenomenal success of ‘You’re The One That I Want’ which was number one for eight weeks in the summer of 1978 we got ‘Summer Nights’…

I remember seeing the video for this (which was a clip from the film) on ‘Top Of The Pops’ one Thursday night before this spent six weeks at number one as well.

Looking back it is hard to imagine that a film like ‘Grease’ could have created such a furore but nearly everything in the summer of 1978 was ‘Grease’ related and everyone waited with eager anticipation to see the whole film. Other songs like ‘Sandy’ and ‘ Hopelessly Devoted to You’ and ‘Greased Lightning’ were also released as singles and almost everyone (including me) had tee shirts with stars on the micro sleeves like John Travolta’s! We were all singing the songs and wanting to relive the excitement of the movie.

I remember that my mother was quite disapproving of the film and its message which is (essentially) ‘You can’t get the bloke by being nice so dress like a cheap tart and call him ‘stud’ and all will be well’ which looking back isn’t really the kind of message you want to be communicating to pre-teens but this went way over our heads at the time and all we knew and enjoyed were the songs and the wonderful colour of the movie. The film version of ‘Grease’ (which is now the West End benchmark version) enhanced by the songs of the BeeGees is by far the best version in history…

Time to relive those summer nights…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpJUrt0O7uY

258. Wild Child – Enya (2000)

I must admit to really loving Enya and her music. From the days of Clannad and via ‘Orinoco Flow’ and ‘Caribbean Blue’, I have always admired the fact that her own style of Celtic influenced electronic new age music has always generated new and exciting sounds and this song is my favourite from the album ‘ A Day Without Rain’.

At the time this album was released I was back living in Loughton with Kerry in our little flat, recently married and wondering what the future would bring as Christmas was approaching. At the time I first put the album on (which was a present from Kerry) I had no idea that one year later we would have moved to a new flat (which had central heating) and would be holding our first baby – Miss Ophelia -  in our arms and at the same time wondering what kind of world we had brought our daughter into as we had witnessed the mass murder of so many in the New York Trade Centre atrocity.

This song reminds me of that time and these experiences and I remember them whenever I hear it.

Enjoy the song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5jVwR0YK38

257. The Day Before You Came – Abba (1982)

If you haven’t noticed yet I am a massive fan of Abba and have loved their music ever since my Dad bought me ‘Take A Chance On Me’ in 1976 (Song 76) but it is their later music that I love the most. Songs like ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ (Song 162) are works of true genius as is this song.

I first came across this one when I heard a version by Blancmange, which was a ‘B’ side of one of their singles back in 1982 and having loved Blancmange’s version (which was very similar) I sought out the original which I love even more.

The last Abba song to be recorded (though not the last to be released) this song is a homage to how ‘mundane and ordinary’ can be changed by ‘an event’ or ‘someone coming into your life’ into something new and exciting and in this song Abba reflect on the tedious nature of things ‘the day before you came’ and changed my life. I love the train rhythm beat, the wonderful use of modern synthesiser sounds and the fantastic voice of Agnetha singing (once again) a truly amazing lyric. This song is a masterpiece and even though it was never released as a single in the UK it was in the ‘Top Ten’ favourite Abba songs in a recent UK poll.

Now listen to the song…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HnOFwqpLRQ&ob=av2e

256. London Pride – Noel Coward (1941)

I have to admit to being a great fan of Noel Coward and love his comic songs especially ‘Mrs Worthington’ and ‘Imagine The Duchess’ Feelings’ but I am also a great admirer of the work that Coward produced during the war, which includes his film ‘In Which We Serve’ and this song ‘London Pride’.

The first time I heard the song was when I was a teenager and Mick Lowe who ran the Western Park Youth Theatre of which I was a member included it as a song in one of the ‘Old Time Musical Hall’ shows that we did around the Working Men’s Clubs and Care Homes in the early 80s. In these shows the kids (like myself and the other younger members of the troupe) worked alongside the adults form the ‘Knighton Park Players’ to produce some truly great evenings of variety. I remember Jean Burdett singing this song (as it was her ‘party piece’) with us joining in for the chorus.

I particularly love the melody and the sentiment in this song as it reminds us that sometimes (especially in war or when we are all ‘up against it’) we must ALL stand together and carry on as best we can and even though I have never personally experienced the effects of a war when nightly bombing raids destroyed the East End and Coventry and killed so many of our people it is easy to understand how songs like this might have helped some people think about what we were all fighting against.

Having lived in London for many years I can also appreciate the pride that we do take in our great city…

Now listen to the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTsIMVIWjlQ

255. Souvenir – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (1981)

This song reminds me of so many things! My friends Melanie and Mark, listening to the charts in my bedroom on a combined radio cassette deck that was given to me by my Aunty Sheila and making my first ‘radio programme’.

My friend Melanie (who lived five houses down the road from me) was the proud owner of a monophonic synthesiser the Roland SH-09, which was the same synth, used to create the guitar sound and hence the tune on this single. In those days synthesisers were not pre-programmed and in order to create a ‘sound’ the user had to follow the diagrams and move the dials and switches to the correct ‘wave’ patterns and oscillator frequencies to make that sound required and I remember working with Mel to set up the guitar sound so we could have a play and see how they had done it. Having done it we were very proud of ourselves. Every time I hear this single it reminds me of the Roland SH-09 and the fun we had programming the synthesisers when these instruments were new and you could only play one key at a time on them!!

Round about the time this tune was in the charts I made a tape of some of my favourite songs and (in the same spirit of this blog) I explained between them (having recorded the ‘links’ on my new cassette deck and radio!) why I liked them and what I liked about them. In this instance it was the tape loops of the choir singing at the start of the song as well as the use of the SH-09! I gave copies to my school friends to listen to!

This is a great song.

Listen….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swzp1eeOMj4