It is often the simplest of things that bring us through the hardest of times. Music has been more than a comfort but a life saver for me. Which is why I go way over the top when I find music I love. Music is also a wonderful Time Machine. I wont go through a long list of music or the people that I am reminded of. But whenever I hear 'I had too much to dream last night' by The Electric Prunes it reminds me of my best mate who died cruelly from Motor Neurone Disease. He loved the band.
My Sister was eight years older than me and so I listened to music from her I would never have bothered with. From Labi Siffre to Jesus Christ Superstar to Harry Nilsson. All take me back to the days and times I shared with her.
I have just had some news that made me face mortality. So in the many years left and the many years to come I hope one day somebody will listen to Band Maid and remember the time some idiot kept mentioning them and sharing their music. They say time is a healer. But music makes you smile at the memory. I often listen to music from artistes who have gone. But they will never be forgotten. Nor will those that share the love of music.
Thank you Russell, beautifully put. By the way I love that song by the Electric Prunes. Did you know they are still active (though only one original member is involved)? So they aren't even "gone"!
Hi Ellen, I saw your post and immediately read it, and had the same reaction--a bit of synchronicity. I left a long comment. I do hope you'll listen to these--spread them out over a few days if necessary, but her voice is something not to be missed. I fell in love with her without knowing any of her back story--I was just transported by her voice and her presence. I began digging back to her earlier stuff, and was just getting to know a little of her story, when it came to a terrible and painful end. Thanks for taking the time!
She does have an amazingly pure voice and remarkable poise for someone so young. I can see why you've been transported by her.
I wonder if you have a leaning towards listening to female voices lately? I've had a definite leaning towards men's voices in my choice of music the last couple of years. I've been puzzling over that. Perhaps a need for more masculine energy flow in my case as I've left the workplace where I worked with a lot of male colleagues.
Interesting question. Since I started blogging my focus has gradually been shifting more and more toward women artists, not just vocalists but musicians as well. Women have long been discriminated against or outright blocked from most roles in the music industry and culture, and my shift in focus felt in part political. But that's no longer the main driver. The reality is that most of the really great musical acts I am finding (in jazz, rock and metal, at least) are women. The only country where women are still confined to the "singer/songwriter" lane is the supposedly "woke" U.S. I've written a dozen pieces about the Dutch soprano Floor Jansen, whom I consider the greatest living vocalist, male or female. She was classically trained but has spent her career fronting metal bands. Few Americans have heard of her because, well, lot's of reasons, none of them good. But thanks for asking the question!
Anyway, I hope you got to the two clips "Meine LIppen" and "Song to the Moon", because they are truly mind-blowing performances by Patricia.
What is it about the US?! That is most disturbing. Is that not the case in the UK too? They seem to have a very hard separation between rock and pop, with women dominating the pop lane these days.
Re women in music: Easier to quote from a piece I wrote about this topic:
"In Part II of his excellent ongoing series on the role of producers in music, Anthony Overs asked why there are so few women on the production side of the business.
At about the same time, I posted Part I of my two-part series on Yuki Kajiura, one of Japan’s most important producers. She is also a prolific composer and an accomplished instrumentalist.
Without getting too deep into the politics of sexism in the music industry, I find it fascinating that the best country for women who want to break the rules in the music biz is not the “woke” U.S.A., but the supposedly medieval, patriarchal Japan.
In Japan, many music styles that we consider stereotypically masculine, such as hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz, are dominated by women.
Production and technical stuff are starting to follow suit. Show-Ya, the all-female heavy metal band founded in 1981, produce the longest-running rock festival in Japan. Kajiura herself originally studied engineering in school and gets involved in mixing and mastering her performances. If you like seeing women break ceilings, the music biz in Japan is an exciting place right now."
Yes, absolutely, women dominate the pop charts in the U.S., and some like Beyonce are now using their power to get into production of other artists. Yet it is still hard for women to break in directly as engineers, producers, or instrumentalists, without a male "patron" (much as Prince mentored Sheila E.). The scandal over Jann Wenner's reprehensible comments about women blew the cover off the industry's long-standing biases.
It just gets really tiresome to see and hear about the sexism here, but to find out that it's the only country clinging to an unjust system and women are surging ahead elsewhere is outrageous. I do want to get a better understanding of it. You can't change a system if you don't understand how it works, and why it fails. So that's one of my next big goals. I've also been shocked by the number of artists I've featured who were not getting enough money to live on, even when they had hits. That was true of men as well as women. It's a shark-infested industry. So the abuse of artists is something I want to delve into as well. Thanks for sharing all this info!
First re. Dan Vasc--had heard of him but never this piece. Gorgeous! My understanding is he does mostly Christian-themed music and his band is that rare bird, a Christian metal band. He's from Brazil, is that right? Another great one is David Draiman, who trained as a Jewish Cantor before going into metal. Check out his cover of Sound of Silence! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4
Yes, Dan Vasc is from Brazil and has a ton of covers on youtube from different genres, including pop, rock, and metal. If he's a Christian, he doesn't limit himself to that at all.
I had never heard of David Draiman and he has a wonderful voice too. An abundance of riches now we don't have to wait for the music industry to decide on our behalf who gets on the radio or the record.
It is often the simplest of things that bring us through the hardest of times. Music has been more than a comfort but a life saver for me. Which is why I go way over the top when I find music I love. Music is also a wonderful Time Machine. I wont go through a long list of music or the people that I am reminded of. But whenever I hear 'I had too much to dream last night' by The Electric Prunes it reminds me of my best mate who died cruelly from Motor Neurone Disease. He loved the band.
My Sister was eight years older than me and so I listened to music from her I would never have bothered with. From Labi Siffre to Jesus Christ Superstar to Harry Nilsson. All take me back to the days and times I shared with her.
I have just had some news that made me face mortality. So in the many years left and the many years to come I hope one day somebody will listen to Band Maid and remember the time some idiot kept mentioning them and sharing their music. They say time is a healer. But music makes you smile at the memory. I often listen to music from artistes who have gone. But they will never be forgotten. Nor will those that share the love of music.
Thank you Russell, beautifully put. By the way I love that song by the Electric Prunes. Did you know they are still active (though only one original member is involved)? So they aren't even "gone"!
We are in synch today as I've just written a post along the same lines -- https://rocknrollwithme.substack.com/p/crushing-on-the-singer-or-rock-star?r=3jsiyo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I look forward to reading your post in depth and listening to all the clips, and falling in love with her too.
Hi Ellen, I saw your post and immediately read it, and had the same reaction--a bit of synchronicity. I left a long comment. I do hope you'll listen to these--spread them out over a few days if necessary, but her voice is something not to be missed. I fell in love with her without knowing any of her back story--I was just transported by her voice and her presence. I began digging back to her earlier stuff, and was just getting to know a little of her story, when it came to a terrible and painful end. Thanks for taking the time!
She does have an amazingly pure voice and remarkable poise for someone so young. I can see why you've been transported by her.
I wonder if you have a leaning towards listening to female voices lately? I've had a definite leaning towards men's voices in my choice of music the last couple of years. I've been puzzling over that. Perhaps a need for more masculine energy flow in my case as I've left the workplace where I worked with a lot of male colleagues.
Interesting question. Since I started blogging my focus has gradually been shifting more and more toward women artists, not just vocalists but musicians as well. Women have long been discriminated against or outright blocked from most roles in the music industry and culture, and my shift in focus felt in part political. But that's no longer the main driver. The reality is that most of the really great musical acts I am finding (in jazz, rock and metal, at least) are women. The only country where women are still confined to the "singer/songwriter" lane is the supposedly "woke" U.S. I've written a dozen pieces about the Dutch soprano Floor Jansen, whom I consider the greatest living vocalist, male or female. She was classically trained but has spent her career fronting metal bands. Few Americans have heard of her because, well, lot's of reasons, none of them good. But thanks for asking the question!
Anyway, I hope you got to the two clips "Meine LIppen" and "Song to the Moon", because they are truly mind-blowing performances by Patricia.
What is it about the US?! That is most disturbing. Is that not the case in the UK too? They seem to have a very hard separation between rock and pop, with women dominating the pop lane these days.
Just wondering what you think about metal singer Dan Vasc, also classically trained --https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89g9yMGFGlM
Re women in music: Easier to quote from a piece I wrote about this topic:
"In Part II of his excellent ongoing series on the role of producers in music, Anthony Overs asked why there are so few women on the production side of the business.
At about the same time, I posted Part I of my two-part series on Yuki Kajiura, one of Japan’s most important producers. She is also a prolific composer and an accomplished instrumentalist.
Without getting too deep into the politics of sexism in the music industry, I find it fascinating that the best country for women who want to break the rules in the music biz is not the “woke” U.S.A., but the supposedly medieval, patriarchal Japan.
In Japan, many music styles that we consider stereotypically masculine, such as hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz, are dominated by women.
Production and technical stuff are starting to follow suit. Show-Ya, the all-female heavy metal band founded in 1981, produce the longest-running rock festival in Japan. Kajiura herself originally studied engineering in school and gets involved in mixing and mastering her performances. If you like seeing women break ceilings, the music biz in Japan is an exciting place right now."
(Original story https://zapatosjam.substack.com/p/the-producer-yuki-kajiura-part-ii?utm_source=publication-search, but don't feel obligated to read it!)
Yes, absolutely, women dominate the pop charts in the U.S., and some like Beyonce are now using their power to get into production of other artists. Yet it is still hard for women to break in directly as engineers, producers, or instrumentalists, without a male "patron" (much as Prince mentored Sheila E.). The scandal over Jann Wenner's reprehensible comments about women blew the cover off the industry's long-standing biases.
It just gets really tiresome to see and hear about the sexism here, but to find out that it's the only country clinging to an unjust system and women are surging ahead elsewhere is outrageous. I do want to get a better understanding of it. You can't change a system if you don't understand how it works, and why it fails. So that's one of my next big goals. I've also been shocked by the number of artists I've featured who were not getting enough money to live on, even when they had hits. That was true of men as well as women. It's a shark-infested industry. So the abuse of artists is something I want to delve into as well. Thanks for sharing all this info!
First re. Dan Vasc--had heard of him but never this piece. Gorgeous! My understanding is he does mostly Christian-themed music and his band is that rare bird, a Christian metal band. He's from Brazil, is that right? Another great one is David Draiman, who trained as a Jewish Cantor before going into metal. Check out his cover of Sound of Silence! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4
Yes, Dan Vasc is from Brazil and has a ton of covers on youtube from different genres, including pop, rock, and metal. If he's a Christian, he doesn't limit himself to that at all.
I had never heard of David Draiman and he has a wonderful voice too. An abundance of riches now we don't have to wait for the music industry to decide on our behalf who gets on the radio or the record.