| music news: RIP Stuart Adamson 1958 - 2001 |
posted by david
on Wed 19 Dec 2001 @ 04:26 PM
|
I think I'll remember this year as one where a lot of things went
wrong. Apart from the obvious, there's been a series of other events
which have left me feeling a little depressed that things had to
work out that way. When George Harrison died, I thought that had
to be the last thing and we could maybe surface and move on, bracing
for a new year which had to be better than this one. But then Stuart
Adamson, singer, guitarist and songwriter with
Big Country was
found dead in Hawaii. Some people may remember the band from their
80s heyday but they were more than one hit wonders, releasing albums
right through the 90s until their final effort, 1999's "Driving To
Damascus". Maybe Stuart wasn't a songwriter on the level of
Springsteen or Dylan but there was an integrity and passion in what
he did that I find lacking in so many contemporary "artists". Maybe
I have referred to the Big Country sound as "big dumb guitars" in
the past, but it was always meant in an affectionate way and the
fact that I feel this depressed about the loss of Stuart surely
says something about how much I loved what he did. Tonight, my
stereo is loaded with Big Country albums and I think I'm just going
to let it play on for a while...
Links:
BBC -
Billboard -
Tennessean -
Honolulu Advertiser
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| random: A music writer gets lost in music |
posted by david
on Mon 10 Dec 2001 @ 11:52 PM
|
As a music writer, Shaun Carney is always interesting reading because he's not
a music writer (he's a political journalist for The Age; he wrote the Peter
Costello bio published this year). At the close of what has been a strange
year, he's written
a
piece
that seems to articulate bewilderment at the current state of pop music. He
finds some comfort in the simplicity of the new Bob
Dylan and while I don't necessarily share his love of that album, I suspect
he's not the only one who's been clinging to familiar things this year.
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| music news: RIP George Harrison 1943 - 2001 |
posted by david
on Sat 1 Dec 2001 @ 11:53 PM
|
I hardly need to report this seeing as it's all over the news everywhere, but
if you live under a rock and haven't already heard, George Harrison has died of cancer aged 58. While the songwriting duo of Lennon/McCartney dominated the
Beatles work, Harrison's "Something" was once described by Frank Sinatra as "the
greatest love song ever written". If you want to read more, here's some
links to various online coverage of his death:
BBC -
Billboard -
CNN -
The Age (Melb) with accompanying tribute by Stephen Cummings -
Sydney Morning Herald
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