12 Albums

1. Bruce Springsteen – Greetings from Asbury Park NJ

2. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollox

3. Pink Floyd – The Wall

4. Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell

5. Jim Steinman and Pandora’s Box – Original Sin

6. Marillion – B’Sides Themselves

7. Pendragon – The Jewel

8. Queen – A Kind of Magic

9. The Toll – The Price of Progression

10. Manic Street Preachers – Generation Terrorists

11. Radiohead – Pablo Honey

12. Green Day – American Idiot

Busk Off

I don’t think I frequent the high street as much as I used to. Many high streets are struggling. Those opinions are not really related. Nevertheless:

• You don’t allow traders to set up stalls in the middle of a prime location (like a pedestrianized high street) without significant rent, so why buskers who are far more intrusive

• You don’t allow the music from top shop or record shop to spill so far out of the store that it can be heard at the other end of the street, so again why can street musicians do it

• You choose to select the music that you play on your device, you individually choose the song or album or even if you use it for radio then you choose the radio station – you do not have a radio station imposed upon you

• You choose the times when you want to listen to music and the times when you want to go to the shops and the two do not necessarily have to align

• Just because some people like a particular band does not mean that they have a right to make everyone else listen to that particular band

The local council may do nothing about this, and I may avoid the high street because of this, we'll see.

Length DID Matter

Diversion. A few of my favourite things. Guests on the classic BBC radio show Desert Island Discs are allowed to choose eight records. I know it's only a hypothetical game, but it's not called "your eight top tracks". So why don't guests choose longer tracks to maximise enjoyment? My epic list here.

1. Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf

Possibly Jim Steinman's best known song, but as already noted here, I could have taken almost any of his works.

2. Grendel - Marillion

Not just because it is 18 minutes of the finest interplay between keyboard and guitar ever recorded, but an interesting story too, the first great epic of English literature told from the perspective of the beast rather than the traditional hero.

3. Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Iron Maiden

Obviously fine poetry, but also the epitome of the new wave of British heavy metal.

4. Kowtow - Pendragon

I first heard it live at the Marquee Club back in the days when I went to gigs. Astounding.

5. The Future Just Aint What it Used to Be - Pandora's Box

Another Jim Steinman composition, but this time the rock opera equivalent of a soulful ballad.

I'll stop here. So that still leaves three songs for another time.

May Brian Forgive Me

Pure coincidence. From Brian's Soapbox last Sunday:

And what do I want to share with you right now? This photograph was taken by Stacey Bywater, who lovingly tends my garden. It's a common or garden creature, called a snail [correction: slug]. A creature which so many people regard as a 'pest' (simply because they don't know how to garden properly)

Left to their own devices, these animals are delightful. And where in Creation does it say that they have less of a right to live and eat and enjoy themselves in the world than we?

Brian may be an idol, we may even share a half-birthday, but sometimes we diverge completely. He appears to be the sort of person who displays near biblical ignorance in correlating whales and fish. And now, right after my last post, I see that he talks lovingly of slugs and seems to equate their feelings with people admiring flowers. Next he'll be saying that amoeba have rights too. He's a sentimental fool. But he's a god on the guitar.

Beer, Music and Science

Loud music in bars encourages people to drink more, unless it drives them off. That's old news now, and we can attest from personal experience anyway.

The results, published online in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, show that the louder the music, the more swiftly the drinkers finished their beer, ordered more – or left.

But though I was not very impressed by that conclusion, I was very impressed by the research of Katherine Sanderson of Nature. She simply looked at some of the other publications of Nicolas Guéguen, Professor of Behavioural sciences at the Université de Bretagne-Sud who led the study. A few examples of his published research from his website:

1. Semantically induced love and helping behavior

2. The domestic dog as a facilitator in social interaction: An evaluation on helping and courtship behaviors.

3. The effects of women’s cosmetics on men’s courtship behavior.

4. The effect of a woman’s smile on men’s nonverbal behavior.

5. Women’s eye contact and men’s later interest: Two field experiments

Well done to Katherine for the spotting them, that is real research. And well done to Nicolas for getting away with it.

Becoming an Expert

In football, my club is the one I play for, not the one I "support". I try to have the same outlook in work, getting involved is better than not, creating is better than consuming. And in music?

As a manager, as a recruiter, you look for the rough diamonds, those in whom you see the potential to be experts in their field. Are they born or made? One view is that of Anders Ericsson:

Counter to the common belief that expert performance reflects innate abilities and capacities, recent research in different domains of expertise has shown that expert performance is predominantly mediated by acquired complex skills and physiological adaptations.

That's perfectly clear. So if I spend enough time practising on the guitar, I may become like Brian.

However the British Psychology Digest injected some reality today, quoting more recent research. More practice can only make you an expert if you have a basic level of musical aptitude to start with.

Objects in the rear view mirror

may appear closer than they are.

So wrote the musical genius, the songwriting legend, the greatest theatrical composer of the twentieth century, Mr Jim Steinman. That description was perhaps a little over the top, but it does reflect my opinion, he's been an idol of mine for decades. And as he himself has often stated, if you don't go over the top, you can't see what's on the other side. He's more known for intense symphonic power epics than for catchy melodies, but some people just can't stop humming those tunes now. Superb.

Actually, in terms of the science, it's surely wrong. In order to get the maximum range of vision, any curved rear view mirror is usually convex. So objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear. The opposite of the title. Have a look, that's what the text on your mirror probably says.

But of course the reverend Steinman was not talking about real mirrors.

If life is just a highway, then the soul is just a car.

Undiversification

Prosody. That's the word I was looking for. Back when I referred to the "unique sound of a language". Back when I said that I prefer my name to be pronounced differently depending upon the language being used at the time.

Mark Liberman attempts to quantify it at the oft-quoted Language Log, which is also the place to go if you want to debunk crazy theories that English needs to replicate the rules of Latin grammar.

According to Not the Nine o Clock News, the hardest words to say in English are Kinda Lingers. I suggest that a cunning linguist could do better.

MyPod

Last week I finally got an iPod. It's only a low end model, acquired second-hand - basically it's a test to see if I am going to properly buy into the Apple ethos.

Initial impression - I completely agree that it is sleek and elegant and completely intuitive to use. But something about it is wrong. It's too closed. It's Steve Jobs' vision of the world, not mine.

For example ideally any new media player, if connected up to my computer, would immediately show as a set of directories from which I could copy or move files either way. But I have no choice but to download and use iTunes too. I've already got WinAmp and VLC here to run my videos, in addition to Microsoft's own players. Do I really want another one?

As Marc Nohr notes in Marketing Direct:

The shining vision of one man and his coterie of trusted advisers drives everything - and the space for individual expression outside of that clique is minimal, whether you're an employee or a customer.

The author of the article contrasts the Apple approach with "co-creation", where producers and consumers work together, the obvious example being open source software, but it is also applicable in marketing. Because we should all know that customer-centricity, interactivity and dialogue lie at the heart of DM.

Supporting Your Team

There were a lot of big football matches today. I watched the afternoon game on a big screen TV in a big room full of Manchester United supporters. So there was a lot of tension and passion in there.

But not from me. I was far more concerned with who won our park game in the morning. I guess because my family had to move so often when I was young, despite a childhood obsession with Liverpool FC, I never really adopted a "home" club.

However, I'll finish with a block quote from A Fan's Dilemma published this week on CricInfo:

I went back to thinking about it. And I realised that, for me at least, it would have to be support for the team that bore the name of the place I come from: Kolkata. You can't choose your hometown, just as you can't choose your parents, and wherever you live afterwards, and whoever you become, that place remains with you, becomes a part of you in a way like no other.

Listen to Bruce Springsteen, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Thirty Nine

It is a big day, so please forgive a short personal diversion. My excuse is that today is the half-birthday of a true inspiration, definitely my favourite guitarist and quite probably my favourite musician of all time. Of course I refer to Dr Brian May.

According to the editor of the rocksnobs website, quoting his exact words including the original emphasis: "Always and forever, my favorite Brian May composition is '39. As far as A Night At The Opera goes, '39 is the sparkling jewel."

Exactly my sentiment. It is certainly my favourite track on the album too. Yet it is a statement of surprising contrariness when you remember that a little tune called Bohemian Rhapsody is also on there.

It is often difficult to explain why any particular song has special meaning to any particular person. This really is a case of art rather than science. Most of the music in '39 is a simple folk skiffle, but there is a magnificent soaring time-shifting instrumental in the centre of it that really makes it special.

Matching the melody, the lyrics are simple and heartfelt too. The BBC H2G2 site has a rather childish oversimplification of them, but on this one day of the year when I forsake marketing analysis for personal indulgence, allow me to finish by quoting the traveller from the song: Oh so many years have gone, though I'm older than a year. For my life still ahead, pity me.

Like Pinocchio

When departing from the serious topics of work and science, I hope this blog tries to cover both high and low culture. From fairly deep books about existential philosophy and classic middle English literature through football and cricket and rock music and beyond. But today I will plumb the deepest darkest depths.

I do not watch X Factor. Honestly. I don't even read the publications that are constantly promoting it. But while I sit reading other stuff or tapping away at this computer, my wife watches it. So I heard today's final result.

So I knew that in the three-way final was a stereotypical young pop singer, a cheesy brother-sister duo and a ballsy Welsh balladeeer who was generally acknowledged to be the one with the biggest future. The winner is contractually obliged to take up the "million dollar contract". His career is going to be micro-managed, every step requiring the prior approval of Simon Cowell. I thought that the young Scottish singer and the cheesy pop duo needed that win.

But for anyone with talent and confidence and ambition, the best thing is to get to the final but not win. You get all the exposure but none of the strings.

666 is a good score

Some numerology. According to the legendary QI, Revelation 13:18 may refer to a slightly different number.

Various estimates quoted ranged from 216 to 616 to 665, the neighbour of the beast.

Having won the 20-20 World Cup, in which Yuvraj Singh scored 6 6's in an over, India are currently playing a test series against Pakistan. They are playing splendidly. Just look at the first innings scores. In the first test match, which they won comfortably, the score was 276. That looks a bit like 216. In the next , they scored 616. And today they scored 626.

Going up at 10 per match, by the time of the deciding match against Australia, I predict a first innings score of 666. That'll show 'em.

Although what's more likely is that, like England, we'll get soundly thrashed there.

Panacea

I don't usually post links here ... usually I attempt original thought. However, today's newspaper has something that is just so funny, such a magnificent ridiculous spoof article that I can't take anything seriously at the moment:

An apology for homeopathy

Again, I apologise for using a link, but I'm still laughing. The only thing that can possibly compare is this. No apologies for this link, it has to be played, but it is sheer genius:

Superdrug

The Pleasure of Hope

The title here is the opening sequence to a classic album by Pendragon. Another of the best albums ever recorded is the only release by a band that the genius Jim Steinman christened as Pandora's Box, so obviously hope was a main theme in there as well.

But though those are two of my all time favourites, neither of them are very well known, neither would appear on the top ten list for most people. However, when it comes to films, perhaps my taste is more universal. The Shawshank Redemption is a favourite for many others too.

But there is one little thing wrong with the movie. They bastardised the end. It is not just me who thinks that the main theme of the story was the title of this post, Stephen King himself sub-titled the original book with a similar sentiment. So the correct place to end the film would have been with Morgan Freeman on the bus. I hope that I will make it across the border. I hope that my friend is there. I hope.

Pepper's Ghost

I said that I would relate a classic stage illusion to modern individualised marketing. Can I also bring in musical perfection?

My musical epiphany was noted earlier. However that band split up soon after, and nobody else could quite replicate that magic sound. Then, many years later, by a miraculous turn of fate, original drummer Michael Pointer met the keyboard genius Clive Nolan who had carried the torch in Pendragon for so many years...

The resulting supergroup was called Arena. Their latest studio album is genuinely called Pepper's Ghost.

And tomorrow I really will evoke Don Pepper's ghost in current marketing strategy.

Supermagic

We went to the theatre today. Not just the local theatre but a proper full-on Cameron Mackintosh West End production. I had not bought the tickets myself - I would not have chosen either this particular show or this particular date. But as it was a heartfelt family present I was happy to go.

So I did not have high expectations. But I confess, it was truly magical. That is not the gushing sycophantic praise of professional critics who long to get quoted on billboards and invited for celebrity interviews. I mean it was magical like a magic show. Things were appearing and disappearing and time-shifting and flying around as though they were CGI effects. Amazing. Songs and music were ok too.

Now the difficult bit - next I will relate a classic stage magic trick to modern individualised marketing.

There can only be one

One of those occasional random personal posts. Top five reasons why Highlander is the best film ever.

1. The story. Perhaps it is not just a great long fight, maybe it has a deep resonance with ancient Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, trying to escape from an endless cycle of rebirth to strive for nirvana.

2. The casting. Christopher Lambert carries this constant air of unworldly detachment, and you can never quite place his accent. But that is only what you'd expect for a five-hundred year old global wanderer.

3. The cinematography. Phenomenal. It never just fades normally from one scene to another. It fades, it flicks, it flashes, it astounds.

4. The action. No magic wands, no ugly guns, no fluffy lightsabres. These are heavy metal clashes, heads really roll.

5. The soundtrack. On top of everything else, one of my favourite bands ever did the music. You can't ask for more. Simply magic!

Venomous verbs of ruthless candour

Generally speaking, this is a blog for original thought. And generally speaking, it tries to cover big issues or new ideas. Occasionally though, somebody else manages to capture a trivial little sentiment so perfectly that it seems right for me to simply quote it. So this is the DJ, professional comedian, and star of the "Now" show Mr Jon Holmes referring to his most significant musical memory …


It was called Assassing, and it was spat out of the mouth of a 6ft 5in Scottish former lumberjack called Fish. The band were Marillion. It was 1984, and Duran Duran were still poncing about on a boat, but everything was about to change. In front of us, a great big sweating jester with a terrifying painted face burst through a wall (of paper) and screeched into the camera that he was "the assassin, with tongue forged from eloquence". It was rock music, and it spoke to us even though we didn’t understand a word of it. "Listen as the syllables of slaughter cut with calm precision," whispered Fish. "Patterned frosty phrases rape your ears and sow the ice incision." Do they? Blimey. We had to be a part of this. Mr Le Bon could take his Rio and her dancing on the sand and shove it up his upturned yacht.




From: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article1861509.ece