in an almost total about face from the previous post, at least in musical terms, i’ve been hunting around to see if i can find a copy of joseph and the amazing technicolour dreamcoat. my problem is that i want the same copy that i have in storage somewhere, and i don’t seem to be able to find it anywhere. i could have sworn i brought it with me, but i guess not.
the distingushing feature of this version of joseph is that it has a male narrator, which is almost unheard of. infact, a reviewer on amazon states that the 1973 cast recording is the only surviving recording to feature a male narrator. i can tell you that’s not the case because whatever the cd i have, it’s certainly not the 1973 recording, but obviously recordings of joseph with male narrators must be pretty rare.
i can’t even find a matching picture of the cd cover to lead me in the right direction, and i have no idea who any of the players are. very annoying.
on that subject, i’ve been watching several amateur productions of joseph on you tube and i must ask, why is it that all of these productions insist on rushing all the music? i’m not a muso, so forgive me for my lack of technical terms, but all these songs to me sound like they’re going half as fast again as they should be. and it’s not just these, it seems to be something chronic with amateur productions, particularly those put on by school groups. it’s hard to explain the effect or even why it’s a problem, i mean, why shouldn’t they be able to go at whatever speed they like? but really, it just sounds wrong. it’s rushed, there’s no time for lines to sink in and surely it makes things difficult on the kids playing the music and singing. sure they don’t have to hold notes for as long and all that, but for god’s sake, give the poor blighters time to breathe. give the audience time to breathe as well.
i have no idea where that came from really. maybe it’s just because it’s a bastardisation of something that i have strong childhood links to. anyhow, back to my search. i’m confident i’m not going to find anything, but there are a few avenues that i haven’t tried yet so maybe i’ll get lucky and turn something up.
if you can be bothered to sit through it all, it’s in the middle of above and beyond’s show from yesterday. the whole thing is a good show, so well worth a listen. daniel kandi and kris o’neil’s guestmix at the end is also pretty awesome.
as soon as dj fire’s record label puts a sample up, i’ll link it.
i realise it’s pretty well known how powerful smell can be when triggering memories, but sometimes i’m still surprised by it.
this morning when i walked out of the subway station i caught a whiff of something that sent my mind immediately back to lax airport. i don’t think it was just the smell either, it was something about the temperature, the surroundings, everything. there were even a couple of people wheeling their luggage along the street.
about 10 minutes ago i got a cool breeze from the open balcony door and whilst it’s not exactly the smell (except on a subconscious level maybe?) i was sent straight back to armidale, where i went to university. this time i think it was mostly the temperature of the air, and probably my state of mind at the moment. it was only for the briefest of flashes, but both times, it was unmistakable.
most of the pop music i heard in paris made me want to throw myself off a rooftop. you think you’re sick of james blunt? surround james blunt with a hundred other, equally (or moreso) maudlin french artists and press the ‘repeat’ button and you’ll get some idea of what i’m on about.
last night while i was trying to get to sleep, i had a whole narrative running through my head. i swear it was enough to be the first chapter of a novel. i had intended to write it all out this morning, but now, i dont even remember exactly what it was about.
it’s frustrating and i knew it was going to happen. i thought to myself last night that i would probably not remember exactly what i had been thinking, but i at least thought i might remember what it was all about. i should have got up and written it as it came to me, but then i’d be even more bleary eyed than i am now. it’s stupid. it was good too. what i remember was the surprise at how it was all coming together. normally my thoughts jump, from one place to another, total tangents with no real thread. last night though it was all so linear, i could almost see the words on the page, like i was reading something that someone else had written.
i’ve tried to catch the end of the string, to go back to what little i know for sure and maybe, if i concentrate really hard, the rest of it will come back to me. as a whole or in pieces, it wouldn’t really matter. but it’s not. all it’s doing is making me progressively more annoyed with the noise in my workplace, preventing me from focusing on the matter at hand.
