It's a Clean Machine

Over the past week I finally managed to organize my home office, setting up a nice place for Sarah and I to focus on our various creative projects. One of the most daunting tasks was filing away all the various master tapes and discs for video projects I have worked on... a little background music helped.

I decided to stream Paul McCartney's latest album, New. The Beatles have always been an inspiration for me, but their solo projects are usually no match for the brilliance of their fab foursome days. This time out, Sir Paul has a surprisingly fresh offering... check out his latest single, "Queenie Eye," which has been getting a lot of airplay on WEXT: 

Pretty impressive, I'd say, for a guy who has been at it for over 50 years! Naturally, he was helped by several talented producers, including Mark Ronson (whose Version is one of my favorite albums). I have come to realize that a good music producer makes all the difference... I would go so far to say that the Beatles might not have been as good without the help of George Martin (Let It Be, their only studio album not produced by Martin, was marred by too much of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" overdubbing, in my opinion).

J Walking outside the famed Abbey Road Studios, London.
April 1997. Photo ©Jeremy Clowe

Another treat for fans is the recent release of On Air— Live at the BBC, Volume 2, which features 63 previously unreleased tracks from the Beatles' 1963-1964 BBC Radio broadcasts. I've had a quick listen on iTunes, and it sounds even better than its 1994 predecessor (Live at the BBC). There are plenty of covers, including Motown and Chuck Berry, and some energetic performances of early Beatles songs I have always loved ("MIsery," "You Can't Do That"). Still sounding fresh, and a reminder of the elements that first made me a fan at the age of ten.

As I continue organizing our place, I'm finding other reminders of my Beatles love, including a box full of photos from my first trip to Great Britain back in the late 90s (reproduced here on this blog entry). It was a dream for this Anglophile, and of course I had to make a pilgrimage to London's Abbey Road to recreate the famous "walk" pictured on the band's 1969 album of the same name (with thanks to my patient aunt for photos). I even poked my head inside of Abbey Road Studio to inquire about what was happening...  

London calling... c. April 1997. ©Jeremy Clowe.

Apparently there is no shortage of Beatles-related projects in the pipeline, including a "top secret" project from the BBC, and a movie based on author Lars Saabye Christiansen's bestselling 1984 novel, Beatles. The film sounds especially promising, as it has the rare opportunity to use the group's original recordings, and will be scored by A-ha's Magne Furuholmen. A-ha have noted on many occasions how influenced they were by the Beatles, and knowing my love for both groups I'm particularly excited! During a recent live Q&A on Facebook, I asked Magne if there was any chance he and the other members of A-ha would reform to provide a Beatles cover version or two for the film: it "would be a dream (and worked so well on '#9 Dream!')". His reply: "a dream within a dream... don't go all 'Inception' on my ass here!"

Jermyn (pronounced "Jeremy")
Street, London, April 97.
Photo by MB. ©Jeremy Clowe.

Well, this dreamy state of vacation is starting to wear off... I better sign off and try to get some more things done, while I have the time (yeah, yeah, yeah).

Related Links:

www.thebeatles.com

www.paulmccartney.com

"Magne to score 'Beatles' movie," A-ha-live.com, April 22, 2013

"'Kon-Tiki' Directors Score Original Beatles Songs For Upcoming Film," Deadline.com, March 20, 2013

"Beatles' 'Live at the BBC' Unlikely to Expand, But 'Top Secret' Project in The Works," Billboard, November 12, 2013

Comes The Last Hurrah...

A-ha performing in Chicago, IL., May 13, 2010. Photo by Jeremy Clowe. 
All rights reserved.

I received a nice surprise in the mail yesterday— WEXT sent along a copy of my recent radio show, Chrysalis Dreams: 30 Years of A-ha. The retrospective had two very successful airings on the station over the past two months, and I again received very positive feedback following its re-airing last week: fans from Korea reported an early morning listening party... a fan from Poland was on the opposite end, staying up very late that evening in order to catch the broadcast.... 

there was even a Brazilian community from Quebec who checked in (A-ha was always very big in South America, where they actually achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest attended concert ever--198,000 people in Rio--back in 1991). I didn't hear any new reports of the station's online stream being overwhelmed, so hopefully everyone had a chance to tune in this time out.

For those who have asked, here is the playlist I put together for the two-hour program, which was presented chronologically:

Hour #1:

One of two album reviews I
wrote for a-ha's 2010 tour program.
Courtesy www.a-ha.com

“Take On Me”—Hunting High and Low

“The Sun Always Shines On T.V.”—Hunting High and Low

“Hunting High and Low”—Hunting High and Low

“The Swing of Things”—Scoundrel Days

“Manhattan Skyline”—Scoundrel Days

“I’ve Been Losing You”—Scoundrel Days

“The Living Daylights”—The Living Daylights movie soundtrack

“Stay On These Roads”—Stay On These Roads

“Crying In The Rain”—East of The Sun, West of The Moon

“Scoundrel Days” (live in South America, 1991)—Angel CD single

"Move To Memphis” (single version)—Headlines and Deadlines: The Hits of A-ha

“Dark Is The Night For All”—Memorial Beach

 Hour #2:

“Summer Moved On”—Minor Earth, Major Sky

“Minor Earth, Major Sky” (Niven’s Radio Edit)—Minor Earth, Major Sky single

“Mary Ellen Makes The Moment Count”—Minor Earth, Major Sky

“Forever Not Yours”—Lifelines

“Lifelines”—Lifelines

“Celice”—Analogue

“Analogue”—Analogue

“Cosy Prisons”—Analogue

“The Bandstand”—Foot of the Mountain

“Foot of the Mountain”—Foot of the Mountain

“Shadowside”—Foot of the Mountain

“Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)”—25

In addition to these songs, I also included other various clips— from Bridges to early demos to album/rare/live tracks—during my narration.

A-ha performing in New York City, September 12, 2005.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved.

It's funny how music can stir up so many memories and emotions... I was surprised to find myself getting a little choked up again last week, as I listened to the beginning of the first hour. The sequence from "Hunting High and Low" (one of the most beautiful songs ever, IMO) to "Manhattan Skyline" felt so raw to me... it's hard not to still find myself transported back to my high school days, when I leaned very heavily on this music to help me cope with the loss of a loved one. 

In terms of the show's production, I thought WEXT's Katie Gorham provided a great assistance. I had the show pretty well-scripted and timed with the musical segments, and was pleased to hear from listeners telling me how well the songs flowed into each other. In terms of narration I feel a little more satisfied with the second half, but maybe it just took me awhile to warm up with the recording (or perhaps the second half was more "upbeat")... all in all, my return to DJing certainly whet my appetite for more. I think of those broadcasters whose delivery I admire (i.e. NBC News' Brian Williams), and always strive to get better. Having said that, it was an absolute pleasure to share this music I have loved for so long with a North American audience (where I feel it has always belonged). There is something of a sense of closure for me here, although the radio show does present a useful template to complete my long-planned video documentary.

"Foot of the Mountain" promo photo by Stian Andersen.
Courtesy of and ©2009 A-ha.com

Speaking of A-ha, there is an interesting exhibition of photographs of the band opening this week at London's Strand Gallery. Photographer Stian Andersen, who documented the band's comeback from 2000 through 2010, has assembled a collection of quite striking images from his book  A-ha Photographs 1994-2010 (Press), which was published last year. I have a copy of Andersen's very substantial coffee table book, and found much to enjoy... he brings a grainy, "rock and roll" atmosphere to his photos, which A-ha didn't always have back in their early days. Thankfully, much of Andersen's work was used for promotional materials and album covers for the band over the last decade, and I think it helped provide a more "mature" image for the long-beloved Norwegian band. 

It also seems fitting to show Andersen's exhibit in London, as the city played such an important part in the band's development (somewhere I have my own photos of The Blue Sky Cafe, where Paul Waaktaar supposedly penned a few of A-ha's early songs). For those in the UK you can see for yourself, as Andersen's photographs will be on view at the Strand from February 28 through March 17, 2013— cheers!

Related Links (updated):

www.a-ha.com

http://exit977.org

www.stianandersen.com

A-ha Photographs by Stian Andersen, The Strand Gallery

"He's a Lot More Rock and Roll Than We Are," February 22, 2013, A-ha.com

"A-ha Captured on Tour in New Photograph Exhibition at London's Strand Gallery," Huffington Post, February 28, 2013

Stian Andersen and a-ha, The Photographs, Vimeo