Version 2.0

The Scene: It’s 1995, the year in which we saw Richey James Edwards heartbreakingly surreal disappearance from the Manic Street Preachers, Tupac have   a No. 1 album whilst in prison, The Beetles and   Queen release “new” material and Bjork   telling everyone about the joys of being quiet. But did you know that the Oasis song “Wonderwall” hit No.1 and No.2 in the British charts at the same time? The original:                            Wonderwall by Oasis was the anthem of my youth, and there is no way in hell that overplay could scratch its raw honesty and ubiquity. My mate Keith played and sang a great version of it, we sang it on the way to parties, we sang it at parties, on the bus on the way home from parties, at our school graduation, at weddings, we chanted along with it, at the pub. It came on the radio like the unexpected visit of a good friend. From it’s simple opening gui...

I love being pretentious. It’s my third favorite thing to do in the world (don’t ask). I’m really good at it. I’ve being doing it all my life. Knowing things granted me the attention I was desperate for at school, I soon became addicted to it, and like many addicts I soon found it surprisingly easier than I thought to “phone it in”, and sound smarter than I really am. I think all swots and teacher’s pets are pretentious people in training. I especially enjoyed the gambler’s adrenaline rush of multiply choice questions. Yet modern society frowns on pretense. At least, it does in our face to face everyday interactions. It’s important to distinguish between this form of pretense and the on-line form, because on the Internet we have entered a golden age of pretense. The ability to edit our lives, find videos of cute cats to share, intellectually pose on reedit, in other words; make ourselves and our ideas sound far more important than they really are. Goggle has also had a warping...

You Tuber Review: Beau of the fifth column The Pitch: It is the philosophical duty of everyone to put some skepticism in the path of our opinions and the opinions of others. That, I’m happy to acknowledge, was what “Beau” of the fifth column did to me, the first time I opened one of his videos. With a beard that would provoke envy in any hipster, a southern drawl, and pro-gun t-shirt, my prejudices were in top gear. I should just note, I’m European, so my mind was maybe even narrower going into it, than an American viewer. So, when I heard a balanced, well researched argument with a dose of our grandparent’s common sense; delivered in a tool shed, as a talking head program. I was happier than a hog in whatever that expression is. Sound and quality: The format is simple, so it doesn’t have to be too fancy. I personally prefer my editorials without the flashing green screen, especially those who use slickness to cover half-baked ideas. You tubers take note. The sound ...

Last week; we looked at Placebo’s very different, but faithful interpretation of Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush. This week we’re going to look at  versions, whilst having differences, are also very similar. That’s not to diminish either one; we just need to look at them in a different context. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5cp0S5TUsykE80AbvwBFej?si=QxUzGqEjRGmRcUva5GWvUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWmD_HcOcfU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVOuRQPPdoo Versions are done for many reasons. Sometimes, it’s done out of love and respect for someone else’s artistic work. Almost all bands start out doing versions of other people’s songs, they learn by copying, by doing, continuing that process even after writing your own music, is natural and organic. Then there’s the business side of things. Covering a hit by a big artist has its own built in marketing, as the public already have some “brand name awareness” of the song. They essentially want to ride the tai...

We often lose ourselves in the media spin; the spectacle of it all. The idea that the news was a service providing information to the public, so they could make informed decisions(even if that was true if only for a few brief moments)has been replaced by a big top of spinning intro scenes and generic notes,strung into a tune. I find myself having to take breaks from it,to remind myself of the real and concrete around me. When the words literally and figuratively, were declared interchangeable by the Oxford English Dictionary, everyone blamed the flaws of our education system, but no one considered that it was just a symptom of living in an ever increasingly virtual world. The blurring of those worlds happens on line and in our minds, and so our language blurred too. HBO’s Newsroom   written by legendary screenwriter Aaron Sorkin,   shows Sorkin being the best at what he does, taking complex social and political ideas and wrapping them up in interesting characte...

Welcome to Version 2.0!   A music blog, where I explore the relationship between an original song and another artist’s cover version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM Kate’s Bush’s 1985 hit “Running up That Hill” is pure emotion, pushed to the surface. From the lush sounding synth; filling   the space beneath everything, to the heartbeat pulsing rhythm, to Bush’s harmonies and counter harmonies,   all woven together into a tapestry that’s dense and rich. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-mYX0qKkB8 Placebo’s 2003 version is a different beast. Surprisingly from a band, the cover is sparser. This track is obviously darker, but I think a lot of that comes from the empty space that the aforementioned synths are filling in on the original. This empty space around the other instruments makes Brian Moloko’s vocals sound, well… lonelier. The most interesting thing for me, when looking at these two alongside each other, is the change of perspective. In Plac...