Tracy Chapman and Pavarotti sing together. It's surprising how lovely her melody sounds in a very different voice.

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There is no finer instrument than the human voice used to tell a story, imo. In a sense, all other instruments are mute (don't kill me for saying that — it's just a technical thing).

Burton's oratorical voice was indeed a voluptuous one.
Annie, the story you posted got me through my night's insomnia.

I'm fascinated by voices. Someone who can tell a story. Read a poem. Express ideas. Someone whose voice is mesmerizing. Enthralling. Magnetic. Story time is all the time.

Even incidental snippets I sometimes catch as I walk in the park or shop can rivet me. It doesn't always need to be about voice quality. It's that the voice, as an instrument, is how language is used. Even if it be the interior voice of your mind as you read a good poem or book. That's why acting is, to me, a high art.

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Could someone at least tell me what this is? I can’t open it, which isn’t unusual in my part of the world, but I’d still like to know.

Carl, are you able to use a VPN where you are? Something like StrongVPN would allow your computer to pass itself off as being in a different country, allowing you to access blocked content.

Thanks, Roger. In the past I’ve used free VPNs and Tor, but they’re going down one after another, including just recently Tor. I simply haven’t gotten around to exploring what’s still available. StrongVPN seems to have a monthly fee, and anything that requires sending money out of the country is a nonstarter. They’ve got you coming and going. Still, where there’s a computer whiz, there’s a way. I need to ask around.

Can you send money out of the country to private individuals? If so, someone could open up an account for you, you can reimburse them, and then you can have the username and password.

You probably don't need it, but here's an article on VPNs in Russia.

I don’t think that’ll wash either, but I do need to explore the possibilities. If they ever get around to banning Youtube, as some have proposed, I’ll really be up a crick. I’ll check out the article. Thanks again, Roger!

Carl - it's on BBC Sounds - a production of Calvino's "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller". William Weaver's translation but brilliantly adapted and performed here in front of a studio audience.

Thanks, Ann. It goes on my list of things to do in kinder times.

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An opening scene like only Quentin Tarantino can orchestrate: https://youtu.be/K0dAqhxfvlg?si=zJBR5DCYkI5a6sq-

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Apparently Brits can't see that:

"Video unavailable
This video contains content from Universal Pictures, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds"

- try this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coS2CdNd7Io

Just an aside, but as far as "popular music" is concerned, I've never heard anyone mention Pink Floyd. Maybe too well worn, over-played? Wish You Were Here or Comfortably Numb could pop on at anytime and I'd be happy to hear them. And The Wall is a monument, imo. (Personally, I'm more Gilmour than Waters... but it took both, I think.)

The Anthony Hopkins King Lear has many great moments. My favorite is when Lear asks Cordelia to say how much she loves him, only to find she's unwilling to kiss his ass sufficiently.

I hear that they originally cast Keira Knightly as Cordelia, but the role ended up belonging to Florence Pugh, who absolutely killed it. In this scene as I've cued it up, watch the changing expressions on her face when Hopkins is talking. When Lear gives a creepy little laugh, watch how Pugh reflexively gives a small return laugh/grin. It's just perfect. I don't know much about Pugh, but I wonder if she's always this good? And Hopkins, of course, was wonderful as well. This is a great ten minutes of Shakespeare.

I was always a Pink Floyd fan, and was lucky enough to see them in concert back in 1994. I know they technically toured since then, but The Division Bell was arguably their swan song.

Speaking of Pink Floyd, one of my favorite songs of all time is by Kate Bush -- "Rocket's Tail" off of her 1989 album The Sensual World. The first half is mostly a-capella with Kate and a trio of Bulgarian singers, before it bursts into a wonderful guitar solo from David Gilmour (who essentially "discovered" her back in the 70's -- a great story, if anyone doesn't know it). Everything works together -- the haunting trio, Kate's delicate soprano, the fiery licks of the guitar... Music is subjective, and if no one has the same reaction I do, I'm okay with that. For me, it's hauntingly sublime, and I've loved it since I first got into Kate in the mid-90s.

Speaking of hauntingly sublime sopranos from the 90's, I offer "Courtyard Lullaby" by Loreena McKennitt. I grew up with this album on cassette in 1991, and this song always sent shivers down my spine. If I had to be critical, there's some serious variation in tempo (rushing the beat, falling behind it etc.), but...whatever. Who among us hasn't let feeling get in the way of meter from time to time? ;)

Yes, Shaun, I think from this and that wonderful performance from Rush, we kind of ride the same wave (and Rush was a kind of young me band, honestly, but, christ that's one of the best things I've ever seen live- very possibly the best). I also love Run Like Hell. You mentioned Kate Bush, and others, links. I'll come back.

for reference
https://youtu.be/FFpZFnJ6ZT8?si=VthOaND1mdgXytJC

Oh, I was a HUGE Rush fan. Saw them in concert in 1997. Like a lot of things I listened to regularly in the 90s, I still listen to them from time to time (Counterparts during my last road trip in July). I was very into progressive rock in general. One of the relatively few stasis points between fellow Eratospherian Quincy Lehr and I is a former love for Van der Graaf Generator. I won't link to any of it here, because it probably wouldn't appeal to anyone...but Peter Hammill's lyrics were true poetry. I know that's said about a lot of lyricists, but it really does apply.

Funnily enough, unlike most forty-somethings, most of what I listen to these days is new. Also unlike most forty-somethings, my tastes have only gotten heavier over the years, so hardcore punk, metalcore, and various other heavy genres are most commonly in my CD player. And yes, I still listen to CDs -- partly because I started buying CDs in the early 90s and have over 1000 of them, and partly because no one will ever convince me that .mp3s capture the true range of audio.

That's a lot of noise for a three piece band. Maybe there's something else going on, ha. The precision, sharpness of that live. The change of gears. I would have liked to have been there. Actually, no. I can get the same amount of amazement without worrying about how long it will take to find my car.

My initial intention was to actually comment on Tracy Chapman. Roger, yes, she's brilliant. Right smack in my generation. And, poof, she disappeared. Fast Car is some of the best lyrics to sound I've ever heard. And the title Fast Car is heartbreaking. God, that's a tough song. One of the very rare songs that's also a lesson on how to write poetry.

Of course, I like this too:

https://youtu.be/xJncHEZ3URs?si=pnUvC66JNwt8PN9k

Added: Thanks for the Kate Bush, Shaun. She has a wonderful, out of this world voice. Honestly, though, she scares me a little. David Gilmour's guitar is distinctive, isn't it? Enjoyed that tremendously.

I am finding myself strangely transfixed by AI covers today.

This is Frank Sinatra covering Green Day.

https://youtu.be/rH14QH9jSDQ?si=E8nm1egHRtKpK93r

And John Lennon doing Oasis:

https://youtu.be/uO6s5RTTK9Q?si=G_OkwgNEMtr2XCVF

Move over reality. Make room for the new kid on the block.

—But great performance? I guess you could say that AI is a "great performance". Why not? The world has suddenly become one single great performance of conflict and change.

Pretty amazing to hear. Only those of us alive today who have experienced the world with and without AI will know the remarkable out-of-body experience that is felt as we listen to this. We are in the crease.

The AI generated image of Lennon, too, adds to the warp of reality that's taking place. Interesting how the Oasis song covered by AI Lennon begins with a clear homage to Lennon's "Imagine".

We move along like clouds changing shape in the wind. You can’t stop the wind from blowing — Can you?

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Jim,

I stopped short of posting some Kurt Cobain covers because it raises questions of copyright and "responsibility to the dead". I doubt the families of Sinatra would care but I reckon Yoko would have objections. It's interesting how close Oasis sound to Lennon anyway, as you pointed out, because the C major chord progressions and vocals are similar.

But these trends are out there for the spotting and FWIW I think music is more a risk from AI than poetry.

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I'm not the patriotic sort. But this cover by David Bowie is stunning in the context of 9-11. Not to mention it's one of a handful of songs written by Paul Simon that put him in the company of great American songwriters.

This one, too.

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Jim, it's a great song indeed. I loved it for years before realizing it doesn't rhyme.

Also, many of its lines are pentameter, which you don't find much in popular music.

Nah. I'll let that go. Carry on...

I sometimes feel like Roadrunner.

https://youtu.be/OQhOcDFbflQ?si=_PrG8If-5saIW1WL

I used to be in touch regularly with a famous guitarist in the UK who would complain to me about such things as being recognised too easily at LAX. I asked him what his favourite song from another artist was and he said this:

https://youtu.be/-PQDNWpCQfE?si=V5tKbb7Rzujn_T-Q

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Lennon at his most desperate best. Unleashed rock n roll
https://youtu.be/q0iD2j3jFoY?si=fKeLZRMAYVagqfeJ

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A lovely painted film, available only until December 15. Sort of villanelle-like: things keep repeating until you lose interest, but then they turn out not to be what they seemed at first (or second, or third) glance.

Don't read the synopsis below the video. It's full of spoilers. Better to just make discoveries for yourself.

Iizuma Fair by Sumito Sakakibara
https://vimeo.com/697947484

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Great film, Julie. I'm not villanelle-oriented though I can see your point. An ekphrastic villanelle : ) It's ambiguous in its rolling out of what is evolving/revolving, but it is somehow familiar at a subterranean level. The further it went on the more I became acclimated to it and could make some sense of it on my own personal level. Then, as it came to the end, it surprised me with its 360 degree vision. It reminded me of what good graffitti might look like if it were animated.

I wish I could have commented on every post contributed to this thread.

Sooner or later, this one had to show up. Dylan live ("straight from the grave") Manchester UK 1966 (The "Judas" version)

It is really two separate songs merged into one ecstatic song: Musically, it is transcendent. It nearly lifts me off my feet from the very first note. Lyrically, it is his best poem, imo (at the moment). I can’t think of another piece of music that gives me more (at the moment).

Here's another live performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. He had played earlier "unplugged" on acoustic guitar and then came back with an electric guitar and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with Al Kooper. They booed him. He didn’t return to the Newport folk festival for 37 years. In 2002 he made a return appearance wearing a wig and a beard.

If you want to recall the schism that was Dylan’s cataclysmic move to electric, here's a good wiki entry on it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electr...an_controversy


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If there are any fans of Flann O'Brien out there, then here is a lovely thing. Eamon Morrissey's monologue - The Brother- based mostly on his Irish Times column Cruiskeen Lawn, The definition is a bit blurred and the sound is a little out of synch but the performance is perfect. I must have watched it 20 times and still love it,

The Brother

Here's a Dylan cover by Rosanne Cash, with John Levanthal playing along with masterful guitar playing. I'd never realized how lovely a melody it was till these two played it for me. Farewell Angelina

Thanks, Roger. I'm not 100% sure they were able to make it bluegrass but the twang works. I enjoyed this. It was good to listen to her again.

Thought you'd like to know that at the 57th Country Music Association (CMA) Awards on November 8, Luke Combs's cover of "Fast Car" (not this particular version, but I love hearing a whole stadium of people in cowboy hats and boots singing her great words along with him) won Best Single and Best Song, making Tracy Chapman the first black songwriter to have a win in those categories.

A lot of fans of folk and Americana here, so even though it's not my go-to genre, this gem from the early 2000s is one of my favorites. It takes an old Hungarian folk song and updates it. The singer (David Eugene Edwards) does such a great job of channeling the emotions of the outlaw, and also evoking the wheedling tones of the lawmen. Somehow, in a mere 4:30, it's as satisfying as any good Western movie.

An hour ago I had never heard of Rozzi, though I had heard of the Brothers Comatose. But first impression is that this is an amazing cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On."

I put together a playlist of some other Rozzi songs that I like a lot. It includes covers as well as originals. HERE

This tugged the heart strings Carl. Strange how we can be moved by words we don't understand, but I guess the music tells us what they mean.

Here is another Italian connection. Except that it couldn't be more English. I have played it a lot over the past few years and it still hurts in all the right places.

Olivia Chaney Roman Holiday

The way the drummer savors the tap solo always makes me smile. And that ending!

Postmodern Jukebox 1930's jazz remake of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTO...tmodernJukebox

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Now that is performance art! Life is beautiful when you see it being whistled, sung, and tapped.

Thanks for this on this thanks-filled day : )


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Billie Eilish: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I'm currently obsessed with this cover of La Vie en Rose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NK9...&start_radio=1

Hey Julie, just caught that. Not much of a country music fan, especially these days (I can like Johnny Cash), but I was so happy to see that. I was snarkily made fun of for a great redo of Jolene here. A great song inspires, and is made convincingly new sometimes. Anyway, my feeling is that I'm so happy for Tracy Chapman.