Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

First up I should apologise to my army of loyal readers for the long silence. But I won’t, because only two have ever left a comment. So, stay-at-home dad and KP’s GF, know that I still love you.

Anyhow, my home PC refused to log into me into blogger, and I have been quite the busy chap at work. having succeeded to log in tonight, I might have more possertunity to update more regularly — provided I get COMMENTS! (Yes ‘possertunity‘ is a word. Sean W. Reeves of Amsterdam says so. Look!)

So, four songs today. Four of my four earworms in the past 24 hours. The first was a Celine Dion song, which I will not do unto others as I would do unto myself. I know only two lines, and google has revealed that it is a dirge called “Because You Love Me”. How did that creep into my internal jukebox?

The other four (left-click for download link):

Springbok Nude Girls – Blue Eyes.mp3
“Round about round about round about now”. It’s a South African rock classic, from 1999. Arno Carstens and the other blokes have reformed and released a new album. I haven’t heard it yet. I hope it doesn’t feature too much of that shit reggae sound that used to spoil their pre-breakup albums.

Harris Tweed – Le Musketeer est Brave.mp3
Great SA outfit. This song has a silly title, but such vulnerable lyrics performed by the wonderful Cherilyn Macneil. It’s the guitar that worms itself into my ear. “Ode To Confusion” is a more pervasive, even addictive earworm. But it isn’t my earworm now. This is.

Colin Hay – Overkill (acoustic).mp3
He was the singer of Men At Work, never my favourite group. I love much of his solo stuff though. This 2003 reworking of the Men At Work hit pisses all over the original. The “diving in tooooo deeeeep” line after the instrumental break is a constant and most welcome earworm.

Garth Brooks – Friends In Low Places (live).mp3
I can’t describe myself as a fan of Mr Brooks. In fact, I like only one of the admittedly few songs by the man I know. But, he-yell, this sure is a fantastic singalong number, with the low noites and the high notes. And a perennial earworm. This is the live version, very popular with Brooks fans, apparently. Truth be told, I prefer the studio version, cheesy barfly choir at the end notwithstanding.

And just for the fun of it, the song I’ve just been singing along to: Evan Dando – If I Could Talk I’d Tell You (live)

Here’s my RYM Harris Tweed review:

Harris Tweed – The Younger (2006)
Harris Tweed are the latest great South African hope for international success. On evidence of this debut album, they are a good bet to break big. Indeed, the album”s second single, the glorious earworm-inducing “Ode To Confusion”, has already attracted international notice.

The Jo”burg group, fronted by the talented Cherilyn Macneil, clearly draws its influences widely, with Regina Spektor and Evanescence”s Amy Lee being apparent inspirations. The trick Harris Tweed pulls off admirably is to sound familiar yet entirely original. Some of the songs on this set are crafted with an extraordinary ear for detail and beauty, and a fine sense for choruses one can”t help singing along to.

There are many absolute delights on this album (the peculiarly titled “Le Musketeer est brave” and “Don’t Forget” in particular), and very few misses. Most grating of these is opener “Superfly“, the sort of electro-pop that reminds one uncomfortably of Hillary Duff, and is entirely unrepresentative of the album”s sound (strangely it was also the album”s lead single and thus received wide radio airplay).

Get past the first track, and this an engaging, stimulating and rewarding album.