tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post1033172747170453034..comments2023-10-24T11:11:49.568+01:00Comments on There Are Places I Remember: Songs About Places: Wild West EndGeoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966328708258079467noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-1754880184572755612020-06-13T18:41:37.689+01:002020-06-13T18:41:37.689+01:00I think its a reference to a gogo dancerI think its a reference to a gogo dancerGeoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10966328708258079467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-69255185838447665272020-06-04T00:06:03.115+01:002020-06-04T00:06:03.115+01:00Thanks a lot for this post. I absolutely love the ...Thanks a lot for this post. I absolutely love the song and you make me love it even more :) Honestly, West End is where I'd like to be right now. haldinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08807732612275017391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-29003482319779349972019-10-18T21:18:37.923+01:002019-10-18T21:18:37.923+01:00Does anyone know which song or artist is reference...Does anyone know which song or artist is referenced in the line "the DJ he say, here's Mandy for ya"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-77549787280732095552018-03-02T02:57:09.147+00:002018-03-02T02:57:09.147+00:00I still recall the thrill I had walking past Angel...I still recall the thrill I had walking past Angelucci's in 1979, a New Zealander on her first trip to London. These places really did exist. It was magic.Kim Griggsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-25654794175693699962016-02-02T06:38:00.140+00:002016-02-02T06:38:00.140+00:00I'd read your blog, Terry! :)I'd read your blog, Terry! :)Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04144409478647317209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-12841432282553771842016-02-02T06:36:53.867+00:002016-02-02T06:36:53.867+00:00I'd read your blog, Terry! :)I'd read your blog, Terry! :)Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04144409478647317209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-13749009627664499062012-06-15T06:03:54.435+01:002012-06-15T06:03:54.435+01:00I posted my comments a few days ago, maybe as long...I posted my comments a few days ago, maybe as long as 4 or 5 days ago - have no idea why it just showed up! Seems like the blogspot system sometimes stores up our comments and then releases them all at once. Like a traffic jam!Ingridhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09706483693939439276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-56592687154342835442012-06-14T20:40:58.891+01:002012-06-14T20:40:58.891+01:00I havent been to New Jersey, Desiree, so cant real...I havent been to New Jersey, Desiree, so cant really do one of Springsteen's songs about it!Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10966328708258079467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-86932018689109077232012-06-14T20:39:47.293+01:002012-06-14T20:39:47.293+01:00What a lot of comments all at once! Thanks for the...What a lot of comments all at once! Thanks for the suggestions and links.<br /><br />Thank you for your lovely comments, Christine, and also setting the story straight on the inspiration for those songs! I didn't see that particular gig, I cant remember why not. I did see Chicken Shack there though! Your remark about time twisting round on itself is an underlying theme of this blog, I guess.<br /><br />I understand your point, Laura. However, some groups that span several periods of time can be unfairly labelled against one in particular, I feel, hence Dire Straits and the 80's. Yet when this song came out, Tony Benn was in the Government, the Anti-Nazi League was in full swing and Thatcherism was an unknown term. <br />It happened to the Bee Gees and getting their image stuck with the whole disco/Staying Alive sound. It also happened to some extent with Fleetwood Mac. The Reynolds Girls may be the answer to an obscure pub quiz question now but their 1989 hit, I'd Rather Jack, was an cack-handed attempt to show that the latest Stock-Aitken-Waterman sound was more in tune with the zeitgeist than a 'dinosaur' like Fleetwood Mac. The point is, what Fleetwood Mac? Man of the World? Sentimental Lady? Silver Springs? They are all in the ether still and time twists round to make them all as relevant as each other. Hence, to conclude a rambling point, the Dire Straits of 1978 cant maybe be judged by the sins of the 80's!Geoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10966328708258079467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-88466183550148690812012-06-14T06:51:55.367+01:002012-06-14T06:51:55.367+01:00Wonderful blog Geoff! Just got back from taking ca...Wonderful blog Geoff! Just got back from taking care of my mother for a few weeks in Arkansas, great to have the chance to catch up on my reading and got online as soon as I could to see what you had written about. <br /><br />I liked your note about Springsteen mythologizing the ordinary - do you have any plans to do a column about one of his songs? Maybe something about New Jersey?Desireenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-70291180327560815902012-06-14T06:47:04.613+01:002012-06-14T06:47:04.613+01:00For a song about the West End, there is my Backdro...For a song about the West End, there is my Backdrop City<br /><br />A song about the West End of London, I thought, as the title came to me. There have been others, I mused. I determined that this one wouldn’t be as predictable as the others I”d heard. No strip clubs, no prostitutes in this song I decided.<br /><br />Song-writers often refer to the connecting melody between verses as the bridge. The bridge comes into this song twice. I wrote the words for the second one first. It ends:<br /><br />“ Last train, last fare, cold air… “<br /><br />When I wanted to write the same part for the first bridge I realised that I’d used a rather specific word-play for the second bridge. The train and the fare have the same prefix, and the fare and the air rhyme. Should I stay loyal to this in the first bridge, or cut corners. Would anyone notice anyway? Three years later I came up with :<br /><br />“ In form in-crowd shout loud..”<br />“ It’s finished !“’ I shouted. No-one else noticed.<br /><br />You can download it at my site, here - http://peter-cadle.com/london-talk - with the link in the left column.Peterhttp://peter-cadle.com/welcomenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-27292108013747215252012-06-14T06:43:38.752+01:002012-06-14T06:43:38.752+01:00I love Dion’s Written On the Subway Walls.....
ht...I love Dion’s Written On the Subway Walls.....<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF-E6xkwVdQClintonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-28428061304873097762012-06-14T06:42:34.948+01:002012-06-14T06:42:34.948+01:00Here's A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square ...Here's A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square that Geoff mentioned....<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyofs0mreCcRobertanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-15537036600390678442012-06-14T06:39:53.756+01:002012-06-14T06:39:53.756+01:00I've always been a fan of "Wild West End&...I've always been a fan of "Wild West End", so much so that when my wife and I were in London in 2007, I actually took a specific trip to get a picture of Shaftsbury Avenue as mentioned in the song.Owennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-27439696045096261222012-06-14T06:39:33.522+01:002012-06-14T06:39:33.522+01:00This album by Dire Straits from 1978 was made by t...This album by Dire Straits from 1978 was made by the most white collar band ever. The lead singer/guitarist is an ex-journalist & a teacher, the other guitarist was a social worker, & the other two were undergraduates studying sociology. How very liberal arts of them.<br /><br />That being said, this album has a lot of soul to it. Dire Straits have a smooth bluesy feel to their songs, like a country song mixed with a folk song mixed with a little rock. It makes for a Cat Stevens-esque sound that you can't help but tap your toes to.<br /><br />Overall, this album is quite good. I liked "Water of Love" which is a hell of a metaphor and a sweet slow song. "Six Blade Knife" definitely has a grittier feel with a crazy good beat...& the lead singer does this amazing old blues voice that makes me smile. I enjoyed this album and it would be great for a lazy Sunday.Liznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-32251089645343112132012-06-14T06:38:15.433+01:002012-06-14T06:38:15.433+01:00[continued because of the word limit]
....
We arri...[continued because of the word limit]<br />....<br />We arrived, and we couldn’t find the proper entrance, so the three of us (along with a group of other likewise confused concertgoers) climbed a rather large chain link fence to get in. Concert security wasn’t what it is now. We staked out our spot on the hill, and I recall the people to the right, and the people to the left, and the people behind us all smoking weed. To a 12 year old, this was quite an interesting shock to the senses.<br /><br />But then the show started and the music wiped out all other distractions (when they started their hit “Money For Nothing” and the crowd rose to their feet, my sister’s boyfriend lifted me up on his shoulders so I could see…cool thing to do). Dire Straits was such a powerful live band in their heyday. They did not play their hits note for note, often extending their songs to double the length that they were on the record. I have a vivid memory of one of those perfect concert moments: 18-minute version of “Tunnel of Love” (which may be my single favorite rock song of all time) with all of its amusement park imagery and dynamics, being played outdoors with a real amusement park as the backdrop. I mean, how great is that? I recall Knopfler commenting on that too.<br /><br />Fortunately I can relive that moment. In one of those strange coincidences of life, my brother J., living in Colorado at the time and completely unaware that I was attending the show, decided to pop a tape in his stereo and record a live radio broadcast of Dire Straits, live from Houston. A year later, while browsing his tapes, I see a cassette labeled “Dire Straits, Houston” with the date of my show. Really? I made a copy and have it to this day. But wouldn’t listening to it mar the perfect memories? Things always sound better in your memories than they actually were, right? No. I am happy to report that that tape proves that it was not just hazy happy childhood memories. That show was incredible. It features a transcendently great version of “Wild West End,” by the way.Dezmondnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-1890786140949800482012-06-14T06:37:43.479+01:002012-06-14T06:37:43.479+01:00Dire Straits was my first concert experience. I wo...Dire Straits was my first concert experience. I would have been about 12 years old, and my older sister told me that I could come with her and her boyfriend to a concert. Already a dedicated music fan, I was thrilled. A good part of my musical fanaticism can be blamed on my siblings. Growing up I didn’t really have a choice. When I was very young, my sister would make me sit down and she would put those huge 70’s stereo headphones on my head and make me listen to God knows what. It was my sister who introduced me to Bruce Springsteen (well, not personally, but his music). My brother D. was quite important. He gave me a copy of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Chronicle, Jimi Hendrix’s Essential, The Best of The Doors and Buffalo Springfield’s Retrospective all when I was quite young and impressionable. My now deceased brother R. was a Stones fan. I have memories of him sitting up in our playroom for hours on end spinning Hot Rocks, getting lost in his schizophrenic mind. That is how I got to know The Stones’s music intimately.<br /><br />And my sister introduced me to Dire Straits. Her boyfriend at the time, I forget his name, was a nice dude and a huge DS fan. They were coming to the Southern Star Amphitheater at Astroworld in Houston on their Brothers In Arms tour, and he got my sis and me some tickets to go with him. She told me that I was going to a concert, and my head was spinning with the possibilities. Could it be Bruce? The Stones? Oh my God, maybe it was Huey Lewis & The News! (This was the mid-80’s, remember). “No, Dire Straits.” Dire who? I had this sinking, disappointed feeling. I quickly tried to familiarize myself with their tunes before the show, but I was still underwhelmed.<br /><br />The Southern Star Amphitheater, like the rest of Astroworld, is now an open field across the highway from the similarly abandoned Astrodome in Houston, I think they are building some shopping centers and apartments there now. The Southern Star design is now a common set-up for outdoor concert venues, but it was a newer design in the early 80’s. Located at the back of Astroworld (behind the XLR8 rollercoaster), it was basically a grassy hill with a stage in front of it. But there was something a bit magical about the place. Perhaps it was the amusement park backdrop, but it was just the coolest venue for shows in the summer. I saw about 4 shows there in my youth, and each one turned out to be a memorable experience, for various reasons.Dezmondnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-77386135434770496812012-06-14T06:32:37.201+01:002012-06-14T06:32:37.201+01:00I like Lord Kitchener - London is the place for me...I like Lord Kitchener - London is the place for me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGt21q1AjuI<br /><br />What I read is that he wrote "London is" on the boat over - he hadnt actually got here yet, and it was a fantastical account of what he expected of London. A year or so later reality had kicked in and he wrote a tune called "Sweet Jamaica" about how life in London was cold and harsh, how he nearly starved and wanted to go home.Garricknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-78275529284190994112012-06-14T06:31:01.979+01:002012-06-14T06:31:01.979+01:00I'd take Saint Etienne's version of London...I'd take Saint Etienne's version of London anyday over Dire Straits' version. A band that make London sound dreamy and warm, and not the violent, unpleasant dump it has become.Franknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-76298552531999055302012-06-14T06:29:21.552+01:002012-06-14T06:29:21.552+01:00As a youngster from west Wales who once fleetingly...As a youngster from west Wales who once fleetingly lived in London (& hated it), I do have a soft spot for the Sex Pistols raucous 'Satellite', where Mr Rotten snarls:<br /><br />'You know I don't like where you come from,<br />It's just a satellite of London..'Sam Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08523013822784596338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-61244371640768521492012-06-14T06:28:09.332+01:002012-06-14T06:28:09.332+01:00Any mention of London music of the 1970s/1980s has...Any mention of London music of the 1970s/1980s has to include Light Of The World. A terrific North London jazz-funk band that came out that wonderful late 70s and early 80s period where so much great soul/r'n'b/jazz/funk was happening up in The Smoke. "Round Trip" was for me their stand out album which merits classic status, containing such cracking tracks such as 'Time', 'I'm So Happy', 'More of Myself', 'Something for Nothing' and the city's funk anthem 'London Town'...I wanna party in London Town...Magnifique!Marianahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17961737021859664227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-21459523740142020202012-06-14T06:26:20.310+01:002012-06-14T06:26:20.310+01:00An example of what you were talking about with the...An example of what you were talking about with the idea engaging the sounds of America whilst remaining distinctly English is London Posse (Bionic and UK Hip Hop hero Rodney P), a short lived UK hip hop group from the late 80s/early 90s who only released one album, Gangster Chronicle. It took the golden era sounds of New York, mixed them with Jamaica's dancehall and came out sounding distinctly British.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15427693964807938715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-53708915138565491142012-06-14T06:23:20.664+01:002012-06-14T06:23:20.664+01:00For another West End / Soho song, there is Pulp - ...For another West End / Soho song, there is Pulp - Bar Italia, about a late night Italian cafe on Frith Street in Soho..........Nickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12345880035877836117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-87040138174556321222012-06-14T06:19:56.879+01:002012-06-14T06:19:56.879+01:00When the car radio would cough up a Dire Straits s...When the car radio would cough up a Dire Straits song from one of their first two LP’s, I would change the station. It wasn’t any sort of passionate dislike, but the songs just did nothing for me. Then when Brothers in Arms debuted in 1985, I used several tracks as regular demo material when selling home audio at The Audio Den in Burlington, Vermont (where I first fell in love with THIEL loudspeakers). That record created quite a buzz, but as great as it was at that moment in time, I still wasn’t rushing out to see Dire Straits live (probably a mistake on my part).<br /><br />Last year I was solicited by Amazon to check out the new 180-gram version of the Dire Straits LP, Communiqué. Caught up in a moment of nostalgic motivational energy, I pulled two LP’s from my collection—Dire Straits (from 1978 on Warner Bros.) and Communiqué on the same label from a year later. I listened to both records end-to-end, and wound up extracting three “deep” tracks (Once Upon a Time in the West, Single-Handed Sailor, and Follow Me Home) from Communiqué, recording them to CD and then to Apple Lossless on my iPod that I use for airplane travel. For the record, I grabbed these cuts because they have a certain ethereal sensibility mixed with great grooves.<br /><br />That first Dire Straits record features Sultans of Swing and Down to the Waterline, but my reaction to the songs was the same as it has always been—ho-hum. Lots of seemingly lazy chord progressions, simple major and minor transitions, not a lot of musical acuity in the song structure, other than absolutely crushing virtuoso guitar work by Mark Knopfler. I like his singing too, it is unique and full of character, but the guitar work is truly memorable. The array of tones and dynamic wizardry that Knopfler exhibits on virtually every song is nothing short of captivating. Knopfler bends notes and plays tasty little ornaments—and he can get so amazingly quiet while still making all kinds of interesting things happen; and at the next moment a riff bursts to the forefront of the recording, but still with all of the sparkle and shimmer he was getting while playing more softly. And his range of sounds, from nearly muted to biting, and how rapidly he mixes them together, is astonishing—he is a stand-out instrumentalist. I loved listening to his work, but I found that as before, I was bored by the songs and ready to put the LP’s back for another handful of years.<br /><br />This is one example of what leaves me flat: In the song Wild West End from the first record, there is a turn-around progression between the end of the chorus and the start of the verse that is made up of the following sequence of chords: A-minor, G-major, F-major, D-major, C-major, and D-major. The sequence offers nothing—it is the musical equivalent of a writer’s non sequitur. It gets us from the verse to the chorus mechanically, not musically. It’s like a pro athlete taking plays off—it bums me out. My perception of Dire Straits is that the songwriting evolved (not at all surprising) because the band’s later works were more compositionally intriguing.<br /><br />The power of the Internet—one little e-mail solicitation for a 180 gram LP lead to all of this. If you want to spend some time with true electric guitar mastery—a wonderfully unique playing style rich with tremendously subtle details, the first two Dire Straits records are full of great moments. The songs leave me uninspired, but the dynamic recordings and the guitar work make for an interesting and worthwhile journey.Micahnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3774690407548657707.post-18441250007185313792012-06-14T06:16:58.326+01:002012-06-14T06:16:58.326+01:00Dire Straits first album was largely unrecognised ...Dire Straits first album was largely unrecognised in the UK but went to first place here in New Zealand in 1978. I remember buying it and listening to it in that summer of 1978/79.Trishnoreply@blogger.com