This post was originally published on 6 May, 2020. There is a popular perception of ABBA out in the general public of a Swedish group who were perpetually upbeat and sunny and whose music, composed of rich melodies and luscious harmonies, courtesy of the combined superlative vocal talents of Agnetha Continue Reading
Music
ABBA Voyage #3 – Our Last Summer: The emotionally-evocative geography of ABBA’s songs
This post was first published on 25 November, 2018. ABBA is the great musical love of my life. Every single last one of their songs summon up some kind of powerful memory, including as a man in his ’50s a joyous/melancholic recalling of past memories, a theme that is common Continue Reading
ABBA Voyage: After 39 years, everyone’s favourite musical Swedes make sweet new music again
It’s a strange but wonderful thing indeed to find yourself taken back to the emotions and sensibilities of your youth. It can happen through all kinds of things – smells, old movies or TV shows and classic books but the medium which most quickly and completely transports me back to Continue Reading
Countdown to ABBA Voyage #2 – Ring Ring to The Visitors: My top 50 ABBA songs
With ABBA set to release (hopefully) their first new music in 39 years, with the announcement scheduled via a worldwide event commencing at 5.45pm UK time today (2.45am Australia – and yes, I’ll be up!), and the excitement for this longtime fan at fever pitch, it seems like a good Continue Reading
Countdown to ABBA Voyage #1 – Yes, I am the City: My 5 big ABBA moments
With ABBA set to release (hopefully) their first new music in 39 years, with the announcement scheduled via a worldwide event commencing at 5.45pm UK time today (2.45am Australia – and yes, I’ll be up!), and the excitement for this longtime fan at fever pitch, it seems like a good Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #54: Magdalena Bay, Lump, Matilda Mann, Madison Olds, Sycco
Do not speak ill of pop my friends. There are those who look down upon it because of its derivation from the word “popular” with some erroneously assuming that if something is well liked by many, it mustn’t be any good. That’s rubbish, of course, because often something is popular Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #53: Yves Tumor, Jelani Aryeh, Ethan Fields, Maddie Ross, TIMMS + #Eurovision update!
Life comes in all kinds of weird emotional shapes and sizes. There’s the moments of exquisite sorrow and heartbreak which bend you so far out of shape you wonder if you’ll ever bounce back to who you were ever again. Then there, thankfully for who can take that much pretzeling Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #52: Priya Ragu, Poté, Mr Jukes + Barney Artist , Malia J, Circe
The days they are lockdowned. Well, not for everyone in the strict sense of the word but with COVID refusing to go away, many people continue to find their lives constrained by a pandemic that has robbed us of so much capacity to go and do and feel what we Continue Reading
Christmas is a Way of Life, My Dear by Chantal Kreviazuk #ChristmasInJuly
The world is rather neatly divided into two groups of people – those who hate Christmas with a passion and would rather be flayed alive by an invading army than sing “Joy to the World” or eat a fruit mince pie, and those who, like Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk (and Continue Reading
Songs, songs and more songs #51: bülow, Em Beihold, Tones and I, John Errol, Baby Queen (feat. MAY-A)
As the city I live in hurtle into a third straight week of lockdown with more to come, it’s heartening that there is so much great music to keep spirits higher than they might otherwise be. Even better, this music comes with thoughtful, observant and playful lyrics that poetically reflect Continue Reading