Guest Blog - The Old Lawyer's Guide to Scottish Music

This month's guest blog is a little different from the normal top ten list. Anis Waiz is a lawyer in Manchester and we became friends through Twitter, thanks to a mutual love of Big Country and a shared sense of humour. Anis has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Scottish bands, so I decided to put him to the test. I have asked him to compile a list of Scottish anthems that he loves. I even restricted him to one Big Country tune. So here it is, the Old Lawyer's guide to Scottish music.

Is fhearr na ‘n t-or sgeul innse air choir

I will carry you home
with the gods in my eyes
I will carry you home
While the westerlies sigh

Introduction

First let me thank my great friend Sinclair for inviting me to be his guest blog. I am truly undeserving.

 It is with great honour and much trepidation I proffer glorious music from a great great nation so close to my heart. Alba. It has produced music so inspiring and uplifting. Music that has nurtured my very being.  Through days of hope running deep and clear as a mountain steam to the brooding sky and inner struggle.  From turbulent times of youth to grace and humanity of these days.   

So often I return to my beloved and adopted nation for the guiding hand of reason. It has held me aloft as the tide of despondency turned upon the reason of being. Above all it is music that reflects a pride that has grown with hardship. Such beautiful music from the Heart.

I chose these songs to call my own.

Orange Juice - Rip It Up

Formed in  Glasgow in the late 1970’s by the sheer force of Edwyn Collins will, this track released in 1983 heralded the new wave sound with stunning vocals and dynamic rhythm.  As a record collector at the time I was drawn to the Sound of Young Scotland and the rare Postcard Records label that released many tracks by this great Band. A stunning track.

The Cocteau Twins - Pink, Orange, Red

This track was a chance discovery to a band that both fascinated and intrigued in equal measure.  A band that  could never be defined and that had no boundaries. Brilliance beyond measure.

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey

Wearing black and playing guitar, so distracted from the law. The band’s first album was my release from closing walls and Latin phrases. This is sublime. 

Eddi Reader - Bell, Book and Candle

Without simple explanation, traditional Gaelic music has resonated within my very core.  It is the Land which bears harvest to the inner soul of strength and passion. Another chance discovery from a breathtaking album from 1998. This is music to reflect a journey of a proud nation.

The Blue Nile - Because Of Toledo

A band from my youth and held so precious to my inner thoughts.  From a glamorous rainy town high above the roof tops this band have produced music so rare and unassuming. There is little to compare the rich textures of their music. This track from a later album of stark beauty and longing.  Music to redefine a nation.

The Skids - A Woman In Winter

A band that was so so underrated delivering lyrics the likes of which had never been heard.  The brilliant late Mr Adamson on guitar, mesmerising and unique.  Hailing from my beloved Kingdom of Fife, they produced music that inspires and helped to define a generation.

Travis - Driftwood

Rivers turn to ocean
Oceans tide you home
Home is where the heart is
But your heart had to roam.

Stunning evocative lyrics and a beautiful, richly layered song. A track from the heart and soul of Scotland.

Deacon Blue - Real Gone Kid

And I'll show you all the photographs
That I ever got took
And I'll play you old 45's
That now mean nothing to me.

To hear a band from Alba and not be moved was simply unthinkable.  A rare occasion of hearing but not understanding greatness. I was never a fan of this band until much later. These lyrics intrigued me and drew me to this beautiful song. I realise now how wrong my first impression of this band was.

The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

 

Not an obvious choice for my selection but this song reflects perhaps the rays upon a part of Alba hitherto lost in time. It has a nod to the classic tradition of voice and guitar of simple times and stories to be told. 

Big Country - Harvest Home

This stunning song reflects the land so cherished and guarded. A  masterpiece without doubt.

For me this is a band without equal and who in so many ways defined my generation and started within me a pride and respect for my beloved Alba.

Your islands are conquered and
You are returned to the throne
Martyrs take penance and
Fill up the mattress with stones

Kind regards

Anis

Thanks Anis for this collection that makes me proud to be a Scot. You can follow the thoughts of Anis on Twitter @OldLawyer1.

The Youth Of Today

The press love a good story with the tone 'look at the youth of today, look how terrible they are". Last night I attended a concert that proves just the opposite.
My niece is a fantastic musician and is a member of one of the North Lanarkshire Schools Music Groups. Their spring concert showcases the talents of around four hundred young people in the county. There was a range of different musical styles in the concert including jazz, rock, classical and traditional. There is a pipe band, a woodwind orchestra, a symphony orchestra, as well as a development group for younger children. Every single piece of music was delivered with professional levels of musical ability, timing and polish.
All of this requires incredible dedication from the young people and their teachers. The council, another much maligned group of people, deserve enormous credit for encouraging and developing the musicians in the county. It's time that those in positions of power realise how important these young people are to the future of this country.
All across the UK, there are many young adults just like the musicians I saw last night. They participate with passion and dedication in art, sport, science or music, help charities and are members of youth groups. I am not saying that everyone can be a musician or an artist but there are many who will bring the same level of passion and skill to whatever they do. We cannot leave them to rot away in low paid work or worse still on the dole. We cannot destroy their dreams of building a career and leave them as a wasted generation. We can't continue to give tax breaks to the rich, while freezing the minimum wage for young people and expect them to want to do their best for their employer.
If you read the press, the youth of today are all drug addicts, knife-wielding drunks and wasters. The truth is the hidden majority are decent young people with skills and dreams who deserve better than the contempt they receive from their elders. They deserve a chance to stake their future in a better country, not to be left to waste away or to be turned into a third world work force.
Time to put the fine young people at the heart of what we do in this country, because they deserve it.

Ten Reasons I Love The Beatles

Of all my top ten lists for this blog, this is the most difficult to compile because I am a huge Beatles fan. From a very young age I was fascinated by the Sergeant Pepper's album cover, long before I was interested in music. When I was about twelve I fell in love with The Beatles and it is a love affair that persists to this very day.
My good friend Anis, who some of you will know as Oldlawyer, has a similar passion for music but he hasn't developed a love for those four lads from Liverpool. Today, I'm going to help him.

Twist & Shout - 1963
Unlike the talent show karaoke singers of today, The Beatles learned their craft long before they became famous. The demanding environment of the Hamburg clubs was where the Fab Four honed both their musicianship and their showmanship. On the first album, this cover of an Isley Brothers' hit reflects everything they learned in the seedy dives on the Reeperbahn.

And I Love Her - 1964
Although rock 'n' roll was the catalyst for the band being formed, they were never afraid to dip into other musical styles. This song has a Bossa Nova rhythm and a beautiful simplicity which began to hint at the songwriting treasures that were to follow.

Yesterday -1965
Possibly one of the greatest melancholy love songs ever written, Yesterday is among the most covered songs on the planet. Paul McCartney woke one morning with the melody in his head and it had a working title of 'Scrambled Eggs'. Two years after their initial album release they were beginning to leave simple pop songs behind and produce music that transcends generations.

Tomorrow Never Knows - 1966

In 1966, Revolver was released to critical acclaim and public amazement. The loveable mop tops were gone,  replaced with four by musical artists pushing the boundaries of what popular music could be. If you listen to this track now it is almost impossible to believe it is over 45 years old. The looped instrumental sounds are what you would expect from a modern studio using multi-track recording  and computers. The song is written in a single chord, which was a first, according to Paul McCartney. Despite all the amazing experimentation, John Lennon still delivers a tune that haunts and inspires musicians to this very day.

A Day In The Life - 1967

Almost any track on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is a classic but 'A Day In The Life' is my personal favourite. It begins with John's reflections on newspaper stories then flows into Paul's domestic daydream before returning to social commentary. Ringo's loose rolling drum sound underpins the song with layers of instrumentation that build to a crescendo and a dramatic final chord. Simply wonderful.

 I Am The Walrus - 1967
The Magical Mystery Tour may be one of the worst movies ever made but the album of the same name has some of the band's finest moments. This song is John at his most lyrically experimental and contains lines of grotesque poetry that showcases his black sense of humour.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - 1968
To have two songwriters of genuine quality in the same band is unusual, to have three is almost unheard of. George had felt frustrated that his songs were not getting the same exposure as John and Paul but on the White Album his talent begins to shine through. Just listen to this song and you will know why I love it.

Come Together - 1969
As the band began to fall apart without the steadying hand of Brian Epstein to guide them, they sought to make their final recordings together into a classic album. Abbey Road was the result and it is filled with creativity and songs that most bands could only dream of recording. It opens with this track, a song with a bluesy feel and some brilliant guitar from George. This is also a very good modern video.

Here Comes The Sun - 1969
More of George's brilliance in this uplifting and positive song. Considering the background of backbiting and infighting, this is all the more remarkable.

Get Back - 1970
Although Abbey Road was their last sessions, Let It Be was the last album released. It's an album which many critics dismiss but can you real dismiss tracks like 'Let It Be'; 'Across The Universe'; 'The Long And Winding Road' and this classic piece of rock history. Paul thought that going back on the road as a band would stop them falling apart. This song was that hope expressed in music. It wasn't to be, but their legacy of fantastic music is untouchable.

I hope, Anis, and everyone else reading this, that these ten songs help you to understand why I hold The Beatles in such high esteem. In truth, I could easily have filled a list of fifty songs, such is my admiration. The Beatles produced in just eight years, music which still be inspiring people in eighty. They were indeed 'Four lads that shook world.'

March Guest Blog - McDroll

This month I am joined by another fellow Scot,  McDroll. She shares the songs that can be heard in a variety of forms from her very musical family as well as some of the tracks that inspire her. I'll let her explain.

As I live in a very open plan house (it seemed like a cool idea before we had children) I always have to write in the middle of noise. So Sinclair, I hope you don’t mind but instead of the 10 songs that I listen to while I write, I thought I’d give everybody a flavour of what I listen, or try to block out, while I write.

1. At the moment, my two kids (11 and 17, boy and girl) are preparing like mad for our local music festival so there’s a lot of music goes on in our house and many musical instruments to trip over. Gavin plays guitar and thinks he’s Chris Martin (Coldplay) so very often I’m listening to him sing Viva La Vida which he’s really good at but I’ve now heard it at least 1000 times.

2. Lindsay, my daughter loves…and I mean LOVES musical theatre. The piece she is perfecting for the festival this year is Cock-Eyed Optimist from South Pacific, which suits her voice and personality very well. She hopes to make singing her future and currently is part of Scottish Opera’s Connect group. More about that later!

3. You will laugh at this. We have an open plan house with no hiding places, as I’ve already said. What instrument does Gavin play and practice all the time? The tuba. We call it Geoff because it’s so large it’s like having another person in the house. I sit and look at Geoff most nights as I type. One of the pieces that Gavin is trying to perfect is Tijuana Taxi; I remember this from my youth, listening to my mother’s Herb Albert records.

4. My husband and both children are addicted to Top Gear, that ghastly car programme with those three moronic men which is constantly repeated on a variety of channels. There is no escaping it in my house so I hear that theme tune a lot. I think it’s Jessica by the Allman Brothers.

5. Then of course, having a teenage daughter, the theme song from that mind numbing American comedy show ‘Friends’ is never far away. I’m afraid that when I hear this one I do shout, ‘Is there nothing else you can watch?’ and then feel a compulsion to murder one of my characters as I write. If you don’t know it (you are VERY lucky) then it’s a song called I'll Be There For You by the Rembrandts.

6. Sometimes, I actually get to listen to music that I like, mostly to drown out what else is going on and I stick on my headphones and listen to Alfie Bow with my favourite being Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. Makes me cry.

7. I also listen a lot to a guy called Brett Detar. I know nothing about him other than it was a free download and I enjoy it. I suppose you’d call it country or bluegrass or something but then I’m no expert. I particularly enjoy The Devil’s Gotta Earn.

8. I like buying random music just to find something new to listen to and my most recent purchase is Deaf Havana, Fools and Worthless Liars. It’s noisy and fills my head with sound. My kids think I’m far to old to be listening to it but that’s just because they still think that you are some other kind of person once the years start to stack up. Hey! I’m still the girl that went to see Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Apollo in Glasgow in 1977ish.

9. I’m a huge Curtis Stigers fan. Forget the image of the guy with the long hair and the saxophone. That’s not him. Try listening to My Funny Valentine; his voice is very special.

10. Back to my girl, we take her to Dunoon every week for her singing lesson, this is a 4 hour round trip and that’s just the driving not the hanging about, so I just have to include Voi Che Sapeti from The Marriage of Figaro, which she’s sung many times for different auditions, competitions and concerts.

My guilty pleasure? Well, I’ll always be a David Cassidy fan….Could It Be Forever?

McDroll lives in Argyll, Scotland, easily one of the most beautiful places in the world, steeped in history from prehistoric standing stones to Celtic crosses with castles and countless lochs and glens.

She sits at night, laptop on knees, and writes about romance or murders depending on what mood she is in…well, what else would she do?

McDroll has had stories published in Shotgun Honey and The Flash Fiction Offensive and Near to the Knuckle. She is one of the contributors in the anthologies OFF THE RECORD, THE LOST CHILDREN and BRIT GRIT TOO.

Her collection of 10 short crime/noir stories Kick It Together and he serialized novel THE WRONG DELIVERY can be found at

http://goo.gl/wFh5t

http://goo.gl/u1Mzj

McDroll also writes book reviews and interviews a variety of writers on her blog.

http://imeanttoreadthat.blogspot.com/

Thanks McDroll for a diverse and fascinating selection of great music.