The Haven Chronicles: 2006-01-08

And the winner is...

Slade - My Oh My

I came across this track again on itunes. Released in 1983 - I'm sure I have the 7" somewhere in the loft! This is a classic anthem of a song, it has all the ingredients of a great song.

It starts with a smooth melodic piano intro with the song building slowly with big echo snares! Noddy's voice fits it perfectly (which is more than I can say for his hair), with his holla at 1min 40secs it signals the FIRST key change

(every anthem must have a key change!)

then the band cut loose with Noddy wailing its time to get your hands in the air! At 2mins 9secs, a series of power chords indicates the time to drop the clutch once again to lead it into the second key change and shift into 5th gear! At this point the whole world unites by joining their hands and sings along with Slade!

"So lets all pull together, my oh my.

we can ride the stormy weather, if we all get on and try"

The icing on the cake comes at 3mins 15secs - a fake ending!!!

My favourite bit as the drumer hammers into his saggy toms and brings the band in for the reprise!

The song ends, war is over, lets all go home and live in peace - Slade has left the building!

I hope that has sold it to you - its the sort of song they would play at the end of the night in Peppermint Park - Happy days!!!

Pablo's Top Tunes of 2005

Following MarkCyberCafe's top tunes of 2005, he suggested I do mine. I'm afraid mine are all quite mainstream compared to Mark's but I think you will agree the songs that I have picked will all stand the test of time. Mark also picked old songs that he had rediscovered in 2005 as well as new. With that in mind - my winner is a song I rediscovered, originally released 1983............enjoy.

In 5th place...

Franz Ferdinand - Take me out

I choose this mainly for the Live performance (V Festival I think!) but its a great song too. After the initial intro, then the tempo changes - it really gets the crowd going.

In 4th place...

Green Day - Boulevard of broken dreams

The only American entry! This band has produced some simple but classic songs. This one has a great effect at the start on the guitar - the song has all the usual power and punch that Green Day are best at, especially at 3mins 44secs (my favourite bit!) where they really break it down to the end!

In 3rd place...

The Killers - Mr Brightside

What a classic! Brilliant guitar intro (very hard to play!) then the drums kick in. Has a great mix, with keys coming in after the chorus. At 3mins 3 secs they cut it back for the big finish. At classic song for cruising in the car with the top down - if we had a droptop that is! For shizzle my nizzle!

In 2nd place...

Coldplay - Fix you

What a band! Very talented. A very haunting start with the perc-organ, the song gradually builds and at 2mins 35secs the guitar cuts through and uplifts the entire song - I could emagine standing on the highest mountain looking at a beautiful 360 view at this point! Its a song full of emotion, I love it. Close your eyes, play it at full volume and think happy thoughts - or you could cry to it!

And in 1st place....................

(winner will be posted shortly!)

Benjamin Franklin

"Beware of small expenses;

a small leak will sink a great ship."

The Producers

While the girls went to watch City lose 2-1 to West Ham at Carrow Road, me and Andy went to see The Producers.

I was looking forward to posting a good review here, but, sorry to say it was disappointing! Even one of my favourite actors Matthew Broderick had me cringing from the start! I found a review which sums up my feelings of the film, just follow the bbc film 2006 link here.
However, there were some funny parts in the film which make me chuckle now, but not enough to rate it I'm afraid.
Thank goodness Liverpool beat Luton 5-3 later that night!