messiah

This sacred oratorio has become one of the most recognized musical pieces of all time.  George Frideric Handel composed the music with lyricist Charles Jennens who drew from the King James Bible.  

The German born Handel had been trained in German and Italian schools before relocating to England in 1712.  He had quite a bit of success with Italian operas; but as the demand for music in English grew, he gradually made the transition to meet the demand.  Handel had written oratorio about Christ in Italy (La Resurrezione, 1708) and Germany (The Brockes Passion, 1716); but when Charles Jennens, 
with whom he had already collaborated (Saul, 1739), offered him the libretto for another collection from Scripture, he waited three years before he began to compose music for it.  

'Messiah' made its debut in Dublin in 1742 to rave reviews and universal acclaim.  When the oratorio came to London the next year, it was not so warmly received.  There were complaints about the sacred piece being performed in a secular theatre.  Also Jennings was not happy with some of the sections.  Handel reworked them and the oratorio was revived in 1749.  Since then, it has received more expansive orchestral arrangements and is one of the most performed oratorios ever.  




Hallelujah Chorus








'Messiah'
full oratorio:




PART I
Scene 1: Isaiah's prophecy of salvation
01:46 : 1. Ouverture
05:34 : 2. Comfort ye my people (Tenor)
08:30 : 3. Ev'ry valley shall be exalted (tenor)
11:50 : 4. And the glory of the Lord (chorus)
Scene 2: The coming judgment
14:48 : 5. Thus saith the Lord of hosts (bass)
16:16 : 6. But who may abide the day of His coming (bass)
20:45 : 7. And he shall purify the sons of Levi (chorus)
Scene 3: The prophecy of Christ's birth
23:25 : 8. Behold, a virgin shall conceive (alto)
23:49 : 9. O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion (alto and chorus)
29:24 : 10. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth (bass)
31:22 : 11. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light (bass)
34:55 : 12. For unto us a child is born (chorus)
Scene 4: The annunciation to the shepherds
39:03 : 13. Pifa ("pastoral symphony": instrumental)
41:46 : 14a. There were shepherds abiding in the fields (soprano)
42:03 : 14b. And lo, the angel of the Lord (soprano)
42:25 : 15. And the angel said unto them (soprano)
43:06 : 16. And suddenly there was with the angel (soprano)
43:23 : 17. Glory to God in the highest (chorus)
Scene 5: Christ's healing and redemption
45:22 : 18. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion (soprano)
49:55 : 19. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened (alto)
50:28 : 20. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd (alto and soprano)
55:42 : 21. His yoke is easy (chorus)

PART II
Scene 1: Christ's Passion
58:17 :    22. Behold the Lamb of God (chorus)
1:01:08 : 23. He was despised and rejected of men (alto)
1:12:50 : 24. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (chorus)
1:14:32 : 25. And with his stripes we are healed (chorus)
1:16:24 : 26. All we like sheep have gone astray (chorus)
1:20:11 : 27. All they that see him laugh him to scorn (tenor)
1:20:52 : 28. He trusted in God that he would deliver him (chorus)
1:23:19 : 29. Thy rebuke hath broken his heart (tenor)
1:25:10 : 30. Behold and see if there be any sorrow (tenor)
Scene 2: Christ's Death and Resurrection
1:26:18 : 31. He was cut off (tenor)
1:26:48 : 32. But thou didst not leave his soul in hell (tenor)
Scene 3: Christ's Ascension
1:29:04 : 33. Lift up your heads, O ye gates (chorus)
Scene 4: Christ's reception in Heaven
1:34:20 : 34. Unto which of the angels (tenor)
1:34:35 : 35. Let all the angels of God worship Him (chorus)
Scene 5: The beginnings of Gospel preaching
1:36:07 : 36. Thou art gone up on high (alto)
1:39:18 : 37. The Lord gave the word (chorus)
1:40:24 : 38. How beautiful are the feet (soprano)
1:42:48 : 39. Their sound is gone out (chorus)
Scene 6: The world's rejection of the Gospel
1:44:21 : 40. Why do the nations so furiously rage together (bass)
1:47:16 : 41. Let us break their bonds asunder (chorus)
1:49:00 : 42. He that dwelleth in heaven (tenor)
Scene 7: God's ultimate victory
1:49:12 : 43. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron (tenor)
1:51:17 : 44. Hallelujah (chorus)

PART III
Scene 1: The promise of eternal life
1:55:20 : 45. I know that my Redeemer liveth (soprano)
2:01:30 : 46. Since by man came death (chorus)
Scene 2: The Day of Judgment
2:03:40 : 47. Behold, I tell you a mystery (bass)
2:04:14 : 48. The trumpet shall sound (bass)
Scene 3: The final conquest of sin
2:13:06 : 49. Then shall be brought to pass (alto)
2:13:23 : 50. O death, where is thy sting (alto and tenor)
2:15:21 : 51. But thanks be to God (chorus)
2:17:45 : 52. If God be for us, who can be against us (soprano)
Scene 4: The acclamation of the Messiah
2:23:05 : 53. Worthy is the Lamb (chorus)
Amen (chorus)

the commitments

Alan Parker brought Roddy's Doyle's novel about building a soul band in Dublin to life by building a soul band with actual working musicians.   Parker remembers:  "I had said from the outset, rather rashly, that in our search for the Commitments members I would consider anyone who sang or played a musical instrument. It was pointed out to me that there were as many as 1200 bands playing in Dublin, which is extraordinary in a city of just over a million people. There was a little Irish blarney attached to this, however, as I discovered that many of the young musicians often play in three or four bands at a time and “The Boneshakers” this week can inexplicably be called “Hep Cat Huey” the next. Each evening a different pub offered us up yet another band belting away in the cramped upstairs rooms. They say forming a band in Dublin is one thing, but finding somewhere to play is a little more difficult. Also on every street corner there seemed to be a busker who was dutifully dragged in to audition. Many reasons are put forward for the music explosion in Ireland. The international success of performers like U2, Sinéad O’Connor, Van Morrison and Bob Geldof are obvious beacons for young Dubliners. Ireland also has the youngest population in Europe and (in 1990) the high unemployment amongst young people is an important factor in why so many struggle to buy their guitars and form their garage bands as a way of gaining some dignity for the present and hope for a future...Also, in order to cast our net as widely as possible, we had organized an open casting call at the Mansion House (town hall) where we invited anyone in Dublin who wanted to be considered for the film. Over 1500 young hopefuls turned up reading a page of the script and singing and playing everything from guitars to tin whistles, banjos to bagpipes (quite a miraculous turnout considering Ireland was doing rather well in the World Cup at the time, consequently bringing Dublin to a halt). The truth is, of course, if you ask absolutely anyone to sing in Ireland they’ll gladly oblige —often quite beautifully and sometimes even without a glass of Guinness in their hand."

The group was assembled using ten musicians and two actors (Bronagh Gallagher and Johnny Murphy).  The film stars:  

Robert Arkins as Jimmy Rabbitte, manager.

Sixteen year old Andrew Strong as Declan "Deco" Cuffe, lead singer. His father, Rob Strong, was the film's vocal coach and when Parker heard his son singing, he asked him to audition for Deco.

Glen Hansard from the band The Frames as Outspan Foster, guitar.

Kenneth McCluskey as Derek Scully, bass.

Johnny Murphy as Joey "The Lips" Fagan, trumpet.  Rory Gallagher and Van Morrison had been approached to play the part.

Félim Gormley as Dean Fay, sax.

Michael Aherne as Steven Clifford, piano.

Dick Massey as Billy Mooney, first drummer.

Dave Finnegan as Mickah Wallace, second drummer.

The Commitmentettes
Angeline Ball as Imelda Quirke, backup singer.
Maria Doyle as Natalie Murphy, backup singer
Bronagh Gallagher as Bernie McGloughlin, backup singer.



Colm Meaney as Jimmy Rabbitte, Sr.
Anne Kent as Mrs. Rabbitte

All four siblings from The Corrs appear in the film.
Andrea Corr as Sharon Rabbitte, Jimmy's younger sister. She does not sing in the film.
Jim Corr as a "Avant-Garde-A-Clue" band member
Sharon Corr (uncredited) as Fiddle Player in Country & Western band
Caroline Corr (uncredited) as Drummer in Country & Western band

Peter Rowen (who featured on the cover of U2's Boy and War) as the skateboarding boy who wants to audition for the band.
Colm Mac Con Iomaire as an auditioning fiddler
Sean Hughes as Dave from Eejit Records
Alan Parker as Eejit Records producer

Parker says:   "Our music priority was to lay down the basic tracks for the twenty-four chosen performed songs. We had decided to use a new system for shooting and recording the music which had never been used before on a film.  Most film music from “Singing In The Rain” to MTV uses pre-recorded tracks and vocals which are played back as the camera takes up different positions with the artists miming. I wanted to capture the reality of the rehearsals and performing by recording the vocals live on set. This is very difficult as modern film requires many different angles to be covered and a constant sound track is needed in order for the finished edited scene to match cut by cut. We used a new system of out-of-phase speakers which enabled us to play the pre-recorded constant backing tracks at maximum volume on set to give us a live performance atmosphere for the vocalists to sing to. Each vocal was then recorded live onto a twenty-four track recorder that was on set with us. Because of the out-of-phase speakers the vocals could be recorded cleanly, as they were filmed, for re-mixing later. This allowed us the technical precision needed for a complicated cut but gave us the truth, energy and spirit of a live performance. It also enabled us to interweave dramatic dialogue with the songs.  By the end of the month we had rehearsed each scene in the film over and over until  our ten musicians had become actors and our two actors had become musicians and all of them had become an accomplished ensemble theatrical group. By the time we were ready to film, all the songs could be performed by the cast and we could run through the whole script, from beginning to end, in one stretch, just like a play."

'The Commitments'  earned almost fifteen million at the box office and won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, as well as  Best Director, Best Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.  In a poll done in 2005 by Jameson Irish Whiskey, The Commitments was voted best Irish film of all time.  






'The Commitments'  
trailer






"Mustang Sally"







"Try A Little Tenderness"

The Commitments - Try a Little Tenderness by algizdk










The soundtrack produced two volumes of music.  The original soundtrack went to number seventeen in Sweden, twelve in Austria, eight in the US, six in Switzerland, four in the UK, two in Australia, and number one in New Zealand.  Volume 2 charted at number one hundred and eighteen in the US, thirty-two in Austria, twenty-five in Sweden, fifteen in Switzerland, thirteen in the UK, eleven in Norway, six in Australia, and number three in New Zealand.  


'The Commitments'  
soundtrack Volumes 1&2
full albums




VOLUME 1
1. "Mustang Sally" Mack Rice  00:00
2. "Take Me To The River" Al Green, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges  04:00
3. "Chain Of Fools"  Aretha Franklin  07:39
4. "The Dark End Of The Street" Dan Penn, Chips Moman 10:37
5. "Destination Anywhere"  (Niamh Kavanagh) Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson 13:13
6. "I Can't Stand The Rain"  Ann Peebles, Don Bryant, Bernard "Bernie" Miller 16:22
7. "Try A Little Tenderness" Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, Harry M. Woods 19:34
8. "Treat Her Right"   Roy Head and the Traits 24:09
9. "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" (Niamh Kavanagh) Penn, Moman  27:48
10. "Mr. Pitiful"  Redding, Steve Cropper 31:04
11. "I Never Loved A Man" Ronny Shannon 33:15
12. "In The Midnight Hour" Pickett, Cropper 36:27
13. "Bye Bye Baby"  Mary Wells 38:52
14. "Slip Away" William Armstrong, Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell 42:16

VOLUME 2
1. "Hard To Handle"  Allen Jones, Al Bell, Otis Redding  46:47
2. "Grits Ain't Groceries"  Titus Turner 49:10
3. "I Thank You" Isaac Hayes, David Porter 52:53
4. "That's The Way Love Is" Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong 56:33
5. "Show Me" Joe Tex 1:00:42
6. "Saved" Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller 1:03:36
7. "Too Many Fish in the Sea" Whitfield, Eddie Holland 1:06:33
8. "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" Redding, Steve Cropper 1:09:18
9. "Land Of A Thousand Dances" Chris Kenner 1:12:11
10. "Nowhere To Run" Holland–Dozier–Holland 1:15:24
11. "Bring It On Home To Me" Sam Cooke 1:19:05
12. "Are You Lonely for Me" 1:22:50
13. "(She's) Some Kind of Wonderful" 1:26:46
14. "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" 1:30:08
15. "Same Old Me" 1:33:34
16. "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" [Long Version] 1:38:40




where are they now?

the one and only PPL MVR

The One and Only PPL MVR revelled in revealing their yeti rock regression in this murky masked maneuver.   The group emerged from "the all encompassing oneness" as if from a cave with this frothy autotuned affirmation of their ability to affect activity.  Their contract with Elektra leads some to speculate that they are a famous band in disguise.  There is some circumstantial evidence that suggests that the group may consist of members of the band Brand New. 

The black colored one is K-PO; the white one is SNWBLL;  and the brown one is Q.  

http://www.pplmvr.co/







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJzLKQzFFvQ




Turn it up, gonna touch some salt, gonna swear to me or until it cleans the clock, when my second hand strikes a five leaf clover, goes the hangover, to the undercross
Step to the right, Walk to the left, When you get off BTR WTCH YR STP
I'm a PPL MVR, It's a cold producer, I'm a PPL MVR, It's a Red Medusa
IM A PPL MVR
Time to use all the tools in the shed, There's a Monkey Wrench and a creep in drag, like a bobble head saying yes yes yes, gotta acquiesesce to the knucklehead
Step to the right, Walk to the left, When you get off BTR WTCH YR STP
I'm a PPL MVR, It's a cult producer, I'm a PPL MVR, It's a Red Medusa
IM A PPL MVR
Step to the right, walk to the left, When you get off BTR WTCH YR STP
I'm a PPL MVR, It's a cold producer, I'm a PPL MVR, It's a Red Medusa
OWWW
I'm a PPL MVR, It's a fool producer, I'm a PPL MVR, It's a Red Medusa






The One and Only PPL MVR
full EP

1   People Mover   2:57
2   Mad   3:23
3   Annie   3:13
4   Day of the Dead   2:48
5   Let's Take This Outside   1:46

young life

Warren Austin makes the rain and keeps rolling with the times with this mangy miracle.  The Birmingham artist and musician spent a decade recording demos of dozens of songs from which he culled the fourteen tracks that comprise his debut album.  Austin composed, arranged, performed, and produced all of the songs for 'Young Life'.  

The styles range from the gothic grunge thunder of "You Make the Rain" to the wistful folk ramblings of "Spit in the Ocean" to the to the rockabilly grooves of "Think About You" to the goodtimey singalong of "Rollin' With the Times" to the artsy atmospheric angst of "Don't Throw Your Young Life Away".  He pokes a bit of fun ("keep walkin'") at Johnny Depp and pays tribute ("you're in my heart, whatever") to the departed Leonard Nimoy; but, perhaps the most powerful song is the 'Grand Theft Auto' inspired "I Wanna Shoot Someone, Daddy".  In the song, he takes the perspective of a child that has acquired a taste for violence from playing the video game and is ready ("I wanna know what it feels like to hold a real gun in my hand") to take it to the next level.  


'Young Life' is the first of several releases that are in the works for this prolific artist, who seems to ooze music.  Gather some up for yourself and fill up your big belly.  

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/young-life/id1091348190
https://fofumandtheheavyset.bandcamp.com/releases

https://soundcloud.com/fofum




Don't Throw Your Young Life Away



Spit in the Ocean



You Make the Rain






'Young Life'

1.  you make the rain
2.  where the ghosts all plug in 
3.  don't throw your young life away
4.  mangy dog
5.  put me back to sleep
6.  keep rollin' with the times
7.  spit in the ocean
8.  think about you
9.  johnny depp keeps walkin'
10. in a long line
11. mister leonard nimoy
12. i wanna shoot someone, daddy 
13. i can't follow where you go
14. amy's eyes