Passion – Page 2 – Ellie Thornton Music

Tapestry – Carole King

By the early 70s Carole King’s legendary status was already assured by her work as a staff writer in New York’s Brill Building during the previous decade.

To me ‘Tapestry’ is definitely one of the most successful albums in pop music history. It’s a fairly remarkably, expressive and intimate record non the least, it’s a work of pure craftsmanship and precision all in one album.

The album was released within 1971 under a record label called Ode Records and it was produced by Lou Adler.

Her second album still to this day overflows withe emotionally honest, subtly soulful singing; masterfully written pieces that merge many genres like Pop, Folk, and R&B; this is all wrapped up with a toasty, organic but very smooth and laid back production.

The sheer intimacy right from the beginning with the album which is what hooked me in personally at an instant, the steady pace and pulse make the songs very enticing for everyone listening to join in and enjoy what they’re about to experience. “I Feel the Earth” is my favourite track with its piano riff right from the start which is soon led on by the inviting bass part alongside the guitars input!

Highlights such as “It’s Too Late” and “You’ve Got a Friend”, perfectly demonstrates how compassionate Carole is when it comes to song writing and production even upon her second album, it’s clear that she is more than capable to create many masterpieces at her very fingertips.

As a lover of Primus, Ghost, and all things fun – it may come as a surprise to say that this is one of my all time favourite albums to just pop on whilst working or trying to calm myself down to get to sleep eventually.It is a timeless and gorgeous album with lyrics that are still relevant to today.

When Carole King started making music, she was just writing, that was the thing in the early days of pop – there are writers and performers – this is what makes this album different to most of the others from the time and what makes it a crucial part of music history!

For the following reasons not only did it become the best selling solo album of all time (until Michael Jackson’s Thriller) but it became a cornerstone of every thinking woman’s record collection and a new edition to mine.

Tapestry will always remain a classic because it never forgets the innate urban r&b understanding of great pop while it covers itself in patchouli, satins and silks.

I highly recommend that everyone goes out and gets a copy of this album on any platform and or all of them, I could go on for pages about each of the songs but we’d be here for days so I kept it short and sweet, because her songs should be how you see them and not how other people do. It’s practically an essential album for any and everyone no matter what you listen to, without her we wouldn’t have the music industry we have today.

Wednesday the 17th of October 2018

Today was pretty lacklustre being a Wednesday in all, within D.I.S we chose to rehearse as three and go through our songs again without our singer because she wanted to catch up with her blog. In the other band I am in we have agreed to do ‘Year 3000’ by Busted which will be fun and an easy song to chug out in general.

After we had gone over our songs as a band, I then had a guitar lesson which is always interesting we went over everything that was given to us previously and a grade 6 booklet to look over during half term which will definitely occupied.

At lunch, Jason kindly came over to the library to check my stylistic analysis work and to have a chat which I always enjoy. I now know what I need to work on to complete this work and to take it further than the state it is in at the moment.

Afterwards we had Aural Perception with Chris, which I’ve grown to enjoy and I am obviously getting better each time we have the lesson and when I listen to music whilst writing up my many works which often makes me side tracked but that’s more than fine to work through amongst the chaos.

Chris then kindly finished up the day with restringing my bass which I have been looking forward to subtly all week, during that time Jason came in and looked through my blog which he enjoyed whilst having an entertaining chat with Chris non the least. When Chris was done and Jason had to go I double checked I had everything and went home for the half term ahead of me!

Tuesday the 16th of October 2018

This morning we started off with a rehearsal with Jason which is always enjoyable for me at least, our singer wasn’t in today because of personal reasons which is completely understandable. This therefore led us on the act like professionals and to use the time given appropriately, Jason came in and helped us come up with lyrics for our original song we got pretty far with that and nearing the end of the session we packed up within preparation for our next class.

Composition was a blast as per usual we worked on another 30-second piece about ‘Happiness’ this time because everyone in my class is always happy 24/7 without a doubt. My piece consisted of a brass section, a couple of basses cause that’s cool and drums, I tend to keep my head down during that session and work at my own special pace which seems to help me and not to worry considerably about it like I did when composing for GCSE as that was a burden.

After composition we had Stylistic Analysis with Jason which is always fun times, yet again I keep my head down and do my work whilst everyone gets on with what they’re doing I tend to ignore others as then I get off a task to which is not great. I finished up my analysis of ‘Mercy’ by Duffy and then proceeded to start my analysis of ‘Treasure’ by Bruno Mars which was fun as I get lost easy trying to think when others are around me so I asked Tom for some help for the next time we have the class with Jason for some of his notes to give me a hand.

When that lesson had finished we had lunch which went alright then we had rehearsal. We went through our set as per usual to the best of our abilities and talked about the original a bit, but it’s difficult to do, our singer was in but she didn’t feel like singing which is completely understandable. so we went through the set and now there are some worries with doing ‘Sex On Fire’ which is excellent so we left it like that to pick up on tomorrow.

Then we had a tutorial with Chris which is always special fun times, we went through our pro-portal thing and set our goals and what we are striving for, etc which is always nice to keep in mind, after tutor had finished I asked Jason if he could come and check my work so far which he agreed to do yet again which is very kind of him, then after that it was home time which is the best time.

Monday the 15th of October 2018

My weekend went well considering how terrible the weather was. But besides it being wet and cold, I enjoyed listening to the heavy downpour for some reason it’s always been relaxing to listen to. I used to enjoy hearing it when I was back at secondary working on my music theory with Ben which is nice to reminisce on.

This morning in Music Business, Chris went over that the cut off point was today and that everyone else is safe and that he’s now expecting everyone to work at their full capability. After that, we watched a video of a great band called ‘The Tower Of Power’ the song in question is called ‘The Soul Side Of Town’ which I personally enjoyed being into Funk and all that other fun stuff.

After that Chris said we had our one to ones today so for the final twenty minutes or so of the session he went off to his office whilst he eventually got through every ones blogs and asking each and every one of us how we feel, etc.

After that, we had rehearsal which is always, in my initial band our singer was at a funeral which is sad to hear and my thoughts go out to her.

But I spent most of my time with the other band Chris has put me in to play the guitar in which is a challenge but fun none the lease, we started to come up with an original song and went through ‘Lucky Man’ by ‘The Verve’ which is fun the other guitarist/vocalist has totalled his fingers so I had to play his part rather than the lead part which went well, then after that we had lunch.

After we went through that song we began on the original piece and came up with an upbeat chord progression that Jason previously helped us out with which I remembered from a couple weeks back, now it’s up to our vocalist to come up with something to go with it!

When lunch was finished, we had directed independent study, but I didn’t know what to do as I’ve done a hell of a lot over the weekends as I have no social life quite frankly, so me and Tom went to talk to Chris and he told us to rehearse now so the others can leave early and for me to go have my one to one after which was fun times, Chris enjoyed my blog and my progress and we talked about many fun things including Les Claypool.

After that Chris came back over to music with me and we worked with my other band because the setlist was a mess and the bassist wasn’t in, and we agreed to do ‘Red Red Wine’ by UB40 which is a good tune, after that it was the end of the day and we went home.

I have training tonight so I’m going to be either totalled tomorrow morning or in the mood to destroy, so we shall wait and see…

Album of the week

Rattle That Lock – David Gilmour

It is the fourth solo studio album by Pink Floyd singer and guitarist David Gilmour.

It was originally released in September 2015, on the record label Columbia.

The genre of the album would be considered all of the three in which being Rock, Jazz and Ambient, and the album lasts for 51 minutes roughly!

Gilmour completed short tours around Europe in September and October 2015 and South America in December 2015 to support the album, with a similar tour of the United States and Canada following in March and April 2016.

During his short tour around Europe, as previously mentioned I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall which was amazing for my first ever live music event!

The artwork for the album was created by Dave Stansbie from The Creative Corporation under the direction of Aubrey Powell, who has worked with David Gilmour and Pink Floyd since the late 1960s!

By any Pink Floyd Fans standards, Rattle That Lock is definitely worth setting aside the time to listen to properly to experience its inner meaning.

With lyrics by his wife Polly Samson, who has had a massive influence upon this album, Gilmour reflects heavily on an aspect of time passing by and the urgency to live what’s left to the fullest, which explains the opening with his creeping-dawn guitar overture ‘5 A.M’.

And the morning-train glide of the title track. The flow of moods — the waltz ‘Faces of Stone’; the jazzy-youth memoir ‘The Girl in the Yellow Dress’ (with distant bleats of cornet by Robert Wyatt); the martial rock, ringed with light, of ‘Today’ — is striking and effective, recalling the hooks-and-choruses side of 1971’s Meddle by Pink Floyd.

One of my favourite tracks off of the album would have to be ‘A Boat Lies Waiting’ with sighing harmonies by David Crosby and Graham Nash, and a mumbled monologue similar to that on ‘The Great Gig in the sky’ – is dedicated to late keyboardist Richard Wright so this may be Gilmour’s own life on display summarised within a spectacular album.

But Gilmour is, inevitably, most eloquent here as a guitarist, if it wasn’t for his playing and musicianship I wouldn’t be here today at Fareham Music.

In the iconic arcs of silvery treble illuminating the instrumental of one of the final tracks ‘Beauty’, the guitarist sounds like an expressive master of his craft, one who hasn’t aged a day.

And on that note, I definitely recommend setting aside to experience this album in full if you’re a fan of David Gilmour and Pink Floyd, or into Rock and Jazz because it’s bloody brilliant all round!

More than one third of music consumers still pirate music

Despite rise of legal streaming, a substantial number of listeners still rip music from sites such as YouTube for offline listening.

More than one-third of global music listeners are still pirating music, according to a new report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). While the massive rise in legal streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal was thought to have stemmed illegal consumption, 38% of listeners still continue to acquire music through illegal means.

The most popular form of copyright infringement is stream-ripping (32%): using easily available software to record the audio from sites like YouTube at a low-quality bit rate. Downloads through “cyberlocker” file hosting services or P2P software like BitTorrent came second (23%), with acquisition via search engines in third place (17%).

Stream-rippers told the IFPI that their primary motive was being able to listen to music offline without paying for a premium subscription to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, most legal subscription services I am aware of charge around £10 a month to listen without adverts.

The IFPI estimated that YouTube represented an annual revenue of less than 76p per user, compared to £15 on Spotify, and concluded that user upload services are not returning fair value to the music community.

David Price, the director of insight and analysis at IFPI said that very little stream-ripping was happening on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, and that these services could do little more to attract people towards paying for subscriptions: “There is no better way of consuming music, full stop. It is very difficult to imagine how they could become more user-friendly.” He instead put the blame on “the large video platforms like YouTube” for not doing enough to prevent piracy.

“There are certain areas where they could improve on the security front, such as better encryption,” he said. Stream-ripping sites often involve simply entering a link from YouTube, with the sites then generating a free MP3 file from the link to illegally download. “There’s no way of giving sites a link from Spotify or Netflix and getting an immediate download, but you can do that for some of the large video platforms,” David Price explained.

“This is a game that is easy for a lot of these sites to play. It’s not like setting up a torrent site like the Pirate Bay, where you’ve got to collect all this content and curate it to some extent. You’re basically offering people access to music that is already uploaded elsewhere.”

Thirty-five percent of listeners who do not use a paid-for streaming service said everything they want to listen to was on YouTube. This will change following the approval last month of Europe’s copyright directive, designed to update copyright legislation for the digital age. Article 13, of the legislation makes social media platforms responsible for the prevention of users sharing copyrighted material.

The IFPI surveyed a representative sample of 16 – to 64-year-olds in 18 countries, including the UK, South Korea, France, the US, Brazil and South Africa, who make up the vast majority of global music consumption.

The Music Modernisation Act has been signed into law

President Trump has signed the Music Modernisation Act (MMA) into law, officially passing the most sweeping reform to copyright law in decades. The bill, heralded by labels, musicians, and politicians, unanimously passed through both the House and Senate before going to the president.

The Music Modernisation Act, which streamlines the music-licensing process to make it easier for rights holders to get paid when their music is streamed online
The Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, & Important Contributions to Society (CLASSICS) Act for pre-1972 recordings
The Allocation for Music Producers (AMP) Act, which improves royalty payouts for producers and engineers from Sound Exchange when their recordings are used on satellite and online radio (Notably, this is the first time producers have ever been mentioned in copyright law.)

What does all this mean in simple terms?

Well first off, songwriters and artists will receive royalties on songs recorded before 1972. Second, the MMA will improve how songwriters are paid by streaming services with a single mechanical licensing database overseen by music publishers and songwriters. The cost of creating and maintaining this database will be paid for by digital streaming services. Third, the act will take unclaimed royalties due to music professionals and provide a consistent legal process to receive them. Previously, these unclaimed royalties were held by digital service providers like Spotify and Apple Music. All of this should also ensure that artists are paid more and have an easier time collecting money they are owed.

“The Music Modernisation Act is now the law of the land, and thousands of songwriters and artists are better for it,” said Recording Industry Association of America president Mitch Glazier in a statement. “The result is a music market better founded on fair competition and fair pay. The enactment of this law demonstrates what music creators and digital services can do when we work together collaboratively to advance a mutually beneficial agenda.”

With all of this considering the MMA should ensure that all artists should be paid more and have an even easier time collecting money, which is great to here for all young and aspiring musicians like myself!

Tuesday The 9th of October 2018

In Rehearsal today, we went over ‘Treasure’ by Bruno Mars in rehearsal today by request of me, finally, the song was composed in common time and in the key of E♭ major with a tempo of 112 beats per minute. The chord progression of A♭m₇–(Gm₇)–Fm₇–Gm₇–Cm–(B♭) repeats throughout the song, changing only to end phrases on B♭_9sus (A♭/B♭), a deceptive Cadence. I enjoy the song because of how upbeat it is and the style in which the bass-line is played, I haven’t been able to play anything slapped and popped but now I have the perfect opportunity as Disco is where it’s at!

In Composition, Chris had told us to start a new 30 second piece based on ‘How you see yourself” which was interesting, because I am pretty the overall outcome was doom and gloom. I’m finally the hang of Logic X at the start of term was fairly difficult to get into, but I will be sure to improve all my compositions before I have to submit it to Chris. This composition consisted of a Finger style bass because playing with a pick isn’t the way to go, studio cellos, a ‘slow jam’ drum kit and a soundscape sound called ‘Metal World’ which helped create the edge that I see myself in me.

After Composition, we had Pop Music in Practice with Jason which I always enjoy now that I know what I’m doing and have confidence to ask Jason for help. In today’s session I finished going through the background and arrangement to ‘Mercy’ by Duffy, I think it is to the best of my standards but that’s always open to change. I started to go through ‘Treasure’ by Bruno Mars also, I started to go into the background of Disco as a genre which is the most interesting one yet along side soul, to me at least; but I will definitely work on it a lot more tomorrow and over the weekend, because tomorrow the lectures have safeguard training which is interesting to me as I’d like to be a teacher one day.

After lunch we had Rehearsal again, so we proceeded to go over the structure of ‘Treasure’ which is always fun to do at the end of the day. We went through the song a handful of times because our singer was trying to figure out what key she was going to be comfortable with, after a few times me and drummer locked down the groove so it’s now up to our guitarist to learn his part up to scratch then that should be another song in the bag!

Wednesday The 3rd of October 2018

Today we only had half a day to get things done because the college had a open evening, so we only came in for rehearsal, well I did at least because my guitar teacher was at a funeral and I teach myself Bass with some special help from Chris on the side.

Rehearsal was a bit heated as me and the lead guitarist are having a bit of a petty argument over whats going on in the sessions, etc and how I am acting up, which I’m not which is fun times. Apart from that I worked to the best of my abilities whilst feeling like absolute garbage on the side, I felt like I was at fault and I was bringing the drummer and the singer down because me being silent and his bad mood.

After rehearsal, Chris saw my email about him and that was fun, I understand that Chris is a very busy guy at the moment so I just let it play out. But I knew that talking to him and showing him what’s going on would be ten times better than me being sad.

But after that fun was sorted out and Chris cheered me up a bit, I went home and got myself ready to go and help out at the Henry Cort open evening in their music department considering Ben (Mr Chilcott) helped me get as far as I am now in college. Chris and I agreed also that I should come back in on Friday to sort out my basses action out so its a lot easier to maintain so that should be fun also!

Tuesday The 2nd of October 2018

We went over ‘Mercy’ by Duffy in rehearsal today by request of our singer, it’s a Pop Soul song so its fun for her to sing as it’s within her vocal range and she likes the style as well, personally I think it suits her perfectly. The bass line is fun to play around with because the song follows a 12-bar blues progression and it compliments the vocals and the keys also, the drums are pretty laid back and simple but it is just what the song needs to make the impact that it does.

In composition, Chris had to go deal with an issue, so one of the HNC’s ran then class. We started a new 30 second piece based on a washing machine which was interesting, I’m still getting used to Logic X so it was fairly difficult to get into, but I will be sure to improve it before I have to submit it in to Chris. I’ve started off with imitating the sound and the motion of a washing machine on the drums to give it that chugging feel, but I can only get better and it will come together eventually.

After composition, we had Pop Music in Practice with Jason which is always fun times for both parties. My other band mates started to do an analysis of ‘Mercy’ by Duffy but I was still doing my break down of ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ by Bon Jovi, so I was incredibly confused with what I was doing but I didn’t want to frustrate my peers and or interrupt Jason, so I chose to listen in and make a few notes on the song and kept my struggle to myself.

After lunch we had rehearsal again, so we proceeded to go over the structure of ‘Mercy’ which is always fun to do at the end of the day. But we eventually called it a day because we didn’t know our parts incredibly well and we were all getting frustrated and hardwired to self destruct.