Review: Indigo Girls - Swamp Ophelia

 Hello!

 Just letting you know I reviewed Indigo Girls' album Swamp Ophelia for The Mancunion.

 I hope you enjoy my write-up.

 Liz x

Interview with Amy Ray

 Hello!

 It was great to interview Amy Ray of Indigo Girls for Now Then Manchester.

 We talk about the folk duo's upcoming UK tour, the secret to their long-lasting success, their solo projects, social media, writing advice and more.

 I hope you enjoy it!

 You can also read my review for The Mancunion of Indigo Girls' album Rites of Passage.

 Liz x

Review: Edwina Hayes - Pour Me a Drink

 Hello, readers!

 You may remember that I have been to two Nanci Griffith tribute concerts in Southport - one in 2013 and one in 2014. Both times, Edwina Hayes was present and I had the privilege of hearing her beautiful and unique voice. Both times, I also met her - last time, I literally ran into her - and she was lovely.

 So, it is a great pleasure to be able to listen to and review her album Pour Me a Drink. Released in 2008, it is Edwina's second solo album.

 I must begin by commenting on its beautiful artwork: it is incredibly pretty and I feel that the blossoms decorating both the cover and some of the inside pages of the sleeve represent the album really well: the songs are soft, delicate and fragile like blossoms, yet also very strong, as is a cherry tree.

 The album opens with Run, a rather dark, sad song which I personally would not have chosen as an opener but which is very good nonetheless. The next track is one of my favourites, Leave a Light on for You, which is simple but very sweet and for me is reminiscent of a Nanci Griffith song.

 Season of Love is more bluegrass and I like it, especially the chorus.Very American-sounding. Call Me flows in the same vein as Leave a Light on for You and is similarly sweet and delicate. One of several songs on the album written by Edwina alone rather than in collaboration, it is a good example of her song writing - a simple but beautiful song about a never-ending love.

 The title track, which I saw Edwina perform live in Southport, is slow and haunting and very sad. It's followed by her take on the traditional Froggie Went a Courting, which is smooth and pleasant to listen to and has a happy ending!

 Edwina's cover of Randy Newman's Feels Like Home is the first song I heard her sing, due to its use in the film version of My Sister's Keeper. It also became very important to me when I moved from one University hall of residence to another and felt much more at home in the second one. I kept playing this song in my head and I now associate it with that time.

 It is a marvel in that it manages to be smooth and very easy on the ear while being extremely raw and emotional. It is probably still my absolute favourite of her songs, although I have discovered several new favourites on this album.

 The album ends with Irish Waltz, a lovely piece that sounds genuinely like it could have been written centuries ago in Ireland unlike certain other modern pieces designed to sound so that don't. Edwina's voice is always lovely but here it is divine, and Jack McKeague's guitar work and especially his dobro work are stunning. It is a wonderful end to the album.

 I enjoyed this album. While most of the songs are quite similar in that they are simple, delicate love songs with an acoustic guitar, each one does create its own unique ambience. Edwina's guitar work is very nice and her voice is gorgeous.

 As a writer, one measure of what I think is a good song is one that I would use in a film of one of my books. I would certainly consider this for both Leave a Light on for You and Edwina's version of Feels Like Home (although the latter has already been done).

 Overall, a lovely album and one which I am sure I will listen to a great deal.

 Rating: 8/10

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Joni Mitchell

 Hello, dear readers!

 For a while I have been intending to do a Joni Mitchell post, but have only just got around to it. I've been pretty busy recently. Anyway, here is what I have to say about a very talented singer and songwriter.

***

 The first Joni song I will have heard is Blue, because it is on Girls and Guitars, a compilation album I listened to a lot when I was younger. I wasn't a fan of the song, however, and years later when I properly discovered Joni, I didn't remember it being her song; ie, I probably never knew the name of the singer of Blue.

 So my real first Joni song was Coyote - the version from The Last Waltz.

 My family obtained a copy of the famous concert film when I was about eight and since then it was a fixture in my childhood. We watched it many times; one particularly memorable occasion was when we were on holiday in the Lake District and watched it in our little cabin overlooking beautiful countryside.

 After watching the film through, each family member would pick our favourite act to watch again, and my request was always Joni. I liked the song, but what I loved was the presentation: it was so simple, yet mesmerising.

 A few years ago I heard the recorded version of Coyote, and I much prefer the Last Waltz one - it's much more fluid and organic. But then, the Last Waltz seemed to have that effect on songs: I also much prefer the Last Waltz version of Bob Dylan's Forever Young to the album version.

 I used to vow that if I ever learned to play guitar well enough I would perform this song. Sadly, my knowledge of guitar is still quite basic. One day...

***

 When I was fourteen I did some work experience at my local hospital. I heard Amy Grant's version of Big Yellow Taxi on the radio in the cardiology unit. It annoyed me because I knew I knew the song, but couldn't place it. 

 I eventually got it, and remembered hearing it for the first time not long before, on the radio in the car on the way to school. My dad was driving me, and he challenged me to identify the singer and the writer. I didn't get either. 

 When he told me, the name Amy Grant meant nothing to me, but I wasn't surprised to hear Joni's name - although I had only heard a couple of her songs, I could easily envisage her singing this one.

 So when I worked out what the song I heard in the hospital was, I looked up both Amy's and Joni's versions and enjoyed them both (and observed that Amy looked like Elaine from Seinfeld). I later became a big fan of Amy's song Baby, Baby, and blogged about it.

 Here they are, the two versions:

 I still bop along to this song in my head: it has a good beat, despite having such sad lyrics.

***

 The final Joni song I want to share is This Flight Tonight. I first heard the Nazareth version and somehow found out that Joni had written the original. 

 I found her version and on the first listening I observed that it was quite dark and strange, and very Joni-ish, and that I wasn't too keen on it, yet I also somehow knew that it would grow on me.

 Now I never listen to the Nazareth version - not that I don't like it; I just don't have any strong feelings towards it - and I often listen to the Joni one.

***

 So, there you have it: three Joni Mitchell songs. I have listened to others, but this trio remain my favourites, because they are great songs, and also because of the memories they evoke.

 I hope you have enjoyed this post,

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Songs: Coyote - Joni Mitchell - 1976

Big Yellow Taxi - Amy Grant - 1995

Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell - 1970

This Flight Tonight - Joni Mitchell - 1971

Feels Like Home

 Hello!

 There has been a fairly big development in my life, in that I have moved to a new University hall of residence.

 There were various reasons behind the move which I won't go into. What I will say is that I settled into my new hall really quickly - even on the first day I felt that I was home. This song kept playing in my head:

 That was last Wednesday - eight days ago. It feels like so much longer. I feel as though I've been living here for a long, long time. I already know a large number of the hall's residents, and I have made some wonderful friends. It's safe to say that I'm very happy here.

 Long live my new home, and may many happy times be ahead of me here.

 Thanks for reading.

 Liz x

Song: Feels Like Home - Edwina Hayes - 2008

Love songs of spring ♥

 Hello!

 Since I last posted on here, in January, spring seems to have come to Manchester! There is blossom on the ground, the birds are singing... And I just can't help feeling happy.

 A few other things have happened since I last posted: I have turned 20, I have had several important University exams, and I have made big steps in trying to become a published novelist. Re. the novel, watch this space: I really hope to have good new for you one day!

 2014 is going scarily fast - I really hope it slows down a bit so I can enjoy it while it's here, and make it a year to remember.

♥

 What music have I been listening to? Well, I've been listening to On ira, a French song by Jean-Jacques Goldman.

 I first discovered most of Mr Goldman's music when I was at sixth-form college, and listening to his songs always brings me back there. Sitting in the infamous "Islands" computer area, with my earphones in, waiting for my bus and supposedly doing some work while actually just listening to the song. Happy days.

 If you speak French and are interested, I wrote a piece in French about Jean-Jacques - click on the link to read it, or click his name above the video to read another piece I did about him in English. (Yes, I'm a huge fan!)

 ♥

 There's also All Out of Love by Air Supply. 

 I heard this for the first time in a long time on the radio last year, and assumed it was a woman singing the choruses - I was in for a surprise!

 The radio DJ described this as "one of the best love songs ever written," making it sound, as DJ's have a tendency to, like this sentiment were universal. When it played, I thought, it isn't that amazing. 

 However, I did like it and I started listening to it on YouTube, and one day I heard the beautiful simplicity and sadness of the opening bars and realised it is an incredible song. One of the best love songs ever written? Quite possibly. I'm really glad I heard it on the radio that day.

♥

 After I listened to All Out of Love on YouTube just now, Right Here Waiting came up in the suggested videos, and I decided to share it here as it fits my developing theme of simple but beautiful love songs.

 This was one of the first songs I ever knew. It was on a compilation album called "Bitter Suites" that my parents used to listen to when I was very young. It was probably the first song on the album that I learned to recognise and to like. 

 The words meant little to me and I couldn't understand his accent a lot of the time, so the song was less a story, something with meaning, than a beautiful series of sounds and - in my head - colours and patterns. 

 Soon I knew most of the songs on the album, and I think I might do a blog post about it (so again, watch this space!) but Right Here Waiting was always, and will always be, special to me.

♥

 Another song that follows in a similar vein is In Too Deep by Genesis.

 I heard this on the radio in the car late last year. I liked it. I was pleased, as I was looking out for Genesis songs I might like, having spent a vast amount of 2013 listening to what was undoubtedly my song of the year, Follow You, Follow Me.

 For a while, In Too Deep was nice but not mindblowing. Then something changed. I realised it was playing in my head at random times. I dreamed of singing it at karaoke. While it will never replace Follow You, Follow Me in my affections, it has become another song whose simplicity, for me, makes it a classic.

♥

 I'll end this list of simple but effective love songs with one of my favourite such songs: I Want You, by The Silencers.

 My parents used to play this at home, and I quite liked it. Then when I was at sixth-form I played it to myself and I realised I really liked it. It has become one of my favourite songs. So simple, so beautiful. It's near the top of my list of "songs I will learn to play first if I ever master the guitar." It would be just wonderful to be able to play it and sing it with joy and pride and so much love.

♥

 I've just realised that I have managed to collate a song each from France, Australia, the US, England and Scotland. This wasn't intentional and just shows that all over the world people are writing simple, beautiful love songs - it is a genre that spans continents and cultures and that we all can enjoy and respond to.

 Well, night's coming in and it's nice and cool, and people are milling about outside, probably unable to believe their luck that spring seems to have come overnight. I certainly appreciate this change in the weather - good weather really can lift your mood. Time for spring, for blossom, for lighter nights and birdsong and feeling great ♥

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Songs: On ira - Jean-Jacques Goldman - 1998

All Out of Love - Air Supply - 1980

Right Here Waiting - Richard Marx - 1989

In Too Deep - Genesis - 1986

I Want You - The Silencers - 1991

Manchester, Glasgow and Eurythmics

 Hello!

 It is Friday and it has been a while since I last posted on this blog, so I apologise for that. There have been times when I have really wanted to write a post to share a song or memory but I have had to put university work first.

 However, I am planning on making myself a blog schedule so that I can fit blogging into my week and still get everything else done. I am aiming to write at least two posts a week on this blog from now on. That is the plan!

♥

 How am I? Okay, on the whole. Tired! But enjoying Uni so much. I keep meeting amazing people and making wonderful friends.

 I really love the seminars and the style of teaching and I really look forward to lectures and learn a lot.

♥

 I also love living in Uni accommodation - it is really nice living with so many of my friends and being able to see them every morning and evening at breakfast and dinner - one of the many joys of being in a catered Hall.

 We had a formal dinner on Tuesday - it was the Hall's second one this year but my first. It had a Harry Potter theme so there were a handful of wizards and other spooky characters, and cobwebs draped over the wine bottles. The food was lovely, as it always is in Halls, and we got to wear gowns, which was fun. I had a nice evening.

♥

 Manchester looks very beautiful right now, in that bit of time when autumn and winter overlap, with the trees all green and gold and yellow. There have been some truly gorgeous sunsets and I am so proud and happy to call this place my home.

♥

 Over reading week, which happily coincided with my brother's half-term, I went with my family to Glasgow, another city I adore. The Clyde was as stunning as ever, especially at night with all the lights from the buildings and the bridges reflected in it.

 We visited the city centre at night, something we hadn't got around to doing before, and it was so scrumptious; all the lights and the beautiful buildings illuminated and the hustle and bustle of people doing their shopping and chattering and laughing.

 And somebody was playing an oboe in the street which was lovely and is a bit of a coincidence considering my last post on this blog was about an oboe piece!

♥

 We visited the Kelvingrove Museum and the Glasgow Science Centre; both were amazing as always and in the latter I watched a show in their planetarium which was really good. As I've mentioned before on this blog, I adore stargazing, and I learnt a few things that I hadn't known before. It was so soothing just sitting gazing up at the stars while gentle, relaxing music was played. A lovely experience.

 All of my trip to Glasgow was lovely and I was sad to leave, but it was nice returning first to my home in Wigan and then to Manchester. How lovely to have so many places you feel you can call home.

♥

 Music-wise I have been listening to a lot of The Cure, Nanci Griffith, Alison Moyet and Martika.

 "You've Placed a Chill in my Heart," by Eurythmics, got stuck in my head for a while for some reason, and at times I found it merging with with "Why" by Annie Lennox. Which is understandable in a way, because in my opinion the two songs are quite similar and of couse they both feature Annie Lennox's excellent vocals.

 I comment on Why in my post, "The Best of British," if you are interested in hearing my views on it.

 2.19 to 2.27: I love this bit! You go, girl! The above version of You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart is the original uptempo version, but for most of my life the only version I knew is the acoustic one below. 

 I love both versions but I think I slightly prefer the acoustic one because it feels, as acoustic performances often do, more raw and natural and honest, and straight from the heart. In fact, when I first discovered the faster version I wasn't keen on it, but have come to love it and see it as a great song in its own way.

♥

 I'll sign off here for now, but I will hopefully be back very soon! I still have some really good news to tell you, so watch this space!

 Thanks for reading!

 Liz x

Songs: Why - Annie Lennox - 1992

You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart - Eurythmics - 1987/8

You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart (Acoustic Version) - 1988