Wednesday 9 October 2013

Monday 7 October 2013

Och, This 'n' That 'n' "Sunshine On Leith"


(not The Proclaimers)

Some things I have liked in recent times...

(1) Laura Cantrell at St Andrews In The Square, Glasgow - Fri 4th Oct (2013).

Something like 14 years ago on a brief jaunt through Glasgow, NY producer-guitarist Jay Sherman-Godfrey gave me a CD 'demo' with 4 x songs by Laura Cantrell which included 2 Seconds and Queen Of The Coast. Cue over-excited phone messages on Laura's answering machine as I foamed at the mouth about putting out her debut album on Spit & Polish; an imprint dedicated to Americana, roots, folk and later Scots Gaelic music (Yay for Julie Fowlis!). In the first instance, however, S&P was all about Laura. She first came to Glasgow in January 2000 for the Celtic Connections festival and her live show gave me goosebumps all over again. The late John Peel memorably described "Not The Tremblin' Kind" as "my favourite album of the past ten years and possibly my life". He once sent me a postcard asking when her next album would be released. In the note he mentioned that he had bought 14 copies of NTTK for friends. Laura's brand new album "No Way There From Here" is as good as anything she has ever done and includes a gem "Glass Armour" co-written with Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura. Her show, with brilliant sideman Mark Spencer, as part of the Glasgow Americana Festival was her umpteenth visit here. And it was wonderful. 


(2) The Vaselines in Easterhouse - Sat 5th Oct.

Watching this show I had a minor re-epiphany (it's my blog; I'll make up words if I want) about how great this particular song is. 

It's every bit as great as the video, directed by Pat Harkins.








(3) "Sunshine On Leith" - the trailer alone gets me every time. Go and see it and feel the love or we can't be friends:



(4) Julie Fowlis in the studio (eek!)  I shall say no more.

(5) Camera Obscura's next video (genius!).

(6) And while we're on the subject of great videos, try this from Attic Lights:




(7) Harry Pye 





(9) That'll do for now.



PS: Laura sang this in Glasgow...




I know, right?