Interactive poll: All you do to me is talk talk

Glad to have made discover Paddy McAloon's I Trawl the Megahertz to you, and some even voted for it (thanks!). It is true that there is not much development in the music (as this came up in some of the remarks): it is trawling the sea of music, picking up a melody here, an instrument there, a sound... and making it recurring elements. Someone could be easily distracted by something else if one is not listening to the text - and I think that upon a first listen it is difficult to grasp the coherence of it. Here too, he has been trawling snippets of life accounts, but for me, the development is in this text: it has a wonderful crescendo by accumulation and a very poignant final.

But... it is long... Thanks to those who listened to it in its entirety. Exceptionally I thought I allow myself to put you up with a long track for this one, because I think it is at least worth discovering. The next one will be shorter... (I think...)

So here are my votes:

Yeah, I did know the piece, but I just can't resist Schönberg and sprechgesang. Fascinating and poetic it is.

Excellent drumming which basically carries the whole thing. I've always loved drumming.

Hard not to resist tango....

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

1: Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

For its subtle and elaborate use of the Neapolitan 6th chord and the washboard.

My votes go to:

Dan Turell & Halfdan

This man has it all for me, poetic prose about everyday life of a taxi driver, recited in a laidback manner. A humorous yet thoughtful description of a microcosmos accompanied by a jazzy rock tune with fantastic bass.

Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble

I attended their concert back in 2004 on their promotion tour of ‘Exile’. An outstanding album and a memorable concert. I believe that this recording with Robert Wyatt was released around the same period. This jazz/ tango fusion comes as a surprise  and it shows the versatility of this musician. Very nice, indeed!

Robin Williamson

I first thought that this was a Shakespeare recital or similar, esp. due to the historic topic of the text. But then I took a closer look at Williamson’s short biography and realized that in fact this epic piece of art was his own work. Therefore, I decided to read the entire text more carefully and was blown away. Additionally the effect was enhanced by the musical accompaniment, a Scottish/Irish traditional tune.

 

Overall, this was a very interesting edition and I wish I had more votes. In any event I would like to thank you all for your great contributions! And last but not least a big thank you goes out to Christian for organising this poll! 

 

This poll was a challenge in many ways. On one hand you had the lyrics and on the other the music. The length of a text does affect the music to some extent which can be just an accompaniment or an a bit more elaborate composition. To look at a piece in its entirety was not easy at all. Moreover for me as a non-native English speaker it was even harder.

I'm glad that you understood my way of thinking regarding the interpretation of the poll topic. Not everybody has an affinity for that. - Thank you for joining the new poll! Let's see how it goes, it's the first interactive poll that I'm organising. 

 I agree this one was very challenging!