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Interactive Poll #01/2021: Protest (+ Folk) Songs |
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Snicolette 
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Joined: November 02 2018 Location: OR Status: Offline Points: 6039 |
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 Posted: January 05 2021 at 15:36 |
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Lewian
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Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14753 |
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 15:45 |
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Already three pages, I hope there's still some time. As I should present my final choice in one go, I have a hard decision problem to solve (and not much time right now) - but something will come.
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jamesbaldwin
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Joined: September 25 2015 Location: Milano Status: Offline Points: 5989 |
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 15:59 |
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My impressions:
1) Nick: Parihaka is a pleasant reggae ballad sung with a beautiful tenor voice. French Letter is based on traditional music, with a reggae rhythm, maybe there is the accordion that makes it hybrid, it reminded me of a mazurka. Two very nice, light songs.
Edited by jamesbaldwin - January 05 2021 at 16:11 |
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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jamesbaldwin
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 16:02 |
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This is a vintage song that we could hear on a documentary from the thirties, very pleasant, a little march, I would say.... And.... I'm waiting for your second song!
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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jamesbaldwin
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 16:06 |
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Logan:
The first is an excellent ballad, flowing, with an original arrangement. Suede's tear-jerking ballad, sung by the singer who I consider the best voice of British pop, this second song is really beautiful, with an almost jazzy arrangement. Contender. ---- The Anders: Vem kan man lita på? Is a strange song, almost a joke, the trend is rock, a marching rock, very pleasant. Kom lad os brokke os is another strange protest song, with a folk arrangement and a song that alternates parts played apart sung quickly (almost a rap), overall the piece sung is very long. Goliardic final Contender. Edited by jamesbaldwin - January 05 2021 at 16:11 |
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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The Anders
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Joined: January 02 2019 Location: Denmark Status: Offline Points: 3529 |
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 16:08 |
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Redgum - I Was Only Nineteen sends a shiver down my spine with all the horror it depicts. It's strong lyrics, and what I especially like about them is the fact that they tell the story in a very unsentimental way. It makes the images much more effective, and it leaves food for thought. The music is equally unsentimental, and especially the violins sort of illustrate the grimness. We're in the singer/songwriter area. Should be a strong contender for my votes. Suede - Shipbuilding is another anti-war song. I haven't actually heard the original version by Elvis Costello, so it is all new to me. Despite the lyrical content, Suede's main focus seems to be the music, but I guess it is different in the original version. In any case, the lyrics are much less direct, but that does not make them less political. Ben Harper - How Miles Must We March. One of my room mates at boarding school back in 1998-99 was very much into Ben Harper, but I admit I have not really been following him since. There is a bit of a contrast between the lyrics about not learning from the past, and then some very laid-back acoustic music with a Latin touch to it. I mean that as a positive thing. Bigelf - Money, It's Pure Evil didn't ressonate as well with me. Musically it is not bad, but that type of rock ballad is not so much me. But tastes differ of course. As for the lyrics, while I do agree with the message about money being the root of much evil, I think it has been said before many times, and there are quite a lot of dualities: right/wrong, foe/friend, good/bad, true/false, understand/misunderstand and so on. (I had to use the alternate link, the first one didn't work for me). Tom Rapp - Fourth Day of July: I knew Tom Rapp from Pearls Before Swine. Quite a unique artist in the best possible sense. The music here is more gloomy, helped by a somewhat (purposely) muddy vocal sound. The imagery is once again quite brutal (burning children), but at the same time the words are very poetic. Another contender. Cheryl Wheeler - If It Were Up to Me: The music leaves me a bit indifferent, but the lyrics are very effective in all their simplicity. They use monotony purposely as an artistic means (putting the blame on everything between heaven and earth), thus building a tension towards the point of it all: take away the guns. In Denmark, luckily, it requires a special licence to own a weapon, and I don't know anyone who do. (Only the alternative link worked for me, once again).
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jamesbaldwin
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 16:16 |
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I like very much Roy Harper's voice. Big work with the acoustic guitars, piano on the background. Beautiful. Contender. But, is this your first choice? If it so, I'm waiting for your second song.
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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jamesbaldwin
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 16:20 |
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Mike:
Ben Harper: Is this music a sober bluegrass? It looks like traditional music but very thin, arranged with percussion and little else, clear and simple inspiration. Bigelf has a slow and muffled start, then the song explodes, melodic rock comes out with a good guitar solo and an epic ending. Two short songs that go straight to the point, melodically good, inspired, contender. |
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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Cristi
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Crossover / Prog Metal Teams Joined: July 27 2006 Location: wonderland Status: Online Points: 43731 |
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 16:50 |
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are we making final nominations already?
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Snicolette
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Joined: November 02 2018 Location: OR Status: Offline Points: 6039 |
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 17:25 |
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Thank you for your thoughts, on these two pieces, I always enjoy reading what people hear on their initial listens (and not just to my own submissions, it is interesting to see where we think alike and differ on all of the pieces, as I read through everyone's synopses).  |
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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jamesbaldwin
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 18:05 |
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Yes, for this poll, I asked to immediately choose the two pieces (with a total duration of less than 12 minutes) that represent the selection in the competition, and then, for those who want, to add a third protest song outside the competition. Having to vote for the combination of two pieces, I preferred to do it this way, otherwise it would have been confusing. And then, in any case, being two pieces chosen by each participant, and one out of competition, everyone can propose three songs for listening.
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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Logan
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Site Admin Joined: April 05 2006 Location: Vancouver, BC Status: Offline Points: 35940 |
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 18:45 |
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I think it's a terrific approach, and if I do another of these I might do something similar. I found your OP very clear, by the way.
Incidentally, I have really enjoyed reading the comments on the choices by various people and really appreciated it.
Thanks, Mike. I think it's a terrific version of Shipbuilding (which I only discovered recently). There are various covers of that song that I love and each is quite unique. That Redgum song I discovered when I went to Australia decades ago for a year -- it mentions Townsville and I was living in Northern Queensland (Cairns). I wrote elsewhere that sometimes I put too much thought into posts and topics, but in these series I commonly go with what very quickly springs to mind (and four, including these two, came to mind immediately). This is a series where I don't like to overthink my first thoughts for what to include based on the expectations that are laid out in the opening post. |
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TCat
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Posted: January 05 2021 at 18:53 |
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Yeah I didn't put a whole lot of thought in the two I put up because I was in too big of a hurry trying to finish the NR report for last month, and my selections were maybe a little weak, though I do like both artists. I put up an out of competition selection which I would have preferred to use for one of my main selections, but it was too late, so .... First choice doesn't always work for me
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Cristi
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Crossover / Prog Metal Teams Joined: July 27 2006 Location: wonderland Status: Online Points: 43731 |
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Posted: January 06 2021 at 02:47 |
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jamesbaldwin
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Posted: January 06 2021 at 16:00 |
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Cristi
I Love the World. Good song, gothic rock, it recalls me The Mission, sound dark but powerful. Cantic de Haiduc. Good folk song, with a beautiful singing and phrases on the acoustic guitar.
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Amos Goldberg (professor of Genocide Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem): Yes, it's genocide. It's so difficult and painful to admit it, but we can no longer avoid this conclusion.
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mathman0806
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Joined: June 06 2014 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 6423 |
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Posted: January 06 2021 at 16:54 |
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Algiers - Dispossession
David Baerwald - Got No Shotgun Hydrahead Octopus Blues |
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mathman0806
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Posted: January 06 2021 at 17:03 |
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Out of competition w/ explicit language warning. Not really my kind of music but January 20th could not come soon enough.
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Lewian
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Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14753 |
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Posted: January 06 2021 at 17:47 |
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So here I am, sorry for not joining earlier. Protest songs are not my strength really, as somebody who has a tendency to ignore lyrics. Anyway... The first one is very special and unusual as a "protest song", and it is done i such a way that we can't even be 100% sure that it is a protest song. I'm pretty sure to spot the irony in this but it is so well done that I can occasionally doubt its irony, which would be terrible. Ultimately I'm quite sure this is ironical but the irony may be lost on some, and some of the wrong people. As a German worried a lot about some people following some very wrong leaders once more, this touched me really like no other song on the topic, because it conveys some dangerous fascination that the ideas of these leaders had and have for some people whom you'd not think of as the first followers. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this album sold terribly and hardly anyone knows it, but it works its magic on me to this day like it did the first time I heard it in 1981 (!). I have never heard or read anyone commenting on the lyrics of this - maybe most of the few people who heard it haven't even paid attention or don't even think this is political. However I'd nominate this as the most poisonous portrayal of neofascism ever. Scala 3 - Kein Ende (No end) I salute you my fatherland. I salute you my homeland. I salute you, land of miracles. My homeland, kingdom of heaven. Calmly blows a wind and brings us a song from old times. Hear, hear the call and be ready. A miracle will happen, god knows, wonderful! Lonely howls the wolf. We don't have a home, and we're looking for a cause. We turn with the wind and don't know where. We never laugh enough, we don't look back anymore. We only see ourselves now and forget this world. We long for happiness and take this woman. We torment her with love and ask then: How was it? So weak are our hearts, so poor our mind, I send a salute to the god in the land of miracles. No end. Calmly blows a wind over the land, and brings us a song from old times. Hear, hear the call and be ready, be warned, because a miracle will happen, wonderful! A dance on the volcano, come take each others hands. We go to war, and the wind sings our song. No end. I salute you my fatherland. I salute you my homeland. I salute you, land of miracles. My homeland, kingdom of heaven. Calmly blows a wind and brings us a song from old times. Hear, hear the call and be ready, be warned, a miracle will happen, so wonderful! We dream into the day, we sail into foreign harbours, we are witnesses of a colourful illusion. We are the audience, sometimes we're heroes because we pay well, but when the spell breaks, man will become an animal. We, oh we have dreamt already for too long. Look around you! A miracle has happened, wonderful! Hear, hear, the call goes out through the land! Follow me! And they sing the song from the old times. Hear, hear, the call goes out through the land! Follow me! They sing the song from the old times. Lonely howls the wolf. And they sing the song from the old times. We, we have dreamt already for too long. Look around you! And they sing the song from the old times. Hear, hear! The second one is chosen to some extent because I didn't want to go through the hell of translating the very convoluted indirect and intellectual German lyrics that Cpt. Kirk & have in most of their other song. This, however, is very direct and simple. "If you have a racist friend, now is the time for your friendship to end." Cpt. Kirk & by the way are another band of the 90s/00s "new Hamburg school" like Blumfeld (as suggested in two earlier polls), and you know I love to play stuff from my home town. This album, English language, has some Robert Wyatt cover versions. I also like their music, they have a pretty unique sound. Cpt. Kirk & - Racist Friend
Edited by Lewian - January 06 2021 at 17:58 |
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Snicolette
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Joined: November 02 2018 Location: OR Status: Offline Points: 6039 |
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Posted: January 06 2021 at 18:10 |
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First impressions to the end of Page Two, with a couple of out of competition reflections, at the beginning.
Lorenzo: Gang
“La pianura dei sete Fratelli” (out of competition) Begins with beautiful folky instrumentation
with a deep-voiced male singer. Such a
gorgeous melody, I feel almost as though I am listening to a much older song. Again, tells a historical tale of real people
who bravely gave their lives in their partisan cause. Humbling story. Mike: Monsters of Folk “His Master’s Voice” (out of
competition) Begins with a pristine acoustic
guitar foundation and a high male vocal.
Added in is some warble into the mix, and a deeper, male vocal
harmonizing, then an almost chorus-effect.
In the lyrics, yeah, ya gotta watch out for those sirens, they were very
beguiling, but it never ended well for those who heeded their calls. Some slidey strings enter for depth. A very interesting thing is done with distortion
as the words, “callin’ out,” repeat (has the singer been lured to his
death?). Gave me chills, that one. Shadowyzard:
Welcome back! Bruce Dickinson’s “Gods of War” Here’s a real change of pace with some
hard-hitting metal. An impassioned
diatribe against war and the people who are invested in it’s continuation. Very convincing and well done, with a searing
guitar solo to boot! “Sacred
Cowboys” More hard rock/metal, but
vocals are partially more in a talking style.
You described it well, as a protest against so much of the modern
US. This one I don’t like as much as the
first one (probably not a surprise to any here), but his point is well made in
the lyrics and the angst certainly comes through in the driving beat and the
crunchy guitars. dr uw23 Roy Harper “The Monster” Yes, as you often do, you bring something I love to the table. 😊 Brought to the fore, dressed in simple acoustic guitar strumming and clear vocals, the words are the message in this one. Wonderful imagery of keyboards, mice and men and electronics, about halfway in, the song gains in urgency, with slide guitar and self-harmonization. Seems particularly poignant today, of all days. |
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"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Lewian
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Joined: August 09 2015 Location: Italy Status: Offline Points: 14753 |
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Posted: January 06 2021 at 18:15 |
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And here's one out of competition. It isn't exactly a protest song but fits the generously broad bill just about. It's another early eighties Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) thing. I love it because it is perfect. Really every single note, every single word, and every little thing the singer does is in the right place for conveying the "message". Here's a translation, unfortunately not really perfect, so quite a bit is lost, but I'd expect that the German singing will tell you something even if you don't really understand the lyrics. Not much is perfect in life, so enjoy... Extrabreit - Polizisten (police officers) By the way, I'm not really a fan of this band, they have two other good songs, that's it. |
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The Anders wrote:
And I like both your introductions / contextualizations (Nick and Lorenzo).