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Graham Massey recommended Low by David Bowie in Music (curated)

 
Low by David Bowie
Low by David Bowie
1977 | Rock
9.3 (4 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Bowie was so important when we were growing up in terms of the way he chose different directions and that that was an acceptable thing to be doing. You'd just be getting into one thing and then he'd turn into the Thin White Duke or something and he'd invite you to twist your head around that. And when Low came out it was like, ""Whoah!"" because it was a complete head twister in terms of how the record sounded, and how Bowie removed himself from the music because there's hardly any upfront Bowie on it. I've always liked instrumental stuff – things like The Shadows and The Tornados' 'Telstar' and those kinds of things – and it's reflected in the music of 808 State, which draws from that kind of thing where melody is the central thing. But the instrumentals on Low almost sound like backing tracks and that's quite confusing. And it was beatless, and that took you to another place. Plus, it was also the record when I first fell in love. There's that theory of your first love record, where it soundtracks your summer and Low is that record. That kind of music and that hormonal rush creates a kind of nostalgia that's deeper than other records. The fact that Brian Eno is on it, when I first started making music, gave me a bit of elbow-room. With the musicians around now, there's a lot of technique, but technique isn't the key to everything. This idea of being a non-musician and using noise as your instrument defined me quite early on; the School of Eno was in me! Even though it was recorded in 1976 and released in 1977, in some ways this is the first post-punk record. This certainly coalesces with PiL's first album, and it they both gave rise to the notion that not everything proggy should be thrown out with the bathwater."

Source
  
Yesterday (2019)
Yesterday (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
A part time musician and shop worker, Jack wants nothing more than to become a successful recording artist. He busks in the street and sings in various small venues with not much of an audience and soon realises he is getting nowhere and decides to quit performing. On his way home from his last gig, there's a blackout and Jack is hit by a bus ending up in hospital. Upon his release, he sings a beatles song for his friends and he comes to the realisation that the beatles have been wiped from existence as his friends had no idea who he was talking about. Jack sees this as the perfect opportunity to sing and perform their songs as if they were his own and he becomes an overnight success.

As someone who wasn't around when the beatles were around, I wasn't sure if I would like this movie, but I actually enjoyed it. I recognised many songs as I grew up with a dad who is a massive fan and even found myself singing along, though there were a few I had never heard of.

Ed sheeran is a surprisingly good actor too and makes a great addition to the cast, I did find it funny when his phones ringtone was one of his own songs.

The movie has a good mixture of drama and comedy, when it first started I expected it to be a slapstick comedy, but thankfully it wasn't that at all.

I quite liked the scene with John lennon, I've seen him in pictures and Documentaries and he looked so much like him. It was lovely to see what could have been.

The ending didn't end how I expected it to end, I won't spoil it but if you think of the ending of every movie where someone or something changes, for example switching bodies and you'll know what I mean.

Overall it was a good movie and I definitely recommend it, even if you're not a beatles fan.
  
The Museum of Broken Promises
The Museum of Broken Promises
Elizabeth Buchan | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I would absolutely visit this museum!
This is a story about a museum that contains the physical objects that symbolise a broken promise or a betrayal to those who have donated them (and this is SUCH a good idea for a museum!). The Museum of Broken Promises is in Paris, and its owner Laure chooses the items that go in to the museum after she either speaks to the donator, or simply reads the note that is sent with the item. Laure has experience in these matters: her own object sits in the museum.

I don’t know what I was expecting from this novel, but I was so surprised by the way this story progressed. Laure as a young woman becomes an au pair for a Czech family in Paris after her father dies. She then realises that she needs a break from university to grieve and get away from her life for a while. So when the family return to Prague for the summer, Laure goes with them. And so begins her life behind the iron curtain.

What follows is a love story between Laure and a musician and political activist, Tomas. We see how restricted people and their thoughts were, and we see why Laure becomes the woman she is in present day Paris.

I really liked the way we moved back and forth through time with Laure, and got to see Prague before its Velvet Revolution, Germany just after the Wall comes down and Paris in the present day. Laure is far more complex a character than I expected her to be at first.

I adored this book. It’s a sad story told so well - and I warn you that the end should be read with tissues to hand.

Many thanks to the publisher Corvus and NetGalley for my copy of this book, and to Pigeonhole for actually making me read it on time (I love my Pigeonhole gang!)!
  
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