Inspired by Music

Only a short blog post this week, but I’ve been thinking that one of the things I enjoy most about music is how it can inspire me or inspire others to new ways of thought and creation.

It could be how the lyrics in a song make me want to go off and explore more behind what inspired them.  A good example of this is ‘Mercy Street’ by Peter Gabriel.  This is based on a poem by Anne Sexton and I didn’t know of her work before I heard this song.  But after hearing it and being moved by the music and lyrics I tracked down some of her poetry and have since enjoyed it in it’s own right.

I also like how certain music can inspire me to go and write about it or how it has made me feel.  To be moved by something so much that it makes you go off and express yourself creatively is a precious gift.  To feel that emotion so deeply that you want to share it, or just sit at your computer and write about music in general is a wonderful feeling.  My whole blog came from this very motivation.

Sometimes it can be a simple as inspiring me to keep working out harder and with full effort.  If I didn’t have music playing when I sat on the exercise bike or did other exercises I think I’d struggle a lot more and the music bolsters my flagging resolve and keeps me going.

At it’s most basic level music can inspire me to get up and dance or just sing along with full gusto.

I know this to be true of other people and artists.  Marc Cohn writes on Facebook about how other songs and musicians inspire him to write particular songs or just create in general.  Plus some of my friends also feel moved to write poems, or work harder or more effectively due to the influence of music in their lives.

It goes to show how music has the power to affect us at our core, but also affect the way we behave and act.  When you think of it in these terms then it is a powerful gift to have music in our lives and whilst some of the light frothy music may inspire us to shake our tail feathers and have a good time, some of the more brooding ‘serious’ music may inspire the thoughts behind great physics, or other society/cultural changing works.  Not bad for a string of notes and some infectious beats.

Admiring the music of Hans Zimmer

I’ve mentioned in one of my early blog posts (‘Film soundtracks and Early Ego boosts’) that I particularly enjoy the film score music from Hans Zimmer.  Of all the film music I have listened to and added to my collection over the years his albums seem to be the ones I most come back to.

I have my favourites like ‘The Last Samurai’ and I have listened to this album so many times over the years that I know it by heart and hear it in my dreams!  I love the blend of Japanese instruments and western orchestral music and the way the albums builds and the overall feel leaves me breathless.

I also adore ‘Tears of the Sun’ and again the mixture of African singing and orchestral score is very moving.  The themes of the film are particularly harrowing and when I listen to the music I relive some of the emotion of the film.  It makes for a powerful experience.

The music for ‘The Thin Red Line’ is a very dark, brooding piece and whilst I never fully gelled with it I enjoyed the Polynesian chants so much that I bought the companion album that comprises just the chants and other hymns sung by the group that contributed to the film score.  The hymn used in the film ‘God Yu Tekkem Laef Blong Mi’ has a repeating phrase that gradually gets louder as more of the choir join in each time and the deep bass voices that mix with the higher treble voices make your hair stand on end by the time the hymn has finished.

It’s funny how I will watch a film and halfway though think ‘I like this music, I must find out who it is’ and then when I look at the end credits I find it is Zimmer again.  The music for ‘Inception’ was one of these instances and it goes to show Zimmer manages to add to the tension in the film and also be consistent enough that I admire his work even across many films.  I like how the music for this film has a futuristic, racy feel to it, yet remains unmistakably Zimmers style.

I was told by a friend that if I like Zimmer I must buy the Gladiator soundtrack and whilst I do like it, it doesn’t move me as much as other music Zimmer has created.  Maybe this is because I saw the film many years ago and I can’t associate the music to the film any longer, but to be honest I listen to the scores as music in their own right anyway, so maybe it just appeals less for some reason.  Also the music for ‘The Dark Knight’ seems aimless and has no definite crescendo.  It is certainly dark and brooding (rather like the film in places) but it seems to be rather flat compared to the soaring emotion in other music Zimmer has created.  But these are the only scores of his I can think of that have impressed me less.

What I also admire is unlike other film composers who sound similar from film to film (I’m thinking of Danny Elfman and James Horner here), Hans Zimmer manages to tailor the sound for the particular film project he is working on.  You get Polynesian chants, African singing, Japanese instruments and phrases or a futuristic feel, which all contribute to the film they are composed for.

Overall Hans Zimmer manages to create stirring, emotional film scores that compliment the action and emotion on the screen perfectly and even better, the quality is so high you can enjoy them as works of musicianship in their own right.  Getting that balance right must be like walking a tight line sometimes and whilst occasionally the music is better when watched with the film, like with ’The Dark Knight', generally Zimmer manages to walk that line exceptionally well.

Grieving for Gary Moore.

It’s funny how the death of some well known musicians or celebrities affect you more than others. This may be due to a personal tie to their music or life and how it has shaped you over the years, or maybe the time in your life when they passed.  Only two such instances have affected me in this way.  The death of Christopher Reeve, which is the topic for another blog or time and the more recent death of Gary Moore.

I was first introduced to Gary Moore by my teacher at Primary school.  Looking back it was rather cool that he went to the effort of making some cassettes and sharing them with me as he could tell my love of music and he made me up some excellent compilation tapes which I played to death.

I remember the first time I heard ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ with those powerful, relentless drums and the first time I heard ‘Parisienne Walkways’ with that held, sustaining guitar note that made the hairs stand up on end and my nerves tingle.  The first time I heard ‘Empty Rooms’ I felt his pain and anguish even though I was too young to comprehend the reasons and emotions behind them.

Typically for me I also loved a track called ‘The Loner’ which is a slower, brooding song and I still love this song to this day, especially the live version.

There was something about Gary Moore’s rich guitar sound and his solos that got into my young head and inspired me. I adored the pumping, driving rock songs he played and the more mournful, emotive blues and I happily listened to either for hours on end. I have fond memories of going on summer holiday to France with my parents and sitting in the cool gite as the sun seared outside and reading Asterix books as Gary Moore played in the background.

I shared the cassettes with my cousin (who is an exceptional guitarist) and we both sat in awe at the music coming out of my tiny cassette player in my bedroom.  We’d also go and sit on the field behind my school during the summer holiday and listen to it over there, with the smell of grass in our noses and the warmth on our skin.  The next best thing to discovering powerful new music is sharing it with those that are closest to you.

So with this rich history of his music in my formative years I felt a great sadness when I heard of his sudden death in 2011.  I remember being shocked as he was relatively young at 58 and for days on end I played his albums and mourned his passing.  I still feel sad when I think of his death even now, I feel it is a loss to the music world, but also without wishing to sound melodramatic, it is also a loss of that tie to my childhood.  I grew up on his music and with his passing I realised I was no longer that young, gawky primary school child who sat and listened to that music in stunned silence. 

Luckily we still have his music to go back to and I play his albums on a regular basis to this day.  His style and sound is rich and unique and if you have yet to experience any of his songs, track some down and give them a listen.  They may not do anything for you, but they just might make the hairs stand up on your arms and make you feel young and alive again.

Reliving my Fame days.

My first full time job, when I was just out of college and still wet behind the ears, was in a central London, luxury department store.  Over the course of my time there I met many wonderful and varied people and I struck up some friendships that have lasted to the present day.

One friend who I was very sad to lose touch with has just come onto Facebook and I have been delighted to catch up with her and share a little of our news and I’m hoping to meet up and share our news properly at some point in the future.

Inevitably it got me thinking back to our time working together and it reminded me of some music stories to share.

One of the things we initially bonded over was our shared love of a relatively obscure band called Ezio (I have written about them before in ‘Finding that Musical Sparkle’) and I remember how we were both so excited when we found out the other one liked their music also.  I felt an immediate kinship with her and we spent ages talking about their music and how it had moved us.  As the cliché goes, it was the start of a beautiful friendship.

We used to stand there and have in-depth discussions about religion and evolution and other topics like that and go on our lunch breaks together.  It made the day go so much faster and more pleasantly having someone like that to work with.

Eventually we went to an Ezio gig together and we got our CDS’s signed by the band and had great fun dancing together and singing out the lyrics full force and then reliving it all again the next day as we set up for work.  Such a fond, happy memory for me.

Another thing we used to do (don’t ask me why) is sing the opening verse and chorus of ‘Fame’ by Irene Cara to each other.  We’d be setting up in the morning for the day ahead, or standing around waiting for customers and one of us would start singing the opening line.   ‘Baby look at me’ and then the other one of us would smile and sing back ‘And tell me what you see’ and then we were off together until we sung out the chorus.  It was a strange and funny thing to do and I’m sure we must’ve got some disapproving looks from our managers and I’m also sure there were some dance moves we made up to go with it too!!!  Eventually my friend bought me the ‘Fame’ soundtrack and to this day I can’t listen to that song without a goofy grin spreading across my face and my memories going back to my friend and our time together.

For some reason when I left we never staying in touch (I remember it was a busy and complicated time in both of our lives) but I thought of her many, many times over the years.  I even rung her old phone number a few years back, but sadly it no longer worked.  Then Facebook did something useful, rather than the usual cat and joke photos and I managed to find my friend again.  Hopefully we won’t lose touch and I hope we can maybe share a dance and a sing-a-long at an Ezio gig one time again.  Who knows, maybe we’ll even relive our ‘Fame’ days too!!!!