Falsetto

No commute yesterday, as I had a day off sick. I wasn't that sick, but I need some time off to relieve the futility of it all...

Interesting 'Charles Hazlewood' show on the subject of the falsetto or couter-tenor voice. Great, I thought, maybe some Yes or Robert Wyatt, but, no. Some Classical music (actually several bits of the same piece) and then Radiohead and Coldplay. Apparently High and Dry by the former is a good use of falsetto, whilst Fix You by the latter isn't. Personally, I couldn't see this distinction - both used it in that plaintive, tortured soul kind of way.

On the back of this, I tried again to listen to 'The Bends', after half an hour of the latest Danny Baker 'All Day Breakfast Show'. I've never really listened to much of Radiohead's music, although I recall a line from a Porcupine Tree something along the lines of 'you keep me hating... you keep me listening to the Bends'.

Street Spirit,
High and Dry,
Just,
My Iron Lung,
(Nice Dream).

Mmm... I still don't get it. I like my music more interesting, not a background to some angst-ridden sixth-form dribblings. Strummed guitar, little bass, overlaid with 4/4 drums and the odd 'tortured' gtr riff in an'unusual' time sig.

For better falsetto, I turned to Jan Steele and John Cage's 'Voices and Instruments' album with the talents of Robert Wyatt: Experiences No 2 and The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs. For more Yes-related stuff and a return to bass I then went for Chris Squire's Fish out of Water: Hold Out Your Hands and You By My Side. How he went from this to 'Conspiracy' is beyond me.

T - 2; M - 3; D -4