Big Blog Theory

Dolly Parton: A Tribute

Hi everyone, welcome back to Big Blog Theory. I hope you’re all doing well.

I’m sure some of you may know the sad news about Dolly Parton’s passing, it came out a day ago. I heard about it yesterday and I just couldn’t believe it. I understand she was ill for quite some time but so sad. Dolly was so wonderful, she was a beautiful human being inside and out, she was so talented, not to forget she was a really lovely, kind soul. Needless to say, I think the world will be a lot darker without her but saying that, we were just so lucky to have had her in the first place. Dolly was just that one friend you always want to be around and to have around. She had such a beautiful smile and she had such a beautiful singing voice and the minute you heard her sing, you immediately knew it was her. Somehow I don’t think we’ll ever see the likes of her again, she was truly a once in a lifetime talent. She touched so many people’s lives and hearts with her music and her work. She was my introduction to Country music and now I really like it, I listen to it sometimes. It’s such a shame that she’s gone but like I said, we were so lucky to have had her with us. I think we’ve been truly blessed. I can’t imagine a world where Dolly didn’t exist.

I have this book called Dolly Parton: Storyteller My Life In Lyrics. It’s basically a book where she talks about the inspirations behind her song lyrics and other things. I managed to get it second hand, I really love that book so much because as a young songwriter I love to read and hear about how other famous musicians and songwriters write their songs and I love to read about their writing routines and inspirations and stories behind their songs,  just to see how they do it, I’m very fascinated about that sort of thing but now I’m going to cherish it even more. I like to dip into it from time to time, reading it just fills me with a sort of happiness, I’m so lucky to have it. It’s rather quite big and hefty and it kind of takes up half the space on my bookcase but I don’t mind at all, I love it. As you’re reading it, you can really feel the love of Dolly on every single page and it really shines through.

She may be gone but her music and her legacy will live on. If you’ve never listened to her music yet, then please, show some love and check her out. I thought it would be lovely to write a tribute to Dolly because I know how much she means to a lot of people including myself. She was just a shining light in a dark world and if only she knew how much she means to all of us.

I think I Will Always Love You is my absolute favourite song of hers, it’s such a beautiful song and it makes me cry every time I listen to it. To me every time I listen to it, it feels like I’ve just lost a friend and I feel all kinds of different emotions in one and then I’m kind of left with this deep sadness within me. Never has a song touched my heart so much than this one did. I was watching the performance of that song just the other day and I started getting emotional halfway through because at that moment she was singing about that one person she loves and that one important person in our lives but watching it now it just kind of feels like she’s talking to us, her fans and it just makes it even more powerful when you realise that she’s not with us anymore. That song is just a masterpiece and her voice singing was just so beautiful, I have no words.

It’s such a shame that we all have to get old, like why can’t we all just stay young? oh my goodness, that’s just life I guess, we can’t stay young forever and we can’t live forever even though I wish we could. I think it just makes life so much more beautiful knowing that we’re not going to be around forever. Dolly has left her mark on the world, her music and just being the wonderful person she was and she will always be remembered. When my time comes,  I sure do hope I will leave my mark on the world too . I think we all should in our own little, special way.

We will always love you, Dolly!

That’s all for this post, thank you for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are, love you guys, stay tuned for more work here on Big Blog Theory.

Jackie De Shannon

Hi everyone, welcome back to Big Blog Theory. I hope you’re all doing well

Today, I thought it would be a good idea to write another music post. So, for today’s post I’ll be talking about Jackie De Shannon. If you’re not familiar with her or if you’ve never heard of her before, basically, she was an American singer/ songwriter from the sixties and onwards. ” What The World Needs Now{Is Love} is one of her most famous songs and it’s also one of my favourite songs of hers, I think it’s a very beautiful song and it couldn’t be more true. I think I discovered Jackie early or in the middle of this year and I’ve really been loving her music, especially all of her older songs. I would always tune in to her greatest hits and just have her music on, blaring from my radio whilst I do things. One thing about her is, she had such a great voice, it’s quite raspy at times and she had one of those distinct voices where you would hear the first two notes of the song and you would immediately know that it’s her. I’m just in awe, there are so many wonderful songs. She’s one of my comfort artists, like whenever things get a little bit heavy and a little too much I always listen to her music. I always find a lot of the music, especially American folk but also British pop and rock from that time are comforting to me. I have this whole range of bands, groups and artists that I always seem to go back to, they always seem to have this knack of finding you at the right time, when you need it the most. I am forever thankful for all of this music, to me they feel like my friends, it’s just wonderful. Listening to a new song that you have fallen in love with is like making a new friend but going back and finding all your old favourite songs that you’ve kind of forgotten about over the years is like catching up with old friends and it takes you back to a more simpler time, I think that’s the wonderful thing about it and I wasn’t even born around that time but it makes me feel so nostalgic and homesick for  places I’ve never been. They feel like home

I always find it rather difficult when it comes to choosing and picking out my favourite songs considering they’re all wonderful in their own ways but I think if I had to, I would say that my favourite songs are What The World Needs Now{Is Love}, Heaven Is Being With You, You Won’t Forget Me, Needles And Pins, Til You Say You’ll be Mine, When You Walk In The Room, Hellos And Goodbyes, Don’t Turn Your Back On Me, Breakaway, Should I Cry, I Remember The Boy, Dream Boy, A Lifetime Of Loneliness, Come And Get Me, Windows And Doors, I Can Make It With You, Only Love Can Break Your Heart and Put A Little Love In Your Heart and I’m sure there are many more that I’m not thinking of but these are my absolute favourites. Many times I played these songs over and over again to the point where I know most of the lyrics of each song off by heart. This music is just wonderful and each song tells its own story and she just brings it to life with that wonderful singing voice of hers. I’m so glad that I discovered her when I did, she’s just marvellous, she’s definitely become one of my all time favourite female artists and I think she’s still around, doing her thing which is fantastic, I hope she’s doing well. If you haven’t listened to her music yet, I totally recommend that you do it because honestly you won’t be disappointed.

Alright, that’s all for today’s post, I hope you all liked it. I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are. Love you all and please stay tuned for more work here on Big Blog Theory.

Liner

Hi everyone, welcome back to Big Blog Theory, I hope you’re all doing well. Today, I thought I would talk a little more about the various music groups/ musicians and artists who are a big part of my listening habits and the music I love to listen to in my day to day life. Today this post is going to be about a group called Liner. If you don’t know who they are or if you haven’t heard of them before, basically they were a late seventies UK rock group, a late seventies studio project.

This group’s music is just so good, it’s one of my absolute favourites. Their 1979 album You And Me is just wonderful, it’s one of my favourite albums ever, Goodness knows how many times I’ve played it. The first time I heard it I just completely fell in love with it, it’s such amazing music,  me and my dad absolutely love this album. It’s just one of those albums that whenever you play it or listen to it, it just instantly lifts you up and makes you really happy, it elevates you and it takes you back to the seventies, back to a totally different time.

I always remember this album because me and my dad used to joke with one another saying that the lead singer of the group looks like the character Luther from the 1979 film The Warriors and we were like ” Are you sure that’s not him, just in disguise as a lead singer in a rock group” We love the film The Warriors, it’s one of our favourite films. It’s that guy who sits on a car and clinks the glass bottles and starts screaming ”Warriors, come out to play!!”  you can’t tell me that’s not him. Also, to be precise, the album came out the same year as the film, which makes the joke even funnier somehow.  If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know the reference, that is always one of our little inside jokes. The funny thing about this one album is that the music sounds so American, very New York but they are a British band. I think that’s because it was recorded at Atlantic records. When they first appeared on the music programme Top Of The Pops with their song You And Me, that was the first time we ever discovered or even heard of this group and we stumbled upon the 1979 album and just fell deeply in love, we would just play it over and over again.

This whole album is a work of art but I think if I had to pick my favourite songs, I would have to choose Keep Reaching Out For Love, Ship On The Ocean, Night Train, Strange Fascination, So Much In Love Again, You And Me and Run To The Night but still, like I said I can’t really choose a favourite because the whole album is wonderful in it’s own right and every single song on the album is special in it’s own way. The melodies are beautiful, the instruments that are featured in the songs are wonderful, a lot of the songs are very catchy and also the lyrics are pretty great. It’s kind of sad because this is one of those albums that kind of just fell through, it’s one of those really rare albums and not a lot of people know about this album or talk about it that much these days, it needs more love and recognition. So, if you haven’t listened to their music yet, I suggest you go and check them out because they were just wonderful.

I was listening to this album again only the other day and I just fell in love with it all over again. If I could take any record or piece of music with me to a desert island this is definitely one of them. It’s a gem and it’s one of those albums where no matter how many times you’ve listened to it, you never get tired of it, I certainly don’t. How can you? it’s such a brilliant album, it brings me so much joy and happiness, you just want to get up and dance

That’s all for this post, I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are right now. Love you guys, stay tuned for more work here on Big Blog Theory

The Long Awaited Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass Record Deal Story

Hi everyone, welcome back to Big Blog Theory, I hope you’re all doing well. Today for this post I am going to be talking about the Herb Alpert record deal story that my Dad has told me about. I personally think it’s one of the coolest stories ever, it’s totally one of my favourite stories that my Dad has ever told me, especially since I’ve always really admired Herb Alpert and his group The Tijuana Brass and I’ve been brought up listening to their music when I was little as their music was always constantly being played in my house growing up, their music has always brought us including myself so much joy and happiness so it’s really cool to hear something like this from the horse’s mouth, so to speak or in other words from my Dad. I’m really excited to share this story with you guys and I really hope you guys find it somewhat amusing. So without further ado, let’s get into it. Before I begin, I would like to remind you that I’ll be writing this from my Dad’s perspective as I’m telling the story, so when I say We I mean my Dad and his friends at the time. Okay, here it is, enjoy

Okay so, a guy came up to us and said he had just got a deal with a record label in the West End. After looking around for three months, he asked us to record a track for him in Camden studios. Then we got called up to sign a contract in Soho, we had the address, we just didn’t know who it was.

That day, it wasn’t until we walked in through those doors that we realised that this was no small thing, this was a big deal. As we walked in, we started seeing pictures of Herb Alpert and Herb Alpert records displayed on the walls. The guy we spoke to was a much older person but he was so enthusiastic, that day. At that point, we still didn’t know who we were speaking to. It just hadn’t crossed our minds, it was just one of those things.

The gentleman, after speaking to us for about half an hour, produced a cheque book. Then, he wrote a cheque for 150.000 pounds. He explained to us that our track was going to be on a compilation with some big American names, so we were so happy about that.

Still, we had no idea who we were talking to. After that, we went away and finished the track, then we had another appointment to deliver the tape.

It was then, he explained who he was and who his partner was. We couldn’t believe our ears

Unfortunately, in the end, the project fell through because the Americans wouldn’t deliver their track in time, but when we went to see him, he just said ” You keep the money” which was really nice, we were so happy about that. So we assumed that from what he had heard of the track, he liked it which was cool.

So, that was that, that’s the end of the story. I’m still mind blown, I think it’s one of the coolest stories I’ve ever heard and my Dad has got some crazy stories from back in the day. He says it was a cool experience, I agree. It’s not every day you experience something like that, that’s for sure. It’s a funny old world sometimes. My Dad told me this story a couple of times and I was like ” Oh my goodness, I have to write about this” especially because I’ve been writing about Herb Alpert in various music posts in recent weeks, I thought it was rather fitting and just a fun little story to share with anyone who is a fan or admirer of his work or just someone who’s being introduced to his work a little later than others, I think it’s a fantastic introduction and I still smile every time I think about it.

That’s all for this post, I hope you all liked it. I had a blast writing this post, it’s one of my favourite stories, it’s an absolute pleasure to share this story with you guys. I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are right now, love you all, stay tuned for more work here on Big Blog Theory.

Herb Alpert: A Fan Post

Hi everyone, welcome back to Big Blog Theory, I hope you’re all doing well. Today, I will be talking about Herb Alpert like I said I would in my previous post. However I also will be going into the story about my dad’s connection with Herb Alpert back in the day following a record deal but that’s going to be a follow up, I’ll be uploading it some time next week so stay tuned for that.

Like I said, I’ve just always loved his music, especially when he was with his group called The Tijuana Brass. I’ve just always loved his trumpet playing and he was the epitome of coolness and he was just so wonderful. His music was always being played in my house growing up, my dad would always play his music. And obviously, the 1967 BBC special is absolutely wonderful, I watched it with my dad and my family so many times, it’s what originally turned me on to Herb Alpert as a youngster. Ever since I watched it I have just been enthralled completely. It was such a wonderful archive from the sixties, it was just like travelling back in time. We still go back and watch it sometimes, it’s just wonderful. Every time I watch it I just can’t stop smiling, I just have this great big smile on my face, that’s just the magic of it all.  It’s a pocket full of happiness, Feel good and it speaks to my soul.

I love a lot of his music but I think if I would have to choose a couple of favourite songs, I think they would have to be The Spanish Flea, Up Cherry Street, A Taste Of Honey, The Lonely Bull, What Now My Love and many more, he has such a great discography with so many great songs.

Obviously, I’ve talked about him being a major influence for me learning how to play the trumpet during my primary school days. I would have trumpet class every Friday, there would be maybe five or six of us just sitting in this tiny room jamming and playing the trumpets, creating our own little bouts of chaos. Looking back we all probably drove millions of teachers insane with all the noise but it was such a good laugh. I always look back at my trumpet playing days with so much fondness and it was a wonderful experience for me. And like I said, it got me out of playing cricket which was totally fine by me. I would just be waiting for my teacher to magically appear and whisk me away to the trumpet class. The trumpet class was always something I looked forward to on Fridays and I guess it all started with discovering Herb Alpert and his work.

He just really was wonderful, he had that charm and charisma about him, especially when he’s playing his trumpet, he was just so cool. I still love going back and tuning in to some Herb Alpert, you can’t go wrong with a little bit of Herb Alpert. I find his music to be a great comfort in my life and it’s something I always turn to, it’s just such wonderful, nice sounding music and I will always be forever grateful to my dad for introducing me to his work.

If you haven’t listened to his music before then I suggest you check him out, because honestly you won’t be disappointed. His music is such a joy to listen to whichever generation you’re from, everyone can listen to and enjoy his music. I think he’s still alive and making music which is so cool. It’s great to see him doing his thing after all these years.

I’ll be looking forward to writing the follow up post because it’s just such a wonderful, cool little story that my dad told me once or twice. My family has strange connections to music, we were always a music family and it’s just really cool and fascinating to learn about. That will be up some time next week, so stay tuned.

That’s all for this post, I hope you all enjoyed it. I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are right now. Love you all, stay tuned for more work on Big Blog Theory.

My Personal CD Collection, Music Favourites

Hi everyone, welcome back to Big Blog Theory, I hope you’re all doing well. Today, I thought I would talk about my love of psychical media, but most of all CDs. I’ve very recently started getting into collecting and listening to CDs. My parents have kept this little CD player that they had since the eighties or nineties and it still works and it still sounds pretty great considering how long they’ve kept it for. It’s been kind of fun learning how to use it and it’s kind of simple really, once you know your way around it. I also love records and vinyl.

CDs are so cool, I just love them. I listen to a lot of my music on Spotify but I’m getting turned on to the idea of CDs they are so much cooler, in my opinion. These past few weeks, I’ve been developing a little collection of CDs and music by certain artists, musicians and bands that I love. I mostly have a lot of Bob Dylan and Simon And Garfunkel at the moment considering they’re my two most listened to artists but I’m also discovering some others too.

They’re also very convenient. I love to take them with me wherever I go. It makes commuting a lot more bearable and fun for me, like when I’m on the bus. I’d just be listening to some Bob Dylan for the whole bus journey, it makes me so happy, everything slows down when music comes into play. Books and music can make anything seem bearable especially long bus journeys or if you’re commuting for a few hours at a time.

I thought I would like to talk about which CDs I have in my collection at this moment.

The first one I have is A Different Side Of Bob Dylan. This album I listen to every single day, it’s so good, it’s got to be one of my favourite Bob Dylan albums, every single song on the album is fantastic and interesting in its own way. I love the whole album in it’s entirety but I think my favourite songs featured on the album would have to be All I Really Want To Do, Black Crow Blues, Chimes Of Freedom, I Shall Be Free- no 10, I Don’t Believe You, Ballad In Plain D and It Ain’t Me, Babe. Really wonderful songs and I’m so glad I have this one in my collection. It’s one of those albums I just keep going back to, it really is wonderful in every sense of the word, it’s an absolute treat. The reason why I brought this album was just for one song that I loved and that was It Ain’t Me Babe but then I listened to the whole album and that way I found loads of other favourites so it just goes to show, one thing leads to another.

Another favourite I have is also by Bob Dylan, it’s called Bringing It All Back Home. It’s another absolute favourite Bob Dylan album, I’ve listened to this one so many times and I find I keep going back and listening to certain songs. Bob Dylan in his electric era, really wonderful. So many songs to enjoy and I think it’s time for me to go back and have another listen at some point.

Another favourite, also by Bob Dylan is Highway 61 Revisited. Another great album, one of my absolute favourite songs that is featured on this album is Like A Rolling Stone, that song always gets me, it’s crazy. God knows what Bob Dylan was thinking at the time he wrote that song, the lyrics are insane, very poetic. Definitely one of my favourite songs of his on any album. Blonde On Blonde is also another great album, I also have that in my collection.

Then, I’ve got three albums by Simon And Garfunkel, I’ve got Sounds Of Silence which is one of my personal favourite albums of theirs I’ve listened to it so many times, I think I’ve mentioned this on a blog post before. I’ve also got Bookends and Parsley, Sage Rosemary And Thyme. Fun fact, I can also read and write their names in Japanese. I’ve been learning Japanese since last year and I suddenly found that I can read Japanese writing which is just so cool. So I can write Simon And Garfunkel in Japanese and I can also read and write song titles in Japanese too such as Leaves That Are Green, Mrs Robinson, the album title Sounds Of Silence, The Boxer and A Most Peculiar Man which is so amazing. I look forward to what else I am able to do.

They’re all wonderful albums, I’m just so happy, I love having  these wonderful albums in my collection.

I’m also hoping to find a Herb Alpert CD some time soon. I love Herb Alpert, he was just wonderful, wasn’t he?l. This guy made playing the trumpet look easy and it’s really not, take it from me, I used to have trumpet lessons at school. I grew up listening to his music, my dad introduced me to him and he’s always been an absolute favourite in my household growing up. He was an American trumpet player and  a part of the Tijuana Brass group, he was just amazing. I watched the black and white 1967 BBC TV special with my dad and just from there on in, I became entranced. He was so charming, handsome and I just adored his smile, he was just so effortlessly cool the way he played the trumpet and his mannerisms and how he would just randomly smile whilst playing.

He was the one reason why I took up trumpet lessons at my old primary school, it was so hard but I did enjoy it I thought it was fun. One of the reasons I enjoyed it was because it got me out of playing cricket on Fridays, I used to hate playing cricket, I used to always come up with excuses just so I could not play cricket. So, the trumpet class was a saviour in that sense, that is, until they found out… then I had to play cricket every Friday whether I liked it or not!

I stuck to it for a couple of weeks and then I decided to give it up but my mum said I was good but I don’t really know. A lot of the time I was just driving my whole family insane and more or less the neighbours next door, it made an absolute racket. Then one day I was trying to find a way to make it a bit more quiet so we ordered a mute on Amazon thinking that would do the job but then I blew into the mouth piece, no sound came out it was muted completely. Oh my goodness, I felt like such a fool, it was really funny, I was like ” Oh forget it” and then I never picked it up again. And then obviously a few days before I left my primary school I had to give it back, so that was the end of that, but it was fun while it lasted, that’s for sure. Growing up I always had these music instrument phases, like first it was a toy trumpet I got when I was little as a birthday present, I used to put my entire mouth on the mouth piece until it was jammed halfway down my throat like a damn water bottle, then it was the recorder because we used to have recorder lessons at school, then it was the ukelele, then it was the piano, then it was the trumpet again, then it was the guitar, none of these ever materialised but they happened along the way. But now, I’m back to learning how to play the piano and I’m loving it. It just goes to show that you need to try new things to see which works and which things you enjoy the most in life. I think I would love to learn how to play the guitar but it’s really rather difficult. I think if I put time into it and practice more I probably can do it but it’s very difficult and very time consuming but it is a very beautiful instrument if played correctly.

But I always look back at my trumpet days at my old primary school very fondly, so thank you Herb Alpert! thanks for everything

I also think my dad and his friends met him back in the day, it was something to do with a record deal in some studio or other, I can’t remember the whole story but my dad said that he was really lovely which is just so cool. I’m definitely going to have to pull him up on that because it’s an interesting story. I will be writing a post about him some time next week so stay tuned for that.

Music is just wonderful, I don’t know where we’d all be without music. It just makes life a bit more bearable. I love that I can put my headphones on and listen to whatever it is I’m listening to, it just makes me so happy. I’m really going to have a blast listening to all these wonderful albums again.

That’s all for now, I hope you all liked this post, I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are right now. Love you guys, stay tuned for more work here on Big Blog Theory.