All You Need Is Love

by The Beatles

— Will that do? ——— Oh yeah, and The Beatles.
— The Beatles, said Jimmy.
— Money for jam, said Joey The Lips. — ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE —— DOO DUH DOO DUH DOO.
— Was tha’ you?
— Indeed it was me, Brother. Five pounds, three and sixpence. A fair whack in those days. ——— I couldn’t stand Paul, couldn’t take to him. I was up on the roof for Let It Be. But I stayed well back. I’m not very photogenic Brother. I take a shocking photograph.

Roddy Doyle, The Commitments

Hey, it’s official:

Now, in a major milestone for the celebration, Apple Corps Ltd, the company founded by The Beatles to manage their creative and business ventures, has formally acknowledged Global Beatles Day.

And more:

On 25th June, alongside online and in-person events around the world that celebrate the band, The Beatles will also release a colourised version of their BBC Our World performance of “All You Need Is Love” for free on YouTube. The first time the iconic performance has been made available online, it will celebrate the iconic performance’s anniversary, mark Global Beatles Day, and give fans around the world the chance to relive that spectacular, global moment from 1967 and share their reaction in the live chat.

“The first time”, really? I’ve seen it before, black and white as well as “colourised” (although I prefer the B&W version). For free.

But of course I’ll be watching it anyway, in a hope to catch a glimpse of Joey The Lips Fagan playin’ DOO DUH DOO DUH DOO on his Gina.

American Pop

a film by Ralph Bakshi

Finally, a Bakshi film that I actually liked. A soundtrack for the (best part of) 20^th century, something for kids of today to watch. Don’t let the title put you off (yes, it makes me cringe too): “pop” here is short for popular music, moving from ragtime to punk with jazz, swing, soul and rock in between. Not pop music. I still don’t get why American artists insist on naming their creations “American something”.

It’s also pretty uneven. The story kind of disintegrates towards the end — as the quality of music goes down. Yet there are some truly beautiful or otherwise funny bits that made my night.

Live music and stuff in Santander, November 2023

Finally, some rock and jazz! This is what I’ve seen this month:

• 2 November: Could Seed & Stone From The Sky @ Rock Beer The New, Calle Peñas Redondas, 15, Santander
  Two psychedelic/prog rock bands from France. I asked for the names of the musicians and I’ve got the names although not surnames. Could Seed are Jordan (guitar), Dimitri (guitar), Thomas (bass) and Élie (drums); Stone From The Sky are Florent (guitar), Dimitri (bass) and Clément (drums).

  

• 3 November: «Aquelarre» @ Galería Este, Mercado del Este, Calle Hernán Cortés, 4
  Inauguration of the exhibition of the Cantabrian artist Nuria Velázquez, with live music by the artist’s group Concha Juana and some friends.
• 4 November: Peligro Ciervos @ Discos Cucos, Calle Santa Lucía, 41
  Cantabrian country music trio presenting their new album in my favourite record shop in Santander.

  

• 9 November: Safree @ Teatro CASYC, Calle Tantín, 25
  As it was a part of the cycle Excéntricos 2023, I expected some standard of quality. Instead, I found myself at the worst show I’ve ever paid money to see in Santander. Boring reggaeton from somebody who can neither compose nor sing. Best avoided.
• 16 November: Mujerklorica @ Teatro CASYC
  There was no better way to get rid of the bad taste in the mouth left by the preceding concert than to return to CASYC a week later for a healthy dose of flamenco. With Alicia Carrasco (cante), José Manuel León (guitar), Carlos Merino (percussion) and Sara Vázquez (baile).

  

• 16 November: Sebastian Raspanti @ Bar Bolero, Calle San Celedonio, 35
  Maybe not the best singer-sogwriter out there but the anecdotes he was telling were very entertaining.
• 18 November: «Danza de las Sombras» @ Eureka Santander, Calle San Simón, 8
  Pretty unlistenable music that might have been called avant-garde some sixty years ago and sounds awfully dated now. The dance was not so bad but not exactly engaging either. Featuring Cecilia Gala (dance), Marta Sainz (voice) and Enrique Zaccagnini (sounds).
• 23 November: Marathon Jazz @ Escenario Santander, Avenida de la Constitución 39 (Parque de las Llamas)
  Plenty of familiar faces paid a moving homage to Marcos Rvbicón.
  • Antonio Gamaza (piano) and Javier San Miguel (saxophones)
  • Javier San Miguel Quartet: Manuel Cavero (double bass), Antonio Gamaza (piano), Adela Green (drums), Javier San Miguel (saxophones)
  • Rafael Santana Trio: Toño Gutiérrez (electric bass), Rodri Irizábal (drums) and Rafa Santana (piano)
  • Toño Gutiérrez Sextet: featuring Javier Escudero (guitar), Chus Gancedo (drums), Johannes Gunkel (trumpet), Toño Gutiérrez (electric bass), Rafa Santana (piano, keyboards) and Chisco Villanueva (tenor sax)
  • Special guest: Francesco Bearzatti (tenor sax)

• 25 November: «Entre sombras» @ Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria, Calle de Gamazo
  A show by Compañía Sentidos dedicated to the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Featuring Rubén Borjas, La Mimi, Jacqueline Borjas (baile), Borja Borja (cante), Antonio Domínguez (guitar) and Poncho (violin).

  

• 25 November: Blues & Jazz Jam @ Bar Bolero
  Later the same day, with Dany Garcia (guitar), David Costas (piano), Antonio Romero (bass) and the guests.

  

And two exhibitions:

• 10 November 2023 — 4 February 2024: «El agua espera» @ El Palacete del Embarcadero, Muelle de Calderón
  The last exhibition in El Palacete del Embarcadero before they close it for renovations next year.

  

• 24 November — 11 December: Tipos23 @ Muelle de Albareda
  The exhibition of posters dedicated to peripheries of Santander. Featuring works by Cristina Arce, Jesús Allende Valcuende, Celia Andrés Ruamayor, Natalia Andueza, Patxi Antxón, Javier Clérigo, Begoña Cueli, Isabel de la Sierra, Gorka Gil, Víctor Fernández, Carmen Gutiérrez Somavilla, José Antonio Quintana, Ruth Martín Casanova, Verónica Ruiz Vicente, Rafa San Emeterio and Manuel Teira.

  

Eltávozott nap

a film by Márta Mészáros

When I grew up, I was fascinated with Hungary. Not as exotic as Cuba but still, pretty exotic — impenetrable language always helps — and at the same time friendly socialist country from where cool, or at least colourful, things used to trickle into our grey reality. From my childhood, I remember novelty of orange Ikarus buses, the “rare bird” of imported chicken, and books by Corvina publishers that belonged to my mum, the best of which was the oversize Anatomy for the Artists by Jenő Barcsay. From a later period: then-still-cheap and way too sweet Tokaji wine; the 1978 Skorpió album Gyere Velem!, borrowed from (and, sorry to admit it, never returned to) a childhood friend; music books by Editio Musica Budapest, some of which I bought myself. (I still have Gitarakkord Kislexikon by Tibor Csepei on my shelf.) I don’t remember any single Hungarian film from those times though. While at the universtity, I watched István Szabó’s German-language trilogy (Mephisto, Oberst Redl and Hanussen), which I think does not quite count. Now, thanks to the Márta Mészáros retrospective, I can at last get acquainted with real Hungarian cinema.

Watching Mészáros’ debut feature, I can see why films like this were not shown in the Soviet Union. Lacking defined plot and moral, the movie follows the adventures of Erzsi (Kati Kovács), an independent, curious and, apparently, sexually liberated “titular” girl^*. Not what I’d call a comedy but with some wonderfully subtle comic scenes, like the one with a mysterious man “from the countryside” who claims he knew Erzsi’s parents...

---

*

Of the English (The Girl) and Spanish (La muchacha) titles. The picture was internationally released as The Day Has Gone. A better translation of the original Hungarian title, “[A] day gone by”, was done in the Soviet Union (Ушедший день in Russian). It could be that the film was named after the theme by the psychedelic rockers Illés, who make a mildly embarrassing appearance as a dance hall band.

Live music and stuff in Santander and Las Palmas, October 2022

It was an unusually warm month. I enjoyed it a lot.

Three exhibitions that I saw in Teatro CASYC (Calle Tantín, 25) on 1 of October:

• Fotografía de lo sublime. Las marinas de Gustave Le Gray (8 September — 1 October)
  A collection of 15 albumen silver prints by Gustave Le Gray taken between 1856 and 1857. (It was the last day of this exhibition, so I made an effort to go there after a lazy day on a beach.) Read more here.

  

• Dances With Wolves (7 September — 10 October)
  An audiovisual exhibition featuring 64 black-and-white photographs by Antonio Aragón Renuncio.

• Cuadernos de Bruselas II
  A set of beautiful nude drawings (2000) from the portfolio of Mª Antonia Sánchez Escalona.

  

A lot of music — more than I expected!

• 5 October: Nusondia @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol, 4, Santander
  African music meets jazz-funk. Featuring Sabari Kurra (kora, vocals), Chema (keyboards) and Dani Martín (drums). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 6 October: Maud the Moth @ Teatro CASYC, Calle Tantín, 25
  The Edinburgh-based composer, pianist and singer Amaya López-Carromero aka Maud the Moth opened her Spanish tour with this intimate concert, playing (mostly) the material from her last album Orphnē. A sumptuous and singular fusion of folk, electronica, classical music and prog-rock charmingly presented by a lady at the piano.

  

• 6—9 October: Sala del órgano @ El antiguo túnel de Tetuán
  An audiovisual show (lasting about five minutes) by Pablo Turanzas, at the Sardinero exit of the old Tetuan tunnel. A part of the festival Hágase la luz.

  

• 7 October: Tranki & Los Palos de Blues @ Plaza Pombo
  A local trio playing good old rock’n’roll; with collaboration dancing folk courtesy of Asociación Punto Swing Santander.
• 7—9 October: Sol de Otoño @ Calle del Sol
  I couldn’t attend all the activities but I went to see Deaf Dogs (Friday), Tomasito (Saturday) and Hendrik Röver & Los Míticos GT’s (that is, Goyo Chiquito & Toño López).

  

• 12 October: The Skin Tree Project @ Rvbicón
  A modern jazz trio featuring Sergio Rowles (electric guitar), Guillermo Suárez (double bass) and Mario Fuentes (drums). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 14 October — 9 November: Tierra de sueños @ Plaza Porticada
  A colourful exhibition of photos by Cristina García Rodero showing the daily life of the residents of Anantapur, India.

  

A short holiday in Las Palmas...

• 17 October: El Mundo de Van Gogh @ INFECAR, Avenida de la Feria, 1, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
  I missed (or rather ignored) this immersive experience all summer in Santander (26 May — 31 August), but it followed us to Las Palmas. We decided to give it a shot and were not disappointed. There was no need to buy tickets online as that involved paying €1.50 “gastos de gestión” per person.

• 19 October: Mariana @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4
  This young singer-songwriter from Tenerife participated in the acoustic indie programme of Festival CERO, playing mostly the songs from her debut album A Partir del Final.

  

Back to Santander...

• 23 October: Phil Grijuela @ Rvbicón
  A proof, if any was needed, that Spanish is not the best language for blues and rock, effortlessly provided by Phil Grijuela (guitar, harmonica, voice) and some guests who, thankfully, did not sing.

  

• 27 October: Solana @ Rvbicón
  A world music fusion band featuring Tamsin Elliott (accordion, flutes, voice), Rowan Elliott (violin, viola, cajón), Elio Araúz de Marcos (drums, percussion, voice), Jp Wolfgang (guitars) and Henry Edmonds (double bass, electric bass).

  

• 29 October: Context @ Café de Las Artes Teatro, Calle García Morato, 4
  A creation by Alessandro Carboni performed by Sara Capanna. I found its 30 minutes excruciatingly long and at the same time not providing enough value for its €11.

• 29 October: Crash Normal @ Cafe/Bar Bolero, Calle San Celedonio, 35
  Later the same evening: the Paris-based musician mixing the Greek rebetiko rhythms with psychedelic rock and electronica sounds in his new project Hypno Rebetiko, plus a mind-blowing version of Tomorrow Never Knows. To quote his BandCamp page,

  I’m here to celebrate the music of the outlaws, the pot smokers, the jailbirds and the gamblers but also those who would be able to spend 15 years in prison just for the love of someone.

  Free entrance and very agreeable ambience.

  

• 30 October: MAR (Micrófono Abierto Rvbicón) @ Rvbicón
  Many familiar faces, nothing extraordinary. I was half-expecting something in a Halloween-ish mood but no such luck, apart from a face-painted couple next to me.

  

Goodbye, October.

Live music and stuff in Santander, August 2022

August flew by too fast! Here are the events I attended:

• 3 August: Yumi Ito @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol, 4, Santander
  Yumi Ito (vocals, piano), Kuba Dworak (double bass) and Iago Fernández (drums), presenting their new album Stardust Crystals.

  

• 4 August: Mariola Membrives @ Centro Botín, Muelle de Albareda, Paseo de Pereda
  Mariola Membrives (vocals) and Javier Pedreira (electric guitar).

• 7 August: QARA @ Rvbicón
  In this one-man show, QARA was presenting his debut album, Planet Mattress.

  

• 7—28 August: Profundidad @ Ermita de San Ibón, Somo
  The exhibition of paintings by Pedro Calderón in a unique setting.
• 10 August: Jaime Velasco Band Canciones, poemas y otros viajes @ Rvbicón
  Jaime Velasco (guitar, vocals), María Villanueva (guitar, vocals), Nacho Miralles (drums, percussion) and Carlos Gutiérrez (bass guitar). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 19 August: Marinah @ Festival de las Naciones, Sardinero

  

• 21 August: Pájaros de niebla: cantando a José Hierro @ Rvbicón
  Álvaro Fombellida (guitar, vocals). Watch the full concert here.

  

• 29 August: Los Malinches @ Rock Beer The New, Calle Peñas Redondas, 15
  A potent mix of garage, psychedelia and Latin rock.

  

• 31 August: Organ Grinder Trío @ Rvbicón
  With Nico Andino (trumpet), Pier Bruera (drums) and David Cid (organ). A great show and a perfect way to conclude the last day of summer. Watch the full concert here.

Goodbye, summer.

Peppermint Frappé

a film by Carlos Saura

A stylish neo-noir movie starring Geraldine Chaplin and José Luis López Vázquez and filmed on location in Cuenca which is now on my to-visit list. The Incredible Miss Perryman by Los Canarios (from Las Palmas!) was another discovery. The only (mild) annoyance was the sound: it is as if the film was dubbed into Spanish.

Perfect Strangers and Link Floyd live

Deep Purple or Pink Floyd? When I were a lad, this question would really upset me: I grew up with these bands. Thankfully, this time around I didn’t have to choose between the two, thanks to our own Canarian tribute acts, Perfect Strangers and Link Floyd, playing their end-of-the-year concerts in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Timur, I and Harold attended both shows. In fact, we would never came to the second gig (Link Floyd at Teatro Guiniguada) if Emilio Sánchez, the vocalist of Perfect Strangers, hadn’t told us about it during their show in CICCA! That’s advertising Canarian-style for you.

Perfect Strangers played the vintage DP, with all the major Mark II and III hits: Child in Time, Speed King, Highway Star, Lazy, Woman from Tokyo, Mistreated, Soldier of Fortune, Knocking at Your Back Door, not to mention the very Perfect Strangers and that obligatory one about some stupid with a flare gun... There were surprises too, very much in Purple spirit, such as the Stormbringer quote within Burn, the Mark I first hit Hush, and one hell (or high water) of a drum solo in Space Truckin’.

Perfect Strangers Dave O’Connor: guitar Mathias Klatte: keyboards Javier Negrín: drums Emilio Sánchez: vocals Aaron Santana: bass

One week later, Link Floyd took us on an epic journey from Astronomy Domine and Echoes to (and through) The Wall. Man they can do it: like the entire darker second side of The Dark Side of the Moon, Pigs, Dogs... and the first five songs of The Wall plus Run Like Hell for an encore, how’s that? The band were so superbly faithful to the original that at times I wished they were, um, not and improvised more, or played the guitar solo on the sax or vice versa, or something. Anyway, it was magnificent. (Also, the sound at Guiniguada was much better than that at CICCA.) How I wish you were here.

Link Floyd Besay Brehcist: lead guitar, vocals Sergio Casquero: guitar, vocals Javier Guerra: bass Fran Navarro: drums Rafael Santana: keyboards Kenneth Suárez: guitars, keyboards, vocals Ángel Fernández Bordón: saxophones Patty Brichis: backing vocals Virna Ceballos: backing vocals Violeta Millares: backing vocals

Revolver

by The Beatles

While Revolver was not the first Beatles album I’ve heard — ironically, my first one was The Beatles’ last — it probably was the first I heard in its entirety and appreciated as such. Which is also somewhat ironic considering that Revolver is still just a collection of (brilliant) songs rather than a concept album. Never mind that. I discovered it in 1977 and listened to it a zillion times. Love You To was unlike anything I heard before.

Perhaps I was fascinated by those open endings: Taxman, I’m Only Sleeping, Love You To, Good Day Sunshine, wonderful as they are, fade away when something even more wonderful is just about to happen — wait, I’m still fascinated with them. And then, Tomorrow Never Knows — what was that? Is that how the album was meant to end? Amazing. Rewind the tape, listen again. The only song I felt out of place on the album was Yellow Submarine, and that despite (or because) it was the first Beatles song I ever learned the chorus. So did Yuri when he was about three, although in his rendition it was “we all live in a yellow atmosphere”.

Are You Experienced

by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

If there ever was a doubt that death is a smart career move, at least in rock’n’roll world, you should look no further than Are You Experienced, the greatest something and an endless source of greatest somethings of all time. Yes, untimely death can make even a mediocre musician interesting. In case of undoubtedly gifted and charismatic Hendrix, the move proved to be not just smart but stratospheric, rendering him practically a god. JHE was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Andy Beckett wrote in The Independent back in 1994:

Who’s still listening? The under-20s, daring heavy metal fans, grunge musicians (he was from Seattle), rock critics.

Add to this list yours truly, if only for a reason to understand what it’s all about. You see, I am no longer interested how critically acclaimed, or commercially successful, or revolutionary music was at the time. (In case of AYE: it was, it was, very much.) All I care about is whether I want to listen to this album now.

For me the answer is: not really. AYE features solid, occasionally great songwriting coupled with unpredictable guitar wizardry and consistently bad vocals. (The liner notes inexplicably claim that AYE is a concept album. Which is absurd, considering how radically different were the UK and American versions. Unless releasing two different albums under the same name was the concept. Why, the UK version didn’t even have Hey Joe, Purple Haze, and The Wind Cries Mary.)

Saying that, AYE still is head and shoulders above most of rock albums released this millennium. It’s just nowhere near the greatest album of all time. All time is a long time.

The Wind Cries Mary

After all the jacks are in their boxes And the clowns have all gone to bed You can hear happiness staggering on down the street Footprints dressed in red And the wind whispers Mary A broom is drearily sweeping Up the broken pieces of yesterday’s life Somewhere a queen is weeping Somewhere a king has no wife And the wind, it cries Mary The traffic lights they all true blue tomorrow And shine their emptiness down on my bed The tiny island sags downstream Cause the life that lived is, is dead And the wind screams Mary Will the wind ever remember The names it has blown in the past And with his crutch, its old age, and it's wisdom It whispers no, this will be the last And the wind cries Mary

Venus On Earth

by Dengue Fever

This is another great band I learned about from Songlines. A mere four years later, I got the album. Strange (to say the least) and beautiful music. I don’t understand Khmer (the language most of the album is sung in), so I have to make the most of the priceless song titles: Woman in the Shoes, Tiger Phone Card, Integratron, Sober Driver... Best of all, the bonus track One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula.

April

by Deep Purple

You would think that Deep Purple could have done better than naming their 1969 album Deep Purple, but there you go. I always knew this album as April. Tonight I was listening to it again on my way to the samba practice. In the opening track, Chasing Shadows, Ian Paice manages to sound like a full band of African drummers. And then, bluesy Why Didn’t Rosemary? and The Painter, psychedelic The Bird Has Flown, orchestral April. A quintessential prog-rock record which never gets boring.

Psychic Psummer

by Cave

On 2 August 2009, I walked into the Monorail record shop (12 Kings Court, Glasgow, G1 5RB) at the back of the excellent Mono veggie bar/restaurant) and heard this. It sounded, as this review puts it, “at once immediately familiar and entirely original”. “Who’s that?” I asked the guy behind the counter. “Cave”, was the answer. (Never heard of them before.) “Here’s the cover.” He gave me an LP cover to peruse. (I read here that LP is limited to 1000 copies and is available in blue and yellow vinyl. How cute.) “I think there should be a CD as well.” Indeed, there was one, so I walked out of the shop with my copy of Psychic Psummer.

I am listening to it right now, again. Believe me, it is gorgeous.