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Singer & songwriter Colin Hay was the front man of the Australian rock group Men At Work, who made international fame for their 1981 hit song "Down Under"

Over the years, the band broke up and reformed with different members a few times, but Colin, the founding member of the group remained the only original member of the group.

Through the magic of YouTube, I followed bits and pieces of his career and see that although he's got a fantastic (and distinct) voice he's become much of a has-been, staying busy doing low-key small venues of solo work and a few guest appearances here and there.

I recently found one of this appearances in which the audience had a major contribution providing vocal accompaniment. I closed my eyes and swelled with the aura he created on stage and think... was it wrong management that stunted the longevity of his success? I don't have the answer for that, but I did enjoy the song...



Overkill (Colin Hay / Men at Work / 1983 Studio album CARGO)

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications

Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know we'll be alright
Perhaps it's just imagination

Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away

Alone between the sheets
Only brings exasperation
It's time to walk the streets
Smell the desperation

At least there's pretty lights
And though there's little variation
It nullifies the night from overkill

Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away
Come back another day

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications

Especially at night
I worry over situations that
I know will be alright
It's just overkill
Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away
Ghosts appear and fade away
Ghosts appear and fade away

Leo Fender was an electronics repairman who teamed up with Doc Kauffman in the 1940's producing musical amplifiers. Leo split with Doc to create his first generation of amplifiers around 1946 that had a tweed covering and brown metal faced chassis attached in a combo where the amplifier and speaker were in one enclosure. Around 1950, models changed to a Tolex textured vinyl covering available in different shades of beige and brown. While this era was significant, it wasn't until the 1960's that Fender started producing larger and more powerful models and in 1963 introduced a blackface model where the amplifier (head) was detached from the speaker cabinet. This is the generation that created worldwide awareness for Fender and his Blackface amps.

In 1965 CBS bought Fender for $13 million and started producing the same products with only a cosmetic change of a silverface chassis. Soon after, there were circuitry changes making them less desirable than blackface Fenders.

Blackface Fender amplifiers became hard to find and getting one often came with a price tag 4 to 5 times the original list price. I owned a silverface purchased around 1969 and it couldn't compare to the sound of my friends blackface.

The venues I had performed at were mostly nightclubs and school dances, but I joined a well established band in 1970 and needed something more powerful for outdoor concerts and stopped using Fender.

Once in a while I'll check a sale on eBay and see that year after year, blackface Fenders always hold their value.

Blackface pre-CBS


Chromeface

AUTOTUNE is a digital audio processor pitch correction software that can transform a mediocre singers voice to perfection. What it does to vocals is what Photoshop does to images!
Available as computer download software or rack-mounted stand alone device, Autotune has been around for more that 20 years and has become a standard in the recording industry.
While it's intent was to correct off-key singing, with the thousands of settings, Autotune can be adjusted to give all kinds of coloration and effects to voices like pitch change and robotic-like sounds.
Let's say, you cannot hit the high notes... sing the song in a lower key and have Autotune change the pitch to whatever key you need.

The first time I heard Autotune in use was Cher's recording of Believe. It's the 'pitch-shift' effect she used with a hard setting to pull the notes to standard tuning. That gives it a grainy and very unique sound.

The surviving members of The Beatles have agreed to remove their hit song ‘Eight Days A Week’ from circulation after learning that there’s actually only seven.
The song will now be pulled from all music streaming services and removed from any future pressings of their ‘Beatles for Sale’ album.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have even gone so far as to ask fans to burn any physical media with ‘Eight Days a Week’ on.

‘This is an incredibly embarrassing incident for us. When I was writing the song with John, we couldn’t remember if there were seven days in a week or eight and we didn’t have Wikipedia or anything to check with,’ said Paul.

‘It was mainly my fault because I insisted there was an eighth day called ‘Hymday’ and we were all so smacked up on drugs that no-one debated me,’ said Ringo.

Music fans are now busily scanning for factual inaccuracies in the entirety of Coldplay’s back catalogue.

Soulless mutants! Here we are, trudging along in a cesspool of luke-warm mediocrity while these kids print their own golden tickets....

Harrrrrumph!

As much as I envy and loathe the gifted li'l ankle biters, I gotta say this one left an impression!

I got that message from K on Friday evening. I had never heard the band live before, so I replied "Sure, I'm up for that!"

So we met up in the train, and decided to hit a bar, before the show. There was a great one 30 seconds from the venue, so we sat down and ordered. I went for a regular coke, while K went for a double vodka/fanta. Once the bartender came down with our drinks, he went "Double vodka/fanta for the lady, and a rum and coke minus rum for the gentleman".. I was going "But I didn't ord.. Aaah, I see what you did there . Clever"

We finished our drinks and headed to the venue. The first band on stage was a band called Ankona, and they were a Russian folk metal band, complete with bagpipes and flutes. It was absolutely brilliant! They blended good old fashioned folk metal with black metal. Mind blowing! They had 45 minutes to play, and I loved every minute of it!

Then it was time for Delain, the main event. You could feel the atmosphere in the venue building! Once they got on stage, they literally blew the other band away. Symphonic metal is amazing live!

Charlotte, the lead singer, was amazing on stage! I have never seen a person belong on a stage that much! She ruled the show with precision and a fantastic voice! It was heavy, yet melodic at the same time. It reminded me of the early Within Temptation. Maybe because the bassist in the band was a former member of Within Temptation.

It was one of the best nights in a long time! One I would gladly do again!

Many of us remember Jim Stafford for some of his songs like 'My Girl Bill' or 'Spiders and Snakes' but here is a little gem that I've not heard in decades, love the graphics:





If you have any of you Jim Stafford songs feel free to add them.....