The second question posed by my biggest fan was in regard to my ONE favorite Simon & Garfunkel song.

This is the kind of question I’m not very good at answering. It’s easy enough for me to pick my favorite artist, but to then narrow down an all-time-favorite song is a challenge. There are so many. Anyway, here goes:

I guess my ONE favorite Simon & Garfunkel song would have to be…

Nope, I can’t do it. I don’t have a ONE favorite.

I will say that one that I keep coming back to is Overs from their Bookends album. It’s not one of their better known songs, and I guess that’s one reason I like it so much. I also love it because it shows Paul’s early experimenting with a more jazz-like style, using very jazzy chords, and a much looser song structure than commonly seen in the folk tradition. It also has a beautiful finger picking guitar line that I absolutely love. It’s one that I play almost every time I pick up a guitar.

Here’s a video clip of the young duo shortly after the song was written. You might have to close your eyes to really appreciate the song because it’s easy to be distracted by Arty’s ridiculous mustache, or just how young they both look.

My biggest fan, Holly, shot me a load of questions. So, I’ll do my best to answer them one at a time. Here’s the first one:

In the beginning, Coldplay was an amazing band with a very vulnerable, and very human touch, which was what made them so appealing to me. Their first album, Parachutes oozed with beautiful emotion and delicate simplicity. They followed it up perfectly with Rush of Blood to the Head, which was a little bolder, but kept that very human touch.

Then, with their 3rd album X&Y they declared that they wanted to be the biggest band in the world, and decided to accomplish that by morphing into a semi-decent replica of U2.

That brings us to their 4th, and most recent album: Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. They managed to regroup and pull away from the U2 image pretty well, and I will admit that what I have heard of the album is well produced and enjoyable to listen to, but I won’t be buying it. It’s not the Coldplay I love. They left behind the beautiful vulnerability in pursuit of the “biggest band in the world” sound.

In memory of that amazing sound that once was, here’s a track from Parachutes that illustrates perfectly what it was I loved about them:

There was a time when nobody knew the band Elbow, save the devout few who followed them slavishly. I was among those few, and count myself fortunate to be so. Then they made the album The Seldom Seen Kid which won them the Mercury Prize, the Brit award for best band, and a slew of other top awards, and suddenly they were famous and everyone knew them.

Being one of the early fans, their new-found fame is a bitter-sweet pill. Sweet in that they are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Bitter in the sense that I always rather enjoyed being the devoted fan of an amazing band that no one had ever heard of.

Nevertheless, I am still a devoted fan and now wish to share another piece of their brilliance from the days before the glory.

This song, McGreggor was recorded with the Leaders of the Free World album, but only released as a B-side, tragically. It came about somewhat as a fluke: while in the studio listening back to the mix for the song Picky Bugger, keyboardist Craig Potter accidentally hit the “half time” button, slowing the track down to half its original tempo (surprise). It turned out to fit perfectly with some lyrics that Guy Garvey had been playing around with, and they cut the track.

The result is this beautiful blend of gospel and rock with the classic Elbow twist.

This is the new angusmckay.net. You’re looking at it right now. It’s been sitting in purgatory for months now, but has finally emerged for all to see.
There will be more content added as time progresses, but there’s enough here to have a brief look around (yes, it will be brief right now).

I’m a very critical film viewer.  Especially when it comes to movies that my kids watch.  I’m one of those who is really fed up with the hyperactive 3-D animated films that are swarming the cinemas and DVD stores.  

A little while back I found My Neighbor Totoro at the library.  I’ve seen a few Miyazaki films before and definitely consider myself a fan of his work, but I certainly would not consider most of his films suitable for children.  From the description on the back cover,  this one really didn’t sound that interesting, but I figured we’d give it a chance.  I was pleasantly surprised.

The beginning is a little slow, but it gets better and better with each passing minute.  It is an absolutely beautiful piece of work; even paced, with just enough of the bizarre to keep it interesting.  It’s a very feel-good story about childhood innocence and wonder.  

This is the kind of film the world needs more of.  It brings a delightfully positive perspective to life; the kind that can turn most any situation into something to enjoy.   And the kids love it too. 

This is definitely one we will be adding to our collection.  I highly recommend it to anyone.