Skip to main content

The Fall - The Coliseum

Perhaps the most intense and beautiful feeling of struggle comes about midway through. Isolde believes she hears a melody coming from Tristan, and sings, Are they waves of refreshing breezes? Are they billows of heavenly fragrances? As they swell and roar around me, shall I breathe them, shall I listen to them? Accompanying this, the violins begin a chromatic melody, a slow upward climb in tight half steps, struggling to reach something, which again and again falls back and then climbs higher. As it does, the chromatic line is often dissonant to the harmony below and to Isolde’s melody. Yet, because these dissonances by their very nature seek to resolve themselves, they push and pull the melody along. The opposition makes for the advance. Throughout, along with struggle, there is a feeling of unrelenting, inevitable progress, and it is thrilling and deeply satisfying.

What can this music teach us about love, especially in relation to difficulty and ease? I once thought love should be easy. I’d meet the right girl, we’d fall in love, and everything would be great, that is, I would be approved of completely, and there would be no questions. Not surprisingly, I had a lot of difficulty in love, and by my mid twenties, I felt despairing on the subject. The greatest good fortune of my life was meeting Aesthetic Realism, because I heard criticism of the thing that stopped me from caring truly for a person, my conceit.


The Fall - The Coliseum
  • Released on: The Light User Syndrome album
  • Released in: 1996
  • Duration: 8:08

"The band started in Manchester in 1976 after Mark E Smith, the lead vocalist, saw the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall. Smith’s abstract lyrics resulted in a group both influential and infamous."

See previous Song of the Day 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Spiritualized - Spread Your Wings

Spiritualized - Spread Your Wings Released in: February 1995 Duration: 6:17 Vocals: Jason Pierce "The first Spiritualized release was a space rock esque cover in 1990, a record which heralded the official split of Spacemen 3. On 15 June 1997, Spiritualized became the last band to play at Factory Records' Manchester nightclub." See Previous Song of the Day  

Steve Winwood - Domingo Morning

There have also been plenty of blues festivals and events in Ireland, which have brought the styles to a greater number of people. The Cork Jazz Festival is a massive annual offering that attracts thousands, while there’s also the Dublin Blues, Roots, and Brass Festival that brings in local and international blues enthusiasts. The events are a prime opportunity to celebrate the heritage of these music varieties and showcase some of the best talents around. The influence of reggae and blues music in Ireland goes beyond the music scene and has had a broader impact on the entertainment industry. It’s clear that the incorporation of these genres into Ireland’s entertainment landscape has helped bring diversity and richness to the culture of the country. This has, in turn, led to the attraction of more diverse audiences to Irish entertainment. Companies that offer entertainment to people in Ireland now must consider this diversity, and market their offerings to a broad spectrum of consumers...

Duke Pearson - I'm An Old Cowhand (Take 5)

Sanctified gospel music, especially in the western part of the state, is represented by members of the Holiness or Pentecostal church, such as The Church of God in Christ founded... in 1897 near Memphis. One of its present ministers, Reverend Robert Wilkins, a practicing herbalist now 90, became active in church work after several years as a highly regarded blues singer. Sanctified singers perform in a shouting musical style, accompanied by hand clapping, tambourines, guitars, and other instruments. A number of Holiness singers were recorded in Memphis during the 1920s... Of the many Pentecostal churches presently in Memphis, that of Reverend J. 0. Patterson is prominent, where the exceptional soloist Mattie Wigley still performs with the choir.        Among its many songwriters Tennessee has had three who were prominent in Black sacred music... Campbell, 1885 - 1963, composed 45 gospel songs and was also music director of the National Baptist Convention, one of seve...