On Heavy Rotation (what are you listening to?)

10 posts

Niccolo and Donkey
Kobresia
popfop
Niccolo and Donkey
Drieu
niccolo and donkey Misologos

You might think I'm nuts for making you listen to this for the first five minutes or so, but stick with it and try to listen with headphones.

The Wiki explains this piece nicely:
Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet is a 1971 composition by Gavin Bryars . It is formed on a loop of an unknown homeless man singing a brief stanza. [1]

Bryars says:
"In 1971, when I lived in London, I was working with a friend, Alan Power, on a film about people living rough in the area around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo Station. In the course of being filmed, some people broke into drunken song - sometimes bits of opera, sometimes sentimental ballads - and one, who in fact did not drink, sang a religious song "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet". This was not ultimately used in the film and I was given all the unused sections of tape, including this one.

When I played it at home, I found that his singing was in tune with my piano, and I improvised a simple accompaniment. I noticed, too, that the first section of the song - 13 bars in length - formed an effective loop which repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. I took the tape loop to Leicester, where I was working in the Fine Art Department, and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape, thinking about perhaps adding an orchestrated accompaniment to this. The door of the recording room opened on to one of the large painting studios and I left the tape copying, with the door open, while I went to have a cup of coffee. When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.

I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man's singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the tramp's nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism." [3]

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gv21fXVCGRA
Drieu
Mike Reno's Celebrity Fit Club
Niccolo and Donkey
O'Zebedee

Great album, possibly number one in the canon of FEY MARXIST POP MUSIC.

Kobresia