Tech -- Culture -- Humour
If you grew up in Australia in the 1950s through to the early 2000s, you may remember the ‘Let’s Sing’ books that primary school kids would get.
Each week, the teacher would switch on the radio and along the class would sing. I was recently thinking on the range of songs I heard for the first time in those books. Well thanks to the ABC, there’s a file that lists all the songs alphabetically, with the years they appeared in the ‘Sing’ books.
You can check it out for yourself by either:
Enjoy!
What a discovery I made thanks to a friend on Facebook. The Hood Internet have created what are nothing short of masterpieces as far as music mashups. The level of work that has gone into these are incredible. Each year showcases 50 songs in around 3 minutes, and as you’ll hear, it’s a long way off cramming those songs in where you can.
Have a listen for yourself, and ideally use headphones to appreciate what these folks have pulled off. We’ll update this post as new ones are added.
Featuring: ABBA, AC/DC, Anita Ward, Billy Joel, Blondie, Boomtown Rats, The Buggles, The Cars, Charlie Daniels Band, Cheap Trick, Chic, The Clash, The Cure, Donna Summer, Doobie Brothers, Earth Wind & Fire, Electric Light Orchestra, Fleetwood Mac, The Flying Lizards, Gang of Four, The Gap Band, Gary Numan, Joy Division, Kiss, The Knack, Kool & The Gang, Lipps Inc, M, Michael Jackson, Pat Benatar, Pink Floyd, The Police, The Pretenders, Prince, Queen, Rainbow, Rupert Holmes, Sister Sledge, The Specials, Squeeze, The Sugarhill Gang, Supertramp, Talking Heads, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Van Halen, The Whispers, Wire
Featuring: A Taste Of Honey, AC/DC, The B-52s, Billy Joel, Billy Squier, Blondie, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash, The Cure, Dead Kennedys, Devo, Diana Ross, Dolly Parton, Elvis Costello, The English Beat, Frankie Smith, Generation X & Billy Idol, George Benson, Hall & Oates, J. Geils Band, The Jam, John Lennon, Journey, Joy Division, Kool & The Gang, Kurtis Blow, Lakeside, Martha & The Muffins, Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark, Ozzy Osbourne, Pat Benatar, Pete Townshend, The Police, Queen, The Ramones, The Romantics, Rush, The S.O.S. Band, Steely Dan, Stephanie Mills, Talking Heads, U2, Ultravox, The Vapors, Yarbrough & Peoples, Zapp
Featuring: .38 Special, AC/DC, Afrika Bambaataa, Billy Idol, Billy Squier, Blue Oyster Cult, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Foreigner, Funky Four Plus One, Go-Gos, Hall & Oates, Human League, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Journey, Juice Newton, Kim Wilde, Kool & The Gang, Laurie Anderson, Loverboy, Men At Work, Neil Diamond, New Order, Olivia Newton-John, Phil Collins, The Pointer Sisters, The Police, The Psychedelic Furs, Queen & David Bowie, Rick James, Rick Springfield, Rod Stewart, Rush, Soft Cell, Squeeze, Stevie Nicks, Taana Gardner, Teena Marie, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Tom Tom Club, Toni Basil, Treacherous Three, Trio, Vangelis, Yoko Ono
Featuring: A Flock of Seagulls, Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force, After The Fire, Alan Parsons Project, Asia, Billy Idol, Bow Wow Wow, Chicago, The Clash, Culture Club, Dazz Band, The Descendents, Dexys Midnight Runners, Duran Duran, Eddy Grant, The Fearless Four, Fleetwood Mac, Frida, Gang Of Four, Genesis, George Clinton, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5, Hall & Oates, Indeep, INXS, Iron Maiden, John Cougar Mellencamp, Kate Bush, Madness, Malcolm McLaren, Marvin Gaye, Men Without Hats, Michael Jackson, Michael McDonald, Modern English, Naked Eyes, New Order, Orange Juice, Peech Boys, The Pretenders, Prince, R.E.M., Shalamar, Sister Nancy, Survivor, Taco, Thomas Dolby, Toto, Yaz
Featuring: Billy Joel, Bonnie Tyler, Corey Hart, Cyndi Lauper, David Bowie, Def Leppard, Dio, Eurythmics, The Fixx, Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel, Greg Kihn Band, Herbie Hancock, Huey Lewis & The News, Irene Cara, Journey, Kraftwerk, Lionel Richie, Madonna, Mtume, Nena, New Order, Night Ranger, Pat Benatar, The Pointer Sisters, The Police, Quiet Riot, R.E.M., Rick James, Rockwell, The Romantics, Run-DMC, Shannon, The Smiths, Spandau Ballet, Styx, Suicidal Tendencies, Talking Heads, The Tubes, U2, Van Halen, Yes, ZZ Top
Featuring: A-Ha, Animotion, Art of Noise, Billy Ocean, Billy Squier, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Cabaret Voltaire, Chaka Khan, Cherrelle, Chicago, Dead or Alive, Deniece Williams, Depeche Mode, Don Henley, Echo & The Bunnymen, General Public, Glenn Frey, Harold Faltermeyer, Husker Du, INXS, Kenny Loggins, Laura Branigan, Madonna, Metallica, New Edition, Newcleus, Ollie & Jerry, Pat Benatar, Paul Hardcastle, Philip Bailey with Phil Collins, Prince, Ray Parker Jr., Rebbie Jackson, REO Speedwagon, Run-D.M.C., Sade, Scandal (featuring Patty Smyth), Scorpions, Sheila E., Strafe, Talk Talk, Tears for Fears, The Cars, The Fleshtones, The Go-Gos, The Minutemen, The Ramones, The Replacements, The Sisters Of Mercy, The Smiths, Thompson Twins, Twisted Sister, U2, Van Halen, Wham!
Featuring: Aretha Franklin, Billy Ocean, Cameo, Commodores, The Cult, The Cure, DeBarge, Dire Straits, Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew, Dream Academy, Duran Duran, Echo And The Bunnymen, Eddie Murphy, Faith No More, Grace Jones, Huey Lewis & The News, INXS, Jesus & Mary Chain, Kate Bush, Katrina & The Waves, Killing Joke, LL Cool J, Madonna, Miami Sound Machine, Mike + The Mechanics, Minor Threat, Motley Crue, Mr. Mister, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, The Outfield, Pat Benatar, Pet Shop Boys, Phil Collins, Prince & The Revolution, The Replacements, Robert Palmer, Run-D.M.C., Schoolly D, Simple Minds, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Stacey Q, Starship, Talking Heads, Tears For Fears, Tom Waits, Whitney Houston, Yello
Featuring: The Bangles, Beastie Boys, Berlin, Billy Bragg, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Boogie Down Productions, Book Of Love, Bruce Hornsby & The Range, Cutting Crew, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Eric B. & Rakim, Europe, Fingers Inc., Genesis, Gwen Guthrie, Howard Jones, Human League, Janet Jackson, Lionel Richie, Loose Ends, Madonna, Metallica, Midnight Star, New Order, Nu Shooz, Oran Juice Jones, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Nevil, Run-D.M.C., Run-D.M.C. & Aerosmith, Samantha Fox, Slayer, Smithereens, Stan Bush, Steve Winwood, Whistle
Featuring: Aerosmith, Audio Two, Belinda Carlisle, Boogie Down Productions, The Cure, Def Leppard, Depeche Mode, Eazy-E, EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim, Eurythmics, George Michael, Guns N Roses, Heart, INXS, Jody Watley, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, LL Cool J, Love And Rockets, Madonna, MARRS, Michael Jackson, Midnight Oil, New Order, Pebbles, Prince, Public Enemy, R.E.M., Rick Astley, Salt N Pepa, Sonic Youth, Starship, T’Pau, Taylor Dayne, Tiffany, U2, Was (Not Was), When In Rome, Whitesnake, Whitney Houston
We are not a click-bait site that strings things out to get you to stay on the page, so here’s the summary. We found Distrokid to be non-communicative over more than two weeks when trying to submit music. Tech support is essentially non-existent so we pulled the music and went elsewhere.
The fuller story
It’s a weird time: millions of people in different countries are in some form of home isolation or quarantine. Anecdotally, it appears there’s lots more creation of music going on – some lucky people are using the extra time to start or finish musical projects they are working on.
I’m one of them, and in the past three weeks I started looking around for which online option I’d take to upload my music to all the streaming services (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music etc etc). I had used TuneCore before, and although they fully delivered on everything they said, I didn’t particularly like their interface and thought I’d look around.
I’d had a few people across different musician groups online recommend DistroKid, so after looking at their pricing versus TuneCore and CDBaby, and reading some other info online (except one key source I missed, but more on that later), I signed up with DistroKid.
The sign-up process is great, as are the music upload features. I had my artwork and music files all in the correct format and it was flawless. Once you’ve submitted the files, you get a message at the top of the page that says you’ve been successful and that the album or single you’ve uploaded will be sent to the music services today. This is misleading on its own because rightly, DistroKid state elsewhere on their site that it can take ‘several days’ for songs to be reviewed and sent to stores. It’s a reasonable timeframe, so benefit of the doubt was given on the claim of it being sent ‘today’. No biggie.
The days dragged on and I followed the DistroKid twitter account, still not concerned. In fact I assumed there’d be some sort of extra delay given what’s going on worldwide and previous coverage of DistroKid alludes to them being a fairly small outfit. I was (and am) concerned that maybe some of them had become ill with COVID-19. Then I noticed they were posting at least daily on Twitter, either linking to something that has taken their fancy (Dave Grohl surprising a frontline healthcare worker on Jimmy Kimmel) or asking followers on their thoughts on different issues.
All normal stuff from a company Twitter account, but I noticed that amongst the responses to each tweet a regular handful of replies from disgruntled users. The theme is consistent: why am I not getting replies to my support queries and why is my music not being uploaded to the stores? Even more concerning, nearly all are ignored and the odd one that is responded to, involves the provision of a link to the DistroKid support site. I won’t bore you with the details of that, and you can actually check it out yourself, but it is one of the least user-friendly support options I’ve ever seen in respect of being able to send a message with details specific to your issue. Again, it’s totally reasonable that a small company needs to minimise queries that can be solved automatically, but whoever set up this Zendesk site has mastered the ability of making it a circular hell-hole.
This is where I realised I’d missed a source of information before signing up. If I’d checked out TrustPilot for DistroKid reviews, because that alone would have set alarm bells off for me. Reading through reviews I realised I was far from alone. Even if you believe competitors are trolling the reviews, there’s still plenty of obviously legit ones to cause concern.
When ten days had rolled around and still no submission to stores has occurred, I went back to Twitter and saw the same pattern – lots of interaction from DistroKid to any positive feedback and nothing to those asking for help. I thought I was being hard done by at 10 days wait, but there were others who were at the three week mark with the same non-communication. That was the deal-breaker for me. I logged in, finally found a way to ask for a refund (it’s the first time I found a form where I could actually type information) and then the following day clicked on the ‘Abort’ button to stop my music being uploaded to stores (if it ever were to happen). I remain skeptical of getting the refund but it will be something I will pursue very very actively.
Today, I paid an extra 25 bucks or so than DistroKid charged, to upload my music to TuneCore. To their credit, they have a very prominent message on delays in uploads due to the COVID-19 situation. And this is all I really wanted: any type of communication from DistroKid to explain that there’d be delays. It’s understandable a small team may be struggling with workload, but it’s also very easy to communicate that in a way that grows loyalty, not destroy it before it has a chance to develop. The DistroKid Twitter account shows the lights are on, but no-one gets in that door at this stage and it worries me why. There’s more to customer service than posting heart emojis or GIFs in replay to loving Twitter followers. I hope you folks are doing ok and I hope to read / see that things improve. To those reading this wondering whether to sign-up: read the good, bad and ugly reviews and make your own call of course.
One last comment: when you do a web search for ‘Distrokid review’, a lot of the higher ranked articles are from sites who are offering affiliate discounts for signing up to Distrokid, so take them with a massive grain of salt. I went back to TuneCore because it was a devil I knew, not because I’m getting some sort of deal to do so. I nearly went with CD Baby, but decided learning another interface wasn’t worth the effort. I actually wish BandCamp would offer a service to submit to other stores because I really like their approach.
Comments welcome below but ad hominem attacks or defamatory statements will be removed. Thanks to The Creative Shed for the opportunity to post this review.
Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash
Ahh, sequels. A successful sequel tends to be the exception rather than the rule, let alone a second sequel. Adding to the pressure is the fact that Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene is a seminal work that still has huge relevance today.
When its follow-up Oxygene 7-13 (now renamed to Oxygene 2)appeared 20 years later in 1997, it continued the thematic journey, managing to avoid most of the contemporary fads around more up-beat electronic music. Add a further 20 years and you have this week’s release of Oxygene 3. Even as a rabid Jarre fan*, I was keeping my expectations low. I knew it was impossible to match let alone better the original, but I was hoping for something that was at least a solid, enjoyable listen.
I’m pleased to report that Oxygene 3 is much more than solid or enjoyable. The best compliment I can give it, is that it completes the Oxygene picture in full. It continues beautifully from its predecessor, but even more notable is that it’s a near-flawless transition from the original. If Oxygene 2 had ended up some awful half-attempt mired in late 1990s fads, then this release would have made a perfect follow-up to the original.
There are plenty of healthy nods to Oxygene without being overbearing, but enough new in there to keep things fresh. All the iconic sounds are there without relying too heavily on history. Before completing this review I listened from Oxygene Part 1 to Part 20 and as subjective as it is, it feels like every part is needed and contributes toward the greater work. In that context, ending a trilogy was always going to be a challenge, but in Pt. 20 I’d argue Jarre has found the right balance between grandeur and the personal journey it’s been for him and all of us who’ve been along for the ride.
The optimist in me hopes for a second trilogy – the crackling flames at the very end of the album shows the fire is still burning. The pessimist in me however, can’t see how that would be anything but a road to ruin. So it’s best probably to see this as the end of an era. If you’re new to Jarre, you’re probably best to start with the original instalment, although this release can stand up on its own merits. For those who have been there for most or all of the last forty years, Oxygene 3 may not fully match your expectations but I’d argue it goes as close as it’s possible to in that regard. This album can stand tall in a small room of admirable, substantive sequels.
*My appreciation of Jarre’s work started in 1983, as a high-school student in a drama class. We were doing some sort of relaxation / visualisation session, all of us lying down on the carpeted floor, with lights off. The ‘Drama’ room had had all its windows blacked out and the walls also painted the same colour, the only other customisation a Yamaha stereo system with pretty decent speakers mounted on the wall. On this day, the Drama teacher asked us all to close our eyes and then he played the first couple of tracks from Oxygene. To say it made an impression was an understatement. Since then I’ve bought pretty much everything Jarre has released and even spent a fruitless couple of years trying to chase him down for an interview.
I’ve been a fan of Cyndi Lauper’s for more than thirty years and over that time it’s been amazing to watch how she’s continued to go from strength to strength.
Her voice is as brilliant as it’s ever been and it got me thinking. I saw someone had done a 33rpm upload of Dolly Parton’s Jolene and I immediately wanted to try the same with one of Cyndi Lauper’s songs. And what a gem it’s turned out to be.
Check out I Drove All Night on vinyl at 33rpm.
What do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts
I don’t know what it is specifically about WA-bred bands, but they know how to write some big songs.
As someone who rates The Triffids as one of the best bands to ever come out of Australia, I’m more than willing to put The Panics in that company. And they’ve produced enough great songs to give Born Sandy Devotional one hell of a run for its money. Yes that’s a big call but i stand by it.
Hole In Your Pocket is the fifth album from The Panics and it’d be unfair to say they’ve hit their stride as that arguably happened more than five years ago. This album is polished without sounding self-assured and passionate without being florid. Cinematic is a term often applied to this group and it’s for good reason – the scope of these songs vary but they all feel like significant events.
Highlights for me are Carparks of Greschen, Not Apart, Not Together and the first release from the album, Weatherman. That said, at nine songs the album has no flab anyway so it’s an academic exercise finding outright favourites.
If you’re after fist-pumping four to the floor rock then look elsewhere – although this outfit are no slouches in the live arena either from the couple of gigs I’ve seen. They’re about to hit the road in coming months in support of the album.
If you like some real meat on the bones of your rock music, then you may just want to check out Hole In Your Pocket and pretty much every other release from these guys.
Check out Weatherman right now:
An ongoing series showcasing less common albums and their covers
French pop covers record – no. 76 in the series. No year displayed but given there’s covers of Elton John’s Nikita and Lionel Richie’s Say You Say Me, it was released circa 1986-1987:
A friend on Facebook asked around about the solos that you couldn’t help hum note for note when you heard them. When I had a think of my favourites, I realised there was a healthy dose of sax solos in there. I did some trawling and here are five hot sax solos that I think rate pretty highly. Don’t hesitate to make your own suggestions below!
1. Bruce Springsteen:Â Badlands
You could have a whole list of Springsteen songs that have killer sax solos, and Jungleland is probably considered the signature sax offering from Clarence Clemons. It’s also hard to go past Born to Run, but for mine, Badlands has the best rock ‘posership’ of the lot.
2. Eddie and the Cruisers 2 Soundtrack: Runnin’ Through The Fire
I’m really pushing it putting this right under the Springsteen pick, but there you have it. The movie wasn’t up to the standard of the original but it still had some great music thanks to John Cafferty and Co. If you ignore the mullets, this little ditty has a damn good sax solo.
3. Billy Joel: You May Be Right
Short, sharp and damn catch – it’s what every sax solo should be.
4. INXS: Never Tear Us Apart
Another sign of a great solo is not being able to imagine a song without it. This is one such song.
5. Men At Work: Who Can It Be Now?
Greg Ham – you are missed.
There’s a lots of others that deserve honourable mentions, but I’m keen to hear your picks. Which sax solos stand out the most for you?
An ongoing series showcasing less common albums and their covers
Catalog Number: ALP 1004
Appears to have been an Australian recording and pressing from when Oscar Cartier toured Australia.
An ongoing series showcasing less common albums and their covers / history
1986 from Spaceman Records. Cat. Number MRSM-05
01 Time
02 Wasp
03 My Window
04 Celina
05 Taste
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