Culture Club – Colour By Numbers

Since it is going to be the Eighties all over again soon, I thought I would get in the mood, courtesy of last year’s Daily Mail 80s record collection. Of course, back then, I couldn’t stand the New Romantic thing (what hardline Fall fan could?). But to my amazement/horror I found myself actually enjoying Culture Club’s music. When I started listening to this again, over a quarter of a century later, I must say it sounded rather bland, but it started growing on me again. Best tracks here, as before, are “Mister Man” and the singles “Karma Chameleon” and, especially, “Church Of The Poison Mind”. This time round I can even see what a good song “Victims” is, though let down by its cheesy arrangement.

Then as now I find Boy George’s half-teenage-boy-half-teenage-girl persona a bit perplexing, but if you listen rather than psychoanalyse, it’s worth the effort.

Sibelius – Symphony No 6

Before starting to listen to this I couldn’t remember anything at all about it from the previous times I had heard it (about twice). That is unique because with all the other Sibelius symphonies I could remember something, if only (as with the Seventh) a vague recollection of pleasure. As I started to listen to the Sixth, it all started to come back. For the first few minutes, the slow intro to the first movement, I thought that this was something really good which I had totally forgotten about, which was a bit worrying. But as the work went on, this feeling subsided, and I started to remember why I had forgotten Sib 6. Except for those first few minutes, yes, this is unmistakeably Sibelius. It’s not bad Sibelius (if such a thing exists: his quality control is pretty rigorous). But there doesn’t seem to be anything extraordinary: nothing which made me sit up and think “gosh”, let alone “F***ING HELL!!!”. I’ll come back to it again, when I have time. But it didn’t fire my enthusiasm.

Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death And His Friends

I haven’t always hated Clodplay. I actually quite liked some of their older stuff, especially “Yellow”. The hatred took hold when they went stellar with “X&Y” and Live8. I remember with derisive amusement the look of rage on Chris Martin’s face when someone (I think it was Jonathan Ross) reminded him that they had been denied the number one single spot by Crazy Frog. So I would have passed this by on the other side, if I hadn’t promised Ed on the 17 Seconds blog that I would listen to it if I got the chance. Ed had rated VLV way higher, in his best LPs of 2008, than The Fall’s offering, and I had expressed some doubt about this judgement, so in the interests of fairness I promised to listen to this.

Which I have now, and what a load of rubbish it is. The thing that grates most is the inflated pomposity of the lyrics. If it were not for the lyrics, the music would not seem as bad. But lyrics and music together are unspeakable, delivered with an unfounded confidence that says “We are singing songs about grown-up stuff like death AND we’ve got Eno on board with his soundscapes (whatever that means) so we are dead clever”. I suppose “Yes” is listenable, even perhaps “Strawberry Swing”. But any quality these possess deserve is outweighed by the sheer, jaw-dropping awfulness of “Cemetries Of London” (whose lyrics sound like the sort of idea Iron Maiden might have had and discarded as being too daft), the title track, and “42”, which surpasses even “Fix You”, the previous ne plus ultra of Clayplod badness (you know I am getting excited when I lapse into Latin).