The Coolest Beatle

Hi Friends,

Well today turned out to be a Beatles day for me. From the second I got up to right this very moment - all signs keep pointing to The Beatles.

I'm seeing my Dad tomorrow so made a DVDR of all the recently re-released Beatles albums (sorry EMI friends). I also found a book in my apartment's laundry room (Spanish Beatles book with some amazing photos over the years) and on Facebook a friend was asking the question which Beatles album was the best.

I grew-up a child of British parents and so The Beatles was a constant soundtrack. My Dad was a MOD. It's clear to me now looking at old photos of him and his gang hanging in Blackpool or the Isle of Man wearing skinny ties, rocking clark wallabees and they all arrived there on the backs of motorbikes and scooters.

It all bleeds back to another Beatles moment this past week for me - in that a co-worker brought in George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass'. What an amazing album. If you don't have it - you must aquire it asap (Thanks Puga).

George was by far the coolest of The Beatles. He was a hippy before it was cool to be a hippy. He continued to create and evolve right up until the day he died. From The Quarry Men to The Beatles to solo albums and part of The Travelling Wilburys (Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison).

• End of the Line - Travelling Wilburys


• Got My Mind Set on You - Solo


• My Sweet Lord - Solo


• When We Was Fab - Solo


• Norwegian Wood - The Beatles *from my favourite Beatles album

Everyone will have an opinion about The Beatles. From which album was the best, what Beatle was the coolest and who broken them up (clearly that Yoko bitch did). At the end of the day these past few months has been an amazing thing for music and arts. The world was re-introduced to The Beatles and their music.

ps - I learned something new today about my favourite Beatles cover band - Oasis. George Harrison recorded a few solo albums before The Beatles split. These included an instrumental soundtrack to a film entitled 'Wonderwall' that blended Indian and Western sounds (thanks Wikipedia).

The Magical Mystery Tour is waiting to take you away :)

Thanks for reading.

Gregg

Bands You Should Care About...

...that never seemed to make it big inside North America.

Hello friends,

I will never hide the fact that I consider British pop music to be the best stuff going. Nor will I deny that I have some Spice Girls albums, Take That singles and loved Duran Duran as a child. They have simply made music that works for my ears and I love it all. I'm not saying I don't like music from North America and trust me I can name a million Canadian Indie bands that I've seen over the years and have a place in my heart for all of them.

The bands I am going to recommend are not household names - however - you may know them - but do yourself (me) a favour and check out at leats one of these and give it a chance.

Here's a list of 5 tracks by artists I think that everyone should care about...

• Athlete
• Stereophonics *best harmonies in music today
• Badly Drawn Boy *bonus here as it's set to Christiano Rinaldo highlights :)
• Doves
• We Were Promised Jetpacks *favourite at the moment

I really do hope you check out at least one - if not all these tracks and give em a proper headphones as you walk around chance!

Thanks for reading.

Gregg

My Favourite Theme Songs

Hello Friends,

A few year's ago a roommate of mine was working for TVT Records. TVT Stands for Television Tunes and started based on theme music for television shows - makes sense right?

I grew up in the 70s and 80s and so had the pleasure of hearing many of the greatest theme songs of all time. From Different Strokes - Who's The Boss - there were truly some big theme songs that had the masses singing along. What about The Fresh Prince of Bel Air? Amazing.

I'm going to keep this short today - but here's a list of 5 classics that stand-out in my mind. I have distinct memories of each as a child :)

• The Littlest Hobo


• The Greatest American Hero


• Polka A Dot Door


• Different Strokes


• Dallas

Theme songs shape a show - come on TV people - start looking for the next allan Thick!

Gregg

MTV VMAs

Hello,

I was very proud to say that I work for MTV today when I saw this .

Did you watch that? I had goosebumps and I've probably watched it 10 times today. I'll wait right here if you haven't - so go back and do so now!

MTV may not be the same thing that people remember from the days gone by - but nothing remains the same. The beauty of something like this weekend's VMA's special tribute to MJ is that we can all relive the greatness that was Michael Jackson. Court cases aside - the music is amazing and the tributes are indeed well earned. I heard rumours that Justin Timberlake and Madonna are going to be joining Janet Jackson on stage to mark the occasion. Perhaps Slash can join them for that guitar solo on 'Beat It'???

Here are my favourite MTV Video Music Awards clips featuring the man.

• 1995 part 1 of 2 and part 2 of 2


• remember this?


• with Justin and his group


• not a VMA moment - but wicked

It's late so I will keep this one short. I recommend that you tune in this coming Sunday to watch the MTV VMAs to see the tribute to the King.

Gregg