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Sound Bites: 'In a Big Country' by Big Country
Subscribe to my monthly newsletter here for all my latest writing. Stuart Adamson of Big Country had a tragic demise. All the more tragic, perhaps, because it’s a demise that’s all too familiar. He rose to fame young and, it seems, wasn’t prepared for the lifestyle that touring brought and the stress it would place upon his family. He died at the age of 43 having battled addiction. Indeed, his authorised biography ‘Stay Alive: The life and death of Stuart Adamson’ has just
Andrew Jamison
Apr 13 min read
Sound Bites: 'Consolation No. 3' by Franz Liszt
Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for all my latest writing. Daniel Barenboim playing Franz Liszt's 'Consolation No. 3' ‘Art is to console those who are broken by life’ wrote Van Gogh. Some would argue that you do not need to be ‘broken by life’ to seek consolation from art. Others would argue that art is not about consolation, that its purpose is to disturb and reinvigorate, or ‘make it new’ in the words of modernist pioneer and disruptor Ezra Pound. Even Emily Dickins
Andrew Jamison
Jan 62 min read
Sound Bites: 'White Winter Hymnal' — Fleet Foxes
17 years on from its release, discover Andrew's own personal take on this seasonal, contemporary classic. What, when and Why White Winter Hymnal ? The first time I heard this track, the first single from their eponymous debut album in 2008, was when I doing my Masters at St Andrew's. Somebody was making soup in a kitchen in a house where they rented a room, outside of the main town, in the country. I remember it being a vegetable soup and a good one too (one with halved baby
Andrew Jamison
Nov 19, 20252 min read
Sound Bites: 'Toxic Girl' by Kings of Convenience
What is it? This is a single from the largely acoustic Norwegian duo The Kings of Convenience. It was released in 2001 and was the breakthrough song of the band, according to, well, me. Why have you chosen it? It's an unbelievably melodic piece of music. I love the lyrics, the Norwegian lilt to the vocals, the layering of the guitars' arpeggios remarkable and, all in all, it leads to a very distinctive and memorable piece of songwriting. I'm also a huge fan of the album this
Andrew Jamison
Oct 20, 20252 min read
Sound Bites: My Top 10 Radiohead Tracks
Discover the 10 tracks from Radiohead Andrew rates above all others. In the days before online streaming, like most who became teenagers in the early 2000s, Radiohead was a staple of my CD collection. My brother had The Bends and I went on to buy OK Computer . I remember buying a copy of Kid A off of a mate at school, in a clear plastic case with ‘KID A’ scrawled on the front of it in black marker pen. I went home to find the tracks were in the wrong order and some skipped a
Andrew Jamison
Oct 9, 20256 min read
Sound Bites: My Top 10 Ash Songs
Discover Andrew Jamison's top 10 Ash tracks from across their back catalogue. Let’s Go Back to the Start I remember the 17th December 2001 like it was yesterday. It was the first gig I ever went to: Ash at the Ulster Hall. I could barely hear a thing for the 24 hours that followed due to the ringing in my ears but it was like nothing I’d experienced before. The lights, the sheer volume, the very energetic Belfast crowd full of teenagers like myself. The music of Ash is very c
Andrew Jamison
Oct 7, 20256 min read
Sound Bites: An Introduction
Hear Andrew explain what he's up to with this part of his blog.
Andrew Jamison
Oct 7, 20251 min read
Sound Bites: Coldplay's 'Parachutes' 25 Years On
25 Years On It’s now just over 25 years since Coldplay’s debut album Parachutes was released. It was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize that year, but lost out to Badly Drawn Boy’s Hour of Bewilderbest (a fantastic album and worthy winner, and I’d argue more sustained and diverse in its concept and musicianship - in fact I’ve written about the first track, The Shining here). However, as we can all see, this did nothing to hamper the success of Coldplay who, as I write t
Andrew Jamison
Oct 7, 20256 min read
Sound Bites: 'The Shining' by Badly Drawn Boy (June 2000)
What is it? It’s the first track on this June 2000 debut, Mercury Prize winning indie album from Mancunian Damon Gough aka Badly Drawn...
Andrew Jamison
Sep 27, 20251 min read
Sound Bites: 'Blue Pepper' by Duke Ellington
In this new series of blog posts Andrew explores what he loves about some of his favourite music. Where did you hear it? I heard it...
Andrew Jamison
Sep 18, 20251 min read
My Top 10 Oasis Tracks
Subscribe to Andrew's weekly newsletter here for all his latest writing. With the band's first gig in 16 years tomorrow evening in Cardiff, I've collated my top 10 Oasis tracks. As someone who spent a disproportionate amount of their adolescence strumming along to Oasis songs at the end of their bed, with the band’s first gig in 16 years happening tomorrow night at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff I thought I’d put together my top 10 Oasis tracks. Now, as someone who lik
Andrew Jamison
Jul 3, 20255 min read
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