We've moved!!!!

PLEASE NOTE: For the millions (ahem) that read this, Wandering Thoughts is now at:

wanderthoughts.wordpress.com.

Not here. This page will never be updated again. Probably.

Byeeee!!!

Easter

Possibly for the first time ever, I feel about Easter Sunday like I do Christmas Day - very excited, and not wanting it rush by and me miss it.

Why?

I don't know, really. I don't think it's about getting chocolate eggs (you'll be relieved to know). For some reason, the idea of resurrection means a lot to me at the moment; there's definitely parts of my life where resurrection is needed: what Paul talks about when he speaks of the power that raised Jesus being at work in us (Stephen's translation!) in Ephesians. I don't really know what I'm expecting to happen - perhaps nothing will. I just feel, like I said just now, like I really want Easter day to come and for it to be very special - life-changing, in fact!

Bid to save post offices is lost - BBC News

The triumph of economics over anything else, especially a sense of community.

The joy of Tunnock's

Mmmm... Tunnocks...

The Passion - part 1 and controversy

So, what to make of part 1 of "The Passion"? Actually, I enjoyed it. It was told well: Jesus' relationship with the disciples (them wanting to follow but not really 100% sure what he's on about) seemed to mirror the picture in the Gospels (especially Mark) and Jesus' humorous introduction of James and John was good. James Nesbitt made a good Pilate. And it was good to have the 3 points of view as well, especially the political machinations of the religious authorities as they tried to make sense of Jesus and how to deal with Him.
The programme was very ambiguous in its portrayal of Jesus: at the start, Caiaphas was seen sanctioning the use of the Temple Tax to help the family of a murdered man; a short while later, Jesus argues that it is unfair that a child should have to pay to enter. Also, the crowds around him didn't seem that huge, especially in the scenes where he's teaching in the temple. Perhaps I've had a wrong impression of those scenes, but part of me couldn't help wondering "What's all the fuss about? Aside from turning over the tables, he's not creating that much of a stir".
But apart from that, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next episode. It tells the story well and, actually, makes you think about what happened. Which can only be a good thing.

Oh, the controversy bit: basically, it looks like the Sunday Telegraph's been taking a few liberties with people's views of The Passion in order to kick up a bit of a stink about it (reverting to anti-BBC mode, then). While I'm all for positive views of Jesus being given (which may not come as much of a shock), that isn't necessarily the BBC's mission. And in any case, the Bible doesn't say the position Jesus was in, so how do we know they got it wrong and how doe sit mislead people? Is our salvation dependent on the exact position Jesus was in when he was crucified? Somehow, I don't think so...

The Passion on BBC1

Well, there's been a lot of (mainly positive) noise about this - a new telling of the Passion Week story. Best of all, it's on prime time BBC1!! And, from the trailers, it looks quite interesting: full of life and chaos (which I bet Jerusalem was), hopefully adding something different to the telling of the story. The idea of telling it from three different viewpoints looks interesting: we (quite naturally) tend to see it purely from Jesus' viewpoint and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that - but it would be interesting to see how the people behind this think the religious authorities and Pilate saw what was going on.

If I was writing this a bit later in the day I might be able to comment more coherently, but as you can tell, I'm looking forward to it. Just wish the digital video recorder I got for my birthday was working...

What can you get for 3 quid?

3 pounds sterling is all I have left of the £50 birthday I was given. Most of it has gone on useful things ("Gathering for worship", the BU worship patterns and prayers book and a book on preaching), as well as one less useful thing (SimCity on Nintendo DS).

So what can I do with the rest (was going to say "spend the rest on" there, but it may not necessarily involve spending it). Any ideas (aside from "give it to me" or similar) then please let me know...

I forgot two other things I am as well...

1. 29 (so perilously close to 30!)
2. Tired.
   

Wonders really do never cease...

...or something. Anyway, Sheffield Wednesday have actually won two games on the trot and stuff. And Leicester City, who were immediately above us, had the decency to lose as well. All this may (may) mean that we're no longer in the relegation zone!!!

Until we lose the next time, of course.

Interestingly, I've been reading some of my old posts on this and noticed I actually managed to say reasonable stuff that was coherent and vaguely intelligent. What went wrong?

Hello, it's me!!

... back after a goodly length of time!

Anyways, what's been happening? Well, I am now a number of things:

1. A part-time civil servant, because...
2. A trainee Baptist minister at Northern Baptist College;
3. A Dad, to Amy who is now, er, 16 months old and walking around like crazy, mainly into things she shouldn't.
   
4. Tired, after she's given us two rotten nights' sleep on the trot...

So that's me, now!

Anyway, the next Queen song is "Spread your wings", which I might actually get round to doing sometime soon. Or maybe I'll do something completely different.

Those wacky Spaniards...

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Stressed Spaniards smash up hotel

Quite possibly the best thing ever, ever, ever.

September 11

A bit weird today... it's the 5th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and... well... nothing, really. No silence at work, no memorials (as far as I'm aware) in Sheffield - just a normal day, kind of.

Of course, for thousands, possibly more, of people, this can't ever be "a normal day" - and whatever you think of the politics surely you have to have sympathy for those who mourn for those they lost in general, and especially today.

I wonder if the general low-key approach, in the UK at least, it's because of a fear that seems to be coming across some people of glorifying terrorism. There's an interesting debate on the BBC website here about whether making such a fuss and showing the images over and over is glorifying the event and those who perpetrated it. Simon Jenkins wrote an article in The Guardian last week arguing much the same thing.

I guess it's important to remember what happened and there can be a horrible fascination about those pictures but... show it too often and you almost (almost) seem to be in awe of what they did.

Of course, the real way to not learn any lessons from 9/11 is to set up a massive assault on our human rights - but of course that would never happen, would it...

Comments

I've tried to change them to use Blogger's very own system - so this is a trial run to see if it's worked or not...

So if you've put comments on previously and they now no longer show up, I am really sorry - it's not deliberate, honest!!

To clarify...

The link to the website for the blog I mentioned in the last post is on the right, between the "World of Stuart" and "I believe in the BBC" links. For some reason, Blogger objected to putting the link into the post itself Hope this helps clarify things!

Also, apologies to whoever posted a comment asking where the link was for not posting a reply direct - for someone reason, my computer objected to that, too...

Remember me?

I'm the guy who started writing this, oooh, ages ago.

You never know, I might get round to reviewing the next Queen song (Spread Your Wings, if you're interested).

Anyways, before that momentous event, please enjoy the website belonging to my brother in law - the link is in the "Links" bit (it appears not to display correctly in this bit, for some inexplicable reason...).

That is all for now.

A fantastic TV moment...

Remember me? Normal Queen-related service will resume soon...

Anyway, if you're a fan of 80s TV like me, then the half-hour from 3pm today was a fantastic moment (in a sad, anoraky kind of way). On BBC2, Country Cops was narrated by none other than John Craven...

...it gets better...

Meanwhile, on ITV1, there was some programme about reincarnation presented by Phillip Schofield and with his on-screen partner for 6 years Sarah Greene as a guest!!!!

Calms down...

Is this the first time they've been paired together on a show since Going Live!? Probably not, but it was still an awesome moment. In a sad kind of way...

If only Gordon had popped up at a suitable moment, that would have been the icing on the cake.

By the way, what is Phil doing presenting stuff like that? I know opinion's divided about him, and although he obviously enjoys doing This Morning he's some way off the star status he had a decade or so back. But surely he's a big enough name to be doing more than hanging round dodgy ITV daytime shows like that? Couldn't the BBC nab him back for some big-time live Saturday night show (preferably with Sarah, although it doesn't have to be)? That'd be fab.

We are the Champions (Mercury)/We will rock you (May)

(Wow, 10th April... long time, huh)?

These two could perhaps be the uber-Queen songs: they formed the climax of every Queen show from when they were released (and Rock You, in a speeded-up guise, was the start of them for many a year, too) and perhaps their two most iconic songs: it's difficult to listen to either of them without picturing Freddie strutting his stuff on a stadium stage.

But how do they fayre as singles?

Or, more correctly, how do they fayre as a single, since We Will Rock You wasn't originally released in its own right.

Well, let's start with Champions. And, well, it's hard not too imagine that Freddie wrote this specifically for the end of a Queen show, or a Cup Final or whatever. It's also hard not too be rather cynical about this; the whole seems so calculated, from the simplistic words (in each chorus, the tag line is repeated at least four times) to the school playground-melody. The whole thing seems almost programmed to push all the right buttons for a huge crowd.

Yet it works. And possibly only someone like Freddie, with his keen sense of crowd-pleasing crowd showmanship, could do it and get away with it. Which he does. Just. Because, if truth be told, there's nothing much here: Freddie shows off by switching from the C minor verse to the F major chorus and throwing a few chromatic chords in; Brian gives it his all, especially during the last chorus, where his guitar almost screeches out of the speakers; and the drums and harmonies blare out.

But, however tounge-in-cheek it is and however well it worked at the end of a Queen concert, it's not a classic piece of music by any account. 6

Rock You is a crowd-pleaser in a similar vein. In fact, Brian May admitted as much in an interview with Uncut magazine, where he described it as "a song that the audience could participate in". Apparently, the lyrics are about "the ages of man and the ultimate futility of violence".

But that doesn't seem important.

From the foot-stamp/hand-clap backing (remember: no drums) to Freddie's snarling vocal, there's a lot to like here. It's short, lodges in your brain like an ice-pick covered in super-glue and even survided a cover by 5ive. And that moment when the guitar that's been building up during the last chorus finally crashes in is glorious.

Of course, it's just as cynical and calculated as Champions (or seems that way, at least), but it has just that little bit more charm to pull it through. 8

Videos: The video for Champions was filmed in super-rubbish-o-vision that makes everone look very weird in front of a live audience. The group then played a 45-minute set for the fans who'd turned up. The Rock You video was one of two filmed in Roger Taylor's back garden on what appears to be a freezing cold day. Keep an eye out for John Deacon's groovy dancing!

Queenmania (ITV)

If you're reading this, expecting me to slag off this show, then you're very much mistaken. This was a finely crafted tribute to Queen, featuring respected performers bringing new interpretations to some of Queen's classic and best-loved tunes, allowing us to fondly remember this giant of a rock group.

...is not a paragraph that could be used of this show. OK, I'm probably biased being a) a huge Queen fan (no, really?) and b) not beinga huge ITV fan, to say the least. I didn't expect very much of this at all and it truly delivered.

Where to start? At the beginning, I guess. After pulling off a fairly convincing Freddie pose, Zoe Ball, our host for the evening, told us we were going to "turn the amps up" and later that we'd need our "headbanging" gear.

In fact, only one of the songs chosen could be described as heavy rock, One Vision, the first track sung competenly, but not outstandingly, by Sporty Spice (sorry, Mel. C.).

This was followed, after a short video compilation about how great Queen were, with... a commercial break. Less than ten minutes, and only one song, in. After the break, we were promised "Lesley Garret and G4 singing together for the first time". Which they duly did. Singing Barcelona, which isn't even a Queen song, for crying out loud.

After that, I guess the track list was a little better. Four of the blokes from Coronation Street did a take-off of the video for I want to Break Free (which itself was a take-off of Corrie - you see what they did there?), which at least had comedy value, although it would've been even funnier to see them attempt the ballet bit. Though for an item that was hugely hyped before and during the show, to see this happen so soon was a bit of an anti-climax.

Heather Small's interpretation of Somebody to Love was underwhelming, to say the least. Considering how big her voice is, and the fact she was supported by a fairly healthy number of backing singers, this was bland in extreme - lacking any of the energy and drive of that song. And the least said about Toyah's rendition of Don't Stop me Now, complete with blatantly-miming backing musicians, the better.

Quality control went up a bit with the inclusion of a rendition of Too much love will kill you by Mylene Klass, of Hear'say fame. This was very good, to be honest; I sort of knew she could play the piano, but she was clearly the talented one in that group. This was a rendition of what is probably one of Queen's lesser-known songs and she pulled it off very well. OK, it was edited; but so were all the others and this suffered less than the others.

Unfortunately, Russell Watson's version of Who wants to live forever was not edited. His singing wasn't bad (although he does have a strange diction at times), but the whole thing, again, was so bland and undramatic. Perhaps it was me; I'd wanted thi, if I was honest, to be bad. But all the power and emotion of one Brian's best ballads completely drained away. And they got the chords wrong during the verse.

After the third (or fourth) commercial break, we were left with what should have been the climax: We Will Rock You and We are the Champions, anyone? No. You're my Best Friend, sung by man of the moment Tony Christie, and G4's awful version of Bohemian Rhapsody, actually. To be fair, Christie's reading of Best Friend as smooth-jazz/lounge music song was little short of genius and worked really well, one of only two songs here to interest and provide something different. I've not heard G4's single version of Bo Rap, but if this was it, then it is truly bad, sucking all the charm out of the work and, scandolously, cutting it down, something even Queen (even Rolf Harris, for Pete's sake) never contemplated. And they should not be attempting the heavy rock bit at all. Mylene Klass and Mel C might have ben a better combination, but then they haven't got a single of the song to promote.

So, that's the running order demolished. What else? The video interludes shed no light on Queen at all, telling you nothing you didn't know, except Freddie was a good singer and they could do a good concert - especially Freddie. In fact, the whole thing equated Queen with Freddie which, whilst understandable, was lazy in the extreme and meant not one mention of Roger, Brian or John - scandalous. Ball's script was over-the-top and inaccurate, stating Queen rose to the top almost immediately (in fact, it took them three years before they even released a single; 4 before they got a top 10 hit).

So, I'm sorry, but I didn't enjoy this. To be honest, I'd rather listen to the real thing than some poor cover versions of the songs. Only Klass and Christie stood out as gems amongst the trash; couldn't they release singles instead of G4? That would be good.

Next week, it's "Madonna Mania". I'm no Madonna fan, but I hope she gets better treatment than this.

Tie Your Mother Down (May)

If Queen ever did "rough and ready", then this was surely the best example of it. A 4-minute blast of pure rock that, for once, doesn't seem too bothered about making sure everything's perfectly mixed, that eschews 3-million overdubs for a simple blast of Brian's guitar.

About time too.

Brian apparently had the idea for the song in Tanzania on top of a mountain, watching the sun either rise or set. He wasn't sure about whether the title phrase could be used, but apparently Mercury (probably the member of the Queen with the most acute sense of what would be a hit) assured him he could.

Of course he could. And it works wonderfully, a song full of playful anger, a veritable two fingers up at, not only whoever's mother it was May wanted to tie down, but also at everyone who forgets how good Queen are at this type of song.

Because, when they put their mind to it, Queen rock (sorry to use that tiresome phrase) like no other band and, even though compared to modern heavy rock this sounds remarkably time, it's still a thrilling experience: full of energy, life, almost bursting at the seems to contain it all.

The lyrics are one essential part of this, the other is the guitar (sorry Roger and John, but the drums and bass, crucial as they are, don't merit a mention here). May would later state that the riff was one of his favourites, one he could pull out during a gig when things weren't going so well to win the audience back. And it's a great riff, starting off quietly then exploding into life with Roger's drums (maybe they do merit a mention) and Freddie's vocal. But whereas live the riff was simply huge (especially at Wembley), the original version has really edge, as well as incredible forwards-momentum - you're simply picked up and carried along.

Freddie, who at times had the sweetest, softest voice in pop, snarls and, occasionally spits out the words. It's a performance that, whilst it doesn't particularly stretch him, is entirely and perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the song and shows him as one of the best rock singers around.

All in all, this is a fantastic blast of a song. It's not clever-clever, it's not trying to make a statement or show off Queen's techinical know-how, it just comes along and blows you away. Easily Brian's best single so far.

There's only one question left: why the hell wasn't it included on Greatest Hits?..... 8

Video: One of those weird, "Queen pretending to be on stage" videos where Queen, er, pretend to be on stage. Without an audience. Which doesn't really work as well as the videos shot with a crowd, as there's no one for Freddie and the band to interact with, always one of their strong points. Top comedy moment, however: when the drums etc. enter at the start, huge fireworks are set off. These were so powerful, they knocked Roger off his stool!

Somebody to Love (Mercury)

At last! An update! (Said nobody)...

Truth* is, it's taken me ages to work what I think of this song and even longer to work out what to write. It's not that I don't know it or anything, it's just that...

I can't make up my mind what I like about it, or even if I do.

With Bohemian Rhapsody it's easy to be bowled over by the ambition, scale, and grandeur of it all. With Tie Your Mother Down (coming up next, Brian fans), it's easy just to let it take you into rock-out bliss. This one, however...

It has ambition and grandeur. It has noise aplenty. Don't be taken in by the small piano that leads into the first verse, the big crashing vocal of "Take a look at yourself in the mirror" is a bigger clue to where this is going: this is mock-gospel on a huge scale. The drums are huge, Brian throws a whole host of guitars at it and Fredie's lead vocal is simply massive in parts, switching between plaintive falsetto and huge, loud, almost-desperate sounding phrases.

But there's trouble at t'mill.

Take those backing vocals. They're all done by Brian, Freddie and Roger. No choirs were harmed in the making of this song. And, of course, they sound excellent: huge and, at times, overpowering, occasionally colliding with the lead vocal in moments of pure brilliance that take you along with them, by sheer force if nothing else.

But what point do they serve? When they first come in, they seem to be a call to Mercury, almost mocking him. It's the same during the third verse: "You just keep losing and losing". But at other times, they just seem to echo Freddie's vocal, adding nothing new.

And that bit after the third verse, where we have almost a tribal chant of "Find me somebody to love", building up into a massive reprise of the "Can anybody find meeeeeeeee?"; again, is it just there to show off?

This is a hard song to get. It's easy to nod and say, "Yes, this is all fantastic, very good, great musicians, those guys." But it lacks something: soul, you might call it (ironic, really, for a pastiche of a musical style that is all about soul, exuberance and passion). It's technically all there, in spades, but as a song, this does display Queen's occasional tendency to value musicianship and technical excellence over heart and soul; something they wouldn't properly overcome until right at the end..... 7

Video: Queen performing the song in the studio, mixed with footage from their Hyde Park concert in 1975.

* it took me 4 attempts to spell that word correctly.