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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball
@wizball50.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.2K following 9.2K posts
Well versed in both the politics of dancing and the art of parties. Songwriter and vinyl bore. Wild #LFC fanatic and chant-crafter. Proud nephew to two beautiful uncles.
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · Apr 26
The quintessential 70s album, the perfect antidote to late-60s naivety. 'What's going on' is the definitive soundtrack to tumultuous times; an emotional marriage of soul and wisdom; maybe the best concept album ever recorded. And a serious contender for #5albums70sfinal

#vinyl #nowplaying #musicsky
'What's going on' Marvin Gaye (1971)
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 2h
A window cleaner you would be
If you could see the things I see
When I'm cleaning windows!

youtu.be/sfmAeijj5cM
George Formby - When i'm cleaning windows
YouTube video by Petey1308
youtu.be
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 3h
You'll hear no argument from me. Probably my favourite Joni album. One I hear Jungle Line I have to ride it straight to the end. There's no getting off.
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 8h
😂😂
wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 14h
Such an incredible song.
wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 14h
My favourite Hall & Oates track that!
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 15h
Such sad news, he was only 51. RIP
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 15h
Nice shout for no.1—super track that!
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 15h
Defo her best track for me. Loved your list!
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 15h
There's few better! I love the lines:

Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables,
In a restaurant in a West End town:
"Call the police, there's a mad man around!"
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 15h
Thank you! Prince was obviously massively influenced by Joni, and Hissing was his favourite album of hers, so it makes sense.

But there's something a little... continental about that particular trumpet line that puts me in mind of what Prince and Fischer were doing on Parade.
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 15h
Thank you so much Loz! Harry's House is an exceptional song, and the way she interpolates Centrepiece into it, to give you a flash of the earlier stages of the relationship, is just brilliant. When you've all Joni's work and only 15 spots, you have to let some absolute masterpieces go sadly…
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 16h
#20SongsByYear
1986
#MusicChallenge
 
6—West End Girls: Pet Shop Boys

A lyrical tour de force, given more heft by Tennant's trademark dispassionate delivery. One of the most sullen No.1 hits the UK ever had; one of the best too.

#nowplaying #musicsky

youtu.be/p3j2NYZ8FKs
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls (Official Video) [HD REMASTERED]
YouTube video by PetShopBoys Parlophone
youtu.be
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 17h
I quite agree. One of my favourite songs ever recorded. Up there with Stardust.
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 17h
Then it's over, and you realise this incredible cinematic journey she's taken you on has taken all of three minutes. That is storytelling. That is epiphany. And I've no qualms in adding: that is true musical genius.
Inner sleeve of Hissing of Summer Lawns featuring Joni floating in a blue pool in squinting sun.
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 17h
As always with Joni there's the exceptional lyric too: like a Raymond Carver short story, using language so economically and cinematically, taking us through a day in the life of this kept woman. Or is 'kept' right? "It's the lady's choice" after all...

4/🧵
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 17h
And out of that void comes the most glorious trumpet arrangement, one that always reminds me of Prince's album Parade; not too many surprises here, Joni was always years ahead of her time.

It's a lovely moment of pure Jazz, before we take a sideways modulation back to the verse.

3/🧵
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 17h
It means that, however many times the verse repeats, you can never tire of it: over the length of the song, over multiple listens, over years.

Then there's the musically journey this song takes you upon. The bright lights of the chorus that take you down to 'darkness, no colour, no contrast.'

2/🧵
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 17h
#ArtistFave15
Joni Mitchell
#MusicChallenge

#vinyl #musicsky #nowplaying

1—Hissing of Summer Lawns

Where to start with this one? How about the verse chord structure. You can hear it most clearly on the keys: complex jazzy chords, with voicings choked to within an inch of their lives. 1/🧵
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 21h
The bend on the keyboards in the verse of that one always makes me feel like I'm coming up on something
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 21h
"It's going to be raining Prince. Is there anything we can do?"

"Can you get it to rain harder?"
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 21h
Colin and Terry were one hell of a rhythm section.
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 21h
And birds might fall from black skies!
And bullies might give you black eyes!
And buses might skid on black ice!
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 22h
Gerry Hall in the video is the icing on the cake. (And a fab reminder that Jagger went to great lengths to woo Gerry away from him for fear they might marry and her name become 'Gerry Ferry'.)
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 22h
#5DebutAlbums8084

Human's Lib—Howard Jones

The man with all the synths. But while some of those sounds have dated, the songs themselves stand up well. Two cast iron hits and some other great numbers too like the busy Pearl in the Shell and the dreamy Don't always look at the rain

#musicsky #vinyl
'Human's Lib' Howard Jones (1984)
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wizball50.bsky.social
Wiz Ball @wizball50.bsky.social · 1d
Valid point. I think that's true of most eras. The better measure for me is the album charts, as the more discerning listens tended to be album buyers, and while you can get away with a novelty single, novelty albums don't tend to fare as well.