Happy Birthday Patrick Duff

Today is the birthday of one of my favourite artists and the only one that I met in real life. Patrick Duff
I met him during a concert in London. He dedicated me a song and we have a super great and lovely chat. Can't never forget that moment, actually, the concert and some personal issues, made one of the most intense days I ever had in my entire life. It was 4 years ago, a different life.

Patrick made brilliant music in Strangelove, in Moon and as a solo artist. A true hero, all of his songs are more than amazing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY FRIEND!

10 Not-Famous Great Songs For The Morning

Listening to music while going to work or to school is something vital, but, as you agree, there are some songs that lift your spirit up more than others, so, let's say happy songs for the morning, to help you to face the terrible day that is coming.
There are a lot of great examples, famous happy pop songs, but I picked 10 non-famous songs to be a different selection.
And, what I mean for "not-famous songs", are songs that are not hit singles or worldwide success.
So, take a quick listen to these songs that lift me up in the morning:

1 - Suede - Sound Of The Streets
Well, I am a fanatic, so I had to start with Suede. So, for a sunny morning, when you are walking in the streets of your own city, nothing better than incorporate Sadie, a girl that knows the sound of the streets of London. Amazing b-side from the Coming Up era with one of the best Oakes' solos ever.


2 - Johnny Marr - The Crack Up
Found this one recently. A song from Marr's debut solo album, The Messenger. Something typical for the ex-Smiths musician, fast guitar riffs, and a "bad-ass" way of singing the chorus, something like if you were walking with long steps without giving a shit to anybody else around you.


3- The Horrors - Primary Colors
This is the song that gives the title of their second LP, the first to be acclaimed worldwide.  Fast song, with a fantastic guitar intro. When I start to listen to it I just want to move my arms all around like a monkey. Simply great!


4 - Patrick Duff - Wake Up Richard
This song was my alarm clock for a long time. So happy, simple and pure. The first lines of the song are "Wake up Richard, it's your birthday, let's go dancing, there's a place I know where the bright lights are always shinning we'll go flying over Tokyo". Isn't that amazing? Just live your life happy and be free!


5 - George Harrison - If Not For You
George's version of Bob Dylan's track is so sunny and beautiful that just brings peaceful and lovely thoughts to your mind. A classic!


6 - John Lennon - Crippled Inside
The most upbeated song from the "Imagine" album. The intro and the slide guitar really gives a joyful feeling to the entire song. Also, the piano solo is incredibly funny.


7 - The Whip - Keep Or Delete
The opening track of their second album, this is more a electronic song, and the most different from this list. What really gives me energy in this song is the way it grows and grows during the 4 minutes. As it flows, it gets more and more intense and complexed.


8 - Violent Femmes - Dance Motherfucker Dance
Well, I guess the titles says it all. Pure energy.


9 - Morrissey - America Is Not The World
Although this could be a sad song, I think that the way Morrissey sings it, almost without interruptions, and the connection with the acoustic and electric guitar, really makes it a sunny song, with good vibrations. One of my favourite Moz's songs


10 - Devendra Banhart - Carmensita
Ok, this is the only song on the list that is actually a single, but I think is not a worldwide hit, as Devendra Banhart is not a very very popular artist (unfortunately). But, listening to this song, it is so funny, positive, free and sunny that it had so be here. Pure happiness! And you can even find Natalie Portman on the video

Visions Of The Underworld

One week ago I went to see Patrick Duff live as I reported before.
On that night I also bought his two new albums, Visions Of The Underworld and Seven Sermons To The Dead.
Last days, I can't stop listening to Visions Of The Underworld. It is superb and truly beautiful album.
The album was recorded almost live and without overdubbing or big production.
The album starts with a sad and nostalgic song about a man called Danny Freeman. The guitar's fingerings is great and fits with the melancholic feeling of the song.
Then, we meet Julie Of The Rose a more mature and secure song, full of strange and intimidating woodwind sounds.
The 3rd person is Henry James, this is the song that was dedicated for me in Patrick's last concert so it will always have a special meaning for me. The song is happier and lighter than the previous ones.
The slowest and saddest song of the album is Jesus, a personal praying for someone that has abandoned you. Patrick's voice is very sentimental and the high notes helps to make the guitar cry a little bit.
To finish the first half of the LP, Duff wrote a song about The Man Downstairs, it is probably my least favourite track on the album but, even the "not as good" song (in my opinion) is completely amazing. The track ends with some scary and wild sounds, something like a heartbeat of a beast.
Number 6 is Hail Holy Queen, a song about the feeling of dating a woman who already has children from other man. It sounds perfectly when played live and it is a very masculine and strong song.
Though Birds is one of my favourite songs form the album. Sad, simple, nostalgic and, most of all, very mysterious, perfect ingredients and you can really hear the birds through the song. At the end you can experience a very beautiful and short piece of instrumental music.
Luckiest Man I Know is a song that shows you the reason that we should never be miserable and we are blessed for being alive so, just enjoy life, and remember that it is a gift that we are all here, really here, alive and well!
Today, my favourite song from this album is Midnight Garden. The instrumental is great, the guitar really sweeps through the entire song. It is an instant classic, something that you understand in the first time you listen to a piece of music like this. Patrick's vocals are, as always brilliant, the lyrics are great and the song is dark and sad. Everything fits, the lyrics, the guitar, the tune, it is a real moment of pure magic.
To end the album, a song about receiving and being happy with all the good things that life has to give us. Thank you for everything, thank you for the Flowers On My Grave.
The album is a masterpiece. The reason why I love it so much is the fact that Visions Of The Underworld is, technically a very simple album but the melodies, the feelings, the lyrics, the message, the music is very very very complex and omnibus. It is something that, doesn't matter how my mood is, it will always make me feel good and I can always create some kind of connection with every single song.
Please, take (gain) 45 minutes of your life and enjoy the listening of this great piece of music,
Patrick Duff is touring alone this album and it is an amazing experience to see him live.

Patrick Duff Live At The Old Queens Head

Again (and again, and again, and again) long time since I wrote last time. My life changed, and I moved to London for six months, which is being a wonderful experience. Didn't have any particular reason not to write on Strange Sound, but it doesn't mean that the blog is dead. As I am running it since 2006 it would be a real pity just to finish it so, even if I keep a lot of months or years without writing, the blog will not close, I will just write when I feel to, and today I feel so. Why?

Last Tuesday was one of the most amazing evenings of my life, and all of it because of music!

I went to see, for the first time Patrick Duff live in a concert! The gig was in a traditional British pub, The Old Queens Head in a very beautiful room.

But, the experience started for me even before the concert. When I was walking to the place I found Patrick Duff in the street and he recognized me! Amazing really, he called my name and we were walking together to the pub talking about daily normal things. He was the nicest person on Earth and he was very happy for having me there. I was feeling like a kid who had just met his hero.

Than the concert began with Evergreen, perfect song to get a connection with the audience. Then, the already classic, Dead Man Singing, the song I was listening everyday when I made my trip by car to the south of Portugal some months ago in my happiest period of my life.

Then, another magical moment, on the first time Patrick talks with the audience he dedicates a song for "my great friend Miguel from Portugal who is here tonight". Can you believe this? Your favourite ever musician dedicating a song to you! Just like in dreams. The song was Henry James form his new album Visions of the Underworld.  

The concert continued with a magnificent setlist that included songs like Ed's Not Dead, Maria, Hail Holy Queen, Midnight Garden among others. The last song before the encore was the classic In My Junkie Clothes from his debut album Luxury Problems. I recorded the entire performance of this song and you can see it down here. Great interaction with the public and really funny moment. For the encore, Patrick came with 3 cover versions of The Beatles, Johnny Cash and The Doors. The gig ended with a big and long silence that created a great vibe in the room. You really could feel something there floating.

More than amazing, it was perfect really.

After the show I  waited for Patrick and he singed me Visions of the Underworld and Seven Sermons to the Dead. We took a photograph, talked a little bit and then I went home smiling, completely amazed and happy for this great experience.

What a day!

Take a look on the video of In My Junkie Clothes:

 

The Ultimate Band

On last week, NME made several interviews to several artists asking them witch artists would they pick for the Ultimate Band. One of them was Brett Anderson from Suede and you can see in the picture is choices. I decided to make the same exercise and choose my super group (I'll only choose one person per band, otherwise we could have many Suede members):

Vocals: Patrick Duff (Strangelove)

With artists like Brett Anderson, Dave Gahan, Morrissey or Jeff Buckley it was really complicated to decide who should be on the band as main vocals. Well, Patrick Duff, during Strangelove, was like an animal in terms of singing. He was a completely passionate guy with a non stop energy. His lyrics are very deep. On his solo career he is more mature and soft but with magical melodies and lyrics. He would be the best option for this place.

Guitars: Richard Oakes (Suede, Artmagic)

Oakes is my guitar hero. For all that he represents. He entered Suede with 17 years old and was, in my opinion, the greatest responsible in Suede biggest come back in 1996 with my all time favourite album Coming Up. Butler left Suede and no one in the press believed that they could come back to the spotlight but, with songs like Beautiful Ones, Trash or Filmstar they did it, and came back even better than they were before. Richard is a natural talented guitarist that can make millions of catchy and beautiful riffs. During last years he was gone but he came back with Artmagic and made an excellent album full of nice guitars and beautiful keyboards. 

Bass: Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings)

Paul McCartney is a living legend. The work he made on Beatles, Wings and on his solo albums are simply amazing and they are the best tunes ever. The Beatles were and still are the most influential band of all time and McCartney was the big brain behind it. The medley on Abbey Road or the first classic Beatles songs, passing thought his amazing solo album Ram or Band On The Run with the wings are little examples of a complete genius. His way of playing bass was incredible too. Very rhythmic, very enjoyable, very natural. Songs like Come Together or Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da have great bass lines. And of course he could borrow his giant creativity in the other instruments to all of the other band members (as we can see on his first solo album where he plays all the instruments)

Keyboards: Martin L. Gore (Depeche Mode)

Martin Gore is the synthesizer master. He was the main brain over Depeche Mode's 80's career and the responsible in their fantastic change of sound during Violator, Songs Of Faith And Devotion and Ultra. Although nowadays he plays more guitar than Keyboards in live gigs he still does it on studio (during last album he had an "obsessions" of buying a lot of keyboards from Ebay and made a huge collection). He is a really creative musician always exploring samples and new songs and, in my opinion is that what I would like to see in a keyboard player. As an example of his abilities in synthesizers I could remember songs like Walking In My Shoes, It's No Good or In Your Room (album version, is a complete climax).

Drums: Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand)

There are so much typical drum players that could make this list, like Dave Grohl or several hard rock guys but what I look in drum players is not for them to be protagonists or for them to try to evidence from the band. I look for them to really fit well on the rest of the band and I think Paul Thomson has the perfect style for that. When I listen to Franz Ferdinand, the drum sounds is really characteristic, and it is always in the right position with the right changes between verses and chorus and solos. As for examples, the classic Take Me Out is marvellous or the super great live version of Outsiders is brilliant too. I saw them live 2 times in the last years and was completely amazed by their great liver performance.

Band Name: Strange Sound

Patrick Duff Pode Escrever Auto-Biografia

Patrick Duff, ex-vocalista dos Strangelove, afirmou esta semana que recebeu uma proposta para escrever a sua auto-biografia. A proposta foi feita por alguém de Bristol que detém a sua própria editora. A vida de Patrick Duff seria um óptimo livro para pessoas amantes deste género de leitura. Desde os dias em que tocava guitarra na rua, até formar os Strangelove, até ao seu vício de drogas e passando pela sua viagem a África de Sul, daria tudo um excelente enredo. Patrick foi muitas vezes descrito por bandas como Suede, Radiohead ou Manic Street Preachers como um lunático completamente genial, que dava tudo de si em palco e tinha uma criatividade enorme. A ver se este maravilhoso livro vê alguma vez a luz do dia.

Por outro lado o cantor continua a escrever músicas e entrou recentemente em estúdio com Jim Barr (Portishead), Damon Reece (Massive Attack e Spiritualised), Stew Jackson (produtor de The Mad Straight Road, último álbum de Duff) e Dan Moore (Phantom Limb) e Dan Brown. Mais notícias aguardam-se.

Ele Está Em Todo O Lado

Patrick Duff não tem parado.
De concerto em concerto, tanto na Bélgica como na Holanda e em Inglaterra o cantor tem dado muitos espectáculos fazendo-se sempre acompanhar apenas da sua guitarra acústica. O artista anda muito simples, nada de vedetismos, normalmente fica a dormir em casa de amigos/fãs que o convidam e até pôs a possibilidade de vir tocar em Portugal numa conversa comigo, mas infelizmente não encontrei nenhum local com interesse em trazê-lo cá (que desperdício).
Num desses concertos Patrick voltou às origens e tocou o clássico She's Everywhere, música da sua primeira banda, Strangelove do muito aclamado álbum Love & Other Demons. Engraçado que na introdução da música Patrick murmura para si mesmo "Eu estava mesmo em trapos quando escrevi esta música. Estou mesmo feliz por estar aqui hoje" referindo-se à sua altura de abusos de drogas. Se não me falha a memória a última vez que Duff tocou esta música ao vivo foi em 2003 com Alex Lee numa retrospectiva dos Strangelove, aliás, fora Sway que foi tocada o ano passado, o cantor não voltou a tocar músicas da antiga banda desde aí.
Vejam este momento mágico aqui!

Viva o Natal!

Viva o Natal que traz sempre uma ou outra prenda musical!
Este ano recebi:

The Words Of Brett Anderson
Um livro que compila todas as músicas para álbuns e mais alguns lados b escritas por Brett Anderson, assinado pelo autor.

The Mad Straight Road de Patrick Duff
Segundo álbum a solo de Patrick Duff, assinado pelo mesmo.

X-Mini
Uma pequena coluna, mais pequena que um palmo de uma mão, com uma qualidade de som e altura espectaculares para tão pequeno objecto.

Tour Of The Universe (2CD's + 2DVD's)
O mais recente DVD dos Depeche Mode com um concerto gravado em Barcelona que contém o concerto na integra, músicas extras, projecções de palco, videoclips de Sounds Of The Universe e uma extensa reportagem entre outras coisas. Também vem com dois CD's onde podemos ouvir o concerto.

Site Oficial de Patrick Duff

Finalmente o Site oficial de Patrick Duff já está online.
O site apresenta-se bastante completo, dividido principalmente em 5 secções.
A mais interessante deverá ser mesmo a "Archive" em que Patrick fala detalhadamente de toda a música que já fez! Alguma delas nunca tinha sequer ouvido falar como o projecto "Seven Sermons To The Dead" ou "Quantum K".
No novo site também podemos comprar a versão física de "The Mad Straight Road" (autografada ou não).
Também um blog com pensamentos recentes escritos po Patrick está disponível!
Visitem AQUI

Parabéns Patrick Duff

No meio de exames, o tempo para vir aqui escrever é escasso, por isso, só mesmo para deixar um abraço de parabéns ao Patrick Duff, a meu ver, um dos melhores, senão mesmo o melhor, artistas que já nasceu!
Parabéns pelos 44 anos.

The Mad Straight Road

Patrick Duff já deu o concerto de apresentação de "The Mad Straight Road", o seu mais recente álbum.
O músico tem feito bastantes declarações via Facebook e descreveu o concerto como "o triunfo da Lua".
Nessa noite, pela primeira vez, o público pôde comprar o segundo disco a solo de Duff. Agora, quem viver no Reino Unido e quiser também o álbum terá que entrar em contacto com o próprio artista para ele mandar por correio.

Apesar de ainda não ter o LP já o pude ouvir e fiquei de queixo caído.
Está simplesmente perfeito. Tem um equilíbrio perfeito entre o épico, o sentimental, o indie, o folk, a depressão e a alegria que um grande trabalho deve ter. As letras são, como seria de esperar vindo de Duff, sempre muito profundas, intimas, pensadas e reais o que faz com que considere este músico como um dos melhores (senão mesmo o melhor) na escrita de canções.

A abrir o álbum tem um pequeno prelúdio épico. Depois ouvimos Dead Man Singing uma música que já acompanha Patrick há alguns anos. Calma, com um som "creepy" atrás e uma guitarra a acompanhar bastante bem um contra-baixo que marca um ritmo mais "60's". The Tourist é a música que se segue e trás um ar feliz e alegre, óptima para cantarolar, com umas "backing vocals" muito boas sempre a acompanhar a música.
Three Little Monkeys parece ainda mais uma música saída dos anos 60's, brincalhona e alegre. A banda é muito bem explorada nesta música e tem um "na na na" que fica automaticamente no ouvido. Spider-Woman é que se segue e mostra-se como a música mais sensual do CD, óptima para quem estiver bem acompanhado a beber um bom vinho maduro. Em Dora Brown, Patrick faz-se acompanhar de uma voz feminina para fazer um dueto alegre, com um óptimo jogo de "pergunta-resposta".
A número 7 é Wake Up Richard, uma música antes posta no myspace mas agora numa nova versão em que Patrick conta um pouco mais grave. É de longe a música mais feliz do álbum e é mesmo aquela tipo de som que nos põe bem disposto em 5 segundos! Das minhas preferidas. Ed's Not Dead conta uma história que Patrick viveu em que pensou que um amigo tivesse morrido mas que afinal estava vivo. Mais uma música feliz mas em vez de ser daquelas que nos dão boa disposição automática como a anterior esta dá-nos esperança.
A Woman Who Don't Talk English entra no campo mais profundo e escuro de Duff, uma música triste que fala sobre a busca de uma mulher que verdadeiramente o compreenda. Don't Worry Now é o folk/indie mais anti-stress e mais "boa onda" de todas as músicas. Um apelo à calamidade.
A penúltima música é, possivelmente, o momento mais alto de The Mad Straight Road. Poor Old John é sem dúvida um hino brutal muito complexo em que Patrick vai ao fundo da sua alma para o cantar. Usa todo a sua força e tem um final supremo! Quando ouvi o CD inteiro pela primeira vez cheguei a esta música e pensei, isto é sem dúvida do melhor que alguma vez ouvi em toda a minha vida.
Mas, para mim, o melhor estava para vir. A última música My Sober Heart é um dos mais belos e simples pedaços de música que alguma vez ouvi. Patrick canta sobre a felicidade de ser vivo e exprime isso perfeitamente bem nos poucos instrumentos e palavras que usa nesta música. Simplesmente perfeito!

The Mad Straight Road é sem dúvida alguma um dos melhores discos que já ouvi e, apesar da minha resposta variar com o meu estado de espírito, actualmente era o CD que levaria para uma ilha deserta se só pudesse levar um.

Ouçam quatro músicas no Myspace Oficial de Patrick Duff

Entrevista a Patrick Duff

Patrick Duff, antigo vocalista dos Strangelove e dos Moon, está prestes a lançar o seu novo álbum, "The Mad Straight Road"
Recentemente o artista deu uma entrevista ao site "Crackerjark" em que falou do seu novo LP e da sua vida.
Patrick já não se revê no "Rockstar" em que foi durante os anos 90 e afirma que, agora que envelheceu, está uma pessoa diferente e mais madura.
No seu myspace temos 3 músicas retirados de "The Mad Straight Road" que estão geniais! Sinceramente acho que irá sair um conjunto de músicas quase perfeito, melhor que "Luxury Problems"(seu primeiro cd a solo e um dos álbuns da minha vida).
Nesta entrevista Duff faz um balanço deste trabalho e comenta música a música. Está bastante interessante. Temos músicas que falam desde sonhos com Bob Dylan a tocar as suas músicas, relacionamentos com mulheres perigosas ou problemas de drogas de amigos.
Mal posso esperar para ouvir as restantes músicas!
Myspace de Patrick Duff
Entrevista feito por "Crackerjark"