Song of the week ‘Conditioning’

Welcome to Conditioning, ok now I’m showing my age. I have enjoyed listening to Howard Jones on and off for a million years now. While I’m not one of those who enjoys looking backwards, I thought I’d post this because HJ was a bit of a guru for me in my late teens. He was the first person via his lyrics and actions that made me aware I could be more than I had been told. He inspired me to believe all was possible, that conventional routes where over rated and taking no for an answer was optional .

Even now I avoid doing things the way they should be done, hence why I take my art out and about for real people to see, If I had just sat back and waited for the world to discover me I’d still be waiting. ‘Just do it’ …is one of the only corporate slogans worth taking seriously

Howard’s mantra if you like was to never give up on your dreams and I never have.

In the early 90’s I finally got to meet HJ after a gig in Seattle (I was living there at the time). It was at that point I realised it is totally impossible to thank someone in this context , say something like ‘your work has really inspired me’ sounds and feels rather clichéd not to mention unconvincing. A tip for life is you should never meet your childhood heroes as you just end up sounding and acting like a child.

I know that HJ is a very spiritual person and while I never understood that side of him in 1983. His motivational words stopped becoming just another faceless and conditioned soul. So thank you Mr Jones for that.

Just some of the lyrics from the song

Well you’re not, you’re not who you think you are
Well we think that you are John or Dave
But you’re not, you’re not who you think you are
Jumbled mass of preconceived ideas
From our birth we were given an identity
People told us we were great or small
From our birth we were given rules of right or wrong
Not forgetting the bullies at school
The world teaches us to think that life is full of limitations
The world tries to make us think that there are loads of limits
Welcome to Conditioning……

Here is a 23rd Anniversary show version of the song I found on You tube

 

In a world driven by a media gone mad, this song is more relevant than ever, sadly most people will be to conditioned to realize.

Unlike many 80’s bands Howard Jones is not stuck in time below is one of his newer songs.

 

http://www.howardjones.com/

The Blissful voice of Lucinda Drayton

Not so much a song of the week this time more an artist for a life time. You may not know the name Lucinda Drayton, but if you want to add a little bit of heaven to your daily life you should really change that. Lucinda’s voice will instantly chill you out and clear away the clouds; some of you may know her better for her vocals in the band Bliss. I discovered the band via the track ‘A Hundred Thousand Angels’ being played on a myspace page. Some months later I was lucky enough to meet Lucinda and her wonderful family and friends at a Mind body and spirit show in Colchester that I was exhibiting and sell my art at.

For two days we where treated to her vocal talents at the show and my wife and I were totally hooked. The first album I brought was ‘ Through These Eyes

For about a year and a half now the first track ‘silence’ has awoken us in the most perfect way via our cd alarm. Even my dog has become a fan as he knows that as soon as Lucinda starts singing at 5.05 am he will soon be off for a walk. Over time Max the dog has become more and more excited to hear Lucinda that now as soon as the track starts to play, he charges from the bedroom into the living room and sits in front of the cd player sometimes he even try’s to join in with the odd snoopie like sigh.

I’m sure there is not another album on earth I could listen to daily but it just never gets boring or repetitive I would say it is the world’s greatest wake up album. The next album I purchased was ‘You’ which does contains the for mentioned ‘A Hundred Thousand Angels’ Then Lucinda released the album ‘Both sides’ which contains many beautiful cover versions my personal favourite on that album are ‘Wise up’ and ‘underneath the stars’.

Over the past year we have come to know Lucinda and her sister beyond just friendly smiles, as our paths cross at shows every now and then. Lucinda not only sings but she gives talks and spreads a positive message where ever she goes. She also now has released meditations cds which would be the prefect thing to listen to while contemplating my art.( lol)

Below are a couple of bliss tracks I found on you tube, while I’m not sure if  bliss has approved them being on there, they will at least give you a chance to hear what I have been talking about. You can buy bliss and Lucinda’s music by going to http://www.blissfulmusic.com or you can buy it on itunes.

Just to let you know her favourite work of mine as of October was ‘Moment in Time’. I’m looking forward to catching up with her  soon.

Have a chilled weekend all

Please note don’t have any direct links with Bliss or Lucinda and I’m only promoting her work because I like it and not for any financial gain.

My Song of the week ‘The Fear’

I thought that I would start posting a music video once a week after my blog yesterday about the power of music.

I have to say I like lily Allen that said I take each song as it comes, some I like some I don’t.
I think in a world that likes to dumb down, lily is dumbing up, under an image that looks like she is dumbing down (get it …cool explain it to me, lol*).
As you know I’m big on the media news trying to send us all crazy with despair, I think we are all being taken over by ‘the fear’. As we all know ‘we have nothing to fear but fear it’s self’ but that doesn’t stop our poor old egos worrying about everything all the time.

My spin on the song is that basically most people have totally lost the plot, they have no clue what they are meant to think, all the trivial and material stuff of life that’s just not important has totally over taken what is. Everything that we thought that was right and stable is now wrong and falling apart. It is a big mocking of the I’m all right jack culture.  I could be totally wrong and have not looked into why lily wrote the song, It could just be as shallow as the lyrics first appear, but I doubt it

Next week I will post something completely different so if your not open to all styles of music this will not be a weekly event for you.
I posted the clean version not because swearing bothers me (It’s all just words)  but because know it does upset many others.

For non UK viewers the Sun and Mirror are newspapers

*lol is a cheesy (but easy) way to point out humour in the UK, it means ‘lots of Laughs’ apposed to  ‘lots of love’ thought id just clear that up to avoid any further confusion.