I love Antony and the Johnsons as you will know if you follow 50odd each day.

I love them mostly because of their bravery.

And the music of course.

I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy.

‘I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy’ is a song with a beautiful melody and production.

It’s as captivating as a live performance as it is in the studio version.

Meaning.

I am not sure what it is about.

Some think it’s about being in love with someone that is ‘dead inside’ so they can’t love you back.

Some think it’s referencing Anohni’s personal journey.

Anohni formerly was male and has now transitioned.

Personal.

I love how Anohni is creating in a very personal way.

Telling the stories she wants to tell.

Beautifully.

No matter how strange they are.

Strange is embraced.

The title of this song would, I assume, be received with puzzlement from a commercially minded music promoter.

But Anohni is staying true to her art.

And I really like that.

Because so many people do not.

The song appears alongside this story at the 50odd website.

When I was in my late teens I was a big Tears For Fears fan.

They were there during the most informing years of my life.

The soundtrack to my firsts.

Reunions.

This story signposts to one of a few recent Tears For Fears reunions.

I think this is the best one.

It is from 2014, 30 years after the release of Songs From The Big Chair.

The Working Hour (25:37), in particular, is superb.

Play loud.

3:04  –  Everybody Wants To Rule The World

9:02  –  The Seeds Of Love

16:30 – Head Over Heels

21:22 – Mad World

25:37 – The Working Hour

33:17 – Shout

Go to https://www.50odd.co.uk/tears/ to see the full 40 minutes if you are reading this in your email.

Happy Sunday.

Try to find 6 minutes alone in the calm of a Sunday morning.

To listen to this (the tune is at www.50odd.co.uk/sunday).

I think it’s about relationships and how we all might feel about them.

During.

Or after.

It may or may not mean something to you but it’s a lovely thing either way.

Have a relaxing day.

Up.

When I was a boy, I looked up at people older than me and shook my head.

Because they didn’t understand my music.

Morrissey waving Gladiolas around is part of what he is, OK?

It’s fine.

I looked up at the oldies and winced.

When Morrissey wrote and sang about a ‘punctured bicycle on a hillside’, these are amongst the most stunning and poetic lyrics ever written.

And this:

Why pamper life’s complexity

When the leather runs smooth

On the passenger’s seat?

It’s just bloody perfect and unique and pure.

I remember looking up at the oldies and thinking – you just don’t understand.

Down.

Sometimes, I look down at people younger than me and shake my head.

Because they don’t understand my music.

Morrissey waving Gladiolas around is part of what he is OK?

It’s fine.

I look down at these young things and wince.

When Morrissey writes and sings about a punctured bicycle on a hillside, these are amongst the most stunning and poetic lyrics ever written.

And this:

Why pamper life’s complexity

When the leather runs smooth

On the passenger’s seat?

It’s just bloody perfect and unique and pure.

I look down at the young and think – you just don’t understand.

Here it is: https://www.50odd.co.uk/up-down/

On Tuesday 26th February.

Yesterday.

At about 7pm.

I put on the album ‘Spirit of Eden’ by Talk Talk.

I don’t know why because I haven’t done so in ages.

Maybe it’s because my friend Carlo was chatting about 80’s music on his Instagram a few weeks ago.

Vinyl.

It was just on YouTube.

Nothing as evocative or beautiful as slipping a vinyl record from its sleeve, I’m afraid.

But as it’s an evocative and beautiful album – that’s OK.

What wasn’t OK though was one of the comments on YouTube next to the album.

It was an RIP for lead singer Mark Hollis.

RIP.

Sadly, this is true.

He died yesterday aged 64.

I used to listen to Talk Talk a lot between 1988 and 1990.

Because my slightly unusual friend Graham Knight was a fan.

I wasn’t even sure, as a 20(ish) year old boy whether Talk Talk did songs.

They all seemed to blur into one.

But that was, somehow, absolutely fine.

Spirit of Eden.

Spirit of Eden is an album that will fill your room.

And your senses.

Honestly.

Remember, this is 30 years ago.

Don’t wait for choruses and verses or catchy melodies.

It’s cinematic, layered, surprising, experimental and just lovely.

It is also an album that has no favourite tune for me.

In the same way that a beautifully balanced meal has no one ingredient or item that stands out.

A perfect gathering.

Inheritance.

That said, the vocals on Inheritance are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

The very last line of Inheritance, sung by Mark Hollis (and I hope you listen to it) will never be so poignant as it is today.

Here it is (please go to www.50odd.co.uk/eden):

The reason this version of this song is so good is because, firstly, the song is so good.

But in the wrong hands of course this is the very reason that it can go really wrong.

The performer is so talented and raw in his approach – it works out.

He, it seems to me, is playing it just as he wants to this time.

And it may be a little different next time.

He is just doing what comes naturally.

What he is feeling about this song at this moment.

A Smiths song, performed live by Jeff Buckley.

It’s so easy to laugh
It’s so easy to hate
It takes strength to be gentle and kind

Go here: https://www.50odd.co.uk/kind/

Zero 7 wrote a song that, I think, is about how the passing of time changes us.

As we get older we’re supposed to have learned lessons.

So that we are more sensible.

Less susceptible to being hurt.

More stable.

Less confused.

More able to see people for who they really are.

Not me.

The Space Between – Zero 7.

Link below at www.50odd.co.uk.

George Michael can, I think, cover anyone’s music.

But no one can cover his.

Rufus Wainright wrote ‘Going to a Place’ in 2007 about the Bush government.

Rufus was disillusioned with so much about America back then.

Older.

As I get older, I see cycles.

I see world cycles.

And I am recognising my own cycles.

World cycles are quite scary.

Not because things repeat.

I get that.

But because we don’t really seem to learn from the last cycle.

In fact bad things today that mirror similar things from yesterday – are very often worse.

Think.

Some people think that the best way to stop people shooting each other is to give more people guns.

Some people think that the best way to bond people together is to shut people out.

My Own Cycles.

With regards to my own cycles, I learn from everything I do.

However my big worry is that by the time I mature enough to recognise my own repeating dumb stupidity and mistakes, I will die.

Cycles.

I should listen to them more closely.

America.

America was stupid 10 years ago.

And it is even more stupid now.

Here is George Michael singing Rufus Wainwrights tune, 11 years after it was written about a different America.

Sadly, that different America – is pretty much the same as today’s America.