Viva La Vida! - PSB Domino Dancing Style

Ok.  Fanboy post here again for the Pet Shop Boys.  They are great at doing covers.  Their list of covers includes

Always on my mind by Elvis
Go West by the Village People
Where the streets have no names by U2
Always on my mind by Sterling Void.

I pretty like all of them as they managed to turn these classic rock and ballads to something dancy and poppy.. haha.. I'm more of a poppy guy.  Especially the U2 melody which they mixed the song with I can't take my eyes off you.... brillant stuff.

So the recent christmas while in thailand I was surfing the web and found out they did it again with another cover.  Viva La Vida by Coldplay.  Actually the song was already performed on their tour recently but it was so well received that they throw the song in their special Xmas EP album.

Basically the title means Long Live Live in English.   The song bascially is about a King who lost his power to rule... And what they did was again brillant stuff... merging my favourite song Domino Dancing into the song.  Here's the radio edit version of the song... Watch them all fall down!

 

The way it used to be...

You can call me a fan boy but I just loved this song from the new Pet Shop Boys album. It just that this songs really co-incite how I was feeling when I was in hospital bed. I was in a room filled with patients of different age and sizes. Some of the had their legs amputated due to diabetic reasons. Normally I would be the youngest in the room but it did not seems to be the case when 2 young man (believe to be in the teens were wheel-chaired in) Then it dawned on me. I am no longer young and I started to think about my childhood, my naivety on the world when I was just a teen and etc. I think I am already going mid-life crisis and I'm just 33! hahaha

Anyway, its an interesting song because the melody is simple and the lyrics are cleverly written. I especially like the line: "We could do anything cause we're fearless when we're young." and "I survived with only memories. But I want more than only memories" and especially the last line before the "ping" : "Sometimes I need to see/the way it used to be."

And so I did. I started visiting those childhood places and taking photographs of them while I was on MC (hahaha). I'm glad I did that and there are still many places that I need to cover before all fades away.....Plan to start a new personal project which I think will last quite some time.

I am a Pet Head!

I am a fan of Pet Shop Boys (thus the term Pet Heads). Ever since in 1988 I heard that bloody Domino Dancing song.. It introduced me to the world of electro pop music. Not sure why though, but I think its the drums and the bloody "All day! All day" chant. hehe

Before all of that, I listened only to classical music or Chinese operas at home. My father is a avid fan of Classical music like Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Mozart and etc. Mum is a fan too. They also like Chinese Classics like 梁祝，採云追月...etc etc. I do love them too but you need to spend more time to enjoy them as a piece can go as long as 40 mins.

Naturally, I get to like other artists like Madonna, Belinda Carlise, Eurasure, Depeche Mode and etc etc but I always find them to be a bit special. I think another reason that I was attracted to their act is the way their lyrics go. Neil used to be Smash HiT! magazine editor and he writes very well. The more I read up about them and lyrics makes me even more fascinated by them. Not to mention 2 blokes dresses like some campy clowns singing campy music (and they did it deliberately to taunt the new 90s entertainment industry).

So I am glad after 24 years (they released their first album in 1985), they are still coming out something that I like :)

Head over here to listen to some samples of their latest album, YES.

And here is their 2009 brits award performance


btw... I dun mind at all if you call them Pet Shop Ah Pek (Uncles)... hehe even those die hard fans I knew in Singapore love that term :P

Army Song

Used to sing this in my army days.. our lyrics were a bit updated though .... so this version is for those super Lao Jiao (old bird aka veteran) hehehe

Old Cartoons Music

These two are all old cartoon music that I loved when I was a kid (teenager). The first one is Ironman



The second one might not be familiar to most as its a theme in the Japanese Anime Southern Cross. The theme of the Red Bioroid! Bloody hard to find this. Took me years to get such a lousy copy..

Another good piece

I'm not sure why but Japanese TV series has the best soundtrack for their drams.

This pieces is from Hanazakari no Kimitachi e and its title Ikeman Boogie Night. There is a more bouncy dance version but I find this piano version more cleaner. :)




Enjoy!

Blue Mind

Feeling a bit home sick and missing my wife and girl from all these CNY. No reunion dinner this year.... This piece of music from Hana Yori Dongo really summurises the feeling I have now..



Bloody esnips deleted my clip without informing me...

Sound Blaster X-Fi Gamer

I like music (who doesn't :P). Not to the extreme as those Audiophiles but to a certain degree, I want a system that really please my ears.

Comes the digital age and I find that I no longer really need expensive amplifiers (audiophiles will definitely disagree on this). This is because most of the time I would listen to my collections on my PC or Mp3 players. I always buy the latest creative series of soundblaster cards for my PCs as they are really good. My Audigy card just died recently so I switched to the onboard audio (those came with the motherboard)to save some money(since got one inside mah). Too my horror (Maybe I am just too fickle) but I find the output is not good at all. Bass and tonality is not there at all.

Went down to Simlim and bought the latest X-Fi series (Gamer edition). Since I might used it to play some games and its only $40 more than the standard edition. I bought it and wow.. the advertised X-Fi really works leh. Bass is deep and clear. Treble is sweet and sharp (not over piercingly like those on the motherboard). The quality is definitely better than my Audigy. Paid $135 for it and really worth it.

I want a Plasma Speaker!!

Back from Thailand and sad to say did not spend much quality time with wife and girl. Got sicked on the second day till the last. Still girl girl seems very happy that I was with her :)

Anyway, stumbled across these vidz on youtube recently. Pretty cool if I get to build one myself.. hehehe The first 2 are plasma speakers.





and the OVERKILL.... Tesla coils playing Mario Bros Theme song :P

我喜欢的华文流行歌。(Chinese Pop Song that I like)

朋友莫名其妙的送我陈绮贞的CD。 听了觉得没有设么特别。旋律是不错，不过歌声不是我喜欢的类型（不喜欢小女声式的声音）。 我比较喜欢的华文流行歌大多数是摇滚或豪迈形式的。

比如说凡人二重唱，张宇，齐豫等等。最近我又发现了另一位自创自作的马来西亚歌手，非常的有才华。他的名字叫明志，或namewee. 他在台湾走红是他写了这首“麻坡得华语”。他在亚州大红（尤其马来西亚）是这首改谝马来西亚国歌的“我爱我的国家Negarakuku”。红是应为马来西亚政府要通缉他对国歌不敬。 不过我最喜欢的是这首比较早期的“我的朋友Kawanku”，尤其是他在唱他对新加坡的感想，我感到非常的贴切， 而且他用了六种语言来唱这首歌。

（想知道更多，看这里）。

中国华文流行歌曲

在中学时代就经常有听广东和中文歌，比如王杰，齐秦，潭咏林和林子祥等等。

不过当我在理工学院时，开始对华文流行歌曲觉得有点厌烦。有很多理由，不过最大的理由是觉得听来听去都一样，没有什么突破和新鲜感。广东歌更不用说，在92年来临时就没落了。每个广东歌手为了更大的国语市场都开始唱广东腔的国语歌。（真受不了！）

当兵时，偶尔会从朋友哥儿们听一些张学友啦，张惠妹啦等等。当兵完了之后就没有那么多机会听了（我不喜欢听广播）

去年偶然在网络中听到在中国非常流行的吉祥三宝。忽然对中国的流行歌手感到有兴趣，想更了解和认识更多的中国歌手。

大多数的中国流行歌手都是摇滚。个人比较喜欢的有火风的老婆老婆我爱你，轮回乐队的满江红。他们的曲风将中国的古典华乐和西方的摇滚融合在一起，让人耳目一新。最近蓝调和饶舌也多了起来（真多谢周董）前两天下载了吴克群的将军令，非常喜欢。

有兴趣的朋友门不妨到百度去寻找一番。 让您的音乐世界更宽阔点。