Born in 1806 at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a celebrated English poet of the Romantic Movement. This Sonnet is number 14 in a volume of 44 from Sonnets from the Portuguese, first published in 1850.
Petrarchan or Italian sonnet composed of an octave (two groups of four lines), rhyming ABBAABBA, and a sestet (two groups of three lines), rhyming CDCDCD. Poemanalysis
See the poem below and my short reflection.
If thou must love me, let it be for nought Except for love’s sake only. Do not say, “I love her for her smile—her look—her way Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought That falls in well with mine, and certes brought A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”— For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may Be changed, or change for thee—and love, so wrought, May be unwrought so. Neither love me for Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry: A creature might forget to weep, who bore Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby! But love me for love’s sake, that evermore Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.
Here Browning is asking the impossible (or is she) – to be loved for love’s sake. She is asking to not be loved for physical or intellectual attributes, which seems to be more and more difficult in the modern world, with its insistence on dating applications which assess one’s attributes. With its emphasis on eternal love, one is compelled to think about loving their significant other in heaven after death, which is devotion indeed. Browning is saying that she would rather not be loved, than to lose love later in life. A very lovely poem indeed.
Welcome to the January edition of Five Favourites. See below some excellent covers which have moved me rather this month.
Little Simz – Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (2021)
I saw Little Simz be awarded best female act at the Mobo awards in December and have enjoyed this album repeatedly since. The cover is excellent to me, pops of colour, well crafted wooden chair and excellent hair, which is itself a form of art. Great cover and album.
Femi Kuti – Femi Kuti (1995)
This album from Fela’s eldest son is extraordinary. I love the cover in the first instance, the outline of the continent of Africa singed into a burlap fabric with the artist in the middle creates quite an arresting effect. His resemblance to Fela is also quite arresting. An overall great cover.
Paul Simon – the Rhythm of the Saints (1990)
The Rhythm of the Saints, Simon’s first collection of new material in four years, extends his reach not only further into the riches of world-beat music but further into the realm of the spiritual. Rolling Stone
Perhaps there will be more on this album later in the month… However I wanted to highlight this. Simon ended up traveling to Brazil four times between 1988-89, discovering street sounds that would shape The Rhythm of the Saints – this indeed has featured on this cover with two Brazilians running. I admit to not being able to find out much on the origin of the cover but it is still excellent and catches the essence of the album.
Tony Allen – Progress (1979)
Tony Allen is one of Nigeria’s foremost drummers, having played on top 5 favourite album, Live! with Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker. He took over the Afrika 70 and made this excellent album which bears repeat listening. The cover is close to Fela’s own covers, showing clearly the struggles of the masses to climb the ladder. An expressive cover which merits a spot here.
Seun Kuti – Black Times (2018)
The final Fela of this post will be Kuti Snr.’s youngest son, who took over Fela’s band the Egypt 80 when he was just 14! This 2018 cover is arresting, featuring a fat cigar and Jean Paul Goude esque sectioning of the facial features. Overall a strong cover which takes the listener in.
I hope you have enjoyed this edition of five favourites!
I have long admired the Hen and Chickens and indeed eaten here on a number of occasions. In fact when I lived at the Miniature Apartment in the centre, I ordered this as a take away. The only reason I have not yet blogged about this wonderful venue is that I was convinced I had done so already! See below the wonderful meal I enjoyed at the Hen and Chickens recently.
Can you believe some people have never tasted paneer? Charlotte was in that number. What an excellent dish to begin one’s paneer journey with. Paneer, also known as ponir or Indian cottage cheese, is a fresh acid-set cheese common in the Indian subcontinent made from cow or buffalo milk. This particular paneer was beautifully soft, moist and flavourful. It was served with some light yoghurt based sauce as well as sweet chilli, which I liked less.
Charlotte opted for the evergreen butter chicken. This is a chicken curry dish with spiced tomato, butter and cream sauce, originating from the North of India. This was my first taste of curry. The first curry I remember tasting was at the Royal Bengal in Keswick, or thereabouts. Near the wonderful Puzzling Place, which I hope to go back to one day. It was so hot I needed two quarts of water, which did not help as I realise this does not neutralise the capsaicin in the pepper, which makes it hot. Or rather, this chemical makes our brains register the pepper as being hot by activating the TRPV1 protein. Anyway, back to the essential, the butter chicken was excellent, deeply flavourful and rich, creamy and buttery, as it should be.
I enjoyed a fabulous lamb dish called Saag. This dish originates in Pakistan and its main flavours are spinach, green chilies and cilantro. This was, as expected, quite marvellous. The big chunks of lamb were suffused with a depth of flavour, the sauce added a sweetness and the cilantro ran through the dish quite wonderfully, allowing me to separate the flavours. The cheese Naan was outrageously delicious, light, moist and a little under cheesed, as expected. Excellent really.
The Hen and Chickens is an excellent curry house which is likely one of the best in Birmingham, along with the Royal Watan Kashmiri, another diamond venue I have yet to review. Enjoy the Hen and Chickens!
What a year it has been for me musically. 1380 different artists heard. Some 56,000 minutes of music (over 38 days), Fela, Kate Bush, Talking Heads. Talking Heads. Very few albums give me goosebumps at the mention of their name, this is one of them. The Name of this Band is Talking Heads was released in 1982, having been recorded between November 17, 1977 – February 27, 1981. This monumental album is filled with live versions of songs recorded on Talking Heads’ first four studio albums: 77, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Fear of Music, and Remain in Light. For me, this is a monumental, exciting and relentless work. I cannot wait to tell you all about it.
The first LP disk featured the original quartet in recordings from 1977 and 1979, and the second disk featured the expanded ten-piece lineup that toured in 1980 and 1981. Wikipedia
Added were two percussionists (Steven Stanley, Jose Rossy), two backup singers (Nona Hendryx, Dollette McDonald), Busta Cherry Jones on bass, Bernie Worrell (!) on keys, and a young Adrian Belew on lead guitar. Allmusic
Now this masterwork of live music consists of 33 tracks so I will not give you chapter and verse on each, rather selecting some of my highlights. The album begins with New Feeling, which is likely what you will experience by the end of the album. It certainly encapsulates how I feel about the album, with its novel frenzied approach. There is a certain nervousness in this track – likely being recorded in 1977 at the beginning of the band’s touring. The confidence they build by the end of this behemoth album is quite surprising.
Pulled Up is one of my favourite Talking Heads songs. The live version has some excellent variations on the studio version. There’s such a positivity and lightness to this, he is speaking to and for us – we have been pulled, pulled up by Byrne!
What album has the arrogance of including two versions of the same track, twice? This one of course. Psycho Killer and Stay Hungry are both gifted to us twice, one 1979 and 1981 versions. The first version of Psycho Killer is one of my highlights of the album. Great pace, great bass and a wonderful tense and nervous energy which defined the band’s earlier work.
Found a Job is another terrific live version, with a sensational jam session at the end during which one is floating away on the music, and indeed carried by it.
The Name of This Band‘s approach– collecting various live performances over a four-year period– is more revelatory and rewarding. It functions as both a timeline in which a listener can trace the band’s development and definitive proof that some of their supposed great departures– particularly an accomplished and complex rhythm section– were there from the onset. PItchfork
Air is a final highlights from the earlier recordings, before the full ten set piece joined. There is quietly competence in this track, the musicians are aware of their prodigious talent and showing it off on full display here. There is an excellent variation on the studio version ‘some people don’t know shit about the air’. Just superb.
The second disc borrows a page from Stop Making Sense‘s playbook and recreates the entire set from stops along the band’s Remain in Light tour, including a handful of tracks from the much-bootlegged February 1981 performance at Tokyo’s Nakano Sun Palace. Expanded to a 10-piece band that included Adrian Belew on guitar and Bernie Worrell on keyboards, the bulk of Disc 2’s material gives its studio versions a run for the money. Belew’s nuanced guitar work, more confident contributions from the core members, and the added rhythmic dimension and heft are frequently jawdropping, but the loose beats and a playful Byrne keep claims of muso nonsense at arm’s length. PItchfork
Heaven is one of the better highlights of the album, allowing us to basque in the glow of Byrne. The vocals are languishing, he is singing the track as felts. The arrangement is simple but the effect is quite beautiful.
The next songs are for me a continuous highlight, Psycho Killer, the second version, is even better than the first as the band gains confidence with touring experience. Cities is magnificent, great pace and relentless energy, even a mention of Birmingham. I Zimbra is from Fear of Music and based on a nonsense poem. The high pitched beeping in the background is excellent. The last half of the track with the pseudo-pizzicato, riff and guitar flourishes floors me.
With the exception of Animals, each song from Drugs to the Great Curve is magnificent. The album takes on an energy of its own and transports us headlong towards the magnificent final two tracks. These are some of the more famous Talking Heads songs such as Once in a Lifetime (vocal flourishes keyboard in the background, synth in the middle and the bass add up to something otherworldly).
The final few tracks are astonishing and I feel it is quite beyond my powers of description to do them justice. Listen to them, listen to the energy of them and the reaction from the crowd. We are there with them in many ways.
My final highlight will be Take Me to the River – this is a mix between gospel and Blues Brothers bass lines which is intoxicating. The riff is sharp, well honed, the pace is sustained and while the track is not lyrically dense, its simple plea works away at our resistance, pushing us with Byrne into the river. Having been pushed into the river water of Byrne’s mind, we emerge on the other side, a new person.
Overall, this album is an immense (33 tracks!) display of Talking Heads’ talent. They are absolutely an urgent and important group of excellent musicians who demand your attention. The tracks are consistently brilliant and relentless. Surprisingly, there are no dud tracks throughout the album. Talking Heads have become one of my musical idols and this album is them at their career best. I hope you enjoy it.
The time has come yet again for AAOTY, where I explore the albums which have meant so much to me over the past 12 months but are not quite god enough to make AOTY. One year I did a post for AAOTM, highlighting 12 albums which did not make the list, but this was a comically massive task which I do not intend to repeat. See below a shorter selections of albums which have meant something to me this year.
Thomas Dolby – Live in Tokyo 2012
Starter for 10/10, Live in Tokyo 2012 has to be one of the best albums I have ever heard, let alone heard this year. Opening with Commercial Breakup , the album gets off to a flying start. This is one of the greatest tracks Dolby recorded. The album continues with songs from The Golden Age of Wireless, Aliens Ate my Buick as well as his latest work A Map of the Floating City as well as his excellent The Flat Earth. It is only not AOTY because of a few, in my view, less good tracks in the middle. But overall this is a very special album.
Kate Bush – The Sensual World
Avid readers will know I have reviewed this masterwork before. I won’t go into more detail than my previous review, however, suffice to say This album has moved me in more ways than I can describe this year. Whenever I wanted to sit down and play an album in full, actually set aside some time for myself, this is the one I would go for. Kate Bush is my number 1 most listened artist this year. And I believe this is my favourite album of hers. It is totally arresting and astonishing. Please do listen with open ears and minds. This is a thing of beauty. The only reason this is not AOTY is because it has been AITM previously.
Kraftwerk – Technopop / Electric Cafe
Thanks to Spotify I know exactly how many times I have listened to this wonderful album this year (27 if you are interested). Again, I have reviewed this before so I won’t go over it again. This is my most listened to album of the year, it is the one I go to when I need to concentrate and deal with a lot of matters in a short amount of time. In fact I got through 25 matters in my work to do list two weeks ago listening to this album. I love this and think it is one of the best albums they have made.
Talking Heads – 77
Are you noticing a theme here? I have reviewed this recently and can confirm that I have listened to it about 7 times since writing the review. Talking Heads have pretty much defined the latter part of this year. They have changed my life. Please do listen to this incredible piece of musical art.
Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker – Live!
Finally, the final album which I have reviewed already, Live! To be honest this should have been AOTY. The only reason it is not is because I wrote about it in June. I was so eager to share it with my subscribers that I got ahead of myself. This has made its way to my top pantheon of amazing albums. My thanks to Jack for introducing me to Fela Kuti this year.
Overall, as predicted, 2021 has been the year of live music. I have enjoyed a panoply of exquisite albums, having heard 1380 different artists this year, many of whose content has been live. I look forward to sharing AOTY with you in the next post…
