A Day at the Planet

I wrote the news today, oh boy

Young Jimmy Olsen shot some pics for me

While Lois Lane shared the byline

And Perry edited

He liked Jim's photograph

10 Albums: 8

Future Beatles

The other day, I heard The Beatles' "Real Love" playing on the radio, one of two new songs the three surviving Beatles released in 1996; John's part was reconstructed from an old demo. It occured to me that Paul and Ringo could, presumably, pull the same trick again, pulling in demos from both John and George; and so, too, could the last survivor repeat the trick with his three fallen mates. 

But even after the last Beatle leaves this earthly plane, it seems to me that technology will, if it hasn't already, progressed enough to sample what must be hundreds of hours of Beatle vocals and instrumentals to produce entirely new songs, and perhaps even completely new albums. Could you even really call such a project a true Beatles production? Certainly not, if you're a purist, but imagine if some pure-hearted genius brought the band back to life this way? We've already seen digital reconstructions of dead actors in film; why not dead bands?

Well, the answer to that question, of course, is because the world moves on and we should embrace new artists instead of wallowing in the past. Even the greatest artists have a natural lifespan, do they not? 

A Small Selection of Singles

Apropos of nothing, on the way home from work today I considered what might be my single favourite works by my favourite musicians. Here are a few selections:

ABBA: "Waterloo"
A-Ha: "The Sun Always Shines on TV"
Marc Almond: "Tears Run Rings"
Louis Armstrong: "We Have All the Time in the World"
Asia: "Heat of the Moment"
The Association: "Windy"
The B-52s: "Deadbeat Club"
Barenaked Ladies: "I'll Be That Girl"
John Barry: "007 Takes the Lektor"
The Beatles: "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"
Pat Benetar: "Shadows of the Night"
The Box: "Closer Together"
David Bowie: "Heroes"
Sarah Brightman: "Eden"
Kate Bush: "Love and Anger"
Johnny Cash: "Ring of Fire"
Collective Soul: "Gel"
Chemical Brothers: "Galvanize"
Nat 'King' Cole: "Unforgettable"
Alice Cooper: "Hello Hooray"
Crash Test Dummies: "Superman's Song"
Daft Punk: "End of Line"
Bob Dylan: "Lay Lady Lay"
Elastica: "Connection"
Fleetwood Mac: "You Make Loving Fun"
Foreigner: "Say You Will"
The Four Tops: "Standing in the Shadows of Love"
Garbage: "I'm Only Happy When it Rains"
Jerry Goldsmith: "Leaving Drydock"
Lou Gramm: "Midnight Blue"
Amy Grant: "Lead Me On"
George Harrison: "What is Life"
James Horner: "Genesis Countdown"
The Ink Spots: "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire"
Billy Joel: "Downeaster Alexa"
Elton John: "Love Lies Bleeding"
Tom Jones: "Sex Bomb"
Chantal Kreviazuk: "Before You"
Greg Lake: "I Believe in Father Christmas"
John Lennon: "Imagine"
Madonna: "Ray of Light"
Paul McCartney: "Live and Let Die"
Bear McCreary: "The Shape of Things to Come"
Stevie Nicks: "Stand Back"
No Doubt: "Hella Good"
Pet Shop Boys: "Where the Streets Have No Name"
Elvis Presley: "Burning Love"
Queen: "One Vision"
REO Speedwagon: "Roll with the Changes"
Marty Robbins: "Ribbon of Darkness"
The Rolling Stones: "Ruby Tuesday"
Roxy Music: "More Than This"
Lalo Schifrin: "Mission: Impossible"
Spoons: "Nova Heart"
Bruce Springsteen: "Brilliant Disguise"
Ringo Starr: "Photograph"
Strange Advance: "Love Becomes Electric"
Talking Heads: "Once in a Lifetime"
Pete Townshend: "Let My Love Open the Door"
U2: "God Part 2"
Vangelis: "Heaven and Hell"
Wang Chung: "To Live and Die in L.A."
John Williams: "The Big Rescue"
The Who: "Baba O'Reilly"
Yes: "Love Will Find a Way"
Neil Young: "Philadelphia"