Here is a review of some of the influences found on the album.
Here is another Shockhound video session:
Southhampton, UK power trio Band Of Skulls rock the ShockHound stage for this exclusive Shock Sessions performance. Songs include "Patterns," "I Know What I Am," "Death By Diamonds And Pearls," "Blood," and "Impossible."
Here is a Shockhound video for Fires.
FIRES
Baby, Darling, Doll Face, Honey
Now I don't mean to cause you worry
It's only hands in my pocket
And the Queen on my money
Did you know I've been wanting you?
so leave your locks on the latches
If you bring the water, I'll bring the matches
'cause we are fires in the night
We are fires in the night
Let us bathe you in our heart
'cause we are fires in the night
Come on get up Romeo
Don't you know what the time is?
It's the fall of rock 'n roll,
That's what the news said
Did you know I've been wanting you?
so leave your locks on the latches
If you bring the water, I'll bring the matches
'cause we are fires in the night
We are fires in the night
Let us bathe you in our heart
'cause we are fires in the night
we are fires in the night
we are fires in the night
let us bathe you in our life
we are fires in the night
I have been listening to my copy of Bob Dylan's "Christmas from the Heart." Bob Dylan's voice sounds weary and hopeful like a favorite and worn out pair of boots. The lyrics to the songs are easy to hear as he sings to the Andy William's style arrangements. The critics don't get it, but I love the album. Here is his video for "The Little Drummer Boy." The images bring back joyful memories of Christmas time filled with family and friends as well the mystery of a new born baby.
Emmanuel Jal is allowing people to download his new single "We Fall" for free at EmmanuelJal.com. It is a catchy and heartfelt song like other songs by Emmanual Jal. It is a thank-you for the people who donate to Gua Africa. Emmanuel Jal's projects are aimed a arming children in Africa with an education. From someone who was armed with an AK47 when he was a child, he knows the importance of education.
Education is the only way for my country. When you don't educate the people, you're crippling them. You are, you're not giving them ways to survive. --Emmanuel Jal
Here is a recent and excellent CNN video from last month that talks about Jal's life, book, music, and movie. It also talks about work toward building a school for children in Sudan. The article is here.
The good news is that he has a new album coming out in 2010.
Bill Flanagan has a wonderful interview with Bob Dylan over at Street News Service. He talks with Dylan about his new Christmas album Christmas in the Heart. Dylan can be elusive to figure out at times, but on one question he is quite clear:
Flanagan: You really give a heroic performance of O’ LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM The way you do it reminds me a little of an Irish rebel song. There’s something almost defiant in the way you sing, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” I don’t want to put you on the spot, but you sure deliver that song like a true believer.
Andy Whitman has a thoughtful post on the loss of things on the Image blog. He talks about the loss of jobs, marriages, life, and relates it to the music of Bruce Cockburn, in particular the song, "The Rose Above the Sky" form the Humans album. He states of a friend who lost a business this uear:
It’s a bittersweet little melodrama I’ve seen re-enacted again and again in the past year; the end of longstanding good. And it doesn’t stop with employment woes. 2009 will mercifully end in a couple months. Auld lang syne, and good riddance.
He says of Cockburn's music:
In times like these—in most times, in fact—I listen to Bruce Cockburn and pray. I pray because I don’t know how else to process life, and because I figure that God would prefer that I moan and complain to Him rather than ignore Him and try to tough it out on my own.
And I listen to Bruce Cockburn because, more than any other songwriter I know, he seems to grasp the connection between the invisible hand of love and the all too visible scars of a messy life. Cockburn is a mystic with dirt under his finger nails, and I’ve listened to his beautifully poetic songs for 35 years now. And if he holds out for meaning, for answers, for beauty in the end—and he does—he is equally insistent that the sorrow and pain are real, and cannot be glibly explained away. These are redemption songs that ache.
I think I bought my first Bruce Cockburn album in 1982, so I have enjoyed his music and take on life for many years. You can listen to "Rose Above the Sky" here.
Lyrics:
Something jewelled slips away
Round the next bend with a splash
Laughing at the hands I hold out
Only air within their grasp
All you can do is praise the razor
For the fineness of the slash
'Til the Rose above the sky
Opens
And the light behind the sun
Takes all
Gutless arrogance and rage
Burn apart the best of tries
You carry the weight of inherited sorrow
From your first day till you die
Toward that hilltop where the road
Forever becomes one with the sky
'Til the Rose above the sky
Opens
And the light behind the sun
Takes all
Ozone on the midnight wind
Got me thinking of the sea
And the mercies of the currents that brought
Me to you and you to me
And in the silence at the heart of things
Where all true meetings come to be
'Til the Rose above the sky
Opens
And the light behind the sun
Takes all
Here is a video of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" with the great line "Got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight" which U2 echoed in "God part 2" with "Heard a singer on the radio late last night. He says he's gonna kick the darkness.Till it bleeds daylight."
LOVERS IN A DANGEROUS TIME
Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
And next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime
Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight
When I first listened to Band of Skulls, I was immediatly reminded of an English group I hadn't listened to in years called "Prefab Sprout". Both groups have a male and female singer, sometimes breathy singing, and a similar "feel" (jangly guitars) to their songs. I may be the only one to make this connection, but for some reason it is something I notice even though I can't put an exact finger on why they sound similar. Maybe it is because they both have interesting sounding "breakup songs": see the two videos below for the Band of Skulls song, "Cold Fame", and Prefab Sprouts 1980's song, "When Love Breaks Down". After writing my first post on Band of Skulls, I noticed that the Steve Stockman, author of the book, Walk On: The Spiritual Journey Of U2 had a post on his blog Soul Surmise on a new Prefab Sprout release called "Let’s Change the World With Music". Actually it was a 1992 recording that has just been released. Steve writes"
That McAloon (of Prefab Sprout) believes that music has power is not a surprise. Where I sat up and really started to listen was when I realised that he adds another vital contribution to the mix; God. For McAloon, music is a gift of God for the transformation of individuals and society.
God is everywhere on Lets Change The World With Music. For McAloon the voice of God in our fallen world comes through music. His take on Genesis and the genesis of this album finds God speaking:
“Let there be music,
music will be...
and you shall hear my story,
you will glimpse my glory
and find a refuge
from the trouble that you see.”
Throughout the piece you’ll hear angels sing and sweet Gospel music will carry the heavy hearts, ignite the romance of love and the fire the acts of constructive change. On Ride people “walking in the footsteps of the Lord” know Jesus by their side. On Earth: The Story So Far the birth of Jesus comes with a message of salvation and love. God Watch Over You even suggests incredulously that McAloon is not a believer but is wearing out his knees praying for his children.
What's the point of pain if it's been abused?
What's a kid like me even got to lose?
Here I am on your bed again-- its too big for the room it's in.
Wash your face and mouth just a little bit,
everybody knows that you're good at it.
Nothing hurts like an answer phone, drinking some, waking up alone.
Maybe if I try just a little more, I can take myself from this dirty floor.
Walk through buildings of elegance, just like you are intelligent.
But still I fall from grace with this microphone,
how'd you find yourself if you never roam?
Certainly I'm indebted baby, certainly, certainly...
I know my place, but it don't know me.
I know my place, but it don't know me.
No one wants to hear that you're breaking up,
it wasn't long ago we said start me up.
Now all your dreamin' will have to wait, what you deserve you'll anticipate.
Play your 45 with this late at night, open all the windows, turn out the light.
Mysterious creatures will fill the room, a midnight show just put on for you.
But still I fall from grace with this microphone,
how'd you find yourself if you never roam?
Certainly I'm indebted baby, certainly, certainly...
I know my place, but it don't know me.
I know my place, but it don't know me.
Cold fame in my brain, but it's okay cause I know it's the best for me...
Prefab Sprout "When Love Breaks Down" as performed in 1985 from the album "Steve McQueen". In America, it was renamed Two Wheels Good for legal reasons.
When Love Breaks Down
My love and I, we work well together
But often we're apart
Absence makes the heart lose weight, yeah,
Till love breaks down, love breaks down
Oh my, oh my, have you seen the weather
The sweet September rain
Rain on me like no other
Until I drown, until I drown
When love breaks down
The things you do
To stop the truth from hurting you
When love breaks down
The lies we tell,
They only serve to fool ourselves,
When love breaks down
The things you do
To stop the truth from hurting you
When love breaks down, when love breaks down
My love and I, we are boxing clever
She'll never crowd me out
Fall be free as old confetti
And paint the town, paint the town
When love breaks down
The things you do
To stop the truth from hurtin' you
When love breaks down
The lies we tell,
They only serve to fool ourselves,
When love breaks down
The things you do
To stop the truth from hurtin' you
When love breaks down
The lies we tell,
They only serve to fool ourselves,
When love breaks down
The things you do
To stop the truth from hurting you
When love breaks down
You join the wrecks
Who leave their hearts for easy sex
When love breaks down
When love breaks down
." Bob Dylan's voice sounds weary and hopeful like a favorite and worn out pair of boots. The lyrics to the songs are easy to hear as he sings to the Andy William's style arrangements. The critics don't get it, but I love the album. Here is his video for "The Little Drummer Boy." The images bring back joyful memories of Christmas time filled with family and friends as well the mystery of a new born baby.
had a post on his blog 
for legal reasons.