Updates (mainly The Swell Season)

I reread the first half of 'Bad boy' again earlier in the week. When writing about the book two weeks ago, I mentioned that I didn't find any major mistakes in it. This time around, I noticed a rather subtle mistake concerning Tracy Banks and her mobile phone; the mistake probably arises from a sentence being deleted from the text of the book - it's not a logical mistake as were the others.

Over the past six months, I've been listening very frequently to the Swell Season. The first item of theirs which I bought was the deluxe version of 'Strict Joy', which comes as a three disc set. The first disc is the 'Strict Joy' album itself; the second is a live concert, and the third is a dvd containing interviews along with some of the performances which are on the second disc. I bought this package from amazon.co.uk, which sold it at a very reasonable price, and only slightly more expensive than the one cd version (which is why I bought the deluxe set). Amazon.com is quoting the limited version at almost twice the price of the standard disc, so it's worth shopping around.

There's a very interesting song on 'Strict Joy': 'Love that conquers'. The opening instrumental phrase (which is repeated almost ad nauseam) is in 5/4, which allows one to excuse the lack of harmonic activity. But when Glen begins to sing, suddenly the time signature is 6/4! Is the previous bar lengthened or is it the sung bar? Does it matter. Then it's back to 5/4 for a few more instrumental bars, and then bang! Back to 6/4 for a line. Later on in the song, Glen and Marketa add a few more syllables to the lines which are sung in 7/4. They must have had fun recording this.

About a month ago, I found a copy of their film, 'Once', on the Internet and eagerly downloaded it. I now discover that Amazon (UK) are selling it for a pittance - but either way, the film is without the Hebrew subtitles which are so important for my wife. In fact, most of the Dublin accents are so strong that I miss a fair amount of the dialogue as well. Maybe one day it will be screened here.

The film opens with Glen Hansard in the same position (but ten or more years older) as he was at the end of 'The Commitments' - busking in Grafton Street. The film was enjoyable, but not outstanding; it's more enjoyable for me watching them make music. There is an amusing scene where Marketa Irglova brings her Hoover to be repaired; she drags it around, making it look like she's taking her dog for a walk. Here's an interview which I've just found about the making of the film.

After watching the film, I felt compelled to order the original 'Swell Season' cd. The arrangements of this album are much more 'chamber' style - guitar, piano, violin and cello - and preferable to my ears that the slightly rocked up versions on the 'Strict Joy' live disc. It's the drums that do the damage. I also prefer the sound of their initial disc to the sound of 'Strict Joy'. It's a shame that they didn't use any wind instruments - an oboe, Uilleann pipes or even a flute would have been a welcome addition.