This is the final part to find a group or solo artist whose name (Christian or surname) starts with a U, V or W. Next week will be the letters X, Y and Z.

Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosion and No-Man. He is also a solo artist, having released seven solo albums since his solo debut Insurgentes in 2008. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Wilson has made music prolifically and earned critical acclaim. His honours include six nominations for Grammy Awards: twice with Porcupine Tree, once with his band Storm Corrosion and three times as a solo artist. In 2017, The Daily Telegraph newspaper described him as “a resolutely independent artist” and “probably the most successful British artist you’ve never heard of”. (source: wikipedia)

He is a multi-instrumentalist who specialises in progressive, post-progressive and art rock. The video is a live version of the track Harmony Korine (named after the US film-maker), which was released as a single from his first solo album Insurgentes.

[Verse 1]
Rain, come down, and fall forever
Drain, the dirt, into the wasteland
Pray, for sound, to quiet the howling

[Chorus]
Feel, no shame, too brave
Feel, afraid, to wait forever

[Verse 2]
Kneel, to fade, the day’s corrosion
Crawl, depart, towards perdition
Gray, the part, the bruise within you

[Chorus]
Feel, no shame, too brave
Feel, afraid, to wait forever

[Bridge]
Forever

[Chorus]
Feel, no shame, too brave
Feel, afraid, to wait forever

source: genius lyrics

written by Steven John Wilson

These aren’t the best latest photo’s of Chase but, as he won’t sit still very long, it’s the best I could do. He’s as mischievous as ever but is doing fine and making lots of friends along the way. He had a nice groom the day before the photo’s were taken. His bark is getting shriller!

Chase – In my spare room

Chase has made my chair, his!

I think I may have posted the first image previously? In fact I’m sure I have…my mistook!

The SLS theme this week is to find an artist that won a Grammy for Best New Artist. Thanks to Jim for the prompt.

Lauryn Hill is an American singer, rapper, and songwriter. With a total of 8 wins from the Grammy Awards for her music (including her work in The Fugees), she is the most Grammy Awarded female rapper. Hill was the first female hip hop artist to win the Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album (1997 The Score with The Fugees), and Best New Artist (1999). Her first and only solo studio album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, won five awards at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards (1999), including Album of The Year, making it the first hip hop album to win the award, and making Hill the youngest black artist to win the award; Hill walked away with a total of five awards that night, breaking the record at the time for most awards won by a female artist in single ceremony, and set the current record for most nominations received by a single artist in a single ceremony. (source: Wikipedia)

This song was originally a big hit by Roberta Flack and written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. I’ve included the official video of The Fugees version as well as the lyric video above.

Week three to find a group or solo singer with the letter U, V or W at the start of their name.

This week I have chosen the New Romantic super-group Visage. Fade To Grey is a classic synth based song. The song was the band’s most successful single. It entered the singles charts in late 1980, peaking at no. 8 in the UK Singles Chart and reaching no. 1 in Germany and Switzerland.  It was released on the same day as the band’s debut album, Visage. Steve Strange was on lead vocals; the French lyrics were spoken by Rusty Egan’s Luxembourg girlfriend Brigitte Arendt.

Initially, the band was comprised of Steve Strange, Rusty Egan and Midge Ure (also previously of The Rich Kids). Also, credited as a co-writer of Fade To Grey was Chris Payne, a member of Gary Numan’s band.  Ultravox’s multi-instrumentalist Billy Currie and the core of post-punk band Magazine – bassist Barry Adamson, guitarist John McGeoch, and keyboardist Dave Formula – joined the studio-only band later.

Devenir gris
Devenir gris

One man on a lonely platform
One case sitting by his side
Two eyes staring cold and silent
Show fear as he turns to hide

We fade to grey (fade to grey)
We fade to grey (fade to grey)

Un homme dans une gare désolée
Une valise à ses cotés
Des yeux fixes et froids
Montrent de la peur lorsqu’il
Se tourne pour se cacher

We fade to grey (fade to grey)
We fade to grey (fade to grey)

Sens la pluie comme un été anglais
Entends les notes d’une chanson lointaine
Sortant de derrière un poster
Espérant que la vie ne fut aussi longue

We fade to grey (fade to grey)
We fade to grey (fade to grey)

Feel the rain like an English summer
Hear the notes from a distant song
Stepping out from a backdrop poster
Wishing life wouldn’t be so long

Devenir gris

We fade to grey (fade to grey)
We fade to grey (fade to grey)
We fade to grey (fade to grey)
Devenir gris

source: AZ Lyrics

written by: Billy Currie, Chris Payne & Midge Ure

The SLS theme this week is to find a song that won a Grammy for song of the year. Thanks again to Jim for the prompt.

In 2001, the song Beautiful Day by the band U2, won three Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. The group has played “Beautiful Day” at every one of their concerts since the song’s live debut on the Elevation Tour in 2001.  The band’s lead vocalist Bono explained that the upbeat track is about losing everything but still finding joy in what one has.

The heart is a bloom, shoots up through the stoney ground
There’s no room, no space to rent in this town
You’re out of luck, and the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck, and you’re not moving anywhere
You thought you’d found a friend to take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace

It’s a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like
It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away

You’re on the road, but you’ve got no destination
You’re in the mud, in the maze of her imagination
You love this town even if that doesn’t ring true
You’ve been all over, and it’s been all over you

It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
It’s a beautiful day
Ooh-hoo-hoo

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Teach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colours came out

It’s a beautiful day
Don’t let it get away
Beautiful day

Touch me
Take me to that other place
Reach me
I know I’m not a hopeless case

What you don’t have you don’t need it now
What you don’t know you can feel it somehow
What you don’t have you don’t need it now
Don’t need it now
Was a beautiful day

source: AZ Lyrics

written by: Larry Mullen, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton, Paul David Hewson

Week two of the November MMB. Find a band or solo singer whose name starts with a U, V or W.

“Teenage Kicks” is the debut single by Northern Irish punk rock band The Undertones. Written in the summer of 1977 by J.J. O’Neil, the band’s rhythm guitarist and principal songwriter, the song was recorded on 15 June 1978 and initially released that September on independent Belfast record label Good Vibrations before the band signed to Sire Records on 2 October 1978. Sire Records subsequently obtained all copyrights to the material released upon the Teenage Kicks EP and the song was re-released as a standard vinyl single on Sire’s own label on 14 October that year, reaching number 31 in the UK Singles Chart two weeks after its release. It’s always been a great favourite of mine.

Are teenage dreams so hard to beat
Everytime she walks down the street
Another girl in the neighbourhood
Wish she was mine, she looks so good

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

I’m gonna call her on the telephone
Have her over cos I’m all alone
I need excitement oh I need it bad
And it’s the best, I’ve ever had

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

Are teenage dreams so hard to beat
Everytime she walks down the street
Another girl in the neighbourhood
Wish she was mine, she looks so good

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

I’m gonna call her on the telephone
Have her over cos I’m all alone
I need excitement oh I need it bad
And it’s the best, I’ve ever had

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

I wanna hold her wanna hold her tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night

source: AZ Lyrics

written by: John Joseph O’Neil

The theme of SLS this week is to find an artist or group that had won a Grammy award for best album (any year).

Stevie Wonder’s 1977 album Songs in The Key of Life won a total of four Grammy’s in 1977. I also liked his four 70s albums that came before it, including Music of My Mind, Talking Book and Innervisions. He was prolific in the 70’s. Songs in the Key of Life was released as a double LP with a four-song bonus 7″ EP. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming only the third album to achieve that feat, and the first by an American artist. It only reached number two in the UK.

The album won Album of the Year at the 19th Grammy Awards and is the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of Stevie Wonder’s career. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums in history, and many musicians have remarked on its influence on their own work.

Another Star was the forth single from the album.  It’s a song about heartbreak and the difficulties of getting over a break-up.

La la la la la la lala la
La la la la la la lala la

La la la la la la lala la
La la la la la la lala la

For you
There might be a brighter star
But through my eyes the light of you is all I see

For you
There might be another song
But all my heart can hear is your melody

So long ago my heart without demanding
Informed me that no other love could do
But listen did I not though understanding
Fell in love with one
Who would break my heart in two

For you
Love might bring a toast of wine
But with each sparkle know the best for you I pray

For you
Love might be for you to find
But I will celebrate our love of yesterday

So long ago my heart without demanding
Informed me that no other love could do
But listen did I not though understanding
Fell in love with one
Who would break my heart in two

For you
There might be another star
But through my eyes the light of you is all I see

For you
There might be another song
But in my heart your melody will stay with me

source: AZ lyrics

written by Stevie Wonder

The November MMB starts this week. Find a group or solo artist beginning with the letters u, v or w

Wishbone Ash is my choice this week. A British rock band who achieved success in the early to mid-1970s. Their albums include Wishbone Ash (1970), Pilgrimage (1971), Argus (1972), Wishbone Four (1973), There’s The Rub (1974), and New England (1976).

Wishbone Ash are noted for their extensive use of harmony twin lead guitars, which had been attracting electric blues bands since Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had played together in the Yardbirds in 1966. Their contributions helped Andy Powell and Ted Turner to be voted “Two of the Ten Most Important Guitarists in Rock History”. Several notable bands have cited Wishbone Ash as an influence, including the Eagles, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy, Metallica, etc.

Formed in Torquay, Devon, in 1969, out of the ashes of the trio The Empty Vessels, which had been formed by Wishbone Ash’s founding member and creative force Martin Turner (lead vocalist, and bass guitar) in 1963 and complemented by Steve Upton (drums and percussion) in 1966. Andy Powell is the sole remaining original founding member of Wishbone Ash.

The track “Warrior” is taken from their most well known album Argus.

I’m leaving to search for something new
Leaving everything I ever knew
A hundred years in the sunshine
Hasn’t taught me all there is to know

The valley, we will gather there
Helpless in our surrender
Tomorrow the plow becomes the sword
Make us stronger in our danger

Time will pass away
Time will guard our secret
I’ll return again
To fight another day

I’d have to be a warrior
A slave I couldn’t be
A soldier and a conqueror
Fighting to be free
(Repeat three times)

Source: genius lyrics

written by: Andy Powell

As it’s Guy Fawkes/bonfire night on November 5th, I thought I’d post this great Elvis Costello track. Indoor Fireworks is a track taken from my favourite album of his; ‘King of America’ (released in 1986). The song was written as a eulogy for a broken relationship, it also utilises a central metaphor of fireworks and took inspiration from Elvis Costello’s failed marriage.

[Verse 1]
We play these parlor games
We play at make believe
When we get to the part where I say that I’m going to leave
Everybody loves a happy ending but we don’t even try
We go straight past pretending
To the part where everybody loves to cry

[Chorus]
Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore we were safe as houses
They’re not so spectacular
They don’t burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes

[Verse 2]
You were the spice of life
The gin in my vermouth
And though the sparks would fly
I thought our love was fireproof
Sometimes we’d fight in public darling
With very little cause
But different kinds of sparks would fly
When we got on our own behind closed doors

[Chorus]
Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore we were safe as houses
They’re not so spectacular
They don’t burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes

[Verse 3]
It’s time to tell the truth
These things have to be faced
My fuse is burning out
And all that powder’s gone to waste
Don’t think for a moment dear that we’ll ever be through
I’ll build a bonfire of my dreams
And burn a broken effigy of me and you

[Chorus]
Indoor fireworks
Can still burn your fingers
Indoor fireworks
We swore we were safe as houses
They’re not so spectacular
They don’t burn up in the sky
But they can dazzle or delight
Or bring a tear
When the smoke gets in your eyes
When the smoke gets in your eyes
When the smoke gets in your eyes

Source: Genius Lyrics

Written by Declan MacManus (Elvis Costello)

The theme of SLS this week is to find a song by children of famous singers, who became famous singers themselves. Suggested by Barbara.

The only child of The Beatles guitarist George Harrison, Dhani Harrison, grew up to be a professional multi-instrumentalist musician and singer-songwriter, co-founding indie-rock group Thenewno2 and becoming a member of the rock trio Fistful Of Mercy along with Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur.

The first video is of Dhani covering one of his father’s songs. The second video is something very different.