SOUNDTRACK: SEONA DANCING-“Bitter Heart” (1983).
I can’t believe it took me all these years to learn that Ricky Gervais was in a synth pop band in the 80s. The band was called Seona Dancing and they released two singles (four songs in all). This is the first song I heard from them and I really like it. (I may be biased, but I also went in expecting to mock, I mean look at him!).
In one of the Extras episodes, David Bowie makes a guest appearance. And you can tell that he’s been influenced by Bowie since the beginning. This song could be a David Bowie B Side (and who knew that the man with that girlie laugh has such a deep baritone singing voice.) I kept expecting the song to turn cheesy but it never did. In fact, the riff from verse into chorus is really cool. The “block” sounds in the middle remind me of Tears for Fears, and really so many other synth bands from the 80s.
There’s two videos on YouTube. The 2 minute one (below) is an actual video. The other clip is 6 minutes long and is some kind of extended version.
I’m fascinated! Much of everything that you need to know about Seona Dancing is here.
[READ: March 27, 2011] two book rviews
This is the second month in a row that Zadie Smith has done some book reviews for Harper’s. I’m not sure if this is going to be a long-standing assignment or if she was just especially excited to talk about these books. But regardless, I’m willing to mention them here.
Even though I was intrigued by last month’s books, I haven’t sought any of them out (The Pale King is coming/out as I write this). But now here are two more books that I would be interested in looking at (although I probably wouldn’t actually read either one in full). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 