Tag: keane

Old Keane, New James

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Wow. It’s like the 1990s and the early 2000s never went away, because:

I dunno. But lying on a tropical beach overlooking the Indian Ocean took me back – way back – to our honeymoon several (or more) years ago. And I’d just got my first ever iPod, brought over from the UK by one of the wedding party. Sadly though, there wasn’t the time, the knowledge or the bandwidth to get much on there before we headed off to Mozambique, and so I ended up listening to Keane’s Hopes And Fears on repeat.

That sort of thing could drive a man mad, but a) I was so chuffed to have an iPod, b) I was so chuffed to just have married the girl of my dreams, and c) it’s actually a rather good album.

In fact, they toured it on its twentieth anniversary last year.

And so, I downloaded it while I was away in Mauritius last week (the resort wifi was incredible) and did it all over again. It’s still very good.

In fact, I need to re-revisit it because it may actually be one of those very rare albums with no bad tracks at all (I can only think of three off the top of my head).

Watch this space.

And…

James have a new album out tomorrow. It’s a greatest hits with a couple of new additions and a live version one. I heard one of the new additions – Hallelujah Anyhow – this morning on 6Music and it was really decent stuff.

Always enjoyed a bit of James. I even went to see them back in 2018. Yeah, that’s less of a concert review and more of a social commentary the likes of which you might well have noted on other 6000 miles… posts about concerts. Sorry about that.

But I digress. Often.

Looking forward to the new album. Might review it.

Watch this space.

Oh, Simple Thing…

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…where have you gone?

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Keane’s Hopes And Fears, but it will always remind me of my… our… honeymoon. I bought an iPod (my first; still got it) about the time of the wedding, but given the hectic business around those matrimonial times, I only managed to load one album onto it before we left. Hopes And Fears was that album: rather apt for a *cough* young couple heading off into the trials and tribulations of married life together.

Thus, this is the first track I ever played on an iPod:

So, while Tom and his chums may be taxiing to their secret streamside woodland hideout, while you may be staring at your computer screen, I am currently (mentally, at least) lying on a beach on an island just off the coast of Mozambique.

Where exactly? Somewhere only I know. Lol.

Meanwhile, in tenuous link central, you may have recently heard the cover version of this song for the John Lewis Christmas ad. That was done by Lily Allen and she – according to the Daily Mail – has brought her “svelte figure” in a “lime green floral halterneck bikini top” to the “breathtaking scenery” of South Africa’s “stunning wine lands.”

She even posted a picture of herself with a big steak and a pair of braai tongs!

The weird thing is, it’s a really SA-positive article, despite being in the Daily Mail, with loads of nice words and lovely pictures.

I know, I’m confused too.

Somewhere Only We Know

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Stumbled across this on my iPod this afternoon.

Somewhat ironically, as we embarked on our new life together, Hopes and Fears was the album of our honeymoon; simply for the reason that I’d just got my first iPod and I had virtually no music on it. It’s one of those rare albums with no weak tracks: Can’t Stop Now, Bend And Break, Bedshaped, This Is The Last Time, We Might As Well Be Strangers – the list goes on.
No matter when or where I hear it, each and every song takes me right back to the beach on Benguerua Island in Mozambique.

I’m there now. Right now. You should try it.