Welcome all to ππΌπ»π»πΌπΉπΉπβπ ππΌπΏπ»π²πΏ, a series of weekly reviews by Charles Connolly – an artist in his own right. Here, Charles delves into the greatest brand new singles brought to you by the best unsigned artists on our electrifying and eclectic set of πππ¬ πΌπ§π©ππ¨π© ππ₯π€π©π‘ππππ© playlists.
ππ¬π€ ππ€πͺπ‘π¨ – ππ πΎπ€π§π§πππ€
Charles unconsciously lies to himselfβ¦
Love is heaven. Love is bliss. Love is life. Love is everything. Love is hell. Love is cruel. Love is a curse. Love is the death of a heart gone cold. One never knows how anything is going to turn out, but one always hopes for the best. Sometimes though, it is not hope that we feel, but βfactual knowledgeβ. For the sake of simplicity, letβs keep this heterosexual. Somewhere in the world, there is a man. Somewhere else in the world there is a woman. Neither knows the other, but each has one thing in common: they are alone. They muddle through in the way that we do. The travelator of life. The zombie conveyor belt. For without love, there is little but this. For the sake of argument, letβs call these two souls Brian and Ethel. Brian likes gardening. It keeps him busy, and takes his mind off the loneliness of life. The flowers are his friends. The crops are his sustenance – in more ways than ones. But ultimately he is numb. He is empty. He is also lazy. He just doesnβt put himself about. In the words of Arctic Monkeys: βBrian, top marks for not tryinββ. And so, the beat goes on. Ethel, on the other hand spends most of her time in the kitchen. A plump lady, who likes to bake cakes. But with no one to bake for, it feels like a foolβs errand. She simply gets a little more plump. When she can eat no more, she sits at the kitchen table, smoking (she has the idea this will make her lose weight), and staring out of the window at the neighbourβs garden (for her own leaves much to be desired). She sighs and puts the kettle on. Or the Kethel. While coffee enriches and invigorates the soul, tea was invented to pass the time. Fact. As the water is brought to the boil, the whistle tells her so and insistingly prompts her to remove the kethel from the hob. She does so. But as she does so, she catches a glimpse of a shiny bonce. A polished noggin. It belongs to the body of man busy pruning. How had she not noticed Brian before? Had she been too busy staring at his roses? Was she pondering on her doubts about the quantity of flour? Be it flour or flowers, the tea is now far down on her to-do list.
Brian looks up and sees her staring through the window. This prompts him to inadvertently shove a spade into his big toe. Now, all that Ethel can see is a varnished egg bobbing rapidly above and below the top of the fence, with what sounds like a cat mewing. Despite Brianβs evident searing pain, his mind is on something else. Young Ethel. She immediately lends a helping hand and carries him in to her kitchen. Yes, she carries him – Brian is a small man, and Ethel, well, she is big-boned, shall we say. They stare into each otherβs eyes in silence. There is an instant moment of love at first sight. I say βa momentβ, because she then clumsily steps on his toe. After the initial yelp from Brian, they both tumble into light hysterics. A new era is born. When two souls blend into one. In time, he tends her bush, and she has a bun in the oven.
All things bright and beautiful, but not for long. Things go awry, as they so often do when βendless loveβ is involved. Ethel’s last words to Brian were “Just give me a call”. He went back to his gardening, and Ethel just stares at the phone, while getting fatter. Love is rarely endless, unfortunately. That is, until you meet the right one. This, more or less, happens to all of us. We meet βthe oneβ, and it turns out they werenβt βthe oneβ after all. Sad, but true. You see, one way or another, we lie to ourselves. Subconsciously or otherwise. Love can be very much like a British summer: it swiftly comes and goes, sometimes barely making an appearance in the first place. Actually, a British summer is more like a fleeting one night stand – too much, too soon, and it’s over before you know it. The other similarity between love and the infamously mythical British summer, is how Britonians have total blind hope and optimism. Is this blarney? Do they believe it themselves? In love, we tell ourselves what we want to believe, because we want so much for it to work. The final similarity between love and the British summer is how people forget or do not realise that it can often work out. Love can genuinely be all peaches and cream, and a British summer can indeed be lengthy periods of warm sunshine beaming down on Hyde Park. It’s a beautiful day! Optimism is the only answer, really.
On this note, I bring your attention to Ed Corrado and his first single in more than a year: Two Souls. This is the follow-up to his fabulous single, Time, which I reviewed as soon as it was released. Ed is much loved in the New Artist Spotlight community. Both in terms of his music and simply his kind, honest, modest character. Corrado has made a surprise and welcome return to the NAS Top 20 in recent weeks – possibly in anticipation of Two Souls. Ya know, when people just canβt wait, and they need some Ed Corrado in their life. I was offered an early preview of the track, but I politely declined. Because I wasnβt interested. No no no, Iβm joking. It was the opposite. Those who know me, know that I like to make things special. Unlike most of the world these days, I enjoy the anticipation of things. The looking forward. The excitement. Lord knows, adding a song to a streaming library for free is not the same as rushing out to your local record shop and buying a copy of the latest single by one of your favourite artists. And so, I have to improvise. The very least I can do is wait until release day. So on Friday, I woke up, picked up my phone, went to Apple Music (my preferred platform for music immersion), and went to Ed Corradoβs releases. There it was! Two Souls. I added it to my library and pressed play. Thankfully, I was very much not disappointed (thatβs the only problem with getting oneβs hopes up – one can be disappointed). Ed powers through like a determined warhorse. Relentless energy from a drummer who loves his job! Jangly guitars to the fore, reminiscent of The Smiths and The Jam. The verses play a game of call and response with vocal and guitar. Edβs call is pure and genuine. One would swear he had managed to wangle Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits to play the response. In terms of chords, three songs spring to mind: βDonβt Fear The Reaperβ by Blue Oyster Cult, βAll Along the Watchtowerβ – the Jimi Hendrix version. and βI Owe It All to Youβ from Paul McCartneyβs heavily underrated album, Off the Ground. Happy Birthday Sir Paul!!
We turn back the clock at the chorus, moving from the rock of the 70s and 80s, even further back to the Swinging 60s! This instantly made me think of The Whoβs second album, A Quick One. Those harmonies just have that youth and insistence that makes us stop what weβre doing and listen. Punching back into verse territory, I start to feel early U2 influence – canβt go wrong with that! Where the verse and chorus feel like a cascading waterfall crashing on the rocks below, the songβs bridge really adds movement and course in the form of a fast-flowing stream. To sum up Two Souls, Ed Corrado has written a fabulous burst of music, with the saddest lyrics which I have roughly outlined above through Brian and Ethel.
So what you need to do is, rush down to your local record store and buy a copy! Or tap the link below. Whichever suits you.
Maybe Brian will start to miss Ethelβs cakes. But then again, they canβt have their cake and eat it.
Listen to ππ¬π€ ππ€πͺπ‘π¨ on the ππΌπ»π»πΌπΉπΉπβπ ππΌπΏπ»π²πΏ Spotify playlist HERE!
Listen to ππ¬π€ ππ€πͺπ‘π¨ on the ππΌπ»π»πΌπΉπΉπβπ ππΌπΏπ»π²πΏ Apple Music playlist HERE!
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