Charles Connolly

  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: When I Hold You (Hollyโ€™s Song) – Go Birch

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: When I Hold You (Hollyโ€™s Song) – Go Birch

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™„ ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ก๐™™ ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช (๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎโ€™๐™จ ๐™Ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™œ) – ๐™‚๐™ค ๐˜ฝ๐™ž๐™ง๐™˜๐™


    Charles speaks of songs and daughtersโ€ฆ


    Children, eh? Kids! Canโ€™t live with โ€˜em, canโ€™t live without โ€˜em. Or so Iโ€™m told. I personally canโ€™t stand the blighters. Rotten little noisy things with snotty noses, always whining about this or about that. I mean, why would anyone WANT such a thing?? Actually CHOOSE to have one? Or even SEVERAL? I mean, are you people completely and utterly out of your mind?? Why would you DO that to yourself? To inflict such pain and misery on an otherwise relatively decent lifeโ€ฆ Speaking of life, youโ€™ve spent oh so many years sorting out whatever life was supposed to be, and finally youโ€™re on track. Things are clear. Things are good. You and partner. All working well, in both senses of the word. Youโ€™re comfortable, in terms of money, and , well, comfort. You feel good. You do not hate your job too much. There is a natural flow to the way of life. Youโ€™ve just got into the swing of things. Et voilร . Repeat until the cycle is complete. The thing isโ€ฆ There is no cycle. There is an end. Nothing to pass on. It all ends there. And THEN what have you got. A couple who spent their life doing life. Just their own life. Pah. What is that. โ€œA discontented lazy rabble, instead of a thrifty working classโ€ฆ?โ€ – sorry, I do like the occasional quote.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Warm Enough To Snow – Shayan Regan, Plummy

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Warm Enough To Snow – Shayan Regan, Plummy

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™’๐™–๐™ง๐™ข ๐™€๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™๐™ค ๐™Ž๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ – ๐™Ž๐™๐™–๐™ฎ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™๐™š๐™œ๐™–๐™ฃ, ๐™‹๐™ก๐™ช๐™ข๐™ข๐™ฎ


    Charles reads you a sermonโ€ฆ


    Every year I write a Christmas review. It has become a tradition, in keeping with the situation. Throughout my weekly musings I try hard not to repeat myself. To try to come up with new things to write about. I try hard not to repeat myself. The annual Christmas edition is no exception. I don’t want to rehash the same old theme every year, tradition or no tradition. I have spoken of the lights, the jingle and the tree. I have spoken of family. I have spoken of little elves, reindeer and the big man himself. I have quoted Dickens numerous times. I have quoted lines from It’s a Wonderful Life. But this year, I feel rather different. The music goes on. My gorgeous tree sits elegantly decorated and twinkling oh so prettily in the corner. I even went to a Christmas concert on Sunday evening. And yet I feel festive like it’s mid November. Strangely, I seem not alone. It appears that several others are also shchtruggling to get into the spirit of things this year. I really can’t explain it!


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Wandering In the Shadows – Tade Loov

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Wandering In the Shadows – Tade Loov

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™’๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™„๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™Ž๐™๐™–๐™™๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™จ – ๐™๐™–๐™™๐™š ๐™‡๐™ค๐™ค๐™ซ


    Charles is heard but not seenโ€ฆ


    Am I an introvert, or do I just have English manners? Am I scared of the world and its things and its people, or do I just prefer to live within the boundaries of my own little world? One can limp along in life, doing little and getting by. Anyone is free to do so. The darkness of the world will attempt to grab you by the ankles whenever possible, though. To mould you into a “standardised” member of society. I would say it takes more courage, determination and guts to pull away from the natural tide and do one’s own thing. A person such as this may seem to hide and shy away from “the norm”, but really they are only ridding themselves of the mundane and quietly getting on with their own way of doing things. It may seem like they are threatened by the lions and sharks of the land and the sea, but in fact they are batting away the irritating flies of the world wide wet.

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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Walk Away – Patrik Ahlm

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Walk Away – Patrik Ahlm

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™’๐™–๐™ก๐™  ๐˜ผ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ – ๐™‹๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™  ๐˜ผ๐™๐™ก๐™ข


    Charles is standardisingโ€ฆ


    To quote Itโ€™s a Wonderful Life (as I often seem to), โ€œI live in a shack in Potter’s Field and my wife ran away three years ago and took the kidโ€โ€ฆ This basically sums up my life. No, wait. Thatโ€™s not true. It doesnโ€™t at all. I have never lived in such a place (if it exists), I have never been married, and I donโ€™t have any children. But the rest is true. But, there is no โ€œrestโ€! Ah yes. True. Well, in that case I have absolutely nothing in common with the alternate life of Ernie Bishop, the cab driver. I canโ€™t even drive! So where does this leave us? Where does this LEAD us? Well, it leads us to the beginning. My beginning. I really had a wonderful life!


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: When The Streets Fall Silent – Bryan Cooper

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: When The Streets Fall Silent – Bryan Cooper

    Welcome all to ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, 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 ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™Ž๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™ก๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ playlists.


    ๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™š๐™š๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™Ž๐™ž๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ – ๐˜ฝ๐™ง๐™ฎ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง


    Charles reviews a charmful manโ€ฆ


    I am going to indulge myself in sticking with a theme. Last week I wrote about two amusing yet thuggish Mancunians. 30 years ago they took over Britain. Shortly after that they took over the world. The same thing happened 30 years previous with four amusing yet charming Liverpudlians. Both sets of Northerners were always incredibly entertaining in very different ways when it came to interviews. In both cases, it was a welcome back to Britannia ruling the waves – the radio waves. Before the mop-tops, it was a quiff-laden pelvis. Before the coked-up thugs, it wasโ€ฆ Umโ€ฆ Hmmโ€ฆ Who was world famous before them? An unusual man who walked backwards with style? The thing is, Britain was finally back on top form; certainly in terms of popularity anyway. But it wasnโ€™t just one beat combo to rule the roost; they were simply the top of the league. Many other Britonians marched to the beat of the same drum. But aside from going with this united flow, there was competition. There was supposed rivalry for these young men from Liverpool. This rivalry was a band my father likes to call The Strolling Prunes. And what excellent publicity it turned out to be! There are two important facts to be known howeverโ€ฆ One: these two โ€œrivalsโ€ were actually good chums, and it was all just a well planned media binge. Two: no one could seriously even try to pretend that these Southerners were a threat to the greatness of these Northerners. They just werenโ€™t as good. Example: compare Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with Their Satanic Majesties Request…


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