Charles Connolly

Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 – 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙢

Charles loves to love love…

Let’s face it, I can’t hide the fact that I’ve been a tad down in the dumps lately. And because of this, it might have brought down the mood these articles over the past few weeks. I can’t help that, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it shows how honest and genuine these things are. But… You (the reader) might be more in the mood for something to bring you out of a similar slump, rather than have something to agree with and nod to. And so, here it is. Love. Love is the solver of all. Love is the only drug worth bothering with. Love changes everything. Love is what changes your mind. Love is what keeps you going. Love is… Ach, I just thought… This is really going to bring down the mood for those of you who haven’t found “the one”… But not to worry. Firstly, it’ll give you something to look forward to. Secondly, there is more to love than your significant other. Or as some of you might say: INsignificant other. There is the love of a parent or two. There is the love of one’s child. There is the love of a grandparent. A sister, perhaps? There is the love of a pet. There is the love of your work and your passions. There is the love of life itself… I feel very sorry for those of you who might have none of those. Those who just bled tears on your lap, please don’t; the label says dry-clean only. Besides, I can’t make everybody happy with my writing…

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Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙞𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙩 – 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙮 𝙇𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝘽𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙧

Charles snaps the best…

Those of you who never read my articles (which is fine) but for some reason pretend you do (which is not fine), make this one the one you actually read. But then again, those who don’t read them won’t read this, so that was pointless even to write. Moving on! Okay. So this review probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to many of you. But I have a LOT to say. Before we get into the month of Christmas, it seems like a good time to look at the year that has little more than a twelfth left. Dwelling on gloom isn’t the best idea. Worldly speaking, it has certainly been an eventful year, what with one thing and another. There has of course been the usual tranche of celebrity deaths and ones closer to home too – but we said we wouldn’t be dwelling on the negative side of things. Let us look at the best of what has happened this year. Umm… Er… Okay, let’s change that thought. Let’s turn our attention to music. Yeah, that might be more uplifting. How’s about we look at the best albums of the year…? Yes!! What a glorious feast of fun that will be! Ah, I’m already drooling over the prospect of such a musing.

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Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙒𝙊𝙍𝙆 – 𝙏𝙤𝙙𝙙 & 𝙆𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣

Charles toils…

I’ve been listening to quite a lot of Motown records lately. That is, in between yet more plays of Amaury Laurent Bernier’s masterpiece (I hope you have all been enjoying it too – air-guitaring to ‘Innit ?’). All this Motown, though, and it always brings me back to the same song. ‘Work’. “What is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING!!”… Ah sorry, my mistake. That song’s called ‘War’, not ‘Work’. Oh, and while we’re on the subject of getting the words wrong, that fabulous early Motown record, ‘My Girl’ (you all know it); my girlfriend always sang that chorus as ‘Maggots’. “Talkin’ ‘bout maah-ggots. MAGGOTS! Ooh-ew-ew-ew!”… It’s enough to bring more than a smile to my face. But back to ‘Work’. Sorry: ‘War’. The thing is, having been involved in few wars in my time, the switcheroo of war into work makes it more potent in a way. Because we all work. We all slave away at whatever it is that we do. And there’s that feeling of “What are we DOING??” – thank you, Lois from Malcolm in the Middle. What IS it good for? Absolutely nothing? Well, I believe it is good for two things (mainly). One (you guessed it): money. Two: a sense of purpose. It keeps us busy and gives us something to do. But more importantly it makes us feel like we’ve earnt the good times. And I like that. There is however one vital flaw in this system… In doing all this work all the time, we barely have any time for those “good times”. It is indeed the law of the sod. But at least all that spondulicks is piling up in the account, right? Nah; the taxman will see to that. And so we go back to that sense of purpose. And that roof over our head. It pays the bills, and is therefore necessary.

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Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 – 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮

Charles writes about everything and nothing for an entire century…

It all started in a red Mercedes with Veronica. This was to be my legacy. Merhabalar (hello, how are you) seemed like a good way to start, as I didn’t want to seem blue over you – at least not so soon. Another week, another story. If I wrote about love, I’d hear you plead “don’t break my heart” – as if I would do such a thing. But hold on, if I were to see my lover again, my dreams of another summer of romance would come true. If Xaligha is the demon of dissonance then I am to be the arrow of love. Never mind the colour of my panties, or whatever I choose to write about that week, just hold me. Hold my hand as I walk deep into my very own dungeon – we’re like family now, no? Again and again, every week I write like a groundhog may or may not, as I attempt to create a capricho Árabe – an Arabic style of architectural fantasy. But as that’s something I don’t know about, I might not always succeed. Some weeks you may open up the pages and wish for me to stop, but I keep holding on to my position with pride and with blind ego. Maybe that’s a mistake on my part – cue the Boo-Boo song…! Or maybe I should get a little tipsy, forget all my troubles and play the Birthday song. Another year, another birthday. You can’t stop time, but time allows you to think. It makes me think about all the artists I have reviewed, met and known through the New Artist Spotlight. And truly, you’re in my blood, all of you.

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Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙨, 𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝘽𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 – 𝙛𝙖́𝙗𝙟𝙖́𝙣𝙞 (𝙎𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙮 𝙎𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙨)

Traditionally, Charles is safe…

Christmas comes but once a year,

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Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨 (𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙀𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚) [𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙏𝙬𝙤] – 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙣

Charles leaves his onions at the door…

And here we are again. Same place; different year. Right now, the papers are full of predictions for 2023. Not to mention ways to stay fit and healthy, and how to burn off the festive excess. We enjoyed the Christmas season and have the stomach to prove it. But the predictions thing is more interesting to me. The idea of guessing what is going to happen in the coming 12 months, is seemingly mandatory these days. And those days too. It is habitual for the press to predictably churn out the same unpredictable predictions, when each year they have one thing in common. They just don’t know. Did we guess a few years ago that a pandemic was going to change absolutely everything? Did we guess last year that the Queen was going to die? Did we guess that Ukraine would be thrown into war by the only living “human” we are all universally allowed to hate – without fear that we are committing a hate crime? Did we guess that Argentina would win the World Cup? Did we guess that England wouldn’t? Well, maybe that one. We always do well, but never quite well enough. But so you see, we just don’t know.

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Patrick ponders where to begin…

Firstly, is this an album? Absolutely! Is it the type of album full of colorful pictures of half dressed off-tempo musicians? Definitely not (and thank god for that)! Is it an audio album containing 14 “rad”, and “banging” pieces of musical art? Bingo, yes it is! “It is?” You might ask. “Oh yes, you can bet your sweet glazed ass it is!” 

Charles has been releasing an incredible song every 3 days for the past 6 years it seems. From “Experience” to “Hell Is Other People” to “Parakeet” to “Come The End”. The number of times those songs have been featured in the NAS Top 20 is incredible. And they kept coming out, besting the previous release every time, or at least making us think the new one was better, probably because of the inevitable “wow” factor his songs provide upon first listen. 

It’s an amazing album! I’ve said this in private, but I’ll say it again here. Charles is a rare gem in a world of full pebbles!

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And the praise just keeps on pouring in for CC’s Hands Up album!

Tuesday brought us a fabulous review concocted and put together by around 18 artist fans. It showcased Charles Connolly’s brand new album, Hands Up!, track by track, complete with video! It got people listening, and they couldn’t help but speak up. In true CC style, here’s an unscheduled “Part 2” showing why – in NAS artist Shahiem’s words – “it deserves to win a Grammy”…

Todd & Karen

GET YOUR HANDS UP – AND YOUR EXPECTATIONS!!!

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Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝘽𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 – 𝙎𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙞𝙣, 𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙈𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙙𝙮, 𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙎𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨

Charles struggles to drive home the point…

Getting around town is something that we do because we have to. Less so these days for obvious reasons, but inevitably we’ll get back into the swing of movement. If we can remember how it goes. Almost my complete and utter life at the moment is conducted at home. I barely leave the house. Everything I need is here, and I have no major reasons to really go anywhere. At the moment. I must stress this lack of motion being temporary because I have very much not always been like this. I used to have a normal job and have to go there daily. Like normal people. But things are different now. I sit, and sit some more. Not exactly healthy, I grant you. But it has its benefits. Call it bittersweet.

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Welcome all to 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗹𝘆’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿, 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 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨 – 𝘼𝙧𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙤’𝙨 𝙇𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨

Charles has a birthday – of sorts – and so will blether on even longer than usual.

We all have a birthday. It is something we ALL have in common, bar none. But how many of you can boast two…? Aside from the Queen, of course… Would it surprise you to learn that I have two? Yes indeedy. Well okay, this isn’t exactly true. Today marks a rather special occasion. My 50th review! All right then: more of a landmark figure. But wait, there’s more. Due to a little break we all had from the internet at Christmas and New Year, this actually marks the one year anniversary of Connolly’s Corner, despite this not being number 52. And so lies the reason I have two birthdays. Okay, fine, I have one birthday. But you get my point. I cannot imagine how many words I’ve written, but certainly more than enough to fill the largest pamphlet ever known to man. ‘Pamphlet’ is, and will always be a very silly word indeed. “I’ve got to see the doctor about my pamphlet”, “Our special of the day is a delectable side of roast pamphlet”, “Two squirts of our patented spray is enough to get rid of the pamphlet growing on your shower curtain”, “The Impossible Case of Mr. Pamphlet”… And so you have seen the kind of nonsense with which I fill these reviews, week in, week out. Maybe a somewhat individual and possibly ridiculous way of writing about music, but nevertheless, to quote Sinatra, “I did it My Way”.

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