Charles Connolly

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.

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

Traditionally, Charles is safe…

Christmas comes but once a year,

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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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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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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.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙚 – 𝙐𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙖 𝙁𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙖, 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝘼𝙣𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙋𝙚𝙩𝙚 𝙍𝙖𝙬𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚

Charles goes to infinity and beyond…

Things are not working. The system is broken. What was once a perfectly planned, sculpted landscape with each piece linking into place like a Da Vinci sketch, it is now fraying fast, and falling apart like a moth-ravaged wool rug. People understood the way the world worked. People knew how to live life. Governments governed and industries boomed. This was progress. The world was beautiful and forward-thinking, whilst never ceasing to enjoy the current era. The sun now bakes the land and forces entire populations to migrate and bustle shoulder to shoulder in a more coveted, cooler land. Cooler, for now. There is no sign of an end to war, and money rules more than ever before. Money used to be power, but now money is ultimate power. Whole industries are withering before our very eyes, and the times they are a-changin’. But the change is far too fast. It is not thought out. It is not considered. It is flung through the lawyers’ checklists and banged out like cheap mass-produced Chinese technology. And like the cheap tech, it doesn’t work. To force change so rapidly is to cause chaos and confusion. Economies are as erratic as modern weather, and people are not happy and not comfortable. We are all hot and bothered. So what can we do…?

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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.

𝘼.𝙄. 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙨 – 𝙆𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙠𝙞

Charles pretends to be intelligent…

I told myself I wouldn’t do this. I thought it would be unlikely that I ever write this piece. I have hinted at it in the past, I have mentioned it in passing in the odd article over the weeks and months, but I never thought I would cover it fully. However, as time goes on, I increasingly receive messages and comments strongly urging me to write about it. And my passion and emotion on the subject has become too strong to ignore. I will finally speak my thoughts on A.I. You asked for it! “A.I.” is very annoying to write. I don’t want to write A.I. without the dots, as it reminds me of Al Green, Al Di Meola and Al Jolson. Lowercase just makes it look like the sound you make when you stub your toe. Putting in the dots wreaks havoc on my obsession with punctuation. I need for a “full stop” to be a full stop, followed by a space, followed by a capital letter. Call it period pains. Because of this, from now on I will refer to A.I. as HAL. If you don’t know why, just go back 23 years.

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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.

𝘼 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙊𝙙𝙙 – 𝘿𝙤𝙢 𝙋𝙞𝙥𝙚𝙧

Charles is feeling a little queer, as it were…

This may upset or offend some readers of faith. No particular faith. If you think you might be one of these people, it may be best to skip this one. Trigger warning over, now let’s commence.

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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.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 (𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙭) – 𝙆𝙚𝙡𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝

Charles pulls the plug in order to…

Progress, is a noun that has a sense of the positive. It suggests “onward and upward”. Progress, is a word that has been bandied about for decades. Maybe even centuries. It was a buzz word long before “diversity”, “pro-active”, “woke”, and indeed “buzz word”. In this sense, we progress, right? We get better, no? Well, I feel the word’s meaning is usually more legend than reality. An illusion. I feel that “progress” is more a synonym for “change”. Supposedly, progress is for the better, but so often it doesn’t quite feel like this. Change, makes it rather more difficult to compare the old with the new, because it is simply different. So our moral-driven minds assume that change must be a good thing and that therefore “change” must be progress, right? Well, sometimes. But more often than not, it is not.

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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.

𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙊𝙣 𝙈𝙮 𝙊𝙬𝙣 (𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩. 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝙈𝙞𝙖) – 𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚

The trail of the lonesome Charles…

This life. This time. This era. We’re all in this together, right? That’s the way of it, no? We help one another in order to be happy and to progress in the best possible way, yes? We all have the same views, thoughts and feelings, and are moving forward towards the same goal? Our governments support and help us in every way possible? Our police protect us? The world is so free of crime that they have little to do but help old ladies across the street? Our friends and family would never let us down? Our chosen lover is with us till the end? God is close at hand, guiding us every step of the way? The weather forecast is accurately predicted by scientists who really know their stuff? When the packet says “whitens teeth in 3 days”, it means “whitens teeth in 3 days”? Google Maps says the bus will be arriving in 12 minutes, so I had better allow around 12 minutes to get to the bus stop? We are one big happy family, smiling through every joyous day so kindly given by the givers of life? No need for looking over one’s shoulder, no need for protection, and no need for worry? Greed is a thing long forgotten, long in the past, as it was deemed simply unnecessary? That leaking sink in the kitchen: the reasonably priced plumber will sort that out in a matter of minutes? In the same way that if someone offers a helping hand, you can rely on said hand, right? I mean, RIGHT??

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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.

𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙗𝙚 – 𝘼𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙖 𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞

Charles attempts to please the majority…

“You can’t please everyone”. How many times have we heard this? It has been said by all walks of life – a parent, teacher, close friend, accountant, lawyer, and just about anyone else who feels the need to provide some sort of unhelpful input. It seems that when you are in a predicament, the simple and seemingly innocent response is, “You can’t please everyone”. It is something automatic that people say. And I suppose in a way it’s utterly true. Factually correct. But still, it does not help in the slightest, and is not so much advice as the feeling of having advised. The feeling that they care about you, as their hand rests on your shoulder, before being carted off to the electric chair. What it really means is, it’s out of your hands and there’s nothing you can do. You’re completely and utterly screwed, whichever way you look at it. Wonderful. Just wonderful. You choose one option and someone isn’t happy. You do the other thing, and someone else isn’t happy. You’re damned if you do etc…. So, where does that leave us? You could hide under the duvet until it all goes away? Seems pretty planny, but it doesn’t, does it. Just go away… It sits there, festering. Twiddling its thumbs and tapping its foot, knowing that you will eventually need to come up for air. And there it will be, just as you left it, staring at you with eager eyes. So maybe you make a stand and become selfish? Please neither side and choose yourself instead? What’s best for YOU? To be all that YOU want to be. But that won’t work either.

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