Connolly’s Corner

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.

𝙀𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘿𝙖𝙮 – 𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙃𝙖𝙬𝙠𝙚𝙣

Charles apologises to James in advance…

Dzień dobry! I have just come back from a holiday, of sorts. Having not been anywhere in three years, the displacement was well overdue. The last time I went away, it was Poland that was unfortunate enough to have me. Specifically, Warsaw. So for a change, I decided this time to go to Warsaw. I know. Call me old fashioned. “You’re old fashioned”. Yes, yes, well done. But in fact, it is because up to this point my relationship “arrangement” has been an unusual one. My girlfriend of 8 years (the relationship, not the girl, just to be clear…!) is Polish. We have spent the majority of our relationship apart. Alone together, together alone. Not easy. This has been for various reasons, but I will not bore you with the details. I will bore you in other ways entirely. So! Aside from being able to see my lover again, this particular trip was for my girlfriend’s sister’s wedding. I have been to few weddings, and I have never really been a fan. There is usually something very forced, artificial and uncomfortable about them. This one, however, was rather more nerve-racking than usual. I don’t speak Polish, and they don’t speak English. And I was due to be meeting most of her family for the first time. Good, God. But it’s a holiday nevertheless, so I can enjoy it, right? Well let’s see…

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Welcome all to 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗺’𝘀 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝘆𝗴𝗼𝗻, the multi-faceted feature where Pancham_b reviews our usual reviewer’s own music releases. Here, Pancham delves into Charles’ latest single, featured on the 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 playlists.

𝙀𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 – 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙮

Charles Connolly emerges from behind the curtain, wearing a fedora the colour of his soul, a megaphone in one hand, and a drumstick whittled into the shape of an emaciated femur in the other. He puts the megaphone down after yelling “Jet” into the void, and plays a one-handed Toccata and Fugue on a calliope, while marking time on an old tin can of Campbell’s Soup with his femur drumstick. He wears clothes the colour of falling evening, and the music is glorious, and otherworldly.

Listening to the introductory bars of Charles’ new single ‘Europe in the Summertime’, I think, for a brief brilliant second, that it is opening with a calliope. An elegant Black Plague waltz. This could only mean that Charles has finally taken up his pre-destined role as carny barker and bone machine musician, singing not to the faceless tasteless crowds, but to the many many faces of the dark, some with teeth and some without. It is, instead, an accordion, but it is still quite lovely, evoking a war-torn Vienna and Matt Elliott’s beautiful ode to drowning to death. The song bursts into life at the twentieth second. A small fading part of my soul wishes that it had instead tumbled deep into a well, where if you fall deep enough, and you fall some more, and then you keep falling, eventually you will see the universe, replete with exploding supernovae, reflected in the brackish water. But this feeling is short-lived, as the the rest of the song kicks into gear, and as with all of Charles Connolly’s music, this has the appearance of what the kids these days call a ‘banger’, but as with all of Charles Connolly’s music, there is always something deeper to discover if one delves deep enough. On a first listen, to me, the song evokes loneliness, spiritually empty fun, Brexit, and the deep-rooted modern incapacity to be alone, thereby seeking to experience fun almost aggressively once these pandemic restrictions have been leavened. It could also, theoretically, be a vacuous pop track, danced to and forgotten after a couple of cocktails, but this is Charles, a masterly subtle craftsman and I would argue, a great obfuscator of meaning and as I get more and more inebriated while listening to this tune, the layers do become somewhat more apparent.

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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.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 – 𝙑𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙍𝙖𝙞

Charles talks pop, pop and more pop.

Last week we were in Ancient Rome. It’s time to go back to the future. Great Scott (!), I converted too many watts into the flux capacitor! I meant, the present – with a hint of things to come. Within the last week, Coldplay released a new album. It has been pretty much universally panned by the press, but will inevitably reach number one and be massively successful. Being a huge fan of the band however, after only a couple of listens I personally found it rather special. I love upbeat pop and I love their darker more classical side. This is predominantly a “pop” album with an emphasis on the future, space, aliens and all things cosmic. And of course, that vital source of energy for the days not yet lived: Love. The first single from the album was released around 4 months ago. Its futuristic video was full of Chris Martin (their singer: for those of you who have been unconscious for 20 years) with his blue eyes, the most incredible graphics money can buy, and of course, dancing aliens. All quite silly and absurd, but utterly fun! The 80s have lately had the biggest comeback since, well, the 80s. Coldplay has gone heavy on this, but in a tasteful yet blatant way. More importantly though, it is space and the future that has made the biggest comeback of all. In the 90s it was all thought to be rather naff and old hat – we had delivered a man to the moon (for some reason) some thirty years previous. And we were kind enough to bring him back too! This “new” obsession with space travel (by people even richer than I), paranormal activity and general thoughts (and worries) about the future have made many artists fascinated by it all. Some are using it as a tool to raise awareness about climate change or to make us remember that our “world” is just one of many. But some just like to stick with our old favourite theme: love – with a beautiful dusting of modernity. A backdrop of scenery, if you will.

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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.

𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙊𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙈𝙚 / 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙁𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 – 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙨 𝙆𝙖𝙧𝙡 𝙈𝙘𝙉𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮

Charles is taking sides…

To make up for last week’s “lazy” article, I will be doubling up this week… What is a single? I mean these days. It used to be a shiny black groovy platter with a great song on one side, and a very mediocre one on the other. This disc was 7 inches in diameter. I will skip over cassette tapes. Then came the CD. The CD single usually had two or three (or occasionally seven) songs on one side (usually one being decent), and no songs on the other. The disc was 4.75 inches in diameter. I will skip over downloads. Now we have streaming. It is ubiquitous. A modern single for streaming services has no sides, and no diameter. It usually has one song. Usually not that great. There is something so sterile about releases these days, especially when it comes to single singles. No backside, no B-side, and nothing to hold. There isn’t even a barcode to ruin what would have been a perfectly good design. But speaking of design, its cover measures roughly 2 inches on an average sized phone screen. Do you think the cover of Sgt. Pepper would have been devised had it been designed for a canvas of 2 inches…?

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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.

𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙊𝙪𝙩 – 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙢

Charles has misplaced his marbles…

This is the official week of love. Worldwide. Well, it contains a certain lovey-dovey day, anyway. Blooms and box of chocs at the ready? Almost certainly. Sometimes things just work au naturel. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy. And they live happily ever after. Noyce. It does happen, I must assure you. But sometimes it’s not all that easy. Very often it is one-sided to begin with. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy loses mind over girl, girl looks on, girl likes to tease, girl eventually rips heart away from boy because girl thought it would be funny. Romance at its finest! It works well in films, but in real life it is tragic. And usually in films it will end with boy getting girl, and girl seeing error in girl’s ways. In real life, boy is left with trauma, and girl moves on to another victim. This isn’t a boy vs girl piece. It could easily be the other way around, but I am simplifying things by not going the route of “boy/girl meets girl/boy” etc…. It could get pretty confusing and, frankly annoying.

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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.

𝙁𝙪𝙧𝙜𝙤́𝙣 – 𝙀𝙡 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚 𝙅𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙋𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚

Charles speaks but one language…

Andiamo! Despite my blood being decidedly foreign (not meaning I am ridden with germs), I am English. I mean, I was born in England, and have been here all my life. That makes me English, at least in the modern way of viewing things. Right? Well my foreign ancestry takes me back to two other places in the world. My native heritage lies in Italy and Ireland. Or Ireland and Italy, so as not to offend. I believe I am still roughly half English, but it may be less. I am not about to pay a rather large fee for someone to analyse my blood to find out. I don’t care enough. I am who I am, and that is fine with me. England is my love, and so is the English language. But I also feel a huge warmth and fondness for pretty much anything to do with Italy. I also quite like Guinness, when the time is right. And U2. When the time is right. But predominantly it is England that wins my heart. Paddy’s Day is universally known and celebrated. On Saturday it was St. George’s Day, otherwise known as England Day. Did you know? Would you have known if Google hadn’t told you? “England” and “English” are pretty much seen as dirty words here in London. I can’t think why. It saddens me. Everyone should be proud of their own nation. Almost everyone. Ooh! Contention! Joking, of course.

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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.

𝙁𝙪𝙨𝙨 – 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙠 𝘼𝙝𝙡𝙢

Charles lost his soul…

The other night I rediscovered jazz. I had one little melody stuck in my head but I couldn’t think what it was. I was sure it was something from jazz singer Stacey Kent. I scanned through her entire discography. I was wrong. In my head it was both old and relatively new sounding. It wasn’t quite the old grainy jazz of the late 40s and early 50s, but it also didn’t quite have the lustre and close sparkle of newer jazz. I was mainly a bit stuck because I knew that I knew it extremely well, and yet I know VERY little jazz… At first I thought this melody (which introduces the song – I knew THAT much) was piano, but I quickly realised it was saxophone (or trumpet – I just couldn’t quite solidify it in my mind). I had the feel of the playing, but I still couldn’t be definite about the sound. It bugged me for a good half hour. I even tried many Miles Davis tracks, hoping it was either his own trumpet playing, or perhaps John Coltrane on the saxophone. Still couldn’t find it. Something suddenly clicked. I got it instantly. It was Paul Desmond playing the sax. The sound was cemented in my mind and I knew that had to mean one thing. It was a Dave Brubeck song. I have only ever had one album by Brubeck. But it’s an album you all own in one way or an other. Literally each and every one of you has this LP in your possession. And yet, you will all have different versions by different artists. So different that it’s impossible to believe they share the same title. I personally have loads of copies by numerous artists. Any guesses for the title of said album? No…? All right, I’ll tell you. It’s called Greatest Hits. Despite this song I was searching for apparently being on his 1963 album Bossa Nova USA, I only knew it from his 1966 Greatest Hits album. And I cannot imagine how many times I have played this record. It must be hundreds. I know almost every single note of every solo. And yet… I have never really been into jazz…

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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.

𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙤𝙡𝙙 – 𝙍𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙆𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

Charles questions the system…

The night before writing this, my girlfriend and I had a little chat after a delicious dinner with a glass of vino; just the two of us. It was a civilised chat. A mature chat. A really rather adulty chat, if you must know. I mean, you mustn’t know. That is, you need not know. You probably don’t care. But I will say anyway. I want to tell you. Because that’s the kind of bad boy I am. The kind of lad to force information down your throat, whether you want it or not. You only came here for a lighthearted music review…! Well, okay, I’m not really that bad, but I will nevertheless continue like the beastly bully that I am. So yes, between sips of the red stuff we chatted about theories, ideologies and the general way of the world. Vague enough for you? We spoke of early humans. Cavemen being not much more than intelligent animals, spending their days hunting, in order to eat. Just like an animal in the wild. Survival and procreation were literally all to be done. To keep things going, basically. Food, water, shelter and warmth. Nothing more. A traditional farmer was pretty much a more civilised modern version of cavemen (and please, “cavemen” encompasses women as well – let not this article be a chore nor a bore). We spoke of communities in villages, where instead of essentials being bought from a local shop, it was a game of swapsies. A thing for a thing. A skill for a skill. Money, as we know it, was little more than a notion. A concept. Currency had no meaning. No purpose. “More wine, my dear?”, I asked like a charming gentleman. Well actually, I pointed at the bottle and murmured “mm?”, but it has much the same meaning. It’s the thought that counts. Either way, the girl nodded and said “wouldn’t it be lovely if we could get back to those days?”. I filled her glass but had no reply. We then swiftly moved on to more recent times. Not too recent, but let’s say the last few hundred years, for the sake of debate. I need you to stick with me.

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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.

𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙙𝙚 – 𝘿𝙤𝙢 𝙋𝙞𝙥𝙚𝙧

Charles proverbially quotes: Many hands make light work…

“Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Help!” Where would we be without a little help from our friends? What would we do without a helping hand? How much worse off would we be without that leg up from people and things? I think most of us would be pretty useless without stuff and people. Sure, we would still have our wonderfully tailored minds and expertly honed skills, but could we do it alone? What are doctors without medicine? And could they deal with critical procedures without nurses? With all that knowledge and experience, they can’t ALL just say “you’ll get better soon”, because they won’t. Not without help. Does that mean the doctor is not needed if we have medicine and nurses? Of course not. Can’t just pop pills with the hope that one will do the trick. And what about a humble cobbler? For those of a foreign nature or those less endowed with knowledge, a cobbler is not someone who cobbles, but someone who mends shoes (just so you know). Surely this would be a solitary affair and would need no help from others? Well, yes, this is true. But take away their hammer and anvil, and ultimately all you have is a worn booty admirer. So with these tools at hand, is there really a need for said cobbler? Well unless you’re content with hurty feet and hurty thumbs, there is.

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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.

𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝘽𝙞𝙜 – 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝘾𝙖𝙮

Charles tries, tries again…

Big bucks. Big corporations. Fat cats. Think Amazon. Think Apple. Think Shell. Think Facebook. Think Elon Musk. Think Jeff Bezos. Think Mark Zuckerberg. Think Trump (simmer down). Think… Taylor Swift… “Wait, what does SHE have to do with these pigs??” – I didn’t say they were pigs; YOU said they were pigs. “Okay, but what is SHE doing there??” – This intrigues me. Barring the last name mentioned, these are the things and people we are all supposed to hate. Hate with a passion. This whole corporate attitude STINKS!! How DARE they be rich and successful! Okay, okay. Ethically, you’ve got a point. Politically, you’ve got a point. But what it tends to boil down to is entrepreneur minds turning into business people, turning into wealth. Big wealth. I find it interesting that we apparently all love Steve Jobs, yet all detest Tim Cook. Apparently the reason behind this is that “Steve Jobs was some sort of spiritual guru, and Tim Cook is just a money man” (not actually a quote). Wait a sec, you think Jobs was simply passionate about making our lives better…? He was an entrepreneur with unbelievable business skills! He wanted to make a tonne of money! Same as Cook. And both have done rather well.

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