Connolly’s Corner

  • 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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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Why Did You Go? – CHVRLI BLVCK

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Why Did You Go? – CHVRLI BLVCK

    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™ฎ ๐˜ฟ๐™ž๐™™ ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช ๐™‚๐™ค?๐˜พ๐™ƒ๐™‘๐™๐™‡๐™„ ๐˜ฝ๐™‡๐™‘๐˜พ๐™†


    Charles is giving up…


    A tree. A humble tree. There it stands in simple pride, to gaze around with much the same open pensive quality as when I gaze at the tree through my bedroom window. Or at least, this WAS the scene for many years until a couple of weeks ago, when I received a text. The text from my neighbour informing me that I should expect a lot of noise the following day. My heart leapt. This tall, healthy bay tree standing in a garden, a while away from the house, was to be “dismantled”. I put it this way so as not to trigger my sensitive heart once more. And maybe yours. It was crippling to me. Crushing and very lowering indeed. As promised, there was a lot of noise for a while, followed by an eerie silence. I could not even draw open the curtain for two days for fear of an expansive overload of daylight. Eventually I plucked up the courage. And in doing so, I sighed and felt like giving up. I had one question for the tree: Why did you go?


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Turn Down The Loud – Jam Tako

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Turn Down The Loud – Jam Tako

    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™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ ๐˜ฟ๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ฃ ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™‡๐™ค๐™ช๐™™ – ๐™…๐™–๐™ข-๐™๐™–๐™ ๐™ค


    Charles makes something out of somethingโ€ฆ


    Where does it all come from? I mean, where do we get it all? What made us do it? Where do things come from? How do we know how to do things? How do we know what to do? What a lot of generally vague questions to answer. This demands a lot of thought – a difficult thing to do with all the noise these days. Everyone is doing things all the time, but few think about what they are doing. They just do what they do. And make a lot of noise while doing it. So let me zone out for a bit and think. Nope, not working. Too much going on inside my head – donโ€™t laugh. Food. That should help. Yes, food. โ€œOh this is delicious!โ€, I said. โ€œItโ€™s my motherโ€™s old recipeโ€, she said. โ€œOh right, well compliments to your old mother!โ€, I scoffed. โ€œNot my old mother, my motherโ€™s old recipe!โ€, she barked. And so the noise resumed. But it made me think. She didnโ€™t make this noodle wonder from nothing. In the words of a certain Spanish waiter, she โ€œlearnt it, frrrom a booookโ€. Her old motherโ€™s recipe book. Sorry: motherโ€™s old recipe book. It was passed down, from generation to generation. This in turn, made me realise that pretty much everything comes from something in the past. We build upon older, wiser knowledge. We donโ€™t start from scratch each and every time. If we did, we would still be hitting rocks with rocks. I never quite understood why they apparently did that, but anyway. Perhaps a nice interesting tone for sampling at a much later date? Perhaps not.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Wildfire – Lekursi

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Wildfire – Lekursi

    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™ž๐™ก๐™™๐™›๐™ž๐™ง๐™š – ๐™‡๐™š๐™ ๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™ž


    Charles spreads eastโ€ฆ


    Today I will be loose in my terms. I will speak of East and West. Please allow me this over-simplicity in order to make this coherent and enjoyable.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Two Souls – Ed Corrado

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Two Souls – Ed Corrado

    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™ฌ๐™ค ๐™Ž๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™จ – ๐™€๐™™ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ง๐™–๐™™๐™ค


    Charles unconsciously lies to himselfโ€ฆ


    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 โ€œfactual knowledgeโ€. For the sake of simplicity, letโ€™s 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, letโ€™s 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 doesnโ€™t put himself about. In the words of Arctic Monkeys: โ€œBrian, top marks for not tryinโ€™โ€. 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 foolโ€™s 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 neighbourโ€™s 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.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Woman – The Striders

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Woman – The Striders

    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™ค๐™ข๐™–๐™ฃ – ๐™๐™๐™š ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จ


    Charles knows what women are likeโ€ฆ


    Women. Letโ€™s talk about women. โ€œYou sexist, chauvinist pig! How dare you-โ€ WAIT!!! I havenโ€™t said anything yet. Damned trigger people. You see a man talking about women, and instantly youโ€™re on the alert, ready to pounce. โ€œBut youโ€™re obviously going to be saying something negative, otherwise why would you-โ€œ WHY am I OBVIOUSLY going to say something negativeโ€ฆ? What makes you think that? Am I that pessimistic that I only speak negatively of things? โ€œA woman is not a THING!!โ€ Yes, yes, I know that. Thatโ€™s not what I meant, and you know it. Simmer down, and let me speak. Good God, if I said I was going to talk about black people, is that instantly no-go territory because Iโ€™m white? What if I was going to praise Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Dr. Dre and John Legend? โ€œOh, well thatโ€™s okay thenโ€. So let me say something first. THEN you can decide whether pouncing is the necessary action. So. Ahem. Letโ€™s talk about women.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Vacant Dream – Love Crumbs, Cloudbelly

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Vacant Dream – Love Crumbs, Cloudbelly

    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™˜๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐˜ฟ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ข – ๐™‡๐™ค๐™ซ๐™š ๐˜พ๐™ง๐™ช๐™ข๐™—๐™จ, ๐˜พ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ช๐™™๐™—๐™š๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ


    Charles explains, for folkโ€™s sake…!


    I have heard that foreigners learn English from songs. Whilst I can see this being a sensible technique – โ€œbetcha by golly, wowโ€ – it can have its drawbacks. I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together. Wise words. But complicated words, nevertheless. And it probably doesnโ€™t really help muchโ€ฆ There is you, and there is me. And there is them. There is a person, there are persons. There are people and there are peoples. And I would imagine this at times to be rather confusing. There is singular, and there is plural. Take a sheep, for example. Just hold it for a moment. Heavy, right? Now imagine carrying two of them. Two sheeps? Nope. Two sheep. Why? Because it is. Okay, you can put them down now. What about a fish? Well, what ABOUT a fish? Certainly lighter than a sheep. No legs to kick you in the groin. Have another one. Two fishes? Nope. Two fish. unexplainable, but thatโ€™s how it is. How about when you go on holiday and youโ€™re still waiting for your two suitcases to โ€˜ker-chunkโ€™ on to the sturdy conveyor belt at the airport. Surely thatโ€™s two luggages, no? No. You might even have 10, but it will always be luggage. This comes under a peculiar term called โ€˜uncountable nounsโ€™. Other such uncountable nouns include water, bread, flour, rubbish, research and sand. Put all these together and you get a recipe to avoid. In fact, it can be so confusing that even native speakers have started changing the language and incorporating the foreign way of speaking. Pluralising everything. One such example that IS correct though, comes back to where I started. We say โ€œtheyโ€ when we donโ€™t want to mention a specific gender. Despite โ€œthemโ€ being one singular person.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Wonderful You – Frank Joshua

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Wonderful You – Frank Joshua

    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™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™›๐™ช๐™ก ๐™”๐™ค๐™ช – ๐™๐™ง๐™–๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™…๐™ค๐™จ๐™๐™ช๐™–


    Charles speaks franklyโ€ฆ


    Throughout the noughties and early tens, I was obsessed with one particular producer. It seemed to me like he was capable of anything. Whatever he got his hands on, he would turn to greatness. He would make a good thing better. He would make it his own. I also wondered if the artists he worked with minded that each record he produced sounded very much like a โ€œhavenโ€™t mentioned his name yetโ€ album, rather than an album by that particular artist. His stamp. I donโ€™t think they minded though, because if he was involved it was pretty much a guarantee that the record would be fabulous, popular and reviewed well. Praised to the skies, even! The artists he has worked with include Radiohead, Beck, Zero 7, Travis (never mind), Air and a slightly more obscure artist by the name of Paul McCartney. There are of course others, but this is enough to be getting on with for now. While these artists are hugely different from one another, there is something warm and cosy, yet grand and impressive about all of them. This is what this producer manages with everything he touches. His name? Nigel Godrich.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Villain – Bernice Marsala

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Villain – Bernice Marsala

    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™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ – ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ง๐™จ๐™–๐™ก๐™–


    Charles rises aboveโ€ฆ


    Something came to my attention a few weeks back. I am not universally loved. I know! Quite impossible to believe, but there you have it. You can close your mouth now; the shock has passed. But let’s delve. Those of you who weren’t shocked by this news are probably already swearing and shouting at the screen that my arrogance knows no bounds: “He actually thought everyone LOVED him!! Twat”. And these are the very people who seemingly very much misunderstand me. Itโ€™s a joke (laugh with me?)! But they wish not to understand me, of course, because then they couldn’t continue enjoying the private maligning of moi. It seems that some people believe I am against them. That I am above them in some way or other. Just because I was educated somewhat decently and Iโ€™m able to express myself with words, I am seen to some as being some sort of snobby toff. Or toffy snob, but that sounds like a sweet Yorkshire treat from the 1950s: a Toffee Snob, probably nicknamed โ€˜a Londonerโ€™.


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  • ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Viva La Vita – Gayle Skidmore

    ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐—น๐—น๐˜†โ€™๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ – this week: Viva La Vita – Gayle Skidmore

    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™ž๐™ซ๐™– ๐™‡๐™– ๐™‘๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™– – ๐™‚๐™–๐™ฎ๐™ก๐™š ๐™Ž๐™ ๐™ž๐™™๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š


    Charles lives life to the maxโ€ฆ


    โ€œLife is for livingโ€! We have heard it all too many times. But letโ€™s be realistic here. Most people donโ€™t actually really think like this. The more standard approach is probably: life is fine for some, but weโ€™ve got to pay the bills and sort out tax returns. Or as Lennon put it, โ€œLife is what happens to you while youโ€™re busy making other plansโ€. This is all so wrong. I mean Lennon is right, but you hopefully know what I mean. Despite what the believers say, we only have one shot at this. And although life is famously โ€œtoo shortโ€, we are quite generously given around 80 or so years these days in which to โ€œdoโ€ it – not really THAT shortโ€ฆ I have always found it rather ironic that when weโ€™re young and agile most of us sit at a desk and work for most of our lives, but as soon as we hit around 65, we are allowed to stop working and enjoy the rest of our lives. By which point you are unable to do anything you might still wish to do because your limbs are aching and you canโ€™t see or hear properlyโ€ฆ It would almost make more sense to do it the other way around. To do everything you might want to do in life while young, and then sit at a desk and work when youโ€™re older. The mind is usually more experienced and wise in the latter years – if it hasnโ€™t gone completely, of course. Sitting is no problem at age 75. So easy, I could do it standing on my head! Or maybe not. The vital flaw in this theory is that it would be somewhat of an anticlimaxโ€ฆ One has to have something to look forward to. Wheelchair races, perhapsโ€ฆ? Perhaps not. This theory will forever remain a theory and is not going to happen. So the point is, we must USE life. It is there for the taking! It could be anything from travel to challenge to mastering an art or craft. Just anything, really. The important thing is enjoyment and fulfilment. A sense of accomplishment is ideal, but if one even has a smile on oneโ€™s face, a goal has been achieved. Life is not something to have been resentfully โ€œgot throughโ€. As Lennon said, we often plan to do things, but rarely actually get around to doing them. Thatโ€™s not enough. Unless you particularly enjoy planning, in which case you should consider a career in management or as a P.A. I personally do not want anything to do with management. Planning is good, but there is a tendency to have a forever growing bucket list (thereโ€™s that word again – always with the bucket).


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