Well another Thursday has come around and this week was the first time this year that I suffered from the singer's version of brewer's droop! I was as flat as I have been singing for a good time. I suppose I have had a good run of late but tonight I just couldn't hit any note's at all and had to resort to being loud and funny to take the accent off my duff voice on the night. I think my reason for this was the fact that I did two song's that I had totally unprepared for, and my ego got the better of me. But in the true tradition of being a professional I did the only thing I could think of and walked off in a huff!
Anyway back to the song's. Tonight's treats were as follows 1. Burning Heart by Survivor (PI04616) 2. Shine by Take That (SF25107) 3. S.O.S. by ABBA (SFAB0110) 4. Lay Your Love On Me by ABBA (SFAB0207) 5. Angie by The Rolling Stones (LG014134)
Burning Heart by Survivor
First track of the night and totally unprepared for it so walked off as I got to the chorus. I can only put this down to the fact I had not tried it at home at all and just thought it would be easy to sing. I may not give up on this one completely as I think it's poor preparation that led to giving up on it, but when you know a song is going bad it's not worth making yourself look daft. I'm sure all the pro's do it!!
Shine by Take That
Had to redeem myself after the last track so a couple of Stella's later my voice was totally ready for action. It's like wearing a comfy pair of old slipper's singing this song, just feels right. As i've said before Take That have a special place in my singing heart.Maybe it's the Robbie thing or maybe it's just the fact their stuff is just easy to do, I'm not sure but when you need to pull off a good song go back to what you know!
S.O.S. by ABBA
Think I had a go at this one to see if last week's was a fluke and thankfully it wasn't. This is probably one of the few ABBA track's a male vocalist can have a go at (unless your Jimmy Sommerville!!!) It was also an opportunity to do what I planned last week and compare the track's that Ben Mills may of sung on X-Factor.
Lay All Your Love On Me by ABBA
Sharon Osbourne you are spot on. At the time of the ABBA week on the X-Factor I was convinced this was the track that most suited Ben's voice with it having those Joe Cocker undertone's but how wrong could I of been! This is in no way a male vocalist's song so, as I did earlier, I got out why the going was good! Well done Sharon S.O.S. was the perfect choice for Ben.
Angie by The Rolling Stones
Not sang this one for age's and it's one of my top ten by the Stone's. If you listen to the lyrics you can really see how Mick Jagger is pouring his heart into singing it, so that's how best to go at singing it yourself. This is where a singer has to imagine the song's story and put themselves in that frame of mind to get the best of a vocal performance. This obviously doesn't work for every song you sing but if a song is originally sang with feeling I find that if you research the song, find out the story behind it, it can help you sing it with more feeling, so therefore you sound better. Well it's a theory anyway and it work's for me so try it for yourself.
There you go then another Thursday over with. I will definitely not go into another night without warming my voice up properly as I do have a reputation to uphold! Sometimes you can take this too seriously though and that is why I do it for fun! If I was a pro then walking off mid song is a no no and not preparing properly is stupid. I will take this week as a slap on the wrist, give myself a D and write on my paper MUST DO BETTER.
As this week seems to have ended up all serious I have decided to end up this weeks blog on a lighter note with a quote from my favourite person to great Homer Simpson. Don't laugh too soon he has probably the best way of summing up all of life's intricate little problems in a few short words so I may take it upon myself to educate you with one every week to advance your personal well being!! Anyway here goes the first
"No matter how good you are at something, there's always about a million people better than you." Homer J Simpson
Thursday 22nd February
Thursday 15th February
After last Thursday's very quiet night I was expecting a few more people out this week,especially following Valentine's Day yesterday, a few last minute arranged night's out to quell the backlash of wives and partner's not getting what they wanted the day before,but this week was even quieter than last week. Never mind it gives us more of a chance to try out new stuff with not many people to embarrass ourselves in front of!!
My song's this week were as follows 1. Fight For Ourselves by Spandau Ballet (SFG0313) 2. Honky Tonk Women by The Rolling Stones (LG01444) 3. Living On The Edge by Aerosmith (SC8710-01) 4. Patience by Take That (EKI01-01) 5. S.O.S. by ABBA (SFAB0110)
Fight For Ourselves by Spandau Ballet
An old favourite of mine from age's ago. Spandau Ballet are one of the few band's whose song's seem to translate to karaoke very easily. This was an album track from towards the end of their spell at the top and surprisingly is not one of their most well know track's which is a shame as it is a belter!
Honky Tonk Women by The Rolling Stones
One of the most recognisable guitar riffs ever from probably the best band in the world. This track rocks from start to finish and anyone who disagrees is wrong. Again the Stones are a band who's music is easy to sing too. Argument's have ensued in the past at the hotel about the Stone's logo being the most recognisable brand logo ever so for those of you who don't know it here it is...... 
Living On The Edge by Aerosmith
This is one of the many track's by Aerosmith i've always wanted to try but never have before. Steve Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith has got quite a high voice so you find yourself slipping into singing it his way every so often which can result in sounding a bit naff, but I seemed to get through without too much of a problem tonight. Only downside is that it tail's off at the end with some do doo da da's which i'm never comfortable singing, as I always seem to get caught in do doo!!!!
Patience by Take That
This track won best single last night at The Brits marking a remarkable come back for the band in the last year,and I sang this tonight as a bit of a tribute. As the campaign for Brit Rock ensues I have to admit I was a bit of a closet Take That fan in the day and to be fair this is probably now my favourite Take That track. The fact that most of their song's are instantly known does help and of course it helps when all around you know the song. It is great to look out into the audience and see everyone singing a long with you and this is one of those song's.
S.O.S by Abba
Yes i sang an Abba song! I know I know me the rock fanatic singing Abba!! But too make a case for my defence I sang this as Ben Mills sang it on The X-Factor on Abba week and as I have been flicking through my stuff at home I found the Abba track I thought Ben should of sung on the show but didn't which was Lay All Your Love On Me, but Andy hasn't got it in the book so I had to sing S.O.S. instead (maybe they didn't have the music on the X-Factor too!) Surprisingly though I pulled off probably my song of the night. It is quite easy when you get into it and I probably will have a go again, but I will take Lay All Your Love down and maybe do a comparison.
As again it was a quiet night I managed too get a few song's in as you can see,and this is good as these week's help to build your repertoire and it doesn't matter if you make a boo boo as their is no-one in to hear! I'm sure that it will pick up in the next few week's so I will endeavour to make the most of these practice week's!! One final mention to a couple of other people's song's tonight. Shaun did a great version of The Circus by Erasure and Tina and Hayley sang Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics which was brill.
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Thursday 8th February
Another Thursday night and it was very quiet this week due to the snow we had today. As always happens on a quiet night you get more song's in and therefore tend to drink more than on a normal night,this make's getting up for work the next day even more interesting what with snow,ice and a killer hangover to boot! Louise was absent also this week so that put more pressure on the wife and Tina to come up with enough song's to fill the night,even though this didn't stop us all from getting a bit tipsy, largely due to the fact of mixing stella (carlsberg is for girls Shaun!) Jack Daniel's and our new fave Sambuca and lemonade.
Anyway back to the singing. My song's tonight were as follow's 1. Leg's by ZZ Top (TU219-05) 2. Whistle for the Choir by The Fratellis (T15049) 3. Wasting My Time by Default (SC8732-09) 4. Shine by Take That (SF251-07) 5. Piece's Don't Fit Anymore by James Morrison (SF250-17) 6. Call Me by Spagna (SB02459) 7. In The End by Linkin Park (SF185-14)
Legs by ZZ Top
First song so obligatory nerve's but went down ok. Was a bit higher than I expected but coped ok. Good old school rock track.
Whistle for the Choir by The Fratellis
Shaun popped me this one off to practice about an hour before we went to the hotel so only had one attempt at it before going live! Felt it was ok as it's quite an easy song to sing, good melody and low vocal so no high note's to worry about. The Fratellis are one of the best band's around at the moment and this is probably the only one of their track's i can cope with so will probably do this one again.
Wasting My Time by Default
Again only tried this one at home once so a bit wary to do it. Had this one in mind to do for a few week's but only got round to it tonight and found it quite easy as it suit's my vocal's. Kind of rock/ballad so keep's the rock chick's happy. Will definately do it again soon.
Shine by Take That
Second week in a row at this one,and a big improvement on last week's. It's a winner and i'm beginning to prefer this one to Patience as it's more upbeat.
Pieces Don't Fit Anymore by James Morrison
Not done this one for a while so didn't know how to go at it. Last time I sang it I put my own slant on it as i find that the original vocal is a bit too low, but this time I tried it low and it still was ok but will do it next time my way.
Beer has now kicked in
Call Me by Spagna
This was done as a reqest by Tina and the wife for me and Shaun to duet. This 80's classic was a cracking song in it's day and used to have the people bouncing off the wall's in the summer of 87. Our version was not like this at all! Shaun stopped dueting after one line and I got to the chorus and gave up so in tribute to the great Spagna enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2p96brgxKE
In The End by Linkin Park
Me and Shaun again to redeem ourselves at the end of the night. This is probably our best duet as it involve's Shaun rapping and me singing and it's one of the few song's this happen's in,so we've always been able to pull this one off with ease. As usual it went down ok even though the pub was almost empty by the time we sung it.
So all round another good week. Hopefully next week the weather will be better so should be a better night. One other thing, in my drunken state I may have inadvertantly attempted to join a band as a, wait for it, singer. Hmm don't know how to approach this one as yet so will keep you posted......Watch this space!!!!
Thusrday 1st Feb 2007
The First Ever Post
This is it ,the first ever post! I'm here to put my views across on many many subjects but mainly to compete with my friend Shaunios blog http://shaunio.blogspot.com/ which i'm sure will be alot of fun Live Long And Prosper People.....