Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Two videos for the edification of aspiring Australian Idols

I'm working on a long post about No Country for Old Men (the movie not the book) but I've mostly been drifting around YouTube looking for hours in a hypnotised sort of way at early footage of all my formative musical influences. So while I work on the serious post, here as filler is one of said influences plus some girls I've never seen before, singing one of my absolutely favourite songs.

Idol aspirants of 2008! Will you be able to achieve even the palest shadow of these two performances (one for boys and one for girls here) when the time comes to co-operate and sing in a group? If not, go home now and save yourselves the humiliation.

So here are Crosby Stills and Nash around 1970,



and the Wailin' Jennys in 2006.



Note also that all six of these people actually look like adults. Observe in particular the mesmerising beauty of Stephen Stills at 25, already a veteran of university, the army, and Buffalo Springfield with Neil Young, and despite the early-70s hair and sidies -- that's genius you see glowing there. No amount of product or styling can replace it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to your thoughts on "No Country" - it was one of those movies that I saw and then immediately went online to check out other people's reviews, and wondering whether I needed to read the book to come to terms with the ending.

M-H said...

You say it sister! (and thanks for the pleasant musical start to my day and for introducing me to a new group)

fifi said...

I was 8 when my aunty bought that CSN album, it was still my favourite (having stolen it from her) when I was 16.

I just had such a moment then: I can still sing that song all the way through. those harmonies...

wow.

hastening off to itunes.

thanksyou.

TimDunlop said...

I'm looking forward to your review too. I hated the movie, but would be willing to give it another watch -- with appropriate guidance! Haven't read the book either, though most reviews claim the movie is extremely faithful to it.

Glad to see you like the Jennys. Saw CSNY in 2003 and was most impressed with Stephen Stills. He shone, and was very much the musical leader on stage, which surprised me. But what a sublime combination of talents...

Robyn Rinehart Art said...

Oh, those halcyon days of innovation, not imitation...........

Anonymous said...

Cheers for that.

Australian Idol will no doubt be a long line of wailing banshees again this year, with a few incredible talents in the midst.

Make sure to watch (if you haven't already) Heart of Gold, the Jonathan Demme film of Neil Young live. So good. There's a beautiful moment in the film where mid-song Neil turns around and looks at his wife, Pegi. It's a look that only a couple that have been together so long and been through so much could achieve.

lucy tartan said...

I thought the movie was not-bad. I think I still prefer Fargo, though. Looking forward to your post.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Jennys clip. I've also loved that song since coming across a haunting version on a compilation of trad Irish music called Bringing It All Back Home, that one done by a male a capella group called The Voice Squad