I had a great holiday in France, spending some of the time heading off to Vide Greniers (attic clearances) in pretty villages.

Hunting down vinyl and other interesting bits and bobs, I came across this.

The group is called The Voices of East Harlem. This single takes two songs from their first album Right On Be Free (1970). I have put a

Sheer and utter uplifting joy.

Nothing that helps Brands connect with music or music connecting with brands, but pure pure beauty.

That’s it really. Just wanted to share that with you.

This Cover Mount CD came with Mojo magazine last Summer. I always planned to listen to it, but it just hung around in the wrapping for a long time.Not unusual for a cover mount CD…I have a fair few dotted around still calling out to me to play them. After having such low expectations of cover mounts these days, I have managed to muffle out the cries. For some reason though, this CD finally got played and played and played…

The standout tracks for me are Pentangle (Helping Hand), Davey Graham (Blues Raga), Woven Hand (Swedish Purse), Espers (Children of Stone) and the wonderful Akron/Family (Gone Beyond).

Post Script: What Cover Mount CDs stand up as stunning compilations?

Kids at the back of the bus. One plays a beat that he made the night before to his friends. They decide whether it lives or dies before the bus comes to a stop…

There is the obvious outcome of high irritation levels of fellow passengers. Plus the future of the music industry could look more precarious if creation, distribution and consumption takes place beyond the number 137 bus.

Furthermore, with such a public display of your music tastes, the protagonists know they will irritate some people but get approval from your group at the same time. This is not new though, this trend reminds me of the boombox generation.

What is worse…people cutting themselves off from the community with little white ear plugs or people making a statement with their mobile music? Give me the second one any day…

I love this. A school in the north east of England has played calming classical and sounds from nature to the kids at lunchtime and before they head off home. The same soundtrack has been played at the local metro station too.

The aim has been to make lunchtimes a little less rowdy and the journey home a little calmer. It seems to have worked too.

This reminds me of how music played a great role in calming football fans down at the European football Championships 2004. The Dutch authorities played happy dance tunes to the English footy fans, putting them in a positive mood as they downed the beers. Meanwhile in Belgium, the authorities used water cannons and riot police to deal with the fans.

The only worry I have is that some teachers might take it upon themselves to share their ‘chill-out music’ for ‘the kids’. Will we get ‘Morning Has Broken’, ‘Kumbaya”, ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Greensleeves’, ‘All things bright and beautiful’ and Enya?will it be Miles Davis and Elgar? Or will it be more Acid House, Sonic Youth and Happy Mondays and Bjork?

Will keep you posted…

I have been posting a lot on the recent Understanding Digital Youth conference over on the citizenbay blog.

At the conference, there were a panel of young people who were bombarded by questions from the conference attendees. Not exactly a true insight into youth culture and thinking, but of more worht than a staged focus group in my opinion.

The group were asked about their views on music piracy. The general feeling was that if they could copy a friend’s CD they would. If they could get music for free they would. Nothing new here.

However, Matthew mentioned that for him the need to own something is stronger when it comes to Gaming. If he was to choose between owning a Game and owning a CD, he would choose the Game every time. For him and for others he knows, a video game has value amongst his peers. They can be swapped, traded like cards. With CDs he see no long term value, he just sees them as something that loses value over time. So what does a Game have that a CD doesn’t? Something in that for more exploration…

Not known for my love of focus groups as a way of getting insights on what consumer think about brands. Same for the world of music.

No way that focus groups could have helped the late great Ahmet Ertegun when he set out to start Atlantic Records.

We started Atlantic simply because we wanted to sign a few artists whose music we liked, and make the kind of records that we would want to buy.

I honestly never imagined I would be able to make a living from doing something that was so much fun. I am very glad I was wrong.

Brands who wish to be Brave can learn a thing or two from the story of this man. Sometimes you just know what you are doing is right. So do it and believe.

Really interesting post on the death of music retail by Andrew Dubber, degree leader of Music Industries at UCE Birmingham.

His suggestion is for the independent stores to give up the ghost and go online, creating your community there. Very thoughtful piece from someone who clearly loves the independent store but fears for their future if they do not adapt.

I joined MOG thanks to John Ingham, but don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

For those not in the know, it is a fantastic little place to share your music and discover new music from others. Nothing new I guess, but it really is great. Once MOG took hold of my iTunes library, I was in. I could see who else was listening to music like me. First song on my list was the great jazz vocalist Andy Bey (with a version of River Man by Nick Drake that is stunning). I found four others on MOG with Andy Bey tunes in their list and within hours we were sharing favourite tracks of his. So at the blink of an eye, I was connected and sharing with others…and that was with only the first song on my list.

Now here is my worry. I have a host of other tunes on my list. If I start chatting to everyone about every tune I have and they have, where will it end? This will be an addiction before I know it…

If you are weak like me, then stay clear. Otherwise be prepared to lose yourself

By the way, the Sting songs on my iTunes are there because I had to put them on to my partner’s iPod…honest. The Yes songs though are all mine. You will find me under citizensound…