Category Archives: Music

Killing the Sound

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’m not to sure about the name, but I was a a wedding last night at the Lake George Winery (nice venue) at which the music was performed by a group of young men, called ‘Killing the Sound‘. As the … Continue reading →

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Unused features

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

The other day when I went to pick up my daughter from school, I decided to load Bach’s ‘Golderg Variations’, as performed by Glenn Gould, in the car CD player. All part of the ongoing musical education for my kids. … Continue reading →

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Mark Steyn on Progressive Rock

Posted on January 18, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

In discussing his new book A Song for the Season on ‘Counterpoint’ on ABC Radio, Canadian writer Mark Steyn remarks: I think I say somewhere in the book, while it’s not technically true that inside every great freeform progressive rock … Continue reading →

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The Wall Street Journal on the re-ordering of the music recording industry

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

The Wall Street Journal today has an interesting piece on how international record companies are gradually accommodating themselves to the fact of digital technology. As it puts it: But after suing some 35,000 music fans for illegally downloading songs, music … Continue reading →

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The Ballad of Dwight Frye

Posted on April 29, 2008 by Stephen Dawson

Last night I watched, with one of my daughters, the 1922 version of Nosferatu. The picture quality wasn’t particularly good, yet it was still strangely powerful at certain points. My daughter, who has read Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, of which … Continue reading →

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Weird scenes in the musical mind

Posted on October 16, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

One of my favourite LPs, way back when I was at school, was The Doors’ Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine. This was a two LP best-of compilation of previously released tracks, plus one otherwise not-existing track. I recall taking … Continue reading →

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Euro-NTSC

Posted on March 18, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

The other day my brother, who is somewhat of an Austria-phile, was pondering his collection of DVDs of the annual Vienna New Years Day concerts. As he says: Each year it is released on a different label although the content … Continue reading →

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The CD jukebox syndrome

Posted on December 16, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Get the rockiest CD you can think of where the music thereon was recorded in, say, the 1970s, and play it. Then get just about any modern pop recording. Which is louder? The latter. This is not for no reason. … Continue reading →

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Lileks, Disney, Mussorgsky, Stokowski and Bach

Posted on October 28, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

In Monday’s typically elegant Bleat, James Lileks analyses the musical and animation content of Disney’s Fantasia, with a particular emphasis on Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain. To be honest, I’m not especially familiar with the movie (the DVD version … Continue reading →

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And now for the bad news: the rise of the Music DVD

Posted on September 3, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Warner Vision Australia has issued a press release on the growth of DVD sales in Australia. The good bit: … the DVD industry booming at 102% compared to the previous year (by unit growth) …This year, the DVD software market … Continue reading →

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