Thirteen Ways To Kill A Poet

Introduction

This was getting a few hits on my blog, and I like the title, but I can't remember where I got it from. Incidentally, I was listening to "Selling England By The Pound" today and thought I might write something inspired by it. Then I found this, which has a lot of what I was going to say, so I thought I would share it with a few of the songs from the album, but you already have one.

The current blog is here if you wish to sample it, though it is mainly about the books I am reading these days.

Thirteen Ways To Kill A Poet

This is not about "Thirteen Ways To Kill A Poet", but it's another thing that leapt out at me while reading "David Bowie: A Life" by Dylan Jones. It was an idea for a film that Martin Scorsese had, to get thirteen directors to direct sections of a film with that title. He had in mind Terry Gilliam (my favourite director), Wim Wenders and David Bowie (due to stuff like "Ashes To Ashes" and other Bowie videos), but Scorsese, due to timings and availability, was unable to make it happen, so it remained a dream project.

I also discovered that Duncan Jones (aka Zowie Bowie and director responsible for two of my favourite science fiction films of the last ten years, "Moon" and "Source Code") worked on building the puppets for Labyrinth. David had tried to get him to learn a musical instrument saxophone or guitar, but Duncan was always more interested in film.

One of the reasons to read, you can always discover fascinating facts about people who interest you.

Yesterday, on my walk to work, I put on Genesis' "Selling England By The Pound". I suppose that has been the Tory policy for the UK since I've been aware of politics. Genesis at the time were the acceptable face of progressive rock, but parts of this have not dated that well although overall it is still an excellent album. "The Battle of Epping Forest" was the epic centrepiece to the album, but suffers from some sub "Carry On" character humour. Peter Gabriel used the song for several characters, some right down embarrassing now, though OK at the time.

The album is bookended between the gentle but strangely eerie "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight" and the list of supermarket names for "Aisle of Plenty", a beautiful coda, but the lyrics, while sort of clever, do grate a bit.

It features Phil Collins' debut Genesis vocal on "More Fool Me", which closes side one, and his similarity to Peter Gabriel is similar to the Roger Daltrey / Pete Townshend situation in the Who, where the vocalists start to sound like each other.

"The Battle of Epping Forest" is followed by what I originally regarded as a throwaway instrumental, "After The Ordeal", but that turns out to be an impressive piece. Next up is "The Cinema Show", eleven minutes, which doesn't start well with some very twee lyrical play, but it builds into another brilliant instrumental tour de force.

After the quiet intro "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight", it develops with a particularly vicious riff before drifting into the single "I Know What I Like" in which Gabriel hits us with a West Country accent, but this is controlled and results in an excellent song. "Firth of Fifth" is essentially a nine-minute piano-driven piece, which is one of the high points of the album.

So I'll leave you with a live take of the opening song, enjoy your Tuesday.