Rocking Saturday Evening With The UnXpected, As Expected

If you are a rocker in Singapore, there is no better place than "Wala Wala" to be in on saturday evenings! The UnXpected performs there from 9:30PM until 1:30-2:00AM. Let me give you the ingredients of last saturday evening (23rd Sep 2006) and it will prolly explain why I say – “there is no better place than Wala Wala...”

• Window (Original Song)


• Walk Away (Original Song)


• Radiohead - High & Dry


• Oasis - Wonderwall


• Coldplay – Yellow


• Pearl Jam - Black


• Skid Row - I remember you


• Dire Straits - "I Want My MP Three" oh..i meant "Money For Nothing" :)


• U2 - Vertigo


• Black Sabbath - War Pigs


• Metallica - Enter Sandman


• Beatles Medley
  
  
  
  • From Me To You
  
  
  • Ticket To Ride
  
  
  • I Wanna Hold Your Hand
  
  
  • Help!
  
  
  • Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
  
  
  
  


• John Lennon/The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down


• Queen - Don't Stop Me Now


• Queen - Under Pressure


• The Doors - Roadhouse Blues

I must say you have to see them perform once to feel the magic. Once again, The UnXpected is:

Shirlyn - Lead Vocals & Rhythm
Rene - Lead Guitar
Brandon - Drums
Asri / Colin - Bass Guitar
Joan – Keyboard & Violin (Catch her in Balaclava & Muddy Murphy’s)

“Wala Wala” also offers Non-Smoking Chicken-Wings-Smelling Cozy Ambience (As Shirlyn describes it), friendly staff & 1-for-1 drinks all night. So guyz if you were not aware about "The UnXpected" and Wala Wala earlier, it's never too late. Mark your calendars now for tomorrow evening in Wala. A few conditions –

• Vote for your Favourite Singapore Band first. Email your votes to vote@power98.com.sg with your name, IC and contact number. Make sure you vote for "Shirlyn and The UnXpected".


• “Don’t grab my table in Wala – The one right next to the stage” :)
  

Electric Light Orchestra!

I bought their "Definitive Collection" audio CD day before yesterday and have been listening to it back to back since then. I had discovered this band a few months back [Thanks to Hearts - Clarence Chan, Balraj Gopal, Francis Sta Maria & Roger Perera] but I couldn't quite understand their greatness earlier. Their music is greatly inspired from Beatles and they are just too good.

Check out these songs and find it out yourself:

Can't Get It Out Of My Head


Strange Magic

The Scientist

Awesome song!! Awesome video!!!

Lyrics

Come up to meet you, Tell you I’m sorry, You don’t know how lovely you are
I had to find you, Tell you I need you, Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets, And ask me your questions, Aww let’s go back to the start
Runnin’ in circles, Comin’ our tails, Heads on the science apart

Nobody said it was easy
It’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard

I was just guessin’, At numbers and figures, Pullin’ the puzzles apart
Questions of science, Science and progress, Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me, Come back to haunt me, Oh when I rush to the start
Runnin’ in circles, Chasin’ our tails, Comin’ back as we are

Nobody said it was easy
Aww It’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I’m goin’ back to the start

Ahhooooooooooooooooo
Ahhooooooooooooooooo
Ahhooooooooooooooooo
Ahhooooooooooooooooo

Yellow

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah they were all yellow,

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow

So then I took my turn
Oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know for you i bleed myself dry
For you i bleed myself dry

Its true look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine
look at the stars look how they shine for you

Across The Universe!

Somebody requested this song yesterday night at Wala Wala. I was a bit surprised as I always thought people don't follow "The Beatles" here in Singapore. Good for me :) Looks like Beatlesmania is starting to grow.

All credit goes to Shirlyn and the UnXpected! You guyz have given "The Beatles" numbers a different meaning. Shirlyn's amazing vocals & stunning stage presence does full justice to the gr88 John Lennon. Rene, Brandon, Asri, Joan & Colin are awesome in their respective departments too.
Rene - Lead Guitar
Brandon - Drums
Asri / Colin - Bass Guitar
Joan - Keyboard

I have seen the UnXpected performing following Beatles numbers so far:
1. Help!
2. Oh! Darling
3. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
4. Across The Universe
5. From Me To You
6. I Wanna Hold Your Hand
7. Ticket To Ride
8. We Can Work It Out

Desperately waiting for this John Lennon number:
- Don't Let Me Down

and many more...

So guyz, if you happen to be in Singapore, you know where to catch the UnXpected. Check out their Calendar

Coming back to "Across the universe" (I will write more about the UnXpected later), here are a few details about the song (Courtsey Wikipedia):

________________________________________________________________

"Across the Universe" is a song by The Beatles that first appeared as a charity single release in December 1969, and later, in modified form, became a standout track on their May 1970 album, Let It Be. The song features John Lennon singing lead, who was also the primary composer (though, as with all Beatles songs written by either composer, the song is formally credited to Lennon-McCartney). It is widely considered to be one of Lennon's most heartfelt and beautiful pieces, yet it had one of the most convoluted production and release histories of any Beatles' song.

Composition

In 1967, John's relationship with his wife, Cynthia Powell was falling apart. One night, the phrase "words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup" popped into his mind. Intrigued, he rushed to grab a paper and pencil. He began to write the rest of the lyrics, and when he was done, he went to bed and forgot about them.

In the morning, John found the paper on which he had written the lyrics and brought them down to his piano, where he began to play chords, and find pitches to match the words. The flavor of the song was heavily influenced by Lennon's and The Beatles' short-lived interest in Transcendental Meditation in late 1967 - early 1968, when the song was composed. Based on this he added the mantra (Jai Guru Deva Om) to the piece, which served as a link between the bridge and verse.

The structure of the lyrics is straightforward: three repetitions of a unit consisting of a verse, the line "Jai Guru Deva Om", and the line "Nothing's gonna change my world" repeated four times. The lyrics are highly image-based, with abstract concepts reified with phrases like thoughts "meandering", words "slithering", and undying love "shining". The title phrase "across the universe" appears at intervals to finish lines.

Lyrics

Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
That call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru deva
________________________________________________________________

Beatles are undoubtedly the BEST...

A Day In The Life

A momentous recording in every way, melding riveting Lennon lyrics and a contrasting yet perfectly applicable verse penned by Paul McCartney to two superb and effective orchestral buildups and a seemingly everlasting coda - the long, long crashing piano and harmonium chord which slowly evaporates into silence and the end of the album.
David Crosby was at Abbey Road studios when The Beatles were recording this. In an interview with Filter magazine, he said: "I was, as near as I know, the first human being besides them and George Martin and the engineers to hear A Day In The Life. I was high as a kite - so high I was hunting geese with a rake. They sat me down; they had huge speakers like coffins with wheels on that they rolled up on either side of the stool. By the time it got the end of that piano chord, man my brains were on the floor."

Lyrics:

I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph.
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.
I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look
Having read the book.
I'd love to turn you on
Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
Somebody spoke and I went into a dream
I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
I'd love to turn you on

Riders On The Storm

Facts about the song:

• This was the last song Jim Morrison recorded. He went to France and died a few weeks later. The single was released in June, 1971, shortly before Morrison's death.


• If you listen closely, you can hear Jim Morrison whispering the lyrics over his own singing. This causes a kind of creepy effect.


• The Doors brought in bass players Marc Benno and Jerry Scheff to play on the album. Scheff came up with the distinctive bass line after Manzarek played him what he had in mind on his keyboard. It took a while to figure out, since it was much harder to play on a bass than a keyboard.


• This evolved out of a jam session when the band was messing around with "Ghost Riders In The Sky," a cowboy song by Stan Jones.


• Ray Manzarek used the electric piano to create the effect of rain.


• Paul Rothchild, who produced The Doors' first 5 albums, decided not to work on this because he didn't like the songs. He thought this sounded like "cocktail music." The Doors ended up producing it themselves with the help of their engineer, Bruce Botnick.

Some interesting comments about the song:

• Definitely appreciated on a new level when stoned. Next time it rains sit in a room with a joint, crank up the sound and watch the rain...very eery, feels like Jim comes back to say hello... Nice touch being it was the last most of us heard of his voice. A beautiful song, I believe it is about us being thrown into this life with no choice and no idea where we are from, maybe another piece he tuned into in from the other side..just before he crossed over...


• jim will always be with us! long live the lizard king!


• this is one of the greatest doors songs and yes you do appreciate it more when youre high! you really get lost in it, especially ray's solo


• One of my all time favs........i realised there was JIM whispering in the background after listenin to it UNDER WEED......hehe.....makes it sound as if its a voice coming from inside..... Jim really knew how to CREATE pictures in front of ur eyes.....


• excellent song, the way it flows just makes you feel something inside yourself. powerful in a way that I can't really understand.

Lyrics:
Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm.

There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirming like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If you give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah.

Girl you gotta love your man
Girl you gotta love your man
Take him by the hand
Make him understand
The world on you depends
Our life will never end
Gotta love your man, yeah.

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm.