Mango Groove - Live in Concert DVD

I remember once saying to Claire Johnston that I didn't believe that the value of music lay in how many sales you notched up. She knowingly smiled and said nothing, and I hope she took what I said to mean: That it doesn't matter if you're always on the top of the charts – if your music is honest and good-spirited, it will mean more to people and they'll treasure it for their whole lives.

Not that Mango Groove are strangers to chart-topping – they've had close on a dozen South African number one hits. And yet when I think about Mango Groove's legacy, it seems like the whole equals a lot more than the sum of its parts, so to speak.


For example, there's often a debate in the music industry about whether or not we can ever define a South African Music. It's a hotly-debated topic, but it's also one that overcomplicates a simple truth; that South African music is what it is – music made by South Africans in a spirit that reflects the (ideal) South African character, regardless of genre or style, or whatever.


Is there any better example of this than the music made by Mango Groove over the last – what is it – 25 years or so? Watching this band perform its specially-staged concert intended for DVD, it's very hard to imagine how anyone could dispute this to be a purely South African music – love it or hate it.


DVD EXTRA: Everyone's Dancing





Of course, there may be elements that won't work for everyone – I still don't fully get the iconic dancing schoolgirls so evident in all South African depictions – but that's just me. I tend to notice that the band slices through their catalogue like a seasoned professional unit, but with a specific acknowledgement of their audience's attachment and participation in their songs. And they really do seem to have fun and love what they do!


Special Stars



Mango Groove emerged from an era of deep divide and unrest in this country (John Leyden started the band in 1984 with Andy Craggs and Aaron Lerole), yet musically they managed to remain almost ethereally detached from the political and social anxieties that surrounded them. As a band they've produced a whole bag of good pop songs – and a few absolutely brilliant ones, too.





The band is as much loved by white South Africans as by black South Africans (and yes, all South Africans in between, as is evident in the shots of the crowd) – can you imagine ANY South African not recognising the opening strains of "Special Star"?


So it is fitting that this DVD is essentially a Greatest Hits effort, packaging the band's singles and hits in one epic performance (110 minutes). It is also a much-needed document of how music of one era remains critically important as a national treasure.


And so, to finish what I might have said to Claire Johnston: Mango Groove's legacy is that though we live in a country where we are very aware of how flawed things are, this music reflects the people of our country as they should be – celebratory, joyous, and above all, together.

TRACKLIST:
Track 1 - Shoo Roop        
Track 2 - Hometalk        
Track 3 - Move Up        
Track 4 - Love Is        
Track 5 - This Is Not A Party        
Track 6 - Marabi Party        
Track 7 - Moments Away        
Track 8 - Pretty        
Track 9 - Hey!        
Track 10 - My Blue Ocea        
Track 11 - Bang The Drum        
Track 12 - Penny Whistle        
Track 13 - Another Country        
Track 14 - Mbube / The Lion Sleeps Tonight        
Track 15 - Hellfire        
Track 16 - Dance Some More        
Track 17 - Everyone's Dancing        
Track 18 - Special Star        
Track 19 - Nice To See You        
Track 20 - Bang The Drum EPK        
Track 21 - This Is Not A Party - Video        
Track 22 - Belong        
Track 23 - Everyone's Dancing        
Track 24 - Give It (All Day, All Night) - Video

Roxette - Charm School

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Roxette's appeal back in 1988 was not without merit. Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle certainly had a knack for epic pop hooks and managed to install themselves into a world consciousness despite being that much removed from the UK and US-dominated markets.

In 2011, about a decade since they last released an album, Roxette are much the same beast. They show flare in the classic pop songwriting department, and if this were the early 90s, they'd probably have another few singles off the album on high rotation through the major channels.

But, this being 2011, the market isn't as hungry for good pop songs as it is for spectacle and flash.

Lead single "She's Got Nothing On (But The Radio)" has enjoyed a modicum of radio success despite a title that rivals Britney's "Hold It Against Me" in its groan factor.   "I'm Glad You Called" and "Dream On" also stand out for their tips to a more old-school style of writing.

The rest feel like old Roxette, and sound like old Roxette, and therein lies both the problem and the salvation. Roxette aren't exactly looking to play on the same level they did back in the day. Like Duran Duran they've decide to embrace that which originally made them famous.

And that's ok, because fans will know what they're getting, and at least in places like Germany, Austria and Switzerland those fans are still in the majority.

Related articles

• Roxette live in Cape Town (lipglossismylife.com)
• Roxette in Retrograde (lenaski.wordpress.com)

Elbow - Build a Rocket Boys!

Sometimes great music is all about balance. Balance between the bombast and the economy; balance between the otherworldly and the rational; balance between the inventive and the mechanical.

Rarely does an artist find that balance on one entire album, as Elbow does on this, their fifth effort. Guy Harvey's lyrics are simultaneously esoteric and earthly, as in when he opens the album with: "The birds... are the keepers of our secrets."

An album's worth of motive-driven poetic phrasings follow, layered over steady rhythmic percussion sections. Almost all the songs contrast stark and minimal with layered and sweeping  – "With Love" is barely a kick-and-handclaps rhythm and hammered motive before it evolves into backing chorus of several voices simply emphasising the words "with love".

VIDEO: Elbow - "Lippy Kids"




Such as it is, the music of Rocket skips deftly along the divide between misery and joy, and sometimes it even achieves both emotions in the same music or lyrical phrase. "We got open arms for broken hearts" they sing, perhaps not ironically describing Elbow as a musical entity in its own words.

There's true love put into these songs... they effectively reveal the mechanics... the mathematics, if you will... of music to be incredibly liquid and affecting in their proper application. Build a Rocket Boys! is Elbow's best album to date, and that's no throwaway feat, given the calibre of the work preceding.

Let's Boks: A Facebook Conversation

Image via Wikipedia

Anton Clark-Five Marshall > Steve Smith Let's boks (box)

Steve Smith You can only bob & weave for so long Mr Marshall. If the left don't get you the right one will.

Anton Clark-Five Marshall Bobbing and weaving are for women from the 50s. And "weave", huh?... some kind of ethnic jibe, no doubt.

Steve Smith Totally. I'm having a go at Scandinavian chicks on a Southern African holiday...

The Great Vegetarian Pizza Test

It's been bugging me for years - the question concerning whose pizza is better... so yesterday I finally just took the leap and went out and bought two vegetarian pizzas from two separate outlets.

Sidenote 1: Yes, this taste test was limited to two major pizza chains. As far as gourmet pizza goes, I have to say that Posticino's in Sea Point is pretty tough to beat. 

Sidenote 2: I'm a rabid meat eater. But slap so much as a sliver of a hint of anything that bled on my pizza and i kill you. Seriously. No, really. So when you order pizza for me... ixnay with the meatnay. Anyway...


So... two medium sized pies for the expert panel (of two people)... and by medium I mean rather smaller than the medium I remember from the 80s.

First criteria - price. And to alleviate and standard discrepancies both have extra mozzarella ordered. Pizza Elmo: R53; Pizza Debbie R52. Marginal  as to irrelevant price difference.

But then it gets weird. We decided that Elmo was a lot more appealing to look at at. It seemed more "put together" and "pretty" if that's how you want to put it.

Ultimately, though, you don't buy a pizza to look at it, and in the final analysis we agreed that Debbie just had the more satisfying taste. I felt the tomato base was what made the difference for me. 

So now I know when someone suggests we get Pizza and asks from where... I 'll say... Debonaires.

What's your experience?