It’s Not Unusual

Posted on YouTube by snipturn - Glenn Tilbrook and Simon Hanson perform at Blackheath Concert Halls on Sunday December 20 2009 – thanks so much snipturn Simon!

Glenn Tilbrook sings The Tom Jones Classic- It’s Not Unusual – along with The Dancers – Volunteers at his request.

So who are the marvellous Glennettes? Gill, which one are you?

Chris and Glenn on Jeremy Vine

A message from the lovely Paula on the Glenn_List over at Yahoo:

Hi all,
My lovely friend Pete has let me know he heard Glenn’n'Chris are on the Jeremy Vine show tomorrow (Tues 22) and this should be on the ‘listen again’ after for a week – link to the show page and the ‘listen again’ page (if you miss it live) at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/jeremy-vine/
Cheers loves!
Paula

Glenn gigs in Meribel, France

Fancy going on the piste?

Glenn plays the Little World Festival in Meribel, France along with The Feeling, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ed Harcourt and Graham Gouldman from 13 to 19 March 2010.

MERIBEL LITTLE WORLD FESTIVAL combines 5 days of skiing and snowboarding in the largest ski area in the world with entertainment from Europes biggest bands and DJ’s.

Ski/snowboard by day and party from sun set
Over 40 live gigs during the week
FREE outdoor concert on the piste

Glenn Tilbrook – Nottingham Rescue Rooms – 12 December 2009

Glenn live at the Rescue Rooms:

You know what you’re getting with Glenn Tilbrook – solid entertainment from a grown-up artist (shockingly, the Squeeze front man is now in his fifties) carrying a back catalogue you could choke several boy bands with.

Rounding off a 2009 in which he’s visited stages in the USA, Japan and UK festivals as a solo artist – and worked with fellow Squeeze songwriter Chris Difford (with whom he also briefly formed an ’80s pop duo) – Glenn showed no signs of flagging in Nottingham, towards the end of a 24-date UK tour supported by melodic acoustic band The Raglans.

This is how you ensure career longevity – pure sweat.

And giving the punters what they want.

We got plenty of the old favourites – Take Me I’m Yours, Goodbye Girl and Up the Junction – plus Glenn’s use of an enthusiastic audience as backing vocals on songs like Coffee In Bed.

But there was also plenty of the new stuff; three songs alone – the Best of Times, Through the Net and Relentless Pursuit – from ‘Pandemonium Ensues’ (with The Fluffers), one of two albums released this year.

Did I mention that the man works hard?

Glenn also found time for a tale about discovering his ‘real’ father was Jimi Hendrix, sliding into a rousing performance of Voodoo Chile’, playing a guitar backwards across his shoulders.

With a party pleaser like that surely there’s still time for old bandmate Jools Holland to book him for the pianist’s annual BBC TV New Year Hootenanny.

SEAN KIRBY

Fantastic review! I love the idea of Glenn’s back catalogue choking several boy bands!

Glenn plays Bahrain!

Glenn is performing two acoustic shows in Bahrain in January.

Thursday 21st January 2010
The Dilmun Club, Budaiya, Bahrain – Concert style.
Tel: 00973 17 690 926
Show starts 9:30pm.
Tickets BD15/-

Friday 22nd January 2010
Upstairs Downstairs Restaurant, Adliya, Bahrain – Dinner show
Tel: 00973 17 713 093
Show starts 9:30pm.
Tickets BD30/- inc 3 course dinner

Tickets are on sale and are available from the venues. Let us know if you are going!

Chris Difford – Up the Junction Acoustic

Posted on YouTube by Leeds Metropolitan University

Chris Difford plays an exclusive version of ‘Up the Junction’ to a packed lecture theatre of Innovation North students at Leeds Met.
On Thursday 19 November, double Ivor Novello Award winner Chris Difford delivered on song writing to a full lecture theatre. It was a moment to remember for all in attendance, with one member of staff commenting, “I’ve worked here for sixteen years and that was the best hour yet”. Chris’ anecdotes and advice were especially appreciated by the song writers and music production students in the audience. With over 25 years of experience, and a single-minded attitude, Chris has become one of the most successful lyricists of recent times. He first found success as a member of Squeeze with their hit singles including, Cool for Cats, Black Coffee In Bed, Up the Junction and Hourglass.
As a young boy, Chris wrote poetry, inventing stories that would allow him to exercise his vivid imagination and this would later bring him to song writing. When asked about his style of song writing, Chris commented, “Songs are like having kids. If you look after them, some will grow up and become successful. Keep a sharp pencil and a sense of humour. It’s like a muscle that needs exercising to keep fit. Writing two or three lyrics a week, my inspiration comes from many places, like when I was down the gym the other day.”
During the lecture, Chris played Fat as a Fiddle, a humorous, witty lyrical song, that later brought questions about whether he writes other types of songs. Chris talked about Battersea Boys, a sadder song inspired by a family who put their son into a care home because they thought he was gay.
Chris’ anecdotes included stories about being on tour, appearing on Top of the Pops and never being very fashionable, “Squeeze got back together recently, it looked like a bunch of cab drivers having their photo taken”. He also talked about some of his collaborations , which have included working with Elton John. He described that particular experience as an amazing process that saw a song idea turn into a melody and lyrics in 3 minutes and was then, recorded and then produced by 5pm on the same day.
Questions from the audience followed remarks Chris had made during the talk, including who he thought were the top song writers of today (Lilly Allen and Jay-Z). The engaging interview style lecture, ended with news on Chris’ next project called “Saturday Morning Music Club”. The project will be launched next year on Valentine’s day, more details will follow.
Finally, a real treat was in store as Chris played an acoustic live performance of ‘Up The Junction’ to end the session.

Perfect!

FluffersTV: Fun Fine Art!

One of the reasons my old site wasn’t working out as well for me after the initial 8 or 9 years was that my computer was from the Paleolithic Era, and would not play streaming video. This meant that not only was I missing out on things like this (thank you Mr. Tilbrook, that’s just what I needed this morning!), but I could not watch ANY YouTube.

I’ll just pause here to allow the gasps of horror (and perhaps the odd stray tear) to subside…

Yes, it wasn’t really a life worth living, and worse yet it made me an increasingly incompetent webmistress for the Unofficial Glenn Site! I couldn’t listen to most of the interviews, because even the radio ones were often done in video by the final year. So all I could do was link to them and say, “See what you think!” That kind of took the wind out of my News Page writing sails, since I prefer to give my opinion on, well, everything.

But thankfully I finally have a brand new MacBook, and the world of online video is now my oyster! (I’d blog more often, but I pretty much do YouTube 24/7 now…sorry.)

So, what this somewhat longwinded introduction is leading up to is the simple fact that to me FluffersTV is a new thing!

WOW. Wow, wow, wow! Somebody is really fricking good at making those videos!! I mean they look so casual, off the cuff, and fluffy, but look more closely and you’ll see they’re really works of fine art. The camera angles, the composition of the frames, which moments get filmed, and the tight and precise way they’re cut together all look deceptively simple. The songs always fit perfectly, the dialogue snippets are added seamlessly and with great effect, and I have to say that some of the tracks I was less enthusiastic about have been shown to me in a new and improved light. It is simply impossible not to love something presented in such a contagiously fun manner!

There isn’t room for a dull nanosecond in something as short and upbeat as the Fluffers vids, but that just doesn’t seem to be a problem for the videographer. And best of all, he or she seems to really understand and capture the essence and personalities of all the band members and all the songs, weaving everything together to show the viewer how they truly are one and the same: It is clear that Glenn and the Fluffers wrote and performed the songs, and it’s clear that they put a lot of themselves into their music. It may sound trite (to me it sounds understated!), but the result is that the whole really is far greater than the sum of its parts.

So, who is this incredibly talented person who can actually make me like Glenn’s music even more?

I had to find out, so I put on my snoopiest librarian glasses and wrote to the one person who must know. David wasted no time in informing me that it is none other than Simon Hanson!! Dude, you’ve been hiding your (other) light under a bushel!

Long may FluffersTV continue!