Friday 17 September, 2004
Secret of Life
There's a girl who doesn't care
About the clothes she's supposed to wear
Or if the people choose to stare
This could be the secret of life
This could be the secret of life
Secret of life
Quite some time ago I heard on the radio about a curiosity called The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - a bunch of people who believed that there is no song or genre of music that couldn't be played with ukulele. The interviewer didn't really know if these people could be taken seriously or not, despite their vocalist's Kitty Lux's most serious attitude - and to be honest I wasn't sure either. However their cover of Miss Dynamite was left playing in my head, on and off for weeks.
So couple of months ago I got their CD Secret of Life and wow - this could be one of the year's best CDs for me, right after Patience. When Kitty Lux said anything can be played with ukulele, she sure wasn't lying. On this 12 track CD they play ukule versions of everything you can possibly imagine: we have Miss Dynamite representing modern pop, we have Hard to Handle and Wonderful Land for rock, we have You Talk About My Drinking for blues, we have Le Freak for disco, we have Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus for romance, we have Only You for evergreens and we have their original songs Antiphon for more traditional ukulele music and the title song The Secret of Life for something... completely different. (And the sharp eyed amongst you notice that I didn't even list them all...)
It's serious, but it's tongue in cheek. It's entertaining, but not light. It's funny, but impressive.
More reading: BBC's article The Ukulele ... Is It Cool? with soundbites.
Posted by kolibri at 17 September 15:29, 2004The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain sing simply beautifully and conjure wonders out of their tiny instruments. Their takes on the cover songs range from the traditional to the innovative to the ingenious (just check out Le Freak!), the original always lovingly appreciated.
It would be interesting to hear more of their own material, as it's evident that these people are multi-talented musicians.
"Secret of Life" is well made, skillful and professional - and light-hearted, instantly likeable and absolutely charming.
Verdict: Definitely cool.
# 2 - Peter Brooke Turner (on September 27, 2004 11:50 AM):
Hi Kolibri
I'm Peter from the Uke Orchestra (the tall one!)and I'm really pleased you like the album! We had fun making it and its good to know that you think its good.
If you're interested - I've made an solo album of my songs and would love to know what you think of it - send me your address and I'll put a copy in the post to you?
Best Wishes (Great site by the way)
Peter
# 3 - kolibri (on September 27, 2004 02:11 PM):
I exchanged some emails with Peter and he very kindly promised to send me his CD and I've promised to write about it in D/k :)
It's funny - I started writing this blog for two reasons: firstly to keep my friends up-to-date on my life, and secondly to keep some kind of record of my life and thoughts. I've tried to write every day, about things that I've experienced, books that I've read and generally things that touch me... Like Secret of Life did. But it's also great if my writings touch other people, especially if it's something like this where I can give something back to someone who's given me something precious.
# 4 - Chu (on September 27, 2004 02:19 PM):
Oo, Kolibri, can I hear the CD too when you have it?
Way to go, Peter! :)
You You are a lighthouse What does a lighthouse do? Shine it's guiding light through the night Anywhere the wind blows For those who follow the comments on my entries know that my recent entry about the The Ukulele Orchestra...
Read more on Soppy & the Sentimentals as tracked on October 19, 2004 05:28 PM
You can't add any more comments, but if you wish you can email the author.