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February 7, 2015 5:26 am  #1


Ben's top ten tunes

I haven't seen this one on here yet... and I consider it a real find. 

This is off of Sam Neill's website about his winery Two Paddocks.  Apparentely he has lots of guests (many of them actors and musicians) who make up their "Top Ten" music lists (it is better explained on the website http://www.twopaddocks.com/team-tunes.shtml ).  Well, Benedict Cumberbatch, who played along side of Sam Neill in "To the Ends of the Earth", was one of those who picked out his favourite tunes for the website....  I have to apologise in advance but I had real trouble reproducing this from the website and couldn't get it to include the numbers along side the choices he made (so just imagine the 1., 2., 3., beside each pick.  Thanks.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Actor

Today, not just one of the world’s finest actors, but hands down the actor with not only the most difficult name, but simultaneously  the most distinguished name ... Mr Benedict Cumberbatch! (And here we hasten to add that Benedict is absolutely not to be confused with those somewhat lesser actors Burnybun Crumblybatch, Binder-twine Cummerbund or Bendydick Lumbercrutch.)

No, it’s Benedict himself ... we are delighted he’s here as our Special Guest DJ, not only because he is an avid music fan, but also because (and this is a first we believe for Dayglo DJs), he can actually dance!  Gather round, yokels and other denizens of the Deep South, and see how it’s done – all the way from the dives of Soho and the South Bank, here he is to show us the latest dance craze from the North (and here thanks to The Hobbit and Peter Jackson) ... Mr Betterfit Clumsypants!

As for his acting ... well you know him best for ... well, just about everything ... because he’s in just about everything! We’ve just been watching him in the wonderful Sherlock -- big ups, bro -- next thing you know he’s in JJ Abrams new Star Trek, Spielberg’s War Horse, Tinker Tailor, having been great in Atonement, Creation, and  Amazing Grace, and so on.We got to know him in South Africa on To the Ends of the Earth (BBC), just after he’d astonished us all as Stephen Hawking  in Hawking ...but look, he doesn’t need any more spruiking from us here in the Dayglo, his career has more momentum than a runaway train. And he, like us, is here to do the boogie-woogie. Here he is, the best of fellows, a miraculous actor, and an excellent friend ... applause to the max please for the great ... Mr BENEFIT BLUNDERBUS!

---This list changes depending on the weather, my tummy, the company I'm keeping, the time of day... But it has been a pleasure to do the soul searching and memory lane trips. So here goes the ten from Ben, an over privileged white kid!

Sweet Thing -  Van Morrison, From the Astral Weeks album

Though Liam Neeson I agree anyone of the tracks of this album deserve inclusion, they all swing have soul and the poetics of the Jazztastic vocal stylings of the man when he could and can and did. But the landscape of sound and lyrics of Sweet Thing and the bitter sweet story of a man unable to give up his love of a woman...It's perfection. As a teenager discovering it I yearned for the life experiences that could inspire such music and as a thirty-something I have to hold back the tears as old wounds are made raw again. But what a self indulgent and heavily perfumed way to grieve. Beautiful. For all who have loved and lost.

I Am the Resurrection and Fools Gold - Stone Roses

Yes I know, but they stand side by side on the album and are inseparably brilliant. I went to Manchester university partly on an insane surge of nostalgia from when I discovered these mischievous mancs and their Madchester ways! God bless the Happy Mondays and Joy Divison and all the other Tony Wilson 'Factory' recorded bands.

You Can't Always Get What You Want - Rolling Stones

First heard this in my over privileged youth at Harrow. And as posh boarding schools go you can pretty much do or get anything you want out of an experience like that. However adolescence and being  without girls or the freedoms of living outside of your school meant  that this inspiring hymn to patience didn't fall on deaf ears. It's just a stunning daring funky soulful uplifting one off from choral beginning to end. Anyway I don't need to tell you any of this just that it inspired my brief filtration with being a front man.

Young Americans - David Bowie

How to choose one! Sorrow is my karaoke failsafe but the groove of this one and the dystopian patchwork of fractured images in the lyrics the sax solo, the drums it's just brilliant.

Clair de Lune -- Claude Debussey

James Rhodes' version on the Bullets and Lullabies album is best, but not available on YouTube. This is the one piano piece I would dearly like to learn in this lifetime.  But if it's in the next I will be quite content to listen to my inspiring friend Mr James Rhodes playing it. PS--though nowadays a tea totaller he is pure rock and roll and you should have his playlist soon. He's more than a little inspiring.

How to Disappear Completely - Radiohead

The only reason for honing onto this track as opposed to any other in a back catalogue whose range defies belief is a personal one. It signifies how the best of times and the worst of times really do sidle up to one another.  I first met your dear proprietor when filming a mini-series called To the Ends of The Earth for dear old Auntie (BBC) in South Africa which and I'd had the most amazing time on the job and a weekend learning to scuba dive with two other cast members -- the best of times. Then the front right tyre blew on our car, we pulled in and were surrounded by men who came out of the bush and we were carjacked -- the worst of times.  A long (2.5 hours of ordeal) story but the intrinsic part for the song choice is that it was playing just before the tyre blew when I had lit a spiff and was contemplating how ridiculously blissfully happy I was. The next time I heard it was bundled against the windscreen of the car on the front passengers' knees with my back and head hitting the windscreen as we were driven off road. My bum hit the car stereo and for a few surreal minutes Tom Yorke was sound tracking me to my death. I turned round as we bounced over the sand track, the headlights showing the passing sugar cane and kept thinking of the shallow graves they dug for themselves in the movie Casino as the master of introspection and modern ennui Mr T Yorke sang 'I'm not here... This isn't happening' ... We all lived.

Prelude to Tristan and Isolde - Richard Wagner.

Yes,  it's widely acknowledged as one of the peaks of the operatic repertory, notable for Wagner's advanced use of chromaticism, tonality, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension... But it just makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Reminds me of the best of Beethoven and Mozart and the best of what's to come in Strauss and Rachmaninov. So a milestone as well as a gut wrencher. The recording of this one that I'm currently wearing out is the BBC orchestra's.

Hyperballad - Bjork

But what about Mitchell, Joplin, Ella, Tina, Oh god I need another list. It's all very white and male.... ! Damn.Beautiful song though. And a nod to a lot of dance music that hasn't made it to this top ten.

Superstition - Stevie Wonder

For all those whose weddings I have danced at and have yet to dance at! What a great groove from a master at the height of his powers. Thanks to Martin Freeman for properly introducing me to the full brilliance of SW.

We Grew Up At Midnight - The Maccabees

A current album I'm giving a lot of play is The Maccabees Into the Wild. It's hard to pick one but listening to We Grew Up At Midnight while typing and feeling pretty uplifted. And that's what great music does
beyond all other art forms isn't it?  This has been a joy. Can I do it again tomorrow?


---If you have never seen Blenderdax on stage, do yourself a favour, save the shekels, and make the trip to the National or wherever he’s treading the boards. Always a privilege.
And anytime he’s on the telly – same thing.But here in the Dayglo, fans and fanettes, give it up please, a roar of approval ... for the great MR Betterfit CABBAGEPATCH!! 

***************************************************************************************

I think the beginning bit and ending section was written by someone other than Ben, but from the point where it starts "This list changes... and of course the notes on each music selection, is all him.  The word "tummy" is a dead giveaway!  I love the eclectic mix of music he chose and I wasn't surprised by the inclusion of Radiohead. 

So what do you think of Ben's favourites???

-Val


"The only shipping I know is shipping containers."
                                           -Benedict Cumberbatch
 

February 7, 2015 10:57 am  #2


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

I think it's quite known, but I'm not sure if it has been posted here before. 

What makes me always shudder is reading the story of that South Africa assault. 


----------
Normal is not something to aspire to, it's something to get away from!


 
 

February 7, 2015 11:16 am  #3


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

Yes, that story is horrible. And he showed incredible ability to think clearly and cleverly during duress to come up with the way to escape, I think.

And it made my day that he chose a Radiohead song, my number one favorite band. 


__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"We'll live on starlight and crime scenes" - wordstrings


Team Hudders!
 
 

February 7, 2015 4:52 pm  #4


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

Wow, we don't have a single song in common.

(Not that it matters, but still ... *sigh*)


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I still believe that love conquers all!

     

"Quick, man, if you love me."
 

February 7, 2015 6:01 pm  #5


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

Absolutely fantastic list! I could so listen to music with this man! Bowie, The Stone Roses, The Stones, Björk, Radiohead, Debussy! His musical taste is right up my alley. 

 

February 7, 2015 6:31 pm  #6


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

I wouldn't put all of his choices on my tunes list but there are certainly a number (especially, but not exclusively, the classical ones) that would be there for sure.  I will say that his selections are interesting and show someone who is passionate about a truly wide selection of music. 

I also have to say I am deeply impressed with his write-ups.   He shows a very good knowledge of classical music.  And I love that he says he needs another list to include all the ones like Mitchell (which I take to be Joni), Ella, Tina, etc that he just hasn't got to!  Obviously this small list doesn't begin to cover all his favourites.  Just like Benedict to have so much else to say...

I know he scoffed at doing any writing in a professional sense one time in an interview, but I do think he has a wonderful way with words.  The language he brings to the table when doing any kind of writing is just sublime. 

You can feel the terror and immediacy when he writes about his ordeal in South Africa and yet there is such a literary quality about how he tells the story that it is very profoundly and clearly well thought out (a lot of this is even more evident in the actual account of this experience that he wrote for the Prince's Trust, but there is also an interview in which he recounts it in such excruciating detail that just makes you cry for what he went through).

The man can write and perhaps someday he will do some proper writing hopefully. 

-Val


"The only shipping I know is shipping containers."
                                           -Benedict Cumberbatch
     Thread Starter
 

February 7, 2015 7:21 pm  #7


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

This list has been posted in here before (I'm not sure, I think it was me  ) and as it's quite a while ago meanwhile he maybe would create a different list. 
I like Stone Roses very much (which I actually got to know because of this list  ), as well as Bowie and Radiohead.

I'm quite interested in other peoples taste of music, I believe that it can tell you a lot about them. 


__________________________________

"After all this time?" "Always."
Good bye, Lord Rickman of the Alan
 

February 7, 2015 8:34 pm  #8


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

Gosh, Mattlocked I realise now that I am just soooo bad at searching for past posts! 

If you can locate your original post would you like this thread merged with it?   I got it done with the help of the admin one other time I slipped up.  

Just let me know if you would prefer that.

And I agree - you can tell a lot about folks by the music they like.  In the same light also by their books they read and the artwork selections they make as well, I think.  It isn't an exact science but if there are certain patterns of selection that would indicate general personality traits.

Benedict's selections seem to say that he is cultured, sensitive, inquisitive and passionate... and a lot younger than me!

-Val 


"The only shipping I know is shipping containers."
                                           -Benedict Cumberbatch
     Thread Starter
 

February 7, 2015 8:40 pm  #9


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

Ah-chie wrote:

I wouldn't put all of his choices on my tunes list but there are certainly a number (especially, but not exclusively, the classical ones) that would be there for sure.  I will say that his selections are interesting and show someone who is passionate about a truly wide selection of music. 

I also have to say I am deeply impressed with his write-ups.   He shows a very good knowledge of classical music.  And I love that he says he needs another list to include all the ones like Mitchell (which I take to be Joni), Ella, Tina, etc that he just hasn't got to!  Obviously this small list doesn't begin to cover all his favourites.  Just like Benedict to have so much else to say...

I know he scoffed at doing any writing in a professional sense one time in an interview, but I do think he has a wonderful way with words.  The language he brings to the table when doing any kind of writing is just sublime. 

You can feel the terror and immediacy when he writes about his ordeal in South Africa and yet there is such a literary quality about how he tells the story that it is very profoundly and clearly well thought out (a lot of this is even more evident in the actual account of this experience that he wrote for the Prince's Trust, but there is also an interview in which he recounts it in such excruciating detail that just makes you cry for what he went through).

The man can write and perhaps someday he will do some proper writing hopefully. 

-Val

Val, I always love your reviews, you have quite a wonderful way with words, too! 

 

February 7, 2015 8:43 pm  #10


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

I absolutely adore Hyperballad from Bjork! Good to know he likes the song too. 

 


-----------------------------------

I cannot live without brainwork. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window there. Was there ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-coloured houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the use of having powers, Doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them?

 

February 7, 2015 10:01 pm  #11


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

Ah-chie wrote:

Gosh, Mattlocked I realise now that I am just soooo bad at searching for past posts! 

If you can locate your original post would you like this thread merged with it?   I got it done with the help of the admin one other time I slipped up.  

Just let me know if you would prefer that.

Oh, don't worry, I don't care. 
And it is really a long time ago, so I'm not sure I would find it.... so why bother?


__________________________________

"After all this time?" "Always."
Good bye, Lord Rickman of the Alan
 

February 8, 2015 1:23 am  #12


Re: Ben's top ten tunes

Listening to "How to disapppear completely" by Radiohead now, and because of his terrrible story with his kidnapping, I can't listen to it even again without feeling absolutely horrible. 


__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"We'll live on starlight and crime scenes" - wordstrings


Team Hudders!
 
 

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