Top Twenty "I'm Free!" Songs

Anyone spot a theme developing here?

20. Kenny Loggins - I'm Free (Heaven Helps The Man)

See, Footloose wasn't the only Kenny Loggins song.

I am, however, willing to hear your argument that it was the only good Kenny Loggins song. Nice beard, Ken.

(From 'Footloose - 15th Anniversary Collectors' Edition')


19. The Who - I'm Free / Roger Daltrey - Free Me

Roger Daltrey's a proper rock star - he can swim and sing at the same time.

It's curious though... when he was in The Who, he sang I'm Free... yet when he went solo, he started singing Free Me.

(I'm Free from 'Tommy')

(Free Me from 'McVicar - Original Soundtrack')

18. Belinda Carlisle - Live Your Life Be Free

I used to have the major hots for Belinda Carlisle.

Oh. Just watched the video. Still do.

(From 'The Best of Belinda Vol.1')

17. Billy Taylor - I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel To Be Free)

Or, the theme music to Film (whichever year) with Barry Norman. Jazz. Nice. And why not?

16. Wham! - Freedom

Of course, strictly speaking this shouldn't be here. Not because it's Wham! - but because George is so insistent he doesn't want your freedom. Still... he's never been one for telling the truth 100%, has he? Best. Wham! Song. Ever.

(From 'The Best of Wham!')

15. The Clash - Stay Free

A rare lead vocal turn from Mick Jones, inviting us to go on a nicking spree, hit the wrong guy, but stay free.

(From 'Give 'Em Enough Rope')

14. Johnny Cash - I'm Free From The Chain Gang Now

A more appropriate title I couldn't hope to find, given my current circumstances.

(From 'American V - A Hundred Highways')

13. Lou Reed - I'm So Free / The Velvet Undergound - I'm Set Free

Obviously a popular theme in Lou Reed's songwriting.

(I'm So Free from 'Transformer')

(I'm Set Free from 'The Velvet Underground')

12. Matt Monro - Born Free

Written by John Barry for the film adaptation of Joy Adamson's book on the adventures of Elsa the Lioness.

Born free - and life is worth living
But only worth living... 'cos you're Born Free!

(From 'Born Free')

11. Jimi Hendrix - Stone Free

The first song Jimi ever wrote. They couldn't hold him down.

(From 'Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix')

10. Toyah - I Want To Be Free

"I don't wanna go to school
I don't wanna be nobody's fool
I wanna be me
I wanna be free..."

Even as a kid, I found Toyah somewhat scary. A posh punk Kate Bush wannabe? I was never quite sure if she was serious... or an art school project. Her later career confirmed the latter, but this still stands up well as a testament to its time.

(From 'Good Morning Universe - The Very Best Of Toyah')

9. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird

"Awesome guitar solo at the end," says the guy who posted this on youtube, repeatedly. He has a point.

(From 'Greatest Hits')

8. Luke Doucet - Free

Catchy Canadian guitar pop from former Man of Veal.

(From 'Broken')

7. Cream - I Feel Free

Eric Clapton has his unpleasant side, we can't get away from that, but he did make some pleasing noise back in them old days. Insert cool muso Ginger Baker reference here too.

(From 'The Very Best Of Cream')

6. Kirsty MacColl - Free World

One more reason to miss Miss MacColl..

And I'll see you baby when the clans rise again
Women and men united in the struggle
In this free world baby
Got to take it got to grab it
Got to get it up and shag it
In this free world

(From 'Kite')

5. The Kinks - Set Me Free

It's the Kinks. That's all you need to know.

(From 'The Kinks - The Ultimate Collection')

4. The Vines - Get Free

Rifftastic, hoarse-throated Aussie rock at its loudest and proudest.

(From 'Highly Evolved')

3. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Free Fallin'

It's unfortunate that I can't hear this tune without thinking of Tom Cruise being a smug bastard in Jerry Maguire... but that's hardly Tom Petty's fault. It's still a great song.

(From 'Anthology: Through The Years')

2. Queen - I Want To Break Free

"I want to break free from your lies
You're so self-satisfied, I don't need you."

The song that killed Queen's career in America - turns out the MTV audiences just weren't ready for Freddie's dragged up Coronation Street tribute video. Shame.

(From 'The Works')

1. The Rolling Stones / The Soup Dragons - I'm Free

(From 'The Rolling Stones Singles Collection: The London Years')

"I'm free to do what I want any old time..."

That would include bastardizing an old Stones song as a baggy 90s indie-dance anthem. Still, we were young, we were crazy, we were... free.



(From 'Lovegod')

So... which record makes you feel free?

I Am All Over The Web...

...when I'm not here, that is.

I've just dug out and dusted off the first issue of The Jock (Ultimate 21st Century version) and posted it over on my writing blog. If you want to read a comic about a desperate band of freedom fighters struggling to save the world from an evil radio corporation... go here now.

Meanwhile, over at thoughtballoons, we're hip deep in Invincible week. I wasn't too keen on my own strip, a snarky dig at Robert Kirkman's propensity for over-egging the exposition, but it's gone down surprisingly well with the other tb-ers. Personally, I preferred last week's J. Jonah Jameson strip (but then, he was my choice).

And I'm still reviewing cheap comics over at Comics - On The Ration. Just survived Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All Star Batman & Robin. It made me feel goddamned grubby... but that's not necessarily a bad thing.


But... I don't just lead a virtual life. I can now officially announce a rare public appearance. Rob and Paul have asked me to join them on their Comics - On The Ration panel at this year's Caption Comics Convention in Oxford. I've been invited along to Caption by a variety of people over the years and I've always managed to find a decent excuse... but this year, the guys caught me on the hop. They know I don't have anything else to do with my time now I'm no longer counted among the gainfully employed. So they've tricked me into attending. Let me know if you're going along too, so I be sure to keep out of your way. (I suppose I better tell Jay.)

Now That I Don't Have A Job...

...you might think I'd have more time for blogging. Strangely, I seem to have less. Make of that what you will.

Still, more time at home at least means I get to take loads more photos of the crazy things cats do. Because the internet can never get enough of that.

For example, here's Murphy. He likes boxes. He's also too fat for boxes. Dilemma.

Meanwhile, Molly has been complaining that I never feature her photos on my blog. She's just not as dumbassedly photogenic as Murphy, I guess. Here she is catching up on a spot of smartarse sunbathing.

And to finish off, here's some more crazy squirrel action from Colin...

Tomorrow - I'll attempt to solve the problems in the Middle East. With a photo of a wood pigeon.

The Flaming Lips at Jodrell Bank: Transmissions

I'm not one for filling my gig reviews with photos. Normally I look down on people who spend the entire show with their mobile phone pointed at the stage. But last night's gig at Jodrell Bank was definitely camera worthy... luckily I had my new Blackberry (yes, yes, get over it) on hand to capture the wonder.

For those unfamiliar with the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, it's home to the Lovell Telescope, the third largest radio telescope in the world. This incredible device is manned 24/7/365, recording and monitoring the sounds of outer space - quasars, pulsars... and maybe, one day, extraterrestrial boogie woogie.

But the noises being monitored in mission control last night were of slightly more earthbound origin... I say "slightly" because when your headline act is Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips, the jury's still out on whether we all weren't experiencing a close encounter in the shadow of that 76 metre dish. The band were performing at the climax of Transmissions, the observatory's first mini-festival, following an evening of entertainment from Alice Gold (promising), the Wave Machines (ramshackle), OK Go (worthy of further investigation) and British Sea Power (always entertaining). All the acts had a certain spacey or scientific bent to their songs, and the Flaming Lips push the outer limits better than just anyone else in rock... if Bowie's off floating in a tin can somewhere, unavailable.

Two scientists were racing
For the good of all mankind
Both of them side by side
So determined
Locked in heated battle
For the cure that is their prize
But it's so dangerous
But they're determined

Theirs is to win
If it kills them
They're just humans
With wives and children

If you've ever seen a Flaming Lips show, you'll know the music comes second to the spectacle. Dancing cheerleaders, giant animal costumes, lasers straight out of Lucasfilm, even the lead singer walking out onto the shoulders of his audience in a giant Prisoner-esque bubble. But for last night's performance, the Lips had found a way to top even these theatrics... by getting the Lovell telescope itself in on the act. As the band finally took to the stage, just before 10pm, the enormous disc rotated to face the audience for the first time and became a projection screen for deep space imagery, followed by a huge film show tracing the history of Jodrell Bank and its founding father, Bernard Lovell. The Lips rightly saved their two best songs for the encore, but it was too late to stop them being overshadowed by one of the most impressive feats of scientific engineering in the world.

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face?
Do You Realize - we're floating in space?
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry?
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die?

Trippy indie music + deep space investigations... it's a geek's dream festival. Thank god I had my camera!

BUDDHA MOUNTAIN (GUAN YIN SHAN) (2010)

MyRating: YYY1/2

Director: Li Yu
Cast: Sylvia Chang, Fan Bingbing, Chen Po Lin, Fei Long

True friendship is the most blessed thing in the world. Life may get so difficult, but with true friends around to share the burdens, there should not be a problem that is too difficult to overcome, if not to be casted away. This refreshing friendship was depicted beautifully in this art-house movie by Li Yu, a Chinese controversial female director, whose 2007 film Lost in Beijing was being banned in China due to its gratuitous sex contents.

Three best friends, living carefree and reckless lives in the city of Chengdu, China, find that their friendship may be the only thing matters the most in their aimless lives. Ding Bo (Chen Po Lin) hates and blames his father for his mother's death, and the fact that his father will get remarried again makes Ding Bo hate him even more. Nan Feng (Fan Bingbing), a beautiful young girl who sings at a bar in the town, comes from a disfunctional family with a history of alcoholism and domestic violence. While Fei Zao (Fei Long) is often bullied by other people all his life due to his overweight body, that makes him an easy target to be mocked. But no matter what, they stick together and back up one another, whether to accompany Ding Bo to his father unwanted marriage, or to help Nan Feng out when she needs a lot of money, or to face gang members who bullying Fei Zao.

When they decide to move from their houses and find a new place to live by their own, they rent a room in an apartment and share the place with the owner, a widowed and retired Chinese opera singer Chang Yue Qin (Sylvia Chang), who is still mourning for the recent death of her son. But soon they start a conflict with the landlady due to their different lifestyles, as the three youngsters are more of night creatures who are still hanging around in the pubs pass midnight, while Mrs. Chang has a routine hour to practice singing her opera vocal out loud early every morning, at the time they are practically still sleeping. Only after when they start to know each other well, and the three friends help Mrs. Chang to overcome her anguish towards her deceased son, they can start to appreciate one another and become friends. And a journey together to Buddha Mountain, where they help to rebuild a damaged temple after the Chengdu earthquake, their friendships with Mrs. Chang bonds stronger, and the three friends also start to learn the real meaning of life.

It's always interesting to watch a human drama, where the not so perfect humans are put in a not so perfect world, with their real and perfect problems. And this movie told the fact of real life that is not always sweet. Each character has his or her own pitiful background, and all of them are trying to escape and forget their problems, even trying not to think of their uncertain futures, whether they realize it or not. But the one thing they have, that others may feel jealous, is their strong friendships. This is what I like the most about this movie. It's a joy to watch this three friends took the adventures walking aside the railway tracks and across the hanging bridge with river deep down below. Or when they hitchhiked on a freight train, shouting in the air while the train travels across mountains and tunnels, like there are no problems at all in the world. Let loose yourself and just scream. Today is today, and the world is us, and only us with the world.

There are many quiet moments with camera shooting only close-up to the faces of the characters, including when the trio shouting on the freight train, sometimes with no sounds but only the music scores, trying to grab the essense of youth and the joys that they express. Also when the scene where Chen Po Lin and Fan Bingbing swimming together with many long takes under water. All these make the movie looks artistic (this movie actually won the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival). However, the use of too many close-ups with the shaky moving camera takes may not be comfortable for the audiences who watch it. For most moviegoers, this movie may also be felt boring because of its rather slow pace. The story also did not like the usual commercial movie where everything run fast with high intensity conflicts, this movie has many static and quiet moments, in order to give you time to enjoy the beauty and think about life.

All the actors acted pretty natural, with the highlight given to the senior actress Sylvia Chang, who gave a solid performance as the grieving landlady with an anger inside, that may tear her apart. Her interactions with the three youngsters were fun to watch. The very beautiful actress Fan Bingbing also gave quite an interesting performance here. Not exactly outstanding, but we can see how she tried to show that she is not only beautiful face. This may excite her fans, she has at least a couple of long-take kiss scenes in this movie, including the long kiss scenes with Chen Po Lin, and a kiss scene with a girl, with blood flowing down her face, when she challenged the gang members who bullied Fei Zao. Chen Po Lin and Fei Long also acted well in playing their characters.

The change in the relationship between Ding Bo and Nan Feng from best friend to become lover was not explored good enough though, it felt too sudden, as suddenly they became lover. But the change in the relationship was what the audiences may expect. The ending also turned to be a bit fairy tale, as I don't think the film has prepared us enough to accept what we have to accept in the end. The ending may force us to reflect about life and death. I enjoyed and liked this movie as much as I enjoyed the beauty that the film offered. It's a moving movie with heartwarming friendships. (MJ)

THE DRUNKARD (JIU TU) (2010)

MyRating: YYY1/2

Director: Freddie Wong Kwok-shiu
Cast: John Chang, Irene Wan, Joman Chiang, Wei Wei, Elena Kong, Katie Kwok

Adapted from the landmark novel The Drunkard (Jiutu, 1963) of Liu Yichang, one of the most notable Hong Kong writers who has influenced many Hong Kong artists, including the famous director Wong Kar Wai. This is the film debut from the critic-turned-director Freddie Wong (nominated for Best New Director in Hong Kong Film Awards for this movie), who also wrote the screenplay of this movie. Set in the era of 1960's Hong Kong, a struggling middle-aged writer named Mr. Lau (John Chang), who abuses his life with alcohols, finds out that his idealism for writing only good literatures may not survive him in a publication world full of commercialisms. And in order to live, he may have to let go of his dignity and write popular pulp fictions, such as martial arts and erotic stories. Besides alcohol, he also lives a lustful life by seeking comforts from one woman to another, including paying for sex and sleeping with other man's wife. An alcoholic and a womanizer, deep down inside he lives a bitter life, that the more he falls for his demons, the more he may loathe himself for what he may not become, and the more difficult for him to escape his addictions that may lead him straight to self destructions.

As an art movie, this is not a movie for everybody. But if you could enjoy it, then you may find the beauty of this movie, that is almost poetic, but at the same time also a bit too literature. It was slow moving and many of the scenes were just suggested, meaning the story will tell you that something important has happened without showing you in visual how it's happened. When you need to see some direct actions or conflicts, it will rather show you in a narative way, interrupted the scenes with Chinese writings on an empty black screen, explaining the things or how Mr. Lau thinks. Many times, it was like reading poetries, one after another. However, that was also the beauty of this movie. The atmosphere of the movie also brought us to that era, when people smoking a lot and Chinese women wearing cheongsam everywhere, even though without showing any significant settings, as the films were mostly shot indoor.

John Chang, the senior Taiwanese actor, gave a very solid performance as Mr. Lau. You can feel his deep personal struggling inside, while at the same time convinced by his believable acting as an alcoholic writer who just can't stop drinking, as well as a middle-aged man who is good when dealing with women. He's not the most handsome man around, but women like him, from a wild under-aged girl Katie Kwok, to a beautiful matured married woman Irene Wan (who still looks gorgeous in her mid forties), and to an attractive and sexy nightclub hostess, Joman Chiang (she played a double role here, another role as a young man a friend of Mr. Lau, who invited him to start a literature magazine together). All these actresses did look nice and elegant in their Chinese cheongsam outfits. There was one scene where Joman Chiang daringly appeared nude, shot from behind, as the erotic scene in the movie.

This is a movie that will intrigue us more on how we feel about it, rather than seeing big things that will happen on screen, because it won't. Instead, it will involve us to think and reflect. It's a literature challenge in a form of a movie. A beautiful movie in a literature package, that may scare people away if they're not used to it. (MJ)

Top Ten Escape Songs

I've been thinking a lot about escape recently. For obvious reasons. So here's my top ten songs about getting the hell out of Dodge while you still have time...

10. Rupert Holmes - Escape (The Pina Colada Song)

Let's start with the obvious, as usual, and the only one that actually mentions the word 'escape' in its title. Much mocked, but this is a classic slice of 70s story-song cheese with that wonderful wink of a twist in the tale. Two cheating spouses find love... with each other. I believe that's known as irony, but I could be wrong.

(From 'Escape...The Best Of'.)

9. Pulp - The Boss

I'm gonna leave town
I'm gonna catch a train
I'm going somewhere where I can start again...

After 7 long years down a dead end road I'm gonna get off here
I'm gonna let it go,
Let it go.

7 long years, Jarvis? Try 23, mate.

(Demo track taken from 'His 'N' Hers (Deluxe Edition)'.)

8. Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak

I'm not sure there's a whole lot of metaphor to Lizzy's jailbreak. But if you feel like you've spent half your life trapped in a situation... say, just for example, a job... that feels like a prison sentence... then this track is pretty damned apt.

(From 'Greatest Hits'.)

7. Billy Joel - Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)

Billy Joel drops some profound nuggets that ring more than a little true...

Ah but working too hard can give you
A heart attack, ack, ack, ack, ack, ack

You should never argue with a crazy mi mi mi mi mi mind
You ought-a know by now

Good luck movin' up cause I'm movin' out

(From 'The Stranger'.)

6. Noah & The Whale - Tonight's The Kind Of Night

Noah & The Whale were my Glastonbury-on-TV highlight. Having said that, I did miss Paul Simon, Morrissey and The Wombles.

There's a boy with his head
Pressed up to the window
Of a bus heading out of town
In his breath on the glass
He draws with his finger
A map of the roads they go down
Circles of street lights
Are the only signal
That there's people out there in the black
He waves goodbye, to the town he grew up in
He knows that he'll never come back

They say you can't ever go home again.

Sometimes when you leave a place, you've no desire to ever go back.

(From 'Last Night on Earth'.)

5. Frank Turner - This Town Ain't Big Enough For The One Of Me

God, how did I survive before I discovered Frank Turner?

This town is growing old with me, so I'm making a move.
Everybody round here's been out with everybody else,
Which makes talking to girls hazardous to my health.
They've been in this gene pool so long they've got wrinkled toes;
I don't want all her exes to be people I know.
There's millions more fish in the sea, so I'm making a move.

I'm bored of this town, bored of this scene, bored of these people, yeah.

(From 'Love Ire and Song'.)


4. The Animals - We Gotta Get Out Of This Place

Shame on you if you didn't see this one coming.

(From 'The Complete Animals'.)

3. Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap

There's a huge Springsteen link to the top three... and we start with Bob Geldof doing his very best Boss impression, making Dublin sound like New Jersey...

Billy don't like it living here in this town
He says the traps have been sprung long before he was born
He says "hope bites the dust behind all the closed doors
And puss and grime ooze from its scab crusted sores
There's screaming and crying in the high rise blocks"
It's a rat trap, Billy, but you're already caught...

It's only 8 o'clock, but you're already bored
You don't know what it is, but there's got to be more
You'd better find a way out, hey, kick down the door
It's a rat trap and you've been caught

(From 'A Tonic For The Troops'.)

2. Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell

What do you get when you turn the ideology and romanticism of Springsteen up to eleven?

Jim Steinman.

A demented genius who lives in some crazy Wagnerian netherworld where fanatical teenage emotions live forever, heaven and hell have both broken loose and everything's louder than everything else. Nothing succeeds like excess.

If you're looking to make an escape, I can suggest no better mode of transport than a silver Black Phantom bike.

(From 'Bat Out Of Hell'.)

1. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run / Thunder Road

One of the greatest albums ever made, and it's essentially an ode to liberation. Each side opens with a quintessential escape song: how could I ever choose between them?

Oh-oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back

It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap

We gotta get out while we're young

`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

It's town full of losers

And I'm pulling out of here to win!

(From 'Born To Run'.)

So... they were my favourites... which of your favourites escaped me?