bagpipes ovenbird Is there anything more viscerally stirring than the lament of a bagpipe floating across the water from a great distance? I did not expect to encounter such a thing on a walk in my own neighbourhood this afternoon. But somehow I found myself standing alone on a street corner being serenaded by a bagpipe with cherry blossoms in my hair and all the air squeezed out of my lungs from wonder. 250405 ... warmthofrelease It's a crazy instrument, how loud and self-sufficient, how completely it drones and melodies, how effortlessly it completes an entire musical space by itself. And by contrast, how it doesn't really play well with other melodic instruments. It overpowers almost everything in almost every other context. Til this day I've only ever found one exception. It's not to say that others don't exist, but I consider myself pretty musically well educated and there's only one instance that I've ever found in which the bagpipes fit really well into an ensemble. But it is indeed a long way to the top if you would like to rock and/or roll. Rest in Peace Bon Scott, and Malcolm too. Both popular_opinion and unpopular_opinion be damned. I think you guys were cool. 250405 ... raze my own favourite instance of bagpipes forcing their way into a piece of music you'd never expect them to show up in might be "come talk to me" by peter_gabriel. there's something primal and deeply moving about their presence in a song about how difficult it can be to simply speak to another person sometimes. they're like a voice bereft of words, expressing what's inexpressible. the live performance from the "secret_world" tour kills me every time, even if you lose sinead o'connor's peerless harmonies from the studio recording (no shade on paula cole, who does a great job filling in). the metaphor of a telephone taking a man away from someone he loves while he sings into the transmitter might be a little on-the-nose, but it works. i don't think i'll ever be able to get to the end of the video with dry eyes. 250405 ... ovenbird I must admit that when bagpipes go from singular to plural they cease being haunting and become more of an attack. I once saw a military pipe band playing in a relatively enclosed space and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. One bagpipe playing Loch Lomond from a hilltop is romantic, a whole band of bagpipes playing Loch Lomond is an aural assault that should probably be punishable by law. 250405 ... warmthofrelease Come Talk to Me, yeah. Really mixed down to incorporate within the song, but it counts. I think Paula does much better in support of In_Your_Eyes from that Secret_World_Live album, but yeah she performs admirable and Gabriel's live percussion is astounding as always. I will say though I would like the song more if it was maybe a minute or two shorter. It drags a bit, in ways that Secret World and Biko (longer songs) and those 5-man Genesis days do not. And good lord a military ensemble of bagpipes does not sound pleasant, it really is easy to overdo it with just one but a troupe is never necessary unless you're literally fighting the English monarchy for your freedom. 250405 what's it to you? who go blather from