Thursday 28 October 2010

Orchestral manoeuvres, what a lark

We went to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain last week, and what a top night out it was. Brilliantly idiosyncratic covers of great songs and some genuinely hilarious onstage banter (e.g. after they'd re-entered the stage from the wings after exiting in advance of the first encore: "You can't get out that way".) I love the way they drop the 'U' word into the songs from time to time too - with (genuinely) hilarious consequences.

Anyway, you'll doubtless know all about this seven and sometimes eight-piece combo (unless you've been terribly remiss or remote from the UK) so I'll not blather on any more about them now, apart from to urge you all to head over to their website to buy some Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain merch at your earliest convenience. You know it makes sense. There's even a Christmas album, which would make an ace present for the music fan in your life. Which may well be you, come to think of it. Whatever. Here's a selection of classic Ukulele Orchestra of GB clips to whet your appetite: Teenage Dirtbag, The Theme From Shaft and a singalong version of Anarchy In The UK. Join in, swing your pants!







Also, here's one of the newer songs in the Orchestra's repertoire, Hot Lips, which was originally recorded by Swedish electro types Pacific! (Exclamation mark theirs.) The Pacific! version is here if you fancy comparing and contrasting. Thanks to super sleuth Spike for seeking these out.

3 comments:

Spike said...

"What's the most important thing about a coal mine, apart from coal?"


UOGB member: "We've come to the point of the show where we've just got time for one more song..."

Audience: "Awwwww"

UOGB member: "No, we *will* play it!"


They're ace! Every last one of them!

Kippers said...

I agree!

BTW I really like that Swedish electro pop version of Hot Lips, you'll doubtless be flabbergasted to hear!

Jim Bartlett said...

Oh no, here I am innocently surfing music blogs and you have to mention this lot. Amusing in 1986, getting really old around 1990, filling me with incandescent rage 1993, making me wish it wasn't illegal to have them all tracked down and beaten to death with spades 1995 to present. Sorry, but... no, actually I'm not sorry at all. THEY should be apologising to ME. Just for existing. I was quite happy until I found this blog and now look what you've done.