Playlists – Think Bensonium

Year 2022 Playlist Video

Roderick Benson — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 17:23:46 +0000

So this playlist included seven songs covering the following events:

The start of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine: Russians 2022 version by Sting
In memory of Delores O’Riorden: When You’re gone
Response to the ongoing chaos of 2022 & in memory of John Lennon: Nobody told me
Response to the climate chaos of 2022: Ship of fools by World Party
Death of Olivia Newton John: You’re the one that I want, Greece
Death of Queen Elisabeth the Second: Let It Be, Paul McCartney
Death of Christine McVie: Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac

Week 69 The final playlist

Roderick Benson — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 23:00:47 +0000

So for this final playlist I am not going to comment on the videos in this week’s list. Instead I shall just cite the lyrics of my final song to close Covid Island Discs Given the mess we’re are in with the Covid-19 delta variant and runaway global heating, I think many reading these lyrics will feel a sense of “Amen” to that.

I’ve been living to see you
Dying to see you, but it shouldn’t be like this
This was unexpected, what do I do now
Could we start again, please?
I’ve been very hopeful so far
Now for the first time I think we’re going wrong
Hurry up and tell me this is just a dream
Or could we start again, please?
I think you’ve made your point now
You’ve even gone a bit too far to get the message home
Before it gets too frightening we ought to call a halt
So could we start again, please?
I’ve been living to see you
Dying to see you, but it shouldn’t be like this
This was unexpected, what do I do now
Could we start again, please?
Could we start again, please?
I think you’ve made you point now
You’ve even gone a bit too far to get the message home
Before it gets too frightening we ought to call a halt
So could we start again, please?
Could we start again, please?
Could we start again, please?
Could we start again, please?
Could we start again, please?
Could we start again?
Could we start again?

Week 68 Video Playlist Summary

Roderick Benson — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 23:00:59 +0000

So this week there are some great videos in my music list. Ones which are really worth checking out are:

I send a message, INXS
Come as you are, Nirvana
And she was, Talking Heads
Call me when you’re sober, Evanescence

All the videos are great for different reasons. The INXS video has a cute little black toy robot juxtaposed into a Japanese Geisha girl’s hangout, the Nirvana song has the iconic baby in the water with the dollar bill which of course was the album cover to Never Mind. The Talking Heads video is classic Talking Heads with surreal cartoon paper cut out images in the same genre as the Monty Python animated sequences and, as usual, the Evanescence “Call me when you’re sober” song is just completely intense both musically and visually.

Yet when you have finished looking at this list, you might as well also check out the Cold Chisel video “Forever now” and Australian Crawl’s “Reckless” as these two videos are also very visually appealing: the former with the drummer keeping time on café cutlery while the latter has car indicators in time with the strong beat of the song. I guess if I had to choose one video that was the best out of this strong set, I would probably go with “I Send a message” (mainly because of the robot) although “Call me when you’re sober” is also at the top of this list.

Week 67 Video Playlist

Roderick Benson — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 23:00:17 +0000

So this week there are some great videos that are very visually evocative. My top three are:

Video Games, Lana Del Rey
Here with me, Dido
Green Light, Lorde

I think out of those three my favourite is Green Light by Lorde. Lorde’s face is interesting in itself and the image progression through the song is pretty cool.

Week 66 Video Playlist Summary

Roderick Benson — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 23:00:56 +0000

So my vote for the best video this week goes to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. Such a great video to watch and so visually interesting and evocative. The other thing that makes this video appealing is Jackson’s body movements which are always also amazing. His body truly was like liquid metal.

Week 65 Video Playlist Summary

Roderick Benson — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 23:00:05 +0000

So this was meant to be the last week of Covid Island Discs but sadly the government has delayed the final relaxation of lockdown restrictions due to the delta variant of Covid-19 which is currently spreading rapidly in the UK population.

The two videos I recommend watching this week is “Park life” by Blur and “Twilight” from ELO with the latter video getting my vote for best video of the week. I can’t quite decide if this is because the music itself is so spacey or if the visuals are also quite attractive to watch as you see a full orchestra perform this amazing rock technofunk piece of music. While the ELO video has some great lighting effects, the Park life video is much more down to earth and has a comical feel to match the lyrics of the song.

Week 64 Video Playlist Summary

Roderick Benson — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 23:00:52 +0000

So this week my vote for the best video goes to “No Son of Mine” by Genesis. The video captures well the theme of the song about a father rejecting his son because the son walked out on the family some years earlier due to marital conflict. It is clever the way the video combines Phil Collin’s singing as the father with the pianist and guitar player in the humble house where the father and son once lived together. The video is also shot in sepia which gives it a long lost ago in time feel.

Week 63 Video Playlist

Roderick Benson — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 23:00:56 +0000

OK so this week there are some very evocative videos. My top three would be:

Tainted Love, Soft Cell
Sing, Travis
Lyin’ Eyes, The Eagles

This last song I just love because there are a bunch of Eagle band members donning guitars and singing the lyrics of Lyin’ Eyes which is one of the Eagles all time classics. Such a lovely guitar arrangement as well. Let’s face it, anything with a twelve string acoustic is worth listening to in my opinion.

The soft cell video is truly bizarre in fact you could even say disturbing. Not sure what all the imagery means but it makes for interesting viewing.

However, I think the best video this week must be Sing by Travis. Again some really great imagery in the video including a massive food fight with a giant octopus being flung across the room. The monkey switching back on the TV and turning up the volume is also pretty cool. Overall, just a great video.

Week 62 Video Playlist

Roderick Benson — Fri, 28 May 2021 23:00:22 +0000

So there were some very visually interesting videos this week. Probably the top three that are worth looking at are:

Life for rent by Dido
Wrapped around your finger by the Police
Thank U by Alanis Morissette

I think out of those three probably the most bizarre is Alanis’s video which has her completely naked sitting in various public places singing her song. The Wrapped around your finger video is also pretty cool with Sting tipping over hundreds of single candles in tall candle holders. Finally, Dido’s video is also visually inspiring especially towards the end of the video when she too starts throwing vases of flowers around smashing them against a bare wall.

Week 61 Video Playlist

Roderick Benson — Sat, 22 May 2021 22:27:43 +0000

So this week three videos which are worth checking out are:

“My Baby” by Cold Chisel
“Don’t want to miss a thing” by Aerosmith
“While my guitar Gently Weeps” by Lynn et al.

The Cold Chisel video for the great footage of Aussie girls in Sydney, the Aerosmith video for scenes from the movie Armageddon which was the movie that this hit was the soundtrack to and finally, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for the gathering of rock and roll royality to commemorate the life and work of the late great George Harrison. The last video is a little sad as two of the perfomers, Tom Petty and Prince are of course no longer with us.