Blast From The Past - Craig Armstrong

 

 

My friend and fellow blogger Big Rab posted a video with Craig Armstrong's version of The Blue Nile's "Let's Go Out Tonight" this triggered a search on the iPod tore-discover more of Craig's music, some of which you can hear below.

 

This track of course features The Blue Nile's Paul Buchanan on vocals.

Of a similar mood here is his collaboration with Steven Lindsay (The Big Dish)

 

Beyond his solo recordings, classical work and of course his film soundtrack work he is perhaps best known as a composer and arranger of string orchestration for other artists, amongst his best known work are his contributions to successfull albums by Massive Attack and Madonna.

 

 

This one for especially for Big Rab who has a thing about Liz Fraser!!!!

There are no barriers in Craig Armstrong’s world. Whether he’s composing classical pieces, writing film scores, recording his own solo albums or collaborating with the likes of Massive Attack, Mogwai and U2, it is all simply music. “It’s a very British sport to put everything in a box, but who cares about the label?” reasons the composer, whose background includes studying at the Royal Academy, working with rock bands and winning ‘Young Jazz Musician of the Year’ at an early age. “It would be bizarre if all those influences weren’t in my music.”

Craig recently released 'Film Works' on Family Recordings. 'Film Works' is a compilation of Craig's film compositions. "I’ve done so many films, some of which have never been seen,” he says. “Film Works is an opportunity to get out some of the music people have never heard. It’s the best of what I’ve done, It’s not just the pieces everybody knows.” The album includes music from Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet (Baz Luhrmann), The Quiet American, Love Actually and Ray to name just a few. Craig's work in film has resulted in numerous awards. Most recently he picked up a Grammy for Taylor Hackford's biopic Ray. For Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, he won a Bafta and an Ivor Novello, and ‘Moulin Rouge’, for which he won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and an American Film Institute Award. Craig won a second Ivor Novello for his music for Phillip Noyce's ‘The Quiet American’ He also scored ‘The Bone Collector’ and the Oscar-winning ‘One Day In September’.

In the world of popular music he has become one of the world's most sought after composers and arrangers. His work with Massive Attack on their ‘Protection’ album led to him signing as a solo artist to their record label, Melankolic, where he recorded the solo albums ‘The Space Between Us’ and ‘As If To Nothing’ which included collaborations with Evan Dando, U2, Liz Fraser, Mogwai and David McAlmont. Craig's other solo releases include ‘Piano Works’ (Sanctuary Records). For this album Craig composed and performed solo piano pieces. The album also features piano arrangements of some of his most loved music. The album was recorded in Paris and as a companion piece to the album a film was made of Craig performing in Studio Eclair in Paris intercut with beautiful images from the streets of Paris. Piano Works The Film was released on DVD for Christmas 2006 by Sanctuary.

Craig has enjoyed an incredibly diverse career in music from a very early age. After studying violin and composition at the Royal Academy, he branched into theatre and became resident composer at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. His other stage work includes commissions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Craig has composed several concert works including Northern Sound and When Morning Turns to Light for the RSNO. Visconti, which was commissioned by the Stockhausen festival at the Barbican performed by the London Sinfonietta. If Time Must Pass for the BT Ensemble and My Grandmothers Love Letters for the Hebrides Ensemble. In 2005 and 2006 Craig’s collaborated with the artists Dalziel and Scullion for One Minute was performed by the RSNO for the opening of the new Perth Concert Hall and 'Once' a video installation piece specially commissioned to celebrate the reopening of Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow. The work consists of over 200 video portraits shot in Glasgow, set to music composed by Craig and then remixed by AGF. Craig's piece of music entitled 'Memory Takes My Hand' is comprised of 12 movements. 2007 and beyond promises to be an exciting time for Craig with the release of a new electronic album, more films and a classical album.