Oyster Playlist: Client Liaison
Their top five in-flight travel songs.
Client Liaison are a Melbourne duo who specialise in 'dance electric'. Their Facebook talks of this 'dance electric', describing their deal as 'new jack swing' and 'pop ballad'. We don't really know what these expressions mean, but we can testify the aural greatness. Client Liaison intend to banish any shy attitudes you might have toward flailing your limbs wildly, this Friday (9 November), at Sydney's favourite late night/early morning dance spot Goodgod Small Club. Client Liaison will take to the danceteria for what should be a dope night of feelings and movements, performing alongside Pelvis (who made us a mix a little while back).
Ahead of this excellent night of love jams and sonic time travel, the airplane enthusiasts assembled a list of their top five in-flight travel songs (plus listen to their latest track at the bottom of this post!):
1. 'Storms of Africa'— Enya
In celebration of our nation's greatest airline to date, our playlist will be commencing with Enya's 'Storms of Africa'. "While most people might think flying regularly on business is exciting, we know what you're missing out on" was the idea behind a groundbreaking advertising campaign that Ansett ran with in 1994. Accompanied by Enya's smash hit 'Storms of Africa', these series of promotional videos were played on the in-flight entertainment system during take off and landing. As the slogan above crept across the screen, slowmotion images of the cosmopolitan male embracing his pretty wife on return from business slowly transitioned between cloudy sunlit skylines delivering justice to Enya's worldly sound.
2. 'Samba De Orfeu' — Ray Anthony
This next song is a tribute to the glory years of air travel. A time when families would not dress down but rather up to fly. A time when air hostesses would still smile at you after ordering your second cocktail, even if the plane still hadn't taken off. So if you're heading somewhere tropical (in particular South America), be sure to pop this one on your iPod as you walk through the hotel lobby to take post at the lounge bar.
3. 'Tinseltown In The Rain' — Paul Buchanan
When the Federal Government announced that smoking was to be banned on Australian domestic flights in 1987 and later on all international flights in 1990, the airline industry began its descent into the mundane, marking the end of the glory years of flying. You may even remember seeing the outline of a once-functional ashtray in the armrest of your seat. We'd always do our best to bust them open with our flight meal cutlery prompting an excuse to smoke. Unfortunately the ashtrays were phased out, disappearing by the turn of the century. For those still intent on smoking on a plane you have three options:
1) Smoke and receive a $5000 fine, as well as being arrested and detained upon landing.
2) Invest in timeshare/buy a private jet.
3) Seek out flights on a handful of obscure African commercial airlines, which still permit smoking.
During the last flight we ever smoked on back in 1987 — Toronto to New York — we happened to be sitting next to the Blue Nile's front man Paul Buchanan. Aware that smoking was soon to be banned, we all smoked a whole carton of duty free cigarettes, whilst discussing the merits of popular synthesisers of the time. As a result, in an effort to commemorate the privilege of smoking on planes, here is his all time smash hit 'Tinseltown In The Rain'.
4. 'Feel'— Robbie Williams
Used in Cathay Pacific's 2010 advertising campaign, Robbie Williams' 'Feel' highlights the strength of relationship and customer service now shown between modern airlines and their elite customers. This successful advertising campaign is seen as an olive branch, a gesture of good will or a sort of apology for the demise of the air travel experience. Whenever I now hear 'Feel' on the radio it reminds me of the time when a Cathay flight attendant laid a blanket over me just as I was about to fall asleep on a long haul flight from Sydney to San Francisco.
5. 'One Night In Bangkok' — Murray Heads
Last but not least, produced and composed by former ABBA members Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, Murray Heads' 'One Night in Bangkok' is laced with important air travel protocols. We will use this song as an opportunity to make the distinction between 'stopover' and 'layover'. As a rule of thumb on all international flights, the term layover constitutes a time frame between the connection of two flights within four hours. Any connecting flight which exceeds this four-hour window otherwise constitutes a stopover. Having said so, with the limit of any stopover being twenty four hours we can conclude that Murray Heads 'One Night In Bangkok' was the result of a jetsetting stopover... In turn, if your itinerary says 'stopover' not 'layover' you too could be in for a chance to have your one night of debauchery in whichever city you happen to catch your connecting flight in.
And here's Client Liaison's latest track, fittingly called 'Hotel Stay':
Melissa Kenny
