Friday 12 October 2012

Abchat Weekly Wrap-Up: Throwing Stones of unrest

When was the last time the Rolling Stones released a single? The answer is six years, 20 years if you want to find their last hit!

Yesterday the ageing rockers released the first of their two new singles, Doom and Gloom, and it’s pretty good!

Doom and Gloom is a high energy and upbeat blues number which is reminiscent of an Exile of Main Street track, the album famously composed when the band were in ‘exile’ in a mansion in Villefranche, in the South of France. Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood’s thrashing riffs are something to admire and they are seamlessly held together by Charlie Watts’s cool backbeat on the drums. Vocally this is one of Mick Jagger’s more shouty numbers that is so synonymous with the Rolling Stones of the 60s and 70s. Mick Jagger’s skill with dragging out a vocal by exaggerating the syllables are there for all to admire too, with the word “screws” turning into “screeeeeeeews” for example. Doom and Gloom ticks all the right boxes to when making a song Stonesy, and this track is certainly immediately recognisable as a Rolling Stones song.
 
Lyrically the song is a traditionally Stones anti-establishment politically charged number, not the words one would expect to be uttered from the mouth of a Knight of the Realm. Jagger is complaining about all the bad news he hears, hence the track’s title. Lines such as: 
 “Lost all that treasure in an overseas war”
“It just goes to show you don’t get what you paid for”
are present throughout the song offering a critique of the decisions made by various governments and people in high places, whichever party or bank they might belong to. The sentiments the song exude echo the general feeling amongst the British public with the powers that be over social unrest, the state of the economy and an interventionist foreign policy so again in that respect, the Stones have remained true to their traditions. If only big banks were as shrewd and in possession of marketable trademark lick like you Mick; it might not be all doom and gloom?

 
One final remark; it is certainly more enjoyable to hear someone’s grievances aired via a raw blues song rather than a group of bleeding hearts setting up camp out of protest for months in a historic location.
 
Great song, relevant yet amusing lyrics, let’s just hope Mick’s prediction that soon:
“We’ll be eating dirt
Living on the side of the rooooaaaad”
doesn’t come to fruition.
 







Cambridge University takes advantage of lowyields and taps into the capital market, issuing a £350m, 40-year public bondto fund a new research laboratory and post-graduate accommodation block

The highly discussed £30bn BAE-EADSmega-merger collapsed

Another football club looks to the stock market asRangers plan a £20m float on AIM

At the Tory conference this week, David Cameronreinforced his vision of an “aspiration nation” and highlighted Britain’s“entrepreneurial streak” as we reach a record number of 4.5m businesses

The IMF published its latest economic estimates forthe 2013 world growth expectations. The UK presented a gloomy outlook as itsuffered one of the biggest downgrades with a predicted contraction of 0.4% -down from a 0.2% growth three months ago

British Gas increases gas and electricity prices by6%, causing the average dual fuel bill to rise by £80 a year and push consumersinto fuel poverty

STOCKWATCH: Direct Line’s share price closed up 7%at 188p after its first day of trading on the London Stock Exchange. RBSfloated it’s insurance arm for £2.63bn; making it Europe’sbiggest IPO so far this year





Adam, Head of Life Sciences was a guest of PwC at their Life Sciences dinner at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge.

We hosted a great group on our table at the AIM awards, which we themed around our Financial Services practice. In addition to clients, our guests were from KPMG, Shore Capital, Canaccord Genuity, Growth Company Investor and Shares Magazine.

Our Life Sciences team was invited to ITN studios to sit in the gallery and watch the lunchtime news being produced.
 
Abchaps held two market lunches this week, one with a Cleantech theme, and the other focused on China, ahead of Bozzy’s trip there over the coming weeks.





High profile business women Kate Swann steps down as CEO of WH Smith, calling time on her 10-year career with the Group.
 





"The Gallery" or "Production Control Room" is the place in a television studio where the outgoing program is put together by the director and producers. It has a video monitor wall and what looks like a giant mixing desk.





Take part in the contemporary art event of the year by visiting Frieze Art Fair Regent’s Park this weekend.
 
Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew and Richard III are the final plays of the season on this weekend at Shakespeare's Globe.

Catch the last weekend of Chocolate Week with events near you.



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