Lay Down

"Lay Down" is a song by English band Strawbs featured on their 1973 album Bursting at the Seams. Their first hit single, it had peaked at No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart late the previous year.

The lyrics are loosely based on the 23rd Psalm in the Old Testament and the song was widely considered to be writer Dave Cousins's most commercial and radio-friendly offering to date. Indeed, some aficionados accused Cousins and the band of "selling out", especially as the band later appeared on Top of the Pops dressed in glittery "glam rock" outfits and wearing make-up (with drummer Richard Hudson unusually placed at the front of the stage).

The single was described, in the original A&M Records Press Release, as ".. the Strawbs first real attempt to crack open the singles market." It featured strong rock guitar riffs from the band's new guitarist Dave Lambert. The album version features an additional guitar solo, making it about thirty seconds longer than the single.

The song was brought to the public's attention again in 2007 when it featured on the BBC television series "Life on Mars". It was, however, unaccountably absent from the DVD boxset soundtrack.

Hello Master

Hello Master is the debut studio album by Canadian hard rock band Priestess. Recorded with producer Gus van Go, the album was initially released on October 18, 2005, by Indica Records in Canada and on later dates in other regions. Its lyrics discuss typical rock n' roll themes such as love, violence and death, and its unusual sound for a hard rock record of the time is the result of producer Gus van Go trying to emulate the sounds of classic rock and metal albums.

The album's music was predominantly written by Mikey Heppner, the band's lead singer and guitarist. Heppner formed Priestess after the Dropouts, his previous act which played punk rock music, fell through as its members left to form the Stills. Their manager, Gus van Go, signed-on to produce the debut album for Priestess. None of the music on Hello Master dates back to the Dropouts at all, as it was only written after Heppner decided he was done playing punk rock and wanted to play hard rock instead.

It is best known for spawning the hit "Lay Down", which was included in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, elevating the band's profile drastically. Critics have noted the album's resemblance to legendary acts such as Black Sabbath and AC/DC, who have been cited as a key influence on Priestess; such stylistic similarities had mixed results in reviews, but were not seen as terribly detrimental to the album's overall quality.

Lay Down (disambiguation)

Lay Down may refer to:

Rai (Kuwait)

Rai (Arabic: الرَّي‎) is an area in Farwaniya Governorate in Kuwait. It is the home of the Avenues Mall, the world's second largest shopping mall after Dubai Mall. It is also the home of Sooq al-Hamām pets market.

Coordinates: 29°18′32″N 47°56′42″E / 29.309°N 47.945°E / 29.309; 47.945

Rai (paradise)

The term rai in Slavic languages is a term for a heavenly or earthly paradise. In some of these languages the term is a synonym with the Greco-Persian term paradise.

Etymology

The etymology of Common Slavic rai is disputed. It is now generally regarded as a direct borrowing from Iranian ray, "heavenly radiance, beatitude". If so then two Persian words ray ("radiance") and pardeis ("park") both separately passed into some Slavic languages; for example Russian where "paradise" is generally rai (Рай) but paradiz (Парадиз) from English is also encountered. Alternative derivations have included:

The term passed from Slavic usage into Romanian.

Usage

Slavonic

Usage of rai in Slavic languages differs from that of "paradise" in Western languages due in part to the influence of Old Church Slavonic versions of the Bible, which were translated from the Greek Septuagint. This influence is felt even in Protestant Slavic traditions such as Czech:

Rai (unit)

A rai (Thai: ไร่  [râj]) is a unit of area, equal to 1 square sen (เส้น) or 1,600 square metres (40 m × 40 m), and is used in measuring land area for a cadastre or cadastral map. Its current size is precisely derived from the metre, but is neither part of nor recognized by the modern metric system, the International System (SI).

The rai equals 4 ngaan (Thai: งาน  [ŋāːn]) or 400 tarangwa (Thai: ตารางวา  [tāː.rāːŋ wāː]) aka square wa. The rai equals 0.3954 acres.

It is commonly used in Thailand and equals 16 ares, another unit that is based on the metre and commonly used in several countries. Although recognized by the SI, its use is not encouraged. The word also means plantation.

See also

References