A local Lo-Fi band. Still going strong twenty years in. Nice GCSE French.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Album Reviews # 1 R.E.M Murmur
Life does its work on you. But this is the most important record I'll ever hear. For lots of reasons.
R.E.M. (l-r) Bill Berry, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills
The first thing you notice in looking at the sleeve and taking the record out to play is the attention to detail. These people really thought about what they wanted things to look like. The name of the album, the lettering, the tangled kudzu grass on the cover, the song titles, the photos of the band. A lot of thought had been put into this. This was an assured and confident group of people.
R.E.M had played scores of dates before this came out. They'd emerged out of the Athens, Georgia college scene which also produced such notables as The B52's, Pylon and Love Tractor amongst others. They'd worked in record shops, played in college bands, done cover versions and worked on half-baked underdeveloped originals while they developed their style and absorbed music and culture to the point where they knew what they wanted to do and how to deliver.
They'd released a mini-album called Chronic Town with some cracking songs but an unrealised vision. Murmur meanwhile is incredibly sure-footed from the off. It kicks off with Radio Free Europe which is a statement of intent. It's pretty close to some Who stuff in terms of dynamics but offers something never heard before and builds and builds 'til the killer punch on the final chorus. Something's afoot.
Pilgrimage continues in pretty much the same vein. It's not clear what Michael Stipe is singing about. This is a consistent feature throughout and one of the main reasons I really fell in love with this album. Somebody suggested that Mumble might be a better album title than Murmur.The band responded that you wouldn't get the script of the film you were going to see when you went to the cinema so why should you be spoonfed here. The lyrics that are discernable - 'rest assured this will not last,' 'the pilgrimage has gained momentum' are about movement, change and growth. Just the stuff to appeal to pale, literate, teenage boys. The vocals from drummer Bill Berry and bassist Mike Mills here are extraordinary and to my mind unprecedented.
Laughing draws on Greek myth and Talk About the Passion talks about poverty. In a way it's the most conventional thing on here chiming like a post punk Byrds. Moral Kiosk is more urgent. Both of these songs are political but in an oblique way. R.E.M emerged at pretty much the same time as Reaganomics. They became more explicit on later albums in terms of their critique of what was going on. I'm not really sure if they became more effective.
Perfect Circle is often mentioned as one of the band's favourite songs. Quite rightly so. It's supposedly inspired by Stipe watching a group of kids playing baseball. I imagine it also may be about being in a great band with a group of friends
Catapult starts the second side and may be the weakest song on the album but was once considered the potential break-out single and New Order's producer Stephen Hague was brought in for an ill-judged remix. Sitting Still which is up next is indescribably good. I think I almost cried on hearing it first. You'll do well to hear a whole line of coherent lyrics here. It's all emotion and youth.
9-9 is the least conventional song and it took me a while to come to terms with it. Again there are Who dynamics there and it's reputed to have a Gang of Four influence though I've never really heard it myself. Shaking Through is marginally the longest song on the album and one of the best. Like much of the album it's driven by a beat generation inspired optimism and fervour. Great use of piano here.
We Walk is truly Southern. The album draws on Southern fiction throughout. Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner are all there. We Walk is pure Harper Lee, pretty much hokum but the band is so assured that they pull it off. Even their jokey song is pretty much streets ahead of the competition. The Smiths were the only guitar band firing on this level for me at this point.
This leaves us with West of the Fields. A song that to all intents and purposes is about death with more Greek myth in the mix. But despite the theme they gallop back for one more chorus to bring the album home.
I love this LP pretty much more than any other. It never tires or dates for me and if you're not familiar I suggest you give it a go. I used to listen to it time after time at the top of the house in Teddington. It cast a spell on me! I would listen through to it differently every time alternatively the vocals, the production, Peter Buck's guitar work, the bass or the backing vocals and hear something new every time. R.E.M produced several great albums and I'll write about them on here at some point but for now I'll just commend this album.
I've no idea how often I've listened to this record or how much I'll listen to it. I'm immersed in it. It's part of me. Everybody should have a record that means this much to them. When I put it on to listen to it today part of me wanted to go back to that time and space I listened to it first as an eighteen year old on the top floor of my parent's house in Teddington. But I can't go back there Nor do I want to. I'm in a different time and space and happy to be here.But I will always love and listen to that album. I will age while it won't. Perhaps it's my Picture of Dorian Grey.
R.E.M. (l-r) Bill Berry, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills
The first thing you notice in looking at the sleeve and taking the record out to play is the attention to detail. These people really thought about what they wanted things to look like. The name of the album, the lettering, the tangled kudzu grass on the cover, the song titles, the photos of the band. A lot of thought had been put into this. This was an assured and confident group of people.
R.E.M had played scores of dates before this came out. They'd emerged out of the Athens, Georgia college scene which also produced such notables as The B52's, Pylon and Love Tractor amongst others. They'd worked in record shops, played in college bands, done cover versions and worked on half-baked underdeveloped originals while they developed their style and absorbed music and culture to the point where they knew what they wanted to do and how to deliver.
They'd released a mini-album called Chronic Town with some cracking songs but an unrealised vision. Murmur meanwhile is incredibly sure-footed from the off. It kicks off with Radio Free Europe which is a statement of intent. It's pretty close to some Who stuff in terms of dynamics but offers something never heard before and builds and builds 'til the killer punch on the final chorus. Something's afoot.
Pilgrimage continues in pretty much the same vein. It's not clear what Michael Stipe is singing about. This is a consistent feature throughout and one of the main reasons I really fell in love with this album. Somebody suggested that Mumble might be a better album title than Murmur.The band responded that you wouldn't get the script of the film you were going to see when you went to the cinema so why should you be spoonfed here. The lyrics that are discernable - 'rest assured this will not last,' 'the pilgrimage has gained momentum' are about movement, change and growth. Just the stuff to appeal to pale, literate, teenage boys. The vocals from drummer Bill Berry and bassist Mike Mills here are extraordinary and to my mind unprecedented.
Laughing draws on Greek myth and Talk About the Passion talks about poverty. In a way it's the most conventional thing on here chiming like a post punk Byrds. Moral Kiosk is more urgent. Both of these songs are political but in an oblique way. R.E.M emerged at pretty much the same time as Reaganomics. They became more explicit on later albums in terms of their critique of what was going on. I'm not really sure if they became more effective.
Perfect Circle is often mentioned as one of the band's favourite songs. Quite rightly so. It's supposedly inspired by Stipe watching a group of kids playing baseball. I imagine it also may be about being in a great band with a group of friends
Catapult starts the second side and may be the weakest song on the album but was once considered the potential break-out single and New Order's producer Stephen Hague was brought in for an ill-judged remix. Sitting Still which is up next is indescribably good. I think I almost cried on hearing it first. You'll do well to hear a whole line of coherent lyrics here. It's all emotion and youth.
9-9 is the least conventional song and it took me a while to come to terms with it. Again there are Who dynamics there and it's reputed to have a Gang of Four influence though I've never really heard it myself. Shaking Through is marginally the longest song on the album and one of the best. Like much of the album it's driven by a beat generation inspired optimism and fervour. Great use of piano here.
We Walk is truly Southern. The album draws on Southern fiction throughout. Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner are all there. We Walk is pure Harper Lee, pretty much hokum but the band is so assured that they pull it off. Even their jokey song is pretty much streets ahead of the competition. The Smiths were the only guitar band firing on this level for me at this point.
This leaves us with West of the Fields. A song that to all intents and purposes is about death with more Greek myth in the mix. But despite the theme they gallop back for one more chorus to bring the album home.
I love this LP pretty much more than any other. It never tires or dates for me and if you're not familiar I suggest you give it a go. I used to listen to it time after time at the top of the house in Teddington. It cast a spell on me! I would listen through to it differently every time alternatively the vocals, the production, Peter Buck's guitar work, the bass or the backing vocals and hear something new every time. R.E.M produced several great albums and I'll write about them on here at some point but for now I'll just commend this album.
I've no idea how often I've listened to this record or how much I'll listen to it. I'm immersed in it. It's part of me. Everybody should have a record that means this much to them. When I put it on to listen to it today part of me wanted to go back to that time and space I listened to it first as an eighteen year old on the top floor of my parent's house in Teddington. But I can't go back there Nor do I want to. I'm in a different time and space and happy to be here.But I will always love and listen to that album. I will age while it won't. Perhaps it's my Picture of Dorian Grey.
Song of the Day # 449 Bop English
New album from White Denim frontman James Petralli's side-project. Consistently interesting and diverse.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Things I've Found on My Local's Jukebox # 66 Brian Eno
Found Here Come the Warm Jets on the jukebox. Baby's on Fire is going on at some point.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Song of the Day # 446 Blur
It's taken a long time to get to Blur on this series. I have quite a bit of time for them despite a tendency of theirs to be pretty obnoxious in their youth. I guess that's what youth is for. 'Sci-Fi Folk' ,ishow they describe it. Evocative, as the best Blur songs are. Reminiscent of their mid-Nineties stuff in terms of its lyrics and attitude but with a slightly more globalised sound.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Copy Cats # 11 The Shangri-Las
More tears. From two of the greatest songs to one of the greatest Girl Groups.
Song of the Day #445 The Mighty Lemondrops
The Mighty Lemondrops, from Wolverhampton, had their brief spell in the Indie sun in the Mid-Eighties. Their big moment was Like An Angel, which like most off their stuff drew its ingredients from The Doors, The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. Here's a slightly smaller moment.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
7th April 1915 Billie Holliday
Would have been a Hundred today. Sadly she didn't even make it halfway.
Song(s) of the Day # 444 Los Yorks
Last year I discovered Los Saicos, a great Peruvian Garage band from the Mid-Sixties. Here's another. Not quite as 'rediscovered' as Los Saicos as their records fetch exorbitant prices but worthy of notice. Here's their cover of The Box Tops The Letter.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Courtney Barnett Newcastle University 31st March 2015
Lester Bangs in a famous interview, (posted above), discussed the malaise in Rock Music in the Mid-Seventies. He said something along the lines that something came along every ten years Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles and then... He claimed nothing. Punk turned up just a little later.
The same thing has pretty much worked for me too, since I became actively engaged and committed to music about six or seven years after he made these comments. First R.E.M. in the Eighties when they first arrived in the UK, though it could easily have been The Smiths. Nirvana in the Nineties, The Strokes ten years later and now, for me at least, Courtney.I'm not suggesting these artists are the most significant artists in their decades by any means. They're just the ones I paid most attention to. They're all essentially quite straightforward, back to basics beat bands with clever lyricists. But if I drew a personal parallel with Bang's comments for myself those would be the ones I'd pick
I'm also not making inflated claims for Courtney Barnett and her band's significance. They're not going to be headlining Glastonbury at any point soon. Neither are they going to change the world. Nor would I imagine would they want to do either. Or even that I would want them to. But she and they've got something that very little else around have now.
Personality might have something to do with it. Courtney Barnett in her small, modest way has it in spades.We're living in an age which almost actively discourages individuality. She's a throwback. There's plenty of great music out there, Day in day out I'm discovering it and posting stuff on this blog. But there's very little strong personality leaping out at you as was the norm in the Sixties and Seventies and which seemed to wither and die on the vine through the Eighties and Nineties as Counterculture Anti-Establishment Rock Stars became a thing of the past and those who persevered became grist to the industry mill and eaten up within the machine. We ended up with plenty of good music but very few people actually saying anything much. At least in the mainstream. Most of this stuff seems to have been chased to the margins now. As a consequence we also ended up with U2, Oasis and Coldplay s the big 'important' acts rather than Creedence, The Clash and Nirvana. Very little rage against the machine. Or inside the machine for that matter.
There are exceptions to this still of course. P J Harvey leaps to mind. Nick Cave I guess. But neither of these have shows on Saturday Night Television the way that somebody like Johnny Cash did. Generally in the same way as we've become more passive, more content, less politically engaged in the West, or else locked out of the whole thing as the increasing disenfranchised poor in our societies have been, so we've been satisfied with processed music just as much as processed meals . Music that's either nonsense Reality Show bilge or music, (as good as it might be), as lifestyle choice to distract us from real life in its most important sense rather than engage us with it.
Courtney Barnett and her band are not going to change any of this. They're merely the new thing that have excited me most recently. They won't be to everyone's taste. I sent a circular round to like-minded colleagues at work and no-one wanted to come along so I went on my own. More fool those people! But the band are doing their small, smart thing and I'm grateful, as I've said on here before. I also spoke to them very briefly when I saw them in the bar before they played. I went over and told them excitedly that my brother-in-law had made the promotional chair that they were using in photos for the tour. The whole band nodded enthusiastically and said things along the lines of 'Yeah, really great chair'. My sister when I told her about it later said 'Well what were they supposed to say?' but that's family for you! Really Alison they're just nice people and it really is a great chair. Anyway I shuffled off, not wanting to bother them. I'm Forty Nine years old and shouldn't feel like I'm Fifteen just to be in the presence of people who I admire and whose work I respect. But I did.
Of course they were great later on that evening. Playing in a much bigger venue than they did last time they were in Newcastle, a fact Courtney commented on. This time an utterly soulless, corporate university room but they filled it with personality. They're gradually moving on from that early sound which was still evident in the older songs here, of a three piece trio building on the melody, energy, wit and power of those great Nirvana records to a broader, slightly but only slightly more commercial sound. Augmented by Stephen Luscome from The Drones on their new record though not on this tour it's made them sound more realised and ambitious without losing what made them special in the first place. A difficult act to pull off. I look forward to the next time they play here though I don't imagine it'll be for a while and possibly in a bigger venue still. In the meantime, here's another picture of that chair and the band appreciating it. As we all agreed, a really great chair!
I'll dedicate this to my friend Rod, supporter of this blog, (I imagine you'll read this), and fellow traveler musically. Go see them if you get another chance!
Copy Cats # 9 Mickey & Sylvia
To one of the best Rock and Roll records ever made. This was the song my sister and brother in law played just after their wedding vows were completed. Brought back to mass public attention by the Dirty Dancing soundtrack in the mid-eighties. Thunders and Palladin's version, (and they did it justice), followed shortly thereafter.
Song of the Day # 443 Silver Jews
' 1984. I was hospitalised for approaching perfection.'
At the Courtney Barnett gig last week at Newcastle University, (it was great, I need to review it), support act Fraser A. Gorman, covered this. The original is here for the lyrics as much as anything. So is this, from 2008's Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. I could have chosen any number of tracks from that wonderful record but this edged it, purely on the basis of the St.Bernard line. Highly recommended..
'Send us your co-ordinates. I'll send a St. Bernard.'
Sunday, April 5, 2015
5th April 1980 .R.E.M's First Concert
Also today.
5 April 1980 - St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Athens, GA ...
support: The Side Effects
supporting: The $windle$
possible set:
set 1: I Can't Control Myself / God Save The Queen / Narrator / Baby I / Action / Needles And Pins / Hippy Hippy Shake / There She Goes Again / All The Right Friends / Shakin' All Over / Secret Agent Man / A Girl Like You / Permanent Vacation / I Can Only Give You Everything / Dangerous Times / Different Girl / Mystery To Me / (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone / Lisa Says / Nervous Breakdown / Schéhérazade
set 2: Honky Tonk Women / One Nation Under A Groove / Roadrunner / California Sun / Gloria
notes: First ever R.E.M. performance. Some reports have the band playing under the name 'Twisted Kites', other reports claim there was no band name. Song order is not known (although 'I Can't Control Myself' and 'God Save The Queen' have been acknowledged to be the first two songs played) and it's not known what other songs were played
support: The Side Effects
supporting: The $windle$
possible set:
set 1: I Can't Control Myself / God Save The Queen / Narrator / Baby I / Action / Needles And Pins / Hippy Hippy Shake / There She Goes Again / All The Right Friends / Shakin' All Over / Secret Agent Man / A Girl Like You / Permanent Vacation / I Can Only Give You Everything / Dangerous Times / Different Girl / Mystery To Me / (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone / Lisa Says / Nervous Breakdown / Schéhérazade
set 2: Honky Tonk Women / One Nation Under A Groove / Roadrunner / California Sun / Gloria
notes: First ever R.E.M. performance. Some reports have the band playing under the name 'Twisted Kites', other reports claim there was no band name. Song order is not known (although 'I Can't Control Myself' and 'God Save The Queen' have been acknowledged to be the first two songs played) and it's not known what other songs were played
101 Favourite Albums
In no particular order. Though the best are naturally shuffled to the top in the order that I thought of them. The criteria became one artist, one record. They also had to be vinyl I own. And not any objective account of the best records ever made. Most of this is filtered by my own experience and memories.Just a personal judgement at this point in time. Top 5 will probably always stay pretty much the same.
1. R.E.M. - Murmur
2. Television - Marquee Moon
3. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
4. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
5. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
6. Love - Forever Changes
7. Patti Smith - Horses
8. The Smiths - Meat is Murder
9. Sly & the Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On
10. The Clash - London Calling
11. The Beatles - Abbey Road
12. Talking Heads - Fear of Music
13. The Specials - The Specials
14. The Velvet Underground - Live '69
15. Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
16. Gang of Four - Entertainment
17. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
18. The Byrds - The Notorious Byrds Brothers
19. Dexys Midnight Runners - Searching For the Young Soul Rebels
20. Can - Tago Mago
21. Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
22. The Ramones - Leave Home
23. The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers
24. Gram Parsons - Return of the Grievous Angel
25. Big Star - Record # 1
26 Husker Du - Zen Arcade
27. The Triffids - Born Sandy Devotional
28 David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars
29. Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power
30. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Armed Forces
31. The Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions
32. Frank Sinatra - Cycles
33. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
34. Echo & the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here
35. The B52s - The B52s
36. The Go-Betweens - Spring Hill Fair
37. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
38. The Violent Femmes - The Violent Femmes
39. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash
40. Misty & Roots - Live at the Eurovision 1979
41. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
42. Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - Safe as Milk
43. Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
44. Aztec Camera - High Land, Hard Rain
45. Otis Redding - Otis Blue
46. Gil Scott Heron - Reflections
47. The Slits - The Cut
48. Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
49. Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes
50. The MC5 - Back in the USA
51. Magazine - Real Life
52. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
53. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit
54. Pixies - Surfer Rosa
55. The Gun Cub - Fire of Love
56. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions - Rattlesnakes
57. The Kinks - Are the Village Green Preservation Society
58. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
59. Bobbie Gentry - Touch 'Em With Love
60 The Doors - LA Woman
61. Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man
62.Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis
63. Japan - Tin Drum
64. The Who - The Who Sell Out
65. Adrian Crowley - Some Blue Morning
66. Dr. John - The Night Tripper
67. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I
68. Sparks - Kimono My House
69. Phosphorescent - Muchacho
70. Nico - Chelsea Girls
71. The Bhundu Boys - Shabini
72. Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
73. The Cramps - Psychedelic Jungle
74. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
75. The Undertones - The Sin of Pride
76. The Everly Brothers - Roots
77. The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
78. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets
79. Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
80. The Teardrop Explodes - Wilder
81. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
82. Procol Harum - A Salty Dog
83. Pulp - Different Class
84. Al Green - I'm Still in Love With You
85. A Tribe Called Quest - Peoples Instinctive Travels & the Paths of Rhythm
86. The New York Dolls - The New York Dolls
87. The Human League - Dare
88. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
89. Scott Walker - III
90. Mazzy Star - She Hangs Brightly
91. Fela Kuti & the Africa Express- Sorrow, Tears & Blood
92. Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
93. The Auteurs - New Wave
94. Tim Buckley - Goodbye & Hello
95. Buzzcocks - Love Bites
96. Suicide - Suicide
97. Toots & the Maytals - Funky Kingston
98. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
99. Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
100. Prince & the Revolution - Sign of the Times
101. The Thelonius Monk Quartet - Monk's Dream
P.S. Having looked through it I've noticed I've left out Neil Young, Nirvana, John Coltrane and almost certainly several more. But I'd stand by most of these.
P.S. Having looked through it I've noticed I've left out Neil Young, Nirvana, John Coltrane and almost certainly several more. But I'd stand by most of these.
Songs About People # 83 Thomas Chatterton
Reading an anniversary article about Cobain's death and the writer states:
'The tortured rock star is only the most recent incarnation of the troubled artist cliché that has been around for centuries. From troubled painters like Caravaggio and Van Gogh and Rothko to poets and writers like Plath and Sexton and Hemingway. Creative talent and tormented minds, we are told, are sides of the same coin.
I hate this idea.'
This reminded me of the Eighteenth Century British poet Chatterton who also committed suicide young, perhaps in his case to avoid the pressing charges of plagiarism that were gathering around him. A myth of course grew around him after his death too.
5th April 1994 Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain's body was found. I watched the news unfold at a friend's flat in Dortmund on MTV in 1994. Still missed.
Song(s) of the Day # 442 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion are one of the tightest, most driven Rock and Roll bands I've ever seen. They're almost an academic exercise to condense everything that they love about the history of the form into each one of their songs. But the fact that it is such an act of love at the same time means they've wrap up the whole package. Go see them live if you can because that's when they're truly in their element.
But the records are pretty great too. These two come from their latest album. The promo for the song song above, Do The Get Down is a tribute to one of the greatest cities in the world, New York. In my experience the greatest. See if you can spot the musical and cultural references. I caught, Swans, Lydia Lunch, The Ramones, Fat Boys, Television (the band), After Hours, Stonewall, Giuliani, Wall Street, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, The Dead Boys, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, Son of Sam, The Warriors, Midnight Cowboy and The Wanderers. I don't think I did very well. The other song has a great Rock and Roll New York promo too. Both check in at less than three minutes. Respect.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Songs Heard on the Radio # 40 Chet Baker
Dangerous hearing Jazz like this before midday. The temptation is to go to bed (not a slur on its greatness). I once played Kind of Blue first thing on a Monday morning and it made me feel like taking the week off.
4th April 1941 Major Lance
His biggest hit. #5 in the Billboard chart in 1964. Written by Curtis Mayfield.
Spelling in Songs
A pint in another local yesterday and they played this Faith No More song which took me back twenty years to when I was living in Dortmund. My best friend there repeatedly played them when I went round on a Friday night to listen to records. I would never have noticed Faith No More if it wasn't for him but took to this song. A group of cheerleaders sing the chorus. It made me think of other songs where things are spelled out during the course of the song. Well there are worse things to do with your time. A bit of research and I came up with this.
1. Faith No More - 'B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E'
2. R.E.M. - 'There's a splinter in your eye and it reads react. R.E.A.C.T'
3. The Cure - 'F-I-R-E-I-N-C-A-I-R-O'
4. Television - 'F-R-I-C-T-I-O-N'
5. Carla Thomas - 'B-A-B-Y Baby'
6. Tammy Wynette - 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E'
7. The Kinks - 'L-O-L-A'
8. Aaron Neville - 'M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E'
9. The Rutles - 'C-H-E-E-S-E-A-N-D-O-N-I-O-N-S'
10. Wu Tang Clan - 'M-E-T-H-O-D-M-A-N'
Then there's Gloria, and Pulp, and Respect but it's time to tidy my flat.
Copy Cats # 7 Screaming Jay Hawkins
Couldn't find a direct link to Johnny and Patti's version so here's a link. Jeff Buckley also did a version
Song of the Day # 441 Soko
And while we're in the Eighties. This is just out from a French Singer-Songwriter. The opening song from an album that is unashamedly Eighties. Quite scaringly so on occasion for those of us who already lived through that bizarre and often awful decade. Still I like this. Echoes of David Lynch.
Things I've Found on My Local's Jukebox # 65 The Go-Gos
A few days off for Easter, so like the unimaginitive soul I am afternoons are spent in Rosie's. Found this. An underrated band. Possibly because they were all girls and the priority was clearly on having fun. Co-written by Terry Hall who I think also produced the album.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Instrumentals # 28 God Speed You! Black Emperor
For those who like scale. More than a touch of Kashmir about the early section of this. But then Kashmir hardly came out of a void. And then it goes to an entirely different, unexpected and beautiful place and then on to another. Genius! First track from their recently released new album.
Things I've Found on My Local's Jukebox # 64 The Flying Burrito Brothers
A long afternoon session in Rosie's yesterday. The first day of my holidays. Pretty empty pub. Lucy the barmaid didn't turn my music up until after my selection finished. Because I didn't ask her to. A lesson in life.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Song(s) of the Day # 439 Houndmouth
'Keening' is a great word. It's particularly helpful when trying to describe music sometimes The place it takes you to. A way it can make you feel when it cuts beneath the skin. Houndtooth do 'keening' very well. I'm not the first person to think so.I picked up the word from a recent New York Times article about them. Their new album, Little Neon Limelight, is just out, (on Rough Trade Records in the UK).
They're a slight problem to me at the moment as I've just bought and am loving and getting round to write about the new Houndstooth album. It's difficult getting into two 'Hounds' bands at once. Houndstooth have the better name but Houndmouth seem to have a bit more commercial wind in their sails at least for the moment, They've just done David Letterman, have more Facebook likes and Spotify plays if this is how you measure these things. I'd say I prefer Houndstooth but Houndmouth are just fine.
It's not difficult to see why they're getting attention. Their songs are immediately easy to understand. The place they take you to is one where it's forever 1971 and in many respects that's not a bad place to be, Many people thought the World was changing then. Houndmouth never quite break out of this place. They're like Punk never happened and personally I think it's a good idea if you're playing retro sounding music to acknowledge that Punk happened because it needed to. But while the spell lasts they're like a sunny afternoon spent in an American bar knocking back Jack Daniels. As with 1971, there are worse places to be.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Great Lines # 17 Michael Nesmith
'I've forgotten how long I've been sitting here
Watching my reflection in a disappearing beer
The loneliness is so thick you can slice it
The emptiness is too much for me to fight it
And while tomorrow must be met, it seems
That life's become a jewel that dimly gleams
From its perch atop a ring that's slightly out of round
Casting the reflection of a crying clown.'
Watching my reflection in a disappearing beer
The loneliness is so thick you can slice it
The emptiness is too much for me to fight it
And while tomorrow must be met, it seems
That life's become a jewel that dimly gleams
From its perch atop a ring that's slightly out of round
Casting the reflection of a crying clown.'
A real discovery this afternoon. Michael Nesmith (of course the bobble headed one in The Monkees whose mother discovered Tippex), and his wonderful 1972 album And the Hits Just Keep Comin'. I recommend it wholeheartedly and am looking for ways to purchase a vinyl copy for myself. This is the opening track.
Song(s) of the Day # 438 Steve Gunn
From his album from 2013 Time Off. Last year's record Way Out Weather also much recommended. So as an afterthought here's something from that.
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