| Author | Message | ||
     cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 266 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Communion, in a different universe (of which I am emperor) they would be the biggest rock band on the planet, their third killer album in a row (Origin & Behind the Music are both excellent)and I love the fact that they chose to release a double in the present download demolition derby environment for the album | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 267 Registered: 05-2005 |
Captain Beefheart- I may be hungry but I sure ain't weird | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 635 Registered: 10-2008 |
lcd soundsystem - new album, listen on the link below http://www.lcdsoundsystem.com/thisishapp ening/ | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 268 Registered: 05-2005 |
nice one Skully nice one son | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 269 Registered: 05-2005 |
Can - Can (Inner Space) | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1794 Registered: 09-2006 |
The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3480 Registered: 05-2005 |
i should get some TSOOL Cosmo? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2326 Registered: 03-2005 |
I have to say, Cosmo, you pull out some entertaining things to listen to. I haven't heard "I May be Hungry but I Sure Ain't Weird" in a long time. I just returned from a visit upstate to see my mom. It's always fun to be trapped inside a car with music as I've no chance to do anything but listen. I found when listening to the Triffids' Sixth Cassette (from about 1980 or so) that McComb must have been attempting a bit of a topical concept album about the search for love as it morphs into a world-weary cynical rejection of love. Maybe it's my imagination but it sure seems like it from the songs. David McComb never lacked for ambition. There are earlier versions of "Reverie," "Place in the Sun" and "Native Bride" on this tape. McComb had already reached an impressive level of maturity as a songwriter here. Aside from stretches of iPod shuffle I also listened to Vic Chesnutt's "About to Choke" and Alain Bashung's "Bleu Petrole." | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 273 Registered: 05-2005 |
Spence, yes I strongly suggest you embrace the Stones/Who rifftastic wonder of Sweden's finest. Behind the Music is superb and should have been in all the best of noughties lists, Origin is also chock full of good songs. They kick arse live too. Randy, I like hearing the Strictly Personal songs without all the effects on IMBHBISAW. | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 158 Registered: 11-2007 |
Another one from the Wild Beasts... Yesterday at the concert a guy I know from concerts since the early 80s told me about their acoustic sessions. You will be blown away by the purity and the beauty! http://www.youtube.com/user/cargovideo#p /u/410/gi--qsUHC5A | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 159 Registered: 11-2007 |
...and one from the Babyshambles from the same channel  http://www.youtube.com/user/cargovideo#p /u/539/cMwD_xvTrgc | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3482 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andreas, beautiful ain't they, them wild beasts, sweeping majestically!... | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3483 Registered: 05-2005 |
Will do Cosmo! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2327 Registered: 03-2005 |
Bathers--Kelvingrove Baby I'm on my second hearing of this album, which was already clearly magnificent on the first listen last night. I keep thinking Antony & the Johnsons must have been dipping into this well. I obviously need to give "Pandemonia" a second spin. It was a huge disappointment to me when I first heard it. | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 294 Registered: 05-2005 |
John Prine - Souvenirs Inspired to pull this out of the collection by mention of him in the gigs thread. And what a wonderful record it is. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3502 Registered: 05-2005 |
JJ - No 2 | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 160 Registered: 11-2007 |
Hi Spence, hearing the Wild Beasts (live or acoustic even better than their good albums) makes me shiver! | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 276 Registered: 05-2005 |
Up for a bit with The Pastels | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 295 Registered: 05-2005 |
Perry Keyes - Johnny Rays Downtown. Thanks for the tip Padraig. A really great album in the Paul Kelly Australian story telling tradition. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3504 Registered: 05-2005 |
You're welcome Mark! | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 162 Registered: 11-2007 |
an electronic waking up this morning: The Human League - Travelogue | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2328 Registered: 03-2005 |
Gaslight Radio--Z Nation | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 641 Registered: 10-2008 |
The new album by The National leaked, so they are streaming it in its entirety here http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/magazi ne/25national-t.html | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1475 Registered: 08-2006 |
Hey, Kev: They're streaming the new Fall CD at NPR. Dig in, man: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story .php?storyId=126016897 | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 642 Registered: 10-2008 |
Cheers Rob, my cd of the album came through the post from Domino on Saturday morning - a whopping 2 full days before release :-) I'm actually really enjoying hearing MES's gnarled growls offset against a fairly tight, rocking band of young reprobates. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 658 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Triffids box set. I'm sorry Triffid-heads, but those early casettes are just embarrassing! Eeeekkkkk! They are even worse than the first demos I've done and that's saying something!! Not that I will or ever was as good a songwriter as David McComb funnily enough! The singles/b-sides are good but I haven't made it to the live shows yet. Some of the stuff is SO Go-Betweens - they nearly sound like long lost stuff by Grant! It made me dig out my copy of the Jack Brabham and Son of Dungeon tapes. I remember not really liking either but now I don't mind it too much. I really didn't mind Reverie on the best of album, Randy, which I think has got a great progression of songs. The songs themselves are fantastic of course but I like how it starts with Wide Open Road and finishes with Save what you can. It would be a good album to give to someone to turn them onto the Triffids. | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 163 Registered: 11-2007 |
Wild Beasts - The Black Sessions | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 643 Registered: 10-2008 |
geoff, i too like reverie and was surprised to see randy diss it in an earlier post. my misgivings on the box set have already been aired and was hoping to be proved wrong. unless i missed it padraig and randy have still to share their thoughts. with them being uber fans i am hoping for their sakes they enjoyed what they heard. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1476 Registered: 08-2006 |
Kev, I was naive to think I could scoop you on anything Fall-related : ) | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2329 Registered: 03-2005 |
Geoff and I have different ears. I've been totally delighted with the box set, Kevin. I've already sent a handful of my favorites from the cassettes to some of my unlucky email correspondents along with some of my comments. While the cassettes start when McComb and Alsy McDonald were kids--15 or 16 years old--they progress rapidly. I happen to like seeing the full progression of somebody from clever kid into artist. By the time of the sixth cassette McComb was mostly writing fully mature songs and I put an entry on here about that a while back. I actually think he had lined up a series of songs about love on that cassette that were meant to create a bit of a "concept album." I like "Reverie" rather better in its alternative versions. I can't fathom why Geoff would have problems with Dungeon Tape or Son of Dungeon Tape which contain material recorded in an actual studio (or, at least, studio quality). I will readily admit that I have a great liking for the early work of people who end up being very good. The early work will always lack the discipline and sophistication but it will contain the unschooled youthful flashes of brilliance. Plus the tapes allow me to listen to the evolution of the Triffids as a breathtakingly great BAND, something that I think is too often overlooked, eventually even by David McComb himself who started to sideline it a bit on "Black Swan" all to that album's detriment. Don't believe me? Listen to the live version of "Spinning Top Song" on one of the Brabham discs--I think the first one. There was nearly nothing for that brilliant band to do. Really sad. I don't hear much Grant, except on the song that opens the sixth tape called "Somewhere in the Shadows," which is very lovely. As a couple of my unlucky e-mail recipients have observed, there's more Tom Verlaine than Grant McLennan to a lot of the early stuff. My objection to "Reverie" is that among the early singles and EP's it seems like a lightweight. On my own introduction anthology I created for my brother I included "Spanish Blue." | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2330 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kevin, I just forwarded to you all my emails I mentioned in the previous post. You'll find your mailbox stuffed. Geoff, listening to the early cassettes all at once is impossible. But I recommend you give them another try in smaller doses. Give "Careless City," "Pileup" and "Tuscan St. Retirement Village" from the fifth tape a listen. Every time I hear these songs I just want to make covers of them and I don't do covers. The sixth cassette is just great, full stop. For me the box set is ALL about those cassettes. The live stuff's okay but I have limited appetite for that. The early singles/EP disc is also much appreciated because the sound is better than I managed on my CDR burned from Domino's original download of those songs. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1940 Registered: 10-2004 |
Thanks to Randy, I've heard about 10 or so tracks from the Triffids' cassette albums, and while I'm sure he cherry-picked the very best moments, I have to say that most of the tracks I heard are - to my ears - actually BETTER than a lot of the material on the Triffids' first few proper albums. Had they been able to make a proper album toward the end of the "cassette" era, they'd have had a classic on their hands. Keep in mind I'm VERY ambivalent about the Triffids. I think they were all over the map in terms of consistency, and I've never really fully warmed up to them. I've been known to be harshly critical of them, so I'm definitely a skeptic and not an obsessive fanboy. So, take that for what it's worth. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 644 Registered: 10-2008 |
Randy, more T Verlaine than Grant, now thats got me interested. Listening to Trick Of The Light recently I heard strong echoes of Robert in the vocals. I guess they had a mutual admiration society going between both bands in the mid to late 80s? I'm at work on nights so havent checked my mail yet, it'll probably be the end of the week before I have a real chance to sit down and listen to the stuff, looking forward to hearing it , thanks. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3487 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'm with Jeff. Though what I love about The Triffids, esp what Randy has sent to me, such beuties as Tuscan St. Retirement Village for example, is the distinct focus on melodic arrangements that they had. There's the Television/strong new york wave influence coming through, which is very very similar to and what I loved about the early GB's stuff of that album I adore The Lost album, theres a real charm of innocence to these and The triffids songs I have been sent. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1943 Registered: 10-2004 |
Spence, yeah, these early tracks definitely possess a charm that diminished when the Triffids matured. And a lot of these tracks' melodies are highly memorable. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3508 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've only been sampling at random so far, but Tuscan St. Retirement Village is one I played that definitely stood out. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1797 Registered: 09-2006 |
Linton Kwesi Johnson - Forces of Victory & Making History. Two fuquing great albums. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 645 Registered: 10-2008 |
Alan, LKJ's debut album under the guise Poet and The Roots is even stronger than the two you mention, great as they undoubtedly are. The debut has tougher rhythms i reckon, hard as nails!! | ||
| Andreas Severins Member Username: Andreas_severins Post Number: 164 Registered: 11-2007 |
terry hall - laugh (plus) wonderful album, haven't had it before. but songs like ballad of a landlord sound great to me. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 646 Registered: 10-2008 |
jon spencer blues explosion - dirty shirt rock'n'roll, the first ten years. why did this band not achieve the same success as the blues faker jack white? answers on a postcard. flying lotus - cosmogramma. its on warp records so is loosly described as dance music, but this is uncategorisable, out there, psych beat music. crystal castles - ii. actress - splazsh. see flying lotus. the fall - your future our clutter. various artists. lloyd daleys matador productions. classic reggae from 1968-72. randy, i promise i will listen to the triffids stuff tomorrow. tonight is the first chance i've had to listen to music all week due to work commitments | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1798 Registered: 09-2006 |
Agreed, Dread Beat an' Blood is a pretty darn killer record too. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 647 Registered: 10-2008 |
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story .php?storyId=98679384 some of you folks might be interested in this site, which i'd never heard of before but maybe others have. (i've just realised its the site that rob mentioned above which is streaming the new fall album) the main interest for me would be that it appears to stream albums before release date. already i have come across new albums by the hold steady, lcd soundsytem, new pornographers and broken social scene all of which are released in may. this appears to be record companies method of combatting illegal downloads before albums are officially released i guess | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2331 Registered: 03-2005 |
Friends Again--Trapped and Unwrapped. Wow, this really IS very Bowie sounding as far as the vocals go. (I'm only on the second song "Sunkissed.") Is this James Grant or Chris Thomson singing lead? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3510 Registered: 05-2005 |
Blur - Parklife. I could have sworn I owned it on CD but after turning the house upside down it seems I don't. The cassette version is playing on the kitchen boombox and the CD version will soon be winging its way to me. Still an amazing record. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3514 Registered: 05-2005 |
One Million Pieces - Smother Mary. Long forgotten Australian band from the early 90s. I'm shocked iTunes recognises it. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 236 Registered: 03-2007 |
Randy, there is nothing in the cd sleeve notes to indicate who is singing lead. Thomson is usually credited as the lead vocalist of the band with Grant handling backing vocals but I saw them play live in the 1980's and I am almost certain Grant did handle some lead vocals. The songwriting credits are listed as Thomson; Thomson/Grant; Grant/Thomson; Thomson/Grant/McGeechan; McGeechan/Thomson. 'Sunkissed' is credited to Grant/Thomson which suggests that perhaps Grant was the main contributor to that particular song. I have no idea if it is accurate but, according to Discogs, Thomson was the vocalist and Grant handled backing vocals. http://www.discogs.com/Friends-Again-Sun kissed/release/2241909 Currently listening to Rough Sketches by John Stewart. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 296 Registered: 02-2007 |
John Frusciante - The Empyrean. Interesting experimental album. Nothin like the Chile Peppers stuff at all. A real sonic landscape built on soaring guitar and plenty of quieter moments. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3489 Registered: 05-2005 |
I first heard Honey at the core, the original 7'' not on Mercury or whoever they were on, a wee indie label on the john peel show, I sent you some Friends Again a couple o years ago Randy, I think the songs were from Trapped. I've always felt Thomson sounded like Bowie would like Bowie to sound!!, a great voice, great songs, FA were part of a selection of bands I loved around '83/'84 who had that striped sunlit sound!! James Granthandled backing vox only fo FA. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3518 Registered: 05-2005 |
Listening to long lost Irish band The Blades right now. They should have been huge. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3520 Registered: 05-2005 |
Madness - 7. What a magnificent album. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 282 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Soft Pack on stun volume in my kitchen last night, am loving this band! | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 659 Registered: 05-2005 |
Padraig, I just heard "I could be happy" by Atered Images on 702 this morning, dug it the tape of it I had pirated in my Uni daze, saw that I had "7" on the other side and thought I must give that a go again after 27 years! There must be Madness in the air! | ||
| Lewisdhead Member Username: Lewisdhead Post Number: 60 Registered: 01-2007 |
Avi Buffalo O Emperor EP - Reverie | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3521 Registered: 05-2005 |
That's some coincidence Geoff! | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1801 Registered: 09-2006 |
Slim Gaillard - Laughing in Rhythm: Best of the Verve Years Robert Ashley - Perfect Lives (Private Parts) U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky (CD/DVD set) | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3525 Registered: 05-2005 |
Big Chief - Mack Avenue Skullgame. Funk meets Sub Pop hardcore in a very enjoyable mix from 1993. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3526 Registered: 05-2005 |
And now (for something completely different) I'm listening to Norah Jones' The Fall. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3527 Registered: 05-2005 |
Autohaze - Mild Steel Flat | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 649 Registered: 10-2008 |
phosphorescent - heres to taking it easy. big hype about this bands 5th album and i'd never heard any of their previous ones(so this immediately got me suspicious, but also intrigued), in fact i had hardly heard of the band until last year and that was only because they got some coverage for releasing a tribute to willie nelson. anyway, decided to take the plunge and even on first listen it sounds very good indeed. think late 60 stones, early 70s neil young and some little feat thrown in. add in the usual alt country influences and you have a great sound going on. from what i can gather its one guys baby, but he's now got himself a band. end of year polls beckon methinks. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 661 Registered: 05-2005 |
You're usually got a good radar for good "old" new stuff skully so I will have to track it down. And I think you will laugh heartily at, especially the review entitled "A Killing Joke". So funny I cried!! http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Arguments -Fireman-Youth-McCartney/product-reviews /B001GKYBXA/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8& showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 651 Registered: 10-2008 |
new pornographers - together. another great pop album from them. i seem to be at odds with the media regarding this band. this one, and the last one challengers have been lukewarmly received at best,especially in the uk, but i prefer them to the salivated over early releases. neko case is all over it too, no bad thing. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3529 Registered: 05-2005 |
What imbeciles those people are Geoff. People who only like the most obvious of melodies. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3530 Registered: 05-2005 |
The new Paul Weller album is really rather wonderful. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 299 Registered: 02-2007 |
Chris Smither - Time Stands Still. I must explore this guy's back catalogue, great folk/blues song writer who I must admit only just found out about. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1802 Registered: 09-2006 |
Best wishes to you on your exploration, David. "Another Way to Find You" and "Drive You Home Again" are two personal favorites, but I think you're pretty safe in starting wherever you like...he has many fine albums to choose from. | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 299 Registered: 05-2005 |
The National - High Violet Band of Horses - Infinite Arms Got em both yesterday and early impressions are very good. Some of the lyrics on High Violet are superb. "I still owe money to the money to the money i owe" has got to be my favorite lines in a song ever! Matt Berringer must have been talking to my bank manager. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2335 Registered: 03-2005 |
Lucia Battisti--s/t Stuart, I wonder if it was "Gli Album Originali" that you originally recommended to me. This is a German 5 CD box that simply packages together the first five albums in their original formats. Very good value for money. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1779 Registered: 01-2005 |
Devo - Freedom of Choice, remastered 2009 edition. Ultravox - Vienna, remastered double disc edition. I'll have to pop for the new Paul Weller and National albums for sure. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 652 Registered: 10-2008 |
david mccomb - love of will | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2336 Registered: 03-2005 |
Wow. There's an unlikely entry! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 653 Registered: 10-2008 |
only one play so far randy, a friend loaned me it. first impressions were at least he didnt throw the kitchen sink at it, or try to encompass too many styles like calenture and the black swan. you like it? | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2337 Registered: 03-2005 |
I like about 1/2 of it Kevin. I've always been puzzled by the choice of "Clear Out My Mind" as the opener because--for me--it's a track to skip entirely. Much of the reason for that is the yucky session musician backing but it doesn't seem all that special a song anyway. On the other hand I think "Day of My Ascension" and "The Lord Burns Every Clue" are among his great songs and I have no complaint with how they are done. Things like "I Want to Conquer You" just embarrass me. "Nothing Good" is a very nice polished song which to my amazement was originally recorded on one of the Triffids' cassette recordings. It's too bad "Song of No Return" was not included because that's another excellent McComb number and it would have beefed up the album considerably. I'm almost certain that some of the songs that leave me a little indifferent would have an entirely different effect on me if they had been arranged and played by the Triffids. I know I've said it a lot but the Triffids as a band are a very important part of what made their great stuff great. Did you ever get around to checking out any of those early cassette recordings I sent you? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3534 Registered: 05-2005 |
I think Love Of Will is a wonderful record Kevin! Randy, I Want To Conquer You worked really well when sung by someone else at the Triffids re-union/tribute nights. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 654 Registered: 10-2008 |
yes i did randy. not for me i'm afraid, a bit too amateurish if thats not too harsh. i guess thats what you love about it though, listening to the development of mccomb and the band. to be fair, i've never really been one for odds and sods, no matter who the band is and how much i love them. interestingly my 2 kids were very disparaging of the songs when they heard them, i think they were objecting mainly to the vocals. they rarely if ever comment negatively on anything that i play, and a lot of what i play is hardly mainstream :-) | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2338 Registered: 03-2005 |
Padraig, my problem is literally with the corniness of the line "I want to conquer you." And he keeps repeating it! It's not up to his standard as a wordsmith at all. Every other aspect of the song is fine but I just can't get around that graceless line that he insists on designating as the lyric hook. Kevin, no worries. I do indeed love hearing people develop as artists. Concerning the amateurishness I find that appealing: the showbizzy artifice has not yet arrived. It's the showbizzy fakery that eventually makes a lot of artists--especially mainstream ones--lose their appeal for me. Regarding the vocals, I suppose most people don't realize how much the vocals they are listening to on records are a product of an expensive mid-range happy microphone, a sound compressor, some judicious equalization and--usually--a dollop of reverb. And finally, there's the multiple takes to get the one that accidentally sounds the best or even a composite of the best parts of a bunch of takes to create one idealized take. I just listen right through the absence of those refinements and focus on the ideas I'm hearing. And seriously, the songs are already there by the sixth tape. "Nothing Good" was recorded on one of the Dungeon tapes with the same chord progression, the same song structure and many of the same lyrics as McComb used when he recorded it for "Love of Will" in 1994. Except that he actually dropped out a line that lent the song more color than the 1994 version: "The last I heard you had a steady job at Maxwell's Liquor Mart" in the original instead of "but I'm the type who always walks away, baby it doesn't break my heart." The original version is a quick cool youthful thrust at the former lover's low achievement--of course he left her behind!--while the later version is a rather vague and generic "I'm just a heartbreaker" cliche--a much less precise, less interesting and less honest image. (Maybe you have to grow up in a prosaic place like I did to find the original line so priceless.) On the other hand the original's "but they all have that same nasty hollow ring" is probably improved with the later "but I don't like to watch an old friend suffering." He then finished the song in its 1994 version with a third verse where the Dungeon tape version made do with a reprise of the first verse. This last verse nicely draws upon the reality of the singer being much older than he was when the song was originally written and so it plays on the jadedness that tends to settle in. But "Nothing Good" was already a good song in 1980 or '81. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1805 Registered: 09-2006 |
Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here Linda Thompson - Versatile Heart | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 662 Registered: 05-2005 |
Natalie Merchant - Leave your sleep. Maybe too Irish at times for me.(Sorry Padraig!) Not as amazing a some of the reviews had it but that's only after one listen. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3536 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, I figured your issue was with that line, a pretty self-conscious effort to write 'sensual'. I think David McComb's love of soul is fairly well documented, not least by Bury Me Deep In Love, a few songs on Black Swan and I Want To Conquer You. It's his soul lover-man phase! It works for me but I can see how it would just sound plain embarrassing to others (and would to me if it was almost any other white guy). | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2339 Registered: 03-2005 |
Yeah Padraig I just can't handle that one. I've been luxuriating in Francoise Hardy today, listening to her albums "et si je m'en vais avant toi," "soleil" and am about to put on "comment te dire adieu." | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3540 Registered: 05-2005 |
Haven't played Ms Hardy in a very long time. Must remedy that if I can lay my hands on the disc I own. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 237 Registered: 03-2007 |
The Strawbs - The Strawbs The Strawbs - Dragonfly | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 300 Registered: 02-2007 |
Thanks Allen for the heads up on Smithers. I mustve been living under a rock for the last 30 yrs! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3542 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hugh, I once bought a Strawbs cassette by mistake, having mixed them up with legendary power pop band The Raspberries! My utter dislike of the Straws owes more to my disgusted "this isn't power pop" reaction on first (and only) play, than to what they actually sound like. Anyone else have any fruit-based musical mix up stories? | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 238 Registered: 03-2007 |
Padraig, I wish I had been there to see your reaction when you popped the cassette into the player for the first ( and only ) time. : -) I really like their first two albums ( The Strawbs; Dragonfly ) but my interest in the band started to wane as they gradually introduced a more progressive rock sound with the later releases as first Rick Wakeman and then Blue Weaver joined the band on keyboards. I had given up on them by the time they hit the charts in 1972 with 'Lay Down' and 'Part Of The Union.' A shame really as, in my opinion, the folk based sound on the earlier albums really suited Dave Cousins' songwriting and voice. I can remember listening regularly to 'The Man Who Called Himself Jesus; Or Am I Dreaming; The Battle' on the John Peel radio show while eagerly awaiting the release of their debut album in 1969. Even although he chose to go in a musical direction that did not particularly appeal to me I have to say I still think Cousins is a very good songwriter. The first two albums are steeped in traditional British ( English? ) folk music and feature harpsicords and recorders. For the first album, the band consisted of Cousins and Tony Hooper on guitars and vocals and Ron Chesterman on double bass plus a few session players. Claire Deniz joined the band on cello for 'Dragonfly.' Some of the arrangements on the first two albums are overly fussy but the songwriting is invariably excellent. What album did you pick up on cassette? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3543 Registered: 05-2005 |
I think it was probably a best of of some sort Hugh. It was about 16 or 17 years ago that this happened. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 239 Registered: 03-2007 |
That suggests it was probably 'Choice Selection of Strawbs' which was released around 1992/1993. It had a large red 'Raspberry' on the front cover. : -) I don't think any tracks from the first two albums appeared on that particular release. Currently listening to The Burn Comes Down by The Owl Service. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3544 Registered: 05-2005 |
That was the one Hugh! It cost 8 or 9 pounds, which was a fortune to the poor student I was at the time. If something like that happened now I'd bring it back to the shop, but that then I wasn't so brave. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 361 Registered: 10-2006 |
About the only thing I remember from high school French is the photo of Francoise Hardy that decorated one page of the text book...she certainly didn't look like any of the Scots girls I knew! Why our nit of a teacher didn't actually play any of her songs to us as well I'll never know. Have you tried the Battisti albums yet, Randy? | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1780 Registered: 01-2005 |
I think the first time I saw Francoise Hardy was when I went to see the movie Grand Prix in Cinemascope at a theater in downtown Detroit way back in 1967. Francoise played the girlfriend of the Nino, the second Ferrari driver. Currently listening to the expanded and remastered collector's edition of Thomas Dolby - The Golden Age of Wireless. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2342 Registered: 03-2005 |
Stuart, I have. The first and fifth albums are the good ones in the box, so far. "Emozioni" is a little bit of a rip-off album as it obviously pulls some really old recordings together with a handful of new ones and a few from the first album. I knew I probably wouldn't be too thrilled with the third album just from what I'd read about it. I will--of course--give it another listen but on first go it sounded like an Italian take on some of the meandering pretentious dreck made in the late 60's in the U.S. and U.K.. "Vol. 4" appears to be a "best of" rather sooner than a person will normally have such a thing. I'm definitely interested and will get his sixth album, assuming it's a real album and not another mashup like the second and fourth records. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1952 Registered: 10-2004 |
In a metal mood right now: Dio - Holy Diver Black Sabbath - Heaven & Hell Slayer - Hell Awaits Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast Yesterday - random Lucio Battisti and Matthew Bannister tracks | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2343 Registered: 03-2005 |
I've been loading up on Francoise Hardy. Sony packaged her first six albums in a nice little box complete with miniature LP covers and a booklet, in French of course. Each CD includes singles and other odds and ends contemporaneous with the accompanying album. It's a nice package and it cost a tiny sum because the CD importer I often buy from obviously had not been able to unload it. Adding that to the rest of the Hardy discs I've bought gives me everything she did from '62 through about '72. I don't know how far forward I'll go since I expect the 1970s to bring soggy MOR but I must say many of these albums are of a very high quality. Many of them were recorded in London with some of the U.K.'s better arrangers and musicians including Charles Blackwell, John Paul Jones and Jerry Donahue. It obviously helps that she wrote a decent chunk of her own material--nearly all of it on some albums--and, at least in the 60s, she did a lot of her own lyrics or translations for foreign songs she covered. She had to have either been choosing the songs or at least liked them. This is a BIG contrast to most female artists in the '60s. She was very well served by her record company; there is virtually no embarrassing junk. Though I haven't had the nerve yet to listen to her sixth album "Francoise Hardy In English." Right now I'm listening to her fifth, "la maison ou jai grandi" from 1966. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2344 Registered: 03-2005 |
Now, beyond the box and on to her '67 album "ma jeunesse fout le camp." Six original songs including the evergreen "Voila," eight songs arranged by Charles Blackwell, two by John Paul Jones, one by partner Jacques Dutronc and then "Voila" by Jacques Denjean. Definitely a long way from Jeff's current metal muse! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 656 Registered: 10-2008 |
you know, for such a small group of people we have an incredibly broad range of musical taste. i detest heavy metal with a passion, and have no interest whatsover in francoise hardy, but admire jeff and randy's obvious enthusiasm never the less. and, i know, people in glass houses...... ps geoff, this magnanimity doesnt stretch to the beatles and "the crowdies" ;-) | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 240 Registered: 03-2007 |
Randy, if you are talking about 'The Collection -1962 to 1966' then it sounds like you have managed to pick up quite a bargain. I checked it out on AmazonCo where it is retailing for £129.99 which is pretty steep for 3 hours of music. Both AmazonCo and AmazonCom wrongly list it as a seven disc set and AmazonCo state that it covers the period 1966 to 1968. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 241 Registered: 03-2007 |
That should read '1962 to 1968' and not '1966 to 1968.' | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 254 Registered: 05-2005 |
You can hear her last album by clicking on Deezer somewhere on this link : http://www.lesinrocks.com/musique/musiqu e-article/article/francoise-hardy-la-cla sse-eternelle/ | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2345 Registered: 03-2005 |
Hugh, it is "La Collection 62 - 66." It doesn't go up to 1968. It only goes up to the "in English" album from 1966. The mastering sounds decently well done. I paid $29.47 for it. It was definitely a bargain. If you are interested in it you might want to go on the U.S. site and check the Amazon Marketplace dealers. If ImportCDs has another copy it will probably be cheap too. Thanks TROU. I will indeed click on your link. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3548 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Feelies - The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 242 Registered: 03-2007 |
Randy, I will probably pass as a number of factors will push the price up considerably. As well as the overseas shipping charge and a Duty/VAT charge that will be applied when it arrives in the U.K. there is also the extortionate Royal Mail Handling Charge ( you have to pay them to collect the Duty/Vat charge on behalf of Customs & Excise.) I would have taken a chance on it at US$29.47 but the above will probably add at least the same again. Still good value if you are a fan but I do not speak French I am not sure how I would cope with it. Currently listening to 'A Gift From A Flower To A Garden' by Donovan. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1786 Registered: 01-2005 |
Randy, I've got a couple of Hardy compilations: the excellant two disc "The Vogue Years" and the single self titled disc "Francoise Hardy" from Cristal Collection. I've also got her solo albums "ma jeunesse fout le camp" and "Comment Te Dire Adieu" on disc. Did you like any of her other solo albums better then the two I've got? Great comment on Francoise's rather consistent choices of songs album-to-album compared to other 1960's era female folkies. Judy Collins, for instance, achieved greatness "stem-to-stern" on just one album, 1968's "Who Knows Where The Time Goes". I wish that puppy would get remastered as it is an easy pick as one of the 10 best 1960's folk albums by a female singer. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 657 Registered: 10-2008 |
captain beefheart - lick my decals off baby rolling stones - exile on main street actress - splazsh | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1788 Registered: 01-2005 |
It's about time that "captain beefheart - lick my decals off baby" was remastered and available again on cd. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 663 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've also dragged out Exile after the doco "Stones in Exile" appeared on TV the other night. It's far better than I remember but then again, it is since I had a blues epiphany about 5 years ago thanks to the Mojo Blues sampler | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1793 Registered: 01-2005 |
My Rolling Stones confession: I bought Exile on vinyl back in the early 80's and only listened to it a couple of times. It sounded like a sludgey mess to me, but then again I've never been a big Rolling Stones fan other then the odd cut or two and the Some Girls album. I don't even have a Rolling Stones album on cd, but I got a half dozen/dozen of them on vinyl. Sorry folks. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 658 Registered: 10-2008 |
isnt that the appeal of "exile", its a sludgey mess? teenage fanclub - shadows. real return to form i reckon after the patchy man-made. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2346 Registered: 03-2005 |
I grew up a Rolling Stones fan in the mid-60s but for me the last great album of theirs is Beggars Banquet. Let It Bleed has its moments and so does Sticky Fingers but it just keeps fading after that for me. I always thought Exile was a drugged-out flabby pile of @#%. I do wonder what I'd think of it now but I've always been a production and sound type of guy so it would probably still be hard going. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 1954 Registered: 10-2004 |
I think I like maybe 4 Rolling Stones songs. I like their mid-60s pop stuff the most. But generally, too much bluesy riff rock for me. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3549 Registered: 05-2005 |
I Am Kloot's debut. Particularly enjoying the pre-gap hidden track Deep Blue Sea, which I've only just discovered thanks (in a roundabout way) to Michael Bachman's R.E.M. post elsewhere! Thanks Michael! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 1794 Registered: 01-2005 |
I guess I'm wondering why Exile has so many fans and critics rate it so highly? Why is a sludgey mess an appeal to critics? Sludge riff rock worked for Black Sabbath and Ozzy had the perfect voice of doom for it, but I outgrew that when I turned 19. BB, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers does have at least a couple of good songs per album, so Randy is right about them having their moments. Mick never reached me in the gut as a singer though like his English contemporaries Lennon, McCartney, Roger Daltrey, Colin Blunstone, Ray Davies, or even Phil May of The Pretty Things. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2347 Registered: 03-2005 |
Michael, Hardy's albums from the mid-60s up to '72 anyway are so consistent that you can move forward or backward several steps with safety. The two albums you have are the two that come after the box set I've written about on here. For your next choice I suggest you move forward to "si je m'en vais avant toi." It's her early 70s folk rock album, but still it has her unmistakeable feel and it profits from having nearly totally her own songs. And then there's "Soleil" which is what I'm listening to right now. The first song ("Point") starts out with an alarming almost Elton-ish intro which is then swept away by an absolutely rhapsodic melody and lovely multi-tracked vocals. As is often the case with her best, it's her own song. And the whole record still manages to sound and feel like a Francoise Hardy album, albeit one from 1970. I personally find her 1971 album "La Question" the exception. I get the impression French listeners like it a lot. I fault the producer who co-wrote almost everything, which undoubtedly means the music. And the arrangements are not as colorful on the other records. They're more "tasteful" which in this post is a buzzword for bland. It's the first individual album of hers that I bought after absorbing "The Vogue Years" and it put me off delving further into her catalog for several years. If you go backwards, I think the earlier albums are hard to find on CD except in the box set but the 3rd, 4th and 5th (from 1964, 1965 and 1966 respectively) are all good. "The Vogue Years" is how I originally started with her. It's superb value. But it turns out that her albums are too good to pass up in their original form. I agree about the Judy Collins album. After not hearing it for almost 30 years I bought a CD copy a couple years ago and was exasperated with the dreadful quality of the dub. They must have used a 10th generation copy tape as the master. | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 301 Registered: 02-2007 |
Love Exile. Love the sludgey mess. Sound production means sqaut to me. The country blues of the early 70's seems to me to be their best stuff. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 664 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah, I think Gram Parsons was responsible for adding a tasty bit of country to the Stones. Mick made some reference to "hillbilly" in the doco. Another thing that was really interesting was seeing Anita Pallenberg today. I know she is, but she looked SO old! Nearly unrecognisable. The march of time. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 665 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hugh, Is Don? Is Good! Love playing Isle of Islay. No one writes stuff like this. GREAT! | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 659 Registered: 10-2008 |
david's post this morning sums "exile" up for me. its a musical hotch pot of many different styles but doesnt sound out of focus over 18 songs. its their masterpiece imo, although the critics at the time and since seem to prefer the 3 albums before it. i thought a lot of the earlier stuff from 64-67 was pure parody, almost novelty. i have said here before i only started getting into the stones in the last 10 years or so, before that i had misguidedly thought of them as rock dinosaurs. i still dont really like jagger, but from 68-72 he and the band were untouchable. geoff - the stones(or to be more accurate, keith richards)were into country long before gram arrived. this had evolved from the country based delta blues stuff that they had previously listened to, and done on beggars banquet. | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 660 Registered: 10-2008 |
i notice bbc are showing an hour long film tonight called "the stones in exile", all about the making of exile on main street. it has been made by alan yentob, who was responsible for the bowie documentary "cracked actor". does this mean films on "beggars banquet" and "let it bleed" will be shown over the next few weeks? probably not :-) | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 661 Registered: 10-2008 |
padraig, i loved i am kloots debut album. the albums since have been disappointing, although i'm sure i read on a couple of occasions recently their upcoming album is a return to form. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1481 Registered: 08-2006 |
Hey, Michael: Give "Exile" another chance. Knowing your music taste as I think I do, I'm pretty sure this is one you might come around on. Ignore the production - too much is made of it. And I happen to think it's one of the two or three greatest rock records ever made, but ignore that, too. It's just one of those albums where a terrific band at their peak lets loose without a direction and stumbles into some of their best music as a result. Not surprisingly, the Stones made two really mediocre records after "Exile." I think they left it all on the floor with this one. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3554 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, did you know about the pre-gap track on the I Am Kloot debut? It's a great song. You access it by pressing play on track 1 and then rewinding (as I'm sure you know). It won't work on a computer though. I got into them after seeing them play in King Tut's in Glasgow in January 2001. Maybe you were at that same show? I think I've got two of their subsequent albums and yes, neither is a patch on the debut. I love Exile by the way. I'm waiting for the remastered copy to arrive in the mail... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2348 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Field Mice -- Snow Ball | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 302 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've never understood the criticism of the production on Exile. To my ears it's the best sounding rock record ever. The way that 'Rocks Off' explodes out of the speakers is still thrilling to me after all these years. The sounds is dense and swampy in parts but never distorted and fatiguing to the ears like most over-compressed modern recordings. I haven't heard the re-mastered new release of Exile but I really can't see how it could possibly improve on the original vinyl recording. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 3492 Registered: 05-2005 |
Wye Oak, various tunes by the duo. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 3555 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, I got the new Teenage Fanclub album yesterday and played it today. It's great, but really odd in that, on first listen anyway, the second half is so much better than the first. What do you reckon? | ||
| skulldisco Member Username: Skulldisco Post Number: 662 Registered: 10-2008 |
padraig, cant say i noticed that with the fannies album. sounds pretty consistent to me all the way. i'll dig out the kloot cd today. mark, i think exile sounds tremendous as well, the sound suits the performances really well. why would anybody want these songs to sound shiny and polished, its beyond me? | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 243 Registered: 03-2007 |
Geoff, I have purchased the EMI Remastered albums as they have been released and 'A Gift From A Flower To A Garden' is the latest. I think it is a wonderful album. I am hoping that 'HMS Donovan' is released in the not too distant future. I know that it is currently available ( released on Beat Goes On in 1998 ) but I am going to wait and see what EMI do with it. Currently listening to Flight Paths by Paradise Motel ( originally from Hobart, Tasmania.) | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2349 Registered: 03-2005 |
I think I'm going to pick up a copy of the reissue of Exile--once it's easy to find cheap--and see what I think now because of course a person's musical tastes do evolve somewhat. In general I found the Stones' transition into a back-on-the-road band frustrating. I felt that they pandered to a new audience with cheap tricks. They took their old naughty image that Andrew Oldham had crafted for them--and, yes, that was TOTALLY his creation--and pumped it up into silly self-parody which unfortunately went beyond the silly record label logo to some of the music. I also became thoroughly weary of Richards' ersatz Ry Cooder thing. "Honky Tonk Women" is fresh and bracing and was one of a depressingly small handful of great records played on Top 40 radio in the U.S. in 1969. But by "Brown Sugar" the sound was exhausted. The greatness of the Stones had been to do ONE "Honky Tonk Women" and then do something else. Perhaps it's because they'd lost the Beatles as a competitive foil. The strength of the Stones as a band lay in the Jagger/Richards songs and the almost unique rubbery capability of Watts and Wyman, both originally jazz players, and Richards who obviously learned some of the rubbery qualities from them. I believe the official word for it is rubato. It was signally absent from most rock bands--certainly the Beatles--and it's what made it possible for the Stones' rhythm section to give the American r & b players a run for their money at times. Jagger as a vocalist was the weak link. I suppose I should honor them for recording him more honestly by the time of "Exile"--thin, squeaky, overreaching-sounding--but when it comes to him, seriously: just boost the hell out of the mid-range, compress like mad and add reverb. After all, they're songs and somebody needs to actually deliver them. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 364 Registered: 10-2006 |
The Francoise Hardy boxed set is quoted at some nice prices on Amazon France, ranging from 25 euros to 40...not bad for six discs. The cheapest ones are shipped from the USA, it seems. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 244 Registered: 03-2007 |
Stuart, ordered a copy for €29.35 delivered from an AmazonFr MarketPlace Seller. The fact that it is being shipped to me from another E.U. Country means that there will be no additional VAT/Duty/Royal Mail Handling Charge to pay. Excellent price for a six disc set. Many thanks. Currently listening to Runaways by The Art Of Fighting. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 289 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hugh, I have the HMS Donovan CD, not sure of the label but remember paying a fair bit for it. I was desperate to get Don's version of Lord of the Reedy River, Mary Hopkin does a great version of it on her Postcard album which someone played to me (Kate Bush also did it as b-side to Sat in your Lap) and I fell in love with the song which is a thing of rare and fragile beauty | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 245 Registered: 03-2007 |
Cosmo, most retailers are no longer advertising it for sale. It is listed on AmazonCo where it is showing as 'Out Of Stock.' MarketPlace Sellers on AmazonCo and AmazonCom are asking silly money for used copies which makes me think that the Beat Goes On release is now 'Out Of Print.' With luck, E.M.I. will re-release it sometime soon. Currently listening to Mosaic by Love Of Diagrams ( from Melbourne, Australia.) | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 667 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cosmo, A demo version of Lord of the Reedy River is on the remastered Barabajagal if you haven't got it already. I've been meaning to buy HMS Donovan for years but always have bought something else. I want to get it for Song of the Wandering Aegeus which I taught myself when I was learning to play guitar. Such a great song. The Crane Wife by the Decemberists has a similar theme. And still in the 70's, listening to Venus and Mars (!) and Back to the Egg (HORRID!!!!!!!). | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 302 Registered: 02-2007 |
The Leisure Society- The Sleeper Exquisite folk-pop harmonies a la Fleet Foxes but different. | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 290 Registered: 05-2005 |
Geoff, cheers for the swan heads up, just listened to it on spotify as I dont have Barabajagal, sounds nice, nowhere nears as atmospheric and ethereal as the HMS Donovan version though. Do you know the Mary Hopkin version? it's wonderful although pretty much the same arrangement as Don's version. I have been digging Cosmic Wheels which I picked up the other day - Bolanesque in places and I swear I thought it sounded like Suede the other day but maybe that's the same thing | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 237 Registered: 02-2005 |
I don’t hear Exile On Main Street is a sludgy mess although there is definitely a lot going on instrumentally and vocally. Exile is the Stones’ most soulful album… I think that’s the key. If you don’t have a taste for Soul music you'll never embrace Exile On Main Street. Whenever people play the parlor game of editing Exile down to a single LP they always delete the best songs; Let It Loose, Shine A Light, Sweet Black Angel, Just Wanna See His Face… The album lacks a chrome-plated radio-friendly rocker (Happy comes close, but Keith sings it) and I think that’s an obstacle for many listeners. Randy’s perspective is unusual; most fans rate the Stones purple patch up through Sticky Fingers and Exile is where the debate starts. I was uncertain about the album when it was released [shortly before my high school graduation] in 1972, but it became a touchstone during long nights of cruising the following summer. The cliché is pretty well established; it offers a tour through America’s rich musical back streets... I’ve also read that it celebrates The Saloon as a way of life. There are many perspectives and inroads to enjoying Exile On Main Street, but sober over-analysis isn’t likely to take you there. I haven’t bought the new reissue and I’m not sure I will… the Virgin label master sounds fine to these ears. | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 238 Registered: 02-2005 |
I've been grooving on The Clean after attending their gig at the Bell House a couple of weeks ago. The live album - Mashed - does a good job of capturing their sound. The songs coalesce organically, hit critical mass and then exhale/dissolve. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 1807 Registered: 09-2006 |
Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music - The Platinum Collection 3-disc set that I got from the library. The billing order tells the story...total number of songs from the first five Roxy albums and "These Foolish Things": 7. Total number of songs from Bryan's post-Roxy career: 17. Most of the latter sound even more banal and depressing than they did then. It did fire me up to make up my own compilation, with a big imbalance in the other direction, and that was some great listening...for music that made such a big deal of its artifice it still sounds very, very alive. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 668 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cosmo, I haven't heard either versions you speak of but am keen to listen to both. I still haven't tracked down the first Mary Hopkins album......now we ARE sounding REALLY silly!!!!!!!!!! I got Cosmic Wheels years ago after I heard a version of the song on (Australian) Steven Cummings album "Falling Swinger". He used to be in the Sports (fab pop band) and the album was produced by Steven Kilbey, who shares the same birthday and gave Cummings the appropriately titled and Doorseque "September 13". Cummings did Mellow Yellow years ago with the Sports on the ep "The Sports do Dylan (and Donovan)". Kilbey's a Don fan too but also got Cummings to do a couple of "All things must pass" songs on an "extra" ep that came out with the album. It's worth tracking down. Still listening to McCartney as it's raining - this time Flaming Pie(better but no Chaos) and Flowers in the dirt. I'm wanting to hear more Gilt Trip stuff from the Kilbey's....Hugh??? | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 247 Registered: 03-2007 |
Geoff, to the best of my knowledge Gilt Trip only released two albums ( Gilt Trip in 1997 and Egyptian Register in 2005.) Do you have either of these titles? Currently listening to The Best Of by The Free Design. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 669 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hugh, I'm going to buy them online at Karmic Hit. I heard 2 songs, from both albums, on The Time Beings Blog and both were very good. | ||
| peter ward Member Username: Peter_ward Post Number: 119 Registered: 06-2005 |
PHOSPHORESCENT - Here's To Taking It Easy Great songs beautifully played, the pedal steel and keyboards in particular. The sounds of the Summer so far. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 248 Registered: 03-2007 |
Geoff, no problem. I did not want to send you any samples until I knew what you had/had listened to. 'Gilt Trip' has some good tunes on it but it also has a few tracks ( Neither Sun Nor Moon Nor Electricity; Darkness And Gardens Of Steel immediately spring to mind ) that I would describe as ambient electronic soundscapes which I am not all that keen on. Darkness And Gardens Of Steel in particular is not an easy listen. There is no tune. It is simply a drone with what sounds like whale noise and it runs for 10 minutes 30 seconds ( approximately.) Best of luck with that one. I can send you a copy but it comes in at 24MB ( 320Kbps.) Currently listening to :- On My Way - Tap Tap Here And Elsewhere - My Sad Captain Little Death - Pete & The Pirates In A Very Real Sense Now - The European Stolen Recordings Compilation Volume Two - Various Artists. All released on the Stolen Recordings Label. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 2351 Registered: 03-2005 |
Paradise Motel -- Left Over Life to Kill All credit to Hugh for this one. It's certainly sounding lovely on the first track . . . . | ||
| Thomas Keitsch Member Username: Thokei Post Number: 23 Registered: 06-2005 |
Listening to my old Cleaners from Venus Tapes a lot. Still great stuff, after all these years ( Remember: "Lost in Music" by Giles Smith ?) Also on high rotation, Surf Friends from Auckland: http://www.surffriendsband.com/ Sounds like The Clean meets Yo La Tengo + drum Machine | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 249 Registered: 03-2007 |
Anyone tempted to check out Surf Friends on MySpace should exercise caution. I attempted to visit their page at which time my Anti Virus Programme ( AVG 9.0 Internet Security Suite ) blocked access and reported active threats ( Trojan Horse Exploit ) on same. | ||
| Thomas Keitsch Member Username: Thokei Post Number: 24 Registered: 06-2005 |
huh, i dont have any warnings!!? | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 250 Registered: 03-2007 |
Thomas, I am referring to their MySpace page and not the link you posted. As soon as I attempted to access it my Anti Virtus Programme kicked in, prevented the page from loading and warned of active threats on same. It could be a false positive but, until I am sure, I will not be visiting their MySpace site again. I fired off an e-mail to Andrew at Powertool Record suggesting someone talk a look at it. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 251 Registered: 03-2007 |
Virtus should be virus and talk should be take. My only excuse is it is late in the evening here in Scotland. |