| Author | Message | ||
     XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 28 Registered: 01-2006 |
Apologies if this has been done before...just to see what people are buying at the moment... Ry Cooder - Paris Texas Soundtrack Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves Loose Fur - Born again in the USA (in the post) Kate Bush - Aerial Yo La Tengo - The Sound of the Sound of Science | ||
| Roger Griffin Member Username: Roger Post Number: 36 Registered: 11-2004 |
Coldplay - X & Y I am unrepentant - I like half of this a lot Pink Floyd - Animals Revisiting my cynical teen years Cocteau Twins - Lullabies to Violaine 4CD The wallpaper of my last 20 years | ||
| Eke Member Username: Ekewebb Post Number: 41 Registered: 05-2005 |
Delays - You See Colours Billy Bragg - Box Set Richard Swift - Dressed Up For The Letdown promo Sparks - Hello Young Lovers Coldcut - Sound Mirrors If I was being completely honest I would say "These Were The Earlies" but it's a second copy that I bought just to get a mix CD (Earlies Secret Broadcast #11) that came with it so I didn't think it counted. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 142 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sugar Minott - The Roots Lover Various Artists - More Pressure. Big Youth - Screaming Target Belle and Sebastien - The Life Pursuit Various Artists - Essential Hip Hop (1979-1983) volumes 9-12 | ||
| abigail law Member Username: Abigail Post Number: 47 Registered: 06-2005 |
Keep Breathing - Durutti Column Achtung Bono - Half Man Half Biscuit Fall Heads Roll – the Fall The Grass Is Blue - Dolly Parton The Proposition soundtrack - Nick Cave and Warren Ellis | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 203 Registered: 05-2005 |
Abigail i'd hea d a track from Dolly's cd years ago, it was unbelievable, so so good, i must go buy, what an album that should be... bought recently and are always on my MAC in the background: Arctic Monkeys (very good despite the hype) Best of ELO Go Betweens - Striped sunilght sounds CD The Jam - Snap Richard Hawley - Coles Corner | ||
| Mark Tuffield Member Username: Mark_t Post Number: 20 Registered: 05-2005 |
5) the boy least likely to – the best party ever 4) Take The Subway To Your Suburb/Surfin In The Subway 3) Whole Wide World (another Subway Comp) 2) Love and Death – THE FLATMATES - ditto 1) Oceans Apart Notes:- TBLLT are GBs fans – see their website – and thanks to Jennie for dragging me along to that James Blunt gig in Reading – YES REALLY. Choo Choo Train should have been megastars ! OA is the original distorted version – techno luddite I’m afraid ! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 201 Registered: 03-2005 |
Still digesting my Amoeba haul, the new(ish) releases being Life Pursuit--B & S Discover a Lovelier You--Pernice Bros. Another Day on Earth--Brian Eno Plug Uglies BUY THIS DISC, FOLKS. I MEAN IT. The Soft Bulletin--Flaming Lips which is growing on me. Steaming my way from Amazon is an anthology of Barbara Ruskin, British pop-soul singer/songwriter from the 60s, and two Betty Lavette discs, her new one and a collection of unreleased Muscle Shoals recordings I think from the 70s. For those of you not familiar with her, Betty Lavette could be described as a more dynamic Ann Peebles, a scratchy bluesy soul singer originating from the 60s and still in great voice. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 70 Registered: 07-2005 |
1 Arctic Monkeys (really like it, naive uncomplicated) 2 The Byrds-Sweetheart of the Rodeo- much more country than I expected.Good ole gram 3 Jenny Lewis and the Watson Sisters-ok prefer Rilo Kiley 4 Belle and Sebastian- growing on me some of it a bit T Rex 5.Neil Diamond ( not listened to it yet) 6.just got the Go-betweens 78-90 on ebay for about Ł15:00 Japanes copy double CD (same tracklisitng as the tape/lp. REALLY plaeased to have got it as been looking for it for ages as the CD released in this country UK was a single CD | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 143 Registered: 05-2005 |
spence . i surprised myself recently at how much I enjoyed Snap. I dug it out after reading a Weller article in Uncut. He really went through an incredible purple patch, which is reflected from English Rose through to Start on this comp (15 straight tracks which range from great to wonderful) Not really keen on the stuff either side of these 15 tracks to be honest. As for anything he done since the Jam, I think its drivel frankly - apart from 1 or 2 Style Council tracks like Walls come tumbling down. I always like his interviews though, he comes across as really down to earth and a guy you would enjoy a pint with. He also really loves music, which is more than can be said for these twats like Chris Martin. I remember reading one of Chris Martins interviews just as they were really starting to get big, he said he was starting to discover music like Echo and The Bunnymen, Joy Division etc. He honestly admitted he hadnt heard these groups, this was a 24/25 year old man!!! Now he's made a career of sounding like a watered down McCulloch, it(he) makes me sick. He also doesnt drink  - say no more | ||
| Peter Collins Member Username: Tyroneshoelaces Post Number: 84 Registered: 05-2005 |
Interesting question A two in one of Real Life and Second Hand Daylight by Magazine You Can't Hide Your Love Forever - Orange Juice Climate of Hunter - Scott Walker That's as far as my memory stretches and, as you can see, a bit of vinyl-replacement is going on there! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 155 Registered: 04-2005 |
Hmm, I haven't bought anything for awhile, but I think this was the last batch of five: M.I.A. - Arular The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike Ladytron - Witching Hour Bloc Party - Silent Alarm The Notwist - Neon Golden | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 206 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kev, yeah Snap is great isn't it!? Weller does get loads of stick and he gives it out too, but I dunno, he was part of my growing up, he was there, he made me in a way, being 11 and listening to the wonderful machine gun sounding guitar sounds on that song stayed with me forever. I think you sum him up, he does give a shit about music. Whereas the ladies fave Mr Blunt (I've heard worse), covers a Pixies song, please don't go there you fool!!! That's not giving a shit. Coldplay are one of those bands, when you have great stuff around like ther has been the last year or so, they are shit, but if you have a month with nowt new, I could probably listen to them. I must admit I like a few of the tracks from their x&y is it? I sleep comfortabley knowing that Eno and the smiths danton supple engineered / produced the songs I like though!!!!!!!!!! Climate of a hunter is great, but somehow I keep hearing Mark Knofpler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's somethinh unavoidabley session muso about Mr Walker's last 2 CD's. I know I shall reamin uncool 4 ever but his best will always be 1 to 4 and Brel, oh and Boy Child comp, for all you yet to convert. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2 Registered: 03-2006 |
Capitol Records has produced a fairly stunning set of re-issues of some of Merle Haggard's classic albums from the 60's, including such immortal titles as, "Mama Tried", "Sing Me Back Home", "Swinging Doors", etc....They've put 2 of these classic albums on each of the 5 discs in the series...they are incredibly masterful and wonderful and feature beautiful remastered sound and deluxe packaging...So, those comprise my last five purchases. But, I'd also like to mention the new Neko Case disc ("Fox Confessor..."), her bestest and most ambitious yet...and the Isobel Campbell w/ Mark Lanegan, which is like, I dunno, Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra on 'ludes, disc I just purchased. Highly recommended and highly rewarding listening. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 14 Registered: 05-2005 |
- Artic Monkeys : I've listened 10 times and don't know what to say. - Go-Betweens dvd In the second hand shops : Bluebells, the singles collection Prefab Sprout : Andromeda Heights Everything but the girls : 10 years of remixes | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 190 Registered: 05-2005 |
Richard Hell - Spurts, The Richard Hell Story Mclusky - Mcluskyism (3 CD set of singles, b-sides and rarities) Amadou & Mariam - Dimanche A Bamako R.E.M. - Singles Collected (the IRS singles, there are a few songs on it I only had on cassette so I got it because it was cheap - $10) The Saints - All Times Through Paradise (4 CD box set of all the studio stuff they did with Ed Kuepper, plus a live album with him) | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 59 Registered: 05-2005 |
Arctic Monkeys The Church "Block" ep Dylan - Freeweeling and Nashville Skyline: I can ditch the cassette versions finally! The Earlies | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 192 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've just played the Amadou & Mariam album for the first time (on the hi-fi, not the computer speakers) and it is the most joyously beautiful album I've heard in so long. The first six or seven songs are fantastic (a great side one in the old days) and the second half is not far behind. For those of you not familiar with their work, they are a Senegalese husband and wife (they met at the blind school they both attended) who play beautiful soul/blues/folk music (please, please, please do not call it 'World' music). Highly recommended if African soul music sounds like your cup of tea. Manu Chao produced it, which might put some people off but was a plus point for me. ... Just put the CD into the computer to iPod it and iTunes tells me its genre is World. Ahhhhhhh. I've re-genred it to soul. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 215 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jonathan Ross played 12XU today by Wire, to hear them on daytime Radio 2 is an amazing and fulfilling thing, my daughter Grace was jiving away to it too, she also likes Franz Ferdinand! | ||
| Lawrence Mikkelsen Member Username: Simplythrilledhoney Post Number: 4 Registered: 03-2006 |
Arctic Monkeys - "Whatever People Say ..." (yeah yeah, sucker for hype) Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - "Rabbit Fur Coat" Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - "Ballad of The Broken Seas" Belle & Sebastian - "The Life Pursuit" Jose Gonzalez - "Veneer" | ||
| Andy Robinson Member Username: Andyblue Post Number: 13 Registered: 03-2005 |
Spence - you know you're getting old when . . . . Seriously my Dad listened only to Radio 2 - Sing Something Simple and Forces Favourites etc. I heard Morrisey on Wogan the other week. Is Radio 2 getting better or are we just getting old. Last 5 albums from new were probably - Billy Bragg boxed set (imho don't just listen to the "lefties" but the "softies" make him the greatest living English poet) Richard Thompson boxed set - I'm working my way slowly into Corinne Bailey Rae - saw Like a Star on Later and thought wow but on first listen the album has produced out most of the soul. Belle and Sebastian - fantastic, their best yet, offering something new on every listen Oh and That Striped Sunlight Sound - loved it. Then around and about these a bunch of stuff on E-bay replacing my vinyl and cassettes - Julia Fordham 'cos i felt like a bit of mellow and love that voice, Bare Naked Ladies 'cos I needed a laugh and a Joe Jackson compilation 'cos someone at work reminded me about him. | ||
| Matt Ellis Member Username: Matt_ellis Post Number: 65 Registered: 11-2004 |
Early Day Miners - All Harm Ends Here The Young Knives - ...are dead Death Cab For Cutie - Plans The Go-Betweens - That Striped Sunlight Sound Delays - You See Colours | ||
| Andrewnz Member Username: Andrewnz Post Number: 3 Registered: 08-2005 |
1. Dylan - Blonde on Blonde 2. Richard and Linda Thompson - I want to See the Bright Lights Tonight 3. Over the Rhine - Drunkards Prayer 4. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead 5. Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys - Foggy Highway | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 61 Registered: 05-2005 |
Geez.... and I thought I was brave saying I didn't have those Dylan albums on C.D, Andrewnz!! Not having the Queen is Dead is like admitting that you actually like Coldplay!!! The rest of the board will never forgive you.... | ||
| Eke Member Username: Ekewebb Post Number: 43 Registered: 05-2005 |
I don't have the Queen Is Dead on CD either. I can never quite be bothered to upgrade when there's so much else around. What do you think to that Delays album then Matt? A bit more in your face than their first with some great instant-hit pop songs on there I reckon. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 71 Registered: 07-2005 |
Andy-we are getting old. But I do think radio 2 is different from when were young ( I'm 41 now)and they have some great programmes on less mainstream music to suit all tastes, reggae/country/folk etc the most eclectic music on british radio. Yeah and Wogan has always been there, but what else can you listen to in the mornings? radio one is not my cup of tea, 5 live,radio 4 all to newsworthy which I find mood lowering in the mornings-so you are back to Terry. What we rally need is something likel Morning Becomes eclectic from KCRW in Santa Monica, which i listen to occasionally on Broadband. | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 18 Registered: 08-2005 |
Belle & Sebastian – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds Belle & Sebastian – The Life Pursuit The Go-Betweens – That Striped Sunlight Sound Fairport Convention – The History of... Kate Bush – Aerial | ||
| Bob Mail Member Username: Bob Post Number: 2 Registered: 03-2006 |
Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat Robert Forster - I had a NY girl..(much better then I remembered it to be!) Sandy Denny - Anthology The GBs -Stripped Sunlight.. The Chills - Softbomb - lost it..found it last week second hand. a great album | ||
| Andrewnz Member Username: Andrewnz Post Number: 4 Registered: 08-2005 |
thats right Geoff - slow starter on Dylan - bad start with the Budokan live set some years (20?) ago put me off - had a raft of other bands to follow at that stage (mostly local like the Bats, Chills, Verlaines, Bailterspace etc) so budget well used elsewhere - seemed like time to have another look following the uncut take on Highway 61 and the Scorcese film - the Smiths was simply repacing the old worn out tape version...couple of other well played new ones are the Bats "at the national Grid" and Phoenix Foundation's "Pegasus" plus Wilco's live set... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 204 Registered: 03-2005 |
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Stereolab - fab four suture Campbell & Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas Bettye Lavette - I've Got my Own Hell to Raise Vic Chesnutt - Silverlake and actually I bought more but the thread says five . . . . Hey, never be embarrassed about taking forever to get something. I didn't buy one single Dylan album until about four years ago. Not one. And the only Smiths thing I have is the Singles collection. But that's because the Smiths still don't really light me up. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 63 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrewnz or anybody else, What ever happened to the guy (Brough?) who wrote "Down in Splendour" by the Straitjacket Fits. Seriously classic song that one. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 220 Registered: 05-2005 |
Shockheaded peters - I bloodbrother Be Momus - Little Lord obedience Bid - Reach for your gun Always - Thames Valley Leather Club Lois Philippe - You Mary You. Having an el records day!!! | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 15 Registered: 05-2005 |
Who has said that there is a economical crisis in the music business ? | ||
| Andrewnz Member Username: Andrewnz Post Number: 5 Registered: 08-2005 |
Geoff - Andrew Brough was last seen doing soundtrack work in Australia - after leaving/being fired from Straitjacket Fits he formed Bike which put out one marvellous album about 10 years ago which, pretty much in line with most marvellous NZ albums, didn't trouble the shopkeepers unduly and he seemed to give up the commercial rock/pop game at that time - declined to play in the SJ Fits reunion last year too which was a bit of a shame... | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 224 Registered: 05-2005 |
Today I bought and played Velvet Uderground - Live '69 Lilac Time - Astronauts Shack - Here's Tom with the weather and played also: Wilco - Kicking Television Nad Surf - Let go | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 203 Registered: 05-2005 |
Geoff, Andrew, that Bike album - it's called Take In The Sun - came out in 1998 and is an absolute lost classic. I wish they would do a follow up. I sometimes see it in bargain bins for $5 or less and always feel like picking it up, handing it to some punter and saying "You have to buy this, it's incredible". Bike were much more poppy than Straitjacket Fits, with a definite Beatles/power pop thing going on. | ||
| Andrewnz Member Username: Andrewnz Post Number: 6 Registered: 08-2005 |
couldn't agree more Padraig - SJ Fits I always thought lost their way a bit after he left - saw them on their last tour in 93 without Brough at the Marquee in London and they were good and loud but had lost some subtlety - remember Shayne Carter from SJ Fits saying at the time something along the lines of "Yay - no more slow songs" (he's since done some spectacular slow songs with Dimmer...) | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 65 Registered: 05-2005 |
Padraig, that really sounds like me!!!! If you find it, let me know and I'll buy it. | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 80 Registered: 08-2004 |
There are some great threads on this board at the momment. I have about 20 CDs I want to buy just from reading over the posts from the last week or so. Here are the last 5 CDs I've bought: 1) Devendra Banhart : Rejoicing in the hands. Cripple Crow was great so I thought I try this one. It's nice too. He reminds me of some sort of mix of Syd Barrett, Nick Drake and Marc Bolan (without the theatrics). 2) Ronnie Lane and Pete Townsend: Rough Mix. This was a great find. Fine acoustic guitar based songs (with no Who-like bombast). I concur with the sentiments on another thread that fans of the GBs would enjoy Ronnie Lane's first album 'anymore for anymore' (Unfortunately, this album is now very hard to find). 3)Jimmie Rodger's Classic sides: I bought this because I like Bob Dylan's version of 'Blue-eyed Jane' so much (It's on a tribute album to Jimmie Rodgers). I hadn't realised what an extraordinary character Jimmie Rodgers was - mixing up country and Jazz like that. I think Dylan's 'Love and Theft' picks up from many of the ideas here. 4)Paul Brady: Welcome here kind stranger. This is Brady's last traditional Irish Folk album before becoming a singer -songwriter in the rock idiom. I prefer his folk era. It has been re-released and remastered. Contains Brady's classic arrangement of 'the Lakes of Ponchatrain' and 'Arthur McBride', the latter being the most perfect anti-conscription song. You can buy this as an uncompressed (flac) download from Brady's website. 5)Neko Case: Blacklisted. The jury is out on this one still. It is pleasant enough. However, with all that echo and reverb it sounds like a too deliberate attempt to sound like old time Americana. | ||
| Lawrence Mikkelsen Member Username: Simplythrilledhoney Post Number: 9 Registered: 03-2006 |
I saw Bike play live a few times in '97 (I think) ... they were great, a really nice sound for a three piece. I think Andrew made a fair amount of money licensing one of the Bike songs to Aussie soap "Home and Away" a few years back. As you say, a bit of a lost classic, although I do remember Flying Nun giving it a bit of a push at the time, and it getting good reviews etc. You can lead a horse to water ... I also saw the SJF reunion shows last year ... they were good, but I was a bit underwhelmed. I'd seen Dimmer (Carter's current band) play a month or so earlier, and to be honest that was a lot more interesting. I think SJF were never the same after Andrew Brough left, because he added a really interesting counterpoint to Shayne Carter's songs. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 197 Registered: 10-2004 |
spence - i love your "el records day" selections!!! let's see... heaven 17 - how men are apb - some singles comp, forgot the name pauline murray and the invisible girls lp gina x performance - nice mover VA - tropicalia; a brazilian revolution in sound ennio morricone - kill whoops, that's 6. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 213 Registered: 03-2005 |
Cichli, thanks for the info on Paul Brady. I have some old Johnstons discs and I bought a stack of Paul Brady CDs eagerly anticipating Irish troubadour music. I was so disappointed to find them bland MOR pop. They all went to the discard pile except for "Oh What a World" and I haven't listened to that in a long time either. I just discovered Neko Case, hearing her newest while browsing in a bookstore. I don't have "Blacklisted" but I picked up the new album "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" and also a previous live collection "The Tigers Have Spoken." She does seem to have a taste for hamfisted reverb (even on the live album!) but she's a great singer, her songs are haunting and she has a great sense of what outside material to use. I'm deeply impressed. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 34 Registered: 03-2006 |
I have to jump on the Neko Case bandwagon...she's "the shit"..."Fox Confessor" is wonderful, but "Blacklisted" is her best, IMHO...darker, more powerful songs...Amazing that she was able to snag the mighty Garth Hudson to play on her newest. Not that the ace backing by members of Calexico is anything to sneeze at... If you haven't picked them up yet, don't miss her contributions to the New Pornographers discs...some insanely catchy pop that'll drill it's way into your brain like some mutant earwig... Randy, just scanning the posts here, it looks like you have the music buying sickness as bad as me...Is Tuesday (new release day) a special holiday in your household (like it is in mine)? | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 86 Registered: 08-2004 |
Randy, 'Welcome here kind stranger' is a great folk album (a great album, irrespective of genre!) The original source tapes had been lost for years so it has generally only been available as a bad quality bootleg up to now. The Lakes of Ponchatrain is one of my favourite songs, ever. It has a beautiful acoustic guitar arrangement too. Like I said, I'm still listening to Neko Case. I can tell she's pretty good but I haven't decided just how good! So maybe I'm being unnecessarily critical and picky at this stage. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 35 Registered: 03-2006 |
The last five things I bought: 1) Pirate Radio - the Pretenders Border's has been running a 25% off coupon that you can use every day, long as you're a member (which is free). I've been shamelessly abusing this coupon and used it buy this...Haven't listened all the way through, but looks like a pretty dang tasty set. Even if I have most of the discs, this has all kinds of rarities...their version of "Creep", for instance... 2) Willie Nelson - You don't know me. Sublime and gorgeous, another beautiful offering...I have too many Willie discs, I just can't stop myself.. 3) Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat. OK, it sounds just like every other Steely Dan or Fagen solo disc, but I still love it. One cut stands out: "What I Do", sung from the viewpoint of the late, great Brother Ray... 4) Material - Seven Souls. The use of this music in the Sopranos intrigued me, so I had to check it out. It is, indeed, very cool...features William Burroughs holding forth on ancient Egytptian theories of the afterlife, over the crisp funk musical backing of Bill Laswell and co..... 5) Moondog - "The Viking of 6th Avenue". This is, I believe, the first compilation to cover the full span of the mighty Moondog's career...fascinating stuff. He is, without a doubt, the best street-dwelling, Viking horn-wearing jazz/classical composer ever... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 214 Registered: 03-2005 |
Hardin, I'm not that bad. I buy erratically but if I enter a store I don't leave without a stack. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 216 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've seen Neko live both with her own band (supporting Nick Cave) and with her power pop band The New Pornographers. Both were brilliant, entirely different shows. She is also drop dead gorgeous; in a real woman way, not a made up pop trollop way. So much so that when she was on Bloodshot Records Alejandro Escovedo (a man noted for dressing well, being good looking and knowing it) told there was only room for one diva on the label and that was him! Love her. (And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I would love her music just as much even if she weren't so easy on the eye). | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 39 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ah well...I was hoping for company in my psychosis... Someday I need to get up to Amoeba in LA - didn't you mention it? I could probably do a lotta damage there... Where in LA is it? In Hollywood? | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 40 Registered: 03-2006 |
Neko is said to have performed sans top on occassion...not to sound like a sexist horndog, but I would much prefer that to GM or RF performing topless...even if RF had the map of Australia drawn on his chest! A friend of mine saw Neko perform with Calexico at the Barbican in London a couple of years ago and said she totally kicked ass. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 166 Registered: 04-2005 |
Neko has remained modestly clothed the two times I've seen her live--in fact, she didn't play up her looks at all, keeping her hair pinned back and slumping around the stage unglamorously. But she did a semi-nude photo spread for some online magazine a few years ago; horndogs out there shouldn't have much trouble finding the pictures with Google. I saw her backed by the Sadies in late '04, and it sounded fantastic. She's as amazing a singer live as on record. I like her albums well enough--I'm still finding my way into the new one, which may turn out to be her best. Yet there's something slightly off about her as an artist. Sometimes I think she's really a performance artist blessed with an amazing voice--and that the whole alt-country diva thing is a pose. Like a less-butch kd lang, maybe? But she makes better records than kd, that's for sure. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 215 Registered: 03-2005 |
Well, since I'm new to her I cannot comment on that. Certainly her records are vastly better than k.d. lang's and I hope I'm not being sucked in by a pose. But, right now anyway, her music goes right into my personal mainline. It's amazing that I hadn't heard of her before but at least she's still alive and making records, which is more than I can say for some of my discoveries. Hardin, the thing that keeps me in line is the amount of time needed to absorb new music. If I buy too much too quickly, a lot of it will get lost in the shuffle and not be properly heard. Amoeba is in Hollywood on Sunset at the corner of Cahuenga. Don't drag along anybody who gets bored because you will be there quite a while until you are horrified at how much your swag is going to cost at which point you will quickly scurry to the checkout line to stop further damage. But you won't leave empty-handed. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 218 Registered: 05-2005 |
I bigged up The Tigers Have Spoken here before Randy. That's what happens when you ignore my praise! | ||
| Peter Azzopardi Member Username: Pete Post Number: 149 Registered: 09-2004 |
I've been into Neko Case since I read rave reviews of "Blacklisted", which so far I still prefer to "Fox Confessor". I completely missed "Tigers", suspicious of a live album containing little new material this early in her career. I believe she was voted sexiest woman in indie rock by Playboy readers, so there you go all you horndogs. Why she is better than alt. country contempories like Jenny Lewis, Wilco, et al, is because her songs are darker and cinematic. What was David McComb's description of the Triffids, something about widescreen ambitions? In other words, she is not merely doing hokey Americana, as Cichili would suggest. I've read that she is really into David Lynch, which I think shows in the reverb-laden production and relentless tremelo guitars. I think this is what puts off friends I've lent Blacklisted to. Listening to her music is not a very visceral experience to these rock fiends, her lyrics too verbose, abstract and her vocals too acrobatic for their tastes. To my indie-pop friends (who love the 'Pornographers) she is too hokey sounding. I think she blends both po and country-rock very well, sounding completely original all the way. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 232 Registered: 05-2005 |
You obviously haven't heard Wilco's Ashes of American Flags or Poor Places, I suggest trying Kicking Television Live in Chicago, Wilco are not alt. country!! | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 87 Registered: 08-2004 |
Pete, I'm more hokey (I just bought a Jimmie rodgers box set!) than indie-pop and I'm definitely not a rock fiend! I listened to 'Blacklisted' late last night (only for the 3rd time) and it really started to grow on me. It sounded great after midnight. When I hear tremelo laden, echoey production like that on Blacklisted, I'm immediately suspicious that I'm may be being sold a pup! - that the old time production effects are there to mask weak material. I don't think that is so with Neko. The old time radio atmospherics seems to support very strong material. At times, she sounds like Patsy Cline which is a high compliment from me. To digress slightly, although I think the material on Robert's 'Danger in the Past' is strong, I think the Sun style production affects weakens the record. In this case, the affects doen't support the material - in my only slightly humble opinion. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 73 Registered: 07-2005 |
Are there any Elvis Costello fans out there,I always buy his LPs and bought his latest live offering " My Flame Turns Blue". Not very inspiring and dissappointing given the grreat shows last year with the Imposters. i think next on my liat is Neko Case, but as Hardin has said visiting this message board on a nearly daily/frequent basis does cost a lot of money! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 218 Registered: 03-2005 |
Mea culpa, Padraig. Your previous praise slipped under my radar. Maybe you sneaked it into a thread where you were defending U2. Yes, Jerry, it is VERY hard to keep up with the recommendations. I still go back to the "criminally underrated aussie acts" thread from time to time for another recommendation to go hunting for. Cichli, it was the Patsy Cline thing that I heard when I first heard "Fox Confessor" in the book store. It was Sunday midday and as the album continued on in the store, the clouds rolled over. It was so obviously a great record. And in the store, the reverb did not sound excessive. When I asked the clerk who she was he told me about her fascination with David Lynch. I live in West Hollywood and the film industry's empty hyperbole and constant self-reference gets only brickbats from me. I told the clerk that I was really impressed with her music in spite of any David Lynch comparison. The only complaint I have with the reverb is the type used; It's too resonant and boomy; the lower frequencies should have been filtered out of it. I'm highly amused by the fact that nearly every person on this board is already intimately familiar with her music. Concerning DITP, to my ears it's always sounded like a Nick Cave album. While I think it works ok for Robert, I don't think that harsh sound would have worked at all for the full GoBees, especially Grant and Amanda. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 43 Registered: 03-2006 |
Jerry, I'm a big admirer of the Elvis...dare I say it? My admiration of him probably even eclipses my love of the GBs, though just barely... I'm probaby such a fan that I'm incapable of being objective, cuz I really love the new record and think it's some hot shit. Love the sound of the big jazz orchestra and love the re-casting of some of the old tunes, like the noir-y, Anatomy of a Murder-style version of "Detectives"...that Mingus tune that he put words to also rocks like some kind of deranged monkey.... I do highly recommend Neko..."Blacklisted" is probably her best,though the new one is great and may eventually emerge as my favorite..I don't know what she smokes, but it most be some powerful stuff! And yes, I'm looking for a 12 step group for chronic music buyers! | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 76 Registered: 07-2005 |
Great to here that Hardin, I feel the same way about Elvis, and have followed him along all his musical paths,some more successful than others, but worth the journey,he's opened my ears to more music than anybody else.I sort of mark my life out with Costello albums.thats not to take anything away from the GBs who in my opinion are one of the few bands ( if not only) band form that era that have endured and still sound contemporary. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 44 Registered: 03-2006 |
I agree about the timeless quality of the GBs, Jerry - they seem to endure and resonate however many years down the line you pull them down off the shelf...what it is it about them? That's a point worth pondering...I guess, however you slice it, it's about the simplicity and the emotional truth (that goes beyond rational thought)...they strike a chord with all the people on this board, which is, I think, a very cool thing... And I would have to (grudgingly) admit that not all of EC's discs stand up to time as well...still love 'em, though... EC is playing at the Jazz Fest in N.O. this year, with the legendary Allen Toussaint...since it's where I hail from, and I haven't been back since before Katrina, I'd love to be there, but alas, it'll probably be too expensive a proposition (on the order of a thousand bucks or so, with jacked up hotel rates, etc.)....guess I'll just read about it and weep.... | ||
| Ulrich A. Bayer Member Username: Marenhannes Post Number: 2 Registered: 03-2006 |
Donald Fagen: Morth the cat Neil Diamond: 2 songs (great) Belle & Sebastian. Lifer Pursuit Ray Davies: Other People s Life Adam Green: Jacket Foll of Danger | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 34 Registered: 05-2005 |
Been consuming a lot of vinyl lately (just love that liquorice flavor)! A five - disc sampling: Secret Migration, Mercury Rev Limbo, Throwing Muses Dirty Pearl, Anita Lane Plans, Death Cab For Cutie On A Night Like This, Buckwheat Zydeco | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 81 Registered: 07-2005 |
Ulrich-is gthe Ray Davies good or as good as it's claimed,and Rob Death cab is that worth buying?? 2 I've been thinking about Cheers Lads | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 35 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jerry, if you like Ben Gibbard's material (incl. Postal Service) I'd also recommend Plans. If Plans is a departure, it's not a big one. (The LP version I have is a double disc 12-track in a gatefold sleeve; the extra LP track, compared to the CD, is called "Talking Like Turnstiles.") I've only heard snippets of DCFC's Transatlanticism, but plan on picking that up also, eventually. There'a a weird bit on http://www.thejenvilleshow.com/bengibbard.html with him talking about eating peanut butter and sausages on toast. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 62 Registered: 03-2006 |
5 more: 1) Wussy - Funeral Dress 2) Kris Kristofferson - This Old Road 3) Comet Gain - City Fallen Leaves 4) Dean Martin - Dino Italian Love Songs 5) Stereolab - Fab Four Suture | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 118 Registered: 02-2005 |
Stereolab - Fab Four Suture (and I got their new tour single on Friday night too!) Page France - Pear/Pinecone Morning Spy - The Silver Age Wreckless Eric - Greatest Stiffs M. Ward - Transistor Radio But what I've been listening to compulsively is The Complete Back Beat Recordings of O.V. Wright... unbelievably great soul music. I had about 2/3's of this stuff on various LP's, 45's and "Best of's" but am thrilled to have a CDR set of this WAY RARE Japanese box set. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 68 Registered: 03-2006 |
OV Wright is the stuff, man...I need a good comp by him...glad to hear someone else likes the old school soul...Have you picked up any of those Eccentric Soul comps? Very cool... One I forgot to mention I picked up is the new one by Rhett Miller, late of Old 97's...Don't know about his new image though - he looks like Stevie Nicks prettier younger sis on the cover of his record...nicely crafted pop, though | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 82 Registered: 07-2005 |
I've been on the search for O.V Wright LPs for ages just can't seem to find them. I've only heard a few tracks but they knocked me out.I've not tried ebay or the like but may be I should. I have this romantic notion of finding them in a favourite record shop for a good price. | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 119 Registered: 02-2005 |
You won't find those O.V. Wright albums on the cheap, but I wouldn't count out the possibility of a reissue, maybe on the Hip-O-Select label. I happened to find his 1973 album 'Memphis Unlimited' for $20.00 about 20-years ago, maybe longer. I thought long and hard about buying it at that price, but the proprietor told me, "Treat yourself, you won't be disappointed," and I took him at his word. It's a great album, but the only time I've ever seen any of the other three on the Back Beat label they were priced at $75-$100 at record fairs. There have been some decent comp CD's of his stuff and his later HI albums are available. There's a 2-fer of 'Into Something Good' and 'The Bottom Line' that I would recommend (I think I got those titles right). | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 120 Registered: 02-2005 |
If you go on Amazon, "The Soul of O.V. Wright" is a very good 20-track comp of his Back Beat years and "The Complete O.V. Wright on Hi Records, Vol. 1: In the Studio" is the three albums he recorded in '77-'79 for HI. It's a double-dsoc set and the last of those three albums was a disappointment, a bit disco-fied. Really, his Back Beat stuff is superior and that disc is available for cheap. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 192 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hardin, thanks for the OV Wright tip. Thanks to the joys of Napster monthly subscription I was able to download an album called the Soul of OV Wright. I cannot claim to be the biggest soul fan in the world but this is the type of soul that really hits home for me. Showing my ignorance here but isnt this the stuff that is normally referred to as The Muscle Shouls sound or Deep Soul - on a similar plane to Otis Blue and the work of James Carr? The kind of stuff that Gram Parsons was influenced by in his Flying Burritos days. Trackist for the OV Wright album is 1. You're Gonna Make Me Cry 2. I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled And Crazy 3. When You Took Your Love From Me 4. Gonna Forget About You 5. Everybody Knows (The River Song) 6. Don't Let My Baby Ride 7. I Don't Want To Sit Down 8. Born All Over 9. Ace Of Spades 10. Eight Men, Four Women 11. A Nickel And A Nail 12. Heartaches, Heartaches 13. Drowning On Dry Land 14. Monkey Dog 15. He's My Son (Just The Same) 16. I've Been Searching 17. Motherless Child 18. I'm Going Home (To Live With God) | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 69 Registered: 03-2006 |
Sounds like a helluva comp, Kev...Just the titles alone make it sound worth having...Maybe we can put in a request for the GBs to cover "Monkey Dog"...Don't really understand the distinctions between Deep Soul and Muscle Shoals...except that I think the MS stuff was done in that particular town in Alabama with a particular crew of musicians...I believe, but am not at all sure, that Deep Soul is a Brit-originated term - it's that certain refined fandom and music appreciation thang they have - for a certain school of soul...But, I know what you mean - I just like that sound, whatever it is... Now I'm really kicking myself for not picking up that OV Wright collection at my local used shop...dammit! it was cheap, too! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 73 Registered: 03-2006 |
Sort of vaguely connected to the idea of this thread: new music...AOL has some new albums posted that you can listen to completely free. Most of them are complete commercial tripe, but there are a coupla cool things wedged in amongst the dross: the new Josh Rouse, the Liars, Sondre Lerche, Royskopp (not my cup of tea, but I realize they have their admirers) and something I didn't think I'd like, cuz it sounded too cutesy, but is actually good: Mates of State...the little "Listening Party" as they call it is here: http://music.aol.com/songs/new_releases_full_cds | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 121 Registered: 02-2005 |
That's the OV comp I was referring to; 18-trks, not 20. The various terminology applied to Soul music is somewhat meaningless. The most confusing term is Northern Soul, which is not soul music recorded in northern regions of the US, but soul music that was popular in dance clubs in the North of England! I've always found that a bit presumptuous; it would be like if the French coined the term 'Paris Jazz' to describe a strain of American Be Bop that happened to be popular in Paris. Deep Soul was a term popularized by Dave Godin, who was a mover and shaker on the UK soul scene and whose 'Deep Soul Treasures' comps on KENT are highly recommended. Muscle Shoals is a town in Alabama that had a studio with a crack house band... lots of good records were made there. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 193 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks for filling in the gaps Guy. Cracking compilation by the way. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 77 Registered: 03-2006 |
Great info, Guy...I had a moment of confusion (not uncommon for me) about the phrase "crack house band"...but realized you meant a very skilled group that played in that studio, not a falling-down shack where people gathered to do drugs... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 233 Registered: 03-2005 |
I've always understood "Northern Soul" to be a bit more than just music that was popular in the North of England. First off, some of it is homegrown British soul and most, if not all of it, tends to exhibit a pop aesthetic with a heavy danceability component. It also usually seems to be really obscure stuff in the case of the U.S. music adopted by that scene. So I find the designation meaningful. On a related topic, I've been going on about Betty (aka Bettye) Lavette lately. One of my last 5 purchases is a new anthology of her sides recorded between 1969 and 1971 in Muscle Shoals for Lelan Rogers. Mr. Rogers is Kenny Rogers' brother who also produced the great early records by Esther Phillips and, on the other side of spectrum, the 13th Floor Elevators' classics. Ms. Lavette is originally from Detroit but is a much bluesier singer than the Motown stable. She cut a permanent classic in the mid-60s with "Let Me Down Easy" and continued to make a lot of superb records that sold about twenty copies each. She has a new album on which she totally transforms songs written by the likes of Joan Armatrading, Roseann Cash, Aimee Mann and Dolly Parton. I recommend it. | ||
| Ulrich A. Bayer Member Username: Marenhannes Post Number: 4 Registered: 03-2006 |
Jerry, Ray Davies wrote some "fresh songs", they really sound good. But i must say, that i've heard the songs only two or three times. I think, that the album have the chance to become an important work. Maybe later... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 78 Registered: 03-2006 |
Big ups to both Bettye Lavette and Ray Davies...I have the album of which you speak, Randy - I think it's brilliant...As well I do the Ray Davies, Ulrich...I think RD really came up with a great batch of songs, some of the best since the Kinks' heyday, or OK nothing could touch what they did in the 60's, but this is easily up to, and exceeding, the standards set by the 70's-80's stuff...Amazing, too, that a lot of the songs are eerily prescient about his mishap in N.O... | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 123 Registered: 02-2005 |
Randy, what you say about Northern Soul is accurate, although I think 99% of the records are by Black Americans. It is dance-oriented, upbeat, often stomping in the rhythm department. It's just a confusing term because Southern Soul refers to music recorded below the Mason-Dixon line so Northern Soul would logically refer to music recorded in Chicago, Detroit, NYC... but that's not the case. Northern Soul can come from anywhere. To their credit, the dedicated UK fans have kept the flame burning. Without the Charley label, ACE, KENT and others, most of this music would have remained OOP. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 85 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yet 5 more (living in So. Cal., music is my only affordable vice. Drugs, real estate and restaurants are way too expensive): 1) 3121 - Prince 2) Everything All the Time - Band of Horses 3) the Juliet Letters - EC and Brodsky Quartet 4) Showtunes - Stephin Merritt 5) Substitulo - Josh Rouse I'm a life long fan of the funky, lil Purple One, though he's disappointed me often...I had hoped for a "purple ticket" to be enclosed with my disc, guaranteeing admission to a concert at his Purpleness' residence, but no such luck... The EC is not my favorite disc by him - for me the marriage of his voice and classical doesn't really work that well, but I'm a completist, and had to have the deluxe version. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 84 Registered: 07-2005 |
Hardin what is on the second disc, I've not got it yet, but will do. Is as they've been saying the songs he did for the girl from Transition Vamp whose name escapes me.Or is just demos.Can't say i play it much but there are some good songs on there Hardin.Whats are your favourite EC LPs.Mine are Get Happy, KOA,B+C,this years model, Imp.bedroom and the Delivery Man | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 86 Registered: 03-2006 |
The 2nd disc has some tasty morsels: a live version of Pills & Soap, his take on She Moves Through the Fair and some choice live cuts he did with Bill Frisell (sublime guitarist, if you don't know him)one of them being Gigi... KOA is my hands down favorite - I just like the songs, spirit and stripped down T-Bone Burnett production. Maybe too it's because EC staged a bit of a comeback with it, after the disappointing GBCW. After that, all of the ones you mention above star in a constantly shifting lineup, just depends on the day you catch me...B&C and IB are definitely up there...And Armed Forces should probably be in there, too...His version of What's So Funny bout Peace, etc. that's on it is just unbeatable... What's this you say about Transgendered Vamp (or whatever she called herself)? Are they actually EC's own versions of those songs? If it is...man oh man, that'd be worth having...Tell me more, sir. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 85 Registered: 07-2005 |
Hardin at the time ofBrutal Youth him and his then wife wrote 10 songs in London over a weekend, he demod the sngs and gave 10 to wendy James the singer of 80s band transition vamp.i got the album but she is really awful I sadly gave it away ( which i regret now)as felt would never play it again. Some of the demos he did have neen release on CD singles. Puppet Girl and Basement Kiss are on the 13 steps lead down CD single.any way there was talk of this "LP" being released as the 2nd disc of the Julliette Letters.But it sadly sounds that this is not the case. And yes if push ocmes to shove KOA is my favourite LP just as you say stripped down . P.S had the pleasure of seeing him with T-bone in London at that time as the Coward Brothers-gig of my life or one of them.Cheeers Hardin for jogging these memories | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 90 Registered: 03-2006 |
Whatever one may think of the performances, that was a great batch of songs he gave the Vamp. Perhaps he's saving those performances for yet another re-issue. How many times are you going to make us by these discs, Elvis? Though I've seen EC many times, I never got to see those two together. I'm envious that you caught the legendary Coward Bros. in action! | ||
| gareth w Member Username: Gareth Post Number: 59 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've always thought 'Brutal Youth' was an underrated album. Rarely gets mentioned but has some great stuff ('Still Too Soon To Know' is a peach). I'm with you on 'King of America' as being his best. 'Sleep of the Just' is an amazing track. He's so inconsistent though. If i met him i'd be in 2 minds - shake his hand or just rant at him for releasing way too many records. Just bought the new Flaming Lips track ('The Yeah Yeah Song'). Great first half but really loses it towards the end. Might make more sense on the album... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 93 Registered: 03-2006 |
Brutal Youth is indeed another great one...maybe there's simply too much of his material for the listening public to digest...I saw him on the tour, to support that album, that he did with the Attractions, right before he apparently bounced Bruce Thomas out of the band for the last time... They were predictably awesome. Sleep of the Just is one of the great songs about hypocrisy...the one that gets me every time is I'll Wear It Proudly. One of the great love songs ever written by Elvis and indeed by anybody... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 185 Registered: 04-2005 |
I have to jump into this interesting discussion because I'm a longtime EC follower--I'm not sure I'd say "fan" anymore, he's tested my patience too many times. I'd have a hard time naming another performer who veers between brilliant and boring so randomly. I have albums of his I bought and played only once before trading in. Others I wore out my vinyl copies (pretty much all the pre-"Punch the Clock" albums plus B&C and KOA). I admire his musical restlessness and eagerness to experiment, but he can test his audience's patience, can't he? More recently, I really liked "When I Was Cruel," which seemed his strongest since "Brutal Youth" (which I agree is underrated), then felt angry at him over "North" (the idea was OK, but why did it have to be so tuneless?), and finally was disappointed by "The Delivery Man," which I'd had high hopes for because the songs were good live, but turned out to be a bit DOA on record. I can't bring myself to spend the money on the new live "big band" album after hearing a few clips from it. Do any of you have it? And I nominate "Spike" as his most overrated album. I never understood the acclaim over that overlong, discordant mess (though there are a handful of good songs, especially "Tramp the Dirt Down"). What do you guys think of it? And finally, I've always wondered what Robert and Grant think of EC, and vice versa. They're close to being contemporaries in age and share many similar influences and love of songcraft. But I don't recall reading any comments/opinions in either direction. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 94 Registered: 03-2006 |
I probably cut ole Declan way too much slack...sometimes I like the experiments, even if he overreaches and fails...North was interesting, but admittedly, has not been played many times since I got it... On the other hand, I like Spike quite a bit, think it has some great EC tuneage - Chewing Gum, Baby Plays Around, etc, and I dig all the eclectic crew of musicians he gathers around him, particularly the Dirty Dozen... So my judgement might be suspect, in light of the above, but I really love the new big band disc. I should also warn you that I happen to be a jazz fan, too...(Jazz Police are looking through my folders)... But anyway, real punchy, sharp jazzy arrangements of some of the classic stuff, like Clubland and Detectives...and some new material that lends itself nicely to the style. Of particular note is a tune by Mingus that EC put lyrics to... It kind of neatly occupies that weird, murky hinterland, that noir-film soundtrack world of Anatomy of a Murder...very cool...Elvis is in great voice on it, I can verify that. And the Jazz Orkest are a smokin' hot musical congregation. Robert actually makes reference to EC's This Year's Model in the Nichols' book. Don't know if that awareness is mutual. I've read an obsessive amount of material on Elvis and I've never seen him reference them, so I don't know...He is a consummate music fan and appreciator of the good stuff, so it seems highly likely he would have heard of them, though. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 200 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hardin, Ive currently been playing the Band Of Horses album a lot. Very similar to My Morning Jacket. The Josh Rouse album I have listened to once and thought it sounded ace, I tried and failed to get into his last 2 albums which were on the wrong side of bland for me. Regarding Elvis - my favs are Get Happy, Imperial Bedroom, Armed Forces and KOA. I lost interest during and after Spike. Did the infamous Spinning Wheel tour reach the States in the mid 80s? It was fantastic, the concept was that there was a big spinning wheel on stage with approx 30 songs on it, an audience member spun the wheel and whichever song it stopped at was the song that was played. Given the strength of ECs back catalogue at that point it didnt matter what song was picked, everyone was a winner. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 238 Registered: 03-2005 |
"Get Happy" plus his version of "Peace, Love & Understanding" are about the only EC things I still listen to. I remember really liking "Trust" but have no idea what I'd think of it now. "Spike" is the last thing I bought and I don't remember anything about it except that I found it boring, so I jumped off the EC bandwagon. I wonder what I'd think of it now. Elvis Costello's records illustrate the wisdom of limiting an album to 10 songs. Even "Get Happy" starts to exhaust me after a while. I recently played a borrowed copy of the 2-disc "Blood & Chocolate" and I swear that album would be greatly strengthened by paring it down to ten songs. If you write 15 great songs, but there are several clumps of two or three that do pretty much the same thing in the context of the album, cut the redundant ones and let those that remain really shine. I think that's Costello's only real problem. Well, that and the nasal voice. | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 96 Registered: 08-2004 |
Randy, Actually, Blood & Chocolate was originally released as 11 song collection and, to my mind, was a great collection of garage-inspired pop. If you get hold of it again, try listening to the first 11 tracks a few times. I agree that the 2 disk set is overwhelming. I still listen to 'Blood & Chocolate', Get Happy! '10 Bloody Marys' and 'My aim is true'. I even think the collaboration with Bacharach is very good, but I think his most recent records 'When I was cruel' and 'Delivery Man' are just disappointing. I don't really hear anything original or spirited going on there, either musically or lyrically. | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 32 Registered: 01-2006 |
I like EC and only have a few of his records, I mostly listen to Brutal Youth though, what do the EC fans here think of Mighty Like A Rose? Couldn't Call it Unexpected No.4 is one of my favourite EC songs... | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 127 Registered: 11-2004 |
. A Certain Ratio - Looking For A Certain Ratio. Totally overrated/underrated UK 'post punk' band, though they were always better than Mark Stewart & The Maffia. And at the end of the day, it was worth the $2.95 I payed for it. Great remixes and a lot of Martin Hannett's original production work still in tact. 2. Tracey Ullman - You Broke My Heart In 17 Places. '80s Girl pop a la Go-Go's but better, because its Tracey Ullman. Great Kirsty McColl songs. 3. Simon Turner - s/t. Simon Fisher Turner is one damn weird guy and thusly makes weird records when he's not acting. File under 3am and can't sleep records. Great Tilda Swinton monologues. Better than most albums on Creation. No songs. 4. Television Personalities - And They All Lived Happily Ever After. My 5th favourite Rough Trade label artistes. This is a collection of odditties from the 80s and 90s, including his attack on Morrissey 'Another Rainy Day In Manchester' "It's raining, it's pouring - Manchester is boring, if you came from London. What if I had a job, then I found a job - then I'd have two jobs. If a ten ton truck killed the both of us, it would be lovely. We'd have a smashing time. I am the last of the international gay boys...." 5. Françoise Hardy - Now! I have 5+ versions of this album, which is a collection of her mid 60s English language recordings. I guess you could say I bought it for the cover art. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 203 Registered: 05-2005 |
drive-by truckers - a blessing and a curse various - the lion roars (reggae comp) josh rouse - subtitulo LCD Soundsystem - introns(download only release) roots manuva - alternately deep | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 9 Registered: 07-2005 |
Pelle Carlberg - Everything Now Holm - South Of The River Sambassadeur - Sambassadeur Labrador - Instamatic Lovelife The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - I Bet You Say That To All The Boys | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 95 Registered: 03-2006 |
Kevin, you dawg! I'm envious - how did you manage to get the new drive-by truckers? not even out here in the states yet. Weird factoid I read recently. David Hood, of the famous Muscle Shoals band, is the father of Patterson Hood, from the Truckers...it really is a small world, to quote Randy's favorite song. I'm also jealous about you seeing the Wheel tour, that must have been the shit...Not only did the audience get to see the Elvis, they also got to see such luminaries as Tom Waits, X, etc., depending on where you saw him...He did come to the area I was living at the time (New Orleans),but just had the Attractions in tow. Another time I saw him in N.O. he had the group I think was called the Confederates backing him, including what most be one of the great guitar players to ever grace the planet, James Burton. JB played with the original, fatter Elvis and was also all over the immortal GP and Grievous Angel albums.... I'm such a big EC fan I pretty much agree with everybody's opinion of what his best discs are because they're all great to me...I'm hardly objective. Though I gotta say, B&C and King are the absolute mega-classics for me, and the ones that bring me the most pleasure...he was really on a roll in that period..."I Want You" still gives me the chills and bums me out (in a good way) every time I hear it...and, "Hope You're Happy Now" really is the classic EC kiss off song, and there's some really great competition for that title in his stuff... I can't make a special pleading for some of the other ones, though I've found things to enjoy..."Alibi" from "Cruel" is outstanding. as are "45", the title cut, "Daddy Can I Turn This?" (apparently the last words heard on the black box of a small plane that crashed) Time, for me, has not been so kind to "Delivery Man", though I give it points for excellent intentions...like the duets with Lucinda Williams (I'm an obsessive fan of her, as well - subject for another thread) and Emmylou, too... Just listened to the "Horses" and Rouse once, but really liked what I heard. I'm a total sucker for reggae comps and have too many, so please don't tell me about "the lion roars"...I might have to buy it! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 240 Registered: 03-2005 |
Donat, have you heard Mari Wilson's records from the early/mid 80s? While I like the Tracy Ullman album, Wilson's work is more committed and, believe it or not, exhibits a more sophisticated sense of humor. As far as I know everything good was gathered together onto 2 CDs entitled "Just What I Always Wanted" and "Beat the Beat." No idea if they are still available. I love Francoise Hardy's french language mid-60s recordings. Cichli, I think I'll try your suggestion about B & C because I definitely remember liking most of what I heard on the first disc (except the one everybody else always likes--"I Want You"--which I'd probably like when sung by someone else). It's probably time for me to start exploring some of those overlooked Costello albums. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 204 Registered: 05-2005 |
hardin - The Drive-by Truckers album continues the brilliance of the last 3 albums. It was released on March 20 here in the UK, continuing a recent trend I have noticed over the last 6 months to a year, in which lots of US acts are releasing their albums in the UK(and maybe Europe?) before releasing them in the States. Im going to see the Truckers in Glasgow on April 4th, cant wait to see that 3 guitar attack! Just wait till you hear Space City off the album, its a wonderful heartbreaking acoustic number. On other tracks I think they are hoping to crossover because there are some rousing choruses on tracks like Easy on Yourself (like Fleetwood Mac crossed with Lynard Skynard - I kid you not) and Daylight which has a chorus made for radio. Aftermath USA sounds like The Faces meets The Replacements, yes that good! The album comes in yet another fantastic sleeve, their artwork is so distinctive that you know its a DBT album as soon as you see it (see here for preview - http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000E97X6G.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg) | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 96 Registered: 03-2006 |
Great! Can't hardly wait for that to come out...an online radio station I enjoy (Musical Justice) has been featuring Feb 14, which has completely gotten me psyched for the whole album... As I said before, monitoring this thread is going to end up costing me a lot of bucks, but I hope people don't stop contributing!...gives me a lot of great ideas on new things and also validates my tastes when other folks are into the same stuff. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 186 Registered: 04-2005 |
>>I like EC and only have a few of his records, I mostly listen to Brutal Youth though, what do the EC fans here think of Mighty Like A Rose? Couldn't Call it Unexpected No.4 is one of my favourite EC songs...<< XY765, most everyone seems to hate "Mighty Like a Rose" and it was roundly bashed by critics. Yet I think it's a better album than "Spike," one I'm a lot more likely to listen to now. It, like that album, is eclectic to a fault and some of the songs are rambling and/or clever to the point of annoyance, but it doesn't grate on the nerves like "Spike." "How to Be Dumb" is a bad-natured attack on Bruce Thomas that was a welcome throwback to the early days of the Attractions, "The Other Side of Summer" is fun if a bit wordy, "Hurray Down Doomsday" is an interesting Waits-like experiment, and the closing "Broken" is just haunting. Applying Randy's suggestion of picking the 10 best tracks to "MLAR" works pretty well. But few agree with me that this is a salvageable album... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 103 Registered: 03-2006 |
I meant to respond to X, and you, Kurt: agree heartily about "Couldn't Call it" - a brilliant and profound song...I saw EC do it a capella on the tour he did with Steve Nieve...he sang it from the side of the stage as his last encore. His voice projected through the whole theater...stunning! Did they ever conclusively prove that the "Gordon" EC talked about in "Doomsday" was that paragon of virtue and smooth jazz, Stin'? | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 190 Registered: 04-2005 |
I don't know that EC ever confirmed it, but yeah, it's gotta be Mr. Sumner. God I hate that guy. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 205 Registered: 05-2005 |
kurt, we could start a whole threat about that unsavoury, high pitched twat | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 206 Registered: 05-2005 |
that should be thread, not threat | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 107 Registered: 03-2006 |
Freudian slip? Yeah, usually I'm laissez faire about people's tastes, live and let live, etc...but that Stin' and Phil Collins...they really ARE Satan's spawn! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 192 Registered: 04-2005 |
I don't know, I think a threat would be more appropriate. But he has the money/power to have us all killed. A lot of wrath is directed toward Bono, but Sting is the worst. At least Bono doesn't go on at length in interviews about how he's god's gift to women in the bedroom. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 193 Registered: 04-2005 |
Yeah, Phil Collins the pop star is vile and I don't want to know about anything he ever did with Genesis, but to be fair, he did some great drumming on a few '70s Eno albums. It's hard to believe it's the same guy who sang all that shameless schlock. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 208 Registered: 05-2005 |
isnt it strange that all these macho, hard as nail gangsta rappers seem to like these cretins? cant remember the actual songs or names of the rappers, but they have sampled or covered songs by the police, phil collins etc | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 108 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yeah, Piss Diddy, or whatever his name is, completely lifted (I wouldn't call it sampling) basically the entirety of "Every Breath You Take" for his "Missing You" (I think it was called), a touching ditty about Biggie Smalls...There is such a thing as creative sampling, but it's not practiced by this guy...Insufferably lame... Whatever the opposite of gangsta and macho is, Phil Collins must be it! | ||
| Donat Member Username: Donat Post Number: 128 Registered: 11-2004 |
I'm going to have to study up on Mari Wilson, as it sounds like my cup of tea. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 86 Registered: 07-2005 |
Great Thread developing re EC, i've been away from the computer for a few days, but I'm in Hardins camp re Elvis so not too objective. My main criticism is that all LP =s have some great tracks but don't always hang together as and LP they are either to varied or not cohesive as a I feel and LP should be. I think spike is the most varied and hangs together least well. KOA, Get Happy and Bloood and Chocolates and Brutal Youth are musically more similar in styles and each hang together well.If he did what Randy suggests then his LPs would be improved. He also has a tendency to discordant songs which are not a good in my book. But live he's one oth the greatest. The Spinning song book was a good tour as he was with the confederates ( saw all 6 nights at the Albert HAll).He's also good solo (in fact the are the only shows of his my wife wants to accompany too).After commneting on this thread 2 days ago dug out my KOA LP and just enjoyed it so much again.Even the Don't let me be misunderstood thrack I've previously skipped seemed to run well with all the other tracks.The last 3 tracks are some one of the greater moments in music finishing with Sleep of The Just. Nuff said!! | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 59 Registered: 04-2005 |
Sorry to be a party-pooper on this one, but personally I can't imagine listening to EC again. I have a lot of stuff from the 80s, saw him live countless times, but now feel that he is like Bowie. A fraud? Changes all the time and you never feel that it comes from within. Which character am I now? Even 'I Want You' sounds like empty posturing to me now. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 116 Registered: 03-2006 |
To me, EC is the consummate music fan who appreciates pretty much all kinds of music, so it's only natural that he'd try some of those musical hats on, admittedly with mixed results... Some of the...genre experiments, if you will, have left me cold, like "Juliet Letters", while some, like "Almost Blue" really rocked my world. The last time I saw him live was on the tour of smaller venues he did with just him and Steve Nieve, in '99 (?)...I saw him in both LA, before a rapt, respectful audience, and in NO, before a bunch of drunk morons, but both shows were magnificent. But hey, different strokes.... | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 222 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hardin - your comment about Elvis being the consumate music fan reminded me of a list of 500 albums he loved. Think it was printed in one of the quality English broadsheet newspapers a few years back. Anyway, a quick google search found this list online - enjoy http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/t-z/vanity_fair.001101a.html | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 90 Registered: 07-2005 |
Cheers Kevin for that really interesting.No Gbs though. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 119 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thanks, Kev! That is fascinatin' readin'...Cheeky bugger - you'd think that with 500 slots, he could've found one for the GBs! He could've given them Tricky's spot... Hey, whatever happened to the La's? I thought that was a pretty stellar debut... | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 224 Registered: 05-2005 |
Some observations on the list: He tends to like compilations rather than studio albums, although I think these are recommendations for people, so thats maybe the reason he chose so many He chose Berlin by Lou Reed at the expense of Transformer or New York He doesn’t like Reggae much (surprisingly) An album Im glad he chose is All Shook Down by The Replacements Hardin, The La's were gigging recently - rumours of an album too | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 246 Registered: 03-2005 |
The things he listed that made me smile: David Ackles, Dan Hicks, Mina The things that made me groan: Van Morrison. David Crosby? C'mon, even less defensible than Van Morrison. Eminem? Grateful Dead? For the most part, this is a very conventional, catholic list and goes a long way toward explaining why I don't find myself totally in love with Costello's own records. He dabbles. And some of it smacks of pure pretension. Is he really able to say that certain of the performances of classical pieces are better than others? I seriously doubt it. He spends too much time on his own career to have acquired that expertise. "Life on Mars" is on "Ziggy Stardust"--not on "Hunky Dory." But "Hunky Dory" is the better record. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 236 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy - Life on Mars IS on Hunky Dory | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 248 Registered: 03-2005 |
Kevin, that sent me scurrying off to the CD shelves to look. Hilarious. Just what I get for being so snotty. I am now officially senile. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 238 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, at least you didnt think it was on Lets Dance or one of those horrible Bowie albums from the 80s | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 249 Registered: 03-2005 |
Actually the trip to the CD shelves gave me an even bigger surprise. I have NO Bowie between "Man Who Sold the World" which I've always loved and "Low." "Hunky Dory" is the only one I'd want from the missing ones but obviously I haven't been visiting my Bowie section much. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 153 Registered: 03-2006 |
5 more: Eels - Live with Strings Rosanne Cash - Black Cadillac Hamell on Trial- Music for Parents who Enjoy Drugs Big Al Anderson - After Hours Jon Langford - Gold Brick Howe Gelb - 'Sno Angel Like You oops, that's six... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 255 Registered: 03-2005 |
Hardin, WHEN do you have the time to listen to all this stuff? Amazing. The only one of those I have is the Rosanne Cash. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 154 Registered: 03-2006 |
LISTENING? Who actually listens to this stuff? I do a lot of driving for my job - so, there's where a lot of my quality listening time happens. Thursday, I'm driving up to Pasadena, close, but with traffic who knows?, and Friday up to Adelanto, in the infamous "High Desert", so that should afford time to get through that whole stack... I happened to strike it lucky at Second Spin and find used copies of almost all the above, so I couldn't resist. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 155 Registered: 03-2006 |
I have had time to listen to the Hamell on Trial, which I'm enjoying - he's pretty f-ing entertaining...some of the songs have a political bent, including one called, "Coulter's Snatch"...very scurrilous, but also very funny...I'm guessing, from that, you can peg what side of the political divide he falls on.... | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 256 Registered: 03-2005 |
well, at least he acknowledges that she has one . . . . Somehow I doubt that Hamell on Trial is going to be lasting art. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 156 Registered: 03-2006 |
Dunno, as someone else pointed out, there's no predicting what will end up lasting...I read a great, sort of, reassessment of Hamell and his career, by Robert Christgau that picqued my interest. So, I'm reserving judgement...he does have a great energy and honesty about him, though, and he's just funny as hell. | ||
| gareth w Member Username: Gareth Post Number: 63 Registered: 05-2005 |
We should have a 'last 5 albums you listened to' thread. Might be good to compare with what everyone is buying! I'm with you Randy - i don't know where people get the time. I think there is a marked difference between listening to music and hearing it and whilst i hear it a lot (ipod, car etc) i'm not sure if this is the same as listening to it. Perhaps i'm old fashioned but i can only really listen to it at home on the stereo. Preferably when its dark too (am currently listenning to/hearing John Martyn's 'Solid Air' and loving it). | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 158 Registered: 03-2006 |
Definitely different experiences...and, although I have an excellent system at home, I have a pretty good one in my car too, and I have often heard little things listening in the car I didn't hear elsewhere...Part of this is, no doubt, due to the relatively smaller space that makes for a better listening environment - less air for sound waves to travel through, better acoustics, etc... Also, in the car, for me, I don't have the distractions I have at home - other people, pets, neighbors, the phone, etc., so I can concentrate better... Makes it difficult though since I do enjoy music more when I've had a glass of wine, or two... | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 127 Registered: 02-2005 |
5 more, 2 CD's and 3 LP's... Bailterspace - Thermos Jens Leckman - When I said I wanted to be your dog George Jones - The Best of on United Artists (which isn't a "best of" at all, but included songs previously released as singles-only and all-new material when it came out in 1962) Joe South - Midnight Rainbows Nick Lowe - And His Cowboy Outfit (dovetailing nicely with the Elvis Costello subthread) | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 162 Registered: 03-2006 |
Guy, my tastes coincide with yours to such a degree that I'm wondering if I should check out Bailterspace...I love the Possum and Basher! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 243 Registered: 05-2005 |
Saw Hamell On Trial in Austin in 2001 and thought he was great. Also saw him later that year in Dublin. Also a very good show. Haven't listened to him in a while though. His obsequiousness towards the insufferable Ani Di Franco puts me off. I presume 'Coulter's Snatch' concerns the lovely Ms Ann Coulter? She's hot! | ||
| Paul Swinford Member Username: Prema Post Number: 4 Registered: 11-2005 |
Last five? Hmm, I've been in a buying spurt of late, so five becomes ten, ten becomes...? Apologies if my taste appear to be like a man in his 40s looking over his shoulder to recoup his youth. I don't think I'm in a mid-life crisis, it's just that I liquidated my music collection in the early '90s when I joined the ashram and have been rebuilding favorite parts of it since 2003. The Go-Betweens were a major part of that. I worked my way backward from Oceans Apart. El Sob - Welcome to El Sob (2/3 of the '80s San Francisco band Yo. Much prefer their earlier "Life in Antartica") Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (sparse yet sophisticated sound, a haunter in the good sense) Rilo Kiley - More Adventerous Jennis Lewis & the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat Johnny Cash - My Mother's Hymnal | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 171 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ann Coulter is definitely hot, but she's pretty much crazy - the woman has squirrels in her head...but hey, details... Paul, haven't gone on much about it here, but I think Jenny Lewis, both solo, and with RK, is brilliant...those two records you mention are wonderful. Particulary like "Portions for Foxes", with it's chorus of "I'm bad news"...someone had to write that song, cuz we've all known people like that... | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 128 Registered: 02-2005 |
Hardin, I'm an UBER-JONES fan... probably have more than 100 legitimate albums now, pretty much his entire output from United Artists, Musicor, Epic and beyond (eBay has been a blessing in this pursuit). He's reputed to have 300 or more albums, but there were endless repackagings and hits collections on all kinds of labels. I'm missing some of the RCA LP's of (mostly-repackaged) Musicor material from the early 70's. Those did include some previously unreleased tracks though... I should hunt those down. And I only have a few acutal albums from Mercury and none on Starday, but that period has been anthologized pretty well on CD. I love Nick Lowe too. I missed out on his later 80's albums. I was disappointed by 'Nick The Knife' and stopped following him until 'Party of One.' When I went back I discovered that his later Columbia albums were all good and some great. I have some on CD, some MP3 and now all on vinyl. Bailterspace are a completely different animal. They were from New Zealand and work their hypnotic riffs until they bounce off the walls in all directions. Not psychedelic in a 60's sense, but very heavy and trippy. I saw them once at the time of their last album, 'Capsul' and they were very good. I bought the above list while traveling and 'Thermos' sounded great on the boomin' rental car system! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 173 Registered: 03-2006 |
Holy crap, Guy! That is impressive...I have more than a few records by ole George, but nothing on the order of what you describe...For my money, arguably one of the best singers ever, in any genre...there's no touching the levels of human emotion the guy gets across in his singing. Now we know who the "go-to" guy is for Jones-related matters... Apropos of nothing, in my last job, I worked with a guy who looked like some strange combo of the Possum and Jimmy Carter...he wore way too much cologne (that he probably paid $1.99 a gallon for) and sansabelt slacks...Very nice guy, though... And, I have unalloyed affection for the work of Nick, too...I really like what he stands for - the lack of pretension, the humor, not to mention the great music he's produced...His latest stuff, where he's sort of re-invented himself as a torchy balladeer, is great, too. Bailterspace, hmmm, I think I need to listen to some samples... | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 129 Registered: 02-2005 |
Yeah, George Jones is the best. I acquired a scattershot selection of his albums starting in 1980 or so, 15 or 20, but finding his stuff in NYC wasn't always easy and I didn't know much about what I was buying, so it was a crap shoot. As it happened, I picked up a few of his lesser albums on Epic, so when I started filling-in that period over the past decade my respect for the Billy Sherrill productions grew immensely. I really started loving his stuff when I got the two Rounder label collections of Musicor material ('65 - '71) that came out in the early 80's. Those were titled 'Burn Down The Honky Tonks' and 'Heartaches and Hangovers' - vinyl only, never released on CD. That was my favorite period of his career for a long time and I wasn't knocked-out by the Hits collection of UA material that I had. But once I started buying the actual UA albums that became my favorite period. Unfortunately, I passed-up buying the CD reissues on Razor & Tie that were available for a short time in the 1990's, but I've got most of them now and have done CDR transfers of the vinyl on the rest. Sadly, a well-stocked music shop these days will have little more than best of's and the fidelity can really vary on collections that include Musicor material. The Mercury anthology - 'Cup of Loneliness' - and the Razor & Tie set - 'She Thinks I Still Care' - are both excellent 2-CD collections. There have been some Epic albums available off and on, although the KOCH 2-fers are OOP now, I think. They powers-that-be are probably waiting for him to kick the bucket before they reissue his work for a final time. I hope he lives to be 100! Frank Sinatra once crowned George Jones "The second greatest singer in America." I guess that makes him numero uno now. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 174 Registered: 03-2006 |
His biography is fascinating, harrowing reading...it is amazing he's lived this long - he's definitely on borrowed time...I admire, though, that he's had the courage to actually live the lifestyle, unlike so many of these new hat act wussies, like Kenny Chesney, et al. Never heard the quote from the Chairman - that's great. | ||
| Guy Ewald Member Username: Guy_ewald Post Number: 130 Registered: 02-2005 |
I love that quote too. I was kind of surprised to discover that he'd even be a fan of George Jones. My own parents (my dad, really) were into Big Band Jazz and liked Frank and Tony Bennett and their ilk of crooners. But being from Chicago, Country Music was just "other" to their ears. I would have thought Sinatra might have had the same attitude, but apparently not. Very cool. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 176 Registered: 03-2006 |
I, too, thought GJ would've been below Ol Blue Eyes's radar...maybe he was looking for things to steal Sinatra vilified Elvis and rock and roll, before he realized the sheer commercial potential, I guess - he then ended up, somewhat hypocritically, duetting with the Elvii on one of his TV specials, resulting in their famous Witchcraft/Love Me Tender medley. Art and commerce can co-exist, right? | ||
| Paul Swinford Member Username: Prema Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2005 |
Ah, Guy, you remind me of a moment that still pricks my heart. I wrote for the Daily Cardinal student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin in my college days. I convinced the arts editor to give me space for an interview with Paul Carrack when he played Madison. Nice talk with Paul on the tour bus outside the club. Very affable fellow. Toward the end who walks in but the legend himself - Nick Lowe (Nick had produced the album Paul was touring behind). I guess I was a bit starstruck while simultaneously lacking any real knowledge of Lowe's work. I blew a chance for the real SCOOP interview! Would love to have that moment back now. I got a nice photo of the two of them at least. | ||
| Mark Sweeney Member Username: Domestique Post Number: 1 Registered: 04-2005 |
My most recent 5: Julie Feeney - 13 Songs Sandy Denny - No More Sad Refrains Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd - Moon & The Melodies The Concretes - In Colour Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Oh, bye the way; Hello everyone! I've been registered here for ages without posting. Planning on changing that. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 247 Registered: 05-2005 |
Welcome Mark I see you are one of quite a few on here who like Neko Case. I love New Pornographers so will need to check out more of her stuff. | ||
| Mark Sweeney Member Username: Domestique Post Number: 2 Registered: 04-2005 |
Thanks Kevin. Twin Cinema is one of my favourite albums of the last couple of years actually. And "Fox Confessor..." is already shaping up nicely to be my favourite of Neko's solo stuff. Lots of short, very sweet songs. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 245 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cichli, I'm listening to John Cale's Black Acetate right now. He sings the first track, Outta The Bag, in a falsetto. Not so sure I like it... Second track, For A Ride, is very guitar heavy. I know the reviews have been heralding it as Cale's first guitar album in however many years, but I really wasn't expecting this. Track three, Brotherman, begins with Cale speaking the line: "I write reams of this shit every day". It's an electro funk song. Hmm, maybe if Prince grew up in Rhyll he'd have sounded like this? Sorry, that's it for the moment. It's distracting from the article I'm supposed to be writing. I'm underwhelmed so far, but I get the feeling it will be a grower. I definitely prefer Cale with a viola in his hand though. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 221 Registered: 04-2005 |
Thanks for the thoughts on the new Cale, Padraig. I listened to some samples on Amazon and wasn't impressed, so I've passed on buying it. And though it got good reviews, I didn't find much to like on his previous album, "HoboSapiens." It's not so much that he's experimenting with electronics, dance rhythms, etc., it's just that the songs aren't there. The last album wasn't bad so much as boring. | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 98 Registered: 08-2004 |
Thanks for the feedback, Pádraig, though it doesn't sound too promising. Let me know if you think it improves with time! I liked Homo Sapiens, by the way. As for my Neko Case CDs, my initial suspicions have proved unfounded and I can now join the rest of her many fans here at Go-betweens central! How can you listen to songs with words and write at the same time, by the way? ! I wish I could do that. I listen to electronic music or certain low key classical pieces when I write. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 242 Registered: 10-2004 |
most recent 5: kirsty maccoll - kite (a nice album, w/ lot's of great johnny marr guitar parts all over it) xtc - fuzzy warbles v. 1 (plus a mix of all the relatively developed "pop" tunes from volumes 2 - 6, compiled for me by a friend - some really cool stuff if you dig around for it) louis philippe - appointment with venus neu! - 75 go-betweens - striped sunlight sound | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 246 Registered: 05-2005 |
Cichli, I usually listen to music when I write, usually with words too! But I just couldn't last night as I was concious of letting you know what it sounded like on first listen and, more importantly, of a looming deadline! | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 99 Registered: 08-2004 |
Thanks alot! I hope you met your deadline. By the way, I bought Steven Malkmus's 'Face the Truth' when I was in a record shop recently. I was influenced somewhat by a some positive words you wrote here about it. I like it immensely which is one of the reasons I referred to you as a 'respected source'! Actually, there are many respected sources contributing to this board. I get great recommendations for music on a daily basis here. Who needs Amazon.com! Other more recent albums: Frank Black: Honeycomb Baaba Maal: Missing you Micah P Hinson: Micah P Hinson And The Gospel Of Progress Erin McKeown: Grand The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 247 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah, I met the deadline Cichli and the story is in today's IT. It's in the World section if you still have access to ireland.com. I got some Micah P Hinson EP (which also features, uncredited, the demos of all eight songs) last July in Glasgow. I played it when I got back to Sydney, liked it, but have not played it again. I guess if I really liked it I would have played it since. I keep playing the Amadou and Mariam album (a recent purchase) over and over. I just love it. It has replaced OA as my kitchen boombox album. I was telling my daughter that Amadou and Mariam are both blind and she wanted to know how they got around (she's four). She was quite taken with the idea of having a guide dog or using a silver cane. I told her then that there are a lot of blind musicians, most of whom, that I know of anyway, were blues musicians. I love it when children hear about something new to them and want to find out more about it, usually more than I know. OK, enough fatherhood chat. What's the Erin McKeown album like? She's from Boston isn't she? | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 198 Registered: 03-2006 |
Calling Kevin...what's your bottom line judgement on the new Morrissey? Didn't you say in this thread that you have it? It's coming out here tomorrow and I'm pondering whether to put it on the list. Reviews I've read have been decidedly mixed.... | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 276 Registered: 05-2005 |
sorry Hardin, just saw your post there. went to bed early for once last night,I guess we are 8 hours ahead of you guys I have probably heard the album about 6 or 7 times now. I would say if you are a long time Morrissey fan you would enjoy it, but as I stated on an earlier post it is definetely not a "rock" album - lots of strings and 3 or 4 tracks feature childrens backing vocals. this is not as bad as it sounds though as they seem to fit with the songs. "You have killed me" is probably the closest to a recognisable Moz track, probably why its the single. "I will see you in far off places" is the "political" track, riding along on a middle eastern style backing track - could be about soldiers in Iraq? "Dear god please help me" is the track where he "outs" himself with lyrics like "there are explosive kegs between my legs" and "he motions to me, with his hand on my knee". Then again, knowing Moz, it could be a childhood experience with some corrupt, creepy old Priest. As Abigail notes in another post "Life is a Pigsty" is a highlight - the centrepiece of the album and 7 and 1/2 mins long - atmospheric track with rainfall and thunder soundtrack. The final track "At last I am born" crashes in with orchestral percussion and strings, piano and acoustic guitar. Sorry for the rambling nature of this reply but I have to rush off soon to Glasgow to see Drive By Truckers. They are due on stage at 8pm our time, so while you are having some lunch on your side of the world you can be envious of me Depending on how late it is when I get back, will post up here to tell you how it was. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 204 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thank you, sir. That sounds really interesting...enough so to get me to buy it. Even if I don't end up completely loving it, it sounds totally worth checking out. It's on sale around town for about $10, so the investment won't be huge. And thanks for rubbing in your good fortune at seeing the Truckers, you dawg I am envious. Yes, while you're rocking out, enjoying a pint or two, I'll be munching on a fish taco at some nasty little hole in the wall. There's justice. Let me know how they are - hopefully they'll play somewhere around LA soon. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 277 Registered: 05-2005 |
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/m/morrissey/ringleader-of-the-torme ntors.shtml | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 209 Registered: 03-2006 |
Wow. Those guys don't throw around 8's lightly. | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 103 Registered: 08-2004 |
Pádraig, I missed your last post there. Funnily enough, I've had a similar experience with Michah P. Hinson. I heard it in a record shop, liked it and bought it. It has all the right ingredients for something I might like, but I rarely play it. There is something too understated about it. Erin McKeown is from Fredricksburg, VA, apparently. Her style is a kind of folky pop but she is versatile enough to throw in jazzy sounding arrangements also. She has got a breathy, sexy sounding voice and she plays many of the instruments on the album. She writes all her own stuff. 'Grand' is a really good pop-folk album. I don't think it is ground-breaking but I do think she's very talented and great at what she does. I bought the Be-Good Tanyas CD as the same time as this and they really haven't got a look in due to Erin McKeown. Unfortunately, I couldn't read your article. I stopped subscribing to Ireland.com. I just didn't think it was worth it, despite excellent contributions such as yours. I find the layout to be poor and the stories are not cross indexed so that you have to search for the secondary articles to the main stories of the day. The introduction of the grossly over priced 'digital edition' as a seperate service to the 'premium content' service made me pretty angry. All in all, I didn't think they were looking after their subscribers. I presume you write for a few Aussie papers also? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 274 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hi Cichli, yes, still a journalist in Sydney. The lack of cross indexing on ireland.com is quite annoying alright. Have you seen the New York Times' website (nytimes.com) redesign? Now that's how a paper should look on the web. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 180 Registered: 07-2005 |
Thought I'd reclaim and old thread, Neil Young -Neil Young Francoiz Breut-Vingt et Trente Thom Yorke-The Eraser Richmond Fontaine-Winnemucca Lambchop-The Decline and Fall od Country and Western Civilisation. Having just sorted through al ot of CD I'm thinking of not buying any for a month and just replaying old CDs perhaps one which I've thought overated so starting with Pet Sounds then!!! | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 57 Registered: 07-2005 |
Jerry, I often think of not buying anything for a month or so but somehow never manage to do so. The following are my most recent purchases. They are all New Zealand artists/bands. Over The Atlantic - Junica Fat Freddys Drop - Based On A True Story Flash Harry - Flash Harry Phoenix Foundation - Horse Power & Pegasus Samuel Flynn Scott - The Hunt Brings Us Life | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 441 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Roots of Rap compilation (mostly very old blues, but, interestingly, a couple of very old country songs too). Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend. The two-CD remastered version. It is superb. What an album. All the extra material is great too. And the sleevenotes are a real insight into the recording of the album. Listening to it (very loud) last Friday night made me ponder about missing out on amazing older albums because we spend so much time discovering new albums. Thoughts anyone? Johnny Cash, American V. Haven't had time to play it yet though. Johnny Cash, Personal File. Again, not played it yet. Field Music, self-titled debut and an early work collection called Write Your Own History . Both are really good, XTC-like music. One of the singers (they are brothers) sounds very like Eric Matthews (I've written elsewhere here that he reminded me of the guy from The Beloved, but I don't really know why I wrote that because he doesn't on subsequent listens!). | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 485 Registered: 03-2006 |
I have the American V, Padraig, and I think you're in for a real treat. Beautiful stuff, though it's almost too painful to listen to when you think about the context it was recorded in...still wonderful, essential stuff that is ultimately life-affirming. And I, too, have the deluxe Girlfriend. What a plu-perfect album and a luverly reissue. Makes you wonder what happened with him, eh? He never, if you ax me, scaled those heights again, rather pumped out a bunch of records that were good but not as satisfying... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 443 Registered: 05-2005 |
I think Matthew Sweet's 100% is a power pop classic, but it does not have the depth of Girlfriend. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 486 Registered: 03-2006 |
Was that the one with Sick of Myself? A classic song...Quine sure juiced up his stuff - shame that's no longer possible... More things I've picked up lately: Cruel Words - Johnny Dowd My first foray into the demented world of Mr. Dowd. Very creepy but compelling stuff - he may need professional help... Last Days of Wonder - Handsome Family Another great one by them...I can't say there's anything in particular to distinguish this one from their other releases, but it's still worthwhile and goes surprisingly well with Johnny D. This woman, this Rennie Sparks, sure has some unique lyrical concerns - Tesla, grizzly bears, etc... I'm Your Man - Original Soundtrack All of the versions contained therein only make me want to hear LC sing them...I've heard the movie operates on a similar level - that the most compelling moments are when Cohen is on screen...Still and all, the songs are so wonderful it's always good to hear them, whoever is performing them. Highpoints so far are Famous Blue Raincoat by the above mentioned Handsome Family and Everybody Knows by Rufus Wainwright. And one more old-ish one I've been playing a lot lately is "Sno Angel Like You" by Howe Gelb. If you're into Giant Sand and/or gospel choirs, this could be the ticket... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 444 Registered: 05-2005 |
Yeah, Sick of Myself is on 100%. So is We're The Same, a song which may just be my favourite Matthew Sweet track. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 574 Registered: 05-2005 |
I was really into Matthew Sweet in the 90s. I discovered him at the time of Altered Beast and then I think the one after that was 100%. I then went backwards to Girlfriend which I was massively disappointed by. A few really good songs, but mostly MOR dross, a poor mans Big Star or Teenage Fanclub. I need to listen to it again because I have been known to be wrong about albums so many times its embarassing. Saw him live about 1998, was ok I suppose. The main thing I remember about the gig was that I was expecting this slim, pretty guy. Out walked this massive hairy bear of a man. Had he let himself go, or were the pics on the album covers cleverly shot? | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 489 Registered: 03-2006 |
Not to be superficial or make undue ad hominem attacks (! P started that meme) he does indeed seem to have let himself go...If you compare the pics in the Girlfriend booklet to the ones in the Under the Covers disc, it appears that MS has really lost his "cute"...he looks as though he, like John Candy in Stripes, has swallowed a lot of aggression, along with a lot of pizzas... Still a very talented guy... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 446 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, after initially loving Girlfriend I then, for years, thought it was a bit overrated. But the remastered edition has been a revelation. It has made me love it all over again. The remastering job has been an epiphany for me like the remastered Tallulah has been for many on this board. I saw Matthew Sweet live in a park in Austin, Texas in March 2001. It was a great show. On the Sunday afternoon - and this will interest you Kevin - I swear he was in an Irish bar watching Celtic beat Motherwell in the Scottish League Cup Final! It was the repeat showing of the game. The barman told me that Mogwai had been in to watch the live showing of it hours earlier! So, following Celtic is another thing Matthew Sweet shares with Teenage Fanclub! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 588 Registered: 05-2005 |
Padraig, Matthew Sweet has good taste then eh? yet another celebrity Celtic fan to add to Shane McG, Oasis, TFC, Mogwai and the rest. And I see Spence talking about Del Amitri on another thread, Justin Currie is another fan. On a similar subject, there was a newspaper article on the music taste of Gordon Strachan (Celtics coach for all you non football fans). There was the usual tosh he was into like Rod Stewart (another massive Celtic fan btw), and indie lite such as Kooks. But for me the biggest revelation was that he liked Tom Waites and Primal Scream. There was another band he liked which had me going "jeez, how cool is that" but for the life of me I cant remember who it was. Will need to consult Google. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 589 Registered: 05-2005 |
The wonders of Google. The artist which had me thinking "jeez, how cool is that" was Ron Sexsmith. Now I dont particularly like Ron Sexsmith, but if I was a betting man I would bet there will be no other top flight football managers in the UK who like him - fanatastic! The article also states that Strachan is best mates with Rod Stewart, and strangely, Tim Booth from James. Worryingly though he admits to liking Genesis. When you read the article its clear he likes a whole wide spectrum of music and it seems to be a case of "if he likes it, he likes it". Fair play to him. http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17472227&method=full&siteid=64736&h eadline=exclusive--rock-gord-name_page.html | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 449 Registered: 05-2005 |
I met Justin Currie in a bar in Glasgow in December 2001 (hey, it all happened in 2001 for me!) and he was a lovely fella. (The bar is round the corner from Mother India and is called The Highlander or something like that. Good bar, great Indian restaurant). We asked Justin to recommend somewhere for us to continue drinking. He said The 13th Note and to mention his name if we had any trouble at the door! He didn't mention that he owns the joint! We had a great time there anyway. Oh how I miss going to Glasgow once or twice a year. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 878 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain Version Dread - 18 Dub Hits From Studio One Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 879 Registered: 05-2005 |
Sparklehorse - Dreamt For Light Years. Grizzly Bear - Yellow House TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain Version Dread - 18 Dub Hits From Studio One Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 250 Registered: 07-2005 |
Bonnie Prince Billy-The Letting GO Kate McGarrigle-Metatopia Get Cape Wear Cape Fly-Tales of a bohemian teenager Townes Van Zandt-Drama Falls Like tear Drops Bert Jansch-Black Swan | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 103 Registered: 01-2006 |
Sparklehorse- Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (Anyone know why the track Morning Hollow from It's a Wondeful Life reappears on this album practically the same??) Yo La Tengo - I'm not afraid of you... Luna - Best of Luna Tighten Up - Trojan Box Set The Wilco Book CD | ||
| Duncan Hurwood Member Username: Duncan_h Post Number: 57 Registered: 05-2005 |
For me: Wouldn't You Miss Me - Best of Syd Barrett English String Minatures Vol 5 - Classical Music Comp Modern Times - Bod Dylan Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd In A Space Outta Sound - Nightmares on Wax | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 242 Registered: 01-2005 |
The Church - After Everything, Now This Madeleine Peyroux - Half The Perfect World Donovan - Sunshine Superman The Rapture - Pieces of People We Love Uncle Bob - Modern Times | ||
| Duncan Hurwood Member Username: Duncan_h Post Number: 58 Registered: 05-2005 |
I've just realised I've written Bod Dylan. A very different concept from Bob. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 871 Registered: 03-2006 |
Jerry, what is this "Get Cape" stuff? Sounds interesting...is it in the Belle & Sebastian mode - twee, folky, catchy, angsty? | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 254 Registered: 07-2005 |
LK whilst my wife was in the opticians having an eye check I went in to the dreaded HMV in Manchester and whilst browsing enjoyed what they were playing which turned out to be Get Cape...It is by a young lad from Southend in the UK and basiaclly it's recorded in his bedroom with acoustic guitar laptop for back beats etc.Initially I thought it had element of Billy Bragg and The Clash with a bit of Four Tet thrown in. Played it once and really like it good strong tunes. Looking in NME yesterday they rate it as one of there top 4 CD of recent months.But can't find many other reviews. Also got it for Ł7.95 which would be the same price as an iTunes download. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 876 Registered: 03-2006 |
Thanks Jerry - I'll have to seek that out - it sounds really good, the way you describe it. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 886 Registered: 05-2005 |
Ive just downloaded the Get Cape album from Napster. I look forward to hearing it when I go to work my nightshift in a few hours time. Other stuff to listen to tonight at work Beck - The Information Pernice Brothers - Live A Little Robert Pollard - Normal Happiness Josef K - Entemology The Roots - The Game Theory Horace Andy - Natty Dread A Weh She Want The Decemberists - The Crane Wife | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 258 Registered: 07-2005 |
Oh God I hope you are not disappointed LK and Kevin, pressures on now!!! I'm still on a bit of an economy drive i.e the wife is keeping an eye on the CD purchases, so now I know i'm an addict as I have to sneak them in to the house or hoard them in the car.But I need to get the Yo La Tengo and the TV on the Radio | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 612 Registered: 03-2005 |
You revived this thread Kevin? I just spent the last half hour or more reading it. My last five purchases have already been discussed on other threads. Jerry, what do you think of Matapedia? I've been meaning to get a start on Bert Jansch for years. Any suggestions about where I should start? I'm looking forward to getting the Josef K antho but according to Amazon US I have to wait until I get back from Italy. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 261 Registered: 07-2005 |
The Matapedia I've ordered from Amazon and it is being sent form USA, so not got it yet but I'm Mcgarrigle fan of recent years so looking forward to it. Bert Jancsh-The Black swan is very good folk/blues in a good way superb guitar playing, this is his latest CD with duets with Beth Orton which are good and one with Devendra Berhart which is probably the weakest, there is also and instrumental with banjo which I like. As far as the old stuff is concerned the First one self titled and JAck Onion are suppose to be classics. I'll be exploring him as well Randy good luck | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 616 Registered: 03-2005 |
Oh, we can count what we've ordered but not received yet? I'm waiting for: This is Real -- Sunnyboys Love Affair with Nature -- Cannanes Fear of God -- the Bats Couchmaster -- the Bats That's four. And I'm waiting for all sorts of things to be released in October including Cathal Coughlin, Josef K, possibly the Pernice Bros. and I'm not sure if we've gotten the Lloyd Cole yet either. As I'm sure you all know, all new releases to the US have to first be vetted by the Department of Homeland Security as they might have backward masked terrorist messages. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 882 Registered: 03-2006 |
I broke down and bought the new Byrds box set, despite already having their last one. It still seemed impossible to go wrong with it - this new expands on the old one by 20 or 30% and is all remastered, plus it's got a DVD of live performances...so that's four, and then Okenofee, no Ockonokcos..., oh hell, the new My Morning Jacket live CD, which is really good, too... Since my "downloading kick", these are the only actual CDs I've purchased, with the exception of the new YLT. I wanted to buy the new Solomon Burke, but alas, can't find it any place in town, yet... | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 896 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, I would be asking questions in the highest possible circles if I were you. Your fine country has been responsible for some of the best music ever commited to wax or laser, and yet when it comes to the new generation of bands from the US you have to wait in line behind the rest of the world to hear it. I could be wrong, but I think this could be traced back to 2001 when the UK "broke" The Strokes and The White Stripes - these 2 bands couldnt get arrested in the US at that time. Then again, the UK loves The Killers - doh!! | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 37 Registered: 09-2006 |
Have barely any money for music at the moment, so I've just been skimming the bargain bins. Besides the Dylan that I mentioned elsewhere n the board I picked up a few titles I'd lost my copies of for 50 cents each: L7: Hungry for Stink Neneh Cherry: Homebrew Yaz: Upstairs at Eric's Sugar: File Under Easy Listening The Neneh Cherry especially was great to hear again. Oh, and I did pay ten bucks for a CD the other day, but only because it was one I thought I'd never see a copy of again: the MC5's "Babes in Arms" | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 903 Registered: 05-2005 |
Allen - the Sugar album is a great punk/pop album. Not as good as Copper Blue ,but still one of Bob Moulds best efforts post Husker Du | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 683 Registered: 04-2005 |
Agreed, FUEL was a good album ("Gift" and "Gee Angel" especially), but I don't understand why it became so common in used/cutout bins. I guess they overpressed it. Arguably, it was the last really good album he made. Kevin, what do you think of his later efforts like "Modulate" and "Body of Song"? Plus there's that "BLOWOFF" album he made, which I downloaded a track from--it's pretty good. But overall, the magic seems to be gone with Mould. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 39 Registered: 09-2006 |
To venture a wholly off the cuff theory: it could be that Mould does better work when he subsumes himself a bit more in a group dynamic and doesn't have his name on the slug line...I wasn't fond of his first round of solo efforts either. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 634 Registered: 05-2005 |
I played Body Of Song on the iPod the other day. Really not a good album. I loved his first two solo albums though. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 933 Registered: 05-2005 |
Live A Little - Pernice Brothers Boys and Girls In America - The Hold Steady The Crane Wife - The Decemberists The Essential Augustus Pablo - Augustus Pablo Life Goes In Circles - Various Artists (reggae compilation) | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 935 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just went on a Chills splurge. Had a few albums on vinyl but had never upgraded to CD before now. Managed to get Soft Bomb fairly easily via Amazon for Ł7. The other albums are not so easy to come by, and some have fairly hefty prices. So went to the Chills website, there is a link to SmokeCDs.com where I bought Submarine Bells, Sunburnt and Heavenly Pop Hits for 54.85 NZ dollars, with 21 dollars for shipping. If my converter is accurate this works out at the princely sum of Ł27. Padraig, any ideas how long it would take for a package to come from NZ - about a week? Do you think I will get hit with a customs charge? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 652 Registered: 05-2005 |
Should be there a week after they've been sent Kevin. I used them before to ship stuff to Australia and had no problems. You should not be hit with a customs charge purely on the basis that they just don't seem to bother doing that anymore. It was a curse in the 80s in Ireland though. I used to order records from a shop in England and after having to pay a customs charge a few times our local postman advised me to get them to say it was a gift. So I did and the shop did so and I never got charged an import tax again for records. I did subsequently get charged an import tax on a contact lens which I thought was just fucking outrageous. That's why I support the dropping of tariffs internationally - bitter personal experience! | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 265 Registered: 07-2005 |
Kevin I ordered a CD through amazon which came form a supplier in the states and didn't get charged customs.Nor form Japan for that matter when I ordered the 1978-1990 comp through ebay. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 434 Registered: 08-2004 |
The charges only tend to apply if the items are valued over Ł20. You can get lucky though. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 90 Registered: 07-2005 |
Kevin, you are allowed to import goods up to a value of Ł18 into the U.K. without any form of customs charge being applied. Provided the value of the goods themselves are under that amount then shipping charges are not taken into consideration. However, as soon as the value of the goods exceed Ł18 then the shipping charges are added and customs charges are applied on the total. The current rate is somewhere is the region of 17.5% Vat and 3.5% Duty which is your case probably amounts to around Ł2/Ł3. The bad news is that the Royal Mail then charge you another Ł4 for collecting the VAT/Duty Charge on behalf of Customs & Excise so you will be looking at an additional bill of around Ł6/Ł7 if you are unlucky. Parcels containing goods valued in excess of Ł18 were flying through Customs unscathed a few years ago but they have since clamped down hard. In my experience, anything coming into the U.K. from major mail order companies in the U.S.A. is almost certain to be examined and charges applied where appropriate. Stuff coming in from Australia and New Zealand does not appear to be treated as harshly so you could be lucky. I wish you luck. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 944 Registered: 05-2005 |
cheers padraig,jerry x2 and hugh. so with hindsight what i should have done was split the order in two. one order of 2 CDs, another order for the remaining CD. Still, even if I get hit with Ł7 that makes a total of Ł34, which means if I had ordered these 3 albums in the UK that would have worked out at approx Ł10 per album, the remaining Ł4 would cover the postage. Sounds ok to me. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 91 Registered: 07-2005 |
Kevin, the problem with what you suggest is that the shipping charge for a single disc from New Zealand is fairly hefty. I usually order two discs at a time ( provided I can keep the value under Ł18 ) as the shipping charge for the second disc, or third for that matter, is minimal. You might get lucky as, in my experience, Customs & Excise appear to concentrate more on goods arriving from the U.S.A. than Australia/New Zealand. I believe 'Brave Words' by The Chills is out of print. If you are interested, I think I know a man who can help out. :-) | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 655 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hugh, your knowledge of UK postal rates and government tariffs is very impressive and thorough. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 656 Registered: 05-2005 |
Silkworm - Italian Platinum Kim Richey - The Collection Trashmonk - Mona Lisa Overdrive Dean Manning - Diplomatic V/A - Soulsugar soul comp (James, Otis etc) Peter Fenton - In The Lovers Arms Tres Chicas - Sweetwater V/A - Malcolm X soundtrack Luna - Rendevous Yes, I know that's nine, not five, but that's what I bought today. From the bargain bin, but all new copies. Total cost $60 (US$45, UK24 pounds). Now if only I had not already spent $150 dollars this week before today on CDs I'd feel great about my bargain bin browsing... still feel pretty good about it though! | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 93 Registered: 07-2005 |
Padraig, it has to be as I purchase a lot of stuff from Australia, New Zealand and the U.S.A. and I prefer to spend my hard earned cash on music and film rather than hand it over to Customs & Excise and the Royal Mail. The Royal Mail handling charge is an absolute scam and it is a disgrace that they are allowed to get away with it. That said, the fault lies with Customs & Excise who have adopted a system whereby the customers pays to have his own taxes collected. You have to admire their audacity. Last five titles bought :- Ashtray Boy - Last Year's Song Graeme Downes ( The Verlaines ) - Hammers and Anvils Don Lennon - Routine Bauer - Baueresque The Knife - Silent Shout A mixed bag with one from Australia, one from New Zealand, one from the U.S.A. and two from Sweden. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 660 Registered: 05-2005 |
What do you think of the Graeme Downes album? I got it not long after it came out but was horrified that one track reminded me of Sting and I've been afraid to play it ever since. Is it worth me reinvestigating five years on? | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 96 Registered: 07-2005 |
Padraig, I am currently reinvestigating/reassessing several artists/bands I started out adoring but subsequently lost interest in and The Verlaines are one of them. I loved the first three releases ( Juvenilia; Hallelujuah All The Way Home; Bird Dog ) but was somewhat disappointed with Some Disenchanted Evening and allowed them to drop off my radar. I missed out on Ready To Fly ( copy currently on route to me ) but subsequently picked up Way Out Where which again disappointed. Decided recently that I needed to give the later albums a second chance hence the purchase of the Graeme Downes album. As regards your question, in fairness to any artist I would never discourage anyone from reinvestigating an album. Not a classic by any means but overall it is not bad and I really like several tracks ( Day Of The Dead; Sunday Kickaround; Rock 'n' Roll Hero.) I have been trying hard to source a copy of Over The Moon which I believe was only released in Australia but it appears to be out of print. I tend to prefer the early work of all the Flying Nun bands ( The Bats; The Chills; The Verlaines.) Your recommendation to Randy to start with Silverbeet by The Bats was a good one. My choice would have been Compiletely or Daddy's Highway but yours was better for someone checking out the band for the first time hence why I did not re-post. I am really looking forward to hearing what Randy has to say once he has had time to listen to some of their stuff. Take It from Daddy's Highway blasting out of the hi-fi as I type. Superb. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 663 Registered: 05-2005 |
I haven't played Daddy's Highway in years. Must dig it out sometime soon. I have all of my Flying Nun CDs (around 100 I think) in the one spot. The only label to get such recognition! I have a couple of Verlaines albums. I don't think Over The Moon is one of them though, but Ready To Fly definitely is. I never liked them anywhere near as much as my key FN bands - Chills, Bats, Clean, Bike - or even my secondary FN bands - Jean-Paul Sartre Experience, 3Ds, Bailter Space, Straitjacket Fits, Loves Ugly Children, Able Tasmans, Headless Chickens etc. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 647 Registered: 03-2005 |
Right now, I'm in my second phase of discovery of the Cannanes having added two more of their albums to the three I got a year or two ago and am digging my way into the deep and heartbreaking career of Martin Phillips and the Chills. It's stories like his that remind me why I went to law school. And the Bats have arrived but it's still too early to comment on them except that "Fear of God" on two listens is lovely sounding with arrangements that sound like they come from a lost Grant McLennan solo album and "Couchmaster," on one listen, sounded a little less inspired. Noting this thread, I have ordered a copy of "Silverbeet" for a criminally small sum. My search yesterday indicated that "Daddy's Highway" may cost me some actual money. But I've got to absorb what I've already got and I'm supposed to be hoarding for Italia; I board the plane in five days. These new (for me) things will be very nice on my iPod in Euroland. This will be my first trip with access to music, along with the desire to play guitar one of the chief causes for homesickness on previous journeys. I've also sourced a copy of "Kaleidoscope World" from a dealer in NZ. It should arrive during my absence. Always the last to figure out the address to the party, I'll be gladly drawing on the knowledge of both of you as to what other FN bands to explore. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 97 Registered: 07-2005 |
Randy, I have a feeling 'Daddy's Highway' is out of print as the only copies I have seen offered for sale recently have been second hand with fairly hefty price tags attached. It lacks the recording quality of their later releases but, even after almost 20 years, I have never tired of it and still play it regularly. 'Compiletely' has been out of print for some considerable time. It collects together the tracks ( minus one ) from their first three ep's ( By Night; Music For The Fireside; Made Up In Blue ) and, if I remember correctly, was released prior to their debut album ( Daddy's Highway.) A few of the tracks are a bit ropey and the recording is a bit dodgy at times but there are some very goods songs on it ( Neighbours; Chicken Bird Run; Jeweller's Heart; I Go Wild; Made Up In Blue; Joe's Again ) and it is well worth a listen. If you have any difficulty sourcing copies of the above then ..... :-) Enjoy your trip. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 664 Registered: 05-2005 |
I counted the discs in my FN rack last night. There's 80-something, n ot 100 as I said above. Bizarrely, Ready To Fly is not one of them though. Maybe it has been misplaced on my journey from Europe to Australia. | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 267 Registered: 07-2005 |
REM-I feel fine double Cd the Yo La tengo thing The Fall- Grotesque. i'm a late come to the fall so gradually building up a decent collection of there stuff Bert Jansch-Bert Jancsh glorious what a player Townes Van Zandt-Mother Mountain John Peel -1975-1985 double CD | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 958 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jerry, Grotesque may just be my favourite album, by my favourite ever band. New Face In Hell, Container Drivers,English Scheme, The North Will Rise Again are all classics. Did you get the version with the 4 extra tracks that includes How I Wrote Elastic Man and Totally Wired? | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 268 Registered: 07-2005 |
I did get that one,and I think it was you who recently mentioned it. I have over the last year-18 months been getting more of The Fall. I feel a little embarassed that I'd not really got in to them sooner. i did get Bend Sinister/I am Curious Orange when they were released but I was more in to other stuff e.g Go-betweens/Smiths/Waterboys at the time.Now I find my self needing a regular dose of The FAll to cut through the crap of modern life | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 648 Registered: 03-2005 |
LOVE Totally Wired! I agree with Kevin, of their early albums "Grotesque" is the best. Kevin, what do you think of "Witch Trials?" I haven't listened in years but it always seemed kind of unformed to me maybe a bit like SMAL. In order to avoid my iPod being overweighted with the Fall I've only put a few albums into it so far. But I've got enough other things in there now to augment the Fall section. I'm loading "Light User Syndrome" now. For me that's the last truly great Fall record until "Real New Fall LP." | ||
| jerry hann Member Username: Jerry_h Post Number: 269 Registered: 07-2005 |
I saw last year in a music magazine Frank Skinner ( the comedian and music lover)say he felt he spent his whole musical life in search of something and had found it with the Fall. When asked what else he listened too he said he felt he was wasting time listening to other music as nothing else was up to it.I paraphrase this but the sentiments are there. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 961 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, I think Witch Trials is very much of its time. I remember loving the distinctive drum sound when the album was released, now it just sounds quaint. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 435 Registered: 08-2004 |
Frank Skinner is an Elvis Presley freak too. He has paid obscene amounts on "the king" memorabilia. Anyway... Tom Tom Club - Boom-Chi-Boom LP Beck - The Information CD/DVD The Rapture - Pieces Of The People We Love Larrikin Love - The Freedom Spark The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & The Lash/With Extras | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 671 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thought I'd give y'all an update on the CDs I bought on Saturday now that I've played seven of them and am very pleased with my purchases. Silkworm - Italian Platinum: Halfway through playing it right now. Classic late 80s US indie (eg Dinosaur Jr) but released in 2002. I had one of their songs on a about 6/7 years ago and loved it so I'd always been meaning to check them out further. Dean Manning - Diplomatic: Quite brilliant orch pop in the Cardinal vein. Richard Davies is obviously not the only Australian with a penchant for this kind of thing. I got one of his songs as an mp3 from his Spanish (!) label's site a few years ago and had meant to check him out but was waiting for the price to reach an affordable level. Can't argue with it being part of a 3-for-$20 deal (as were all these records)! V/A - Soulsugar soul comp: It's so unusual to get a soul compilation where about 18 of the 23 tracks were new to me. Some classic new discoveries such as Love In Them There Hills by The Vibrations and Kip Anderson's I Wanna Be The Only One. Soulsugar is a club in Vienna, of all places, and the comp was put together by the dj there. If I was the kind of person who holds dinner parties (and I'm not), I would put this on as something to broaden people's musical horizons with. Peter Fenton - In The Lovers Arms: Former singer of Sydney band Crow, but this is much quieter, more introspective stuff. Not too far removed from The Apartments in many places. Dean Manning (see above) plays on one track. Again, this is one I'd been wanting to check out but had never even come across it til it called out to me from the bargain bin. (Hope you're taking notes here Randy, you lover of Antipodean music). Tres Chicas - Sweetwater. They are Lynn Blakey (Let's Active, Oh OK, Glory Fountain); Caitlin Cary (Whiskeytown); and Tonya Lamm (Hazeldine). Again, this was one I'd been interested in but not come across. I love it. One for the quieter moments. V/A - Malcolm X soundtrack. I loved the movie (some of it was filmed near where I used to work in Roxbury, Boston) and I can only presume I did not get the soundtrack when it came out because I didn't have the money (being a poor student at the time). Actually I'm glad, because I would have bought it on cassette and still wanted to replace it with CD anyway. Joe Turner, Billie Hollday, Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington etc and non-obvious choices in all cases bar Duke (where they had to pick Arabesque Cookie because it was so appropriate). Luna - Rendevous: I only previously had it as mp3 files and thought it was OK. On CD last night it sounded very good, great in parts. There's a lesson there somewhere. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 653 Registered: 03-2005 |
Notes taken, Padraig. I see that Amazon wants $27 US for the Peter Fenton. I'll wait til I get back. Whereas the Dean Manning can be snapped up for just under $15 from a California source. Bought. You are a very bad influence. Never heard "I Wanna Be the Only One" but "Love in Them There Hills" showed up for me on a vinyl antho of mostly 70s era soul released by Epic Records along with Jackie Moore's version of "Personally," Z.Z. Hill's awesome "This Time They Told the Truth" and "Crying in the Chapel" by Mavis and all her other Staples. There were a LOT of indie soul and r&b production houses in operation in the 60s and 70s so there's a nearly bottomless well of great music to unearth. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 672 Registered: 05-2005 |
We're all bad influences on each other Randy! But good influences too, we filter out the good stuff through board recommendations. $27 is a tad steep for Peter Fenton; but things can be arranged... Have a great trip to Italy. Post an update from there if you get a chance. Or post it on your myspace site and link to it from here. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Nemo Post Number: 102 Registered: 07-2005 |
Padraig, that is an impressive collection of Flying Nun titles. I probably have around the same number but they are split between vinyl and c.d. with quite a few duplicates ( The Bats; The Chills; The Verlaines in particular.) Last five albums bought:- Darren Hanlon - Fingertips And Mountaintops Black Seeds - Keep On Pushing LP/Pushed ( Keep On Pushing Remixed ) Stan Ridgway/Drywall - Barbeque Babylon Hecate's Angels - Hidden Persuader ( Pietra Wexstun & Stan Ridgway ) Hecate's Angels - Saints And Scoundrels ( Pietra Wexstun & Stan Ridgway ) | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 174 Registered: 01-2006 |
Back Numbers - Dean and Britta The Straight Story Soundtrack - Angelo Badalamenti Peter Bjorn and John - Peter Bjorn and John Back In Your Life- Jonathon Richman Peter Bjorn and John EPs | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1248 Registered: 05-2005 |
Oh I'm glad this one has been revived! Twentyfour Seven soundtrack (got it for $3 at a record fair at the weekend). Features quite a bit of Boo Hewerdine, formerly of The Bible. Ted Hawkns - Songs From The Boardwalk. I saw him live in Cork in 1988 and he was brilliant. Always wanted to get one of his records but you almost never saw them around and anytime I did I had no money. Very much looking forward to hearing it. Poor man is long dead now of course. (Also from the Parramatta record fair). The Cash Brothers - How Was Tomorrow. I've been looking for this for years! (Parra record fair purchace). The Blue Aeroplanes - Beat Songs. My second favourite Blue Aeroplanes album. Always wanted to get it on CD as the cassette copy gave up the ghost. Got if for $2 at the fair. (I got a other discs at the fair too). Stranger Than Fiction soundtrack. I liked the movie (not as much as most people who saw it seemed to though), but I loved the soundtrack. Several Spoon tracks, but also The Jam, Wreckless Eric and more. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1036 Registered: 03-2005 |
The Sound -- From the Lion's Mouth and also Shock of Daylight/Heads & Hearts. The result of Jeff's samples. Barbara Manning -- Under One Roof. Bought because Kurt said she sounds (vocally) like April March. Gang of Four -- Solid Gold. Haven't heard this one in years, but there it was for cheap and with an EP appended that I never had. The Walker Brothers -- Everything Under the Sun. I just had to. Ron Sexsmith -- Time Being Pernice Brothers -- Live a Little. All I had before was "Lovelier You." I think I'll go backwards on these folks; this album seems a little bland to me. Toots Hibbert -- World is Turning. The wrap is still on this one which I expect to be not so good but I bought it for sentimental value. I object to the billing of "and the Maytals" when Raleigh Gordon and Jerry McCarthy have been gone for years. I know, that's not five. I can't help myself. I need an intervention. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 500 Registered: 10-2004 |
High Llamas - Can Cladders Human League - Reproduction Cathal Coughlan - Foburg Robin Hitchcock - Fegmania Kalima - Kalima! Sad Lovers & Giants - Colourless Dream 7" | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 1037 Registered: 03-2005 |
Jeff, what is "Reproduction" like? The Human League is one of the very few synth pop bands that got through my filter. And what can I expect if I start getting High Llamas releases? I just passed up one at Amoeba the other day, wondering if I'd regret that move. Has "Foburg" wormed its way into your heart yet? No, it's not stylish and lush like the last one but it's sure edgy. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 82 Registered: 05-2005 |
About the Pernice Brothers, I found also that 'Live a Little' was not very exciting on first listens. But it's worth to persevere, this is a very pleasant record. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 493 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jeff, Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians - Fegmania: was my introduction the the world of RH during the Summer of 1985. Yep Roc will be reissuing all the old RH albums that are out of print. Last 6: The Triffids - In the Pines [Deluxe Edition] Jennifer Lewis & the Watson Twins-Rabbit Fur Coat Dean and Britta - L' Avventura Lambchop - Is A Woman Elvis Costello - Almost Blue Kris Delmhorst - Strange Conversation | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1417 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, good choice with From The Lions Mouth. Pernice Bros bland? Impossible, I like it Last 5 I bought. In The Pines Born Sandy Devotional Calenture These all came today so not played them yet, looking forward to devouring the booklets Keith Hudson - Nuh Skin Up The Fall - Reformation Post TLC | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 242 Registered: 09-2006 |
XY, love that Straight Story soundtrack...beautiful, beautiful piece of work. My list of CDs bought and CDs gotten from the library and burned are different...I'm still in the midst of reclaiming favorite titles following the loss of much of my collection. Walked into a pawn shop here a few days ago, not expecting much as the usual collection is crappy country, stupid metal and Celine Dion, but I was shocked and delighted to find: Farther Along: The Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers Spring Heel Jack - 68 Million Shades Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night The Replacements - All for Nothing/Nothing For All L.L. Cool J - All World | ||
| Jonathan Evans Member Username: Jon Post Number: 87 Registered: 04-2005 |
Oh let me think, my short-term memory's not good for these things. 1. Little Man Tate - Sheffield basic indie 2. The Hours - Quite like this Ali in the jungle is a classic 3. A Moshi Moshi Compilation - Stuff my Bloc Party, Hot Cab de Paris etc etc 4. Au Revour Simone - Not arrived yet, so I don't know if 'technically' it should be in the list. 5. Bloc Party - The new one, its at work so I can't remember too much about it. Cheers Jon | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 585 Registered: 08-2004 |
Tower Of Power - Tower Of Power Sandals - Rite To Silence The Dears - No Cities Left AC Acoustics - Understandin Music King Bee - Royal Jelly +++ Ride - Tarantula | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 177 Registered: 01-2006 |
Allen, I've been waiting for years for the Straight Story Soundtrack to reduce in price and finally got it on Amazon.com in the New & Used section which was great value. And Julee Cruise's Floating Into The Night is an exceptional album, I've been listening to it since the early 90s when Twin Peaks was showing. There are some incredible songs on it...I have it on CD but couldn't resist picking up a second hand vinyl copy of it a few years ago as well....if you like Badalamenti with Lynch's lyrics you're gonna love Floating Into The Night... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 243 Registered: 09-2006 |
Yeah, I have a long association with "Floating" as well as the "Voice of Love" album, but I lost my copy awhile ago - very nice to have it back. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 501 Registered: 10-2004 |
Randy, I've only had time to listen to "Reproduction" once, but it struck me as being similar to their other album with the original line-up, "Travelogue." It's more detached, less bubblegum than "Dare," but still catchy in spots. I need to listen to it again, though. As for the High Llamas, I'm not sure what you'd think. Some albums, like "Hawaii" and "Gideon Gaye," are *very* Smile-era Wilson. Some people write them off as slavish immitators, but I don't agree with that. They do wear their influences on their sleeves, but they are also capable of writing truly good songs and coming up with inventive, rich arrangements. Their album "Beet, Maize, & Corn," which came out 3 years ago, is another favorite of mine. I can send some things your way if you're interested. The thing that might put you off the High Llamas is that they also like Steely Dan, which occasionally comes through in the music. But only occasionally. I'm enjoying "Foburg" quite a bit, though I'm sure I'll probably never like it quite as much as TSAB. It's certainly edgy and bleak, but still kind of pretty in places. Michael - yeah, Fegmania is great. I love it as much as "Element of Light." Good to hear it's getting the nice reissue treatment. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 128 Registered: 07-2006 |
randy - re:your filter's aversion to synthpop, you may never know what you're missing out on! i never got into reproduction much and prefer the other/original (i think) version of being boiled. empire state human is great though. travelogue, on the other hand, i love. and the more said about dare the better... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 496 Registered: 01-2005 |
Speaking of Human League and synth bands, what does everyone think of OMD? I recently bought their first 3 albums. From reading reviews they went downhill after that. I have a oldish version of Dare on cd. I haven't played it in ages. MJB NP Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1286 Registered: 05-2005 |
Michael I loved OMD as a 12 year old, Joan of Arc, Maid of Orleans etc, still good dongs, but yeah, Dazzle Shipe and after that were awful. Jeff, that song, Checkin in? by Llamas, that's real Steely Dan!! I like em, tyhough I only heard Gideon Gaye | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 502 Registered: 10-2004 |
Spence, yeah, "Checking In, Checking Out" is a great song, and you're right, I suppose it is like Steely Dan, but if they had come from LA instead of NY. And come to think of it, I probably shouldn't have sent that tune to Randy (as part of my "Familiarizing Randy with Microdisney and its Offshoots" program) because of his disdain for the Dan, but oh well... Oh, and I love Gideon Gaye. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 249 Registered: 09-2006 |
I get a lot of enjoyment out of OMD's 1989 best-of, though I'd go along with the consensus that they tapered off as they went...my very favorites are classic hooks like "Enola Gay" and "Electricity." | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 129 Registered: 07-2006 |
omd are one of my faves. the first three albums are definitely the best. they never really topped electricity, stanlow, joan of arc, etc. bbc sessions 79-83 is a good listen. they still had their moments following all that...."88 seconds in greensboro" off of crush is brilliant. and as a purveyor of late night lonely gay music i also listen to 1991's "sugar tax" a lot. anyone who's into psb (particularly their "behaviour" sound) might be interested in checking it out. like a sophisticated extension of (the rather lovely) "(forever) live and die". |