First Day of My Life

Listen to FIRST DAY OF MY LIFE by Bright Eyes.

Jason dropping in.

Conor Oberst is the voice of Bright Eyes. And he came to my attention in 2005 amidst claims that he was "the new Dylan" on the back of the album that this was taken from ("I'm Wide Awake, Its Morning"). I saw him play this year with The Mystic Valley Band and he was off - that's ok, he was ill, I forgive him.

I like his songs. They tell stories. They can take you places. And most of the ones I like have the same trait - they all seem to raise it up a gear midway through the track. Not quite a trucker's gear change but "up" none-the-less.

But its the video that's the reason for this post (and maybe a little seasoning of lurve) - its a polariser - you'll either think they nailed it, or you'll be thinking "barf it up schmaltzoid".

There are other videos in this category:

The closing scene of Juno? Works.


The Elton John singalong in Almost Famous? Works.


The drunken Manilow in Hellboy 2? Does NOT work (how did this EVER work on paper?)


Anyway, you be the judge. I, however, dig.


Photo: GOLD COAST, 2008. Photo taken by Jason Bryant.

(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song

Listen to (LOVE ME LIKE MUSIC) I'LL BE YOUR SONG by Heart.

Jason dropping in.

Growing up on a farm outside a small Australian country town (population: 20,000), music options were pretty limited. Exposure certainly wasn't through the local AM radio station. The few shows on TV helped a little (Molly Meldrum on "Countdown", Donnie Sutherland on "Sounds", Rock Arena.....), but it was the magazines that brought the wider world of music to our doorstep - especially for bands that had been and gone. Reading about them was one thing - you'd then have to work out how to get a hold of their back catalogue. Maybe you got lucky in the local bargain bin. Otherwise you had to wait until a trip to the big smoke (Canberra).

In the case of Led Zeppelin IV, it was a musically-enlightened class-mate (there must have been, hell, two of them).

And so I found "Going to California".

Someone told me there's a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair
...
To find a queen without a king,
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings

I used to wonder who Robert Plant had in my mind.....

A year later I found Heart. This time it was their 1985 smash "What About Love". I thought it was their debut single until a metal mag pointed out their back catalogue to me (no internet in those days). So again, the trawl.

And theirs has been an interesting progression - starting with folk, to rock, through to the power-pop of the 80s ("Alone" is now one of those "Moment" songs on American Idol - its all about the Capital-M-Moment maaaaan), on to indie associations (guitarist Nancy Wilson married Cameron Crowe and helped compile the "Almost Famous" soundtrack") and Seattle-cred - the Wilson sisters formed The Lovemongers and released an EP that included Zeppelin's own "Battle of Evermore". Zeppelin bassist, John Paul Jones, even produced their 1995 live acoustic album.

But the first album I got a hold of (other than 85's "Heart", of course, probably the reason I thought it was their debut) was "Dreamboat Annie" (a bargain bin double cassette bundled with their "Little Queen" album).

To my ears, older sister and singer Ann Wilson, who grew up in southern California, was the girl Robert Plant had in mind. "(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song" is not a song I can listen to twice in a row. But when it appears at random on the pod, I slow my pace ....my breathing slows...it gets a little wistful....yes, Robert's girl would sing something like "If you love me like music, I'll be your song."

That album is loaded with (gulp) easy listening folk music that would not have been out of place on 2GN. There are songs I prefer on that album - Soul Of The Sea, How Deep It Goes, Dreamboat Annie itself......but its this song that had Robert reaching California, finding Ann, as the guitar slides:

Can you feel the light shine
You now this song's yours and mine

Photo: ST TROPEZ. Taken by Jason Bryant

YEAH!

Listen to Yeah! by Cosmic Rhythm Society.

Jason dropping in.

Not much is known about Cosmic Rhythm Society. I've heard rumours that they are an extended fictional front of "Consumer Recreation Services" from David Fincher's 1997 film "The Game". Wiki ominously describes the film:

As the lines between the banker's real life and the game become more and more uncertain, there are hints of a larger conspiracy.

They seem to have been a percussion trio - but witnesses of their playing days have been hard to find......some have mysteriously disappeared. The National Trust cobbled together oblique references from the internet and "personal communications" to suggest that CRS cut a debut album with Festival/Mushroom records in 2000, yet no copies of the album exist.

Garbled ramblings appeared for a while on the net with the words "Bang On", "five six seven eight eleven" and a cryptic reference to a "furious golden egg" (was this an easter egg in itself?).... but these, too, swiftly vanished - even from google's own indexes.

Maybe The Game continues. An elaborate triple-twisting hoax. All I know is that this track is absolutely bang on. One of the finest pieces of percussive mayhem I've ever heard. Don't ask me how I came to get a hold of it. But if you could tell me more about these 3, I'd like to know.

Photo: CRS Headquarters? Time and Place unknown.

WHITE WINTER HYMNAL and MYKONOS

Listen to WHITE WINTER HYMNAL by Fleet Foxes.
Listen to MYKONOS by Fleet Foxes.

Jason dropping in.

The only reason I haven't posted about Fleet Foxes before is because I thought I already had.

I saw them live at The Empire in Shepherds Bush (London) on Monday and was trying to remember which of their songs I'd posted here before. I think that the combined memory of writing about Brian Wilson and The Shins made me think I'd covered the Fleet.....but I hadn't. And I should've.

It was the second best gig I've seen of 2008 (nothing could top Ace Frehley at the Astoria) and their "debut" album (there's a self-titled CD-R from 2006 of which only 200 copies were made....and its good - but not as good as their "official" debut) is currently one of metacritic's top 10 albums of 2008.

I've also been chopping and changing about which song to put up. I say "song" because my first of two posted tracks, "White Winter Hymnal", was never under question. Immediately glorious and untouchable. Not even a song, but a harmonic refrain of an anti-funeral-dirge.

The choice for the second song was much harder: "He Doesn't Know Why", "Your Protector", "Blue Ridge Mountains" and "Drops In The River" were all front-runners at some point.

I don't know about you, but the only way I can sort through the thousand-or-so tracks I try and absorb each month, is to rate them on the pod. One star gets deleted. Two stars get kept on the hard-drive for minor connection or history. Four stars make it to the pod and I won't listen to less after its rated. Five stars make the special list. And three stars? They inhabit that middle ground of being tracks I don't want to lose but ones that will only be listened to for a reason (if at all).

And the Fleet Foxes' debut album is unique to me because every song is 4 stars or above.....with one exception (strangely, the opening track). The whole album is that special blend of drawing you in at first listen as well as growing over the months afterwards. Tom Wilway describes it well at DrownedInSound:

The Fleet Foxes sound is pleasantly enjoyable at first but only after a number of listens does the dense harmonic sound, with its plethora of interesting instrumentation and vocals firing off in every direction, start to become engrained

They marry the Beach Boys with Crosby, Stills and Nash.... in a pastoral chapel ..... that smells of mulled wine....and candles...and 20 strangers.... that want to sing random cascading choral harmonies....with a few goats....and a mandolin....where the dress code says only: "wool and irony".

And here's a tip: if, like me, you only give songs a chance for the first minute, keep listening through these. They change - just like it does in my (finally!!!) selected second track, "Mykonos", from their "Sun Giant" EP. (Go on, Fleet. Tell me this isn't 2 separate songs that you jammed together!). The 2nd-half of this is worth hanging out for.

I'm going out with a stumble. I found this on YouTube. Two young Swedish girls - called "First Aid Kit", out in "the forest" covering the Fleet's "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song". Originally I thought this was a hoax....the guitar and vocals seemed too evenly balanced for an outdoor recording - until they laughed. They're only 15 and 17!!! - remind me of Pooka - watch:



Photo: ZELL AM SEE, AUSTRIA, 2008. Taken by Jason Bryant.

CHANGES

Listen to CHANGES by 2Pac.

Jason dropping in.

I wasn't sure where this post was heading. I got a kick out of William Katt appearing in episode 2 of this season's "Heroes" (nice nod - Katt was the star of "The Greatest American Hero" TV series of the early 80s). But I didn't notice him (he was the reporter that gets "Frozen") so I went to youtube. And the youtube refs linked to other TV series' of that time - series like "The Love Boat".

That was an interesting coincidence. Because that theme song's lyrics were by none other than Charles Fox of one of my previous posts.

Maybe I could talk about the singer Jack Jones - how he was apparently "rated highly by Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé and Tony Bennett and a major influence on Scott Walker". How Judy Garland called him "the best jazz singer in the world" . How he recorded "Strangers in the Night" before Sinatra did.

Or how many celebrity guests of "The Love Boat" did so on "The Muppet Show" (another Aaron Spelling staple) - even to the point that Paul Williams wrote the music to the theme song (at my age then, I only knew him from his on-screen appearances with The Muppets - and maximum respect to the man, he wrote "The Rainbow Connection").

Or even something about where that fresh-faced crew from "The Pacific Princess" ended up (best link here).

Maybe it was the fact that Gopher became a four-term U.S. Representative for Iowa that got me thinking about the big E(lection) but 2Pac came into my head.

Once or twice a year I update my "J's top 20 songs of all time" playlist on the pod....and "Changes" has never left it. In it, he sings: "We ain't ready, to see a black President".

So for those of you reading this, and if you can vote, do the rest of us around the world a favour.

Vote. Him. In.

Or, as the Love Boat might say: "Set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance" (Barack me Obamadeus).

Photo: Pushkar, India, 2001. Taken by Jason Bryant.

EMPTY

Listen to EMPTY by Ray LaMontagne.

Jason dropping in.

I'd heard of Ray. Picked up on him around the edges. And then came, of all things, a TV commercial - not a commercial endorsing a product (like Norwegian singer Ane Brun's ice-kissed cover of Cyndi Lauper's "True Colours" for cable company Sky in England) - but a commercial for an album. The song was "Trouble"* (which went on to be a top 5 single in the UK - but don't let that fool you).

By the time I'd got some tracks, I was watching him live at the Hammersmith Apollo.

I've written before of Bon Iver; Justin Vernon retreated to the woods to write his magic but Ray feels like he'd never left them. I also knew he wasn't much of a talker, for interviews or live on stage.

And so Marie and I sat down at the Apollo. Clearly, others knew his reputation as well. There was an expectant silence as he entered, eyes down, picking through the acoustic walk that begins Be Here Now. It was a beautiful start.......and his next song was "Empty".

Ray's voice will be the first thing that will get you. And then maybe you'll notice the lyrics:

She lifts her skirt up to her knees
walks through the garden rows
with her bare feet laughing

......an innocent image brilliantly, and perhaps unintentionally, constructed (depending on whether you choose to think of a comma before the word "laughing").

But this man chooses "instead to dwell in my disasters". We begin to move through Ray's landscape of an "old and rusted Cadillac" sinking into a field, "collecting rain". He is "weary" amidst the blaze of "cut-throat busted sunsets", and can only ask:

Will I always feel this way?
So empty, so estranged?

If he spoke through his "cracked and dusty dime-store lips", would anyone hear?

My very first post on this blog was a haunting song of existential emptiness. That song was of a man facing into his own insignificance. This is a similar song of hollowness -he wonders if he spoke through his "cracked and dusty dime-store lips" whether anyone would hear. He can only numb himself with hidden hurt as the love of a simple woman (with flowers in her hair and a "country mouth so plain") goes unanswered. The tapping of the rain on leaves sounds to him like "they're applauding us", but all he can do is stare into the eyes of his demons, baring his chest and challenging them to "do your best and destroy me", admitting that even then:

I've been to hell and back so many times
I must admit you kinda bore me

For those of you listening to the mp3, you're missing one vital ingredient. Ray ditched the strings for a pedal-steel guitarist. This is how it was:



Ray seemed uncomfortable about acknowledging us, the audience, in Hammersmith.......he spoke few words, but when he did the audience held its breath.........and this song I will never forget....

Photo: Butterfly Paradise. London Zoo. 2008. Taken by Jason Bryant.

NE ME QUITTE PAS and LA CHANSON DES VIEUX AMANTS

Listen to NE ME QUITTE PAS by Jacques Brel.
Listen to LA CHASON DES VIEUX AMANTS by Jacques Brel.

Jason dropping in.

I usually start the selection process by reflecting on Bill's posts for the week. This week was Bo Diddley - and I have nothing to offer in this vein. There are a few of the "big" genres that I don't listen to - country, classical, opera - but I can at least name one or two things from those that I can appreciate. But I can't name a single thing about the blues that I like. For me, it is the most generic, unimaginative. formulaic, mono-themed, limited style of music I can think of. In fact, if anyone can steer me differently, I'd welcome it. Go on - name a single blues track that's worth it - I'll give it a shot - educate me.

So, instead, I turned to John's post of last Friday to influence this selection.

John chose the best "frivolous french pop" and it got me thinking......

Eight years ago, when I moved to New York City, Mojo magazine published their 100 greatest songs of all time. I had just discovered napster (with a dial-up connection) and this was my first list of songs to check out via download. Normally a list like that would have you had me trawling for weeks through second-hand stores - but with a PC I could get most of them in minutes and see what all the fuss was about. That list will live in my memory alongside the "first 7-inch ever bought" or "first album ever bought" mementos of my life. And it holds up eight years later- check it out.

I'll never agree that River Man (at #42) is Nick Drake's best song (for me, its "Northern Sky") but that list turned me on to great stuff like James Carr's "The Dark End of The Street", Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl" and Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You"....

....and, at number 68 - "Ne Me Quitte Pas", by Jacques Brel (one of only two non-English language songs on the list).

I've never believed its a love song - I love its vulnerability - but I prefer its sister song used in the "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well" film - "La Chanson Des Vieux Amants" ("Song for Old Lovers").

You don't need to understand French to understand these songs.

Pour yourself a glass of red, light some candles....and listen.

Photo: Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, 2001. Taken by Jason Bryant.

THESE DAYS and THE FAIREST OF THE SEASONS

Listen to THESE DAYS by Nico.
Listen to THE FAIREST OF THE SEASONS by Nico.

Jason dropping in.

I don't know if there are any rules of blogging, but if I had to contribute to them, I would add "never youtube before starting your post"*.

Youtube case in point - this one. It started fairly innocuous enough - I launched youtube to grab the Royal Tenenbaums clip that got me in to these songs. At the same time, my subconscious must have reminded me that both of these songs are from Nico's "Chelsea Girl" album and I remembered that I'd been meaning to see if there was a video online of my favourite Chelsea song - (a very ELO-sounding) Blue Day by Suggs (lead singer of Madness and our official song for the 1997 FA Cup - which we went on to win).

In the "Related Videos" side-bar was another "Blue Day" by late 70s/early 80s Aussie/Kiwi new-wave/rock band Mi-Sex. Following that link, and then checking out the related videos took me on a trip down the particular lane of that genre and beyond. Through Mondo Rock and Dear Enemy, past The Swingers and Player One, on down The Eurogliders and James Freud, taking a left at Icehouse and Sherbet, over the hump at Kids in the Kitchen and Pseudo Echo, slowing down for Ganggajang and Redgum, across the Monitors and Dynamic Hepnotics, towards The Uncanny X-Men, Kim Wilde and Sharon O'Neil to pull in at Rose Tattoo and Max Merritt & The Meteors.

And if you were to only check out one of those tracks, I'd plump for the last act with their classic Slipping Away.

And then you can read what's left of this post about the Teutonic beauty that was Christa Päffgen - aka "Nico".

Nico sprung out of Andy Warhol's Factory films straight into the Velvet Underground and is most noted as being the voice of "All Tomorrow's Parties". Its a very distinctive voice. Low, droning, limited in range but utterly compelling. Only making one record with the Underground (the one that mattered), Nico released her debut solo album that same year (1967) - Chelsea Girl.

All of the songs of that record were written by famous "friends" - Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and even a few non-Velvets like Bob Dylan, Tim Hardin and Jackson Browne (the latter wrote these 2 songs).

Very simple songs. A guitar. Some strings. Chamber-music from another world. And, strangely enough, Nico hated them.

As for the Royal Tenenbaums clip that got me in to Nico as a solo artist - watch for yourself!



* I would also contribute "add a mandatory breathalyser test" to any rules for surfing eBay.

Photo: NEW ENGLAND, 2001. Taken by Jason Bryant.

I CANT GO FOR THAT:SAY NO GO:MY CREW CANT GO FOR THAT and SOFT

Listen to I CANT GO FOR THAT:SAY NO GO:MY CREW CANT GO FOR THAT by Hall & Oates:De La Soul:DV Alias Khrist.
Listen to SOFT by Lemon Jelly.

Jason dropping in.

Bill's sticking with Beatles' covers so I'll take a twist on the theme. Two songs that "cover" previous works. One is a song that samples a classic. The other is a song that mashes a song that samples a classic with the classic itself.

First up is a track from French DJ Arthur King's "Pop Sh!t" - a compilation in which he mashes hip-hop tracks with the 80s pop tunes that begat them. Brooklyn rapper Khryst/Khrist (or Scranton if you want his real name) takes us over the robobeat of Hall & Oates before segueing into one of my seminal songs of 1989 - "Say No Go" by the D.A.I.S.Y agers of De La. That song will forever remind me of the first year I hit the clubs. Of course, it was years before I realised that the song sampled Hall & Oates.

Second is from British electronauts Lemon Jelly. This was a filler track for the "Nice Weather for Ducks" single and I heard it whilst checking them out live at the Roskilde music festival in Denmark, 2003. The sample is Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now".

The thing that marks out both tracks for me is that they both incorporate classic tracks. More importantly, you get to hear the pieces you want from them. Not just a repeating snippet - or a teasing sample that makes you itch for the chorus. The "ooh ooh ooh ooh" in Soft seems like its just gonna stay that way, obsessive compulsing as it does over those strings for nearly two-and-a-half minutes. But then, just as you think the song's ending, in comes Peter "Et" Cetera.

Nice.

Photo: Tuileries, Paris, 2003. Taken by Jason Bryant

GASOLINE ALLEY BRED and CHIMES OF FREEDOM

Listen to GASOLINE ALLEY BRED by The Hollies.
Listen to CHIMES OF FREEDOM by The Byrds.

Jason dropping in.

I've been tossing and turning this week's selection. After tinkering with The Damned, Nico, Murray Head and MC 900 Ft Jesus, I settled on The The. But I had 3 songs of theirs and I really wanted to force it to 2 - which I couldn't do.

In the end, this week's theme settled it for me. Bill is doing "best Beatles covers" and kicked off with one of my favourite Beatles tunes - This Boy (and let's just say that the only time it is acceptable to go into a bathroom together with your brother is when you both have guitars in hand and a song in your throat). I'm writing this on Tuesday so I'll be interested to see how the rest of the week shapes out but, for my money, the best Beatles cover is Nina Simone's "Here Comes The Sun" (either that or the entire "Let It Be" album by Laibach). Yes, Nina's version isn't as wonderfully different as, say, Stevie Wonder's "We Can Work It Out", but "Sun" is simply a better song.

Now, rather than posting a Beatles cover (linking to one doesn't count), I've gone for two songs from that era. Gasoline Alley Bred was originally a single-only release and was written by Cook & Greenaway of 60s pop group the Kestrels and songwriter Tony Macaulay.

One of my favourite Hollies tracks, it tells of a couple with big dreams , but who fail to rise above their station. Gasoline Alley is a comic strip that started in the Chicago Tribune in 1918 and is still serialised in papers to this day. What marks the strip is that the characters aged in real-time (main character Walt's wife, Phyllis, "died" in 2004 aged 105). That ageing of the characters is concordant with the two characters in this song.

The lyrics are straight and simple but the double-time strumming and soaring harmonies lift those words to become the musical metaphor for the ageing of the protagonists:

I know that we could have made it
We had ideas in our heads
And I wish somehow we could have saved it
But we're Gasoline Alley bred
Yet the years haven't really been wasted
And I know it in my head
We did good for the life that we've tasted
'Cause we're Gasoline Alley, Gasoline Alley bred

Interestingly, the single came out in 1970 - and yet I would have sworn that it's Graham Nash's voice in the 2nd verse (the one starting: "I'm a-gonna heat me some water") - but Nash left in '68. If its not Nash, who is it*?

Speaking of Nash, he left The Hollies to join David Crosby and Stephen Stills in their self-titled supergroup (hard to believe these guys failed their audition with the Beatles' Apple Records - there's that Beatles riff again!). And its Bill's second post of the week that pulled "Chimes of Freedom" off the 'pod.

I seem to remember CS&N being the first act to perform on Letterman when he returned to air after 9/11. The song was "Find The Cost of Freedom" and, as haunting as that anti-war song is, its not my favourite of "their's" (and I'm including every band that CS&N were involved in with the term "theirs"). In fact, "Chimes" isn't even theirs either - written as it was by Bob Dylan. And if Bill were to extend this week's riff to "Best Bob Dylan covers", the Byrds would feature thrice.

Even though a cloud’s white curtain in a far off corner flashed
And the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting

This song has been described as a "near-perfect protest song".

I can not disagree.

*PS Bill and I worked it out a day after I wrote this- its Terry Sylvester - who actually replaced Graham Nash in The Hollies.

Photo: DUBLIN, 2002. Taken by Jason Bryant.

CLOWNS and HILLS OF STONE

Listen to CLOWNS by Goldfrapp.
Listen to HILLS OF STONE by Radar Bros.

Jason dropping in.

And its about time! What with Euro 2008, holidays, end-of-season football celebrations....discretionary time has been in short supply. Thanks John for stepping in.

So, there are times when I want to share with this blog the songs that have mattered to me for a long time - and why. Other times, like now, I want to introduce relatively new material simply because its what I'm currently digging on.

Alison Goldfrapp and I have a love/hate relationship. She's one of those artists I admire, listen to, but at the same time find quite a bit....affected... Her 3rd album "Black Cherry" was my entry point in 2003 and it had some great songs (like "Hairy Trees") but her persona was a little too try-hard for my tastes. Now, I don't want to put someone down for a unique style and some theatricality (everyone, I mean EVERYONE, knows who my favourite band is......) but it grated.

So I'm pleased to say that Ms Goldfrapp seems to have given up her quest of being the Bizarro-Kylie/Madonna and put her feet firmly on the ground. And yet, I've chosen "Clowns" because it is so ethereal. It harks back to the "Hairy Trees" style with its Cocteau-Twins-like hushed vocals.

And its this esoteric style that selected the Radar Bros track for me as well. Radar Bros are a slowcore outfit from LA. I thought this was their first album but its actually their 5th. Its been quite a while since a song has gripped me so much. And that is not always such a good sign ("Drops of Jupiter" by Train had the same effect and I ended up hating it.) The melancholy piano chords in this are other-worldy: at first, melancholic but then uplifting for the chorus. Absolutely stunning.

Maybe someone can help me out. Because there's something about the Radar Bros track that is incredibly familiar to me. Maybe it reminds me of a song from my childhood but I can't place it (yes, I know the lead vocal is a bit Kermit-the-Frog-like but that's not it). Like a B-side from some early 80s 7-inch. If you have any ideas, let me know, because I won't rest until I figure it out.

Photo: Freya. Guiting Power. 2008. Taken by Jason Bryant

DO YOU REALIZE??

Listen to DO YOU REALIZE?? by The Flaming Lips.

Jason dropping in.

With Bill's solemn news providing a tributary theme this week, I wanted to select my song carefully.

In the end, I chose the first song that popped into my head when I originally signed-up to contribute to the blog. And I chose it because its the most life-affirming song I know - and the band also share Bill's Oklahoma heritage.

I first saw the Flaming Lips in '95 at the "Alternative Nation" festival in Sydney. It was a festival line-up that still looks good to this day. My memory of the Lips was of waiting for them to play their "Vaseline" song ("She Don't Use Jelly") that was ubiquitous on Australian radio on release a few years before. To me, they then disappeared....I figured they broke up.

So when their "Soft Bulletin" album started appearing in critics lists as one of the best albums of 1999 (NME made it their album of the year), I figured that it was a different band that had the same name. You know, like Nirvana. I bought the album but it never made it out of the plastic.

Then, in 2002, came their Masterpiece - "Yoshimi...". This time I bought (yes Tim, "bought") and listened.

That led to me seeing them another handful of times (Q magazine claimed in 2002 that they were one of the bands to see before you die). The show is a celebratory circus and its all because of their lead singer and talisman Wayne Coyne. If you don't know him, lets just say he's the sort of guy that features on many "if you could have any 5 people, ever, to a dinner party......" list. When this guy opens his arms, people crawl into his palms...

The Lips have more to them than Coyne, of course (check out the brilliant "Fearless Freaks" documentary) but this song is the embodiment of him:

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun don't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Stunningly beautiful and always - always - lifts me above the day-to-day; resets my perspective and makes me want to wrap my arms around a loved one - especially those no longer with us.

Photo: Musée d'Orsay, Paris. 2004. Taken by Jason Bryant.

BLINDSIDED and WOLVES (SONG OF THE SHEPHERD'S DOG)

Listen to BLINDSIDED by Bon Iver.
Listen to WOLVES (SONG OF THE SHEPHERD'S DOG) by Iron & Wine.

Jason dropping in.

Content is increasingly exponential as distribution channels become more prolific. Sometimes its hard to know which is driving the other, or whether they're the mutual product of the entertainment (r)evolution. Its impossible to stay on top of it (I used to think I could). Now, you need a filter.

Let's take TV (in the UK). My ultimate filter is The Guardian (or, as I call it, "Holy Paper"). On Saturdays, they publish "The Guide" which provides all terrestrial and main cable listings. With just 3 recommendations for each of those two conduits per day, they give me enough to programme my Sky+ recorder for the week. Its turned me on to mainstream quality like Lost, Heroes and 24; lesser-mass brilliance like Deadwood, The Wire and Dexter; and the Daddy that rules them all - Battlestar Galactica (4th series not withstanding).

But when it comes to the breadth of quality movie choices, my hard-disk always runs out. So I tried to put another filter on it - IMDB, rated 7.0 or above. But even that is subject to favouritism or manipulation -given that the people that vote are the people that bother (or the "people" that are organised).

And so I turned to another filter.

Metacritic.

Metacritic combines reviews from "respected critics" and turns them into an overall grade - a score out out of 100. "Respected" is the (perhaps selectively controversial) key. Not the popular vote, but the discerning views of people who I would want to..... not necessarily agree with.... but absorb.... if i could.

I've only just begun to bring Metacritic into my life... to save time and alert me to things I might have missed. In terms of new music, Q magazine remains my Modus Operandi, but I'm letting this new beast in.

Metacritic's all-time Top 10 albums include Brian Wilson, Led Zeppelin, Outkast, Ali Farka Toure, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits - a good start (although it also contains Loretta Lynn). Scroll through that list and you'll see that the highest-ranking album of 2008 (# 34 all-time) is "For Emma, Forever Ago" by Bon Iver.

Two weeks ago I went to see Bon Iver support Iron & Wine with my music-operating-model-nemesis-friend Tim Smith. I don't remember the last time I saw so many pay attention to a support act. Justin Vernon (aka "Bon Iver") is in the Jose Gonzlaez / Ray LaMontagne mould and his debut is up there.

"Blindsided" is the highlight of the album for me (although I also recommend "Lump Sum", "Skinny Love", and "re:stacks"). Check it out.

Strangely enough, I was more excited a few months ago by Iron & Wine's "The Shepherd's Dog" album. You might know them as part of the excellent "Garden State" soundtrack ("Such Great Heights"). And I wasn't sure which track to choose for this post ("White Tooth Man", "Carousel", "House By The Sea" and "Peace Beneath The City" are fantastic). In the end, "Wolves...." was my choice. Although, in writing this, I've changed it 4 times so far (and counting).

As for Iron & Wine live, it was such a shame. They went for lots of musicians, a lo-fi-AM-radio-stylised sound and a seemingly-Grateful-Dead-like-jam approach to the music. As my learned friend Tim said (and this guy knows his music): "that sound.....the audience is restless......all those musicians....its like when you mix lots of great colours together and get.....brown...."

I couldn't have said it better.

But I'm still putting the Iron & Wine album ahead of Bon Iver's.......even if Metacritic doesn't (a difference of 2 points).

Photo: Taken by Jason Bryant (where was that?).

THE RIDDLER and WONDER WOMAN

Listen to THE RIDDLER by Mel Tormé.
Listen to WONDER WOMAN by C. Fox, N. Gimbel.

Jason dropping in.

What a strange coincidence. In my last post, I referred to Scopitone - the jukebox that projects 16mm film and is forever associated with French film and the swinging 60s....

....and for this post, I wanted to share two tracks from a compilation made by the owners of the "Sounds of Seduction" nightclub that has been running in Sydney, Australia, for more than 10 years. I used to love that club when I lived there. I just couldn't remember the name of the venue that housed it. Google not only found me the name - the Landsdowne Hotel -but also told me that they now run Scopitone nights as well.

Fitting.

Sounds of Seduction was (is?) basically one big wig out to an Austin Powers vibe. And the two tracks I chose from this compilation are worth calling out for their interest as much as their groove.

With "The Riddler", you need to put aside the lame gags from The Riddler himself - Frank Gorshin. Focus instead on the music of Tormé - the jazz legend known as "The Velvet Fog". Surely the lyrics were the only thing stopping this from becoming a classic!

If it surprises you that Tormé had a hand in this (I have no idea about the backstory on this one), then check out the next song as we move from Batman to Wonder Woman. The theme song from the TV show with Lynda Carter. Oh Lynda....we'll always have '76....

Charles Fox composed the theme tune to that 70s television show. But its the lyricist, Norman Gimbel that provides the interest. Wikipedia describes it best:

"In 1963, Gimbel was introduced by music publisher Lou Levy to a group of young Brazilian bossa nova composers, including Antônio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá and Baden Powell, for whose works he started writing English-language lyrics. Most notably, he created the lyrics for...."The Girl from Ipanema" (turning it into a top hit for Astrud Gilberto).

Fox and Gimbel had other collaborations: they did the theme tunes to "Laverne and Shirley" and "Happy Days". But its strange to think they could go from "Wonder Woman" to "Killing me Softly" by Roberta Flack (although not Roberta Flack originally)....

This clip will give a small taste of what Sounds of Seduction was like (and the Aussies will recognise the guy with the mic - with whom I had a very bizarre "incident" over an object of his affections - but that is not for print).


Photo: Music knowledge.

FOUX DU FAFA and THINK ABOUT IT

Listen to FOUX DU FAFA by Flight of the Conchords.
Listen to THINK ABOUT IT by Flight of the Conchords.

Jason dropping in.

When did comedy get so fun-kay? Flight of the Conchords, New Zealand's fourth-most popular parody folk duo, hit the big-time when HBO came a-knocking. What was once a small touring act became a hit TV show, based around their existing songs.

Yes, they did a 2006 radio series with the BBC (I have it - its rubbish) and, yes, they had a 2002 live album ("Folk the World Tour" - also rubbish). But the HBO "One Night Stand" is superb; as is their HBO self-named TV series; as is, now, the "proper" album (which peaked at Number 3 on the US Billboard charts).

"Foux du Fafa" is in a class of its own but you really have to see the video from the TV series to appreciate just how brilliantly they have pimped Serge Gainsbourg via Eric Rohmer* and French Scopitone. Those that can understand French will appreciate the lyrics.



As for "Think About It", this song would stand on its own with "normal" lyrics because it is super cool. Listen out for my favourite FOTC moment at 1:02 (it had my sister and I in hysterics because we used to do that as kids all the time).

I can't finish the post without including 2 other pieces of potty perfection. One from the HBO live show...



...and another from the TV series (watch out for Jermaine's "dance moves" - he's the one with the glasses).



Binary solo!

* Cheers to Bill for introducing me to Eric Rohmer those years ago in New York. What Cinema was that? I know one of the flicks was "Pauline a la Plage." (It was January 15, 2002, at the Film Forum. -ed.)

Photo: Cryptography (with our compliments).

DISCONNECT THE DOTS and THIS THING ABOUT YOU

Listen to DISCONNECT THE DOTS by of Montreal.
Listen to THIS THING ABOUT YOU by Miracle Fortress.

Jason dropping in.

I tend to check this blog in bulk. The RSS feeds bank up and then I pour myself a wine and read what my blog brothers have to say about the tunes I'm then listening to.

Something caught me on Bill's post at the end of April.

Bill quoted another blog:

"'Nilsson Sings Newman' is 30 years old, and, with the exception of the Incense-and-Peppermints-style harpsichord during the fadeout of Cowboy, it sounds like it could have been recorded last week."

Nilsson was a feature of my childhood. 1973's Nilsson Schmilsson was in my Dad's record collection (yes, that's the one with Diva de rigeur "Without You").

It could have been recorded last week, huh? I started wondering what bands today could be the equivalent of the musical geniuses of the 60s and 70s. And, if you say the words "musical genius", then the words "Brian Wilson" won't be far behind.

I posit that these 2 songs are the sort of things Mr Wilson could have made if he had emerged today.

I often forget where I get tracks from by the time I get around to listening to them on the pod. In fact, whilst writing this I suddenly gripped that the "of Montreal" track might have come from this very blog. Close, no dice.

I definitely remember where I got the tip about the Miracle Fortress track - because I left a comment about it on Swedish Friend Adam's blog. All he had written was: "Miracle Fortress from Montreal is my Monday morning soundtrack for this week".

Maybe its the Montreal connection that made my head subconsciously put these 2 together. Both songs have dreadful openings - its lucky I give tracks a minute on the pod before skipping through. "Disconnect" connects on 25 seconds while "This Thing" sounds like bad indie until 35 seconds. But then,

woah

Airy, melodic, etheral background vocals and/or harmonies, jaunty, summery, catchy, upbeat.....you know.....Brian Wilson!

J

Photo: LONDON, 2008. Photo taken by Jason Bryant.

A LETTER TO ELISE

Listen to A LETTER TO ELISE by The Cure.

Jason dropping in.

Three events conspired to create this post.

1. A photo from my past emerged on Facebook. Probably 1992 during a time that John Lennon would describe as a sort of personal "lost weekend". That year had me listening to a lot of bands like the Cure and that year saw them release my favourite song of theirs: this one.

2. Bill posted a Fred Neil piece with a link to his best known song (Harry Nilsson's Everybody's Talking) which was one of my favourite road tunes of my European travels that same year (and since). Fred Neil was also a big part of John Lennon's own lost weekend.

3. Bill sent me an email 15 minutes ago (at time of writing) saying: Blog much?

I don't know if this is a popular choice amongst the dark army of Cure fans. And its not like Robert Smith waivers from his usual themes of love, loss and introspection. But I like it.

Image: From xkcd (with thanks) - "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language"

STRAY CAT STRUT and TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP

Listen to STRAY CAT STRUT by The Stray Cats.
Listen to TALKING IN YOUR SLEEP by The Romantics.

Jason dropping in.

Wtih Bill's current theme of "Jukebox classics", I've decided to decidedly stay on-piste this time.

I've gone for 2 tracks that leave you awash with over-familiarity and guilty pleasure. And that's the joy of the jukebox - either you're slouched against the 'box in your local, flipping through albums that you haven't heard in eons, looking for that long-forgotten classic; or you're sitting in that same local and someone else puts something on that makes you look around to find others that are experiencing their own silent "hell yeah!".

That's how I feel when I hear these two songs. Reminiscent of 80s music television, bouffant hair and leather. To properly bring you into this, I'm going to have to reach for the vids.

The Stray Cats were a neo-rockabilly band from Long Island, New York. Brian Setzer on vocals, the super-cool Slim Jim Phantom (great name for someone born James McDonnell) on drums and the "I-didn't-really-have-enough-time-to-pick-my-name" Jim Rocker (real name Leon Drucker) on double bass.

The video below is not the poxy "official video" with the wedge-tail hair from 1981. This is the "real" Stray Cats, playing live. Brian Setzer's look begat Pete Doherty and Billie Joe Armstrong and the sassy vocal delivery and lyrics are smooth, but its Rocker's swaggering bass that provides the track with such panache: check out the slap solo at 2:38!

Singing the blues while the lady cats cry
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy."
I wish I could be as carefree and wild,
but I got cat class and I got cat style.



The second song was created two years later by The Romantics from Detroit. The Romantics were a boundary band - they crossed the 60s British Invasion sound of the Kinks with the 70s punk of the Ramones. A power-pop song with a new-wave clip - and the video may be the singular one that straddled the transition from 80s pop-big-hair videos to 80s soft-metal-big-hair videos. Think of Duran Duran's "Reflex" performance vid compared with Bon Jovi's "Runaway". The clip even has the old "focus on drummer double-hitting the tom" at 3:00 which I was sure hadn't been "invented" until at LEAST '84 (sheesh!).

Singer Wally Palmar (there are those names again) is the original new wave nerd - you just can't explain that "Anthony Michael Hall" type of coolness (I NEED to learn that little sway he does at 3:16). Man, to my then-teen eyes, these guys were the bomb.



You know, in writing this, I've watched The Romantics vid about 20 times - seems I just can't get enough of it (I'm not alone - 43,500 views on YouTube and counting). I'm struggling to think of another vid that embodies the 80s any better. Jukebox please!

Photo: PLACE DES VOSGES, PARIS, 2003. Photo taken by Jason Bryant.

STIR UP PROBLEMS (McSLEAZY BOOTLEG)

Listen to STIR UP PROBLEMS (McSLEAZY BOOTLEG) by Charlatans v Jay-Z.

Jason dropping in.

I've never been a big fan of the Charlatans. They were one of those Indie breeds who promised much in the music but never raised it above the level. And their song "Stir It Up" is a perfect example. The guitar riff builds but the song just drifts...

...and drifting is kinda what I've been up to recently. Just back from a snowboarding trip in Austria, I'd made a shuffle comp for the mountain which turned out to be 108 songs. On random, I probably only heard half of them (not including when my shuffle decided to play the same 3 songs in "random" because it was a widdle bit cold.)

But, hands down, the pick of the mix turned out to be this.

Jay-Z's "99 Problems" has been mashed to death, but it works in many places because its such a laconic, iconic delivery. This mash completes "Stir It Up". It takes the Charlatans riff, overlays Jay-Z's story....but most crucially it drops a bass at 0:40 which must have only come from Scottish DJ McSleazy (who impressed enough to join the Charlatans on tour).

Just imagine beginning your run down the mountain....the riff begins....the bass kicks in.....and then its a whole new drift...

A shout out to the trip's board brothers - Boss Hogg, Rubber Ducky, Prescious, Sheriff, Shrek, A$$ Helmet and The Freak.

PS I have no idea how many people read Bill's ballistic blog...but if you're interested in the other 107 songs from the mountain mash, just comment and ask for a song. I'll post a reply to each one with another from the mix. Let's see how far it goes.

PPS Props to McSleazy for agreeing that Depeche Mode's "Violator" is the "best synth pop album in history".

Photo: ZELL AM SEE, 2008. Photo taken by Jason Bryant

MAGIC

Listen to MAGIC by Tina Dico.

I can really sit on the fence when it comes to the classic "preferences" late-night dinner-party small-talk.

Favourite Beatle? John, George, no, John, ahh George?....
Cats or Dogs? Comme ci comme ca....
Connery? Moore? Spare me....
New York? London? Paris? Munich? Everybody talkin about...

The same goes for music and lyrics. Nitzer Ebb can consume me with single-syllable chants to a pounding industrial beat whilst lyrics can lift a mediocre song (that I may have already heard in the multitudes) suddenly to the point where it can stop me in my tracks.

And it is the lyrics that have selected this song for me.

I saw Tina recently at the Union Chapel in London. She's a Danish singer-songwriter, known by her birth name "Tina Dickow" in the land of the Vikings, but perhaps better recognised as the voice of "Home" by Zero 7. She moved to London in 2002 and wrote meditations of love, life and alienation in the Big City, staring at the world through the window of her unfurnished flat near Brick Lane, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes...the passive observer as flâneur - creating modern urban reflections.

Her style is very much in the Leonard Cohen mould. In fact, this song could almost be a response to his Chelsea Hotel #2. The lyrics don't require dissection from me - just listening from you.

Speaking of Leonard Cohen (bear with me on this), I noticed that American Idol contestant Jason Castro has sent Jeff Buckley's version of Cohen's "Hallelujah" to the top of the iTunes charts (almost) overnight. Just one performance and three "judges" saying that Jeff's version is one of their all-time favourites; a sentiment endorsed by Q magazine in September when they nominated it as "the most perfect song ever". If you would like to hear what it sounds like in Danish, check out Tina and Steffen Brandt singing it here.

Photo: MAURITIUS, 2003. Photo taken by Jason Bryant.