RUBBISH EXPLAIN IT TO ME PLEASE

My favorite candy bar and favorite drum break. possibly. plus gorillas. Also, I love this comment: "rubbish - explain it to me please!" Someone should rename their blog that.



via TTL Estoy Con Stupido.

NIGHTHAWKIN'

NIGHTHAWKIN' by Tim Buckley.

Happy Friday to you! I know a lot of people my age are big fans of Jeff Buckley, who's been dead ten years and only released one album. It's always been curious to me, not because he's sh*t, but his dad, Tim, was such an underrated superstar. where's Tim Buckley's cult following?

That's my feeling about it, which makes it a little embarrassing for me to admit to you that there's one album of Tim's that until recently I'd never really listened to: "Greetings From L.A." It's embarrassment and regret, regret because I sure as hell wish I'd been listening to this record ten, twelve years ago, back when I was young and single. What a monster sound he gets, and it's so, so raunchy. I have a vague memory hearing that the reason why I shouldn't bother with this record because it was 'ridiculous' and 'decadent' and Buckley had 'lost his muse' or 'sold out' or something, but that's dumb. This is a great album. Nighthawkin' isn't one of the great songs on it, but it's short and sweet, and I love the guitar fills climbing all over the singing girls. That's all I've got. Enjoy your weekend. No Arsenal (but more Arsene), but Oklahoma is lining up against Miami, so we're not short of entertainment.

LISTEN.

Photo: Balikci Sabahattin.

LORD HELP ME

LORD HELP ME by Donny Hathaway.

As I've picked back up music blogging here on the sly, I feel like I'm only writing for an audience of one (or maybe three: Hi Mom & Dad!), so I'm not as concerned about picking any particular theme this week. This week's theme is "songs I've been listening to lately." Unless it becomes something different on Friday.

Lord Help Me was something that was bouncing around in my head a lot the week or two before the wedding, which was at least amusing because I certainly felt comfortable with everything going on. But privately amusing, because I wasn't going to risk bringing it up. Both because I didn't want to be put on the couch just then, and also because who wants to spurn help wherever it comes from? Plus, it's got a great communal vibe to it with those backing vocals that I was hoping would be there for the wedding itself--it helped me get in the mood.

Anyway the main reason for listening to it is a) it's a great song, and b) I'm pretty sure Soul Sides had only recently posted it--in any event it only just got put on my radar. I hope you enjoy it too, now that it's on your radar.

LISTEN.

Photo: Scaffolding.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING by Super Furry Animals.

Happy Labor Day! We're very much trying to get back into the swing of things here, but the world is conspiring to make it easier for us. Our flight from Turkey landed early, Sarah had the apartment well in hand, Martin was happy to see us, I got to watch all of the Arsenal highlights from the past three weeks, I got to see Oklahoma hang half a hundred on some team in the first half, Arsenal won in style yesterday, and we had good company for dinner both nights we've been back. And, to the extent we're recovering from jet lag, we have an extra day off to sort that out!

Still, I'm not fully back on my game yet so I won't bore you with too much commentary on the song today. It's from the Super Furry Animals' latest release, and it's been a favorite here for a couple of months. It fills me with good vibes.

LISTEN.

Photo: Ferry on the Golden Horn.

MUSIC IS LOVE

MUSIC IS LOVE by David Crosby.

Today is a special day for the music blog, because we are announcing a leave of absence, to go get married. I've offered the keys to the blog to a few people, and will do so again, but unless they feel like jumping in it'll all go quiet around here until after Labor Day at least.

So here's a special bonus track to keep you company, from David Crosby's first album. Music Is Love, and, in a phrase I have yet to use until now, "the song speaks for itself." Enjoy!

LISTEN.

Photo: On the ferry to Little Cranberry.

DANCE

DANCE by ESG.

A song like Dance feels a little like cheating on a music blog. Meaning, the whole point is to introduce people to obscure out of the way stuff they have never heard before. But Dance is such a classic, it's too easy! But, the fact is most people haven't really heard any ESG. I know I went a long time before I knew this song. Sooooo... apologies to all of you who think this one is old hat, but for those of you hearing Dance for the first time, you're in for a treat.

My favorite part of this tune is the mad tambourine that rattles around in the back almost from the first note. It's the only song I know where I play "air tambourine." Further apologies for that image.

LISTEN.

Photo: Blue skies (3).

WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS

WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS by Justice.

I first heard about this tune a couple years ago when it won an MTV Europe best video award, and Kanye West crashed the stage to complain. Funny, and classy and the same time.

But suffice it to say, it never made an impact over here even though it's high quality. With the somewhat greater success of Justice's new album & especially D.A.N.C.E., it's worth a second listen to We are Your Friends. I've heard it called a mashup but I don't think that's the right label, it's just a sample of a track, and to be honest I don't know why Simian gets any credit for it at all. So I haven't here.

LISTEN.

Photo: Blue skies (2).

PULL UP TO THE BUMPER

PULL UP TO THE BUMPER by Grace Jones.

I've never liked Grace Jones that much. I think because she scared the hell out of me. Like in "Conan the Destroyer," and May Day, and all those shoulder pads. A very intimidating, bizarre woman.

But I never gave much thought to the music, which is a mistake, because some of her tunes are first class. Pull Up To The Bumper is a great example. It's Sly and Robbie, so it's shiny but funky, and Grace has a stylish, sexually aggressive vocal. It's a great fit and makes me want to dance in the 80s.

LISTEN.

Photo: Blue skies (1).

LOVE YOU INSIDE OUT

LOVE YOU INSIDE OUT by The Bee Gees.

Everybody needs the Bee Gees. I'm sure we'll get our Bee Gees at some point, and I wouldn't mind if this was the one we got.

Give this one a listen if you haven't heard it yet, and have a good weekend!

LISTEN.

Photo: Charlton Street hotel, July.

RED HOT MAMA

RED HOT MAMA by Funkadelic.

First the trivia: Red Hot Mama is a re-recording of a track Parliament did for their "Osmium" record (i.e., the debut record). Then Parliament morphed into Funkadelic, and eventually got to it to open their "Standing on the Verge of Getting It On" record. This version has the syncopation figured out, and has some insane Eddie Hazel guitar soloing. And it's another proven dancefloor filler.

Now I am going to listen to this tune 14 times in a row. Right now. See you later!

LISTEN.

Photo: Charlton Street hotel, April.

TRUSTING HEART

TRUSTING HEART by The Trammps.

The Trammps are known mainly for Disco Inferno, a song I've never really loved. (Or maybe I loved it once, before I'd heard 784,000 times).) I have hard time pinning down exactly why, but the vocals are a little too "soulful" for a campy disco record. Plus the instrumentation is so refined. For disco I'm more of a fan of the Chic approach, with drugged up vocals but insane playing.

Ironically enough, though, I think the Trammps approach works brilliantly for a song that's a little less overtly disco than Inferno. Trusting Heart is more mid-70s Philly Soul, and I think it's brilliant. I'm a sucker for minor chord riffs, and the way the strings (and backing vocals) dip in and out of minors gets me every time. Plus I love the James Brown stylings on the lead. One of my favorite 70s dance tracks.

LISTEN.

Photo: Charlton Street hotel, March.

Preseason at the Grove

Thanks to my little Setanta box, I was able to see Arsenal both days of the Ashburton Grove Cup. And I was overwhelmingly pleased with what I saw. It's good we won both games but it's also good what we showed. Moving Hleb and Eboue forward seemed to benefit both of them, plus Clichy and Traore were bonkers on the left. Diaby showed some good form but I'm not convinced he's efficient enough. And the defense was pretty solid overall.

Robin van Persie was quiet Saturday but massive today, including the goal you might have heard about already. Arsenal fans have seen him do this trick before last year against Dynamo Zagreb (in the same match Eduardo scored against us), but this time he finished it with a goal. Lekker.

TOUCH ME, HOLD ME, KISS ME

TOUCH ME, HOLD ME, KISS ME by The Inspirations.

We've actually used this song before on a mix CD we gave out about three years ago. It's a really sweet song, has a great hook, and listening to it again, I feel like it should be used as a first dance kind of song. It's fast, it's not too long, it has the right feeling behind it.

This song is a great testament to the Northern Soul scene. Without those folks digging as hard as they did, a song like this (and a million others besides) that barely got released (much less sold anything) would never be around for us to enjoy today.

Have a great weekend!

LISTEN.

Photo: Late afternoon in Union Station.

HIT AND RUN LOVER

HIT AND RUN LOVER by Tommie Young.

Man it's a pleasure to post these tracks. I started writing this post about ten minutes ago, but instead of typing, I just tapped on the desk for a few runs through the track.

Hit and Run Lover is totally unknown to the public at large, but it's quite a staple among rare groove fans. It's even been reissued on vinyl as a 7" on Jazzman records (and even more to the point, on a Jazzman CD compilation, which is how it comes to me).

But, being relatively unknown, I can't tell you much about Tommie Young, except she's from Dallas. That's the sort of detail I wouldn't know if Ms. Young was from, say, Idaho, but if I find out a singer, author, public figure is from my part of the world, I don't forget it as easily.

Anyway, enough about me, listen to this tune!

LISTEN.

Photo: Late afternoon on Islesford.

The Rivals at Cake Shop

Last night The Rivals had a nice crowd turn out for their last-ever show in their present incarnation. The gig got off to an odd start. The soundcheck ran way over (mics weren't on, everything kept feeding back, the usual), so by the time they were wrapping up, much of the crowd had already gathered.

I stopped by their rehearsal yesterday and they spent a lot of the time going through Gene Clark's Elevator Operator, which they were going to play for the first time and were a little nervous. So at the tail end of the sound check, they ran through a fast, shortened version of the song (just to make sure they were ready to use it later in their "real" set). But it went over so well, the crowd gave them a big cheer! Which put the group in the odd position of (a) telling the crowd the "real" gig was starting in 20 minutes, and (b) foreclosing them from playing Elevator Operator again that night. Frankly, the loose version they played without the soloing was as good if not better than any I heard them play in rehearsal, so no worries.

Once the set started it was all good. The sound of the room was pretty warm, so most of the songs were a pleasant melange of trebly guitars and high harmonies. Nothing precise, but the effect was good.
They played one other new song, Santa Fe, but I'm not sure how many people in the audience realized that it was being played 2 and 1/2 times it's "proper" tempo. No harm done, and the gig finished off strong. Fare well, you Rivals. We'll see most of you again in a couple of weeks!